Naga, Deep

This creature’s massive, serpentine body is covered in dark purple scales. Its humanoid head has a wide mouth filled with fangs.

ECOLOGY

Environment any underground
Organization solitary, pair, or nest (3–4)
Treasure standard

More bestial than their surface cousins, deep nagas jealously guard their lairs in the lightless depths of the Deeplands. Deep nagas live near ley lines and other places of power because they hunger for magical energy, which they are able to siphon from their surroundings. Their volatile natures make them dangerous to deal with, but creatures who manage to appease them can earn safety within their territory. Most deep nagas measure 40 feet in length and weigh 1,800 pounds.

Some deep nagas are infused from birth with energy native to another plane of existence. These variant deep nagas replace their breath weapon damage with one of the following damage types: acid, cold, electricity, fire, or negative energy. They set up lairs in places where the borders between planes are thin rather than along ley lines, and their appearances often reflect the influence of those elemental planes.

The chitinous scales that cover deep nagas’ serpentine bodies are reminiscent of the dark purple plates that protect purple worms. Their heads resemble those of giant, androgynous humanoids, with wide mouths filled with multiple rows of sharp fangs. Though deep nagas enjoy eating flesh, they are obsessed with the magical energy they absorb. They are able to sustain themselves in hibernation on nothing but magical energy when sources of meat are sparse, but deep nagas have a fixation on magic that goes beyond mere survival and is more akin to an addiction. What deep nagas lack in sophistication compared to the innate magic of their surface cousins, they make up for in raw power.

Deep nagas that reside in places of great magical power are able to extend their lifespans to centuries and beyond, and even their reproduction cycles are tied to magical energy. Once adult deep nagas have found a place with a steady flow of magic, they are able reproduce asexually, laying anywhere from one to three large eggs every few years.

Habitat and Society

Deep nagas can be found throughout the Deeplands. Wherever magical energy runs strongest along ancient ley lines, deep nagas make their isolated lairs and protect them with a fervor unmatched by other naga species. Deep nagas tend to be solitary creatures in the upper layers of the Deeplands, where they are rarer and surrounded by races like the dark folk, derros, drow, and duergar. These nagas even drive out their progeny as soon they can fend for themselves, so that the offspring won’t wrest the lair from their parent as they grow in power. Deep nagas of Orv form nests in ancient sites of power, with the founding deep naga lording over several generations of her progeny, the number depending on her age—though even in Orv, the strong drive out the weak if the number of deep nagas grows too high for the lair to sustain.

Solitary deep nagas and smaller nests are more likely to allow tribes of troglodytes, skum, or degenerate serpentfolk to live in their territory for mutual benefit. These tribes tend to treat deep nagas as fickle, godlike creatures who are dangerous but offer protection to those that placate them, for the nagas are extremely hostile toward intruders within their territory.

Treating with deep nagas usually falls to the shamans of the tribes, and some tribes have even formed cults that worship the creatures. These tribes bring offerings of flesh and magic to deep nagas who share their territory with the tribe. The nagas especially enjoy the flesh of magic users, which makes dealing with them even more dangerous for the shamans. If a naga is in a bad mood, the head shaman might be tempted to send an apprentice in his place because—as the tribal lore teaches—a great serpent that has feasted is easier to deal with.

Ever paranoid, a deep naga is never too far from turning on a tribe that worships her if given a reason, imagined or real. If creatures of another race aren’t useful to the deep naga, they are treated as food or threats to be extinguished.

Deep nagas are very particular about and protective of their lairs. They exert a substantial effort to find one that suits their needs, so they don’t give them up without a fight. Unless the source of magic depletes or they are driven out by a more powerful deep naga, they rarely abandon their lairs. However, if a deep naga learns of an even more potent magical site, she might try to conquer this new lair for herself. Deep nagas do not usually care what tribes that serve them do, as long as the offerings keep coming, but they might push the tribes to conquer a superior place for a lair.