Loptyrian

Erroneously reffered to by many names including Yuan-ti, Orochi-born, maedar, and Jormanspawn, the Loptyrians are a wide-spread term used to catagorize the many mutations and sub-groups of Snake-like beings that infest Brimir's Coastal Islands, some sub-groups include hydras, gorgons, and the lesser lamias. Thought to have spawned from the World Serpent or one of his many children, The cold-blooded Loptyrians are an oddity amongst races, where despite never interacting with the Loptyrians of a different Island, and all having different dieties, the core mythos of the Loptyrians remains the same.   Said shared mythos states that the Original Loptyrians hail from a tropical jungle nation pressumably located on the continent of Niflheim, questionable mage practices have revealed that there ancestors were at one point warm-blooded creatures that almost resembled a primitive, ape-like human. These proto-loptyrians were once apart of a great civilization lost to time. while the exact specifics of this civilization are difficult to find beyond the relics left in their wake, evidence found suggests their civilization initally fell to a combination of their own hubris and pursuit of power, in which a great many individuals incurred the wrath of their own gods themselves. the loptyrians survival came in the form of a massive earthquake that broke small chunks of land off of the continent, drifting away to form the Islands of today. This was an act of Kindness by Typhon, one the Loptyrians would be unlikely to reciprocate. Many emotions don't come eassily to Loptyrians, the ritual their ancestor's went through to obtain their more serpentine forms had closed their hearts to the outside world, other races are little more than animals to them, useful tools or prey to feed their apotheosis. Loptyrians believe in power over all else, the most ambitious Loptyrians work towards perfecting their ancestors rituals, slowly experimenting on oneself to evolve before passing their knowledge to the next generation, gradually skinning away any humanity they had left as the strive to attain the same form their gods posses, unlike the new gods and primordials of brimir and the spiritual pseudo-gods, Loptyrian's tribe specific gods are purely phsyical beings that can directly intervene with mortal affairs, ruling over their worshipers as immortal Tyrants, until their inevitable end arrives.   It should come as little shock to those reading this that the Loptyrians lack any true "faith" in their gods like a dwarf may hold for Relic. Loptyrians and their gods hold a strange, almost parasitic relationship, where upon the god-like entities that rule over them depend on their worship to survive (lest they fade away) but Loptyrians only appease them to survive and amass greater power in aspects almost similar to Warlocks, or Paladins, (note: do not compare them to clerics -H.R) waiting for the oppurtune moment to strike down the divine serpent and replace them. That isn't to say that the gods are unaware of this deception, far from it in fact, they likely did the same treachorus acts towards their predesessors; many tribes become rather cocky over the knowledge that their god can't wipe them all out without damning their own existence.   Making their homes in either prebuilt structures they took over or makeshift jungle encampments, Loptyrian's often millitant culture is divided into three main castes: Serf, Soldier, and Sage. The one's most commonly seen outside their camps are the Soldiers, the vanguard and main muscle of the loptyrian's conquest. Soldiers are born when their egg is selected from the hatchery for experimentation, should they survive the birthing process, a Soldier is ready for war mere months after birth with either a preinstalled bloodlust or geas implanted loyalty towards his tribe, this zealous loyalty also makes them common canidates for a sage's experiments regarding evolution. the bulk of all loptyrians are born into the Serf class, a massive catch all term for all the farmers, blacksmiths, Artists, ect. that keep the tribe running, contrary to other systems, a Soldier does not nessesailry outrank a Serf, in fact, Serf typically outrank and can order Soldiers so long as it's in relation towards the serf's position of experitise, for example, a blacksmith is considered the supreme authority in his forge and his orders regarding maintenance are absolute.   Finally at the top of the system is the smallest caste: the Sages. Consisting of the select few eggs that hatch possesing noteworthy magic or those that by some miracle manage to obtain outstanding power. (an incentive for lesser classes to serve as test subjects) The Sage caste functions as a council that governs over the loptyrians, Loptyrian gods directly communing with the sages and directing their will onto the world through them. The Sages keep the caste system in line through a combination of silver-tongued words, questionable promises of satisfaction, liberal use of fear, and of course, Magic. To aid in their rule, the sages have developed a wide array of Geas' and Polpymorphic Hexes that serve to craft unspeakable monsters incapable of disobedience, this, in truth, is the true reason soldier eggs are altered at birth, the Geas' planted before birth ensure absolute loyalty to the sole sage responsible, giving them a private army should they decide they no longer wish to tolerate equals.