Not sure where to put this, but Tips and Tactics seems like a reasonable choice.
Trying to come up with a campaign, and one of the potential villains are Yuan-Ti. How would different cities of the Serpent folk interact with each other?
Would it be like everyone else and they have alliances, wars, and trade agreements, and so on? Would they exclusively see them as rivals for potential resources and or assentation into divinity? Would they see they had a common goal being Yuan-Ti and work together?
Early stages of planning, so trying to figure out whats in their heads incase a player wants to play one or to add a twist later on.
In my homebrew world, the world is roughly divided in two: One one side of the great mountain chain are the 'lands of men' and on the other the 'lands of the beast-headed men'.
The latter are gnolls, kenku, aarakocra, and yuan-ti. Nominally, it's a yuan-ti nation, populated by various .... beast-headed men.
Being highly intelligent, obviously the yuan-ti have a working, and well-organised, society. They call it an empire, but it's really more of a loose confederacy, with local lords assigning various titles to themselves, and and obeying the edicts of the Jade Throne to the extent that they are unable to avoid it. Not that the Throne makes any huge demands, as the yuan-ti are too decadent to do much ruling: They like having power, but have limited interest in micro-managing a realm.
There isn't too much actual open warface in the lands of the beast-headed men, because everyone (with the exception of the gnolls) prefer, and are more skilled at, the elegant game of backstabbery, poison and assassination.
Obviously, I don't go in for the WoTC canonical line on gnolls. They are barbarous, but not mindless killers.
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
You may find some inspiration in the lore described here, which talks about factions (and perhaps you could have each faction dominate a city): https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Yuan-ti
If this is a homebrew setting, then a lot of it is up to you. Now, if you're trying to do something set in the FR, then the material from VGtM (now discontinued for sale on D&DB) indicates they're a fallen and now vestigial empire that has been forced to operate from the shadows, and are aware of how sparse their population is compared to others'. Going by that, they're definitely not going to actively war with each other or risk another group falling altogether since they simply can't afford the losses. Infighting for them probably takes the form of killing a rival's mortal flunkies in "you can't prove it was me" ways if they're peers or overtly if one faction is asserting its dominance over another or swooping in to steal the prize/prestige of an operation at the last second to gain prominence in their pantheon's eyes or from their peers.
The advice I’d have is, make them behave in whatever way will serve the story and engage the players. If the players are looking for hack-and-slash, then having lots of rival cities jockeying for power politically won’t interest them. But jockeying for power by fighting each other might. That kind of thing. In general, it’s best to loop in your players early in the process so everyone ends up with the same expectations.
The setting revolves around a city that largely cam unscathed from a very destructive war of the undead. The city is now being filled with people with nowhere to go, with refugees ranging from dirt poor farmers to even nobles that have no more lands to claim as their own. There are 5 main crime syndicates that are vying for power, and in many ways work with each other. The Government powers are basically President Hoover during the Roaring 20s and great depression when it comes to incompetence.
The Yuan-Ti are operating a series of Drug Dens, namely opiates, and those that allow themselves to get wasted the most are then taken as offerings to their dark rituals. They also have a close tie with the Pleasure Dens as they are also secretly running a slaving operation, and so they work with them with great benefit (people have to pay off their debts somehow, and those that rack up a big one get sold). In all cases, they are exploiting a bad situation, often targeting the most vulnerable of society as who is going to miss them.
The other guilds are a Thieves Guild run by wererats, the pleasure Dens which deal with prostitution and gambling and slavery, the assassin's guild for killing problems, and smugglers that also deal with slaves no questions asked.
For this, in homebrew territory, I'd research actual snake behavior (pick one or maybe two species to be representative as you see fit). Are they solitary? Do they fight with members of the same species all the time? How large is a family unit/clan/whatever?
Those would drive me toward an answer that I'd have fun fleshing out, personally.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
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Not sure where to put this, but Tips and Tactics seems like a reasonable choice.
Trying to come up with a campaign, and one of the potential villains are Yuan-Ti. How would different cities of the Serpent folk interact with each other?
