The Lizard Folk Tribes: Cultural Profile

I noticed a while back that I gave the First Empire from this post its own cultural profile, but not the lizard folk who have been in the Sea of Treasure for much longer, so I have taken some time to rectify that.

Introduction: 5,000 years ago when the first lizard folk arrived in the region, they were part of an influential seafaring culture which established colonies on every habitable island and shoreline of the Sea of Treasure millennia before any other civilization was known in the area. This culture spoke and wrote volumes in its own language and was capable of producing magic items that no one has been able to replicate since. The ancient lizard folk spread across the planet for nearly 1,000 years before some magical catastrophe caused a technological and geographical decline. This civilization was apparently anarcho-communist and stateless in nature, with ancient lizard folk working together more or less of their own free will to build the coral and obsidian cities whose ruins now dot most islands in the Sea of Treasure. The cities themselves acted as centers of trade and production before the mysterious disaster struck the ancient lizard folk. In the 4,000 years between then and now, they have retracted to only a small population spread across the islands of the Sea of Treasure.

Magic and Technology: In the around 4,000 years since the collapse, all knowledge of how their magical items, grand cities, and spectacular boats were built and maintained was lost. How quickly the lizard folk regressed from advanced seafaring culture to unsophisticated hunter-gatherers is unknown. What is known is that lizard folk today, even those living on islands, are incapable of making or utilizing most technologies or any forms of magic. Oddly, the ancient lizard folk did not, apparently, domesticate any plants or animals, or if they did they did not bring them to the Sea of Treasure. This is shown by the lack of any kind of domestic species being kept by or found near any modern lizard folk village. This means that the ancient lizard folk were able to support relatively complex societies with high population densities on either hunting and gathering or some other, unknown method of acquiring food and supplies. In the 4,000 years since their civilization fell, lizard folk in the Sea of Treasure have had no political structure more complex than the simple tribes centered around a few villages that exist today. Of note is that all lizard folk to this day speak their ancient language and even use the old script for some rituals and art.

     What the modern lizard folk do have is the ability to create basic tools out of wood, bone, and stone, although they do not seem to modify their stones too much before using them. With natural inks, leathers, and other canvases, they are able to create paintings and calligraphy, although they can no longer make paper, so the mediums for their writing are somewhat limited. This art, their oral traditions, and their prodigious skill in the technologies they can still manage to produce mean that the lizard folk manage to have diverse and vibrant cultural traditions despite their species-wide curse. Due to their relative isolation and minimal trade, modern lizard folk tribes are wildly divergent from each other, each one producing unique styles and practices.

Society: Modern lizard folk society is dominated by individual tribes and their unique practices. Tribes are frequently led by a single chief, but methods of selecting chiefs and maintaining power vary wildly, like many things with the lizard folk. Most lizard folk live a semi-nomadic lifestyle, cycling between various seasonal camps and the tribal village throughout the year. Because of this, chiefs and their retinues are usually the only members of a given tribe who can be found in their tribe’s village at all times of year. These tribal nobles are also usually the only members of a given tribe who have the time to learn how to read and write their ancient language, and they are seen as important protectors of their tribal culture and practices. These lizard folk also usually have the duty of greeting and assessing visitors, usually deciding to send them away unless the visitors can think of a very good reason to let them stay among the lizard folk. There is not much that can really be said about the lizard folk as a whole because each tribe has had 4,000 years to develop distinct practices, cultures, traditions, and norms that are now almost wholly removed from each other. For every patriarchal tribe, there is a matriarchy. For every individualistic warrior tribe there is a communally-driven pacifist tribe. In the end, all that can truly be said is that each tribe is fiercely unique and idiosyncratic, even in the face of outside influence.

Religion: Much like their cultures and practices, lizard folk practice a diverse number of religions, seemingly one for every tribe. This happened for similar reasons to the fracturing of lizard folk society, the isolation and lack of contact between villages over the course of 4,000 years. This relative isolation has actually made lizard folk tribes somewhat vulnerable to forming extreme and harmful cults. Intelligent and powerful beings seem to be innately aware of the fact that modern lizard folk are easy to manipulate into worshiping just about anything if it helps them survive their harsh environments. Many other tribes seem to worship their sources of food, but just as many seem to worship an item, a pantheon, or even nothing. Methods of worship vary quite a bit, from regular sermons to blood sacrifice, although the sacrifices seem to be on the rarer side.

