Sangwen
The following information is not common knowledge
The Sangwen Tribal Institution: a Sociological and Anthropological Study for the Humagus Guild University
In this paper, we hope to introduce the reader to the basics of Sangwen life, but most importantly to help the reader understand the formation of its unique social structure.
The first three Sangwen were named Gwen, Sangue and Sangue. Sangue and Sangue, as with all birthed female Sangwen were twins, and were rarely separate from each other. All Sangwen twin girls are given a single name which they both share. They also share a telepathic bond, one with the other. Although this bond weakens through infant years and into toddler years, it seems to reestablish and begin and continue to strengthen once language is learned. The bond is so strong that the two girls are almost always thought of and spoken of as an individual rather than two individuals.
It should first be established that as a habit established during their wanderings through the desert, the three slept during the hottest hours of the day, and woke before sunset to work through the night and into the sunsrise. When the three first settled in the Ah’Biut Valley, they were simply husband and wife. As time went on, they had children, and they became the patriarch and matriarch of the family. Further time passed, and their children had children, and they had even more children. They soon had a small tribe. At this point in their social/cultural development, they had been primarily following Elfin and Soldier traditions, with a few Ngomic and Giant masculine rituals. They also had not discovered their innate ability to live on blood, although one small child had been injured and lost a lot of blood. The child sliced and bit another by instinct, saving his own life but becoming ill. Unfortunately that child was assumed to have become possessed by a demon, and was killed and buried. It wasn’t until many years later that they realized the child never truly died, and dug him up. His name was Nosferat. At this time in their development, they had heard of death by old age through the verbal history, but they had never experienced it. They had, however, experienced accidental and deliberate death.
As their problems became more diverse, Sangue and Gwen disagreed with each other more and more frequently. When they disagreed they fought as most couples would until they could reach consensus. On one particular issue, no consensus could be agreed upon, and so they decided to test their wills against each other before the people. At this time, they had begun to discover and develop their Imagus abilities, and so Gwen changed his facial appearance to look like Sangue. The people were very impressed until Sangue caused his appearance to change into that of a goat, at which the people laughed. Conceding that Sangue had won, Gwen began to consider the reasons for this outcome, though he would not fully realize them for many years.
Over the next few biyears, the tribe became matriarchal in nature. Gwen had been used to wielding power, and would not give it up entirely, so he attached himself to Sangue constantly, and ensured that he honestly agreed with each of their decisions. Over time, he began to discover that he too had developed a telepathic bond with Sangue, and could hear some of their thoughts. He continued to develop this new-found skill, and one day, during intercourse, he found that he no longer thought as an individual, but as part of a group. Sangue also felt that they were no longer thinking as one from two, but as one from three. They soon discovered that their abilities with Imagus were improved greatly when connected in this manner, and that it did not require coitus. They also discovered that there was no disagreement when they considered decisions in this manner, and that their decisions were wiser, had better effects, and were more widely welcomed. From this point on, the society/culture became a triarchy, ruled by the three. Individual families began organizing themselves in this same manner as well.
Over time, they grew to be a great nation with many clans and tribes, and spread throughout the entire Ah’Biut Valley. A city was raised, with Sangue and Gwen as its Triarchy. Other villages sprouted up throughout the Ah’Biut Valley, with their own Triarchies, though Sangue and Gwen remained supreme rulers.
In one such village, a particularly cruel Triarchy formed, and developed particularly cruel rituals. Each year, a virgin child was sacrificed to certain gods in order to ensure optimum crop production. The practice was kept secret through fear and disbelief for many years. The blood of the child was drained into a large bowl, and poured onto a patch of young growth. If the god favored the sacrifice, the crop would grow immediately. However if the god scorned the sacrifice, the crop would die immediately. It was soon discovered that only a willing sacrifice would please the god. This of course is now understood in terms of the properties of Sangwen blood and whether it is given voluntarily or against the will of the donor. The Triarchy became greedy and demanded two simultaneous sacrifices. The first attempt caused no reaction in the crop. It is now understood that both children were unwilling. The priest collected some of the blood and tasted it to see if he could tell what went wrong. He immediately fell into convulsions and died. His wife sisters the priestesses brought two more sacrifices with another lack of effect on the plants. However, when the children fell to the ground, they fell in their own blood, and after a few minutes they both rose again with no wounds, though they were both light headed. We now understand that both children were willing sacrifices. Intrigued, the priestesses brought yet another two sacrifices. She realized that the first pair was unwilling, and the second willing, so this time she brought one willing, and one unwilling. When their blood mixed, it immediately solidified. She took the substance, and began experimenting with it. Over time, she realized that it enhanced her own abilities with Imagus greatly. She brought this discovery to her Triarchy who then killed her to keep the secret. Each of these bodies (sacrifices and priestesses) was buried, and was not unburied until much later.
