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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11694 Posts |
 Posted - 23 Mar 2012 : 12:25:24
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Some recent conversations here were making me think about the various tauric species in the realms. I was just wondering, what kinds of Mammalian (i.e. not insect bottomed, not snake bottomed, etc...) tauric creatures have been developed? I can think of a handful being the lamias(, centaurs, wemics (man-lion), hybsil (stag/fey mix), and the bariaur (man-goat).
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Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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Artemas Entreri
Great Reader
USA
3131 Posts |
Posted - 23 Mar 2012 : 12:57:13
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| You have listed all of the one i am familiar with. However, i have played in a few campaigns where we made up some of our own. |
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Bladewind
Master of Realmslore
Netherlands
1280 Posts |
Posted - 23 Mar 2012 : 14:13:22
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The tauric template is an interesting one, aye. I always attributed the possible creatures to one-in-a-million experiments of biomancers across the ages, so nearly everything imaginable has once been tried in Torils past.
Archmages of ages past were known to experiment on the creation of new life. Ka'Narlist had done so with the wemics of his region (creating the perfect Shock troopers) and was planning on creating winged Ilythiiri by capturing and experimenting on Avariel (expanding his army tactics with flying support troops).
Shock troops are perfect for exploiting a broken army formation, a thing typically assigned to knights on horseback. A good pike formation can still hold off a cavalry charge because the mounts are hesitant of charging into a wall of pikes. The Tauric template is useful in creating highly mobile yet strong soldiers that can outcompete knights on horseback because they are even useful in breaking a pike formation because they can be specifically trained to break those pike formations.
I think the ones you already mentioned as the few creations that became stable races, while numerous experiments have faded into extinction of obscurity. A number of other less desirable traits could be the reason for not finding many examples of tauric creatures. A man-elephant might have been made once, but could have proven to be too physically unstable (the creature form prove to be too large for sucesful merging) to form a true race of monstrous humanoids. The scary man-bull could have been a failed experiment because of the mental instability of the actual tauric-formed creature (a tauric creature in heat could become highly unpredictable). |
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Druidic Groves
Creature Feature: Giant Spiders |
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Lord Karsus
Great Reader
USA
3737 Posts |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11694 Posts |
Posted - 24 Mar 2012 : 23:35:26
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Yeah, the reason why I was wondering was I was thinking wouldn't it be interesting to have some form of culture spring up that was filled only with these tauric like beings. For instance, maybe some fey realm that has noble families of centaurs, wemics, hybsil, and bariaurs (I leave out lamias, because they don't "fit" this culture in general). So, then even as I finished that thought, I was like what if it was really mixed? By that, I mean, amongst the centaurs maybe there are the centaurs with donkey bottoms, various colored bottoms (brown, white, black, zebra, paint, etc...), and some being more like light horses and others being Clydesdales. Similar with the wemics and lion, tiger, panther, etc... bottoms. Similar with the hybsils, possibly deer, caribou, antelope, moose etc... bottoms and different types of horns/antlers. Then I started thinking about other things that might fit generally in this culture. Since most of these "animal" type bottoms are generally plains/forest type animals, I could see fox / dog / wolf bottoms as well as a bear. I also thought about some "cow" mixtures, but that didn't seem "wild" enough... though maybe buffalo. My mind then strayed to some orc/boar combo, and I figured before I started picturing halfling/raccoons and gnome/badgers (or an Irishman / sheep combo)I'd better let my mind quit wandering.
Anyway, not really sure what dragged my interest so heavily on something so simple, but it just seemed like an idea begging to be developed. For instance, what kind of culture would spring about? What kind of housing would they have? Might certain of the groups being able to do certain work make it possible for their society to actually function (by that, I mean something like the "Clydesdale" like centaur warriors might provide protection to the community, but they can't go into the mountains and mine the metals they need for their weapons.... but the "donkey" like centaurs and the bariaur might not suffer the same issues)? Would certain of the breeds just be better inclined towards hunting (i.e. say the "wemic" and "wolf-taurs"), and as a result that's their function? Would certain of the breeds be excellent farmers (say the hybsils and some breeds of the centaurs)? Maybe the bear people catch salmon (oooo, and tend bees for honey <G>)? Then, my head turned towards religion and wondered which deities they might worship dearly (the various nature gods obviously, but what else?).
Then, I wondered where they might fit in Faerun, and my first thoughts were the Shaar. Another option is maybe in Maztica. Another maybe a remote section of the hordelands. As to a history, my first inclination was towards "mages experimenting created a bunch of crossbreeds", but that seems a little .... forced, simple, blah... My second thought was some grand "a centaur, a wemic, and a hybsil joined forces to fight against X" and they became valiant allies and joined their people's together. I confess, that rings a little better to my ears, but doesn't explain this very extravagant mix I've detailed.
The final option I'm thinking about is one revolving around maybe worship of Miellikki and ritual. Maybe these people were actually not "tauric" at birth, but as part of a "blessing" ritual performed in their youth they actually take on the traits of an animal to which they are naturally "attuned". Being mammals themselves, the animals they become attuned to are also mammalian (thus, no alligator-taurs, etc...). This idea has really taken in my mind, and maybe similarly "attuned" people found themselves attracted to one another and bred true. Maybe over the years new followers have come to the "tribe" and periodically the ritual is cast on these willing outsiders, possibly resulting in new "breeds" of these tauric individuals.
Anyway, not really sure where I was going with it, other than that visually it could make for something interesting. I felt like I should put the idea out there, see where it goes, etc... One semi-sinister take I can see on this is maybe the "ritual" that's being used is actually some lost lore from the creator races. |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 25 Mar 2012 : 14:54:57
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Toril probably has more tauric species then any other world (even several different racial groups of centaurs).
For this reason, I would love to see Ed expound further on how he 'did Centaurs' in his Realms (and based on the timeline he provided with his Athalantar Dragon article, I would say he has already put much thought into it).
Yes... that was a hint for future "Elminter's Forgotten Realms" topics.  |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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sfdragon
Great Reader
2285 Posts |
Posted - 26 Mar 2012 : 00:47:51
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| there was that dracotaur mentioned somewhere... |
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http://steelfiredragon.deviantart.com/gallery/33539234 |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31701 Posts |
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Fellfire
Master of Realmslore
1965 Posts |
Posted - 26 Mar 2012 : 01:32:13
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I could definitely see some kind of fey/fox centaur like creature. I used to have a sweet pic I found over at Drowtales, but I'm having a hard time relocating it.
edit: found it. Look. I realize it's got a robo-pokemon thing going on, but it is evocative of some kind of tauric fey to me |
Misanthorpe
Love is a lie. Only hate endures. Light is blinding. Only in darkness do we see clearly.
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Edited by - Fellfire on 26 Mar 2012 03:42:48 |
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Bladewind
Master of Realmslore
Netherlands
1280 Posts |
Posted - 26 Mar 2012 : 16:18:03
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Many Sharn have been centaurs once. So places where the Sharn show up could have been former centauric territory.
So the hidden city (forgot the name) out of the Blackstaff novel could be a place to put some variant tauric creatures. It seemed ultra cosmopolitan. Because of the presence of the Sharn and their choice of reverting back to their original forms lots of strange creatures of ages past can be restored and walking around on those streets. |
My campaign sketches
Druidic Groves
Creature Feature: Giant Spiders |
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Lord Karsus
Great Reader
USA
3737 Posts |
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Zireael
Master of Realmslore
Poland
1190 Posts |
Posted - 28 Mar 2012 : 19:57:51
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| Love sleyvas's idea. Brilliant! A city filled with taurics... |
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Mammalian Taurics
