Also known as snakes

TRUE SNAKES

Ophis

Native to Snake island in the Western Pelagic, the ophis evolved alongside other snakes in a snake-dominated ecology.

The ancestors of the ophis were a social and burrowing species, filling a niche similar to that of suricates and praire dogs. The characteristic double-proboscis and double-jaws were inherited from these burrowing ancestors, and were used by them for digging and manipulating different materials. Lower mandibles are almost completely unattached from each other and they can be moved independently. The “double proboscis” is composed by a pair of worm-like appendages protruding from the snout. These appendages are chambered in their inside; while moving them, blood is irrigated into those chambers, and special muscles and sinews drive the motion. Along with the mandibles the proboscises form the only grasping organ of the ophis, working together as some kind of “hand”.

Like many other snakes from this island, the ophis has the ability to lift the front part of its body, an adaptation inherited from its ancestors, which needed to look out over the grass to detect predators. To sustain the massive head, a set of muscles and strong nerves are placed along the front part of the body. Also at the base of the uplifted body a pair of keratinized stalks assist on its support.

Giant Python

"I have seen all the dead seasons, and the great trees and the old elephants, and the rocks that were bare and sharp-pointed ere the moss grew."

Massive constrictors, Giant Pythons are native to the jungles of the Crystalline Raj, and are often said to be amongst the strongest creatures in the world.

Kaa was not a poison snake--in fact he rather despised the poison snakes as cowards--but his strength lay in his hug, and when he had once lapped his huge coils round anybody there was no more to be said.

These snakes are also renowned for their wisdom, and can often survive for centuries, attaining massive size and wisdom, and often have a polite, unhurried demeanor. Despite this, they can be terrifying when angry. A normal python of any species that attains a length of four or five feet can knock a pony down if he hits him fairly in the chest, and Giant Pythons can gain a length of thirty feet within their first century of life. The fighting strength of a python is in the driving blow of his head backed by all the strength and weight of his body. If you can imagine a lance, or a battering ram, or a hammer weighing nearly half a ton driven by a cool, quiet mind living in the handle of it, you can roughly imagine what a Giant Python is like when fighting.

However, a Giant Python doesn't need strength all the time, as they are masters of hypnosis, using a particular humming song and the undulations of their coils.

"Begins now the dance--the Dance of the Hunger of Kaa. Sit still and watch."

He turned twice or thrice in a big circle, weaving his head from right to left. Then he began making loops and figures of eight with his body, and soft, oozy triangles that melted into squares and five-sided figures, and coiled mounds, never resting, never hurrying, and never stopping his low humming song. It grew darker and darker, till at last the dragging, shifting coils disappeared, but they could hear the rustle of the scales.

Ice-Eyes Adder

Asssssssssssmodeusssss! Come with me, young one, I will show you eternity.

Equally as massive as the Giant Python, Ice-Eyes Adders are found throughout the temperate forests of Stirrope and Khaan.

Far more aggressive than their tropical cousins, Ice-Eyes Adders possess both a potent venom and constrictor-like strength, in addition to line-of-sight hypnosis, though this last ability is a learned trait, and has not officially been recorded in any individual of the species since the Ice-Eyes Adder known as Asmodeus Poisonteeth met his end.

CRAWLERS

Tsaesci

Natives of Khaan decended from crawlers (descendants of primitive snakes who have not lost the use of their limbs), the Tsaesci are a race of vampiric serpents. Tsaesci are known to fight without shields or armor, using only swords in combat.

Nure-Onna

Natives of Neighpon, the Nure-Onna are descended from Tsaesci colonists. However, unlike their technologically Bronze and Iron Age cousins, the Nure-Onna are the most technologically advanced beings within their home territory.

Nure-Onna possess a natural ability to spit large clouds of venom, and have two sets of venom glands- a pair in the jaws, and a second pair within the chest. This secondary pair- slightly larger in the females, but not by much- allows them to spit their distinctive poison cloud via compression of the pectoral muscles.

