TEXT:  
  Board Enterprises proudly presents 
  Build Your Fantasy World in  
  Small Bites 
   
   
  The Centaur Warlord of Lockney 
  and Other Tales of the Beast Men 
   
  aka All About Centaurs 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  
  2 
  INTRODUCTION 
   
   
  Welcome to our latest edition of our Small Bites.  
  This month our theme is centaurs and the other beast 
  men.  These folks seem to be “people” but not entirely, 
  so how do you treat them?  Are they monsters?  Are they 
  just like us? 
   
  Casser Phantillo is the centaur Warlord of Lockney 
  we mentioned in the title, but it’s not all about him.  He 
  is however a great example of what a centaur can be, as a 
  character that doesn’t fit the established tropes of 
  centaurs.  His nickname is “The Mule”, mainly because 
  of his tough (stubborn) personality. 
   
  So if it’s not all about Caser, what is it all about?  
  Well, the beast men:  centaurs, minotaurs, satyrs, and 
  many of the others.  Once again, we’re working to target 
  stuff you know about, but focus in on them in a way that 
  you may not have done in the past.  These are fascinating 
  people!  Let’s not just make them humans that take up 
  more space! 
   
  So let’s jump in! 
   
   
  Table of Contents 
   
  Introduction ..................................................................... 2 
  Fletnern Wiki................................................................... 2 
  The Sounding Board ........................................................ 5 
  Lifestyles of the Magical and Mundane ........................ 10 
  The Wild Centaurs of Koaluckssie ............................ 10 
  The Northern Centaurs of the Eastern Plains ............ 10 
  The Centaurs of the Southern Plains ......................... 12 
  News of Fletnern ........................................................... 14 
  The Good Life ............................................................... 17 
  Rumors ...................................................................... 19 
  What’s Missing ............................................................. 20 
  In Conclusion ................................................................ 20 
  Patreon ........................................................................... 21 
   
  FLETNERN WIKI 
   
   
  All of these posts are already out on the wiki where 
  you can refer to them.  We have gathered them here, 
  because we think they are valuable in a group, and they 
  all pertain to our theme for the month.  All of them are 
  also tagged as being in the category of “Beast Men” and 
  in case you are more comfortable using the wiki instead 
  of this edition. 
   
  Avarick Roanheart 
  Individual 
   
  Avarick Roanheart was a centaur warlord and the 
  last leader to attack the Council of Baronies.  Avarick 
  had assembled several groups of centaur bandits into a 
  united army.  Rather than simply raid and retreat, 
  Avarick had such an easy time taking villages in the 
  barony of Ikkibble that he decided to try and stay.  That 
  decision drove the entire Council to mobilize their 
  troops. 
   
  The physically superior centaurs were very difficult 
  for the Council troops to handle.  Fortunately, the 
  Council had several accomplished tactical marshals who 
  were able to outmaneuver the undisciplined bandit 
  troops.  Because of this campaign, most of the current 
  barons have some military experience. 
   
  Avarick came to prominence in the early 630s as a 
  ruthless bandit.  He rose amongst the bandits until his 
  band was the most feared raiders in the Eastern Plains.  It 
  was his reputation that banded several other bandit 
  groups together, not his tactics or leadership.  In the end, 
  Roanheart stood and fought to the death, rather than 
  surrender and be tried and executed. 
   
  Carvington 
  City 
   
  Carvington is a small village on the east coast of 
  Drentae.  Surrounded by centaur warlords, one would 
  have thought that this small human village would have 
  died off long ago.  A four-foot tall wall protects 
  Carvington.  This minimal defense is important when 
  one is aware that Carvington is the home of the Jambeski 
  Crossbow Works.  For six generations, the Jambeski 
  family has built fine crossbows, ballistaes and other 
  mechanical weapons. 
   
  The people of Carvington have a reliable truce with 
  Steelshod Stiletto, even though they limit the number of 
  weapons he is allowed to purchase.  Carvington survives 
  through fishing and weapon sales.  There is some 
  farming, but the people do not feel safe outside the 
  town’s walls.  Everyone who lives in the town is trained 
  in the use of crossbows.  Between the town militia and 
  the artillery weapons stored around the town, storming 
  Carvington is far more difficult than it is worth. 
  
  3 
   
  Centaurs 
  Races 
   
  There are several centaur cultures spread across 
  Drentae and some nomadic tribes on Koaluckssie.  On 
  the east coast of Drentae are several centaur 
  communities, but these are overshadowed by the centaur 
  warlords who operate out of these same areas.  The 
  warlords raid into the human and halfling communities 
  west of them and have caused a great deal of havoc.  The 
  producing communities act like their neighbors:  
  farming, raising livestock, and providing for their 
  families. 
   
  Centaurs of Villai live as other Velesans do, with 
  nearly the same culture.  Villai is a far more accepting 
  community than many of the others around, and centaurs 
  in Villai are not assumed to be bandits as they are 
  elsewhere in the Central Plains.  Current estimates have 
  Villai at 7,000 halflings, 6,000 centaurs and 4,000 others 
  (mostly Velesan humans) with many of the former 
  residents having fled to the rural areas.   
   
  In the Southern Plains, there are two rival groups of 
  centaurs, the Pinnoc and the Haesault.  The Pinnoc 
  worship the spirits of the animals, and their shamans are 
  typically beast masters.  The Haesault worship natural 
  phenomenon, 
  and 
  their 
  shamans 
  are 
  typically 
  elementalists.  Individual tribes typically follow either 
  fire or air, but when they gather in permanent sites 
  elemental masters become more common. 
   
  Detheb Slaves 
  Slavery 
   
  On Marina 16, 653, a major earthquake hit the city 
  of Lympeid.  Thousands were killed that day and many 
  thousands more were destined to die due to the number 
  of deep wells that collapsed during the quake.  Those 
  with the means escaped the city as quickly as they could.  
  Some of these managed to make it to Chuhlme before the 
  borders were closed, but most were stopped by the 
  Glodon military forces.  Concerned about overwhelming 
  their own resources, the Glodons were unwilling to grant 
  aid to their longtime rivals. 
   
  Desperation sinking in, the Dethebs in the 
  makeshift refugee camps on the borders were willing to 
  accept any offer of help.  When the centaur sailors 
  arrived promising to smuggle refugees into Drentae, 
  many jumped at the chance for escape, especially as they 
  heard the stories about how Drentae was a land of 
  countless streams and lakes.  Some of the centaur 
  captains were true to their word.  If paid a proper 
  ransom, they dropped the refugees off on Drentae to find 
  their own way.  But few of them could be trusted.  Most 
  took everything they could from the refugees and then 
  sold them into slavery.  The influx of Detheb slaves 
  flooded the markets of Drentae, devaluing slaves across 
  the continent. 
   
  But there is a problem with Detheb slaves.  The 
  majority of them were dirt poor farmers trying to eke out 
  a life amongst the desert conditions near Lympeid.  This 
  “training” made them useful as farm slaves, but just 
  barely.  But farm slaves are the least valuable slaves.  
  Most of the Dethebs had no experience with animals of 
  any kind, meaning they are worthless as shepherds or on 
  a dairy farm.  Further, their moral codes make them poor 
  strippers or prostitutes as they show far too much shame, 
  making the paying customers that much less fulfilled. 
   
  So the market has been flooded with the cheapest 
  and least useful slaves.  Despite their low quality, their 
  huge supply has ruined the market and is risking the 
  profits of all the slave merchants on the continent.  There 
  are always repercussions to economic disasters like this. 
   
  Game Designer’s Note - It may seem horrible to 
  discuss the value of someone as a slave, but the slave 
  trade is alive and well in the world of Fletnern.  To 
  ignore it is to throw away any hope at a realistic world 
  that can actually function.  Just because the practice of 
  slavery is immoral does not mean it did not happen, nor 
  that it is not happening today - both in our real world and 
  in the fantasy world of Fletnern. 
   
  Eastern Plains 
  Regions 
  Continent:  Drentae (East) 
  Terrain:  Plains/Coastline 
  Major City:  Villai 
   
  The Eastern Plains are a region of rolling hills, 
  grasslands and plains.  They are bordered by the Anglic 
  Straits on the east and the Central Plains on the west. 
   
  There are no large governments in the region.  
  Instead the area is a scattering of centaur warlords, small 
  human kingdoms/baronies, and other odd countries.  
  Villai is the largest city in the region and represents the 
  strongest races:  centaurs, humans and halflings.   
   
  This is a major agricultural area with some wool 
  bearing animals as well.  In many ways it is simply a 
  continuation of its neighbors.  Its agricultural industry is 
  generally a continuation of its neighbor to the south the 
  Green Lands.  Its culture is a continuation of the Velesan 
  culture that dominates its western neighbor the Central 
  Plains. 
   
  Koaluckssie 
  Continent 
   
  Koaluckssie is the so-called “Monster Continent”. 
  Located west of Drentae and east of the Great 
  Archipelago, Koaluckssie is the most difficult continent 
  to inhabit. It is a complex collection of mountain ranges 
  separating deserts and broken lands. In the case of the 
  Yullipi Mountains, a desert lies on one side of the range 
  while a dense jungle lies on the other. While life does 
  exist, survival is so difficult that culture and civilization 
  are simply not possible.  
  
  4 
   
  The landscape is dominated by the mountain 
  ranges, including two running relatively parallel north 
  and south and two more running generally parallel 
  running west to east.  This forms a central “square” as 
  well as isolating the coastal regions from the center and 
  each other.  
   
  There are many theories on the diverse creatures 
  inhabiting Koaluckssie, many of them revolve around the 
  legendary Tower of Soot.  While the legends say the 
  dragons moved the chaos causing Tower of Soot to 
  Koaluckssie, even the legends admit that the various 
  beast-man races (centaurs, satyrs, minotaurs, etc.) were 
  there before the Tower of Soot.  While the Tower may 
  have had some impact on the fauna and peoples, it 
  cannot be the entire cause of the varied creatures found 
  there. 
   
  If any race had an accurate map of Koaluckssie it 
  would be the Sulnuun (black) dragons.  Assuming they 
  had such a thing, it would be taboo to them.  The black 
  dragons have outlawed sea travel.  This makes any maps 
  seemingly impossible to obtain. 
   
  Locktown 
  City 
   
  Locktown is the village that developed around the 
  fortress of Lockney.  It has grown to about 2,200 people, 
  mostly centaurs with some humans and halflings.  Under 
  the thumb of the previous bandit gangs, farming or 
  ranching in this region was simply too dangerous, but 
  with Casser proving a small sense of peace, farms have 
  been returning to life.  Reestablishing these farms has 
  also called for forested areas to be cleared.  While a 
  small amount of this timber is being turned into lumber, 
  most of it is being burned for charcoal or for potash.  
  Ranching and shepherding are still considered too risky 
  due to the amount of land they require, but poultry and 
  hogs are being raised, as are a small number of dairy 
  goats. 
   
  Locktown is also a port, but not a very good one.  
  Sea crossing vessels are not able to dock here, but there 
  is a small fleet of fishing vessels and small cargo haulers 
  that stay in the coastal waters.  Still, it is a center of trade 
  for the region. 
   
  Order of Ballantane 
  Group 
   
  Created in 655 in Forsbury, the Order of Ballantane 
  was established to honor those soldiers from Forsbury 
  who fought at the Battle of Ballantane (Laenta 19, 642P).  
  The Battle of Ballantane was named for the town in 
  eastern Ikkibble where one of the fiercest battles of the 
  war against Avarick Roanheart was fought. 
   
