Najara
Najara, the Kingdom of Snakes, is an ancient realm of serpentfolk. It is arguably the largest and most powerful kingdom of the Western Heartlands, yet its existence as a realm is almost unknown, even to its nearest neighbors. The serpentfolk do not post guards along the kingdom's borders, or attack every humanoid that passes through their holdings, or extract tariffs from passing caravans. No gnome-dug mines dot the landscape, and no great cities attract visitors from miles around. The region is known to be dangerous, but its neighbors do not believe that its monstrous inhabitants are organized in any real sense. Those who stumble across the truth are rarely seen again, and those who return to human-ruled cities knowing the truth often vanish before their tales can gain any credence.
Structure
The king of Najara is served by a noble caste composed of nagas (known as collectively as the nagara), and yuan-ti. The majority of the population consists of lizardfolk and ophidians.
The current king, Jarant, has a council of advisors that include Dhosun, an 'honorable' yuan-ti who is likely the brains behind the move into an open kingdom, and the cunning green dragon Emikaiwufeg, often called the Emerald Daughter, who serves as a foil to Dhosun. Some other advisors include either naga or yuan-ti warlocks and priests in tune with their dark gods and powers.
History
During the Silver Age of Netheril (-2758 DR to -2207 DR), the Netherese began establishing outposts in the wild lands to the west, which are now known as the Western Heartlands and the North. Some of these pioneers sought badly needed resources, while others set up isolated bases from which to perform their magical experiments. A handful of outposts established in the southern reaches of the High Moor and the area now known as the Serpent Hills were linked by a network of portals with the heartlands of Netheril.
The Netherese wizards of House Orogoth built a fortified villa in the southern reaches of the High Moor in -2482 DR. near the northern edge of the Serpent Hills. Several generations of Orogoths sought the power of Faenin's wyrms, and legend has it that some eventually obtained it - at least after a fashion. One early byproduct of House Orogoth's research was the Serpent Curse, a magical malady that transformed humans into a snakelike race that Orogoth's elders named ophidians. Many of House Orogoth's Netherese servants succumbed to this plague and were driven into the hills to the west circa -2300 DR. Unable to rid the place of the curse, the wizards eventually replaced their former servants with constructs and undead servitors.
In the centuries that followed, the ophidians organized into savage tribes. These clans battled each other, the nearby clans of lizardfolk, the barbaric descendants of Orogoth's exiled human servants, and the scattered tribes of gnomes that had settled the hills after their emancipation by the Netherese in -2387 DR. During this era, many of the ophidian tribes began venerating dragons, perhaps in keeping with House Orogoth's obsession with the great wyrms.
In the Year of Bold Pioneers (-461 DR), the phaerimms beneath Netheril began casting the lifedrain spells that would eventually transform all of Low Netheril into the Great Desert of Anauroch. While High Netheril's nobles conducted business as usual in their sky cities as if nothing of import were occurring, the rich farmlands that employed and fed the bulk of Netheril's populace quickly fell barren. The residents of Low Netheril began migrating west and south, felling great swaths of the Far Horns Forest within just a few generations. The Netherese settlers put increasing pressure on the eastern territories of the ophidians and lizardfolk, forcing the reptilian races to retreat farther south and west. Eventually, the Scaled Ones had to concede the eastern slopes of what the Netherese called the Serpent Hills.
In the Year of Mageserpents (-361 DR), a band of ophidians stumbled across the ruins of an ancient sarrukh city, hidden beneath what is now the western end of the Forest of Wyrms. During their explorations, the ophidians discovered the Naja Fountain, an ancient artifact of the sarrukh inhabited and guarded by a powerful ha-naga named Terpenzi. Claiming to be the prophet of the World Serpent, the creature proclaimed itself King of Najara and began a decades-long campaign to subjugate the scattered tribes of ophidians to its rule.
In the Year of Sundered Webs (-339 DR), the fall of Netheril precipitated a final and nearly wholesale exodus of humans from the lands of Low Netheril. Many Netherese migrated south and west into the area now known as the Backlands. This exodus in turn prompted the remaining "free tribes" of ophidians to migrate to Ss'thar'tiss'ssun, leaving the Serpent Hills to the scattered clans of lizardfolk and gnomes. Unbeknownst to both groups, Netherese from the distant realm of Anauria began constructing tombs beneath the hills, accessing them via the ancient portal established during the Silver Age of Netheril.
