Race: Komodos

Metaturnal, originally from a chain of islands east of Mothar (South America). Rare. There are about 5,000 of them at home, another 2,000 in Mothar, and 1,000 each in Fasach (Africa), Theas (Australia), and Larnach (Europe). They have below average magic. About 20% of komodos have magic. Of those, 20% have low power, 50% have below average, 10% have average, 10% have above average, and 10% have high. Their racial field includes earth magic, offensive magic, navigation, and necromancy. They are good at learning two branches of formulaic magic: potions and military spellcraft.

They stand 9-10 feet tall and are bipedal. They have high anthropomorphism, resembling scaled humanoids. However, they retain the powerful tail and curved claws. Their hands are strong and fairly dextrous. The serrated teeth are frequently shed and replaced. Assassins sometimes use freshly shed komodo teeth to tip darts for killing people, and this works. Although komodos do not produce venom, their bite is frequently fatal because a komodo's mouth harbors deadly bacteria. They cannot digest plant matter at all; unlike most predators, they do not eat the stomach of herbivorous prey. However, they have a prodigious digestive system and can eat carrion with no risk. They do not breathe fire or acid naturally, but they take very well to spells or potions that grant such ability. They have a very hardy constitution and rarely fall ill.

Komodos are solitary, with no family ties and only loose social ties. Another peculiarity is that they can reproduce parthenogenetically, with a female yielding all-male offspring (useful in a race that may wind up with widely separated individuals). They don't care about incest either, unlike most sentient races. Hatchlings band together in groups, which may invent their own language or acquire one from another group. At adolescence, the group breaks apart; individuals may live alone or settle in a village. Their linguistic aptitude never shuts off; a komodo can learn a new language very quickly. They can pick up a few dozen basic words and phrases within hours, simple fluency in a few weeks, and near-native fluency in 1-2 years. However, it's all colored by their personality and interests. Komodos typically make excellent translators for military purposes, adequate translators for trade, and terrible translators for politics.

At home, komodos do all kinds of work such as farming, ranching, building, leading, etc. They really like fighting, though, and a great many of them work as soldiers, mercenaries, or guards in foreign hames. A majority of the komodos in Fasach are soldiers; in Mothar they are typically temple guards. Traveling mercenaries go everywhere. On the shadier side, they are assassins and hired thugs, and they really don't care who knows it. They can deal with the flack and most people are too intimidated to harass them anyway.

Unlike most metaturnals, komodos think that anti-meta prejudice is *hilarious*. Their favorite way of mocking this prejudice is to pounce on sleeping bigots, with bonus points if they make the bigot wet the bed. Most komodos living in a foreign hame have done this at least once, and some do it frequently.

Komodos lack the wide-scale focus on hame that other races have, and tend to relate most closely to the reptile phyle. They are especially fond of matamatas. They also admire venomous races, whether reptilian or not -- black widows are another close alliance.