The moon, Bright Eye of the Night, rose to gaze upon the world. Her eye fell upon the men of the cities and the tigers of the jungle, and She beheld their glories. For the men raised towers so high that they might stretch forth their hands and brush Her cheek, and the tigers ruled the jungle so that all was good in their sight.
But there arose Asura, who boiled forth from beneath the earth and took the form of a Great Serpent who twined among the stars and devoured them. He coiled beneath the night sky and beheld the moon, brighter than any other star. He beheld Her beauty, and it pained him, and so he longed to devour Her, that Her beauty might trouble him no longer.
And so the serpent rose into the heavens each night. Every night, he grew closer to the moon, who looked behind Her and saw the jaws of darkness. As Asura, who was the serpent, drew nearer to the moon, his darkness covered the land. The men of the cities turned from building towers to the moon's glory, and instead fell to worshipping the new lord of the night sky. Some men held to righteousness, but Asure spat down venom upon them, and they died of plague. Thus did the men of the cities abandon the moon and turn to the worship of darkness.
The tigers, when they saw this, did not seek to punish the wicked among the men of the cities, nor did they offer aid to the righteous whom Asura has punished. Instead, they turned their backs on the ways of the men and stalked away into the deep jungle. he men walked the near jungle, the places by their cities, and saw no tigers there, and they said, "Asura has done this; Asura has freed us from the fear of those who would prey upon us." And so they set about building the greatest of towers, to show their devotion to Asure and to catch the moon in a net for him to devour.
Now Durga, in Her aspect as Seline, who was the moon, saw the betrayals of those She had watched over. She saw the men turn to wickedness and the tigers shirk their duties, and all the while She felt the cold breath of the serpent Asura. And as neither men nor tigers had serbed Her faithfully, She reached forth Her hand to take one of each and cull from them those parts that might yet be turned to Her service. In Her hand, She mixed the tiger and the man, and added sand, water, and moonlight, so that Khan's tiger-nature and man-nature might be grounded in earth, meld easily as water and shine like light. Thus was created the first of the Khan.
She set the Khan down in the great city of men, at the doot of the tower which they were building for Asura. Khan (for he knew no other name) climbed the tower, for the moonlight in him called him to do so. At the top of the tower he stood and beheld the jaws of the serpent about to devour his mother. And so he took the net the men had made to catch the moon and instead cast is over the serpect. While Asura was caught, Khan reached forth and, with his claws, cut the demon in two.
But in the way of serpents, Asura merely became two demons when cut in two, and these demons beset Khan. This worried Khan not at all; he struck again and the two demons became four. These he smote and the four demons became eight, and fled from him into the world.
Seline-who-was-Durga spoke to Khan, She thanked him for saving Her, and chided him for turning demons loose into the world. She charged him then, with keeping watch against the evils the spawn of Asura might create, and to beware his own strength lest he create more foes for himself. Most of all, She told him to beware his own nature, lest his tiger and his man grow out of balance and seek to slay one another.
Then the tower crumbled, and Khan strode off into the jungle to seek his tiger kin. He brought them word of Seline's teachings, and took a mate. And thus were the Khan created, and thus were they charged, and thus did they save the moon from destruction.
Tribal Background
"I am darkness and light, the shadow hunter and king of the sun. My claws hold the earth, my tongue tastes the sky. I am steadfast and strong, compassionate and caring. I am tiger, and my words are pure." With this oath, a Tekhmet joins the ranks of the Bright Kings. The ranks of the Khan, a proud breed whose pedigree reaches to the beginning of time.
The Simba may delcare themselves nobility, but the weretigers fit the title. Regal hunters and warrios, these Bastet evoke the respect the lion demand. From the snowy mountains of Asia to the cities of India, the weretigers hunt the spawn of Asura and defend the last of their Kin. They're solid, dependable, smart and strong. Their weaknesses, such as they are, come from being too trusting or too sure of themselves. Khan are straightforward and action-oriented, not celver schemers. Whatever a Khan does, he does full-tilt -- fighting, romancing, hunting, studying, even contemplating. These Bastet throw themselves into all tasks with vigor and passion, and their bodies, in any form, bristle with vitality.
Most Khan love company; though few of them can stand the presence of another of their kind for long, they often enjoy companions. And who would deny a tiger's friendship? It;s said the Khan were brought forth to battle demons, and many of them take that charge literally. Vampires, Asura and fomori have few enemies more relentless than a tiger. Perhaps that's why the Khan have been brought to the verge of extinction: They made too many of the wrong kind of enemies.
In the mountains of Tibet, Siberia, and China, these werecats learned subtle magicks and even martial arts; many a mountain tiger can quote Taoist philosophy at length. To shapeshifters as passionate as the Khan, the idea of harmony through nonaction is an appealing one (that, for them, works better in theory than in practice). Technology is a wonder Khan strive to understand, and some become quite good at computer programming and heavy equipment operation. Still, the majority of the surviving weretigers prefer an archaic existence, and favor clothing, weapons and behavior from a more romantic time.
In ages past, the tiger tribe wandered through emperors' courts and hermits' caves. They walked mountain roads with Buddhist monks and peasant girls, and chased the ghosts from temple ruins. Most preferred to remain in their powerful cat forms, but spoke with the tongues of sages. The powers of the elements burned in their paws, and they kept the hated werewolves at bay. The Silver Fangs and Shadow Lords struck pacts with the sultans, but no such bargains kept the tigers and vampires apart. That hatred, which simmered for 5000 years, proved the Khan's undoing.
