|
Content Links Wiki Users Contact |
Fluff / Tamanous
TamanousOverviewTamanous are a highly secretive, incredibly ruthless, globe-spanning organlegging syndicate. At a macro level, they appear to be involved with almost every major organlegging group and are the primary supplier of meta-human biomatter to ghouls around the globe. They are wide-spread, well-connected, and seemingly impervious to law-enforcement [1]. In most locales, they are the eponymous boogeymen, feared but never seen, omnipresent but only a rumor, serving as matchmakers between chopshops, medical practices (both legitimate and shadow), organleggers, and the eternally hungry Infected community [2]. Tamanous has a well-earned reputation of brutality and unscrupulousness. They do not care where or how they obtain organs - dead, dying, living. They also buy and sell second-hand ‘ware. For all of their callousness and brutality, they are highly dependable and operationally efficient - someone on the hunt for an organ or used ‘ware with the right connections and cred can expect prompt and qualified service levels that rival top-tier legal medical practices [1]. While procuring organs via kidnapping and murder is one method, Tamanous has made many technological investments, allowing them to grow organs in clone vats or inside (willing & unwilling) hosts repeatedly, facilities for farming fetal tissue, and more. History of the SyndicateIn the 50’s, many organizations dabbled in organlegging but rarely made it their core business. Gangers were grabbing folks and stashing them in iceboxes in the hope of a quick sale. It was a busy time, but it lacked refinement or professionalism. As the 50’s came to a close, the small organleggers went out of business. The assumption at the time was that police forces had caught on or that above-bar medical services had increased typo-O organ production enough that demand declined. In fact, Tamanous began buying out the small organizations in a highly aggressive, targeted, and focused acquisition strategy. They were just emerging onto the scene but seemingly had unlimited resources. Rumors circulated, but were never substantiated, that they were backed by the new nation of Asamando [3]. In the 2060’s organlegging grew to be a huge business. Transplantable organs weren’t easy to find so anyone in need of a treatment ended up paying huge fees, waiting for someone to clone one, or relying on immunosuppressants. At the time, a reasonably matched organ could draw a price of 20,000 nuyen. Unscrupulous participating parties would be buy a whole and healthy person for at least 10,000 nuyen and part it out for 50K or more if the matches were right. Tamanous, at the time, mastered the market conditions and paired secrecy with brutal efficiency to dominate the North American, African, and Pacific Rim organlegging trade. They were enormously profitable and grew very quickly [4] In the modern era, Tamanous has spread far and wide, growing an expansive smuggling network while simultaneously investing in technologically advanced production and extraction methods. They operate globally while operating publicly in Asamando and Aztlan. OrganizationThe organizational structure of the Tamanous syndicate is almost entirely unknown [22]. No rumors in the shadows identify any potential leadership or possible headquarters. Their public businesses are known, such as in Asamando [5] and Aztlan [2], and the criminal underworld knows generally where they operate in force - Lagos, Seattle, Rangoon, Caracas, and more. They appear to be highly distributed, working through proxies such as gangs or other syndicates whenever possible. Due to the nature of their primary business, ghouls participate at all levels. Most members of organ-legging gangs or chopshops are not members of Tamanous. They likely work for Tamanous, serving as a supply chain or distributor, and may have never even met a Tamanous member, but just a proxy. Life in the SyndicateThere are very few members of the syndicate who have been caught or who have willingly told about their experiences. Hannibelle, a famous Infected decker in the shadows [6], worked for Tamanous. It is interviews with her where we get the most robust look into life in Tamanous. Most ghouls on the street who are ashamed of their condition, hungry, and desperate make great targets for Tamanous. It starts simple - pass a message here, watch this thing. In exchange, a roof over your head, invited to a community of other ghouls, and a steady, but small supply of food. After some time, the gravity of the tasks increase. Working for organ leggers doesn’t really build a resume and shames you into