Gatorman

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The lizardfolk of Immoren take the association of lizardfolk with swamps to their logical conclusion: they're a race of humanoid alligators, locally called "gatormen". Described as a "curious blend of strength and subtlety", gatormen combine the appetites of voracious predators, the stealthy hunting skills and patience skills of their bestial counterparts, and surprisingly high intelligence. Whilst they are capable of forming peaceful relationships with neighboring races, they are violent, bloodthirsty, bear grudges, and fiercely territorial. Males and females are almost impossible to tell apart, and the race is naturally found in small tribes of a handful at least to several dozen adults at most. An adult gatorman stands well over seven feet tall, armored head to tail in thick, horny scales, and supplements its formidable natural armaments of tooth, claw and whipping tail with heavy, two-handed crushing or cleaving weapons. What has kept them from truly leaving a mark on Immoren beyond being swamp-dwelling monsters is that they share the typical lizardfolk weakness of cultural stagnation. Gatormen have been trading, raiding, and hiring out as mercenaries to the other civilizations of Immoren for centuries, but they have never attempted to adopt any of the benefits of their more advanced neighbors. They drag home weapons and loot as trophies and practical goods, but they are content to simply wallow in the muck and live the life of eating or being eaten, like animals.

Of the two Minions subfactions, they are the "Mystical" faction; gatormen society is dominated by bokors who practice a Fantasy Voodoo-esque religion that combines elements of animism, necromancy, Blood Magic and cannibalism into a twisted, toxic whole. The central power of the gatormen religion is Kossk; embodied as a gargantuan alligator, this primal god embodies feasting, reptilian patience, blood thirst, and the hunt. Specific rites, rituals and even precise beliefs about Kossk vary from tribe to tribe, and determined by the tribe's bokor; some of these shamans even believe Kossk is merely the greatest and most powerful of the dark predatory spirits that inhabit the swamp. Bokors can be easily distinguished by their paraphernalia, which abounds in skulls, preserved hides, implements of worked bone, and other totems or talismans made from worthy foes and powerful prey; the idea of metaphysically devouring foes and being strengthened by the act of consumption are key elements of Kossk's faith. Perhaps as a side effect of this religion, or simple bloody-minded instinct, it is the height of disrespect amongst gatormen to consume the flesh of an enemy slain by another; this triggers either an immediate fight to the death or a lasting blood feud.

Whilst the druids of Circle Orboros regard Kossk as merely an avatar of their own Devourer Wurm, gatormen bokors find this ideology very offensive, as the blackclads have often learned to their cost.

The faith of the Congregation even shines through in their sole "war machine"; the Sacral Vault, a holy altar to Kossk designed to harness and store the energies of blood and death released by their grisly rites. The spirits of those offered in sacrifice to the Vault are condemned to serve the bokors tending to it, and in battle they can be released to tear flesh from bone and draw in the spirits of the slain on both sides to strengthen their ranks.

The Congregation also differs from its rivals in the Thornfall Alliance in that it incorporates more races than just the gatormen themselves. Bog Trogs are a race of humanoid fish who also inhabit the swamps of Western Immoren; unfortunately, they are smaller, weaker, and less adept at magic than their reptilian neighbors, and usually end up being pushed around, enslaved, or eaten by them. Even death is no salvation from this suffering, as the gatormen bokors often raise their corpses as expendable zombie minions, called "swamp shamblers". Smarter and less frequently enslaved are the Swamp Gobbers, a marshland-dwelling subrace of the Immoren goblin. More intelligent and technologically advanced than bog trogs (or, in many cases, the gatormen themselves), the swamp gobbers have a less adversarial relationship with the gatormen, and frequently hire out as mercenaries to them or other races. Anura, or "croaks" as they are called, are a strange race of humanoid frogs recently brought to Western Immoren from their homeland of the Shattered Spine islands, which lie south of the Skorne Empire. Poison-skinned, skilled hunters, very lost in the strange new environment they find themselves in, and with a strange religious awe for the gatormen, the Blindwater Congregation has welcomed them into the fold.

