OOC Spoiler Notice
The Lemesech are a very secretive tribe, in general, although they are quite willing to accept long-time friends as "adoptees" to the tribe. Because of this, there are only two situations in which you should know any of the following info IC.
Khiulnter: The Lemesech Khiulnter form is that of a Python. The form can be up to 40+ feet long, and this is entirely dependent on age (See Aging below). The scale pattern should be the same as the skin mottling. You can pretty much go to town on the scale color, since, after all, Crinos isn't Shadow Earth, and types and colors of snakes wouldn't necessarily correspond. Just to be reasonable, though, you might want to stick to stuff that blends in to a jungle environment. As far as scale patterns, be reasonable. Remember, Verdimm are born with their forms, they do not get to chose them, so having things like your characters initials as your scale pattern is right out. Patterns seen in Earthly snakes include diamond-shaped, hourglass (or figure-eight) shaped, uniform single-color, uniform multi-color (where it looks uniform single color but there is actually more than one color on closer inspection), and striped (both vertical and horizontal).
Dimo-Khu: The Lemesech Dimo-Khu form is purely a fighting machine. While it does have some ritual use, this is mostly as a life stage thing (more on this later). It is almost impossible to think about anything else but rending and tearing things with your hands and teeth and tail when in Dimo-Khu. You have the intelligence left to figure out who or what it is that you're supposed to be killing, but that's about it. Only the most mystical-minded of Lemesech can think about much else (again, more on this later). The form itself is about ten feet long if laid out, consisting of the Dimoh torso and the Khiulnter tail. The hands are clawed, the canines are about 6 inches long (fangs, in other words), and the forearms of the top pair of arms have large, saber-like bone projections about 4 ft long extending out of them. Young Lemesech have one pair of arms in Dimo-Khu, and as they get older they "grow" more pairs below these (again, more on this later).
Note that Lemesech do not wield weapons in Dimo-Khu form. Not only are they sufficiently dangerous without them, they usually can't think well enough to get beyond the killing things with your hands stage.
Lemesech are fairly long lived for Verdimm. This has little to do with their maximum life-span (i.e. when they die of old age) and is almost entirely because they don't like dying and try to avoid it. For comparison, read the Brusticai information: most Verdimm could not make this statement. Lemesech feel that sentient life (and snakes) is Luna's greatest gift, and not to be taken except at extreme duress. Not to mention that they are not exactly the easiest things in the world to kill. So Lemesech tend to die before old age a lot less often than other races: living past 800 seasons is only somewhat uncommon for them, for example.
The average age at which a Verdimm would die of old age is about 1200-1400 seasons, and the Lemesech are not really an exception. The Lemesech reach 20 ft at about 200 seasons (2 seasons per year, so 100 years) and each additional ten feet every 600 years thereafter.
Because of the immense amount of mass involved in being a 30 ft or larger (i.e. Elder) Lemesech, transformations take a long time: an Elder Lemesech PC should add an extra emit for all transforms (except the special reflexive Dimo-Khu transform, which always takes 1 emote, described below). The weight for a 30 ft python is about 300 pounds or so, depending on thickness, so PC's of this size should be either obese or very tall and muscular. Conveniently, the weight of a python in pounds is a very close approximation of their length in feet times 10, except possibly past 30 feet, where we really don't know but the number is probably larger than ten because of girth. Realize that Lemesech of 30 feet or more are quite old and fairly unusual.
Note that _all_ forms of the Lemesech are cold-blooded. For those who don't know what this means: their body takes on the temperature of their surroundings, and does not produce its own heat. This is a significant disadvantage until you remember that Lemesech use _clothes_! Even so, if they are exposed to cold such that the temp _reaching_their_skin_ is below about 10C, they will start to go into torpor, and sub-freezing for more than a few seconds will almost certainly kill them. Snakes hibernate, which Lemesech can also do, but only if the temperature _gradually_ moves to freezing over a day or two. In so-called 'Indian Summers' after the first snowfall, you can often find the bodies of dead snakes after the next snowfall, because they came out of hibernation and then got caught in the freeze. For this reason, they wear lots of clothing, and _all_ Lemesech know a simple cantrip which keeps them warm. Lemesech are only really comfortable in temperatures of 30C and up, and otherwise they will almost always be in Dimoh wearing lots of clothes. The main exceptions are for serious eating (always Khiulnter: wider jaws) and serious fighting (Dimo-Khu).
