Army Fluff Lost City of Mutal

[Warden]

Greetings fellow lizards.

Here is some of the lore I have written for my Lizardmen force, the Jade Host. Eventually I hope to start posting a log of my army, models, maps, and my jungle terrain. In the meantime, here is the fluff!

The Temple City


The Lost City of Mutal is known as the “City of Time” to the Lizardmen. The city was originally built as the repository for an ancient arcane device known as the “Tzol’kan,” or more commonly the Great Calendar or the Long Count. The Great Calendar is a construct of great magical and technological power, whose true purpose has long been forgotten by its thousands of skink attendants. The skink priests know just enough of its mysterious workings to keep it operating day by day, in order to track the slow progress of the centuries. The Calendar has become an object of great veneration by the skinks, who use it not only to note the passage of the seasons and to chart the progress of the stars and planets in the sky, but also to plan the extensive Lizardmen religious ritual schedule. Specific dates have key religious importance and meaning to the Lizardmen society of Mutal. Skink priests diligently plan great sacrifices and festivals for the scaly citizens of Mutal on the most auspicious days of the Calendar. Skink artisans add the Long Count date to every stone stelae, building, temple, and inscription produced in the city, hoping to imbue the work with a fraction of the Great Calendar’s power. And skink historians and scribes take careful note of all important events, spawnings, and omens that occur in conjunction with the Calendar, to assist the priests with their continued studies of the Old Ones plan. However the Slann of the city believe the device has a more important function, and slumber away the centuries trying to understand the deeper inner workings of this most ancient piece of Old One technology.

The City of Mutal was overrun during the Great Catastophe shortly following the collapse of the polar. The ancient Calendar was sealed within its chamber by the Slann as they retreated from the city on the backs of their servants and stegadon mounts. Most of the remaining city garrison was slaughtered during the onslaught of the daemon hordes, but the ancient Calendar was never found or disturbed. The lost city lay almost forgotten by most of the lizardmen until centuries later, when the Slann mage-priest Jatzom-Kuh decreed the city be reoccupied in order to fathom the Calendar’s true purpose. The central plazas were cleared of the jungle growth and its skink barrios and saurus barracks repopulated. To this day the ancient temples, plazas, and causeways of the city continue to be rebuilt and repainted to in order to recapture their former glory. Thousands of skink artisans, builders, and their kroxigor assistants toil to rebuild the city and its forest of monuments detailing the legendary exploits of the heroes of the Lizardmen, the wisdom of the Slann, and the worship of the Old Ones.

Concerning Religion

The city of Mutal was originally built and dedicated to the Old One Tzunki, the water god, god of rain and rivers, streams and swamps. In his honor the builders constructed a vast canal network that spanned the length of the city, all the way to the nearby Obscumacinta River. River patrols of skinks and saurus regularly patrolled the rivers, streams, and canals on the backs of their giant Pliosaur river fleets. The Slann of the city are also devoted to Tzunki, but rarely take part in the daily affairs of the city. Therefore the council of the Skink Priests take the role of controlling the daily affairs of the city.

The Skink Priests who are devoted to Tzunki are self-professed followers of the Great Plan. They dedicate themselves to determining and deciphering the will of the Old Ones through their careful attention to the words of the Slann and the study of the Great Calendar. Most of the more conservative Skinks are devoted to Tzunki and pay homage to the rest of the Old One pantheon, but ever since the coming of Clan Pestilens to Lustria and the rise of Sotek, the Skink Priest Council has been deeply divided.

Since the Wars of the Rat, the numbers of Skink Priests and ordinary Skinks devoted to the ever more powerful Cult of Sotek continues to grow. They are the advocates of the immediate destruction of all deviations from the Old Ones plans. Throwing all caution to the side, they demand the extermination of all abominations, including the foul Ratmen, the greenskins, and the mutant beastmen, and the removal of all warmbloods from the shores of Lustria. Some cultists even advocate the extinction of all other creatures of the world, stating that entropy has corrupted the Great Plan, and the slate must be wiped clean. Whatever their beliefs, the followers of Sotek are the greatest advocates of the rampant blood sacrifices present now in all rituals and religious observances of the Lizardmen, be they conducted from the tops of the greatest temples or at the brims of the holy cenotes.

