DOTLAN EveMaps

The official and original Kiith Soban clan, from Homeworld.

1999 -

History:

The origins of Kiith Soban, the "Grey Brotherhood,"
are somewhat hazy. It appears that two vassal
kiithid, who held lands along the second sea, were
invaded by the temple men of a strong neighboring
kiith. The vassals fought back furiously, defending
their homes with desperate and furious strength,
and succeeded in killing a few of the raiding kiith.
In revenge, the invaders punished the survivors
brutally, although they had already surrendered.
Many of the basic taboos of Kharakian society were
violated; all the children of the farmers were
murdered, as well as the leader, man or woman, of
every family. Those that remained were driven from
their holdings and fled across the Sparkling Desert
to carry the news of these atrocities to their
kiith'sa.

The leader of this group was Soban, later known as
Soban the Red. When he knelt before his Sa he
recounted the horrors that the neighboring kiith
had committed against his people and demanded
vengeance. He offered to personally lead the army
that would ravage the invaders and teach them the
error of their ways, and waited for the men and
women of his kiith'sa to join him in a rush across
the Sparkling Desert.

Unfortunately, this support was never to come.
Soban's kiith'sa, afraid of the possible
repercussions-or perhaps simply realizing that
their kiith was not strong enough to prevail against
a larger and stronger kiith-refused to attack the
reavers. Instead, the smaller kiith became vassals
to the larger, joining their blood to the blood of
the murderers.

When he heard of this, Soban tore the colors of his
kiith from his body in shame. His followers did the
same, and in doing so they abandoned their kiith
completely--an unheard-of gesture at the time,
especially coming as it did from landless men and
women. According to legend, Soban declared at that
time that the word "kiith" was meaningless, when any
kiith'sa could turn a deaf ear to the blood of
children crying from the ground. He vowed that he
would never belong to any false kiith again-the only
kiith which deserved the word was the kiith of
spirit, the brotherhood of like mind and shared
ambitions.

All the followers of Soban took a new color: a deep
and vivid red, the color of blood flowing from the
heart. Although they could not have been many, their
first act as a kiith was a successful attack on the
holdings which had once been their homes. When they
left their old farms behind, not a blade of grass
was left green or one stone standing on top of
another-everything was razed and every invader
killed, in ways which gave Kiith Soban a bloody
reputation for years to come.

Kiith Soban became a martial kiith from then on, and
as years passed a peculiar set of rituals developed
among them. Although many other warrior kiith
existed at the time, those kiiths were standard in
their aims and organization; they were martial to
the extent that they desired the property and
possessions of their weaker neighbors. Only the
Soban were completely landless, and existed purely
as mercenaries.

To this day, the Sobanii are completely devoid of
standard family groupings. No "marriage," as such,
is permitted among their ranks; although male and
female Sobanii are permitted to form whatever
alliances they might want, there is no such thing as
a Sobanii child. Children born to the Soban are left
as foundlings with other kiiths, or their parents
are made to leave Kiith Soban to raise them.