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View Full Version : Mommy, where do Centaurs come from?



kwanzaabot
2009-08-25, 04:06 AM
So I'm doing some worldbuilding, and I have about seven "common" races. Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, "lesser" Trolls, a beast-like race, and Centaurs.

The four "original" races (the humanoids: Humans, Elves, Dwarves and Orcs) are descended from four fairy brothers, who after stealing fire from the gods, were stripped of their immortality and banished to opposite sides of the world with a biblical-style flood.
The Trolls are really a kind of half-Giant, descended from people who bred with "wild" trolls (as in, the regular sort of troll that regenerates etc), and the beasts are an ancient people whose myths pre-date the humanoids by several millenia.

That just leaves me with Centaurs, and I have no idea how they were created. I already have a half-breed (the Trolls), so I don't really want to go down that road again, but I can't think of any other way Centaurs can be made (which admittedly would make for a rather unpleasant origin myth).

So... can anybody help me come up with an origin myth for Centaurs?

kamikasei
2009-08-25, 04:08 AM
Drider-style divine intervention? Or just plain self-alteration? Some branch of one of the original races gave themselves horse-like bodies, for the laugh.

sadi
2009-08-25, 04:10 AM
Cursed human who tried to appease/insult the guys too soon after banishment?

Fiendish_Dire_Moose
2009-08-25, 04:14 AM
Look to the mythology of the ancient Greeks. They tend to have ridiculous, and often hilarious explanations for things.


Barring that, saw mill accident+groundbreaking experiment.

Kurald Galain
2009-08-25, 04:25 AM
The four fairy brothers had an elder sister who did not partake in stealing the fire. But when her brothers were banished, she wanted to keep track of them all to look after them and make sure they were OK. Since the brothers now lived in all corners of the world, she spend a lot of time running from one end of the world to the other, and because of that (and being a fairy and all that) she grew extra legs to keep it up.

Ianuagonde
2009-08-25, 04:32 AM
+1 for curse

Medusa got her looks from a curse. Her sisters got the same looks when they asked the goddess who cursed her to "let our sister look like us".

Mystic Muse
2009-08-25, 04:33 AM
+1 for curse

Medusa got her looks from a curse. Her sisters got the same looks when they asked the goddess who cursed her to "let our sister look like us".

that is not a valid misinterpretation.

kwanzaabot
2009-08-25, 04:43 AM
The four fairy brothers had an elder sister who did not partake in stealing the fire. But when her brothers were banished, she wanted to keep track of them all to look after them and make sure they were OK. Since the brothers now lived in all corners of the world, she spend a lot of time running from one end of the world to the other, and because of that (and being a fairy and all that) she grew extra legs to keep it up.

Ooh, this is probably my favorite one. :D

Random832
2009-08-25, 05:53 AM
that is not a valid misinterpretation.

And besides, they didn't ask for her to not be on fire. Or for them to not be on fire. That goddess clearly doesn't know how to DM. :smallcool:

Shademan
2009-08-25, 06:00 AM
greek mythos. centaurs come from a drunk and cursed guy screwing a cloud.
or was that pegasus?
... no pegasus came from the blood of medusa. and also: he didnt...
GAH! DAMN YOU GREEKS!
...
Yeah. I'd say go for the one about the running. it sounds really good actually... almost like a real myth.
kudos, Kurald!

Mastikator
2009-08-25, 06:28 AM
I'm in favor of the curse idea. But it springs to mind an emo angsty centaur. So that's no good.

However, simply flip the coin, they are blessed, the chosen people of the god or horses, or maybe the horses's god of humans. Either way is fine.

Megaduck
2009-08-25, 06:36 AM
The four "original" races (the humanoids: Trolls, Elves, Dwarves and Orcs) are descended from four fairy brothers. Above them were the race of the centaurs, blessed by the gods with speed, and wit, and perfection of form.

However, some of the Centaurs felt sorry for the poor shivering fairy brothers and helped them steal fire from the gods.

Enraged at this betrayal the gods, split those centaurs in two, forming the races of man and horses. Only the pure and loyal centaurs kept their true divine form.

Since that day the cursed humans and horses have always had an affinity with each other and want to regain what they lost so that is why humans ride horses, imitating the centaurs.

shadow_archmagi
2009-08-25, 06:47 AM
When you fight, the sword is an extension of your arm. The true swordsman can use a pair of swords as easily as chopsticks. Of course, this is a hyperbole and an ideal, rather than a goal, but no one told the horsemen that.

There were those who took it far too literally.

Eventually, those people succeeded.