Lemesech hearing is even weirder. Snakes `hear' using a series of bones along their `stomachs' (no, I don't know where a snake's stomach is either). They hear percussive sounds (i.e. footfalls). This has had a huge effect on their language: they speak to each other in khiulnter by hitting their tails against the ground with different levels of force and speed. When vocalized in Dimo, it sounds like drums (hence words like Durumgun). They also have this ability in Dimo: they have the corresponding bones in their feet. For this reason they wear very light foot coverings, basically moccasins, which have always had Sha'Crin performed on them to keep heat in (and even to produce a little heat if necessary). As a side effect, Lemesech can talk to each other in Dimoh by tapping their feet against the ground (or their hands against a table or whatever) in imitation of their khiulnter language. As you can imagine, this can be _very_ useful. Remember that these bones are sufficient to allow snakes to hear mouse footfalls from a distance on things like moss, so this is not as unlikely as it sounds.
The percussive language is called Parum, and can be vocalized in Dimoh, as well as tapped out. Note that tapping it out works even if the Lemesech can only hear it with their normal ears. This is especially helpful in other shadows where the feet-ears don't work, as tapping on a table is a common nervous habit and won't attract much notice if done carefully. It should be mentioned that these senses do not really work outside of Crinos: when a Lemesech leaves Crinos, they are stuck (outside of Crinos) in the form that they first left it in, always, unless they learn shadow-wide shapeshifting. This is almost always Dimoh. Outside of Crinos, the extra senses are downplayed to a good night vision and sensitivity to vibrations.
The Lemesech use Sha'Crin in what seems to others a very casual way, for things that are part of `normal' life for other cultures. In particular, their primary form of clothing (at least when they are in the warmth of the jungle) is made using Sha'Crin. Others find this a contradiction to the reverence with which they approach Luna and the sacredness of Sha'Crin, but the Lemesech see it as a result of this attitude: the sacred pervades every aspect of their lives, and they try to approach everything with reverence, even the making of clothes or other simple tasks, so why not show their reverence by using Sha'Crin?
Lemesech do not normally discuss their age with outsiders since they sort of enjoy their aura of mystery. It is not explicitly secret, though (very little is in the Lemesech tribe), and they will discuss it if it becomes important. In general, there are not taboo subjects to the Lemesech, just subjects they are more or less likely to discuss. A Lemesech would be quite willing to, for all intents and purposes, tell everything in this file to someone who was a friend and/or was likely to spend a lot of time with the Lemesech, if for no other reason than to stop them from doing something stupid. Trying to pick up a Lemesech, for example, would be _very_ bad, as they always weigh more that you'd think.
The only things that count as secrets are those pieces of information known only to the Durumgun, or Third Arms. More on this later. This information isn't even known to the rest of the tribe, so does not really count as tribal secrets.
The primary cloth that Lemesech use is made out of shed snake skins. The Lemesech use Sha'Crin to turn this cloth into a soft, light, skin-hugging (almost skin-tight) silk-like material. The magic also restores some of its shine (shed skins are dull by definition: that's why they're discarded, because they are old). Naturally, this cloth, which is called Durgum in the Lemesech Khiulnter language (which is what they use almost exclusively among themselves) is not particularly warm. Other clothes they wear include a hard leather breastplate which is beaded in the same pattern as their scales and which is used for ritual purposes. This is made as part of the passage to adulthood, and takes a very long time. When they leave the jungle they usually wear a heavy fur cloak with hood, usually in the same color as their primary scale color if they can get it. As previously mentioned under senses, they only wear very light footwear, and get _very_ paranoid about people stepping on their feet, as this is the equivalent to stepping on their eardrums. It is about as bad as being kicked in the groin and usually causes them to reflexively snap into Dimo-Khu if they're not careful (more on this later). Fortunately, they are very good at avoiding this, by pure reflex, to the extent that its almost never happens by accident. Since the bones that comprise their feet-ears are sensitive enough to feel air flows if the incoming object is close enough, it takes effort to actually connect. This is one of those things they don't normally tell outsiders about. Duh.
