The poison of vipers is on their lips (Class: Serpent-Wife)

24 Sep, 2025

The serpent, crowned with horns, lies in ambush. For whom does it wait? What intrigues does it plot behind those dead eyes?

The Serpent-Wife¹

You are either a woman or weird.²
+1 to-hit per template
A: Behind the Throne, Communion, False Skins, +1 reflex
B: Hidden Dose, Snake Eater
C: Ars Hostis, +1 Hidden Dose
D: Beggar-Queen, Metamorphosis, +1 Hidden Dose

A: Behind the Throne

You are the nomarch of a shadow-nome in the same physical location as another nomarch’s nome.³ You do not have a villa in your shadow-nome, nor do you have an urban manor in Uruk. You cannot muster soldiers, nor do you collect taxes.

You are aware of the specifics of any major crime or intrigue undertaken in your nome before it occurs.

Once per season, you may perform an intrigue or commission thugs, scoundrels, and assassins without expending a nome action.

A: Communion

You know the path to heresy: split your tongue down the middle and sup upon a human corpse. Then you may speak with serpents. Serpentine is a roundabout and sibilant language, until it isn’t; abruptly, suddenly, intentions are made clear with a single phrase.

Such an act has an unexpected counterpart: You can speak with any creature that has eaten the meat of a human corpse. They know you as their kin.

Any Obligator knows what sins a mark like this entails.

A: False Skins

You know the art of preserving flesh without tanning it—to keep it soft and supple. You have the resources to maintain [templates] false skins at a time.

By pulling on a few strings, you can acquire a false identity for any given skin. If you require specific physical traits, you can perform an intrigue to find a skin that resembles another person or fits a particularly-unique appearance. The effect is perfect; people will genuinely believe your false skin is a real independent person unless they see you slither in or out of it.

Alternatively, you can study a specific person over the course of a season (as a nome action) to then unerringly impersonate them (this is secret: provide a cover story). This includes forging a copy of their clay seal or other items of office.

If a false skin is compromised, you can replace it with a new one at the end of the next season.

B: Hidden Dose

Venom glands open up under your tongue, producing a weak form of serpent venom (1d6 damage, potent for ten minutes once spat). You can produce one dose of venom each day, deliverable with a bite or a glob of spit.

B: Snake Eater

Any time you imbibe a chemic, poison, or venom (and it doesn’t kill you), you become immune to all further negative effects of that poison, and you can begin to produce an identical compound in your venom glands. As everyone knows: sola dosis facit venenum. You hold this immunity in your throat; your throat and neck are stained, from the inside, a deep blue—near purple. It deepens the more you imbibe.

Any Obligator knows what sins a mark like this entails.

C: Ars Hostis

You learn to unhinge your jaw and a second row of teeth grows behind your own; a pair of retractable needle-fangs completes the picture. Your serpent-bite deals 1d6 damage, or 1d12 if the target is grappled.

Pit organs open up wedged behind the alae of your nose, granting you heat-sight.

You can now squeeze through spaces slightly smaller than your head and wriggle effortlessly free from mundane confinement. Roll reflex to escape from any other confinement, leaving only snakeskin behind.

Any Obligator knows what sins marks like these entail.

D: Beggar-Queen

You are the center of a vast web of information. There is a 3-in-6 chance you are aware of the specifics of any major crime or intrigue undertaken anywhere in the river kingdom before it occurs.

Also, you have any slightly illicit or heretical item on-hand, you can acquire any moderately illicit or heretical item with little trouble, and you can gain access to any extremely illicit or heretical item as a nome action.

D: Metamorphosis

Your own skin is a false one, too, now. The serpent coiled beneath is ready to emerge. Let it.

Any Obligator knows what sins a truth like this entails. They fear more than anything the sinner who has climbed this high without falling.

#GLoG #MEGsopotamia #class