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.