Naga

“I am but one of many divine dragons.”

Long before the First City fell, there were those who had abandoned the Mother Goddess for they felt unloved, unseen and unheard by her. Their lives existed without her grace, so why should they pay her anything but lip service. Together they banded and together they left in exile -- heading first to the far East before being rebuked by an ancient and powerful empire that pushed them southward into the cursed jungles. Such a place of dark foreboding and deeply rooted evil, there are those who say that this was the perfect place or rather the only place for the people who had chosen to forsake the Mother Goddess.

In the heart of the jungle there were ruins of cities built by people long since forgotten or relegated to the annals of myths and legends. Black stone streets choked by vines and the undergrowth of jungle were lined with artfully masoned houses that lie empty with the possessions of those who were there before still occupying them as if they left in such a hurry as to have no time to pack; yet there were no signs of struggle, no signs of violence being visited upon this place. Simply a thick, eerie silence and a mystery of what had become of the former dwellers.

The skyline is darkened by ziggurats so large they are easily five hundred feet in height at the zenith where the bloody stone altars were first discovered. While the inside consists of a network of tunnels and rooms meant to be occupied by the elite. As it had been then, so too would it be now. Haves and have nots were divided and together they settled the city despite the whisperings of cursed, ebon stone and the dangers of the jungles where everything was larger, faster, stronger and more cunning than the outcasts. Who knows how long it was before they turned to the serpentine idols and prayed to them for deliverance, safety, and prosperity in their new home but what began as desperate pleas soon turned to fervent zealotry -- for the first time they were loved, seen, and heard.

Ushered deep within the temples by whispers, the first ones would find entrances to a vast underground realm that dwarfed the cities above. In the darkness they communed with Old Ones who demanded sacrifices of blood and flesh in exchange for promises of power and the ability to transcend their limitations -- to become transfigured by the cursed jungle so as to better serve their new masters. No one can say for certain whether the Naga had risen from the grave to be reborn due to their interbreeding with the Old Ones or whether it was the result of dark magic powered by the life’s waters -- another name for blood given by the Naga -- but they began to resemble more and more the Old Ones with their serpentine eyes well suited to darkness, soft scales strong as steel that covered their bodies, venomous fangs that peeked past full lips, and long, agile limbs filled with crushing strength.

The society of the Naga is one based on blood purity with the Nagaraja -- the ruler of Mahabhari -- being known as the most pure. There are two castes separated by the closeness of blood to the Old Ones, though some say it is simply based on appearances and anything else is conjecture. Ishaa are the upper caste, those whose blood is closest to the Nagaraja, and then there are those who are of the low caste, the Ishaaru, said to be tainted by the blood of Sotheria or worse; the ancient empire to the North. Nonetheless their sense of superiority is legendary as their age-old adage upholds that even the weakest of them is greater than the strongest of the others.

Sobriquets: Dragons (among themselves), Serpents (derogatory), Cobras

Appearance: The upper caste, known as the Ishaa, bear a very serpentine appearance. Although they could pass for humans, they have large golden eyes with serpentine irises, extended fangs that are said to be poisonous, and soft scales around the edges of their faces, down their necks and on the outer portions of their arms, back and legs. They are taller than other races of Men and possessing of almost inhuman levels of alacrity. The lower caste, referred to as the Ishaaru or half-bloods, tends to appear as the other races of man save for a few traits like - golden eyes, sharp features, forked tongues, or a freckling of scales here and there - that might give away their ancestral ties to the lands of Mahabhari.