The Virin-yal ('chosen of the venom') are an
Ethnogenic demiline, a
Lineages created not by divine action, but by magical transubstantiation, although they are capable of producing children who inherit their supernatural traits. They arose in central
Cathlaea during the
Legion-Regime Wars.
With their cultural development inhibited by the war and the demands of the combatants - both of whom sought both alliances and direct territorial control in the territory which divided the
Regime heartland in the north and the
Legions' homeland in the south - mystics among the
Human and
Petari tribes of the region made contact with a
deity - or deities - known as the
Three-Headed Serpent. Under the auspices of the Cult of the Serpent, several of the tribes began to unite and resist the advance of the invaders from north and south.
The Regime had powerful mages and the numberless auxilliaries. The Legion had steel, and the might of the Horde besides. In order to resist these forces, the mystics of the Cult accepted powers offered by their god, with little thought for the cost. The Serpent, a god - or gods - that had fallen from grace, offered little in the way of divine magic, but were more than willing to teach dark and terrible alchemies. The mystics became masters of potioncraft and poisons, including the potent elixir known as the Divine Venom. Used in various mixtures and concentrations, the Venom could bring on visions, enhance their physical or arcane abilities, or even provoke dramatic physical transformations in humand and petari physiology. While some of those who drank the stronger concentrations died in terrible agony, others took on ophidian traits, both signs of divine favour and weapons to wield against their enemies. In addition to the direct power these transformations brought, those so-altered proved able to consume larger quantities of the lesser venoms and so further enhance their abilities.
The transformed became known as Virin-yal. Originally intended to be used as shock-troops, as more and more of the mystics and leading warriors of the tribes embraced this new power, the Virin-yal became the ruling class of the emergent society. As the nascent state structures of the tribes were replaced with a theocratic hierarchy, a caste system emerged, based on the degree of transformation individuals had undertaken.
Caste and Identity
Virin-yal was the term for anyone altered by the venoms, but those transformed by the Greater Venom were given the name Virinem. Blending humanoid and ophidian traits, these 'venom blooded' sported highly individual transformations, including serpentine tails in place of legs, snakes for arms, or cobra-like hoods. From their origin as shock-troops, the Virinem instead quickly assumed control of the Serpent Cult, their ability to ingest huge quantities of the visionary venoms enabling them to outstrip their rivals in the favour of the the Three-Headed Serpent.
The Virinem are divided into four phenotypical groups:
- Avitet ('scale-back') - serpent head and scaled body. Typical in physically strong Virinem, avitet often fulfil their spiritual role as holy warriors in the service of the Serpent Cults.
- Kalipht ('hooded') - long neck and cobra hood. Associated with intelligence and presence, kalipht are typically drawn to the Cult of Stygis the Fearmonger.
- Manavi ('snake graps') - poisonous serpents instead of arms. Noted for their cunning and tenacity, manavi are associated with the Cult of Sythis the Betrayer.
- Phortsan ('coiling') - snake bodied with scaled arms and shoulders, the large and powerful phortsan gravitate to the Cult of Asphyx the Slayer.
As the kingdom began to grow into the beginning of the
Great Ophionic Empire, a small number of favoured Virinem were given access to an even more potent form of Greater Venom which further transformed them. The Aray ('exhalted') sported serpentine bodies, scaled torsos and serpent heads. They quickly assumed the leadership of the empire's aristocratic caste.
The children of Virinem and Aray alike carried traces of the Venom, revealed through delicate scales, serpentine eyes or forked tongues. Know as the avinem ('serpent-blooded') they were considered superior to ordinary citizens, and found their role as the bureaucratic gentry of the Empire. After the first century of the Virin-yal's existence, both social advancement and the blessing of the Greater Venom were awarded almost exclusively to avinem, with ordinary humans and petars reduced to a servitor caste.
The establishment of the Empire did not halt the development of the Divine Venom, and at its height a new form was introduced, capable of transforming an Aray into an even more potent shape. Called the Transcendent Venom, this elixir was capable of killing a Virinem as easily as a human, but a strong Aray who took it would gain considerable mass and strength, and often grow secondary heads and additional arms. Know as Sagass ('ascended'), those transformed by the Transcendent Venom became sexless, but also ageless, immortal, barring accident or violence. They became a higher, regal caste, and quickly began to manouevre to maintain their own power, both against other Sagass and 'lesser' beings, hoarding access to the venoms as the lifeblood of the Empire.
