Chapter 2

The Southern Clans

Samuelson Clan (South)

Crest/Colors: Silver crossed sabres over a light gray mountain on a sky blue field edged in sandy brown

History: In 392 P. Z. the Caliph of Jizhuan called for more Humans to settle in the vast unpopulated lands of his country and put out incentives to the younger sons of noble Human Houses to come to Jizhuan and settle lands of their own with titles of their own. Some few hundred families from the noble houses of Zauberin, Benetone, and South Tariz accepted the offer and among them were Joffa Samuelson and his elder sister Iesult. Joffa Samuelson was the youngest son of Duke Halvorth and Duchess Xania and seemed to take after his boisterous and adventurous father more than his more studious and calm brother Duke Ozgard IV. Joffa went south with several other members of the Samuelson Clan and was made the Emir of Andilaal Naaknaal, a large demesne which covered much of the Jizhuanese Hildesberg Mountains and encompassed much of the old Andotti Imperial Administrative District. While very dry with little in the way of resources, Joffa and his sister Iesult immediately began construction of a stronghold near the village of Andilaal Naaknaal and the planting of a vast vineyard along the fertile slopes of the various river and stream valleys that predominate the geography of northern Jizhuan. Within the first three years of planting, Joffa and Iesult had a respectable vintage to sell and their fortress was nearly complete. It was at this time that the more liberal Caliph Vahhian the Great died and his son Ahkmed 'Al Vahhian assumed control of Jizhuan. Ahkmed was a religious zealot who had been raised by the priesthood even as his father took to reforming Jizhuan, making it more cosmopolitan and open to foreign investment. Hating his absent father to the point of madness, Ahkmed set out to destroy the Jizhuan his father had built and push his nation back into the arms of the priesthood's more conservative members. Pogroms against his father's allies among the clergy and the nobility were prosecuted and among those targeted were those who had emigrated to Jizhuan and had been given land. Since Andilaal Naaknaal was in the mountains and the terrain was not ideal to conduct military campaigns in, the Caliph's armies did not get around to purging the mountains until they had secured the lowlands and the desert hills around Jizhuanara. In the Spring of 397 P. Z., the Army of Jizhuan began sacking its way north, starting with the city of Jizihaara, some few leagues to the south of Andilaal Naaknaal. When news of the destruction of Jizihaara arrived at Emir Joffa Samuelson's temporary home, he immediately sent word of his coming doom to his brother in Hildesberg, urging his brother to bring as many warriors as he could. Unbeknownst to Joffa, Caliph Ahkmed was also bitter about the border that Alexander the Uniter had forced on the Jizhuanese. Believing, incorrectly, that Sigurd Samuelson had urged King Mikael to persuade the Emperor to draw the Jizhuanese northern border along the Duchy of Hildesberg's southern border, thus keeping a wealthy and productive district in the Kingdom of Zauberin with the redrawing of internal borders following the fall of the Kingdom of Vymar, earned the new Caliph's enmity. With this belief in mind, Ahkmed also planned to assault the Samuelson Stronghold, destroying with one fell swoop the entire House that had slighted his family's land and his God's ambitions for the Human Race. As soon as Jizhuanese spies in the village of Andilaal Naaknaal spotted the messenger going north, the Jizhuanese Army split, a smaller column of infantry going north to assault the Samuelson Stronghold while the main body of the Caliph's forces stayed to raze Andilaal Naaknaal and slaughter the southern Samuelsons and their people. In the north, the fortunate arrival of the Merlinsohn Clan prevented the Jizhuanese from succeeding and helped fend off the Jizhuanese until help could arrive in the form of the Imperial Army. In the south, Ozgard IV swooped down out of the Hildesberg Mountains on the Jizhuanese and routed the Caliph's Army, securing his brother's lands until the fortress of Andilaal Naaknaal could be completed and his brother safely established. A year later, Emir Joffa began to fortify the entire town of Andilaal Naaknaal, building a fifty-foot high, thirty-foot thick wall around the entire village. In time, the Samuelson Clan's southern branch was created as a separate clan from the northern branch, leaving the southern Samuelsons the autonomy to expand their influence to the powerful and influential clans and Houses of Jizhuan's northern provinces.

