The Senet
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
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Contents |
History
During the period of history known as Archaic Greece, the land was partitioned into small kingdoms, each ruled by individuals of varying morals. One such kingdom was that of Pausanias, to the northern region of the lands, ruled by a cruel, warring despot by name of Helikaon.
Helikaon believed in war; not in the refined sense which Athena stood for, but the brutish gore and blood-shed espoused by Ares. He took and seized what he could, from goods to lands to slaves. To produce reliable soldiers and underlings, he pressed himself upon as many women as he could, siring sons to carry on his harsh legacy. The daughters he sold or married off in alliances to further his own power.
His grasping hands reached far, and his “brides” came from many nations about the Mediterranean. Of particular interest in this tale are the three daughters he begot from his ill-gotten women from Egypt, the southern reaches of the Greek archipelago, and Babylon: Meskhanet, Euphrosyne and Anata.
Dropped around the same months, the girls were raised together by their mothers, in the ways of their people and how to survive Helikaon's cruel court. Wisdom ruled the eldest, Euphrosyne, while middle-born Meskhanet took to the blade for her defense. The youngest, Anata, was of a charm to placate man and beast. Together, they carved a niche of freedom for themselves, though the omnipresent shadow of their father's whims was constantly haunting them.
Euphrosyne was granted a dream from Athena; to escape with her sisters, and whatever women who would chance fate, to find a better life. There would be a boat awaiting them at midnight in the capital's harbor, if they would but trust in Athena. Being a devout follower of the goddess, Euphrosyne whispered this dream to her sisters, and they agreed that whatever the goddess held for them, it would be better than being sold off for their father's gain.
On the appointed day and hour, the trio and those they could convince stole down to the harbor to find a magnificent vessel draped in the colors and symbols of Poseidon. There was no crew aboard, but they trusted the gods to wisk them from danger and boarded the ship. For several days and nights the ship cut through the waters, taking them to some destination north-easternly from their home.
On the eve of the fifth day, the boat gently made contact with a pristine beach, and the daughters of Helikaon disembarked to see where the gods had taken them. They ascended a hill and walked through woods until the moon rose to its pinnacle, and beheld a trio of goddesses in a clearing hosting a gentle pool. Athena, Sekhmet and Ishtar stood before the daughters, and put before them an offer: remain here, build a city to welcome those who wish freedom from cruel masters, and remain devout to their worship. The goddesses had decided that these daughters had shown especial faith toward the native goddesses, and did not wish to see them lose the light that made each so unique.
The women agreed to the terms, and in time built the small domain that would be dubbed Trinitas. In the beginning, their work was hard and some of the women doubted, but the daughters of Helikaon remained strong and urged their sisters-in-arms to continue. The unmanned ship would return with more women from time to time, growing the population and bringing more talent to the city's efforts.
Some other gods lent their hand to the process, for their own gains but in general benevolence. With a speed that could only be likened to magic, a shining city blossomed from the forest, and word of it spread amongst the other nations around the seas. Initial thoughts were of skepticism, but when trading vessels bearing the standard of the city came to port with items of such luxury and skill so as to awe kings and princes, the skepticism faded.
Helikaon, however, grew to resent this new kingdom. In his heart, he feared these women would come to steal his kingdom, and in his fear decided this was never to be. He gathered an army and armed them well, thinking to take the city in an easy skirmish and bring these heathen women to their knees.
The warrior-women from Trinitas were not so lightly defeated, geared with weapons forged from Hephaetus' knowledge and taught the art of war from the grim-faced goddesses who were their patrons. They routed Helikaon's army to a man, but for a young half-blooded brother named Astyanax, who had come to try and persuade his fellows from their attack. Seeing his heart was true, they invited their brother to their city, and he came gladly.
Hearing of this defeat, Helikaon raged and sent another, larger army, headed by the aged tyrant himself. Again, the warriors from Pausanias were overcome, and their tyrant-killed perished on the battlefield.
Now wholly free, the women of Trinitas settled into a golden age of prosperity, using the gifts and talents granted to them from the gods to build a society of tolerance. Their warrior-women were renowned through the region as fierce fighters, surpassing most standing armies with more soldiers. As fierce as they were, they also held the reputation of being of a scholarly bend, of magic, and with fine hands as things such as jewelry, pottery and weaving. To be granted a blade of Trinitasian make was a great gift.
