Yuan-ti, sometimes called serpent-folk, were a serpentine humanoid race renowned for being evil and ruthless, living entrenched in deep jungles. The few times they had contact with the outside world, they plotted, kidnapped and murdered to advance their goals.

History

The Feun-fae people were a successful faeling society that lived on the old material plane, before the Celestial Wars. They had metal weapons and built stone structures; they were more successful than their neighbors, in fact conquering many of them. One of their core philosophies was to separate emotion from intellectual pursuits, allowing them to focus their energy on personal advancement and territorial expansion.

But their yearning for greatness led them down a dark path. They believed to be the most enlightened mortals of the known world, and in their hubris, they sought to become even greater. The serpent gods of the Old World heeded their prayers and hissed dark demands into their ears. The Feun-fae followed the path laid before them, performing human sacrifices, corrupting their flesh by cannibalizing their victims, and performing great sorcerous rituals while writhing in pools filled with snakes, mixing their flesh.

Out of this rose the first yuan-ti, a race that survived the swells of time and continuously plotted on to overcome the world. This first great empire was called SSeun. In the Old days, their secret plots and fearsome armies managed to overthrow nearly all peoples, and even thereafter, their ancient safe havens scattered across the known world served as a base from where purebloods infiltrated humanoid societies and tried to bring about their fall.

Biology

The yuan-ti race was distinguished from others by the snathed condition, a magical curse that caused the snake-like mutations of their bodies.

Physiology

The yuan-ti featured a variety of different races. Physically, they were derived from faelings, and their most humanoid specimens did closely resemble that race. However, most variations had at least some snake body parts, or at least scales replacing some of their skin. A few rare specimens, those regarded the most highly, were essentially huge snakes with arms.

Breeding. Most yuan-ti, despite their vastly varying physiology, could interbreed. Purebloods and some malisons had traditional humanoid sexual organs, although female wombs were differently built - they laid eggs instead of birthing live children. Some malisons and all ssenfions instead had their sexual organs - a hemipenes, a two-pronged sexual organ, for males and a cloaca for females - at the end of their tails, in the same place as their excretory organs.

Physically, it was much easier for individuals with snake-like organs to mate with other snake-like ones, and for the humanoids to also breed among themselves. It was feasible for a male to use its hemipenes on a humanoid female, although this could cause great pain to the humanoid. The other way round - male humanoid with female snake - was not as dangerous, but it was more awkward.

Surprisingly, there was little genetic inheritance of yuan-ti traits. It was possible for two purebloods to create malison eggs. Generally, more snathed parents had a higher chance of producing more snathed children. Most often, however, bloodlines "thinned out", receding towards pureblood levels. Bloody rituals and other dark arts were necessary to continue maintaining ssenfion and malison numbers.

All yuan-ti shed their skin annually. Malisons saved their skins to use as material for packaging or crafting traps and ssenfion skins were burned as sacrifices. Purebloods shed haphazardly, since their scales were less robust and usually only appeared in patches, and buried the skins in shame.

Variations

The physical variations of yuan-ti often also dictated an individual's role in society. These are listed below, under "Society". There were three categories of mutations, ranked by severity of affliction.

Purebloods. The most common type of yuan-ti - about 90% of hatches - were purebloods, meaning they looked very similar to their original race, with only slight visual differences, such as snake scale patches and slitted pupils, distinguishing them as snathed.

Malisons. Some yuan-ti's transformations were more successful. They were still imperfect, but acceptable to the serpent gods. Malisons had some snake organs, such as snake heads (type 1, Senfai), lower torsos (type 3, Fensesh), or snake arms (type 2, SSaushe).

SSenfions (Abominations). The most successful mutations were ssenfions, large snakes with humanoid arms allowing them to wield weapons and use tools.

A unique ritual that altered a ssenfion's form, increasing its size, power and intelligence, could produce Anathemas. These looked similar to ssenfions, but were larger, had clawed hands, and six snake heads sprouting from where the head should be.

Culture

Young yuan-ti were educated at home or in the temple, depending on their class. Purebloods were only given basic instruction in temples. Malison education - which was by far the most extensive - included martial skills, hunting, survival techniques, and more philosophical and religious training that anyone else.

Family ties were almost entirely ignored; young ssenfions and pureblood served independently of their parents in and around the temples, while young malisons were raised in attributed households until able to survive on their own, at about 17 years of age. Although malisons did form households of a few members, these were rarely dictated by mates. Yuan-ti rarely had sexual urges and didn't have a need for partners.

Although parents didn't need to stay together for long, and had nothing to do with their children, malisons and ssenfions did put some renown on the line whenever they mated within their rank. If they failed to produce a satisfactorily snathed child, their blood could be seen as weak, and thereafter lose prestige and mating opportunities.

