Fiction:Vermillion Clan

This is a complete history of the Vermillion Clan, from its beginnings to the modern day.

Early Beginnings
While unbeknownst to most modern historians, the Lupotragus species hails from planet Lupara, a lost world somewhere near Ugandalore. The Vermillion Clan had its early beginnings in the Mulgyur tribes from the Iridessha Plains, on the western part of the continent of Ologtha. The Mulgyur were a nomadic people who rode horses across the plains. They were known to be powerful, untiring warriors, who were also entirely disunited. Each tribe was led by a Kymar, who was more god than king. These tribes fought each other relentlessly, but also faced competition from the neighboring Targhals, another vicious tribe. Several other tribes and family groups also inhabited the area. All of them fought and allied with each other too rapidly to keep track of.

In any case, the Kymar of one Mulgyur tribe was named Haegal. He was a generous but brutish leader, who fought many battles with other tribes, particularly the Targhals. One day, returning from a raid on another tribe, he was ambushed by Targhal warriors, who slew him with a hail of poisoned arrows. His son, Kaim, was considered next in line, but the tribe refused to follow him, instead choosing his uncle, Yamrouge. Kaim was left with about a dozen supporters, mainly his brothers, sisters, and blood brothers, who were loyal friends in Lupotragus customs. The group fled into a group of mountains known as the Vermillion Mountains, called so for their red color caused by an ample supply of cinnabar.

In the Vermillion Mountains, Kaim and his followers found a community of Lupotragii living inside them, deep in tunnels and caves. They painted their bodies with cinnabar, performed strange rituals, and called themselves the Ingmashi - Cave People in an ancient Lupotragus tongue. The Ingmashi tied up Kaim and his group, preparing them for sacrifice. However, Kaim started speaking of strange things the Ingmashi had never heard of, like forging weapons from fire and rock. He spoke of many things, to the point that the Ingmashi cave people became terrified of him, thinking him to be a vengeful god sent to test their faith. They quickly released him and his friends.

Rather than fleeing, Kaim played on the cave peoples' fear of him, and convinced them he was a god. He gathered all the Ingmashi in the mountains, about two thousand of them. Proclaiming himself to be Kamar'shayii - the God-King, Kaim taught the Ingmashi many things about battle tactics and the production of weapons and armor. The Ingmashi, already fierce warriors, caught on quickly, and formed the core of Kaim's new army. Kaim made his dozen companions generals in his arm, and set out against the nearest tribe, the Blackarms. Kaim smashed them quickly and gave all surrendered warriors the chance to join him. When many refused, he started burning people alive. This quickly changed the minds of the Blackarms, who all submitted to Kaim's leadership. Word quickly spread to nearby tribes, who all became terrified of Kaim. As he moved from tribe to tribe, clan to clan, almost all submitted without a fight. Those who did often found themselves in higher positions than those who peacefully surrendered.

By the time Kaim believed his army to be strong enough, he had conquered 137 tribes, totaling 20,000 men. An extraordinary number, given Lupara's small population at the time. Each warrior received a set of lamellar armor, painted with lacquer made from cinnabar from the Vermillion Mountains. In recognition of where he would find his future, Kaim gave himself the surname of Vermillion, becoming Kaim Vermillion. Those who followed him he named his clan, and all in his clan adopted the same surname. The Vermillion clan had been born. However, even with his newfound might, Kaim still had one goal in mind: his uncle Yamrouge and his home tribe. By this time, Yamrouge had united most of the Mulgyur tribes into one confederation. However, they frequently squabbled and skirmished with one another, unlike the closely coordinated Vermillion clan. Eventually, Kaim's army marched west, back to the Iridessha Plains. Yamrouge, having heard tales of his nephew's army, sent his own force, 10,000 warriors riding horse, to meet them in the field. Over the course of six hours, the Vermillions shattered the cavalry.

As the Mulgyur riders mounted several charges against the better trained and equipped Vermillion army, the Vermillions slowly closed their formation around the riders, whose horses they killed with long lances. Finally, after losing almost half of their horses and a third of their men, the Mulgyur riders surrendered. Kaim, who had fought viciously himself during the battle, offered the Mulgyurs the chance to join his army, an offer all of them accepted. Kaim then brought up the Mulgyur tradition of blood brothers, and declared that all 7,000 surviving warriors would be his. Ordering his army to regroup, Kaim set out to conquer the final stronghold of his uncle.