Nagian Bloodlines
The “leading” families of Nag Ehgoeg are those related to the Regent – Andreas Malfisto Emmanulas. However, Nag Ehgoeg is a massive nation and the Regent’s relatives are spread thinly.
However, certain members of the Regental Families are more closely knit than others. These “Bloodlines” see themselves as the Royal Families of Nag Ehgoeg – and tend to look down upon the “mongrels” who share their family name who are not members of their bloodline.
Unlike the broader Regental (that is to say, the Malfisto and Emmanulas) Families, the bloodlines are very small and limited in number. While you cannot swing a cat in Nagian political, military or ACO buildings without hitting a Malfisto or Emmanulas, the members of the bloodlines are incredibly rare.
The majority of Bloodline members – and members of the Regental Families in general – realise their position in life and tend to strive to extend their power and be the best they can be. Decadent “slacking” is a sure way to be disowned by one’s relatives – and Nag Ehgoeg’s inheritance tax can only be described as crippling. Members of the Regental Families and their exclusive Bloodlines certainly have a good start in life, but must work hard to earn their birth rights.
The bloodlines tend to hold their own political beliefs as to what they should do with their power. These beliefs are the result of years of indoctrination from family members – and given that the Bloodlines see themselves as aristocracy, the family is a huge influence on developing minds. That said, not all those borne into a bloodline follow the bloodline’s specific beliefs – that said, those who dissent too loudly tend to find themselves shunned and disowned like common mongrels of lower breeding.
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Malfisto Bloodlines
The Regental Bloodline
The Regental Bloodline of Family Malfisto is the quietest and least known of the Nagian Bloodlines – and hence the most influential. The Regental Bloodline consists of the direct and immediate relatives of the Regent. While technically this would make it a joint Malfisto-Emmanulas bloodline, it is no secret that the Regent favours the Malfisto side of the family. There are approximately between a dozen and a score members of the Regental Bloodline at anyone time.
The exact powers and influence of the bloodline are not known to anyone outside of the bloodline one thing stands out to even the least observant in political circles:
The Regent of Nag Ehgoeg is said to be older than the nation itself. While legal tradition states that Andreas is simply one man who has led a neigh immortal life, realists assume that the name of Andreas has become hereditary with the title of Regent – and that this identity has become hereditary.
Members of the Regental Bloodline are hardly ever seen outside the GAB however, unlike most decadent aristocracies, inbreeding with other Malfistos is strongly looked down upon and thus romances with outsiders do occur.
The few members of the Regental Bloodline that do make public appearances often don’t make their parentage known – and when pressed will claim to be members of the Syndicate.
The Pure Bloodline
The Pure Malfisto Bloodline is just that – Pure. Consisting of a few hundred members who trace their back to a common ancestor, the Pure Bloodline encourages intermarriage between cousins to keep the bloodline pure.
The Pure Bloodline outdates Nag Ehgoeg and is as old as the Regent himself, its members must be able to trace their linage back to Christopher Malfisto I – the grandfather of the Regent. The Elders of the Bloodline consider the merging of Malfisto blood with the Emmanulas family to have been ill thought out at best.
The Pure look down on the Regental bloodline with contempt – though by default all members of the Regental bloodline are eligible for membership. Some of the Pure still cling to the ancient traditions of the alchemistic roots of the family, though most act like any other modern royal family (albeit most of the modernist follow Satanism).
The Pure are vocally and vehemently opposed to the Holy League and indeed all religions in general and supports isolationism for Nag Ehgoeg.
The Syndicate
The Syndicate is the most elite and least exclusive of all the “bloodlines”. The Syndicate acts just like a business (or criminal) syndicate would – it actively headhunts individuals who have something to contribute to “the Family” and then initiates them – by ceremony for members of the Malfisto family, or by marriage otherwise.
The Syndicate is diametrically opposed to the Pure Bloodline – believing that the Family (and Nag Ehgoeg in general) should venture out rather than fester in. Like the other bloodlines it operates like a secrete society-cum-fraternity with vast social-political-financial influence. And like the other Bloodlines, the Syndicate has a rich tapestry of history that is unknown to just about everyone who isn’t a member of the bloodline.
