Naga Forms

As with many of Akavir's races, especially among the elder races, the Naga possesses shape-changing abilities. Though not every Naga can adopt each and every one of the known Naga forms, a Naga can typically shift between two forms. Elder naga, especially those from powerful bloodlines may have more forms.

The 7 Aspects of the Naga

Naga believed that there are seven aspects to their mortal forms, names after seven aspects of the (divine) dragon : the horns, the neck, the upper torso (with fore limbs/hands), the lower torso (with hind limbs/legs), the heart, the tail and the skin. A typical naga form can have either serpentine or human features for each of these aspects. Incidentally, the term naga in the Veda tongue can also means seven.

The Classes of Common Naga Forms.

As with most of the original names from ancient times, the names of the Naga forms are in the Veda, the tongue of Asura, the eldest race. The Naga kept these names, even as they developed their own remarkably extensive language. Incidentally, as with the number of Naga aspects, there are seven Naga forms.

Saranda form

saranda roughly means egg in Veda. Ironically, Naga do not lay eggs. (see Naga for more details) However, Naga young are born in initially-soft water-tight sacs that may look like eggs. A Naga newborn may stay in this sac for a while before breaking the sac. This is probably a way of protecting the newborn if the environment is unsuitable. While in the sac, a Naga can stay in a hibernation-like state for a long period of time. If the environment is suitable, or if the Naga newborn can detect his or her mother, the newborn may break out of the sac immediately. However, if the environment is not suitable for birth, the sac will gradually harden into a strong protective shell that gives it a more egg-like appearance, in order to protect the child. Sometimes, when an adult Naga is seriously injured, he or she may also secrete a substance that will form a similar sac around them which will also harden similarly in order to protect them while they heal. Naga refers to the state of being in this sac as the Saranda form.

Ivaga form

ivaga in Veda roughly means almost serpent. This classification encompasses Naga whose only human feature is the head or face. Due to the lack of limbs, Naga in Ivaga form cannot use most equipment. But they are capable of speech and many have magical or charm/hypnotic abilities. In addition, Naga in this form has a second stomach, which can be used to store the Naga's most prized possessions. To store an object, an Ivaga simply swallows the object into its second stomach. The object can be regurgitated and spitted out whenever required. It is speculated The walls of this second stomach/storage sac is made of extremely tough material as it has been reported seen that Ivaga can safely swallow and regurgitate unsheathed blades or objects with sharp points.

Na-aga form

One of the Naga forms that most people knew of. na and aga in Veda means neither and serpent respectively, which roughly describes this form, which is a mixture of human and serpentine features in roughly equal proportions. Basically, a Na-aga has human head, upper torso and arms, and a serpentine lower torso and tail. One of the most famous clan also sports hair of living, writhing serpents. All Na-aga are females where male members of their clan are the Ni-aga (see the corresponding section). Although most combat-capable Na-aga on land are magi and/or archers, which gives the impression that Na-aga do not have many warriors due to the lack of feet which limits the speed of movement necessary in combat, Na-aga warriors do exists. Those that are found on land usually falls into two classes which overcomes their mobility handicap in different ways. The first rely on raw strength and long reaching weapons (such as pole-arms) in order to extend its reach even with a slower movement rate. The second rely on speed of parrying and a variety of thrown weapons and webs, in order to protect the warrior despite her slower movement on land. Most Na-aga warriors falls into the second category, while the first category numbers more Ni-agas. And a fact commonly forgotten by the other peoples of Akavir regarding the Naga is that they are amphibious, where quite a few communities live in wondrous underwater settlements. When underwater, the Ni-aga and the Na-aga's disadvantage becomes their superior edge over their enemies. It is widely accepted that when underwater, the Naga army is supreme.

Ni-aga form

This is a form very similar to the Na-aga, which the exception that Ni-aga sports a serpentine head instead of a human one. ni in Veda has a similar meaning to the na in Na-aga, which roughly means neither. Ni-aga are the male members of the Ni-aga-Na-aga clans. Unlike the Na-aga who favors dexterity-type warriors and archers, Ni-aga warriors are strong powerful individuals that relies more on their natural strength. On land, they usually wield heavy pole-arms, whose long reach compensates for their slower movement rate. Though they do not favor the bow and arrow, some Ni-aga carries short javlins, which they can throw to incredible range with great accuracy.