  During the battle, Martin Highell of Triess 
  famously killed one of the centaur champions, making a 
  real name for himself as a warrior.  This was also the 
  battle where Edward Highell of Forsbury and his squad 
  were pinned down by centaur archers.  As they were 
  returning fire, they were surprised by infantry.  Because 
  of their preparation (of having loaded crossbows at the 
  ready), they managed to shoot their way out their 
  predicament. 
   
  Upon being inducted into the Order of Ballantane, 
  each member is given a stainless silver medal hung on 
  navy and crimson ribbon.  The medal is of a shield with a 
  crossbow bolt in front of it pointed upwards.  Each 
  member is invited to an annual feast to commemorate the 
  battle and its veterans.  Each also receives a 200sc 
  stipend every Polish Day so that they may be able to 
  maintain “suitable dress military attire” for the annual 
  feast. 
   
  Southern Plains 
  Region 
  Continent: Drentae (South) 
  Terrain: Plains 
  Major City: N/A  
   
  The Southern Plains are a region of plains and 
  savannahs, most of which are kept alive by the River 
  Fhearree and its tributaries.  The climate is tropical and 
  frosts are extremely rare.  In summer, there can be no 
  relief from temperatures over 100°F because there are 
  very few trees. 
   
  The Southern Plains are home to many races 
  including centaurs, humans, orcs, trolls and many more.  
  While there are some larger human settlements and even 
  a few large centaur villages, there are no major cities in 
  this region. 
   
  The region is considered to stretch from Dismal 
  Swamp in the west to the Fhearree Delta in the east and 
  from the foothills of the Gold Mountains in the north to 
  the foothills of the Broiling Mountains in the south.  
  Most of the area is lawless and untamed.  Many places 
  are still controlled by wild animals. 
  
  5 
  THE SOUNDING BOARD 
   
  When Slavery Works 
   
  With the full expectation of pissing off just about 
  everyone - Let’s talk about slavery.  Worse yet, let’s talk 
  about the morality of slavery. 
   
  Forget what you might think about the trans-
  Atlantic slave trade of the Age of Discovery.  You have 
  to think farther back, because slavery is not as easy as a 
  racial issue in most fantasy worlds.  Anyone can become 
  a slave regardless of race or ethnicity. 
   
  In Fletnern, slaves typically come from war.  But 
  they can also come from other origins.  The most 
  obvious right now is the earthquakes on Hughijen.  
  Massive earthquakes in the desert region near Lympeid 
  have been causing the wells in the villages to collapse.  
  This in turn forced refugees to go to other places where 
  the resources were already spread too thin.  Those with 
  the money to escape chose to escape.  The problem is 
  that they chose the wrong folks to help them escape. 
   
  Centaurs sail the open seas in huge ships, trading 
  whatever they can or even venturing into piracy.  They 
  were some of the first on the scene in Lympeid, and they 
  made all sorts of offers to the refugees.  New homes, new 
  careers, in a safe and water lush new homeland.  But they 
  didn’t mention the chains that went along with all of that.  
  The centaur warlords were in need of workers for their 
  sweat shops, and they were happy to use the Dethebs. 
   
  Now one of the accepted principles of sea travel 
  through the Anglic Straits (where the centaurs had to 
  sail) is that if you are transporting slaves, the Myork 
  Navy will sail up and sink you.  They might be able to 
  save the slaves (or not), but they are not going to let the 
  slavers through.  So why did the Navy let all those 
  centaur ships through when they knew they were hauling 
  Detheb slaves? 
   
  Now we’re into the morality of it all.  The current 
  powers in Myork had a decision to make.  What to do 
  about all the Detheb refugees?  If they brought that many 
  Dethebs into their lands, there would be major cultural 
  issues.  While they could absorb the refugees and even 
  produce enough food to feed them, they couldn’t do it 
  without giving up some of who they are.  The resulting 
  culture would be an amalgamation of the two.  They 
  were not willing to do that. 
   
  The other option was to sink the centaur ships and 
  stop people from carrying Detheb slaves.  But that would 
  doom the Dethebs to death, and in fact doom more than 
  the number of slaves.  It had all happened before.  
  Problems in the desert lead to people overwhelming the 
  resources and all the people die, not just the refugees.  So 
  if it’s a numbers game, then Detheb slaves survive, the 
  people of Lympeid survive, that’s a win-win, right? 
   
  That’s where the morality of slavery often comes 
  to:  death or slavery, which is worse.  If the centaurs did 
  not move large populations of people to where the 
  resources could handle them, then a larger number of 
  people would die.  What happens to the slaves, even if 
  they all died, would be a greater “good” than an even 
  larger number of people dying.  Granted this messed up 
  “logic” also justifies slaughtering people during a 
  famine, but we’re really not going there right now. 
   
  Let us please be clear:  Slavery is never morally 
  right.  We are not arguing that slavery would be morally 
  right, ever!  But in the minds of people pushed into really 
  bad places, it might seem better than the alternative, 
  especially if you expect the alternative to be death. 
   
  Let’s switch examples:  The elves of the Slyvanian 
  Forest believe that death is better than slavery.  They are 
  one of the few legal systems in Fletnern that allow for 
  abortion.  The nearby Rhorics are absolutely against 
  abortion.  They are so against it that if a poor couple 
  winds up pregnant, they will often sell the baby to the 
  plantation slavers.  Their morality tells them that selling 
  (and really, it’s far more like giving) their child to the 
  slavers means the child will have a chance to grow up on 
  a large farm doing hard work, but living.  They see that 
  as the far better outcome.  They couldn’t feed their baby, 
  but the planation will. 
   
  Let’s go back to the Dethebs escaping Lympeid.  
  While the greater good could be served by the Anglics of 
  Myork allowing the refugees into their lands to work as 
  low paid agricultural workers who could earn their keep, 
  they are not willing to do that.  Their sense of patriotism 
  (that is how they see it) tells them that doing so would 
  weaken who they are as a people and this would 
  endanger the world.  It doesn’t help that the Dethebs are 
  stereo-typed as being lazy and willing to cheat anyone in 
  order to make their lives easier - and there is a nugget of 
  truth in that broad cultural stereo-type. 
   
  It would also be the greater good if the centaurs 
  would pay the Dethebs a living wage and allow them to 
  
  6 
  leave if they so choose.  But then why would they be 
  willing to ship them across the sea?  Where’s the profit 
  in that?  Without question, the centaurs who are running 
  Detheb slaves are not moral people.  They are immoral 
  people, and they like profiting by the easiest means.  So 
  they know they are the bad guys, but they are OK with it. 
   
  So let’s sum up:  The Dethebs want to live.  Many 
  of them, given the choice of slavery or death would 
  choose slavery.  There should be other choices open to 
  them, but right now there are not.  The Angles have 
  chosen to allow the Dethebs to be sold into slavery in 
  order to avoid a massive death toll in Lympeid.  There 
  are other options open to them, but they believe those 
  options to be more dangerous.  The centaurs are the bad 
  guys, and they don’t care that slavery is immoral. 
   
  But what about the rest of the world?  Let’s just 
  focus on the governments of Drentae for a minute.  
  While they don’t think about it, they have been relying 
  on cheap fabrics made in the centaur sweat shops for a 
  generation now.  Publicly they are against slavery, but 
  they aren’t willing to do anything it.  Trying to “rescue” 
  the new slaves would put a strain on their resources and 
  dramatically increase the cost of certain fabrics.  Just to 
  leave you with one point here - If you think these other 
  governments are evil for allowing slavery and in a way 
  profiting from it by getting cheaper goods, you might 
  want to think about what’s happening in the world today.  
  There is a direct parallel! 
   
  What’s a Beast-Man? 
   
  Sometimes splitting hairs on definitions is actually 
  a little bit important.  Sometimes, a rose by any other 
  name would be a completely different thing.  Sorry 
  Willie. 
   
  So what’s a “beast man” and what’s a chimera?  
  And how do you pronounce chimera?  We’ll leave that 
  one to a later time.  But most of all, why does it matter? 
   
  Here’s how we see it, and we absolutely admit, 
  there is some room for argument!  A beast man is part 
  animal and part “man”.  A chimera is more than one 
  animal joined together in some way.  So a centaur and a 
  minotaur are both beast-men.  Part horse, part man, or 
  part bull, part man.  But a griffin is a chimera - part lion, 
  part eagle.  I wanted to use a pegasus as an example, but 
  I’m still debating what that other part is - goose?  swan?  
  eagle?  does it matter? 
   
  Let’s go with that question:  Does it matter?  It 
  does!  Beast men are men, people.  Chimeras are 
  monsters.  They may not be evil.  They might even be 
  herbivores, but they are monsters and they are not 
  people.  That matters because just as you wouldn’t see a 
  dog or a tiger as an NPC, you wouldn’t see a hippogriff 
  as a playable race.  But could you play a centaur?  
  Seemingly of course!  After all, he has a fully formed 
  human head, capable of speech and likely the casting of 
  magic. 
   
  So that’s the underlying difference - monster or 
  man, but is that enough of an explanation?  Let’s focus 
  on “man” for a moment.  I was really tempted to make 
  the centaurs of Fletnern half horse, half elf.  Why? 
  because the elves and the centaurs come from the same 
  place.  It seemed like it worked.  But I went back in the 
  world’s history and the answer came to me pretty easily. 
   
  The question of human or elf came down to how 
  were they created?  Are they natural?  Well, yes, they are 
  natural, in that they, like nearly every other animal, 
  monster or race, were created by the gods.  When the 
  gods of horses created centaurs, they were competing 
  with the gods of men (probably titans, but at least one of 
  the races of men).  So they would have crafted their 
  centaurs to be men instead of elves. 
   
  But what about the chimeras?  Are they natural?  
  Yes, for the same reason, at least most of them.  Very 
  few chimeras were actually created by people; most were 
  created by the gods.  Therefore, they are as natural as 
  you can get in a fantasy game. 
   
  If this all seems unimportant then I’m not yet 
  explaining my main point:  There is a major difference 
  between a centaur and a pegasus.  Both are half horse 
  and half something else, but one is a sentient being and 
  the other is an animal.  Beast-men can think, form 
  civilizations, be player characters.  Chimeras are very 
  interesting and very “fantasy/myth” monsters, but as 
  clever as they might be, they are not people.  They will 
  not form civilizations, and they do not make for very 
  good PCs.  Both groups work great as enemies for the 
  PCs to come up against, but they are fundamentally 
  different styles of creatures. 
   
  That means it matters when your party encounters 
  minotaurs or one of the other seemingly “monster” beast-
  men.  Minotaurs can think.  They can use weapons.  
  They can lay traps.  Griffons don’t do those things.  They 
  use what the gods gave them and that’s about it. 
   
  Now, don’t ask us about sphinxes, because that’s 
  one where we’re still on the fence.  I really think they’re 
  
  7 
  chimeras, but they have human-esque faces.  So I guess 
  they’re beast-men?  What do you think? 
   
  Superstition vs. Religion 
   
  There are numerous religions in the world that 
  seem to believe things that most of the rest of us don’t.  
  The one that I’m thinking about right now is that there 
  are certain religions that feel that talking animals are a 
  depiction of magic, and all magic is the work of the 
  devil, and thus evil.  I’m not here to disrespect the moral 
  beliefs of anyone, but instead to consider how these 
  things would be seen in a fantasy world. 
   
