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I'm just having so much fun making this character, that I wanted to make use of the wiki code to syntax all this text, to keep it orderly for myself, and presentable when I show it to friends and other players.

Keywords: Polite, Peacefull, Calm, Logical, Reason, Frustrated, Blunt, Traditionalist, Singleminded, Intollerant

Among the lizardfolk Khaznad is considered a polite, serious, and generally nice young man. He is calm and reserved, prefers to stick to the topic at hand, and get things done. Focusing on whatever needs to be done first, and socializing only afterwards. Not one to be aggressive or to assert his own strength or dominance on typical situations, prefering to talk and reason out things first, he can get really frustrated if people refuse to listen or not understand logic or reasoning. He can be a bit blunt at times, but usually as a last meassure if he can't get through any other ways. He generally finds dinosaurs and other animals easier to understand than many lizardfolk.

Back when Khaznad lived in the vale, he used to dream of things that all young lizards dreamt of, to become big and strong, to be respected and gain leadership, to do heroic deeds and be praised, and to find a female to mate with for life. And told he was to go out of the vale to save the people, he was dreaming of returning triumpant as the saviour of all the people. His dreams have tempered and changed over the years out of the vale, and now all he dreams about is going home again, and meet Shai once more and tell her of his feelings.

Keywords:

Dinosaurs
Reptiles
Wilderness/Jungle
History/stories/Oral
Flute
Carving wood/stone figures.
Food: Fish, reptile meat, fruit, vegetables, warmed over fire
Drink: water, natural fermented alcohol, nectar, spiced water
Heat/Warmth/Sun

Keywords:

Mammals
Books/Reading
Human Civilization/Society
Lies/Bluff/Deceit
Aggression/No conversation
Food: berries, mammal meat, squid, bread/bakery, boiled/cooked/fried anything
Drink: Human made alcohol, coffee
Cold/Night/Snow/Ice

Upon first inspection, Khaznad appears to be not particularly attractive in lizardfolk terms, but stands straight and proud, not showing any signs of weakness or submission. He comes off as both polite and respectfull, and does not attempt to provoke or challenge. He is obviously curious and interested in other lizardfolk, what they do and where they come from etc. He does seem a bit restless, and occationally looks around for jungles, swamps or forests etc, if asked about this, he simply states that he is so used to the wilderness by now, that it feels weird without.

When dealing with other lizardfolk, Khaznad is very interested in where they are from, if they know about his home, how their society works and if they are civilized or barbaric. He is naturally also curious about any news regarding high magics that might help his people with the draugth.

By his nature he is a calm and quiet person, and does not speak up loudly or make a fuzz of himself. He is proud of his own home and people, and expects to be respected as a shaman, simply because it has always been so. Most will think that he comes off as young and naive, and some might take his proud demeanor as a offense/challenge among the more barbaric tribes.

When looking upon Khaznad most humans sees a big scary monster with claws and teeth, being a lizardfolk, that isn't exactly surprising. As with all of his kin, the scaled body, the predatory look of his body, his slitted gleaming eyes, and crocodile like smile is sure to raise thoughts more to barbarism and carnivore than anything else. Nor does it help that it is very difficult for lizardfolk to display their emotions to humans, lizards does not show any emotions by the usual body language that humans expects like smiling or facial expressions, the only body language they use is stancing their body in positions of slight submission or aggression or defense etc. The larger part of lizard emotions is expressed through smells and colorization, the smells is difficult for a human to understand, but the colorization can be learned. Various places on a lizardfolk's head, usually around the inner edge of the mouth, the crest on top of their heads, and some males also have this at the skin around their throat, in these spots the colors can change depending on the mood and emotions. For example yellow color usually means danger.

Those humans that actually speak with him find him just as alien as they had expected, he is always polite and talks in a calm and reserved way, but he has little emotional tone to his voice, and always stares dead pan at them like a fish or a crocodile. Most get a feeling that he is uneasy about something, and other notice that he never goes quite near humans, nor is he willing to touch them unless he has to. The only thing that makes him stop being polite and calm, is if people refuse to listen to what he considers to be reason and logic, this can make him very frustrated and act very unreasonable, this also makes him agitated and sound angry.