Villages: Each village belongs to a single tribe and its chief. While the majority of the village is often camped elsewhere for the season, it is tradition for most to return to their tribe’s village at various times of year to provide labor for the chief and participate in various ceremonies. Although it is not ever-present in a lizard person’s life, the village is still central. Very rarely is the entire tribe in the village at the same time, but when it is, there is usually a large celebration at hand. Friends that haven’t seen each other for a while can catch up, young people can meet and form friendships they will follow up on later, and everyone can party with all of their friends and family. Overall, the village is a key part of lizard folk life without dominating it, a balance which many lizard folk seem to enjoy.

The Immortal Naturalist's Guide to Cryptic Creatures: Conclusion

This is the final post in the Immortal Naturalist's Guide series, which I explain in this post. Like the introduction, the conclusion will be from the point of view of one of my self-insert characters, Z, the Immortal Naturalist. Since I have been working on this for about two months in real life, I'm pretty happy to actually write this conclusion, even if it turns out to be a little light on gameable information. Anyways, here it is:

    Well, there you have it, fifty creatures that most of the world does not believe in. While I do not imagine my words have changed many opinions, I know this book will be invaluable to someone at some point. In keeping this information brief but useful, I tried to cover the main behaviors, weapons, magical abilities, and ways to defend yourself from everything in this book. Many of these descriptions may seem outlandish, but I promise that this information is all completely true. Each of these creatures, unless they've died since the time of writing, is really out there, going about their business, living their lives. There are some who may try to exploit these incredible creatures, but I am hoping that the types who would do such a thing are too cynical and skeptical to go to the lengths required to even see any of the creatures in these pages. Either way, I suppose it is now up to whoever reads this book to make sure that the knowledge within is used for just causes, and not the exploitation of wildlife.

Anyways, that's all I'm gonna be writing for this project. If I ever decide to do more series from the point of view of the Immortal Naturalist, I expect they will have a similar style to these. 

 

The Immortal Naturalist's Guide to Cryptic Creatures: The Zambambler

This post is part of the Immortal Naturalist's Guide series. The explanation for that series can be found in this post. This will be the last creature in the series, which makes 50 for anyone keeping count. I might do another set of creatures in the future, but probably not quite so many.

    The Zambambler is one of the most fearsome-looking residents of the Periwinkle River's headwater valley. Covered in a row of spikes that goes from nose to tail, this creature is assumed by most to be a terrible monster. Truthfully, I do not know how the Zambambler got this reputation. Despite standing twenty feet tall and its sharp spikes, the Zambambler is a peaceful creature which spends most of its time feeding on zambrambles, an evergreen species of brambles with poisonous thorns. This poison, which causes most animals immense pain for up to twelve hours, does not bother the Zambambler, nor does the sharpness of the thorns. The creature will sit in a field of these plants and munch all day before returning to its home in a cave behind a waterfall. When it meets another creature, the Zambambler will actually wave at it despite lacking any real intelligence. While most creatures flee, those that do not try to harm the beast will be allowed to approach and even touch it. If anything tries to take advantage of this kindness and harm the Zambambler, however, they will be on the receiving end of its magical ability.

    At any time, the Zambambler is able to launch any number of its spikes out of its body fast enough to penetrate steel. Spikes launched in this manner seem to regrow instantly, which is why I believe magic is involved. Furthermore, any part of the spikes that touches liquid will instantly dissolve, releasing a concentrated dose of zambramble poison, usually incapacitating whoever is hit for several hours. As far as my observations can tell, the Zambambler is able to magically isolate the poison from its meals and turn it into its solid spikes. While its aim does leave something to desire, these spikes are nothing to be laughed at. The only way to neutralize the poison and stop the pain is through the Zambambler's saliva, which seems to immediately end all effects of zambramble poison.

    Although I have no idea how one might convince the Zambambler to lick a wound that it caused with one of its spikes, I do know that the creature needs to periodically shed its spikes, apparently to make room for more zambramble poison in its body. This means that the creature's lair is absolutely filled with discarded spikes. With such a rare and hard to find antidote, this stash of discarded spikes could probably supply every single torturer in the world for years without much issue. The lair is even shockingly easy to find, being behind one of the relatively few waterfalls of the Periwinkle River. That is not to say that I condone the exploitation of such a resource, but it is an enticingly easy one to harvest for sure.

