The Red Lotus Rebellion
The Red Lotus Rebellion
Althought the spider-kin elves were once part of the largest clan of mountain elves, the Blue Lotus, their war against the Blue Lotus isn't exactly a rebellion, as they had long since been exiled and left for dead in the great swamps. The Red Lotus, however, are a different story.
The Red Lotus clan is even older than the Blue Lotus, though it's hard to say how much older, as both have histories that stretch back into the mists of time. According to the myths of both clans, the new clan formed when Red Lotus elves expanded into new territory, crossing a great plain and, many days later, finding their way into the foothills of a new mountain range that they would one day call home. When they became established, their largest port city, Anaron, flourished, benefitting from trade up the north coast to other Red Lotus clan holdings and down the coast to the lands of the newly-discovered q'tari, whose unusual culture fascinated the Red Lotus. Trappings of that culture went for a premium up the coast, and Anaron raked in the profit.
Unfortunately for the Red Lotus, the coastal mountain area they had settled in had been claimed by both lamia and naga. The new settlements were not welcome, but the Red Lotus clan's arrival was greeted only with suspicion and curiosity by the naga while the lamia almost immediately sought to destroy them, and planned to use them in their war against the naga.
Some exposition is required with regard to the lamia and the naga as they manifested in Enthion: Both species bear more resemblance to their real-world mythic origins than their popular use in fantasy settings, though the naga are closer to begin with. Both of these species are serpentine humanoids with upper torsos resembling humanoids and lower bodies resembling snakes. Both are powerful and innately magical beings. The lamia tend to despise others, hailing from an aggressive, isolationist culture, whereas the naga are quite varied, but mostly keep to themselves peaceably, though some naga are quite curious about other cultures.
Both lamia and naga can take the form of humanoids, and the more advanced magic-users among them could walk among them to study the culture. The better they got at this, the easier it was to destroy the clan from within, though that was the aim of the lamia, not the naga...it was a simple task to pin everything on the naga, however, and the devious lamia did just that. A moon-worshipping cult formed in the woods, started by a lamia trickster known as Niori. When the cult reached a size of about a hundred elves, Nioiri figured he would be found out soon, so he planned the cult's demise. A major ceremony was planned one night, one that required everyone's presence. Once gathered, the lamia, in serpentine form, surrounded the Red Lotus elves of the moon cult and fell on them, tearing them to pieces. The devious Niori then took elven form and ran to the town, crying out that their entire cult had been killed by vicious naga. A few of the cult's elves were also allowed to live, believing they had escaped on their own...and since the Red Lotus didn't yet know the lamia from the naga, their tales of horror corroborated Niori's story, and a war on the naga began.
Several smaller communities of Red Lotus further inland, however, had befriended groups of naga. The naga told them it had to be the trickery of the lamia at work, which it was, and they believed them. As a result, when the port city of Anaron sent its army into the wilds to hunt the naga, the southern Red Lotus refused to send troops. The resulting civil dispute led the elves of Anaron, under the leadership of Perin Sorolas, to declare themselves the independent Blue Lotus clan, the civilized and inevitable evolution of the Red Lotus clan. By this time, Anaron was the richest city of the Red Lotus, and they wielded more consolidated power than their original faction in the north. When they called on the clan to declare its allegiance and evolution, they did. All but the smattering of southern, inland clans began to identify as The Blue Lotus clan, and anyone still identifying as the Red Lotus was to be seen and treated as an unevolved savage. This was true even in the far north, where several of the oldest Red Lotus clans refused to submit to the Blue Lotus.
But none of this is the Red Lotus rebellion...it's the story of the fall of the Red Lotus. But those few clans survived and thrived, largely with the help of the naga, who did not forget their loyalty. To this day, the Blue Lotus blame the naga for many of their ills, and the naga are painted as monsters in the education of Blue Lotus youths. The lamia eventually revealed themselves to The Blue Lotus as other victims of the naga, and were "taken in" by the Blue Lotus. While many still live in the wild, great numbers travel freely in Blue Lotus lands, serving as advisors and battlemages of renown. Many have been taken in by their adopted culture's indoctrination, but quite a few continue to harbor a secret hatred for all other beings, including the Blue Lotus, whom they see as mere tools.