Khaznad always tries to keep an open mind about others, and knows that he shouldn't react negatively to things other species says or do, but it can be very hard not to at times, especially with humans and mammals. His Diplomatic and calm nature shines through here as well, and he will seldom be angry or hasty. Even if he is trying to be open minded, he is still convinced that his own home is the shining example of a civilized society, and can at times dismiss or degrade other civilizations as less so, this comes both from Khaznad's pride in his own home and naivety for other cultures due to his limited contact during his life.

Some other quirks about his behavior: Among his own people shamans are respected, even a young one like Khaznad, and he keeps expecting people to listen to him and respect him and his opinion for that, and can get annoyed when someone does not. And his dislike for humans and mammals can be difficult to hide at times, and he often seems disturbed, uneasy or a bit edgy when near humans. He in most cases tries to avoid physically touching humans. For the same reason he often tries to cut a conversation short if there is no further need to talk, and most think he is very abrupt and direct in his conversations as a consequence of this.

The way that lizardfolk show emotions with various smells is to complicated for near any human to understand, the specter of smells are not always detected by many mammals, and it includes several sublime varieties that for the most part takes a lifetime to learn even for lizards. Most lizardfolk just learns to adapt to the fact that humans just doesn't seem capable of learning this, and just ignores it, relying more upon the colorization to relaying they emotions to the soft-skins. In addition, the common language (and most non draconic languages) is difficult for the lizardfolk to pronounce correctly, so most uses of emotion in the language tends to get lost in translation. This can be overcome by learning the language very well. So the most common way for humans to understand and read lizard emotions is to skin colorization, thanks to the lizardfolks slightly chameleon-like skin. A person that tries to learn or understand, or asks the lizardfolk to help explain how it works can usually learn this easily enough in under a day, some of the most common colors listed below. A lizardfolk dreaming can often change back and forth between colors depending on the dream, many humans finds this amusing.

A small list of examples of things Khaznad generally have had trouble with in relation to humans and their society:

• Food: Humans ruin food by cooking or boiling it, or weird forms of heating that completely ruin the taste and nutriment of the food.
• Toilet: Who would want to go into that foul smelling tiny building, it is not sanitary! I'll rather go find a bush outside the town.
• Emotions: Humans seems to care about the wildest crazy things, if they don't want me to eat random creatures, they should keep them locked up.
• Beds: Sleep in that?! it is cold, drafty, bad for my back to lie straight out like that. I'll go dig a hole and fill with pelts and skin.
• Books: The lizardfolk usually keeps history and traditions orally or in paintings or other forms of art, rarely in written text. Khaznad finds written things to be an annoying bother.
• Mammals: Khaznad thinks most mammals looks disgusting, especially those without pelt to cover their naked skin. He knows it is rude to show this, and tries to avoid it, but he finds it difficult.
• Rudeness: People who talks rude, dismissive, or treat him as an animal angers Khaznad. If people don't want to talk to him they can politely say that they are not interested or has other dealings.

Forgotten in time, it is a difficult to access valley that has withstood the test of time, in this place things are still close to how they used to be eons ago when lizards and dinosaurs was the dominant species of the world. Located deep within a huge mountain range it is surrounded by mountains and cliffs almost entirely, there is only a few small ways either in or out, and these tend to be dangerous and filled with predators or other natural hazards. The valley itself is a mixture of jungle forest, swamps, and a huge river running across it in the middle. The wildlife is typical of wat you would expect of a prehistoric world: Dinosaurs, lizards, crocodiles, birds (flied into the valley), occasional rats (only mammals in the valley), one panther, and some aquatic life like fish, squid, octopus, sharks.

The lizardfolk are the only humanoid/sentinent race living in the valley, and have created a thriving and peaceful civilization based on coexistence with the wildlife in the valley. The chief Deity is Ubtao, who encourages jungle life and coexistence with both civilization and wilderness, and that the jungle is a challenge to test the worshipers of his faith. As both a harsh god, and one that rewards the strong for doing their best, as well as one that gives his faithful what they need to tackle the challenges, he is a fitting god for the lizardfolk people. And the culture is based around this.

