Here is my take on the Yuan-Ti of Athas. Perhaps the definitive sourcebook on Yuan-Ti is Serpent Kingdoms a Forgotten Realms book. I recommend that book to any fan of the Serpent People and it is chock full of snake themed feats spells and has numerous new monsters to use which are easily adaptable to Athas. . For Athas I would recommend using the Psionic Yuan Ti in the Expanded Psionic Handbook. The following is a work in progress and I'm open to ideas to tidy it up etc. I haven't finished yet as I have some work to do on the Yuan Ti subspecies and suggestions on how to incorporate them into Athas.
For purposes of this thread Yuan-Ti are the following creatures
Abomination+ (MM)
Anathema (FF)
Halfblood (MM)
Holy Guardian (SK)
Mageslayer (SK)
Pureblood (MM)
In addition the following creatures are Yuan-Ti themed. Serpent Kingdoms has lists of serpentfolk that includes other creatures Yuan-Ti associate with such as Nagas and various reptilian races.
Broodguard (MoF)
Extaminaar (CoR)
Ophidian (FF)
Sarrukh (SK)
Tainted One (MoF)
CoR= Champions of Ruin, FF=Fiend Folio,MoF= Monsters of Faerun, MM= Monster Manual, SK=Serpent Kingdoms.
Yuan Ti History
Green Age
The Yuan Ti are creatures of the rebirth. In the century or so the rebirth lasted they were among the last of the new races and were humans whose bloodlines were contaminated with snake blood due to the effect of the Pristine Tower. Yuan Ti are naturally psionic and were due to their ability to breed with humans rapidly became one of the most powerful races of the early green age. They had retained some tales regarding lifeshaping in the early years of the rebirth and while unable to lifeshape as such they were able to create grafts and conduct breeding experiments, Two hundred years or so after the start of the rebirth they founded their own kingdom named Orkoth south of the Tyr region.
Orkoth rapidly expanded and dominated a good chunk of southern Athas in the early green age. Yuan Ti overlords subdued various races and incorporated them into the empire. The Yuan Ti were not overly militaristic and relied on troop levies from other races to supply their military needs. At this point in time there were only the “true” Yuan Ti consisting of Abominations, Halfbloods and Purebloods. Ophidians were created as slaves and broodguards were also created to guard egg chambers. To increase their numbers Yuan Ti conducted breeding experiments with humans. Abominations were the nobility of the empire while purebloods were relegated to administrative positions. The Purebloods who could often pass for human were delegated to watch over the slave races. All non Yuan Ti were slaves but could often rise in power within the empire.
During the rise of Orkoth the Yuan Ti also discovered how to create grafts. Imperial soldiers even managed to expand the empire past the Jagged Cliffs creating psionic elevators that would let them descend to the plains below. Slave races expanded the empire to its greatest limits ruling most of what is now the deadlands in the early Green Age. After a thousand years or so the Yuan Ti found themselves as a minority in their own empire.
While the Yuan Ti are individually powerful due to their serpentine nature they were lazy compared to members of other races. Pampered nobles often lounged within their villa complexes. To the serpent masters a good life was being able to recline in the warm sun while their slaves catered to their every whim and occasionally became food. Orkoth territory was now encroaching on the Tyr region and pureblood infiltrators were stirring up turmoil in the cities of man. Also the Yuan Ti had delegated an increasing amount of administration of the empire to favored slaves. A military expedition sent to subdue the Tyr region revolted and the frontiers of the empire rose in revolt.
Unprepared for the uprising the Yuan Ti revoked most of the limited rights to their remaining loyal slaves. The slaves not really wishing to serve anymore only to become food also revolted. Yuan Ti nobles were dragged hissing into the streets and butchered while slave soldiers turned on their former masters. The empire rapidly collapsed and broke up into various city states and kingdoms while the Yuan Ti were butchered. The few surviving Yuan Ti had to hide among the victorious slave races. A fragment of the empire managed to survive however. The insignificant province of Astar’ith beyond the Jagged Cliffs was to far away from the centre of the empire to be effected by the revolt and was cut off when the psionic elevators were destroyed or deactivated in the uprising.
For the duration of the Green Age the Yuan Ti were reduced to small bands hiding in the ruins of their former empire or residing among other races in their city. The Orkoth remnant dwindled in power and rapidly became irrelevant as its inhabitants became lethargic barely maintaining their own residences. Here and their small bands managed to reclaim some of their former splendor for a brief time before once again they were driven underground.
The Age of Magic
At the start of the age of magic Yuan Ti power had dwindled to effectively nothing although some were powerful Psionists or had climbed to a position of power within various cities and civilizations. When Rajaat began teaching magic to the races of Athas Yuan Ti pureblood infiltrators managed to be taught the secrets of magic. After several hundred years even Orkoth had managed to train some mages. As a general rule all Yuan Ti arcane casters are preservers despite their evil alignment. The rulers of Orkoth didn’t want to ruin the small remnant they still possessed while other Yuan Ti found that a large circle of ash isn’t the most subtle of methods.
