[Meretseger]

A people shrouded in mystery, though by all accounts born out of a nascent 'god' that ascended to power beyond the Ghost Sea, which has conquered the coasts of the Ka Shaer and the little islands that surround such a sea...

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Humanoid in appearance but not in nature, covered with scales of beautiful colors and with the treacherous eyes of all serpent-kind, what is known about the ýynglan-yi is that they are as ferocious as they are territorial, for in the one hundred years that they have inhabited such coasts and islands, no intruder has left their controlled territories unharmed; tales of vile poisons and sorceries that border the inhumane and gargantuan beasts half-man and half-snake are common talk among the fisherman that have dared come close to the territories of such a species.

To the ýynglan-yi there is no honor, there is no good or evil and there certainly is no limit, as their strange magical capabilities allow the members of such a race to cast curses and hexes of unknown origin against those they fight against. To the ýynglan-yi there is the empire and there is their great god, there is life and there is exultation. There is much speculation about the nature of such a god and even more-so about the empire that lies beyond the ghost sea, alas, such information is only privy to the members of the tribe that have now come from a foreign continent with unknown and uncertain desires in mind.

Amongst the foulest rumors that turn around the ýynglan-yi is word of a punishment worse than death which may befall all who may have proven a deserving enough annoyance to be deserving of the evil eye; the curse of petrification which torments the soul and the mind until one breaks utterly or becomes but an empty husk of what once was.

The one behind the three aspects and the one that breathed life to the ýynglan-yi. As malignant as he can be righteous. A being that achieved divinity through means unknown and which belongs to a pantheon that lies beyond the Ghost Sea. The scalekind respect him and fear him equally. 

Those that have managed to converse with the ýynglan-yi have gathered this much: their god does not care if his people live or die. He is a grim and loveless god whose attention is best avoided for he is a god of dooms, a serpent that achieved apotheosis and needs not hide his true nature not even from his own people.

However, unto his people he spat the venomous desire to strive and slay, and to seek and achieve, thus there is nothing else the ýynglan-yi could hope to ask of their god. As a god of dooms he does not offer hope here or hereafter, the scalekind must live deep while they yet live. In the world of men one must struggle and suffer vainly; in death the souls of the ýynglan-yi enter a misty realm without color where they are to wander cheerlessly throughout eternity. There is no false promise or deception of cheerful eternity and blissful hills of paradise, the world that matters is here and it is now.

Though the serpent god does not care for the affairs of mortals he is a god rooted in the realm of Eternia. He lays claim to the “Tacitus Squalor”, a pocket realm hidden beyond the Ghost Sea in the deep jungles of the foreign ýynglan-yi empire, guarded by abominable snake-men and the mighty hydra. The “Tacitus Squalor” is vast and jungle-like realm, covered in ziggurats and figures of broken worship that have not fared well against the test of time, this realm is veiled by unchanging crimson skies and its seas are pools of vile poisons and healing poultices which are impossible to tell apart from one another.

Though the god roams free around his domain, in the three most prominent ziggurats within, one may the aspects of the god which speak on his nature each sacred and divine and within their respective:

• Ssspssstaý - Lord of the labyrinth
  
• Ssstnngu - Lady of the poisons
  
• Sssforsstý - Lord / Lady of the fang
  

Many aspects of the religion surrounding the Serpent God are yet unknown, especially due to the god’s disinterest in the affairs of mortals and how, the only thing such a god brings upon those that call upon him, is doom, however in the empire exist a clergy that is devoted to the worship of such a god that the god’s wrath may be directed to the enemies of the empire. The greatest of zealots are sent to the entrance of the Serpent God’s domain where they guard day and night restless for any potential would-be intruder that may wish to disturb their god, a great honor permitted to few and a duty that sees none return from it for the only thing that breaks such is death or an edict of the three aspects, a thing that is as sacred as the word of the current empress.

Despite the fact the ranks of the ýynglan-yi are, seemingly, straightforward and easy to understand there are many intricacies one must understand when advancing through the ranks such as the authority of the three aspects, the edicts said aspects offer unto the empire which may revoke or advance the authority of oneself and the existence of the blessed abominations, the heralds of the three aspects and those of the clergy that have reached enlightenment shortly before being sent to guard the entrance to the god's domain. 

— ¹st. 

Serpent God

Empress of the Empire (Matriarchal role)

Enlightened Devout (Patriarchal role)

High Lord / Lady • High Warlord

— ²nd. 

Devout Caste • Scholar Caste • Warrior Caste

— ³rd.

Victims of the Evil Eye

Supplicants

Slaves