The Lizardfolk, bereft of any competition or other species to war or raid against, have ended up with a peaceful society where they have focused on adapting their own society to the nature around them. They have walled in their town in a huge stone wall to hold the dinosaurs and other predators outside. The lizardfolk themselves lives in a caste system, where they grow up to workers, hunters, shamans, warriors, etc depending on what roles they take. The leadership is usually the strongest warrior or hunter, guided by a gathering of various shamans, priests and other wise old ones.

The lost valley itself is a huge area inn-between a mountain-range located in fairly high altitude. The entire valley is split in two by a huge river snaking its way like a huge serpent across the middle, with a large lake at the southern end that is the lowest point, where it is slowly drained through cracks in the mountains and spills down to the outside world. The river runs very varied, rapidly at some places, and broadens out to make for good wading spots in others. On the west side of the river the jungle fills almost the entire area, stretching from the mountains all the way down to the rivers edge. On the eastern side is the great plains, this is where many of the largest dinosaurs live, crossing the river as food dictates. The mountains raise above all the way around this, with many natural caves and cracks due to continual tectonic shifts.

The river seems to spawn out of a cave on the northern side of the valley, no one has been able to get into the cave to see for themselves, but the wisest among the lizards speculate that there might be an opening directly to the plane of water there, which would be the best way to describe how such a varied amount of water creatures and fish has made its way to the valley. The serpent river and the Serpents Head lake at the end is milling with all types of fish and creatures like squids and eels etc.

Innele, the capital of the suncrests, and the largest city of the lizardfolk is located on the east side plains, close enough to the river that they have relayed a small part of the river to touch their walls for water for herds and plants alike.

Entry to and from the valley is very restrictive, there are few ways in and out save for by air, and even that is dangerous with strong winds shifting back and forth between the mountaintops. Some birds have still managed to find their way into the vale, and has settled down. There is at least one dangerous passageway through the mountains where a human group managed to find their way in many centuries ago, this might be the same way that the lizardfolk came in from ancient times, but this is unclear. This is the only known entry, and is heavily guarded after that episode.

The great father of the jungle and dinosaurs, he is the sole god worshiped among the lizardfolk in the valley. He appears to most as an uncaring and aloof deity, that does not interfere with mortal lives, but the lizardfolk has learned that he always gives them the tools they need to solve problems on their own, to teach them the strength and will to overcome any challenge. They worship the sun as a representation of Ubtao, and most of their worship and rituals happens at noon. He is also venerated as the creator of both the jungle and dinosaurs, and since most lizardfolk even back to the times before the valley has never been outside of the titanic jungle, it might as well be the world for all that they care. Ubtao teaches that each worshiper must walk his own path, and find his own way through the maze of life, this challenge will prepare them for the afterlife, where they need that strength to face him.

The priests/shamans typically take on one of two forms, Spirit Shamans or Jungle Shamans. The spirit shamans works with the people themselves, and looks after rituals, sacrifices, holidays, and function as healers and negotiations as well as spiritual leaders of the communities they live in. The jungle shamans are working more outside and looks after the jungle and wilderness, battling diseases and rot in the wild, limiting what the lizardfolk's hunt or gather so as to not exhaust their resources, and let things get a chance to regrow and repopulate. The jungle druids have also taken to work closer to the towns with the invention of herding and planting, and they often help with such.

There are many holidays and rituals, with many different forms and traditions. Most varies between tribes and even towns and villages, and a single ritual can be celebrated differently in every single place. The lizardfolk takes it in stride, as Ubtao isn't to strict about the form the ritual takes place, as long as they are properly devoted and honor him with whatever form it takes. The lizardfolk has also incorporated this into daily life, and do many small things in everyday life that is small religious rituals in Ubtao's deference. For an outsider, this would seem entirely random and haphazard.

The five different tribes originates from the territories they held, each has adapted slightly to the habitat the have become accustomed to. All the Tribes where originally one, until they found the Valley and settled down, as they grew they divided among the different areas, and started raiding each others, thus fracturing to several tribes.

