The Keepers of the River 

When Chief Tomochichi died in 1739, the Yamacraw mourned deeply. Without his guidance, many withdrew from contact with the Europeans, slipping inland to preserve their ways from the encroaching colony. For a time, the people remained apart, carrying their lore and shifter bloodlines in silence. But as the decades passed, whispers of unease spread among them. Strange forces stirred in Savannah. The Freemasons had begun to tamper with ancient stones beneath the city, tuning them like instruments to harness the land’s telluric energy. Supernatural factions multiplied. The balance frayed. Drawn back by visions, ancestral warnings, and the growing unrest of the land, the descendants of the Yamacraw returned not as scattered families, but as a pack. Thus, the Keepers of the River were formed, charged with watching over Savannah and its fragile balance.

The Keepers’ lore speaks of the River Serpent, a spirit born when the world was still clay. The Serpent swore to drink sickness from the land and keep storm and shadow in check, but it warned: “Do not strike the stones. Do not wake the song beneath the earth.” When strangers came across the sea, they cut the earth and struck the hidden stones with iron. The old ones say this stirred the Serpent, made it restless in its sleep. Its body shifted, and the river’s song grew loud, calling spirits and shadows alike. To the Keepers, the Freemasons threaten, without realizing it, to awaken the serpent’s restless dream. They believe the Serpent now twists in its slumber, pulling spirits, creatures, and madness toward Savannah. Should it wake, the river will reverse its flow, and time itself will collapse into its mouth. For the Keepers, stewardship means keeping the Serpent dreaming, maintaining the harmony between the living, the dead, and the land.

Today the Keepers live quietly, scattered in small families but bound by shared rituals. They often gather at sacred sites like Wormsloe and along the riverbanks, where they commune with ancestral spirits and tend the spiritual boundaries of the city. They hold a cautious but respectful relationship with Savannah’s witches, who share their reverence for natural and spiritual order. Their ties with the White Claws are strained, viewing the latter’s territorial nature as disruptive and dangerous to Savannah’s delicate harmony. Vampires, meanwhile, are regarded with disdain, parasites who drain life without giving back.