After the Great Conflagration erupted and plunged the world into chaos, nearly the entire continent of Africa would find itself cut off from the rest of the world. The native Africans would survive but they weren't the only ones who called Africa home. By the time World War 2 had reached its peak, many nations held colonies in Africa, most notably the British Empire. Now they were cut off from their homelands and fighting a war none of them were prepared for. Most banded together, doing anything they had to, to survive. They found they not only had to protect themselves against the Others but the natives as well. That was until Ingwezulu, the new leader of the rising Zulu Empire, took pity on them. They would have never survived the coming centuries alone as they were, and so he offered them a chance for survival. His Sangoma had found a way to potentially give his warriors a magical upper hand, though they needed volunteers for the dangerous rite. When he offered the broken people of other nations the chance to join him, to fight the Others with him, they agreed. They knew they weren't going to win on their own, knew that only death awaited them in this harsh land that was not their own.
They weren't the only volunteers, members of the many tribes of the Zulu Nation also agreed to join them in this spell casting. It took weeks for the preparations to be finished, and by the time it was over nearly five hundred men, women and children and 200 African Lions awaited their fate. It had taken quite the effort to capture the lions for the spell, it was supposed to imbue the lions strength into that of the human volunteers, turning them into elite warriors. No one had any idea what the true outcome could be, and potentially it could have been the worst disaster of his career. It took 20 Sangoma to cast the magic needed, the shock wave of the spell work knocking everyone and everything down for miles around. Out of the ashes rose something no one could have predicted.
They called themselves the People of the Sun, and they were larger than life. Each member of this new race easily hit 6 feet tall, with some towering over the others at 8 feet. Their bodies had been proportioned to their new height but they weren't the only ones changed. The Lions had also been altered, now they were giant behemoths capable of taking down an Elephant single handedly. It seemed the humans took strength from the lions, but the lions had also been gifted intelligence from the humans. Despite their different heritages, they would all rise up together and form a new tribe and one of Ingwezulu's favorites. They were his Elite.
The People of the Sun are not only much larger then a human, but they are also capable of taking more damage and healing faster. Instead of a week for a cut to heal it takes a matter of hours. They are stronger, twice as strong as a normal human some even noted to be three times as strong, faster, quicker, more agile then a normal human, and they have enhanced senses to match that of their lion counterparts, they can see farther, smell better, taste more, and hear far better then a normal human. Over the century and half of war, they have created their own customs and traditions. Most find them very savage and primal. They make their clothing and weapons out of the things they kill, trading with the other tribes as needed. From an early age, each member of the tribe is taught to hunt, to kill. They are all deadly with nearly anything that gets put into their hands. They are feared and respected amongst the Zulu Empire. They speak most of the common tongues, passed down through their own heritage as they are essentially a melting pot of genetics, but they have created their own hand language so they could more easily speak while out on secret missions against the Others.
Everything they do has to do with honor, for themselves and their people. They value strength and courage and respect and have no use for such things as cowardice or fear. The most notable warriors call themselves the Warriors of the Sun, they have an ability beyond that of their racial heritage. They have the ability to speak telepathically with the Dire Lions, and bond with them. They have a motto "From them, With them, For them." They learn to fight from the lions, then they learn to fight with them so they can fight for them. Their telepathic bond with the lions allows the Warriors of the Sun to communicate over long distances without speech, passing images and emotions between each other through their lions. A Warrior of the Sun is noted from birth, and they are paired with a lion cub early on. The two are raised together and trained together, becoming closer than siblings. While the lions have an increased life span due to the magical enhancement that made them, nothing is immortal. A lion who's warrior is killed will tend to go a little crazy, berserking into a rage to avenge them. When a Warrior's lion is killed, they will honor the lion by making a ceremonial robe out of its fur and a rather fearful mask out of his skull. When both have died, they will be burned together, an offering to the sun.
The other half of this coin is the Warriors of the Moon, these warriors do not share the telepathic ability of the Warriors of the Sun but they have something greater. They have been blessed with the ability to use magic in a variety of ways though most notable are their offensive abilities. They draw from the elements around them, Earth, Fire, Water, Air and Spirit. They can use these elements to heal, defend or kill as needed. They are fewer then the Warriors of the Sun but just as fierce and deadly with physical weapons as they are with their magic.
And last are the Warriors of the Stars, these wield no magic beyond their racial abilities, no telepathic link. They are simple warriors. Everyone in the tribe puts forth the effort to further the Tribe. Cooking, hunting cleaning, raising the children, farming, building. Nothing gets left undone simple because it was "someone else's job." Members of the tribe will often braid their hair and add ornamentation such as feathers, beads, and bells. The bells represent the number of foes they have killed in battle, and mark a sort of rank amongst them. They are perfectly capable of moving without causing the bells to ring out, a form of constant test. They also paint their faces in ceremonial designs, made to be a terrifying deterrent to their prey, as that is how they think of anyone who hasn't earned their respect.
The are led by The Sondaga, the position can be held by either a female or a male, though always by a Warrior of the Sun who's Lion has passed on. A warrior who no longer has the bond with their lion will not be sent back out on missions but be kept close to the tribe, never again to pick up a weapon though it will not stop them from fighting with their hands and feet...and teeth. Instead they choose to guide the tribe, allowing the younger members to do their jobs. The Sondaga is chosen from these warriors for their prowess in battle and tactical wisdom. The entire tribe is loyal to the Zulu Empire, working as a type of private army.
Fri Mar 13, 2015 7:22 pm by Guest