The bloodmanes are the remains for the strongest and most fierce of the original fractions, they chased away the other fractions and establish themselves as a tribe in the swamps. Thus having secured the most favorable territory, with easy access to the river and fish, as well as the most comfortable climate. In general they are considered to be the fiercest and aggressive warriors, and despite not having a need to attack or raid the others because of their territory did so just to fight.

They look a bit larger all over than the other tribes, and their scales tend to shift from green to almost blue like colors, they also have lots of blood-red spikes, fins and other decorations around their heads, earning them their name.

The dis-reputed dirtskulkers consist mostly of lizardfolk that through the earlier generations was thrown out of the other tribes, these gathered together in caves and formed smaller groups. As time went on, more of these small groups banded together to avoid getting hunted by the tribes, and found more underground tunnels, and moved underground on a permanent basis. Thousands of years later, they have still not gotten rid of their dis-reputed name, but at least the other tribes recognize them as a tribe, and they whole heartedly support the suncrests bid for peace and trade. Very little is actually known about the dirtskulkers outside of their own tribe, and they have never revealed where their own towns are located, so even their capital is a mystery to everyone else.

Very thin and lanky compared to the others, with very little outgrowts like spikes etc. Their originl green scales have turned into a pattern of dull greys and browns, that blends well enough in with the caves they usually inhabit. The name comes from their earliest days, when the other tribes looked down on them for hiding in caves with dry sand and stones.

The cunning shadowclaws was chased out as the others was, but they got routed into the jungle. They adapted to the wilderness and became expert hunters, trappers, wood-shapers, as well as the first of the Tribes to cultivate animals for use. They excel at it and run tactics, ambushes, and setting up traps. Every other tribe that has ever tried to attack them has learned to think better of it, inside their jungle they are unmatched. This was a twin edged sword, as they where still stuck to the jungle, and wasn't very good at raiding outside it. But adjusting their diet to less fish and more meat, they thrived, and for lack of reason to raid on the others, became one of the most peaceful tribes fairly early on.

Mostly unchanged in form and shape, the shadowclaws have even retained most of their green colorization, though it is spotted and striped with brown or other dark colors, to blend into the jungle growth. They have grown so used to the jungle that they have adopted themselves to climbing trees, but are horrible swimmers. The earned their name after even the bloodmanes stopped daring to enter their jungles unbidden, as to many of their warriors just disappeared when nobody was looking, or if going past a tree, only to be found dead or already eaten. Their skill in staying hidden in the jungle, and their guerrilla tactics made as hard to fight against as shadows.

The proud suncrests was not always so, when the tribe fractured the group that would become the suncrests was forced into the plains, a terrain not at all to the lizardfolk's liking. Having to deal with flocks of dinosaurs without any water or terrain to assist them, vulnerable to raids from from the other tribes, and bereft of any water to live near the tribe almost died out within the first decade. But lizardfolk's refuse to give up, especially in matters of survival. And they adapted slowly to the land, they learned to build stone walls to keep others out, to tame and use animals for both defense and food, and even learned how to grow plants first to feed their animals and later themselves. They have become the most civilized of the tribes, they know it, and they're proud of it. And the other tribes that used to prey on them, now come to their walls to offer trades and negotiations. There are always those old lizardfolk that resent the change from their old ways, but by the large they are surprisingly few, and usually relocate themselves elsewhere.

The suncrests are also very close to their original form. But their colorization is the most varied among all the tribes. The base color of dark green retains, but they develop many different colors for the rest of the body, many have various grades of yellow or blue tinges to their scales, and their crests and fins can take almost any color imaginable. It is partially because of this colorful colorization, as well as them living in the plains where you can not hide from the sun, that they got their name the suncrests.