This also leaves a great opening for including Edward Scissorhands in your campaign

kwanzaabot
2009-08-25, 06:48 AM
The four "original" races (the humanoids: Trolls, Elves, Dwarves and Orcs) are descended from four fairy brothers. Above them were the race of the centaurs, blessed by the gods with speed, and wit, and perfection of form.

However, some of the Centaurs felt sorry for the poor shivering fairy brothers and helped them steal fire from the gods.

Enraged at this betrayal the gods, split those centaurs in two, forming the races of man and horses. Only the pure and loyal centaurs kept their true divine form.

Since that day the cursed humans and horses have always had an affinity with each other and want to regain what they lost so that is why humans ride horses, imitating the centaurs.

Ooh, that's good. ;D

Tempest Fennac
2009-08-25, 06:54 AM
I like Mastikator's blessed idea (a tribe which sees horses as holy creatures would probably class becoming half horse to be a good thing). What are the stats for the Beastfolk race and are you altering any of the other races at all mechanicswise?

Fixer
2009-08-25, 07:09 AM
The four "original" races (the humanoids: Trolls, Elves, Dwarves and Orcs) are descended from four fairy brothers. Above them were the race of the centaurs, blessed by the gods with speed, and wit, and perfection of form.

However, some of the Centaurs felt sorry for the poor shivering fairy brothers and helped them steal fire from the gods.

Enraged at this betrayal the gods, split those centaurs in two, forming the races of man and horses. Only the pure and loyal centaurs kept their true divine form.

Since that day the cursed humans and horses have always had an affinity with each other and want to regain what they lost so that is why humans ride horses, imitating the centaurs.This is better than my original idea, which is to say that some humans who loved to run asked the gods for intervention and they gave them the bodies of horses.

kwanzaabot
2009-08-25, 07:11 AM
I like Mastikator's blessed idea (a tribe which sees horses as holy creatures would probably class becoming half horse to be a good thing). What are the stats for the Beastfolk race and are you altering any of the other races at all mechanicswise?

The Beastfolk are basically those Dragon magazine Lupins (using 3.5 D&D here) and the Trolls are refluffed Goliaths. All the others are pretty much the same.

Tempest Fennac
2009-08-25, 07:23 AM
Lupins are one of my favourite races. :smallsmile:

shadzar
2009-08-25, 07:46 AM
After time in their new forms, one race was still angry and held contempt for the gods that removed from them their immortality. The descendants of this race had had enough of toiling and working so hard to just eat the plants of the land. One day one of the humans was in the forest and noticed how (insert god/dess of nature/animals) would use this space to visit with the unicorns.

This gave this human an idea, and returned to his family and decided on a scheme. The family set out to watch and learn when the deity would not be around and a good time to act would be. After gathering information the family set out to capture a few unicorns to help in their labor. Upon reaching the area a small herd of unicorns was found and the family made their move with some twined vine ropes. The youngest of the family befriended a coat and tried explaining their needs while the rest tied up others.

The timing could not have been worse for the humans as the deity had come to see the new colt and wish it well, and found what was going on. Angered by the humans trying to steal yet again, and after coming to wish the colt well finding it joining with the humans made a decision. The colt lost its horn and became what is today known as a horse and would lose its purity. The humans would again be changed and since they prized the strength of the animals would be given it as punishment and have to live as part horse as would their descendants henceforth.

To prevent future occurrences of this, the horse was cast out of the forest and into the world, and for her part the human girl was also transformed into a horse and they enjoyed being together still and their friendship resulted in the current worlds population of horses.

For a time both the centaur and the horse were prized as beasts of burden, but the centaurs fought back, and now have their place in the land as do the horse. No longer do many people remember this story, but no one ever tries to hunt a unicorn.

....

Sappy, quick and thrown together in a few minutes, but if it helps you run with it.

Lord Loss
2009-08-25, 08:02 AM
Kurald should become an author! And write campaign settings (not stuff like FR and Eberron..., cool things like DarkSun!) I second his idea.

Androgeus
2009-08-25, 08:18 AM
greek mythos. centaurs come from a drunk and cursed guy screwing a cloud.
or was that pegasus?
... no pegasus came from the blood of medusa. and also: he didnt...
GAH! DAMN YOU GREEKS!
...
Yeah. I'd say go for the one about the running. it sounds really good actually... almost like a real myth.
kudos, Kurald!

As long as no-one ask where the Minotaur came from, we're not getting in to much of the sick mythology.

Pie Guy
2009-08-25, 08:23 AM
They all come from South Carolina. If you watched the daily show two weeks ago, you'd know what I'm talking about. (No, really.)

LibraryOgre
2009-08-25, 08:52 AM
Centaurs are the original, natural race of the world. The four fairy brothers existed in a world parallel to the Centaur world, and stole fire from the gods to warm centaurs (who were an impious folk, wanting nothing to do with the gods who cared so little for them, but who had good relations with the faeries).

