Skejad

 
The Skejad are an intelligent race of reptiles indigenous to the tropical rain forest of Haldarda. These reptiles are bipetal, but not humanoid. They appear as upright hunter reptiles of some long forgotten age.

Physical Description

Skejad stand eight to ten feet high and weigh three or four hundred pounds. Their skin is covered with thick, armored scales similar to an alligator's scales. Their bodies are usually brown or gray, lighter on the chest and darker along the boney ridges of their backs. These colors are accentuated with darker splotches. Adults have orange or red patterns of criss-crossing lines on their necks, throats, and chests.

Skejad have elongated skulls with dagger-shaped teeth that are serrated like saws. Their noses are flat and long. Their tails extended six to eight feet, used primarily for balance when running.

The Skejad forelimbs are long and dexterous. The hands have three long, slender fingers and an opposable thumb, all ending in sharp, curved talons. Their legs are thick and powerful, suited for days of hunting punctuated by short bursts of extreme speed.

Habits

Skejad are reclusive and generally distrustful of all humanoid races. They have been seen hunting in the forests and savannas, but they seem to prefer the rugged, mountainous areas of the continent. They hide their nests carefully in the rocky heights or deep within caves where the females lay their eggs. Little else is known about their mating rituals.

Skejad do not wear clothing as other races do. Instead, they often wear elaborate meshes of delicate metal chains, decorated with beads and jewels. These meshes are worn on the head, neck, and chest. They seemed to be used both for aesthetics and to indicate status during social events. Hunting parties have never been seen wearing these meshes.

Although primitive by most standards, the Skejad do posess many civilized skills. They work with various metals, such as bronze, iron, gold, and silver. They build rectangular and pyramidal buildings from rough cut stone. The stones are often decorated with pictographs, and they appear to have a formal written language.

Social Order

Their social order is matriachical. The family cluster is lead by an elder Skejad and composed of her daughters. A female Skejad remains with her family throughout her egg-bearing years. When the elder dies, her daughters look to their own children to form a separate family cluster.

One aspect of the Skejad that seems foreign to humanoid races is that Skejad behavior centers entirely around the family unit. There is no higher social organization or population density (like towns or villages). They may defend their territory against other Skejad, but by their nature they have no ambition to subjugate others family units, or to unite their race under a common cause. It's just not part of their composition; and in that sense they are more like wild animals than elves or even humans.

By that same stripe, they are do not have the ability to submit to any sort of dominance outside of their family unit. When faced with conditions like captivity or slavery, the Skejad will constantly be thinking of freedom. By their very nature they do not have the ability to resign themselves to such a fate.

Skejad Phonetic Information

Native, pronouncable sounds: A E I K S T H Y ~R L J G Z D N O U W CH ST

Non native, pronouncable: (Q) (X) TR STR

Translation for unpronouncable sounds: B->Z F->H V->W M->N P->L R->~R

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