Salanak

The Salanak is an ancient people and organization whose history is still misunderstood. Believed to be Shunarites who have been given the blessing of longevity, the people are believed to have caused their own self-destruction. Remnants of the culture are still visible in the territories outside of Luam Cathwa, though it remains unclear whether any Salanak remain. The Adder's Nest, believed to be the ruins of the great Temple of Salamander, is the only remaining architecture of the Salanak. However, within this place lives a gigantic serpent who some have named "Salamander," raising suspicions that the people fed into myths and stories, but did not achieve the feats they performed.

Structure

The Salamander's Fang is organized around the Salanak, the Holder of the Salamander's Fang. At the top of the organizational structure is the Salanak who is said to be closest to the divine. Below the Salanak is the Anthologian, who dictates accounts of the people, leads in the recitations and incantations related to the worship of Salamander. Below the Anthologian are the Tithes. The Tithes are ten cultural leaders who serve the greater population, administering the teachings to the lower castes. The Tithes are responsible to identify faithful and dutiful servants for greater purposes. The Tithes are served by the Adherents. The Adherents are those who have accepted the duties of ritual service that transmutes power to Salamander. Beneath the Adherents are the Sanguine, those who shared in the glory of the faithful.

History

When the Taladin carved their petitions to the heirs of the world, they obliged to reclaim their sovereignty. While the world recovered from the devastation brought to bear, Meri perceived the privilege afforded to the consuming hordes of Osgolip and the immaterial elementals of Na'a. Meri watched the years of tragedy as his body grew frail. The terrain scoured from titanic vassals. It was when the bestial champion, the great serpent Salamander, was brought low that Meri knew of his destiny. Meri approached Salamander, locking eyes. Fire flicked from open wounds. A single drop of venom dangled helplessly from a near broken fang. Salanak reached for the tip, breaking the fang from its root. He could feel the creatures life in his grip, the helpless titan before him. The shimmering venom stirred in the light. Meri moved around Salamander, the strange creation now becoming familiar. With fang in hand, he touched the tip to Salamander. The venom ignited Salamander in a ferocious blaze. Salamander's skin charred and flaked. Salamander's eyes closed. Meri's footsteps seemed to burned as he backed from the inferno. Suddenly, Salamander's skin shattered. The great serpent rose, renewed. The great snake rose, wings stretching to the sky, and bent down to Salanak. The beast appraised the young Taladin before launching into the air. There, Meri remained with the tip of Salamander's Fang.
When Meri told his clan of the great serpent, sharing the story of Salamander's Fang, many reveled in the feeling. Since that day, Meri became the chief of the clan. Meri told his people to erect a temple to Salamander. From the mountain-side, the people cut the stone. Over many years, the temple was constructed. Salanak himself carved the likeness of Salamander into the hewn stone. During the period, Meri recounted the stories many times. He obsessed about the creature. Salamander coiled in his dreams. The breath of fire filled his lungs. When he awoke, he strode into the temple. He grasped his scepter, the fang of Salamander mounted within, and called to Salamander. Meri's body winced in pain. His body was grasped from the core, no tethers pressed around him. A foot of a man stepped into the hall. A muscular physique, angular face, and bore the manner of an animal. Terror personified filled the temple of Salamander.
A thunderous growl bellowed from his chest. Meri stood petrified, though he didn't know that Shuna, the Heir of the hunt, stood before him. Shuna stalked forward, wrenching the scepter from Salanak's grasp. Shuna appraised the fang, remembering his own cunning in its great creation. Pressure filled the room as Shuna spoke an ancient language. Meri watched as the scepter turned towards him, a red bead forming at the tip. Shuna grasped Salanak by the cheeks, squeezing his mouth open. He touched the tip of the scepter to Meri's tongue. The heat turned to an ember. The ember to a flame. Meri grimaced in pain as Shuna appraised the writhing figure. Shuna released him. Meri crumbled to the floor. Meri's knees burned, his faced dripped with sweat. Meri saw the fires tearing across his skin. Charred and blackened, Meri couldn't even draw tears to his face. He felt weak, his mouth gaping. His memory flashed to Salamander. Meri's fingers clawed at the floor. Summoning the fury he felt deep within, a fury of his youth, he shouted, "Salamander!"
As he proclaimed those words, his flesh shed to the ground in a burning mass. He saw the slender, reptilian claws tipped with sharp nails. Cold air flooded the room, scratching against Meri's scaled skin. Meri felt restored, strong as in his youth though gasping from the shock. Meri saw the feet of his assailant before him, though perhaps savior is a better word. Shuna admired his newest creation, derived from the frail bodies that Tala originally forged. Joining the wind, Shuna vanished. Meri attempted to rise, quivering in trepidation, yet no feet caught him. He pulled himself to the silvery pool, Meri could clearly see the snake-like scales that decorated parts of his skin. His eyes settled on the auburn scales reflecting burning torches flaring to life where his feet once were. Now, they formed a tail. Meri trembled, widened eyes peering at the stone around him. His eyes rested on the winged serpent Salamander, hewn from the stone, wings stretched out. Meri rose, arms stretched out.
