The Grey Brotherhood [-K S-]

The official and original Kiith Soban clan, from Homeworld. 1999 - History: The origins of Kiith Soban, the "Grey Brotherhood," are somewhat hazy. It appears that two vassal kiithid, who held lands along the second sea, were invaded by the temple men of a strong neighboring kiith. The vassals fought back furiously, defending their homes with desperate and furious strength, and succeeded in killing a few of the raiding kiith. In revenge, the invaders punished the survivors brutally, although they had already surrendered. Many of the basic taboos of Kharakian society were violated; all the children of the farmers were murdered, as well as the leader, man or woman, of every family. Those that remained were driven from their holdings and fled across the Sparkling Desert to carry the news of these atrocities to their kiith'sa. The leader of this group was Soban, later known as Soban the Red. When he knelt before his Sa he recounted the horrors that the neighboring kiith had committed against his people and demanded vengeance. He offered to personally lead the army that would ravage the invaders and teach them the error of their ways, and waited for the men and women of his kiith'sa to join him in a rush across the Sparkling Desert. Unfortunately, this support was never to come. Soban's kiith'sa, afraid of the possible repercussions-or perhaps simply realizing that their kiith was not strong enough to prevail against a larger and stronger kiith-refused to attack the reavers. Instead, the smaller kiith became vassals to the larger, joining their blood to the blood of the murderers. When he heard of this, Soban tore the colors of his kiith from his body in shame. His followers did the same, and in doing so they abandoned their kiith completely--an unheard-of gesture at the time, especially coming as it did from landless men and women. According to legend, Soban declared at that time that the word "kiith" was meaningless, when any kiith'sa could turn a deaf ear to the blood of children crying from the ground. He vowed that he would never belong to any false kiith again-the only kiith which deserved the word was the kiith of spirit, the brotherhood of like mind and shared ambitions. All the followers of Soban took a new color: a deep and vivid red, the color of blood flowing from the heart. Although they could not have been many, their first act as a kiith was a successful attack on the holdings which had once been their homes. When they left their old farms behind, not a blade of grass was left green or one stone standing on top of another-everything was razed and every invader killed, in ways which gave Kiith Soban a bloody reputation for years to come. Kiith Soban became a martial kiith from then on, and as years passed a peculiar set of rituals developed among them. Although many other warrior kiith existed at the time, those kiiths were standard in their aims and organization; they were martial to the extent that they desired the property and possessions of their weaker neighbors. Only the Soban were completely landless, and existed purely as mercenaries. To this day, the Sobanii are completely devoid of standard family groupings. No "marriage," as such, is permitted among their ranks; although male and female Sobanii are permitted to form whatever alliances they might want, there is no such thing as a Sobanii child. Children born to the Soban are left as foundlings with other kiiths, or their parents are made to leave Kiith Soban to raise them.