Petari

The petari were shaped to be the equals of the dragonborn, but their creators made them from cold-blooded reptiles instead of the hot-blooded stuff of the dragons. This cold blood defines them in two ways as a race:
First, their metabolisms are slower than mammals, and in particular they suffer from a pronounced nocturnal lethargy, especially in colder climates. Many petars maintain that this is why they have been slow to achieve and advance, always struggling to find their greatness as a people.
Second, although their near-constant cycles of growth and regeneration - a petar never truly stops growing, they can live for centuries, and they regularly shed their skins - leave them constantly hungry, they actually consume far less than mammals of equivalent size, allowing them to subsist in otherwise unwelcoming lands.
Unlike the other Scalefolk lineage, the Scutora, Petari have true scales, cold blood and no scutes. They are tough and enduring, but have historically lacked ambition as a culture. They tend to either attach themselves to more driven races, or to be subjugated by them. Large sections of the population still live in servitude to the Dragonborn or the Yuan-ti. Where they do create their own states, they typically develop slowly and steadily.
The bulk of lizardfolk worship the Seven Scales, the Young Gods who taught them how to survive, thrive and form societies.

• Toothed Jaw, primary god of the lizardfolk; god of war, hunger, rage, honour, defiance, hunting and leadership.
• Open Gullet; god of the tribe, hunger, satiety, thought, sleep and endurance.
• Spined Back; god of the sun, hunger, strength, status, power and battle.
• Swinging Tail; god of the waters, hunger, speed, punishment and ambition.
• Gripping Claw; god of the air, hunger, fertility, adaptability and ambition.
• Leather Shell; god of life, hunger, birth, death, renewal and the moon.
• Lidded Eye; god of night cunning, hunger, deceit, truth and loyalty.

They have other gods, although these tend to be local and specific deities, often of just one, non-fundamental thing – and also an aspect of the constant hunger that defines so much of their existence – whereas the Scales each have a broad remit.
There are five main cultural divisions in the petari lineage – the independent tribes of the Scaled Kingdoms, the scale-serfs of the Ophionic Empire, the Coldfolk of Ladonia, the Holtfolk, and the travelling clutches – each of which has developed a distinct culture from a common base. The main common belief held by all of these cultures is that they consider the body after death to become nothing more than an empty vessel with potential nutritional content. No petari funereal custom reverences the body, and some include it only as part of the ritual feast.
The travelling clutches are bands of petari in Caino and Yethera who have abandoned or escaped from the subjugated communities of Ladonia and the Second Ophionic Empire and now live a nomadic life. In Yethera, most clutches range east of the mountains, avoiding the Empire – where they risk recapture – and the Sacred Republic – where they are often accused of eating children and pets. Such accusations are baseless; petars assiduously limit themselves to eating the flesh of old friends and dumb beasts. They travel in caravans of giant lizards, which carry great packs containing the clutch’s belongings, as well as sleeping platforms which are unfolded and pitched in rocks and trees to rest on. They are significantly less cosy than the wains and wagons of the Halflings who share the roads with them, but they are all the clutches need.

Petari and identity

Petari view sex as a matter of reproduction and assign no social value to either gender or biological sex, in part because they are capable of changing sex if their environment demands it for the survival of their community.
Many petari societies have developed a caste system at some time in their history, with its roots not in ancestry, but in morphology. This began with a recognition that the oldest petari were the largest, as a result of their constant growth, and therefore the largest might be assumed to have the most life experience.
As understanding of the influence of nesting conditions on physical development developed, a particular order of the priesthood arose, working with perinatal medical specialists to ensure that particular clutches developed into the correct caste, while lower status parents would go to sometimes extreme lengths to hatch favoured offspring. These distinctions are largely historical now, although frilled petari often cling to them.

• The Crowned – the ruling caste were typically the largest and strongest of the petari, and - in theory at least - the most intelligent. While their size was apparent, their intelligence was more assumed than proven, and rarely questioned, as the crowned were also known for their temperamental nature. They were also noted for the expanding neck frill which was, of all features, deemed diagnostic of the caste. The conditions needed to hatch crowned offspring were a closely guarded secret, so that almost all crowned were the children of other crowned, or of the birthing priests. 
• The Blessed – the priestly caste were usually large, healthy lizardfolk, but lack the neck frill of the crowned. They were bred and raised for intelligence, good sense and even temper over physical attainment, but grew large on good diet.
• The Armoured – the warrior caste were lean and fierce, with thick, hard scales and heavy claws.
• The Mighty – the worker caste was made up of thickset, powerful petari, often marked out by pale scales.
• The Humble – the lowest caste was made up from any petari who are born small or weak or stupid (with the exception of hatchlings of the Crowned, who tended to get away with all three as long as they have a neck frill.)