Troglodytes

The Lizardkin have many strict laws, infringement of which generally leads to exile. Any Lizardkin who has undergone such humiliation must be prepared to live a life without support of family or Tribe, and constantly at risk of attack from the many predators that stalk the rainforests. Many do not survive their first week, and the vast majority of those that do have likely found shelter in one of the many caves that dot the jungles in the south west of the Supercontinent. Here, they find solace in the relatively peaceful network of pools and alcoves that winds its way beneath the earth, with the lakes providing both drink and food in the form of the shoals of blind fish and salamanders that feel their way through the water, and, if they have any sense, it is here they stay. Lizardkin adapt to new environments a lot more quickly than humans, and those that relocate to the caverns change visibly over the weeks and months. Their skin bleaches white and their eyesight becomes weaker, for sight and colouration are not necessary in the pitch darkness of the caves. Webbing develops between their claws and their spines to further their survival in an environment full of pools and rivers. Their gait shifts from bipedal to quadrupedal movement to weave between and clamber over the many rocks in their new home. Intolerant of sunlight and resigned to eking out a new life in the caverns, these are no longer Lizardkin, but Troglodytes, a subspecies that has built up a culture and lifestyle all its own.

Culture

Average technological level

Troglodytes have abandoned pretty much all technology, relying purely upon their own claws and jaws to win a fight and having forgotten all ability to construct tools. Indeed their ability to speak is the only proof that Troglodytes are sentient life forms.

Ideals

Gender Ideals

Despite all Troglodytes having once been Lizardkin, they do not share the sexual dimorphism of their jungle cousins, but instead are all built with a physique that is in places muscular, to help in winning fights for food and societal rank, and in places sinuous to produce more streamlined swimming in cave pools. Males and females are only able to denote each other through differences in voice pitch and differences in scent, with males having a stronger, thicker smell and females having a lighter, less intrusive odour.

Courtship Ideals

Troglodyte pairs have obvious difficulty in courting in the methods that Lizardkin do, for their near-blind eyes cannot pick up even the most obvious visual cues of affection. However, the heightened sense of smell they have received at the cost of their sight has allowed the members of the two genders to identify distinct pheromones produced by the other upon attraction. They then determine whether their partner is suitable through verbal interaction, and if so, the couple will stand upon their legs with hands interlocked, and twine their tails beneath their bodies.

Relationship Ideals

One of the few similarities the Troglodytes retain with their ancestral cousins is their innate instinct to remain faithful to their partners, something that years of evolution to survive in caves has not changed, and there are many Troglodyte 'Old Stalwarts' who remain loyal to a deceased partner up until their own deaths.

Parent ethnicities