The Le'shi Confederacy
The Le'shi resemble nothing so much as vaguely humanoid Gila Monsters. They are distinctly bestial, retaining their full tails, venomous bite, and keeping a notable slouch to their posture. Their skin has a beaded texture and is normally a mottled combination of black/green and yellow. They are a large race, even with their slouch they tend to stand at least a head higher than most races and are heavily muscled. They are capable of incredible bursts of strength and speed but are in general slower in the long run and more ponderous than most races.
Le'shi are hardly sexually dimorphic and most other races have difficulty telling the two sexes apart. They are cold blooded and are therefore very sensitive to temperature shifts which has been a major contributor for the race remaining in its arid homeland. While not a particularly dumb race, the Le'shi are not exactly a race of geniuses either. There seems to be some correlation between magical aptitude and intelligence among the Le'shi which may explain how the hierarchy of their species came to be.
The most notable thing about the Le'shi beyond their impressive bulk is their powerful magic users. Magic users are an order of magnitude rarer in Le'shi society than in most other places, but for the fast breeding reptiles this is somewhat offset. Le'shi magic users form the secular and religious rulers of their society from the lowliest Le'shi medicine man all the way up to the mighty priest-kings, if they are in a place of holy authority they wield the powerful magics of the Le'shi.
Le'shi are hardly sexually dimorphic and most other races have difficulty telling the two sexes apart. They are cold blooded and are therefore very sensitive to temperature shifts which has been a major contributor for the race remaining in its arid homeland. While not a particularly dumb race, the Le'shi are not exactly a race of geniuses either. There seems to be some correlation between magical aptitude and intelligence among the Le'shi which may explain how the hierarchy of their species came to be.
The most notable thing about the Le'shi beyond their impressive bulk is their powerful magic users. Magic users are an order of magnitude rarer in Le'shi society than in most other places, but for the fast breeding reptiles this is somewhat offset. Le'shi magic users form the secular and religious rulers of their society from the lowliest Le'shi medicine man all the way up to the mighty priest-kings, if they are in a place of holy authority they wield the powerful magics of the Le'shi.
Location
American Southwest around Arizona/New Mexico extending down into bits of Northern Mexico.
General Introduction
In the lands stretching from the southern edge of the Rocky Mountains in the north, the Grand Canyon in the west, and loosely following the Rio Grande southwards into the northern tip of Mexico sit the mighty confederacy of the Le'Shi. The Confederacy is a loose collection of the many sovereign theocratic kingdoms of the reptilian Le'Shi. At the head of each sits a great Priest-King, the strongest mage within their Kingdom, who wear the twin hats of ruler and demigod. While Kingdoms occasionally war against one another, all come to the holy city of Chitdol-Asiba to reconcile their grievances before the Priest-King who has been chosen by God and Le'shi to sit as the arbiter of disputes and leader of all in times of trouble. The Le'Shi themselves are a large and intimidating race of rippling muscle and venomous jaws, but the lack of essential resources has kept them largely stuck in the Bronze Age as if to counter their natural strength.
History
(You can ignore this part for now because the game's setting is ambigious at the beginning. Once it took shape you can work on your background more. Albeit if your General Intro already covers the history we need you can just skip this)
Government and Society
The Le'shi is not technically a singular nation but instead a confederacy of many kingdoms all united by their common race, customs, and religion. All Kingdoms are theocratic and ruled by a Priest-king who is the most powerful mage within that Kingdom and therefore the closest one of all to the realm of the gods. The various Priest-Kings all rule from the Holy City of Chitdol-Asiba. To determine which Priest-King leads the confederacy at a given time, every five years a tournament is held where the various priest-kings all bring forth their greatest champions to do battle. The champion who reigns victorious determines which Priest-King takes Primacy over all others.
The culture of the Le'shi is highly regimented and tradition bound. The Le'shi practice a soft caste system. There are no specific rules about what a Le'shi does with their life, but a family based guild system ensures that the chances of a Le'shi changing its course in life is rare at best. The major industries of the Le'shi are all based around individual families. They are also heavily steeped in ritual, with elaborate ceremonies for everything from hunting, marriage, warfare, and even the act of writing texts. Being theocratic the Confederacy is also deeply religious and every household has at least one shrine to the local nature deities that keep them safe or ensure good harvests or what have you.
