Serpent

The Serpent tribe are often called the builders, and are the primary reason that the tribes currently have any sort of civilization today. Nearly all cities, towns, and villages have been built by, (and are maintained by), Serpents.

Physical Qualities. The Serpent tribe consists of two subraces, known at the constrictors and vipers. Constrictors are larger, burlier, and a little physically slower then their kin. They usually stand between 5'8 to 6'5 feet, and can weight upwards of 240 lbs. Vipers are usually smaller and slimmer, standing 4´7˝ to 5´ 6˝ feet and weighing in at 85 to 120 lbs.

In human form, Serpents have little to no body hair. What hair they have usually matches their skin tone, or manifests in bright and vivid hues not normally found in nature. They have brilliant green, yellow, or red eyes and slit pupils. All serpents are prone to growing small scale-like formations over their fore-arms, legs, shoulders, and upper back. These often resemble the scales they possess in their hybrid form. In their hybrid form, Serpents are typically bald and hairless. They are covered in the reptilian scales of their namesake, and can come in a vast array of colorations and patterns.

Playing a Serpent. Serpents are patient, playful, social, and content to live and let live. However, they are known for fierce tempers when riled. They're dedicated to whatever profession they've chosen. Serpents can fulfill their roles well in nearly any class, although they would have difficulty become wizards without a Unicorn tutor.

Play a Serpent if you want to have a background in any of the social services or blue collar jobs. Construction, roadwork, bureaucracy. Serpent adventurers might be anthropologists, archaeologists, or other scientist that have an interest in the other tribes. If your group focuses on hunting undead, perhaps you're a former mortuary assistant. If you're a cleric, perhaps you're surveying for a possible new road.

Culture. Serpents build massive stretching cities all over the world, favoring all types of terrain with temperate to warm climates. While Serpents are mammals, unlike their namesakes, they're far more acclimated to warmer climates and rarely travel anywhere cold. Serpent cities tend to be multicultural affairs, with the Serpent tribe performing all of the routine maintenance to keep things going. They serve as both diplomats and politicians, but are equally happy to fulfill janitorial work. Serpents and Were-serpents alike sweep the roads, unblock chimneys, lighting street lamps, and building new architecture.

At age, a Serpent (whether Theru or human) woman will begin to take time selecting an appropriate mate. Serpents, of course, pick humans, while a Were-Serpent might select from her tribe, or a fellow human. This process can take years, and during that time she might have a child or two with potential suitors. Men are expected to actively court and engage the interest of any women they're seeing, and if selected for long term commitment, to provide for her and any children that she has. Once Serpents commit, they form a long-term permanent partnership. There is no concept of divorce in Serpent culture, thus the extremely long courtships.

Serpent children are raised in these binary pseudo-marriages until their mother commits, after which the new male role-model is considered their father. Children are raised in a home-schooled environment and allowed to play and frolic until roughly nine, after which they are tested and allowed to apprentice.

Relations. Almost all of the tribes respect the Serpents for their ingenuity and skills in construction. Even the various Tiger families have multiple Serpents on staff to assist in running the household.

Humans. Were-Serpents appear much like their Theru kin, ranging in height from 4'5 feet, to a massive 6'5. They range wildly in build and skin tone, but typically have green, yellow, or black eyes. Culturally, there is no differentiation between Theru and human serpents.