Lizardfolk
The Lizardfolk, or Tochtec, of Amroth live in a dense, jungle and swamp environment bordered on three sides by mountains, and the fourth by steep cliffs that fall into the eastern ocean. Heavily fortified by nature, they live a relatively peaceful life of farming, hunting, and seeking knowledge of the world around them by studying the stars. The Lizardfolk themselves are relatively secretive - they are peaceful, but do not tolerate outsiders in their lands, and will escort unwelcome guests away from their domain. The warriors of the Tochtec regularly patrol the mountain passes into their lands, and are quite willing to use force to protect their people if necessary. They trade in goods and knowledge, with many unique natural resources available to them. Dwarves, Barbarians, and Eunsurian alike meet in the great city of Coutlat to trade, talk, and learn of new things. Even the Sampan are known to send youngsters far inland to study what can be learned there.
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Ancestries
Lizardfolk
A relatively secret race hidden amongst the jungles and swamps. The warriors can be found regularly patrolling to protect their people. They trade in goods and knowledge, with many unique natural resources available to them. Dwarves, Barbarians, and Eunsurian alike meet in the great city of Coutlat to trade, talk, and learn of new things. Even the Sampan are known to send youngsters far inland to study what can be learned there.
Costuming & Makeup
Dress is simple, brightly patterned skirts, pants, and tunics.
Requirements:
Must have green makeup with scales on all exposed skin. Painted bodysuits or green-colored form-fitting clothing will help this.
Optional:
Phys repped long tail. Most Lizardfolk have very short tails that are normally covered by their clothing, although some grow long.
Advantages
May purchase Resist Disease (2 Build).
+10 Max Body.
Purchase Lore Skills at ½ cost.
Purchase Astrology Skills at ½ cost.
Purchase Trade (RP) Skills at ½ cost.
May purchase Resist Toxin (5 Build, every fifth level).
Level 1 Tracking for free at character creation.
Disadvantages
None.
Location
Coutlat:
The city most focused on craftsmanship and commerce. Coutlat contains most of the skilled craftsmen and artisans of the Lizardfolk. It is rare that a foreigner visits this city. The routes and roads into the interior of the jungle are closely guarded secrets, and visitors tend to be escorted. Those privileged few who have seen the city tell of large, stepped observation platforms from which sensitive and technical measurements of the movements of the stars are made. Craftsmen line the streets on market days, selling finely-wrought goods and taking orders for custom work. There are masters in stonework, carpentry, weaving, and other trades here, but the most valued of them all is goldsmithing. The Tochtec place great pride in items and creations that can withstand the ravages of time. Gold, with its indestructible properties, is a highly prized material for objects of art, war, or skilled trade.
Legends & Folklore
The Northern Wastes:
What region lies north of the Lizardfolk jungles? The Lizardfolk speak of it as a place few venture into and fewer ever return from. All that is known about that place is told from the lips of border patrols and those who dwell on the edges of the jungle. Some tell stories of a large crack in the world, but none of the Lizardfolk has ever given a reason for its existence or even thought to discover its secrets.
Culture
Most Lizardfolk live in small family groups, farming and hunting ot make their general way. They produce far more than they consume, and trade their produce into the cities where they barter for manufactured goods that they need. Each Lizardfolk citizen will do whatever it is that they're good at to advance the sum of knowledge their people have over the world and its magical and mechanical secrets. It takes a particularly keen mind to study the deepest secrets, which not everyone possesses, so it is considered no shame to be a 'mere farmer' or hunter. In fact, some of the brightest minds among the Lizardfolk retire early to the simple life of farming or hunting, or a craft, because each tooth of each gear in the machine of the cosmos has value. This sends a large proportion of the Lizardfolk into a Druidic bent.
All hold a reverence for nature, although progress and production is also important to them. They only clear land that is needed, and, when done with the land, they remove all of their buildings and let them return to nature. Because of this, the number of cities are few, and there is a common network of merchants and traders who move goods back and forth to and from the cities. There are good roads, but they are hidden and difficult to find, because they don't want marauding outsiders to steal their knowledge. It is said that the Tochtec scholars record their studies on gold tablets, and that they are stored in some hidden city of knowledge. It is also said that the Lizardfolk are secretly ruled by a caste of Necromancers, using not only Undead servants but also giant snakes. Some rumors have it that the Tochtec rulers are more benevolent, and that kind-hearted feathered serpents have rescued lost explorers and brought them back to civilization. Of all the rumors, no member of the Lizardfolk race has spoken openly of any of this with outsiders.
Daily Life
Lizardman society is divided into castes, which are determined for each child at birth. The determination is made not by lineage, but by the signs and portents that surround the new arrival. Seers witness every birth, grant names to the child, and place the child into the appropriate setting for rearing and instruction. Most caste members will marry within their caste, although out-of-caste matches to occur. Regardless, a new child will be placed in fosterage if the signs dictate that the child is destined a different life from that of its parents.
Tradesmen are the foundation of Lizardfolk society. They farm, hunt, produce, and manufacture every item and object that is needed for the nation to thrive.
Warriors are trained from birth based on the design shown for them by Fate. They enforce the laws, defend the people, and ensure that the signs and portents declared by the Seers comes to pass as required. Not all warriors fight with a blade, however. Many are skilled mages, and yet others are tacticians and strategists, with the ability to read signs in their own right.
Seers rarely leave the jungle, content to spend their days watching the signs, foretelling the portents, and asking others to witness significant events and bring back reports so that the knowledge may be added to the histories. The Seers are true visionaries, and are generally aware, in some capacity, of most important events. Due to this, a common saying among Tochtec families is, “May the Seers never be aware of your presence.”