(Note: Like the merfolk and other beastmen, the Lizardfolk appear highly unlikely to have evolved naturally without the intervention of human beings -- whether through direct applications of sorcery or or via mythology reflected through pantheonic power. As in other cases, it is of course likely that the species has evolved in the time since sorcerous powers took a hand in its development, and one can imagine a distant future in which different species descended from lizardfolk bear more in common with each other, even superficially, than any do with either lizards or humans. For the present however, the advent of the lizardfolk species appears to be recent on an evolutionary scale, and even lizardfolk isolated from each other in wildly different circumstances, and assumed by ignorant human societies to represent entirely distinct types of creatures, would be found if brought together to still be members of the same species.)
Best known to Black Steel personnel through their association with "Grim" -- a junior member of the Rat Pack in good standing -- lizardfolk are among the most common form of "beastmen" along the Fire Coast and around the Broken Sea. Lizardfolk bodies are covered in leathery scales that range in color from grey to green to brown, sometimes with camouflage patterns (but never with chameleon-like active camouflage abilities) -- almost always with paler or even white bellies and inner limbs, where their scales are noticably softer and suppler -- and their heads and eyes are decidedly reptillian, with forked tongues, and sharp needle-like teeth. Their fingers and wide-splayed toes are webbed with thick flaps of skin, and end in small, sharp claws, while their short legs and the arrangement of their hips allow them to run on all fours or swim as comfortably as they walk erect. Lizardfolk also have long, slender tails -- about the same length as the head and torso together -- which they use for balance when running, and as an extra propeller or rudder in the water. "Grim" claims (and many members of Black Steel believe) that lizardfolk also have a highly adapted sense of smell. When the subject comes up, Jacques insists that this is so much stuff and nonsense -- that Grim merely makes a show of sniffing at the air so he can feel like he's special, and can't smell any better than a "regular-type person." Jarvis always takes Grim's side however, often drawling, "It can hardly be expected to work when Jacques is nearby; you can't smell anything over his body odor."
Lizardfolk typically live in isolated communities, usually in wetland areas or on barren sea shores -- barren by human standards at least. They are well adapted to wetland life, and can make at least a subsistence-level living there, mostly by hunting and fishing. Those who live on the sea shores make their living almost entirely from or on the sea. As might be expected of a species with such numerous and isolated communities, lizardman cultures are highly diverse, within the range of their limited means. The facts of their environment limit the utility of metal tools or precision instruments of any kind, and most lizardfolk artwork, dress, and handiwork appears primitive by human standards for this reason. Even the lizardfolk "Sea Raiders" scattered around the rocky islands of the Broken Sea -- a group neither coordinated nor intending to identify with one another, nor even necessarilly aware of one others' existence from community to community, defined strictly by their means of making a living -- who commonly wear and use clothing, jewelry, and tools comparable to those of more civilized peoples, have never yet been known to build such things themselves; in fact, the objects in question are not only comparable but identical to those used by civilized, sea-going people, as the Sea Raiders subsist in large part on the goods they lift from recent shipwrecks or steal by stealthy night-time raids on ships at sea. Indeed, as they encounter specialized objects outside the context of their regular use, Sea Raiders have often been remarked to put their stolen bounty to ... unusual uses: One lizard chieftain, for instance, was recently witnessed wearing a gaudy necklace made entirely from forks and spoons. Grim himself may have originated in a more northerly lizardfolk tribe that behaved in the style of the Sea Raiders, or in one of the many wetlands tribes in the marshes just south of Illenia, or lived in both at different times of his life; he might be able to shed additional light on the lifestyles and cultures of those with whom he lived, but it's hard to say. Though he is happy to tell seekers-after-knowledge about his personal history, Grim's tales are, to use Jarvis's phrase, "somewhat unreliable in the matter of accuracy." Having spoken with Grim at some length on various occasions, Scaelorrel at least has inferred that some of the lizardfolk tribes of the north likely have rich oral traditions, which presumably bear as much relationship to their actual histories as does the beautiful maiden figurehead of a ship to the plant from which the paint for it was made.
With the exception of Sea Raiders out seeking wealth, lizardmen normally avoid the society of other sentient beings, defending their home ground when necessary but otherwise keeping to themselves. There are exceptions however, both of individuals who have managed to join some human or multispecies society -- with Grim as the leading example as far as Black Steel is concerned -- and of entire tribes that managed to overcome mutual mistrust, language barriers, culture clashes, and terrain-related difficulties to establish commerce with members of local human or goblinoid communities. Such trade is usually primitive and limited in scale, but does suggest an alternative to the type of relationship that exists between Sea Raiders and seafaring peoples, or the virtually nonexistant one between insular lizardfolk tribes and anyone outside their tribes of any description.
As with any sentient species whose members still mostly live in isolated tribes and primitive conditions, little can be said about the sorcerous aptitude of lizardfolk. Certainly they do not share the universal reliance upon and comfort with it of such beings as the elves, but if their potential were comparable to that of human beings, it would hardly be surprising, given their circumstances, if no wizards ever blossomed among them. Neither the necessary numbers to maintain a living tradition for long, nor the necessary institutions to retain knowledge beyond the lifetime of a student of sorcery, are present in any known lizardfolk society. Legends persist (as they do with nearly all beastmen) of shamanistic powers attributed to tribes' religious leaders, perhaps due to pantheonic action of some variety, but the veracity of these tales may be comparable to ... well, to Grim's personal histories.
