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Tlatlacah

Tlatlacah (meaning ‘The People’ in their tongue), also called 'Serpentmen' by other races, are the most ancient civilization that inhabited the continent and that, guided by their deity Aspidis, reached the pinnacle of technique and science in times long forgotten even by the Elves and the Ilthir. What remains of their civilization are only the ancient, imposing, but crumbling ruins of their majestic cities, now buried by the shifting sands or under the overgrown vegetation of lush jungles.

The few scattered remains of this ancient race find refuge in some of the nooks and crannies of their old cities, but most dwell within the Depths, surviving under the protection and alliance of the Ilthir.

Tlatlacah are commonly thought by humans to be touched by some unknown ‘dark forces’ or to derive from the union of twisted cultists with snakes and demons. The reality is unknown, however, as their racial origin is lost in the millennia to even themselves.

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Members of this race are generally secretive with a societal tendency towards rational, goal-oriented, and scheming behavior that may appear as cold or cruel to most. However, even if they would seem insensitive or very slow in reacting to others, they would still be capable of feelings, albeit showing them in much more private settings.

Biology

The Children of Aspidis vary in their forms between several degrees of human-like to nearly all snake-like, but all still share some serpentine features. Their scaly skin color varies between various shades of green and dark brown. Other features can vary between individuals, with some sporting a tail, others a very long, bifurcated tongue, yellow slitted eyes, or more rarely their entire upper body reminding one of a snake. Often, the more the body of a Tlatlacah resembles that of a serpent, the closer they are considered to their deity ⁠Aspidis, with the closest ones often called 'purebloods' making up most of the priest caste.

​Serpent-like traits are also highly sought after in the rare instances these entities feel the urge to procreate, as they are considered the mark of nobility and those of purest blood. Legends of the Tlatlacah claim that the bloodlines of those with fewer serpentine traits were born out of mixing with the inferior Humans. However, this is easily proved as false as Tlatlacah are, in fact, utterly incapable of procreating with other races. Though it is rumored that radical groups of alchemists are experimenting on unions with some groups of ‘unorthodox’ Ilthir that would be willing to mix their blood, convinced that the union may be a necessary evil to enable the survival of their species.

At a significant disadvantage with respect to other races, unfortunately, the gestation period for a Tlatlacah is exceptionally long, typically requiring several years. Such is the length of their reproductive cycle and sexual maturation that their population naturally remains at a mostly stable level, which leaves them incredibly susceptible to external events. Some of the most serpent-like Tlatlacah, called Motquiticil or ‘The Pure’ among their people, will often retire from their public lives to hatch their eggs in private for the full duration of the cycle.

 

A remarkable advantage that the Children of Aspidis have is their ability to enter a short hibernation period lasting from a few days to a week where their primary sex organs completely reconfigure which enables any two Tlatlacah to reproduce should one be in a receptively fertile period.

This trait even allows rare individuals to reproduce asexually through parthenogenesis, though the offspring produced through this manner are almost universally female.

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Due to their especially low metabolism, Serpentmen are may suffer in cold climates and almost always go out of their way to avoid them, though they are able to withstand them for short periods out of necessity. Instead, the Children of Aspidis prefer to reside in hot and humid environments such as steamy jungles or the caves found therein.

Tlatlacah can live up to 100-120 years due to their slower metabolism, and reach maturity at a similar age as humans.

Society

Present day Tlatlacah society is almost impossible to describe in useful terms, as individuals of this ancient people are so few and so widely scattered that even at best they are able to form small communities or extended families. Where they see the most stability is when they congregate in Dark Elves settlements or cities, where often the individual closest to their deity, the oldest, or the most cultured one becomes the de facto leader.

Even when living amongst the Ilthir, they often stick together with their own kind and pursue their private lives, and so it is seen that though they integrate, they rarely assimilate. This changes as one turns to examine members of the second, third or even fourth generation of a community residing inside Ilthir society where offspring of a Tlatlacah community are reared together with Ilthir children and often in communal crèches. Thus it is a growing sentiment that the Depths are their new place in the world; and as such the younger generations,

especially from the cities, often wear the same clothes, or begin sharing similar values as their Ilthir hosts, and can even form some kind of friendship with them.

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Aeons ago, when their society spanned the known world, the Tlatlacah were ruled by a very strict patriarchal theocracy led by the priests of Aspidis. Wealthy males would form the majority of the ruling class, as well as take on the roles of warriors, engineers, and scholars, while the least affluent were employed in the fields, in various trades, as artisans, or any sort of more humble profession. Females were instead kept in their houses, tending to it and their offspring, or in the case of the wealthy who might spend their hours reading, discussing philosophy and political matters. However, everyone in society would have access to education, be it military or scholastic, allowing for a great degree of social mobility. In their contemporary communities, the Children of Aspidis tend to maintain a semblance of their ancient ways where their females keep more to housekeeping, lore keeping, as well as social roles such as diplomacy, or entertaining relations with others that are not considered a threat.

Meanwhile, the males tend to be responsible for the more ‘daring’ affairs, such as infiltrating other peoples, dealing with religious matters, and in general being still the ones to make decisions.

Within the last thousand years, many of the Tlatlacah have dedicated themselves to chronicling what remains of their traditions and accumulating artifacts belonging to their ancient golden age. Some of these chroniclers hold out hope that this effort will one day be used to rebuild their lost civilization, while others are aware that such a period of their history will likely never come back, and so this great endeavor is seen as an attempt to keep their lore as a monument of the ancient glory.

