The Sanguine Strife

Sometime during the Age of Elements, the Water Wars began as a blood-feud between two families of water children, the Greywinds and the Ceruleans. The two families had been rivals for generations, but after the Elemental War, tensions rose. In this post-war era, when enchanters, besides the seldom-seen air mages, were rare, the Ceruleans accused the Greywinds of a heinous crime, the practicing of witchcraft to cast curses upon the powerful matriarch of the Cerulean kinfolk. After a failed summit between the two families, the matron took ill and, within a span of months, the elder matriarch sickened and died. One of the Ceruleans had a blood-talent for grave-seeing, a rare type of post-mortem divining. The grave-seer saw that Lady Greywind had been continuously hexing the Cerulean matriarch until she had siphoned all the life from the great matron. While such an unpredictable blood-talent with no other evidence of proof would usually just be grounds for suspicion not war, the Ceruleans seemed to rush to judgment and initiated open hostilities against the Greywinds.
Known as the Sanguine Strife, this blood feud lasted for generations and over time expanded to eventually encompass dozens of other water children families. These other families were drawn into the fray through familial, social, and political ties, while some joined the quarrel to quench their thirst for power. Some joined to settle the bad blood between their and another family. Some believed the Accusations of witchcraft against the Greywinds. Others rallied the Greywinds side due to the lack of evidence against them. The Sanguine Strife ended with the uncovering of the revelation of the truth. An unfamiliar water child interceded and showed them all the truth of the matter. She was a water diviner named Scrye and in her mystic pool she showed how Lady Greywind changed the art of making Essence Vessels to covertly siphon away the essence of an unsuspecting victim to first weaken and eventually kill her chosen prey. All the clans of water children cried out with fury against Lady Greywind and condemned her to death by drowning. As they weighed her down with anchors of stone, Lady Greywind cried out curses upon them all and swore that one day her bloodline would avenge her. As Lady Greywind sank beneath the dark waters and the ripples faded to calm, the Sanguine Strife ended but the lady was true to her word. For in the generations to follow her kinfolk learned and even improved the art of “the Greywind Hex” and continued to use it to siphon away the vigor and vitality of their familial adversaries.