Asak (Old Lore)

Introduction
The Asak are the naitive inhabitants of Apophis and a reptilian like race are almost extinct nowdays. They are legendary creatures, shrouded in myth. It is said thats its been over thousand years since a mortal eye saw them the last time.

History
The origins of the Asak are vastly unkown but it is said that they evolved naturally from the warmblooded reptiles that inhabit the dry lands of Apophis. They formed large cities in the warmest parts of the main continent, mostly around the Ring of Fire and the Kunic wastes. How long their empire stood is unkown but the ruins indicate that their great civilisation prospered for several thousand years. Some scholars beliefe them to be the first race that emerged after the Age of the Gods.

Their long and constant downfall can be split up in three great events:

Birth of the Samesi
The first larveas of the Samesi emerged from the holy ponds in their great cities where they infected their magepriests and leaders slowly but steadly. It was the city of An Keth where they where beliefed to come from for it was the temple of the first serpentheaded god of the Asak. This threw their empire in chaos and civil war as many served their new masters while others saw these new gods as abominations.

How long the Samesi wars raged across the Empire is unkown but it caused massive damadge and destroyed the majority of their great cities. It was about 200 years before the first humans arrived in Apophis that the Asak made peace with their infected brothers. They divided the lands, leaving the templecities in the west to the Samesi and the east to the old gods. This contract allowed to Samesi to spread their taint unhindered, even though they never infected a eastern god again.

Arrival of the Humans
The arrival of the Anit in the east of Apophis was almost as damadging to the Asak as their civil war. The humans brought disease and sickness with them, spreading across the lands faster then any mortal could travel. There was a vast amount of new plagues the Asak had to deal with but non was as bad as Smallpox which became known as Scaleblight to them. Only the cities in the heart of Apophis and the Samesi empire in Nawanga remained unaffected as the magepriests found ways to end the blight.

For that reason, all cities the human nomads found where either severly weakened or only inhabited by diseased ghuls or ghosts.

Reign of the Pratonians
As the Pratonians conquered Apophis, they saw the Asak as abominable servants of false gods. They casted down their temples and slew each of their living gods, often even burning or absorbing their born. This was the last blow to their ancient empire and left nothing behind as weakened servants of the humans they once teached and lead.

Modern Asak
The modern Asak are extremly rare and weakened. It is unkown if the rumors of their hidden empires are actually true. On the island of Kharaf there exists a weaker breed of Asak that coexists with the humans there. Their old empires are beliefed to exist deep in the Talayad mountains and on the island chain of Aschbek.

Most of the Asak however degenerated to a pestilent group of ghuls known as the Sutek. They roam the dry lands, worshiping the Titan Apophis or Samesi masters.

Biology
Little is known about the anatomy of the Asak. There are only old records and a few remaining skeletons aswell as the childer of Kharaf who seemed to changed alot over the ages.

The original Asak where tall, warmblooded creatures of superior strength and speed. They where said to be able to survive a long time without water, even though it is unkown how.

The sex of their children depended on the temperature the eggs where exposed to which lead to the massive sun temples with many different levels, breeding the perfect males and females for them.

The Asak seemed to only eat meat and bonemarrow if one follows the traditions of their Ghuls and ancestors.

Asak Gods
The Gods of the Asak where kings that ascended in a specific form of Bornritual, making them much stronger then most human counterparts. They did not only grew to the unmatched size of eight meters, their head and parts of their physeology changed durning this ritual. They grew the head of a animal, embracing close relatives of their past evolution. These where mostly greater reptilian carnivores. Such a God infected by a Samesi would develop stronger scales and a Snakehead instead aswell as turning completly black.

The Asak started to worship them as almighty entites and the Aniter pushed this worship even further, associating aspects and powers with them they could call upon in times of need. The Suthekru gods recieved a similar treatment, even encouraging their servants to worship them on a daily basis.

Known Asak gods

 * Anput- The godess was associated with fertility, growth and rebirth. She was depicted with the head of a Yahabi.
 * Besbat- The god was associated with magic, sorcercy and wisdom. He was depicted with the head of a Sawati.
 * Kshrin- The godess was associated with war, slaugther and the hunt. She was depicted with the head of a Sabantir.
 * Nushek- The god of sea, water and prosperity. He was depicted with the head of a Liopleurodon.
 * Sokath- The god of justice, vengeance and stealth. He was depicted with the head of a Malamor.

