A hissing snake[1a]
A snake is a legless reptile of many species found throughout the Known World, especially deep within the forests and jungles. Most are harmless, but some possess deadly venom or constrict their victims until they die of suffocation. Like many creatures of the Old World, they can grow to gigantic proportions, such as the enormous Fen Worm, posing a real danger to even the strongest mercenary.[1a]
Some fools try to capture them, and even some Snake Charmers of Araby go so far as to tame them with their magical arts.[6a] It is told that a giant snake was in the possession of Falhedar il Toorissi, former prince and caliph of Ras Karim, and was used to guard his treasure room.[5a]
In the earliest mythologies of the Known World's various cultures, the snake has always been a symbol of purity and banishment -- its poison can drive out unclean spirits, if the host survived the bite, and its marks when winding over the sand were once thought to have been the passage of ghosts that followed it. For this reason, the snake is the adopted symbol of the Light Order of the Imperial Colleges of Magic.[3a]
Snake motifs are commonly associated with Tilean mercenary bands and the heraldry of many noble houses.[4a]
Notable Species[]
- Tilean vipers - A Tilean viper is a snake species native to Tilea. A specimen of this snake was used in the attempted assassination of the crime lord Garros Daggerskin.[2a]
Sources[]
- 1: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition: Rulebook (RPG)
- 1a: pg. 316
- 2: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd Edition: Hero's Call (RPG)
- 2a: pg. 6
- 3: Van Horstman (Novel) by Ben Counter
- 3a: Ch. 4
- 4: Warhammer Armies: Dogs of War (5th Edition)
- 4a: pp. 32-33
- 5: Two Crowns of Ras Karim (Novel) by Nathan Long
- 5a: Ch. 8
- 6: Town Cryer 19
- 6a: pg. 20