 

[Warden]

Geography

The ruins of the Lost City of Mutal lie among the tropical rainforests along the Scorpion Coast, making it nearer to the coast and the prying eyes of the warmbloods than the more ancient temple-cities. Like the greater known ruins of Tlax, Huatl, and Xahuatc, the ruins of Mutal are constantly threatened by the encroachment of the warmblood colonies and treasure seekers flocking to find their fortune in the “New World of Gold.” This has proved to be another divisive issue within the city’s society. The conservative element of Skink leadership continues to uphold the time-tested protection the city’s borders and the patrolling of their most sacred shrines, while agitators within the cult of Sotek demand the total eradication of the warm-blooded taint from the nearby shores.

Surrounding Mutal in all directions are the dangerous jungles of Lustria. The Ceiba Jungles harbor some of the largest trees and the most dangerous beasts known on the continent. These include not only the massive, scaled predators and dinosauric beasts known and used by Lizardmen society, but also the teaming hordes of snakes, spiders, and other vicious creatures that lurk in the undergrowth. Many caves also dot the hills and crevices of the landscape, disgorging vast clouds of bats whenever they are disturbed. The Ceiba Jungles are also known for many water-filled cenyotes, sinkholes, quagmires, and pitfalls that have swallowed many unwary travelers. This has also produced the nickname “City of Pitfalls” by outsiders who know of its existence, for the many perils that await any would-be adventurer or tomb robber.

There are many landmarks of note in the jungles surrounding the city of Mutal:

The Xibalba Falls: the giant, seemingly never ending series of waterfalls coming down from the Terradon Highlands. Many bridges span the Falls, connecting the shrines and temples that rest on the slippery mountainsides. Most of the shrines belong either to the Old One Tzunki or any one of the nine unnamed Lizardmen gods of the underworld.

All caves are sacred to the Lizardmen, for they are a reminder of the caves where their birthing spawning pools are located. However none are more sacred than the Tazamul Caves: a glittering labyrinth of limestone stalagmites, underground lakes, and precious stones, all carved with an almost complete hieroglyphic history of the Lizardmen. Few of the skink artisans can even understand the inscriptions they diligently wash, repaint, and preserve throughout the caverns century after century.

The hidden Temple of Kopan is one of the sacred mortuaries for the Slann relic-priests, faithfully guarded by cohorts of camouflaged cameleon skinks and immobile saurus warriors.

The Ikal pass is the securest way into the Ceiba jungles from the coast, and is heavily guarded by secret sentries within the mountainsides. The Stairway of Ikal was carved to mark the great victory of the Great Catastophe, detailing every single lizardmen who fell bravely during the defeat of the city of Mutal.


Slann Mage-Priests

Jatzom Kuh is the oldest Slann mage-priest of Mutal and the lord of the Jade Host. He is a Slann of the Fourth Spawning, created by the Old Ones in aeons past to assist in the creation of the “world pond” that separated the continents of the world. Prior to the Great Catastophe, Jatzom Kuh resided in one of the great pyramids of Mutal, but was only one of a few Slann who were successfully evacuated from the city during its fall. Many centuries later, after residing in the First City of Itza, it was he who petitioned the Slann Council to return to the lost city, to rebuild this location in the increasingly fragile geomantic web, but also to learn the secrets of the arcane calendar hidden within its depths. With him travelled a small contingent of “minor” Slann lords to assist in the undertaking, as well as the strength of the rebuilt Jade Host of Tzunki. Lord Jatzom Kuh is amongst the more aggressive of the Slann, and brooks no interference from outsiders within his domain. Despite this he and his fellow Slann of Mutal have become deeply engrossed in their self-appointed tasks of unravelling the mysterious device of the Old Ones; and are increasingly neglectful of the growing discord amongst their closest skink servants and alarmingly inattentive to the growing numbers of warmbloods that multiply along the nearby shores of Lustria.