This would result in a world with more hexapods, as they're the natural form for this world.

Choco
2009-08-25, 09:03 AM
When a human REALLY loves his/her horse a little too much....

Mongoose87
2009-08-25, 09:27 AM
When a human REALLY loves his/her horse a little too much....

Human: Hey elf, you look like a girl.
Elf: To a human, everything must look like a girl.
Human: What?
Elf: Half-orcs, half-ogres...
Human: ... shut up.
Dwarf: Half-dragons, half-kobolds.
Human: I said shut up!
Elf: ...
Dwarf: ...
Human: ...
Elf: Centaurs.

bosssmiley
2009-08-25, 09:40 AM
Gag: They come from Kazakhstan (where horse can vote, but woman cannot).

Serious answer: They were created at the same time as the common races and are simply a fact of life in the game world. That tactfully avoids the whole mess of competing Greek myth squick hypotheses (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centaur).

Oh, and centaurs, mermen and fauns think it hilarious that humans having the bottom half of a bald monkey instead of proper locomotive members.

LibraryOgre
2009-08-25, 10:30 AM
Human: Hey elf, you look like a girl.
Elf: To a human, everything must look like a girl.
Human: What?
Elf: Half-orcs, half-ogres...
Human: ... shut up.
Dwarf: Half-dragons, half-kobolds.
Human: I said shut up!
Elf: ...
Dwarf: ...
Human: ...
Elf: Centaurs.

I'd point out that centaurs have pointed ears and the attenuated, heroin-chic faces that points to an elven, not human, ancestry. Once again, it is proven that elves are liars. (http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=MrNexx#play/all/favorites-all/1/HNrLMob39qI)

Hzurr
2009-08-25, 12:25 PM
A druid wildshaped, and put a whole new meaning into the phrase "animal companion"


(Actually, this is my group's longstanding theory on where lycanthropy comes from)

Frosty
2009-08-25, 12:38 PM
Maybe a female elven Paladin got too close to her "Special Mount" :smallconfused:?

Optimystik
2009-08-25, 12:40 PM
Human: Hey elf, you look like a girl.
Elf: To a human, everything must look like a girl.
Human: What?
Elf: Half-orcs, half-ogres...
Human: ... shut up.
Dwarf: Half-dragons, half-kobolds.
Human: I said shut up!
Elf: ...
Dwarf: ...
Human: ...
Elf: Centaurs.

Nope, just elves. (http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=645) :smallwink:

Ilena
2009-08-25, 01:17 PM
Well, first off im exhausted so im not going to make up a big long complex one, but you could say that a human and a horse grew to such great partnership and love of each other that they actually merged souls and split into two centaurs, or something along those lines,

Also you could have a tribe of humans who when young people come to age, they preform a ritual and transform them into horses (i read that in a story somewhere i cant remember so forgive me if whoever wrote it reads this, good story btw), and something could have happened where they were changed into centaurs perminantly,

ill probably think of more later when im actually awake :P

Irreverent Fool
2009-08-25, 02:20 PM
Centaurs are the original, natural race of the world. The four fairy brothers existed in a world parallel to the Centaur world, and stole fire from the gods to warm centaurs (who were an impious folk, wanting nothing to do with the gods who cared so little for them, but who had good relations with the faeries).

This would result in a world with more hexapods, as they're the natural form for this world.

Most of the creatures on Earth are hexapods and you're saying this world would have more?

obnoxious
sig

LibraryOgre
2009-08-25, 02:25 PM
Most of the creatures on Earth are hexapods and you're saying this world would have more?

Hexapodal vertebrates, sorry.

sciencepanda
2009-08-25, 02:41 PM
Or alternatively, a group of centaurs had insulted the gods to such a degree that they were punished by having their hind legs removed, leaving them slower and weaker, there being the first humans.

deuxhero
2009-08-25, 02:51 PM
Centaurs were created by magical experiments (ala bugbear) done by a mage guild to eliminate lazy Tolkien plagiarism the Elfs, Dwarfs and Orcs, believing the 3 races had no soul, because they all acted exactly like every other member of the race, and were such abominations.

Myshlaevsky
2009-08-25, 02:55 PM
Centaurs were created by magical experiments (ala bugbear) done by a mage guild to eliminate lazy Tolkien plagiarism the Elfs, Dwarfs and Orcs, believing the 3 races had no soul, because they all acted exactly like every other member of the race, and were such abominations.

Creating creatures with magical experiments to eliminate Elves & Dwarves is from LotR too, you know.

Agrippa
2009-08-25, 03:12 PM
Gag: They come from Kazakhstan (where horse can vote, but woman cannot).

