Referred to by witnesses in the East as the Deceiver Serpents and to the Khureshi as the Scaled Saints, the Filed Ones or Kohaka are one of the newer creations of the Blood Naga tasked with overseeing the swelling Blood Cults of the Hinterlands' human inhabitants as well as infiltrating the civilizations of those beyond Khuresh.
Within the Khureshi domains of the Snake Men, the Filed Ones serve as the revered emissaries of the Blood Naga to the Serpent Blood Cults, though they always act outside the typical cult hierarchy of a human settlement, coming and going as they see fit. They travel from human settlement to human settlement preaching the glory of the Serpents through word and deed so that obeisance is maintained, officiating festivals, slaying rogue monsters, weeding out dissent and inviting noteworthy individuals to the temple-laboratories of the Naga, all the while looking for the next choice body to possess. Beyond Khuresh, the Filed Ones covertly work to undermine the realms of Men, Ogres and Elves. When necessary they are called upon to assassinate key figures of authority, sow panic amongst the populace and cripple city defenses from within.
Members of the enigmatic Karong caste, the Filed Ones were conceived by the Golden Cradle and Twin Snakes marga to carry out clandestine activities on behalf of their matriarchs on the growing human kingdoms surrounding Khuresh after their centuries-long wars with the Celestial Dragon Empire and the Thousand Gods. The caste underwent extensive body modifications that allowed them to bore into the lobotomized bodies of Men and other bipedal sentient creatures, devouring their victims from the inside out and inhabiting the hollowed out body with forbidden magics. While occupying the flesh puppet, the Filed Ones keeps it from rotting away with sorcery and controls it like a second skin, rendering them bipedal in the process.
Once the first stable prototypes were created and their practicality demonstrated, the early Filed Ones were bred to produce further generations of infiltrators. The File Ones’ success in sowing anxiety and distrust among the early Kingdoms of Ind and the elven colonies of the Lost Isles of Elithis made them a sought-after commodity among the other brood-sects of the Hinterlands. In the present era hundreds of them are scattered throughout Cathay, Nippon, Ind, the Isles of Elithis, the Mountains of Mourn and the Hinterlands, operating in secret to prepare the way for their masters' new stranglehold upon the world.
From a distance the physical appearance of a hidden Filed One does not garner too much suspicion. They favour taller human bodies with lankier frames, they do not produce the characteristic hissing sounds of other Snake Men and they often go about cloaked and hooded or with attire that conceals their more obvious deformities. A shroud of Dhar glamour also surrounds them, masking their presence from cursory observations. When viewed up close however their abnormal nature becomes more apparent: their movements are unnaturally fluid, baggy loose skin sags on their faces and hands, their eyes will sometimes turn reptilian, they can expand their jaws much further than ordinary Men and they have sharp saw-like teeth and tough nails with which they can puncture and envenom prey when disarmed. Their venom is a unique putrefying concoction that liquefies innards and dissolves bone, allowing the Filed One to inhabit a new body should circumstances dictate.
Rarely interacting with the rest of their broods, the Filed Ones are sent deep into the kingdoms of Men where they blend into refugee trains or pretend to be lost travellers, traders, performers, shipwrecked crew or treasure hunters. Beyond the World’s Edge Mountains they can be found hidden in the cities of Lashiek, Al-Haikk, Ras Karim, Copher, Sartosa, Pavona, Magritta, Marienburg, Praag and the deepest slums of Altdorf and Nuln. Some have even made their way to Skeggi and Swamp Town, and the slave-ports of Naggaroth. Embedding themselves within their chosen civilization, the Filed Ones cultivate an unremarkable identity. They religiously study groups of organisations for months or years on end before committing themselves, biding their time for the perfect opportunity of subversion.
Not a few cults to the Ruinous Powers have had their original purpose bent towards the veneration and goals of other dark entities that they did not expect. They are among the few agents of any civilization who enthusiastically infiltrate Chaos covens. While others risk a fate far worse than death when dealing with the Dark Cults in such ways, the Filed Ones’ unnerving nature, combat prowess and observable blemishes make them welcomed and quickly respected by the followers of Chaos, who believe they suffer some manner of mutation and are blessed with the favour of the Gods.
The Ogres are the other race that tend to be deceived by the Filed Ones, who find Ogre bodies even easier to possess. The Ogres' tolerance towards Chaos mutations as well as the Filed Ones' martial training, violent temperament and capacity for voracious behaviour make them well-suited to assume the role of the solitary Ogre Hunters. Other Filed Ones have possessed unlucky Ogre Manhunters in Khuresh for no other reason than to gain a body that can give and receive more punishment.
The elves do not tend to be deceived by Filed Ones that don their skin any longer, as long centuries of experience have ingrained in them a sense of revulsion around these abominations. Many can also perceive them for what they truly are beneath the sloughed flesh and pall of sorcery. Instead the Naga deploy such creatures with their hosts to goad the proud elves into committing tactical mistakes as they rush to end the repulsive mockery, often to catastrophic results.
The Filed Ones' adaptable physiology makes them well-suited for amphibious operations. Their innate night and heat vision permits them to operate efficiently in thick forests as well as the sewers and tunnels below all the cities of Men. Captured spies are often tortured at length when their identities or allegiances are exposed, so these serpents have been physically altered and inculcated to possess an incredibly high pain threshold that only builds their anger until it reaches its tipping point. At their discretion, the Filed Ones' monstrous form can burst out from their human shell and proceed to slaughter their enemies in an explosive display of extreme violence. If slain the Filed Ones release spores derived from the Khureshi exploding gourd which detonate and spray caustic fluids in all directions, maiming or killing their assailants in a final act of defiance.
The Filed Ones are trained in a distinctive martial arts formed around the Snake Men’s supernatural reaction time called Boakator, a vicious and unpredictable fighting style that lets a Filed One possessing a human body subdue even orcs in unarmed single combat. The Filed Ones wield chopping headhunting blades, winged daggers and venom-tipped kris daggers. On occasion they will also make use of captured crossbows and firearms forged by the human empires.
While conducting their activities within Khuresh or fighting within the Snake Men armies the Filed Ones dress in distinctive flamboyant war garments designed to intimidate their enemies and awe their congregations, adorned with blood-drenched tassels and the bones of past victims. Devout Fang Thralls rally to the Filed Ones in the chaos of battle for they represent the hopes of those taken by the cults' promise of ascension to the worthy. As tides shift and the situation becomes dire, the Thralls are stricken with horror and awe as the Saint's serpent head bursts out of the mouth of its meat puppet and the Man-Snake within unveils itself to tear into its enemies in a shower of gore. When the berserk waves induced by the Flenserchord Zither Altars wash over the army, the Filed Ones are there at the forefront leading their throngs of maddened serpent-mutants into the fray.
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