SR5:Race:Naga

5th Edition Rules
Basics // Combat // Magic // Matrix // Driving // Character Creation

Races

Humans

Elves

Dwarves

Orks

Trolls

Centaurs

Nagas

Pixies

Sasquatches

Changelings

Shapeshifters

CHARACTERS AND CHANGELING CULTURE

Changelings are outsiders by nature. They don’t want to be part of the normal society because they are special. They were pushed to the outskirts and found a home there, with others like them who understand them. While the world has had sixty years to adjust to the idea of 2.5 meter trolls, burly orks, stout dwarfs, and graceful elves (and haven’t gotten it perfect yet), they have had only a little more than a decade to come to grips with beaks, tentacles, frog tongues, and tails. And there are so many fewer changelings than metahumans, no one ever gets a chance for them to be seen everyday and make them seem normal. A character, even one running the shadows who is a natural outsider, still needs a place to call home with people who understand them. The character can choose whether they are trying to fit in, whether they go back to their neighborhoods, or whether they go the route of the hermit and live alone, away from the world. Roleplaying the difficulties of fitting in when you don’t look like anyone near you or even the difficulties of a life where finding someone like you may never happen should weigh heavily on the character. They may be the dreamer who knows that the right one is out there; they may be the shut-in, angry at the world because they can never know whether their present company is there for them as a person or because they want to watch the sideshow; or they could be oblivious, or play oblivious, to the reality of their situation. Being a changeling may seem cool to have the great abilities or nifty stat boosts, but the true advantage is in the character you can play, the chance to play out the role of the outsider on the outside, while struggling to be accepted on the inside.

CUSTOS SERPENS

RACE	BODY	AGI	REA	STR	WIL	LOG	INT	CHA	EDGE	MAG	ESS	INIT
Naga	3/8	1/4	2/7	4/9	2/7	1/6	1/6	2/7	1/5	1	6	REA+INT
Racial Traits:Armor 8, Cold-Blooded, Dual Natured, Guard, Natural Weapon (Bite: DV (STR + 1)P, AP –2, Reach –1), Venom

The still-developing culture of the changelings is an interesting area of study. Anthropologists are able to observe the breaking away of a sect of a culture in real time as opposed to making guesswork on what happened from writings or stories. Changelings today usually go one of two ways, depending on the severity of their SURGE expression. Those who have been greatly changed are what I’d rather focus on, as they are the ones who are developing a new culture for themselves and their kind. Those whose expressions are minor often simply stick within their original culture and accept their small differences as simply a part of who they are, or they hide them in order to fit in. These same individuals are also the ones who show up at changeling gatherings and then try to fit in because they “know what it’s like,” only to find themselves drummed out or ignored. Because in truth, they don’t know what it’s like.

The changeling culture is one of acceptance for their own kind and the expansive variations of their expressions, along with a reluctance to take part in the formalized culture of anyone else. They revel in their nature, and many have been trying to create changeling-only communities with varying levels of success due to the limited number of individuals with extensive expressions. Within these areas, and within the culture of the changelings themselves, is a world of accepting difference and expressing one’s self, often through art or stage performance. The revitalization of small portions of slum communities has become a calling card for changeling communities. As a group and as a culture, they help each other out, and every structure is customized for the changeling who will live there. They even work together to remodel homes for those who move in or when they have children who display different traits. The areas have also attracted many metavariants who also don’t feel at home in the rest of the world. Acceptance is universal for the altered. That acceptance is limited, though, as they have very little tolerance for any normal human (or “norman,” as they call them) who wants to live among them, feeling they are simply being used to boost the norman’s countercultural cred, or that they are being pitied as “freaks.”

The counterculture of changelings is about not accepting changes, but rather trying to erase them in an effort to fit in. They may attempt self-mutilation to get back to normal, they may cover up changes and act as if they don’t exist, or they may try to become a mainstream success in some field or another, giving something for the normans to condescendingly admire as an “inspiration.” For changelings, joining the culture of the world at large is their counterculture.

CHANGELING SPECIFIC

The Sixth World tale of the naga is one of metahuman hubris at its finest. Originally naga were thought to be an intelligent, trainable, and Awakened ten-meter-long snake species. Various security companies caught naga and trained them to work as guard animals. Little did these companies know the naga were listening and learning about metahuman society from their handlers and others they came into contact with. These interactions—including those in southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent, where the naga were often revered and worshipped in local tradition— allowed naga to gain an understanding of the new powers in the world around them. All they had to do was endure tedious, occasionally dangerous jobs.

When naga in the security firms were retired due to age or escape, many of these gathered with other naga in Asia. Meanwhile, Cambodian naga were gathering around the ruins of Angkor Wat. Tourist travel decreased with fear of the local paracritters, which were servants of the naga, and the naga were left to create a home. Barely over a decade old now, the Naga Kingdom of Angkor Wat was formed by naga and a coalition of sapient paranormal beings. Since, the naga of the world have revealed more about their nature, including their ability to speak metahuman languages with only a slight speech impediment involving hard consonants. Many naga have begun using their nation’s riches to attend universities, mostly in the region around Angkor Wat due to climate restriction of their cold-blooded physiology.

Naga of differing origins often resemble the predominant snake species of the area. In Angkor Wat the various python, viper, and krait species are strongly represented, with some of the lesser species present as well. In Amazonia the anaconda is king, and naga of this variant are often bulkier than their kin.

Estimated Worldwide Population: 190,000

Population Centers: Amazonia, Naga Kingdom of Angkor Wat, and the Indian Union

International Status: Naga hold positions of political dominance in the Naga Kingdom, and many cultures in southwest Asia revere them. They are eligible for SINs in Amazonia, the Bangla Commonwealth, Burma, the Indian Union, Laos, Malaysia, Manchuria, the Salish-Shidhe Council, Sichuan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam. All of the Big Ten employ significant naga populations, typically in magical security, as do many Asian AA corporations.