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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Echohawk" data-source="post: 4073289" data-attributes="member: 9849">Malpheggi Lizard MenThe Malpheggi are a race of swamp-dwelling lizard men. They're sly and cunning survivors, among the most mercenarty sentient races of the Hollow World, and challenge the notion that lizard men are just dumb brutes with scaly hides.Appearance and DressMalpheggi lizard men stand from 6' to 7' tall. They stand like men, walking on two lower legs and manipulating weapons and objects with their forelimbs. But they are very reptilian in appearance, with fine-scaled skin, lizard-like heads, and strong tails. Their hands and feet are clawed and are webbed (to help propel them when they swim) between their digits.Malpheggi coloration ranges from yellow through all sorts of greens, to pure black; a very few Malpheggi lizard men are albino (pure white, with pink eyes).Malpheggi lizard men don't wear clothes, but do wear belts and baldrics for their weapon-sheathes and other useful pouches.CustomsMalpheggi lizard men are cunning and suspicious. They trust one another, and can come to trust representatives of other races who prove their trustworthiness over a period of years, but will otherwise never take someone at face value.These lizard men are very protective of their young and their swamp. The swamp is theirs, and anyone entering it had best be bringing them gifts or business, or at least be willing to leave by the most direct route when confronted by a lizard man... otherwise, the intruder will find himself chased out or killed as soon as possible.They're a clever race. They don't care for direct confrontation, they don't stand up in front of intruders in combat lines and allow themselves to be conveniently cut down. Instead, they use the terrain to their advantage, swimming stealthily beneath the black surface of the water, kidnapping stragglers from intruder parties, ambushing scouts, whittling down the numbers of opposition.They're mercenaries. They hire out their services to anyone willing to pay their price. Their usual services include guiding war-parties through the fringes of the swamps so those parties can launch sneak attacks on nearby enemies, or to accompany war-parties on aquatic expeditions (in order to scout out enemy positions, cut subterranean nets or harbor defenses, etc.).Most Malpheggi lizard men worship the Immortal Ka, who is their patron.NamesMalpheggi names are short and sibilant, using many consonants and diphthongs which can easily be hissed: 'f', 'h', 'l', 'r', 's', and 'sh' especially.Names such as Sliss, Haarss, Hlaar, Shlirt, and so forth are very common.Roles and GendersBy ancient tradition, the Malpheggi are ruled by a queen. Beyond that tradition, males and females are equal in stature.LanguageThe Malpheggi speak their own lizard man tongue, the dragon language, and the Neathar human language.Allies and EnemiesThe Malpheggi sell their services as scouts and warriors to the Azcans and the Schattenalfen, but do not like or trust representatives of either or those races. The Malpheggi help the Azcans against the Schattenalfen, and the Schattenalfen against the Azcans; they lead the Azcans against the Oltecs; and they have no personal interest in any of these struggles.The Malpheggi do hate one sort of human, the Nithians, whom they remember from their most ancient legends. Though no living Malpheggi lizard man has ever seen a Nithian, were he to see a human matching the description of Nithians, he'd fly into a murderous rage. In ancient times, the Nithians of the outer world brought a fatal plague to the outer-world lizard men and nearly destroyed the race.</blockquote>

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