Converts. Occasionally, other humanoids could be captured and snathed. These new yuan-ti were usually pureblood and immediately joined the ranks at the lowest position. If a convert became a malison, which was a rare success, it was permitted to live with a high-ranking malison household for five years, after which time it had to establish its own home. Some conversions also failed, resulting in new broodguards, or in flesh to use in other rituals.

Converts were heavily immersed in the yuan-ti's stoic philosophy as well as manual labor, allowing them readily accepted into their class after a few years.

Eldercare. Elderly yuan-ti purebloods were sacrificed once they were no longer deemed useful by their masters. Malisons left each other to their own devices, so the elderly often died of natural causes or their own mishaps. In general, yuan-ti had little medicine and paid no thought to healing others.

Food. Only purebloods needed to eat on a daily basis, but they were given little more than scraps and what they could scavenge. Thus, they tended to eat bugs and plants they grew nearby and which could be collected during their brief downtime. Malisons and ssenfions ate weekly, or less often, and were exclusively carnivorous. Lower-ranking malison were tasked with hunting for food, while more prestigious ones hunted for sport. Malisons made donations of food to the temples roughly every other day.

One of the preferred targets of malison hunts were bullywugs, large humanoid frogs. They were a plentiful source of meat, and "exterminating some of the vermin" was always a good idea.

Religion

Yuan-ti religion was focused around a pantheon of serpent gods called Ssansel whose members constantly changed, "shifting like the slithering and writhing mass of snakes that leads all of us". The detached, intellectual stance of the yuan-ti did not lend itself well to fervent religious worship. Instead, they saw their deities as the best way to attain more knowledge and rise to power themselves. For lower-ranked yuan-ti, religion was mainly a tool to keep them in line and force them to participate in rituals aimed at increasing their betters' power.

Yuan-ti religion took many forms, often varying from city to city. The more obscure serpent gods often had only one particular city devoted to them. Usually, the ssenfions were the head clergy, telling the others what to do, maintaining the religious buidlings, and organizing major events such as sacrifices and dark rituals. Often, other things - such as infiltrating human societies or laying and protecting eggs - were also said to be a "holy task". Holy dictation was also importance in maintaining the ssenfions' power, since they could say that their snake-like physique was justification enough for them to rule.

The various distinctions of this religion, including the four major gods, also dictated some unique social and cultural structures. Notably, each of the four had a unique avatar-like role which was usually filled by malisons. In this way, the "middle class" could be satisfied and kept in line.

SSsansel Pantheon

The yuan-ti deities were a rather motley and disunified group. Some were true gods, some were "ascended" immortals, some were ancient primordials. There were also supernatural servants of other deities, demon lords, animal spirits, phantoms created by patterns in the Weave, and ascended heroes among their numbers. The SSansel proper however was defined as a group of four gods that remained unchanged since the very birth of the yuan-ti, while the ever-changing multitude of others were usually just called "serpent gods".

The yuan-ti deities commonly gifted greater magical powers to their worthy followers, usually as a kind of compensation to keep them satisfied and subjected. Some also directly interacted with their clerics, reacting directly to major rituals and giving guidance.

Dendar, the Night Serpent

The Night Serpent spawned in ancient history out of the first dark dreams of the sentient races. She feeds on the fears that plague mortals, growing ever stronger. Her followers believe that Dendar is the harbinger of the end of things, when she will grow so large and amass such power that she will consume the world in Dendareddon. According to another legend, there is an iron door to the underworld behind which she lurked; when the time was right, she would tear it down, eat the sun, and plunge the world into darkness before devouring it.

The clerics of Dendar were led by nightmare speakers, Fensesh malison warlocks that honored their deity through acts of terror and received magical power in return. Rather than killing prisoners, they preferred to threaten and torture them, the better to feed and strengthen the goddess.

SSauvea, the Fruitful

SSauvea was often portrayed as a Fensesh malison, but was simultaneously - somewhat paradoxically - revered as the greatest SSansel deity. She was the ancient mother that had laid the eggs that birthed the other deities, and was also one who guided the first yuan-ti in their discovery of the snathing rituals. In later societies, she stood for the values of fertility and growth.

Her clerics were most often purebloods, which meant that they had relatively little authority over the city. They were responsible for assisting the hatching of eggs, and for the security of well-being of both eggs and young yuan-ti. Thus, they commanded a city's broodguards. Often, purebloods that failed at their task were fed to recently hatched yuan-ti as punishment.

