Schamm the Empty :: (Read-Only)

Description
Once, very long ago, two Asherati tribes met beneath the shadow of a massive pillar of rock, deep within the Great Wasteland. They met there to trade supplies, exchange information about the changes in the waste, and - most importantly - to swap stories and build alliances between the two tribes. Unfortunately for the two sister tribes, there was more significance to the great pillar of stone than as just a simple landmark. It was also a place of crossing to the Ethereal plane, and a Xill hunting group watched down upon the tribe below them hungrily. Alone on the pillar or in the Ethereal plane they had few chances to truly satisfy the wanton bloodlust that drove them. And so, they descended on the Asherati, and only the most swift were lucky enough to dive to safety beneath the sand. Some Xill deigned to kill Asherati immediately - and the Xill relished the ingenuity of their killing - but others showed the restraint to detain, to wound the Asherati, and to use them as playthings. They tortured many of them, and many of those to death.

It was several months later that one of the survivors, a female Asherati by the name of Ist'sammila Raaji gave birth to a son. The other Asherati were shocked and horrified by the appearance of the baby boy. His eyes were black and bright, his rust-brown skin covered in streaks of ruby-red, two fanged mandibles at the corner of his mouth, and, most notably of all, four clawed arms.

In shame, Ist'sammila and her son, Schamm (meaning, in Asherati messanic, "beloved") were exiled from the tribe. And, for a while, life was good for young Schamm. He loved swimming beneath the sands, leaping above and diving back down again. He loved playing with the small burrowing creatures, and singing songs of his own creation. He knew nothing of the tribe, and knew not that there was anything wrong with his abnormal number of arms, or with his mother's scars. For all he knew, these differences between were natural things, like her height or swimming grace.

He was barely 9 years old when his Ist'sammila passed away. Maybe it was the injuries she sustained at the hands of the Xill, maybe it was the strain of living apart from the tribe, or perhaps it was just the natural way of things, Schamm never knew. For a child living alone in the desert, life was surprisingly easy. He realized that if he focused hard enough, he could make himself insubstantial, like a ghost, and he could swim through anything, and return to normal, making hunting a task of supreme ease. But this ghost world also had its own dangers. Strange, hideous, and unfeeling beasts populated this world, and Schamm had to be careful not to be seen by them. When this failed, he would often run, and, when he was older, he would sometimes fight.

Despite being completely alone, Schamm never felt anything resembling "loneliness." He reveled in the peace and the solace of the desert, and of the darkness beneath the sand. As a young man roaming about the desert, he would sometimes encounter other Asherati. Many would be repelled by his appearance, but others would listen to his words on peace, and on the quietude of the desert. In time, he gathered a following, and his followers attracted others, sometimes even tribe leaders. Around his lonely band of followers, he built a tribe, preaching peace, goodwill, and the strength of independence, and around these tenants, he built a clan consisting of a half dozen tribes. Amongst those of his clan, he was hailed as a visionary, a great leader. Amongst those of other clans, he was a demon, a false prophet, and the story of his birth - passed down by the members of his mother's old tribe - was used often as a proof of this. There were still others who envied his position as clan leader, and wished to fight him for it, by Asherati law. The strange powers he inherited from his blood combined with the knowledge he learned in the ghost world, made him a combatant that none could defeat, and yet he never killed those who he defeated, a direct violation of Asherati law and tradition. Those in his clan hailed him in his mercy, and it was only one of the progressive laws Schamm instituted in his time.

Then one day, Schamm Raaji
He became a K'rithnaga, when the god of pestilence explained that truly, entropy is the most pure sense of peace.
disappeared. He told nobody where he planned to go, and none of the sentries saw him leave. In time, it became appearant that wherever he had gone, he was not returning, and his son took over leadership of the clan, and held it against all contenders for many years. The Raaji clan persevered for countless generations, and for half a millennia, every Asherati with a red birthmark claimed Raaji lineage.