Before
M'golo came to Earth or the name of
Zananku was heard in Sudland there was Khoisa, the great Snake Goddess.
Khoisa rebelled against M'pimpi when M'pimpi called together all the
great animal spirits and told them of the coming of Man, and how Man was destined to become the most important
animal in the jungle.
Khoisa first of all refused to agree that snakes would abide by the Rule of Life and only kill this new hairless
ape for food or in self-defence and she ridiculed the idea that Man could in any way have a special role
in the world. But when Men did
indeed come to the jungle and built houses and armed themselves with weapons she understood then that Men
were worthy of her consideration and indeed would be dangerous to her dreams of supremacy if not brought under her control. So she watched Men and considered their weaknesses and when she thought she knew
all there was to know about Men she came forth from the jungle and offered to a certain Man, Koronti, the gift of Knowledge if only he
would bow down and worship her. Koronti accepted the offer of Knowledge and grew very powerful in his tribe and then among
all the surrounding tribes.
As Koronti's power grew Khoisa whispered in his ear saying he could only experience true power if he took the same
form as her. Then she taught him many secret rituals and he began to take a more snakelike form. Soon
all his followers were performing these rituals and they too began to resemble serpents. Koronti built
a great city in the jungle before he died and he set up a great temple to Khoisa in the middle of that city
and he made war on all those who refused to worship Khoisa. Thus began the
Yuan-ti the hateful snake-people of old. A thousand years or more
they flourished in the Koros basin until the comming of the
Elves. The Elves allied with the tribes who rebelled against the
Yuan-ti and heeded
M'pimpi and those tribes became the
Kirani. All this happened in the Ancient Years.
Today there are still Yuan-ti hidden in the jungle and they still whisper in the ears of foolish men that
they can have forbidden Knowledge to make themselves powerful. Khoisa still smiles when this happens because she
believes the time of the Yuan-ti will come again.