Their reputations were gilded by many tales; Herakles was said to have encountered a small colony of Trinitasian warriors on his trials. The War of Troy pitted sister against sister in its decade-long tragedy. When Persia came to besiege Greece, the warrior-women stood shoulder-to-shoulder with their Greek allies. Alexander himself took a bride from their peoples, a woman of such beauty and intelligence she dazzled the native rulers of the lands he eventually conquered.
However, as worship of their pantheon diminished and the monotheism of Christianity arose, the days of the city's glory were growing fewer. In a fury of being denied his lusts, and in his declining worship, the great sea-god Poseidon invoked his wrath on the marble city.
When great Antioch shook in the early years of the fifth century A.D., Trinitas was broken and fell into the sea, scattering her people into separate bands. While the other gods also turned away from them, Athena, Sekhmet and Ishtar remained true. Their power was waning, but they would not abandon the people whose faith never wavered.
After the Fall
In the following centuries, the women coined as “Amazons” would wander, founding small villages and cities throughout the Mediterranean, from Africa to the Holy Land to the Iberian Peninsula. During the Middle Ages, some would mask themselves as devotees to the Holy Virgin Mary, living among the nuns in convents. She would be added to their small group of worshiped deities, but to this day the numbers remain small in comparison to the main trio of goddesses.
In the modern age, there are three main communes of the former Trinitasian people – Cyprus Island, Ventimiglia in Italy, and outside of the city of Nekhel in Egypt. Ruins of former habitations dot the Mediterranean, rich in artifacts and lore of the warrior-women. While they have evolved to suit the modern times, they have held dearly to many of their ways, adapting them as needed. They are still fierce warriors; in fact, the more militant of the women now outnumber the mystics and the seers. They have piecemealed martial arts from cultures all over the world, developed a fighting system unmatched by most modern armies. Being comprised of many nationalities now, women who serve in the military return to their Trinitasian families to spread their knowledge of arms and warfare.
Their mystics are just as skilled, keeping worship of the ancient goddesses alive and strong. They dabble in other magics just as their soldiering sisters do, added occult knowledge from around the world to their libraries. Because their numbers are so small, they generally do not wander as much as the others.
Seers, the rarest of them all, never leave the communes. Should a Trinitasian seer appear before someone, her words are of greatest import and are irrefutable.
They speak the tongue of their foremothers, a language called simply Trinitasian, a congolmeration of Ancient Greek, Babylonian and Egyptian. They do adopt other languages as necessary, but the women generally converse amongst themselves in Trinitasian alone.
Men do number in their populations, though it is at a ratio of 1:10 in some communes. The Nekhel commune, for example, boasts only a handful of men, while the Ventimiglian one has the greatest number of males.
Each commune is ruled by a trio of women who adopt the names of their founding mothers, espousing the ideals and deciding on the day-to-day matters of each commune.
As a note, they generally do not like being called “Amazons”, and some more militant of the lot consider it a great offense.
The majority are normal women of exceptional skill. The preternatural gifts granted by the gods have waned with the diluting of their blood, but they do boast a good few super-powered beings. Some get their gifts from their fathers, while others succeed at quests from their goddesses to be granted beyond-human powers. The mystics have the greater number of gifted women, and the seers are all, as a rule, preternatural. The warriors seldom need such gifts, but do count several special women in their ranks.
Those Worshipped
Main Trinity plus One
Athena: Warfare; wisdom, weaving
Ishtar: Warfare; fertility
Sekhmet: Warfare; healing
Mary: The Virgin Mother of Jesus Christ, and the central feminine figure of the Christian world
Secondary Gods
Hephaetus: Taught them how to forge metals and craft awesome weapons.
Aphrodite: "eternal youth"; the earliest of Trinitasian women were unusually beautiful and long-lived, but in her jealousy (and waning power), Aphrodite took back her gifts. She's also fallen out of favor, but not wholly.
Isis: Mastery of magics great and small, mostly of a feminine flavor.
Thoth: Various medicines and oracular abilities.
