[hider=The Sagahin]

The aquatic reptilian-fish humanoids of the ocean’s waves call themselves the “S’Augwin” which roughly translates to “(Child) of Old Ones,”  However, due to the cultural discovery of pesky humans, they have also adopted the human term “Sagahin.” They claim to trace their ancestry from the first of ancient marine rulers, sea creatures who had evolved beyond and became the first transcendent sapients.  This claim may be true as they resemble their terrestrial cousins the Kobold in some ways with longer tails, fins and webbed claws. The key differentiating feature is the comparative length of the muzzle between the Kobold, which features a longer snout, as well as their reptilian scales, which are dry as opposed to the slimier scales of the Sagahin.  Human scholars suggest some divergent evolution between the two species, much to the dismay of Sagahin scholars. 

Regardless, living within the sea waters have kept the Sagahin relatively safe, as humans were terrestrial creatures, thus most of the Sagahin population remains protected under the depths of around 3000 meters and cool water temperatures. Humans most commonly encounter the small villages which stay near the shallows, but these are the equivalent of backwater Sagahin which are hardly the educated and mysterious race they truly are. These backwater Sagahin tend to misrepsent the culture and intelligent society the Sagahin have created within the deeper oceans and are often slaughtered by heroic humans for their assumed practices of worshiping demonic cults and kidnapping human citizens from local farms or stealing during times of hard fishing. 

While the backwater Sagahin are indeed the more miscreant and unrefined of their race, the Sagahin belief system is a mixture of rationalism and mysticism. They believe in a scientific origin for their racial origins to a certain degree of evolutionary processes, but the original creators of their ancestral origins were primordial beings known as the “Augwin” or The Old Ones. The Old Ones are powerful ancient forces, living embodiments of life which existed in the deepest oceans as their physical avatars slumber in the depths since creation. Their “Gods” include a pantheon of mystic entities that are indeed often portrayed as amalgamations of fantastic sea-life to inspire grandeur and mystery of these great Old Ones.  Thus the appearance of barbaric tendencies comes from practices as these and of course eating their meals raw and as fresh as possible.

Being almost completely aquatic, the Sagahin have developed their cuisine without the intervention of fire, although they are able to use the heat from the undersea vents as forges to create their metal craft, these volcanic hotspots would easily burn through flesh. Therefore, the Sagahin have always devoured their meals raw, and often still living as a method of avoiding bacterial growth on spoiled foodstuffs. While upon land they are seen as carnivorous, They are actually omnivorous and will maintain a diet of kelp and laver, however in keeping with such practice, every meal becomes a hunt for Sagahin not living near the great cities that have public food gardens filled with kelps and small schools of farmed fish. Sometimes conditions near the water’s edge are so terrible that humans report instances of cannibalism to further their assumptions that Sagahin are indeed monsters. 

It may be true that, while the backwater Sagahin may infest water sources and find themselves populating human sewage systems to glean scraps, these are the outcasts the society and are amongst the lower rungs of proper Sagahin culture. A human may find the uncouth appearance of these Sagahin to be insulting as they wear little attire, usually from fish scales or animal skin, to cover their otherwise monstrous forms.  However, within the oceans Sagahin wear colourful attire of eel skins and fish scales, with woven seaweed cloths, flowing in the waters like fine ghostly sashes as they move. They adorn themselves with fanciful metal charms and bracelets, iridescent shell rings or piercings upon dorsal spines, tails and fins. High society clearly exists within the greatest cities of the Sagahin: Aug’toor.

Aug’toor is the eldest city in the seas of the Sagahin realms. The name in their language means “Old Tower.” In reference of the ancient structure made of the great spine of some horrific ancient marine life regard by them to be the earthly remains of one of their Gods. The towering structure, carved out through the centuries to reach a high point of roughly 400 meters as sits in the middle of the city pointing towards the surface. The tower was once used as a religious temple, a gift by some great sacrifice of their gods, yet now it has a new purpose in educating the generations of Sagahin as the Top intuition in the field of Magic, Science, and the Arts. It is an educational wonderland with each level of spinal column devoted to some form of greater learning. The City has since built itself around the tower and expanded to include various districts expected of large cities. Culture, entertainment, housing, commerce, business and agricultural sectors are devoted in an ever-expanding ring around the city to the point where it has become an undersea metropolis.

