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DispatchFactbookCulture

by Naga-sosh. . 15 reads.

Ishne Race

An illustration of a mature
Ishne female.

Ishne are the primary race inhabiting the Great Raso Desert, contributing to roughly 87% of the desert's total population. They also make up a majority of the population in the Confederacy of Naga-Sosh, making up approximately 81% of the Confederacy's population. Ishne make up about 4% of the world's total population. Because of the name of Naga-Sosh they have also been called Nagas, Sosh, and because of their biology, snakemen.

Because of the nature of the Naga-Sosh being isolationist and mysterious to most of Rise, Ishne are popularly stereotyped as being materialistic, ignorant, and self-righteous. This is highly inaccurate. Because of the nomadic and hunter-gatherer lifestyle of many Ishne, many are taught from a young age to use as much from attained belongings as possible. Many Ishne are also highly spiritual, with the Naga-Sosh officially being a theocratic tribal confederacy.

From the waist-up, Ishne resemble a medium to dark-skinned mix between Humans and Elves. Below the navel, however, Ishne have large snake tails which also double as a replacement for legs. Despite this reptilian adaptation, Ishne are still warm-blooded, leading some scholars to theorize that Ishne originally evolved from bipedal ape-like creatures and share a common ancestor with humans, elves, and orcs. The scales on an Ishne's tail can be various colors, including red, blue, black, gold, brown, green, and silver. These tails are a major part of Ishne culture and religion. They are also a useful adaptation for movement in the Raso Desert, providing a much faster movement speed on sand compared to legs. This is paralleled in Salte biology (which have fish-like appendages below the navel, and are commonly known as mermaids), possibly suggesting that Ishne and Salte have a common ancestor.

Like most snake species in the Raso Desert, Ishne have a potent toxin in their fangs. Painless to extract, it is commonly used as both a coating on weapons and as ingestible poison. This venom is not produced in the salivary glands, in contrast to venomous snakes where venom is produced in a modified saliva gland. Instead it is developed in the back of the throat and above the uvula. Because of this venom, Ishne do not show affection by kissing like other humanoid species but instead with movements with their tail and arms. This venom also seems to inhibit the magical properties of Ishne, making them poor magic users in contrast to Humans and especially Elves.

Young Ishme are born in broods of four to six young. Like wild snakes, after their first molt they are usually left to live on their own. Because of this, familiar relations are not of much importance in Ishme culture outside of royalty and noble families. This has attributed to the nomadic lifestyle of many Ishme, with most individual Ishme finding clans or, more rarely, brooding families to be adopted into. Despite this non-reliance on family Ishme parents are highly protective of their young, both as eggs and as hatchlings. Ishme mothers in interspecies relationships have also been reported to be much more protective of their family than their counterparts.

Ishne religion is monotheistic and matriarchal. The sole deity in Ishne religion, which is known as Rilism, is the goddess Ril. According to Rilism, Ril created the universe in her image and also made the 6 sentient races of Rise and they were given reign over different areas of the world. Humans were given reign over grasslands and meadows, Elves over forests, Giants over the mountains and tundras, Ishne over the deserts and savannahs, Salte over the oceans and lakes, and Raphans over the sky. The other 5 races were jealous that Ril favored the Ishne over the other races and waged war against the Ishne, reducing their sixth of the world to a much smaller size after conquest and banishing them to the center of the continent. Hallucinogenic drugs are a staple of Rilist ritual and large smoking booths are commonly seen in temples. The most common drug used is goji, a plant native to the Great Raso Desert, but wyrmwood and feywillow are also used.

Ishne are carnivorous and unable to digest plant life. Because of this, Naga-Sosh has the highest meat import out of any country on Rise. Rich, red game meat is a staple of Ishne diet (commonly compared to beef or venison), but white meat belonging to birds, and on very rare occasions fish, is also eaten. While molars for grinding exist in the back of the mouth, because of the flexible organs and skin of Ishne some pieces of meat are eaten in a single bite. Alcohol is a common staple of Ishne diet and used as common drink; Ishne do not seem to get intoxicated by alcohol or other fermented beverages.

Naga-sosh

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