The Immortal Naturalist's Guide to Cryptic Creatures: The Winged Echidna

This post is part of the Immortal Naturalist's Guide series. The explanation for that series can be found in this post.

    Fluttering around the tree branches of the Battered Jungle is the Winged Echidna, a spikey insectivore. Local folklore claims that this housecat-sized creature spends its days flying around the jungle in search of termite nests, beehives, and any other insects it can dig out of the wood with its large talons. During the day, the creature sleeps in a nest it digs out of a living tree with its claws every morning. During the night, the Winged Echidna goes about its business searching for food. When it feels threatened, the Winged Echidna is able to roll itself up into a ball in midair, falling on its attackers and covering them with its deadly spikes. This method of defense is only a last resort, however, as the Winged Echidna is rather small and timid. Given its small size, it is no wonder the creature is so poorly-known outside of the Battered Jungle.

    While other echidnas have spikes covering their backs, the Winged Echidna has particularly deadly spikes. Aided by magic, the spikes make their effect known when they break the skin of a living creature. Once they have have made a wound, the spikes propel themselves towards the heart of whatever poor creature they are inside of. The spines will only stop moving when they puncture the heart or are pulled out of the creature, making them quite dangerous. The only method I have found to nullify this effect in the spines is to soak the entry wound in alcohol. Although painful, this will stop the movement of the spine long enough to allow for extraction. Without taking this measure, it is much more difficult grab the spine, as it will be actively moving.

    One important thing about the obscurity of this creature and its magical effect is that there are very few people outside of the Battered Jungle who know how to stop the spikes from moving. If one were to collect a large number of these spines, they would have quite the arsenal of deadly weapons. Without the knowledge of how to neutralize the spines, it is only ever a matter of time before the victim of a Winged Echidna spine succumbs to their fate. In order to collect larger numbers of these spines, one could follow the creature as it travels through the forest. Every morning, it leaves it nest behind for good, allowing for someone to get in there and collect whatever spikes feel off during the night, usually at least a half dozen. I'm not sure how often most people need to use something so deadly, so hopefully one or two nights of digging through the creature's nests should yield more than enough spines. 

The Immortal Naturalist's Guide to Cryptic Creatures: The Window Tapper

This post is part of the Immortal Naturalist's Guide series. The explanation for that series can be found in this post.

    Prowling the streets of Principolis every night is the Window Tapper, a strange creature measuring fifteen feet tall and possessing extra long fingers for tapping windows. After the sun sets, the Window Tapper wanders the streets, staring into windows and tapping on them, hoping to lure someone to look into its eyes. Whoever does this will be compelled to open their window, and then stand perfectly still as the Window Tapper eats their eyes. This diet seems to cover all of the nutrition requirements of the creature, while most people don't believe it exists, making its hunting method fairly successful. While stories of the creature that taps on windows and eats the eyes of anyone who goes to investigate are well-known in Prinicipolis, most people assume they are yet another outlandish tale to explain the many noises of a city at night. When it isn't hunting, the Window Tapper is quite timid and quick to retreat to its lair in the city sewers.

    Unsanitary home ignored, the ability of the Window Tapper to stupefy its victims as it eats their eyes is incredible, and most definitely the result of magic. As far as I can tell, the light that reflects off of the beast's eyes is magically polarized to cause the hypnotic effect. As soon as the victim's second eye is removed, they exit their trance, confirming that the Window Tapper's magic requires continuous eye contact. To avoid getting your eyes eaten by the Window Tapper, there are several options. The first option is to not investigate if one hears a tapping on their window at night. Next is the option of wearing a blindfold if one ever needs to look out their window at night, although this may not be a very useful option. Finally, one can ward off the Window Tapper by hanging dried roses from their window sills. The smell of roses is distasteful to the creature and will drive it away.