keep the relationship going and private. Targeting and leveraging ghouls is a common tactic for Tamanous [7]. In their hunger, they usually become desperate enough to do basically anything and the syndicate is usually the only supplier for their need. OperationsTamanous has an extensive and highly sophisticated business infrastructure and logistic networks to guarantee a continuous flow of organs, ‘ware, and biomatter end up with the highest bidder at any given moment. They are most famous for their acquisition operations - buying up parts from generally unwilling donors - but they have enormous production operations that make satisfying the demand for high-quality parts possible. Supporting all of this is research, financial, and technological operations that form the backbone of any global business. ActivitiesWhile typical associated with street docs, shadow clinics, and ghoul cafeterias, Tamanous operates in the background of every level of medical operation, from street to shiny AAA boardrooms [5], buying (as most assume) but also selling. Traditional ServicesTamanous’ traditional offering is providing organs for transplant. However, Typo O organs have saturated the market and legal transactions only draw around 4,000 nuyen in recent years. Paired with new advances in gene therapy and nanite-based medical treatments, the need for transplants due to non-trauma reasons have plummeted. Transplant candidates are now primarily victims of some kind of trauma - bullet, auto accident, enraged troll - or people who couldn’t afford access to routine health care and let the organ fail. Subscribers to emergency medical services and medical contractors like DocWagon or CrashCart will almost always get a legitimate type O organ immediately, leaving those stranded outside of the regular medical system as consumers of Tamanous’ product [8]. Tamanous also participates in a brisk trade in used cyber and bioware - much of the used ‘ware acquired from street docs and shadow clinics was removed from the unwilling [1]. Infected ServicesInfected, with their insatiable hunger for metahuman flesh, blood, and bone make up a primary consumer market for Tamanous product. Every substantial ghoul community has some connection to a Tamanous supplier to get their fix. As discussed in ‘Life in the Syndicate’, being the sole supplier of food for ghouls tends to form symbiotic relationships with many ghouls. Tamanous makes use of ghouls as a cleaner service, serving as the middleman to connect hungry ghouls with dead bodies that need vanishing. Their status as dual-natured being lets them sense any type of biological remnants and there is no concern that the sample is going anywhere but a maw [9]. In addition to providing flesh to the hungry, Tamanous operates safehouses for the Infected in many locations [10]. Exotic ServicesAlong with typical organlegging and reselling of cyberware, Tamanous offers unique services to the wealthy and the twisted that are hard to find elsewhere - designer children, creating a large stock of a particular clone so a client can have them and do whatever they want, over and over. Corporations will occasionally need large batches of identical test subjects on short notice and work with Tamanous to get a quick turn around [1]. For those in need of an illegal organ-transplant on the go, Tamanous occasionally operates mobile clinics - large big rig trailers with full medical facilities in the back. This helps not having a fixed location that can be tracked by authorities [11]. These transport hubs also allow Tamanous to transport living beings to those that prefer their flesh that way - particularly blood mage communities needing sacrifices and voudon looking to create zombies [11]. Tamanous is the primary supplier of fetal tissue for research purposes to corporations and labs around the globe [12]. Acquisition OperationsTamanous’ foundation was built on acquiring organs and biomattter from (generally) willing sellers and (generally) unwilling donors. Many avenues are available for Tamanous to acquire parts: body snatching gangs on the hunt for any meat lying around [13],[14], independent contractors selling corpses with no questions asked [15], hospitals and street docs sending the dead or encouraging the dying along [16], [17], or picking up the remains from abortion clinics [18]. Overcrowded prisons occasionally sell off inmates to Tamanous. Gatestrom and Blackwell, two maximum security prisons in Manhattan, are known in the shadows for routinely doing extra-judicial prisoner transfers [19]. Occasionally, Tamanous will finance the kidnap and murder of specific individuals who are genetically