Members: There are many members of note in the southern branch of the Samuelson Clan, too many, in the minds of the Jizhuanese Hierocracy. The most prominent is Patriarch Emir Jaffez 'al Andotti 'Al Samuelson of Andilaal Naaknaal. He is not connected in any way to any guild or other organization yet still manages to be the most powerful Jizhuanese nobleman outside of the clergy. He controls the largest non-clergy estate in all of Jizhuan and has a personal armed force large enough to hold off the entire Jizhuanese Army long enough to evacuate the entire population of Andilaal Naaknaal. He is also the wealthiest person in Jizhuan, now that his daughter is dead. Qina 'al Andotti 'Mos Samuelson was, before her assassination by minions of the Caliph of Jizhuan, the wealthiest member of the Southern Samuelson Tribe and wife of the wealthiest nobleman not a member of the Imperial Family, the Zauberin Royal Family, or the nobility of the Kingdom of Xeuxondra. Matriarch Masterwriter Kianna 'mos Samuelson 'Al Nassim, who took over Qina's position as Matriarch when the later married Josef Samuelson, is a popular writer of poetry and plays living just on the southern side of the Jizhuan-Zauberin border outside of Port Hildebrandt. She is the wife of the Patriarch of the 'Al Nassim Clan and will probably only be the southern Samuelson's Matriarch until Brynhilde 'al Andotti 'Mos Samuelson, the daughter of the Patriarch's deceased son Gunnar, comes of age and can fulfill the responsibilities of Matriarch. Sigurd 'al Andotti 'Al Samuelson is currently the heir presumptive to the Emirate of Andilaal Naaknaal as the only son of Jaffez's son Gunnar. Although the Emir is getting older, it is still possible for him to remarry and father additional children, though few deem that likely to happen. Cliodna 'mos Samuelson 'Al Farrad, Jaffez's niece, is also Matriarch of the small but politically powerful 'Al Farrad Clan due to her mother's blood relationship to the Patriarch of that clan. She was next in line to become Matriarch of the southern Samuelsons after Qina, but her husband's political ties to the Caliph of Jizhuan made her unreliable to the Samuelson Tribal Elders. There are several other prominent southern Samuelsons of note, including several mastermercenaries who are occasionally instructors at Houses Raven and Machiavelli, several Grand Master Merchants in Jizhuan and the surrounding area, and a couple of wealthy ranchers and vintners, but none who have gained the importance of those noted.

Holdings: The southern Samuelson Clan owns two-thirds of the land within the boundaries of the 10th Imperial Military District and controls a large portion of the political power in that district. The Emirate of Andilaal Naaknaal is held by Patriarch Jaffez 'al Andotti 'Al Samuelson. The other significant title held by the Southern Samuelson Clan is the Daimyo of Bloody Mountain and that title is currently held by Emir Jaffez's ailing younger brother Halvorth. Upon his death, the title will be vacant and speculation is that Jaffez's grandson Sigurd will inherit the title until he becomes Emir. The southern Samuelsons, much as the northern Samuelsons did, have allied themselves by marriage and blood to most of the important noble houses and powerful guild families of northern Jizhuan to the point of being de facto rulers of the region, giving the Samuelson Tribe a stranglehold on all revenue and power in the region. It was for this reason, as well as pure spite and revenge for perceived past insults, that the Jizhuanese priesthood and the Caliph moved against the southern Samuelsons with the intention of slaughtering them all and confiscating their property. The balance of power, however, had begun to swing in favor of the Samuelson Tribe and Duke Josef Samuelson and the northern Samuelsons were able to go to the aid of their southern kinsmen, evacuating them and their portable possessions northward. The balance has swung even further into the Samuelsons' favor and they have now begun an offensive to take back their land and appropriate enough extra land to create a buffer zone between Samuelson lands and the Jizhuanese capital, in a sense trying to create a situation of being able to hold the point of their sword on the throat of Jizhuanese power.