The group that would become the windspawned could hardly be called a group at all, they where so fractured and didn't care to much about the traditional tribe system to begin with. Most of these found themselves banished to the mountain ranges, and found that none of the other tribes ever bothered to follow them up into the mountains, so they made them their home. They took to their new home with ease, making small villages hidden in remote places, and all but impossible to get to in great numbers to avoid invasions. And even the few times when the bloodmanes tried to attack them, they found villages empty, everyone having moved away before they could even come there. They are a very independent lot, and most like traveling or wandering about like nomads without static homes. Even their villages serves more as rest homes between wanderings, or places where the old can live out their last days, or places to birth children etc, they are temporal places for most. This same independence also means that the windspawned is a fractured people, and respects no single authority, so they have many different small leaders, never uniting together.

Being just as thin as the dirtskulkers, but retaining a normal amount of outgrowths like crests etc. Their colorization has almost entirely lost their old green color, and they now appear mostly light gray, with string hints of browns in various patterns, and even some light colors with a blue tinge making them resemble both the mountains and rocks they live around, and also have hints of the skies. Their name have picked up several meanings over the ages, they believe themselves to be drawn to the sky, and believe that one day they might even learn to fly. It is also a reference to how they took to climbing the mountains to avoid their followers, though the other tribes like to say it is because it is easier to predict the wind than a windspawned.

Names are created in four parts, Given name, Caste, Rank, Tribe. This is how all lizardfolk recognize eachothers, and when presenting oneself it is polite to give the full name, and rude to give only given name, and hostile to give no name at all. Here is a list of the various parts:

The Castes:

• Leader - Xer
• Shaman - Ahb
• Hunter - Omh
• Warrior - Ext
• Crafter - Ict
• Herder - Uzl
• Planter - Urh
• Matron - Izt

The Ranks:

• Child - Ui
• Apprentice - La
• Journeyman - Vre
• Master - El
• Honor - O

The Clans:

• Bloodmanes
• Dirtskulkers
• Shadowclaws
• Suncrests
• Windspawned

All you need to do is string them together, so Khaznad'Ahb'La Suncrest = Khaznad, Shaman caste, Apprentice rank, of the Suncrest tribe.

Inelle - is the capital city of the Suncrests, and the largest city in the Valley. It acts as the general hub for all civilized life in the Valley, and all the other tribes gathers here to trade and negotiate. This has given the Suncrests a strong standing among the tribes, and none of the tribes wants to be on the Suncrests bad side. Among the reasons for why Inelle is the largest city in the Valley, the Suncrests are more civilized by nature and likes to gather in huge numbers, they have also been more innovative and had a greater amount of crafters than the other tribes, it was also a traditional way to more easily defend themselves from raids by the other tribes. The Suncrests was the first to realize the use of both Herding and Planting, to keep food gathered and grow more, this has allowed them to maintain such a big city, where the other tribes still must fall back on hunting and fishing for most of their food, thus limiting the size they can maintain.

All the people of the Suncrest is members of a Caste, without a Caste the people consider a person unable to contribute to the tribe, and is generally kicked out. The young gets sponsored by Masters of castes and is set to train under them either right away, or as soon as they gets old enough. The Suncrests have more castes than the other Tribes, largely because of their new castes of Herder and Planter.

• Shaman - Spiritual leaders, healers, priests, they serve many different purposes negotiating between people and even helping out in the wilderness depending on what they choose.
• Hunter - Hunters, trackers, scouts, raiders, trappers, and often serves as extra militia with the warriors if there is a need. They are the eptiome of lizardfolk tradition.
• Warrior - Soldiers, Guards, Thugs, these guys are mostly involved in guarding places during peace time, but it is a prestige job, as they are to represent the strength the people revere.
• Crafter - There are many different types of crafters, but in general they make things, weapons, leather, armors, arrows, pots, houses, etc. They are a staple for life.
• Matron - Caretakers, nurses, cooks, organizers, matrons serve many purposes, but generally takes care of home, house, children, and a few other things. Females only.
• Herder - The idea of taking care of animals is a new one for lizardfolk, they are still learning the ropes, but the Herders are widely respected for it among the Suncrests.
• Planter - Another new caste among the Suncrests, growing food is even stranger than keeping animals, respected in the tribe, seen as strange by the other tribes.
• Leader - This isn't so much a caste, as it is a badge of being above or beyond caste. There are degrees of leaders, and the amount depends on the supreme leaders wishes.

