Many travelers have heard whispered tales of the serpent people that live in Xen’drik’s interior, a race of psionically endowed humanoids known as the yuan-ti. Some even know of the origins of the strange race, of how it fled persecution in its homeland of Sarlona only to face similar maltreatment at the hands of the dragon lords of Argonnessen. They know that by the time the yuan-ti arrived in Xen’drik, they had decided that they would never again be driven from their homes and lands. Few know, however, that the yuan-ti themselves are a race divided.
During the Age of Demons, only two forces were capable and determined enough to challenge the demons’ collective might. The dragons are said to be the children of Siberys and Eberron, the mightiest of all mortal creatures. These same myths say that when Siberys’s blood fell from the sky, some of the drops quickened before they reached Eberron, becoming a race of pure immortal beings. These were the couatls, feathered serpents whose compassion was matched only by their psionic and magical aptitude. After eons of war, the couatl prophet Hezcalipa led her people in a momentous sacrifice to end the terrible war. The majority of the couatls gave their lives, weaving their immortal essence into a pure force that could bind even the demon lords of the first age. This was the end of the Age of Demons, but it cost the couatl race nearly everything it was—nearly.
Before the couatls made their final sacrifice, they sought to preserve what little they could of their legacy. Although most of the humanoid races were extremely primitive, the couatls found useful servants among the humans of Sarlona. As the war reached its final days, entire human tribes lived among the couatls, serving them faithfully and learning what they could of kindness, peace . . . and sacrifice. When the couatls realized the price they would have to pay to end the Overlords’ reign of terror, they gathered their most devoted human followers and made them an offer: The few couatls who would survive the final conflict would invest some of themselves in their followers, altering them in body and soul so they could carry some of the pure silver flame of their mentors with them into the future.
Knowing that the couatls were about to disappear from Eberron forever, these humans were honored and humbled by the request, and they accepted. The resulting bloodline, a psionically engineered union between the couatls and humanity, was known as the shulassakar. For a time, these beings prospered. Ruins of shulassakar cities can be found across Sarlona, and for a time the nation of Khalesh was ruled by shulassakar lords. In the present day, however, the shulassakar are rare. Over the course of thousands of years, the Lords of Dust, the Cults of the Dragon Below, and the Inspired targeted the shulassakar. Despite this onslaught, they continue to fight the forces of evil and to be worthy of the legacy of the Silver Flame.
The shulassakar of Xen’drik remain hidden in the deep jungles. In recent years, the most active among them has been Sesstaria (female transcendent shulassakar paladin 3), a strong and humorless champion of the cause. Recently, Sesstaria led a daring mission into a yuan-ti encampment on the banks of the Hydra River. There, the shulassakar were horrified to discover a breeding colony for yuan-ti wretchlings (SX 86) complete with barracks for both the “finished” wretchlings and for the human slaves that would one day become wretchlings.
Disgusted and enraged, Sesstaria ordered every nonhuman put to the sword. The paladin’s chief healer, a bloodsworn shulassakar priest named Surrayana, was familiar with this policy. But when she discovered a crèche filled with wretchling children, compassion overtook her, and she fled with the children to Stormreach.
GETTING INVOLVED
As a bloodsworn shulassakar (see the sidebar), Surrayana passes easily for a human, and she has managed to find a place to hole up in the Harbor district of Stormreach. There, she looks after the four wretchling children (three boys and a mischievous little girl she calls Mud Hen) while planning her next move. She knows that Sesstaria won’t enter Stormreach, but she fears that the paladin might send one or more agents into the city after her and the children.
The easiest way to integrate Surrayana and her moral quandary into the campaign would be to have Mud Hen get out one day while Surrayana is away (despite her strict instructions to all the children that they not leave their hidey-hole). The appearance of a little serpent child attracts the attention of one or more of the Harbor’s residents, some of whom might even know what the child is. The PCs might be happening by and witness either the initial alarm or the city guards’ approach. Alternatively, Mud Hen could escape into the city without notice, causing Surrayana to panic and seek the assistance of a group of individuals she feels might be sympathetic to her and the children’s plight.
However you intend to use Surrayana, note that the children are neither good nor evil. (If the story requires an alignment, make them chaotic neutral.) They are merely children, alone in a strange and unforgiving city and bereft of any support but what they receive from Surrayana. If anything were to happen to her, their situation would become dire.