Naga Forces: Humans
The Drowned: Cultists – The Drowned are not, in fact, drowned people. They are, instead, a militant sub-sect of the cultists that worship Zalga, C’thylla and Kain as gods. They are, in some ways, comparable to the most devout followers of the Luminas Faith, though they would never admit it, as they fight without fear or concern for their own wellbeing. They rarely are seen anywhere that does not have a major body of water nearby, as their burial rights require that their bodies be dumped into said body of water with weights tied around them.
They wield a motley assortment of weapons, mostly favoring those one would find on a naval ship, including ‘improvised’ ones. Their armor is practically non-existent, with only a few scant bits of cloth, leather and occasionally metal covering their bodies while octopus-like bronze masks adorn their faces. Perhaps due to the protection of their Goddess, they are partially immune to cold and can move just as easily in watery and swampy environments as if they were on dry land.
The Drowned: Speakers – Speakers are the clergy of the Deepfaith, the religion devoted to Zalga, C’thylla and Kain over all others from in and around Darksol. They are also the main mages of the religion, at least among the humans, and are mainly geared towards Water and Wind Magic, usually focusing on one or the other as their primary. Those of them who find the slow gathering of the faithful to be too, well, slow, often go to evangelize, with mixed success. Some of them, perhaps due to a desire to see those who they view as against the desires of their gods brought either into the fold or to their knees, join the militant sub-sect known as The Drowned and fill a role similar to that of the Luminas Church’s Warrior Priests.
While those Speakers who join The Drowned do not usually have the body strength needed to fully mimic the martial prowess of the Luminas Warrior Priests, they more than make up for it with their fervor and absolute devotion to their faith, a devotion that can even eclipse that of their enemies. Rarely do Drowned Speakers ever break, and even when they do, they only come back with even more fanatical zeal in their desire to regain the favor of their gods.
Naga Forces: Beasts
Coatl – Coatl are the Fel Bats of the Naga forces, but have both an advantage over Fel Bats and a disadvantage compared to them. They are amphibious, but they cannot crawl on land, rather their ‘amphibiousness’ refers to their ability to transition seamlessly from water to air. This gives them more mobility and range options than Fel Bats, but unlike the summonable undead Coatl do not come in formations. In fact, no Naga Forces do, which counts as a major disadvantage. Coatl are also quite a bit more fragile, but as they don’t attack with claws and fangs and instead attack with sprays or injections of toxins and venoms via their tail stinger this is less of an issue than one might think.
Scylla – Scylla are large amphibious hydras that look like a mix between a crocodile, a sea snake and a fish. They have between 4 to 9 heads, usually starting their lives with four and growing more as they age. The multiple mouths drip saliva laced with a potent toxin and they can vomit up a powerful acid that can eat away even steel with relative ease. Scylla are supposed to be a divergent species of the purely land-based Hydra, but that may just be a backstory that Zero Noir came up with to explain why they look like Hydras but aren’t called such.
Scylla are large enough to tower over a single-story house, but their massive frames come with the downside of being very slow outside of water. Their limbs are designed more for maneuvering it through water, not pushing itself around on dry land. In fact, the webbed crocodile-like limbs that hold it up are not even able to support the creature’s full weight while on land, resulting in the Scylla merely sliding along on its belly while its feet and legs push it forwards at a slow crawl of a speed. So long as someone it not within striking distance and the terrain is not swampy or overly saturated with water, it is more than possible to simply outrun a Scylla while it is on dry land.
Scylla aren’t particularly fast while in the water, either. They tend to be more of an ambush predator, hiding below its prey and then lunging its heads up to grab hold. Due to its size, a Scylla tends not to travel too far from its stomping grounds and therefor either occupies an underwater or coastal cave or uses its acidic vomit to make a cave for it to dwell in. Scylla are also quite intelligent for an animal and have been known to use captured prey as bait to draw in more food.
King Crab – A King Crab is a massive hermit crab that tends to use the remains of sunken ships for its shell. Due to its massive size, they are rarely ever seen on the surface beyond the immediate coastline, but when they do crawl up from the depths, they are a force to be reckoned with. When a King Crab is about to be sent to fight on the surface, Naga Sirens will mount the ‘shell’ of the creature and use it as an elevated platform from which they can rain down devastation. King Crabs have strength befitting their monstrous size and have been known to lurch violently towards a foe before launching themselves partially through the air into their opponent’s massed formations. King Crabs can make for decent impromptu battering rams, but with their massive size they act as a large target for enemy fire.
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Naga Forces: Naga
Naga Raiders – Raiders are the bread and butter of the Naga forces, making up much of the military of Atlanti’lyeh. They are typically the youngest and least powerful of the Naga, armed and armored sparingly, and are usually sent to ‘cut their teeth’ against lesser coastal enemies. Raiders are tasked with gathering resources, both of the material and living kind, for the growing empire beneath the waves and are eager to gather plunder and glory for themselves and their nation. Commonly armed with a curved sword, a spear, a buckler and/or a weighted net, these ladies of the deep emerge from the waves and take anything of even the slightest value, even including living human men. As the Naga are an entirely female race, it is not a leap of faith to assume that the men who are taken are… well cared for. At least until they break, that is.
