"Nagpas can't learn from that which isn't destroyed. Imagine how bewildering and terrifying a city full of life must be to them. is it any wonder that they seek the ruin of such places?"
When Jim Henson designed the skeksis, he "became intrigued with the idea of a reptilian race assuming control over a formerly splendid past society." This eventually turned into the greedy, prideful, pathetically terrifying skeksis, which in turn likely went on to inspire the design of D&D's nagpa one year after the movie's release. With their latest incarnation featured in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, here's my take on their lore and mindset.
The nagpas were once a cabal of mages that sought to siphon power from the gods. As punishment for their greed and treachery against those that first gave them their power, they were cursed with vulture-like forms, blackened bones, and the inability to obtain knowledge from that which is not destroyed or discarded.