Known Suthekru gods

 * Atep- The god of kingship, glory and destruction. He was the highest ranked of all gods and embodied the Samesi dominance.
 * Baskad- The godess of law, justice and torture. She was the patreon of sadistic and strict Samesi.
 * Hathri- The godess of wealth, lust and fertility. She served as a mothergodess to humans and a godess of rebirth and embrace to the Samesi. Unlike her siblings, her scales where pale.
 * Neithor- The god of hunger, war and bloodshed. He was not only the warriors patron but also the god of cannibalistic and ever hungry Samesi.
 * Mut- The god of fire, stars and rage. He was a patreon of irascible Samesi.
 * Kauket- The godess of sorcery, darkness and demons. She was the patreon of sorcerers and conjurers, believing to be the mother of the elemental demons that dwelled in the darkness under the forest.
 * Nod- The god of stealth, murder and the forest. He was the patreon of assassins and cutthroats.

The great cities
Unlike other races, the Asak did not simply inhabit smaller villages and fortress but only great cities, each ruled by a respective god. Before the Samesi came, they had build 13 great cities all over Apophis. After the war against the Suthekru they only had five cities in their grasp while the rest was either left to ruins or in the claws of their enemies.

Asak cities

 * An Keth- The golden city was the greatest of the Asak cities. It did not only host more Asak then all other cities together but also held a vast amount of artifacts the main fond of their Born. The city was ruled by Anput who embodied the Born itself that originated from this city.
 * Assuan- The city of light. It hosted the greatest of the Suntemples and represented the stoneclad connection between the Asak and the suns that birthed them. The greatest of all magepriests where trained in this city. Assuan was ruled by Besbat, embracing her rule over the fabric of reality.
 * Sash Anu- The city of gardens. It hosted only 300 Asak in its prime days, yet it was one of the biggest. The majority of the gardens where filled with holy animals representing the evolution of the Asak. It was ruled by Nushek as it was the clostest to the sea.
 * Kumphai- The city of shadows. It layed in an ancient forest close to the Stormplanes that was protected from the suns by the mighty mountains above. It was the home to the greatest of the Asak hunters and their god Sokath, god of judgement and swift death.
 * Tatoth- The city of sands. It was the smallest of all Asak cities and it is believed to be the first city corrupted by Samesi. It was always a victim of the war between Asak and Suthekru and layed in ruins longer then it stood complete. It was ruled by Kshrin and represented the scars of war.

Suthekru cities

 * Suet- The city of sunrise. It was the most nothern of all cities and the first to see the light of day most of the year. Before the cult was destroyed it beared eight spires, offering praise the mothergodess Hathri.
 * Lashad- The palce city. It was home to Neithor, lord of slaugther. In its pits the strongest human warriors where trained, just like its brutal keep brougth fourth the most violent of Samesi.
 * Sothak- The city of dread. It was one of the biggest cities of the Suthekru empire and hosted the biggest human population. In its black streets, order was enforced in brutal and sadistic ways, just like their godess Baskad demanded.

Lost cities

 * Adai- The city of the four towers. It was the biggest Suthekru city and hosted the temple of Atep and Apophis, making it the capital of Samesi. It was destroyed during the pratonian invasion. In modern days its a cursed city in the depts of the jungle. No man dares to enter it, although it is believed there are still Samesi praying in the old temple, hidden in the shadows.
 * Nuedai- The city of darkness. It hosted the temple of Kauket and was guarded by demons before their queen was slain. In modern days it lies under constant watch so that no demonic entity might escape it and infect the great Duru river. Even its ruins draw the children of their mistress to the surface.
 * Khrond- The city of fires. The light of countless fires enlighted this city that was remade entirely of onyx under the rule of Mut. It was burned down by the flames of the Pratonians and lies in ruins. The burned onxy still inspires terror in the heart of the Nawangians, making it a city of ghosts although its position is known.
 * Pharli- The hidden city. Deep in the blighted jungles the great temple of Nod lies hidden. Neither the Pratonians nor any expedition force managed to find its location as it simple disappeared as soon as the other dangers fell. In modern times it is a city of legend that might still host one of the Suthekru gods and his chosen children.