No-one knows exactly where or how lizardmen first appeared in Alair. Some suggest that they migrated down the coast from the little-known lands north of the Erean Mountains; other theories include their coming to Alair from another place by means of a Gate, or being created from scratch by their god Shushkrah. The lizardmen themselves do not know. It is interesting to note that their ancestral language, Krultac, is the same as the Dragon Varkar Barduric's native language.They first came to the attention of the other races in 650, when they first started raiding human villages on the western edges of Oret.
This situation continued until the elves realized what was happening and decided, without consulting anyone else, to move an army through Oret and wipe out these newcomers. The northmen living in Oret and Tellare objected, leading to the short human-elf war which culminated in the battle of Thallan.
After that, the lizardmen lived in relative peace, occsionally raiding the dry land but mostly keeping to themselves in the deep Trakar. This was all to change with the coming of the Dragon.
Varkar took the basic lizardman stock and modified it, creating a more civilized, intelligent and less chaotic species altogether as the backbone of his armies.
Once the Dragon was dead, most of the new lizards who were living elsewhere in Alair started to settle into their current locations, either dominating, competing with, or fitting into the population as was approriate. In the Trakar some of the more advanced lizards who had rejected Varkar's self proclaimed godhead and returned to the worship of Shushkrah formed an alliance with the humans of what had once been Orwin and established a new state where man and lizard were equal citizens living in peace; Dalaghendor. Surprisingly, Shushkrah appears to support this.
The original savage lizard stock, and the advanced lizards who had followed Varkar, were forced out of Dalaghendor and into the southern reaches of the Deep Trakar, where they live in scattered communities, preying on the humans of Oret and on each other.
Lizardmen average between six and seven feet in height, and are massively built across the shoulders. Advanced lizards have slight changes in the structure of the chest and shoulders which allows them better to use human-made arms and armour. The hands are humanlike, but equipped with strong claws which make passable weapons. The head is very reptillian, with large forward-looking eyes and a wide mouth packed with sharp teeth (these are slightly smaller in advanced lizards, making their speech rather clearer when speaking human languages). Powerful digitigrade legs end in webbed and clawed feet which give excellent speed in water; the feet of advanced lizards are slightly smaller, allowing them to wear human-made boots (as long as they're on the large side). Lizardmen live for around sixty years if they're lucky.
The original lizard social structure was very primitive, a tribe living in rough huts in the swampland and led by the largest and strongest male. Advanced lizards have a much more "human" society, though physical strength and fighting ability are major assets for a male wishing to become prominent. They also have a much improved technology, having learned to work iron and steel (the original lizardmen used stone or copper weapons at best). Their magic is also better, with sorcerers and druids as well as the original shamen of Shushkrah.