    Driving the Window Tapper away may not be the best option, however. Silky fur grows on the tip of the Window Tapper's tail and elbows which can be shaved off with relative ease if the beast is captured. Window Tapper fur has the unique property of creating a hallucinogenic smoke when burned. This acrid smoke causes whoever breathes it in to see terrible images of massive disembodied eyeballs wherever they look. While these visions are distressing, they also prevent one from seeing or even really engaging with their surroundings. With giant eyeballs dominating their field of view, most foes are unable to focus on what is around them, often having their opponent obscured by one or more of the hallucinatory eyeballs. How such a specific hallucination is achieved in every single victim is unknown to me, but it all seems to be based on the creature's preferred food. Such a potent hallucinogen would be useful to many people, but as I explained, it is hard to track down the only known source for it.

The Immortal Naturalist's Guide to Cryptic Creatures: Wandering Ivy

This post is part of the Immortal Naturalist's Guide series. The explanation for that series can be found in this post.

    Wandering Ivy is one of the more well-known residents of the Platinum Valley, at least to the kobolds who live there. Descriptions of her, however, are unknown outside of the Kobold Lands and tend towards the outlandish. By all accounts, Wandering Ivy is a friendly creature, about the size of a large dog, who spends her time wandering the woods in search of her favorite food, mushrooms. Ivy seems to be completely immune to any poisons in the mushrooms, so she is able to munch on whatever fungus she finds. Without a permanent home, Ivy spends her days walking up and down the Platinum Valley, always wandering. Despite having been wandering for a long time, Wandering Ivy seems to get tangled up in the undergrowth and vines quite often. Rather than get herself free, Ivy will simply wait until someone comes along and sees her, at which point she will reveal her ability to speak so she can ask for help. Whoever helps Wandering Ivy is then granted a single wish in exchange for their kindness.

    Long ago, Wandering Ivy was cursed for eating mushrooms from the basket of a powerful mage. She can never go more than a month without getting tangled up in vines and bushes, requiring the help of a kind stranger to get free. After being freed, Ivy must grant her hero a wish, although Wandering Ivy has no control over how the wish is granted. Frequently, this results in unfortunate consequences for the wisher, as part of the curse seems to be to twist the words of wishes to have less than ideal results. The only way to avoid this is to either leave Ivy trapped, or to ask for something very simple that cannot be twisted easily. While she is quite friendly and nice to talk to, Wandering Ivy can be driven off with the sound of metal scraping on slate. This sound seems to be more than just unpleasant for the creature, causing her actual physical injuries after more than a few seconds of exposure.

    Ivy is an expert at finding mushrooms, though, and there is no reason to want to drive her off. Instead, I recommend doing what I did, which was strike a deal with her where she will lead me to high quality and rare mushrooms in exchange for half of the mushrooms gathered. Having a person around to to free her if she get stuck on the journey is quite useful, and Ivy is happy to trade half of the fungus found for this service. I was able to find many mushrooms that have powerful magical effects this way, as well as many that tasted good and which I was able to sell for large amounts of money. While I do not really think of Wandering Ivy as a good friend, she and I certainly make a lucrative team. I would recommend that anyone with an interest in mushrooms and fungi find Wandering Ivy and go foraging with her, even if she is difficult to get along with.

The Immortal Naturalist's Guide to Cryptic Creatures: The Volcano Mimic

This post is part of the Immortal Naturalist's Guide series. The explanation for that series can be found in this post.

    While there are many volcanoes that have emerged from the Sea of Treasure, particularly on Pointed Crown Island, but there is exactly one that is worshiped by a tribe of lizard folk who believe it to be a living being capable of protecting them from danger. As the Volcano Tribe of lizard folk tell it, their god, the Volcano Mimic, is a massive, immobile creature that looks identical to any of the many other volcanoes on Pointed Crown Island. They say that one can see the Volcano Mimic open its eyes and blink on the darkest nights, when it thinks no one can see, and that it watches over their village at its base. Hiking up to the rim of what appears to be a volcanic crater reveals the massive teeth of the creature which guard a bright red mouth and gullet. To get its food, the Volcano Mimic is actually fed by regular sacrifice from the Volcano Tribe. These sacrifices are usually of local game such as giant bull geckos, but intelligent people have been sacrificed when hunting other animals has failed in the past.

