Originally, this was written in response to the fact that my D&D group got fixated on a one-off joke about a village of Lizardfolk where the only residents were female Lizardfolk, and "femboys" after the group had fought a group of hunters in the swamp. From that seed, I decided to build out a society where that kind of dynamic would make sense, and honestly I'm pretty happy with the results. I took (some) inspiration from the existence of "femboy cuttlefish", as well as the ability of other species to alter their sex based on the changing needs of their environment.
Lizardfolk are a race generally confined to the swamps, marshes, and mires of Esoris. Their particular form is often similar to that of the larger reptiles near where they live. In the Great Swamp, Lizardfolk have crocodile-like heads. Where no large, predatory reptiles are extant, but Lizardfolk are, their faces tend to be less firmly rooted in any single beastial lizard.
Though there is no reason Lizardfolk could not engage in a centralized or agricultural civilization, they by far tend not to. The average Lizardfolk community exists as it has for hundreds if not thousands of years: Huts made from dried mud bricks and the plant matter of the surrounding swamp, located on isolated, usually artificial or altered dry areas within the swamp. Lizardfolk communities are isolated, and though they may have some kind of trade or inter-community traditions and interactions, each community is generally self-sufficient, and Lizardfolk regard trade as a lesser profession. What trade they conduct is often highly ritualized, and more similar to mutual gift giving and receiving than to mercantile trade in the broader world.
Lizardfolk culture is rooted in their unique biological hierarchy. Firstly, Lizardfolk society follows strict divisions along lines of biological sex. Males in Lizardfolk society compete with each other throughout their development and enculturation, until they reach the age of physical maturity. At this age, the young Lizardfolk compete against each other in games of strength, cunning, and prowess, which vary depending on the specific cultural context of their village.
After these competitions, which can last several months, the male Lizardfolk undergo a highly dimorphic form of secondary sexual differentiation. Those stronger, more dominant Lizardfolk begin a process similar to human puberty, gaining strength, height, bulk, and other traits generally associated with humanoid masculinity. These Lizardfolk go on to become the hunter-warriors in their community, though because of the violent conflicts that Lizardfolk engage in, they have a rather high mortality rate. The Shaman, who leads the Lizardfolk community, is exclusively drawn from this class of hunter-warriors.
Those Lizardfolk who lose out in these games do not develop secondary sexual characteristics, instead remaining biologically male, but in a semi-pre-pubescent state. They develop to full adult stature, though shorter than their hunter-warrior counterparts, and are known to remain rather feminine in appearance (by Lizardfolk standards). Within Lizardfolk culture, these Lizardfolk take on a third gender position which can be translated or understood as "caretaker-laborer", "consort", or in the more puerile sections of non-Lizardfolk society, "femboy". These Lizardfolk remain sterile, but conduct much of the business of operating the village alongside female Lizardfolk. They engage in sexual and intimate relationships with hunter-warriors, and play a major role in raising the many Lizardfolk young. Caretaker-Laborers are the backbone of the small, localized terraforming which Lizardfolk engage in. They build the islands and submerged mud pathways that allow Lizardfolk to travel throughout their territory, and during armed conflicts, they occasionally perform scouting duties alongside their hunter-warrior compatriots. Additionally, during conflicts between Lizardfolk communities, caretaker-laborers are often kidnapped and taken as spoils by the victorious side.
When the bulk or entirety of a community's hunter-warrior class is eliminated, competition amongst the caretaker-laborers breaks out in a similarly ritualized fashion to the competition amongst the male Lizardfolk around the time of puberty. Those who win out in these games will develop secondary sexual characteristics, growing in strength and stature. Occasionally, caretaker-consorts initiate such competitions without large depopulation events, which can lead to a readjustment of the community's class structure. If the breakdown of that competition's winners happen to result in a readjustment of which males are in the winning portion and which in the losing, the losing hunter-warriors will lose their secondary sexual characteristics, while the winning caretaker-laborers will develop secondary sexual characteristics. Potentially because the sexual development of caretaker-laborers tends to happen only after major depopulation events, caretaker-laborers who go on to develop secondary sexual characteristics are invariably larger, stronger, and more powerful than their kin who developed originally. It is theorized that this is an evolutionary response designed to make the community more resilient, and more likely to be able to strike back against whatever threat has depopulated it.
Finally, addressing female Lizardfolk, there is a wholly different world to the sexual dynamics of the male Lizardfolk. All female lizardfolk develop secondary sexual characteristics, and do not compete in any parallel of the ritualized competitions of their male counterparts. Though male Lizardfolk are nominally in charge of their communities, and the Shaman is drawn from amongst their ranks, the true keepers of knowledge and tradition within Lizardfolk society are females. In conflicts between Lizardfolk, females are invariably left alone even in the most thoroughly defeated communities, as are their eggs and young. In this circumstance, the females are able to rebuild the community, and are the only source of knowledge and tradition for the next generation of males: hunter-warrior and caretaker-laborer alike. This means that though some of its outward structures are patriarchal, Lizardfolk society has been subtly shaped and reworked for thousands upon thousands of years by the female Lizardfolk who do not engage in the violent conflicts of their male kin.
please consider changing title to Lizardfolx