One thing that is common knowledge is that the Malfisto and Emmanulas families where once separate and bitter enemies – until somehow they where unified by a marriage which resulted in the birth of Andreas. One other nugget of knowledge which is available to those who care to investigate is that while “the Syndicate” is a new term, a close knit organisation of Malfistos seeking to bring more power to the family through intermarriage has existed for far longer than even the Pure Bloodline has. It can even be said that the Syndicate is (or perhaps is the remains of) the oldest Malfisto bloodline – characterising everything the family stands for.
Emmanulas Bloodlines
The Puritans
The True Puritan Branch of the Emmanuli is – ironically – a relatively new bloodline with a history of reinventing itself. The bloodline teaches that once the Emmanuli where a backwards family of pagan witches – until Mary Emmanulas I learned of the teachings of Christ and begun to spread it among her relatives. The Christian Emmanuli came under attack from the savage pagans of the family who clung to the old ways which resulted in a Holy Crusade – known as the Massasa War to the Heretics. The Puritans teach that right prevailed and that this is how the Emmanuli family came to Christ. They go on to preach how the successors of Saint Peter – the Genosian Popes – carry the true message of Christ. Their propaganda, however, is not difficult to unmask. First and foremost is that Mary Emmanuli is noted as being the matriarch of a bloody sect of warrior Emmanuli and her “acceptance of Christ” was almost certainly in order to give herself the edge needed to conquer the peaceful tribes led by her cousins in a bloody war sanctioned by religion.
Furthermore Mary and her descendants have always adapted their beliefs to suit the current political tides. Before the Regent recognised Catholicism as the only religion of Nag Ehgoeg, the Puritan Emmanuli had valued the teachings of the Orthodox Patriarch as highly as that of the Catholic Pope – and had held the firm belief that denomination was unimportant, paling in the shadow of the true majesty of the simple message of Christ.
The True Puritan Branch of the Emmanuli is, however, a bloodline – not a political party. Its members trace their linage to Mary Emmanulas II – who is accredited by other groups as the daughter of the Regent. The Puritans are hesitant to say why their matriarch is Mary II – little is known about her from unbiased sources, though other bloodlines are quick to tell tales about her. If the stories told by the other bloodlines are true, then it is little wonder the Puritans do not cite the reasons for their veneration of her – Mary II (among other things) is credited to have had much the same view of Christianity as Mary I in that it was open to constant re-interpretation in order to better suit one’s immediate needs. That said, unlike Mary I, Mary II is said to devoutly have believed in what she thought was the true message of Christ.
The Puritans are devout followers of the Genosian Church (as one might expect) and are believed to have strong ties to the Enclave – the Nagian Inquisition.
The Radicals
The Radical Emmanuli fall into two camps – the Isolationists and the Reformists. The Radicals trace their linage back to the mother of the Regent, and the Isolationists and Reformists are considered to be the same Bloodline, though the politics indoctrinated into each group differ quite considerably.
The Isolationists seek to unify the Emmanuli under an Emmanuli Church of Nag Ehgoeg. They wish to see a return to the days where Catholicism was not the recognised religion of Nag Ehgoeg – freeing the Emmanuli to worship as they chose. They argue that if this was achieved, there would not be a split between the Genosian and Schismatic Catholics – which can only strengthen the Faith. The Isolationists long for the day in which they can return to the days when following the teachings of the Pope was a rare and dangerous honour – not something that was accepted and approved of in a nation with no morals.
The Reformists, on the other hand, believe the Genosian Church to be every bit as warlike and corrupt as the new Schismatic Church claims. The Reformists seek to build a new a better church on the foundations of the Poland Schism, doing away with the old to forge a new and better faith.
While, ironically, the Radical Bloodline is acting no differently than the Puritan Bloodline has acted in the past, both bloodlines have always found themselves on opposite sides of the fence historically. Notably, it was the Radicals who supported the merging of the Malfisto and Emmanulas bloodlines.
The Regent, generally speaking, has nothing but contempt for the Emmanulas side of his family – but he hates the Radicals least of all the Emmanulas bloodlines.
