Sandviper Sect

The Sandviper Sect is introduced in book #2, Soulsmith

Snake Namesake

This sect lives in the Desolate Wilds, a rotting area of blackened trees and arid desert in the Western region of the Blackflame Empire. The sect takes its name from a local snake, the sandviper.

He pulled a squirming sandviper out from behind his back.. .Its centipede legs kicked at the air, its serpentine head baring fangs as it hissed. Its carapace was tan and bright, exactly the color of a desert in the sun. Eithan held it calmly, regarding the monster with something like fascination. “This isn't one of the corrupted dreadbeasts of this region, you know. It's a perfectly natural sacred beast, it just happens to be hideous.” (Soulsmith, ch 15)

Main Characters

Sandviper Gokren is the sect chief and Kral’s father. Kral is Jai Long’s friend and ally in the desert. Gokren and Kral play key roles but their lifeline is short once they meet Lindon. See Soulsmith and Blackflame. The others are only minor characters.

• Sandviper Gokren (Chief of the Sandvipers, Path of the Sandviper, Truegold Rank)
• Sandviper Kral (Son of Gokren, Path of the Sandviper, Highgold Rank)
• Resh (Path of the Sandviper, Lowgold Rank)
• Tern (Path of the Sandviper, Lowgold Rank)
• Tash (Path of the Sandviper, Lowfold Rank)
• Grenn (Messenger for Jai Long, Path of the Sandviper)
• Bren (Path of the Sandviper, Iron Rank)

Relationships

Part of the Five Factions Alliance at the Transcendent Ruins (see Desolate Wilds#Five Factions Alliance).
The Sandvipers are allies with the Jai Clan (or they were). In the Five Factions Alliance, Kral collaborated very closely with Jai Long to find the Ancestor’s Spear. The Sandvipers are historic ancestral feudal enemies of the Fisher Sect in the Wilds. Gokren hates Lindon because of what he did to Kral, his beloved son and heir.

Path & Iron body

Sandvipers follow the Path of the Sandviper. It uses aspects of venom madra. The Goldsign is a green sandviper on the arm.

The Sandviper Iron body helps this sect survive in the rotting desert, where Dreadbeasts and corruption abound. It relies on taking in the venom of a sandviper, and drinking its blood. Rinse and repeat. It is the same as Lindon’s Bloodforged Iron body, basically, but Lindon went further with it. This painful procedure enables the body to quickly heal itself from poisons, viruses, etc.

Eithan considered the statement for a moment. “'Immunity to poisons' is really an impossible concept. Any compound that harms the body is a poison, and there's no one solution for them all. What this will do is naturally draw on your spirit to accelerate your body's ability to restore and protect itself. It should help you against poison, parasites, diseases, infection, and so forth, as well as small wounds.” (Soulsmith, ch 15)

• See Iron body