Marduk: Also a patron of magic, mostly of the destructive-bend.
Shamash: Helped them develop their laws and ways of arbitration.
The Disavowed
Poseidon: Seafaring and ship-building skills. Has since fallen out of worship, given HE SANK THEIR CITY. Ass.
The Modern Age
Generally speaking, the members of the various houses and clans within the Senet who have any amount of superhuman ability are in the minority. In the classic age, with the proliferation of "deities" and their wont of dallying with mortal-kind, there were a number of notable Senet of more than human ability. There was, maybe, a 50/50 split, but even then the superhuman were not truly out of the ordinary. The handful of truly remarkable Senet were few, and thoroughly documented. The "Amazons" of legend that pepper Greek and Roman myths are bastardizations of the real women, but their might was just as noteworthy.
Penthesilea, for example, was the daughter of a Trinitasian warrior who bred with Ares. There were four daughters from the union, and each was known to be of extraordinary battle prowess. In the same vein, most of the powered Senet out in the world have escalated physical abilities, rather than anything too showy.
The ratio is also lower now - perhaps 15% of today's Senet have some kind of gift. The majority are Seers, Mystics and Warriors in that order. However, with the growth of mutations and other kinds of environmental changes, some in the Senet estimate that the ratio could escalate - with careful breeding.
Mentioning the prowess of old comes along with a "debate"; there are several movements, discreetly mentioned, about putting the "old power" back into the culture. These women believe that with careful breeding of their kind with the powered males around the world can spearhead a turn back towards the glory of old. It's a rather new philosophy, but it's been catching on with those in the houses and clans that watch the world around them, and what needs doing.
Of course it's opposed by those who feel the Senet are mighty enough as is. Considering few countries around the world utilize female combat operatives, they feel they have an advantage in that regard. Which country's intelligence agencies are going to really believe in a highly-organized, quickly-mobilized female force? The opposition to the "meta-movement" note their successful operations around the world, that all they needed was perfected training and clever agents to get done what needs doing. The two groups butt heads, but nothing larger has yet to manifest between the philosophies.
Each powered child goes through rigorous training. It doesn't matter how useful or strong the talent, they are trained in the varied uses of it. No talent goes unschooled, even if the Senet need to outsource for the appropriate teacher. Outstandingly powerful children are given especially hard training and an instilled sense of responsibility. Many of them, once they come of age, find a way to use their abilities for the better of all. There are more than a few special operatives, and heroes, with Senet blood and training.
Enhanced Strength, Durability, Speed and Reflexes are amongst the most popular superhuman abilities within the Senet. They tend to breed true down the lines, and are the easiest to train.
Those born with inherent mystical talent are apprenticed to Mystics of a similar vein. There are outside mage groups the Senet have contact with, and are sometimes used to help a child harness their otherworldly skills.
Children who have manipulation talents, like pyrokinesis and the like, are often lumped in with the ones who have psychic abilities. As such powers rely on willpower and mental endurance, they're schooled with the intentions of keeping their focus.
All children, no matter they be powered or not, are put through hand-to-hand and specific melee weapon courses. Your "average" Senet could be an Olympic-class fighter or acrobat, and often command high fees from government agencies as specialists or black-ops. Given the vast melting pot of cultures that currently comprise Senet populations, they have a big pool of unarmed combat techniques at their disposal.
And it goes to show, that if a mundane Senet asset can take care of her own, a powered one can truly become a one-woman army. They don't have a standing army due to their low population, but even the Seers are women of formidable skill. They'd sooner disengage, though, then take chances. Every Senet life is precious, and they would rather run then take a final stand.
The Populace
Many former homes of the Senet dot the Mediterranean ruin-space; old archaeological digs that find remnants of their nomadic migration around the inland sea. From the destruction of their home city, to the decline of the Renaissance, the bands of Senet roved the ancient world. Some followed in Alexander's wake, heading past great Persia to the Indian peninsula, but they never made it to the Asian continent. In the same vein, they never broke through past the Saharan Desert into the heart of Africa, nor have they ventured too far into the jungles of South America. Australian Senet are usually adoptees, and only operate in the traditional three-man groups.