compatible to one of their clients. However, getting the data for proper matches is hard. Tamanous has contracted out datasteals on charity lists of willing donors, hospital databases, and even SIN registries to get biomarker data on unsuspecting people. If a customer-to-unwilling donor match is identified and the price is right, they will go out, kidnap, kill, and harvest the organs of the target for sale and transplant [20]. An infrequently used tactic to acquire a particular corpse is to disguise a team as DocWagon or CrashCart, have them arrive on scene, pick up the bodies and still living that won’t be missed, and be gone before the real help shows up [Loose Alliances 125]. Due to Shedim possessing and reanimating whole bodies, Tamanous most often transports corpses piecemeal or, very rarely, transports live [22]. Selling a body to Tamanous is seen as lazy in OpSec terms in the shadow community. With no knowledge or control of where the body may end up or how it could be traced to you, it is much safer to feed it to devil rats yourself [23]. Production OperationsFetus FarmingTamanous has extensive organ production operations to ensure they diversify their business and are not entirely dependent on kidnapping or acquiring from organleggers.[20], [24]. While traditional cloned organ production in a tube is possible, cloning organs is expensive. The more efficient method is to produce a type-O cloned embryo and implant it into a woman who carries it through gestation. These organ production operations, called ‘Fetus Farms’, typically jail the women and provide them the minimum necessities that will allow a healthy birth. The process begins with kidnapping teenage girls and either artificially inseminating them or implanting a cloned embryo. The girls are then supplied with a cocktail of growth hormones to speed the pregnancy and drugs to keep them docile and the fetus is aborted midway through gestation. The fetal tissue and immature organs are highly prized for research, transplants, and bioware manufacture. After birth, individual organs can be extracted from the fetus and growth accelerated to the necessary size, while the host mother is repurposed. Ork women are prized by these farms for their tendency to produce multiple births - derisively titled litters - and shorter gestation periods. While ‘nicer’ fetus farms keep the women permanently in VR, most simply strap them down and feed them through a tube. The fetus farm mothers rarely live longer than a few years - the constant drug use, repeated pregnancies, and repeated abortions take a toll on the body, and death from blood loss or infection in a botched abortion is common. The dead girls are then recycled for use in the regular business. Any left-over biological matter that doesn’t have direct sale potential is usually packaged up and sold to a Ghoul community. A budding technological evolution of Fetus Farming are Seed Operations. Rather than use expensive artificial wombs, these new facilities hold acres of comatose and eviscerated mothers, strapped down and carved open with only the parts necessary to carry a child to term. Along with being highly cost effective, the natural pregnancy produces a cocktail of biochemical substances that have additional marketable uses. These mother-hosts repeatedly produce donor children until they expire, upon which they’re harvested as well - nothing goes to waste [5] Organ Growth AccelerationGrowth acceleration can be done in a tube or, most effectively, in another metahuman body. The two methods for doing this is to find desperate people willing to be hosts for organs grown to maturity or to use comatose metahumans as organ-gardens. In one operation, titled Project Garden, Tamanous uses a blend of cheap genetech, standard medicine, and magic to repeatedly grow organs in the donor. Previously, when you wanted to grow an organ or piece of bioware, they would keep the donor alive until a part was needed, then extract the piece, and put them on life support and anesthetics until they inevitably expired. They would then be fully harvested and parts kept on ice in hope they could be used in a timely manner. Now under Project Garden, donors are kept alive after extraction, sewn back up, healed with magic and other techniques, until they are ready to donate again. This has proven highly valuable to Tamanous as a preservation technique. They have paired this technique with new ‘Body Farms’, enormous and discretely located research facilities that grow metahuman nulls – living metas with no conscious neurological activity. Using their stock of nulls, they can grow organs with the benefit of no