  Let’s think about this for a bit.  Many modern film 
  watchers see no problem watching Disney movies 
  whether there are talking animals in them or not.  But 
  how would people in a fantasy world see it?  Well, first 
  off, they actually see magic.  That makes things a bit 
  more real.  We really don’t have to worry about a rabbit 
  and a deer carrying on a conversation. 
   
  One thought that occurred to me is that these people 
  have to legitimately worry about lycanthropes.  The use 
  of an anthropomorphic wolf in a play would likely be 
  terrifying to these people who would be concerned that it 
  was a werewolf.  Completely unlike Aesop’s Fables and 
  Disney movies, these would not be cute and clever 
  animals, but instead dangerous monsters.  They can still 
  be used as villains in plays and operas, but they would be 
  seen as evil or even demonic. 
   
  But that is the other side of it - the concept of 
  demons.  In most fantasy games, the players fight 
  demons, so demons are real.  Many demons have animal 
  or animalistic aspects, such as humanoid swine, etc.  
  Sometimes they are more chimeric - having aspects of 
  multiple animals jumbled together.  We all know demons 
  are evil, so are man-beasts also?  While many urban 
  folks would likely be somewhat comfortable with the 
  idea of centaurs, are they just as comfortable with 
  minotaurs?  satyrs?  tumataurs? (Tumataurs are like 
  centaurs, but instead of man and horse, they are man and 
  lion.)  People, at least in mobs, are uncomfortable with 
  things that are different.  These different races with 
  different cultures would have to be scary or at least off-
  putting to most folks. 
   
  So, what to do?  On my world of Fletnern there are 
  very few “cursed” items, so talking objects are not as 
  spooky to the commoners as talking animals are.  So 
  instead of a wizard in a play having a talking owl to help 
  guide him, the wizard character might have a talking 
  book.  Or the young knight would have a singing sword 
  instead of a steed that carried on conversations.  These 
  are often easier to depict in plays, as the voice actor can 
  hide in the wings, while an actual object can be dangled 
  via thin strings. 
   
  But how does this play in actual games (and 
  combat)?  While it is not going to change the amount of 
  damage done, I think it should impact the role-playing 
  aspects on adventures.  If one of the characters (PC or 
  NPC) is a minotaur, the other characters might 
  automatically view him as evil and refuse to surrender to 
  him.  How far would it go?  Some religions might see 
  many “humanoids” as evil beasts.  I’m thinking about 
  LEGEND QUEST’S lurians - humans with swan wings.  
  While we might think “angel”, would some sects might 
  see “man-beast = demon” and want to kill it in some 
  horrific fashion in order to make sure it stayed dead.  I 
  love paladins, but we do have a tendency to think in 
  extremes, even more so when people try to tell us we’re 
  wrong.  I think in a true role-playing game, such things 
  should have a real place! 
   
  World Building through Consequences 
   
  Little bio on me:  Having been a pretty bright kid, 
  playing chess from kindergarten on, and programing 
  computers around the age of 11, I see the world as a 
  chess game, as a massive series of if/then/next nested 
  loops.  In other words, I believe that everything that 
  happens, happens as a result of something else. 
   
  That’s why I like this approach to world building.  
  I’ve brushed on it in other posts, but I believe this one 
  might explain it best.  Assuming I am right and nothing 
  happens in a vacuum, every settlement, every town, 
  every country; they are where they are due to something 
  else happening.  What do I mean?  I will use Fletnern for 
  my examples.  Check out the wiki if you want to learn 
  more. 
   
  There are a number of centaur settlements on the 
  eastern coast of Drentae.  The centaurs were brought to 
  Drentae from Koaluckssie as slaves (by the elves, but 
  that is a whole other story!).  In their homeland, there 
  had been a legend/myth that the centaur god instructed 
  them to “follow the setting sun” (that’s east in Fletnern) 
  when threatened.  So escaped slaves and later those 
  released during the abolitionist movement fled to the 
  
  8 
  east, as their myths told them to do.  When they smelled 
  the sea air, something primal in them was triggered and 
  they knew this is what their god wanted for them.  So 
  they settled down.  Centaurs:  origin = Koaluckssie, 
  current home = Eastern Plains - explained. 
   
  The Southern Point Citadel was an attempt by well-
  meaning humans to stem the tide of orcish/goblin 
  expansion north.  The orcish expansion was simply the 
  result of a fairly consistent peace within the Wembic 
  Empire that allowed the tribes to grow and therefore 
  need more land.  The Citadel was in some respects a civil 
  crusade and attracted many of the lesser sons of Velesan 
  noble families (again, thriving and expanding due to a 
  relative peace).  When various disorganized raids did not 
  stop the citadel from being built, the Wembic Empire 
  took coordinated actions.  They restocked the Fortress 
  Vonastog, which had lain all but dormant for decades.  
  With a base of operations, the orcs were able to field far 
  more efficient raids against the Southern Point Citadel, 
  including all but destroying the citadel twice.  So why is 
  there this “cold war” between the Velesans and the orcs, 
  with this one isolated spot of open violence?  Because 
  both sides are able to shift their hot heads into open 
  battle here without risking all out war.  Both sides hope 
  to eventually win, but for now, there is this one “hot 
  zone” surrounded by relative peace.  There’s also the 
  whole orc part in the taking of Parnania a Velesan city 
  that helped to fuel the furor of the humans, but that’s 
  mostly propaganda at this point. 
   
  This is a no brainer, right?  Why are these people 
  here?  Because there was too much peace and they 
  thrived, or a natural disaster and they fled, or a war and 
  they got pushed out.  The history of Europe is filled with 
  these population movements (especially during the 
  Roman vs. barbarian eras).  You can easily justify why 
  people are where they are because of their history.  If 
  you don’t do this, you get a world that feels hodge-
  podge.  Sometimes it is better to know what really 
  happened and then make up lies that the people think.  
  No one wants to think that they live in a beautiful valley 
  because they use to live on a beautiful shore, but 
  someone beat them in a war and they were forced to 
  move.  They want to pretend that it was all their idea in 
  the first place.  Hey, some of those centaurs I mentioned 
  earlier believe that they just followed the instructions of 
  their god.  They forget the whole - fleeing slavery thing, 
  and the elves don’t want to remind anyone that their 
  cities were built by slave labor, so they help the lie along. 
   
  So what do you do?  Start developing your world 
  and world history from the dawn of civilization?  You 
  don’t have to.  There’s nothing wrong with looking at 
  your world as it is and starting to ask some questions:  
  Why are the centaurs there?  Why is there a human 
  fortress there?  Why are those guys living on the edge of 
  a swamp?  Depending on how developed your world is, 
  you may see obvious answers, or you may start creating 
  some really cool retcon.  In either case, the farther you 
  go the more things will just snap into place.  I love it 
  when a plan comes together! 
   
  The Lifestyle of a Minotaur 
   
  As world builders and even as game masters, we 
  have to control and role-play some pretty kooky 
  monsters.  OK, so you are not likely to “role-play” some 
  sentient ooze, but you might have to.  When world 
  building something that feels like it might be like us but 
  really isn’t this can get very hard.  Take for example - 
  minotaurs. 
   
  Minotaurs are people, right?  So they’re just like us, 
  right?  Yeah, probably not.  Admittedly, I don’t know 
  any minotaurs.  My best friend is not a minotaur, but 
  there are somethings we should be able to figure out. 
   
  Minotaurs are big and strong.  Probably not too 
  nimble, but not klutzy either.  They may not be as smart 
  as humans are, but they aren’t complete morons either.  
  OK, so how do they live? 
   
  Normally we wait until the end to tell you why this 
  matters, but we’re going to stuff it in here.  Why do you 
  care how a minotaur lives?  Because if minotaurs are 
  only creatures that appear in the middle of mazes or lost 
  in dungeons somewhere, it doesn’t matter to you.  But if 
  you are trying to build a fantasy world, then the 
  minotaurs have to come from somewhere.  Will your 
  player characters ever encounter a minotaur village?  If 
  not, why not?  Do minotaurs breed?  I assume it’s 
  possible that every minotaur is actually an alchemical 
  creation, but that’s not how most worlds see them. 
   
  So assuming they come from somewhere, there will 
  always be a chance that the party will go to that 
  somewhere.  And if they do, what’s it like?  If it 
  absolutely sucks, then you know why minotaurs are more 
  likely to be wandering the world all alone and are easily 
  hired or captured by bad guys.  If it is a lush, wonderful 
  place, then why do they always seem so mean?  Is it 
  because they want to get back there?  Is there a distant 
  island so getting back is really tough?  If your evil priest 
  enemy guy has hired a minotaur as a bodyguard, how 
  easily can the party bribe the minotaur to go away?  
  Knowing this other stuff helps you figure that out. 
   
  I know a few things about the minotaurs on 
  Fletnern:  They originally came from Koaluckssie, a 
  distant continent.  They were captured, enslaved and 
  brought to Drentae, but eventually they were (as a 
  people) freed.  So now what? 
   
  One of the big questions, is How cow-like are they?  
  Are they herbivores?  I can’t stomach that.  (sorry)  Are 
  they carnivores?  That seems close, but ... I’ve made 
  them omnivores, BUT!  They prize physical strength, 
  that seems right, so they pursue physical strength, and 
  that takes a lot of proteins.  So while they are 
  omnivorous, they focus on proteins.  
  
  9 
   
  Back to how cow-like are they?  Do they feel an 
  affinity for cows?  Most humans see eating apes as 
  creepy and disgusting.  We don’t really see ourselves as 
  apes (most of us don’t) but that feels way to close to 
  cannibalism.  Is it the same for minotaurs?  Yes and no.  
  Minotaurs do feel a little creepy about eating cattle, but 
  they justify it by saying that they respect steers and 
  horses for their strength and feel animals that are eaten 
  should not be as noble as the steers and equines.  So 
  culturally, no cattle ranches for the minotaurs, but they 
  will still enjoy pork, poultry and fish. 
   
  Where most of the minotaurs live in Fletnern now 
  is a coastal region hemmed in by forests.  Minotaurs 
  don’t strike me as the hunters of the woods (especially 
  when the satyrs are right there too).  But, put those 
  massive muscles to work on a fishing net, and the 
  minotaurs could be hauling in an ample supply of fish 
  from the sea, small lakes and some rivers.  They are 
  bigger than humans, so they must eat more than humans, 
  and if they are not farming, then they need to provide 
  food somehow.  This seems to work. 
   
  Alter that question a bit and How smart are they?  
  While there must be some manner of priests or shaman 
  or something, they aren’t highly magical.  Again, they 
  respect physical strength, so smarts aren’t as important.  
  But they aren’t dumb goons either, at least not in their 
  homeland.  So while I’m not putting in any universities 
  (magical or otherwise), they do need to have some 
  industry.  Industries that rely on physical labor are things 
  like mining.  But now we have a real issue that I believe 
  will separate the game worlds:  Are minotaurs lovers of 
  nature or just folks willing to exploit their environment? 
   
  In Fletnern, they are not nature lovers.  This matters 
  a lot, because minotaur miners seem more like the strip 
  mining types; they just wouldn’t easily fit into 
  underground mines.  But strip mining, logging, similar 
  labor professions don’t normally go hand in hand with 
  the nature lovers.  So at least in Fletnern, they’re happy 
  to rip some minerals out of the ground. 
   
