The Ancestry of the Porter's Bar Royal Family

The ancestry of the Porter's Bar Royal Family is complex and fairly unique. It all starts many hundred years ago when a young girl, called Bwanga, was shipwrecked on a distant island. She had been sold as a slave, and was being transported to a new land, and some how when the storm sprang up Bwanga was the only survivor. The young girl was alone on the island and afraid - but she managed to find small amounts of fruit and some fresh water to drink, and although she suffered and she cried a lot - she survived. At first Yokai, the spirit of the island, [note for DM - Oriental Adventures. Race: Lesser Nature Spirit (p126) ] was wary of her, she was after all a stranger and he hadn't seen many people before, and most of those had been sailors ashore to plunder his island of its fruits woods and water. However, after a while, as he watched her, he realised that she was alone and hungry and scared. He plucked up his courage and took his human form, a well proportioned olive skinned oriental man, and went to help her. At first he showed her good places to shelter, and then good places to find food, and eventually he lived with her as man and wife. And then the slavers came again - a ship pulled up to the island and a crew of sailors came ashore to replenish their supplies - They found Bwanga and she was dragged screaming and kicking back to the ship to be sold later as a slave. Yokai couldn't face the sailors and the gentle spirit took his ethereal form as he watched the girl being dragged away ….

Time passed and Bwanga bore a daughter, Kalli, who carried a number of unusual traits. Her darker shin (from he mother) made her stand out, but from her father she got wildness and a love of the sea. And from the both she got a great strength of spirit and determination - but she was born slave and was at the whim of her masters … [Note for DM - Oriental Adventures. Race: Sea Spirit Folk].

But our story skips a generation and continues with Kalli's daughter, Lei. Lei was slave, like her mother and grandmother before her, and like her mother - she inherited a wildness and strength of character, and a fondness and bond with the sea. But Lei had a chance to escape, and she took it with both hands.

See the story about the founding fathers of Porter's Bar

But Lei met up with a Spirit Dragon [Oriental Adventures P28 (Pan Lung)], called Han Shay, and with a little help the pair of them founded Porters Bar. It is the coupling of these two that created the Shay Dynasty and these are the ancestors who are worshipped most specifically in the Faith of the Royal Ancestors.

Han and Lei's children combined the Blood of the Sea Spirit Folk and the Oriental Dragon - to give an almost unique combination. Since then the blood has become dilute, but it still seems to emerge strongly in some individuals