Editing Brilliant Scales (section)

==The Player Characters==
So sometimes, when someone dies, the Rainbow Serpent will offer them a choice: die, or live and protect humanity. Dunno how many people say "No," I mean hey, who're they gonna tell afterwards? But at least some say "yes," and they become humanity's first line of defense. They become a "Child of the Serpent" and nothing's ever quite the same after that.

The job's got some perks. First off, none of Quetzacouatl's servants are less than gorgeous. Each and every one of the Serpent's Children is physically beautiful no matter how they looked before they were chosen. This beauty isn't a glamer or pheromone-induced illusion, it's a flesh-and-bone change. There are however some Children that learn to use this element of pulchritude to supernatural effect. (Ever seen someone so beautiful they were terrifying, or gotten so lost in someone's looks that you stop paying attention to what you're doing, which may be exactly what they're telling you to do?)

Then there's the real magic. All of the Serpent's Children can perform feats of prestidigitation. Nothing big or real flashy, just little magics to make life easier. But mind who can see what you're doing because these parlorless parlor tricks create a visual "afterimage," like the air over hot pavement or a chameleon changing it's color. Always have a satchel or big coat handy to pull stuff out of. There are other magics in the world, but Snakes rarely learn to employ them.

Quetzacouatl's Chosen can recover from any injury, and will even regrow destroyed organs and lost limbs without scarring. They'll also come back from "death." But that stuff looks pretty weird while it's healing, so it should get covered up. And that isn't to say that they heal any faster than regular humans (most don't, anyway), they just heal more. They're (effectively) immortal (or undead, either way).

The enahnced sense of taste is a blessing and a curse. For one thing, food gets way better (but mind the hot sauce). They can also recognize another of Quetza's Kids from across a swine farm. The down-side is that even though you learn to filter the filthy tastes of pollution and civilization pretty quickly, the scent of the supernatural will always hit them in the back of the throat like a ton of bricks and it's usually about as pleasant as that sounds.

And here we come to the venom. Quetza's Kids are hunters, so they get a weapon. Most Snakes have to spit their venom, but some learn to exude it from their skin (namely their hands), or even to do... other things with it. Enough of it will incapacitate just about anyone with pain for a short while, but it rots the flesh of the spiritually corrupt. Mostly this means bad supernatural things, but there's plenty of humans that fit the bill as well. Now when I say "spiritually corrupt" I don't just mean amoral or mean, what you might call "sinful," I mean downright evil. The kind that you can't define, but you know it when you see it.

Of course all that comes with a catch. The Chosen of the Serpent are human at heart but are more powerful than most humans. It's not absolute power, but it's enough to corrupt. Quetzacouatl holds his Children to a fairly high standard of behavior. New Snakes get a bit of leniency (all of a sudden you're beautiful to make super-models jealous and can pull fifty-dollar bills out of thin air), but those that don't shape up in time (or those that stray from the path later) start having dreams that, well, express Quetzacouatl's displeasure. If the erring Snake doesn't catch on and shape up, the Feathered Serpent can be creative with his punishments. Those that disregard their duties and their patron entirely are crippled, humiliated, and then hunted down by their brethren. Oh sure Quetzacouatl could just kill them, rescinding his blessing and letting them continue on with dying, but what fun would that be?