Overview
Naga are the serpent-bodied kin of the temple-spires. They decide who is punished, and they consider the venom a promise the court keeps for them.
Habitat
Naga live in Serpent Spire, a temple-spires of venom and court where the venom is the only honest conversation. They need three things: a spire tall enough to hold the court, a venom true enough to keep the punishment honest, and a tribute that is worth the fang. They are settled in spires around the temple-rings, with tribute-lines across the mapped current; a naga who has not judged a tribute in a season is called "the one who forgot the venom."
Appearance
The naga silhouette is the long, low, coiled shape — heavy through the torso and crest, with the head sitting a little too high on the neck, like a word that is waiting for a punishment. Males run 3.66 m from crown to tail-tip, heavy through the torso and crest with a thick green-gold scale and a low, barked voice; they are the wall, the first strike, and the ones who guard the spire. Females run 3.66 m, longer and quicker, with a thinner scale and a deeper venom; they are the venom-queens, the ones who decide who is punished, and the ones whose nod is the court. The base scale is a thick, wet, glistening green-gold, the color of deep spire-water seen through a bright glass, with a faint pattern of deeper, sea-green bands along the spine and a clean, deliberate bone-white at the fin-edge that is the naga line's most persistent claim. The eyes are a pale, washed-out amber-gold, large for the head, with a slow, deliberate blink and a depth that makes them look like they are reading the tribute — and in most cases, they are, and the reading is the point. The head is the mark: a long, narrow skull with a crest-fin of thick green-gold running from the crown to the nape, and a pair of true, pointed ears set high on the head in the same green-gold as the scale. The fangs are the mark — long, hollow, always wet, and always pointed at something, the naga line's most persistent claim. Males carry the line in the crest and the torso; females in the fang and the venom. Elders are marked by a scale gone a deep, dull spire-slate and a crest gone pale silver — an old naga coils slower and holds the venom longer. Everyday wear: a wrap of woven kelp at the waist, a single gold bead at the throat, and no armor, because the scale is the armor and the court is the home.
Behavior
Disposition: feudal, clannish, territorial, honor-bound. In peace, naga are watchful, deliberate, and absolutely certain of the spire — they have the venom, and they let the surface know it. In war they fight as the court fights: the wall first, the strike second, the patient, precise holding of the venom third. Strangers on the surface are either a tribute or a mistake, and the mistake is the one the spire remembers. The social unit is the spire, 30–100 strong, around the temple-rings — no spire follows a guard, it follows the venom whose fang is truest. Two signature quirks: a naga who is being lied to will not call it out — they will simply judge the lie's tribute and wait, because the judging is the point. And they keep the venom for a lifetime: a venom the spire has distilled is a debt, and the debt is paid in punishment.
Warfare & Markings
Tactics: the court of the fang — the naga line does not fight in the open current; it fights as the court fights, with the wall, the strike, and the long, deliberate patience of the one who has already judged the tribute. Armor: scale, by choice — the natural scale is the armor, and a naga who wears metal has already decided the spire is not enough. Weapons: the coral-blade, the venom-fang that is not a weapon but is used like one, and the court that is not a weapon but is used like one. War markings: the Fang-Notch, a deliberate chip in the left fang for every punishment kept, worn as a record of the long court; the Crest-Knot, a single knot in the crest-fin for every spire oath kept, in sea-green; and the Venom-Brand, a small, deliberate mark on the inner wrist — the first venom the wearer ever distilled, worn as a mark of the beginning. Post-battle: the dead are carried to the Serpent Spire, their names judged over the court, and their blades laid across the coral — a naga buried without their fang is buried as a surface.
Magic Alignment
Primary domain: enchantment — naga magic is the will, the venom, the patient, precise shaping of the tribute across the spire. Secondaries: conjuration and chaos. Named inborns: Venom-Sense (a naga can feel the tribute's mood a day before it arrives, and the feeling is not a choice), Spire-Sight (a naga sees in the deep the way a human sees in the light, and the seeing is not a choice), Fang-Carry (a naga's venom carries the court's memory across the spire, and the carrying is not a choice). Signature power: the Venom Word — a naga can speak a word in the spire tongue and let it land on a fang, and the fang will keep the word until the punishment is done. Limitation: naga magic is spent on the spire; a naga who has spent their venom word must sit in the dry dark for one day, and the day is the worst one of the court.
Religion
Naga keep no god — the venom is the court, and the court is the law. The spire is the naga's own temple, and the venom-queen is the spire's own priest. Khorvane, the Endless Hunger is honored at the punishment-rites; the death is Khorvane's, and the naga is the death's judge. Priestly class: the Venom-Queen, who keeps the spire-temple and judges the tribute at every rite. Heresy is not blasphemy — it is a word broken in the court, and there is no rite for that one; the court simply stops judging with the breaker.
Society
Spires of 30–100, led by the Venom-Queen, rank decided by the venom — whose fang is truest.
Home
They live in Serpent Spire, a temple-spires of venom and court where the venom is the only honest conversation.
Relations
The "the venom is the only honest conversation" faction — spire neighbors whose venom is a price, and the ones whose nod is the court. The Serpent Folk of the shallows are the small kin the spire tolerates — the serpent folk keep the bank and the naga keeps the spire, and the two are the same venom seen from two currents, so a fang that is judged is a fang the spire will keep, and the keeping is the whole of the treaty. The Merfolk of the coral thrones are the court's oldest neighbors — the merfolk keep the throne and the naga keeps the venom, and the two have learned that a throne that is not judged is a throne that is not a promise, and the not-judging is the whole of the distance. The Deep Ones of the drowned warrens are the ones the court tests most often — the deep ones keep the deep and the naga keeps the venom, and the deep one who has been judged is the deep one the spire has already decided is a punishment, and the deciding is the whole of the law. The Dregmaw of the sharkbone warrens are the tribute the court has not forgiven — the dregmaw keeps the sharkbone and the naga keeps the venom, and the dregmaw's tribute is the one the spire will not forget, because the tribute that is not kept is a tribute that is not a promise. The Kraken of the deep is the one the court judges from a distance — the kraken keeps the deep and the naga keeps the venom, and the kraken that is judged is the kraken the spire has already measured, and the measuring is the whole of the law. Above, the ground-folk of The Forgotten are the ones the court tests most often, and the testing is the whole of the bond, because the forgotten are the ones the spire keeps the venom for, and the keeping is the whole of the promise. Uaellaen keeps a page of the spire in the wiki — the venom, the court, the fang that is judged — and the keeping is the whole of the record, because the camp has learned that a naga who has been written about is a naga who has been judged with, and the judging-with is the whole of the welcome.
In the Story
In the current story, the naga are the court under the spire — the venom Uaellaen writes about when the judgment is the law. The Forgotten keep their tribute at the court line, and the tribute has held for two seasons. This season a tribute came up that the court had not judged — a tribute that the Venom-Queen does not remember, and the not-remembering is the whole of the warning, because the spire keeps its venom, and the venom has started to judge. The judgment is the one the camp has not been shown, and the showing is the fang, and the fang is the whole of the story.