Sar`Rukh/Lizard Mage

1. Research (+30%)
2. Lore: Oldones (98%)
3. Lore: Fae(98%)

Description:

The Sar`Rukh form one of the core species of the Draconid race, though they keep that name a secret and call themselves the Lizard Mage. Being one of the most magically powerful races on the face of Otara, these one time favoured servants of the Old Ones have considerable intellect and magical abilities beyond the minds of most mortal races, and once ruled the Draconid as a venerated caste of semi-religious magic-users. Fearsome to behold the Sar`Rukh stands about eight feet (2.4 m) tall, has a short tail, a dragon-like head, and dinosaur-like feet. Their scales are a beautiful gold and silver. The eyes are a glittering, emerald, green. Sar`Rukh can topple cities, engulf foes in flames or open vast vents in the ground below. Enemy wizards find the mightiest incantation they try to employ unravelling before them as a Sar`Rukh contemptuously waves its hand.

Legend tells us that the Lizard Mages were among the first rulers of Otara, perhaps even during the Age of Chaos. The legend suggests that the Lizard Mages were second in power only to the dreaded Old Ones and that it was they who created the Elven race! Legend also credits these creatures of magic to be the "masters of time," preserving themselves by traveling to other dimensions or placing themselves in a state of suspended animation in magic circles of great power. Circles not known to the beings of Otara (or many others).

The case in fact is that each of these Legends while not entirely true holds a many pieces of the puzzle.

It is well known, or at the least highly suspected, that the Old Ones created the Dragons as a warrior race to protect them. They also created many other races for various purposes. The very first race was the Sar`Rukh. They were created by the Old Ones to be the leaders, organisers, architects, and Mages of their society and the backbone of their culture, and as such were the right hand of the Old Ones. Every bit as wicked and nearly as powerful. The Sar'Rukh were greedy and powerful but not content to serve as others were. They had however inherited many of their creators traits as well and were evil and devious to their core, as well as paranoid and jealous. They lusted for power and hungered for more and more knowledge. For countless Millenia the hoarded their power and knowledge and little by little rebelled more and more against their master’s rule thinking they did this in secret. The Old Ones noticed.

When the Dragons were created, the Sar`Rukh saw not a slave and weapon of destruction in thrall of the Old Ones, they saw a replacement. This sparked new rebellion and outright sabotage and soon they grew into disfavour in the Old Ones eyes. However, at this time the Old Ones had other worries. Widespread rebellion, much of it sparked by the sabotage of the Sar`Rukh, turned to war. The Sar`Rukh used this distraction to flee and they abandoned their cousins and their allies, leaving them to fight the war, and fled into the faewyld to hide away. Having not learned anything from this, a Sar`Rukh Mage, named Dahakkan, created the first Troglodytes as a servant race. They were flawed and imperfect, but they served their purpose. Others, jealous of his success, worked on creating other races of their own. Dahakkan, continued to build and improve his experiments and soon followed up with first the Kobold and then the Lizardfolk. Meanwhile, the war against the Old Ones had ended. Millenia past and other wars began. During one of these the Dragons, specifically the Evil Dragons, Styphon and his mate Tiamat, created the Draconians as shock troops to fight the was against the Good Dragons and the Elves.

The Dragons and Eandroth were created using Sar`Rukh DNA. The Troglodytes, Kobolds and Lizardfolk were created using Dahakkan's DNA at first and then the DNA of each subsequent race. The Draconians were created using magic the corrupt unborn Dragons in their eggs. 7 races using a common DNA strain each tied to the other yet each different.

The Lizard Mages' level of knowledge is said to equal or surpass that of elder dragons, and they are known to use their magic to explore many alien worlds. This is true and in the Faewyld, they were among the most feared and powerful beings to ever walk there. but also like their creator's they soon fell to rebellion, and they were driven out of the faewyld and ended up on Otara, and during the tumultuous periods after the Age of Chaos, thousands of these reptilian lords were hunted down and destroyed. Thousands of others escaped to other dimensions where some prospered and others perished. Still others were frozen in time by arcane magic known neither by man nor Elf, and are still found, from time to time, slumbering peacefully inside a magic circle hidden deep in an ancient ruin or underground tomb.

