Doing Your Homework

Given their last, less than tasteful encounter with the Leader of the nomadic Kai’en Clan, Tiana had decided that it would be best for her to get to know who she was dealing with before she further engaged herself in any activities with the strange woman who seemed to have taken an interest in her.

Tiana scoffed lightly now as she thought back on it all, she had seen those tactics before and it reminded her most closely of a spider playing with if food, a spider like her father.  She had seen Rayad Demar engage in such activities before, but never with any of the women that he would eventually take as wives, this sort of behaviour was reserved for play things and concubines.  Tiana scoffed once again, clearly this woman did not know who she was dealing with, as the daughter of one of the most powerful men in Terra and a descendant of the most powerful Oyan clan, Tiana was to be no one’s play thing.

Tiana would what as the information which the Demai had collected on the Kai’en flashed across her screen, drawing an intrigued look from the Shifter as she read through the origins of the Kai’en Leaders.  As the last descendents of the original Jin clan, the Kai’en had directly inherited a number of their traits and practices, most noticeable their dark skin and white hair as well as their affinity for biotechnology.  Tiana read on now, learning of the original Jin clan and their demise.  As it seemed, the clan lost their stronghold in this part of the world during one of the Guardian-Destroyer wars, something that was apparently rather common in Oya.  Due to the nature of such battles and the sheer scale and level of violence which they involved it was almost a guarantee for these entities to destroy the land in which these battles took place.  As such, in addition to actually trying to win these wars, guiding these wars so that they took place in specific areas also seemed to be a major part of the power balance in Oya, as this provided the primary opportunity for clans to be wiped out without a major application of resources.  Such was the fate of the original rules of both Jin and Aianores.

Fortunately for the Jin, unlike the kingdom of Aianores, they had managed to leave behind quite the legacy.  Despite their departure, they were succeeded by four known races:

The Shadesmith, a clan formed on the eve of the destruction of Jin, created through the elevation of a low social class of extremely powerful warrior assassins.  These simple but noble men were charged with keeping the piece in Jin after the original clan was no longer around to see to it.  Over time, as these simple soldiers continued in their task, the small Shadesmith clan expanded both physically and politically, embracing their calling and reclaiming the lands of Jin in the absence of their original masters.  Being soldiers at heart however, the Shadesmith take more strongly to protecting and enforcing the laws of Jin, rather than dictating the lives of its people.

Shii’gdre, or shadow drakes, were one of the most powerful biotech weapons ever to be developed by the original Jin clan, designed as guardians with the primary directive or protecting those weaker than themselves and to guard the remnant technology of the Jin clan, from those that would seek to use it for the wrong purposes.

The Shadowsong, another biotech protect designed to watch over and maintain the devastating remnant technologies of the original Jin clan, so that should they return the technology would be at their disposal.

And Finally The Kai’en, their direct descendants who were entrusted with the task of maintaining the Nix in the absence of the original clan of Jin, and acting as the place holders of their bloodline should the clan ever be granted the opportunity of a re-emergence.  As Tiana got this information now, she pushed further inwards into the customs of the Kai’en and specifically the information provided on their rulers.  Unlike most other lines, the Kai’en did not have a royal family per se, but instead possessed a single Clan leader who was genetically bred for the purpose.  For this reason, their rulers were not imparted with the ability to bear young, preventing the possibility of any fueds over who would assume the throne in the event of the demise of the currently ruler.  In such cases, a new clan leader was simply bred specifically for such a role.  Each clan leader would be created with certain genetic behavioural traits that enabled them to perform the roles intended of them.  Unfortunately, outside of these primary traits necessary for leadership the rest of their qualities are acquired as randomly as that of any other naturally born member of their clan.

Their current ruler, Serif Erani Kai’en III, seemed to embody the decadence that had befallen the Kai’en.  Though she was a natural born leader, loved by her people, she was a ruthless combatant, one that had never seen defeat on the battlefield in all of her 150 years.  In fact it was she that had promoted the recently acquired marauder mentality of the Kai’en, knowing full well that the Shadesmith clan, who were still loyal to the Jin, would only act to attempt to prevent their marauding, but would never actually attempt to bring harm to the only clan that still bore the blood of their previous masters.  This change, though morally condemnable, had actually brought the Kai’en into a more prosperous time and the people loved her for it.  This allowed them to more easily ignore her more questionable private activities as Serif began to take interest in the more primal pleasures of life, taking full advantage of her inability to reproduce and simply doing as she pleased with her body, and those who were either willing or unable to stop her.  Tiana’s look of disgust grew now, drawing the attention of Jayce Falco as he entered the room.

“What are you doing?”  He inquired coldly, causing Tiana to swivel her chair to face him.

“Getting to know our allies.”  Tiana replied without emotion.

“And what do you now know of them?” Jayce pressed further.

“They appear to be valuable allies, but their queen is despicable.” Tiana replied now, outwardly expressing her disdain for the woman.

“Is this a problem?”  Jayce inquired now, attempting to ascertain whether or not this was something that would need to be delt with in the future, one way or another.

“I don’t believe so, as a leader she is exemplary, as a warrior she’s invincible and as a business woman she’s brilliant.  The fact that she is morally bankrupt only makes her a more attractive partner for our father.”  Tiana explained in a rather detached tone.  “Could she reproduce, I’m sure that Rayad would waste no time seducing and bedding her.”  She continued.

“Good then, so this will not be a problem.”  Jayce stated, causing Tiana to smile faintly.

“Of course not.” She replied, as Rule and Jais now entered the room.

“It seems that we have received our task for the Kai’en, awaiting your orders Sergeant.” Jais sounded upon entry, Tiana would simply nod and pull up the encrypted mission briefing file so that the four could peruse it.

“Quite the test...”  Tiana stated.

“Yeah... should be fun.”  Rule grinned now, drawing a side glance from Jais.

“Uh huh...”