Often left in his meditation, Meri pondered alone. The scepter rested where the powerful being had left it. Meri breathed as he peered down the chamber doorway. Beyond lies his people. A people yet to be transformed. Meri still struggled to stand upright, lying prostrate by the pool. His mind raced of the implications of the personnage that appeared before him that no longer seemed present. "Salamander," he spoke to himself. He felt full of power as he spoke the name. "This is a blessing, I am healed!" he proclaimed. He appraised lovingly the scaled form that took his legs. The transition at his stomach was strange as he still thought that he could feel his legs. In fact, everytime he thought about his legs, a painful static surged up his body. He wanted to stand, he wanted to walk, he wanted to see his people. He felt helpless as he sat there. He continued to picture Salamander, the majectic beast that flew through the air. He didn't have wings to carry him. He had a tail.
He felt as though hours passed as he lounged on the floor. The excitement had long since faded as he was relegated to sitting by this pool. He glanced at his tail and felt the muscles stretch. He began to think about how to move. He simply tried to wag his tail. To his surprise, it felt natural. Instead of thinking about his legs, he thought of sitting on his tail. He coiled his tail to be a pedestal and pulled himself on top. Simply trying to balance, then the process of shifting his weight. Inch by inch, he made his way to the doorway. As the warmth of Aven fell upon his face, the heat coursed through even inche of his body.
"Behold!" Meri proclaimed as eyes turned from nearby thresholds, "I have been blessed. I have been restored!" Those who saw what had become of Meri fell to the ground prostrate. There was an outpouring of rejoicing and fear. Rejoicing for the promise for which they worked so hard. Fear, for the powers that are beyond.
"Teach us, Meri," cries filled the dirt trodden paths. "Accept us!" others called to Salamander.
But there was no bead for Meri to give to his people. As people brought gifts to Meri and made offerings to Salamander.
When the Salanak was still young, there were many who could not partake of the blessing of being reborn. As the Salamander's Fang only produced a drop of fire one every three years, many people perished. In addition, those who were given the opportunity for rebirth were not always able to withstand the cleansing fire. While Salanak Meri still survived, aging to nearly five-hundred years old, he witnessed the change of nearly one-hundred souls. Those who had been changed were able to conceive children who carried the gift. At the end of Salanak's days, he saw that over half of his people, numbering nearly fifty-thousand.
As the Salanak grew, so did their influence. They served their duty to glorify Salamander, but there were those among the people of Salanak that believed that they had been chosen for a greater purpose, to enslave others and bring them to the pits of fire to be cleansed. This created a partition in the ranks of the Salanak. As the people broke into a civil war, Salanak Meri was slain and his position of Salanak was taken from him. Those closest to the Salanak fled with their families to the north and disappeared. The ranks of the Salanak were remade with those loyal to the new ideals.
The new Salanak, Salanak-Bala, sought to open the doors to the planes of fire where it was believed that Salamander lived. It was believed that Salamander was an ancient being that brought fire to the world. This misguided belief would be the eventual undoing of the Salanak. For years, the Anthologian and Tithes worked to open a portal to the realms of fire. Hundreds of years passed with offerings being made from the population, believing that blood was the necessary solution. Eventually, the liquid fire from the Salamander's Fire had been gathered. At once, the liquid was used to fill the pool set within the temple. An inferno rose from the shallow well as creatures of living fire sprang out. A portal had been made! But the creatures from within ran rampant, slaying those that remained in the temple before spreading to the town beyond. Engulfed in flames, the fire continued, burning the foundations of the temple and causing the earth beneath to burn and boil. The great temple, hundreds of feet tall, collasped and sunk down into the world. Charred remains of the people filled the halls. This was not the healing flames of Salamander, but the wrath of Zamigdral.
That which remains of Salanak is the Adder's Nest, a ruin of mysterious origin near Luam Cathwa. There are still many descendents of the Salanak that remain alive. Those that fled to the north still hold to original beliefs: the gift of life and the power of rebirth. To those that escaped from the temple, those beliefs were long forgotten. Now, they simply seek to survive.

Type

Geopolitical, Clan