SIAE Registration Protocol N° 2023/00696
Monitors
The Monitor people can be generally compared to a blend of fictitious fantasy society and members of the Varanidae biological family.
Monitors are one of the twelve races of anthropomorphic reptiles that populate Yanìs, and are grouped in the subgenus of Scaleds together with Crocodiles, Tortoises and Turtles.
Physically, they are of medium height with strong bodies, with an average height of about 6 feet and a weight varying between 70 and 90 kg. They resemble large anthropomorphic lizards but they have about 60 teeth set together, which can reach up to 2.5 cm in length. Their saliva is often stained with blood, creating an ideal breeding ground for numerous bacteria and toxins that live in their mouth. They reproduce by oviparity, with females laying a pair of eggs in a muddy basin after fertilization occurs through sexual acts.
Korzatcal was born in prehistory when a Wyvern devoted to Zondoey (more for its riot against the Gods of the Ring than the deity itself) took control of the Monitor people. From then on, it not only subjected them to the undeath cult but also led them to conquer neighboring peoples. The Monitor people have therefore always been dominated by the priestly caste, known as K’uhul Ajaw, or as "ashes warlocks", and by a fervent xenophobia, inscrutability, and obsession with death and immortality. Even today, despite their strenuous closure to the outside world, the Monitor people, and the entire Korzatcal, are seen as a sinister sorcerous menace, and the cult of the confined dark-lord is looked upon with cold dread. Rarely will a Monitor venture out from their lands, and even more rarely will an outsider enter it. Any foreigners found inside Korzatcal are killed, unceremoniously or through a sacred ritual: they have never been known to allow captured trespassers to live. The only exception is the harbor-city of Khemi, where foreign merchants are allowed to enter during the day but must return to their ships at night.
The Monitor people have developed an economy based on nomadic herding, fishing, bird hunting, and harvesting of guava. Major crafting includes sorcerous charms and amulets, as well as drugs and alchemy for both medical and magical use. The dead are mummified in long rituals which call upon errant and cursed spirits to perform many required tasks. Their tombs are not like other empires' tombs and lack the wealth that other peoples place within their graves. Their dead rest guarded by spells and are buried with scrolls and potions needed to return from death should their spirit be disturbed.
They speak Erpeton language, common to all Anthro reptile races, a harsh, hissing language, spoken mostly in the southern hemisphere of the planet (perhaps an Arabic gibberish).
Religiously they were mostly devoted to Kudan (deity of poisons and diseases), Lotru Kori (deity of suicide and madness), and Madra (deity of corruption and discord), but since the coming of their Wyverns rulers the main cult has become that of Zundoey (deity of undeath, curses and oblivion), also some Lohudonist cults keep tarrying.
Their Ancestral Princes were Kizàwi and Waràl, who taught their race to strengthen individually before becoming part of a group, as no one can be strong enough unless they mature on their own strength. Every young individual, after receiving minimal family care, must be left to itself, and if it survives to maturity, then it will be able to join society. Furthermore, fresh meat must be left to rulers and the elderly because the Monitor people, who have always been linked to death, should prefer rotten meat, which "notoriously" strengthens the body.
