Shétóu (蛇頭)

Participant of an RPGroup named VCHH. One amongst the first generation of volunteers to embark on a journey to bring peace between human and magical beast upon the isolated ancient continent. His fate was to die in an assassination with his friends and work as prologue character for the whole campaign and motivation for the next generation of players.

A siphonophore inspired beast clan, made up of many identical members physically connected which each other and take care of different bodily fuctions such as reproduce, digest, float, maintain colony position, move,... and share the same memory when they touch, almost hivemind-like. Everytime a member die, their body is reabsorb to give birth to a new member, and their memories passed on, which make the clan basically immortal, with the youngest member still able to recalls experiences milleniums ago.

Shetou clan worship a colossal primordial fallen whale god and honor it as their "mother",and has continue to do so even after it had deceased and rot away. Its corpse has provide them with ages of food and lures many prey for them. Though they had been ill-treated when worked as mother's minions and hunting system while its tail and flippers were cut off, Shetous still talk about their mother lovingly, as it was thanks to her that the clan can evolute into a strong colony.

Shetou clan is bound to the deep abyssal they've adapted to and only strive there due to no natural predator and boosted aggression when staying near their mother carcass. They cannot travel far upward without being turn inside out from the pressure change and eaten by local animals. Few specimens that had reached the shore couldn't survive for long and lose the ability to reproduce. The bone crushing pressure has protected them, but also cursed them with a cold and dark existence. They only know of the above world through the telling of the sea's currents spirits.

The whale god's remains has been decayed to the bone for a while and the siphonophore clans couldn't scavenge any bits anymore. They heard of stories about giants and titans from the sea spirits and decide to travel to the shore to find a new mother and bring her home.

The jellyfish-liked group didn't had a name so to say, but when travel to the territory of the mermaids, their body has already deformed heavily, and they was called "snake heads" as a slur and took that as their own name when asked later by the land people.

Their plan turn upside down when a storm push them to another continent that doesn't resemble the one they learnt about at all. The cloned cousins saw a ship on verge of sinking and tried to save the humans there, but their grotesque appearance scare those people so badly that they were mistaken as sea monsters, which results in the victims struggled out of their grips and drown anyway.

Shetou clan set foot on land with a bunch of shipwreck victims' corpses and their belongings nearby. The beasts mimic those human's shape, took their clothing and split up into groups. Shetou the firsts headed north and was tricked into working for a brothel, first as bouncer, then as dancer when they developed an interest in it. They made good friends and was helped to escape from the shady place.

The beasts later reunited with their prostitute friend- now a merchant woman after she has retired from the sex industry thanks to the money Shetou lent her. She used to be in a secret relationship with her boss and with child, but at that time was running away and refuse to let the man see her baby. Shetou did not know they were infertile from the pressure change, and so once again was tricked into married her. They were bothered by their original duty left undone, but complied anyway, as being a child without father on that continent will be difficult.

Shetou stay on shore for about 10 years while their health were declining. One day, they were suddenly identified as the missing son of some nobility family. When they negate the claim and told the story of the shipwreck many years ago, Shetou were believed to be sea monster who killed all those passengers and were witch hunted. They escaped with their human family, but was later snitched by their own wife and massacred.