In recent years, one of the few campaigns Jatzom Kuh actively took part in was the destruction of the warm-blood colonial city of Nabar. While he slumbered and studied the Great Calendar, a contingent of ten warmblooded treasure hunters from the nearby Bretonnian colony of Jeruga robbed the sacred temple of Kopan. Observed by hidden cohorts of cameleon skinks, the intruders were seen to take a trivial amount of gold and treasure (to the Lizardmen) from the ruins, but more importantly they stole one of the sacred golden plaques of the Old Ones residing in the ruins. Jatzom Kuh, when roused by his skink attendents, immediately ordered the death of the interlopers and return of the plaque. Despite the casualties they suffered, the thieves managed to escape all the way back to the colony and to the trading city of Nabar, where they attempted to sell off most of their merchandise. They were never given the chance to escape however, as Jatzom Kuh commanded the city’s destruction to prevent the plaque from being lost forever, and cast a great spell causing a meteor to fall from the sky and destroy the heart of the city. Immediately the Jade Host swept over the ruins, killing the surviving temple-robbers and recapturing the lost plaque. The Host then retreated, leaving the ruined colonial city to its fate.

To the warm-blooded scholars who have attempted to decipher the Lizardmen script, the name-glyph of Jatzom Kuh has come to mean “spearthrower-owl” for its resemblance to the nocturnal bird of the Old World, and for the spear device clutched in the owl’s claw. In reality, Jatzom Kuh’s name is understood to mean “visions of war” by his skink attendants. This is all too true in recent years, for despite his vast power and intellect, constant exposure to the arcane workings of the Great Calendar has given him puzzling dreams of a continent plunged into war, famine, and death.



Inspiration for character names were taken from old Mayan sources, such as Jatzom Kuh or Mutal. The original Jatzom Kuh was the supposed king of Teotihuacan, who ordered the conquest of several Mayan city-states during the Classic Period through his general Siyaj K’ak (which I plan to use for the name of one of my saurus commanders). The name Mutal (or Mutul) was the ancient name for the Mayan city of Tikal, and also Dos Pilas which shared the same emblem glyph.

That is all I have for now. I will continue to work on the background, especially for the other skink and saurus lords of the city. Also working on more backstory and secrets for the Great Calendar, more to follow on that one.

 

[Bowser]

Wow! Rich backstory of the city! This is great! Can't wait for more!

 

[Xholankha the lost one]

This is awesome, please could you do the animals and magic items of the city

 

[spawning of Bob]

Hooray! ARmy Fluff. Ths is very well thought out. Two things I wasn't clear on - was the mountain stair decorated with a carved frieze on one side, or did each step represent one of the heroic fallen?

You've got a rich collection of sites to defend, a reason for getting expansionist and Pliosaurs. Let's not forget those. All the ingredients needed for some cool fiction or campaigns. Keep it up!

 

[Scalenex]

Mutal has gained a well deserved place in the Lustriapedia.

 

[Warden]

Thank you all for your words of encouragement, I am glad this fluff was so well received. Also thank you Lord Scalenex for adding me so quickly to the illustrious Lustriapedia! I will be spending a lot more time going through all the resources it contains.

Lord Bob:

I envisioned the Stairway of Ikal to be very similar to the Hieroglyphic Stairway of Copan. In the case of Lizardmen of Mutal, I picture the staircase would be a monumental tribute to the saurus and skink warriors who died defending the city, and had their name/spawning/epic hero name carved into the giant staircase by an army of skink artisans. Looking something like this, but instead of on the side of a temple, have it going down a mountainside:



One interesting thing to note about the real-life staircase: depending on what source you read, the stairway was created either to celebrate a military victory over a neighbor, OR it was constructed by the neighbor to humiliate the city when it was conquered, and subsequently “remodeled” by the later rulers to cast their ancestors in a more heroic light. If anyone thinks of a good way to fit this “revisionist history” take into the fluff let me know, it has some interesting implications.

