Page 17 - Serpent Kingdoms

YUAN-TI

Almost all yuan-ti respect the property and person of a through such tunnels is a constant battle that often costs many
yuan-ti elder living in retirement, regardless of tribe or politics. slave lives.
Invading an elder’s walled compound, stealing his property, or
committing violence against his person or slaves is simply not HILLS
done. Dozens of such palatial mansions (particularly in the Yuan-ti hill homes are natural or artifi cial mounds riddled with
wilder eastern fringes of Calimshan and the southern backlands dwelling-dens and encircled by concentric walls. In the center
of the Tashalar) house frightened human slaves who try to are the actual living spaces. Subsequent rings enclose storage
ignore the withered corpse of a dead yuan-ti master in their areas, lookout and spellcasting towers, livestock, and fi nally a
midst, or live their lives around the coiled, immobile form of “maze” ring studded with traps through which only two tortu-
an elder who’s been asleep for decades. ous but safe routes exist. The outermost ring beyond the maze is
where guardian beasts (experimentally altered jungle monsters
Funereal Customs of all sorts) roam. These creatures are kept hungry and are thus
eager to attack any non-yuan-ti—or anyone else they’re ordered
Vrael olo funeral rites vary from tribe to tribe, ssrath to ssrath, to devour.
and temple to temple. Some yuan-ti burn or just abandon
corpses, but many try to glean scales or skins from the dead OTHER TERRAIN
before leaving the remains to decay in the open or burying Most yuan-ti that inhabit the more “civilized” areas of Faerûn
them under small stone cairns. A few favor feeding the dead to prefer to live in subterranean crawl-tunnels or in structures built
certain local monsters, which are thereafter treated as oracles of stone. In cold regions, such dwellings always extend below
of a sort because they have “swallowed the memories” of the frost level to where the temperature remains fairly constant. If
deceased. Yuan-ti wishing to divine the future simply observe volcanic activity or other subterranean sources of warmth are
the creatures’ behavior and interpret it according to certain present, yuan-ti tunnels always encircle such features.
little-known guidelines. The bodies of tribal elders or leaders are
usually treated with more reverence than those of lesser mem- LAIR FEATURES
bers of the tribe, and yuan-ti priests are almost always ritually Yuan-ti prefer the walls of their dwellings to be smooth and free
burned on the altars of their deities. of certain molds and fungi. Beyond that, they are not especially
The Extaminos, Sauringar, and Se’Sehen tribes employ picky—they don’t mind the presence of vapors, the litter that
a ritual known as “to the egg return.” First, they wash and accumulates in ruins, or minor incursions by other creatures
arrange their dead in as intact a manner as possible, even (such as edible birds and small, furry forest-dwellers).
sewing on or magically reattaching severed body parts. Once If possible, narrow crawl-tunnels are built into each yuan-ti
so prepared, corpses are bound in clean linen and shrouded in lair to slow or stop large invaders. “Sunning ledges” and other
windings—pieces of cloth that have been tied together into long, warmed places are provided so that vrael olo and other rep-
continuous strips and treated with resins. The end results are tilian inhabitants can readily access a comfortable range of
oval balls that resemble the eggs from which the dead yuan-ti temperatures.
once hatched. These “eggs” are then walled up in secret caves to Most yuan-ti dwellings contain at least one ssarramath,
mummify. Such caverns are opened only to add more dead, or or prayer-focus to Sseth. Such a feature may be as simple as
for adornment with tribal relics or trophies. a snake-headed spiral scratched on a wall, or as elaborate as a
life-sized, hand-carved stone snake balancing upright on its tail.
Dwellings A statue of this sort invariably features back-and-forth loops
of coils similar to those of a caduceus. It stands in a smooth,
Vrael olo can adapt to many environments. In most cases, carved bowl that can be fi lled with fl ammable, scented oil—and
they utilize whatever is readily available in their target area the bodies of sacrifi ces.
to build homes. Yuan-ti that build anew or have suffi cient resources (time
and slaves) to reshape the ruins they inhabit often create sloping
JUNGLE walls that are fairly smooth and pierced by many slither-holes
Jungle-dwelling yuan-ti often take control of overgrown stone linking chamber to chamber. Broken rock and rubble are cleared
ruins left behind by other races. If no such option is available, away, and foliage that blocks the sun from shining directly on
they construct abodes in trees or tunnels. at least one area of the ruin is cut back. Horizontal tree trunks
Yuan-ti tree homes are usually gigantic trees that stand iso- or stone pillars are installed in large chambers to serve as rest-
lated in swamps. Interior spiral wriggle-tunnels link each tree ing perches and high refuges against intruders. Yuan-ti who
with underground passages and perhaps even other trees. make use of osssra oils (see Osssra in Chapter 10) usually also
Extensive tunnel systems in the jungle can quickly become pierce walls, ceilings, and fl oors with vent tunnels that allow
choked by fast-growing roots, and all manner of creatures can the smoke to drift from a burning-chamber into other areas of
invade them. Thus, retaining control and ensuring free passage a dwelling.

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