Their city may be buried deeply, but the draw to their sacred land remains strong. Only the American Senet, and their few Canadian cousins, have traveled far from their homeland to establish new roots.
Cyprus
The Senet settled in chaotic Cyprus around the same time as they did in Italy, under hopes they could find a way to stabilize the religious and cultural clashes of the island. They are determined keepers of the island's great treasure trove of archaic and ancient ruins, doing their underhanded best to make sure the spirit of old Cyprus continues for the coming generations.
Nekhel
One of the oldest of the concrete population hubs that the Senet established, they have lived beside the Egyptians since the late 1600s. They hold onto tradition more tightly than some, having the "purest" version of the language of any of the groups.
As the most anachronistic, the Nekhellian Senet hold true to many rituals and customs that some of the other groups have abandoned. They have, though, adapted to a great many modern conventions.
Their ethnic bases is a variety of Middle Eastern peoples; Egyptian, Israeli, Palestinian, and so forth. While in the midst of the Islamic culture, they have ignored the less desirable teachings of that religion, and have fought long and hard in establishing equal rights for men and women. Many refugees from Islamic countries have found a sanctuary there.
Ventimiglia
As one of the younger communes, strictly speaking, they are second only to the Americans in their embrace of modern Western culture. That is partially the reason why they have the highest percentage of male Senet, even if their total population is not that great.
The Senet settled in their Italian roots in the early 1800s, carving out a niche as exemplary craftsmen. They have opposed mafioso rule, and worked alongside the Allies during both Great Conflicts.
Technologically-savvy, a great many of them are into modern espionage and computer warfare; the most hackers of the Senet come from their commune in Italy.
The Convents
Scattered throughout the U.K. and the northern-most parts of France and Germany, the various pseudo-Catholic convents are some of the oldest concrete settlements of Senet in Europe. Some have survived since the medieval ages.
Given that they had to adopt a Catholic exterior, the general opinion of the sisters is of gentle intellect. They host many free schools, and have been known as great repositories of religious literature. They even have homes for unwanted or abandoned children, and have a great many charities hosted for the benefit of families in need.
While they have adopted the worship of the Virgin Mary, they are still Senet through and through. Many great Crusaders have come from Senet lines, and the Vatican itself knows they are a devout and zealous group of warriors. Some even have connections to the secretive military orders of the Catholic Church.
The Americas
The Apostacy
Not all Senet, though, are aligned towards the betterment of humanity, or selfless in the approach of their nature. The truly dangerous ones are the Apostates, Senet who have turned their backs on their kin and history. These women and men have, for whatever reason, abandoned their blood for personal power, wealth or glory. They have betrayed everything for themselves, and can be truly terrible foes.
Most infamous of the Apostate is a woman they call The Scythe, for the weapon she usually employs. She is said to be the leader of a large criminal cartel in Brazil, spoken of in whispers behind closed doors. Several rival cartels have attempted to assassinate her, and have met with no luck. She is ruthless, brilliant and totally devoid of anything resembling compassion. She has also successfully killed most of the Senet that have come against her, and displays their gilded, jeweled skulls in her office.
"What The World Knows"
On a whole, the world is unaware that they exist. Their survival has always depended on their ability to blend in with the local people and culture, and they have become extremely adept at it. In fact, one of the primary reasons the original Trinitasian culture remains undiluted is due to the masquerade of blending. They have adopted certain local customs into their habits (ie - Native American rituals and magics, lore of the U.K.) but for the most part they keep their lives as Senet and as "civilians" separate.
Certain governments have an idea that a minority group exists in their countries.
Paramilitary groups know there's a specialized group of people with superior training available for recruitment and freelance work. In fact, it's one of the sure ways to run across a Senet.
Generally, as the demographic group gets smaller, the more they generally know. Extreme history buffs would call them "Amazons", but just like they don't know too much about the real Troy, so for the Senet. With the hoarding of their literature in the ruins of Trinitas, and the on-going meta-mission to keep anything remarking about the Senet in their own hands, much of the historical database of the Trinitas culture have faded into myth.
Assuredly, with the rise of heroes and the many different threats to humanity coming out of the woodwork, they could lose the mystique, but such habits are difficult to break.
