Snake-People Tribe

Biodata

Background and History

The Snake-People fled a calamity in their Central Plains ancestral homeland more than eleven hundred years ago. Fewer than two hundred thousand reached the Northwest Territory, but they brought three Dou Zongs, dozens of Dou Huangs, and more than two hundred Dou Wangs. They destroyed the first two human empires that opposed them before a seventeen-nation coalition, assembled by the Heavenly Snake Mansion, defeated them 100 367.

To preserve her people, Ashes—the last surviving Dou Zong and first Medusa Queen of this branch—surrendered the Inheritance King Seal. The survivors moved into the barren Tagor Desert, where they founded the Holy City and eight major tribes. Their strength after the war had fallen to one Dou Zong and eight Dou Huangs 100 101 368.

Centuries of confinement brought further decline. During Cai Lin’s reign, she was the tribe’s only Dou Huang. She sought the Azure Lotus Core Flame to evolve, reach Dou Zong, lead her people out of Tagor, and eventually reclaim their ancestral land. The campaign to seize the flame instead ended with her apparent death. Before her defeat, she ordered Yue Mei to inherit the throne and withdraw with the tribe’s fighters 64 68 69. Yue Mei subsequently became Medusa Queen through the tribe’s inheritance rite 101.

Appearance and Society

• Snake-People have human upper bodies and snake tails; their tail colors vary among individuals 111 134 141.
• Tail-touching is considered rude, particularly toward someone unfamiliar 147.
• The Holy City has merchants, patrols, children, and elders, as well as the God Hall where the queen conducts affairs 100 134.
• Most of the Tagor Desert is unsuitable for settlement. Its oases sustain the tribe, including the lake and river beside the Holy City 133 384.

Leadership and Bloodline

• Medusa Queen is a title rather than a personal name. Cai Lin, Yue Mei, and Ashes have each borne it 101.
• Before taking the throne, a queen receives the Medusa Bloodline baptism in the Land of Inheritance. It can raise a Dou Wang to Dou Huang without preventing further cultivation 101.
• A reigning queen’s bloodline pressure can suppress weaker Snake-People. Yue Mei uses it to quell dissent among tribal elders 52 162.
• Mixed-blood children of humans and Snake-People can inherit sensitivity to Snake-People bloodline pressure. Qing Lin also possesses the rare Jade Eye Three Flower Pupils, which can affect snakes and Snake-People 52 63 132.

Military and Territory

• The tribe’s forces include the eight major tribes and the Queen’s Guard, whose captain under Cai Lin was Flower Snake 100 101.
• A three-thousand-strong Mei Snake Tribe force fought to rescue Cai Lin. Its warriors used rotating javelin volleys and fielded Dou Ling and Dou Wang combatants, despite lacking weapons comparable to the Gamma forces’ Dragon Slayer Crossbows 65 66 67.
• After Yue Mei’s accession, the tribe allied with the Gamma Empire and invaded Chuyun, capturing cities and fertile land—the first territorial expansion since its migration to Tagor 124 149 153.
• Yue Mei later kept that alliance rather than accept a rival empire’s offer. She appointed her sister Qi Lin to command reinforcements for the Gamma Empire 162 163 164.

Ancestral Land and Inheritances

• The Snake-People Ancestral Land lies at Qingmao Mountain in the Beast Region. Opening it requires both the Inheritance King Seal and the Medusa Bloodline 368 489.
• Its Royal Tombs contain treasures and inheritances left by earlier Medusa Queens; some tombs and their defenses remain intact 524 536.
• The damaged Black Tower houses the Eight Vicious, Eight Extremes, Eight Desolations Grand Array. Cai Lin says its eight phantoms could once contend collectively with a Dou Sheng, but destruction a thousand years earlier greatly weakened it 496.
• The Nine Nether Earth Hell Python Clan fought the Snake-People in the Beast Region a thousand years ago. When the ancestral land reopened, it sent the Nether Snake Guard to investigate and kill those inside 490 504 509.