Interlude – Mountainworld Lizardpersons
Chief Jaan was a lizardperson who’d seen too much war in his life, and he had seen too many of their village’s spawn and younglings die in the wars. Wars against the other kingdoms, wars against demons. It was just war in perpetuity, and he had always thought this was how life was.
He watched as the matron, the eldest of the females, tended to the spawning pools. Life was cheap.
The spawning pools gave their village hundreds of young broods every year, but everyone knew it was a tradeoff. Spawning pools, in which lizardfolks donated their eggs and seeds into a communal pool, were a communal affair. The females of the village, when they came to maturity, could all produce a special liquid known as spawnfeed. This would be then brewed with other foods and components into a broth which is poured into the said pools. This nurtured the eggs and seeds from their infancy.
Naturally, quantity and quantity was a trade-off. Spawnfeed came from the females, and it was a drain on their physique, and its quality determined by how much was produced, and how much they had to make. The quality of the other foods and components also mattered in the strength of the spawn.
The first years of a spawnling was their years of haze. Lizardfolk did not gain full sentience and mind until the 2nd year, when they finally stepped out of their spawning pools, but the quality of the food and spawnfeed had a huge impact on how long this took, and the level of intellect the spawns had.
Yet, in order to ensure some spawn survived the wars, quality was always sacrificed for quantity. So much so that it’s almost a sacrilege to go for quality.
Then he saw the visitors for the first time. The knight, Ebon, seemed like a demigod from the ancient tales passed down from lizard-chief to lizard-chief. His presence far outstripped even the strongest that he had met, and as Chief, he had seen many.
Then, a few years later, the visitors came.
With a lizardfolk. A lizard person from the other world, dressed in the bright green insignia of that other world.
Valthorn.
Unlike the lizardfolk of the village, who were generally smaller, and had skinny muscles, this lizardfolk stood tall, as tall as the biggest of the other races, with muscles that radiated power. His scales glimmered when the sun’s rays reflected on it, a reflection of good health. His eyes were bright yellow, instead of the dull brown commonly seen in the other lizardfolk.
Everyone fawned, Chief Jaan included. It was fair to say every single lizardfolk stared at Kafa.
The knights chuckled at their reaction. “Kafa, everyone’s staring at you again.” Chief Jaan immediately imprinted the name in their mind.
Kafa shrugged, he had been through this too many times, this reaction was absolutely normal. Even back on Treehome, healthy lizardfolk were rare, and lizardfolk like Kafa, who were specially bred for pure power and strength? Every tour of the outer continents was met with fawning looks.
The result of the Valtrian lizardfolk repopulation program over the decades, and Aeon’s dedicated development program, Kafa’s natural abilities far outstripped the malnourished lizardfolks of the Mountainworld.
To Chief Jaan, Kafa was living proof that something else was possible. Something other than their endless grind of sending young, malnourished spawnlings to the meat grinder of war.
***
The village of lizardfolk did nothing. Life in the village was stable, even if it’s not ideal.
The heroes were freed, they broke the demons, defeated the demon king, and the war against the demonic armies came to an end.“A new nation in the lands cursed by the demon.” Jaan heard the news in the cities, during the Chief’s regular tax payment visits to the capitol.
This was nothing more than background noise to the village.
Yet that stability was short, because the inter-kingdom wars long held dormant resurfaced. Old grudges returned, and the kingdoms fought over the right to rule in this new era of ‘peace’.
He was upset when sixty of his strongest lizard warriors were drafted for the war and never returned. Upset, but they did nothing.
It was when flames of war came for their village, that they finally were spurred into action. A skirmish that led more of their people dead, and rumors of more attacks.
They thought of moving, even if that meant abandoning the spawning pools. Unlike the rest of the civilized worlds, lizardfolk had no attachment to their spawnlings, a byproduct of their reptilian origin.
Eventually, the discussions on migration led back to Kafa. He thought of the new nation in the cursed land, and wondered what kind of kingdom they would be.
Could their spawn be like that warrior?
***
Branchhold, they called it. It was visible from miles away, the trees of Branchhold seemed to reach so very high into the sky. The largest of them seemed to touch the clouds itself, and Chief Jaan wondered whether it was just some kind of magic.
Even the air felt different, they felt the ripples of aura on their skins and their bodies.
“Was this city always here?” One of his lizard mates asked.
Jaan never visited this area, even before the wars, but as far as he knew, no. This place shouldn’t have existed, unless some great magic hid them from the world. “I am not certain.”