For warbeasts, of course, the Blindwater Congregation favors monsters heaved up from their marshy homeland, especially reptiles. The two most frequently used are species of bipedal alligator, possibly degenerate branches of the gatorman family tree; the Snapper is adorned with protective spikes and alternates between a digestive torpor and a hunger-fueled bloody frenzy, whilst the gargantuan Blackhide Wrastler is a gargantuan humanoid gator which can fuel its regeneration by devouring enemy flesh - if this isn't fearsome enough, bokors can also transform them into powerful candle-bedecked undead bodyguards called "Blind Walkers" by ritually murdering and reanimating them. Ironback Spitters, a race of bipedal carnivorous giant turtles with acidic projectile vomit attacks, indiscriminate appetites for flesh, and a temper that even gatormen fear, are also particularly associated with the Congregation. Skilled bokors create strange conglomerate skeleton troopers called, simply, "Boneswarms" to further augment their armies, and the most powerful of all warlocks can bind the aptly named Swamp Horrors - giant tentacled octopus-like beasts that even the gatormen fear - to their service.

The founder of the Blindwater Congregation is the bokor Bloody Barnabas, a centuries-old monster who has achieved something previously unimaginable: to live so long without being cut down by a rival or a greater predator that his body is starting to fail. This is unheard of amongst gatormen, who have never seen one of their kind die a death by old age. And this frightens Barnabas, so much so that he has become obsessed with finding a way to escape the cruelty of destiny: he wants to become a god. To this end, he is trying to forcibly unite all the gatormen of Western Immoren, both to usurp Kossk's place as their racial deity in their culture and to force them into a war of unprecedented bloodshed; a ritual sacrifice on a scale so vast it will fuel a divine apotheosis.

This goal requires an attention to detail that Barnabas has little patience for, which is giving other bokors the chance to try and steal power under his snout - but very carefully, since they risk being tortured to death and eaten if he decides they are traitors! The main threat to his power is another ancient and powerful warlock; Calaban the Grave Walker. This master of mysticism and ritual magic has no intention of giving his life to fuel Barnabas' mad quest. He has more pragmatic goals: he dreams of uniting the gatormen into a true empire, of claiming all the swamps of Western Immoren as their sovereign domain and forcing the other races to recognize them as equals whose territory must be respected. To this end, Barnabas is a useful figurehead around which to rally the race, but eventually, he will have to meet his demise so Calaban can take over.

Barnabas technically got killed by the Farrow warlord Carver during the Infernals Invasion, but this actually was part of his plan and it allowed him to finally complete his metamorphosis into a new living god.

In WarmaHordes

The lesser characters of the Blindwater Congregation are:

• Wrong Eye & Snapjaw: Those who make the mistake of laughing at the comical-looking figure of the gatorman bokor called Wrong Eye, who adorns himself in scattered human paraphenalia including a battered top hat and monocle, seldom live to regret it. Cunning, intelligent and crazy as a bedbug, Wrong Eye is a powerful necromancer who is obssessed with stealing and harnessing the creative impulse of the mammalian races for himself. A formidable fighter in his own right, his threat is only magnified by the hulking gator-beast called Snapjaw, a loyal blackhider wrastler that obeys Wrong Eye's every command.
• Jaga-Jaga, the Death Charmer: A rare albino gatorman, Jaga-Jaga is a powerful female bokor who has become considered the High Priestess of the Congregation. Descendant of a long line of skilled bokors, she is high in Barnabas' favor, and has willingly allied herself with him... although she may have grander visions of her own.
• Rask: A bog trog warlock, Rask betrayed his tribe by selling them into slavery at the claws of the Congregation in exchange for his own personal freedom, even offering to personally subdue rebels amongst his race. For this he has gained an unusual degree of freedom for a bog trog, although the cunning of all races are just waiting for the day he outlives his usefulness.
• Maelok the Dreadbound: Once a powerful and respected bokor of the Bloodsmeath Marsh, Maelok attempted to oppose Barnabas' plans, only to be outwitted, betrayed and murdered by his old rival, Calaban. To heighten the insult, Calaban then used a variant of the Blind Walker ritual to reanimate Maelok as something approaching a gatorman lich. Whilst currently a thrall to his hated rival, Maelok's spirit is slowly growing in power, and one day, he may claw his way back into possession of his own body. After all, he always was the superior necromancer...
• Kwaak Slickspine & Gub: Conjoined twin Anura sorcerers.
• Longchops: A gatorman mercenary who has adopted the human ideology of using guns to hunt monsters.

In D&D

Gatormen have made the transition into Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition with the Iron Kingdomss setting, but only as enemies to fight in the Monsternomicon. Privateer Press has stated that they receive a playable writeup like the Farrow did eventually, when they choose to write a sourcebook focusing on their part of Immoren.

Coincidentally, the same thing applies to Bog Trogs and Croaks; there are monster stats for them, but no PC stats.

Sure enough, upcoming splat "Into the Deep Wild" proudly boasts that gatormen PCs will be amongst its content.