Centaurs

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**Centaurs** are a nomadic race of demi-humans that dwell across the Red Plains of the Southern Continent. They are a race that lives in balance with their environment, hunting, fishing, and gathering just enough food to survive without damaging their ecosystem.

## Ecology

The race looks much like humans from the abdomen up, however below that they have large equine bodies. Individuals vary in size from large ponies to massive Clydesdale-sized individuals.

A centaur is renowned for its physical strength and ability to carry or drag enormous amounts of weight in comparison with a human.

Centaurs typically have lifespans equivalent to humans, if not slightly shorter, ranging from 65-70 years on average.

Centaurs mature quickly, with newborns being able to walk within minutes of birth. Their children reach adulthood around sixteen years of age.

Centaurs are typically monogamous, pair-bonding and having offspring within a larger clan structure of multiple families.

## Society

Centaurs rarely wear 'human' or 'two-leg' clothing, preferring to decorate themselves with feathers, hides, and bone taken as hunting trophies worn in their hair and manes, and to wear simple leather armor taken from the hides of the many animals which they follow and hunt to survive.

Hunting for sport is something that the Centaur have a hard time understanding, it is not uncommon for a hunting party to stealthily follow non-centaurs to salvage wasted meat and bones from the kills that would otherwise go to waste. This has created a misconception among some that centaurs are scavengers.

Centaurs do not settle down into static cities and towns, finding their best defense being the ability to simply move faster than any enemy. If one's entire society can gallop away, there is no need to defend a settlement or static place. Centaurs rarely have any permanent structures or non movable items. Centaurs do not practice agriculture, finding the bounty of the plains to be more than adequate to satisfy their needs.

Centaurs are known as great hunters and warriors, and prefer to use two kinds of weapons, the longbow and the lance. many an enemy has been routed by a few volleys of arrows followed up by the war cries of Centaur braves. anything foolish enough to not flee soon faces a charge of heavy lances.

Centaurs have an interesting grasp of language, and tend to eschew standard naming conventions of other races, preferring to call people by the emotions or character of their hearts. These sorts of names are often metaphorical or referential to specific events of their past that epitomize that person. An example would be a particularly accurate marksman being called 'Strikes-From-Afar' or a talented and kind doctor being called, 'Heals-with-a-smile'. These names are typically rarely used within their own society, as they use context most often when speaking with one another, but they find outsiders have difficulty with that, so often use these names more frequently with other races.

## History

Long ago, the fey beings took root in the deep places of the world, and from those havens of magic and natural energy, the centaur were shaped and born. They felt an innate desire to spread their hooves and run, but in the dense forests of the fey realms, they could not run free. Time passed and eventually the centaurs abandoned the thick forests, leaving the fey conclaves and left behind the raw natural magics of the place in exchange for open plains and freedom.

In the more recent past, the various tribes of the Centaurs divided and spread over countless generations, filling the red plains with dozens of unique groups. Those groups worked together to fight against encroaching human nations, and eventually a truce was reached, creating the red road, the only 'safe' passage through their territory for two-legs.

## Notable Centaurs

### NPCs

* First-To-Dance
* Hair-Of-The-Sun
* Makes-a-Lot-of-Noise
* Remembers-All
* Speaks-With-Dogs