A final form of elixir produced from the Divine Venom, the peaceful venoms serve to instill obedience in the drinker. This category includes the Serpent's Blood, which degenerates the drinker into an animalistic, obedient guardian called a varager ('watchdog.')
Virin-yal and Identity
The remnants of the first Empire’s strongly gendered human society remain behind the dominant caste structure of their current dominion. Their original culture was deeply wedded to biologically determined gender, and strictly prescribed gender roles within society. Men had charge of matters military and diplomatic, hospitality and the economically and politically critical giving of gifts, while women determined domestic policy and undertook work in espionage, logistics and trade. In the pre-Ophionic tribes, women owned land. A landowner would gather a household of other women about herself, and assemble a cadre of men – mostly related by blood or marriage – to protect it. Women brought brains and money to the household, men brought muscle and charm.
The rising Ophionic Empire largely replaced these gender roles with the blood castes, the various levels of serpent transformation undergone by individual Yuan-ti. Biological sex is of trifling importance to the Virin-yal, especially compared to blood caste. The highest priesthoods of the Three-Headed Serpent are strictly gendered – Stygis’ nightmare speakers are female, the mind whisperers of Sythis are strictly male, and the pit masters of Asphyix non-binary – but this is a matter of presented gender and not biology, as holders of those offices seek to better emulate their patrons and become closer to them.
The lowest blood caste is slave, held by those - human or otherwise - without any degree of transformation, and thus unworthy of personhood. While slaves in the Empire tend to maintain their own traditions of identity, to the Ophionic culture they are all ‘it’, mere genderless things
Above slaves are emmanem ('half-bloods'), the children of Virin-yal who do not possess sufficient ophidian characteristics to be classed as 'snakeblood,' either through interbreeding with other races, or as a quirk of genetics. Typically assigned to the lot of a slave, halfbloods are shown preferential treatment, especially if they prove especially strong or clever. Particularly favoured halfbloods may be chosen for transformation into true Virin-yal through the Blessed Venom, although this is almost unheard of in the Second Empire. Other slaves, meanwhile, are never offered the venom, but may be subjected to the Serpent's Blood, which instead transforms those drinkers who survive the experience into Varagers.
The lowest caste of Virin-yal are the snakebloods, sometimes called 'trueblood' because they bred true. Born either oviparously or viviparously, they are the children of either snakeblood or malison parents and are accorded the barest minimum courtesy by their transformed kin. They are accorded the dignity of a gender of their choosing and are considered people, at least, although more to remind halfbloods and slaves of their place than to honour the snakeblood. Within the Empire, it is the snakebloods who perform all of the skilled labour - diplomacy, artistry, crafts and others - that is considered beyond a mere slave, but beneath the higher castes.
Snakebloods compete in various examinations and competitions to earn the right to become a higher form of yuan-ti, the transformation catalysed by ritual and elixirs. Most of those who prevail in these trials will be elevated to the rank of Virinem, their humanoid form strengthened and partially transformed by serpentlike features, although a few meet the same fate as early recipients of the Three-Headed Serpent's blessings and die. Like avinem, virinem both have biological sex and use gendered pronouns. The children of two malisons will be snakebloods, but enjoy an unofficial favoured status among their blood caste.
Favoured Malisons may one day be granted accession to the status and physical state of Aray, an almost entirely ophidian form, but with powerful arms. A vanishingly small number of snakebloods may also ascend directly to this state on first imbibing the Greater Venom. Such individuals are known, even as Virinem, as truebloods. They do not use gender as a construct, instead using the pronouns sse/ssir/ssirs universally. Only a few retain any visible vestige of biological sex, and those who do go to great lengths to disguise the traces.
Finally, Sagass are seen as incarnate demigod children of the Three-Headed Serpent. No Aray has been granted the ascension to Sagass status since the dawn of the
Second Empire, however, perhaps to avoid creating potential rivals to the Emperor. Sagass use the pronouns hha/hhar/hhas, which are forbidden to all lower forms.
Virin-yal and Evil
Some see the Virin-yal as inherently evil, but this is not entirely true. While the Ophionic Empire is cruel, supremacist and bloody, these qualities are not genetic, but taught. Snakebloods are taught that they are superior to slaves and inferior to the 'higher forms,' but nothing in their nature makes them adhere to a specific philosophy. The higher forms are different, invariably vicious to the bone, because only those who show an absolute, fanatical devotion to the blood creed of the Empire are granted that ritual ascension and physical transformation.
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