Blackbloods

The Black-Blooded was a tribal civilisation in the Iron Desert that perished with the end of the Thousand-Year War . Its capital city was named Ch'kth'chir, having since been renamed Shtvakhír . At the height of their power they controlled a large portion of the northern Mír region and held a dozen settlements. 
==History==
The origins of the black-blooded civilisation is contemporary with that of the Eshárenja, starting off as a band of warriors who decided to excessively consume insect flesh (believed to imbue strength but inflict long-term damage to the body) and began worshipping an insect spirit by the name of Evčen-Istenkáh. Just like the Eshárenja had the custom to do, they manufactured thousands of little clay figurines of the insect god which they put everywhere. Most of these figurines are gone now, but a few remain as a historical relic of considerable significance.
The black-bloods rose to prominence when the Eshárenja turned against them and their worship and a war began between the two, a war in which the Esháren'ja were betrayed by their allies and were hunted down to near-extinction. Only a few dozen of the Esháren'ja survived and migrated north, while the insect-worshipping cult became popular in the region. It remained a strong presence until the early Bronze Age, where the surviving Esháren'ja had reincarnated as the Vht'shjenjé and sought revenge. What followed was the Thousand-Year War of the bloods, between the Mósharenja and the Vht'shjenjé.
The war raged on with neither side gaining the upper hand, until the fateful campaign by the Mósharenja general Arthyrín Shkéchebé, who raised a powerful army of 10.000 warriors to march upon the Vht'shjenjé capital of Varvardnársh . The heart of the Shadowborn city was invaded, and saw the location of the most bitter and bloody battle in the history of the Iron Desert. In the climax of the battle, Arthyrín was slain by the Shadowborn hero Nashéniren, and the invasion was eventually foiled and the great army destroyed. This was the beginning of the end of the Mósharenja civilisation, as neighboring tribes began turning against them, just the fate that had happened to the Eshárenja a thousand years earlier.
In the final battle of Ch'kth'chír, the Azure Army broke into the city and destroyed its defences, and the last surviving members of the ruling family sacrificed themselves by flooding their own city, destroying it along with the last remnant of the Black-blooded civilisation. Shortly thereafter, the Shadowborn hunted down and destroyed the final remnants of the black-bloods.
As large portions of the black-blooded population was assimilated into the Shadowborn civilisation, many of its citizens today have Mósharenja ancestry. As a result, many of their innovations in culture and technology are no longer associated with them. Their invention of large steam-chimneys cutting through the rock from underground springs for heating, cooking and bathing is a common sight now in Shadowborn settlements, and the unique writing system employed by them, the so-called Black Runes, still see limited use in the desert. There are also a number of loanwords of Mósharenja origin in the Shadowborn language .
==Religion==
The defining characteristic of the black-bloods was the religion, the worship of insect-spirits such as Evčen-Istenkáh and many others. It was centered around shamans consuming insect flesh and sacrificing live people by throwing them in insect pits to be consumed alive. Blood-magic and human sacrifice were common themes among the black-bloods and many Shadowborn men and women faced terrible ends in this way.
Most of the insect-cult has subsequently been destroyed and details around the worship has been lost forever in time, although it is rumoured that the Shadowborn government does indeed maintain a large library of scrolls that they captured from the ruins of Ch'kth'chír, later renamed into Shtvakhír.
Category:NPC tribes
Category:History
Category:Genocided tribes