note: i will be referring to them as only zaterrans just to make this easier. midway couldn't decide on a name, and nrs was stuck on that for a while too—but now that mk1 has seemingly settled this, i refuse to go back and forth between them all.

history

original & alternate timelines:

millions of years ago, zaterrans lived on earthrealm, being a bipedal people descended from dinosaurs. unlike their dinosaur ancestors, they had evolved more intelligent brains and were able to thrive as a proper society. however, when shinnok turned against his fellow elder gods and came into conflict with raiden, the following battle was so disastrous that it triggered the K-T event on earthrealm that wiped out the dinosaurs and almost all life on earthrealm. the surviving zaterrans fled the disaster and were split into two: some of them left earthrealm to reside in a realm called zaterra ("new earth") in hopes of rebuilding their culture, and the rest took refuge underground in hollow earth.

for the zaterrans that were displaced, things were fine for a while, until shao kahn came along to conquer their realm. the zaterrans lost the effort against the emperor, and following the trend of other realms that have been conquered by shao — such as edenia, vaeturnus, osh-tekk, and arnyek — zaterra was absorbed into outworld. after this, the zaterrans left were taken into slavery and driven to near extinction. it's not known exactly when shao took zaterra, or how long it took for the zaterrans to start dying out out, but syzoth's mortal kombat 2 bio mentions that his race was believed to be extinct "millions of years ago." in addition, the few remaining zaterrans alive don't actually remember these events happening.

as for the zaterrans that fled to hollow earth, they managed to endure and thrive underground without any interference. there is not much information on their history or what they experienced in hollow earth, other than that they went undetected and are ruled over by a matriarch.

the new era:

in liu kang's new era, zaterra is part of outworld, making zaterrans now native to outworld instead of residing in the realm as a result of conquest. adding to this, there's now more than one species: instead of being different terms to refer to the same group, "zaterran" and "saurian" are now two separate species from one another. the difference between them has not been elaborated on yet. syzoth's mk1 bio calls zaterrans "one of the reptiloid races which lives on outworld's fringes", so whether there are more reptiloid groups outside of zaterrans and saurians is also up to debate.

zaterrans are no longer a near-extinct race, but they still face hardship and are heavily discriminated against. the full history of zaterran-outworld relations in the new era is unknown, but several of syzoth's intros indicate that they once thrived above ground in outworld, before being herded underground by "warmbloods"/non-reptilians. they, along with saurians, now reside in outworld's subterranean areas. why exactly they were driven underground has not been explained yet, but the history there has resulted in both groups hating one another; outworlders are openly bigoted to zaterrans such as syzoth, while warmbloods are generally unwelcome in zaterra.

zikandur has been brought up in some lines, most likely being an area in zaterra where lots of outworld’s reptilian people currently live. its history is unexplored, aside from mentioned past events like the zikandurian floods. it is apparently at risk of being invaded by the kytinn, though why the latter are doing that is also unknown.

at some point in time, a policy was passed in the zaterran government to kill all zaterran shapeshifters. the reasoning behind this and how long ago it started is unknown but considering that syzoth was bullied relentlessly for his shapeshifting mutation, knowledge of zaterran shapeshifters must have faded from the general public after this order was first carried out. in general, zaterra's government is implied to be extremely corrupt.

many zaterrans are dissatisfied with the royal family, either attempting to start or joining rebellion efforts. after his bloody escape from lei chen prison, general shao has been recruiting these dissatisfied zaterrans to join his rebel army in outworld, with the goal of overthrowing mileena's rule.

biology

original & alternate timelines:

the design of zaterrans changed over the games, but they were generally depicted as green (though this also varies, i.e in the case of khameleon) bipedal humanoids with scales, claws, and lizard-shaped heads. they are also close to size of the average human as well. similar to chameleons and frogs, zaterrans have tongues that can extend far beyond their body to catch prey. zaterrran saliva is acidic, able to be used in kombat as a attack/defense mechanism and possibly to help digest food. this acid is very strong, able to melt right through flesh. for some reason, their blood is green.

a zaterran's diet differs from the average human one, mainly consisting of live bugs/insects/worms, but raw meat (including humans) is also on the table. zaterrans are able to make themselves and others around them invisible.

in the first two timelines, all zaterrans possessed the ability to shapeshift between their true forms and more human-like appearances. there is a catch to this, though: their society is matriarchal, and any zaterran who spends too long away from a matriarch & her influence will devolve, losing their ability to maintain a human disguise. this will also negatively impact the mental state of the affected zateerran. however, if they make their way back to the matriarch, the ability to look human and general sanity will return.

alongside all of this, there is a card in mortal kombat mobile that confirms they can regenerate their limbs.

the new era:

in the new era, zaterran biology is generally similar to how it was in the previous timelines, but with some changes.

