Dwelling of Serpents who Walk like Men

The Dwelling of Serpents who Walk like Men is a small realm to the south of An-Teng's Middle Land, between the River of Queens and the River of Four Kings, bordered on its eastern side by the edge of the jungle before it rises into the hills of the Domain of the Silver-Crowned.

The origins of the land lie with a Lunar Exalt of the First Age who dwelt at the center of the domain in which they are now found. This Mother-of-Serpents, still honoured by the inhabitants, birthed a massive brood of Beastmen, snakefolk, to serve her needs. After the Usurpation, their Mother fled and the snakefolk persisted, interbreeding with local humans and refugees fleeing the devastated parts of An-Teng.

Interbreeding has left the current residents far more human than snakefolk: all have slit eyes and occasional patches of scales, while the noble bloodlines (kept more pure) are tall and lithe, with scales on their cheeks and arms. This exotic appearance, often considered beautiful, is further cultivated by a tradition of growing out hair and nails long and straight, dyed or painted black.

The current society of the Dwelling is highly isolationist, with residents avoiding travel and engaging in only minimal trade. Their society is highly formal, though there is no use of grovelling or false humility in speech. There is strict division between genders, men and women living apart in single-sex communal bunkhouses (nobles have smaller, finer dwellings, but retain this separation). While the land does not go out of its way to seek out visitors, it welcomes them with respect, so long as the guests also observe the land's strict seperation of genders.

Marriages in the Dwelling are short-term affairs, occuring between one man and one woman. The marriage ceremony is always held on the first day of Ascending Air to the last day of Descending Fire. The sole purpose of such marriages is to produce children, and the couple dwell in a small house set aside for this purpose until pregnancy is confirmed, after which the marriage is dissolved and they return to their single-sex dwellings. If a child has not been concieved by the last day of Resplendent Fire, the marriage is dissolved and the pair separate to seek new partners for the new year.

The legal system of the land is based on duelling between opposing sides to come to a resolution of the issue.