GoCorral

Physical Description

Lizardfolk are anthropomorphic lizard people. While they have lizard features, their internal metabolism is warm-blooded. Their size and weight vary between different subraces, but all lizardfolk have impressive muscularture. Similarly, the scale colors of lizardfolk vary between subraces. All lizardfolk have head crests that move according to their emotions. At their bottoms, lizardfolk have tails ranging from three to five feet long.

Lizardfolk have many natural advantages that compensate for their weaker minds compared to other races in Cimmeria. Without understanding of advanced technology, magic, or tactics, lizardfolk rely on their natural gifts. They have sharp fangs and claws that rival swords in lethality. Their tails allow lizardfolk to balance and maneuver faster in combat and swim faster in aquatic environments. An additional adaption for water is a large pair of lungs, allowing lizardfolk to hold their breath longer than other species. With these traits, lizardfolk are the natural predators of fresh water areas in Cimmeria.

Culture

Lizardfolk lead primitive lives in the wetlands of Cimmeria. They are hunter-gatherers and live in wood and skin huts. They use simple wooden and stone tools as they have no inclination for metalwork. The few metal tools that lizardfolk have are acquired in trade or by raiding. There are a few domesticated beasts in lizardfolk tribes. The most common beasts are reptiles, amphibians, or drakes. These animals are used as beasts of burden, guard dogs, or a food source, depending on their size and ferocity.

Lizardfolk are opportunistic cannibals. Everything edible is food to lizardfolk, fruits, roots, slugs, deer, halflings, humans, and even other lizardfolk. Most tribes don’t go out of their way to kill other intelligent beings for food, but they won’t turn down calories if available. Lizardfolk funerary traditions often involve the ritualistic butchering of the deceased, cooking them according to a tribal recipe, and eating them.

The chief of a lizardfolk tribe is always the strongest fighter of the tribe. This typically leads to a dumb brute of some sort in charge. Actual tribal decisions are usually made by the shaman, the smartest member of the tribe. The shaman advises the chief, manipulating them into making intelligent, informed decisions. Chiefs that disregard their shamans often end up raiding civilized areas, attracting the attention of adventurers, and spelling doom for their tribe.

Lizardfolk have tribal structures but do not have families. Long-term mating is rare, with most lizardfolk having sex with the closest willing partner when the mood strikes them. Eggs are laid in communal clutches. When they hatch, the young are raised by the tribe as a whole. Lizardfolk mature rapidly, reaching adulthood in three years. This utter absence of a family structure is the main reason for lizardfolk existing apart from the rest of Cimmerian society. So many cultural traditions based around the family are absent in lizardfolk tribal units.