The northern tribes of Yuan Ti managed to forge a new empire during the last centuries of the Age of Magic. It encompassed the lands north of Tyr from what is now the bandit states to Saragar and west to what is now the Kano Swamp and east to the Sunrise Sea. Unlike ancient Orkoth the new imperium named Sath’Kor had no armies or boundaries. It was a political entity within various nation states. The Yuan Ti infiltrated various guilds and noble families and ruled behind the scenes in a loose alliance. The capital as such was the city of Magehome where several clans had warded compounds and they would share certain spells with other races and cooperate with them- at least in public. Most criminal activities were organized in the shadows by Yuan Ti “human” nobles and political figures.
Various cities were also founded where the Yuan Ti could rule and in private they could rule openly with Purebloods being the face of the empire with Halfbloods and Abominations residing in secure estates outside the cities. Numerous disappearances attributed to murders where actually people abducted to serve powerful psion/wizards as slaves. The serpent men also stole whatever psionic and magic items they could get their scaly hands on. In the north Sath’Kor created tainted ones to use as infiltrators while the first Anathemas hatched from mutated abomination eggs in Orkoth. The Anathemas in turn created Holy Guardians to guard their persons and temples while Mageslayers were created by various Yuan Ti to assassinate various wizards both preservers and defilers. The preserver jihad or purge mostly avoided the Yuan Ti as they never flaunted their magical powers anyway.
The Cleansing Wars
While the Yuan Ti were busy serving themselves event of the world at large were about to catch up with them. Rajaat changed the color of the sun and unleashed the Cleansing Wars on Athas. While not specifically targeted by any champion the Yuan Ti were exterminated by any champion who caught them. Why Rajaat never targeted them is unclear but it was likely even he didn’t realize the extent of their power and in any event would have been wiped out with the humans once the wars were over. Sath’Kor lost a lot of resources however as they had made alliance with various lizard folk that Keltis was targeting for annihilation.
The humanoid civilizations beyond the Jaged Cliffs started to collapse due to environmental changes and pressure from the Kreen Empire. After 100 years or so Sath’Kor collapsed with no one noticing as the Yuan Ti withdrew from the affairs of the world as the cleansing wars waged around them. Isolated outposts of Yuan Ti survived in the old borders of Sar’Kor. Unknown to the Kreen a small Yuan Ti city named Valenthia survives deep within the Kano Swamp and they have breed various creatures as guardians to keep the Kreen out.
The large scale disruption of civilization effectively destroyed the empire although, few Yuan Ti were actually slain. Several spies participated in the Cleansing Wars posing as humans. Despite being evil; the wars actually offended the serpent men and convinced them that the humans were brutal thugs deserving to be ruled by the Yuan Ti. To their mindset the wars were pointless and wasteful. Why bother wiping out races when you can have them serve you instead?
The climatic changes impacted the Yuan Ti less than most other races as they like the heat. While their ancestors preferred lush tropical jungle the Yuan Ti adapted a lot faster than most races as the heat didn’t bother them as much and they were happy to retreat underground during the heat of the day. Their numbers were reduced however due to the decimation of entire races that they manipulated and any serpentfolk who didn’t appear human were also eradicated if caught.
Age of the Sorcerer Kings
Once Rajaats Champions become Sorcerer Kings Yuan Ti influence diminished further due to the power of the Sorcerer Kings and their Templars. Once again they were reduced to living among soft skins in the Tyr region or in ruins such as under Tyr. For the most part the Yuan Ti were scattered into small bands throughout Athas with only ancient Orkoth still standing a few isolated outposts left over from Sath’Kor.
Around 200 years ago the Yuan Ti of Orkoth started to rouse themselves after millennia of inactivity. Led by Anathemas of great power they sought to return to the world above the Jagged Cliffs. Due to the years of isolation and being cut off from the rest of Athas they had breed all remnants of humanity out of their kingdom and only serpent bloods were left with various percentages of humanity left in the bloodlines. The last humans had become a new race through extensive breeding with the serpent folk-the Extaminaar. While not human to dominate they were close enough and survived in the moist environment.
Modern Orkoth is now located at the far south of the Kreen Empire where the Kreen can’t go due to the swampy nature of the kingdom. Using the Extaminaar they explored the region on the borders of their old empire looking for a way to scale the cliffs. A few Anathemas used spells such as windwalk to transport various agents to the top of the cliffs and captives were taken so the Orkoth Yuan Ti could learn the languages of modern Athas. Rather than confront the races of modern Athas head on infiltration was the chosen method. The merchant house of Mareneth based in Celik is actually controlled by agents loyal to Orkoth. The current leader Korsun doesn’t even know about the Yuan Ti influence within his house. While they are trying to rebuild Celik above them the Yuan Ti are busy clearing the ruins below ground and constructing hatching chambers and the like.
