Fire Lizards

The First Tenet; In all things, seek rational and logical solutions.



The Second Tenet; Dedicate thyself to thy Craft, thy Brood and thy State.



The Third Tenet; Seek absolution for the Great Error.





To the South of the human baronies, across the sea of Terge's Straits, lies a seemingly endless desert known to adventurers as the Dry Sea. Many a courageous sailor seeking fortune and fame has attempted to brave the Dry Sea, driven by rumours of ancient riches, but few have returned. Those who have, and who haven't been driven half-mad by dehydration, speak of raiders taller than any man, swathed in black robes, and of cities of tiered towers and red stone. Many once dismissed these stories as mirages, but then the first boats came across the Straits, bearing upon them the inhabitants of that mysterious continent. They were the Fire Lizards, as told of in the most ancient of religious texts, and they had come to right a millenia-old wrong. By any means necessary.

Appearance
The Fire Lizards are reptilian humanoids specially adapted to to survive in the harshest of conditions. They stand six to seven feet tall on average, and are covered from head to toe in yellow and bronze scales, which shed every few years to reveal a fresh coating beneath. Scales underneath old wounds grow back tougher after a shedding, and warriors tend to be much bulkier and solid than their scholarly counterparts because of this. Rumours as to whether Fire Lizards are able to regrow their tales, or even simple appendages, as part of this shedding process remain unsubstantiated. Their legs are double-hinged like a reptiles, and they possess long, ridged tales growing from the base of their spine. Their faces, whilst inhuman, are much more flattened than a true lizard, though their eyes share the same slitted pupils, their teeth are sharp and their nostrils are thin and can be closed when threatened by sandstorms or harmful atmosphere. The most distinctive part of the Fire Lizard face is the crest. Growing from the bridge of the nose, it covers the forehead in a fan of bone and cartilage, bordered in spines at the edge. Females tend to have larger and more colourful crests, whilst males can be denoted by the distinctive ridges and horns along their jaws and chin. Fire Lizards dress themselves in expansive robes, silk scarves and elaborate armours, all dark coloured to better absorb the heat of the sun and warm their cold-blooded bodies. A cold Fire Lizard may appear indolent and sluggish, but once they have warmed up, thier movements are faster than the eye can follow, and the intelligence of even the youngest broodling can rival a human scholar.

Society
Fire Lizard society is split into two distinct forms; that of the outer deserts, and that of the heart of the Empire, in the jungles surrounding the capital city of Shuyang. Desert Lizards are far more nomadic in their lives, travelling often from oasis to oasis, harvesting the spices which grow around each watering hole and fuel much of the Empire's economy. They are known as fierce warriors and canny explorers by the citizens of Shuyang, but are generally considered backward in comparison. In the jungles and cities of Siamhwan, living is conducted in a much more strict fashion. Siamhwan Lizards adhere to a well-defined caste system, with farmers and labourers at the bottom, followed by merchants and craftsmen, warriors and wizards, and finally by the ruling nobles and administrators. Each Caste member is expected to dedicate themselves entirely to their way of life, and though everyone is generally subservient to those of a higher rank, respect is paid to anyone who is considered a master of their Craft. Fire Lizards give birth in broods, and the large numbers of children are quickly apprenticed to their parents' career. In the case of the ruling families, these large broods make succession a dark and bloody affair, as siblings and cousins backstab and scheme to get a chance at the throne. The Yoon Dynasty has managed to keep power in Shuyang for several generations now, despite the fratricide, by ensuring absolute loyalty from its personal military. The young queen Yoon-Iseul, a particularly wily politician, has managed to achieve some peace in the family, allowing her to turn her ambitions elsewhere.

Fire Lizards have no religion as such. That is not to say they do not believe in gods and spirits; far from it, they regularly acknowledge their presence as a rational explanation of phenomena. However, they disown them, holding them partly responsible for the Great Error; the release of the dragon Uyotsvhi and the bringing of death into the world, an error the Fire Lizards are never allowed to forget given their striking resemblance to dragons. Instead, Fire Lizards adhere to a code rather than a religion. This code is known commonly as the Path of Fire, and whilst many of the first aspects of this code are thought to have come from Hana, it has been later reinterpreted and rewritten by generations of Fire Lizard scholars. Fire Lizards are expected to be self-controlled, honourable and rational in all walks of life. Rather than cathedrals, they construct great academies called Wats, each one dedicated to a particular subject with archaic rituals and proceedings that, to an outside observer, would resemble a cult. The Academy of Mathematics in Yukwon is the oldest and most esteemed, and Fire Lizard discoveries have given rise to great works of astronomy, architecture and machinery. It is a commitment to an ideology that often borders on the fanatical, and Fire Lizard armies often come to the shores of other races hoping to force them to see the truth of the Path, and offering them penitence for the part they played in freeing Uyotsvhi.

Warfare
A well-disciplined Fire Lizard army is implacable in its movements. Tactics have been practiced to perfection by its generals, and each warrior has schooled themselves in the use of their weapon hundreds of times. Whilst this makes their strategies somewhat predictable, if they do manage to put them into effect, they can be utterly unstoppable. The forces are led by Desert Lizard scouts and auxiliaries, who harass the lines of the enemy and report on their movements and defensive capabilities. These are then followed by the regular infantry; warrior apprentices supplemented with levies from the more heavily populated parts of the Empire, armed with the distinctive wavy-edged blades of Shuyang. Should opponent lines hold after this assault, the prime of the empire comes forward. The Fire Lizard warrior class come supplied with the best armour, crafted in overlapping scales like their own flesh, and carrying short halberds. These deadly weapons break bone as much as they do flesh and are too heavy to be wielded effectively by human hands. Only those with the strength and the training to do so can bring a Yukwon Halberd to bear.

Fire Lizards rarely make use of archers in warfare, as arrows have difficulty puncturing their thick skin. However, recent developments in the use of Black Powder have led to the formation of bombardier units who wield a basic form of arquebus; little more than a handheld cannon but with the precision that can be created by Fire Lizard mathematics. The siege weapons of the Fire Lizard empire are the pride of their Academies. The angles of catapults are calculated with incredible precision, and their parts move as if they were one organic being. No siege-engine is more feared by the Southern citadels than the Turtle Ram; an enormous ram with the head of a fiery serpent, covered in a bronze shell with slots provided for arquebus fire.

Fire Lizards do engage in magic, though their approach is different than Eleven or Human wizards. They consider the forbidding of a particular school of magic as superstitious, and thus all schools are studied in the same rigorous, yet experimental manner. Fire Lizard mystics employ a wide variety of schools all at once, from Magecraft to Wizardry, and even demon-summoning, which might explain the presence of Corpse Hounds in their military. Ironically, their absolute disavowal of traditional religion can protect their minds from Outsider influence fairly effectively.

Important Fire Lizards
Queen Yoon-Iseul