NOTE: LARGER INDIVIDUAL PICTURES ARE IN THE SCRAPS


The centaur is the most distinctive and exotic species of Caranoctia. Scholars believe they descend from a group of six-limbed (hexapod) vertebrates that once were the sole inhabitants of the continent, but which were outcompeted by invading four-limbed (tetrapod) beasts in the distant past, and are now represented by a few scattered types such as gryphons and draconiformes. What is known for certain is that the centaur race has existed peacefully and profitably on this continent for thousands of years.

PHYSIOLOGY

The first explorers to encounter centaurs described them as resembling a human to the hips, the waist blending into the body of a horse in place of the horse’s head and neck. In truth centaurs are not related to horses or humans, and the similitude is a matter of evolutionary convergence. A close examination shows they differ from humans and horses in many details, and internally the arrangement of their organs is quite unique.

The centaur’s upper body is quite humanoid, being covered in a light down more apparent to touch than to sight. The hair is glossy and abundant on the head, and continues in a shaggy mane down the length of the vertical spine. The torso does not have either nipples or a navel, however, and the shoulders are generally rather narrower and the arms more lightly muscled than a human‘s. Facially centaurs resemble satyrs, although they are not related. Their skulls are long, the faces drawn out into a short muzzle, with a flattened nasal bridge and wide mouth. The ears are small, pointed, high-set, and mobile. The large eyes are almost completely covered by the iris, with very little of the sclera showing. The teeth are large, the males sporting long canines, or ‘wolf-teeth’. A thick enamel coating allows the centaurs to process much tougher food than humans.

The lower body is generally equine in nature, with longer legs and a shorter spine than an adult horse. The legs are sturdy and the spine extremely flexible. Because Caranoctian grass has less cellulose and more sugar than in other parts of the world, it does not require nearly as much digestion, and centaurs do not need the voluminous hindgut of equine herbivores. In consequence, they have a tucked-up rather than bulging belly, and many scholars agree their lower bodies are more like hoofed greyhounds than true horses.

The lower body is covered in a short, dense, plush pelt, the tail with long, sweeping, silky hairs, the texture more like a human’s than the coarse coat of a horse. Centaurs come in many colors similar to horses, and several novel patterns. It is interesting to note that the nearly bare skin of the upper torso is naturally matched, so that while a bay or palomino centaur will have skin in a range normal for humans, a grey centaur will have startling grey skin, and a pinto centaur will have splashes of color all over.

Internally, the centaur’s upper body is almost entirely devoid of organs, with the trachea and esophagus running through down to the lower body. The upper body is lightened by a series of air sacs which also increase the centaur’s lung capacity. When the centaur inhales the air is passed through these air sacs and then into the lungs, so that there is no dead air, making them highly efficient at extracting oxygen. A similar system is seen in gryphons and dragons, indicating their shared ancestry, and is not unlike that developed by tetrapod birds.

The large, four-chambered heart in the lower torso is aided by a smaller, two-chambered ‘heart’ (actually a muscular development of the main arteries) located in the upper torso, which gives blood heading to the brain an additional “boost”. The centaur can thus rapidly raise and lower the upper body without experiencing dizziness caused by a drop in blood pressure.

As mentioned, the centaur digestive system is adapted to an omnivorous diet. They are able to process plant food that would be too stringy or bitter for humans, although they are not nearly so omnivorous as satyrs, who can tolerate many kinds of poisonous plants. Centaurs also seem to have an aversion to fish and insects, although they’re sometimes known to shellfish, and they avoid organ meat. Centaurs do not normally cook vegetable food, except for the very young and the very old, for whom they’ll prepare soups. Thjose who live among humans often develop a fondness for baked goods, and display a terrible sweet tooth.

Centaurs are somewhat notorious among humans for drunken rampages. This requires a deeper assessment. Among themselves, centaurs will gorge on naturally fermented apples during the Great Games, but otherwise do not imbibe, which means they have not developed a natural coping ability as have humans and satyrs. Because of their greater body weight, a centaur will mistakenly drink a great deal before he begins to feel the effects of the alcohol. By the time he’s begun to slur and stagger, he’s also taken on far more than he can handle. Also keep in mind the centaurs most likely to be in a tavern drinking alongside humans are young, unattached males, who tend to the most reckless, lewd, boorish, violent showoffs any species has to offer. It is not shocking, then, that a young male centaur unexpectedly finding himself drunk is going to cause trouble, and with his great size and strength he’s capable of wreaking much more damage than a sloshed human or satyr. The morality of all centaur-kind should not be tarnished however, as that would be like blaming all of humanity for the actions of a few university students on a bender.

REPRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT

Centaurs are sexually dimorphic, with the males being generally larger, coarser and more heavily built than the refined females. Females do not have mammary glands, and the male reproductive organ is rather modest, so that unskilled observers of other species might at first have difficulty telling the genders apart. Temperamentally, females are calmer and more cooperative, while males are quarrelsome and impulsive, and once mature cannot get along without subtly or overtly competing with each other. Most adult males do not interact with other males at all.

Mating usually takes place in the late summer and throughout autumn, but can occur at any time of year (out of season foals are considered unlucky). Gestation lasts ten months, with the foals being born in mid-spring. The foal is well-developed and capable of standing and walking within a few hours of birth. At this stage, it is covered all over in a dense coat of wooly fur, and the proportions of the upper body resemble those of a four year old human child. Centaur mothers do not lactate; foals are born with functional teeth, and the mothers feed them by chewing food and then passing it directly into their mouths in what appears to be a kiss. The young are able to feed themselves in a few months.

Centaurs grow at an astounding rate, calculated to be roughly triple that of humans. At the age of five, most centaurs are sexually (if not intellectually) mature. After reaching maturity, the growth slows down and a female can expect to live well past 100. Males have a shorter lifespan, but this is mainly because of their perilous lifestyle. Typically centaurs cremate their dead on a pyre, but if the conditions don’t permit, they will resort to burial.

THE CENTAUR BREEDS

There are five varieties of centaurs roaming Caranoctia.

The best-known of the races are the common centaur, also called the savannah centaur or miler, and the dune centaur, also known as ‘children of the sirocco’. Milers are tall and rangy, with powerful musculature and somewhat coarse features. They tend to be vibrantly marked, with pintos, appaloosa, palominos, roans and buckskins very common. Dune centaurs are smaller and more lightly built, with delicate features, graceful legs and distinctive arched tails. They are the swifter breed, but lack the stamina of the savannah centaur. They come in solid chestnut, black or white, with dapple grays, blood bays and palominos not unknown. The ranges of the two types overlap and there is considerable hybridization, so much so that many scholars declare they are a single subspecies with a spectrum of body types.

Mountain runners are confined to the hills and valleys of the northern wastes, where they have a complex culture symbiotic with the alpine satyrs and frost giants. They are diminutive but robust, almost dwarfish in appearance with rounded barrels and short, muscular limbs. In the winter they grow thick wooly coats which shed out sleeker for the summer. Their upper halves are unusually hairy, the males with full beards and the females with full sideburns and often a fringe along the chin.

Although mountain runners are the smallest centaur type, they are actually ancestral to the largest type, the forest centaurs. At first glance, the eastern and western forest centaurs appear very similar, but are not in fact closely related. Scholars believe that both types descended separately from the mountain runners, and converged in general shape. Both forest types are colossal, with feathering on the lower limbs, thick facial hair on males, and solitary habits. Eastern forest centaurs are black, grey, dappled, white, and blue roan. They are slightly shorter than the western type but much more massive. Their lower limbs are covered in thick feathering all around. Western forest centaurs come in chestnut, sorrel, red roan, palomino and cremello. They are tall, more lightly built than their eastern counterparts but still strikingly powerful. Only the back of their limbs exhibit feathering.

There are continued rumors of small populations of other types of centaurs, particularly a small, elusive, striped variety with paws instead of hooves said to roam the far western mountain ranges, a particularly vicious, all-black variety which haunts the coasts of the southern sea, and a monstrously huge species on Queldcha, the island of the inner sea, which has a hairless, leathery hide and horns.

SOME NOTES ON SOCIETY

Centaurs are a practical, hard-headed lot. Their society is uncomplicated by issues of inheritance. They only own what they can carry, and do not live permanently in any one spot. Their concept of personal property is highly developed, and stealing is often punished by lavishly and ironically “gifting” the thief with a purloined item. It is impossible to hoard items, although some deviant centaurs might keep a secret stash along the herd’s routes. Each herd is self-sufficient, and although it may be famed for, say, the fineness of its bows, no community would give up bow-making itself and rely entirely on trading for them with that herd. Centaur culture does not have a concept of money (although they understand it) and depends on complicated rules of barter.