The actual City itself is mostly built out of stone and crude mortar, this being the most common material found on the plains, and the nearby mountains provide plenty of big rocks. The entire city is focused inside the giant stone wall built around the city proper, the wall is 15 feet tall, and similarly wide, with spikes, sharp rocks, and spears etc pointing outward from the top to discourage most dinosaurs from attempting to climb it. It was built with a mixture of manual labor and magical shaping by the Shamans. It took many years, close to a century before the wall was finished, and it still requires a good bit of maintenance, keeping both Crafters and Shamans busy. The wall started out smaller, but has been expanded over the years, and at first only eclipsed the actual city core, now it surrounds the entire city and huge areas around that used for farming and herding etc. This again makes the Warriors even more important, as someone need to guard and patrol all this area, as well as maintain and report larger damages. So the wall itself has become another line of work in the city.

Traditional hut building among lizardmen is clay and mud, reinforced with wood and rocks. They have enhanced this a bit, and replaced with a sort of semi-concrete-clay, build up and around large slabs of stone. Then the roofs are covered with leaves, branches or any kind of green they want, and wood mainly used for windows and doors. There has been made an attempt at structuring the huts into groups, and dedicate areas to castes, but so far this has fallen on deaf ears, and has prooved to be more trouble than it is worth. Right outside the city proper is the large Marketplace, with constant life and tents, everything that can be found for sale in the Valley can be found here. Right outside of that again, is the tent town dedicated to guests and other tribes that are staying over. Lizardfolk have no concept of the traditional “Inns” or “Taverns” of humans, and just leaves tents for everyone to use, and sells drinks at vendors.

The other tribes also have their towns and/or Villages, though none of them are as large as Inelle:

• The Bloodmanes capital is a town called Marche, it is located at the edge of the swamp and the river and mostly thrives on fishing.
• The Dirtskulkers capital is a town named Drenthe, it is located underground somewhere, and none o the other tribes knows much about it.
• The Shadowclaws capital is Mirowas, at the edge of the Jungle, it is a fairly new town, only built after the last few centuries peace.
• The Windspawned capital is a village named Swari, the tribe is to nomadic and restless to create any large holdings, and it serves more as a rest-home for most of them.

When the lizardfolk tribe birth, they gather up all the eggs and put them in one central birthing chamber in the middle of the city, here the entire city takes care of the eggs and helps with the raising of the young ones. Thus all the eggs spawned from the same year is considered Egg-Kin, a title equal to brother/sister among humans. Even if they are of different parents, they all treat each others as of the same spawning. Most of a lizardfolk's friends and rivals tend to be from the same spawning, and commonly they pick mates from same spawning as well. A lizardfolk grow to maturity quite fast, usually within five years or so, and the rest of the tribe pays close attention to the young ones to see if they show promise in any particular area. Especially the Shamans pay close attention to find those with the promise to take on their teachings.

Khaznad was picked out under doubt by the Shamans, there was one other spawn that showed promise, and after observing Khaznad for a while they agreed that he had potential but that he lacked something, and might be better for other things. But in the end they decided to take him out for training, since there had been few suitable Shamans in the last spawnings. At first he struggled to adapt, but soon found his niche with one of the older Shamans specializing on taking care of Dinosaurs and other creatures, talking to them, treating them against diseases and poisons, looking out for their nests etc. Basically he showed potential in most of the wilderness and animal related tasks, and quickly proved himself to be quite bad at the more traditional social tasks like keeping the peace between others inside town. If things had gone peacefully Khaznad would eventually have taken over for his mentor Xakh.