Serious answer: They were created at the same time as the common races and are simply a fact of life in the game world. That tactfully avoids the whole mess of competing Greek myth squick hypotheses (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centaur).

Oh, and centaurs, mermen and fauns think it hilarious that humans having the bottom half of a bald monkey instead of proper locomotive members.

Actually that makes more sense than the Greek myths. And it proves that you have a wonderfully sick and twisted sense of humor.

Ilena
2009-08-25, 03:16 PM
Haha you havea hairless monkeys but! :P

Another_Poet
2009-08-25, 03:38 PM
Here is my idea.

Centaurs were originally formed through the magic of the gods to serve as guardians of sacred treasures. They were given their form so they could have the swiftness & strength of steeds but the wisdom of faeries.

The four faerie brothers tricked the centaur that guarded the fire, and this failure was met with anger by the gods. The centaurs were driven out of the divine realm and forced to live among the mortal races who tricked them.

The centaurs still have the stern demeanor of disciplined guardians, and many harbour resentment toward the four humanoid races.

This creation story also leaves an opening for some newer race of divine guardians who are far more badass than centaurs, who were created to replace the centaurs after they were exiled.

Fixer
2009-08-25, 03:46 PM
Here is my idea.

Centaurs were originally formed through the magic of the gods to serve as guardians of sacred treasures. They were given their form so they could have the swiftness & strength of steeds but the wisdom of faeries.

The four faerie brothers tricked the centaur that guarded the fire, and this failure was met with anger by the gods. The centaurs were driven out of the divine realm and forced to live among the mortal races who tricked them.

The centaurs still have the stern demeanor of disciplined guardians, and many harbour resentment toward the four humanoid races.

This creation story also leaves an opening for some newer race of divine guardians who are far more badass than centaurs, who were created to replace the centaurs after they were exiled.And thus, dragons were created to guard hoards and deal massive damage.

Lord Loss
2009-08-25, 04:03 PM
Oozes were created when the dark wizard margolim was caught by a band of adventurers whilst eating his midnight snack: a lump of jello. Enlarge thingy! Animate Thingy! Run away!

Thatguyoverther
2009-08-25, 04:06 PM
I suggest you have multiple stories circulating about why centaurs exist. Most of them are there to cover up the idea that centaurs spawned when lonely farmers started looking at their farm animals the wrong way. Maybe one of the creation myths is actually right. You seem to suggest that beastmen came about from that sort of relationship why not centaurs?

Or maybe you can homebrew some other races like centaurs but with cow halves replacing the horse. Or half chicken people.


Oozes were created when the dark wizard margolim was caught by a band of adventurers whilst eating his midnight snack: a lump of jello. Enlarge thingy! Animate Thingy! Run away!

Huh, so that's why gelatenous cubes resemble knox block!

Livor
2009-08-25, 04:16 PM
Ever read any Piers Anthony? Nudge, nudge. Wink, wink.

Jergmo
2009-08-25, 04:18 PM
that is not a valid misinterpretation.

Well, here's the thing; every Greek deity is Chaotic Neutral leaning towards Evil. Except for the few Evil ones. Greek deities are total jerks. Especially Zeus and the goddesses.

Zaq
2009-08-25, 08:49 PM
The best I can think of right now is "Totemist gone wrong." Soulmelds, particularly Totemist soulmelds, are great at giving you extra, well, parts. Add in some primal magic, some let's-combine-owls-with-bears magical shenanigans, a fetish or two, perhaps a divine "...and all your children's children" type blessing-or-curse, and there you have it.

Hawriel
2009-08-25, 09:44 PM
Maybe unlike the other races Centaurs where a small group of fairies that where blessed by a god (the gods) after a tragedy. It could be tied to your origen of the other races.

A group of fairies who where friends with a god and loved the beasts of the wild where left with horably mortal disfigurements. The others did steal fire. These fairies could not be truely restored. So the gods combined a part of their essences with noble animals loved by these fairies. The horse was used wild and free nobility to creat centaurs.

This could also give you a reason to have minataurs, harpies, merfolk, and satyr.

Coidzor
2009-08-25, 11:23 PM
<_< Gods had a kegger.

None of them remember what happened after the god of war got his head stuck in the keg.

Centaurs showed up the next day.

There are a couple of competing theories as to where they came from.

Cyrion
2009-08-26, 10:15 AM
Look up in the sky, my son. Do you see the Paladin? Do you see his horse? In the Days of the Lost Kings, there was no greater hero than Mahir the Brave, and even today we tell tales of his deeds. After many years, the Gods called him home and the stars we see are where the spirits of Mahir and his faithful steed landed in the sky.

