#valusians

[paexie]

Character and commission belongs to Snejkha!

[virovac]

Gotta admit, reptile demonizatio aside, Lovecraft’s ghouls work better as an subterranean unseelie-like race than do Howard’s degenerate reptile people. 

Its just I can’t put out of my mind that most reptiles kinda depend on the sun. Even if there are exceptions, we associate reptiles with basking. Reptiles don’t really work thematically with darkness. 

Perhaps the idea was born from a misconception due to cave salamanders being called “cave lizards”. Still his cavernfolk ended up with unmistakable snakelike qualities.

They aren’t completely without.use though.

What if they were the result of the Valusian’s deciding to “uplift” humans in their image? I have mentioned in the past my idea the Valusians,  a very ancient reptile race predating even lizards, gave themselves snakelike qualities after Yig declared snakes holy. Why would they not also give humans snakelike aesthetics while helping them adapt to a subterranean existence? 

This suits much better compare to a more “natural” explanation.

[virovac]

A part of why I don't like "people turning into Shoggoths"

I don't like playing a kinship for the oppressed slave race for horror,

Cosmic irony, yes. Life on Earth being born from industrial waste of Shoggoth factories in primordial slime is good. Or perhaps the Shoggoth equivalent of HeLa cells*

However the horror of mad scientists trying to "go back to primordial ur-state" or Shoggoths trying to uplift humanity...well that can be horrifying

Similar to being not as repulsed by snakes so I make the horror of snake human hybrids by Valusian's them trying to remake humanity to replace their dead empire

[virovac]

Ive come to the conclusion the best way to use the snake men in horror stories is dying civilizations trying to "uplift" early humans or their ancestors in their image and indoctrinate them as sucessors or to prepare for their return/awakening from hibernation centuries later.