Snakes come in thousands of species, from wee worms to vast sea serpents. The majority of them are cold-blooded reptiles, limbless and sinuous. While many Folk fear snakes, thinking that all are envenomed, only a fraction has any venom at all.
Venomous vipers have diverse organs of generation for their varied poisons. Glands may envenom stinging tongue or tail. Some serpents have poisonous breath, affecting all in their vicinity. Others inject their venom through hollow fang while some have toxic spittle, either spat with arrow-accuracy or simply dribbled, as to lay a trap of poisoned ground. Some even secrete their poison as a belly-slime. On occasion, a serpent may have different sorts of venoms, often complimentary, generated for its different stings.
While real snakes may be dry, despite their slippery smoothness, folklore suggests than fictional serpents may be slimy; snakes were believed to be but scaly worms, and often thought to be boneless.
Serpents are known to be immortal, because they renew their youth when they shed their skins. Similarly, a snake cut into pieces is believed to regenerate, each piece becoming a new snake. This suggests remarkable regeneration abilities.
Being closely associated with the Earth has granted snakes several special qualities. One is that they are often gifted with a degree of divine Earth wisdom, despite their technical order of intelligence being that of only the most basic of beasts. As a result, such serpents function as though they were rather more intelligent than they really are.
Folk usually leave them unmolested, not only from fear but also because serpents are known to carry prayers into the Earth. The common peasant will whisper dreams of good crops rising from the earth in to the serpents right ear while the noble whispers visions of earthly riches in to the serpent's left ear. The serpent lacks outer ears because they have been worn away, ferrying prayers from the surface in to the depths.
What begins life as a worm or simple snake may, in time, develop might and wisdom and become a great wyrm, may develop intelligence and even develop into a Dragon. As a simple snake develops special abilities, it is likely to grow signifying marks, such as a crest or horns, ears or visible tail-tip stingers. Strangely enough, there are even serpents with forepaws, as much like a bird claw as a lizard's foot; be wary in their presence, for these manipulative appendages suggest that some god or other, pleased with its Serpent-Folk followers, has blessed them with tool-using hands - to compliment their scheming intelligence.
Among real snakes, the male usually does little for his young. The female tends the nest, but in only a few species does she show much care for the hatchlings. In consideration of the traditional connection of snakes to the Earth, which is usually a Mother Goddess, I have decided to model the parental care of snakes in general after the alligator and the fossil indications of parental care left by some species of dinosaur. In my worlds, parent snakes care for their hatchlings much as birds do. Because of this, most of the snake entries include a note, under numbers encountered, on pairs with half-grown young.
Here are recommended but a small fraction of the wondrous snakes that enrich our lands.
Aesculapius, Chemists' (or Alchemists' or Physicians') Serpent
Alchemists' Adders, magical serpents with venom of diverse sorts
Amphisbaena and Janis Snake, serpents of Classic myth that "go both ways."
Amphitere, the Winged Serpent of Eurasia and Africa
Anchor-Whip, a traditional jungle myth
Bamphisaena, the Amphisbaena's counterpart
Basilisk, a distant relative of the true basilisk beast
Catch-Crown, a colossal wurm of the desert
Cerastes, the Crowned Serpent
Crescent-Razor, an aggressive blade-horned snake
Egg-Eating Incarnator, develops personality of soul it "egg-naps."
FurredSnakes, both Furred Serpents and Feline-Headed Cat Snakes
Grasping Snake (No separate entry)
- Any snake with claws or paws; often arboreal or subterranean
Haemorophage, the muscle-liquefying sipping serpent
Haemorrois, the blood-sweat lapping asp
Hypnalis, the Dancing Serpent
Ice Serpent, arctic serpents of living ice
Insinuator Serpent, a Puppet Master Folk
(Also in main bestiary index)
Jacula, the javelin snakes
Joint Snake, an American myth reconceived as an unusual colonial parasite
Man Slurper, a colossal that swallows giant insects - and people - whole
Milk Snake (No separate entry)
- Any other sort of snake may become a milk snake, as milk-stealing is a behavior any sort of snake may learn, either by observing a dairyman at work, by being trained by someone attuned to animals or by magical inducement.
Myrmecophage, the Ant-Adder
Noose Snake, the Blacksnake as portrayed in American traditional folklore
Ophidian Living Idols, monstrously great snakes infused with divine spirit
Prialis, the soporific serpent
Quetzalcoatl, winged and feathered serpents of the American tropics
(Also in main bestiary index)
Scitalis, Various, scintillating, hypnotically beautiful serpents
Slip-and-Stick Serpent, a trap-laying beast of devious nature
Snap-Tail, a living whip
Vermin-Vanquisher Viper (No separate entry)
- Any sort of snake valued for its vermin-hunting, such as the rat snake; prized by farmers, possibly tamed and trained.
Versicolor, or Molting Snakes (No separate entry)
- White in winter, brown in summer, or switching between different patterns
Vitreous Vipers, osteophagus mineral beasts
Weasel Worms a serpentine mammal
(Also in main bestiary index)
Winter Worms, General, their classes and habits
In winter, serpents huddle together for warmth and protection. In the real world, such knots of sleeping snakes have included hundreds of individuals of different species, all coiled together. In a fictional setting, a knot may contain thousands of serpents, including some very exotic varieties.
A great knot of sleeping serpent denning in an alcove or lodged blocking a passage may look rather like a wall of living snakes, or rather, like a sculpture of serpents. The sculptural disguise of the knot of snakes is enhanced by the phenomenon of encysting. As they prepare for their winters sleep, the serpents release a sticky fluid or foam their spittle. This covers the knot in a parchment-like casing; collecting dust, it makes them appear molded of mud or clay. As this is a somewhat supple insulation, the cyst does not hinder their movements; it is torn as tissue by vigorous motion.
The collective mass of the knot of snakes keeps them above freezing. Their numbers also provide protection from intruders as well as temperature. The serpents of the knot take it by turns to wake and keep watch; should some trespasser come near, the guard-serpents vibrate to silently wake the rest of the knot. They remain still, conserving energy and hoping to go unnoticed. If not molested, the knot of serpents, however horrific its appearance, is in fact harmless. Should anyone be so foolish as to attack a knot of snakes, at the first round of battle, only the guard-snakes will be alert and respond at full vigor. Each round thereafter, an additional 10% of the remaining serpents revive and join the fray.
By means of a curious phenomenon called the changing of the guards, the den of the knot of snakes is always occupied. As winter draws to a close and the days grow warmer, the winter snakes begin to seek shelter from the heat. When their season is past, they wriggle down through the earth to where the snakes of summer slumber. The winter snakes wake the summer snakes and, as the summer snakes rise to the surface, the winter snakes take their place, forming a similar, if somewhat smaller, knot of sleeping snakes. Come the cool days of fall, the snake of summer return, waking the winter snakes and exchanging places once more.
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