The Strange Bestiary
Serpent people belong to the ancient past, in a time before humans, perhaps even before mammals. Theirs was an era of incredible scientific and magic discovery, their greatest thinkers unlocking the mysteries of the cosmos and harnessing powers beyond anything before or since. The fate common to serpent people across all the recursions they inhabit is that a few survive in the deepest depths of the earth, hidden and forgotten by the younger races that inherited the world from them. Most serpent people have become degenerates, losing knowledge, culture, and, for many, even the ability to speak. A serpent person stands as tall as a human but has a slender, sinuous body covered in mottled scales. Its head and tapering tail are distinctively serpentlike, and a forked tongue flickers from its mouth. In ancient times, serpent people donned hooded robes and jewelry to mark their place as priests, philosophers, scientists, and magicians of fabulous power. Degenerates look like smaller versions of their enlightened peers and wield crude weapons.
Motive: Enlightened serpent people seek to preserve what few shreds of civilization are left to them. Degenerate serpent people want to survive.
Environment (Weird Science or Magic):Deep caverns
Health: 9
Damage Inflicted: Moderate wound (4 points)
Armor: 1
Movement: Short
Modifications: All tasks related to magic or science as level 7 (enlightened only).
Combat: A degenerate serpent person fights like a brute. It stabs enemies with a spear or bashes them with a club. These savages know little about tactics, though five degenerates can work together to attack as one, making a single attack roll as one level 5 creature, inflicting a moderate wound (6 points). Enlightened serpent people use magic or technology to overcome their enemies with long-range attacks. An enlightened serpent person also usually has a couple of cyphers it can use in combat.
All serpent people can bite for a minor wound (1 point). A bite victim must succeed on a Might defense roll or become poisoned. The difficulty of all tasks for a poisoned target is increased by one step. In addition, at the end of every minute, the target must make a level 3 Might defense roll. If he makes three rolls in a row, he shakes off the poison. Each failed roll inflicts a minor wound (3 points) that bypass Armor.
Interaction: Degenerates are savage, wild, and unpredictable, but enlightened serpent people may be curious about humans and seek to study them. Such investigation will usually culminate in dissection, but until then, they could be helpful to visitors, sharing information they deem not too dangerous to dispense.
Use: Characters venturing deep underground might come across a serpent person enclave.
GM Intrusion: A serpent person spits venom at a character within short range. Resolve this attack as if the target were bitten.