Khaznad is friends with several of the others from the same Spawning:

• Zindaras'Ict'La Suncrest - A crafter of stone and clay, builds houses, walls and pots. Enjoys climbing mountains, and his friends tease him for being a Windspawned. When hanging out with each-others they usually sit outside the city with a skin full of Nectar talking about the future and the joys they find in their crafts, as well as their dreams.
• Logguth'Ext'La Suncrest - As a Warrior of the Suncrests, he mostly serve as a city guard and patrols the walls. Big and strong, and not very bright even for a lizardfolk, he is a good friend and always wants to help. Favorite past-time is fishing, with net, spear or by claw. Usually drags Khaznad around to new places to try fishing.
• Zarzu'Izt'La Suncrest - As an apprentice MAtron she learns to take care of the young and tend to wounds and other problems of the city. She loves the ritualistic dances and looks forward to every festival, she also enjoys colorful clothes. She usually hangs out with the others if Logguth is along, she is interested in him, but the big oaf haven't noticed it yet.
• Shai'Urh'La Suncrest - An affinity for plants is not common in the Lizardfolk, but the Suncrests encourage it greatly, the Planters are one of the keys to make a city work. Shai herself is dedicated to her work because she understands the importance of it. She is close friends with Zarzu, and enjoys the ritualistic dancing and singing. Khaznad is interested in her.
• Tarash'Omh'La Suncrest - He enjoys being a hunter more because he is good at it, than for the service it serves. He used to be a close friend of Khaznad, and they often went out together to both hunt and to help track down specific dinosaurs for the Shaman. Lately they have become rivals, as both have interest in Shai.

Other people of importance:

• Salak'Xer'O Suncrest - Is the supreme leader of the Suncrest tribe, and thus rules the City and the plains around them. He is a very intelligent and talented warrior, and the object of both pride and adoration from his clan. He is a strong supporter of the Suncrests lead on civilization, and wants to maintain the edge this gives his tribe. He is even well liked among the Shamans for listening to them and taking their council to heed, if not always following it.
• Kolari'Ahb'O Suncrest - The oldest and wisest of the Shamans, he is the spiritual leader of the Suncrests, and reads the signs and interprets the will of Ubtao, and locates the path through his mazes, and the tools to his problems, the answers to his riddles. He is an old lizard, bent over by age and worry, and can hardly move by himself any-longer, usually he is carried around in a litter. He loves children, and when feeling well, will sit and regale them with tales of the old days with heroes and villains, and how Ubtao guided them.
• Xakh'Ahb'El Shadowclaw - Khaznad's mentor. An old lizardfolk who has spent most of his life outside of the towns taking care of the jungle and its inhabitants from dinosaurs to lizardfolk to fish and birds. He tired of the life of civilization and the bickering of the younger, and went out to enjoy the wilderness instead. While being a bit peculiar, he is well known and liked, and Khaznad respects him greatly.

According to the oldest legends as recorded by the ancient lizardfolk that came to the vale centuries ago, the lizardfolk was guided to the valley by Ubtao himself, through a maze of mountain passes, rivers, caves etc, to become his caretakers of the land and the dinosaurs within. After arriving in the vale and exploring its rich bounty, they settled down in the swampy area where the Serpent River connects to the Serpents Head lake, which suited the lizardfolk. Over the years the lizardfolk fractured into multiple tribes, and developed slight variations of their cultures and habits, but they still retain dedicated to the decree from Ubtao to protect and care for the vale and the dinosaurs.

Approximately 200 years ago a small expedition of humans managed, through some weird quirk of fate, to find a perilous and difficult path, that led them through a cave into the vale. This caused a heavy uproar as the lizardfolk had never before encountered these creatures, and their first reaction was curiosity. The humans however had seen lizardfolk before, and considered them to be savage beasts, not much removed from the terrifying dinosaurs that roamed the area and attacked.

It was to become a bloody war, for the humans had come with a small army, prepared to fight off some other enemy from beyond the mountains, but gotten lost. Out of provisions, they fought desperately for food and survival, and they had armor and weapons far more advanced than what the lizardfolk had any experience with. These humans was lead by a man named Cortez, a clever tactician that adopted strategies to this new field with ease, and used their every advantage against the lizardfolk.