for starters, these new zaterrans are bigger and more animalistic-looking than their old versions. they are still able to walk on two legs, but one of the moves syzoth's boss has in his invasions season confirms that they can also run around on all four legs. the previous games flip-flopped on whether or not to give zaterrans tails, but in mortal kombat 1 they have tails again—these are used by zaterrans to grab and move things, essentially like a fifth limb.

i have no clue if their actual limbs can still regenerate or not.

outside of these small changes, there is one very significant one in the new era: the average zaterran is no longer able to shapeshift. there are some zaterrans who are able to shapeshift between a human form and reptiloid form, but those who hatch with this mutation are not accepted by their people and often bullied, run out of their homes, or killed. they also don't seem to be matriarchal anymore.

all known members

original & alternate timelines:

SYZOTH/REPTILE:

a long-lasting franchise staple and the most well-known zaterran in the series, syzoth — better known as his codename "reptile" — lived a long life of servitude. original timeline: syzoth was one of the last surviving members of his species, desperate to find a way to bring back his people. syzoth loyally served shang tsung and shao kahn, who kept his loyalty with the promises of restoring the zaterran race. ironically, shao was the one who caused the extermination of his people, but syzoth did not know about this. after shao was murdered by the deadly alliance, syzoth wandered around before he turned to serving nitara (who he'd ran into previously and gotten his kirehashi blade from), as he did not know how to live without serving a master. nitara accepted him, but unbeknownst to syzoth, she too was deceiving him. the vaeternian manipulated syzoth into battling cyrax, damaging the cyborg, which in turn would help with nitara's goal of getting the portal sphere. when syzoth eventually realized he was being used, he was enraged and chased after nitara and cyrax to the lava shrine, but arrived too late. the only thing there was the egg of onaga. it hatched, shining a beam of light onto syzoth, making his body become a vessel for the dragon king. much later, when shujinko defeated onaga and his soul was bound to the netherrealm by nightwolf, syzoth was once again able to have free will and gain control of his own body. he was seen in the red dragon's lair for unknown reasons (most likely trying to create hybrids that would restore his race), and joined the forces of darkness at the battle of armageddeon. he was killed at the battle, along with the majority of the other fighters. alternate timeline: thanks to the reset by raiden, syzoth was back to serving shao kahn and shang tsung, fighting against the earthrealmers in the tournament and later battles. after losing the tournament, syzoth knew that shao kahn would not take kindly to this failure and kept his guard up. he was proven right when the osh-tekk warrior kotal was sent to assassinate him in his sleep; however, to syzoth's surprise, kotal spared his life and didn't go through with killing him. the following morning, shao kahn formally introduced the two, saying that kotal had hand-picked syzoth to serve under his command. from there, kotal earned syzoth's genuine loyalty. when shao died and mileena seized the throne, kotal declared a coup against her. syzoth was at his side during this, taking a blow for him, and continued to loyally serve afterwards. understanding that kotal saw value in him where shao did not, syzoth was committed to serving the new ruler of outworld as a close follower and friend. his whereabouts and status after the events of mortal kombat X are unknown, outside of a few mentions in intros and a small appearance in the krypt from mortal kombat 11.

KHAMELEON:

debuting in mortal kombat trilogy as a secret character, khameleon was the last known female member of her race. unlike syzoth, khameleon actually knew the truth of their people's history. however, because she chose to fight for earthrealm and wished to slay shao, this meant the last surviving members of the zaterran race were mortal enemies. at some point, khameleon set out to search for syzoth. she spent a long time looking for him, wishing to inform him that shao kahn was responsible for their race's extinction, and try to start a new generation of zaterrans. once she found him and reveal the truth, syzoth initially agreed to help her kill the emperor—only for him to fall under shao's influence once again, turning against khameleon. she escaped and wandered the realms until she heard of a battle that would happen in edenia, with the victor being given the prize of ultimate power. khameleon knew that shao kahn getting this would be disastrous and joined the forces of light in the battle of armageddon. along with the rest of the fighters, khameleon died at the pyramid. while she was referenced a few times and even made a brief cameo in the background of mortal kombat 9, khameleon's whereabouts and history after raiden's timeline reset are unknown.

