Centaur
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Centaur Profile
Life Expectancy: 500 - 800 Homeland: Kingdom of Enchantment Average Height: 6'9" - 7'6" Average Weight: 1800 - 2000 lbs. (calculator) Preferred Classes: Bard, Ranger, Druid Classes this race can be: Any Preferred Alignment: Lawful Neutral, Lawful Good Preferred Weapons: Long sword, Bow Aggression Level: High Intelligence Level: Highly Intellectual Magic Rating: Low Strength Rating: Very Strong Weak Against: Thunder, Psychological Attack Strong Against: Physical Attack Related Races: None Allied Races: Dryads, Elves, Pixies Enemy Races: Orcs, Undead, Humans
Physiology
The exact date of the creation of this race is not known but any lore surrounding this race, both verbal or written, speaks of the involvement of a cruel and powerful wizard. The name of this wizard has long been lost, be if forgotten or intentionally erased. What is recounted is that many humans and horses lost their lives in the wizard's sadistic attempt to master their magical arts through the creation of Centaur race. They have four hoofed feet, a tail, a fur coat of some horse breeds, and appear human from the waist up. These creatures tend to tower over many other races and appear to emanate their power, and are far more physically powerful than most creatures. Centaurs tend to have very lean muscles and are always free of any fat, unlike the humans or Elves.
To compensate for the differentiating body mass between a human and a horse, centaurs are born with four lungs, four kidneys, two hearts, and two livers, as well as simply having one large stomach and intestinal tract. The larger lungs housed in the horse half of the centaur are primarily used for breathing, while the second pair are in their (human) chest, which assists in speech.
Psychology
Centaurs tend to have very strong egos. Unconsciously, perhaps, they generally believe that centaurs are one of the best races. After all, they have size, strength, speed, intellect and longevity. Most centaurs are rather isolationist, preferring to keep their tribes away from other races, as sheer numbers could overwhelm them in any conflicts. Centaurs typically have a strong attachment to their tribe and their race. In some ways, it is not inaccurate to ascribe a bit of a herd mentality to the race, although combined with their egotism and stubbornness it makes them difficult for non-centaur to understand sometimes.
Centaur Society
Centaur society is tribal-based, often with a few extended families making up a tribe of a few hundred centaurs. A centaur always treats their fellows politely, even if they are from another tribe. Centaur society is based around a lair where the young are kept out of harm's way by whatever the natural cover is; if the lair is within a forest: bushes and trees; if the lair is within a desert: rocks and sand dunes can be sculpted to provide cover. Centaurs are fiercely territorial and do not allow many other creatures into their lair. Only Elves, Pixies, and Dryads have been known to return alive.
The males and females function differently within the tribe. The males spend most of their day outside the den arranged into small troupes of around 5–12 centaurs, usually under a leader of roughly equivalent rank to a human captain known as a “Long Tail” often because the leader has the longest and best-kept tail. The traveling male troupes tend to hunt, forage, and protect the tribe’s territory from outsiders. The females tend to protect the lair and administer the tribe; in this fashion, it is usually the case that a female will lead the tribe politically, but a male will be the wartime leader of the tribe.
Centaurs survive on a hunted and foraged diet but are willing to trade with Elves and Pixies for other items, usually trading the loot they gain from invaders. Centaurs are very skilled with the bow and will use it to harass the foe before charging with a sword or lance, as would a human mounted knight in battle. Centaurs despise humans for using mules and horses as mounts and beasts of burden, regarding it as slavery of their distant cousins. For this reason, Centaurs will often attempt to hunt human trespassers in their lands and rarely, if ever, trust humans.
Order of Power
- Ruling Female and Male (Political / Wartime)
- Tribe Chieftains
- Commoners
Centaurs & Religion
Centaurs are a very proud race. They are wise as Elves and fierce as Orcs or perhaps Ogres. Their great intellect even spans to the Cosmos. Stars tell fortunes, revealing events that may happen. They read the skies as a person would read a book, instantly spotting any tell-tale signs of good events or bad. However, this causes them to remain faithless and follow no god in particular, for it is believed that all the gods of Hollow's plans are laid out right in front of them; in the sky.
Centaur History
Centaurs are naturally mysterious, and their history is not written but passed on via word of mouth, usually with very long poems and songs. Centaurs are ancient but were not one of the elder races that civilized Hollow many centuries ago. The first and most documented piece of Centaur history happened around 67500 years ago. The Great Silverback, a fierce but noble warrior king, became the leader of all the centaurs in southern Hollow. He is said to have completed this feat with a number of duels with other centaurs and clever diplomacy. When he died, he passed his weapon ‘The Silver Spear’ onto his successor, and this item has stayed within royal centaur lines since that time.
The Centaur opposed the Dwarf Clans Empire's expansion around 20000 years ago, but there was little to no open warfare. The only fighting tended to be Dwarf troupes trying to evict Centaur tribes from forests and Centaur raiding Dwarf camps and convoys. The Centaur were few in number and mostly disunited at this point, and only wars with the dragons stopped the dwarfish expansion.
The Centaur found themselves the victim of a second race expansion centuries later, but this time faired much better. The human expansion into the Nameless Desert was stopped by Centaur magic; the powerful centaur mages of the south created fierce sandstorms to prevent human settlers from finding their way. Through this effort, they were able to keep the southern deserts as their enclave.
In their southern enclave, the centaur remained fighting off the pillaging tribes of orcs and desert nomads until recently. At the start of the Age of Mortals, the centaur began to explore again; many who had slumbered were awakened during the great cataclysm at Cenril. The Centaur left now few in number have begun to find their place in the world again.
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