The upcoming Naga race

Gidorick

Back at the 2014 QuakeCon in July ZOS mentioned there will be a new adventure zone Murkmire, and with that a new non-playable race, the Naga.

This is the picture they showed when Jared Carr, Art Director, was talking about the Naga:


According to the lorebook An Argonian Account by Waughin Jarth an Imperial by the name of Chaero Gemullus describes the Naga as "Nasty characters, puff adders with legs and arms, seven feet tall, eight when they're mad."

Another account of Naga is from the Imperial Geographical Society in the Lorebook "The War with the Trees: Argonia and the Black Marsh" where the Naga are described as "thugs of Argonian stock"

Those description doesn't fit the ESO character at all. They actually sound a lot like the Argonian Behemoth that is also going to be in Murkmire.



Because the Naga don't appear to be Argonian as we know them I went to looking for answers and found that Loremaster Lawrence Schick said on this subject, "I don't want to reveal spoilers for Murkmire, so I'll just say that the Argonians are far more various and variable than the Dryskins think they are. Argonian history is actually quite complex, and there's no single "Argonian civilization" -- there are, and have been, many."

Now, I view Lore as fallible, especially in the case of the secondhand account of the Naga in The Argonian Account. Is it possible Chaero Gemullus and the Imperial Geographical Society were mistaken in their identification of the Naga? Was it the Argonian Behemoth they were speaking of?

As for what Lawrence Schick said, might "Argonian" be more like a genus, like Men & Mer, and not a specific race? Could Naga be Argonian in the same way Orcs are Mer because the Naga that were presented at QuakeCon? I wonder because the ESO Naga look to be more fish-like than the lizard-like Argonians and those are completely different species (using our view of these real world counterpart creatures).

Has anyone read anymore about the Naga in ESO or know how the Argonians relate to the Naga?
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Link to QuakeCon info about Naga:
youtu.be/_Jk7LrLgRfg?t=1h16m41s

Link to "The Argonian Account" over at the Imperial Library:
imperial-library.info/content/argonian-account

Link to "The War With the Trees" over at the Imperial Library:
imperial-library.info/content/pocket-guide-empire-third-edition-war-trees-argonia-and-black-marsh

Reddit archive over at the Imperial Library with the Lawrence Schick quote:
imperial-library.info/content/zenimax-online-writers-reddit-ama

Niastissa

If they are going to have naga as a race I would prefer that they not have legs and instead slither around on the tails. It seems more traditional.

Gidorick

That would make more sense considering the real-world myths of Naga, which are Medusa-like creatures.



More about the Naga:
http://unearthlytales.com/the-naga-and-medusa.html

I think maybe they aren't depicted as such because the Tsaesci race from Akavir that are described as possibly having the upper-body of a man and a lower-body of a snake.

source: imperial-library.info/content/guide-akavir#tsaesci

Niastissa

Gidorick wrote: »

That would make more sense considering the real-world myths of Naga, which are Medusa-like creatures.



More about the Naga:
http://unearthlytales.com/the-naga-and-medusa.html

I think maybe they aren't depicted as such because the Tsaesci race from Akavir that are described as possibly having the upper-body of a man and a lower-body of a snake.

source: imperial-library.info/content/guide-akavir#tsaesci

Yes something like that would in my opinion be better.

Gyudan

I only have one question.
According to your research, do nagas make good slaves like argonians?

Gidorick

Gyudan wrote: »

I only have one question.
According to your research, do nagas make good slaves like argonians?

LOL. I would say...no. They're far too aggressive.

Niastissa

Gidorick wrote: »

Gyudan wrote: »

I only have one question.
According to your research, do nagas make good slaves like argonians?

LOL. I would say...no. They're far too aggressive.

Yeah they are far more likely to be the slave masters then the slaves.

Surfinginhawaii

The first picture looks like a catfish but the second picture looks pretty cool.

Gidorick

BOTH are coming to the game and the second creature (Likely a mob) likes to EAT the first (an NPC).

Thalmor_Pony

Niastissa wrote: »

If they are going to have naga as a race I would prefer that they not have legs and instead slither around on the tails. It seems more traditional.

You are looking for Tsaesci.

ThatHappyCat

Gidorick wrote: »

That would make more sense considering the real-world myths of Naga, which are Medusa-like creatures.



More about the Naga:
http://unearthlytales.com/the-naga-and-medusa.html

I think maybe they aren't depicted as such because the Tsaesci race from Akavir that are described as possibly having the upper-body of a man and a lower-body of a snake.

source: imperial-library.info/content/guide-akavir#tsaesci

We already have Lamia.

Khivas_Carrick

Dem Nagas need Stendarr

NadiusMaximus

So it's a reskined harvester?

Rodario

I see many naga jokes in our future.

Rodario

Khivas_Carrick wrote: »

Dem Nagas need Stendarr

Naga stole my bike

murmur

Gyudan wrote: »

I only have one question.
According to your research, do nagas make good slaves like argonians?

