Sakkra

The Sakkra are a species of warm-blooded saurians who predominantly live around the equatorial seas of Ardha. Though warm-blooded and thus capable of surviving extreme cold in the same way that humans and others can, they nevertheless greatly prefer warmer climes (and especially despise the three-hundred day winters of the northern and southern extremes of the hemispheres).
If they stood to their full height, Sakkra would on average be around six to six and a half feet tall, but their body structure includes a kind of forward "hunch" such that their heads jut out forward. Their skin is scaled, and they have horny crests on their brows and neck. Their long tails are not inert like those of lizards, nor rods like dinosaurs' tails, but are instead muscular and able to be independently moved so that certain tribes have developed their use as additional weapons.
Sakkra are known to breed especially quickly, with females laying large clutches of eggs, which hatch into juvenile Sakkra that are almost fully functional and who develop into adulthood in seven to ten years (at which point they can reproduce as well, &c.). They also have an almost miraculous ability to heal, such that it is said that a Sakkra with its arm cut off, given enough time, could grow a new arm; and seem almost completely impervious to diseases that otherwise plague other populations that live in such close proximity. Sakkra tribes can thus grow very quickly, until their land cannot sustain their numbers--and woe to the societies of other Sakkra or races nearby when the tribe grows so plentiful! A strong warrior ethic among many tribes ensures that the overflowing population will be only too happy to descend on others in a horde, to conquer new land or be killed in trying.
Many of the tribes around Dirac's Sea hearken back to a time when the Vi-is Empire ruled the waves, and Sakkra were masters of every coast. The emperor of the Vi-is Empire was called the Kaa, so many a Sakkra chieftain now arrogates that title to him- or herself.
Culturally, Sakkra tend to respect strength and deeds and to despise weakness. They often worship sro or serudla dwelling in their territory as emanations of the divine image of the Dragon. There is a different religious tradition among certain tribes, however, who follow the blind prophet Jh'kar and his teachings.
There are two tribes that live in the area near Cothon-Gadeed, both tribes living in the cave systems underneath the Tel al Safina. There is additionally another tribe of Sakkra that are known to live among the Denyan Islands.
The men of Cothon don't have any especial contact with any tribes of Sakkra. On the other hand, the Hanse, who have a kantor in that city, have regular commerce with Sakkra, especially the sea-going Shen. In Cothon and the rest of the Ten Cities League the Hanse have a monopoly on a kind of healing potion derived from the healing properties of Sakkra-blood (on its production and its sale). In this way, the Sakkra are considered by the League to be "under the protection" of the Hanse, and so dead Sakkra and their parts must be turned over to the Hanse at their kantor (this doesn't mean that it is illegal to kill Sakkra, either in self defense or in pursuit of bounties against criminal or outlaw Sakkra).


The Hsia-Hsia
This tribe dwells in the sea caves that riddle the cliffs northeast of Cothon-Gadeed, and which ultimately connect back into the cavern systems of the Tel al Safina. Compared to most of the other groups that live in the area, they are the most recent transplants, having come into the caves a little earlier than their Bissh brethren began colonizing the Denyan Islands. It is uncertain what exactly brought them there, and fortunately for Cothon-Gadeed, they have traditionally shown aggression mainly against the Gao Alkari that also live in that cave system, or against the Attines in their Spire--and fortunately for the Klackons, their position is well fortified against invasion by such as the Sakkra.
After certain recent events, a truce has been negotiated between the Hsia-Hsia, the Gao, and the Was'go renyu (who all share a part of the sea caves), and it has been reported that the Hsia-Hsia are victims of some kind of parasitical creature that has been driving them out of their home-caves to seek new land. They have also recently undergone a change in Kaa, and received a proselyte for the Book of Jh'kar amongst them, so time will tell what these new developments mean.

The Qol
The Qol are a tribe of Sakkra who dwell in the Weirding Caves under the eastern slopes of the Tel al Safina. They tend towards a more serpentine phenotype than other Sakkra, and their pedigree is uncertain. At least one lair has been reported to lie above a cavern-waterfall in the midst of the Weirding Caves, and the tribe there is known to employ poisoned weapons in defense of their territory.
Like the Hsia-Hsia, this tribe has not traditionally bothered the men of Cothon-Gadeed; their focus seems to have been to expand in the Weirding Caves (and perhaps elsewhere?). They most likely have come into conflict with the Attine Klackons and with the mysterious Zoq-Fot-Pik who dwell in the deep parts of the caves.

The Bissh
Sakkra have (comparatively) recently made inroads in colonizing the Denyan Islands, which were traditionally the territory only of humans and Alkari. The largest of these tribes is the Bissh. They have mostly taken the more northerly islands and are making their way south in the way that Sakkra do--growing huge populations and then exploding out of their territory to claim more lands.
In appropriating this territory, the Bissh seem also to have begun appropriating something of the religion of the Denyans, which would admittedly not be too difficult. For the Denyans of old worshipped sro along with their Alkari allies; so now the Bissh seem to have come and made themselves heirs to that worship, no doubt claiming to be better avatars of the sro-gods' image. The Ten Cities have little contact with these tribes, or even with the Denyan humans.

The Shen
In much the same way that the ships of the Hanse can be seen in any port, so the ships of the Shen Sakkra tend to be similarly widespread. Perhaps more a tribe of tribes, in the way that the Hanse is a federation of guilds, the Shen represent an overarching organization of otherwise disparate tribes of Sakkra that nevertheless pool their resources and engage in collective trade efforts with their fleet of ships. One might also compare them to the League of Ten Cities, a league of human cities officially banded together for mutual protection and economic development.
The Shen are taller than most Sakkra, and are one of the groups who have developed a way to use their tails to advantage in hand-to-hand combat. To human coast-watchers, the appearance of their ships on the horizon can be a moment of dread--for though they can be great traders, bringing caches of gems to pay for the goods they desire, they also have a well-founded reputation for piracy and viking. Major cities and fortified coastal settlements generally have less to fear, but unincorporated hinterlands have long been the targets of Shen-raiding. They also have ties to the Luwian pirates whose ships ply the east of Dirac's Sea; the recent Hanseatic campaign against the Luwians has created new strain between the generally cordial relations between the Shen and the Hanse.
Because of their reputation as sailors and pirates, many people associate the Shen with tribal memories of the Vi-is Empire, but the connection actually seems to be mostly spurious. The Shen themselves have no such tradition, and in fact their leaders eschew the titles of Kaa and sri-Kaa that Sakkra inheritors of the Vi-is tradition prefer. Similarly, it is more common to find adherents of Jh'kar among the Shen, rather than in the other tribes around the sea.

The Vi-is
Long ago, there was a thalassocratic empire of Sakkra who held sway in the western part of Dirac's Sea, the Vi-is Empire. They have left huge and impressive ruins of temple-cities built over certain tidelands so that their undersections are periodically flooded. Their galleys once plied the waves of the sea, conquering and enslaving others wherever they went.
The sun of the Vi-is Empire has long since set, however. Though there are tribes of Sakkra who dwell nearby who claim to be heirs to the Kaa, and who venerate the ruins of their ancestors, there is no longer any great empire of Sakkra holding sway across the seas. The closest modern counterpart might be the associations of the Shen, but they speak a language unrelated to ancient Vi-is and are generally considered to have come from a different ethnic stock.
The ruins of the Vi-is Empire are a common object of interest and adventure for those who boldly seek into ancient ruins for wealth or glory. They generally lie to the west of the most western of the Ten Cities, though certain smaller outposts can be found along coasts claimed by western members of that human league.