Lizardkin

The Lizardkin are primeval reptilian warriors that live in a patchwork of tribes deep in the Southwestern Jungle, each named after a particular evolutionary trait that their members possess (the Redcrest tribe, for example, have tall scarlet crests that flatten or straighten based on mood, while the Silversword tribe are the only tribe that is particularly gifted in the art of metalworking). These tribes have become less openly hostile to each other in more recent years, and have developed a greater ability to cooperate if needs must, but the various Lizardkin peoples are still reluctant to intermingle with each other too often. Generally wary and suspicious of outsiders, Lizardkin mostly keep themselves to themselves, but will reliably serve the Supreme Lords of Calderon in battles around their rainforest territories.
Lizardkin tribal society is patriarchal at its core, with each tribe being ruled by a Chief and one of the oldest, most experienced warriors in all the tribes being pronounced Lizardlord of the Lizardkin race for the duration of his remaining lifetime. Despite tribal differences, all the Lizardkin have an extremely strict set of laws - even those who have committed the minor offence of stealing a piece of fruit from a stall will often be faced with exile from their tribe and being cast out of their village to wander the jungle alone. Such draconian rules exist primarily as a deterrent rather than a punishment, to ensure Lizardkin society remains free of crime, but tribal authorities are unafraid to follow through with punishment if a wrongdoer is caught. Many exiles perish away from the protection of their fellow Lizardkin, whether eaten by jungle predators, dying of starvation or victim to some form of fatal accident, but those strong and lucky enough to survive have been said to discover a new life for themselves deep in the wilds of the forests.
A Lizardkin army in battle is a truly terrifying sight, for these creatures will use their jungle homeland to every advantage, more often ambushing the foe on their way to a battlefield than actually journeying to the battlefield themselves. Both genders play their part in warfare - the hulking males using their sheer strength and durability to take down any opponent, and the agile females nimbly outpacing more evasive and faster-moving foes before cutting them down with skilled and accurate blows. Warfare has always been a part of the Lizardkin species, for the Killer Instinct, a feral trance that causes the warrior to temporarily lose their higher thought processes in return for communicating more deeply with their base needs, lies within the cold blood of every adult and Smoothling, ready to take over and see them survive any carnage they may be thrust into.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Lizardkin are perfectly adapted to thriving in their jungle homeland. Their heavy bones, especially in males, and the thick layer of scales that covers their skin render them especially durable and tough creatures, allowing them to more easily survive attacks by predators. Additionally their sharp teeth and claws and long, thick tails mean even an unarmed Lizardkin is extremely dangerous, particularly the males who are also profoundly strong when they reach their prime.
Males are around the same height as the tallest humans, usually from 5'6" to 6'6", though with a far greater muscle mass around the arms and jaws, while females are smaller, ranging from 5' to 6' in height. Both genders have a flat chest, for Lizardkin offspring can eat solid food as soon as they are hatched, though females still have curvaceous figures to allow them to be able to lay an egg successfully.

Genetics and Reproduction

Lizardkin lay solid eggs like other reptiles, but due to the size and complexity of their offspring, the time taken to develop the egg is usually as long as four months. Because a Lizardkin egg needs to be large enough to house the baby for a full nine months, this causes the female's abdomen to expand as much as that of a human female in the ninth month of pregnancy. Once the egg has fully developed, the female will squat down on all fours over a specially built nest, and slowly propel the egg out of her womb through muscle contractions. Due to the egg's smooth texture and a Lizardkin mother's wider birth canal, this is not as painful as a human birth, but still takes many laborious hours. It is generally the custom to leave the female alone to help her concentrate in bringing her offspring into the world. Once laid, the egg is covered with leaves and grasses to keep it warm, and a good mother always stays close by to protect it from any threat and monitor its temperature. The foetus inside the egg will continue to develop for another five months, where it will feed off the egg yolk. Once this has run out, the baby is prompted to use a special horn grown on the end of its nose, called a 'Hatchhorn' by the Lizardkin, to chip away at the eggshell. It is tradition for neither parent to openly involve themselves in the hatching, only to watch, because only a baby strong enough to be of worth in a Lizardkin tribe will be able break itself free. The baby's Hatchhorn will usually drop off in the first hours or days after hatching.
Lizardkin have always been born individually, as if multiple embryos were to develop in the womb together, the eggshell formed around each one would be too small to house the foetus for a full gestation period. Lizardkin babies that feel the need to hatch prematurely are at much greater risk of dying than human offspring, for they are often too weak to even break through their eggshell quick enough to be given their first feed - when this happens it will likely die from starvation.