Under the tutelage of Terpenzi, the ophidians studied the ancient magics of the sarrukh and learned to summon all manner of reptilian monsters. Anticipating the rising power of the Netherese survivor states, the ophidians summoned the Hss'tafi tribe of yuan-ti from the southern jungles of Faerûn in the Year of Netted Dreams (-320 DR). While Terpenzi plotted, the yuan-ti built a great temple at the heart of the city, with the Naja Fountain at its core, and firmly established themselves as Najara's ruling caste.
Meanwhile, to the north, the scattered clans of rock gnomes were forced to withdraw to the Trielta Hills by the growing power of the lizardfolk, who had formed the tribal confederation of Kalran in the central and northern Serpent Hills. By the first century Dalereckoning, the Kingdom of the Snakes had emerged as a regional power in its own right alongside such human states as the Talfirian- and Netherese-ruled Duchy of Indoria (located in the area known today as the Fields of the Dead), the Talfirian city of Talis in the depths of the Reaching Woods, and the Netherese-ruled subterranean realm of Philock, which lay just east of the Wood of Sharp Teeth (now known as the Netherese Caverns).
In the Year of Purloined Power (34 DR), a Talfirian bard named Verraketh Talember discovered the Shadowstar, a mysterious artifact that fell like a shooting star into the High Moor. While the artifact slowly transformed him into the Shadowking, Verraketh gathered an army of shadow-spinners and began forcibly assimilating the Netherese and Talfirian realms of the Chionthar river valley into the empire of Ebenfar.
In the Year of the Faithful Oracle (89 DR), the heretofore immortal Terpenzi foresaw its own death at the hands of the Shadowking. In response, it ordered its subjects to seek out the magics of ancient Netheril while it searched for a mate. In the Year of the Moor Birds (90 DR), the serpentfolk plundered the ruins of Orogoth and brought back many Netherese artifacts, while Terpenzi hid its dark naga offspring in a secret hold in the Serpent Hills. Thus prepared, Terpenzi assembled a great army of ophidians commanded by yuan-ti to attack the growing might of Ebenfar.
The serpentfolk might well have prevailed had it not been for a band of Netherese wizards in Verraketh's employ, who teleported into great temple of the serpentfolk and expelled Terpenzi from the Naja Fountain. Although the ha-naga and its followers escaped, the armies of Ebenfar destroyed the city of Ss'thar'tiss'ssun, cloaked its ruins in powerful warding spells, and scattered the serpentfolk of Najara. Terpenzi led its remaining armies into battle with the Shadowking but was destroyed. The surviving serpentfolk fled the battlefield (now called the Fields of the Dead) with their king's remains, but the Kingdom of Snakes was no more.
In the centuries that followed, scattered tribes of ophidians battled the lizardfolk of Kalran for control of the Serpent Hills, all the while harried by the Shadowking's armies. But unbeknownst to the humans of Ebenfar, the followers of Terpenzi were plotting the rebirth of their realm. The surviving yuan-ti labored in the depths of their secret hold to raise Terpenzi's brood and school the young dark nagas in the ways of magic. One of the ha-naga's offspring, Jacinica, became the new king-in-exile of Najara in the Year of the Prowling Naga (142 DR). As its first official act, Jacinica ordered the remains of Terpenzi to be transformed into a bone naga and enslaved to the bearer of the artifact known as the Marlspire of Najara.
The greatest obstacles to the resurgence of Najara were the empire of Ebenfar and the kingdom of Shavinar, which lay between the Troll Hills and the River Chionthar. Shavinar eventually fell to trolls in the Year of Broken Flame (277 DR), and Ebenfar collapsed after the imprisonment of the Shadowking in the Year of the Miscast Shadow (323 DR), thus clearing the way for a new regime. But before the rulers of Najara could establish much influence, both the Shoon Imperium and the Kingdom of Cormyr decided to extend their influence into the Western Heartlands in the Year of the Fearless King (361 DR). Among the immigrants in the ensuing wave of human migration were some Varae-worshipers from the Shining Plains who came north in search of Ss'thar'tiss'ssun. When these humans unleashed an artifact created by House Orogoth and left behind by the yuan-ti, they were transformed en masse into ophidians.