Prior to their age of exploration, the Nure-Onna were solitary, semi-amphibious beings who simply used illusion in order to deter other beings. However, roughly 600 years ago, these serpents banded together and began exploring. Among their finds were the country of Lemuria and the sunken country of Shetlantis... and the ancient technology found there. A few expeditions even managed to find some of the abandoned cities of the Elder Things.

The Nure-Onna wasted no time in attempting to reverse-engineer and combine the old technologies, though the biological weapons of the Lemurians and Shetlanteans remained beyond their reach. This still left them with magic-based crystal technology.

Today, the Nure-Onna still maintain their own pseudo-country separate from the rest of Neighpon, though still technically part of the whole country, and holding a seat in the Neighpon Council. The Nure-Onna are thankfully peaceful by nature, but the few times where they have fought against enemies have ended in either victories or stalemates.

Marl

Marls (also known as Menarls or Slime Devils) are massive, 30' long serpents that favor aquatic environs. While they are descended from Tsaesci colonists who settled in Boardor, a few have been seen in various areas of Khaan.

Marls possess anywhere between 4 and 10 3-foot long arms ending in dexterous hands. They have no real culture to speak of. Though a few of them might be found in the same area, they have little commerce with one another (except for mating). They do not build, nor do they engage in art or crafts. Marls live to hunt and to lie in the warmth of the sun.

While marls in the wild are loners, they adapt readily to other societies since, while highly aggressive, they are relatively friendly, and often work in their employ as mercenaries or guards. When hired as mercenaries they are usually paid in food and shiny trinkets. They learn rapidly; marls adopted into other cultures sometimes exhibit strong talents for artistic endeavors such as painting.

Mark mate in the late winter, producing eggs about three months later. The eggs hatch after another five months, producing hatchlings about two feet long. Over the next two years, these young grow rapidly.

Feathered Serpents

6333511
Where is Snek? I see no Snek. You disappoint.

6333578 snek is not a single thing. it is an all-encompassing concept that defies description. to attempt to define snek is impossible

6333592
.... THAT'S FREAKING BEAUTIFUL.

6333595 i'm known to do that at times. not very often, though

6333596
But if snek does have form what is it? A squiggly line snek?

6333597 Snek (or "Mega Danger Noodle", in original Thestral), is the being from which all smaller danger noodles/sneks originate in Bat Pony mythology

6333599
SMALLER?

6333600 Considering that also includes Mega Ultra Danger Noodles (aka World Snakes, full grown adults of which are the size of the island of Guam), yes, we're talking big-ass snekage

6333600 Common Bat Pony knowledge chart on the subject of Danger Noodles in general:

6333603
Hey be careful how you throw around Mega Ultra. Melvin's still sore about Yugi's Mega Ultra Snek Slifer.

6333605 i don't make up Bat Pony terminology, i just translate as best i can from the high-and-low frequency squeaks intermingled in the skrees and ees

6333607
It's possible they're just skrees and ees.

6333609 how dare you! one of my wife's girlfriends is a bat pony!

6333610
So is mine but I keep trying to understand her..... we've been meeting..... difficulties.

6333612 Changelings just have a weird ear for languages. only vocal language we have a ton of trouble with is any form of Cetacean.

6333613
Oh that stuff is simple.

6333615 ...well, there's also the difficulty of understanding the royal family's mistake of nature BEST NEPHEW

6333616
THAT IS NOT SPEECH THAT IS EAR RAPE.

6333617 That is the most genetically pure alicorn known to science

6333619
NO IT'S AN ABOMINATION.

6333621 same thing. He's a nephew to Celestia and her siblings, none of which are his parents.

no, we aren't sure how.

6333623
STAB HIM. STAB HIM REPEATEDLY.

6333624 nuh. he's just a poor, mentally challenged boy. also he doesn't scream like that all the time, just when a squirrel's pilfered his acorn collection

6333626
But they always do it!

6333627 look, like it or not, he's also royalty, and Celestia loves him. he's easy to take care of, and if you throw a blanket over his head he's instantly asleep

6333629
.... .you do realize that he suffocates under the blanket right?

6333630 alicorns are weirdly hard to kill. it's a weird species thing, like pegasi getting bird-brained in spring