Fast forward thousands of years. Anaron, once the capital of the Blue Lotus, has been supplanted by nearby Taerythia, another early port that was ultimately deemed more defensible than Anaron. The Blue Lotus still thrive, but they have suffered major losses to the Spider-Kin in recent years. The naga have been pushed far to the southeast, beneath the Glasswood, along with scattered Red Lotus elves who still cooperate with them. They are cut off from the bulk of the remaining Red Lotus, far to the northwest at the end of the Andular mountains in Pelan and Olinethia.
When the spider-kin emerged from their swamp arcologies seeking nothing less than world domination, the Blue Lotus lands were their first choice, though they soon boldly and successfully fought on multiple fronts, going against historical wisdom intentionally to strike fear into their opponents...and succeeding in doing so. But they began by taking some key Blue Lotus holdings near the swamps that cut off clan supply routes and gave them port access (from Lyrin). It should be remembered that the spider-kin were once part of the Blue Lotus clan, and some of them have ancestry dating all the way back to the Red Lotus. They knew the Red Lotus had been shunned, of course, but some also knew of the cultural deception that wrongly branded them...and they knew the power of the naga, who had long fought the Blue Lotus out of necessity, a much larger and more powerful force than that of the lamia before the betrayal, and still a potent force in the southeast. So the Spider-Kin asked the Red Lotus to rebel, offering assistance, as the Red Lotus were still claimed by the Blue Lotus and treated as second-class citizens. And many did, at least in the southeast. With the help of both the naga and the spider-kin, the Blue Lotus were repeatedly repelled from some of the old naga and Red Lotus lands, and eventually, the spider-kin helped them take Biren, the third-largest port city on the coast and an early Red Lotus city that had long since been taken and repurposed by the Blue Lotus. The Red Lotus Rebellion was considered over at that point, as both the Red Lotus and the naga wanted no more to do with the spider-kin's expansionist, aggressive tendencies, which were not unlike those of the Blue Lotus. They didn't want to make enemies of them, however, and a treaty was drawn up that placed them in charge of holding all old and new Red Lotus territory with the help of the naga, who signed on only if their lands were off-limits to the spider-kin. The Kin's Queen D'Neve agreed almost too quickly, but the deal was struck.
The spider-kin had no desire to fight the terms, as they had a clear victory and other battles to fight. The rebellion was an unqualified success, but it has only served to deepen the distrust and cultural hatred from one clan to the other.
Althought the spider-kin elves were once part of the largest clan of mountain elves, the Blue Lotus, their war against the Blue Lotus isn't exactly a rebellion, as they had long since been exiled and left for dead in the great swamps. The Red Lotus, however, are a different story.
The Red Lotus clan is even older than the Blue Lotus, though it's hard to say how much older, as both have histories that stretch back into the mists of time. According to the myths of both clans, the new clan formed when Red Lotus elves expanded into new territory, crossing a great plain and, many days later, finding their way into the foothills of a new mountain range that they would one day call home. When they became established, their largest port city, Anaron, flourished, benefitting from trade up the north coast to other Red Lotus clan holdings and down the coast to the lands of the newly-discovered q'tari, whose unusual culture fascinated the Red Lotus. Trappings of that culture went for a premium up the coast, and Anaron raked in the profit.
Unfortunately for the Red Lotus, the coastal mountain area they had settled in had been claimed by both lamia and naga. The new settlements were not welcome, but the Red Lotus clan's arrival was greeted only with suspicion and curiosity by the naga while the lamia almost immediately sought to destroy them, and planned to use them in their war against the naga.
Some exposition is required with regard to the lamia and the naga as they manifested in Enthion: Both species bear more resemblance to their real-world mythic origins than their popular use in fantasy settings, though the naga are closer to begin with. Both of these species are serpentine humanoids with upper torsos resembling humanoids and lower bodies resembling snakes. Both are powerful and innately magical beings. The lamia tend to despise others, hailing from an aggressive, isolationist culture, whereas the naga are quite varied, but mostly keep to themselves peaceably, though some naga are quite curious about other cultures.
Both lamia and naga can take the form of humanoids, and the more advanced magic-users among them could walk among them to study the culture. The better they got at this, the easier it was to destroy the clan from within, though that was the aim of the lamia, not the naga...it was a simple task to pin everything on the naga, however, and the devious lamia did just that. A moon-worshipping cult formed in the woods, started by a lamia trickster known as Niori. When the cult reached a size of about a hundred elves, Nioiri figured he would be found out soon, so he planned the cult's demise. A major ceremony was planned one night, one that required everyone's presence. Once gathered, the lamia, in serpentine form, surrounded the Red Lotus elves of the moon cult and fell on them, tearing them to pieces. The devious Niori then took elven form and ran to the town, crying out that their entire cult had been killed by vicious naga. A few of the cult's elves were also allowed to live, believing they had escaped on their own...and since the Red Lotus didn't yet know the lamia from the naga, their tales of horror corroborated Niori's story, and a war on the naga began.