anesthesia necessary to control them, and can continuously extract enhanced parts from these crafted clones [5] Research OperationsTamanous makes significant investment into the science part of their business and are not depending entirely on kidnapping. The genetics arm has collected and cultivated extensive stocks of premium genetic material they use to create top-graded organ and bioware donors for transplant and harvest. In addition, they keep a vast array of metahumans to perform research on [5] Rumor has it that Tamanous supports most, if not all, clients who have use Leonization. The process taints the genetic material of the body, ensuring the vat-grown type-O organs will no longer match. Only exact matches from people will not be rejected. This leads to the wealthy having discrete and long term supply connections with the organlegging syndicate [25]. Financial & Logistics OperationsTamanous manages extensive smuggling operations, massive and complex accounting and financial services to control the flows of bribes and profits to everyone they interact with. Some obvious ‘partners’ are hospital administrators, morgue attendants, and border guards. Retrieved accounting ledgers have shown some of the vast and extensive consumers of their services - body banks, hospitals (regular and less-than-legal), Vino Sanguis Wines, and more. Other targets found to be on their payroll have less clear purposes - McHugh’s manager, corporate janitors, and private school principles [5] A common technique to maximize profit on a sale would be to offer an expensive transplant and, when they cannot afford it, also have a person nearby to conveniently loan them the money [4] Software OperationsIn the late 60’s a program called the Casket Courier VPN appeared. Rumored to be created by Tamanous (most likely) or Body Bank, this application allows a person to anonymously upload the patient’s biomarkers, the required part, and the timeframe. The application queries the marketplace and generates offers with appropriate availability, pricing, and delivery timeframes. If you find yourself with biological matter you’re interested in selling, you can upload the biomarkers and storage conditions. You may receive a message if a match has been identified and the offer price. On both sides of the transaction, the mysterious organ legging syndicate operating it is taking a cut. It distances itself from all transactions, contracting out all fulfillment operations behind multiple layers of anonymity and plausible deniability. It is, however, effective, efficient, and - oddly enough - dependable. As an asset for the small clinic, you couldn’t ask for a better fulfillment service, just a less horribly evil one. The rumors of them being owned or operated by a large organlegger syndicate are supported by the prompt and overwhelmingly violent response for those who interfere with operations [20]. Territory & Known AffiliationsAsamandoTamanous operates openly and with significant status. For many Infected, Tamanous not only feeds them, but smuggled them to this new land where they would be safe. As many ghouls and infected are ashamed of the harm their diet causes other metas, Tamanous offers cast-off parts from clinics and necroplex fronts. For those with no qualms, they offer a robust and varied assortment in the feeding pits. [5] Rumors that began in the early 2060s, and are still whispered today, were that Tamanous received extensive funding from the nation of Asamando. Some theorize that the creation of Tamanous was a government project to create an organization dedicated to feeding the country. This is backed up by their stature in the country - they serve almost a utility in Lagos. They import ghoul edibles and their body farms serve as a significant part of the Asamando economy [3]. A large portion of the non-medically useful metahuman biomatter bought and acquired in other countries ends up in Asamando as foodstuffs [26]. In addition, their extensive smuggling networks has served Asamando well as an export partner, serving as the primary trade partner to smuggle out the country’s mineral resources (particularly diamonds) and bringing in building materials and tech components. Asamando is currently under UN embargo but as they are far and away Tamanous’ biggest customer, the syndicate will continue to go to great lengths to keep them stocked. In the meanwhile, Asamando is using Tamanous techniques like Project Garden and Seed Operations to produce their own metahuman stock to eat while keeping them alive fresher, for longer, while under the embargo [5],[27]. AztlanIn Aztlan, Tamanous can operate in the open, buying clean