Typically a centaur wears only a harness, on which she carries her tools, food, blanket and other essentials. Each herd will generally own a few wagons, which the members take turns pulling, for large or delicate equipment, to carry injured herd members, and so on. Centaur tools are beautifully crafted and although sturdy and practical, are often adorned with beads, paintings and carvings. Centaurs society is divided by age and gender, but does not have other, unnatural stratifications which might be indicated by adornment. Each individual wears as much jewelry, paint, or feathers as she wants, and this is not an indication of status. Humans who first encountered centaurs often made that mistake, and assumed the most fancifully decorated centaur was the chief, when she was really simply the most fashionable!

Centaurs keep a few various domestic animals. Trained hawks assist the herd’s scouts, and they are fond of carnivores which act as watch-dogs and keep the camps free of vermin. Children will make pets of many kinds of little creatures. A few herds, especially those in sparse territories, will herd thornies or other herbivores as an emergency food supply. Forest centaurs (especially in the east) are known for breeding songbirds, decorative fish and frogs, and small saber-raptors to protect their stores. In the north, flocks of goatlike herd animals are shared between mountain runners and their alpine satyr neighbors.

Centaurs before the arrival of humans and Aelvians had only the sketchiest sort of religion. They did not believe in gods or creators, only in vaguely personified forces of nature that want circumstances to continue as they have always been. The closest thing they had to the concept of a supernatural being were ‘drujes’ (translated as ‘demons’ by human scholars). Drujes were fomenters of chaos, disrupting the natural order of things. Centaurs had ceremonies and rituals to foil drujes, but did not call on any kind of god to help - they were entirely self-reliant. After human/Aelvian colonization, centaurs were exposed to new ideas and concepts. In the South, aberrant humans modeling their culture on the Aelvians took centaurs as slaves, treating them as mindless beasts of burden. It was from this population that a centaur called Stonecrop emerged, claiming to be the voice of a centaur goddess named Avoca. Many thought him mad, but his preachings of unity, freedom and equality garnered him a large following, not all of them centaurs.

Centaurs have a great love of music, and favor instruments that can be played while in motion. Stringed instruments are almost unknown, and drums are quite small. Traditionally, centaurs play woodwinds, maracas, bull-roarers, whistles, tambourines, horns carved from animal horn, and are credited with developing both the bagpipe and a primitive type of accordion (but this might be slander). They have powerful voices, and their chants - often telling epic stories - can last for hours, with individuals entered and dropping out of the chorus. Centaurs dance, in an intricate set of marching movements not unlike a square dance, but rarely dance as individuals. There is no written native alphabet, but centaurs do use a complex system of pictograms painted or carved into rock, mostly to communicate between herds which share the same route. The symbols will also be painted, carved or woven into personal items, and even painted onto their own hides for ceremonies.

Humans have always depicted centaurs as natural archers, but the bow was originally a satyr weapon and only later adopted by centaurs. Their native weapons are the spear, the throwing-axe, the cudgel, the sling, the flint dagger, and the simple thrown stone. However, they have been quick to adopt modern weapons, such as the flintlock, from humans. These are almost always used for hunting and protection from predators, as the native Caranoctians were generally peaceful and war unknown to them. Males will squabble amongst themselves, but the use of a weapon is cowardly, and anyways they will invariably throw them aside in the heat of passion in order to fight hand-to-hand.

THE FAMILY LIFE OF CENTAURS

The basic unit of centaur society is the herd, a collection of females that are usually closely related and their young, including immature males. Each herd is escorted by a single adult male, the herd husband, often incorrectly referred to by humans as the ‘herd king’. In fact, he does not rule in any way, shape or form. His duty is to protect the herd and to impregnate willing females. A herd husband will accompany the herd for at least a year, but rarely more than three or fours years. He is assisted in his protective duties by a cohort of lesser males, sometimes but not necessarily related, who are geldings. These are sometimes called his ‘knights’.

Because of their prodigious appetites, centaur herds keep on the move to prevent over hunting and overgrazing an area. They do perform a limited sort of agriculture, planting seeds at promising places along their route of travel, but do not remain in one area long enough to farm. Herd territories overlap, and their travels are scheduled so that the local ecologies have time to recover. Herds also convene at regular intervals to trade and exchange gossip, but the respective stallions remain at a distance.