Moving on, here is a little more on the Great Calendar:

The Tzol’kan, also known as the Long Count or the Great Calendar, is an ancient device of eldritch power. It is used by the skinks to chart the course of stars, study the progress of the seasons, and make predictions on an ever more inscrutable future. The device is comprised of many cogs, gears, and whirring gadgets covered in hieroglyphs that turn the giant wheels of the Calendar forward each solar day. The largest wheels of the Great Calendar conscribe to the days of the solar and lunar cycles, with a specific glyph for each day of the cycle. Other wheels represent the major stars in the sky, including the morning and evening star, the war star, and the ringed stars. Other smaller wheels are devoted to the ancient cycles of the Old Ones, though not even the Slann truly remember their meaning anymore. Despite its proven accuracy, many skinks have grown concerned about the baleful influence that the chaos moon has had on the Calendar's progress, and fear it has caused the entire device to become misaligned over the centuries.

The Calendar is kept deep within the Temple of Inscriptions. Long underground corridors connect the Temple to the temples of the Slann, so that they may be taken to the Calendar when they desire to ponder its mysterious more closely. The device itself is so massive that it could be moved only by a pack of stegadon beasts-of-burden or one of the massive thunder lizards roaming throughout the dense rainforests of Lustria.

Thousands of slinks skitter in between the Calendar’s machinations pouring oil on its gears and polishing its cryptic glyphs. Artificers and caretakers repair the ever increasing numbers of parts that are worn out or ground to pieces. Skink scribes carefully annotate the many glyph combinations that occur each day to honor past events and make predictions one what the future may bring for the Lizardmen people.

The Skinks theorize that, aside from being the most accurate and authoritative time keeping device available to the Lizardmen race, the machine of the great calendar also acts as a kind of safety valve or circuit breaker for the entire geomagnetic web. It has been known to glow with power during times of great turmoil throughout the world, such as the “recent” coming of Sotek or during the storm of chaos, but it has never (yet) ground to a complete halt in all its years of its operation. Only Jatzom Kuh and a few of the most powerful Slann know the true power of the device… (more secrets on the Calendar TBD)

 

[Warden]

And here is a little more on some of the host of non-Slann characters I am still working on. I still have a few more characters to try and flesh out, mostly skinks, but here are some of the most important. Also I have more to do about the pliosaur river fleets at some point.

Zul-K’an, High Skink Priest- While Jatzom Kuh and his fellow Slann slumber away the centuries in their studies of the Great Calendar, it has always fallen on the skinks of the Priest Council to run the day-to-day operations of the city. In the present day the most senior and powerful of the Council is Zul-K’an, the High Priest of Mutal.

To the astonishment of the spawning pool caretakers, Zul-K’an emerged alone from a simple glyph-artisan spawning pool beneath the city. Obviously spawned for greatness, he manifested a strong magical talent for the wind of azyr, to rival that of the other city skink priests of the day. In the following decades he rose through the echelons of skink politics to his present command of the Priest Council. He eventually obtained the position as Speaker for the Slann, and with it holds sway over the full might of the Jade Host.

Unlike his fellow skink priests who demand devotion to the traditions of the Lizardmen people or else demand sacrifices to the New God, Zul-K’an does not profess to the blind faith of his fellows. He cares little for the political squabbles of the priests in favor of pursuing is own agenda. Zul-K’an takes great delight in manipulating the politics of the skink partisans, using the conservative element to bolster his power while exploiting the religious upstarts to take care of his rivals. He also holds direct control of the network of chameleon skink scouts and spies that work not only throughout the jungles of the city, but also within plain Mutal society. Rumors float through the lower Lizard castes of his growing pride as Zul-K’an continues to pursue his own possibly heretical research, unbeknownst to the Slann, into the secrets of the Great Calendar.

In his advancing age, Zul-K’an rarely leaves the protection of his lofty temple chambers where he ponders the great mysteries of the Calendar, following the example of his Slann overlords. However, on those occasions when the warrior cohorts and warbands scouring the jungles need his presence, he makes his way through their ranks on a palanquin lifted on backs of his skink attendants. From his palanquin he can command his forces and marshal his magical powers against his foes. It was Zul-K’an who orchestrated the attack and destruction of the Bretonnian colonial city of Nabar at his master’s request, and ultimately recovered the lost plaque amongst the ruins.

