Varanid

Picture a komodo dragon risen onto two legs, quick and lean. Island villagers dread these reptiles, who come in darkness to loot huts and carry off children. At rest they are quiet, hard and unemotional; in battle they know neither fear nor pity.

Besides talons, teeth and a 6-foot whip tail edged with razor scales, a varanid loves weapons of its own odd design, such as curved axes, swords with a blade at each end, twin-headed spears, hooked nets, and punch daggers shaped like stars, and it masters anything it picks up. Nearly all are ambidextrous, so warriors swing two weapons and lash with the tail in one round. They scorn shields as crutches for the weak and wear only scraps of armor. They fight dirty with ambushes, hit-and-run strikes, night raids, decoys, snares, spoiling attacks and terror, and their alien minds make them hard to predict.

Ten warriors are driven by a 3 HD lasher who whips them into fury and kills deserters, and a lasher leads small bands. Every three lashers answer to a 5 HD commander. A tribe is ruled by a sshistak, a warrior-king of 7 HD, alongside a 5th-level priest with 1-4 acolytes of 3rd level, serving a minor pantheon of reptile gods.

Tribes of about 100-150 build hut villages around natural features in jungles, on tropical islands or on savannas. The best fighter makes the best leader, yet between wars they are calm, rarely quarrel, and pass the time fishing with spears, swimming, fixing huts and basking. Approached with care they will talk and trade, speaking a refined dialect of the lizard man language, which warm-blooded folk can pick up with practice.

Their creed allows no excuse for failure: accidents happen, but being tricked is shameful, and a beaten foe must have wanted to lose. Some wander into civilized lands as mercenaries or assassins, though they dislike guard duty, being predators rather than protectors.

They eat only meat, favoring fish, birds and eggs but devouring anything that bleeds, and always seek new villages to raid.