History
The Norixus (or the Umha as they were once known) have lived among the Gulfithorp Isles since their inception, and have forever had the bronze draconic blood of Tenorixion in their bloodline. Before Tehemia (Medrash's grandmother), however, dragonborns were not born to their family. Tehemia was the first bronze dragonborn Norixusian, and with her the traits were introduced to their family, and many dragonborn sorcerers followed.
For thousands of years, the Norixus specifically inhabited Doporana of the Gufilthorp Isles. Norixus lore tells us that while the volcano on Doporana was active, the clan had forges built into its side to utilize the pure heat and lava activity. Even long after its dormancy, however, metalworking remained the main trade of the Norixus clan, as Doporana was rich in a variety of precious metals. The group prides itself on passing down its knowledge not just to their descendants, but to anyone they deem worthy.
The Cult of Bronze
After the Holy War and beginning of the PR era, Tenorixion settled into a new lair in the dormant volcano cone on Doporana. There, he hoarded powerful, cursed, magical artifacts to keep them safe from the mortals of the realm who might use them to harm others. Soon after his arrival, his existence as the protective warlord Tenor the Cunning became known to the Norixus who shared the island. For many years, Tenor the Cunning protected the isles, and the Norixus clan soon viewed him as a noble leader. During this time, the Umha changed their name to Norixus in honor of his leadership, and thus most are still known by this name.
After many years, it was revealed to the Norixus that Tenorixion was, in fact, a dragon. Over the years, Tenor the Cunning faded from the Norixus collective memory - instead to be replaced by Tenorixion, the Ancient Bronze Dragon. Soon, the Cult of Bronze was formed, and what was once friendship turned to worship. Norixus members frequently went to Tenorixion for advice, or knowledge, and in return Tenorixion sent the Norixus out to all corners of the material plane in order to collect artifacts for his hoarde.
The Norixus followed Ten's orders without question, until eventually the purpose of Ten's hoarde was revealed. This lead to a rift among the clan. Half trusted Tenorixion's leadership and believed that the artifacts they collected were too powerful to lie in mortal hands, while the second half believed that they could be used for good - cursed or not. In the fallout, the part of the clan that still trusted Ten's judgement was sent away - the slopes of the volcano the only land that they were still allowed to walk on Doporana. And so they moved across the straight to Morugana and eventually formed the town of Pepperocini. The other half stayed behind on Doporana and continued as they once had before Tenorixion moved in, and promptly ignored his existence.
Family of Umha
Descendants of those who moved to Morugana thrived in Pepperocini for many years. The Cult of Bronze grew, and gladly accepted new members of any race, creed, or history to help protect the realm with Tenorixion. Several secret entrances into Tenorixion's lair were created by and for cult members, and a large estate was built just out of town for the cult leader.
Slowly, the town grew beyond just Cult of Bronze members, and Pepperocini as its own town thrived with the help of the Cult. Good things cannot last forever, however. Eventually, a twisted Norixus gained leadership in the cult. They abused the townspeople, destroyed all good will towards the cult, ruled with a bronze fist, and completely ruined the Norixus name on Morugana. Although this corrupt inner circle was eventually removed, the damage was long done.
After this, the Moruganan Norixus name was mud throughout the Gulfithorp Isles, so they instead took on their ancestral name Umha. The cult was officially disbanded, but they owed huge debts to a variety of people and families across the Isles. The estate was allowed to remain in the Umha family with the understanding that they would use the land and work to repay their debts.
While the Umha family did in fact use the remaining estate to do just that, they have never been able to pay down the egregious debts and reparations they owe. To their credit, they never asked Tenorixion for any part of his massive hoarde to help pay their debts as that would have been seen as sacrilegious and frankly, just rude. Additionally, the family did continue to operate the cult in secret. The leader of the cult was always "hired" on to the estate as a butler, librarian, groundskeeper, etc, and meetings conitnued to be held in the sub-basement of the home. This secrecy did severely diminish the cult's popularity, and resources, so over the years entrances to Tenorixion's lair were collapsed as they could no longer be guarded and maintained.
After Tenorixion's death, the cult and Umha family continued to protect his hoarde - mainly by defending the few remaining entrances. With Tenorixion's death darkness magic, they could not enter to safely retrieve the artifacts even if they had wanted to.
By the time Kiston was locked once more in 1294 PR, the Umha clan on Morugana had dwindled to just one family. Some had left to find for items for the hoarde, some had died, many had simply moved on. And so this one small family was left with the entire brunt of the Umha legacy in Pepperocini, and their debts still remained unpaid.