    In exchange for these sacrifices, the Volcano Mimic is actually able to prevent volcanic eruptions in the area and keep predatory creatures away. With regular sacrifices, the creature is apparently able to generate a field which prevents eruptions and meat eaters from getting within a few miles of its body. Aware of this trait, the Volcano Tribe actually maintains a vegetarian diet to avoid being excluded by their god. Staying on the Volcano Mimic's good side is usually achieved by following the customs and norms of the Volcano Tribe village, as they are the ones who will sacrifice rule-breakers to the mimic. Avoiding such a fate really does seem as simple as staying away from the beast and the lizard folk village, which is easy enough if one has eaten meat in the past day.

    As a part of mimicking a volcano, the Volcano Mimic has a rather extensive network of tunnels in its outer layer of rock. These tunnels do not seems to bother the beast, inhabited by a wide variety of creatures which only eat plants and fungi. Within these tunnels, however, it is possible to find deposits of pure precious metals like silver and gold. Each outcrop takes on a crystalline shape and seems to be made out of a random metal. While these tunnels also give access to the Volcano Mimic's organs, the most lucrative reason to enter the tunnels is to mine and remove the precious metals. This process does not seem to harm the creature, and more crystals seem to be growing all the time, making the resource somewhat sustainable, even. The only thing to be on the lookout for, in that case, is getting trampled by the giant insects that live inside the massive mimic's tunnels, which is easier said than done.

The Immortal Naturalist's Guide to Cryptic Creatures: The Uncertain Creature

This post is part of the Immortal Naturalist's Guide series. The explanation for that series can be found in this post.

    People along the Scarlet River tell tales of a bizarre beast that swims in the deepest, widest portions of the river. Despite being a nearly ubiquitous tale in Scarlet River culture, however, not a single person seems capable of giving a clear description, leading me to dub it the Uncertain Creature. Despite the fact that no one seems to know what the creature looks like, all versions of the story agree on its behavior and diet. The Uncertain Creature spends most of its time under the water in calm sections of the river. There the beast sits in wait, snapping up any animals that try to swim by. This poses a danger to any people who swim or boat by, as the Uncertain Creature is apparently quite large and has no issue dragging people under. Due to its size, the Uncertain Creature is unable to go too far upriver, but that means that its attacks, mostly attributed to accidental drownings rather than a folk tale, are concentrated on less than half of the total length of the river, which coincidentally is where more than half of the people living along the river are located. This honestly makes the fact that most people consider it to be nothing more than a legend somewhat shocking, and I suspect it is due to the fact that no one knows what it looks like.

    As it turns out, the inability to describe the Uncertain Creature is due to a natural magical effect that causes the creature to appear blurry and amorphous, certainly a useful trait for an ambush hunter. Locally, there are bushes that grow along the river with berries that look like human eyes, called eye bushes. When the berries are crushed and the pulp rubbed on one's eyelids, they grant the ability to see through illusions such as the Uncertain Creature's blurriness. Any other method of seeing through or dispelling illusions ought to work, but failing those, eye bushes are quite common and fruit throughout the year. Looking through the illusion reveals the awkward beast that is the Uncertain Creature, with flippers, a shell, horns, and prehensile whiskers for grabbing prey. Unfortunately, the Uncertain Creature seems to have an innate sense for when something sees through its illusion, triggering it to try to run away from or fight the viewer, depending on how easy each option is in the moment. 

    Having been attacked and needing to fight off the Uncertain Creature a few times during my observations, I discovered an interesting quality of the beast's blood. After the fights, in which the Uncertain Creature fled after seeing that I could hurt it, I would be splashed with the creature's blood and other people told me I looked a little blurry until I washed off the blood. My theory is that the Uncertain Creature's blood carries its magical ability, and if one were to be completely covered in its blood, they would become indescribable, like the Uncertain Creature. That being said, I believe it would be quite difficult to get useful amounts of blood from the creature without seriously harming it, and I cannot fathom how a temporary magical effect is worth killing the only known creature like this.

The Immortal Naturalist's Guide to Cryptic Creatures: The Terror of Farport

This post is part of the Immortal Naturalist's Guide series. The explanation for that series can be found in this post.

