Tepok (WAR Lore)
The Lizardman worship the deity Tepok as the feathered Serpent God of the air and of sacred places, a powerful symbol of protection against harmful magic. The being is frequently referred to as 'inscrutable', a characteristic manifested in its followers, who exhibit an air of mysterious otherworldliness. The feathered serpent totem-creature is believed to refer to the Quoatl, a mythical creature said to be a bizarre hybrid of serpent and bird, at times represented as a huge snake covered with brightly coloured feathers, at others as a snake with wide, feathered pinions. These feathers are invariably represented as purple or deep blue, or a combination of the two, and it has been reported by returning explorers that some Lizardmen sport feathers of this colour as a mark of rank or role, though most scholars refuse to believe they are from an actual Quoatl, for surely such a creature must be extremely rare, if it even exists at all.
A fully-fledged spawning of a Sacred Host of Tepok has been reported on several occasions in Lizardman history. The most ancient of these references is to be found in a transcription of a single, long-since lost fragment of the Seventeenth Cycle of the Chronicle of Hexoatl. The transcript states that during the fifth configuration of the Fire Star (around the Imperial Year 500 by the best calculations), the 'Dark Ones' (the Lizardmen name for Dark Elves) made an attack upon the sacred Mirror Pool of Tepok. Decades earlier, a Sacred Host of Sotek had been spawned at Hexoatl, and this army marched to war against the Elves, fighting a mighty battle upon the shore of the pool itself. The Dark Elves were, according to the inscription, defeated despite the terrible dark magicks unleashed by their sorcerous witch of a leader. Only through Tepok's protection did the Lizardmen force survive her arcane onslaught, walking calmly through violet fire to smash into the Dark Elf lines, winning the day and slaughtering every last one of the Dark Elves. The witch was thrown into the Mirror Pool of Tepok as a sacrifice to the feathered Serpent God of sacred places, and it is said that her screaming, cursing face is still visible there to this day, unable to break the surface of the shrine's perfectly calm waters.
Interestingly, the Chronicle of Hexoatl seems to suggest that the Children of Tepok will return at the next conjunction of the Fire Star, to oppose once more the Dark Ones who would despoil the lands of Lustria of its treasures. The configuration has recently occurred, so it may be that a Host of Tepok again walks the land.
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