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Back to Thrubmorton Fens. I've no idea if anyone has been thinking much about the lizard men of Ansium, but here is something I've come up with.
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In the bigger metropolies of Ansium the general notions of lizard folk is that of vile, stenchy and dumb monsters. Mothers tell their children to behave or lizard-monsters will come and eat them. Of course much of what the average man knows about lizard folk is wrong and based on second-hand stories, general fear of the unknown and strange and the fact that most people in bigger cities never in their whole lives see a lizard man.
Then again ... many of the lizard men are what they are perceived to be - vile, stenchy and dumb. Those are usually the young ones and the young ones are the usual culprits when one speaks of crude, flesh-tearing vile lizard monsters who attack merchant caravans, rural villages and whatnot.
The lizard men do actually have social structure, spoken and written language with associated folklore and tales, and many esoteric human scholars even go so far as to say the lizard men form a hierarchical - albeit fluctuating - and rather unified society. Lizard men are rare outside their natural habitat, the swampy and moist regions of Ansium. But much of those regions are also totally devoid of lizard men. Scholars believe that lizard men are very picky about their habitat and that not just any swamp will suffice as a place for lizard men to call their home.
Lizard men are believed to have kings who rule all he lizard men in their natural geographic region. Kings of different regions may not even know each other since it's extremely rare for lizard men leave their habitat for extended periods of time. That's why there is apparently no higher structure and the hierarchy of lizard men society seems to stop at the regional level. Nevertheless lizard men are aware that there are lizard men living in numerous regions around the world and lizard lore seems to indicate that there exists similar age-old legends and stories between even remote lizard men colonies.
Lizard men do not appreciate stationary dwellings - like humans do - and instead only rarely erect any kind of permament structures. A notable exception are the peculiar mystic standing stones located in every area where there is or has been lizard men activity. The stones are believed to be shamanistic and a substantial number of stories seems to conform that lizard men indeed have highly competent, educated and revered shamans among them.
"Sshraak". It's a lizard man term that roughly translates to "fearless". That's also the name of the lizard man king who rules an almost unreachable swampy region that humans call Deathchaser Fen in Thrubmorton Fens. The region that Sshraak rules contains small islands and hard land as well as swamps and in part it overlaps the regional influence of cities like Mullion, Morton and Nortonspire. This causes regional conflicts on regular basis. Lizard men consider human inhabitans as invaders to their sacred old lands and humans treat the lizard men as little else than a menacing evil that needs to get rid of to make way for a civilised way of life.
Sshraak usually keeps out of direct conflict and instead he commands his senior lieutenants who in turn command hordes of younger lizard men. These hordes are loosely organised into raiding parties attacking in a seemingly chaotic pattern anything that tries to move in their land. Some of the raiding parties go a little longer outside the core areas of lizard men and have extended even into Fenridge Castle.
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Originally Posted by delgondahntelius
