Gemma Nagas

Gemma Nagas
Gemma (or the more appropriate Fauxjou, meaning "Fake Jewel") nagas are an exotic breed not native to Felarya, though there have been progressively more and more sightings of different specimens. These naga's are characterized by their thin bodies with very little access fat, long, bi-colored snake-halves influenced by serpents of the swimming variety, venomous snake-like fangs and jaws connected only by pure, elastic muscle, and of course, the "jewels" that adorn the human half and jewel-like markings along the serpentine half.

Physical Traits
Gemma nagas have been described as having more snake-like attributes and tenancies than other kinds of Giant Naga. The average "standing" height of a Gemma naga seen on Felarya is about 80 ft, but there have been reports of specimens larger than that size. Gemma nagas have, for lack of a better term, more defined body types than most other nagas, meaning that after their fangs mature, their body matures, most usually their baby fat recedes completely from their bodies, except from their abdominal region. A more general term for this: Gemma nagas have mostly very lean body types, and it's very common for them to have much more muscle definition as well *beefy types*.

Most of the body has elastic characteristics, such as their skin. A good example of this is their jaw muscles. Like egg-eating snakes, Gemma nagas' lower jaw is not connected directly to the skull, rather to a mass of expendable muscle. This, coupled with the fact that the jaw muscles can stretch themselves to a certain extent and also that their throats are stretchy, means that Gemma nagas can open their mouths to extraordinary lengths, and that they are a whole lot more voracious with a whole lot more larger categories of creatures. This stretchy trait extends down to their stomachs-- meaning they could hold entire armies in their bellies-- but not to their hair or their bones.

Gemma nagas give birth to live young, and stay with the offspring for about a week before they must fend for themselves. There is no color restriction for Gemma nagas; for the first 60 years of their lives, they appear like any other Giant naga, but then their fangs begin to mature and, on their 100th birthday, more often than not their first "gem" develops.

About "Gems"
"Gem" is the term used for the jewel-like substances found on the human skins of Gemma nagas. These are merely secretions of the Gemma naga's blood mixed with their poison that flows through the body and escapes the skin through the pores. Upon touching the oxygen in the air, the liquid crystallizes and forms a hard, transparent "gem" of a kind that continue to expand until the "gem" itself falls from the skin of the naga like a scab. When this happens, the place where the gem broke from is generally a piece of transparent skin--through it, one could see the blood flowing through the naga's veins-- until the blood-poison escapes through the weakened pores again and becomes another gem. The whole process could take about 3 years for one individual gem.

The average colors for a gem is topaz and emerald, although since arriving on Felarya the gene colorization has exploded to near every color of the rainbow.

One curious attribut to gems is that they are a "magic amplifier", that is to say it increases the power of a mage's magical ability somewhat if they were in possession of a discarded gem. This is a relatively new attribute to gems, however; it only started happening after the Gemma nagas arrived in Felarya. This means that when a discarded gem leaves the realm that is Felarya, all magical properties of the gem vanishes from it, so that it just becomes an ordinary gem--although one that is harder than diamond and exceptionally rare and pretty, and that is great material for jewelery (some Gemma nagas have been known to wear the gems of defeated enemies as necklaces and bracelets). Once the power's gone, it's gone for good, even if you were to re-enter the Felaryan realm.

Either out of wisdom or outright jealousy for magic-users, most Gemma nagas have been known to eat their gems rather than leave them lying around; this does no harm to the naga, although will give the naga indigestion if eaten in vast amounts. If your a responsible magic-user and very good friend of a Gemma naga, they just might, might, pinch off a little piece for you to use.

What people don't realize is that the designs on the Gemma naga's snake half are the exact same as the gems, only there's no discharge through the scales. Really, all it is is a place where the scales are transparent. These places are "pre-marked" when the naga is born, appearing as white designs on the young naga's tail, changing into the shimmering marks as the naga matures.

About Poisons and Magic
Overview:
One of the unique traits about Gemma nagas are their poisons, which are the main cause for gems. Made for predators in proportion to Giant nagas, the poison is slightly acidic when applied to smaller prey, such as animals and humans.

The poison is the main reason for the coloration of the naga's blood. Indeed, the poison is found in almost any bodily fluid, save for the saliva and the stomach acids. For some reason, the saliva and stomach acids are actually a sort of antidote for the poison, negating the effects of the venom, which means the naga isn't harmed by her own poison should she swallow prey infected with the venom.