Many, many years later, during the Age of Dragons a great hero was needed again, and the High Priestess Azeen turned to the Gods for help. Once again, Mahir was called upon and was sent to aid us, but the evil and demonic sorcerer Bashshar laid a curse upon them as they came down from the heavens. Mahir and his horse were joined together as a half-man half-beast and barred from returning to Heaven.

Mahir’s trials were great, and his heroism even greater, even though his curse was terrible. Although the gods could not reverse the curse, they looked kindly upon their faithful servant and spoke to Azeen who had come to love Mahir. Azeen accepted their charge to become his bride, and they made her into a half-woman half horse to match Mahir. They lived long and happy lives and had many strong sons and daughters, and that, my son, is how centaurs came to be. Now, go to sleep and dream great dreams.

Randel
2009-08-26, 11:28 AM
A few ideas:

1). Supersoldiers/Force Multipliers - They were created by a wizard/druid/rabbi/diety and given to the people of a good kingdom to help fight against the plentiful forces of evil.

They were basically meant to be horses that could shoot arrows. It might take about five or so years for a centaur to grow from a baby (or foul or colt or whatever they are called) to an adult capable of fighting on the front lines. Even sooner if you enlist child soldiers. They were ment to be the 'good guys' version of the fast breeding kobolds or ogres (since humans take sixteen or so years to reach adulthood and dwarves and elves are just crazy old) so centaurs were meant to grow up fast and be strong fighters or beasts of burden (but all pretty because they are horses).

It wasn't until some of the centaurs broke away and became wild that they really realised that they were a race in their own right and not simple beasts of burden and warfare.

Factions include:

The Centaur Guards - those who want to remain true to the centaurs origional purpose and protect the 'good races'

The Night Stallions - a mercenary group of 'wild' centaurs who hire their services to whoever has the coin to pay them. They see no race as inherently better or worse than any other... they listen to the individuals who have the cash to pay them (though they will of course refuse service to those they dislike). Blindy following ones master is what horse do, centaurs do whatever is best for themselves.

The Wild Herd - Centaurs who seek to free everyone in servitude be they slaves or beasts of burden. Seen as a blessing at best and curse at worst. They consist of those who have learned of the centaurs 'artificial' nature and hate being a creature 'created to serve the will of another'. They will free people from being abused by goblins but also try to free cows and cattle from pens. They see the domestication of animals as an abomination, essentially dooming the future generations of these creatures to be stupid milk-producing things incapable of defending themselves. They have nothing against eating meat per see but the idea of raising animals specifically to eat their flesh is just plain wrong... if you can hunt and kill it then fine, if you have to feed raise it from birth to butchery then you are NOT winning any points with them.

The Death Riders - Evil centaurs. Some say they are descended by some of the original guardian centaurs who were corrupted by the forces of evil, others think they centaurs who's original owners either died or betrayed them, while a few suspect that originated from the first 'experimental' centaurs and that their 'programming' had basically told them to conquer evil... which from their point of view consists of EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE WHO ISN'T THEM!

Death Riders are technically omnivorous though they can easily subsist on vegetation ranging from grass to tree bark... they enjoy meat, particularly the flesh of their enemies or even their own dead. They feel no need to set up strongholds or kingdoms, preferring to roam as free as the wind like locusts, killing all those in their way, eating and looting. They occasionally will speak with people, and there are tales of Death Riders who have spoken with well-mannered children or priests and left them alone or even helped them out of a jam. Attempting to lie to a Death Rider will get you disemboweled, no exceptions. The eeriest thing about them is that they barely make any noise, they might shout commands to eachother, but they don't have any discernible or audible battle cries and they tend to either die silently in battle or yell out 'someone killed me!' when ambushed. Pure strain Death Riders have pitch black coats while a precious few other centaurs have managed to join up with the Death Riders (though once a centaur joins up with the Death Riders they are apparently forbidden from leaving to tell anyone how things go inside the herd).

Some say Death rides on a pitch-black steed... a few say that that steed is a centaur... If Death Riders said anything, they would say the Death is a centaur... THEM!

paddyfool
2009-08-26, 11:33 AM
Well, here's the thing; every Greek deity is Chaotic Neutral leaning towards Evil. Except for the few Evil ones. Greek deities are total jerks. Especially Zeus and the goddesses.

Several of the goddesses (Athene, Hera, and Artemis) are generally more Lawful than Chaotic, but I'd say you've definitely got Aphrodite, most of the male gods, and Zeus especially bang to rights. One of them, Dionysus, is probably somewhere in Chaotic Crazy territory. About the only Greek gods with a solid claim to being good were two humans who were raised to godhood: Heracles and Asclepius.