The Orkothian Yuan Ti have also taken control of the Blue Shrine and powerful Psionics have constructed a portal linking the shrine to Orkoth. A cleric named Hathera Maliss (Yuan Ti Pureblood Cleric 12) has started a serpent cult using stolen elemental energy to power her spells. She seems harmless enough but several acolytes have sought instruction from here. She has managed to get several fountains of water dating from the Green Age to work again. Unknown to the elemental clerics of Athas the Yuan Ti Anathemas long ago figured out how to power their spells and abilities by stealing energy from the elemental planes*.Once every week or so the portal is activated, and several dozen Yuan Ti arrive before departing for Celik and other locations.
Orkothian agents have reached as far Draj and are gathering information on the fate of the Sorcerer Kings. They are also trying to infiltrate the various merchant houses and make contact with any native Yuan Ti they can find in the Tyr region.
. * See the Elemental Heretic feat for details. Serpent cult clerics and Yuan Ti Anathemas can choose from the following domains:
I can haz a cheezeburger.
Well, Are we allowed to comment back with our stuff?
Sure. If you hatre something feel free to comment as its not set in stone and its an early draft. Several ppl here can also write better than me as well.
Knights are the only class that start out with the ability to read, other than that it's identicle to the monk in the PHB.
My defunct illithid project - for those who recall - reinvented their look, biology, and the all important Whys.
Yuan-tis, dopplegangers, and other classics should be revamped for Athas. IMO.
I...prefer to see original takes on typical D&D creatures, rahter than direct ports.
My defunct illithid project - for those who recall - reinvented their look, biology, and the all important Whys.
Yuan-tis, dopplegangers, and other classics should be revamped for Athas. IMO.
Would you keep the name Yuan Ti or rebuild the race mechanically?
It's also in the Dark Sun Forum Archive, Part 8.
They are degenerate humans who are followers of a ancient snake cult.
How very Conan. Thematically it is a brilliant idea, and fits the flavour well. I'm going to have to steal this if you don't mind.
How very Conan. Thematically it is a brilliant idea, and fits the flavour well. I'm going to have to steal this if you don't mind.
I'm working on an elemental heretic feat fot this scenario. Basically it allows you to cast divine spells via stolen elemental power without being an elemental cleric. The Yuan Ti will have their own heresy maybe. I'll post it in the next few days.
Wouldn't that just be a Templar? Game Mechanic wise anyway.
Not really although the way they power their spells would be more or less the same. The idea is each heresy has a few domains to chose from. Yuan Ti heretic clerics for example might get Charm, Scaly Kind, Trickery. Dregoth could even get heretic clerics after Dregoths Ascending and grant access to Destruction, Dragon, Undeath. A normal Cleric or Templar wouldn't have to take a feat to gain spellcasting. The feat would also give another minor benefit like a +1 bonus to a roll or +2 to a skill or something like that.
Its a way to let Clerics gain access to different domains and I've got alot of 3.5 books I like mining for ideas. It also lets you introduce maybe remnants of green age religions that still had priests with divine magic even though Athas has no gods. Mechanically you're still better off with a normal Cleric.
They had their own lands, but never built large empires and mostly acted as shadowy powermongers behind the scenes, instead.
They were caught in the crossfire of the Cleansing Wars and were pretty much wiped out during that conflict.
Currently, the Yuan-Ti survive underneath some of the major Tablelands Cities and in three forest enclaves, two in Forest Ridge and one in the Crescent Forest.
The cult's story is strongly tied to the Centennial Brain (Psionic Artifacts of Athas) and they learned what little they know of lifeshaping from great Rhul-tal. I haven't quite decided if they still hold the Brain or if they seek to retrieve it for their sinister purposes, but this will figure as a prominent plot hook in my campaign when the PCs become powerful enough.
As a side note, one of the PCs is a rain-cleric halfling in the service of the Last Tree, which is the reason why I'm going to explore rhulisti themes.
Lurking
my character just learned in game that sapine was the first thing on Athas. Period. He eventually took levels in psion (psycometabolist) to transform himself into the giant snake wraped arounf the tree of life. He created the Yuan-ti, and sends them out to gather knowlege of the world for him.
Just an idea for feedback. What does everyone like better. Humans become Yuan-Ti due to tainted bloodline or humans become Yuan-Ti via mutating from the Pristine Tower.
I like the Pristine Tower idea better, would fit better in the Dark Sun setting.