remains and permits to harvest the already dead without having to resort to bribes, body snatching, or smuggling. In nations that allow ghouls and other infected as citizens, Tamanous serves a legitimate business interest with compelling offerings to that subset of clientele [2]. One of the businesses they operate, Ah-Ta-Bai Consumer Goods (named after the Aztec God of the Hunt), is a chain of bodybanks, legal corpse disposal service, and medical waste clean up company. All of the material is taken to specialized facilities and processed into a consumable form for ghouls. Ah-Ta-Bai takes exceptional steps to maintain their status as a legitimate business - they won’t take unknown corpses or ones without an Aztlan-issues death certificate and can't risk being known as a convenient place to dump murder victims.Rumor has it that they will take anything at the backdoor, but they will charge you for anyone who the police may want or who’s wealthy family might be looking for them. They have quite a bit of leverage - don’t pay up, and they have you on security vid trying to pawn off a wanted corpse [2][5]. Ah-Ta-Bai invented a special ghoul edible called Xquiq Cake, composed of coagulated blood manufactured into a firm edible that is more nutritionally dense and tasty for ghouls than blood directly. When made from donations it does not require the death of any metahumans to manufacture and can provide one hundred percent of a ghouls lifestyle requirements, they did not satisfy the requirements for ‘Big D’s Payout’ [2]. ChicagoThe lawlessness of the Chicago sprawl is highly inviting to a syndicate like Tamanous, resulting in an expanding portfolio of operations. They operate bloodrunner services in Chicago, supplying and transporting high-need biological matter and medical supplies to the few medical operations in town. They are widely despised by the bloodrunners not affiliated with Tamanous [28]. Tamanous maintains several chops shops close to the Zone in Chicago. Gangs sell fresh corpses that won’t be missed, but also occasionally partner with doctors and undertakers from the Corridor. Due to the lack of infrastructure, almost all of Chicago’s medical sector is supplied by Tamanous [29]. The 162’s have spread to Chicago in partnership with Tamanous and serve them in a similar fashion to Seattle [30]. IndochinaThe syndicate is known to operate in Cambodia (primarily in Phnom Penh), Hong Kong, and the Philippines [31], [32]. Tamanous’ primary base of operations is Rangoon. Rangoon is the sin capital of Indochina and Rangoon has a special reputation for offering very young children of every variety as sex slaves. Tamanous is rumored to supply an ultra-elite cannibalistic restaurant where the deranged ultra-rich eat young people while alive, just because they can [33]. In a strange theme, Tamanous also supplies a ghoul-owned restaurant chain in the Philippines called Bahay ng Isa (Coral Reef) with blood and meat [34]. LagosTamanous is one of the most powerful organizations in this sprawl [22]. Organleggers like Tamanous operate in the open and are well-respected in Lagos. In this unique economic environment, Tamanous doesn’t have to kidnap nearly as many people; they sponsor small clinics where anyone can voluntarily sell their organs for quick cash. Many offer a ‘blood credit’ for donating - discounts off your next medical treatment. These clinics also offer mid-wife, abortion, and cyberware installation services with very good reputations. No one knows where they are based, but good guesses point to Ajegunle [22]. Like many places, Tamanous is the primary supplies of flesh to the local ghouls and source large portions of their exports to Asamando from Lagos [22]. The busy port and airport in the sprawl make it a vibrant hub for the logistics side of their organlegging empire. Tamanous has many extensive organ harvesting and fetus farming operations in Lagos. The vast majority of product is shipped elsewhere. The occasionally import people of certain ethnic types or rare genetic conditions to breed, clone, or use in the farms. Occasionally, they will purchase girls from local brothels to use in the fetus farming operations [22]. Surprisingly, in Lagos, the opinion towards the fetus farms is a positive one. The girls receive medical care, live longer than in a brothel or on the street, are fed, have a roof over them, and kept safe from the gang-rape gangs that roam the night. If they survive the few years until they are no longer able to conceive, they’re given a large (for Lagos) cash payment and sent on their way [35]. As genedatabanks or public health services aren’t common in Lagos, Tamanous