The Lizardmen all revere the Old Ones as all-mighty deities, the ancient and long forgotten creators of this very world. Many long, bloody millennia have passed since the collapse of the polar gates and the departure of the Old Ones. No living Slann Mage-Priest remains to speak of them and so they passed from memory into legend. Ever since then, the enigmatic Old Ones have come to be regarded not as benevolent rulers of an order spanning the universe and the dimensions, but now as a distant, long-lost pantheon of hungry Gods.
With no first hand knowledge of the Old Ones, and with their records scattered and incomplete since the Great Catastrophe, the Lizardmen have but a fragmented picture of their creators. The sacred plaques are replete with oblique and obscure references to various Old Ones and their deeds, and from these the Lizardmen have come to associate specific traits with individual Old Ones. Tlanxa, for example, is an Old One described in many glyphs as the embodiment of the warlike nature of the Lizardmen, and a pair of matching glyphs sequence in Hexoatl and Itza make reference to him riding to war in a all-mighty sky-chariot.
Quetli is spoken of in the sacred plaques of Hexoatl as the "Protector of the True Way". Xhotl, the Old One after which the temple-city is named, is described in every sequence that mentions him as the chooser of those destined for greatness. As the Lizardmen have come into conflict with more and more races, those Old Ones associated with the martial aspects of the Lizardmen's nature have come to the fore.
Worship of the Old Ones is a highly ritualistic affair, but its exact form depends on the deity in question and the nature of the worshiper who conducts it. The Mage-Priest, for example preside over all manner of ceremonies that occur within his domain but yet remain impassive throughout the entire experience. A Mage-Priest may be carried to a high altar to make the ceremony an official event yet he would remain in his meditation trance all the while, completely unaware or uncaring of the ceremony itself. As such, it is the Skink Priests that actually carry out the many and varied observances, abasement's and rites associated with each Old One.
The Saurus too pay homage to the lost gods, though these simple-minded creatures do so in their own, simple way. They may heap the bodies of fallen enemies before a totem to the warrior-defender Quetzl for example, or swallow whole the still-beating heart of the vanquished in honor of Tzcatli, he who grants strength to a warrior's arm. [...]
Those few races that encounter Lizardmen and live to tell of it find them an alien and incomprehensible race - utterly cold and devoid of compassion. Like wild beasts, the Lizardmen are instinctive and savage. They are able to slaughter every last one of their foes with brutal efficiency and they do not know the meaning of remorse, however, the Lizardmen way of war is not inherently cruel. Even when mercilessly mauling an invader or wiping out those deemed undesirable, the Lizardmen do not kill wantonly for its own sake. That changed the day the Skaven came.
While superstitious acts have gained in popularity since the loss of the Old Ones, these were taken to horrific new levels with the coming of the new god Sotek. Inspired by Tehenhauin, Skink Priests led the ritualistic slaughter of untold thousands of the foul ratmen. These Skaven were sacrificed in horrific fashion - sometimes thrown alive into writhing pits of serpents, other times split open and choice organs proffered to the heavens. If the Skaven was lucky, he was simply beheaded by a Saurus executioner. It is recorded that Kroq-Gar, a mighty Saurus leader, has personally delivered the killing strike to over a thousand Skaven warlords since the event known simply as the Rise of Sotek. Entire temple-cities would turn out to watch the sacrifice of an important Skaven commander, the vast plazas filling with clamourous Skinks. For the most part, the inscrutable Slann Mage-Priests leave such barbaric practices alone, although they could no longer ignore the popular rise of the new god Sotek, nor could they rein in the base practice of offering up sacrifices to attract the blessings of the gods.