The leaves of the forests were vibrant, the grasslands had a life in them that they’ve not seen elsewhere. There were still fallen leaves, and dried grass, but it seemed like new grass had already sprung up to take their place.
The group was greeted by three full layers of walls covered with vines and roots that looked taller than the highest of demons they’ve seen. Beetles crawled on those vines and roots, patrolling.
The gates were manned by a group of soldiers in bright green uniform. The same uniform of the lizardperson, Kafa.
“Are you here for the resettlement arrangement?” One of them approached them. “Sorry. I mean, are you refugees looking to move to Branchhold?”
Jaan paused at the words, and realised that they were in fact, refugees. He nodded. “Yes. Yes we are.”
***
The dwellings they received were strange, located at the roots of the trees. They were organised to different sections based on the race of the refugees, and Jaan’s villagers received strangely high quality dwellings made out of roots. The roots themselves curved to form these roundish dwellings, and there were pools of water for younglings.
What was rather unusual, was that each dwelling had their own spawning pools, instead of a communal spawning pool. He made a note to locate a spot suitable for communal spawning pools within the area.
“Greetings, Chief Jaan.” One of Branchhold’s representatives came to greet them, another lizardfolk.
“Ah, greetings, you are?”
“Foorang, I’m an administrator of Fresh- Branchhold.” The lizardperson said. “How are they taking to their new dwellings?”
“It’s very comfortable, but we do find some features a little strange, but may I just check, is this our temporary dwelling?”
”Oh. These dwellings are yours unless you find them unsatisfactory. Will you continue to be the chief of these lizardfolks?” Foorang asked.
Chief Jaan paused for a moment. “I see. What will it cost us?”
“Sorry?”
“What will the nobility require of us lizardfolk to pay for such accommodation? A hundred lizardfolk warriors per year?”
Foorang struggled for a moment, as he racked his brain for a response. “Ah. Uh... I think that’s a conversation with the central governing body. There will be reproduction quotas, like how it is organised back on the Central Continent.”
“...sorry, can you repeat that again?” Chief Jaan wasn’t sure what he had just heard.
“I think it’s best that we explain this in a dedicated environment.” Foorang quickly redirected the conversation, as he realised there was a cultural gap to bridge. “For now, will you be the chief of these lizardfolk?”
“Why?”
The administrator wondered momentarily. “Every new refugee group needs an appointed representative to the Council of Branchhold.”
“Ah. Yes. I will be, for the time being.”
“Great. There will be a briefing for the new migrants, and you can take two others with you. The council will explain the rules of our city and answer your questions, should you have them.” Foorang said. “There will be a lizardfolk-specific session as well, which we will first run through with the leaders and matrons.”
***
The issue of taxation and drafting was easy to get through. Lizardfolk villages normally paid their taxes by way of manpower. They supplied expendable lizardfolk warriors by the hundreds, and this was their ‘tax’ to the kingdom.
A shift towards ‘work’ and payment by way of production wasn’t hard to understand, and Chief Jaan was aware of some lizardfolk villages that paid their taxes by way of swampland herbs and potions.
What they struggled with was the change to the policy of spawning pools. It was a concept that they understood, but found it hard to internalise. Lizardpeople were expendable. They bred by the hundreds, and died by the hundreds. A malnourished lizard warrior was half as strong as others at level 10, but they covered that up with sheer numbers.
Each lizardfolk community would be given a communal spawning pool, but it would be located near the giant tree in the center of the city. There were visiting hours, and each matron would be trained. Each communal spawning pool was also limited to only 50 spawnlings at a time, unlike the multiple hundreds that they were used to.
They were briefed on the objective to breed stronger lizardfolks with higher quality of spawnfeed and additional nutrients, and the city would supply specialised saps that would be fed to the communal pools.
A normal spawnling would take two to three years to mature in the communal spawning pool, so, after the first year in the communal spawning pool, each family of lizardfolks will be allowed to move a small group of spawnlings to their personal spawning pools, if they desire to raise the spawnlings in their own ways. Otherwise, they would remain in the main communal spawning pool.
The matrons have to work with the herbalists and the druids of Branchhold, coupled with sharing of the feed with non-lizardfolks and the spawning limits, Jaan could already see the defensiveness brewing in their brown eyes.
Some of them were already muttering some unpleasant words under their breath, and Jaan got the full uncensored version once they got back.
