Lizardmen

Lizardmen Overview Breeding Diet, Food and Eating Customs Diet Eating Customs Arts and Entertainment Architecture Crime and Legal System Daily Life Education Ethics and Values Fashion and Dress Foreign Relations Gestures Government Greeting and Meeting Language Magic and Magicians Magic and Technology Medicine Population Religion and Philosophy Science and Technology Social Organisation Transportation and Communication War

Overview

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Lizardmen are a race of sapient reptiles, which seem to have evolved from crocodiles. They live primarily in swamps where they keep themselves to themselves. They do not mix with other races if they can help it. Their technology is limited and they have little magical power. Their brute strength however continues to allow them to be a formidible race. They do not allow trespassing from other races, but are quite welcoming to their own.

Males stand at 5'6" on average and the women reach about 5'4". They usually have yellow eyes, green or brown scales and no hair. They live only in The Squamata Swamps, apart from traders, explorers, bandits and outcasts who wander the rest of the world.

Their average lifespan is between 60 and 85. The eldest Lizardman recorded was 91.

Breeding

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Lizardmen and women pair for life and if their partner dies, they will not re-pair. When two lizardmen decide to become life partners, there is often a ceremony which is attended by the whole tribe and performed by a priest but it is not necessary and many partners do not do it.

Lizardwomen give birth to two or three eggs which they keep warm in a nest in their house. The usually use mud from the swamp to incubate them. After a few months, they hatch. The young are born able to fend for themselves and can even talk, using words they heard during their time in their egg.

Diet, Food and Eating Customs

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Diet

Lizardmen tend to eat two meals in a day, one mid-morning and one mid-afternoon. They are both large. Sometimes there is a smaller meal eaten as soon as they wake up, but this usually only happens on the days where the Lizardmen will need all their strength, such as hunt days or days of war. They hunt for all their own food, catching fresh meat and cooking it over a fire or through magic. They tend to have bread with all their meals too, to supplement the meat. Lizardmen find most fruit poisonous.

Spices and herbs are rarely found in Lizardmen society and many individuals are willing to pay high prices for them when some are found or traded. Most Lizardmen however, unaccustomed to the taste, prefer not to eat them. They have no way to preserve food after it has been caught so all food is caught fresh.

Since there is no clean drinking water in their area, they have to clean all swamp water they wish to drink by magic. However, the process is long and so many of them decide to drink ale instead, including the children. It takes a lot of ale to get a Lizardman drunk. The transcripted quote here demonstrates their love of ale.

Eating Customs

The whole village will turn out for a meal and it is usually eaten by the edge of the swamp on tables and tree stumps. The children will eat first, then the women and finally the men. Although this seems to have developed for politeness sake, it is actually so the men can spend more time at the table afterwards getting drunk and laughing. At a formal meal or a banquet, all individuals will eat together. The only utensil used is a knife, and these are usually crudely fashioned from metal with wooden handles. Tables are generally rectangular and if member of another race joins for a meal, they must deal with it. This very rarely occurs.

Belching is not considered rude and is actually a sign that you enjoyed your meal. The women, who do essentially all of the cooking, will be pleased and impressed.

Arts and Entertainment

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Lizardmen are not noted for their writings, their dancing, their art or their music but, oddly and somewhat surprisingly, they are very well known for the excellent singing talent that frequently emerges from their people. Singers are highly respected and, despite the generally gravelly voice of the Lizardmen, they have amazing talent in this field. When it comes to other forms of art such as dancing, art or theatre, Lizardmen are less interested.

For fun, many children play fight and traverse the swamps, pretending they are hunting. Most Lizardmen are prominent risk takers which can result in injury and death but nothing is too extreme for them. The adults often find fun in hunting for food. Storytelling is a good way for Lizardmen to pass the time too, and hundreds of stories are passed down orally from generation to generation over centuries. They are also keen players of dice and seem to show exceptional luck when playing against other races.

Architecture

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Most buildings are constructed with compacted mud and the flat rooves are generally made from swamp plants. More buildings however are being made from wood - log cabins are thought highly of. Homes are generally simple affairs with one or two rooms. Only four or five Lizardmen tend to live in a house, but it depends on the size of the family.

When visiting towns and houses of other races, Lizardmen tend to admire the craftwork that goes into them and many wish that they could build similar structures.

Crime and Legal System

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Evidence is usually gathered by eye witness accounts and the use of magical fingerprint detection in the area. Sometimes truth potions have been used on suspects. Many spells are illegal to be used by anyone other than a wizard or priest. Soldiers usually double up as policemen and are called upon when it comes to arresting someone. Minor crimes usually have punishments such as having some furniture or money taken away. Medium crimes, such as burglary, result in a public whipping or solitary confinement for some time. Murder is punishable by death, which tends to appear in the form of being buried alive in the swamps or hung.