is usually unable to identify the specific biomarkers necessary for an exact match, which is how they prioritize their kidnapping victims in other areas. They usually grab victims of opportunity or simply buy people outright [22],[12]. Osayi Immaculate is an Egun dwarf and Tamanous doctor who operates a clinic in Mushin. He is one of two documented Tamanous members to date [22]. SeattleA large and prosperous sprawl like Seattle holds many different opportunities for Tamanous. While their exact level of control isn’t known, bits and pieces of their operations in Seattle have come to light. BellevueOverlake and Cougar Mountain Hospital in Bellevue are known in the shadow community to operate black-market organ legging operations selling spare parts to Tamanous and Seoulpa [36]. Cougar Mountain Hospital specializes in transplant surgery and organ replacements. Twenty years ago, a massive organ legging ring was uncovered that nearly destroyed the hospital. Ever since, the hospital has voluntarily partnered and cooperated with authorities to clear its name. With the downturn in funding, it has ironically driven to reopening the derisively named ‘Frankenstein Factory’ at Cougar Mountain, thanks to gifts from Universal Omnitech and newly bestowed extraterritoriality. The doctors currently buy and sell from the Yakuza, but this location is highly coveted by Tamanous [37]. The ‘Bellevue Sleep & Eat’ is a cheap coffin hotel operated out of an abandoned warehouse by the Phantom Lake Ring. Rumors have it that the ‘& Eat’ portion of the name stems from the owners to arrange disappearance for Tamanous and their ghoul patrons [38] RedmondTamanous is said to operate extensively in the Verge in Redmond, being blamed (rightfully) for the large number of disappearance of drifters and squatters [39]. The hospitals still operating in the Seattle barrens are underfunded and overworked, leading to a dependence on illegal activity to support themselves financially. With the number of dead SINless they encounter, there are large number of spare parts for them to sell to Tamanous, which controls the organ selling business in Redmond and has for years. The Seoulpa Rings have partnered with the ghouls and are making moves on the territory [40]. The Body Mall in Redmond, the premier poor man’s cyberclinic that doesn’t ask questions, has close ties to Tamanous and pays well for spare parts. If you are healthy and won’t be missed, it can occasionally be more profitable for you to have an accident on the operating table [41]. 162’sThe 162’s are a ghoul gang that works for Tamanous [42]. The relationship began with the 162’s selling parts of their hunting victims to Tamanous for cash [13], but quickly grew to be a much more tightly entrenched vassalage. Now they are known as errand boys for the syndicate, guaranteed a continuous flow of flesh and cash in exchange for their obedience, kidnapping services, and saleable organs [43], [44]. DisassemblersA Seattle-based organ legging and body-snatching gang that sells primarily to Tamanous [S2027 181]. They are sponsored by Tamanous and are considered their front lines in Seattle, hunting down and securing bodies for the trade. They operate most of the illegal chopshops in Seattle and are the legwork arm of Tamanous supply chain to local hospitals and docs [14]. They have a ‘friendly’ rivalry with the 162’s. Both compete in similar businesses under the same sponsors, but the groups’ membership demographics have almost no overlap and they operate with very different methods [44]. CadeceusCadeceus, also known as the League of Independent Physicians, operates a series of free clinics in the poorer sections of Seattle. While this network of street docs is a legitimate medical operation, they are always short on funds and have found a partnership with Tamanous to fill that gap. The work with Tamanous is usually around the clean up and preparation of organs and bodies for transport. Occasionally, they will sell patients who didn’t make it and, rumor has it, encourage the occasional junkie who wandered in to ‘not make it’ to sell them off as well [20]. South AmericaTamanous organlegging activities thrive all over Latin America. While they are everywhere, they are usually not the primary force in any given region, operating as a back channel or partner [45]. Their headquarters in the region is Caracas. The outright corruption, abundance of chopshops, acceptance of criminal activity, and non-existent regulation make it a haven [45], [46]. Sioux NationThe Boise to Calgary smuggling route is used heavily by Tamanous and they are actively seeking to control it [47]. While little else is