Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Wends were various Slavic peoples who inhabited present-day northeastern Germany, particularly the lands between the Rivers Elbe and Oder. The term was not applied to a single homogeneous group but to different tribes and communities depending on the time and region, including the Obotrites, Lutici, Rugian Slavs, and Pomeranian tribes.
From the 12th to the 14th centuries, Germanic settlers moved into Wendish lands during the Ostsiedlung, transforming the region from a Slavic to a Germanic culture. Most Wends were gradually assimilated into German-speaking society. Only the Lusatian Sorbs of Eastern Germany survived as a distinct group.
The Wend Crusade took place in 1147 in what is today northeastern Germany. In 1168, during the Northern Crusades, Bishop Absalon and King Valdemar the Great of Denmark destroyed Arkona, the last major Wendish temple-fortress on the island of Rugia, ending the last independent pagan Wendish community.
From the Middle Ages onward, Denmark claimed the title King of the Wends from 1362, and Sweden carried the official style King of the Swedes, the Goths and the Wends from 1540. Both titles persisted into the 20th century; Queen Margrethe II of Denmark dropped the title in 1972 and King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden did the same in 1973.
The Texas Wends were Lusatian Slavs who departed north-central Europe in 1854 aboard a ship called the Ben Nevis, seeking greater liberty. They settled primarily in Serbin in central Texas and later expanded into surrounding communities including Giddings, Austin, Houston, and other towns across the state.
The Lusatian Sorbs of Eastern Germany are the only remaining Wendish people in their historical homeland. They maintain their traditional languages and culture through an organisation called the Domowina and exercise cultural self-determination. Diaspora communities identifying as Wendish also exist in Slovenia, Austria, the United States, and Australia.