Ag-gana form

ag-gana in Veda roughly means walking. This refers to the Naga forms with legs. A Naga in this form will usually have both human-like arms and legs, though they may have either a serpentine or human head. With the exception of the Antara form (see the corresponding section), they will also have serpentine tails. This form represents the Naga form most adapted for living on land, when the Naga first came out of the seas. Most of the Naga who favors the Ag-gana form are also multi-talented, with warrior-wizards as majority. This form is not as agile underwater as some of the other forms like Na-aga and Ni-aga, but Ag-gana can still swim much better than most other legged races, and make it the most versatile of all Naga forms.

Antara form

antara in Veda means interior or hidden. This refers to the rare Naga form that appears totally human. Such occurrences are rare, as the single most difficult aspect to hide is the Naga's tail. In records, only powerful elders, particularly those from royal bloodlines, can totally mask their Naga aspects and appear totally human. In the strict sense of definition, an Antara has no sign of Naga aspects. But in practical sense, most Naga who are considered to be in Antara form still retains slight signs, such as pupils of slightly different shape and colour, teeth which are slightly more pointed canine teeth, or exotic skin with faint signs of scales etc. The loose definition is simply based on the existence of a serpentine tail. i.e. Ag-gana form with no tail is considered to be Antara form. Although this form was originally meant for full-blooded Naga which can hide their serpentine features, it subsequently included Half-Naga who cannot shape-shift and appear totally human.

Aga form

aga in Veda means unable to walk. Contextually, it refers to a serpent without limbs. This Naga form is as rare than the Antara form. This form is regarded as the ultimate form of a Naga, which is the closest to the Divine Dragon form of the Dragon-gods. However, Naga in this form falls into two disparate groups depending on the cause. On one hand, when an elder Naga, particularly Naga Kings, gets powerful enough, he can adopt this form which seem to be the best form with which to project the elder Naga's powers over the waters : seas and oceans, cloud and rain. The similarity in form to the Dragon-gods have often caused misunderstanding among the uninformed races, which gives rise to the worshipping of some new dragon-gods after they are sighted, though they don't exists at all. The other cause of a Naga adopting this form is from a Naga legend, that when a Naga is stripped of his Naga heart as a divine punishment, he will turned into a serpentine beast, and his mind will also gradually devolve down to the level of a beast, after enduring the cruel process with full knowing of the outcome. And when the change is finally completed, the pitiful creature will live out its days as an animal with no memory that it was a Naga.

Mystery of the 7-th Form

Although the seven forms are officially listed as above, some scholars disputed that the Ni-aga and the Na-aga forms should actually be considered as one, and that the real seven-th form is purposely left undisclosed by the Naga. Some speculated that the Naga, being particularly intolerant of members of the race which cannot adopt perfect Naga forms, drove them into exiles, and the seven-th form is actually a collection of imperfect Naga forms which the others regard as abominations. Sadly, this includes Half-Naga descended from Naga-human union which could not fully adopt the common Naga forms.

This is left open for lack of more concrete proof.

Tsaesci forms

As a related topic, the Tsaesci, which were actually cursed Naga, suffered a few changes. Other than the loss of their affinity to water and the fact that they had to feed on blood, one less noticed change by non-Tsaesci is that their ability to shape-shift has also weakened. While it is common for Naga to gain the ability to adopt at least 2 forms and quite often 3 forms in their life-times, most Tsaesci can no longer shape-shift. Only the more powerful Tsaesci gained the ability to adopt a second form, though it seemed to be much more difficult and tedious compared to the seemingly effortless grace of a shape-shifting Naga. However, in terms of overall abilities, such as physical prowess and magical might, the Tsaesci seemed to have proven themselves to be stronger than their Naga ancestors.