The collapse of the Shoon Imperium in the Year of the Corrie Fist (450 DR) once again left the way clear for the serpentfolk. But the sudden death of Jacinica in the Year of Rolling Heads (452 DR) precipitated a decades-long power struggle among the nagara that lasted until the Year of the Fortress Scoured (511 DR), when Nejizar finally ascended to the throne of Najara. The new dark naga king established its rule over the serpentfolk in the Year of Trials Arcane (523 DR), thanks in large part to its alliance with a dozen spirit nagas. By then, however, the Tricrowned Kingdom of Phalorm had claimed the High Moor and begun constructing a chain of fortresses along the western border of the Serpent Hills.
Since Najara was too weak militarily to confront the Realm of Three Crowns directly, Nejizar sent yuan-ti infiltrators south to the Reaching Woods in the Year of the Alabaster Mounds (577 DR). Their mission was to incite the hobgoblin tribes of the region to march northward in a great horde. But infiltrators dispatched by Phalorm dealt the hobgoblins a sharp check at the Battle of Notched Axes, then ensured the victory of King Ruardh Lightshiver's armies at the Battle of Blunted Fangs by assassinating the serpentine provocateurs. This defeat forced the serpentfolk of Najara to retreat into the Serpent Hills.
The Principality of the Snarling Boar was destroyed in the Year of the Slain Mountain (993 DR), when a great spell battle erupted at the head of the Winding Water between Taskor the Terrible of Irieabor and the Wizard of the Crag. After both archmages vanished, imprisoned water elementals ran amok, inundating Boareskyr and leaving behind the Marsh of Chelimber in their wake. Many of the lizardfolk tribes that had long inhabited the northern Serpent Hills took advantage of this development to migrate eastward into the newly forming marsh. Those left behind were too weak to oppose the armies of Najara, which had grown strong since the fall of Delimbiyran, the Kingdom of Man, in the Year of the Shrouded Slayer (671 DR). Thus, the lizardfolk kingdom of Kalran soon became a vassal state of the Kingdom of Snakes in all but name.
Over the next three centuries, Najara slowly grew in power under the guidance of various dark naga kings counseled by the nagara and the yuan-ti nobility. Cognizant of the risks posed by humanity and its allies, the serpentfolk of Najara contented themselves with claiming the Serpent Hills and continuing to influence the rest of western Faerûn from the shadows. One by one, the human-ruled successor states to Ebenfar that had once ruled the Western Heartlands were undermined by yuan-ti infiltration. Eventually, the Winding Water river valley was devoid of major human settlements, and the Western Heartlands were free of human-ruled realms larger than city-states.
Since its ascension to the throne in the Year of the Ormserpent (1295 DR), the dark naga Ebarnaje has continued the cautious strategy of its predecessors, but it dreams of reclaiming the city of. Ss'thar'tiss'ssun as its seat of power. Although its forces could easily conquer the village of Serpent's Cowl, the dark naga king is well aware of the response such an outright attack would provoke from the Lord's Alliance. Instead, the dark naga king has dispatched a succession of agents to the village with orders to gradually transform its inhabitants into tainted ones. The king has also backed the Coiled Cabal's efforts to explore the ruins below Serpent's Cowl. The dark naga king believes that such a two-pronged campaign will eventually bring the region under its direct control without any outside challenge. In anticipation of the day that Najara must wage war with its neighbors, Ebarnaje has backed the rise of the Cult of the Dark Naga, a far-wandering organization of dark nagas pledged to recover all manner of spells and magic that might advance the power of Najara.
In 1474 DR, Jarant killed the previous King of Snakes Ebarnaje, triggering a civil war and increasing yuan-ti and lizardfolk activity in the area. Ancient and evil, the spirit naga Jarant rules the kingdom by virtue of his personal power and thanks to the aid of the Marlspire of Najara, a thin silver crown that has protective and other magical abilities. Though he originally still preferred to remain utterly isolated from the outside world, more recently the Dark Serpent began sending ambassadors to neighboring kingdoms to warn them about the consequences of interfering in Najaran matters. Jarant’s influence in his realm is undeniable, for his name is spoken reverently by all his subjects. A guard might swear “by Jarant’s crown” to emphasize an edict, while some others refer to Najara’s laws as “Jarant’s will.”
Demography and Population
273,820 (ophidians 47%, lizardfolk 29%, yuan-ti 21%, nagas 3%)
Lizardfolk
The lizardfolk native to this area believe themselves to be citizens of the independent kingdom of Kalran. In truth, however, the rulers of Kalran have been vassals of the kings of Najara for many generations.