Once, the Khan enforced the Impergium with glee. Time, however, showed what wonders the people offered. Khan left the jungles, entered the cities, and were ensnared by their own curiosity. The glories of India, China, Tibet and Korea called the tigers out of hiding, and the Khan were amazed. Soon Bright Kings studied philosophy. learned wushu, guarded wizards and knelt before monks. Some traveled with the Mongols and brought back stories of the West. In time, the West came to them, and the tribe's decline began.
A earrior's rage is his curse. That curse has nearly undone the Khan four times, and the most recent was nearly the last. Four great wars between Khan kings have decimated the race: The Maru-Dikleh War of Prehistory, the Tag War between Mongol and Hindu tigers, the blood CLouster's Purge of the 1800s, and the near-fatal Nagda-Rackbur Feud of the 1950s. This last conflict, between an English lord and the former Sultan Amir Nagda, turned into a bloodbath when both sides fell to darkness. Lord Rackbur enlisted Kindred allies while the sultan courted evil spirits. Both sides rallied battles and assassinations. The end came when the treacherous sultan took advantage of the Sun Sleep Yava. While the Khan slumbered, Nagda's agents hunted them down. By the time a massive Bagheera war band killed both rivals, less than 20 Khan remained. Their numbers have not grown much since then, and the sultanate has been dissolved forever.
The slaughter of the true tigers has not helped matters. Human hunters killed them in such numbers that the great cats themselves court extinction. Between the loss of their Kinfolkd and the wars with vampires, Asura and their own kind, the Khan are an endangered breed. To avoid further risks, most weretigers have scattered across the world. Moving targets are harder to kill. After the fall of the ancient sultanate, the Khan have no true leaders, so each one fends for herself. It's a whole new world for an ancient tribe, and the tigers seem to be peacefully enjoying the view. For now.
Tribal Home
Although the caliah places the tribe's beginnings in India, they range as far north as Siberia and as far east as Japan. In the last two centuries, many of them have gone west, or have sired European children. The latter branch of the family has fared better in recent years than the Asian tigers. The decimation of their tribe has hit the Khan hard, and they've fled the hunting grounds for safer quarters.
Culture and Kinfolk
Since their genesis, the Khan have enjoyed the best, bravest and most beautiful Kinfolk in thie regions. They've bred into noble lines throughout Asia and sired kittens in the healthier tiger bloodlines. Many of these noble families have fallen to poachers, vampires and other enemies over the last hundred years, and the Khan's fortunes are not what they were. Still, each weretiger has an impressive pedigree and a savage noble heart.
The tribe's traditional cultures stress honor and obedience. The treachery of Nagda was worsened by the stain it put on the tigers' pride. While solitary in nature, most Khan establish protectorates where they defend a given family or land against corruption. The fact that "defense" ocassionally includes killing certain people doesn't detract from the tribal purpose. The Khan were created to war against demons. Those who court the darkness must die.
Organization
For nearly a thousand years, the Khan enjoyed a sultanate, with one Rank Six Bon Bhat, a court of advisors (Khan and Kinfolk), and a small armu of spirits, tigers and humands to enforce his will. This system tottered during the English occupation and fell to pieces the last sultan betrayed his kind. They currently have no organization; each Khan declares his territory and makes the rules within.
Secrets Sought
An honorable race, weretigers prefer secrets from lost cities, remote monasteries and bustling metropoli.
Yava
The Khan belong to the tribe of the sun; when he sleeps, they sleep also. During an eclipse, all Khan slumber for one day, then awaken hungry.
Khan cannot resist the meat of an innocent child, though it violates their laws to eat it.
A tiger cannot resist a direct challenge. To turn away costs him his rage for a fortnight.
Appearance
The regal warriors of their kind, Khan tend to be large broadshouldered, brawny individuals in all forms. Although males of all breeds are noticeably larger than females, both genders can be pretty impressive. While many Khan tend to be bad-tempered and aggressive, others love company of all kinds (and are powerful enough to demand respect). Weretigers bred with English men and women during the 1800s, largely out of respect for their ferocity. Thus, most modern Khan are either white, Chinese or Indian.
Quote
No king is so mighty, no priest so holy, no virgin so pure at heart that their blood would not freeze before the face of a tiger. I am the battler of dragons, the son of the dawn. Look upon me and tremble. Before me, you are as nothing.
Stereotypes
Bagheera: No one is as wise, clever and honorable as our cousins pretend to be. There has to be a trick, and I would like to know what it is.
Balam: Fierce wild children of the fallen world. I feel sorry for them --we have much in common.
Bubasti: I would gladly smash them into a pulp, but their blood would burn my hands.
Ceilican: Dead and buried. Let them lie.
Pumonca: Thunderbird blesses his chldren. They walk the Diamond Path more purely than any Folk I know. Perhaps some day they will find what it is they seek. Until then, I wish them well.
Qualmi: I am not as ignorant as I might seem, nor do clever words make a clever mind. You may confuse me, Ice Cat, but do not assume I am overwhelmed.
Simba: Bloody claws and a blood crown are your legacies, false kinds. If you were to shave your manes, you might see the truth. Cats have no kinds, least of all you.
Swara: Fast as the wind and twice as hard to kill.