Sijak K’ak, Saurus Oldblood- To the warm-bloods he is known as “Smoke Frog,” for his name glyph appears to be the head of a frog, on its side, wreathed in smoke. However to the Lizardmen he is referred to as “Fire is Born,” for he was spawned just as the ancient empire of the Lizardmen erupted in the flames of war. Sijak K’ak was spawned during the final calm directly before the Great Catastophe, and has served Jatzom Kuh as his general and commander in the field ever since. As a young saurus war-chief, he witnessed the fall of Mutal as he retreated from the city limits, commanding the rear-guard column of the escaping Slann. Through the centuries his fellow saurus spawn-kin were whittled away until only he now remains. Sijak K’ak has achieved many victories alongside the Jade Host against the would-be intruders of the jungles, including the rat-spawn and the vile elven slavers of the northern continent. However, despite his great tactical intellect, on the battlefield he is less of a leader to his forces and more of a giant, brutal killing machine. This is especially true in recent years, as he now rarely rides into battle on anything less than the most savage carnosaurs raised by the skinks of the Beast Caste in the pens and stables of Mutal. His current mount is named Tajal, meaning “Torch,” aptly named for such an engine of destruction.

Yax Nuunayiin, Saurus Scar-Veteran. Despite Mutal being abandoned by the Slann during the War against Chaos, the spawning pools did not simply stop producing saurus or skinks. Following the war production did slow down considerably without the presence of the Slann, though occasional spawnings did surface from the depths below the city. From the one of the first of these erratic spawnings emerged Yax Nuunayiin, a lone saurus from the sacred pool of the World Crocodile. Named “First Green Crocodile” by the surviving skink attendants of the city, it was he who organized the survivors to its defense. Calm and resolute, he took command of the remaining battered cohorts of saurus warriors and skink cohorts amongst the ruins and turned them into a stealthy fighting force that prowled the jungles along the Scorpion Coast, ferociously butchering any threat they came across, until centuries later when they came into contact with far-ranging scouts from the First City of Itza. It was this discovery that spurred the Slann lord Jatzom Kuh to consider returning to the lost city of Mutal. Upon the Slann’s return to the ruins of Mutal, it was Yax Nuunayiin who lead his vanguard back through the jungles to his forsaken home. Since then Yax Nuunayiin and his followers have been reintroduced into the fold of the Jade Host. He now serves as one of Sijak K’ak’s most valuable commanders on the battlefield, where he personally leads the mighty blocks of the saurus infantry who guard the city and the surrounding jungles.

 

[Scalenex]

If anyone thinks of a good way to fit this “revisionist history” take into the fluff let me know, it has some interesting implications.

The Lizardmen don't have a lot of conflict amongst themselves so revisionist history is hard to do for inter-conflict.

One thought is some ancient foe once attacked the city, maybe Daemons, maybe Skaven, maybe elder Anathema like the Fimir disfigured or tainted the mountain some how long ago and the giant stair case/citadel was built to paper over the blemish. Another option is to reverse the origin. The Lizardmen were the invaders and took the land from the bad guys. The stair case/citadel was built to cover up the original fortress/dark altar/whatever. Maybe it won with a phyric victory where some Slann were unluckily and/or sloppily killed but when the story is retold the Slann nobly sacrificed themselves to banish the bad guys.

Another possible revisionist history is that the Slann and/or Skink Priest constructed or relocated some kind of magical McGuffin, and stored it underground unfortunately someone made the magical equivalent of a math error and didn't realize that the McGuffin needed altitude to work properly. It either exploded, tainted something, or most embarrassingly did nothing at all. The local Lizardmen fixed this by making a new citadel high in the mountains, but they still have a fancy once consecrated underground facility that they don't like to talk about it. Maybe it was sealed off, maybe it was used by the bad guys, maybe it repurposed into something that is not evil or tainted but is nevertheless highly embarrassing to it's noble origins like a grub/fungus farm. Either way though the underground temple is the original center of the Temple City, the residents like to pretend that the taller mountain citadel is the true original center and pretend it's more ancient than it is.