Another trait of the poison is that it expands itself, or rather copies its molecules continuously, meaning that whatever quantity of poison the naga has, they will always have more after a certain period of time. Because of this, after the naga starts to mature its venom, many times there is an overflow that could lead to build-up in the veins and fangs of the naga, resulting in useless fangs, or sometimes a stroke or a heart attack. This is the reason gems are formed on the naga's skin, to prevent such block-ups. Another solution exists, which is quite simple; expel the excess venom via mouth, called "spitting". In all senses, it really is spitting, since the venom comes in contact with the antidote-like saliva before it leaves the mouth, so that it ends up very similar to the harmless leugi. It should be noted that the venom expands itself rather slowly, and so the need to actually spit is a very infrequent instance.

Apart from the normal attributes to poisons, there are different ways of which the poison could affect the prey, and it varies from person to person. The poison normally attacks the plhysical funtions of the prey, and normally attacks by paralysis or numbing of the nerves. On rare occasions there is also attacking the sight of a victim.

Pure blood gemma nagas cannot use magic, period. Whether or not there is some kind of magical block in their ancestry is not known, but it's apparent that gemma nagas lack that certain "skill" that is required to work with the art. This may stem from the fact that their original world isn't exactly magically-potent, and that they may just never had learned to consciously use it.

This does not mean that a half-breed naga with gemma parentage cannot use magic, as long as there is some indication of magic in the other parent.

Also, since gemma nagas have come to Felarya, there has been a wide percentage of gemma nagas being born with magical attributes to their poison (as listed above). They cannot control what the magic does, exactly, but it might affect the outcome of the victim's chances of living (it'll also affect what the naga is more vulnerable to; fire nagas less prone to fire, etc.) The reason for the change is probably because, after all, Felarya is literally dripping with magic. Perhaps the next generation will find gemma naga's with magical ability...?


*might get a cookie, no special person for you*

I like it. They're certainly a well thought out and unique race of naga.

I like the focus on the more snake-like/inhuman traits. I think their gems, in look, origin and function are pretty cool too.

My only real complaint is the part that mentions "gemma nagas two or three times that height". A 200-300ft tall naga is just too big =P But that complaint is minor, and could just be a rumor, or legend, and not necissarily truth.

Overall though, really nice work ^^ Its good to see some extra variety in nagas.

Poison stuff is too complicated. Some varieties seem unnecessarily overpowered. Just stick with one effect.

Don't know why they have an elemental alignment if they're not Felaryan native nagas, especially with their god-tier venom at their disposal.

"Most of the body has elasticic characteristics, such as their skin. A good example of this is their jaw muscles. Like egg-eating snakes, Gemma nagas' lower jaw is not connected directly to the skull, rather to a mass of extendable muscle. This, coupled with the fact that the jaw muscles can stretch themselves to a certain extent and also that their throats are stretchy, means that Gemma nagas can open their mouths to extraordinary lengths, and that they are a whole lot more voracious with a whole lot more larger catagories of creatures. This stretchy trait extends down to their stomachs-- meaning they could hold entire armies in their bellies-- but not to their hair or their bones. "

TL;DR they can same-size vore, which is normal.

Yeah, Fish does kind of have a point about the venom being a little overcomplicated. Maybe just pick one effect and do different classes of it. You could blame the different coloration on genetic differences or something.

rcs619 wrote:

I like it. They're certainly a well thought out and unique race of naga.

I like the focus on the more snake-like/inhuman traits. I think their gems, in look, origin and function are pretty cool too.

Indeed, Agreed here.

rcs619 wrote:

My only real complaint is the part that mentions "gemma nagas two or three times that height". A 200-300ft tall naga is just too big =P But that complaint is minor

This isn't a minor complaint for me. what possible reason could there be for them to be so large? Even the "average 'standing' height of a Gemma naga" being about 100ft is too big in my opinion.
Masumi, Macdaddy's character is 80ft head-to-ground. She is described as being "taller than the average naga." 100ft nagas should be rare. Like humans who are 9ft tall.
Why do we need 100-300 ft nagas anyway? I really see no reason for it. Byoki-desu has a 200ft naga character. I don't mind that too much since she is unique in her size.
But an entire naga subspecies that is 100ft tall and has 200ft and even 300ft tall variants? No way.
200ft tall nagas eat preds. 300ft tall eat what? the 200ft tall nagas?

Yeah, it does seem pretty nice. As with everyone else, I do think the poison is too complicated, and yes, that does seem too big. I'd go no higher than 90, so 300ft high nagas would be too much.