The typical lizardfolk of the northern Serpent Hills are primarily brown, with striking green markings along the arms and upper chest and limbs that are more humanlike than those of other tribes. These alterations reflect the breeding experiments of the Najaran yuan-ti.
Kalran has a militaristic culture in which the strongest warriors serve as chieftains (essentially nobles), and artistic pursuits are held in low esteem. The lizardfolk of Kalran trade with their kin in the Marsh of Chelimber but often battle with their serpentine neighbors. The nagas secretly encourage this state of perpetual low-grade warfare to strengthen the combat-readiness of both groups.
Nagas
The nagas of Najara form the ruling caste of the Kingdom of Snakes. The dark nagas and free-willed bone nagas are all descendants of Terpenzi, and each is accorded the status of a prince of the realm. Upon the death of the king, the most powerful living dark naga can claim the throne by ritual combat.
Traditionally, approximately a dozen spirit nagas serve the King of Najara. By dint of an ancient pact dating back to the Nejizar's accession to the throne, each spirit naga functions as a protector of and servitor to the royal line, answering directly to the reigning monarch. Some serve as guardians, others inspect ongoing activities in population centers, and the rest function as inquisitors.
Ophidians
The ophidians of Najara, known locally as snakemen, have hides mottled with green and deep yellow, although they can adjust their coloration to blend with their surroundings. Ophidians have simple, snakelike bodies with arms and hands similar to those of humans, and they lack the cobra hoods of southern tribes. Najaran ophidians make up the laborer and warrior castes of the Kingdom of Snakes. They spend their time raising herd animals, hunting, digging tunnels, building subterranean cities, and fighting. Although some ophidians command their fellows, all must answer to the naga and yuan-ti nobility. The religious caste of Najara is dominated by yuan-ti, but a few ophidian priestesses are permitted within the ranks of the Ssethssar. In general, Najaran ophidians are much more religious than members of the ruling castes.
Yuan-Ti
With the exception of histachii (Broodguards) and tainted ones, all Najaran yuan-ti are members of the Hss'tafi tribe. The dispassionately intellectual yuan-ti make up the administrator, merchant, and religious castes of the Kingdom of Snakes. Although they never perform physical labor, they supervise most ophidian activities and act as advisors to the ruling nagas. Yuan-ti tainted ones are equal to ophidians in rank and are included in the warrior and merchant castes. Yuan-ti histachii are considered little more than bestial slaves.
Najaran society is cold and lacking in emotional vibrancy. The logical and precise serpentfolk enjoy puzzles, mind-expanding exercises, and games that simulate the strategy of war. They favor art that features elaborate, repetitive patterns and eschew representative art. Such attitudes lend themselves to the study of the Art, and many Najarans pursue the path of sorcerer or (more rarely) wizard.
Territories
It comprised parts of the High Moor, the Forest of Wyrms, and the Marsh of Chelimber, with the Serpent Hills lying in the center.
Religion
Foreign Relations
No one knows why Jarant chose the time he did to make public his kingdom’s sovereignty, or what he hoped to gain by such an act. The yuan-ti ambassadors he sent forth made their king’s wishes clear to the nations they visited: leave Najaran prosperity alone, and discourage intruders (such as adventuring types) from violating Najaran borders to steal the fortunes of the serpentfolk. In return, the serpents promised that any caravans and other legitimate travelers passing through Najara’s dominion would be unharmed and unhindered — as long as they don’t stray from the main route.
Reaction among the places approached raged from one extreme to the other. Darkhold reportedly feted the ambassadors well, and the serpentfolk left with not only an agreement from the Zhentish lords, but also an offer of a possible future military alliance. Not surprisingly, Elturgard refused the edict outright — and in the process of expressing that refusal, bloodshed erupted. The paladins slew all but one of the ambassadors, and sent the survivor back to Jarant’s court to communicate their answer.
The other responses to the Najaran ambassadors fell somewhere in between. Acceptances and refusals to cooperate, usually polite, trickled in, but regardless of their substance, Jarant’s goal had been accomplished: Najara’s neighbors now saw the realm as a nation, no matter whether they viewed it as a potential ally or foe.
Artwork, deinonychus eggs, weapons
Herd animals, human slaves, lizardfolk eggs
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