 

[Xholankha the lost one]

Please do magic items and contraptions of the city

 

[Warden]

Thanks again for your encouragement.

Lord Scalenex: I like the ideas you wrote about, especially the one about covering up an ancient temple, or using the staircase to rewrite the history to cover up an attack on the city by the daemons or the Fimir. I always did find the Fimir interesting, especially since they bore many similarities to the Lizardmen saurus and skink servants the Slann use to this day, almost as if they were cast of stock that the Slann never planned to use (or let survive).

Concerning Magical Items:

Just for Lord Xholankha I decided to revisit ideas for potential magic items of Mutal. When I put together the original fluff I didn’t have any specific items in mind aside from the Great Calendar. I assume that the Engine of the Gods used by the city and mounted on the back of the oldest stegadon-ancients would actually be miniaturized calendar-constructs. They could be used to channel a portion of the Great Calendar’s power during battle.

For the Great Calendar itself, still working on what other purposes it could serve for the Slann and their Old One masters when they constructed it. The best idea I have come up with is that it could actually be an ancient time machine that no one remembers how to use anymore And the Slann know this secret and are trying desperately to figure out how it works and prevent the Great Catastrophe from ever happening by sending an army back in time or some other crazy scheme.

Aside from the calendar I went and took a look at some ceremonial objects the ancient Mayan’s used in their rituals, and adapted them somewhat to the Lizardmen of Mutal. Here are some examples I came up with so far:

Cocoa Seeds- harvested from cocoa trees found throughout the jungles of Ceiba, the seeds are ground into powder and used to great vials of powerful, trance-inducing potions. When injested by the skink priests, they can invoke hallucegenic visions, or on the battlefield to increase their magical potential and rain lightning down upon their enemies (kinda like a power stone).

Incense Burners- some small, able to be carried by a single skink priest into battle, others huge. Decorated with the faces of monsters, Sotek, and the Old One gods. Incense from the copal tree used to produce smoke flowing from the nostrils, ears, and head of the monstrous incense burner faces. Used by the skink priests to ignite the surrounding lizardmen forces into a violent frenzy during battles, and increases the predatory instincts of the saurus warriors.



Stone Altars- similar to the anvils of power used by the Dwarves, used for sacrifices. While many tablets of inscription are used by the lizardmen to cast powerful bounded spells, none are more powerful than the war altars inscribed with potent glyphs of power by the most learned skink artisans and imbued with power by the skink priests. Captives sacrificed by the priests upon the altar release the power, raining lightning and fire down upon enemy forces.

 

[Warden]

Also for Lord X, here is a lovely beastie I found in some Mayan mythology, adapted for the fluff of course:

Camazotz

The Camazotz are huge, bat-like monsters with a thirst for the blood of intelligent beings, residing in the jungles and caves between the Lizardmen ruins. In terms of Imperial zoology, they are the largest of the many species of cataloged vampire bats that lurk within the jungles of Lustria. They have wingspans larger than great eagles, and are equipped with long fangs, huge red eyes, and are perfectly evolved to hunt in the dark. Very strong, more than capable of ripping a lone saurus or unwary travelers apart in seconds. Most dangerously, they sometimes work in packs, ranging out from hidden caves. They normally hunt smaller creatures but occasionally attack much larger prey, either due to desperation or just for sport. The skinks describe the Camazotz as abberantions to the Great Plan and as purely evil entities, with their sole aim to cause terror. Many expeditions have been led to exterminate these creatures, but their numbers continue to grow and attacks more bold.

 

[Warden]

Last thing for today, I have a few notes on some of my other hero characters, plus a map of Lustria I put together.

Yaxum Balum- Saurus Scar-veteran spawned alongside a pack of vicious cold-ones shortly after the reoccupation of Mutal. He leads the cold-one hunting packs of the city in the defense of the surrounding jungles.

