 | |
| Lizardfolk | |
| General Information | |
|---|---|
| Patron deity | ? |
| Average lifespan | Up to 80 years |
| Language | Draconic |
| Favored climate | Temperate |
| Favored terrain | Swamp |
| Appearance | |
| Average height | 6′ - 7′ |
| Average weight | 200–250 lbs. |
| Skin color | black, white, red, blue or black |
| Eye color | Yellow |
Five tribes that use colored warpaint, green, white, red, blue and black.
Bipedal reptiles endowed with formidable natural weaponry, lizardfolk are primal hunters who dwell in deep swamps and along remote rivers, dominating any area they inhabit. They are feared predators notorious for guarding their territories with bloodthirsty efficiency and will eagerly assail any trespassers.
Lizardfolk have long jaws lined with large, sharp teeth for rending flesh, and their bite has bone-shattering power. Their thickly scaled hide overlays exceptionally dense muscle, providing tough natural armor. A lizardfolk’s mind is that of a cold-blooded predator always searching for prey to consume. Lizardfolk can live incredibly long, and they spend the majority of that prolonged life jostling for dominance among their own kind. Tribes tend to be independent of each other if not openly antagonistic, competing for resources and hunting territory. Lizardfolk tribes are led by bokors, feral witch doctors who command predatory swamp spirits and necromantic powers.
Ruthless but pragmatic, lizardfolk will often barter with outsiders who bear offerings. Swamp denizens must placate or otherwise come to terms with local lizardfolk tribes if they hope to survive. Lizardfolk do not lightly break their word—whether a promise of safe passage or a vow of vengeance—and are rigid in interpreting such agreements, savagely punishing those suspected of betrayal.
Masters of the marsh, lizardfolk are brutal creatures that can be found in nearly every bog and swamp in Lorasia. Although not as numerous as the swamp goblins and bog trogs with whom they share this habitat, lizardfolk outstrip both in terms of raw physical strength and martial skill. In addition, lizardfolk have powerful magical traditions, and their shamans can command the great beasts of the swamp to do their bidding. These factors have largely allowed lizardfolk to subjugate other swamp-dwelling races and to simply annihilate those who will not bend to their will.
Lizardfolk society is tribal in nature. These tribes are usually fairly small and rarely exceed fifty individuals. Each tribe is led by both a chieftain and a bokor. The chieftain is usually the most adept hunter and fiercest warrior in the tribe, and the bokor is a powerful shaman who channels the will and magic of the great swamp spirits. In some tribes, the chieftain and bokor may be one and the same.
Lizardfolk are not always hostile when encountered, and some tribes are quite eager to trade for goods they cannot produce on their own. Other savage races hold the strength and martial prowess of the lizardfolk in high regard, and some lizardfolk tribes work as mercenaries for dragovian, and even the enigmatic blackclads of the Circle Orboros. By contrast, most tribes view outsiders as a threat and will savagely attack anyone who intrudes upon their territory or upon regions they hope to conquer.
Bokors are powerful mystics who live and breathe the foul necromantic arts that are their birthright. Life and death are two edges of the same bloody knife to bokors, who often see allies as nothing more than tools of battle to be moved between those two states as required, such as undead husks and soul slaves. Amid the morass of combat, bokors gather the vile totems required to power their spells, using their sacral blades to tear fleshy trophies from the carcasses of their vanquished foes. Their sibilant incantations impel the huge beasts they control in a wave of scaled and fanged death.
Maelok
Barnabas
Calaban
Jaga-Jaga
Longchops
Wrong Eye
The dark swamps and bayous of Lorasia harbor a multitude of dangers, and many of those who dare travel their muddy byways meet a bad end in the gullet of some monstrous, amphibious beast. One race of elusive reptilians has claimed these bogs and marshes as their domain, furiously defending it from the encroaching threat of civilization. The Lizardfolk are incredibly tough, physically powerful, and skillful hunters who have long endured the challenges and dangers of their swamps.
The simplicity of this race’s reed shelters and their apparently limited use of tools has led some to underestimate their intelligence. In truth, this lack of technical accomplishment is just a consequence of how well adapted Lizardfolk are to their swamps; they do not rely as much on weapons, armor, or shelter as the vulnerable warm-blooded races. The mind of a lizardman is every bit as cunning and discerning as that of any other intelligent race. They possess particularly keen insight into the nature of predation and the processes of death and decay.
