Overheard Information Learned about the Yuan-Ti of Sshtotzeih
While Tork Rezo and Lady Spore were in Nohshuh's lab, either conversing or being experimented on, they managed to overhear or learn a variety of things of interest over their 9+ month stay:
-Yuan-Ti as a people are very cold and don't seem to have empathy or emotional bonds with others. Some can fake it and they definitely recognize and exploit it in others, but they very much view things in terms of how it can benefit themselves.
-Zihsha is the ruler of the city, and considers himself as a direct representative of Yahkee.
-Below Zihsha in both physical and political power are the Lords of Venom, powerful Yuan-Ti abominations, with sects of Yuan-Ti below them. They would be comparable to high nobles in other societies. They support or oppose zihsha, although never directly.
-Jhalu the Ruthless, the huge one that you guys met last time is either A or THE general of the Yuan-Ti forces, and one of the Lords of Venom.
-Heard the name Temple of Sanguine Scales used.
-Nohshuh is researching a variety of things:How to make smarter broodguards, the feral Yuan-Ti that Tork Rezo and Lady Spore fought from in the ruins below the underground tower.
The seemingly ritualistic scarring that Jhalu the Ruthless has aren’t religious, but something Nohshuh has been developing; Lady Spore had seen some of Nohshuh's applying them to prisoners then submit them to batteries of harsh tests. They would infrequently apply them to each other, or even Nohshuh, and once Tork saw Jhalu the Ruthless go through more scarification, expanding to the back of his head.
1. Are there Yuan-Ti that seem to oppose the use of slavery?
At the very least Sshtotzeih in specific, if not Yuan-Ti in general, has a fair number of slaves under their control. This includes a variety of intelligent humanoids, you've seen mostly humans, deurgar, and dwarves, although Tork has seen a single Dark Elf and Lady Spore a gnome. Additionally they use charmed or trained beasts and monsters and even undead or conjured creations. The Yuan-Ti mindset is that any creature that is not a Yuan-Ti is fit for anything other than menial labor and subservience, and they do the majority of the unpleasant or dangerous work in Sshtotzeih. Slaves that fail to follow orders or lag in their duties are killed, ritualistically sacrificed, used in experiments, or turned into broodguards.
2. Did any other prisoners going through the same sort of experiments as Tork?
Only two others went through the lycanthropy experimentation that Tork went through. The first time was about two months after Tork became a lycanthrope to a deurgar named Gorrend Barunn. Nohshuh had spent the weeks leading up to it taking blood nearly daily from Tork, and the day before from both him and Gerome. Gorrend's transformation started almost immediately, compared to Tork's not happening until the next full moon, but Gorrend became deformed amalgamation of deurgar and snake, both and neither at the same time, and died in the process.
The next similar experiment wasn't for almost 4 more months, after Tork had been in captivity for about 7 months, to a Half Elf named Ironas. As with the previous experiment Tork was heavily drained of blood leading up to it, as was Gerome the day before. Her reaction to the process was similar to Tork's, nothing happened until the next full moon, at which point she transformed into a hybrid snake/Half Elf. Unfortunately at that point she became feral, retaining little of her former intelligence, and didn't change back.
3. Have other prisoners tried to escape?
There have been some minor attempts at escape, but only by prisoners that just arrived in Nohshuh's laboratory and that had only recently been captured. After the initial escape attempts failed, nearly all prisoners don't make another attempt. Prisoners that had spent time as slaves prior to being used in experimentation had already lost their will and almost to a one made no attempt to fight back. Tork also learned that they only bother to drug the food and water for those they think are likely to resist, either because of their behavior and attitude or as a result of changes due to experiments.
4. Why is the Temple of Sanguine Scales important enough to start kidnapping people to uncover?
Should be reworded
1. Are there differences in the medicines they use in Sshtotzeih compared to what is used in the overground/The Arum Swamp?
During Lady Spore's discussions with Nohshuh she learned that there are a plethora of different plants that grow in the underdark without any light, and a sizable number that have medicinal benefits. There is a mix of treatments being more effective, comparable, or less effective than their overground counterparts. Lady Spore did see that Nohshuh maintained a collection of plants and medicines she was more familiar with and were relatively common in the overground, but were treated as rare or valuable by Nohshuh.
2. Are there any different varieties of mushrooms or other fungi that would have been of interest to Lady Spore?
Lady Spore learned about several of the exotic mushrooms of the underdark: Ormu (and that it's pigment was one of the main components used in the magical lighting in Sshtotzeih), Tinmask, and the Tongue of Madness mushrooms. Many of her meals consisted solely of raw Ripplebark.
3. Are there any political rivals for power in Sshtotzeih?
There are a variety of political factions in Sshtotzeih, but there are 5 main factions.
4. Does Sshtotzeih have areas of major wealth gaps (slums vs upper class areas) like in many traditional cities?
While there is definite disparity between the different types of Yuan-Ti, mainly their living accommodations and social and political standing, the gaps are much smaller between them than they are in human societies. The largest disparities are between bottom rung of Yuan-Ti society is the slave class with no rights, followed by loyal cultists or brain washed followers from other races, mostly humans, and then the lowest caste of the Yuan-Ti themselves, the purebloods. The loyalists are a cult of humanoids raised and brainwashed to serve the Yuan-Ti, performing less dangerous work than slaves, often even in charge of overseeing the slaves in their work. Though uncommon, the smartest or strongest that truly distinguish themselves will sometimes be chosen to ascend in a ritual to Yahkee, and become purebloods. The eldest, the maimed or injured, or those otherwise unable to perform their duties will often be used as ritual sacrifices, and give themselves not only freely, but often with a smile on their faces. Even the lowest of the purebloods has the equivalent status of a knight, lesser noble, or even middling merchant.