'Al Amasa-Lyr Clan

Crest/Colors: Silver date palm tree on a sandy field with sky blue, rayed suns in the two upper corners and sky blue edging

History: The 'Al Amasa-Lyr Clan was an influential Jizhuanese clan which fell out of favor with the priesthood following the death of Caliph Vahhian the Great. Caliph Ahkmed did not view them as much of a threat since they were not of the nobility and were simple date farmers, but they began to be watched closely by the priesthood in the hopes that they would be caught in a sacrilege severe enough to warrant their deaths and the confiscation of the large date palm plantation they owned. As the Caliph's forces carried out their pogroms, the 'Al Amasa-Lyr family began to worry that Ahkmed and his minions would not wait for them to slip over into sacrilege. When word came down out of the mountains of the Caliph's defeat by the massed Samuelson Tribe, the Patriarch of the 'Al Amasa-Lyr Clan immediately saw a way to secure his family's future wellbeing and protection and sought Emir Joffa Samuelson out with a proposed marriage arrangement between his young son and the Emir's daughter. Joffa protested that the child was only ten and would not even be looking to get married for at least another five or six years but Farruk 'al Taziri 'Al Amasa-Lyr persisted and got the Emir to agree to a provisional betrothal conditional on the two youths' approval on the girl's sixteenth birthday. The 'Al Amasa-Lyr family was soon the first close friends of the southern Samuelsons and they frequently visited one another over the years. By the time Jona Samuelson, the Emir's daughter, was fifteen it was quite plain to everyone that the two considered themselves to already be a couple and the marriage was held that Fall. At the wedding reception, Duke Ozgard IV welcomed the 'Al Amasa-Lyr Clan into the Samuelson Tribe, putting the family under the Samuelson Tribe's protection as Farruk hoped. Although the 'Al Amasa-Lyr Clan began on their date plantation northeast of Jizihaara, several decades of exposure to the entrepreneurial spirit of the Samuelsons showed the younger members of that clan the benefits of looking at the outside world for opportunity. The youngest grandson of Farruk 'Al Amasa-Lyr left his grandfather's plantation and joined the merchant marines, eventually washing up in A'Ahshlaanaah only a few years after the first wharf was sunk into the deep waters of the harbor on the southern tip of Ahshlaanaah Island. He bought into a maritime outfitters' shop and was soon doing well enough to buy his own ship as well. Within a few years he had enticed several cousins and his married sister to join him on the island where the 'Al Amasa-Lyr Clan grew quite wealthy and prominent, to the dismay of the Caliph of Jizhuan. When Caliph Raazha 'Al Sheleb decided to attack the southern Samuelsons, the 'Al Amasa-Lyr Clan was the first to get out and warn the Samuelson Elders, enabling them to evacuate the southern clans with few casualties. A'Ahshlaanaah has subsequently been razed to the ground by the Samuelson Clans. The 'Al Amasa-Lyr Clan owns several trading ships that occasionally deal with the Njorthmann Clan and the Viscount of Port Hildebrandt, making the Amasa-Lyrs high on the suspect list of the Jizhuanese priesthood where the coastal devastation is concerned.

Members: Very few members of the 'Al Amasa-Lyr Clan are prominent outside of the Hildesberg region. Among those few are the Patriarch and Matriarch, Llewellyn 'al Ahshlaanaah 'Al Amasa-Lyr and his third cousin Bellona 'mos Taziri 'Al Amasa-Lyr. Llewellyn was the owner of a large marine outfitting company which grew out of his ancestor's investment. He is also the Captain of the trading ship Amasa-Lyr's Wind and the part owner of four other ships, all of which are known to do business with the Flynn-Samuelson Clan and the Njorthmann Clan. Bellona is the mother of Morvron 'al Taziri 'Al Amasa-Lyr, a warrior of growing reputation among the Samuelsons and the heir to the 'Al Amasa-Lyr plantation at Taziri, a few dozen leagues northeast of Jizihaara. Bellona's husband, Jaffir 'al Taziri 'Al Amasa-Lyr, is Llewellyn's brother and is a master in the Guild of Merchants. Jaffir was one of the more successful caravaneers in Jizhuan prior to the coup that deposed Emperor Josef XII. Since then, Jaffir had been transferring much of his caravan company's business north of the Zauberin border. No others have much repute outside of their clan due to their occupations at the Amasa-Lyr Plantation or as employees of Llewellyn 'Al Ahshlaanaah 'Al Amasa-Lyr.