  OK, so they eat a lot, mostly fish, but also other 
  proteins like nuts, pork and some other meats.  Those not 
  providing 
  food 
  can 
  be 
  miners, 
  stone 
  workers, 
  lumberjacks, lots of stuff that could give them exports to 
  trade for some things they don’t produce.  But what 
  about them, their families, their homes? 
   
  Well, if they are logging and cutting stone, then 
  they should be living in some solidly built homes; homes 
  as tough as they are.  No tepees or thatched huts here.  
  Admittedly, not all of this has been figured out for 
  Fletnern, so I’m just going to leave you with some 
  questions you can determine for your own minotaurs:  
  Are they monogamous or do they live in harems?  This 
  could be why many male minotaurs go off to other 
  cultures, but not so many of the females.  Do the fathers 
  stay with their baby-mamas or do they leave the women 
  folk to raise the kids on their own?  This again goes 
  towards how cow-like are they. 
   
  Do they wear clothing?  If so what?  I mean, trying 
  to put a shirt on a minotaur would be expensive, because 
  that’s a lot of real-estate.  We’ve seen a lot of movie 
  minotaurs that decorate themselves.  Do minotaurs go in 
  for tattoos?  ritual brandings?  scrimshawing their horns 
  while they are still attached?  Are there certain things 
  they won’t do because they resemble cattle?  Like would 
  they refuse to pull a plow or a wagon?  Do they grow 
  beards?  Can they or do they shave?  I mean goats grow 
  beards, but cattle don’t (said by a kid who grew up in 
  Chicago and has no idea how to raise any animal!). 
   
  Summing up again:  This stuff does matter.  If 
  minotaur culture is such that the mother raises the kids 
  alone, that changes who the minotaurs met in the outside 
  world are going to be like and may justify certain 
  personalities.  Assuming there are no minotaur military 
  academies, then again, we’ve justified why they are axe 
  users and not more disciplined soldiers. 
   
  If someone (good guy or bad guy) goes to a 
  minotaur village looking to recruit some mercenaries, we 
  now know that there are going to be sturdy stone and 
  wood homes.  The females will probably be acting as 
  most females (in a fantasy era) do:  raising children, 
  tending to the home, preparing meals, etc.  (That is NOT 
  sexism, it is a historic fact used to justify a fantasy 
  world.)  There are fewer young men around because the 
  older adult men have chased off some of the younger 
  guys to avoid having to compete for their harems. 
   
  You could just as easily have had your minotaurs 
  living on the plains in tepees where their main resource 
  is the buffalo they hunt.  There’s nothing wrong with 
  that, but clearly knowing whether the minotaurs live in 
  stone houses or in tepees is going to matter if you plan to 
  have the party attack them in your campaign.  This is 
  why, even when your game is focused on combat, you 
  still need to do some world building. 
  
  10 
   
  LIFESTYLES OF THE MAGICAL 
  AND MUNDANE 
   
   
  This is the spot where we normally put a deep 
  narrative about the life and times of a character 
  archetype.  But this edition is about centaurs.  And there 
  isn’t just one centaur culture; in fact, there’s at least five.  
  Because of that, and that we want to tell you about all of 
  them, we’ve decided to do more of a summary of the 
  various centaur cultures instead of the deep dive.  
  Variety is the spice of life, even in Small Bites. 
   
   
   
  All centaurs originated on Koaluckssie, “The 
  Monster Continent”.  Many tribes of centaurs still live 
  there.  But there are many centaurs living on Drentae.  
  Many are the stories of how the centaurs came to get 
  across the ocean, but the generally accepted fact is that 
  they were transported by the elves.  Most people believe 
  that the beast men were brought over as slaves, but 
  again, there are historical arguments here.  No centaur 
  cultures seem to exist on Hughijen, though there are 
  individual centaurs who live there, especially in the 
  welcoming culture of the Tands.  This is despite the fact 
  that all of the equine animals seem to have originated on 
  Hughijen. 
   
  The Drentae centaurs are split into two main 
  groups.  The first and better known (due to local 
  population densities) are the “Northern Centaurs” of the 
  Eastern Plans.  The other groups live far to the south in 
  the perhaps aptly named Southern Plains.  Here several 
  different centaur cultures exist across the savannahs, 
  often working with each other, but sometimes in conflict 
  with each other. 
   
  The Wild Centaurs of Koaluckssie 
   
  Though the centaurs began on Koaluckssie, they 
  are by no means a dominant force there.  They remain 
  hunters and gatherers and have not formed what would 
  be recognized as a civilization.  They live a nomadic life, 
  moving from place to place hoping to avoid serious 
  predators.  They fight mainly with their hooves, and all 
  members of the herd/tribe are expected to be able to fight 
  and to run. 
   
  The Koaluckssie centaurs may seem ignorant, but 
  they are quite advanced when compared to the others of 
  their region.  Some bands use spears and clubs and have 
  been known to trap both predators and prey.  They have 
  mastered the braiding of cordage and have been known 
  to use nets.  Some tribes have mastered herbalism to the 
  point of knowing how to craft poisons for their weapons 
  or even support medicine men (and women) capable of 
  healing the wounded quickly enough for them to remain 
  with the herd.  They are a dangerous people, and no 
  attempts at educating them by outsiders, including other 
  centaurs, have been successful. 
   
  Rare tribes have found natural fortifications, often 
  either a valley or a mesa, and started the first glimpses of 
  settling down, but with the amount of food they need to 
  survive, they cannot afford to stay in one place for any 
  length of time.  Even if they were to develop herding 
  (and none seem to have progressed to this point) they 
  would need to lead their domesticated animals around in 
  order to feed them, opening themselves up to attacks and 
  other dangers. 
   
  An interesting point that has not completely been 
  proven:  Centaurs are omnivorous.  While the centaurs 
  on Drentae are “white skinned” (similar to Earth’s 
  Caucasians), the centaurs of Koaluckssie are “red-
  skinned” (similar to Earth’s American Indians).  It is 
  believed that the fact that the Koaluckssie centaurs are 
  primarily carnivorous is what leads to this reddish 
  pigmentation in their skin.  Should a Koaluckssie centaur 
  start to eat plants his skin would eventually (over the 
  course of several years) begin to become paler.  The 
  reverse is true and there seems to be some evidence in 
  the centaur warlords’ region that centaurs who feast 
  primarily on meat begin to have their complexions turn 
  ruddier (some might say “more bronze”).  No Drentae 
  centaur has ever achieved the true red tone of their 
  cousins, but this might be due to issues of nourishment 
  passed on by their mothers during pregnancy and later 
  nursing. 
   
  The Northern Centaurs of the Eastern Plains 
   
  In an overly general explanation, the centaurs of the 
  Eastern Plains are descended from the centaurs who were 
  released when slavery was outlawed in the Slyvanian 
  Forest.  Wishing to stay as far from the elves as possible 
  (in case they changed their minds about abolition), they 
  moved eastward to the opposite coast.  There they mixed 
  in with the halflings and some of the human colonies, 
  and in some cases built their own villages and towns. 
   
  Game Designer’s Note 
   
  In this edition we will refer to the elves 
  having originated on Koaluckssie.  The elves 
  dispute this claim.  They have written 
  histories showing their origins in the 
  Slyvanian Forest.  Where they originated 
  may not be as important as the elves do 
  admit they took beast men as slaves from 
  Koaluckssie and brought them to Drentae.  
  We’ll tackle the origin issue later on. 
  
  11 
  The Agri Centaurs 
   
  Feeding a centaur family is no small feat.  These 
  folks eat large amounts of food, and the centaur villages 
  around Villai supply this food through some of the more 
  advanced farming techniques in use.  Villai seems the 
  center of this centaur culture, but while it is the main 
  trading hub, few of these centaurs actually live within the 
  confines of the city (probably less than 5,000 
  individuals). 
   
  Using their own strength, these so called “agri 
  centaurs” plow their own fields and perhaps most 
  importantly have built extensive irrigation systems.  
  What would seem a daunting amount of work for people 
  with human levels of strength, the centaurs have 
  successfully maintained these irrigation channels for 
  generations.  Not only have they maintained them, but 
  they have avoided all but the most minor disputes about 
  water rights.  Though they lack a true centralized 
  government, they have managed “justice” through 
  roaming arbiters of established water rights who have 
  handed down common sense rulings throughout the 
  region. 
   
  Though exact comparisons are typically difficult to 
  calculate, it appears that these agri centaurs are able to 
  produce about one and a half the crop yields reached by 
  humans on comparable land.  Their methods do not 
  appear to be magical, though they certainly have a 
  number of herbalists within their communities.  The 
  lands also do not appear to be materially better than 
  others, in fact seeming to be less fertile then the Green 
  Lands to the south.  Apparently it is a combination of 
  science and hard work that grants them the higher yields, 
  though it should be stated that their choice of crops tends 
  to lend some advantage with a high concentration on 
  corn (maize) and high yield tubers. 
   
   
  The Eastern Plains Centaurs have formed a culture 
  influenced to a small degree by the elves and to a larger 
  degree by the halflings they encountered in the Eastern 
  Plains.  They are typically farmers and/or ranchers.  They 
  typically have villages or even towns.  They organize 
  themselves by these more “civilized” methods rather 
  than refer to themselves as tribes or herds.  With their 
  physical prowess, both in speed and strength, they are 
  not typically drawn to the mystic arts, they do engage in 
  most other forms of learning and technology. 
   
  One distinction between the typical halflings and 
  the centaurs is that the centaurs more commonly speak 
  Velesan, while the halflings favor Rhoric.  Many assume 
  that this originated with the centaurs more commonly 
  finding buyers for their wares among the Velesan 
  humans, while the halflings were already established in 
  supplying the more northern Rhorics.  It is also related in 
  some way to the centaurs seeing the city of Villai as a 
  major centaur community, even if they are still not in the 
  majority. 
  The Centaur Warlords 
   
  While the farming communities and Villai may 
  stand as examples of what the majority of the centaurs 
  will do, the Eastern Plains has another culture of 
  centaurs, the centaur warlords.  Formerly bandits, these 
  men have established themselves in the towns and 
  regions they once raided as the central authority, 
  typically after killing the previous leaders.  They rule 
  their regions by force, though borders are almost 
  impossible to draw.  Raiding each other and the halfling 
  and human settlements nearby, they struggle to survive 
  without providing for themselves.  Typically, they are 
  left alone until they anger one of the major governments 
  on their borders.  The Triad, Parnania, and the Council of 
  Baronies have all at one time or another gone to war with 
  one or more of these warlords. 
   
  Again, generalities are common, and most humans 
  and halflings who do not live near these raiders will 
  assume they are all alike, but that simply isn’t fair.  Each 
  warlord is as bad and as fair as he is, with no regard to 
  what the neighboring warlord is capable of.  Here are 
  some examples of the more successful warlords currently 
  in operation. 
   
  Currently there are two “main” centaur warlords.  
  There are other centaurs who claim to be warlords, but 
  these are no better than bandit leaders, and they do not 
  actually rule a domain. 
   
   
  Casser “The Mule” Phantillo is the most powerful 
  centaur warlord along the east coast.  He controls a 
  region of roughly 45 miles of coastline from a stronghold 
  known as Lockney.  Casser is an ambitious man who has 
  been expanding his holdings since he became the leader 
  of this band.  His expansion has begun to infringe on the 
  Triad’s territory, which has brought him into conflict 
  with a very powerful military foe. 
   