Growth Rate & Stages

Growth and Development
Lizardkin babies are, upon hatching, far more physically developed than human babies, possessing a first set of sharp teeth, strong claws on the hands and feet and a stumpy tail from birth, and can stand on just their legs only several months after hatching. However, they are less mentally developed than human offspring, and only start to learn to communicate using something more advanced than feral growls and snorts after they have reached their second birthday. 
A Lizardkin takes longer to age to full maturity than a human born at the same time, in part for the reason above and in part because the physical changes needed to become an adult occur later - the price the Lizardkin pay for their relative level of independence at birth. Males do not reach their physical prime until their late twenties to mid-30s, when their bodies massively increase their upper-body strength and muscular bulk and the Lizard's levels of testosterone increase, historically to prepare them to fight for a mate, though now more to protect their family and tribe. In the Lizardkin culture, particularly among males, this is referred to as 'the Toughening'. Females physically mature earlier, around their late teens to early twenties, where they develop the wide, round hips required for egg-laying, because it is at this age when they begin ovulating, and their bodies produce a greater amount of oestrogen. This is known as 'the brooding'.
Life Expectancy
The males, being the strongest and toughest, have a life expectancy of 50-60, while the physically weaker females generally live to between the age of 45 and 55. Old age is heralded by the decline of the prominent features developed to reach adulthood, i.e. a male loses his bulk and a female loses her shapeliness, though in Lizardkin society this is seen as a time for celebration rather than misery, for becoming an Elder paves the way to unrivalled knowledge and experience with which to teach the overzealous youth.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Meat has always been the primary food of the Lizardkin race since their evolution - at least 70% of a modern Lizardkin's diet consists of the flesh of animals killed in hunts or domesticated livestock that has been slaughtered. In more recent times more vegetarian culinary options have been explored, including Bloatbee honey, Jeligrubs (a tasty sweet treat) and Clumpyams (a staple among the lower-ranking Lizards of the tribe), but Lizardkin still remain primarily carnivorous.

Additional Information

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Lizardkin primarily use their sight for navigation, like humans, but trade a superior sense of smell for a weaker sense of hearing, for a Lizardkin's ears, or 'ear-holes', have no external structure that helps to amplify sound in the way those of humans and other species do.

Civilization and Culture

Courtship Ideals

Lizardkin display fewer outward signs of attraction than humans, but these signs tend to be more obvious and less subtle, such as the end of a female's tail subconsciously starting to flick when she is in proximity to a male she is attracted to, or a male becoming especially protective toward a specific female.
The beginning of a relationship is heralded when the couple are instinctively compelled to intertwine their tails, which is the Lizardkin equivalent of kissing.

Relationship Ideals

Once joined by love, Lizardkin couples share a very deep pair bond that lasts until one or both partners die, as a biological instinct designed to preserve fidelity kicks in to bind the two partners together. It takes an especially attractive and enticing individual to woo a partnered Lizardkin into being unfaithful, and even then the Lizard in question will feel especially bad after committing any adulterous act, quite often being driven to kill themselves by the guilt. The only exception to this is if a couple cannot have any offspring of their own, whereupon a 'side-mate', as the Lizardkin call them, will often be sought out to help the pair realise their dream - the one fertile partner being bound to justify any instinctive guilt they may have with the impending arrival of any offspring created in the union.
It is not unusual for a Lizardkin to continue to remain bonded to a deceased partner for many years after the death of their beloved, and to shun any single Lizard that tries to attract them away from that partner. These Lizards are called 'Old Stalwarts', and are viewed as both examples to society and tragic figures in Lizardkin plays.

Average Technological Level

Lizardkin society is derided as primitive by many, especially the Medusae before and during the Jungle Conflict. Weapons are largely carved from stone (except for the Silverswords who are the only tribe to have learned metalworking), and most buildings are fashioned from the wood of rainforest trees (though the grandest temples and palaces are built from carved stone), yet this belies an innate ability to fasion pretty much anything from only the most basic of natural materials. This ingenuity, when wielded by intellectually superior Lizardkin such as Thrax of the Redcrests, has proven a particularly potent substitute.

Common Dress Code

Since Lizardkin genitalia are externally invisible, the Lizardkin feel no shame at wearing little clothing, particularly as the sweltering jungles in which they live eliminate the need for insulation. Indeed the most commonly-seen article of dress is armour, usually in form of breastplates made from planks of wood tied together with thick reed twine, though Lizardkin are not adverse to wearing headdresses, leather arm and leg bands, and stone and bone charms worn in necklaces.

Historical Figures

Lizardlord Gorragh of the Greenbacks (404 AU - 469 AU)
Lizardlord Adiolus of the Bluescales (449 AU-484 AU)
Lizardlord Thrax of the Redcrests (464 AU-Present)

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

The Lizardkin are part of the Alliance of Calderon alongside the Pretani humans and Tarkalians. Though both these peoples largely find the Southwestern Jungles to be too hot for permanent settlement, individuals from these cultures can often be found trading wares and conducting business in the more cosmopolitan Lizardkin towns. People from other neighbouring nations such as Esworo, Xastustec and the Southern Plains can also occasionally be found living and working in these settlements, though are much rarer due to Lizardkin being less openly welcoming to them.
The only real enemies of the Lizardkin are the Medusae. The first battles between them were fought many millennia ago, and the continued mutual distrust between ultimately came to a head in the Jungle Conflict of 484 AU (in the Pretani calendar), where the Lizardkin from six of the nine Lizardkin tribes were massacred by a Medusa army in quick succession, their towns razed to the ground and their relics and records of Lizardkin history destroyed. It was only through the courage, cleverness and forward-thinking of Thrax of the Redcrests, along with his friends and allies Roqueth, Crothaq, Nerangua and Lizardlord Adiolus, that the remaining tribes were able to band together in the face of defeat and shatter the Medusa army at the Battle of Wailing Summit, prompting immediate peace negotiations between Supreme Lord Draghis Staltor and Marquess Olvar Bryndaq of Xastustec.

Related Ethnicities

• Lizardkin Tribes
• Troglodytes