Holdings: The 'Al Amasa-Lyr Clan holds no titles but did own a large date palm plantation near the village of Taziri and a large marine outfitter's store, several warehouses, and two wharves in the city of A'Ahshlaanaah prior to the southern Samuelsons' expulsion from Jizhuan.

'Al Farrad Clan

Crest/Colors: A silver bunch of kelbis grapes on a sandy field with green edging

History: The 'Al Farrad Clan is what is known as a founder family in Jizhuan. Founder families were the thirty or so families who followed the first Caliph of Jizhuan to the southern desert shortly before the death of Emperor Josef III the Great with an imperial land grant. The High Priest of the Church of Ahkanondra, a zealot by the name of Varhain the Wise, had gather unto himself a large following but they were persecuted by the other faiths and, from time to time, the Imperial Government. Josef III decided that it would be best to send the Ahkanondrans to a place where they could practice their religion as they chose and offered them land in any of the recently conquered lands of East Uzra (South Tariz and northern Benetone), East Vymaria (southern Benetone), or South Uzra/South Vymaria (Jizhuan and extreme western Zauberin). Inexplicably, the High Priest chose the desert highlands of South Vymaria and renamed the land Jizhuan after the peninsula's name. Calling himself the Caliph of Jizhuan, Varhain led his people into the desert to a place he name Jizhuanara and built a walled city on the rocky, arid Jizhuan Plateau. The 'Al Farrad family was among the first to be sent to start a city closer to the only good seaport within the lands of the imperial grant. The Vice-Caliph sent with the settlers named their village the City of God, Zhiaah 'Al Ahkanondra. The Farrads were given a parcel of land to the north of the new town in the more temperate foothills of the Hildesberg Mountains and they started a large vineyard and brewery. Before heading south, Barak Farrad was an adept in a brewhouse in Neu Pfalia and had contacts with hops and barley farmers and beekeepers of central Zauberin. As soon as his family had their home and business buildings finished, he sent his son Jiznorrod north to arrange for shipments of the things he would need to start brewing beer and mead for income while he awaited the vines his people planted on their new land to mature. In time, the Farrad family became one of the most successful in Jizhuan and the Caliph of Jizhuan granted Barak Farrad the title of Daimyo and created an estate out of the lands they already owned along with several dozen square acres bordering the Farrad vineyard. When Jiznorrod inherited the title, the vineyard and the estate was renamed Jiznorrod, as was the small town that had grown up around the vineyard and brewery. Very little of import happened in the family's history until the brother and sister of the Duke of Hildesberg migrated south with the immigration incentives offered by Caliph Vahhian the Great. Following the attempt by Vahhian's son to undo the work of his father, the southern branch of the Samuelson Clan became very strong and influential in northern Jizhuan. Many of the families in the northern part of the country began courting the favor of the Emir of Andilaal Naaknaal, including the Farrads. Unlike the 'Al Amasa-Lyr Clan, however, the 'Al Farrad family did not run headlong into the arms of their powerful neighbors. The Farrads were closely tied to the Caliphs and were true believers in the Church of Ahkanondra's teachings, though they were not the fanatics that Caliph Ahkmed and his faction were. They were instructed by their priests to befriend the Samuelsons and come within their circle of friends and allies. This they did and they remained friends of the Samuelsons for several generations before a young man named Gillarth 'al Jiznorrod 'Al Farrad fell in love with the niece of the Emir Ozgard I of Andilaal Naaknaal. Upon Gillarth's marriage to the girl, the 'Al Farrad Clan was welcomed into the Samuelson Tribe. What they did not know was that the Farrads also kept close links with the Caliphs of Jizhuan, always with an eye of someday using their ties with the Samuelsons to advance their standings with the Caliphs and perhaps rise above their station to a more powerful position within Jizhuan and the Empire. The marriage of Qina 'al Andotti 'Mos Samuelson to Josef Samuelson, and the vacancy of the Matriarchy of the southern Samuelson Clan, presented that opportunity. Barak 'al Jiznorrod 'Al Farrad, and his cousin and Patriarch Ahkmehknad 'al Ahkmiar 'Al Farrad, instructed Barak's wife Cliodna 'mos Samuelson 'Al Farrad, the 'Al Farrad Matriarch, to take over as the southern Samuelsons' Matriarch in order to gain control of some of the Samuelsons' power and finances. Duke Josef Samuelson, however, sensed the reluctance of southern Samuelson Patriarch Emir Jaffez 'al Andotti 'Al Samuelson and bespelled Cliodna in order to reveal what the woman's real purpose was. In finding out the Farrads' were being used by the Caliph, Cliodna was rejected as Matriarch of the southern Samuelson Clan, Qina's cousin Kianna 'mos Samuelson 'Al Nassim was appointed, and Cliodna was enchanted so that she could never plot against the family again.

