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Few races are as enigmatic or as xenophobic as the nagaji, who hail almost exclusively from the land of Seruzhar. Nagaji largely resemble hairless, reptilian humans in size and shape, and many display puzzling and often vestigial characteristics evocative of mammalian creatures. Some possess frilled ridges and colorful crests, while others have more snakelike features that are less garish but no less unique to nagaji physiology.
Despite their reptilian nature, nagaji do not have tails. The nagaji have long since developed into a vibrant and proud race.
The reptilian nagaji have scaly flesh—these scales are typically green, gray, or brown in hue, with colorful ridges of red, blue, or orange on their skulls or backs. Their ears and noses are flat, almost to the point of being nonexistent, while their eyes are those of serpents, ranging widely in color but tending toward golds, reds, yellows, and other warm hues.
Nagaji society places honor, devotion, and dedication above all else.
For their part, nagaji regard humans as violent expansionists not to be trusted as political neighbors or allies. They tend to see kitsune and tengus as too capricious and mischievous to trust, but they grudgingly respect the samsarans’ wisdom. Wayangs are mistrusted as well, for their apparent lack of a strong national heritage worries and confounds the nagaji.
Most nagaji are lawful neutral, but nagaji of any alignment are possible.
Nagaji are often drawn to lives of adventure out of a desire to prove their own worth outside of their cursed reputations. Strong of body and personality, nagaji excel as sorcerers, fighters, and for the right personality, serve exceptionally well as paladins.
Most nagaji are enemies of Yig.
History
The Nagaji are among the oldest of all sentient creatures native to Aednas. Long ago, their mighty empires spanned across continents, onto neighboring planetoids, and even into the Great Beyond. They are said to have ruled portions of the now-destroyed continent of Aventus. Nagaji subjugated any "lesser" race they encountered, and Nagaji ruins depict cave-dwelling humans used as cattle or beasts of burden; it is unknown how many races the Nagaji exterminated for pure pleasure. Most monuments to their greatness have crumbled away in the past 10,000 years. Only their unusually smooth obelisks, built by their many slave races, can still be found.
The Nagaji went into decline during the Great Flood that saw their population drop, and many of their holdings abandoned.
Most Nagaji cities on the surface have crumbled away or taken by humans or monsters. Some underground have retained elements of their magically enhanced architecture.
