Chameleon Lord

[ Animal Lords ] [ Krigala | Brux | Karasuthra | Wanderers ]
[ Diurnal Krigalan Lords ] [ Ape | Chameleon | Dinosaur | Dog | Elephant | Hawk | Horse ]

Agemo, the Chameleon Lord

Seyhrain Chamaeleontis. Planar animal lord [they/them] NG/CG

Realm: Beastlands / Krigala / The Psychedelic Jungle

When Chameleon Stole the Colours

Long ago, before the Beastlands were adorned with their three eternal skies—dawn, day, and dusk—the plane was a place of endless gray. The animals roamed in shadow without light or colour to guide them. The rivers ran dull, the trees were lifeless silhouettes, and even the stars were pale as ash. It was said that Creator had hidden all colours within a crystal at the top of the highest mountain of Krigala, forgotten it was there, and then fallen asleep for a thousand years.

Among all creatures of the Beastlands, only Chameleon had heard whispers of this treasure. Chameleon was born plain and gray like everything else, but she dreamed of a world bursting with colour. Driven by curiosity and impatience, Chameleon embarked on a journey to the mountain to uncover its secret.

When Chameleon reached the summit, she found the crystal glowing faintly with strange hues that pulsed like her beating heart. But it was guarded by three spirits—the Sun Spirit, the Moon Spirit and the Star Spirit—who warned Chameleon: “The colours are not yours to take. They belong to all creatures. If you take them for yourself, you will bring imbalance to the Beastlands. You must wait for the Creator to awaken.”

Chameleon promised to honour their warning but as she gazed onto the crystal, she became covetous. She secretly devised a plan to keep all the colours for herself. Each day, in the moments after the Sun Spirit had set but before the Moon and Star Spirits had risen, Chameleon crept closer with slow and deliberate movements. On the third night, she extended her tongue, which was longer than any other creature’s—and touched the crystal’s surface.

The colours exploded outward in a storm of light. Red rivers flowed down mountainsides; blue leaves unfurled across forests; green sunlight bathed the plains; purple skies stretched into infinity. All the animals of the Beastlands awoke in wonder and awe at this new strange world.

But Chameleon had absorbed part of the crystal’s essence into her own body. Her scales shimmered with every hue imaginable, changing with each emotion and thought. While other creatures celebrated their newfound beauty, Chameleon suddenly felt burdened by guilt for taking what was meant for all.

The spirits confronted Chameleon: “You have brought colours to the world but they are all wrong! To restore harmony, you must collect all of the wrong colours and put them right again, or Creator will be angry when they wake!”

From that day forward, Chameleon began to travel the plane, collecting the colours that were misplaced with her sticky tongue, and make things right again so that the trees are green and the rivers are blue, as they should be.

The Gift of Adaptation

Before humans walked upon the Prime, the Creator gathered all of the animals to receive their gifts. Each animal approached the sacred fire and reached in to draw out their special talent—Wolf took courage, Deer took swiftness, Bear took strength.

When Chameleon’s turn came, she moved so slowly that many animals grew impatient. Coyote pushed forward saying, “This slow one will take all day! Let me choose for her.”

But Creator said, “Patience reveals wisdom that haste cannot see.”

After a long time, Chameleon finally reached the fire and, instead of quickly grabbing her gift, she observed carefully with her eyes moving in different directions, seeing what others had missed. She extended her long tongue, reaching deeper into the flames than any before her, and withdrew not one gift but the space between gifts—the sacred power of change itself.

Creator nodded with approval. “You have chosen wisely, Chameleon. While others take one way of Being, you take the way of Becoming.”

From that day forward, Chameleon could shift her colours to match any environment, teaching the world that survival depends not on strength or speed, but on the ability to harmonise with one’s surroundings. Later, when humans were shaped from clay, Creator remembered Chameleon’s wisdom and gave humans hands with five fingers that could adapt to make countless tools. As Chameleon had shown, true power lies not in remaining fixed but in the ability to change with purpose.

