The first waves of attack by the Xenoses upon the Islands of the Rising Sun in 1274 hit the lands hard, and many samurai were slaughtered. It was determined wise to capture some of the beasts and get to the heart of what made them tick... literally. Diagrams and sketches have survived of the bodies of captured (and not always dead) Xenoses being carefully taken apart and studied by physicians of the land. It is said that the screams of the beasts in their dying hours made the very trees shiver.