Naga

Overview

The naga are touched by the realm of Night, a realm of shape-changing wyrms and winged serpents. They are subtle, secretive and intuitive individuals whose passion and fervour for life drives them to seek new challenges and new experiences.

Naga are comfortable in roles where secrets and sensation are important. They excel in the Bourse where their motivation for wealth and passion for secrets gives them an edge, but they are also found in the Synod where their fervour and oratory make them successful. There have been a number of notable naga in the Senate and the Conclave, over the years, but their lack of discipline and mercurial spirit means they have rarely embraced a life in the military.

The naga lineage is intended to appeal to players who want to be subtle and manipulative, as well as those who want to be a little mysterious. The naga suits a number of concepts: fanatical priests, mysterious wizards, fighters who enjoy fighting, artists and performers of all types. The concept plays with images of the snake as wise and subtle, but subverts the idea that snakes are “cold-blooded”.

Inspirations for the naga might include any number of famous artists and socialites such as Oscar Wilde and Van Gough. Spymasters like Francis Walsingham from the film Elizabeth and the fictional spies Varys and Milady de Winter all fit the idea of subtle, secretive, passionate agents. Wizards and mysterious magicians of all stripes can provide inspiration including various versions of Thoth, Mister Miyagi, Merlin, Morgan leFey and even Doctor Strange. Naga are often articulate characters that enjoy their own cleverness, like Vizzini and Tyrion Lannister. Other characters that fit the naga stereotype are the indulgent jewel-thief Catwoman, sinister sociopaths like The Talented Mr Ripley, manipulators like the Marquis de Carabas from Neverwhere, and most of the cast of Josh Whedon's Firefly series (but especially Shepard Derriel Book and Inara Serra).

Sobriquets

Skinks, Snakes, Lamia, the Scaled

What they are not

Sex pests. Naga are sensates, they're not bizarre scaly perverts.

Iconic Trappings

Scaled brow or eye sockets. Almost all naga have scales around the eyes or across the brow. A quick and effective scale effect can be produced using make-up and applied with a stencil. You can also use a latex prosthetic to build up the scales across the forehead and highlight the eyes.

Other Trappings

Fangs. Some naga have a pair of fangs where their upper canines would normally be. They do not have additional fangs or pointed teeth, no matter how strong their lineage is. This look is best achieved with teeth prosthetics.
Reptilian eyes. Naga often have eyes with thin vertical pupils like those of a cat or a reptile. Cosmetic contact lenses can be used to achieve this. The pupil and iris should be the tall and thin, and the iris may be of any colour.
Scaled skin. High lineage naga have scales covering more of their skin. This may be on the sides of the face and neck, the back of the hands and the arms or it may even cover large areas of visible skin. Naga are not restricted to any one colour scheme for their scales and exotic shades are entirely appropriate for this lineage, provided that the scale motif is clearly visible. There is no need to cover every inch of your skin but if you do this, then avoid leaving your neck visible and unpainted, as it undermines the appearance. It may be better to use the scales in highlighted areas like the cheek bones, face and the sides of the neck. You can also use latex prosthetics to enhance the scale effect by raising their profile.
Feathers. If you are playing a high lineage naga with scales that cover significant areas of your face then you might also have brightly coloured feathers on the back of your head. You can tie long feathers into your hair or else use a wig or skull cap so that the hair is completely covered by a mane of feathers. The goal is to look like a feathered serpent, not a scaled bird.
Flat nose. High lineage naga sometimes have a flatter or less defined nose. The nostrils may look more like pits and the skin on either side rises to meet the bridge of the nose. This effect might be achieved with various kinds of latex prosthetic that cover the nose and centre of the face.
Sibilant voices. hissing is not out of character for the Naga.

Roleplaying Naga

Naga blood influences the character of the one who possesses it. Not every Naga expresses these effects to the same degree, but characters who strongly express these roleplaying effects often possess stronger blood than those who do not.

Naga are subtle. Observers rarely know what a Naga is thinking or planning, whereas the Naga themselves will be very clear of their ultimate goal and how they might achieve it. There is a subversive pride to be taken in pursuing one’s goal without anyone else knowing until you have succeeded. This might be used in long term political plotting, manipulating a social function in order to get close to a particular individual, or controlling a conversation in order to shorten it for their own end (without the other person knowing of course that they were the last thing on one’s mind)
Naga are intuitive. They love to watch and to try and work out the motives of others, presuming there is some goal beyond the obvious and perhaps linking unrelated occurrences into this perceived ‘plan’. Having made such a conclusion it may colour their actions and interactions, even in the face of contrary evidence they may feel they know more about what is really going on. If it is someone they feel strongly about, they may seek to help or hinder such perceived goals.
Naga are passionate. Naga could never be thought cold, even at their most calculating and devious. There is a keen fire in the eyes and tension at the thrill of the chase (literal or otherwise). They feel all emotions strongly and love to engage with the moment, and if they enjoy an experience may seek to prolong it, or seek it out again. They are not childish, nor erratic, just every sensation is more real to them and they cannot help feeling it, nor would they want to. Each Naga has their own passions and preferences which makes them very varied but linked by a common thread.
Naga may degenerate into madness. Some naga become increasingly self-obsessed and selfish to the point of sociopathy. The passionate pursuit of a goal can become so strong that it excludes other concerns, perhaps to the detriment and ultimate injury of others. The tragic tales of those who followed their heart’s desire only to find everything else they loved had been destroyed in the wake of their pursuit; those whose study removed them so far that they became hated for their indifference; those who with near-mad fervour struck down one of their dearest who tried to stand in their way.

Advantage - discerning senses

All the senses seem a little stronger, a little more complex: a common sweet might be a riot of intermingled flavours; a plain cloth is seen to be woven from subtly varied threads; a simple melody accompanied by all the implied harmonies and driven by the emotion of the musical flow. This does not make it easier to pick out poisons, or other potential advantages, in fact the sensations can be distracting leading to revulsion or rapture, evoking the passions in some way.

The Blood

Despite their appearance, Naga are as warm blooded and mammalian as any human, they just have some snakes-like characteristics in their appearance. They mate and breed just like humans do, they have hair, and they give birth to live offspring. The Naga bloodlines require regular influxes of human blood. Without them the bloodline reaches a strength where the Naga becomes incapable of successfully mating with another Naga. As a consequence Naga often take human lovers, even if they are in a relationship with another Naga. As well as Naga who have a Naga parent, some Naga claim one of their parents was a disguised Eternal of the Realm of Night.