The honoured Pannaga Raksaka or Bifurcated Watchers comprise the monstrous elite guard of the Blood Naga Queens, drawn from a specially-bred strain of the Pannaga caste of Snake Men. Rarely seen by warm-blooded mortals unless a Naga Queen personally takes charge of a war effort or one has the extreme misfortune to be taken captive into the serpents’ temple-laboratories, the devoted Raksaka protect their Naga charges and their sanctums with methodical ferocity and steadfast resolve.
Possessed of incredible physical prowess and practically immortal unless slain by violence, most of the Raksaka are as old as the temple-laboratories that they protect. Rather than standing sentinel in the open around the chambers of their Queens as would other guards, the Raksaka seclude themselves in wide adjacent recesses above and below the entryways, as they wait for interlopers foolish enough to believe the Naga undefended and vulnerable, eyes scanning ceaselessly through the dim halls. When an intruder presents itself, they strike out lightning fast and brutally crush their target. Stealth is no refuge as their enhanced senses and witchsight can detect spells of concealment, body heat, the faintest changes in scent and wind direction, and the slightest reverberations of heartbeats or footsteps. Only when called upon to escort their Queens or to perform some urgent task or pursue a specific quarry do they emerge onto the battlefield armed to the teeth.
Millennia of experimentation from their Naga Queens have made the Raksaka a strange breed. Besides the characteristic four arms of the Pannaga and two tails, they have two heads with their own flexible elongated necks. The two heads seamlessly act in concert as if they are part of a single consciousness and are able to make precise predictions of enemy movements, giving the Raksaka unparalleled awareness and dexterity in battle and allowing them to wield a combination of close combat and ranged weapons simultaneously. One pair of arms would wield swords and shields or wickedly bladed double-crescent polearms - crafted from Warpstone and meteoric iron - which can pierce through ethereal forms as easily as flesh and steel. The other pair would shoot the vile spinesplinter arrows from ornate great bows, blood-cursed projectiles with forked heads that possess a strange intelligence. These arrowheads break off from the shaft and come alive once they make contact with their targets, boring into the bodies of struck victims and honeycombing them from the inside out. The preternatural skill of the Raksaka lets them steadily rain down volleys of such arrows even as they strike down the enemy within arm's reach.
The fortitude of these serpents is legendary across Khuresh, capable of bearing wounds that would incapacitate other Snake Men. On their rare appearances on the battlefield they form into disciplined ranks that anchor the entire army, living walls for their Naga Queens fearless of any danger. Their armour is the toughest among the Khureshi as befitting their status, with interlocking plates of meteoric iron mail, reinforced with burning Wyrdstone inscriptions that thrum with terrible curse-giving spells.
If somehow slain in battle and unless the body of the Rakshaka is consumed by flame or ruined beyond recognition, a younger form of the Rakshaka will emerge from the remains within an hour like a snake shedding its skin and mature within weeks, recollecting its previous memories and battle expertise, before resuming its post at the Naga’s side.
Long lived as they are and bearing the memories and experiences of countless fights, a few venerated Pannaga Raksaka legions tend to gain a taste for dealing death to a particular type of foe, earning distinctive epithets. The Ebon Stone marga have the Elf-Manglers, the Twin Snakes and Umber Progeny both deploy separate bands of Dwarf-Slicers, and the cannibalistic Immortal Coil field the Serpent-Eaters that are dreaded and despised by all other Snake Men. Others such as the firearm-hoarding Amaranthine Lotus, the aquatic Turbinid Abyss and the gliding mercenary Twin Snakes marga field even stranger Raksaka regiments blessed with exotic weaponry or mutations.
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