The socioeconomics of the Sagahin are generally restricted to intraspecies trading due to their relative isolation. Thus while the humans have sea routes for shipping purposes, the Sagahin have a network of underwater trade routes. These undersea routes eventually branch out the water’s edge where the outskirts trade for supplies from the cities, who then in turn trade with other local races such as Kobolds or Goblins. Ogres and trolls are frowned upon culturally, although they do make for good brutes and minions for the more manipulating of the backwater Sagahin and are easily bribed with shiny pretties or enchanted charms.  The best treasures humans find from the Sagahin are not their carved stone tablets on treatises on the metaphysics of magics or inscribed with words of ancient power, but rather for their metalworking abilities. The use of non-soft metals are a rare development in Sagahin culture, as they were unable to use metal weaponry as their Goblin or Kobold counterparts due to the marine environment discourage use of corroding metals. Thus for centuries the Sagahin were placed at a technological disadvantage, yet in such a trade-off the Sagahin turned to their more mystic arts and  developed magic to a science long before humans did. With the advent of humans however, breakthroughs in Sagahin metallurgy techniques and metal alloy compositions have made it possible for them to create steel weapons that do not rust. When they encounter humans, it is the precious metal weaponry which are searched for first and confiscated off the dead bodies of the Sagahin.

The bodies of the Sagahin themselves show clear evidence of marine adaptations: webbed appendages and fins for swimming, powerful serpentine bodies with long muscular tails ending in large fins. While they are sleek and streamline in the water, their gait on Land is somewhat more restrained, with their tails supporting their body weight behind them to account for the lack of buoyancy. This results in them being neither agile nor very dexterous with respect to land, although quite slippery in the water.  Unfortunate specimens of Sagahin have revealed Human scholars the anatomy of the species, including the Gill-Lung respiratory system and tri-membrane eyes. On either side of their thick longish necks are a set of gill slits that require a constant supply of oxygenated water to sustain life. Lacking a set of lungs, the Sagahin have instead a specialized organ filled with water and connected to the nasal cavities which can help increase surface area to capture dissolve oxygen as the oxygenated water is slowly fed through the gills. As such, Sagahin are very susceptible to drying out on land and usually carry absurd amounts of water or wear moisture retaining clothing, unless they wish to suffocate on land. The tri-membrane eyes are also a feature studied by the humans and consist of a light-enhancing layer between a protective membrane and a selectively polarizing membrane as an adaptation to both enhancing light in the deep dark waters and filtering light closer to the surface. As such, the biological aspects of the Sagahin are quite fascinating to humans.

Sagahin society is largely a meritocracy with few exceptions. Sagahin are raised in clutches and generations spawn in unison, raised by the overseers who are charged with keeping the nurseries safe and keep an orderly return of the spawnlings to their respective genetic families. Within the large settlements, young Sagahin receive basic education through a communal school, before they are subject to rigorous examinations. In succeeding these tests, they are given rights to access higher education such as skilled trades, magic and sciences; failing however, and they become outcasts of society and drift out to live with their backwater kin. Those who survive the ordeal of taking up higher education with their sanity intact may find themselves a fully functional member of Sagahin society and enjoy the benefits recognized as being a Magus, Scientist or Artisan within the higher ranks. Magi are considered the mystics: defending the society from external forces, while Scientists are the scholars: defending the society from ignorance and stagnation, and finally the artisans are the maestros: defending the society from cultural and economic collapse. The other professions in society include mercantile, food and agricultural, construction and various others which contribute to their talents to society. One such example is in the varied architecture as the Sagahin make their homes and cities from local materials. These include corals, bones, animal skins, kelp fibers, rocks and minerals. The Greatest city Aug’toor features beautiful spiraling shells built from the extracts of Mollusks as concluded possible by the artisans, scientists and magi and used by the city constructers.

The Sagahin Language is developed for undersea communications where the speed of sound is much faster and carried out more effectively than air. Given this, the language is composed of soft hisses , short vowels, and sharp consonant sounds that make the language seem carnivorous, as if each word had a bite in it. Since the discovery of other races, it is mandatory for all Sagahin to learn their own language, but also common and at least one other language. The belief that the educational system is the only thing which separates their race from the other animals, it is this pseudo-evolutionary philosophical theory which keeps the Sagahin largely isolated they retreat to their tablets of learning. It is only recently that more of the deepwater Sagahin venture to observe the outside world with the guidance of their backwater kin.

[/hider]