Serpentine

"Never did I imagine I would encounter a snake which spoke like a man, much-less that it would extend a clawed hand to hoist me from the wreckage of my ship."

The Serpentine are a sleek, sinuous race of snake-folk native to the lost regions of Alandrior, the lush southern coasts and central spine of ancient Tarmahc before The Fall. Their bodies taper from broad humanoid torsos into long, scaled tails, their heads reptilian, broad and hooded like cobras or angular and horned like rattlesnakes, regional variations echoing lineage and bloodline. They are sub-aquatic, able to breathe both water and air, a gift that allowed many to survive the tsunamis and floods that annihilated much of Tarmahc’s coastlines in the wake of the cataclysm, and stay there when The Great Schism would break out, to fight off the Lizard-Kin who too remained rooted vying for supremecy of the broken land. Despite their fearsome appearance and brutal reputation, the Serpentine are known for remarkable craftsmanship, ritual depth, and pragmatic philosophy. Masters of leatherwork and woodcraft, they invented the log canoe and kayak, developed intricate poison distillation techniques still mimicked by alchemists today, and maintain complex funeral rites that involve transforming the bodies of the dead into sacred objects. While infamous for operating plantations run by criminals condemned to backbreaking labor, they viewed this as a necessary evil to maintain order and productivity in a harsh, often lawless world. It is said, "There are no kind hands in the fields of justice, only firm ones." Today, Serpentine are often seen as aloof, calculating, and hard to read. But beneath the hiss and cold stare lies a people bound by ritual, legacy, and ruthless practicality, carving dignity from the rubble of their drowned homeland.

Naming Traditions

Feminine names

• Zaesha.
• Yrilka.
• Siven.
• Harash.
• Kalthe.

Masculine names

• Tholgar.
• Zherin.
• Ulveth. 
• Darnok.
• Verrash.

Unisex names

• Akkith.
• Sarn.
• Lusk.
• Yali.
• Khadrin.

Family names

Serpentine surnames reference ancestral deeds, venom strength, or regional claim. Examples:

• Coil-of-Law.
• Deepfang
• Black-Hiss.
• Veil-in-Vine.
• Waterscale.

Other names

• Scaled Ones (neutral, used in scholarly texts).
• Slitherkin (mildly derogatory, often said with a sneer).
• The Lashmasters (derogatory, referencing plantation history).
• Vinebloods (poetic, used in Old Tarmahci ballads).

Culture

Major language groups and dialects

Serpentine speak Lassh’ar, a hissing, breath-focused tongue filled with glottal stops and forked emphasis. Some dialects include aquatic variants, spoken exclusively underwater. Phrases:

• “Shis’tar vek.” - "The current is not always your enemy."
• “Uthrakh ven’al.” - "My venom is not wasted."
• “Karrin hissi’dorn.” - "Coil before you strike."

Culture and cultural heritage

Serpentine culture is structured, austere, and deeply hierarchical. They venerate ritual over passion, believing every act, be it death, trade, or war, should follow ancestral law. Their past as slave-owners of Tarmahci criminals is not hidden, but discussed solemnly in educational sagas and scrolls of moral consequence. Their religion centers on the Coil, a symbolic cycle of rebirth, consequence, and purpose, echoed in their winding architecture, spiral patterns, and funerary rites.

Shared customary codes and values

• Justice must be functional, not emotional.
• Beauty lies in silence, symmetry, and sting.
• Emotional outbursts are considered signs of weakness or poor breeding.
• Precision and memory are paramount. A lie uncorrected is a debt unpaid.

Average technological level

Though many Serpentine cities were drowned, their surviving enclaves maintain advanced alchemical knowledge, particularly in venom extraction, leather preservation, and lightweight naval construction. They lack heavy industry but excel in adaptive survival technologies.

Common Etiquette rules

• Eye contact is a challenge; avoid unless invited.
• Do not reach for a Serpentine’s tail without express permission.
• Offering water is a sacred gesture of peace.
• Conversations are to be concise and deliberate, loquaciousness is offensive.

Common Dress code

Serpentine attire wraps the torso in breathable cloth, often dyed in rich blue, green, or golds that compliment their pigmentation. Armor is scaled or layered, mimicking the natural defense of their bodies. They wear leather bands, venom charms, and bone trinkets carved from kin after death, seen not as morbid but honorable.

Art & Architecture

Architecture spirals inward, with sunken courtyards, mosaic scales, and sloped ceilings designed to simulate burrowing dens or river eddies. Visual art is tactile, sculptures, carvings, and leather murals abound. They depict stories in coils rather than lines, meant to be “read” with the hands.

Foods & Cuisine

The Serpentine diet is heavy in fish, crustaceans, fungi, and root vegetables, often fermented or pickled. Venom wine is a fermented drink made from their distilled venom and citrus peels, a tart, mildly hallucinogenic brew. They are fond of spiced stews and nutrient pastes served cold. No cooking over open flame underwater, instead, meals are often smoked or dried.