Coldly pragmatic, Lizardfolk are not affected by the same emotional and irrational impulses as other races. They are able to remain deadly calm and patient amid the chaos of battle, all but immune to panic even when severely wounded. Old instincts allow them to focus on what must be done to kill and survive. They are extremely dangerous even when naked and unarmed, and when equipped with weapons and coordinating as a group, they can strike fear in even disciplined and hardened soldiers.
Lizardfolk are found throughout Lorasia’s swamps. They prefer to stay away from civilization, generally keeping to the interior of a swampy region.
Lizardfolk build their villages on bogs and deltas close to waterways within the swamp. Besides being a source of plentiful food, the water provides a means of quickly moving from the village to the extremities of their territory. Lizardfolk go so far as to build their homes on floodplains within the swamp in favor of sites farther inland, which may be less likely to flood.
Lizardfolk rigorously protect their territory and hunting grounds, which can extend for dozens of miles from the tribe’s main village, and thereby have limited interaction with the outside world. Trespassers are typically either driven away or slaughtered, but sometimes Lizardfolk can be convinced to accept payment for safe passage. In fact, if a lizardman catches sight of some particularly interesting bauble or piece of equipment, he may eagerly offer to barter for it to spare the intruder’s life.
Likewise Lizardfolk are willing to talk to outsiders who approach them with the proper respect and deference. Most tribes are fully willing to negotiate and to trade for goods normally unavailable to them. Some Lizardfolk may even be willing to act as guides through the swamps, if properly compensated. Certain tribes have established peaceful relations with neighboring Dragovian kriels, human settlements, and swamp goblin villages. But if approached with violent intent, riled Lizardfolk are among the most implacable foes in Lorasia, especially in their natural habitat. Calling on their own warriors as well as animated dead and cold-blooded creatures from the swamps dominated by powerful bokors and warlocks, a lizardman army is without equal in inspiring terror.
Lizardfolk live in small tribes where all adults are capable warriors, and there is little difference between the males and females in regard to size and physical prowess. Leading these tribes are its bokors, who are a combination of priest and mystic. These swamp shamans venerate the name of Kossk and commune with the many lingering spirits that haunt the bogs and marshes. In many areas of the dank swamps the power of death and decay is such that souls cannot pass on of their own volition, a fact bokors use to their advantage.
Bokors rely on their own rites and a variety of totems to facilitate their mystical work, making use of skulls or other tools carved of bone. Some of the entities they count as allies are ancient and potent natural spirits that have existed within the swamp for millennia. Bokors can awaken these spirits by ritually feeding them with sacrifices of blood and life, empowering them to lend their strength and vitality to the bokor and his allies or to inflict horrific curses on his enemies.
Despite being incredibly powerful warriors, the Lizardfolk have largely remained uninvolved in the countless wars of Lorasia. Instead, they have focused their efforts on dominating the creatures of their swamps. Their longest-standing territorial rivalries tend to be with bog trogs, fishlike humanoids who often share their marshy domains. The two races continually fight over the meager resources of the swamps.
The Lizardfolk often have an advantage over the bog trogs, who lack powerful leadership and are physically weaker. Typically bog trog tribes are either subjugated by their more powerful neighbors or driven out. In recent years the emergence of the Blindwater Congregation has tipped the balance of power toward the Lizardfolk. Overtly mystical in nature, the Blindwater Congregation works to further the strange spiritual goals of an ancient lizardman named Bloody Barnabas. Together with several powerful bokors who have joined his cause, Barnabas and his followers have enslaved several tribes of bog trogs.
Society and Culture
Lizardman society is organized into tribes, generally limited to fewer than fifty individuals. Each adult member of the tribe is expected to both hunt and be ready to defend the tribe. A tribe is led by one or more bokors, a mystic who acts as a spiritual adviser and an intermediary between his tribe and the powerful spirits of the swamp.
These tribes are traditionally independent of one another and seldom cooperate. Indeed, fierce competition between rival tribes when food supplies are scarce invariably leads to bloodshed. Generally, each tribe is led by its most feared bokor. Occasionally, though, an extraordinarily powerful bokor rises to bring multiple tribes together, creating a small fiefdom amid the deepest swamps and marshes.