Draz74
2009-08-26, 11:47 AM
This is slightly off-topic, but any campaign world that wants to include centaurs should first deal with the consequences of viewing this picture, which permanently stripped me of all respect for centaurs:

How Centaurs Graze
http://images.elfwood.com/art/m/e/meg/munchy.jpg

paddyfool
2009-08-26, 02:43 PM
This is slightly off-topic, but any campaign world that wants to include centaurs should first deal with the consequences of viewing this picture, which permanently stripped me of all respect for centaurs:


So, they look even more silly than humans would if they grazed.

Except that humans don't graze and, oh, wait... neither do centaurs.

Optimystik
2009-08-26, 02:46 PM
How Centaurs Graze

If it weren't for the "munch munch," I would've thought he tripped on a fieldstone or something.


Except that humans don't graze and, oh, wait... neither do centaurs.

Why not? Horses do. Most novels I read with centaurs involve hay, too.

Another_Poet
2009-08-26, 03:08 PM
Well, here's the thing; every Greek deity is Chaotic Neutral leaning towards Evil. Except for the few Evil ones. Greek deities are total jerks. Especially Zeus and the goddesses.

Wow, way to misread the allegorical myths. For the record, your words here are deeply insulting to a real-world religion that people still follow today. Last I checked that was a violation of forum rules. It's also a jerk move.

GreatWyrmGold
2009-08-26, 03:17 PM
So I'm doing some worldbuilding, and I have about seven "common" races. Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, "lesser" Trolls, a beast-like race, and Centaurs.

The four "original" races (the humanoids: Humans, Elves, Dwarves and Orcs) are descended from four fairy brothers, who after stealing fire from the gods, were stripped of their immortality and banished to opposite sides of the world with a biblical-style flood.
The Trolls are really a kind of half-Giant, descended from people who bred with "wild" trolls (as in, the regular sort of troll that regenerates etc), and the beasts are an ancient people whose myths pre-date the humanoids by several millenia.

That just leaves me with Centaurs, and I have no idea how they were created. I already have a half-breed (the Trolls), so I don't really want to go down that road again, but I can't think of any other way Centaurs can be made (which admittedly would make for a rather unpleasant origin myth).

So... can anybody help me come up with an origin myth for Centaurs?

Someone with a mage buddy wanted to run fast, so a mage fuzed him with a horse. First centaur.
A kingdom wanted a good messenger or fast warrior or whatever. Same deal.
Etcetera.

Mercenary Pen
2009-08-26, 03:33 PM
Ancient Proto-Druid gave up his/her life to save that of an animal companion- and Centaurs were the result?

*.*.*.*
2009-08-26, 03:40 PM
Look up in the sky, my son. Do you see the Paladin? Do you see his horse? In the Days of the Lost Kings, there was no greater hero than Mahir the Brave, and even today we tell tales of his deeds. After many years, the Gods called him home and the stars we see are where the spirits of Mahir and his faithful steed landed in the sky.

Many, many years later, during the Age of Dragons a great hero was needed again, and the High Priestess Azeen turned to the Gods for help. Once again, Mahir was called upon and was sent to aid us, but the evil and demonic sorcerer Bashshar laid a curse upon them as they came down from the heavens. Mahir and his horse were joined together as a half-man half-beast and barred from returning to Heaven.

Mahir’s trials were great, and his heroism even greater, even though his curse was terrible. Although the gods could not reverse the curse, they looked kindly upon their faithful servant and spoke to Azeen who had come to love Mahir. Azeen accepted their charge to become his bride, and they made her into a half-woman half horse to match Mahir. They lived long and happy lives and had many strong sons and daughters, and that, my son, is how centaurs came to be. Now, go to sleep and dream great dreams.

I vote this one^:smallbiggrin:

LibraryOgre
2009-08-26, 04:30 PM
So, they look even more silly than humans would if they grazed.

Except that humans don't graze and, oh, wait... neither do centaurs.

It's not an uncommon theme. To kill a couple catgirls, a body of that size, married to a human-strength brain (an energy pit) is going to require a LOT of food. Grazing is a good way to do volume.

Cyrion
2009-08-26, 04:36 PM
If you can find copies of the books in Jack Chalker's Well World Saga, one of the characters gets turned into a centaur, and Chalker does a decent job of describing life from their perspective.

paddyfool
2009-08-26, 04:41 PM
Why not? Horses do. Most novels I read with centaurs involve hay, too.

Most of what I've read with centaurs in has them basically eating human food, only more of it. As a theme, this goes right back to Herc eating and drinking with centaurs in old Greek myth.


It's not an uncommon theme. To kill a couple catgirls, a body of that size, married to a human-strength brain (an energy pit) is going to require a LOT of food. Grazing is a good way to do volume.