5. Have the Yuan-Ti continued any ventures/exploration like Anoza had been led?
Lady Spore has heard reports of other expeditions, it sounds like they are slowly combing the entire underdark below The Arum Swamp, searching for a small cubic artifact.
-Yuan-Ti as a people are very cold and don't seem to have empathy or emotional bonds with others. Some can fake it and they definitely recognize and exploit it in others, but they very much view things in terms of how it can benefit themselves.
-Zihsha is the ruler of the city, and considers himself as a direct representative of Yahkee.
-Below Zihsha in both physical and political power are the Lords of Venom, powerful Yuan-Ti abominations, with sects of Yuan-Ti below them. They would be comparable to high nobles in other societies. They support or oppose zihsha, although never directly.
-Jhalu the Ruthless, the huge one that you guys met last time is either A or THE general of the Yuan-Ti forces, and one of the Lords of Venom.
-Heard the name Temple of Sanguine Scales used.
-Nohshuh is researching a variety of things:
Additional information Tork learned (4):
1. Are there Yuan-Ti that seem to oppose the use of slavery?
At the very least Sshtotzeih in specific, if not Yuan-Ti in general, has a fair number of slaves under their control. This includes a variety of intelligent humanoids, you've seen mostly humans, deurgar, and dwarves, although Tork has seen a single Dark Elf and Lady Spore a gnome. Additionally they use charmed or trained beasts and monsters and even undead or conjured creations. The Yuan-Ti mindset is that any creature that is not a Yuan-Ti is fit for anything other than menial labor and subservience, and they do the majority of the unpleasant or dangerous work in Sshtotzeih. Slaves that fail to follow orders or lag in their duties are killed, ritualistically sacrificed, used in experiments, or turned into broodguards.
2. Did any other prisoners going through the same sort of experiments as Tork?
Only two others went through the lycanthropy experimentation that Tork went through. The first time was about two months after Tork became a lycanthrope to a deurgar named Gorrend Barunn. Nohshuh had spent the weeks leading up to it taking blood nearly daily from Tork, and the day before from both him and Gerome. Gorrend's transformation started almost immediately, compared to Tork's not happening until the next full moon, but Gorrend became deformed amalgamation of deurgar and snake, both and neither at the same time, and died in the process.
The next similar experiment wasn't for almost 4 more months, after Tork had been in captivity for about 7 months, to a Half Elf named Ironas. As with the previous experiment Tork was heavily drained of blood leading up to it, as was Gerome the day before. Her reaction to the process was similar to Tork's, nothing happened until the next full moon, at which point she transformed into a hybrid snake/Half Elf. Unfortunately at that point she became feral, retaining little of her former intelligence, and didn't change back.
3. Have other prisoners tried to escape?
There have been some minor attempts at escape, but only by prisoners that just arrived in Nohshuh's laboratory and that had only recently been captured. After the initial escape attempts failed, nearly all prisoners don't make another attempt. Prisoners that had spent time as slaves prior to being used in experimentation had already lost their will and almost to a one made no attempt to fight back. Tork also learned that they only bother to drug the food and water for those they think are likely to resist, either because of their behavior and attitude or as a result of changes due to experiments.
4. Why is the Temple of Sanguine Scales important enough to start kidnapping people to uncover?
Should be reworded
Additional information Lady Spore learned (5):
1. Are there differences in the medicines they use in Sshtotzeih compared to what is used in the overground/The Arum Swamp?
During Lady Spore's discussions with Nohshuh she learned that there are a plethora of different plants that grow in the underdark without any light, and a sizable number that have medicinal benefits. There is a mix of treatments being more effective, comparable, or less effective than their overground counterparts. Lady Spore did see that Nohshuh maintained a collection of plants and medicines she was more familiar with and were relatively common in the overground, but were treated as rare or valuable by Nohshuh.
2. Are there any different varieties of mushrooms or other fungi that would have been of interest to Lady Spore?
Lady Spore learned about several of the exotic mushrooms of the underdark: Ormu (and that it's pigment was one of the main components used in the magical lighting in Sshtotzeih), Tinmask, and the Tongue of Madness mushrooms. Many of her meals consisted solely of raw Ripplebark.
3. Are there any political rivals for power in Sshtotzeih?
There are a variety of political factions in Sshtotzeih, but there are 5 main factions.
4. Does Sshtotzeih have areas of major wealth gaps (slums vs upper class areas) like in many traditional cities?
While there is definite disparity between the different types of Yuan-Ti, mainly their living accommodations and social and political standing, the gaps are much smaller between them than they are in human societies. The largest disparities are between bottom rung of Yuan-Ti society is the slave class with no rights, followed by loyal cultists or brain washed followers from other races, mostly humans, and then the lowest caste of the Yuan-Ti themselves, the purebloods. The loyalists are a cult of humanoids raised and brainwashed to serve the Yuan-Ti, performing less dangerous work than slaves, often even in charge of overseeing the slaves in their work. Though uncommon, the smartest or strongest that truly distinguish themselves will sometimes be chosen to ascend in a ritual to Yahkee, and become purebloods. The eldest, the maimed or injured, or those otherwise unable to perform their duties will often be used as ritual sacrifices, and give themselves not only freely, but often with a smile on their faces. Even the lowest of the purebloods has the equivalent status of a knight, lesser noble, or even middling merchant.
5. Have the Yuan-Ti continued any ventures/exploration like Anoza had been led?
Lady Spore has heard reports of other expeditions, it sounds like they are slowly combing the entire underdark below The Arum Swamp, searching for a small cubic artifact.