 

There is a minority amongst those who hope to rebuild who consider this monumental effort toward recording the history of a ‘failed civilization’ a waste of time and that the race should instead focus on actual rebuilding by locating and gathering all of the myriad disparate groups. But all of these views, each somewhat opposed to the others, are faced with a harsh reality that the sparse groups scattered around the world with none containing more than two or perhaps three dozen individuals may never be enough to rebuild or even maintain a functional society.

History

The Tlatlacah once spanned the known world, having dominated the regions of the continent which they found habitable and left the rest to the other races at the time, the “dregs of the world” as they saw them. Their deity, Aspidis, once greatly favored them at the cost of an imbalance between the other deities, much like the ‘New Gods’ currently favoring the Human race.

However, with the coming of the Human race, they have been rapidly and vastly outnumbered, and for every Human they managed to kill, ten more would have been born. Ultimately, even already in its infancy of the stone age, Humans biology, with their much higher birth rate and their adaptability to more climates, was simply too much of an advantage, and the numbers of the Tlatlacah began to decrease, until they were not enough to maintain their large palaces and gardens, their aqueducts, libraries and roads being slowly abandoned until they retired in smaller and more practical settlements. The rapid cultural and technological growth of the Human kind though started to put at risk even these smaller settlements, and so the Tlatlacah started to take refuge within the Ilthir, and to slowly fade away.

Apparel

Tlatlacah have usually the body of a standard humanoid, a slimmer than average shape, and can have several features reminiscent of serpents, such as a green-to-brown skin, often covered by more or less prominent soft scales, slitted eyes, a tail, or extremely small ears. Their height can also vary widely between the single individuals Tlatlacah clothing is often a mixture of styles, especially for the ones that live in Ilthir society, between their traditional clothing of silks of single monochrome color and feathered ornaments, to the more modern Dark Elven fashion of black, white and silver.

They greatly appreciate jewelry and often, not dissimilarly from Ilthir woman, they do not mind showing their skin. The very rare that would have lived their lives on the surface instead would likely wear more ‘practical’ clothing, as their lives were likely some of survival and hiding, and less so of thriving in an actual society. Tlatlacah would sometimes gift clothing items or accessories made of serpent skin to people, even members of other races in sign of great respect, though others wearing similar kind of items is often taken as an offense, even if in most cases likely an involuntary one.

Relation with other races

Tlatlacah in most cases live inside of Ilthir’s society, where they integrated quite well in the arch of the last few hundred years. Especially their youngs, while all maintaining respectful distances, improving and learning a great deal from each other. They would also be well aware that a low standing within that society, would likely mean a miserable life, if not endanger their entire community, which is why they tend to be extra careful when dealing with their ‘hosts’.

They consider Ogroids, Humans, Faefolk and Dwarves essentially all the same, just some inferior form of life with rights little more than an animal, with some particular hatred towards Humans, which they would appreciate only as slaves material, otherwise seeing them (rightfully) as the main cause of the end of their civilization. Surface Elves are seen not too differently than humans, but as victims, therefore with no hatred but some pity and contempt for the entirety of their race, as they chose servitude to inferior beings. Beastkin would be seen as indeed nothing more than filthy, dangerous beasts with no direct use due to their aggressiveness.

How to play

  • Tlatlacah are very few and at risk of extinction and each member of this dying people is aware of the burden and risk and so the life of every one of them is precious beyond comparison.

  • Tlatlacah live together with Ilthir, integrated at various degrees in their society, or in very small and isolated communities in the warm Jungles, though these become rarer and rarer with the further expansion of the Human race, which they despise.

  • The Tlatlacah are not a race of warriors, but an ancient civilization of sages, alchemists, diplomats, and priests. Your life is precious: avoid physical confrontations and any unnecessary risk at all costs. Use diplomacy, alliances, rituals, poisons, and artifacts to secure a future for yourself and your community, to make it thrive, and overcome your enemies from a safe spot.

  • Tlatlacah are cold and rational, slow to make decisions, but they can like the pleasures of the flesh and can be played as a decadent society as well, especially when living in a thriving Dark Elves community. They rarely show any emotions, and less so in public, even if they are quite capable of feelings,

  • Tlatlacah would never have a friendly relation with anything they consider too uncivilized, or Humans: no matter how far removed from civilization that human may be as Tlatlacah first and foremost feel very strongly that humans are the cause of their extinction and secondly they are seen as no more than animals. At best they could be cold and distant with these other creatures, treating them as indeed nothing more than animals.

  • Tlatlacah are very traditionalist and fervently religious; all of them worship ⁠aspidis primarily, although some might worship other deities as well. Rarely some might hide among humans with the purpose of acquiring resources and knowledge and spreading the cult of the Sibilans (see ⁠Aspidis)

How to play

  • Darkvision (see Table of racial characteristics)

  • Languages: Vulgar Ilthirri, Tlatlacahn

  • Height limits 153 to 198 cm

  • Natural Venom

  • Weak to Cold

  • Animal Unease

  • Tlatlacah are favored by their god, who grants them mild ability to better mask their identity and alter the perception of reality: Self Illusion I

  • Tlatlacah can settle only in the Underworld, Jungle, and Volcano

Authors: Rashan

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