There are no lawyers and people tend to be innocent until proven guilty. Once a verdict has been reached by the town elders, it cannot be changed except in extreme circumstances. Although uncommon in Lizardmen society, some individiuals turn to a life of crime and become highwaymen and bandits. These do not do their "business" among their own people and will instead attack another species.

Daily Life

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Although quite happy to accept invitations to other countries and visit other races, the Lizardmen themselves do not tend to tolerate visitors of other species onto their land. They are generally unwilling to accept new ideas but if something really catches them, they will latch onto it and use it, such as dye for clothes (see below). Chocolate and spices are considered luxuries but since they are rare, most Lizardmen cope perfectly well without them.

Furniture is blocky, uncomfortable to many and generally made of wood with swamp grass cushions. Plumbing and sanitary systems do not exist and all "waste products" are produced in far corners of the swamp away from people's houses.

Lizardmen tend to wake up early in the morning, usually at the dawn chorus. There are few Lizardmen who have actually ever seen a clock. They usually go to bed when the light has faded completely.

Education

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Education is freely given to all and everyone is expected to partake in some form. Up until the age of eleven, children are taught by their elders. This is the end of compulsory education. Then, at the age of eleven until the age of fifteen, they are taught by town elders and priests. Many Lizardmen choose this path. At fifteen, only a small handful continue to be educated by town elders for a further two years. Lizardmen are educated in several disciplines: reading, writing, religion, science, mathematics, economics and singing. There are more specialist subjects too, such as spellcasting and medicine. There are also sex-specific subjects: the males learn hunting and tracking while the females learn sewing and cookery.

Ethics and Values

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The strongest insult you can give to a Lizardman in their native tongue is "swampmonster". This is because it was the old name given to them by ancient humans and lilithians. Lizardmen, however, deny that they are monsters and consider it a slander on their name. Death has resulted from this insult on more than one occassion in the past. People tend to swear binding oaths on the swamps or their children. The most desirable things in this world are good weapons and a good social life - Lizardmen are not very materialistic.

Polygamy is next to impossible due to the close relationships between the tribe members, but affairs have been known and these can legally be solved by a duel to the death. Homosexuality is unheard of in Lizardmen culture and public nudity is highly frowned upon. It is also considered rude to discuss one's sex life or brag of past adventures. If you do have a story you wish to tell, someone must first ask you.

Honesty is of fair importance in Lizardman society, but lies are commonplace, particularly from the town elders when they do not what the common people to know what is happening. Binding oaths, however, are unbreakable. Citizens (that is, men over the age of 15) can vote for who they want to elect as a new town elder when a spot becomes open. Women do not have the vote and, indeed, have very little rights. If a woman commits a crime, they are far more likely to be banished from The Squamata Swamps rather than be killed because the Lizardmen do not believe in harming women and children.

There are a number of social taboos - nudity, bragging, wearing clothes intended for the opposite gender and plotting to overthrow the town elders. The latter of these is punishable by whipping and a fine.

Fashion and Dress

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Lizardmen tend to wear ponchos made of fur and short trousers made of either soft swamp grass (a highly versatile material in their society) or fur. Lizardwomen usually just wear longer ponchos that tend to reach their feet. The higher ranking females tend to wear jewellery made from polished stones as well, but these tend to be expensive because there are few individuals capable of making them. Priests ponchos are always white which has led some non-Lizardmen to believe the Lizardmen keep a supply of unicorns hidden from the rest of the world. This is, of course, nonsense. Most clothes are brown, black or red - it depends heavily on what animal the fur comes from. Some dyes are bought from other cultures but they will automatically be given to the town elders. The mayor usually wears indigo or blue.

Hats were never in fashion; indeed, many Lizardmen are unfamiliar with the concept! Centuries ago, shoes were also common but they are now almost never used because there is little point. Most people only have a handful of changes of clothes due to the outrageous prices many tailors charge. There is a nudity taboo in Lizardmen society and only your life partner should see you nude.

Foreign Relations

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Lizardmen are famous for having poor relationships with almost every other race on Xothu. If there is a major issue to be discussed that involves the Lizardmen in some way, a selection of town elders from the swamps will travel to the location but return soon after. All those who have had contact with them declare that they are not a friendly race when out of the swamps. The few that have seen inside a Lizardman society however, hold a different view:

Some Lizardmen go out undercover of outcasts to spy on affairs of other races but this doesn't happen often. The Lizardmen are scathing of the Swamp Ogres and do not like Grand Lilithians at all. They are most friendly with the Forest Dwarves with whom they do most of their trading.

Gestures

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Lizardmen only tend to gesture wildly once they have got well into a story. Otherwise, they rarely use their hands to communicate, except maybe to show estimated measurements. Twisting your little fingers together in this society is considered very rude. Expect to be punched if you do this.

