Physical Description
Snakeshifters are trickster people that live hidden within Cimmerian society. Each snakeshifter has a humanoid body, but with various snake-like features. These features vary depending on how old a snakeshifter is. At birth they are almost entirely human in appearance. The only physical reminder of their nature is a small feature such as slit pupils, a forked tongue, or a small patch of scales. Every century of life a snakeshifter undergoes a transformation as they shed their skin and take on a new more snake-like form. The transformations do not necessarily occur in the same order for each snakeshifter, but they all progress towards their fully aged form, a twenty foot long snake with scaled arms.
Snakeshifters have many powers associated with snakes along with a few magical abilities as well. They can sense heat at a distance, making them capable of seeing things in the dark. Their sense of smell is the greatest of humanoid creatures in Cimmeria. Snakeshifter scales are slightly resistant to magic, making them immune to the spells of weaker magicians. Snakeshifters that have evolved fangs have a venomous bite. The key feature of all snakeshifters is natural illusion magic. It becomes more powerful as they age, but all snakeshifters are able to disguise themselves as another humanoid race with illusions. They can alter their disguise, but snakeshifter disguises never stand up under thorough examination. One snake trait always remains visible somewhere in the disguise just like the small feature that was visible at birth. Most snakeshifters hide their feature using clothing such as a veil if possible.
Snakeshifter physical bodies are most similar to humans, so they often masquerade as a member of that race. Young snakeshifters have the same physical variance as humans, but with a higher incidence of black hair and olive colored skin. Their illusion magic allows them to assume most any form if they wish. In their natural form snakeshifters can have the traits of any species of snake, but python features are the most common.
Culture
Snakeshifters live in hiding amongst other societies in Cimmeria. Their magical disguises allow them to blend in. While they typically maintain the same appearance constantly, they have the ability to change and adopt a new face if any problems arise for their main persona. Snakeshifters recognize each other by scent, so no matter the disguise they know who their friends and family are.
Snakeshifters hate one thing above all others, labor. Every snakeshifter’s goal in life is to stop working and live off the effort of others. They long for the time and ability to pursue their past times like all others. It is a more uniquely snakeshifter trait to despise work. Being required to sweep a floor or wash a dish is anathema to a snakeshifter. To fulfill these desires, snakeshifters will often poison a wealthy person and replace them using their magical disguise. Their subterfuge is inevitably discovered and the snakeshifter flees to repeat the cycle in another community. These assassinations are the reason snakeshifters are reviled by all of Cimmeria.
While snakeshifters are individually parasites upon other communities, when enough are in one place, they do have a culture of their own. Snakeshifter groups have two leaders, the one who has been in the area longest and the oldest snakeshifter. They are often the same creature, but not always. The oldest snakeshifter is the furthest along the transformation pathway towards their full abomination form. These transformations come with increases in physical, magical, and charismatic power. The oldest snakeshifter is a natural leader for their people. The longest resident serves as an advisor to the oldest snakeshifter, keeping them informed of rumors, events, and traditions within the area. Below the leaders, there is a hierarchy based on age with the eldest at the top and the youngest at the bottom.
History
Snakeshifters existed in Cimmeria before the Olympians came. Their race originated in India. They were the children of Kaliya, a poisonous snake god. Kaliya was slain by Krishna. After Kaliya’s death, his children fled the country north across the mountains. They traveled until they reached the Aractrashan Jungle in Cimmeria. They settled down there along with the ogres and humans that already lived in the forest. The snakeshifters used their magic to control the jungle tribes and turned them into servants.
The snakeshifters did not fit in with the goblins of Cimmeria. They ruled the jungle tribes openly but found themselves rejected by the goblins. Their disguise magic did not work either, as goblins were too small compared to the size of snakeshifters. An opportunity arose when the Olympians came to Cimmeria. With more races of people, the snakeshifters had more options for disguising themselves. As the Conclave spread across Cimmeria, the snakeshifters spread across the Conclave races. A secret companion race that existed for centuries undetected.
Snakeshifters lived in disguise among the Conclave races for many years before they saw a chance for true power. A group of snakeshifters in Dalleer spotted an opportunity when Björn Skizofren died. The new Björn was mad, so a power vacuum was left. The snakeshifters stepped in to fill the gap. They took positions as civil servants, nominally serving the insane Björn while making their own policies in secret to benefit the snakeshifter people.
The snakeshifters manipulated both the people of Dalleer and the humanoids living in the town’s surroundings. Kobolds, troglodytes, goblins, and orcs were set to attack Dalleer’s villages. Manufactured crises allowed the snakeshifters to maintain and consolidate power among their group. The consistent attacks were dealt with by snakeshifters loyalists and the hero team of Balin, Terry, and Isdmir.
Isdmir suspected that there was a power within Dalleer behind the attacks. He investigated and followed leads for a decade. Eventually, he discovered who and what the snakeshifters were. Isdmir devised a spell that allowed for the detection of disguised snakeshifters. The heroic trio of Balin, Terry, and Isdmir reunited to expose and defeat the snakeshifters within Dalleer. They succeeded and the snakeshifters were forced to flee Dalleer.