Lizardman warriors are some of the most physically imposing combatants in all Lorasia. The typical adult stands well over seven feet tall and is armored head-to-tail in thick, horny scales. Though their natural armaments—tooth, claw, and whipping tail—are fearsome enough, lizardman warriors also learn to wield a variety of heavy, two-handed crushing and cleaving weapons. So armed, a hunting party can reduce a warjack to scrap in minutes and a lone warrior can take on entire squads of smaller enemies. These vicious hunters are not only adept at carnage but also fiercely protective of their kills. In fact, it is the height of disrespect to consume the flesh of an enemy slain by another. To do so is to invite instant and lethal retaliation—or, at the very least, a lasting feud.
Lizardfolk do not bond with mates; instead, males and females coexist in a loosely communal environment, living six to ten to a hut and coming together seasonally for the express purpose of procreation. Just before these seasonal cycles it is not uncommon for members of neighboring villages to intermingle to broaden the mating pool. The most fierce and respected get first choice of mates, with the rest pairing off with whoever remains. A pregnant female generally lays a clutch of six to ten eggs, placing them in a large mound of earth and vegetable matter for incubation. The mounds require solid ground, which is exceedingly rare in the marsh, and are jealously guarded.
Once the eggs hatch, the hatchlings are placed in a specially prepared enclosure to keep them from wandering too far into the water. One or more tribe members keeps watch over the clutch to protect the young from outside danger. Despite being entirely self-sufficient within minutes, lizardman hatchlings display none of the intelligence of the adults—this develops later. It is typical for hatchlings to ruthlessly attack one another during this period. The weakest are singled out, killed, and eaten by their clutch mates.
Generally, two dozen hatchlings are placed in a single winnowing enclosure, and after six weeks, six to eight of the strongest remain. At this point, the minds of the hatchlings have begun to develop and they are fostered out to lower-ranking adults of both genders, who rear them for one year. After this time, a young lizardman is expected to survive on his own. Blood relation holds little meaning for Lizardfolk, and they find the familial bonds of other races peculiar.
As a lizardman matures he learns the spiritual beliefs of his people even as he learns to hunt and fight. Lizardfolk believe that devouring others is more than a simple requirement for life; it is an aspect of their connection to their god, Kossk. As a lizardman consumes his prey, he grows stronger not just physically but spiritually, adding the individual’s essence to his own. Combat is also a proving ground, and many young warriors seek out excuses to push themselves to their limits. Contact with outside civilization has prompted little change in this culture. Lizardfolk rarely attempt to adopt the technological or mechanical advances of other cultures. In most respects, they remain the same tribal people they have been for millennia.
They see no need to change. That said, some do collect odd baubles (such as pocket watches or hats) kept by civilized races, accepting them in trade or saving them as trophies. Those who keep such items superstitiously believe they impart residual spiritual benefits from their previous owners.
Traditions and Beliefs
Lizardfolk base their faith on the central notion of predation and the cycle of hunger, hunting, and death. For one entity to be satiated it must consume another. Lizardfolk across Lorasia pay homage to their primal reptilian god Kossk, an entity they credit with their creation and that embodies primal hunger, blood thirst, and the hunt. Though worship of this god is nearly universal among this people, specific rites and totemic depictions vary across the region. In some areas it is shown as a lizardman, but in others it appears as a bestial alligator, its gigantic maw open wide to swallow the world.
The spiritual leaders of the Lizardfolk, the bokors, conduct sacrificial feasts and rites, calling on Kossk’s name and those of other great spirits while invoking their magic. Among the Lizardfolk the term “god” has a different connotation than among some other races. To many bokors a god is simply an exceptionally powerful spirit, one that is far greater but fundamentally similar to other spirits. Each bokor has a different relationship with the spirits of the swamp, with some relying more heavily upon minor spirits.
Just as Kossk prepares to devour the world and absorb its strength, the lizardman bokors and warlocks embrace the act of absorbing an enemy’s power through the ritual consumption of flesh. Their rituals always involve blood sacrifice and flesh offerings to appease the many dark sprits that linger in the swamp so that they might bestow strength and power upon a bokor. Powerful bokors can work greater magic because they can draw upon the spirits of their many defeated enemies. Certain cannibalistic elements of lizardman ritual resemble those of extreme Devourer worshipers, particularly those employed by the Tharn. Through these rites, lizardman bokors command powerful and frightening magic.
Relationships with Other Powers
Though they are self-interested and convinced of their superiority, the Lizardfolk have historically participated in cautious trade with their neighbors. They are particularly willing to barter with more settled Dragovian kriels and swampy communities. These interactions can be tense, but the majority of manufactured goods the Lizardfolk own (and nearly all their liquor) come from trades.
