Knuckles Clan

The Knuckles Clan is a tribe of echidnas seen in Sonic Adventure. The tribe's last known chief was Pachacamac. They are the ancestors of Knuckles.

History
In the centuries leading up to 4,000 years ago, the Knuckles Clan society had been living in peace, albeit strained. During their time, the Knuckles Clan established their city close to the Altar of the Emeralds, where the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald rested, and a group of Chao lived. At some point 4,000 years ago, the Knuckles Clan's lastest chief passed away, and her son, Pachacamac, inherited the leadership of the clan, becoming its chief. Unlike the peaceful and pacifistic chief before him, Chief Pachacamac yearned to expand the Knuckles Clan's kingdom and its small country. After her mother's death, Pachacamac made his move, evolving the Knuckles Clan into a body of war, and led his people into a series of successful and swift conquests of the neighboring countries, plundering and killing everyone in their way. As such, the Knuckles Clan's empire and country grew significantly in size and wealth. However, the Knuckles Clan was unable to take control of the Altar of the Emeralds, as a sacred barrier around it kept intruders away. While the members of the Knuckles Clan humbly supported Pachacamac because the wealth and power he had given the Knuckles Clan with warfare, Tikal, Pachacamac's daughter, opposed her father's warmongering ways.

As the Knuckles Clan empire continued to increase in size, its expanding borders began pushing against those of the Nocturnus Clan empire, a rival Echidna clan led by Imperator Pir'Oth Ix, which also sought conquest. In a war of expansion, the Knuckles Clan fought the Nocturnus Clan in a constant bloody conflict for supremacy, where neither side refused to yield.

Eventually, the Knuckles Clan was pushed to its doom when the Nocturnus Clan began prosecuting the conflict by attacking with their prototype Gizoids. In a supposed act of desperation in the face of his clan's destruction at the hands of the Nocturnus Clan, Pachacamac sought to steal the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald from the Altar of the Emeralds by force, believing they were the keys to the Knuckles Clan's survival and continued victories. Tikal, however, who had come to befriend the Chao and their guardian Chaos who lived at the altar, pleaded him not to go through with his plan.

Despite her daughter's pleads, Pachacamac orchestrated an attack on the Altar of the Emeralds with several of his warriors, eventually managing to bypass the sacred barrier and destroying the altar. There, Tikal and a group of Chao tried to stop Pachacamac and his men from taking the Emeralds, where Tikal tried to reason with her father. Pachacamac, however, ignored her and ordered his men to storm the altar, tramping over Tikal and injuring the Chao. This profound act of indiscriminate slaughter of the Chao fiercely enraged Chaos, corrupting it with anger. In retaliation, Chaos took the negative energy of the seven Chaos Emeralds, transforming into Perfect Chaos, and killed Pachacamac and his men. Perfect Chaos did not stop there, however, and proceeded to lay waste to the Knuckles Clan, destroying their civilization and wiping out nearly all of its members almost overnight. Before Perfect Chaos could destroy the rest of the world, Tikal stopped Chaos by sealing it within the Master Emerald with her own spirit.

In the aftermath of the Knuckles Clan's destruction, much of the world was left changed forever; after Perfect Chaos' attack, the Knuckles Clan's city lay in ruins, becoming the Mystic Ruins. Additionally, the sealing of Perfect Chaos created an energy backlash from the Master Emerald that threw a portion of the land into the sky, creating Angel Island. Also, almost immediately after Perfect Chaos' attack, the Nocturnus Clan disappeared into the Twilight Cage, leaving the remnants of the Knuckles Clan to revive echidna society. The surviving members of the Knuckles Clan then devoted themselves to protecting the Master Emerald to ensure Chaos would ever again be released. Over the centuries, the rest of the Knuckles Clan went into terminal decline as the surviving members died out. In the present day, Knuckles the Echidna is the sole remaining member of the Knuckles Clan.

Characteristics
The males of the Knuckles Clan sport white, intricate tattoos across their heads and arms and have gloves similar to those of Knuckles. The males are also the only members of the tribe to possess the spiky protrusions/knuckles from their gloves. The females primarily work on agricultural/domestic projects, staying at home to clean and care for the children. Only males wear boxing gloves. Females wear normal gloves like Sonic, and have visible fingers.

Religion
The Knuckles Clan echidnas appear to worship the serpent, and incorporated it into their architecture of the Shrine and pillars, but not everyday folks' homes. Also, many of the doors inside and out of the Shrine is the shape of a fanged snake's mouth. All of the designs were very detailed, and made of stone and an unidentified blue material, which was used to decorate many buildings and pillars, as well as the eyes of the snake-doors and entrance to the Altar of Emerald. Two small stone serpents were placed at the top of the Shrine's stairway by the doorway, but they were not fanged, nor very detailed.

Archie Comics
In the Archie Comics, the Knuckles Clan was the warrior caste of an group of echidna colonists from Albion. Hundreds of years ago, these colonists settled down in Soumerca, but ended up in a territorial war against the local Felidae. While some chose to leave, the warrior caste which became the Knuckles Clan, chose to remain and fight, alongside the science caste, the Nocturnus Clan. Soon, however, the Knuckles Clan and the Nocturnus Clan became enemies as well, and the conflict turned into a three-way war. Overwhelmed, the Knuckles Clan tried to take Chaos Emeralds to gain the power needed to win the war, but ended up incurred the wrath of Chaos and was destroyed.

Sonic X
The Knuckles Clan made a small appearance in the Sonic X animated series. In this media, much like in the games, the Knuckles Clan was a clan of warriors under the leadership of Pachacamac that conquered other countries. When Pachacamac and his men then tried to take the Chaos Emeralds, they incurred the wrath of Chaos, who then wiped out the Knuckles Clan in his fury.

Trivia

 * The Knuckles Clan is very similar to many Mesoamerican cultures such as the Aztecs, the Mayas & the Toltecs. Their city has a step pyramid temple surrounded by mountains lost in the jungle & their attire is similar to the Aztecs & the Mayas. The Knuckles Clan appear to worship a serpent deity just like the Aztecs who worships Quetzalcoatl & the Mayas who worships Kukulcan.