Alai (Ender's Game)

Alai is a character in Orson Scott Card's best-known novel, Ender's Game that was a part of Ender's "jeesh". A student of North African descent in the Battle School, he was an exceptional student although not a member of Dragon Army under the command of Andrew 'Ender' Wiggin. He still was, however, in command of a "Toon" a unit of 10 people out of the 40 in an "Army", where they try to beat the other Army in a strategic wargame exercises in zero gravity. He is also one of the final ten commanders that leads under Ender's command during the "Third Invasion" in which the "Buggers" are killed. Alai was also a good friend of Ender's, and was considered to be almost as good strategically as he was. He was also a close friend of Julian Delphiki (aka Bean).

Alai appears in the later books in the Bean Quartet as well, including Shadow of the Hegemon and Shadow Puppets.

In Shadow Puppets, Alai has become a de facto caliph for the Muslim nations, being their chief military, political and spiritual leader. He then successfully orchestrates them into a combined attack against China, removing from China's control both its recent acquisitions in India and the rest of Southern Asia, and also much older conquests such as Tibet, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia.

In Shadow of the Giant, Alai's Muslim empire starts to fall apart due to the actions of extremists. Alai faces a China under the control of the new emperor, Han Tzu (Hot Soup), a fellow Battle School graduate and member of Ender's inner circle, and an India under the control of the Battle School graduate Virlomi, who has declared herself a Hindu Goddess. Alai tries to ally with India by marrying Virlomi, but turmoil leads the extremists and the Indian people to conspire against him. Alai flees his empire after narrowly escaping an assassination attempt. After peace has been restored, Alai leaves Earth with the help of the International Fleet to colonize another world.