Snake People

There are many different kinds of snake people with differing anatomy. Some come under the Beastfolk umbrella term, but will be detailed here as a way of showing the differences between them and other snake people. There is also some confusion over the distinct names of the different snake people. For example, a person who resembles a "snake merfolk" with a human body and a snake tail where legs should go. I would call them a naga as that is how I first came across them. However, that can also be the name of a person who has a humanoid head on a snake body. The term Lamia comes from the Greeks and is used to describe the "snake merfolk".

For these anatomy notes, I will use the following terms to refer to the following body plans as I explain their anatomy in detail.

Lamia: a human body and a snake tail where legs should go.

Naga: a humanoid head on a snake body.

Yuan-ti: Humanoids with snake features, including snake beastfolk.

Medusa: Humanoid with snakes for hair.

Gorgan: Lamia's body plan with the addition of snakes for hair.

Other: brief descriptions of other body configurations.

Lamia:

Lamias have a humanoid torso with a serpentine body where their waist and legs would be. They have respatory, circlatoriy and nervous systems similar to humans, but their digestive and reproductive systems are very different. Their skeletal system resembles that of a human down to the pelvis. The pelvis is more like a ring of bone rather than a specialised hip bone. The spine and ribs of a snake attach to the pelvis with vestigial legs, like those of a snake, toward the end of their tail. Their jawbone is in two sections with tendons that allow it to stretch to swallow prey whole. They can eat and digest regular humanoid food, but have a preference for small to medium-sized living organisms.

They have two stomachs, one in their humanoid torso and another in their snake body. The humanoid one is mostly for holding food, often live prey that has been swallowed whole. The holding stomach, as it is called, is an adaptation that allows the lamia to capture prey when abundant and hold on to them in time of scarcity. Their digesting stomach, in the snake's body, works slowly. It can take weeks for a medium-sized prey to digest fully so the lamia will often catch two when they can, swallowing one down to digest and the other to hold. The holding stomach has strong muscles and thick walls to protect from potential damage from having live prey inside it for weeks. It can crush the prey so that they will fit past the pelvis. However, the prey is often alive when it starts to be digested by the stomach in the snake's body. The holding stomach descends into the area that normally would hold the intestines in a human. A lamia can easily regurgitate its prey in its holding stomach. This evolved initially as a flight response. Simultaneously reducing the lamia's weight and providing an alternative food source to any would-be attacker/predator. However, in more modern times, this practice has led to safe exploration of vore fetishism that can be pleasurable to the lamia and a willing humanoid partner. The digestive system leads on to the snake's intestines in the snake's body, then out the anus that is located near the base of the tail.

This conflicts with the space with an expanding womb in pregnant females. Lamia gives birth to live young. The conflict in space prevents a pregnant female from storing live prey. This does limit their diet but safeguards the developing fetus from any potential damage from sharing space with live prey.

Lamia have internal genitals that are guarded by scales concealing the entrance. These scales open up when the lamia is aroused or needs to excrete urine. In males, the cock emerges and stiffens if aroused. A lamina's genitals resmble that of humans with the same connections to the bladder and kidneys.

Naga:

Naga have a snake body with anatomy that resembles a snake but the equivalent size of a human. They have a head that resembles that of a human, except for modifications of the jaw to allow them to swallow food whole. There are two variants, venomous and constrictors. They exclusively hunt and eat prey animals, with some being known to prey on humanoids and other sentient beings. They have the equivalent intelligence to a human and have a voice box allowing them to form language. Venomous naga have fangs that can deliver venom to their prey.

Yuan-ti:

Yuan-ti comprise of two different groups. Those who started as humanoids who worship snake gods, and those who are naturally born snake beastfolk. Snake beastfolk can become worshipers of snake gods and have the advantage of already resembling those blessed with snake like apperance. However, their appearance is natural and can be passed on to their ofspring unlike those given divine gifts. Those who worship snake gods can be gifted changes that make them resemble other snake people outlined in these notes. For this section, I will only focus on those who keep their humanoid appearance and anatomy. Since this is a divine gift, I will be focusing on how the natural snake beastfolk's anatomy works rather than the divine variations that often physically work the same way.

Like other beastfolk, snake beastfolk can range from humans with snake features (such as eyes and fangs) to fully anthropomorphic snakes, with scaled bodies, long necks, pointed faces, fangs, and long tails. These anthepermorpic snakes have humanoid arms and legs but are visually distinctive from lizard beastfolk. As stated in the beastfolk section, they may resemble reptiles but are warm-blooded, have live young, and have external genitalia that resemble human genitalia. When they enter puberty, females grow breasts, but males are unlikely to be able to grow beards if they are the antheropermorphic variant. These facts are not always true for snake god worshipers and can be an easy way to determine the difference between the two.

They can eat normal humanoid food but have a greater tolerance for raw meat. Those who are anthrophermophic have the ability to hinge their jaw and swallow small creatures whole. Similar to Lamia, this ability is restricted when a female is pregnant. Yuan-ti only have one stomach that digests at a normal human rate. With that said, it can still take weeks to fully digest a whole prey.

Medusa and Gorgon:

Medusa, like Pegasus, was originally just the name of a famous example of a species but has since become a name for the species. The Gorgan and Medusa are categorised by having “snake hair”. Despite Medusa being a Gorgon, it is the humanoids with snake hair that are called Medusas as a race. Gorgon is the name given to Lamia, who has the snake hair.

The snakes of their hair are semi-sapient. They are part of the person's body but can move independently. They do not have separate organs. Their blood supply comes from the main body; they have no lungs or digestive system. They have a small brain that can process visual information from their eyes and respond to danger and sensory input. Their muscles and nerves act independently. They have mouths with teeth that contain venom for defence. Their tongues sense the air but they don’t have a throat. The snake hair grows on the head and pubes. They have been know to attack would-be rapist It is possible to cut them off without causing too much pain to the individual but it will bleed. When cut off they will not grow back.

Medusa and Gorgon have the magical ability to petrify creatures that look them in the eye. They are able to choose if this ability is active or not.

Other:

There are many different snake people variations that are impossible to cover in much detail. Mostly coming as gifts from the snake gods. These include humanoids with snakes for arms, Lamia with fully snake heads and scales all over their body. Snake-headed people. Humanoids or Lamia with multiple snakes instead of a head.