Would it be like everyone else and they have alliances, wars, and trade agreements, and so on? Would they exclusively see them as rivals for potential resources and or assentation into divinity? Would they see they had a common goal being Yuan-Ti and work together?
Early stages of planning, so trying to figure out whats in their heads incase a player wants to play one or to add a twist later on.
In my homebrew world, the world is roughly divided in two: One one side of the great mountain chain are the 'lands of men' and on the other the 'lands of the beast-headed men'.
The latter are gnolls, kenku, aarakocra, and yuan-ti. Nominally, it's a yuan-ti nation, populated by various .... beast-headed men.
Being highly intelligent, obviously the yuan-ti have a working, and well-organised, society. They call it an empire, but it's really more of a loose confederacy, with local lords assigning various titles to themselves, and and obeying the edicts of the Jade Throne to the extent that they are unable to avoid it. Not that the Throne makes any huge demands, as the yuan-ti are too decadent to do much ruling: They like having power, but have limited interest in micro-managing a realm.
There isn't too much actual open warface in the lands of the beast-headed men, because everyone (with the exception of the gnolls) prefer, and are more skilled at, the elegant game of backstabbery, poison and assassination.
Obviously, I don't go in for the WoTC canonical line on gnolls. They are barbarous, but not mindless killers.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
You may find some inspiration in the lore described here, which talks about factions (and perhaps you could have each faction dominate a city): https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Yuan-ti
Another site of potential interest:
https://dungeonsdragons.fandom.com/wiki/Yuan-ti
If this is a homebrew setting, then a lot of it is up to you. Now, if you're trying to do something set in the FR, then the material from VGtM (now discontinued for sale on D&DB) indicates they're a fallen and now vestigial empire that has been forced to operate from the shadows, and are aware of how sparse their population is compared to others'. Going by that, they're definitely not going to actively war with each other or risk another group falling altogether since they simply can't afford the losses. Infighting for them probably takes the form of killing a rival's mortal flunkies in "you can't prove it was me" ways if they're peers or overtly if one faction is asserting its dominance over another or swooping in to steal the prize/prestige of an operation at the last second to gain prominence in their pantheon's eyes or from their peers.
The advice I’d have is, make them behave in whatever way will serve the story and engage the players. If the players are looking for hack-and-slash, then having lots of rival cities jockeying for power politically won’t interest them. But jockeying for power by fighting each other might. That kind of thing.
In general, it’s best to loop in your players early in the process so everyone ends up with the same expectations.
Thanks for the responses.
Maybe this will help narrow things down.
The setting revolves around a city that largely cam unscathed from a very destructive war of the undead. The city is now being filled with people with nowhere to go, with refugees ranging from dirt poor farmers to even nobles that have no more lands to claim as their own. There are 5 main crime syndicates that are vying for power, and in many ways work with each other. The Government powers are basically President Hoover during the Roaring 20s and great depression when it comes to incompetence.
The Yuan-Ti are operating a series of Drug Dens, namely opiates, and those that allow themselves to get wasted the most are then taken as offerings to their dark rituals. They also have a close tie with the Pleasure Dens as they are also secretly running a slaving operation, and so they work with them with great benefit (people have to pay off their debts somehow, and those that rack up a big one get sold). In all cases, they are exploiting a bad situation, often targeting the most vulnerable of society as who is going to miss them.
The other guilds are a Thieves Guild run by wererats, the pleasure Dens which deal with prostitution and gambling and slavery, the assassin's guild for killing problems, and smugglers that also deal with slaves no questions asked.
If you want to delve into the politics of Yuan-Ti, start with their own eccentricities.
They started as humans and were turned into Yuan-Ti by magical rituals.
Decide on what was the history - was this done willingly? Unwillingly? Some of each?
There should be prejudice against the sub-kinds. Are the 'pure bloods' looked down upon as weak? Or are they they the Master Race?
For this, in homebrew territory, I'd research actual snake behavior (pick one or maybe two species to be representative as you see fit). Are they solitary? Do they fight with members of the same species all the time? How large is a family unit/clan/whatever?
Those would drive me toward an answer that I'd have fun fleshing out, personally.
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?