Religion is the cornerstone of Le'shi society. Their faith is animist in nature, they believe that everything animate or inanimate has a spirit known as a Kachina. Some Kachina are obviously more powerful than others and could be considered deities in their own right such as the great mountains and the Sun who are worshiped universally by all Le'shi for they are considered the givers of life to the cold blooded reptiles. Kachina are said to reside in the underworld, a realm where newborn Le'shi souls come from and dead Le'shi souls return to and is also considered to be the origin of Le'shi magics. Religious rituals are based around appeasing the local Kachina to gain favor or right wrongs that a village or kingdom may have caused. To represent Kachina in ritual, the priests of the Le'shi wear elaborate costumes and masks in an attempt to channel the Kachina into the mortal plane. Those with magical powers are considered to be "between" worlds and therefore better able to communicate with and channel the powers of the spirits. The Priest-Kings, being the most powerful mages, are therefore also considered to be the holiest members of society and are themselves worshiped like minor deities by the Le'shi.
While lacking in precious resources the Confederation has access to large amounts of materials to make incredibly vivid dyes and so Le'shi clothing is brightly colored. Colors are not attached to any social significance but the numbers of colors are. Common farmers for example only wear clothing of one color, normally purple as the insect that is ground up to make purple dye is considered a major pest that attacks crops, whereas the Priest-Kings' outfits could only be described as technocolor vomit. While not ones for paintings, the Le'shi make elaborate statues of wood, bone, and stone of the local Kachina. The greatest of all of these statues are known as the Dueling Twins, avatars of the Sun and the Stars who are considered to be in an endless battle with one another over control of the Earth. These statues are locked in battle and form the arch that all must walk under when entering the Holy City of Chitdol-Asiba.
There are two distinct styles of Architecture within the Confederacy. Those who live in the open lands live in Pueblos of a few hundred to several thousand in the largest cases. These communities are normally made of Adobe as there is a shortage of stone or wood in these areas. The cities that live closer to the great mountains are made in a similar manner, though are done so with stone. The holy city of Chitdol-Asiba is one such city with strong basalt walls protecting the Priest-Kings who rule from what could only be called a great pyramid at the heart of the city.
Economy & Industry
The Confederacy lacks a distinct economic slant to it; many goods are produced, traded for, and consumed. Their homeland is arid and resource poor so metals, especially iron, are the most common import the Le'shi require. Their primary export are the many vivid dyes made from materials unique to the region. Le'shi dyes are well regarded as the best in the region in both vibrance and variety. The currency of the Le'shi is the he'le, a bronze coin (copper and tin being some of the only metals that exist in abundance within their lands) that is circular with a square hole stamped through the center. Instead of purses Le'shi keep their currency on long strings which hang from their belts. The denominations of he'le go up by twelves with 1, 12, 24, 48, and 144 he'le coins existing.
Military Overview
The military of the Confederacy is a highly divided and decentralized thing. There is no central military structure, and in many Kingdoms there is not even a dedicated military class. Instead when times of war come the Local Priest-King calls a summons for War Parties from all of his subservient villages. Individual War Parties can be anywhere from a handful to hundreds of individuals depending on the size and wealth of a village or city being called. The calling of every War Party in the Confederacy by the currently ruling Priest-King is an incredibly rare thing and only occurs when a threat massive enough to affect the survival of all Le'Shi rises. In such a dire event nearly ten thousand warriors could be rallied for battle, with likely twice that in lesser militias made up of War Parties from lesser settlements without real training.
The level of training and equipment of these warriors is also highly variable. Many War Parties are simply made up of any able bodied males the village can gather, while those of the Priest-Kings' own cities are often individuals who have dedicated their lives to the arts of battle. The lesser War Parties are primarily used as skirmishers and missile troops, using their lives spent on the hunt to their advantage while the true warriors clash in the open field. Light infantry are traditionally armed with Bronze headed spears(Often the same ones used on the hunt) and a small round shield made of wood and leather. Heavy infantry wield massive war clubs made of hard wood and bronze or large forward curving swords in one hand, and a tower shield in the other. More elite units, such as the retinue of a Priest-King or his generals, may even wear heavy armor made from splints of Bronze. Otherwise troops go into battle largely unarmored. Missile Troops carry the same Greatbows used to hunt huge game. Made for the large Le'Shi, these bows have a draw weight few other races could handle and fling arrows longer than a man's arm. Highly effective in the hands of trained archers, they are not used as volley weapons.
Mages are both a constant and a massive rarity on the battlefield. The only members of a Le'shi War Party capable of using magic are the leaders, normally a Priest-King and his handful of generals. While the magics wielding by these individuals are a terrifying sight to behold, they are few in number and can only do so much to act as a force multiplier especially considering they are such high-value targets. Combat magic normally revolves around the aspects of the two greatest deities of the Le'shi: The Mountain and the Sun. Blinding beams of light, the ability to make the ground tremble, and hurl great chunks of stone are all in a Priest-King or general's playbook.
