Hybrid

A unicorn x hippocampus hybrid

Created by the chaos god Digend, Hybrids are the rarest type of equine in Hireath. Instead of being a single breed with uniform traits, they exhibit the unique traits of two different breeds of Hireath Equines. Crossbreeding between breeds normally produces a child that is the same breed as either one of the parents. A Hybrid child is always an oddity. Two Hybrids do not seem to be more likely to produce Hybrid children themselves.

Hybrids are the most recent of Hireath’s breeds, and seem to only have existed for about a 100 years, and even then only as sole curiosities. Their appearances have slowly become more frequent across the years.

**Hybrids are a playable species that is not available by default, and must be unlocked. The unlock method is a mystery.**

**Hybrid NPCs may not be created.**

## Biology

The Hybrid is a unique equine in the world of Hireath, as their biology varies greatly between individuals, dependent on the traits inherited from their parent breeds.

### Hybrid Types

Any amount of traits may be lent from either breed; it does not need to be an even split of traits. In any combination, it is possible to present only Rarity Roll traits of one of the breeds, if so desired (ie: a pegasus with no other sign of unicorn than gemstone growths)

#### Common Horse Hybrids

Common horse hybrids are generally the most difficult hybrids to recognize, as the presence of a common horse in a hybrid is generally only shown either through *lack* of typical breed traits (ie. hornless unicorn) or the presence of common horse rarity roll traits.

#### Unicorn Hybrids

Unicorn hybrids may have any or all of the unicorn traits, including horns, lionel tail and cloven hooves.

#### Pegasus Hybrids

Pegasus hybrids will typically inherit the feathers and/or wings of a pegasus (or rarity roll traits). Please note that **wingless pegasi** are a naturally occurring variation of pegasus, and not hybrids, despite the lack of wings.

#### Hippocampus Hybrids

It is common for hybrids with a Hippocampus parent to inherit the ability to shapeshift into a "water form", although some do not. Those that do are born in their water form, and are able to shapeshift as soon as they would be able to stand. They transform between the two forms at will. Pegasus / hippocampus hybrids do not lose their wings in their water form.

Water-form hybrids do not inherit the full "nymphism" of regular Hippocampi and cannot breathe underwater, although they have a significant lung capacity similar to that of a dolphin.

#### Kirin Hybrids

Kirin hybrids have fireproof scales that are completely immune to heat, but the rest of their body (including fur, skin, hair etc) is only mildly flame-retardant. Exposure to flame will result in a painful burn only a bit slower than for any regular equine. They can get slightly closer to magma or lava than your average equine, but contact with it will cause severe injury and/or death. In short, kirin hybrids *do* burn, unless completely covered in scales - and even then their eyes and hair would be vulnerable.

## Hybrids In-World

Hybrids are generally regarded as an oddity by the other breeds of Hireath. Their link to Digend is not well-known, and as such, hybrids almost never face discrimination based on their link to the Sixth God. They can, however, face discrimination due to the traits of the breeds in them - a herd that vehemently dislikes kirins is likely to be at least *suspicious* of a kirin hybrid, if not downright hostile, as an example.

Hybrids have begun to appear somewhat recently. They did not exist during God’s War, and earliest confirmed reports seem to be from about 100 years ago, all of which were born hybrids. No Hybrid transformations occurred before Digend rose in late 1700. Kirin hybrids could not occur *at all* until kirins began to reappear across Hireath.

Any ancient Kirins who are now hybrids were regular kirins in the days before their death. Their hybridization is a result of a corruption in the magic that resurrected them, and their hybrid bodies brand new to them.

## Creation Rules:

### A Hybrid can:

* Be modeled after any real life breed or mixture of breeds or equine species (including donkeys, quaggas, zebras etc)
* Come in any natural color, and may have minor unnatural markings. No geometrical markings and no leopard or giraffe printed ponies
* Have eyes that are any hue, and may be gradiented or bi-colored
* Have access to any number of traits normally available to either parent breed, in any combination.

### A Hybrid can **not**:

* Have any features not explicitly available to either parent breed (ie. fangs on a hippocampus/unicorn hybrid, kirin scales on a unicorn/pegasus hybrid)
* Be a mixture of more than two breeds of Hireath equine

### Hybrids and Rarity Rolls

All hybrids have access to either or both of the rarity rolls of their parent breeds. Each rarity roll must be purchased separately - if a common/unicorn hybrid with extra eyes and gemstone growths is desired, two rarity rolls must be purchased.

#### Hybrid Exclusive Rarity Roll

Hybrids also have their own, unique rarity roll trait, available only to hybrids. Displaying this trait requires a rarity roll of its own (so if a character has the rarity traits of both parent breeds, AND of the hybrid, it would need three rarity rolls).

The Hybrid rarity roll enables a hybrid to have up to 2 additional pairs of legs. These will be fully functional, and work just like regular legs. The natural pairs of legs will not be significantly moved around, nor removed. These peculiar, special type of hybrids are sometimes called sleipnirs.

Note that these traits only began to appear in summer **1702**, after "Before The Season Dies". Hybrids may only be naturally born with these traits after this date. Unlike with regular rarity rolls, when an existing character gains this trait, it is *always* viewed as an IC transformation event and can (and will) be noticed by other characters. Freshly transformed sleipnir may experience balance or mobility issues at the player’s discretion.

**Hybrid Rarity Roll Rules**

* Legs should be placed at the shoulders/hips, near natural legs. They should not be spaced evenly along the body (centipede look) or up the chest/neck etc.
* The legs show up in pairs. Up to two extra pairs may appear. Extra legs may be distributed as the designer wishes
* *Only* legs will appear. Rarity roll does not cause additional wing pairs etc
* If the hybrid is part hippocampus, having two sets of back legs will not result in an additional fishtail when in water form.