Page 59 - Serpent Kingdoms

SARRUKH

By the founding of Isstosseffi fi l and Mhairshaulk, the sar- wilds of Faerûn in the hopes that they would multiply and con-
rukh had enslaved so many creatures that they had stopped quer the surrounding territories.
keeping sarrukh slaves at all. Each sarrukh lived in comfort, The next successful experiment produced the nagas. Though
surrounded by the fi nery that had once been reserved for their the sarrukh approved of the serpentine form with a humanoid
leaders. Eventually, the sarrukh stopped fi ghting their own wars head, the nagas proved diffi cult to control. Rather than destroy
and trained their slaves to fi ght for them, promising that the their creations, however, the sarrukh allowed those who posed
best warriors would be freed to enjoy the same lifestyle as the little threat to remain in their service as guards, explorers, and
sarrukh. Occasionally they actually kept this promise and freed magical researchers. The rest were freed.
a particularly powerful warrior as an example to the others. Their fi nal—and perhaps fi nest—creation was the yuan-ti,
The lure of freedom and wealth created an enormous and loyal developed by the sarrukh of Mhairshaulk. This race repre-
fi ghting force that helped the sarrukh maintain control over sented the fi rst truly successful cross between human and
their empires. sarrukh, with a touch of serpent thrown in. The yuan-ti
Eventually, Scaleless Ones were deemed suitable sacrifi ces for came in several different physical forms, depending on the
the World Serpent, thereby freeing the sarrukh from the need to amount of sarrukh blood used. Though not as obedient as
choose sacrifi ces from among citizens of supposedly equal rank. the lizardfolk subraces, the yuan-ti were more biddable than
Though the World Serpent did not object to the decision, it did the nagas, and highly intelligent besides. Because they greatly
violate his original agreement with the sarrukh. To maintain enjoyed being in charge of Scaleless Ones, the yuan-ti became
the letter of the agreement while accommodating the changing the slavemasters, military leaders, and managers of the sar-
needs and demands of his worshipers, the World Serpent split off rukh empires.
an aspect of himself that was called M’daess, whose task was to With so many highly skilled servitors, the sarrukh were no
purify the souls of unclean sacrifi ces and make them equivalent longer forced to fi nd their own food, build their own cities, or
to sarrukh. even care for their own slaves. The sarrukh of Mhairshaulk
slowly withdrew from the cares of the world as they turned over
The Scaled Races more and more of their responsibilities to the yuan-ti. For their
part, the yuan-ti appreciated the lifestyles that their creators
Part of the reason that nonscaled slaves were treated so poorly allowed them to have, so they remained mostly loyal. A few,
was the fact that their masters actually loathed them. They found however, would periodically withdraw from sarrukh society,
the Scaleless Ones’ odor offensive, their primitive languages strike out on their own, and form their own groups. The sarrukh
grating on the nerves, and their smooth skins unsettling. knew of such defections but ignored them, knowing that yuan-ti
While exploring Faerûn, the sarrukh encountered numer- who were allowed to leave in peace would go out into the world
ous scaly animals in the wilds, including dinosaurs, snakes, and and create their own societies, which the sarrukh could later call
lizards. Some of these animals were developing along the same upon for aid.
lines as the ancestors of the sarrukh had, but they hadn’t evolved
to the point of sentience yet. The sarrukh collected thousands of Dwellings
such creatures in hopes of breeding one or more new intelligent
races to serve them. The sarrukh lived in stonework buildings, which were typi-
Realizing that breeding programs alone would not be enough, cally adorned with the holy symbols of the World Serpent.
the sarrukh began magical experimentation on the creatures Icons set into the walls depicted the sarrukh concept of
they had collected. They combined a few of their scaly specimens divine creatures, which often appeared demonic by modern
with humans to see whether a single servitor race that was less standards. Statues of sarrukh in plazas, courtyards, and
offensive to them could be formed. Their earliest experiments along the roadways depicted either the noble sarrukh leaders,
resulted in badly deformed creatures that didn’t survive long. resplendent in their fl owing robes, or armored sarrukh in
But through selective breeding and more subtle forms of magical dramatic battle stances.
manipulation, the sarrukh fi nally managed to create viable races
that were much more to their liking. Sarrukh Characters
Their fi rst successes were the asabis, the lizardfolk, and the
pterafolk. Though not as intelligent as humans, these creatures Because they are extraordinarily powerful creatures, all sar-
had the same bipedal form and were relatively easy to manipu- rukh with class levels are automatically epic-level characters.
late. Once they had reassured themselves as to the loyalty of While the Epic Level Handbook is not necessary to under-
these races, the sarrukh began handing off fairly easy tasks to stand and use the statistics presented in these pages, DMs
them. At fi rst they were trained as personal servants, then as wishing to let their players run sarrukh characters will fi nd it
warriors. Finally, entire groups of them were planted in the immensely helpful.

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