Sdanli

Sdanli are large, fierce reptilian predators native to Home. In the very ancient history of the Race, petitioners who appeared before emperors (Ssumaz or otherwise, as this was long before the planet's political unification even by the standards of the Race's history) were thrown to sdanli as punishment. The punishment was later changed to a nonlethal, symbolic one: courtiers in sdanli-skin masks surround the disgraced individuals and mock them.