The Two-Eyed Truth

Long ago, when the world was new and creatures were still learning their purposes, the animals of Krigala found themselves in constant conflict. Each animal could see only their own perspective—the grazing beasts claimed the grasslands as their own, the predators declared hunting rights across all territories, and the birds claimed dominion over everything they could see from above. Chameleon lived quietly among them all, changing her colours to match whatever place she inhabited. Unlike other creatures, she possessed two eyes that could move independently, allowing her to see in different directions simultaneously.

One season, when drought brought tensions to their peak and war between the beasts seemed inevitable, the animals gathered at the last waterhole. As they argued over who should drink first, Chameleon climbed to the highest branch above the gathering.

“You all see only half the truth,” she called down. “Each of you beholds the world through a single vision.”

The other animals scoffed at Chameleon, but she continued, “I will show you what I see.”

Using ancient magics, Chameleon sent her vision to reflect in the waterhole below. Suddenly, each creature could see from two perspectives at once—the lion understood the zebra’s fear, the eagle felt the mouse’s vulnerability, the elephant comprehended the delicate needs of the saplings it trampled underfoot. The sensation lasted only moments, but for the wise animals, it changed everything. They established new ways of sharing the waterhole, taking turns according to their need rather than their power.

To this day, Chameleon moves slowly and deliberately through the world, her eyes rotating independently, to remind the other animals that truth requires seeing from multiple perspectives, and harmony comes from reflecting on the viewpoints of others.

Agemo, the Chameleon Lord

They say that the Chameleon Lord looks different to each person who lays eyes on her—or indeed on him, or them. Cutters assume there’s only one Chameleon Lord around at a time—that’s how the other Animal Lords seem to work at least, but when you’re dealing with a blood who embodies the very essence of disguise and misdirection, you can never be sure. What is known though is that Chameleon has taken a few different names over the years, and their personality’s been a little different each time.

The current incarnation of the chameleon lord is called Agemo, and because of their ability to move unseen, they’re valued by the powers when they have a need to send secret messages between each other. Chant goes that Agemo’s natural ability to transform and hide even works at the Spire, and that makes the chameleon lord a valuable go-between when paranoid powers met to discuss diving business. But it’s not an infallible system. Some cultures believe that chameleons are harbingers of death, because like death they catch you unprepared, but more problematically because of the story of Chameleon and Lizard. A long time ago at one of these Spire pow-wows, the gods were deciding what should happen to humans when they get old—should they live forever, or should they die? The power creator power Olorun eventually decided that they should be immortal, and sent Chameleon to inform the power of death that he was no longer needed. But the trickster Lizard Lord had overheard the conversation, and because he was fast and Chameleon was slow, he ran ahead and delivered the opposite message. And that, unfortunately, is the reason that mortals must die.

These days Agemo is much more careful, and tries to stay out of such affairs. They spend the majority of their time in their chaotically colourful realm called the Psychedelic Jungle in Krigala. They perch on an impossibly high branch catching the warmth of the sun’s rays, while keeping out of sight and watching the goings on across the plane. More spymaster than secret agent these days, Chameleon is said to know the business of all the other animal lords, and is a useful cutter to consult about matters of beast politics.

Another thing the Chameleon Lord is known for are their masked ball celebrations. The petitioners of the Beastlands don’t get much occasion to go to parties, but Agemo’s Festival of Faces is a decadently civilised affair where creatures wear elaborate costumes and mimic each other. Not only is it fun, but it also harks back to the Beastlander principle of harmony between species. At least, when they’re not hunting one another…

Source: Jon Winter-Holt. Canonwatch: I’ve drawn on chameleon and lizard myths from Malawi, the Miwok of California, the Mbuti of the Congo, the Bantu of South Africa, and the Yoruba of Nigeria, where the god Agemo comes from. I also found this adorable South African children’s story about the lazy chameleon which doesn’t really fit here but I wanted to share it anyway!