  Casser is a dangerous and intense man.  He takes 
  himself and his state extremely seriously.  As Casser has 
  ruled for over a dozen years, he is getting on in years and 
  might soon be losing his edge in battle.  He is a good, if 
  somewhat fascist, administrator and is much better for 
  the region than most of his predecessors have been.  He 
  conducts himself as a seasoned military man with the 
  look and bearing of a soldier. 
   
  Locktown, the village around the fortress Lockney, 
  has grown to about 2,200 people, mostly centaurs with 
  some humans and halflings.  The region is slowly 
  developing, but the Warlord Casser Phantillo has been 
  taxing the area extensively to support his military 
  expansions.  Most of his subjects fear him, but paying 
  taxes has prevented them from being raided.  Many feel 
  that the taxes are easier to bear than having warriors 
  charging through the villages burning buildings and 
  stealing livestock.  While loyalty would not be the 
  appropriate description, these peasants do show some 
  manner of fealty to Casser. 
  
  12 
   
  Steelshod Stiletto is the lesser of the two centaur 
  warlords.  He controls some of the southern territories.  
  He inherited the territory from Digger Leatherback.  
  Digger was a ruthless bandit, and Stiletto had been his 
  war chief.  Stiletto is an extremely dangerous warrior 
  who rules through fear.  Assassination attempts are 
  common among the warlords.  Stiletto has a knack for 
  sniffing out attempts before they occurred, and killing 
  the assassins in relatively fair fights. 
   
  Stiletto’s territory is maintained by his core of 
  henchmen traveling with him randomly throughout the 
  area.  No one is sure where they will show up, nor what 
  they will expect when they arrive.  It is dangerous to be a 
  rebel when a deadly force could show up on your 
  doorstep at any time.  Since the territory is less than 30 
  miles by 30 miles, this cadre can easily cover the entire 
  domain. 
   
  Stiletto himself carries himself as a laid back crime 
  boss.  He and his “gang” will settle into a tavern or inn 
  and hold court from the beer hall.  He is a carouser and a 
  womanizer, but it seems to work in this region.  He has 
  ruled for a short time (less than five years), but he does 
  not have any serious rivals at the moment.  With Casser 
  busy with the Triad, Stiletto should be able to rule for as 
  long as he can avoid making mistakes. 
   
  Stiletto has been busy confiscating large weapons.  
  One of the things he and his gang do whenever they 
  come into a village is look around for anything they 
  consider a battle weapon.  This would include most 
  swords, great bows, heavy crossbows, lances, etc.  They 
  do not consider the smaller bows and the smaller blades 
  to be worth their efforts, so they will allow the people to 
  retain them.  This confiscation is done for two purposes. 
  First, it arms Stiletto and his men.  Second, it makes it 
  more difficult for the peasantry to rise up against him.  
  This policy has caused many of the locals to hide any 
  weapon they fear might be taken, but they are not 
  currently armed well enough to even consider a 
  rebellion. 
   
  The Mule and Stiletto currently have a truce in 
  place.  They will not invade each other’s turf.  They have 
  exchanged some female hostages (concubines).  These 
  hostages should now be considered traitors to their lords, 
  and the lords would never have cared about their loss in 
  any event, reducing their true value as hostages. 
   
  The Centaurs of the Southern Plains 
   
  Whereas the Northern Centaurs were released from 
  slavery by the elves about 900-1,000 years ago, the 
  Southern Centaurs are assumed to be descended from the 
  centaurs that escaped from slavery prior to that.  Several 
  groups of centaurs made their way to the Southern Plains 
  where they found plentiful game and relatively free 
  access to the area.  All they needed to do was clear out 
  some of the predatory animals who were living there. 
   
  The Pinnoc 
   
  The Pinnoc people are most commonly known 
  south of the Fhearree River.  They are tribes of hunters 
  who believe that as hunters, they have a spiritual 
  relationship with their prey.  Pinnoc hunters are easily 
  identified because they will wear lion and jaguar pelts for 
  clothing.  They believe that by dressing as predators, 
  eating predators and worshipping the gods of these 
  predators, that they will gain further power over both the 
  predators themselves and their prey animals. 
   
  Their shamans are beast masters who channel the 
  powers of the various animals to make themselves or the 
  tribe’s hunters supernaturally powerful.  Though the 
  Pinnoc do eat predators, this occurs during ritual 
  ceremonies that invoke the various animals’ spirits and 
  make offerings of the predators to those same spirits.  To 
  many other religions, the spirit of the lion would be 
  unwilling to accept a sacrifice of his own creature, but 
  somehow the Pinnoc have managed to forge these 
  relationships. 
   
  The Pinnoc are expert hunters in numerous ways.  
  They have the strength to use the most powerful bows, 
  and they train with them relentlessly.  They have a speed 
  that can match many prey animals and will combine their 
  speed and their bows.  They are also trackers and skilled 
  in the actual hunting of their prey, not just in the killing 
  of it. 
   
  The Pinnoc provide for themselves through 
  hunting, but they are also skilled foragers, gathering 
  what they need that their prey animals do not.  They have 
  been known to trade, even going so far as to capture 
  certain animals for sale.  For themselves, they see no 
  reason to keep animals around and even consider it to be 
  disrespectful to imprison a predatory animal, even if that 
  “prison” is domestication.  While they keep all predatory 
  furs for themselves, they are willing to sell most of their 
  prey furs and hides. 
   
  The Pinnoc are nomadic, though they will establish 
  camps for short periods of time, typically about a month.  
  
  13 
  They live in animal skin huts.  While these might be seen 
  as tepees, they are generally more in line with 
  rectangular buildings instead of the traditional cone 
  shaped tepee.  This is simply because their shape and 
  size are not conducive to cones. 
   
  Every Pinnoc is trained in survival, and they are 
  among the best prepared and best trained wilderness 
  survivalists anywhere.  Whether it is gathering water or 
  avoiding the ambushes of big predators, the Pinnoc have 
  a connection with their environment and are ready for the 
  dangers there. 
   
  The Haesault 
   
  The Haesault people are typically known to live 
  north of the Fhearree River.  Unlike their animal 
  worshipping rivals, the Haesault worship natural 
  phenomenon.  Their shamans are typically elementalists.  
  Individual tribes typically follow either fire or air, but 
  when they gather in permanent sites elemental masters 
  become more common. 
   
  The Haesault tribes practice a large number of 
  disciplines including farming, ranching and hunting.  
  This is the reason they more commonly settle a region, 
  while the Pinnoc are far more nomadic.  Still, other 
  cultures might not see a Haesault community as a 
  “permanent” settlement.  Because of the lack of building 
  materials and typically fine weather, they most 
  commonly live in thatched huts or lean-tos. 
   
  The Haesault see the divine in seemingly natural 
  occurrences, such as dust devils, rainbows, and storm 
  clouds.  This makes others believe that they are very 
  superstitious.  While the Haesault may be easily spooked 
  by odd weather, they are reacting to the very real 
  elementals and other divine creatures inhabiting the 
  mortal world.  They know to offer a prayer to the spirit 
  of a newly found pond before drinking from it, to avoid 
  having the nereid of the pond reach out and drag them 
  under. 
   
  The Haesault actually worship a trio of gods/spirits, 
  though typically fire and air get the majority of the 
  attention.  There is also a god of lightning who also 
  covers rain and water in their pantheon. 
   
   
  Though the Haesault live north of the river and the 
  Pinnoc live south of it, this is not a hard and fast rule.  
  There are Haesault tribes south of the river, and Pinnoc 
  hunting parties have no problem hunting the regions to 
  the north.  It is not uncommon for these two groups to 
  battle each other if they run into each other.  This open 
  warfare comes from a difference in ideologies and a 
  practical sense of eliminating the folks who might be 
  taking their food.  So it is more about eliminating the 
  competition, rather than a true hatred, though the two 
  tribes are so different from each other, they simply 
  cannot stand to communicate with each other. 
   
  While these two tribes form the majority of the 
  centaur bands in the Southern Plains, they are not the 
  only ones.  There are independent centaur bands, most 
  often referred to as tribes even if they are only a smaller 
  family group.  It is best for these smaller groups to 
  simply avoid the large tribes, and staying clear is often a 
  safe enough way to survive. 
   
  The Samedoun 
   
  The Samedoun tribe of centaurs is much smaller 
  than the Pinnoc or Haesault tribes.  There are only five 
  Samedoun “clusters” of about 30-50 individuals each.  
  Samedoun clusters are nomadic gatherers and follow the 
  ripening seasons of various wild crops they gather.  Their 
  shamans are herbalists, though they have also produced a 
  few druids within their tribes.  They worship Sweet 
  Mother and can be quite philosophical.  They are 
  typically not violent and trade frequently with the Borten 
  settlements along the river.  Their martial skills will be 
  only the bare minimum necessary to defend themselves 
  against the wild animals of the region.  They avoid the 
  other centaur tribes, though since they are not at war, the 
  other tribes typically leave them alone.  Both the Pinnoc 
  and the Haesault consider them to be pathetic and 
  beneath notice or concern. 
   
  The Samedoun follow the same “tracks” that their 
  bands have followed for generations.  They move from 
  place to place, but before moving on, they will have 
  enhanced the spot for the next arrival.  This typically 
  means ridding the area of any weeds or plants that do not 
  help them, planting fruit bearing trees, and even 
  redirecting (modestly) a waterway so it will better 
  maintain one of their more important forage crops. 
   
  The Samedoun do not really have an industry, but 
  they are willing to trade.  Most commonly they trade 
  medicinal herbs, but this includes various products that 
  we modern folks would see as drugs.  This affects their 
  philosophy as well, and they can be seen as stereo-
  typical nature lovers, though hopefully not too comically.
  
  14 
   
  NEWS OF FLETNERN 
   
  Racial Changes in Villai 
   
  In 610, most people would have said that there 
  were two major Velesan cities, Parnania and Villai.  
  While Villai was a halfling city, it followed the Velesan 
  culture similarly to the way the Triad follows the Rhoric 
  culture.  In 616, Villai was attacked by troops from 
  Garnock and much of the city was burned.  The 
  enormous number of refugees (who fled the city) and the 
  slain turned a city of some 27,000 to a city of 17,000.  
  While halflings still represent the largest group within 
  the city, their percentage of the population has declined 
  to give them only a slight advantage over the centaurs 
  and a less than double the number of humans. 
   
  Villai is the center of the Agri Centaur culture 
  today.  Back at the turn of the century, this culture was 
  broadly spread across the entire Eastern Plains region, 
  but mainly due to banditry and the warlords, the safer 
  agricultural area is now closer to Villai.  With more of a 
  say in the city-state of Villai and a more concentrated 
  population, some would say that Villai has become a 
  centaur city, but this isn’t a fair statement.  Estimates 
  have about 6,000 of the 17,000 people being centaurs, 
  with roughly 7,000 being halflings.  Though the centaurs 
  have increased their influence, they are still just one 
  faction within the city. 
   
  Currently, in the Eastern Plains ... 
   
  There has been a change in the way banditry and 
  warlords act in the Eastern Plains.  Both the Mule and 
  Stiletto are dealing in Detheb slaves.  This lucrative 
  income has made them both wealthier without them 
  risking their men in raids on small towns.  This is part of 
  the reason that they have both managed to maintain 
  peace in their holdings. 
   
