Garjana

A Garjana male and female.

The Garjana are serpentine humanoids that possess natural stone and poison magic, living on envy and dominance. They have become endangered, though a wicked influence drives them to continue fighting and ascend the food chain.

## Characteristics

Garjana are made up of a humanoid upper body and a serpentine lower body, which slithers at a slow pace, but is made up for their defensive tactics. Their smooth skin and scales are deceptive outside of touch, as a thin layer of skin that covers the body acts as a natural armour that can resist physical infliction from most metals. In addition to resistance, the bronze claws on their webbed hands are able to strike through corrosive material without harm, as well as produce venom to temporarily immobilise whoever they strike. On rare occasions, the skin will become withered and may shed to regenerate the armour. Garjana have naturally adapted to living underwater, but ever since their advancement, they have begun living on the surface more, though they are still capable of breathing in water for a long period of time. Their skin is easily exposed to sunlight and is tanned very easily.

With the magical contents they have adapted, Garjana channel their magical powers through the animated 'hair' that are capable of biting, who are difficult to control but are easily stabilised through either a 'braiding' process or intense concentration. Being bitten allows a Garjana to concentrate energies into their hair and inject magic into their victims, either turning them to stone or simply releasing toxins into their bodies.

Individuals will take pride in their abilities in order to assure their supremacy against opponents, even if it has lead them to deformation and weakness. Due to their heritage, Garjana seem to show interest in preserving the dead from decay. This is due to their history of necromancy allowing them to attain spirit form upon death and roam in a metaphysical existence until they were called upon.

## History

According to Mythology, the Garjana were bred from cryptic reptilian species with traits similar to humans. Their first kin were first bred by the hands of a gathering of seafaring witches, responsible for infusing them with magical invocations. After having been presumably parted from their infusers, the Garjana roamed huge bodies of water within the Mediterranean Sea, eventually taking their territory to the caverns. Despite their state of poverty, their tribes developed and founded the civilisation of Miduza. Through a history of discovery and dominance, the Garjana lacked choice in their fight for survival and resorted to mass amounts of thieving. The riches they claimed as theirs would build upon their culture, including technology and religion.

Over time, the denizens of Miduza would find themselves to be increasingly sinister thanks to their survivalism. Their understanding of the concept of magic would start to learn towards acts of necromancy. Dominating the cavern systems and depths of the oceans and nearby land, the tribe reached imperial levels. Their power and possession of resources attracted the kingdom of Atlantis and the Merrow people. The opposing kingdom intruded Miduza grounds and easily slayed their forces, pushing the Garjana out of their territory and into deeper corners of the world. As one final attack, the Garjanan warriors went on a desperate vandalism spree and caused a drought in the kingdom, heavily damaging its contents.

   After remaining dormant for centuries, the Garjana retreated out of their poor places of refuge, their species now endangered and split up due to the lack of productivity. Gorgos, an elderly sorcerer and former military commander, attempted to return to their caverns. Whilst she searched through many ruins, her dwindling power in Necromancy tapped upon the presence of ancestral spirits, whom turned out to be the imperial generations that fought against Atlantis, and was told of Shangrilantis' uprising. Driven by a vengeful valour, she made a deal with her ancestors to reform Miduza by harvesting the spirits of Garjanan warriors spread throughout the nearby regions. The mass murdering of aquatic beasts followed and the spirits retook physical form through magical assistance. Along with the kidnapping of Shangrilanteans and unfortunate bypassers, traditional acts of theft and dominance, Gorgos would continue to lead her lost kin back into a conquest they had yet to finish.

## Culture and Society

The Garjana culture can be considered an amalgamation of their thieved values. Beyond their monstrous and evil acts, music and performing are common activities amongst the civilisation. The harp is recognised as their iconic cultural instrument, its talent passed down on a common basis. In belief, a Garjanan harp is crafted to sound more entrancing than the standard harp in order to attract victims into being ambushed.

Garjana folk are stereotypically seen as proud, bold and deceptive to even their own kind, highly willing to show supremacy. Newborn kin are lectured to grow up to be considered appealing and attractive by society to develop a 'temptress' personality usually found in females. Due to their history of theft, they are highly envious and struggle to hide their greed.

In governmental systems amongst their tribe, despots make up leadership and are responsible for giving out royal relics such as capes and medallions to those loyal towards their leader. Due to the alluring and dominant bias of females, an empress is usually elected through brawny and cruel methods to rule the imperial tribe. Due to the focus on theft, the Miduza economy is very decentralised and demands for production are rare.

## Warfare

The Garjana focused their military might on the proficiency of bows, shields and shortswords, stealthily observing martial arts that utilised the equipment. Though their tactics lacked rushdown and aggressive play, militants are professionalised in ambushes, ranging from the infiltration of vehicles lost at sea to entrancing seduction. With the use of necromancy and natural magic, sorcerers had the power to reanimate their statue-turned victims into mindless fighters, cursed to always obey their masters. This reanimation method would spawn the Petrokin, originally brought to life as the lower class soldiers of Miduza.

## Religion

The pantheon in Garjana religion is revolved around the enigmatic hints left by their witch progenitors with inspiration from Hellenic religion, worshipping them in idol form and thanking them for infusing them with the magic they now naturally possess. Priests believe that the gods monitor their lives to ensure they live to their vices.

In comparison to the Greek gods, the Garjanan gods are void of emotion and purely live on pleasure and vile acts, in which they spiritually encourage the Garjana to indulge in. The pantheon includes:

* Forsis - The god of vengeance, believed to encourage the Garjana into warring with those who dared to attack their kind. He is believed to watch over their battles.
* Ketou - The goddess of riches, believed to guide the Garjana towards precious wealth, in which they thieved in the process.
* Juribia - The goddess of dominance, believed to drive the Garjana into subjugating their enemies beyond defeat, including entrancement and even sexual acts.
* Omas - The god of the future, in which several soothsayers believed to see in their daydreams, prophesying an earth where their petrified stone victims make up the land and the waters have been poisoned beyond rejuvenation. This omen maintains the use of magic by the Garjanan sorcerers.
* Niarus, the god of terror who maintains the sinister appearances of the Garjana. His power is believed to animate the slithery hairs of the Garjana.

In addition, the belief of spirits is present and links to their dark magic practices, as it is said they perform unorthodox dances and ceremonies in order to absorb the energy from the spirits to perform further acts of necromancy.