Cultures

• Akkedi  •  Desert Lizard Folk

  Vharrak’s Children

  The lizardfolk who dwell upon the colossal form of the Vharrak the Dessert Walker are known as the Akkedi, a race of reptilian nomads who have evolved alongside the beast for centuries—perhaps even millennia. They are as much a part of the Vharrak as the shifting dunes that coat its hide, their existence intertwined with the creature’s mysterious nature.

  Appearance & Adaptations

  The Akkedi bear the traits of desert-dwelling lizards, their bodies perfectly designed for life upon the great wandering behemoth:

  • Flattened, Wide Bodies – Their torsos are low and broad, allowing them to stay balanced even when the Vharrak shifts unexpectedly. Some even have side flaps of skin that help them "glide" across its back when needed.
  • Mirrored Eyes – Their golden-black reflective eyes let them see in the blinding sun and deep darkness alike, perfect for spotting predators, prey, or mysterious shifts in the Vharrak's landscape.
  • Chameleon-Like Skin – Their scales shift to match the flowing sands and bioluminescent veins of their great host, making them nearly invisible.
  • Third Arms or Vestigial Claws – Some are born with extra limbs that never fully develop, believed to be a sign of the Vharrak’s blessing (or perhaps its genetic interference).

  Culture & Society

  The Akkedi do not merely live upon the Vharrak—they worship it, treating it as both home and god. Their culture is deeply spiritual and practical, built around cycles of emergence, disappearance, and transformation—just like the Vharrak itself.

  The Laws of the Ever-Wandering

  1. To Leave Is to Be Forgotten – No Akkedi has ever truly left the Vharrak and returned. Those who fall or are cast off are mourned as if they had never existed.
  2. Nothing Is Permanent – Cities rise and fall as the Vharrak shifts. The Akkedi do not build in stone, but in materials that can be reshaped or reclaimed by the sands.
  3. The Maw Takes, The Maw Gives – Sacrifices must be made to the spiraling abyss on its underside. Sometimes, this means objects. Other times, it means people.

  Clans & Roles

  The Akkedi are divided into different clans, each serving a unique role in their ecosystem:

  • The Spinekeepers – Live within the obsidian ridges, acting as priests and scholars who interpret the Vharrak’s movements.
  • The Hollowborn – Those who emerge mysteriously from tunnels in the Vharrak’s flesh, remembering nothing. Many become oracles or warriors, their origins unknown.
  • The Maw Tenders – They guide sacrifices to the great abyss beneath the Vharrak, ensuring it is never hungry for long.
  • The Whisperers – Strange lizardfolk with elongated tongues and sensory frills, capable of hearing the Vharrak’s dreams.

  Mysteries & Myths

  • Are They Born or Created? – Some scholars believe the Akkedi are not natural, but rather the manifestations of the Vharrak’s will, born directly from its flesh and shifting sands.
  • Why Do Some Vanish? – At times, entire clans disappear overnight, their structures swallowed into the sands. The remaining Akkedi never speak of them again.
  • What Lies Beneath? – The few who have fallen into the spiraling maw and returned come back changed—their eyes black as the void, speaking in voices that are not their own.

  The Akkedi thrive, hidden from history, atop their ever-moving god. To those in the outside world, they are legends, ghosts, or whispers carried by the desert wind.

• Sehabi  •  Swamp Lizard Folk

  Monsters in the Wild

  Tales of the Sehabi are told to children to make them behave and keep them out of the wilds. The Sehabi are a riverine people, lizardfolk adapted to life in freshwater marshes, rivers, and lake deltas rather than saltwater coasts. Their culture and physiology reflect the calm but dangerous wetlands they call home.

  Appearance

  • Broader heads like alligators, with powerful jaws adapted for crushing river mussels and snapping turtles.
  • Thick, dark green to muddy-brown scales mottled with lighter streaks, mimicking river reeds and sun-dappled water.
  • Bright yellow or orange eyes common, adapted for seeing through murky water.
  • Colored body paint is often applied in ritual stripes along their arms, legs, and tails—markings that serve as clan identifiers and spiritual symbols.

  Culture

  • The Sehabi place spiritual importance on the Credolga, a mythic river-spirit they believe governs the flow of water, fertility of fish, and the safety of their people. Priests and shamans dedicate themselves to interpreting Credolga’s currents and eddies, reading omens in the flow of water.
  • Fishing, hunting river beasts, and cultivating floating gardens of water tubers form their staple economy.
  • The Sehabi revere crocodiles and alligators as living emissaries of Credolga, and they do not hunt them unless ritually sanctioned.

  Settlements

  The Sehabi are urban dwellers. Their cities rise from riverbanks and floodplains, constructed of mudbrick and packed clay similar to adobe. The square, flat-roofed buildings are built in tiers, sometimes stacked two or three stories high. Many roofs serve as communal spaces - gardens, drying racks for fish, and shrines to their gods. Streets are wooden plank paths resembling piers in structure.

  During floods, lower levels of the city may submerge, but the Sehabi are not troubled by this—water is life, and the city is built to endure it. In fact, many structures have intentional “water gates” that allow controlled flooding, seen as a blessing rather than a calamity.

  Faith

  Their patron deity is Credolga, the River-Mother. Other minor deities exist in the Sehabi pantheon, but Credolga is paramount. Outsiders often mistake her for a goddess of peace and fertility, but her faithful know she is just as much a devourer as she is a mother.

  Society & Culture

  • Leadership: Cities are typically ruled by a High Voice of Credolga, a priest-ruler who balances civic governance with divine interpretation of the river’s will. Beneath them, councils of elders manage daily affairs.
  • Economy: Fishing, river pearl-diving, reed cultivation, and trade along waterways. Their mudbrick cities often serve as trade junctions where land and river routes meet.
  • Art: Murals painted in white, ochre, and yellow adorn walls. Many depict Credolga’s myths—her rising from the waters, swallowing cities in floods, or gifting the first Sehabi with the knowledge of adobe.
  • Funeral Rites: When a Sehabi dies, their body is dried with reeds and clay, then burned upon a pyre of driftwood and river reeds. Because large timber is rare in their wetland homes, gathering enough wood for a pyre is a communal duty, symbolizing the living giving of themselves so the dead may return to Credolga.

  War & Defense

  The Sehabi are not expansionists but defend their rivers fiercely. They employ short, heavy spears, fishing nets weighted with stone, and ambush tactics from canals and waterways. Siege is rare, since most attackers falter in the deep marshes around Sehabi cities.