The events in Dalleer brought the existence of snakeshifters into the light. People across Cimmeria took precautions against snakeshifters. The serpent people became better at hiding, manipulating, and disguising in order to survive. Snakeshifters still exist everywhere in Cimmeria, hiding and perhaps waiting for a time they can obtain control of a city-state once more.
Subraces
Snakeshifters do not have subraces. While their true forms can vary greatly in appearance, their basic physical and magical abilities are roughly the same. A snakeshifter with the features of a garter snake is just as threatening as one with the features of a cobra. Snakeshifters do have distinctive stages of life with key changes as they shed their skin and grow older.
Pureblood: Snakeshifters start at the pureblood stage. They are mostly human in their true physical appearance. There is still a small snake feature that cannot be hidden by their magical disguise, but it can often be obscured through clothing or makeup. Without a need for a magical disguise, purebloods often reside in their natural form among humans. Purebloods have no physical advantages over humans, but they do have natural enchanting magic. Their magic allows purebloods to charm the people and animals around them into doing their bidding. After living for one hundred years, purebloods shed their skin and become halfbloods.
Halfblood: Snakeshifters that are older than a century transform into halfbloods. Halfbloods are still mostly human in appearance but are unable to hide their snake features without a magical disguise. There are different features that appear for halfbloods with no fixed order. Scales over their entire body, a tail growing between their legs, their legs fusing into a snake tail, a serpent’s head instead of a humanoid head, or having prehensile snakes for arms. An additional feature is added every century as halfbloods shed their skin again and grow closer to their complete abomination form.
The halfblood transformation comes with many physical and mental benefits. Halfblood magic abilities are all stronger than their pureblood counterparts. Venom glands form in halfblood bodies allowing them to inject poison with their teeth, whether they have a serpent’s head or a humanoid head. Halfbloods are physically stronger than purebloods and have tougher skin as scales take the place of soft tissue. Most importantly, halfbloods have at least a century of experience, making them smarter and wiser than most other species they encounter.
Abominations: After four centuries of life a snakeshifter transitions from halfblood to abomination. Abominations are gigantic snakes, measuring at least twenty feet from head to tail. They continue to grow and can reach lengths of up to fifty feet long. Their tails have powerful coils that are able to constrict their foes during combat. The upper portion of an abomination has a powerful chest with two strong arms and a large serpentine head.
Abominations have powers beyond halfbloods and purebloods. They maintain their venomous bite, powerful magical abilities, and strong defensive scales. Abominations can simultaneously constrict an opponent, attack with a sword in one hand, and cast a spell with the other. Their magical powers have grown to include more effective enchantment spells as well as a curse that turns a foe into a toothless green snake. The increased size of an abomination is useful in combat but makes their magical disguise weaker. They can still only disguise themselves as a humanoid shape, but the long tail make such disguises easy to discover if they are not careful about where they go. Due to this issue, abominations frequently stay hidden while using halfbloods and purebloods to coordinate action in the communities they reside in.
Location
Snakeshifters live in hiding across all of Cimmeria. Snakeshifter disguise magic is only a glamour and does not change their physical size. Thus, they live among races that are similar in shape such as humans, elves, orcs, and hobgoblins. Snakeshifters are found more frequently around and in Dalleer due to their past takeover of the city. The Aractrashan Jungle houses some snakeshifter led communities where they can live more openly. In the jungle they have human and ogre servants and there is no need for disguises in the villages they control.
Relations with Other Races
Snakeshifters are despised by all other races. Snakeshifters insert themselves into other societies and live off those they have tricked. They never lift a finger to help in producing anything. Many snakeshifters also gain pleasure out of inflicting suffering and misery on those around them. Their parasitic nature makes snakeshifters hated by all others. Luckily, snakeshifter enchantment magic allows them to force some members of other races to become allies. If their magic fails, an unmasked snakeshifter must run or fight. There is no negotiation.
Common Deities
Snakeshifters worship many different deities. A few snakeshifters in Aractrash maintain the old ways of Kaliya, but most have moved on to worship the Olympians. The Olympians love snakes and many temples keep snakes as blessed creatures. Snakeshifters feel at home in all the temples of the Olympian gods. They have a love for three gods above others. Hecate is placed first and foremost due to her power over magic and lies, just as snakeshifters use magic tricks to sustain their lifestyle. Hermes is next as another famous liar and thief. The final favored god of snakeshifters is Asclepius. Asclepius loves snakes more than any other god, making him well suited as a patron of snakeshifters, even if his usual healing activities are uninteresting to his ophidian worshippers.
Place in Adventuring
Snakeshifters do not become adventurers themselves. Their hatred for honest work means they never have the drive to struggle against monsters and beasts if they can avoid it. Snakeshifters would rather hire or charm adventurers to deal with a problem than confront it themselves. Many adventurers are unknowingly working for snakeshifter patrons. Occasionally, a snakeshifter’s identity is discovered and they become a target for adventurers. At this stage a snakeshifter’s mastery of magic and poison is put to the test against what may have been their previous employees.
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