Spirit naga

Spirit nagas were the most powerful type of naga and were akin to witches among other naga races.

Description
They had a human female head on a snake body. Spirit nagas had serpentine bodies with black scales and red bands. Their humanoid faces were framed with stringy hair. The average spirit naga was 15 feet long and weighed about 300 pounds.

The spirit nagas emitted stench of carrion, making them look as foul as they smell. Which was very appropriate for their favorite meal was rotting flesh.

Some if not all spirit nagas possessed the ability to shapeshift to a human or demihuman bodies but disliked humanoid forms, preferring the advantage of a tail.

Personality
They were even more mysterious and enigmatic than the others of their kind, seeking lost magic to a fanatical extent. They saw only evil, ugliness, and they delighted in causing suffering and death with the powers they possessed.

Combat
Spirit nagas were powerful spellcasters. The bite of a spirit naga was deadly, as it contained venom. The eyes of the creature were no better, as their gaze could cause others to fall under the control of the naga. These nagas come back to life just a few days after their death, making them virtually immortal, this ability could only be stopped via wish spell.

Spirit nagas were cunning creatures preferring spells and traps often attacking without warning.

Society
Spirit nagas preferred solitude or ruling over lower creatures, being worshiped in cults.

In Chult, spirit nagas often took on the role of chieftain over pterafolk tribes. Most nagas respected culture and lore and considered it to be a worthy goal to preserve it, leading them to claim homes in ruins of ancient civilizations long gone. Even vile and evil spirit nagas that loved destruction established liars in lost cities, temples, or castles (sometimes that they themselves brought to ruin).

Ha-nagas were massive and powerful naga lords and often worshiped by spirit nagas as gods.

History
Nagas were created via magical inbreeding by the sarrukh early on in the era of Mhairshaulk. By –24000 DR, Mhairshaulk has been in decline and the nagas have almost completely abandoned their homeland spreading all around Faerûn.

In the following millennia, nagas naturally branched and evolved into numerous naga species, including spirit nagas.

Some spirit nagas unearthed ancient rituals of their creators transforming themselves into powerful being called ha-nagas.

In 1372 DR spirit nagas were a recent addition to the city of Najara. A dozen spirit nagas served the King of Najara as protectors of the royal line.

Notable Spirit Nagas

 * Asp was the personal assistant of Maligor, the Zulkir of Transmutation. Her appearance diverged from that of the usual spirit naga, appearing as a human woman from the waist up, with a snake's tail in place of legs, though this may have been a magical disguise. Maligor used Asp's ability to shapeshift to replace the manager of Thay's gold mines, thereby taking control of them. This was all part of a complicated plot with the purpose of getting rid of the zulkir of necromancy, his most powerful adversary.
 * First Consort Ssibalentanamas was the spirit naga priest of Sseth in charge of the yuan-ti breeding program that took place in the catacombs beneath the Cathedral of Emerald Scales in 1372 DR.
 * Ithkyxan was one of the spirit nagas serving King Ebarnaje in 1372 DR, as well as a guardian of portals linking Serpent Hills with the Slitherswamp level of Undermountain.
 * Ssensariith a spirit naga who in 1359 DR established a liar in Adderposts, Essembra and led Duskar Flamehaern to believe it was the divine incarnation of Sss’thasine’ss, helping him to expand his drug and slave trades.
 * Ihanvas was a spirit naga in the Doomvault dungeon in 1486 DR.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * City of the Spider Queen
 * Mysteries of the Moonsea
 * Reclamation
 * Dead in Thay
 * Over the Edge
 * Card Games
 * Dragonfire
 * Shadows Over Dragonspear Castle
 * Novels
 * Red Magic
 * Video Games
 * Dungeon Hack
 * Eye of the Beholder III: Assault on Myth Drannor