Vicus

The majority of the island of Vicus is a dry, harsh desert named Semper. The island is not heavily inhabited but those who choose to call it home have long since adapted. They tend to be more solitary creatures than most and often times have a difficult time adjusting to the gregarious society of Ortus. Given the landscape, lone Vicus herds can travel from one oasis to the next and go days or even weeks without seeing any other horses. Most of the time, this is how they will live. However, when the time comes for foals to be born, many of the herds will meet at oases and form small tribes of around 20 individuals and travel together while the foals are young. This is done because the vastness of the Semper desert is overrun by packs of wild dogs, and the tribes can scare and fight off the dogs much better than a herd of 3 or 4 can, and foals are easy targets for the packs. Once the foals are large enough to keep up, the herds will leave the tribe and return to their wanderings on their own. Rarely, a couple of the herds will decide to form a permanent tribe and will stick together for years, finding safety in numbers that lone herds lack.

There are two lifestyles followed by the inhabitants of Vicus, commonly referred to as the factions, and a God for each. These factions are the Aesty, who are more peaceful and will form a coalition of leaders when in a tribe setting and will take a democratic approach to decisions; and the Yari, who embracing fighting and tend to battle constantly, both in tribes and as individual herds. Despite the fundamental differences in the factions, they are taught to tolerate and respect each other. Even out in the open desert, if a stallion identifies himself as Aesty, a Yari stallion will simply turn the other way, instead of attacking and risking the wrath of the Aesty Goddess, Haedra, as well as quite possibly the Yari God, Iaral.

Oases are seen as sacred, and a neutral meeting place for all equine, any gender, age, or faction. Here, horses can decide to switch from the Aesty faction to Yari, or vice versa. As an example of the differences in thought, Yari see any who switch to Aesty as wise, smart enough to realize that they do not fit into the Yari lifestyle, or perhaps that they will never be strong enough to be a Yari leader. Aesty praise those who practice Yari as having the courage and strength to compete in the war games. There is never any animosity when a member changes factions. As Haedra and Iaral are siblings and still love each other unconditionally, so do the factions. They have one common enemy: the Semper and all the perils it contains, especially the wild dogs.

The history of Vicus is quite horrid. Legend tells that long ago there was an illness that swept the land. It nearly decimated the equine numbers on the small island. Those that had suffered the disease and survived bore marks telling of their misfortune. Once the disease had run its course, very few inhabitants of Vicus were left, and fewer still didn’t have the mark of the illness on them. One of the first foals born after the disease left had a weird pattern on him. Other foals born to disease scared mothers had no signs, but this colt certainly did, and it was nothing like the marks of his parents. This colt, Aviter, grew up to be a great Yari leader. Upon siring some foals of his own, he passed on his odd colored coat. Being the kind of stallion he was, he decreed the marking be called Avitus, and any Vicus equine carrying this pattern today are direct descendants of Aviter, though there had been a couple more mutations along the way.

## Notable Horses

• Aviter, chestnut avitus [ee/Ata/AVav] – Born right as the disease that killed most of the population of Vicus, Aviter was seen as a sign from the Gods since birth, a promise that the death and suffering of the desert horses was over. Of course, having such high ideals thrust on a foal left some image issues. Aviter went on to become a powerful Yari leader, fighting was his passion, and he knew he had his God, Iaral, behind him. He sired many foals, and signs of his inheritance can still be seen in the Semper today.

• Ricus, bay avitus [Ee/Aa/AVav] – Flashy and full of himself since birth; this colt knew he was going places. Not only was he born into one of the largest Yari tribes, to the leader of the tribe, he was a descendent of Aviter and displayed it proudly. Ricus left his herd early and set out on his own in the middle of Semper, something no one ever survived. And he, like many before him, became the target of a pack of wild dogs. However, when they came to attack he was suddenly joined by a small bachelor herd, which assisted in fighting off the dogs. Ricus joined them, but wasn’t satisfied with bachelorhood, and quickly stole up a few mares to start his own herd. He went on to fight in the war games with the Yari, never a sore loser, but took every loss as a chance to learn something from the victor. Soon, Ricus became one of the most powerful stallions in the Yari faction, and his name is often recalled by those who weren’t even around in his time.

• Maruz, perlino [Ee/A+a/CrCr] – Tough as nails doesn’t even begin to describe this girl. Born into an Aesty herd, she was enamored with an Yari colt, Ricus, who was a couple years older. Ricus knew he was something special, and he would always take the time to flirt with anyone he thought might be interested. Of course, Maruz was one of those. She and her herd were in the same oasis and Ricus one day, and the stallion marched right up to Maruz’s father and did something no Yari ever did: he asked for permission to bring Maruz with him. Shocked, the stallion agreed and so began one of the most successful Yari reigns in Vicus history. Maruz practiced fighting endlessly and soon became just as tough as the Yari born mares. While Ricus fought the leads, Maruz would fight the mares or even younger stallions. The pair went on to have several children, one of which had a new mutation of the Avitus gene, Camrus.

• Camrus, buckskin avitus [Ee/AA+/nCr/AVAV] – Born to Ricus and Maruz, Camrus was often seen as a sign of Ricus’s blessing from Iaral due to his unusual coat – unusual even by Aviter descendent status. However, the colt felt from a young age that the constant fighting and injuring each other of the Yari warfare was not the right path for him. When he set off on his own, he turned to a small bachelor herd of Aesty born stallions, who taught him their way of life. He still respected his family for the courage and strength they showed, but he admired the peaceful, democratic teachings of the Aesty, and soon became a devoted faction member and follower of Haedra. Maruz is said to call his conversion a return to her roots, and praised him for the strength of spirit to make his own path. Camrus went on to join an Aesty tribe which remained together for many years, and had only one mare to his name for his entire existence. He passed his own mutation of the Avitus gene on to their children, and they are still found prominently in the Aesty faction.

• Macete, smoky black avitus [Ee/aa/nCr/AVAV] – Macete’s mother carried the Avitus gene, so no one was surprised when Macete herself was born with an odd coloration as well. However, the way she displayed it was very different from the normal, so many wondered if this was yet another branch from the old stallion’s color, as Camrus had been. Macete had a normal and spent her life being bounced between Aesty and Yari, never satisfied with just one of the Gods and factions; she sought a life that would bring her closer to both. Beyond this, her life was rather unremarkable; she had no famous parents, no individual claims to fame outside of her unusual coat. Her children went on to keep her coloration, and many of them also couldn’t seem to find peace in either of the factions alone. Some of her offspring gathered up like-minded horses (of which there were very few) and began a new, very small faction they dubbed Haralith, in which they love and devote their lives to both gods, make democratic decisions for the herd, but still engage in the war games just for fun.

• Jhetira, greying palomino [ee/Aa/nCr/Gg] – Jhetira was one of the first horses to decide she wanted something more. She could see other landmasses far off in the distance. Perhaps they held something more than the eternal desert and a couple oases. At one oases, close to the sea, Jhetira left her herd and walked into the ocean, determined to find something more. Unfortunately, so far, the mare hasn’t made it across the channel. The current through the channel is much stronger than she thought, but after years of making it half way, only to turn and let the current carry her back home, she may finally be close enough to make her dream a reality.

## Genetics

### Colors

They lack dun, champagne, sooty, and pearl genes.

### Markings

Horses from Vicus have no genes for any sort of white patterns – KIT (Tobiano, Roan, Sabino, White), Overo, Splash, Rabicano, Appaloosa (including Patterns), Celo, Cuculla, KIT, Reveri, Evorsus, Miocene, and Eocene. The ONLY white markings that will generate on Vicus horses are Avitus and Frost.