[Endoperez]

Perhaps the race itself starts underwater, but the conmen are mostly humans. That'd keep the capital from being filled with neverending horde of dangerously costly individuals.

I remember seeing some artist's renditions of a fish that wore priestly gown and carried a miniature gallows as a symbol of its status. In various pictures, these fish-priests wandered among humans, accepted children given as tribute for their might empire, etc etc. It had a staff that ended on a miniature gallows. I couldn't locate the site any more.