CHAMELEON (unconfirmed):

debuting in the same game khameleon did as a fellow secret fighter, ch-ameleon never actually got a storyline or arcade ending in mortal kombat trilogy, unlike his female counterpart. the only information about chameleon at the time was that he was mentioned to be "one of shao kahn's deadliest warriors." it took until chameleon's next appearance to finally get a (extremely vague) backstory: supposedly, he was present at every major event in the games dating back to liu kang's victory in the tournament, but constantly kept himself hidden and watched everything unfold while waiting for "his moment" to arrive. he fought with the forces of darkness at the battle of armageddon, dying at the pyramid with everyone else. chameleon's presence in the alternate timeline is also miniscule. in mortal kombat x, one of syzoth's mirror match intros will have him question if the counterpart in front of him is chameleon, implying the two know each other. in addition, chameleon falls to his death in mortal kombat 11's krypt, but the canon status of the krypt is debatable. other than this, there's no information on him. the reason that chameleon's status as a zaterran is marked as "unconfirmed" is because.... uh, it has never been outright stated he is one in any game. considering he shares traits with khameleon, who is a zaterran, chameleon being one himself would make sense. there is also the fact that syzoth mistakes his mirror match for chameleon, further alluding to him being a fellow reptilian. in addition, mortal kombat co-creator john tobias has said that his original intention was for chameleon to be a fellow zaterran, but this information just didn't make it into any of the games for some reason. at the same time, if chameleon was a member of the zaterran race, this would directly contradict established information about syzoth being the last living male zaterran. i don't know, man, the devs do not care about this guy and it shows.

QUEEN SYTHOLIN:

presumably the former ruler of zaterra, before shao kahn conquered the realm. no information about her exists, but sytholin's blade — one of the few remaining zaterran relics — can be found inside of goro's treasure chamber in the mortal kombat 11 krypt; according to its description, the wielder can control the minds of smaller reptilians and have them obey the user's will.

the new era:

SYZOTH/REPTILE:

unlike his previous iterations, mortal kombat 1's syzoth is not in a desperate cycle of trying to restore his race. however, he was run out of his homeland of zaterra after being relentlessly bullied for his shapeshifting mutation. up until his arcade ending, syzoth believed he was the only one of his kind who possessed this ability. syzoth joined a traveling carnival to profit on his shapeshifting skill, even marrying an unnamed woman with whom he had a son with. him and shang tsung crossed paths, and when the latter asked to experiment on him, syzoth denied the offer. but shang tsung took syzoth's family hostage anyways, using them to keep him obedient in being a slave; from there, he was experimented on and aided in shang's inhumane experiments on others, all for the sake of his family. that went on for months, before the earthrealmers and baraka were captured and fought their way out of shang tsung's laboratory. syzoth tried to stop them, knowing that if he didn't his family would be killed, but lost the battle to baraka. after this, syzoth learned the truth: his wife and son had already been killed devastated by this, but also understanding that there was nothing keeping him under shang tsung's thumb anymore, syzoth escaped into the living forest with the other men. from there they met ashrah, attempted to stop the sorcerer quan chi from activating his soul stealer in the living forest—but despite failing at that the group still captured him with the intention of bringing him to earthrealm for questioning. to help his companions escape, syzoth disrupted the shivai ranatai festival in sun do and fought off several other characters, providing enough of a diversion for everyone to flee the realm (without quan chi, who managed to get away). it's not known what syzoth did for the remainder of the main story after arriving in earthrealm, but in his tower ending it's revealed that mileena appointed him as her emissary as thanks for helping unveil the truth behind shao and shang's plans. with his renewed political status protecting him, syzoth journeyed home to zaterra, where he discovered the conspiracy by the zaterran government to exterminate all shapeshifters. at some point after the main story's events, syzoth entered a romantic relationship with ashrah, but the details of how this began are (sadly) currently unknown. (more info TBA if khaos reigns gives me anything else)

KHAMELEON:

in the new era, khameleon is no longer the last female zaterran alive. in fact, khameleon isn't even the same species as syzoth anymore. an intro with takeda reveals that khameleon is a saurian, which is said to be distinct from zaterrans. the details of khameleon's life are largely unknown, but she is a member of the umgadi, a group of warrior priestesses. umgadi members are selected from firstborn women in outworld, taken as infants to be raised as one and train to protect outworld's royal family. khameleon was seen throughout the main story assisting tanya in fights against percieved threats to the royal family. she is probably a fellow reptilian shapeshifter, but unlike syzoth she keeps strictly to a human form. (more info TBA if khaos reigns gives me anything else)

ARCHDUKE MAHAZZEM:

only being mentioned once in a syzoth/sindel intro, mahazzem is one of zaterra's many archdukes. the only known details about mahazzem is that sindel considered him to be a friend, but this "friendship" was a mask. in truth, he secretly plotted to betray sindel and rebel against her rule. (more info TBA if any intros or even KR, while unlikely, gives me anything else)

OTHER POSSIBLE MEMBERS: erlac dicharr, nareb nevets, hatigo mesgo, sever nahhan, sykin foh

these are names from syzoth's gear that could be of other reptiloids, as they don't really sound like locations or events, and i don't think they're references to real-life things as nothing comes up when i google them. but at the same time i'm not entirely sure, so take this last bit with a very large grain of salt