Nagas

Naga biology enforces the worst traits of civilized folk, with no true laws to redeem them. They are murderers, cannibals, and rapists all. Their very existance is an affront to nature, and their only saving grace is that their vile habits most often turn upon themselves. Kill the biggest amongst their number and the rest will fall upon its corpse to the exclusion of all else. Nagas favor close quarters combat as it allows them ample opportunity to claim corpses or feast on the flesh of the fallen while on the battlefield. Long spears should be set to meet their initial charge using tactics for fighting against cavalry. Archers should be instructed to pick their targets, with preference towards larger naga in the back line to sow chaos and prevent a second wave from meeting the pikemen before they are ready. All weapons, including arrowheads, should be sharpened or replaced before or after each engagement if possible, as naga scales will easily dull or chip blades. Healers should be prepared to treat bite and claw wounds. If your numbers lack veteran medics, Stitchers should be employed instead; wounds from nagas are terrible to behold and often lethal; a heart hardened by many battles will be needed to save what can be saved.

-Choir Military Doctrine

Naga (pl: nagas, adj. naga)

Beliefs/Values: dragon-worshippers, flesh eaters.

Nagas are twisted reptilian folk whose societies revolve primarily around the belief that they can absorb the strength of all they consume. Just as dragons worship themselves, being fragments of the broken goddess Tiat, so too do the nagas worship the “All Who Is One,” the prophesied dragon that shall one day consume their chromatic brethren one and all, and lead the nagas in battle to conquer all of Ko. For this reason, nagas are eager servants of any dragon, hoping that the creature they serve will be the long-awaited messiah. The more fanatical nagas believe that even if their chosen master would be consumed themselves, their loyalty will be rewarded by the one who slew and thus absorbed the soul of their former lord. It is considered heresy for a naga to consume the flesh of a dragon, for in doing so they steal the power of The All Who Is One, and threaten to spread it through the mortal nagas, potentially preventing their prophesied doomsday. A popular act of worship is thus to hold the bones of a deceased dragon in one’s mouth without consuming it; a feat of self-control nearly alien to their savage mentality. When a naga does succumb to their hunger and lust for power in such a ritual, custom dictates they be sacrificed to whichever dragon the tribe worships, and either consumed by it, or left to rot beneath the earth. Those who may have consumed the heretics flesh, either because the sin was not detected in time, or who partook of the corpse after its sacrifice, must also be killed in similar fashion.

Biology: lizard-men

Whether from ingesting and refining the strength of their kills, or simply as a result of their peculiar biology, nagas grow continuously throughout their lives. A well-fed dragonkin will reach the hight of a tall human around their nineteenth year, after which point their growth begins to slow. The oldest known naga, the Great Khan Aurellikkar, was nearly thirty feet tall, though hunched and deformed by his prodigious weight and age. He was finally slain in battle with the Coamitli at the height of their power, though it took the life of one of their famed heroes, who themselves was consumed by the mass feeding frenzy of nagas which descended upon their warlords corpse immediately upon his demise.

Mating and family: sequential hermaproditism, no family structures

Nagas are androgynous in nature, being born female, and transitioning into males as they age. After aging about two decades, nagas, begin the transition from female to male, provided they are not with child at the time. Scholars believe this to be a sort of defensive mechanism, preventing older nagas from eating their young by presenting them as potential mates. It would be a mistake to assume that younger nagas are in any way submissive to older males, however, or that relations between the two genders, sexual or otherwise, are any less prone to violence.

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Nagas lack the political regard and acumen of their greater kin, the dragons, who, while holding similar beliefs about their own ascendancy, nevertheless maintain some semblance of cold civility between their peers. Nagas, on the other hand, constantly squabble between one another, and though they believe their race superior to all other humanoids, this serves only to stoke their hunger for the flesh of their kin, for from the strongest meat comes the greatest gains. Nagas nevertheless tend to form large groups, recognizing that their combined might will lead to more killing, thereby obtaining more food, and greater might. The strongest among such a group is known as the Khan, who maintains his authority over the group through fear and the promise of fresh kills to come.

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