Yuan-ti legends and myths

The Yuan-ti are a splintered race dating back to long before the recorded history of the Realm. On the one hand there are relatively average human-like Yuan-ti in towns and villages, who go about their lives more or less like anyone else, and who look almost completely human at a glance and sometimes even up close. These are normal people working a job, raising a family, paying their taxes, doing their thing, right down to live birth like any other human.

On the other hand, there are isolated communities of truly monstrous Yuan-ti out in the world far from the confines of civilization, beings that are more giant serpent than human, with snake heads, or tails, or both; they may have arms or legs, or a spill of intertwined snake tails where their arms or legs ought to be, or a spray of multiple serpent heads. They raise their young from eggs in clutches tended by Broodguards, who are usually pitiful humans who have been transformed into wretched snake-creatures by dark rituals. Other humans join their ranks directly by the performance of these rituals.

The fact is, Yuan-ti are both of these kinds of creatures.

Yuan Ti in the cities choose to worship any god they please, like anyone else, but there is a compelling pull for some to the savage gods of their more savage genetic relatives; all that is known for certain is that long ago in millennia lost to time, humans build a decadent empire and through ancient and profane ritual transformed themselves into Yuán tǐ, a term meaning "Primarchs" in the common tongue. Exactly who taught them this ritual is uncertain - possibly it came from a fiendish influence, or possibly one or more of the Yuan-ti gods themselves saw the opportunity and instructed the humans on how to turn a human partly or completely into a snake.

Three Primary Gods

The knowledge of at least three primary gods of the Yuan ti have survived the tide of years to be known by name today, though exactly what each really is like is mostly speculation to those not living among the abominations and anathema themselves. An odd feature is that all of them are at best aloof, or asleep - and possibly comatose. In all cases, these weren't gods worshipped out of reverence or fear, but deities to emulate in the pursuit of one's own godhood - the part before they all fell asleep, anyway.

• Dendar, the Night Serpent. A creature of literal nightmares, Dendar is a sleeping goddess who is powered by fear and night terrors, and once she has amassed enough power she will one day awaken to swallow the sun and then annihilate the world, presumably replacing it with one in which the Yuan-ti are kings again, or gods themselves. She is credited with knowing the ritual of transformation, which she shared only with Mershaulk.
• Mershaulk, the Pit Master. Despite slumbering in an unconscious torpor, this titanic god-serpent still grants spells and boons to his worshippers, who tend to either be fanatically violent Yuan-ti or equally fanatically violent cultists. When he rises he will sweep away the weak and replace the rulers of this world with his favored ones. He is credited with creating the first Yuan-ti and teaching humans the ritual that arose in Dendar's nightmares.
• Sseth, the Sibilant Death. The god credited with either the last golden era of the Yuan-ti empire (by his followers) or its collapse (by those who follow the other deities), Sseth appeared in winged serpent form to strengthen the empire, and many followers of Mershaulk, confused as to which god was which, followed him. The Yuan-ti Emprire nevertheless collapsed, and as the power of his followers faded and many tried to return to Mershaulk (who had also stopped listening), Sseth found his strength severely drained. He dozes, occasionally meddling in affairs, but remains mostly unconcerned with the world in his moody bitterness.

Other Yuan-ti deities

A half dozen or so other Yuan-ti deities are known from archaeological evidence, mostly by name only, with unclear portfolios. This is not to be considered a complete list; some studies suggests that every Yuan-ti settlement had at least one local god, and many regional gods as well.

• Ophidius: Evidently a god that was cast out from some other pantheon, and then became a Yuan-ti god through the divine version of the Transformation ritual. Who he was or where he came from before is completely unknown. Cults worshipping this being are known as 'Ophitics'.
• Shesemu: An ancient aspect of Dendar but weaker, and associated with bats, oil, wine and the moon in addition to snakes, particularly winged snakes. She/it appears as a rampant cobra with bat wings extending open over its flared throat.
• Hamadryas: A monstrous Medusa on a snake's body, evidently the consort of Ophidius (and also known by the name Ophelia in that context), with the power to turn enemies into solid silver as well as alabaster. Keeper of the magical Helm of Hishava as well as the magical bow called the Pit Viper and the hexblade Sword of Ophidius. Ophitic cults are generally comprised of humans and their ilk not Yuan-ti. so there are a number of relatively modern mythological stories about these two, but their presence in actual Yuan-ti mythology is suspect.
• Yzobek (EE-sobek): The divine, deformed offspring of Mershaulk and Tiamat, with the body of a black dragon and six 'heads' that are the tails of giant serpents, eyeless and mouthless, thrashing ceaselessly. Both Tiamat and Mershaulk rejected the nightmare creature because of its ugliness, and it became favored by Dendar. Worship of this being is known among the Yuan-ti but it is also a favored cult patron among other races.