Several smaller communities of Red Lotus further inland, however, had befriended groups of naga. The naga told them it had to be the trickery of the lamia at work, which it was, and they believed them. As a result, when the port city of Anaron sent its army into the wilds to hunt the naga, the southern Red Lotus refused to send troops. The resulting civil dispute led the elves of Anaron, under the leadership of Perin Sorolas, to declare themselves the independent Blue Lotus clan, the civilized and inevitable evolution of the Red Lotus clan. By this time, Anaron was the richest city of the Red Lotus, and they wielded more consolidated power than their original faction in the north. When they called on the clan to declare its allegiance and evolution, they did. All but the smattering of southern, inland clans began to identify as The Blue Lotus clan, and anyone still identifying as the Red Lotus was to be seen and treated as an unevolved savage. This was true even in the far north, where several of the oldest Red Lotus clans refused to submit to the Blue Lotus.
But none of this is the Red Lotus rebellion...it's the story of the fall of the Red Lotus. But those few clans survived and thrived, largely with the help of the naga, who did not forget their loyalty. To this day, the Blue Lotus blame the naga for many of their ills, and the naga are painted as monsters in the education of Blue Lotus youths. The lamia eventually revealed themselves to The Blue Lotus as other victims of the naga, and were "taken in" by the Blue Lotus. While many still live in the wild, great numbers travel freely in Blue Lotus lands, serving as advisors and battlemages of renown. Many have been taken in by their adopted culture's indoctrination, but quite a few continue to harbor a secret hatred for all other beings, including the Blue Lotus, whom they see as mere tools.
Fast forward thousands of years. Anaron, once the capital of the Blue Lotus, has been supplanted by nearby Taerythia, another early port that was ultimately deemed more defensible than Anaron. The Blue Lotus still thrive, but they have suffered major losses to the Spider-Kin in recent years. The naga have been pushed far to the southeast, beneath the Glasswood, along with scattered Red Lotus elves who still cooperate with them. They are cut off from the bulk of the remaining Red Lotus, far to the northwest at the end of the Andular mountains in Pelan and Olinethia.
When the spider-kin emerged from their swamp arcologies seeking nothing less than world domination, the Blue Lotus lands were their first choice, though they soon boldly and successfully fought on multiple fronts, going against historical wisdom intentionally to strike fear into their opponents...and succeeding in doing so. But they began by taking some key Blue Lotus holdings near the swamps that cut off clan supply routes and gave them port access (from Lyrin). It should be remembered that the spider-kin were once part of the Blue Lotus clan, and some of them have ancestry dating all the way back to the Red Lotus. They knew the Red Lotus had been shunned, of course, but some also knew of the cultural deception that wrongly branded them...and they knew the power of the naga, who had long fought the Blue Lotus out of necessity, a much larger and more powerful force than that of the lamia before the betrayal, and still a potent force in the southeast. So the Spider-Kin asked the Red Lotus to rebel, offering assistance, as the Red Lotus were still claimed by the Blue Lotus and treated as second-class citizens. And many did, at least in the southeast. With the help of both the naga and the spider-kin, the Blue Lotus were repeatedly repelled from some of the old naga and Red Lotus lands, and eventually, the spider-kin helped them take Biren, the third-largest port city on the coast and an early Red Lotus city that had long since been taken and repurposed by the Blue Lotus. The Red Lotus Rebellion was considered over at that point, as both the Red Lotus and the naga wanted no more to do with the spider-kin's expansionist, aggressive tendencies, which were not unlike those of the Blue Lotus. They didn't want to make enemies of them, however, and a treaty was drawn up that placed them in charge of holding all old and new Red Lotus territory with the help of the naga, who signed on only if their lands were off-limits to the spider-kin. The Kin's Queen D'Neve agreed almost too quickly, but the deal was struck.
The spider-kin had no desire to fight the terms, as they had a clear victory and other battles to fight. The rebellion was an unqualified success, but it has only served to deepen the distrust and cultural hatred from one clan to the other.
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