Minotaur

### Overview

In most accounts, minotaurs are described as bull-headed "monstrous" humanoids. These bull creatures stand on two hooves and have bovine snouts and horns. Minotaurs were known to be fierce in combat and often very prideful. They are considered a lost race, as they have been no recordings of sighting a Minotaur in this current age.

### Origins

Over twelve centuries ago, the bovine humanoids we now know as Minotaurs were believed to have been created by Sho’risdal, the Deity of Nature, in a grove in the Southland Forest by the River Vyx,. Using the milk of Lembu, the legendary cow of eternal sustenance, who was said to graze in the great meadows by that river, Sho’risdal created twelve calves who would go on to propagate into the first of their kind. Their early depiction was that of a lithe people with small horns, swift and nimble with hooves in place of feet.

Growing up on the milk of Lembu, these children of Sho’risdal would become one of her first guardians of the forest, generating harmony among the different animals of the forest. Eventually, they would come into contact with men, who initially seemed to accept them as equals. However, as the earliest accounts of man suggest, they were always regarded with suspicion. The name given to them was ‘Mindar’, meaning ‘demonkind’ in the common tongue, due to the belief that they resembled the demons of the Old World. Despite evidence of the Mindar having been involved in the creation of multiple Southland villages and teaching early scholars of the ways of the forest, they were shunned by the common folk as the brethren of demons. Over time, most of them migrated back to the southern forests for the solitude and comfort provided there, perhaps seeking the divine protection of their maker in these woods.

### Evolution

   Over the years, they evolved to be born with tougher, darker skin, with a leathery consistency. The first individual Mindar with a taurine head was named Herevar, designated ‘The Wise’ in several accounts. He was initially feared even by his own kind due to his features. He had furry skin, a tougher hide and had a far deeper tone to his voice than his brethren. Tales are told still of Herevar’s feats to protect his tribe, including the legendary Three Trials, earning his acceptance among his folk. More and more new Mindar were born with Herevar’s taurine features, far more than would be possible if Herevar himself was fathering them, leading to superstitious rumors regarding their origin. His kind was also attributed with developing a taste for meat, the Mindar previously having fed only on plant-life. There were two distinct species of Mindar since. The Mindar proper, who maintained their more humanoid features; and the descendants of Herevar, now called Minotaurs, who had a taurine head and fiercer nature.

### Exodus

    *Herevar’s Reckoning* was an important event in the history of the Mindar, where Herevar the Wise and his Minotaurs held an amicable gathering in Sho’risdal’s Grove, the place of their creation, attended by the elders of the Mindar. Here, the parties resolved the growing strife between the Minotaurs and the Mindar regarding the future of their kind, stemming for the Mindar’s concern about their taurine brothers’ increasingly ferocious and beast-like tendencies, as well as their belief that the Minotaurs' 'deformity' was a result of a cruel trick played upon them by Mahisa, the chthonic demigod of Deception whose form was that of a black bull.

Feeling ostracized and unwilling to let his kind be shunned, Herevar and his Minotaurs agreed to amicably part ways from the Mindar. Following this reckoning, Herevar and the Minotaurs migrated north, their exodus marking the last time they would see their kin. The location of Sho’risdal’s Grove within the Southland Forest is not known, believed to be guarded by a spell. Generations later, Minotaurs would attempt pilgrimages to the Grove to seek and the blessing of Sho’risdal, but they have never been able to find their way back to that sacred site. After the departure of the Minotaurs, the Mindars went back to their old way of life, attempting to coexist with the other creatures of the forest, but did not prosper as they once did. Some believe it was due to Sho’risdal being displeased at their exclusion of the Minotaurs, others say it was simply due the Mindars themselves succumbing to progressive infighting. All accounts tell of the Mindar venturing even deeper into the forest, eventually becoming lost to time.

### Fate

    The Minotaurs had to adapt the colder and harsher northern climate. Having not been trained hunters, years of striving to sustain their woodland existence and a craving for flesh bred a new generation of Minotaurs who were naturally skilled survivors, powerful and menacing. They assembled sheltered communities deep in the forest where they eked a living out for themselves, surviving off the land as indiscriminate hunters.

Northern folklore was strife with tales where herds of brutish Minotaurs who would would hunt people for food. Over time, as the population of men grew, new religions were formed and superstition abound. Minotaurs found themselves hunted for their horns, which were believed to possess magical properties. The powder from ground Minotaur horns, for instance, was used in rituals to allegedly resurrect the dead, and also made into elixirs which were believed to bestow eternal youth. The numbers of Minotaurs dwindled as the demand for their horns boomed. Finding themselves as prey for the hunt, the Minotaurs retreated deeper into the woods, like their old kin the Mindar. Minotaurs eventually vanished from contemporary accounts, now believed to be extinct, their existence being relegated to bestiaries such as this one.