Circle Orboros
The leaders of the Circle Orboros know well the power of apex predators, and that is how many potents view the Lizardfolk living in their domains. The Circle considers Kossk to be an aspect of the Devourer Wurm and use their familiarity with the Beast of All Shapes to coerce Lizardfolk into serving them. Blackclads frequently employ or manipulate bands of Lizardfolk to assist their own plans, sending them against human settlements and industry at the periphery of the swamp or near any major waterway they can negotiate.
Farrow Tribes
Largely, the Lizardfolk regard the farrow as prey. The boar-men have the unenviable problem of being particularly tasty. In turn the farrow consider Lizardfolk a rough delicacy. And so the two races are generally at odds, competing for resources where they meet and consistently testing which is the predator and which is prey.
Tharn Tribes
Where two predators share territory, blood is spilled. For the most part the Tharn prefer drier wooded regions, and this has limited their clashes with the Lizardfolk, but the central Thornwood includes a number of wooded swamps that both the Lizardfolk and the Tharn have considered their exclusive hunting grounds. Even when the men of the Iron Kingdoms thought the Tharn were extinct, the Lizardfolk of the Thornwood knew better. The ferocity of the Tharn had earned them grudging respect in the eyes of the Lizardfolk.
Dragovian Kriels
Relations between the Dragovian and Lizardfolk have run the gamut from overtly hostile to tense but generally favorable. The most bitter fighting between these two races has taken place in the Fenn Marsh of southeastern Cygnar. Here Lizardfolk have managed to push the Dragovian out to the fringes of the marsh while dominating its interior. In other parts of Lorasia, such as the Thornwood Forest, Lizardfolk and Dragovian lived in relative peace for centuries, each respecting the boundaries of the other.
The kriels and lizardman tribes sometimes establish pacts that ensure mutual access to hunting grounds and waterways. Some even go so far as to make agreements of mutual protection, the Lizardfolk helping the Dragovian fight off raids from opportunistic bog trogs coming from within the swamps, and the Dragovian holding back threats that encroach from the fringe of the marshland.
Five tribes that use colored warpaint, black, white, red, blue and black.
Bipedal reptiles endowed with formidable natural weaponry, lizardfolk are primal hunters who dwell in deep swamps and along remote rivers, dominating any area they inhabit. They are feared predators notorious for guarding their territories with bloodthirsty efficiency and will eagerly assail any trespassers.
Lizardfolk have long jaws lined with large, sharp teeth for rending flesh, and their bite has bone-shattering power. Their thickly scaled hide overlays exceptionally dense muscle, providing tough natural armor. A lizardfolk’s mind is that of a cold-blooded predator always searching for prey to consume. Lizardfolk can live incredibly long, and they spend the majority of that prolonged life jostling for dominance among their own kind. Tribes tend to be independent of each other if not openly antagonistic, competing for resources and hunting territory. Lizardfolk tribes are led by bokors, feral witch doctors who command predatory swamp spirits and necromantic powers.
Ruthless but pragmatic, lizardfolk will often barter with outsiders who bear offerings. Swamp denizens must placate or otherwise come to terms with local lizardfolk tribes if they hope to survive. Lizardfolk do not lightly break their word—whether a promise of safe passage or a vow of vengeance—and are rigid in interpreting such agreements, savagely punishing those suspected of betrayal.
Masters of the marsh, lizardfolk are brutal creatures that can be found in nearly every bog and swamp in Lorasia. Although not as numerous as the swamp gobbers and bog trogs with whom they share this habitat, lizardfolk outstrip both in terms of raw physical strength and martial skill. In addition, lizardfolk have powerful magical traditions, and their shamans can command the great beasts of the swamp to do their bidding. These factors have largely allowed lizardfolk to subjugate other swamp-dwelling races and to simply annihilate those who will not bend to their will.
Lizardfolk society is tribal in nature. These tribes are usually fairly small and rarely exceed fifty individuals. Each tribe is led by both a chieftain and a bokor. The chieftain is usually the most adept hunter and fiercest warrior in the tribe, and the bokor is a powerful shaman who channels the will and magic of the great swamp spirits. In some tribes, the chieftain and bokor may be one and the same.
