To collect the ideas I put in earlier threads, and some new ones:
Theme: Aztecian central american jungle, a tip of the hat to the Warhammer universe (but no wholesale copying, because FFH is awesome as original), warrior aristocracy (so pygmies, warriors, elites), templar/religious, urban yet very strong jungle adaption (especially amongst their lower level units---skirmishers/hunters/civillians), probably special jungle farms that use terrace farming that doesn't deforest (so camp-style farming).
possibly a brand new God. pro's, if original its cool. con's, it goes over the 7 religions mark. Khorne (Wh) as the archetype for a new god, with emphasis on blood and chaos, but probably not death (lets leave death for the Mordor inspired AV religion). Probably Body (for blood to feed the blood god), Chaos (bringing death and mutation to the enemies), and Nature (jungle harmony).
Possibly replace the Chaos with Death, but I think the undead should be far removed from the lizmen, though a mummified lich lizard king might be an acceptable hero. Sort of a toss-up, though perhaps replace Chaos/Death with Law, and have a holy (in evil sense) lizardman palidan king as hero; Law feels better than Chaos if there is a tight aristocracy in the lizmen. EDIT: Possibly I'm thinking of Entropy instead of even law though.
New religion would have enslave/sacrifice tied into the 2nd tier tech for the religion. Probably a UB, or new civic would be the special reward tieing into sacrifice/enslaving. Possible enslaving will be a generic promotion to allow other civs to pick it up without having a lizman model as the enslaver.
Specific abilities: definitely a plant new jungle option. jungle under territorial control should cause damage to enemies (representing traps, and carnivorous breeds of vegetation that the lizmen breed).
Enslave enemies (good reason for raids). Sacrifice enemies--fits with aztec theme. So possibly sacrifice enemies to gain temporary boosts in nature (as fertilizer), or body (as blood). Possibly sacrifice acts as ritual, free temporary nodes, or magically speeds up the spread of new jungle (or some combination of that).
Aversion to strip mining. Tendency to elf-style improvements (cottages/plantations exist within the jungle). Improved harvesting from raw jungle. Possibly impossible to make own mines, so perhaps no use of metals?
Unit themes: jungle woodsman, natural poison, special enhanced body poisons (think Ebola). If Chaos-theme, think mutations, especially within the jungle tiles. ability to enslave enemy in aristocracy units. possible lack of spirit/courage outside of jungle/woods terrain. possible cannabalism in skirmish/hunter units. lower units are more amphibian/frog-like, while higher units are lizard like. beast units of giant lizards (komodos) and snakes. possible Naga (snakemen, mystical) allies? Strong melee units, evasive skirmish units. No siege capability other than perhaps through their beasts (as battering rams). Strong healing capacity.
General unit categories:
worker (skink)
settler (lizman, aristocratic)
Skirmisher/scout (skink)
Warrior line (lizman)
early Spartatoi style Lizman
Adept line/ priest line (aristocratic lizman, or naga ally)
Heroes (lizman warrior king, lizman high priest, some sort of
beast /embodiment of their god)
siege line / archer line (beasts)
Unique buildings: Special healers--much more powerful with reagents than standard (reagents will need to occur in jungle tiles then). Beast pens for breeding and modifying beasts (ability to adapt stock beasts to a wide variety of promotion trees). Palace/temples with strong aztec, tiered pyramid theme. Possible unique obelisk, done as a stele (+GP%, +adept XP gain?). Ball court game---similar to Arena UB, but lower XP gain, and much lower chance of death.
Leaders: possibly there is a new trait, Jungle
Agg/jungle/arcane
Barb/jungle/arcane