A new herd is formed when several of the herd’s daughters reach reproductive maturity and decide to set off together, accompanied by at least one mature female. There is usually about a ten year range in age, from adolescents to those with their first foals. The formation of the herd and its territory must be approved by the Grandmothers, the governing body of the centaurs. Some daughters elect to remain with their natal herd for life. Males only stay with the herd until they reach adolescence. When their testicles drop, they must leave and join a bachelor band. The herd performs an elaborate ceremony to see them off with pomp and finality. Unlike the females, who only leave the herd when they have a large group of sisters and cousins to accompany them, males leave as individuals.

Bachelor bands consist of 5-10 males, mostly young, although bands often have an older mentor. Natural male vanity and competitiveness means bands split and reform quite often. Because they have no official territory, bands are forced to live in less hospitable areas than proper herds. Internal fighting and harsh environment either break young males, or toughen them.

The most important ceremony of centaur society are the Great Games, held every year at the end of summer. Herds converge on the traditional proving grounds from hundreds of miles in each direction. Although a good deal of trade and information exchange occurs during the Games, their real purpose is for the males to compete, showing off their skills in the hopes of being chosen as a herd husband.

A husband-contract lasts for one year, although one who performs well may hope it will be renewed. It can be broken at any time by the females if they feel the male has not fulfilled his duties. Even a male who is a fine husband will not be with a band for more than a few years, as centaurs consider it perverse for all the children of the herd to have the same father. He can, however, expect to be gossiped about in a positive way, which will help his chances in getting a contract with a new herd.

There are three main categories of competition at the Games. Physical contests involve racing, swimming, archery, weight-lifting, pulling contests, wrestling and so on. Contests of Intellect have the males demonstrating survival skills such as area knowledge, animal and plant identification from prints, bits of hair and leaves, map reading, finding hidden objects, tracking and evading trackers, weapon construction, and solving riddles and logic puzzles. The third category are contests of Artistry which demonstrate flexibility of mind and entertaining abilities, as males recite epic poetry, sing, dance, play instruments, perform skits and exhibit craftworks such as bead making, weaving, harness decoration, pottery, smithing, dyeing and wood and ivory carving. A male is ideally competent in all three categories, but depending on the herd, certain strengths may be favored. For example, a herd which frequents dangerous territory populated by many predators prefer males who excel in physical and survival skills, while a herd which crosses human territory may prefer a male whose artistry makes him an asset when trading. Of course, males who mare unusually handsome or charming will have a leg up on other, equally skillful competitors, for in this way centaur females are ’only human’.

Because of the demands of the Games, boys aren’t ready to participate until they’ve lived on their own for many years. Newly formed herds often tend to favor younger competitors, who are prettier and livelier than the grim, scarred veterans of many Games, and the males themselves dream of being privy to a bunch of firm-flanked maidens. Older males prefer to be chosen by mature, experienced ladies, who in turn know the value of a male isn’t compromised by a few white hairs in his coat or knees that creak on cold mornings. Naturally the winners of the competitions are most sought after. Herd matrons must negotiate and compromise with those of other herds when the same male is being fought over by several groups. It is unheard of, indeed unthinkable, for a male to refuse an offer. There are legends of such a thing happening, but males know all to well that no matter how good he thinks he is, there are plenty of others willing to take his place, and he himself will only be sought after during his prime.

At the conclusion of the games, prizes are gifted to the most accomplished males and the Grandmothers officiate over a beautiful, solemn ceremony in which the males pledge to give their lives to the continuance of the herd.

Because there is only one herd husband who services up to forty females, obviously the Games end each year with many unattached males. Some males know they will never be herd husbands. Because of their dangerous lives, males tend to age faster than females, and herds aren’t interested in a male too feeble to protect and procreate. Other males have handicaps that do not threaten their lives but which make them unfit to be compete or be considered husband material, such as a blind eye or extreme short-sightedness, a limp, partial or profound deafness, epileptic fits, a deformed upper limb, or albinism. Some mothers, knowing their sons will never get a chance to reproduce, will abandon foals with these deficiencies. It is rare but not unheard of for these castoffs to be adopted by other species, such as trolls, satyrs or humans.