Interlude – Mountainworld Lizardpersons
Chief Jaan was a lizardperson who’d seen too much war in his life, and he had seen too many of their village’s spawn and younglings die in the wars. Wars against the other kingdoms, wars against demons. It was just war in perpetuity, and he had always thought this was how life was.
He watched as the matron, the eldest of the females, tended to the spawning pools. Life was cheap.
The spawning pools gave their village hundreds of young broods every year, but everyone knew it was a tradeoff. Spawning pools, in which lizardfolks donated their eggs and seeds into a communal pool, were a communal affair. The females of the village, when they came to maturity, could all produce a special liquid known as spawnfeed. This would be then brewed with other foods and components into a broth which is poured into the said pools. This nurtured the eggs and seeds from their infancy.
Naturally, quantity and quantity was a trade-off. Spawnfeed came from the females, and it was a drain on their physique, and its quality determined by how much was produced, and how much they had to make. The quality of the other foods and components also mattered in the strength of the spawn.
The first years of a spawnling was their years of haze. Lizardfolk did not gain full sentience and mind until the 2nd year, when they finally stepped out of their spawning pools, but the quality of the food and spawnfeed had a huge impact on how long this took, and the level of intellect the spawns had.
Yet, in order to ensure some spawn survived the wars, quality was always sacrificed for quantity. So much so that it’s almost a sacrilege to go for quality.
Then he saw the visitors for the first time. The knight, Ebon, seemed like a demigod from the ancient tales passed down from lizard-chief to lizard-chief. His presence far outstripped even the strongest that he had met, and as Chief, he had seen many.
Then, a few years later, the visitors came.
With a lizardfolk. A lizard person from the other world, dressed in the bright green insignia of that other world.
Valthorn.
Unlike the lizardfolk of the village, who were generally smaller, and had skinny muscles, this lizardfolk stood tall, as tall as the biggest of the other races, with muscles that radiated power. His scales glimmered when the sun’s rays reflected on it, a reflection of good health. His eyes were bright yellow, instead of the dull brown commonly seen in the other lizardfolk.
Everyone fawned, Chief Jaan included. It was fair to say every single lizardfolk stared at Kafa.
The knights chuckled at their reaction. “Kafa, everyone’s staring at you again.” Chief Jaan immediately imprinted the name in their mind.
Kafa shrugged, he had been through this too many times, this reaction was absolutely normal. Even back on Treehome, healthy lizardfolk were rare, and lizardfolk like Kafa, who were specially bred for pure power and strength? Every tour of the outer continents was met with fawning looks.
The result of the Valtrian lizardfolk repopulation program over the decades, and Aeon’s dedicated development program, Kafa’s natural abilities far outstripped the malnourished lizardfolks of the Mountainworld.
To Chief Jaan, Kafa was living proof that something else was possible. Something other than their endless grind of sending young, malnourished spawnlings to the meat grinder of war.
***
The village of lizardfolk did nothing. Life in the village was stable, even if it’s not ideal.
The heroes were freed, they broke the demons, defeated the demon king, and the war against the demonic armies came to an end.“A new nation in the lands cursed by the demon.” Jaan heard the news in the cities, during the Chief’s regular tax payment visits to the capitol.
This was nothing more than background noise to the village.
Yet that stability was short, because the inter-kingdom wars long held dormant resurfaced. Old grudges returned, and the kingdoms fought over the right to rule in this new era of ‘peace’.
He was upset when sixty of his strongest lizard warriors were drafted for the war and never returned. Upset, but they did nothing.
It was when flames of war came for their village, that they finally were spurred into action. A skirmish that led more of their people dead, and rumors of more attacks.
They thought of moving, even if that meant abandoning the spawning pools. Unlike the rest of the civilized worlds, lizardfolk had no attachment to their spawnlings, a byproduct of their reptilian origin.
Eventually, the discussions on migration led back to Kafa. He thought of the new nation in the cursed land, and wondered what kind of kingdom they would be.
Could their spawn be like that warrior?
***
Branchhold, they called it. It was visible from miles away, the trees of Branchhold seemed to reach so very high into the sky. The largest of them seemed to touch the clouds itself, and Chief Jaan wondered whether it was just some kind of magic.
Even the air felt different, they felt the ripples of aura on their skins and their bodies.
“Was this city always here?” One of his lizard mates asked.
Jaan never visited this area, even before the wars, but as far as he knew, no. This place shouldn’t have existed, unless some great magic hid them from the world. “I am not certain.”