  But with this change of direction, they have both 
  needed to look defensively.  Bandit groups operating 
  near them were attacking some of the slave caravans and 
  taking the slaves.  So the two warlords have been looking 
  to defeat their centaur bandit rivals.  Not only does this 
  lower the chances of bandits attacking slave caravans, 
  but it gains the warlords captured loot and it decreases 
  bandit attacks throughout the region.  Many see this is as 
  the bad guys wiping each other out, and it is. 
   
  Eventually this will need to be addressed.  The 
  concentration of power amongst the two warlords will at 
  some point allow them too much power, unless they turn 
  on each other.  At this point, one of the major 
  governments of the region, or perhaps an alliance of 
  them, will need to remove the threat of a powerful 
  centaur warlord.  It is uncertain if this will increase 
  banditry in the region or decrease it.  We will have to 
  wait to find out. 
   
  But the oversupply of slaves on Drentae has 
  lowered the prices on slaves across the spectrum.  This 
  means that no slavers are making the same profits they 
  once were, including the two warlords.  The typical 
  slaver’s reaction to this oversupply is to attack and wipe 
  out their competition.  Many of them believe that this 
  will lower the supply and therefore raise demand.  The 
  fact that this is poor economics doesn’t register on your 
  typical slaver.  While no major “slaver wars” have yet 
  broken out, minor raids have been noticed throughout the 
  continent. 
   
  The lack of a response from the Anglic Navy needs 
  to be mentioned as well.  It seems that rather than force 
  slavers to avoid their ships, the navy out of Myork has 
  been letting ships known to be carrying Detheb slaves 
  through to Drentae.  The explanation for this is that these 
  people are better off as slaves in Drentae than dead in 
  Lympeid, but this is an unusual stance for the Angles to 
  be taking. 
   
  Some have suggested that one of the reasons that 
  the Angles are not interfering with this slave trade is not 
  that they are “saving” the lives of the Dethebs, but 
  instead that they do not see the Dethebs as being fully 
  human.  While with some of the Angles, this is part of 
  the reasoning, but this racist view is not held by the 
  majority of the people of Myork.  (Rumors and legends 
  within Myork are that the Dethebs are part goblin.) 
   
  Glynnglen’s Trial 
   
  Early in the Spring of 653, Baron Glynnglen of the 
  Council of Baronies offered a 25,000sc bounty for the 
  capture of any of four bandits that had been active in his 
  lands.  He did this for many reasons, not the least of 
  which was an attempt to look strong on crime and more 
  powerful to his peers on the Council.  A far more secret 
  reason was that he had worked out a new “entertainment 
  tax” with many of the innkeepers in his barony.  In 
  exchange for driving far more visitors and travelers to 
  
  15 
  their inns, he imposed a higher tax.  He planned to 
  recoup the massive bounty because of all the travelers 
  who would come to his barony for the spectacle of the 
  trial and summary execution. 
   
  The first of the bandit leaders captured was Seyic 
  the Crazed.  Seyic was a centaur who led a band of about 
  twenty bandits, a mixed troop of centaurs, humans and 
  orcs.  He is nickname came from his seeming lack of 
  control over his emotions.  He would rant and rave about 
  the most minor things, but ignore issues that would 
  infuriate more “sane” people. 
   
  Once Seyic was imprisoned, people started to flock 
  to Glynnglen, just as expected.  The prisoner was 
  basically on display, though few humiliations were 
  heaped on him.  The Baron invited all who had ever been 
  victims of Seyic and his band to come to testify against 
  him, after all, dragging out the trial would increase the 
  revenues at the inns.  Everything seemed to be going 
  perfectly. 
   
  As you probably guessed from that last sentence, 
  then things turned sour.  After the grand trial but just 
  before the long awaited hanging, a mercenary known 
  only as “Mother’s Milk” snuck into the prison and 
  escaped with Seyic.  Milk’s plan was so well planned 
  that they were across the river and fleeing in a carriage 
  with fresh horses before the sun rose.  Needless to say, 
  Glynnglen was thoroughly embarrassed and furious. 
   
  So at the beginning of 654, Seyic, now crazier from 
  his months of incarceration and his very near execution, 
  is hiding with the centaur warlords.  He is desperate to 
  put his gang back together and start raiding, both because 
  he wants people to fear him again and because he owes 
  Milk far more money than he has.  He agreed to match 
  the bounty that had been placed on him if Milk would 
  spring him, and now he needs to put together 25,000sc.  
  No one is really sure what Milk might do to him if he 
  doesn’t, but Seyic seems convinced that as Milk got him 
  out of that prison cell, he could put him back into it.  Of 
  course, the Baron would be willing to match the bounty 
  to have him back, and Milk is a mercenary. 
   
  Mother’s Milk refers to himself as a “reverse 
  bounty hunter”, meaning that he offers to spring 
  criminals from prison after they have been captured.  He 
  has tried to sell this service as an insurance policy - 
  Should you ever get captured, I will come and free you.  
  But few criminals believe that he would live up to his 
  word and so they are not willing to pay him up front.  
  His freeing of Seyic was of course for the money, but 
  also for the fame, something his fledgling business 
  needed.  While he taunts Seyic with the thought of his 
  execution, Milk won’t go anywhere near Glynnglen.  His 
  reward for returning the centaur bandit leader would 
  certainly be the neighboring noose. 
   
  Unbeknownst to nearly all, Mother’s Milk is 
  actually a satyr.  He uncharacteristically wears boots to 
  hide this fact, expecting that should he ever need to flee a 
  determined tracker, he should be able to shed his boots 
  and escape.  He is a planner of the highest order, and 
  though a trained soldier, his greatest weapon is his brain 
  and his organizational skills. 
   
  It may seem odd that they fled using a carriage, but 
  this shows Milk’s way of thinking.  The trackers coming 
  out of Glynnglen were looking for a human and a 
  centaur.  At first when they came across the carriage 
  tracks, they assumed it was something unrelated.  They 
  did eventually get on those tracks and begin to follow 
  them, but by then they had given Milk a full day’s head 
  start. 
   
  Earlier Agri Centaurs 
   
  The time period now referred to as the Dark Ages 
  was a time of great change for the world and its 
  civilizations.  It was around 200D (approximately 900 
  years ago) that the elves released all slaves, and the 
  centaurs moved east to the Eastern Plains.  Not long 
  before this, perhaps 50-75 years before, the Velesans, the 
  Rhorics and the Yugsalantis all arrived in the Eastern 
  Plains themselves.  While none of these groups actively 
  went to war against each other, there was a considerable 
  competition for the better farmland. 
   
  In the end, it was the centaurs who primarily stayed 
  in the region.  Having been slaves of the elves, the 
  centaurs were not expert farmers, certainly not in a plains 
  environment.  They had to learn how to farm in this 
  region, and over the generations they did.  While they 
  may not have had the education, they had the strength 
  and the will to succeed. 
   
  Throughout these earlier centuries in the Eastern 
  Plains, the centaurs worked together as families and 
  prepared the land.  They cut down forests and pulled the 
  stumps.  They moved boulders and other obstructions to 
  farming that previous cultures lacked the ability to 
  remove.  Further, they built irrigation canals.  Their 
  elders understood that the centaur population would be 
  extremely limited if they did not do something to 
  increase the crop yields of this region, and primarily they 
  used irrigation. 
   
  As most know, now the Eastern Plains are awash in 
  centaur bandits and warlords.  The southern portion of 
  the Eastern Plains has many races, but the northern 
  Eastern Plains, those areas east of Villai and to the north 
  along the coast, are primarily centaurs.  This many 
  centaurs would have great difficulty surviving in this 
  region if it had not been properly prepared.  Further, the 
  centaurs have secret ways of fertilizing their fields and 
  rotating their crops that give them higher yields than 
  most races would be able to achieve, especially out of 
  lands like these. 
   
  In the areas closer to Villai, the irrigation systems 
  and other advanced farming techniques are easily seen.  
  They are well maintained and though the centaurs there 
  take them for granted, they do understand them.  Further, 
  
  16 
  they don’t typically hide these techniques.  They are 
  willing to share them with other races.  But few other 
  races are capable of doing the work of a centaur, so few 
  races would be able to accomplish what they have. 
   
  Along the coastal areas where the warlords hold 
  sway, these masterful farming secrets are all but gone.  
  With the worry of bandit raids, the canals are not 
  properly maintained, and they do not work as cleanly as 
  they once did.  The composting and fertilizing techniques 
  are likewise difficult to maintain when foolish raiders see 
  fertilizer sheds as a place where someone might hide 
  valuables and then get angry when they find out how 
  wrong they are and torch the farmsteads.  In some ways, 
  the more powerful warlords have slowed the decay of 
  these centaur farms, but they have not stopped it.  This is 
  why the populations density near Villai is at least four 
  times that of similar lands just a short distance away. 
   
  Though the centaurs never built large cities, there 
  are many ruins in this territory.  These are the larger 
  plantations of some of the more established centaur 
  families.  They held out for generations against all 
  manner of bandits, but eventually could not hold onto 
  their farms.  These farms could be revived if 
  knowledgeable centaurs were able to return to them in 
  peace, but that won’t happen soon. 
   
  Anyone travelling through the area will come 
  across low stone walls, “creeks” that travel in extremely 
  straight lines, isolated homes - many quite large, and if 
  they are sharp, secrets of centaur farming techniques.  
  But too many of these overgrown plantations have been 
  completely reclaimed by nature.  Just as the canals now 
  appear to be creeks and culverts, so too do the walls 
  appear to be nothing more than now hills, and the wells 
  seem to be sink holes. 
   
  Few in the region understand today how many 
  more centaurs there were say 300-400 years ago.  The 
  bandits did not need to kill them off.  Simply making it 
  unsafe to farm here drove them away or into starvation.  
  The repercussions of a violent society were too much.  
  The centaurs still existing run this risk as well, so it may 
  turn out to be best for all if the warlords take control of 
  the territory and wipe out the bandits.  As has been 
  implied elsewhere, high warlord taxes are still far better 
  than the losses due to banditry. 
   
  Southern Centaurs in the North 
   
  About ten years ago, a tribe of Haesault centaurs 
  moved north.  Their area was in the midst of a minor 
  drought and the shamans were told by their gods to move 
  north to find more abundant water.  All along the way 
  they were harassed by orcs, humans and especially 
  goblins.  They settled in the southern Eastern Plains, but 
  they established their colony too close to one of the 
  vampire lords in that region.  Two centaurs were turned 
  to vampires.  Fortunately, these two centaurs were so 
  devoted to their gods, that they managed to commit 
  suicide by venturing out into the sun in the morning.  
  After this, the tribe moved farther north, closer to Villai. 
   
  This tribe is not welcomed by the Agri Centaurs; 
  they are simply too strange.  They have foreign ways and 
  worship foreign gods in what seems to be a primitive and 
  possibly “evil” fashion.  But the tribe, now known as the 
  “Sun Givers” has altered their religion.  Believing (they 
  would say understanding) that their gods led them here, 
  they see their lives as now having a new mission:  to 
  bring the sun to all vampires. 
   
  While the majority of the tribe lives by farming and 
  ranching, they also train vampire hunters.  They are 
  perfecting their ways of doing this, but so far it has been 
  their military skills that have allowed them to kill several 
  vampires.  They utilize astrologers to predict their 
  futures, and then set out to do whatever they can to 
  reduce the number of vampires in the world.  They do 
  not believe they can wipe out all the vampires, as they 
  know many of these undead live in the Tunnel World 
  underground.  This is just not a battlefield where the 
  centaurs can be at their best.  But they would be content 
  to drive every vampire underground for good. 
   