Members: Like many southern clans, the 'Al Farrad Clan is very patriarchal and very rigidly controlled by the Patriarch. As such, very few members of the 'Al Farrad Clan are well-know aside from Patriarch Ahkmehknad 'al Ahkmiar 'Al Farrad, a functionary in the Andotti District government, and Matriarch Cliodna 'mos Samuelson 'Al Farrad, an adept in the Guild of Vintners. Cliodna's husband, Mastervintner Barak 'al Jiznorrod 'Al Farrad, is the heir of the Daimyo title and estate of Jiznorrod even though his cousin is the Patriarch. The only other member of this clan who is known outside of the Farrad family and the southern Samuelson sub-Tribe is Battlemaster Joffa 'al Samuelson 'Al Farrad, great grandson of Duke Sven II and Isolde Samuelson, who is one of very few Jizhuanese battlemasters to ever join the Consortium and is an occasional instructor at both the Imperial Military Academy and at House Raven. It is well known in Hildesberg and Jizhuan that Joffa was publicly disowned by his father and the Farrad Clan, though his grandmother Isolde has unofficially adopted him.

Holdings: The 'Al Farrad Clan holds the title and estate of Daimyo of Jiznorrod, a hilly parcel of land north of the Jizhuanese capital and south of the Emirate of Andilaal Naaknaal through which runs the Jiznorrod River. Jiznorrod is mainly a vineyard and brewing mecca of northern Jizhuan but the town of Jiznorrod does see some caravan traffic and has a growing population of skilled artisans. Other than this estate, the Farrads own no other land or property of significance.

'Al Gedros Clan

Crest/Colors: A silver camel flanked by palm trees on a blue field

History: The nomadic desert clan of 'Al Gedros have, as nearly as history can tell, always been in the deserts of Jizhuan. This, of course, is not true but, as nearly as sane and intelligent speculation can say, the people of the 'Al Gedros Clan came to the deserts of the south-central Xeuxondran Continent almost immediately upon their coming to Xeuxondra from Terra with Hildebrand I and Sofia Pfalia. They seem to have been magicians and herb witches from the southern reaches of Persia (the Gedrosian Desert) and were thusly named Gedros by others. They were one of the groups that made up the early Ahlahkhan 'Al Jaffahnihal, the Brotherhood of the Winds. They were rediscovered by German migrants from Daanzuu looking to find a land away from the restrictive city of the burgeoning Empire that Hildebrand's successors were putting together. These intrepid emigrants wandered into the desert and found a small, navigable river which did not disappear in the middle of the brutal Summer months and settled down, founding the town of Leverkuse. The headman of the village, Leuthonicus the Gray, woke one morning to find his village surrounded by armed men and women atop camels and desert drachtnar simply waiting for the village to awake. As soon as the headman found someone who still spoke Greek, the only language the two groups had in common, they sat down over breakfast to discuss why the Leverkusens were trespassing on the Gedros' river. After hearing the German out, the Persian elders agreed to let them stay as long as they paid a tribute to them. The Leverkusens agreed to give the Gedros finished metal and ceramics in exchange for the right to stay and protection should the villagers be threatened. Over time, the Leverkusens intermarried with the Gedros tribesmen and the 'Al Gedros Clan was formed. Leverkuse became the semi-nomadic Gedros' semi-annual meeting place where they arranged marriages, sold their drachtnar, camels, and other goods and collected what they could not make themselves. When the Samuelson Clan began to spread southward, their traders eventually encountered the Gedros and were steered towards Leverkuse. Leverkuse became a burgeoning caravan destination between Port Zauberin and Jizhuanara. Eventually one of the Samuelsons, a cousin of Emir Keldarth I named Bellos 'al Andotti 'Al Samuelson, who made frequent stops in Leverkuse as an apprentice and journeyman merchant became enamored with Marissa 'mos Leverkuse 'Al Gedros, a cousin of the headman of Leverkuse. Bellos worked hard to earn his adept, then master, rank before returning to Leverkuse to ask for the young woman's hand in marriage. Marissa's father and Hakhvir 'al Leverkuse 'Al Gedros, the Patriarch of the Gedros Clan, saw the advantages to being allied by marriage to the Emir of Samuelson and agreed to the match. Thusly were the Gedros welcomed into the Samuelson Tribe.