Lizardfolk are not always hostile when encountered, and some tribes are quite eager to trade for goods they cannot produce on their own. Other savage races hold the strength and martial prowess of the lizardfolk in high regard, and some lizardfolk tribes work as mercenaries for Dragonborn, skorne, and even the enigmatic blackclads of the Circle Orboros. By contrast, most tribes view outsiders as a threat and will savagely attack anyone who intrudes upon their territory or upon regions they hope to conquer.
Bokors are powerful mystics who live and breathe the foul necromantic arts that are their birthright. Life and death are two edges of the same bloody knife to bokors, who often see allies as nothing more than tools of battle to be moved between those two states as required, such as undead husks and soul slaves. Amid the morass of combat, bokors gather the vile totems required to power their spells, using their sacral blades to tear fleshy trophies from the carcasses of their vanquished foes. Their sibilant incantations impel the huge beasts they control in a wave of scaled and fanged death.
Bokors are the ruthless mystics and shamans of the lizardfolk.
Most revere the great swamp spirit Kossk and call upon his
power in their dark rites. Masters of necromantic forces,
bokors have the power to summon the menacing spirits
of the swamp through bloody rituals and to consume the
souls of their enemies to work their magic. To the lizardfolk
these are natural forces entwined with their religion, which
is based on predation and consumption.
Though a bokor may choose to serve as a shaman of his
people or to live a reclusive existence alone in the depths of
the swamp, all are obsessed with the acquisition of personal
power and the destruction of their enemies. Many bokors
seize power as chieftains, Keeping their people in check
through fear of the spirits at their command.
Playing a Bokor: Choose the Bokor career if you want to
play a cold-blooded pragmatist with arcane power over life
and death. Bokors are unpredictable and pitiless mystics
with one hungry eye on this world and one on the next.
Comfortable in their dark knowledge, bokors tend to be
more genuinely interested in the outside world than others
of their kind, even if that interest stems comes from a
deep-rooted desire to find fresh means of extending their
personal power.
The Bokor’s spell list gives him a diversity of dark magic
and necromancy to dominate the living and the dead.
Each new spell and ability he gains only serves to increase
his power. A Bokor combines well with careers that offer
combat abilities, such as Brigand or Warrior, but he also
benefits from careers that amplify his already impressive
arcane power, such as Bone Grinder or Sorcerer. As he gains
experience, the Bokor has numerous options for spells and
abilities that magnify his repertoire of necromantic powers.
Veteran Bokors gain access to the Death Mastery and
Possession abilities, allowing them to take control of their
enemies, both living and dead.
Swamp Warlock
The warlocks of the lizardfolk and bog trogs are rare and powerful
individuals with a special connection to the deadly creatures that
share their murky environs. The ability to bond with and control
the beasts of marsh, bog, and fen affords warlocks a great deal of
personal influence that enables them to rise within their tribes.
The bokors of the lizardfolk believe the ability to commune with
the amphibious and undead swamp monsters is a gift granted to
a select few by the swamp spirit Kossk, allowing these warlocks
to command the beasts of his domain.
The cold-blooded swamp warlocks command respect among their
peoples and inspire fear in others. This trepidation is largely due
to the formidable beasts they command, but is also attributable
in part to the warlock himself. Warlocks of these races tend to be
ambitious and power-hungry, always looking to gain power at
the expense of the weak. Bog trog warlocks in particular relish
the sway they hold over their lesser brethren, often exercising
tyrannical authority over their tribes even as they offer cringing
subservience to neighboring lizardfolk chieftains.
Playing a Swamp Warlock: Opt for the Swamp Warlock career
if you want to wield dark magic and necromancy, harvesting
the souls of your defeated foes to augment your own dark
power. Swamp Warlocks are versatile, filling numerous roles in
their bands. They can empower their comrades through the use
of powerful spells or simply smash into the front ranks of the
enemy accompanied by their warbeasts.
While the Swamp Warlock is a powerful Gifted character and
melee combatant in his own right, his true strength comes
from the ability to bond with and command warbeasts. He
has access to incredibly powerful beasts like the Blackhide
Wrastler and the Swamp Horror as well as the ability to create
his own undead warbeasts from nothing more than a pile of
bones. All the Swamp Warlock’s potential warbeasts share the
Amphibious ability, which gives him and his beasts incredible
mobility in their watery domain. Upon reaching the Veteran
level the Swamp Warlock should pick up the Field Marshal:
Counter Charge ability so that his warbeasts can leap up from
the water to devour all that draw near.
