Wadjet

Official artwork

## Reference

**Wadjet** are a type of cryptid. They are sexually dimorphic beings similar to Dragons and Ukupani in that the males appear as common cobras, and the females as human women.

## Appendix Entry

**Wadjet** (*wadjet wadjet*). Once worshipped as gods, the male wadjet resembles an enormous cobra, capable of reaching seventeen feet in length when fully mature, while the female wadjet resembles an attractive human female. Wadjet pair-bond young, and must spend extended amounts of time together before puberty in order to become immune to one another's venom and be able to successfully mate as adults.

**Wadjet** *(wadjet wadjet):* Once worshiped as gods, these sapient, highly-venemous cobras can reach seventeen feet in length when fully mature. They spend their lives in pair-bonds with human servants who enjoy extended lifespan thanks to the venom of the wadjet, and whose thumbs can come in extremely useful. Given recent discoveries about dragon biology, we are not discounting the possibiity that these servants are another form of the wadjet themselves.

*Note: This outdated entry is included for scientific posterity. Much of the information has since been debunked.*

## About

### Physiology

Wadjet are a sexually dimorphic species. Females are very similar to humans of continental Indian descent, with the addition of incisors that are overly curved compared to the human norm, which allow for their retractable fangs. They also have a light scaling pattern on their skin, and an identifiable stride if you know what to look for.

Young males are indistinguishable from spectacled cobras but grow up to twenty feet long upon maturity. They are typically black, gold, and brown but there are many variations. Male wadjets can only communicate through hissing and body language based on muscular contractions. Their tails are dexterous enough to hold writing devices like styluses so they can communicate over the internet and through writing.  Presumably the extinct egyptian males resembled Egyptian cobras.

Their diet includes venomous snakes, which is why they lived in places like Egypt and India and migrate to places like Australia and the American Southwest. Adult wadjet are resistant to poisons and venoms. The young must build up this tolerance, though they have resistance to close family members.

### Behavior and Reproduction

Female wadjet lay a single egg at at time, which the male will fiercely protect even from the mother. Male wadjet will not willingly share their home with another unrelated male, and male offspring are expected to leave the household upon adulthood. As a result, the wadjet population is widespread and difficult to track.

A young female must build up tolerance to the venom of her future mate, so the wadjet community invests much time and resources into arranging marriages to allow the young couples to spend time together from an early age. The bond is so intense and deep that Wadjet have no native concept of divorce.

There are asexual Wadjet women who are content to be "spinsters." They occupy an important position as they negotiate marriages and contracts among the various families for the proportionally fewer males that exist.

They have excellent information networks among themselves and are open to working with anyone provided they pay, usually with information or a favor. They are perfectly comfortable having potentially hostile people in their homes as it means they are more easily able to use fangs if things turn aggressive.  They also put great store in having the high ground in any confrontation be it diplomatic or hostile.

Guests are expected to take their shoes off.

## Characters

* Maibe and her partner Jahi, dancing pair at the Freakshow
* Chandi Sarpa
* Kumari Sarpa
* Daksha Sarpa
* Shami
* Helen Jalai
* Ananta
* Ananta's brothers

## Trivia

* There was an Egyptian variety of Wadjet that has since disappeared. The Price family only knows about them due to their extensive journals and field guides.
* Ananta may be named after Ananta Shesha, a naga (snake-person) in Hindu mythology.

## In Popular Culture

**Wadjet**, also spelled **Wadjit**, also called **Buto**, **Uto**, or **Edjo**, cobra goddess of ancient Egypt. Depicted as a cobra twined around a papyrus stem, she was the tutelary goddess of Lower Egypt. Wadjet and Nekhbet, the vulture-goddess of Upper Egypt, were the protective goddesses of the king and were sometimes represented together on the king’s diadem, symbolizing his reign over all of Egypt. The form of the rearing cobra on a crown is termed the uraeus. In mythology, Wadjet was nurse to the infant god Horus and helped Isis, his mother, protect him from his treacherous uncle, Seth, when she took refuge in the delta swamps.

## References

1. ↑ Dictionary.com
2. ↑ Audiobooks narrated by both Emily Bauer and Ray Porter
3. ↑ Appendix Field Guide: Book 3-11
4. ↑ Appendix Field Guide: Book 2
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Pocket Apocalypse, Ch. 8
6. ↑ Pocket Apocalypse, Ch. 13
7. ↑ DESCRIPTION AND BIOLOGY - The Price Family Field Guide: Wadjet
8. ↑ Tricks for Free, Ch. 13
9. ↑ Calculated Risks Ch. 12
10. ↑ The Recitation of the Most Holy and Harrowing Pilgrimage of Mindy and Also Mork
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Pocket Apocalypse, Ch. 9
12. ↑ Half-Off Ragnarok, Ch. 19
13. ↑ Midnight Blue-Light Special
14. ↑ Imaginary Numbers Ch. 9