Page 52 - Serpent Kingdoms

HIDDEN FOLK

The pterafolk stayed primarily under the control of the sar- LIFE CYCLE
rukh until the fall of Mhairshaulk. At that time, many of the A pterafolk female lays her eggs on a high mountain peak within
races that had opposed the sarrukh made an effort to track down her own clan’s territory, and both parents tend them until they
and destroy all the pterafolk settlements, thus forging an enmity hatch. As soon as the young are capable of fi nding their own
that has lasted for tens of thousands of years. food, the parents introduce them to their clan.
Most pterafolk die in battle. Their corpses are looted by their
Outlook own clans and then left to rot where they fall, since there is no
benefi t to any individual in elaborate funereal customs.
Pterafolk rarely play major roles in the confl icts of Faerûn for
two reasons—they are almost completely unable to trust anyone ORGANIZATION
who approaches them with offers of work, and they are too ag- A pterafolk tribe is usually led by a spirit naga chieftain. The
gressive (even toward one another) to work effectively in groups. pterafolk take their requests and disputes to the spirit naga, who
For the most part, the natives of Chult regard them as simply is expected to have the wisdom or raw might to satisfy everyone.
one of many threats to society. The one notable exception oc- But the chieftains, who are normally more interested in satisfy-
curred when Kaverin Ebonhand assaulted the Chultan city of ing their own desires, make alliances with the pterafolk who
Mezro in the Year of the Wyvern (DR 1363). Ebonhand some- can best help them do so and ignore the requests of others. A
how managed to enlist several dozen pterafolk into his army, pterafolk clan that feels slighted by the chieftain may attempt
and they fought fi ercely against the inhabitants of the city. to kill it and replace it with a more responsive one. Laws exist
When their human commander was slain in battle, however, at the discretion of the spirit naga chieftain and are enforced by
they disbanded and fl ed. the individual who has been wronged.
The criteria used to measure the power of each clan include
Pterafolk Society established loyalties, fi ghting prowess, size, and possessions. Of
Illustration by Jim Pavelec raids or engaging in other activities that benefi t individuals at promote their own interests. Such alliances may focus on the res-
these, loyalties tend to be the most important. Several families
within a tribe may form an alliance, agreeing to help one another
Pterafolk don’t function as a group unless they are conducting
least as much as the whole group. Within a tribe, pterafolk are
olution of internal diffi culties, or they may simply be agreements
to help one another in raids. In the latter case, the agreement
separated into clans, each of which normally consists of imme-
diate family members. Often, clans are interrelated to such an
extent that a tribe is nothing more than an extended clan.

RELATIONSHIPS
Most pterafolk are loyal to their immediate families and to
other clans with which they have forged alliances, but not
to anyone else. Betrayal and infi ghting are common within
the greater pterafolk society.

Pterafolk
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