RReeshik, the Master of the Pit

After the fall of SSeun, the first yuan-ti empire, when the yuan-ti shattered and retreated to hidden cities, RReshik entered a deep slumber. It was unclear whether declining worship caused him to fall asleep, or if his prolonged torpor caused his worshipers to abandoned him. But even in his comatose state, the Master granted spells to his clergy. It was even possible to rouse him for advice or direct intervention was possible, but required many ritual murders to be performed in his name, and his return to consciousness lasted only short spans of time.

The leaders of his worshipers were called pit masters. They were SSaushe malisons that maintained his ancient values, upholding and advancing a very traditionalist culture. Few cities were fully devout to RReeshik, but many cities had a few pit masters with much influence who encouraged their people to stay on the ancient track. They believed that RReeshik was becoming easier to awaken, and thought that he might at one point fully wake, shed his skin, and - renewed by transformation - restore the yuan-ti to their rightful place as masters of the mortal world.

SSeth, the Sibilant Death

Some years before the fall of SSeun, SSeth appeared as a winged serpent, promising to lead the yuan-ti away from the brink of defeat and back to the pinnacle of world domination. Many of RReeshik's devout turned to worship the Sibilant Death, believing him to be an avatar of their deity. They granted him enough power to mount a brief recovery, but it was too little and too little to save the empire. During the years of decline, SSeth rested and gathered strength, while more and more followers adopted his worship.

His chief clergy were mind whisperers, an odd form of yuan-ti that didn't well fit into the three categories. They strived to succeed by offering an alternative choice to contesting viewpoints or plans, often appearing to exude an air of self-importance that made them rather unpopular among other believers. Thus, most cities were either fully devoted to the Sibilant Death, or not at all.

Society

Yuan-ti society was very strict and hierarchically ordered. SSenfions were lodged in large pyramid temples and rarely left them.

Purebloods had various roles, sometimes serving the ssenfions, bringing them food, information, and materials (including kidnapped outsiders). Most were affected to work in and around the city, being subservient to malisons. They performed lowly tasks no malisons wanted to do and seconded malisons in other jobs. The best purebloods served as spies, infiltrating humanoid societies and plotting to destroy them. Most were lodged in annexes to malison houses, in mass bunk houses, or inside the temples.

Malisons, meanwhile, lived more freely in free-standing homes arranged around their city's main buildings. Still, their lives were based on obedience to the ssenfions. They took care of most of the day-to-day economic and military necessities.

Offices

The rough hierarchy of the three classes was subdivided into a strict social ladder that was racially dictated, but still allowed some playing room for ambitious people.

Slaves. While the most promising captured humanoids underwent snathing rituals, the others were simply kept as slaves. These people did the most menial of menial work, including mining, farming, and attending their betters.

Broodguard. A specific ritual and potion could make humanoids into broodguards, unwavering beasts that were completely loyal to serpent-folk. Their simple-mindedness made them less useful than slaves for many tasks, but their unwavering loyalty made them capable guardians of eggs. Although still technically slaves, the physical ability, loyalty, and expense of the potion made them more valuable than common slaves, and therefore less expendable.

Pureblood Peasants. The purebloods were treated fairly but lived in an environment where their wants and needs were eclipsed by those of the malisons and ssenfions. Most were mere workmen or attendants subjected to higher-ups who performed menial labor. The most cunning infiltrated other societies, surrounding themselves with luxury and growing resentful when they had to return home and live under the caste system again.

SSlady Purebloods. Some purebloods managed to reach a position of leader. They could do so through exemplary behavior, charismatic skills, favoring their betters, having some skills in magic, or being the mates of higher-ranked malisons or ssenfions. They were distinguished from the others through clothes of a special color, often that of the leading religious group or white. The ssladies had authority over others, usually either pureblood workers, broodguards, or slaves. Notably, all clerics of SSauvea were ssladys.

Whenever a yuan-ti wanted to mate, but wouldn't risk having a failed child with another individual of their status, they fell back on ssladies.

Malisons. Nearly all malisons in a city had a given rank, being superior to some and inferior to others. These were often tied to their professions, and they lived accordingly in households. Clergy was usually among the top ranks, and some even resided in temples instead of houses outside.

SSenfions. The ssenfions resided in temples and had absolute rule over the city. They were given all they needed by their lessers and were the ultimate religious authority. Often, they competed with each other to produce the most snathed children, and their caste-specific ranking was wholly reliant on their estimated "strength of blood".

Anathemas. Although exceedingly rare, whenever an anathema was present, they naturally assumed a position of leadership over all others in the area. They often made the malisons and purebloods train as military units, making the whole city adapt a very warlike and expansionistic stance. They usually opted to wage small-scale wars on humanoids, often through proxies such as cults and allied factions, to gather riches and slaves until they were so powerful - and purebloods had so completely infiltrated the enemy - that they could establish the yuan-ti as the region's absolute rulers.