Grazing is not exactly an efficient way to get energy - you need to spend a lot of time doing it. An intelligent being is going to have access to higher-energy inputs that don't take up much of the day just cropping, chewing, and swallowing. Something like human food would do pretty well.

Katana_Geldar
2009-08-26, 07:52 PM
I am wondering, will this include male and female centaurs?

http://jjonesmanning.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/centaurs1.jpg

kwanzaabot
2009-08-26, 08:14 PM
I am wondering, will this include male and female centaurs?

http://jjonesmanning.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/centaurs1.jpg

Yuh huh. Just not the Disney ones you've got there. :P

I'm going with a version somewhat inspired by the ancient Greeks. Crude, drunken lechers who farm impossibly tall grass (saves them leaning onto the ground) and whose only real interest in other races is to trade their various exports (wine and hay) for virgins, with whom they... "make friends" with. Of course, they're not above simply taking what they want from people as well.
They also get along famously with Dwarves, if only because they respect people whose cure for a poisoned liver is "more booze".
They admire Orcs and Trolls for their skill in battle, but don't care too much for Elves- they're all a bunch of androgynous, lily-livered, pansy-ass tree huggers.

As you can see, it's not an entirely serious campaign. :D

Katana_Geldar
2009-08-26, 08:25 PM
Disney was the first guy to do "centaurettes" though. And if the myth of Chiron is correct, their blood is poisonous to humans.

Will the centaurs be very good archers?

Tiki Snakes
2009-08-26, 08:32 PM
Disney was the first guy to do "centaurettes" though. And if the myth of Chiron is correct, their blood is poisonous to humans.

Will the centaurs be very good archers?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centaur#Female_centaurs

Disney does not, as far as I recall, predate Ancient Macedonia. Though the Disney studio did apparently rename them as such.

Katana_Geldar
2009-08-26, 08:36 PM
All right, all right, I don't know my Greek mythology as well as I thought I did.

Origomar
2009-08-26, 08:36 PM
generally i would think centaurs be a bastard child of the gods, cast out because they are an abomination.

Katana_Geldar
2009-08-26, 08:40 PM
Like echidna and typhon?

kwanzaabot
2009-08-26, 08:48 PM
Disney was the first guy to do "centaurettes" though. And if the myth of Chiron is correct, their blood is poisonous to humans.

Will the centaurs be very good archers?

I think they'd be good archers, yeah. Not good in a "naturally talented" kind of way (like Elves tend to be depicted with their bows, or Dwarves with axes- neither are gonna be like that with me, though), more that they've invested time into inventing better ways to kill (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recurve_bow#Recurve_bow).

And yeah, the Greeks did have female Centaurs, although they were admittedly pretty rare. Disney sort of popularized the notion. :)

Coidzor
2009-08-26, 09:40 PM
^: Well, female centaurs weren't exactly the warrior-dudes that were popular.

Or trained demigods and heroes.

I'm skeptical of centaurs as grazers. Hunter-gatherers, I can see easily. Presumably some kind of centaur enabling wild staple that they follow the differing seasons of when it is ready in their migrations through their lands in addition to hunting down the beefalo and such. Perhaps this staple is what they also make their centbroot which is desired by others and used to obtain the metals they use. Though I'm sorta seeing them as Great Plains Indians meet the mongols right now, so, your mileage may vary. haha.

Arakune
2009-08-26, 09:52 PM
Since that day the cursed humans and horses have always had an affinity with each other and want to regain what they lost so that is why humans ride horses, imitating the centaurs.

Or do other stuff.





Please throw only rotten tomatoes.

Coidzor
2009-08-26, 10:56 PM
*throws some fried green tomatoes just to spite him*

GallóglachMaxim
2009-08-28, 03:42 AM
Not that it'll necessarily fit in everywhere, but the homebrew centaur I used for my campaign are from another world where that's the normal shape. Their world imploded, so they plane shifted through to the game world. It also let me play with some fun things (like that fitting a fantasy setting, the core races were created by their relative gods, but back on their home plane the centaurs evolved).

Eldariel
2009-08-28, 09:00 AM
It's worth remembering that Centaurs have 6 limbs and thus cannot be mammals. Indeed, I'd say their likeness to Humans and Horses is only coincidental and they are descend from insects whose exoskeleton just so happens to remind skin (why do you think they have natural armor?) and whose antennae have developed to double as ears.

Draz74
2009-08-28, 01:23 PM
It's worth remembering that Centaurs have 6 limbs and thus cannot be mammals. Indeed, I'd say their likeness to Humans and Horses is only coincidental and they are descend from insects whose exoskeleton just so happens to remind skin (why do you think they have natural armor?) and whose antennae have developed to double as ears.

