Lizardmen (race)

The Lizardmen are a race of reptilian humanoids native to Great Kourend.

Secretly created from a native species of lizard during the 37th decade (1,040 years ago) under the rule of King Shayzien VII. Shayzien VII was obsessed with the Dark Altar and performed a wide array of experiments on the citizens he summoned to the Tower of Magic. Shayzien VII was seen as a tyrant and during the 37th decade, he was killed by his Elder Warriors during the Battle of the Concourse, but his body was never recovered.

Shayzien VII is said to have revived as Xeric, as both bore a similar appearance. The incident cemented Xeric's belief that he could no longer rely on human informants to carry out his will, and thus began preparing the lizardmen that had been bred in secret. After killing the rulers of the five Houses, he claimed Great Kourend as his own. The lizardmen, bred to obey Xeric, saw him as a great king and likely referred to him as "K'uhul ajaw"^[1], kidnapping many who did not flee the kingdom to be used as test subjects for Xeric's experiments. The people of Great Kourend were helpless against the lizardmen, who were powerful and could poison enemies with their fangs and spit.

While carrying out Xeric's will, in 312-47, a farmer named Byrne witnessed a lizardman murder a child in plain sight while working at his farm. Enraged, Byrne slaughtered the lizardman, and with the town as his entire witness, stated that they had to fight back against Xeric's cruelty. The people revolted, and despite the strength of the lizardmen, they were caught off-guard by the people's fury and driven west to their current home.

Despite the failure to uphold Xeric's rule, the lizardmen swore revenge and per his orders, waged war on Great Kourend, locked in a perpetual fight with House Shayzien for thousands of years. To this day, the lizardmen continually attack Great Kourend to reclaim the kingdom taken from Xeric, and will not stop until successful or ordered otherwise.

The lizardmen also imprisoned Xeric's ally, Xamphur in the Lizardman Temple, mistakenly believing that he had played a role in Xeric's disappearance. Xamphur is referred to as Yo'kal ahk by the lizardmen.

A hundred years before the events of A Kingdom Divided, Xamphur was successfully able to convince the lizardmen shamans to release him and he immediately began concocting a plan to bring Xeric back.

During an attack on the Shayzien Wall around 40 years before Great Kourend would be visited by the Gielinorian mainland, the lizardmen found a wounded Shayzien captain and brought him to their village to recuperate. The captain was initially fearful of his own safety, but the lizardmen greeted him with friendly arms. They allowed him to leave when he fully recovered, but when the captain returned to the wall, was fired upon by his own men, as they believed him to be a lizardmen as a result of living too long with them; his skin had turned green. The captain returned to the lizardmen, who allowed him to stay with them. Why the lizardmen tolerated the captain is unknown seeing that they are generally hostile to non-Xerican humans.

Once the situation in Great Kourend stabilized, they pushed west towards the lizardmen's lands, establishing outposts in Mount Quidamortem and other areas, such as the Farming Guild and smaller farms around the area. This established a new battlefront. While large amounts of lizardmen still reside in Molch, they have not attacked the Farming Guild, possibly due to being distracted with the new Shayzien advances.

Due to the never-ending war between the people of Great Kourend, some lizardmen express dissatisfaction, such as Kaht B'alam. When an adventurer was searching for Xamphur at the temple, they ran into them, who revealed that they were sick of the war and wanted to serve the master in other ways. Thus, Kaht agreed to give the adventurer their key to Xamphur's sanctum if they recovered its egg from the hatchery, not wanting to send it off to die in a pointless war. The adventurer was successful in doing so and eavesdropped on a conversation between Xamphur and Xeric. After a brief fight, Xamphur seemingly killed the adventurer with a spell and ordered two lizardmen to dispose of the corpse, but they fled upon spotting signs of life, believing them to be a zombie.

The lizardmen primarily live in the swamps of the Kebos Lowlands, having a village of their own called Molch. Their infrastructure is fairly poor - while they have temples, these are dedicated for the purpose of sacrifices^[2] and many lizardmen prefer living in damp caves. Lizardmen come in three forms; the normal lizardman, the lizardman brute, a more aggressive and combat-experienced lizardman, and the lizardman shamans, towering in height over their kin who also lead rituals. The lizardmen are capable of breeding, and their young start off as eggs.

The lizardmen also have their own language, and are capable of speaking the human tongue, which they consider "high speech"^[3], but war is the language they understand the best.^[4] Lizardmen who speak in the human tongue tend to speak in a fashion associated with snakes and hissing whenever they speak "s". While they possess caches of dragon warhammers, lizardmen have yet to be seen using them, but carry them to the battlefield for reasons unknown. Instead, lizardmen are known to fight with their claws, poisonous spit and the occasional scimitar and shield.

While they prefer eating meat, the lizardmen, or at least in the case of the shamans, love chilli potatoes.^[5]

• Lizardman
• Lizardman brute
• Lizardman shaman
• Spawns

• Kaht B'alam
• Ek'ans Chan
• Ket'sal K'uk
• Eek C'ho

• Lizardmen language seems to be a mix of Mayan languages, specifically Classical and modern K'iche'.