Common Customs, traditions and rituals

• The Venoming: A sacred coming-of-age trial where adolescents are tested for venom potency, discipline, and memorization of the ancestral laws. Those who pass receive their First Fang Vial, worn as both a rite of adulthood and a personal totem.
• Shedding Seasons: Occurs biannually. Families gather to create private spaces where each member sheds their skin in solemn silence. The shed skin is not discarded but ritually tanned, often used for scrolls, leatherwork, or ceremonial bindings.
• The Coil of Memory: Each family maintains a spiral-shaped shrine, layered with bone trinkets, fang carvings, and painted scales from past relatives. Each generation adds to the Coil, expanding it as a living, physical history of the bloodline.
• Hiss Chanting: Ceremonial prayers performed entirely through controlled hissing patterns. These are used to communicate with ancestors or seek the favor of the divine spirits of the Coil. Some chants are performed underwater and only audible beneath the surface
• Coil-Dancing: A ritualized, spiraling dance performed during solstices, funerals, and trade pacts. Participants use undulating tail movements and synchronized gestures to mimic serpentine ancestry, divine cycles, and spiritual rebirth.
• Venom Veiling: During periods of grief, a mourning Serpentine will seal their fangs with wax or cloth, symbolically abstaining from the use of their deadliest gift until mourning is complete.
• Fang-Trading: When two Serpentine wish to solidify a lifelong bond, romantic, political, or martial, they may extract and exchange a single fang, which is then polished and worn as jewelry. To remove or lose the fang is to sever the bond.
• Scale Polishing: A weekly ritual of cleanliness and reflection. Each sale is polished in silence, often with help from a partner or kin. The act is believed to strengthen discipline and reveal hidden wounds or emotional burdens.

Birth & Baptismal Rites

Infants are bathed in sacred algae and wrapped in coils of their elders’ shedded skin. Their first hiss is recorded on carved shell, placed in the family’s reliquary.

Coming of Age Rites

Known as “The Venoming”, adolescents are tested in three disciplines: memory of ancestral laws, venom potency, and underwater endurance. Those who pass are gifted their first fang sheath and a single vial of their own venom to keep or trade.

Funerary and Memorial customs

The dead are not buried. Their skins are tanned and turned into ceremonial leathers, armbands, belts, or scabbards—for loved ones. The bones are powdered and mixed into ritual paint used to mark the temple of memory.

Common Taboos

• Never hiss in mockery.
• Do not shed in public. Shedding is sacred and private.
• Waste no venom; spilled venom is seen as lost fate.
• Mimicking the tail movements of another is considered an obscene insult.

Common Myths and Legends

• The Woundless Coil: A god-serpent who shed once every moon and never aged.
• Issha the Fang-Mother: Said to have woven the first poison from her own fangs.
• The River That Cried: A drowned city whose last priest turned its tears into venom.
• The Seven-Tailed Traitor: A warrior who defied the Coil, whose skins now line the gates of the underworld.

Historical figures

Zherin Deepfang - Crafted the original Codex of Laws used by plantation overseers. Harash the Silent - A legendary assassin who used venom glyphs instead of blades. Sarn Coil-of-Law - Argued before the Elfese courts for Serpentine autonomy post-Schism. Zaesha Vineshadow - Leathercrafter-priestess credited with formalizing the practice of crafting from the dead.

Ideals

Beauty Ideals

Smoothness of scale, symmetry in coil, sharpness of fang. Painted eyes, polished fangs, and coiling grace are considered signs of inner control and power.

Gender Ideals

Serpentine genders are status-linked, not strictly biological. One’s venom potency, control over emotions, and skill in tradecraft dictate gender alignment and societal expectations.

Courtship Ideals

Courtship is initiated through ritual coiling, slow, deliberate dances where tails wrap but never touch. Gifts of carved bone, venom-dipped sashes, or co-crafted tools are typical. Mating is rare and formal, often brokered between families.

Relationship Ideals

Bonded pairs or groups are chosen not for passion but for compatibility of intent. Trust is paramount. Betrayal is repaid not with death, but exile and the severing of one's ancestral leathers.

Interesting Facts & Folklore:

• Venom Vows: Blood oaths sealed by mixing venoms. Breaking such a vow is punished with exile.
• The Shedding Tree: A massive, sacred coral where elders go to die, shedding one final time into the current.
• Fang-Rings: Decorative rings worn on the fang, each marks a venom sale or blood debt.
• The Whisper Spiral: A chamber where hisses are echoed for days, used to record long oral histories.

Idioms and Metaphors:

• “Coil before strike.” - Be patient and deliberate.
• “His scales shine, but his belly is dirt.” - Someone who appears noble but hides filth.
• “Drink your own venom.” - Take responsibility for your actions.
• “The river has two mouths.” - A warning that someone speaks with a forked tongue.
• “She shed too soon.” - Said of someone who grew beyond their station too quickly and unwisely.