To be fair, Vivian is 90ft tall. Like I said, the really big ones wouldn't be able to exist....but 100ft ones would be within an acceptable range, if a bit large. The average naga is between 70-80ft tall....90 and up is a little on the tall side. Katrika, at 60ft is a bit on the short side.

Anime-Junkie wrote:

This isn't a minor complaint for me. what possible reason could there be for them to be so large? Even the "average 'standing' height of a Gemma naga" being about 100ft is too big in my opinion.
Masumi, Macdaddy's character is 80ft head-to-ground. She is described as being "taller than the average naga." 100ft nagas should be rare. Like humans who are 9ft tall.
Why do we need 100-300 ft nagas anyway? I really see no reason for it. Byoki-desu has a 200ft naga character. I don't mind that too much since she is unique in her size.
But an entire naga subspecies that is 100ft tall and has 200ft and even 300ft tall variants? No way.
200ft tall nagas eat preds. 300ft tall eat what? the 200ft tall nagas?

Now understand I don't disagree with this and simliar arguments-- I actually agree with them. However, just for the sake of justification, I wrote it this way based on what was said in the wiki ("Their [naga's] size varies a lot, ranging from 6 feet "head to ground", to about "120 feet head to ground") and also what was said about various places such as the lands beyond Deeper Felarya ("Tales of that area speak of bizarre and gigantic creatures living there") and possibly in the other, unheard of continents. My point here is that I can't really imagine a "too large" height for anything on Felarya, and while I agree that larger specimens should be used very sparingly to avoid troubles within the fanbase and whatnot, the actual size was written as such for the sake of racial description.

Also, understand that these nagas aren't from Felarya, and that it's quite arrogant to assume that the largest of the large come from only Felarya. There shouldn't be any trouble imagining worlds whose inhabitants can't be vastly larger or vastly smaller (or altered by different dimensional properties, etc.)

Which also brings me to:

Quote :

Don't know why they have an elemental alignment if they're not Felaryan native nagas, especially with their god-tier venom at their disposal.

I do believe I hear a little dash of skeptical-sarcasm?

Thing is, I tried to make it apparent that only gemma naga's who were born on Felarya in latter generations would have elemental alignments, because of the thoroughly magical properties of the Felaryan realm. But otherwise I completely understand that you all feel that the venom is over complicated *I had a feeling you would* so I shall go and simplify them again. But before I do, is there a particular venom affect that any of you would like to keep?

Thank you all for the feedback and I look forward to hearing more =D

Moon eyes wrote:

Now understand I don't disagree with this and simliar arguments-- I actually agree with them. However, just for the sake of justification, I wrote it this way based on what was said in the wiki ("Their [naga's] size varies a lot, ranging from 6 feet "head to ground", to about "120 feet head to ground") and also what was said about various places such as the lands beyond Deeper Felarya ("Tales of that area speak of bizarre and gigantic creatures living there") and possibly in the other, unheard of continents. My point here is that I can't really imagine a "too large" height for anything on Felarya, and while I agree that larger specimens should be used very sparingly to avoid troubles within the fanbase and whatnot, the actual size was written as such for the sake of racial description.

Also, understand that these nagas aren't from Felarya, and that it's quite arrogant to assume that the largest of the large come from only Felarya. There shouldn't be any trouble imagining worlds whose inhabitants can't be vastly larger or vastly smaller (or altered by different dimensional properties, etc.)

Agreed. Felarya is a world which has some pretty big ass inhabitants but they are probably by no means the biggest of the big. Although maybe it should be something more like "Most specimens are around 100 feet from head to ground but it is rumored that there exist 300 foot tall Gemma nagas"? I dunno just a little suggestion.

Moon eyes wrote:

Which also brings me to:

Quote :

Don't know why they have an elemental alignment if they're not Felaryan native nagas, especially with their god-tier venom at their disposal.

I do believe I hear a little dash of skeptical-sarcasm?

Thing is, I tried to make it apparent that only gemma naga's who were born on Felarya in latter generations would have elemental alignments, because of the thoroughly magical properties of the Felaryan realm. But otherwise I completely understand that you all feel that the venom is over complicated *I had a feeling you would* so I shall go and simplify them again. But before I do, is there a particular venom affect that any of you would like to keep?

Thank you all for the feedback and I look forward to hearing more =D

Actually I liked how intricate and complicated the venom is. It gives it a little bit of a real world touch.