  The Sun Givers are seeking allies in their crusade.  
  They will reach out to various human and halfling 
  religions.  They are willing to share their methods and 
  hope to learn from others opposed to the undead.  They 
  are less likely to simply hire adventurers.  The Sun 
  Givers now have four small villages in the area, avoiding 
  giving the vampires an easy target.  For anyone hunting 
  vampires, the Sun Givers are probably some of the best 
  at making anti-vampire weapons, and they are absolutely 
  willing to sell them to any aspiring vamp killers. 
   
   
  
  17 
   
  THE GOOD LIFE 
   
  Centaurs 
   
  Despite their location being closer to the Velesans 
  of the Central Plains, the centaurs are culturally more 
  similar to the Rhorics of Rhum and Snobist, and the 
  halflings of the Triad.  If anything, the centaurs of Villai 
  are probably the most “Velesan-like” while all others, 
  especially the more rural ones are more similar to the 
  northern Rhorics. 
   
  Some of the cultural issues here include: 
   
  The centaurs believe there is a moral duty for 
  parents to get their children to adulthood.  If this 
  means selling the children to slavers or leaving 
  them at a workhouse, then this is what they will 
  do.  Velesans believe the parents morally must 
  raise their own children, even to the point of a 
  family starving to death in an attempt to feed 
  everyone. 
   
  Both Velesans and Rhorics like their sweet 
  foods, as do most centaurs.  Where Velesans 
  also like sour tastes, neither the centaurs nor the 
  Rhorics will look for these styles of tastes in 
  their cuisine.  Similarly, the Rhorics and 
  centaurs both seem to enjoy vinegary foods, 
  while the Velesans are against this style.  One 
  notable difference is that neither the Velesans 
  nor the Rhorics seem to produce salty foods, but 
  the centaurs are keen for extra salt. 
   
  Velesans like pears, while Rhorics like apples.  
  That is a stereo-type that transcends all “known 
  facts”.  Centaurs tend towards apples. 
   
  Centaur’s teeth are not as sharp as a human’s.  
  Their incisors are thicker and though they do 
  work for tearing, they are not as good as a 
  human’s.  They have no canine teeth, instead 
  having an additional pre-molar.  Therefore, they 
  are just not as good at tearing into meat.  For 
  this reason, they seem to favor fish.  When they 
  do eat beef or pork (or other tougher meats) 
  they tend to marinade it, often in vinegar, to 
  tenderize it and help break down some of that 
  toughness.  But they are omnivorous. 
   
  Centaurs typically wear clothing.  Most centaur 
  cultures believe as humans do that sexual organs should 
  be covered.  Centaur males will often wear shirts, but if 
  the weather is warm and they are working, they may 
  decide not to.  Centaur women will almost always wear 
  some manner of shirt to cover their chest. 
   
  While a female centaur may wear a dress that 
  covers both her chest and drapes over her horse body, 
  males will typically wear two separate garments.  But 
  centaurs do not wear “pants”.  Instead, a male centaur is 
  most likely to wear a kilt that starts about half-way down 
  his horse back and drapes over his genitals, most 
  commonly down to the knee.  No, they do not wear 
  undergarments beneath their kilts. 
   
  Women may wear kilts, skirts, or simply blankets 
  to drape over their lower halves.  Covering the genitals 
  from easy sight is all that is required of these garments, 
  and if someone attempts to see beneath the skirts, centaur 
  etiquette blames the looker.  But few centaurs are 
  insulted by someone making this attempt.  A young boy 
  attempting to see beneath a female centaur’s skirt would 
  be comical to them and not a reason to start a fight or 
  find insult. 
   
  It is not entirely odd to have young children turned 
  out of their homes in Green Lands.  Typically, this 
  happens when the parents are drunkards who cannot or 
  will not care for their children.  Children of all ages can 
  be turned out.  Often they seek help from relatives or 
  friends, and often join those families as if they were 
  always a part of them.  This has been so common, that it 
  is not condemned as much as one would expect.  
  Furthermore, families with large farms or ranches may 
  appear to have families including as many as 18 children 
  who are too close in age to actually be brothers and 
  sisters.  Those children not lucky enough to find a home 
  with friends can fall into any number of difficult 
  situations, including slavery (most frequently in a 
  centaur factory/sweat shop or on a ship), membership in 
  a criminal organization (typically banditry), or dead from 
  the elements as they attempted to live off the land. 
   
  Like horses, centaurs can nap standing up, but must 
  lie down to sleep (enter REM).  Though they can survive 
  by dozing (standing) and only entering full sleep (lying) 
  for an hour or two a day, most centaurs in civilization 
  will sleep more similarly to what that culture does, most 
  likely sleeping for 6-8 hours while lying down at night. 
   
  Centaurs typically avoid having stairs in their 
  homes, but when on the road cannot always avoid the 
  issue.  Due to their weight, most of their beds are directly 
  on the floor, rather than try and hold up the centaur and 
  the bed on four legs.  The most common centaur “bed” is 
  a large circular or oval pillow/mattress that rests on the 
  floor.  Like other people, these mattresses could be 
  stuffed with straw (cheap end) or anything else up to 
  down (high end). 
   
   
  Like the human cultures they parallel, the Agri 
  Centaurs are monogamous.  They marry a single partner 
  and live with that single partner for the rest of their lives 
  (typically).  The Centaur Warlords however seem to live 
  in harems.  There are numerous reasons for this, not the 
  least of which is that many young men who grow up 
  under the warlords wind up involved in their battles and 
  dying because of them.  There truly is a decreased 
  percentage of male centaurs in the warlords’ territories.  
  
  18 
  But more than this, the warlords (and their chief officers) 
  are incredibly egotistical people.  They enjoy both the 
  control and the scandal of maintaining harems. 
   
  The warlords claim that harems are the natural 
  order of centaurs.  They claim (in an unproven fashion) 
  that all the Koaluckssie centaurs live in harems.  This is 
  not truthful.  There are some Koaluckssie centaurs that 
  live in harems, some who live in mixed “marital” groups, 
  and some who live monogamously.  Each centaur tribe 
  lives as they can.  Those with too few males may live as 
  harems or as mixed groups.  Those who have not lost 
  large numbers or have lost even amounts of males and 
  females, are more likely to live monogamously.  For 
  them, it is simply a matter of survival of the tribe. 
   
  Minotaurs 
   
  Like the centaurs, there are two separate and 
  distinct groups of minotaurs.  Again, there are those who 
  still live on Koaluckssie and those who live elsewhere.  
  The Koaluckssie minotaurs live a savage existence where 
  their brute strength enables them to survive.  Not 
  gathering in groups as the centaurs do, lone minotaurs 
  are often the victims of packs of smaller creatures. 
   
  Those minotaurs that live elsewhere are descended 
  from elven slaves.  Unlike their centaur counter-parts, 
  these minotaurs have not formed into a society.  There 
  are no minotaur cities, nor a minotaur region.  Some 
  small minotaur villages exist, but even these are few and 
  far between.  It is most common for minotaurs to wander 
  the world reveling in their freedoms. 
   
  The minotaurs hate anything that attempts to reign 
  in their freedoms.  They have been known to kill slavers 
  out of spite and cannot be expected to honor any laws 
  they may encounter.  Each lives a moral and ethical code 
  of his or her own choosing, and woe to the fool who tries 
  to challenge what a minotaur thinks.  Many work as 
  mercenaries, sailors or caravaneers, because it allows 
  them to travel as they wish.  Some have also been known 
  to work as gladiators, typically for short periods of time 
  to earn extra money. 
   
  This nomadic, unattached lifestyle does have its 
  drawbacks.  There are few minotaurs in the world, and 
  they seldom meet to bear more offspring.  Single 
  mothers are common, and they think nothing of a female 
  with calves by several different fathers.  In fact, such a 
  female would be respected for going her own way.  The 
  only time minotaurs can be expected to gather and work 
  together is if news spreads of someone enslaving 
  minotaurs.  In such a case, gossip spreads quickly, and an 
  army will assemble to destroy the villainous slavers. 
   
  The two different types of minotaurs have evolved 
  into different ethnicities.  The remaining Koaluckssie 
  minotaurs tend to more closely resemble bison, while 
  those on Drentae are more steer-like.  This is likely 
  because the elves brought one “breed” of minotaur with 
  them due to the geography of the two groups, but as time 
  has moved on, the physical differences have become 
  more pronounced. 
   
  Minotaurs are omnivorous, but they prefer a very 
  high protein diet.  This is one of the reasons that they 
  often lean towards fishing instead of farming.  With their 
  great strength, they can haul in heavy nets laden with 
  fish, and even from smaller boats, they are often able to 
  spear (harpoon) some of the biggest fish near shore.  
  They will often eat fish bones to provide for their 
  calcium, and they seem to instinctively know which fish 
  will provide them with some of the vitamins other races 
  normally receive through plants.  They are not proud 
  about the types of fish they eat and will eat nearly every 
  type of shellfish, though feeding a minotaur strictly on 
  shellfish takes a very long time. 
   
  When they do farm, they are still leaning towards 
  the higher protein foods, such as nuts.  This can often 
  help them survive in elven and human civilizations.  
  Many elven cities expect to feed minotaurs oat breads 
  and muffins with nuts and raisins.  While not a 
  minotaur’s first choice, consuming only meat when in a 
  city can often be beyond a minotaur’s pay.  Again, pride 
  in food is not something most minotaurs would see as 
  important.  They eat nearly as much as centaurs and need 
  to fill those bellies. 
   
  For this reason, minotaurs are often found eating 
  offal meats, such as the livers and other organs.  These 
  are rich protein sources to the minotaur and often cheap 
  as they are less appealing to the more fragile humans.  In 
  other cultures, they will continue to eat bones and skin, 
  though typically of smaller animals such as rabbits or 
  poultry. 
  
  19 
   
  Though they certainly have the strength for it, 
  minotaurs rarely go in for smithing.  There are likely to 
  be various cultural issues about this, but the idea of 
  “sticking their hands into fire” seems silly to them.  
  While they enjoy the use of the best forged weapons, 
  they seldom go for metal armors.  Each minotaur will 
  have his own reasons for this, but few of them can be 
  made comfortable.  This could be because so few of 
  them are armorers.  It is likely that human and dwarven 
  smiths simply don’t know how to properly fit a minotaur 
  for armor. 
   
  They do seem to prefer various types of hide 
  crafted armor, including leather, boiled leather, furs, and 
  other hybrids of these styles.  This goes opposite to their 
  typical reluctance to eat beef or horse meats.  The 
  cultural rationale for not eating these animals is that they 
  deserve more respect than to wind up on a table.  For this 
  reason, they prefer pork, poultry and fish.  But when it 
  comes to wearing leather armor, the fact that they are 
  relying on the horsehide or steer leather to protect them 
  is far more respectful to the animal (in their opinion).  
  They will still eat horse or beef, if that’s what they can 
  get their hands on; they just prefer not to. 
   
  Being more free spirits, they rarely wind up with 
  careers that require extensive training.  Especially when 
  living in a different race’s culture, they will take laborer 
  jobs, especially things like porters or stevedores, jobs 
  where brute strength is the required skill.  Portering for a 
  caravan is yet another way for them to see the world.  It 
  is not a way for them to make money, as they typically 
  make very little due to the amount of food they need to 
  eat. 
   