The Heretics
The Emmanulas family predates the birth of Christ by at least five generations – The Heretics claim they can trace the family tree back to the time of the old testament of the Bible. Once the family was “pagan” – and the Heretics are aptly named. Too aptly named…
The Heretics are universally hated by the Regent and the other Emmanulas bloodlines, and most Emmanuli in general (even those who ascribe to Wicca rather than Catholicism). In fact it is often said that it is only out of mutual hatred for the Heretics that the Regent and his mother’s family stay unified.
Like the Syndicate, the Heretics have been around in one form or another for much longer than the other bloodlines and though the modern incarnation is newer than most of the other bloodlines, the Heretics define what it originally was to be an Emmanulas.
The reasons for the pet hates of different factions towards the Heretics are more numerous than the grains of sand in Nag Ehgoeg, but perhaps the biggest reason is that the Heretics are historians. All the bloodlines, and indeed all the powers in Nag Ehgoeg, have secret’s they’d rather not have revealed, and the Heretics are certainly not above spreading outright lies and falsehood. However, while other bloodlines remain tight lipped and insular, the Heretics – by one means or another – wish to spread the history of their bloodline (and what they claim to be the history of the other bloodlines and Nag Ehgoeg in general) as far and wide as possible.
A Heretical History
The government of Nag Ehgoeg claims to be unbiased. They claim to be seekers of knowledge who search only for the truth. They will say this account of history can not be proved nor disproved. They will refuse to comment when asked if they have evidence to support or deny any point of this account.
This is because this account is the Truth. And the Truth is hard to accept.
The Emmanulas family you know is a lie.
Five thousand years ago a pair of twins where born under auspicious stars and the Old Gods warred for their Souls. The girls where separated, and each would serve their Lord in bringing the Old Gods to dominion over the Earth and all its people. The misguided servants of Light would stalk among the Evils of the Flesh and See that Evil is Good. They would serve the Old Gods by making that which is Wicked into that which is Good. They are the Emmanuli you know. They are succeeding in their task admirably.
We serve the Second Sister, we live as the Avatars of the Old Gods. Our numbers are many. We are the embodiment of the World To Come. We would tell you the story of your Regent and how he came to be and the tale of those who rule your lives.
For many years Our Light Cousins spread the knowledge of the Old Gods. They acted as healers and warriors and eventually rose to dominance among the primitive tribes surrounding them. They paved the way for Us to move in from the edges of society. If it was acceptable for a healer to work her magic, why not use the gifts of the Old Gods to smite your enemies?
And so the Emmanuli came to prosper. For a while. But our Road is not a Road of leisure but one of hardship and trials. First Christianity divided Our Light Cousins and they fought amongst each other for many years. The Massasa War meant nothing. Lives where lost but the family continued to serve Our Purpose.
What mattered was the War. At first we thought the alchemists invading our lands could be crushed easily by our greater magics, but the divide of Christianity had weakened us, and the Malfisto Family proved to be more powerful than we had ever imagined. It was clear they to served the Old Gods, though not Our Lord.
The War would have been Epic, where it not for the barbarous Christians who proved to be a greater enemy. Both the Emmanulas and Malfisto families had been weakened by Crusade and War - we where a shadow of what we should be, and our families scattered.
Still something good was to come of this. We and the Malfisto Elders who call themselves now the Syndicate formed a plan to unite our Lines and Powers to turn back the tide of Christianity. Of course the plan failed. The families gathered to a Holy Site in distant England, but inquisitor and mob put our mighty scions to death and scattered our already weakened families further.
The mightiest of Our Own, a young girl who survived, took the name of Lorna on her return to our homeland. She seized upon the tragedy to grow strong and feigned a conversion to the New Religion. By acting devout she gained the wisdom that Christianity had horded before fleeing. Fate would have it that that the mightiest of the Malfistos – David I – found her fleeing. The couple where unaware of the great plan to unite the families, and neither knew the full extent of the War. United in whirlwind partnership, it was scarcely half a dozen years after the conception of the Old Gods greatest servant that the Malfisto moved on to newer pastures spreading his seed.
Of their youngest child, we shall not speak of yet, but of their oldest – Andreas – little is interesting of his childhood. His mother died shortly after
More to come
