Skógurlifa

The Skógurlifa are intelligent or semi-intelligent reptiles. Wild Skógurlifa in the home islands are thought to be completely uncivilised and most live in loose tribes and these form frequent allegiances to make war on other tribes. They will also attack any other forms of hominids or other creatures on sight. They range in size from the small; barely bigger than a human infant, to the large; often attaining a height of two metres. All varieties are strong for their size, have three fingered hands and feet and a snake-like prehensile tail. Their skin is leathery and is covered in scales that offer good natural camouflage. Bands of larger Skógurlifa living in the jungles of the southern continent have been known to hunt and kill a triceratops. Skógurlifa inhabit both hemispheres but their reptilian origins mean that they must hibernate during the winter months in the northern islands. Whilst this reduces their threat for part of the year, the need to gather and store the fat reserves to see them through the hibernation makes them more aggressive during the period leading up to winter.The wild Skógurlifa use domesticated dinosaurs to provide transport and other ‘mechanical’ functions.

The Dreksverjar

There is also a civilised species of Skógurlifa who once inhabited most of the west of the southern continent but when the dwarves arrived an outpost of the civilisation was confined to the island of Drekahús in the southern hemisphere. The society in Drekahús is a feudal system. It consists of five castes; Dreki (dragon), Drengr (warrior), Skrá (scribe), Sagyr (servant) and Polikan (automaton). The castes are different sub-species and these have been bred for specific roles and purposes:

The Dreki are the ruling class and they have the ability to breathe fire. Physically, they resemble the larger raptor species of earthly dinosaurs however they are too large to fly.

The Drengr are warriors, strong and large but agile quadrupedal lizards bred for fighting and for their natural  obedience to orders from the ruling clan. They can fight either on all fours or standing on their hind legs. Although many use metal weapons, the sharp, bony tips of their tails make formidable swords or cleavers.

The Skrá make up the administrative and intellectual  branches, they are small in stature and are quadrapeds with special genetically engineered prehensile tails which serve as an extra limb effectively making them pentapeds like some types of arboreal monkey on our own planet.

The Sagyr are the general working class who provide all other domestic and life support services to the other classes. They range in size and are bipeds with upper limbs that are used as arms for manipulating objects.

The Polikan ( Polyune Hybrid Constructs) are a diverse group that form the technology of the Skógurlifa civilisation. The technology is based on a simplified form of bio engineering  The technology is founded on the ability of some lizard species to regrow limbs which opens the way to combining attributes from other creatures. Hence a polikan can be specifically created  to perform a specialist function eg. A polikan winch combines the muscles of a giant sauropod with an ornate turtleshell capstan anchored to the ground by a fast growing root system of the vineweed.

There are polikan who have eidetic visual memories, polikan who can fly for long distances to carry messages and polikan who consume and convert waste.