    In the city of Farport, there is a statue of a terrible creature, fifteen feet tall with tusks, horns, and claws, which the locals call the Terror of Farport. The statue exists to remind people of an event that most of the world still writes off as a mass delusion. If one believes the people of Farport, and I do, a beast emerged from Bluesalt Marsh to the west of the city several decades ago and went on a rampage. This rampage wasn't very deadly or damaging, but resulted in every single piece of food in Farport being eaten by the beast. Because of this, the statue that stands in the city today is an almost perfect recreation of the beast based on many eyewitness accounts. Unfortunately, the Terror's eating spree resulted in many people starving to death as there was simply no more food around. Since the beast's trip to Farport, it has never returned and seems to show no interest in returning for some time. Apparently, the beast only eats once every hundred years, and that one meal can make an entire city go hungry. The rest of the Terror's time is spent wandering the Bluesalt Marsh collecting feathers.

    While the beast's bizarre metabolism is certainly the result of magic, so is what it does with the feathers it collects. Plucking feathers from living birds in the marsh, the Terror of Farport takes them back to its nest in the middle of the marsh where it weaves the feathers into ropes with the ability to move and attack anyone who injures the creature. While the lengths of rope do not move at all except to defend the Terror, the creature itself seems to be quite forgetful and frequently leaves all of its magical rope in its nest. While this constitutes a weakness for the beast, its biggest weakness by far is the fact that it is terrified of its own appearance. Today, Farport always has plenty of mirrors on hand at the city gates to ward off another rampage from the Terror.

    One of the bright sides of the Terror of Farport frequently being away from its lair and frequently leaving all of its magic rope behind, is that it is quite easy to go into the nest and steal as much rope as one can carry. The magical ropes change loyalties with relative ease, lending their defensive capabilities to the last person to wear a given piece of rope. Whoever injures the owner of a piece of magic rope will find the rope slithering after them, restraining them, and trying to strangle them until they die, or the owner calls off the rope. Either way, these ropes offer an interesting, beautiful, and discrete method of self defense. If the Terror of Farport happens to return home while one is robbing it, however, it will most certainly attack, using its natural weapons to their full extent. Additionally, anyone who attacks the beast, even in self defense, is going to be mobbed by all of the feather ropes in the area, making retreat the safest option if the Terror spots someone stealing its ropes.

The Immortal Naturalist's Guide to Cryptic Creatures: The Spire Crawler

This post is part of the Immortal Naturalist's Guide series. The explanation for that series can be found in this post.

    Climbing and scaling the golden pillars of Goldspire Island is a mysterious giant ape known as the Spire Crawler. The creature spends most of its time using its hardened fingertips to climb the pillars of the island, digging into the solid gold cylinders to cling to their surfaces. Despite its fearsome appearance, and the fact that it has a mouth, the Spire Crawler does not seem to eat anything, not even sand like the ape-like creatures who worship it. As far as I can tell, the creature is able to absorb energy through its claws from the gold of the spires themselves, and it only uses its sharp teeth in combat. The Spire Crawler spends all of its time not roaming the spires in its home, an ancient fort filled with apes from the desert on the other side of the island. These apes seem to worship the Spire Crawler, working to give it comfort in exchange for small amounts of pure gold scraped from the massive cylinders the Spire Crawler feeds on. Apparently, the apes that worship it are able to eat and digest the gold, as well as other metals and minerals, and they seem to get a lot of energy out of the gold they get from their master.

    Aside from absorbing some kind of sustenance from gold, the Spire Crawler's claws are also powerful weapons. Each claw is also able to suck the life force out of living things, something the Spire Crawler is not often able to do in its dry, barren habitat. Each claw, upon close inspection, is actually hollow, like a venomous snake's fangs, and this shape, along with some quality of the claws themselves, removes energy from whatever is impaled on the end of the claws. The one and only thing that seems to really prevent this fate from befalling those who encounter the Spire Crawler is wool. Feeling wool on its claws is very distasteful to the Spire Crawler, to the point that it will even run away if it accidentally pierces some with its claws. 

    Within the Beast's lair, one can obtain obscene amounts of pure gold by simply joining the ranks of the worshipers and doing a good job. Finding the lair is difficult and dangerous due to its remoteness and harsh climate, but anyone who wants gold without needing to dig it out of the spires themselves will be in the perfect place. As far as I can tell, the Spire Crawler wants to be fanned and have the sand moved around into comfortable shapes to lie on, and it will give each of its helpful followers about three pounds of gold to eat every day. If you do not eat gold, you can hid this from the gold-eating apes and put away three pounds of gold every day. I am sure the Spire Crawler also has a large pile of gold dust in a room of the fort somewhere, but I was unable to find it during my stay.