Moon Eyes wrote:

Now understand I don't disagree with this and simliar arguments-- I actually agree with them. However, just for the sake of justification, I wrote it this way based on what was said in the wiki ("Their [naga's] size varies a lot, ranging from 6 feet "head to ground", to about "120 feet head to ground") and also what was said about various places such as the lands beyond Deeper Felarya ("Tales of that area speak of bizarre and gigantic creatures living there") and possibly in the other, unheard of continents. My point here is that I can't really imagine a "too large" height for anything on Felarya, and while I agree that larger specimens should be used very sparingly to avoid troubles within the fanbase and whatnot, the actual size was written as such for the sake of racial description.

I have recently created an area called "shatterock caldera" there is an abyssal forest down below I plan on writing about a little bit. You could have your species show up commonly down there.

Moon eyes wrote:

Also, understand that these nagas aren't from Felarya, and that it's quite arrogant to assume that the largest of the large come from only Felarya. There shouldn't be any trouble imagining worlds whose inhabitants can't be vastly larger or vastly smaller (or altered by different dimensional properties, etc.)

Of races that have established themselves in Felarya, the reasoning is just to try to keep close to the current scale, where giants are 50-120~ ft while things upwards of that edge towards super duper rare or 'we don't deal with those in the known area of Felarya, but they might be somewhere else' and not be anything common. There's a difference between simply stating you have a character larger than the norm, and posting a race idea larger than the norm.

Note that leviathan mermaids and kraken caelia are supposed to be some of the top-sized races around, with only a handful of leviathans and some two dozen kraken caelias in the entire Topazial sea, some five times larger than the typical 70 foot giant I'd estimate.

Quote :

is there a particular venom affect that any of you would like to keep?

"Paralysis- Brings paralysis to the enemy of differing degree depending on the class; affects usually lasts for about an 2 hours."

"Numbing- takes all feeling from the nerve endings. Lasts for about 2-3 hours."

"Blinding- disables the enemy's sight. In the highest class, effects can be permanent."

"Muscle Disorientation- enemy looses all control of the muscles, resulting in awkward movements and, in higher classes, chronic seizures"

Strictly Acidic- eats away at the flesh and bone of the enemy from within
NAGA USED ACID IT'S SUPER EFFECTIVE

Mental Disorientation- the poison attacks the brain and leaves the enemy with mental illnesses (hallucinations, schizophrenia, amnesia, etc) All affects are permanent (unless treated with antidote)
My head feels like I just downed a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster

Instant Death- instant death >_>
Goddammit you killed Trejal with a scratch you bastard

I'd just go for a cocktail of the ones not struck through, causing loss of muscle control targeting across the body to disable.

And uh, why not just have them be immune to each other's venom? After all, their entire bodies are already saturated with it.

no offense fish, but you didn't need to comment like that.

/Fish/ wrote:

Moon eyes wrote:

Also, understand that these nagas aren't from Felarya, and that it's quite arrogant to assume that the largest of the large come from only Felarya. There shouldn't be any trouble imagining worlds whose inhabitants can't be vastly larger or vastly smaller (or altered by different dimensional properties, etc.)

Of races that have established themselves in Felarya, the reasoning is just to try to keep close to the current scale, where giants are 50-120~ ft while things upwards of that edge towards super duper rare or 'we don't deal with those in the known area of Felarya, but they might be somewhere else' and not be anything common. There's a difference between simply stating you have a character larger than the norm, and posting a race idea larger than the norm.

Note that leviathan mermaids and kraken caelia are supposed to be some of the top-sized races around, with only a handful of leviathans and some two dozen kraken caelias in the entire Topazial sea, some five times larger than the typical 70 foot giant I'd estimate.

What he said ^

I think you did an awesome job at imagining these !
They are definitely unique and the explanations of these "gems" growing out of their body make sense. Like others pointed though, I believe the part about the poison looks a bit complicated and doesn't add that much to the general idea... But as a whole it looks great

Quote :

I have recently created an area called "shatterock caldera" there is an abyssal forest down below I plan on writing about a little bit. You could have your species show up commonly down there.

I've read about it, and if you feel as though the area would be large enough to accomodate them then be my guest ^^

Updated original bio; changed size and poison attribute area ^^

well as i've said there's an abyssal forest beneath it that has some weird expansional properties. i'll try and write about it soon, but it SHOULD be big enough. so feel free to put 'em there ^_^