For these males without a place in the herd, there are a few options. Some devote their lives to mentoring younger males in bachelor herds - often these males are homosexual. In truth, male/male sex is considered normal in bachelor bands, both as practice for heterosexual sex later on in life and to blow off steam. Because a husband must be ready to mate whenever a willing female comes into season, male centaurs naturally have a continual high sex drive. It is folk wisdom, too, that male/male sex increases their potency.

Other males devote their lives to serving under the herd husband as knights, and consent to castration. This is an unthinkable horror to males of other species, but centaurs consider it a reasonable alternative. Very often a group of brothers will ‘sponsor’ a particularly splendid relative at the Games, and serve under him, and males who are too old to be suitable as mates will commonly submit to gelding. Centaur medicine is highly advanced, and the operation is quick, simple, and almost painless, with few complications. In fact, geldings are often sleeker in appearance and have longer life spans than intact males. Some geldings devote themselves to follow a particular male, others are dedicated to the herd and serve whichever male is herd husband at the time.

Another option is to become a Guardian of the Grandmothers. When females reach an age at which they are no longer physically capable of the strenuous migratory herd life, they retire to a protected area and join a stationary herd of other elder females. Several herds share in the maintenance of this Grandmother herd, making it a regular stop along their routes, where they bring the Grandmothers food and other supplies, tell them the news of the world, ask for adjudication of disputes and partake of the wisdom only possessed by the very old. At the end of autumn, herds will leave their young children to over winter with the Grandmothers, where they will be protected from the worst weather and educated by the knowledgeable old females. Grandmothers are also usually skilled healers, and sometimes their prowess makes Grandmother communities important therapeutic retreats even for non-centaurs.

There are a few Grandfathers, but as noted before, males tend to have a shorter lifespan than females, and while respected, they don’t have the traditional cachet of Grandmothers. Obviously, a male who becomes a Guardian of the Grandmothers will not have a chance to mate, but he will be performing a valuable service to his species, and the Grandmothers will not turn away cripples as unfit.

Recently many surplus males have taken their chances in human society. Common professions capitalize on their brute strength, such as blacksmithing, logging, firefighters, construction work, shipyard and barge work, and animal-handling. However, centaurs are also highly intelligent, and can have good careers both as traveling entertainers and as scholars at the more progressive universities.

The structure of centaur society and their reproductive biology has a striking impact on their psychology, in many ways nearly incomprehensible to species that share their world. The strongest bonds are between a female, her mother and her daughters and sisters. Although she would never admit it out loud, a mother holds herself somewhat aloof from her male children, who will only be with the herd for about five years, and who she will probably never see thereafter, except to watch him compete in the Games. Children grow up with practically no attachment to adult males, as the herd husband is likely not their father, and even if he is, he’ll not be around for long. All authority and warmth comes from females. This bond is extremely powerful, and lasts for her entire life. Unlike human females, who have to compete among themselves to attract the attention of a male and then hold his attention so that he‘ll provide for their children, female centaurs are guaranteed a mating no matter what, and consequently have much stronger, supportive interpersonal ties. While the herd husbands are charged with protecting the herd, a herd which loses its husband to some calamity is far from helpless and vulnerable.

While a male is gentle and kind to the herd’s children and will gladly die in defense of his herd, he does not feel actual affection for them, for what he is truly protecting is his genetic contribution. He will likely never know his blood descendants. Among themselves, males are driven to constantly parry for a place in the pecking order. Every other male represents potential competition, except for the very old, very young, or obviously malformed. Even coupling will turn into a kind of contest - males don’t expect much in the way of selfless kindness. It is therefore not surprising that when a centaur religious cult developed after the Sundering, it was based around a goddess, not a god (even though the high priest was male).

The preceding covers the society of the dune and savannah centaurs, which are the most widespread and best-known variety. In the north, mountain runner herds tend to be much smaller, and only hold their Games every third year. Young males also stay with the herd until they are almost adults. Eastern and Western forest centaurs are quite solitary, and don’t roam over the vast territories of their midland relatives. In the east, a male lives in a central position, surrounded in a loose ring by the territories of several females, usually small groups of sisters. They visit his territory for mating, but otherwise remain apart until the male adolescent children are sent to him for education. In the west, a male will travel between the sister-groups, but has no fixed territory of his own. His will visit with each group for a few weeks, doing his reproductive duty, until he becomes obnoxious and they kick him out to drift on to the next group on his route.