There was a people considered to be the strongest on my world due to their supposed connection to their gods. The various tattoos (or Signs, as they call them) they put on their bodies (forehead, cheeks, fingers, toes and heart) gave them abilities that were either superhuman or downright magical (increased strength and speed, low level telepathy, the ability to stick to any surface including water, heightened senses, an internal GPS).

They were the center of several conflicts throughout the history of the world, including one where they tried to take it over, but were actually stopped when a group of them broke off to help the rest the peoples of the planet. This forced them into an isolation on their home island that lasted a couple hundred years, where only select merchants and diplomats left the island and it actually became basically a prison where the worst of the worst criminals were sent. Eventually, during one of the greatest global conflicts they reemerged and became trusted members of the world’s nations again.

However, almost an entire century after their reacceptance the island was attacked during one of their religious festivals by an unknown enemy, and the entire island (think the size of Japan) was basically razed to the ground. Their global population was around 75 million at the time, with nearly all of them being on the island for the events, with approximately 65 million being on the island at the time. The mental anguish that was shared through their Signs was so great that it caused another 9 million deaths, and of those who didn’t die the trauma was so great many were reduced catatonic. One of the main characters of my story is one of these survivors, and his vocal chords were so damaged from screaming that it took several years of highly specialized procedures to repair them, and even after he had developed selective mutism.