The lizardfolk was slow to react, not knowing what they faced, and still in the middle of their own internal raids and battles. This was around the same time the suncrests had started building their wall around their city, and it saved them several times against humans trying to take over the only defensible position they could find. Eventually the shamans all agreed that the humans was intruders sent to ruin that which Ubtao had tasked them with guarding, and all the tribes united in their goal of eradicating them. And in the end, the superior numbers of the lizardfolk with the support of their many shamans magic defeated the humans last line of defense, a heavily fortified cave opening, the very one they had come from, and was slaughtered almost to a man.

A few survived, notably Cortez himself, who escaped in the chaos, and roamed around in the wilderness for years afterwards, always eluding the hunters sent tracking after him. He eventually setup a movable sort of camp in the mountains and caves, and raiding on all the different tribes for food and sabotage. This creating even more frictions among the tribes, as the other tribes accused both the dirtskulkers and the windspawned for harboring this monster. Especially the bloodmanes remembers his name in wrath, as he dared to raid their villages, and got away with it every single time, one of the time he went as far as to destroy a whole spawning of eggs. In the end, he was caught by luck, as he was infiltrating the shadowclaws and was ambushed by one of their hunters with a pack of deinonychuses that was off to hunt at night time.

Barely alive, they dragged him in front of a gathering of the shamans and leaders of all the tribes, and held a public tribunal, proclaiming him guilty of the largest crime in the vale's history, and he was sentenced to death by torture. He lasted for almost 6 days, longer than any lizardman has ever been claimed, and has since gone down in their history as the biggest evil, and the most hardy survivable monster ever to walk the earth. Both as a challenge from Ubtao to overcome, and as a goal to surpass.

Also jokingly referred to as the second mammal invasion. One day a black panther managed to find the way into the valley, and sneaked past the guards at the entry, after a quick gathering of the tribes, it was decreed that even if it was not a human, mammals had to be kept out of the valley, and a hunt was called. For day, weeks, months, and eventually years hunters have tried to track down and kill this intruding mammal, with no luck. The panther was as cunning as it was stealthy, and managed to adapt itself to the jungle and mountains so well that even the shadowclaws couldn't get rid of it. The people have started referring to it as the “Black Cortez”, out of respect for how hard he is to track down and kill.

Black Cortez has so far survived almost two years of manhunt, dinosaur stampedes, earthquakes, deinonychus packs chasing him down, and also a couple of attempts by the shamans to magically trap or enchant him. And the shadowclaws have claimed him to be their honor prey, and thus claiming that he is their target to kill, or their honor is ruined. Last time he was seen, he was seemingly looking content and fatter than ever.

One year ago the first sign appeared in a dream to Kolari'Ahb'O, the oldest and wisest shaman of the lizardfolk, and the closest to Ubtao. They where dreams of the sun and water, of dead fish, and hard times. Since then several other signs came, and it became apparent that trouble was coming, though nobody knew just how or what, except that it had to do with the sun, water and fish. So when the hunters claimed there was little fish to be had, even if it should be high season, the first pieces of the puzzle fell into place. After many communings with the water-spirits of Ubtao, it was revealed, the water was no longer streaming as strong as it always had, and there was something weird to the water, something that made everything that lived in it weaker and not reproducing as much as they should, as evident of the small fish steams that year.

The shamans gathered together and communed with more spirits, trying to find out as much as possible about this. They organized an expedition to the Serpents Cave to see if they could find any clues, but even with the lessening strength of the water, it was impossible to enter. Prayers, rituals, trying to improve the water with other materials and potions, all to no effect. In the end the shamans proclaimed that nothing inside the valley could fix the water source unless Ubtao himself intervened. Thus they began to organize for able bodied young lizardfolks able to defend themselves and live of the wild, and smart enough to adapt to the world beyond, was gathered together and given a mission, to search the world beyond, and find a magic strong enough to fix the water source, and bring it back.

Khaznad'Ahb'La Suncrest is one of the chosen ones, to go out of the valley for the first time in their history, and find something so fantastic that none of the elders can even describe it, in order to save all of their lives. The only consolidation for the young lizard, is that his rival for love, Tarash'Omh'La Suncrest was also chosen, so at least he doesn't need to worry that his love Shai'Urh'La Suncrest is taken when he returns.