Note that all Lemesech clothing has been Sha'Crin'd to become part of their body mass when they transform. Given their size, this makes no appreciable difference.
Note that the reflexive move to Dimo-Khu is very, very stressful, especially since it is usually followed by exertion. About 2 days realtime rest, in Crinos (i.e. a fortnight Crinosian playtime) is appropriate after each such change.
The third set is more or less the same except that the creature found (which is usually _much_ less dangerous) must be killed using only Sha'Crin. This is almost impossible because the brain structure in Dimo-Khu is completely changed to accommodate multiple sets of arms (which takes a lot of brain if you want co-ordination) and being a killing machine. Only the most totally mystical of Lemesech are capable of doing this, or of having any hope of doing it, and for this reason most Lemesech who reach their third set of arms (about 800 seasons) don't even bother trying. Not that many reach that age anyway. Those who succeed become Durumgun, the mystical leaders of the Lemesech tribe. The Sha'Cri, who is also the tribe leader, is _always_ a Durumgun, and is chosen exclusively by them. This is because the Durumgun know many things the rest of the Lemesech do not.
Note that you cannot be a Durumgun without the permission of the OOC tribe leader (currently Turgul, rlpowell@uwaterloo.ca). This is because they are _very_ rare, and we can't have the whole IC tribe being them, it would be very silly. On the other tail, fantasy RP environments often have whole medieval societies in which the only IC people are the nobility, so the tribe leader is likely to allow Durumgun characters, but he's going to want to check as to your interest and commitment to Lemesech role-playing.
The ritual for the fourth set (1400 seasons or so), if any, is known only to the Durumgun.
As can be imagined, their outlook on life is somewhat different from the other Verdimm, who hardly consider, as a general rule, sitting around discussing the finer points of existential philosophy until exhaustion causes collapse to be an interesting idea. Other Verdimm, at least those who haven't seen the Lemesech Dimo-Khu, consider the Lemesech weaklings. the Lemesech consider the other Verdimm to be, for the most part, stupid hotheads, and would really just like it if everyone would try to get along for a change. In particular, there are growing tensions between the leaders of the Lemesech and the Kei regarding outsiders: Lemesech invite them to their homes, Kei tend to kill them on sight. The Lemesech consider the Kei attitude grossly short-sighted, and feel that the long term benefits of introducing the outside universe to Crinos could be immense. The Kei appear to consider the Lemesech attitude a blindness to the reality of the evil of outsiders.
Of course, the Lemesech are still Verdimm, and still live in Crinos. As such, they still need to fight sometimes, and thus they need to practice. Some of the Lemesech, in fact, consider being a good fighter to be a part of personal perfection. All Lemesech spend their time striving for self-improvement (what else have they got to do?) so these people will get very, very good. Fighting is normally done in fighting pits (of which there is one in the Lemesech village), and normally in Dimo-Khu. Because of this, all fights are presided over by a Durumgun or Elder with the Sha'Crin ability to rip the combatants apart and force them back to Khiulnter when things get serious. Despite the blood-lust raging through the mind of a Dimo-Khu Lemesech, skill and tactics can still be brought to bear: it would be a pretty useless fighting form otherwise.
What all this is saying is that Lemesech don't like fighting, and won't except for practice or as last resort normally, but they all can fight and some are quite good (i.e. you are ICly allowed to take high Warfare).