"I asked the old shugenja how long her people had lived on Sakurajima. She touched a mark on a stone by the spring and said, 'Ask the swamp. It remembers.' Then she went back to her work as if that settled it." — a pilgrim to the Hot Spring Shrine
No one knows where the lizardfolk came from, and the lizardfolk don't seem to mind. They keep no written records, because they believe memory belongs to the land, not to people. Instead they carve marks into the stones and trees of their swamps, and only lizardfolk raised there can read them. "The swamp remembers," they say, so nothing truly important is ever lost. That belief makes them patient and calm. To outsiders they can seem cold, since they rarely speak of the past, but ask one to show you their swamp and you'll see how deeply they care.
Names
Lizardfolk follow Ezogashima's naming customs, and they're often drawn to names of swamp, stone and water. Examples:
- Numao ("marsh man")
- Iwao ("rock man")
- Kokemaru ("moss child")
- Ashihara ("reed plain")
Lizardfolk by Homeland
Ezogashima
Lizardfolk of Ezogashima live in the swamps near the volcanic lagoons, as traders or recluses. On Sakurajima, their shugenja guard the hot springs, lead the sea offerings, and try to purify Ebon Scales at the Hot Spring Shrine. They treat the land as something alive that can be healed.