A Naga Raider generally serves in the position until she has gathered enough personal wealth after turning in most of her bounty to begin paying her way into a more prestigious post. It is widely considered a sign of laziness and lack of ambition for a Naga to be a Raider for too long, unless it is peacetime, of course. This does have its exceptions, of course. While most Naga Raiders stay in their position for at least ten years before moving on, some veterans will decide to stay as a Raider and train up the younger ones, under the condition that they receive a share of the loot and first dibs on any surface-dweller (un)lucky enough to be captured, of course.
Naga Sirens – Sirens are the next rank up from a Raider. They are of the same rank as Myrmidons, but unlike their more melee focused sisters, Sirens focus on spellcasting and general ranged attacks. A Naga Siren’s initial training is focused on turning their already amazing voices into potentially lethal weapons, either to kill a foe outright with sonic screams or by enthralling them and leading them to their doom. After they have learned to harness their own voice, they are then given basic training with melee weapons, usually swords, naginatas and scepters, followed by a much deeper dive into ranged weapons such as bows, crossbows, slings and javelins, before then having them learn to wield magic.
The training is done in this way so that they learn how to make sure that they don’t damage their own equipment by mistake and soon after this is done, they are sent to lead Naga Raiders in their raids. Sirens and Myrmidons tend to look down on any veteran Raider who did not move up the chain of command, often times viewing them as greedy and lazy for their lack of ambition. Most Naga Sirens are only out running a few raids before they are given a group of Myrmidons and Sirens to be a part of. At which point, their job switches from directing raids to patrolling the waters under Atlanti’lyeh’s control and attacking anything that is even remotely hostile.
A Naga Siren that has gathered enough wealth, enough magical experience and has served long enough will eventually be known as High Siren, a title/rank fit for those who have not only mastered the art of magic but has also proven they are competent enough with it. If she achieves this rank, said Naga will be eligible to become a Court Mage for Zalga and C’thylla, not that their power would come anywhere close to that of their gods.
Naga Myrmidons – While a Siren is focused on building up their magical power, a Myrmidon is focused on building muscle and slugging it out up close and personal. Myrmidons are, unlike their bikini-armor-wearing sisters, covered in heavy armor and are much more heavily built even without the increase in bulk added by their armor and weapons. A Myrmidon’s only unarmored bits are there to allow a wider range of motion than if they were fully encased in plate, and the massive weapons they wield can carve a fully armored knight in half along with their mount with a single swing.
Their armor is either enchanted bronze, brass or copper, as they know full well that their own hide is tougher than steel. This does not stop them from armoring up, and they view the armor more as a symbol of pride than as much of a defense. Of course, the bulky equipment gives them a much larger profile and increases their mass, which lets their body slams and tail whips do that much more damage. It is fairly easy to determine what rank a Myrmidon has within the hierarchy by looking at their equipment. The more extravagant it is and the more ornate their weapon is the more likely that the Myrmidon has gathered enough personal wealth and status to afford such luxuries. Of course, just because it is fancy does not mean it is useless. Myrmidons pride themselves on being capable fighters and underneath their armor is a heavily muscled body covered in scars from their ‘training and sparring’.
A Myrmidon who has proven themselves as capable warriors, who has gathered enough wealth and has earned the respect and admiration of her peers will be granted the title/rank of Great Myrmidon. After this, they will potentially be given the honor of serving as the guards of both Zalga and C’thylla, not that they need them.
Necro Naga – These undead Naga were originally the result of Kain’s original incursion into The Dungeon but now can be made by Zalga whenever she wants. They are more powerful than their living counterparts, and therefor make up a small but elite unit inside the nation of Atlanti’lyeh. As they are undead, they do not experience aging and have more time in which to hone their craft and less need to worry about their pursuit of power harming or killing them. While the living Naga High Sirens and Great Myrmidons make up the bulk of Zalga and C’thylla’s Court Mages and guards, the Necro Naga variants of them hold a privileged place above even the most experienced Myrmidon or Siren.
As they do not fear death due to being more than capable of being raised from death once again, they can and will fight with even more ferocity and reckless fury than a normal Naga would. With their mortal bodies imbued with the power of undeath, they need not fear the reaper when they train, which lets them push their limits beyond what would be deadly for a living Naga. As it stands now, only Zalga has the privilage to choose which Naga can be raised from death and into undeath, but such a choice is rarely, if ever, made. As the living Naga have yet to face a foe that can actually harm them to any great degree, their goddess sees no reason to raise the fallen as new and more powerful versions of themselves.