Janaab Pakal- Eternity Warden of the inner sanctum, has been the premier bodyguard and shield warrior of Jatzom Kuh since the Great Catastophe, and has been responsible for keeping the Slann alive throughout the centuries.

the Skink Court- made up of all the Skink Priests of Mutal’s ruling council.

Yax Kuk’mo- the Green Priest, devoted to Tzunki. To him the word of the Slann is law, and is dedicated to carrying out the will of the Old Ones and defense of their home-city in accordance to the Great Plan.

Q’uq’umatz- the Yellow Priest, is the Chief Recorder of the Long Count and herald of the Great Calendar. While devoted to the will of the Old Ones, is conflicted by his growing fears that the calendar has become misaligned by the baleful influence of the chaos moon.

Otowik- the Red Priest, is labelled an upstart by his peers due to his position as leader of the Cult of Sotek. Also considered slightly unstable for his preference for bloody sacrifices, however his true purpose is to achieve enough favor through his chosen god and the lizardmen populace to ascend to the head of the council.


Map of the New World:



I loved how it turned out, also put the map up on my log of Lustrian Bretonnians I have up over on the Round Table but I wanted to share it with you all as well. I still have a lot of work to do on my bretonnians sadly, and eventually put up my Lizards onto a painting log on this site!

 

[spawning of Bob]

My my, you have been busy - well researched, well thought out and we'll written. You are going to need your own 'pedia soon.

(Hey @pendrake , have you seen this stuff yet? It's even got a map!)

 

[Scalenex]

Camazotz

The Camazotz are huge, bat-like monsters with a thirst for the blood of intelligent beings, residing in the jungles and caves between the Lizardmen ruins. In terms of Imperial zoology, they are the largest of the many species of cataloged vampire bats that lurk within the jungles of Lustria. They have wingspans larger than great eagles, and are equipped with long fangs, huge red eyes, and are perfectly evolved to hunt in the dark. Very strong, more than capable of ripping a lone saurus or unwary travelers apart in seconds. Most dangerously, they sometimes work in packs, ranging out from hidden caves. They normally hunt smaller creatures but occasionally attack much larger prey, either due to desperation or just for sport. The skinks describe the Camazotz as abberantions to the Great Plan and as purely evil entities, with their sole aim to cause terror. Many expeditions have been led to exterminate these creatures, but their numbers continue to grow and attacks more bold.

I am torn. On one hand I like the use of Mayan mythology. On the other hand I am very biased against it because I am a huge fan of the old school White Wolf publishing game Werewolf: the Apocalypse. In that game setting the Camasotz were very noble souls. On the other hand, if I could figure out how to create reasonable models for Camasotz I could have some kickass "Fell Bats" for my little Renliss army.

 

[Warden]

I never heard of Werewolf: the Apocalypse before but I found it on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werewolf:_The_Apocalypse) and its really interesting! I can understand why you are torn. It looks like whomever developed the backstory to the were-bats were looking at same mythology I was. I can understand why they were driven to extinction, most of the Mayan sources held the bat in very low regard because they were harbingers of death. One good bit I found, paraphrased a bit:

"A key aspect of the way fruit bats snip off fruit is they swoop down through the air, a feat the Maya likened to decapitation. To the Maya the bat was a decapitator, in fact in the Popol Vuh (epic story) one of the protagonist Hero Twins peers out of his hiding place onto to have his head snipped off by the Death Bat."

That aside, I like the idea for giant Lustria "fell bats," good luck if you attempt them.

 

[Bowser]

I am starting to love this thread just for the fun facts!

 

[Xholankha the lost one]

Thx great warden of fluff, that is awesome stuff, and you also included a few of the other L-M cities e.g spektazuma
Thanks
X

 

[Warden]

Thank you much! Eventually I hope to update the map with other cities from the sources and the forum.

But in the meantime if you are looking for some good maps, when I can't find something in a book I look here next: http://www.gitzmansgallery.com/warhammer-maps.html

 

[Xholankha the lost one]

ive got the full old world map so its all good