So I've read that Lizardmen are afraid of zoats for some reason but I can't find out why. What I've gathered so far is that, like dragons etc, Zoats predate the arrival of the Old Ones but weren't wiped out in their wars of extermination. Does anyone know where I could get more info about them? I'm strongly considering buying an old Zoat mage from ebay and using it in my games. I'm also looking at writing some fluff piece about it. Something along the lines of a LM expedition being sent to recover artefacts from a abandoned temple (possibly on an island off the coast of Lustria) and encountering a Zoat who uses its magic to remove the Slann's control from the LM. They then start to develop a primitive society without becoming feral (due to the influence of the Zoat) I see the Zoat as taking a guiding role without being directly involved, allowing the LM to develop as nature intended without the restrictions imposed by the Old Ones and the Slann Of course this could be a ridiculous idea so all comments are welcome
curious, I am in the same situation needing info on zoats for my expansion project. I actually asked the same question today 2 things though: Lizardmen arent magically "under the control" of the Slann. They are their leaders not enslavers so im not sure what you want to remove? also Lizardmen were genetically designed by a race of aliens so its hard to call your idea "what nature intended" . Its rather interesting though..ive always wondered how Lizardmen would fare without the great plan, and am also using the concept of "Slann'less" societies in my project Looking forward to see what you get from it! sadly the only info on Zoats I can provide is - in 40K they are a slave-race to the tyranids. - what the Storm of Magic book says - read somewhere the reason lizardmen fear them because, as you mention, they failed to wipe them out. They are a living testament to Lizardmen failure.
Maybe being magically controlled isn't the best way of putting it... Maybe something along the lines that the lizardmen are designed to be subservient to the slann but the zoats can somehow supress thi instinct? The "as nature itended" idea came from a link I once read which had an alternative history of the Old Ones. Basically instead of creating the Lizardmen, they sort of brainwashed them to make them subservient. I like the idea that somehow the Zoats can undo this EDIT Here's the link I was reading http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=329122&page=2 There's some nice ideas there about Saurus existing a servants of dragons before the Old Ones arrived
If memory serves, back in the 6th & 7th edition books there was fluff about Lizardmen living in the dragon isles (between the southlands and Ind) that were cut off from the Slann, and consequently devolved into barbarism without their leadership. Perhaps that would suit your aspirations more, a zoat could have perhaps stumbled across a society of Lizardmen in the dragon isles and become their leader, helping to rebuild a more civilised society there.
If a slann showed up on the dragon isles would the lizardmen there stay feral or do as commanded? I still want to include the idea that the Zoat can somehow overthrow the command the slann have over the lizardmen and that this is why slann fear them. And what the slann fear, the rest of the lizardmen fear. Possibly something to do with the Zoat's connection to nature allowing it to interfere with the lizardmen's unnatural, engineered obedience
tricky indeed....Saurus, skinks and kroxigors obey the chain of command per instinct which they are spawned with......since Zoats can tap into the life wind, maybe he could somehow alter these genetics? (a long shot) or rather empower the natural instincts of the Lizardmen? another problem you have to consider: how can a lizardmen soceity flurish without spawning pools? - they cant breed as normal creatures - where saurus and kroxigors dont skinks die from age....the rest would deplete from battle at some point
What if the Zoat mage tapped into a spawning pool somehow? It could then potentially spawn it's own Lizardmen that will be keyed to it instinctually? I'd imagine other lizardmen would see that as pretty abominable.
I dont think any being on the planet knows how the pools work (they are cloning facilities made from of-planet tech.) but if you find a way for the storyline to make this possible there is more to think of: - only known spawningpools are in lustria - tampering with a spawning pool would as the comment above indicates be tampering with the great plan.... so..we are in lustria...the land of lizardmen...lead by the slann....who is designated to make sure that everything goes as the plan dictates. I think the result would be that all of lustria would descend upon the Zoat and his privat lizzies before he could raise an army that could hold up. ...but...a way you could spin this: The Skaven corrupted a couple of pools during the plaque..these pools stopped functioning after spitting out a couple of disfigured beings that died rather quickly after spawning.... what if a Zoat ..who is instinctually connected to the life wind, in a way that the slann isnt, was able to reverse the process of the corruption, making the pools work again and restart their spawnings? Being connected to the life wind via the Zoat, the new lizzies might be connected to him rather than to their instincts and follow his word instead. I dont think it would be off-fluff to expect the Slanns to look at this happening as an "acceptable" variable ..as functioning pools is closer to the great plan than disfunctional pools. But I think it would be a tense relationship, so you will probably have to write in that this co-existence is barely accepted, and that certain conflicts rise from time to time.