NEFERTEM
The basic warrior clans of the Nefertem exemplify the vengeance aspect of Sakhmet
and their holy mission. Teeming with numbers, they drive their young before them,
swamping the enemy while helping to control their own population. This vanguard of
new litters are augmented by their Aged superiors and their Dwarven Rat Clan allies.
Jarri add to the enemies' confusion with their poisoned arrows, while Ma'ahes
warriors and Prophets guide the Nefertem along the path of the gods and battle. One
of the many products of the Prophets' guidance are the Blessed Brethren, common rats
formed into perfect tools for the Massacre by the grace of the goddess.
NOSOPHORUS
True religious fanatics, the Nosophorus concentrate on the pestilence aspect of
Sakhmet. The whirling dervish War Monks and Disciples usually convert heretics by
spreading disease, but are content to make more pointed theological arguments in
person. The Chalicebearers believe that those who refuse to acknowledge the beauty
of plague merely need a more personal experience with it in order to be saved.
Protected by their Bishops' strong faith and led by their holy berserker rages, a
Nosophorus offense is not one easily endured.
QURAI
When the Massacre seemed at an end, most Nefertem either wandered away or fought
among themselves. The Qurai found inspiration by reverting to their parasitic
origins. The Dwarves were a rising race at this point in history and the far-seeing
Qurai decided to subvert a smaller Clan, whose Gods had abandoned it. In return for
food, tribute and shelter from the scrutiny of other races, the Qurai shared the
technology they stole from the Stygian and assasinated the Clan's enemies. After
the Wilding the Qurai's allies was the first to recover, now calling themselves the
Rat Clan and first to master their new "Totems." The only reason the Qurai aren't a
major Dwarven Clan today is their inherent laziness and the (justified) fear that
the other Clans would combine to destroy them if their true racial identity were
revealed.
GOZU-TENNO
Some Nefertem managed to win free of the Black Hunger meant to give the gods more
control over them. These remained free to hunt down Sackhmet's enemies to the end
of the earth. The displeasure of the gods fell upon them and the Gozu-Tenno learned
the arts of stealth to hide from it. Their wanderings had also shown them sources
of wealth unknown to other Nefertem. In battle, their Assassins are armed with the
best of the "blue steel" weaponry and lurk in other units, springing forth at the
most opportune moment to the suprise and dismay of their foes. Their wealth has
also enabled them to buy loyalty from the infamous Jarri bands, enabling them to now
poison their enemies from afar.
Tiamat, the Great She Serpent and Mother of the Gods, loved her mortal creations more than her divine children and set the Stygian above her childrens' followers. When the other Gods gathered in protest, Tiamat declared the Stygian destiny to be sacrosanct and scribed it so upon great magical Tablets. The written word has the power to bind and the Gods were rendered powerless to directly oppose Tiamat's will in this matter.
Tiamat's foremost daughter and minion, the lion-headed Sakhmet, was called the Vengeance of the Gods and was especially instructed by her mother to punish hubris. The Stygian planning their own destinies was as close enough to hubris for Sakhmet to be partially free of the Tablets' geas. She scoured the world for a proper tool to depose the Stygian and found that they had created the perfect tool for their own destruction.
As the Stygian came closer to supplanting the Gods, their rites of sacrifice took on more power. In any place of death, there are rats; the vermin fed upon the scraps, gaining sustenance and sentience. Sakhmet quickly became their patron and taught them the ways and worship of vengeance, naming them the Nefertem after her child that Tiamat had eaten in a fit of jealousy.
The Nefertem bred and grew quickly in size and knowledge, soon gaining the power to seize the rite of sacrifice from the Stygian. Having grown slothful and dependant upon their sacrificial rites, the Stygian were easily thrown down by hordes of Nefertem and their less intelligent Brethren pouring forth from the earth. Tiamat's power was broken for a moment and was quickly subdued by her children, bound in slumber and placed within a Stygian ziggurat tomb. The Stygian, leaderless, scattered across the world. Some escaped the red-eyed gaze of the fanatic Nefertem, but not many. In truth, the Stygian would have been utterly destroyed but for the other Gods. Fearing reprisals from Tiamat when she awoke and not wanting the precedent of genocide, they acted together in calling curses down upon their saviors, Sakhmet and the Nefertem.
