The Meracai

Syrak the Glaive

The Meracai has an unusually old and linear history for a Literumi Pride. Its origins can be traced back almost 70 years to a pride from Roanoke Island, off the coast of what was once North Carolina in the Villalobos region. Known as Pride Croatoan due to the area's more common name, the predecessors of the Meracai were actually four siblings, no more than a year apart, all of whom manifested Literumi traits. Legend remembers them as brothers, but in reality the eldest and youngest siblings may have been female. While many similar details have been distorted by time and myth, the story goes that the Croatoan functioned as a small but capable unit, with the oldest brother acting as the Alpha. Being of mixed genetics, their individual powers were no more extraordinary than average Literumi, though their blood bond and narrow age range made their collective psychic ability notoriously formidable.

As the four approached Exuro, or burn out age, they swore to remain together rather than following the cutthroat practice of eliminating Exors. However, while the powers of the others gradually waned as expected, those of the youngest brother remained fullly intact well past the age nineteen. Rare even in pure bloods, this was virtually unheard of in normal Literumi, leading him to believe that he had been chosen by the gods*. As a result, he killed his "unworthy" kin and formed a new pride of zealot followers, who worshiped him as a kind of messiah or demigod. In time, no one, not even his own pride, would remember his true name; history would know him only has Syrak the Glaive (future Meracai Alphas would also be known by a descriptive title, often based on their preferred weapon or a similarly significant character trait).

Syrak would be martyred at the age of 23 with his powers intact, solidifying his status as a legendary figure in Meracai mythos. Had he lived a year longer, he would have finally hit Exuro, and it's likely that he would have been remembered merely as a genetic anomaly.

Ironhead Madge

The pride would continue to be known as the Croatoan for several generations after Syrak's death**. Pride Meracai in its modern incarnation began under the leadership of Miranda the Tank, better known as Ironhead Madge. Her nickname was something of a misnomer, as Madge was actually a Silex/Pewter combination. More likely, it referred to the mask she wore to both hide her dominant Silver phenotypes and protect her face and eyes from solar damage. Born to Literumi parents, she was the first Alpha to adopt the credo of blood purity among the pride; the word "meracai" was originally an internal term used to distinguish Literumi of lineage from those without. Besides nurturing a culture of even greater prejudice, Madge encouraged promiscuity, rape, and the keeping of sex slaves by powerful Literumi, in order to increase the possibility of stable genetic lines. She herself bore twin daughters and a son in her lifetime, as her Silex genes made her more reliably fertile.

** Even today, the Meracai are still occasionally referred to as the Croatoan in the north.

Info to come.