  Satyrs 
   
  Like the centaurs and minotaurs, the satyrs were 
  brought to Drentae as slaves of the elves.  Unlike the 
  others, once released, the satyrs remained in the 
  Slyvanian Forest.  They dwell mainly along the western 
  coast in small villages.  They mix with rural elves, but 
  urban elves do not seem to appreciate the satyrs.  
  Whether this is because they are a reminder of past 
  “crimes” or simply because of their gregarious lifestyle 
  is not fully understood. 
   
  The satyrs use their superior strength (superior to 
  elves) and speed to accomplish tasks elves simply 
  cannot.  They make excellent hunters and prefer this 
  quick return on their work to farming.  Some do become 
  soldiers either for the elves or as mercenaries, but their 
  unreliable personalities are a serious concern to most 
  commanders.  Their aversion to commitment typically 
  prevents them from studying magic, since they simply 
  will not concentrate on one subject for that long. 
   
  Satyrs are rare on either continent.  Those found of 
  Koaluckssie are typically scavengers living off what they 
  steal from others.  They live between other races, using 
  their speed and cunning to avoid conflicts.  As long as 
  they manage to stay one step ahead of the predators, they 
  manage to survive one day at a time. 
   
  On Drentae, they could have nearly any profession.  
  Some of the most common (especially when they live in 
  other race’s cultures) are working as messengers, 
  laborers, and glassblowers.  Living basically between the 
  elven and Maril cultures, the satyrs often find themselves 
  working at the big vineyards supporting various 
  winemaking support roles, except of course for stomping 
  grapes. 
   
  The satyrs will often take jobs that the elves nearby 
  simply won’t do.  Many religious elves have strong 
  feelings about the trees of their homeland.  For this 
  reason, it is more common to find a satyr lumberjack in 
  these regions, as they are simply not as devoted to the 
  elven gods (or any gods for that matter). 
   
  When working as soldiers or mercenaries, they 
  favor missile weapons, including spears and other 
  throwing weapons.  Staying out of the fight is preferred, 
  relying on their speed and agility to avoid getting hit.  
  They typically shun armor as they don’t want anything 
  that will slow them down. 
   
  Rumors 
   
   
  Not surprisingly, beast men are just different 
  enough from humans that a large number of rumors exist 
  about their origins and their physiology.  Here are just a 
  few of the rumors around beast men, and these are 
  typically the less racy ones. 
   
  Centaurs are the product of human and horse 
  “relationships”.  or Centaurs can be produced by 
  human and horse “relationships”.  {False} 
   
  Centaurs are not half horse and half man but 
  instead half horse and half elf.  They even have 
  pointy ears.  {False} 
   
  If the horse parts of a centaur are black, then the 
  centaur is evil, violent and more prone to rage.  
  {False - Based on Stiletto’s band being mostly 
  black.} 
   
  The more often elves breed with the centaurs, 
  the lighter skinned the centaur is.  That is why 
  the Drentae centaurs are white and the 
  Koaluckssie centaurs are red/bronze.  {False - 
  we think} 
   
  A male centaur cannot impregnate a female 
  human (or elf, etc.).  A human male can 
  impregnate a female centaur, and produce a 
  centaur child.  {True} 
   
  On Koaluckssie, an offshoot race of centaurs 
  has been found with wings.  It is believed that 
  these creatures have the ability to fly and are 
  therefore effectively centaur pegasi.  {Believed 
  to be True} 
  
  20 
  WHAT’S MISSING 
   
   
  This is the “World Walker” version of this edition.  
  Therefore, it is not the complete version, but instead the 
  slimmed down version.  So the question is - What’s 
  missing?  Here is a summary of what you’d see if you 
  got the Game Masters’ version of the book: 
   
  How to Play a ... Centaur:  Tips and tricks on how to 
  make a centaur’s extra power work to your benefit as a 
  PC, as well as how to try to avoid the pitfalls (literally) 
  of playing an extra heavy character 
  How to GM a ... Centaur Army:  Using centaurs as 
  enemy NPCs can give the GM a great advantage, but you 
  don’t want to simply make them a different shaped goon 
  character.  Here’s how to use them against the PCs. 
  Optional Rules:  What’s the right “cost” of using 
  centaurs in your campaigns?  Here’s how to try and level 
  the playing field if you plan to give a player the boost of 
  being a centaur (or other beast man race). 
  $ilver Sense:  The centaur warlords are running sweat 
  shops, but at what point does this factory style make 
  sense economically? 
  Gold, Silver and WHAT!?!:  Centaur beer as well as 
  sweat shop yarns and fabrics, and a Detheb slave thrown 
  in for good measure. 
  Monsters & Other Menaces:  All sorts of notes about 
  other beats man races, the prey animals they rely on, 
  “wolf-centaurs” and notes on the centaurs’ physiology.  
  Also a new centaur bandit/sheriff - yeah, you have to 
  read it to understand it. 
  Church Bells:  There a quite a few religions amongst the 
  centaurs.  Here are the details you’ll want to have in 
  order to run them. 
  By the Numbers:  How exactly do you feed a centaur?  
  A creature that needs as many calories as a horse, but 
  only has a human sized mouth. 
  Huge Adventures:  You have probably sensed how the 
  various Small Bites are coming together for a massive 
  “world war”.  What role will the centaur warlords play?  
  A far more important one than you might think! 
  Small Towns and City Neighborhoods:  The beast men 
  do not have any massive cities, but that doesn’t mean 
  they don’t have towns.  Here we go through six cities in 
  four locations showcasing the centaurs and satyrs. 
  Tavern Talk:  Guido gives us some lessons on where 
  the centaur drinks come from and which ones you need 
  to be wary of. 
  A Funny Thing Happened ... Rather than give you 
  encounters, we decided to detail two beast man 
  mercenary units - one minotaur and one centaur.  These 
  are NOT your everyday merc squads. 
  Pull Back the Curtain:  Role-playing games are not 
  short stories and do not follow the rules of novels.  These 
  are joint story telling endeavors.  Here is advice on how 
  to help the story along when too many cooks are spoiling 
  your soup. 
  Y? Y? Y!:  How exactly did a group of released slaves 
  develop into a full blown “country”?  We try to walk 
  through the logic of how it worked for them so you can 
  see that there are things they purposefully leave out of 
  their history stories. 
  Centaur Summary:  Just to make things easier, we have 
  an easy chart to detail the different ethnicities of the 
  various centaur groups. 
   
   
  The full Game Master version of this edition is 41 
  pages of content.  That is considerably more than what 
  you’re seeing here. 
   
   
  Do you know how to get the Game Masters’ 
  version instead of this World Walker edition?  Well, use 
  the links below to head out to our Patreon site and 
  become a patron.  Check it out because there’s a ton of 
  stuff that we’re doing, and we want you to be involved. 
   
  IN CONCLUSION 
   
   
  We think centaurs and minotaurs are really cool, 
  and we want them to be more than just miscellaneous 
  monsters in your game world.  They really can be living, 
  breathing NPCs or even PCs.  They can have their own 
  culture and their own ways, and it doesn’t take a huge 
  amount of thought to make that work. 
   
  We hope you have caught the “bug” of beast men 
  and how much fun they can be.  Not only are they 
  powerful, but they can lend themselves to as much or as 
  little tie in to their bestial side.  We’ve presented 
  minotaurs who don’t really like to be considered like 
  cattle, but who knows, you might want them (or maybe 
  just a few tribes of them) to be the guardians of the 
  plains bison.  They really can go either way. 
   
  We hope you’ve spotted something else that we’ve 
  done here - based a culture on something that is not from 
  Earth’s European or Asian continents.  Some of John 
  Josten’s first “lead” figures were a pair of centaurs 
  decked out in American Indian shields, spear and war 
  paint.  It’s amazing how things like that stick with you, 
  and ever since, many of the centaur cultures have leaned 
  closer to American Indians than to Celtic barbarians or 
  however they often seem to develop in other worlds. 
   
  Sometimes we as GMs forget, but there are other 
  places than Merry Ole’ England.  The varied American 
  Indian tribes often serve well as a cultural reference, 
  especially if you can then decide how far they have 
  advanced into metal working.  There are also the equally 
  varied African tribes - cultures that may or may not have 
  been given a chance to develop into “fantasy tech” on 
  
  21 
  their own.  Don’t forget the pyramid builders from both 
  of those places! 
   
  But this is what fantasy worlds are all about!  
  Different races, different peoples, different cultures, all 
  tied up with magic and a sense of the spectacular.  If you 
  can’t make your centaurs and minotaurs seem different 
  from the halflings and the elves, then you have to wonder 
  what the point of playing in a fantasy world is.  There 
  needs to be something different about them, even if it is 
  an undescribed farming technique.  Specifics don’t 
  matter as long as you’re making sure that minotaurs are 
  not simply bigger tougher orcs that needed to be fought.  
  Give them some character!  They are a lot more fun to 
  play when you do! 
   
   
  Patreon Project Site 
  https://www.patreon.com/boardent 
   
  Board Enterprises Website 
  http://www.boardenterprises.com/ 
   
  The Sounding Board Blog 
  http://boardent.blogspot.com/ 
   
  World of Fletnern wiki 
  http://fletnern.wikia.com/wiki/ 
   
   
  © 2018 John G. Josten 
   
   
   
   
  PATREON 
   
   
   
  We are incredibly proud of the community we are 
  building within Patreon.  The community was why we 
  started this Small Bites project and it is really beginning 
  to bloom.  We knew it wouldn’t happen overnight, and it 
  didn’t, but we are getting feedback, participation, 
  opinions, constructive criticism, the whole works!! 
   
  We would love for you to join that community (if 
  you haven’t already).  Just click the link: 
  https://www.patreon.com/boardent 
   
  Why?  Well, first, you’ll get the full edition of this 
  book; that’s the GM’s Edition, and not just the World 
  Walker edition.  But if you want to help us along and 
  sponsor us at $1, then you’ll get the World Walker 
  edition emailed to you at the end of every month, instead 
  of having to go out and find it several weeks later when 
  it becomes available to the general public.  The GM’s 
  edition is usually double or triple the length of the World 
  Walker edition, but that might not be what you’re 
  looking for. 
   
  Far more important to us, you’ll become part of this 
  community we’re so interested in:  a community of role-
  players, game masters and world builders, sharing ideas, 
  and sharing our hobby - for many of us, our passion. 
   
  You’ll be able to participate in polls and other ways 
  to let us know what you’re thinking.  Several times, we 
  thought we had the best plans laid out, only to hear from 
  our patrons that they had a different idea of what the 
  priorities should be.  So we changed the priorities and 
  changed the order in which these editions have come out.  
  Does it make sense?  Of course it does, but without that 
  communication, there is little we can do to properly 
  address your priorities. 
   
  As a side note, the start of a new year always 
  requires a review of the previous year (for taxes if for 
  nothing else).  In taking a look at the past year, we just 
  cannot understand or even justify why things went really 
  well when they did or just mediocre when they did.  
  Fortunately, those are the only two “levels” we 
  experienced, but it has been very frustrating to not know 
  what we might have been doing right and what we were 
  only barely making it with.  We’d love to have your 
  input as well to help guide us through the next year, and 
  the one after that! 
   
   
   
   
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/_GM Books/World Building & Game Design/Board Enterprises/Board  Enterprises - Build Your Fantasy World - The Centaur Warlord of Lockney and Other Tales of the Beast Men aka All About Centaurs.pdf