More important question would be what kind of seasoning you need to make then taste delicious when grilled?

zaria

NadiusMaximus wrote: »

So it's a reskined harvester?

More like the harvester is a re skinned naga.
I always think of the harvester and the lamias as nagas.

However i guess animations for an player with snake bottom would be too hard.
Would also be an issue with boots

AlexDougherty

zaria wrote: »

NadiusMaximus wrote: »

So it's a reskined harvester?

More like the harvester is a re skinned naga.
I always think of the harvester and the lamias as nagas.

However i guess animations for an player with snake bottom would be too hard.
Would also be an issue with boots

And trousers (skirts would work though)

And yeah, Harvesters and Lamias are clearly based on D&D Nagas (which are loosely based on a myth somewhere).

I have to say the head reminds me of a Swtor Fleshraider's head (mobs on Tython)

LordEcks

zaria wrote: »

NadiusMaximus wrote: »

So it's a reskined harvester?

More like the harvester is a re skinned naga.
I always think of the harvester and the lamias as nagas.

However i guess animations for an player with snake bottom would be too hard.
Would also be an issue with boots

Funny, until Oblivion Khajit and Argonians couldnt even wear boots.

zaria

LordEcks wrote: »

zaria wrote: »

NadiusMaximus wrote: »

So it's a reskined harvester?

More like the harvester is a re skinned naga.
I always think of the harvester and the lamias as nagas.

However i guess animations for an player with snake bottom would be too hard.
Would also be an issue with boots

Funny, until Oblivion Khajit and Argonians couldnt even wear boots.

They could not use boots in Morrowind: no problems in Arena and Daggerfall.

This was because of the digtigrade legs and they did not plan on using armor who adjusted to race as Khajiit and Argonians was not planned to be playable.
Luckily they changed that but not the boot issue.

Funny as WOW has three races with different digtigrade legs and it works well.

Selique

zaria wrote: »

NadiusMaximus wrote: »

So it's a reskined harvester?

More like the harvester is a re skinned naga.
I always think of the harvester and the lamias as nagas.

However i guess animations for an player with snake bottom would be too hard.
Would also be an issue with boots

Naga aren't going to be a playable race from what I've read.

Also, Naga have legs in all lore. And I don't think the account describes them like the Behemoth. An Adder is a snake, not a Godzilla!

I think it is more likely the account mistook Naga for another subset of Argonians that are more snakelike, like the Sarpa kind.

Dublicious

AlexDougherty wrote: »

zaria wrote: »

NadiusMaximus wrote: »

So it's a reskined harvester?

More like the harvester is a re skinned naga.
I always think of the harvester and the lamias as nagas.

However i guess animations for an player with snake bottom would be too hard.
Would also be an issue with boots

And trousers (skirts would work though)

And yeah, Harvesters and Lamias are clearly based on D&D Nagas (which are loosely based on a myth somewhere).

I have to say the head reminds me of a Swtor Fleshraider's head (mobs on Tython)

Lamia are based on lamia . They often are described with snake and female human parts in mythology outside of TES lore.

Ganacampo

They look really cool.

I can't wait to learn more about their lore, it's just sad they're gonna be in another group zone.

DeLindsay

That's what I'd imagine they'd look like.

Ganacampo

DeLindsay wrote: »

That's what I'd imagine they'd look like.

But according to the lore they got legs.

Gidorick

zaria wrote: »

LordEcks wrote: »

zaria wrote: »

NadiusMaximus wrote: »

So it's a reskined harvester?

More like the harvester is a re skinned naga.
I always think of the harvester and the lamias as nagas.

However i guess animations for an player with snake bottom would be too hard.
Would also be an issue with boots

Funny, until Oblivion Khajit and Argonians couldnt even wear boots.

They could not use boots in Morrowind: no problems in Arena and Daggerfall.

This was because of the digtigrade legs and they did not plan on using armor who adjusted to race as Khajiit and Argonians was not planned to be playable.
Luckily they changed that but not the boot issue.

Funny as WOW has three races with different digtigrade legs and it works well.

Well, it seems the Khajiit that we can choose are the Khajiit species Cathay. The Khajiit with digitigrade legs are the Suthay-raht. Hopefully when they open up more of Morrowind they allow for the Suthay-raht to be playable characters, or at the very least NPCs.

Gidorick

DeLindsay wrote: »

That's what I'd imagine they'd look like.

This isn't THAT far off... it just has legs...

Hybris6

Hmm wonder if their skin are better than argonians? I need some new shoes....

Nivzruo_ESO

Basically an argonian with a different head.. weaksauce

Gidorick

Nivzruo_ESO wrote: »

Basically an argonian with a different head.. weaksauce

Well they are supposed to be a TYPE of Argonian....

reagen_lionel

There are already some Naga ingame. Thier called Lamia's in Shadowfen. One of my character was actually interested in them and have been looking for information concerning them, he asked around and no one really knew much, he searched and actually found a tome containing a small bit of detail about them.