There is a language used by hunters using only gestures. This is covered in the Language section below.

Government

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Each town or, more accurately, tribe is presided over by five town elders who make most of the important decisions that affect their people. Once they have the job, they have it for life and cannot back down from their responsiblities. When one dies, a vote is cast with several candidates up for the new job as soon as possible. There are no real requirements, but they must be over 50 at least to qualify as an "elder". If there is something that needs to be decided on that affects the whole of The Squamata Swamp, at least one elder from each tribe will gather together and make a choice.

Greeting and Meeting

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When meeting, Lizardmen tend to shake hands, even the women. It is considered vulgar to kiss someone you don't know very well or at all. When it comes to other races, Lizardmen tend to nod and grunt to signify they have acknowledged you. When greeting for the first time, it is customary to shake hands and bow slightly. A person is introduced with their first name and tribal "surname" but the first name is used only after that, except for identification purposes.

Language

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Lizardmen speak a guttaral, deep language among themselves which is hard for others to learn. Orcs have an easier time of it than others. Traders and some town elders learn other languages so they can trade and do business with other races. There is also another language which uses only gestures and other body language for hunters to communicate silently while tracking prey. The language has very few words for different building materials. They do however have at least one name for every type of swamp grass there is - the only species to do so - since it is very important to them.

First names are chosen by the parents of the child. Each of the fifty swamps of the area has a different name attached to it so the surname is this name. This allows Lizardmen to be easily identified. If they change the swamp they are living in, they attach the new name to the end of their old one. For example, if Gruk Ford moved to the swamp where the name is Verc, his name would become Gruk Ford-Verc.

Magic and Magicians

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Magicians are rare in this society and few individuals specialise just in magic. Some priests and hunters learn magic to aid them in their work. Magic is legal and sometimes used for healing, but Lizardmen generally prefer to use natural methods.

Magic and Technology

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Magic has allowed some Lizardmen to teleport short distances, such as between swamps. There are also a handful of magical weapons, such as arrows that never miss. They are rare because Lizardmen find them are to make and they are expensive to trade.

Medicine

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When people die, they are wrapped in swamp grass and thrown into a swamp. The priests of the culture tend to do this. There is rarely a ceremony to accompany the death, unless the Lizardman in question was of some great importance. Doctors are rare and priests do most of the diagnosing. They run tests on reflexes and physical condition and sometimes magic is used to scan the inside if it appears to be an internal problem. Priests also adminster medicines and drugs, most of which are made from herbs and local plants. Sometimes they trade with other races to get more advanced cures. Priests learn their medical skills from elders.

Insanity, which is rarely a problem in Lizardmen society, is treated by killing the afflicted party since it is incurable. There is also no method of birth control in Lizardmen society. People cannot return from the dead, except as ghosts.

Population

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Each swamp usually contains between 100 and 500 Lizardmen which is an awful lot considering they all eat together and all know one another in each tribe. The western areas are more populated than the eastern but it is about equal for nothern and southern.

Religion and Philosophy

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(See Gods of the Lizardmen for more details)

Lizardmen worship five gods in thier own homes, not having specially built temples. There are also a handful of Lizardmen philosophers but their theories do not attract much attention as philosophy does not interest Lizardmen on the whole. They mostly consider theories of knowledge and how we know what is right and wrong.

Science and Technology

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Levels of technology are low in this society. There are no means of refrigeration and the only way to heat houses is with open fires, which is always risky due to the construction material. They do admire the technology that other races have developed but it is almost always impossible to implement any of it in the swamps. They do not understand much in the ways of science and usually blame the gods.

Social Organisation

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The Lizardman society is split into nine castes:

1. Town Elders
2. Priests
3. Soldiers
4. Hunters
5. Traders
6. Craftsmen
7. Women
8. Children
9. Outcasts

It is hard to move from one caste to another because Lizardmen tend to remain in the same occupation their whole lives. The easiest transition is from priest to town elder.

Transportation and Communication

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Lizardmen usually walk from place to place, as they never really need to go too far. When they do need to travel long distances, they ride oxen that they catch. They are usually magically made tame which is much quicker and easier. Messages are sent by messangers who walk from swamp to swamp, spreading their news. Travel is generally not common for Lizardmen because they rarely need to see anyone from outside of their tribe. Because of this, however, Lizardmen can appear to be quite ignorant of current affairs elsewhere in the world.

War

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The Lizardmen are rarely in serious wars but are fearsome opponents when they do have to fight. They use axes, bows and arrows and spears to fight. Armies can be huge, depending on how serious the war is. Despite not liking many other races, they do not actively seek out war as it is a waste of time and resources. When fighting a war, however, they do have a habit of not hurting innocent civilians, particularly women and children.

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