"Eyes close to the top of the head, a slumped posture, disproportionately long arms and a jaw that’s difficult to fully close, instead hanging open in a facsimile smile… almost everything about a varanid conspires to make them seem less intelligent to other sapients. For some varani, this may be believable. For others, it is a severe underestimation…
…If sufficiently injured or agitated, varani may enter the infamous frenzy they call perssk, from which the word “berserk” is derived…. Varani in polite society typically consider perssk to be an embarrassing inconvenience rather than a survival mechanism. Counterintuitively, perssk makes varani less than ideal soldiers, as stressful battlefield conditions and simple anxiety may trigger perssk prematurely, leaving the varanid exhausted when actual combat begins…
…do varani have a nation independent of the other sapients? None so far to current knowledge, despite persistent rumors starting from the dawn of recorded history. If there is one, surely it could not have survived the Reckoning…"
- From "So your bunkmate has scales", a New Immanent Order educational pamphlet.
(Picture is of Regsur Obolkin, a varanid priest) --- More concept art. Almost done with these things.