Naga
rating: 0+x

Basic Information

Nagas are dragon-like demons, and were dangerous and destructive spirits. Some are half-human, half-snake, while others are monstrous water creatures who guard the depths of lakes.

Not all Naga are bad guys. In Hindu tradition some Naga are benevolent protagonist figures. Buddhist mythology tells of a Naga who wanted to become a buddhist monk and learned how to be reincarnated as a human to achieve this goal. As in many dragon myths a Naga could also serve as a (dangerous) source of wisdom and/or serve a community as teacher or guardian. More normally they were custodians of specific rivers or lakes and required propitiation by those who entered their territory. In some parts of Southern and South-Eastern Asia Naga statues or carvings are used to ward off (other) evil spirits in the same way as Chinese temple dragons, dogs or Ki-lin (or like European Gargoyles or the greek Gorgoneion).

See Also

Sources

Game and Story Use

  • The nagas could be descendants of dinosaurs, or if you emphasize their aquatic connection, prehistoric marine reptiles which have evolved into radically different creatures over the last 65 million years.
  • Or, they could be monstrous mutations of Reptilian Humanoids - perhaps a freakish evolution of a few survivors of a dead reptilian civilization, perhaps guard-monsters purposely created by the reptilians.
  • For Lovecraft fans, these could be degenerate Serpent People or LLoligor.
Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License