There were five spawning of Sar`Rukh created by the Old Ones, each with a particular role to play in their Great Plan. No new Sar`Rukh have spawned since the defeat of the Old Ones. Without any new Mage-Priests to pass the torch of their generation, they are a dying race, faced with extinction. Over 90% of their kind died in the purge from the faewyld, including all of the First Spawning - the wisest and most powerful of the Sar`Rukh. In the ages since, many other Sar`Rukh have died violently. The Sar`Rukh are the last of a dying race, and even the youngest is over seven thousand years old. Their numbers are slowly dwindling, never to be replaced. They are very rarely slain in combat, for they will usually magically teleport themselves out of danger before a killing blow is landed. The husk-bodies of those who are killed are cremated and their ashes entombed deep beneath the earth where they are sealed behind layers of wards and spells of entrapment. If this is not done, their spirits are held to this world where they can manipulate or possess other beings. As stated, the Sar`Rukh of the First Spawning died many thousands of years ago, and some of them can still affect the world around them, manipulating the winds of magic and corrupting other beings. It is believed that only five Sar`Rukh. Remain but there is no way to confirm this.

The Sar`Rukh see the world differently from other beings. Their orderly minds are constantly at work deciphering complex problems and wandering the cosmos. To the Sar`Rukh, time passes more quickly than it does for short-lived creatures, and a Sar`Rukh will regularly slip into extended periods of restful contemplation that lasts decades, or even centuries. They sit unmoving on their stone palanquins or in their Star Chambers, and to an outsider a Sar`Rukh might appear asleep, or even dead. So deeply do they meditate that signs of life are hard to detect. Their breaths are shallow and far apart, their eyes unblinking and vacant, yet the Sar`Rukh are attuned to more than mortals realise. They can perceive the magic and raw disorder that hangs in the air and will wake themselves or allow others to wake them when the feel the time is most advantageous for them to do so

Sar`Rukh are curious about science, magic, and the supernatural, and most are power-mongers in search of a kingdom to dominate and rule. In the magic rich environment of Otara, they once again pulse with natural powers Though not quite like they did so long ago in the Age of Chaos when magic was unrestrained and wild. Although they have lost much of their former power since awakening into the world, the Sar`Rukh are still the undisputed masters of the magical arts and this time however, they seem to have learned at least some self control and restraint.

Now, once awake they hide their true Identities and quietly seek out places of power to acquire as strongholds. Once they have acquired such a position of power or feel that they can easily overpower those around them, a Lizard Mage will be surprisingly friendly, easy-going, and helpful. Frequently, they will offer their aid to inferior humanoids while figuring out the new and strange world around them and plotting who they can take over. This is always a temporary allegiance, subject to other, more attractive, opportunities. There can be no denying the extreme egotism, impudence, and pure gall of a Lizard Mage. They tend to see most other races as subordinates, servants, or sheep waiting to be sheared. Only the occasional dragon or godling is accepted as an equal. Sar`Rukh have been known to show their violent sides on occasion, though such occurrences are momentous and rare, and it is these younger generations who are more inclined to warfare and aggression.

Ultimately, every Lizard Mage craves supreme knowledge and absolute power. This often leads them on grand quests and missions to conquer those around them through force and intimidation. They are seldom satisfied with fleeting power and desire world domination. However, when the stakes get too high and their lives are threatened, they graciously abandon that particular game (and often the world) to pursue some new game of conquest and domination elsewhere. Or to study or explore some other part of the world for a century or two. Fortunately, there are very few of them around. They have little concern or interest in regard to the survival of their own race and exhibit great disdain toward one another. They will not work with other Lizard Mages nor are they interested in the activities of other Lizard Mages, unless those activities interfere with their own schemes. If that becomes the case, they will go to extremes to destroy the Interloper, often being destroyed in the process.

Game Masters, this race is NPC only and is put here simply for sake of use by the Game Master. These creatures make great villains, always suave, sophisticated, and conniving. Evil that drips with honey.