The leaves of the forests were vibrant, the grasslands had a life in them that they’ve not seen elsewhere. There were still fallen leaves, and dried grass, but it seemed like new grass had already sprung up to take their place.
The group was greeted by three full layers of walls covered with vines and roots that looked taller than the highest of demons they’ve seen. Beetles crawled on those vines and roots, patrolling.
The gates were manned by a group of soldiers in bright green uniform. The same uniform of the lizardperson, Kafa.
“Are you here for the resettlement arrangement?” One of them approached them. “Sorry. I mean, are you refugees looking to move to Branchhold?”
Jaan paused at the words, and realised that they were in fact, refugees. He nodded. “Yes. Yes we are.”
***
The dwellings they received were strange, located at the roots of the trees. They were organised to different sections based on the race of the refugees, and Jaan’s villagers received strangely high quality dwellings made out of roots. The roots themselves curved to form these roundish dwellings, and there were pools of water for younglings.
What was rather unusual, was that each dwelling had their own spawning pools, instead of a communal spawning pool. He made a note to locate a spot suitable for communal spawning pools within the area.
“Greetings, Chief Jaan.” One of Branchhold’s representatives came to greet them, another lizardfolk.
“Ah, greetings, you are?”
“Foorang, I’m an administrator of Fresh- Branchhold.” The lizardperson said. “How are they taking to their new dwellings?”
“It’s very comfortable, but we do find some features a little strange, but may I just check, is this our temporary dwelling?”
”Oh. These dwellings are yours unless you find them unsatisfactory. Will you continue to be the chief of these lizardfolks?” Foorang asked.
Chief Jaan paused for a moment. “I see. What will it cost us?”
“Sorry?”
“What will the nobility require of us lizardfolk to pay for such accommodation? A hundred lizardfolk warriors per year?”
Foorang struggled for a moment, as he racked his brain for a response. “Ah. Uh... I think that’s a conversation with the central governing body. There will be reproduction quotas, like how it is organised back on the Central Continent.”
“...sorry, can you repeat that again?” Chief Jaan wasn’t sure what he had just heard.
“I think it’s best that we explain this in a dedicated environment.” Foorang quickly redirected the conversation, as he realised there was a cultural gap to bridge. “For now, will you be the chief of these lizardfolk?”
“Why?”
The administrator wondered momentarily. “Every new refugee group needs an appointed representative to the Council of Branchhold.”
“Ah. Yes. I will be, for the time being.”
“Great. There will be a briefing for the new migrants, and you can take two others with you. The council will explain the rules of our city and answer your questions, should you have them.” Foorang said. “There will be a lizardfolk-specific session as well, which we will first run through with the leaders and matrons.”
***
The issue of taxation and drafting was easy to get through. Lizardfolk villages normally paid their taxes by way of manpower. They supplied expendable lizardfolk warriors by the hundreds, and this was their ‘tax’ to the kingdom.
A shift towards ‘work’ and payment by way of production wasn’t hard to understand, and Chief Jaan was aware of some lizardfolk villages that paid their taxes by way of swampland herbs and potions.
What they struggled with was the change to the policy of spawning pools. It was a concept that they understood, but found it hard to internalise. Lizardpeople were expendable. They bred by the hundreds, and died by the hundreds. A malnourished lizard warrior was half as strong as others at level 10, but they covered that up with sheer numbers.
Each lizardfolk community would be given a communal spawning pool, but it would be located near the giant tree in the center of the city. There were visiting hours, and each matron would be trained. Each communal spawning pool was also limited to only 50 spawnlings at a time, unlike the multiple hundreds that they were used to.
They were briefed on the objective to breed stronger lizardfolks with higher quality of spawnfeed and additional nutrients, and the city would supply specialised saps that would be fed to the communal pools.
A normal spawnling would take two to three years to mature in the communal spawning pool, so, after the first year in the communal spawning pool, each family of lizardfolks will be allowed to move a small group of spawnlings to their personal spawning pools, if they desire to raise the spawnlings in their own ways. Otherwise, they would remain in the main communal spawning pool.
The matrons have to work with the herbalists and the druids of Branchhold, coupled with sharing of the feed with non-lizardfolks and the spawning limits, Jaan could already see the defensiveness brewing in their brown eyes.
Some of them were already muttering some unpleasant words under their breath, and Jaan got the full uncensored version once they got back.
