Page 6 - Serpent Kingdoms
P. 6

I INTRODUCTIONNTRODUCTION


                     The Progenitors                                   superior intellect and tactical sense, they forged the land empires
                                                                       known as Isstosseffi fi l, Mhairshaulk, and Okoth—vast realms
                     Toril has been home to reptilian creatures of both the serpent (leg-  wherein they enslaved, bred, and experimented upon other crea-
                     less) and the lizard (limbed) kinds ever since the mists lifted from   tures. The sarrukh dwelt in fortresses, kept thousands of slaves,
                     the newly formed continents. Sages believe that before the coming   and built a culture the like of which has never been seen since.
                     of dragons, much of Faerûn’s dry land was dominated by creatures   Eventually, however, the empires of the sarrukh met the inevi-
                     that some humans called Thunderers—lizards ranging from a few   table fate of all empires—they slipped into decadence and were
                     inches in length to the size of the biggest oceangoing ships that   ultimately swept away by foes from within and without.
                     humankind has since constructed. Amid this fl ourishing profusion     Today, some thirty-six thousand years later, the sarrukh are
                     of reptiles were certain kinds of sentient lizards and snakes that   very rare but not quite extinct. The few that are left remain as
                     developed societies, mastered magic, and eventually built empires.  aloof from the rest of Toril as their ancestors were at the height
                       In this ancient time, the lizard people known as the sarrukh   of their power. In fact, most beings in modern-day Faerûn have
                     rose to become the dominant race of Faerûn. Through their   never even heard of them.



                                              Scaled Ones and Scaleless Ones

                       Serpent Kingdoms uses several terms to denote various kinds
                                                                                   SERPENT CONSTRUCTS
                       of scaled and nonscaled creatures. For the purpose of this
                                                                       The term serpent constructs includes all of the following crea-
                       book, these terms are as defi ned below. Dragons, though they
                                                                       tures from the books published for the D&D game.
                       are powerful reptiles, are not considered Scaled Ones.        MM2         FF         FF
                                                                        Bronze serpent  , iron cobra , necrophidius , serpent-
                                                                                SK
                                                                       fl esh golem .
                       Scaleless Ones
                                                                                         SERPENTS
                       The term “Scaleless Ones” includes all humanoids and monstrous
                                                                       The term serpents includes all of the following creatures from
                       humanoids that do not fall into the Scaled Ones category.
                                                                       the books published for the D&D game.
                                                                                    SK
                                                                                                              SK
                                                                        Amphisbaena , constrictor snake MM , deathcoils , death-
                       Scaled Ones                                     fang ,  dire  snake MM2 ,  dung  snake ,  fl ame  snake ,  fl ying
                                                                                                              FF
                                                                                                  SK
                                                                          Rac
                                                                                                            SK
                                                                           Rac
                                                                       snake , giant constrictor snake MM , glacier snake , Ice ser-
                       This encompasses all creatures in the following subcategories.  Mon  SK  MM2      SK        SK
                                                                       pent  , jaculi , legendary snake  , mlarraun , reed snake ,
                                                                                        FF
                                                                             SK
                                                                                                   SK
                                                                                                                   For
                                                                       sewerm , shadow asp , tree python , two-headed adder ,
                                        SCALYKIND                          MM         SK         For
                                                                       viper  , whipsnake , winged viper .
                       The term scalykind includes all creatures with the reptilian
                       subtype, as well as the following creatures from the books
                                                                                       SERPENTFOLK
                       published for the D&D game.                     In addition to creatures with the Snake Blood feat (see Feats in
                        Asabi Mon , braxat MM2 , dragonkin Mon , fi renewt Mon , frost salaman-  FORGOTTEN REALMS Campaign Setting) or a yuan-ti graft, the
                                  FF
                                                         SK
                       der MM2 , khaasta , kobold MM , lizard king/queen , lizardfolk MM ,   term serpentfolk includes all of the following creatures from
                                                    SK
                                      FF
                       pterafolk Mon , sarkrith , stingtail Mon , tren , troglodyte MM .
                                                                       the books published for the D&D game.
                         Rangers in the FORGOTTEN REALMS Campaign Setting may           MM            SK      Mon
                                                                        average  salamander  ,  banelar  naga ,  banelar  ,  bone
                       select scalykind instead of a creature type or organization as   SK   MM2      MM          MM
                                                                       naga  template ,  bone  naga  ,  couatl  ,  dark  naga  ,
                       a favored enemy.                                              SK                    MM
                                                                       Faerûnian  ha-naga ,  fl amebrother  salamander  ,  guardian
                                                                                                              SK
                                                                                          SK
                                                                       naga MM ,  iridescent  naga ,  marilith MM ,  nagahydra ,  noble
                                         LIZARDS                               MM        FF      SK        MM
                                                                       salamander  , ophidian , sarrukh , spirit naga  , ti-khana
                       The term lizards includes all of the following creatures from   FF  SK               MM
                                                                       template ,  wereserpent ,  yuan-ti  abomination  ,  yuan-ti
                       the books published for the D&D game. The category includes   FF               Mon
                                                                       anathema , yuan-ti broodguard template  , yuan-ti brood-
                       all dinosaurs and hydras.                       guard template , yuan-ti halfblood MM , yuan-ti holy guardian ,
                                                                                  Sav
                                                                                                                   SK
                                                                  SK
                        Allosaurus MM2 , ankylosaurus MM2 , basilisk MM , ceratosaur ,   yuan-ti mageslayer , yuan-ti pureblood MM , yuan-ti tainted one
                                                                                     SK
                       crocodile MM ,  cryptoclidus MM2 ,  deinonychus MM ,  elasmosau-  template Mon , yuan-ti tainted one template .
                                                                                                     Sav
                       rus MM , giant crocodile MM , giant lizard MM , hydra MM , lizard MM ,     Rangers in the FORGOTTEN REALMS Campaign Setting may
                                                    For
                                        SK
                                                              SK
                       megaraptor MM ,  nifern ,  pack  lizard ,  pteradon ,  quet-  select serpentfolk instead of a creature type or organization as
                                             For
                       zalcoatlus MM2 ,  riding  lizard ,  seismosaurus MM2 ,  shocker   a favored enemy.
                                                       For
                       lizard MM ,  spinosaurus MM2 ,  spitting  crawler ,  triceratops MM ,
                       tyrannosaurus MM , yrthak MM .
                                                                     5
             620_96566_SerpentKingdom3.indd   5                                                                 5/11/04, 11:57:42 AM
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