This Triarchy then took their secret, their stones, and their soldiers to march on the city in which Sangue and Gwen ruled. As they marched on the city, word reached Sangue and Gwen that someone was coming to attack them. The city created and mobilized a militia within a few hours. Sangue and Gwen had both continued to increase their skill with Imagus over the years, and were quite capable. The image of various vicious looking beasts and warriors were placed all along the defense lines in order to intimidate the attackers. The battle was fought in three waves. First, front line of attackers and front line of defenders rushed to meet each other. The defenders were led by Gwen wielding Tzoch’s sword. Next, Sangue and many of the other Sangwen women began attempting to frighten the enemy with visions of fire. Many of the attackers fled at this. Finally, the cruel Triarchy arrived. They caused all other illusions to dissipate which encouraged their soldiers, and proceeded to cause certain of their number to become nearly invisible. The defenders were unable to hold against the onslaught, and fell back. Some of the defenders escaped, but as they were routed most were slain. It was during this battle that the bloodlust was first felt by so many. Both attackers and defenders lost a lot of blood. Those who only lost a little felt an odd desire to lick their enemies’ wounds. Those who lost more could not resist lapping at the wounds of others or in some cases inflicting wounds on others to drink from. Those thought mortally wounded occasionally managed to rise again after a few minutes and fight more. The head of one decapitated person even managed to drain the blood from a recently fallen body. By the end, it was clear that consuming blood healed the wounded, and that the fallen could rise again with blood.
When the battle was over, the bodies of the fallen defenders were drained of their blood and burned. The fallen attackers were given the blood, and nursed back to health. Sangue and Gwen were brought in chains before the cruel Triarchy. They were told that they were nameless, and exiled into the mountains. Until this point, no one had ever attempted to climb the mountains. Sangue and Gwen managed to climb into the mountains, and disappear from sight. No verifiable proof of contact with them has been made since that time.
All previously buried bodies are dug up, and either given the blood to recover or burned depending on the nature of their death. The child named Nosferat who was mentioned before never fully recovered. His body was permanently disfigured, and his mind irreversibly tormented. He was chained to a boulder near a cave, and his family fed him from time to time. He refused meat or vegetables, and would only consume blood.
The Triarchy began to more fully understand what it meant to be what they were. They knew that as a clan, they were different from the humans they had heard of who died of old age, or even in battle. They began to realize the difficulties they might face if they were to become overpopulated. Although they had some idea of the existence of others in the world, they had only ever known their fertile land in the midst of a vast infertile wilderness, and assumed that there was very little fertile land in the world. Therefore, they established laws to eliminate overpopulation. Any city experiencing difficulties and needing more food could invade any other city to obtain needed supplies or workers.
In fear that their reign would be challenged should any others learn of the source of their power, they changed their names to Sang and Wen in order to sound like the progenitors, and named their clan, “Sangwen” in order to further their superiority.
The culture of war and sacrifice which they brought with them to power dominated and shaped Sangwen life, culture, economy and attitudes for thousands of years lasting into the late 7900’s.
At some point, it is unclear exactly when, nomadic tribes of Men, Giants, Soldiers, Oni, Trolls, and the occasional lone Djini had settled throughout the desert. These tribes interacted with each other in war and trade. Eventually they made contact with the Sangwen. The Sangwen were seen as ruthless and evil. Their habit of sleeping during the day cast suspicions of dark magus and other negative associations. Sangwen came to be hated and feared by the other desert tribes. A group of powerful tribes banded together to drive out the Sangwen race from the fertile land of the desert. They attacked the Sangwen cities one by one, killing all that they could. Some managed to flee into the desert, but most were killed.
Sang and Wen saw that they would be defeated, and so attempted to betray the other Sangwen and save themselves by telling all that they knew to a leader of a Soldier tribe. When the leader learned that the blood could be used to make crystallized magus, which Sang and Wen called magite, he proceeded to bleed all captives in such a way as to obtain the maximum amount of magite. He obtained so many, that he used them as currency. The occasional magite nuggets can still be found throughout the desert even today. Having learned about the only sure way to kill a Sangwen, he instructed that all captured or slain Sangwen were to be burned after they had been bled. The nomadic desert tribes continued to bleed and burn their enemies’ bodies ever since that time.
The Sangwen race has continued much as it was though in much smaller, less organized groups throughout the world. For the most part, they still sleep during the day, and are ruled by groups of 3: one husband and his twin wives. They are a scattered people with no central organization. They are hunted or mistrusted by those who know what they are, and feared as a night fantasy by those who don’t.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:41, Sat 15 Feb 2020.