known about Tamanous operations in the Sioux Nation, attempting to secure a supply line indicates a strong interest in the region. At least one attempt was made to found a Tamanous cell there, but was believed to have been stopped [48]. Diplomatic RelationsAllies & VassalsThe 162’s and the Disassemblers are the primary operation arm of Tamanous in Seattle [Seattle 2072 181]. The Fomin Vory, based out of Pueblo, partnered with Tamanous for finances and loansharking of small businesses [48]. The Koshari syndicate has started supplying Tamanous in Phoenix with Amerind flesh and genetics. This partnership was lead by Koshari leader Catori Kwayo [50]. The Steppin Wulfs, a cybered-up booster gang in LA, are rumored to have ties to Tamanous [51]. The Komun’go have built a strong partnership with Tamanous [61]. In Seattle, they operate the BodyMall in Redmond. Their primary business, sex slavery, dovetails nicely into selling live specimens and corpses [52]. The Komun’go work very hard not to interfere with the Syndicate’s business [Seattle 2072 180]. The Black Crysanthemum Triad, along with the Komun’go, work with Tamanous in Hong Kong [32], Augmentation 17]. The Fleshmongers Gang in Chicago sells to Tamanous and works with them to operate smuggling outfits [54]. The Ghoul Liberation League in Chicago works with Tamanous both buying and selling. This partnership is integral to ensure all members of the League remain fed [55]. The MacAvoy Gangs in the N-B sub-sprawls of Chicago sell drugs and BTLs to the locals and sell the parts of non-paying locals to Tamanous [56]. The Fanti Pirates sell captured ship crews to Tamanous in Lagos [18]. The Bahay Ng Isa, a body snatching and organ-legging group in Indochina, has a strong working relationship with Tamanous, the Body Bank, and the Black Crysanthemums [57]. The Haida National Front, a rebel independence group in Tsimshian, has very close ties with Tamanous. They supply Tamanous with organs and they seem to have an unlimited source of weapons in return. Rumor has it that the Tamanous legend originated from the Kawkiutl tribe, co-founders of the Haida movement [58]. Competitors & PeersThe Body Bank is the dominant organlegging operation in Europe [4] and have an amicable working relationship with Tamanous. The two syndicates developed a shared database of available and prescreened organs to facilitate timely matches from all of their stock. Unpurchased organs make no one money, so they ensure that everyone identifies the matches they need [3]. The Mansur Brothers control the Central Asian organlegging trade [4] The Mansur’s in Pakistan and India don’t see organlegging as their primary business, but it is their most extensive one, and they have built connections to Tamanous as an export and matching partner [20]. Rumored OriginsThe concrete origins of Tamanous are unknown. Rumors persists that the idea of Tamanous originated from the Kawkiutl tribe, co-founders of the Haida movement in Tsimshian [58]. Over time, numerous rumors from various sources have speculated on foundation by cannibalistic Native American shamans and wendigo [Loose Alliances 125] [Seattle 2072 183]. Scholars of Pacific Northwest First People’s history and other anthropological studies support this interpretation. Historically, Tamanous was a name given to the protector and mentor spirits of these tribes, both good and evil, that could manifest and be called upon. In these tribe’s creation myth, when the creator deity cleansed the world of monsters, he missed the Black Tamanous - a cannibal that stalked and ate its human victims in the wilderness. The myth of the Black Tamanous, also known as Dzunkwa, is too elaborate to be told here. This mythical being was, however, at the center of cannibalistic cults and practices of ancient times. Cults worshiping the Black Tamanous, with a secrecy code punishable by death, ritualistic kidnapping, frightening of the locals, and spitting founts of blood, perpetuated up and into the early 1900’s Pacific Northwest tribes. This secret society likely contributed to the myth the founded the Tamanous criminal criminal syndicate known today. An unsubstantiated, but intriguing, theory is that the Tamanous syndicate that exists today is the Tamanous secret society of old, reunited with their cannibalistic patron spirit Dzunkwa upon the awakening of magic. It is safe to say, however, that no one outside of the organization knows the true origins. Fun FactsThe serial kidnapper, Pied Piper, is renowned for using the matrix to identify, isolate, kidnap, torment, condition, and eventually selling the resulting broken children to Tamanous. [60]. References
|