The blood-frenzied Sakhmet was easily tricked into pursuing an illusional Stygian army and so could not shield her subjects. Many fell to the Black Hunger, feeding upon the fallen, and when there was no more, upon each other. Others fell victim to pestilence, cast down in the form of arrows from the heavens. The Nefertem fled their supernatural opponents and the Stygian retired to their Chaos Tombs, to begin the long process of healing. In their escape from the Gods, the Nefertem split off in many directions and became seperate cultures from each other. Their lifespans were shortened drasticaly by the curses, but they were prolific and survived. Most escaped by splitting off into small nomadic bands, scouring the land for Sakhmet's enemies at the bidding of her Prophets. The Jarri are the most infamous of these sub-cultures, remaining above ground and casting down their foes with mortal copies of the Gods' pestilent arrows.
The Nosophorus took the study of striking through disease to another level. Saved the scourge by casting themselves down before the Gods in abject worship, they congregate in great underground monastaries to praise decay and develop ever deadlier plagues to loose upon the world. They preach infection as the highest form of being and seek to convert every living being to the Way of the Flea.
Some of the Gods despaired for the act of Creation and quit the world, but others persevered and gave life to the Dwarves. Even after this success, some of the creators retired despairingly. The Qurai Nefertem struck quickly, infiltrating the abandoned Dwarven Clans and using them as cover against the other Gods' scrutiny. Combining their ancient knowledge and skills with the strength and resilience of the Dwarves, they slowly grew into a secret society of far-reaching potential and massive power.
The Gozu-Tenno never stopped hunting the Stygian and other enemies of Sakhmet. Persevering through the heavenly assaults, they became masters of stealth and quick discrete strikes. By the time the Stygian had all sealed themselves up in Chaos Tombs, the Gozu-Tenno were a thinly-spread network spanning most of the known world. In their exploration, they came across resources of great wealth that they spend liberally. After all, they can always kill their creditors and take the riches back. The near-fabled "blue steel" weapons of the Dwarves are common in the Gozu-Tenno ranks and elite mercenaries from other Nefertem sub-cultures swell their ranks.
Whether using other groups as fronts, living deep underground, or wiping out any settlement that learned of their existance, the Nefertem have remained relatively unnoticed and unmolested by the other races. Not so with themselves, however. Internecine conflict is rife between the various factions and sub-cultures. The fighting finally reached such a pitch that it threatened to uncover the Nefertem to the world when the Days of Dread came. Taken by suprise, the Nefertem were badly hurt by the Devout explosion and were slow to react. In the confusion, small numbers of Nefertem were discovered by the other races, mistaken as a new Devout menace and wiped out.
It took a full twenty-one years, seven generations of the Nefertem, for the Prophets to quell the in-fighting and unite the hordes. Great Ma'ahes warriors returned and readied the Nefertem for battle. Sakhmet herself challenged the Dark One to distract his full attention from the Nefertem campaign to restore the status quo. Just as the hordes began to advance, however, they were immediately thrown into disarray. The One King had awoken the Stygian!
Distracted by Sakhmet's challenge, the Dark One was unable to direct his armies. Stygian rushing to engage the Nefertem crashed into the Devout who also were attempting to face the Nefertem. The Nefertem wisely withdrew, leaving the Devout and Stygian to weaken each other. Nefertem spies planted information to increase the unity of the surface races against the Stygian and the Devout interlopers, but were soon enraged by their weakness and their pathetic rallying around the "living God" of the Firstborn. Such hubris could not go unchallenged and the Nefertem have now arisen as both the newest and oldest player in the byzantine politcs of Chronopia.