The Guilds
Bloodmen
Headquarters: Atlanta, Georgia, US
Guildmaster’s Title: Oluwo
Guild Professor’s Title: Ojugbona
Fighting Styles: Ngolo [reminiscent of 52 Blocks, Ijakadi, Capoeira Angola and Capoeira Regional, with special operations strategies and tactics]
History: Kamara Keita, long-reigning Guildmaster of the Bloodmen, is a master of Ngolo, an art created by his ancestors long before they migrated from the forests of Gabon to the rolling, sandy plains of Senegal. He learned as a boy that his Grand Ancestor, Ngaa Mfumu, traveled throughout what is today known as Gabon and the Congo, asking women how they would “escape this hold,” “block this sword strike,” or “execute this throw.” In his wisdom, he believed that while men relied on strength, speed and ferocity in combat, women relied on masterful technique—a two hundred pound man would fight much differently than a hundred pound woman—and that a man could now add his strength, speed and ferocity to the technical genius of women and become the most formidable of warriors. And he was right.
Ngaa Mfumu began to train his family in his fighting system, which he named Ngolo—power.
A thousand years later, Kamara’s mother, the Nfumu’loo—Grandmaster—of Ngolo, began offering her services as a protection specialist to the wealthy and powerful business people, Imams and Sheikhs in Senegal and the young Kamara would tag along on these assignments and eventually assist his mother in her protection details.
When he was sixteen, young Kamara traveled to the United States for the first time to enroll in Howard University, where he remained until his second year of medical school, when his mother fell ill and, as her only child, he had to return to Senegal to take over the family’s protection business.
But after a while, no contracts came. Former clients preferred paying the less expensive off-duty police officers and thugs in suits than paying top dollar for the best security money could buy.
All those who had come to the House of Keita and their Ngolo were no more.
To make matters worse, most of Kamara’s young cousins were not interested in learning Ngolo, and those who were did not have the discipline to keep the system alive.
And so Kamara shut down the family’s business and prepared to return to medical school until Antonio Jones—Guild Professor of the Bloodmen—came.
The Bloodmen Guild was the first of the assassination guilds to receive a charter after the passing of international law that sanctioned assassinations.
Jones was sent by his father, Guildmaster Stokely Jones to recruit Kamara to train them.
Attracted by the fact that the members in the Bloodmen were all Black men from throughout the Diaspora—former special operators for various militaries around the globe, former CIA and MI-6 black ops and former Nigerian Defense Intelligence Agency special agents—and the fact he needed an income—attracted him.
He agreed as long as Ngolo was the only martial art the Bloodmen studied from then on.
“But the firearms… the driving… the military training,” Jones said.
“All part of Ngolo,” Kamara said. “You think the Keita family has spent the last thousand years protecting towns, villages, politicians, religious figures and celebrities with kicks and punches?”
Later, Kamara would prove to be the greatest assassin in the Bloodmen’s history and train them to become the most feared of the guilds. He used his influence with Stokely Jones, the Bloodmen’s founder, to recruit women into the guild and he and Stokely Jones worked together to bring an African and Diasporan culture and look to the guild.
An excerpt from Ngolo: Vendetta, the Ngolo RPG game created by Balogun Ojetade. One of the amazing perks available for pledging to the Ngolo: Diaspora Comic Book Kickstarter. Join our Facebook group to stay abreast of our latest developments!