Members: Unlike the Farrads and other southern clans, the 'Al Gedros Clan is a decentralized family with several heads of nuclear families being prominent merchants. Levarius 'al Leverkuse 'Al Gedros and Levanna 'mos Leverkuse 'Al Gedros, the Patriarch and Matriarch of the Clan and first cousins, are both mastermerchants. Levarius' brother, Fernand, and Levanna's sister and brother-in-law, Lilianna 'mos Gedros 'Al Heliarus and Brigante 'al Leverkuse 'Al Heliarus, are all mastermerchants as well. Levanna's great uncle, Ozgard 'al Andotti 'Al Gedros is the Daimyo of Leverkuse and headman of the town. Levarius' maternal grandfather Lellgarth 'Al Gedros is the elder of the Gedrosian nomads, the semi-nomadic branch of the clan and is wanted by the Church of Ahkanondra for heresy, despite the fact that he worships the desert and wind gods of the Gedrosians' ancestors. Many other members of the 'Al Gedros Clan are known in the Andotti and Jizhuanara Districts, but few have the prominence of those mentioned.

Holdings: The estate of the Daimyo of Leverkuse is held by Ozgard 'al Andotti 'Al Gedros, one of the many grand- and great grandchildren of the Emir of Andilaal Naaknaal. Aside from that title, only Lellgarth 'Al Gedros holds a title, that of Knight, although several members of the 'Al Gedros Clan are substantially wealthy due to their commercial successes as members of the Guild of Merchants.

'Al Khepera Clan

Crest/Colors: A black silhouette of a warrior with a bow and quiver across his back riding a silver chariot on a green and beige field split horizontally even