[nitpick Internet debate mode] (sorry Eldariel, just bored :smallwink:)


Mammals (formally Mammalia) are a class of vertebrate animals whose females are characterized by the possession of mammary glands while both males and females are characterized by sweat glands, hair, three middle ear bones used in hearing, and a neocortex region in the brain.

Nothing in there about having 4 limbs. Sure, most/all known mammals in real life do have four limbs (whales have vestigial skeletal legs), but that doesn't mean it's part of the definition.

The discovery of the centaur is analogous to the discovery of the first zoologists in Australia of the platypus and echidna. Before this discovery, all known mammals gave live birth. However, since that wasn't part of the definition of mammals, the newly discovered platypus and echidna were classified as mammals, albeit strange ones. The Centaur can do likewise, assuming it meets all the definitive traits quoted above.

GreatWyrmGold
2009-08-28, 04:07 PM
[nitpick Internet debate mode] (sorry Eldariel, just bored :smallwink:)



Nothing in there about having 4 limbs. Sure, most/all known mammals in real life do have four limbs (whales have vestigial skeletal legs), but that doesn't mean it's part of the definition.

The discovery of the centaur is analogous to the discovery of the first zoologists in Australia of the platypus and echidna. Before this discovery, all known mammals gave live birth. However, since that wasn't part of the definition of mammals, the newly discovered platypus and echidna were classified as mammals, albeit strange ones. The Centaur can do likewise, assuming it meets all the definitive traits quoted above.

Of course, no vertabrate has more than 4 limbs; extras are hard to do Plus, mammals are tetrapods, critters with 4 legs.

Xenogears
2009-08-28, 05:13 PM
Several of the goddesses (Athene, Hera, and Artemis) are generally more Lawful than Chaotic, but I'd say you've definitely got Aphrodite, most of the male gods, and Zeus especially bang to rights. One of them, Dionysus, is probably somewhere in Chaotic Crazy territory. About the only Greek gods with a solid claim to being good were two humans who were raised to godhood: Heracles and Asclepius.

Yes nothing says lawful quite like "You saw me bathing (note she was in the middle of the woods) so now you are a horse. Also your dogs are gonna eat you now." Yes. thats lawful all right. Greek myths are crazy. Insane. Somehow Awesome though...

LibraryOgre
2009-08-28, 08:21 PM
Of course, no vertabrate has more than 4 limbs; extras are hard to do

Technically, 5. Humans and other apes are a little freakish in that we've only got 4, though our 5th is visible in our skeletons.

Pika...
2009-08-28, 08:29 PM
I am wondering, will this include male and female centaurs?

http://jjonesmanning.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/centaurs1.jpg

I would so want a centaur girl like that. :smallredface:

Frosty
2009-08-29, 02:09 AM
Disney was the first guy to do "centaurettes" though. And if the myth of Chiron is correct, their blood is poisonous to humans.

Will the centaurs be very good archers?

You know how the mongols were terrifying with their mounted archery tactics? Centaurs do that by default. Fear them. Also fear Shock-Trooper Leap-Attack Spirited Charge Centaurs.

GallóglachMaxim
2009-08-29, 02:17 AM
You know how the mongols were terrifying with their mounted archery tactics? Centaurs do that by default.

They wouldn't have the same endurance over longer distance though. The Mongols freaked people out a lot by just turning up suddenly when they were supposed to be nowhere nearby, centaurs wouldn't be able to switch mounts, and they certainly couldn't survive in an emergency with just their own blood and milk for supply.

Frosty
2009-08-29, 02:20 AM
They wouldn't have the same endurance over longer distance though. The Mongols freaked people out a lot by just turning up suddenly when they were supposed to be nowhere nearby, centaurs wouldn't be able to switch mounts, and they certainly couldn't survive in an emergency with just their own blood and milk for supply.

Eh, a time that Endurance as a feat is actually useful perhaps?

Eldariel
2009-08-29, 08:05 AM
Eh, a time that Endurance as a feat is actually useful perhaps?

Or a Cleric with Remove Fatigue? YMMV.

Deme
2009-08-29, 09:15 AM
Yes nothing says lawful quite like "You saw me bathing (note she was in the middle of the woods) so now you are a horse. Also your dogs are gonna eat you now." Yes. thats lawful all right. Greek myths are crazy. Insane. Somehow Awesome though...

Actually, from the perspective of Greek Myth... Yeah, that's lawful. He legitimately, if accidentally, did her a great offense. You do not take that sort of familiarity with goddesses, and especially not goddesses who are also virgins, and when it came to one's conduct with the gods, 'accident' is not a valid defense. He needed, by the basic celestial order of things, to be punished; she punished him.

Also, he was turned into a deer, not a horse. At least in 99.9% of the variations I have ever heard of.