History: The 'Al Khepera Clan, much like the people of the Gedros, are semi-nomadic herders who apparently originated in the Nile River Valley of Terra before coming to Xeuxondra with Hildebrand and Sophia Pfalia. Their history, however, is more detailed than that of the Gedros and their people did not go straight to Jizhuan's deserts from Mount Uryo. Their wanderings led them to head northwest into what is today South Tariz, then over to the eastern shores of Lake Vymar, then south through the Hildesberg Mountains, and then into the deserts of Jizhuan. Along the way they acquired both camels and drachtnar from which they derived much of their sustenance and the tools and hides they needed to make their clothes and homes. By the time they had found the banks of the river they would name the New Nile River, the members of the Khepera Tribe had devolved back to a pre-Roman Empire, nomadic herding level of technology not much more advanced than that of pre-historic North African tribesmen. When they came to the New Nile River, the tribe split, some deciding to stay on the river and start a town they called Neunile/New Nile and some decided to keep their traditions and remain herders. These herders of the Khepera Tribe would become the nucleus of a larger group of nomadic desert-dwellers that would become known as the Ahlahkhan 'Al Jaffahnihal, or Brotherhood of the Winds. The Brotherhood became the guardians of the desert, keeping the Vymarian merchants and Uzra Su-Tazi herders confined to the west coast and unintentionally helping the new Empire of the Zauberin taking shape further north in Zauberin, Xeuxondra, and Elvendom. After the heirs of Hildebrand succeeded in pacifying the Dwarves and Elves, largely without bloodshed, they then turned their eyes to the Uzra tribesmen and their Vymarian lieges. When the followers of Ahkanondra migrated into Jizhuan, the Brotherhood became their main enemy and a constant thorn in the side of the Jizhuanese Army and the Church of Ahkanondra. Because the Ahlahkhan 'Al Jaffahnihal worshipped the desert and its winds, the Church saw them as blasphemous pagans and sought to wipe them out. Finding them was their first problem, fleeing when they did find them became their second problem because the Brotherhood had evolved into a fierce warrior race in which even the children and women are more than the fanatical soldiers of the Jizhuanese Army could handle. After several divisions of infantry and cavalry were destroyed by the Ahlahkhan 'Al Jaffahnihal, the Caliphs of Jizhuan began to ignore their existence, preferring to let slide the occasional banditry the desert-dwellers perpetrated against Caliphate caravans than to lose even more men while never bringing the bandits to justice. While the Caliphs were trying to wage war on their kinsmen, the Kheperas who stayed at Neunile had met and intermarried with their downstream neighbors, the 'Al Gedros Clan. Neunile was a pottery and glassblowing center of the southern Empire and merchants from as far away as Tariz made the journey upriver to acquire the fine glass products the artisans of the Khepera Clan produced. By the time the 'Al Gedros Clan was welcomed into the Samuelson Tribe, the Gedros and Khepera families were already very intermingled. The Emir of Andilaal Naaknaal saw this and saw the prestige the 'Al Khepera Clan could add to the southern Samuelsons. Marissa 'mos Leverkuse 'Al Gedros's cousin Markos 'al Leverkuse 'Al Gedros, the heir of the Daimyo of Leverkuse was persuaded to marry the daughter of the Lord of Neunile, Sir Amunan 'al Neunile 'Al Khepera. His daughter Astarte was rather plain of face but very curvaceous and seemed to exude an innocent seductiveness that ensnared young Markos. When the two were married, the Kheperas were welcomed into the Samuelson Tribe by Duke Bjorn I of Hildesberg and Emir Keldarth II of Andilaal Naaknaal. In 834 P. Z., when the Caliph of Jizhuan decided to evict the southern Samuelson Clans, the 'Al Khepera Clan was the only one not to have to evacute north, thanks to their protection by their kinsmen, the Ahlahkhan 'Al Jaffahnihal.

Members: Most of the urban members of the 'Al Khepera Clan who are not engaged in the managing of the fiefdom of Neunile or the running of households are members of the Guild of Glassblowers, a small but powerful sub-Guild attached to the Guild of Coopers, Vintners, and Brewers. Due to the high quality of the sandpits located somewhere (Guild secret) near Neunile, the Guild of Glassblowers has a separate Guild headquarters at Neunile and the Guildmaster for the Glassblowers is the current Lord of Neunile's older brother, Anubil 'al Neunile 'Al Khepera. Amadeuz 'al Neunile 'Al Khepera, Patriarch and Lord of Neunile, is also well known as a kind and generous nobleman and an efficient administrator to a fairly important guild and trading town, a man not even the Caliphs of Jizhuan have wanted to jostle as he brings a lot of tax revenue into the Jizhuanese government. His aunt, Isis 'mos Neunile 'Al Khepera, is the Khepera Matriarch and a masterhealer known throughout eastern Jizhuan for her abilities. She was an apprentice to Isolde Samuelson in her youth. Sir Amadeuz's wife and daughter, Vivian 'mos Gedros 'Al Khepera and Beatrix 'mos Neunile 'Al Khepera are both masters in the Guild of Bakers and they run the Inn of the Desert Winds which is the favorite of the more affluent merchants who visit Neunile and is owned by Sir Amadeuz. Sir Amadeuz's son Porthos is a retired Captain of the Imperial Cavalry and is an adept in the Guild of Mercenaries in command of a cavalry company for House Machiavelli. Few others of the 'Al Khepera Clan rise to the level of renown outside of Neunile as those mentioned.