Centaurs in Ustalav?


Lost Omens Campaign Setting General Discussion


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I haven't seen anything that talks about centaurs in Ustalav, but the inner sea world guide talks about an unusual tribe of centaurs in Razmiran which is just east of Ustalav.

Do people think centaurs in Ustalav would be normal centaurs or would they be changed in some way even if only in alignment and culture?


Centaurs don't really fit with the theme of Ustalav which is Gothic horror.
The Carrion Crown AP had wilderness encounter tables for many of Ustalav's regions including the northern forests, and the monsters are mostly things that avoid notice, creatures that lurk in dark corners or can hide in plain site, e.g. undead (vampires, ghosts, etc) or shape-shifting creatures (werewolves, hags, etc).

The River Kingdoms has tribes of centaurs though and Razmiran is closely tied to that region. I guess they have them in Kyonin too since elves and centaurs fit together in that sort of primal forest environment.


Jeven wrote:

Centaurs don't really fit with the theme of Ustalav which is Gothic horror.

The Carrion Crown AP had wilderness encounter tables for many of Ustalav's regions including the northern forests, and the monsters are mostly things that avoid notice, creatures that lurk in dark corners or can hide in plain site, e.g. undead (vampires, ghosts, etc) or shape-shifting creatures (werewolves, hags, etc).

The River Kingdoms has tribes of centaurs though and Razmiran is closely tied to that region. I guess they have them in Kyonin too since elves and centaurs fit together in that sort of primal forest environment.

I realize what kind of setting Ustalav is and that normal centaurs wouldn't necessarily fit. However couldn't the themes of Ustalav be extended to centaurs? Normal centaurs are neutral but what if the ones in Ustalav were neutral evil, perhaps corrupted by the influence of the whispering tryant?


The neighboring Ustalav county is Versex, the one with the forest in the SE corner. That one is all about Cthuluesque horrors. You could have a tribe of savage centaurs contaminated by the Dark Tapestry, having interbred with alien horrors. You would have to come up some good descriptions of the creatures which don't make them seem too silly though -- centaurs with just tentacles added isn't enough.

Perhaps rotting undead centaurs near Gallowspire? The Whispering Tyrant ravaged all the neighboring nations so he should have encountered (and perverted) the race.


Or centaurs who've somehow become infected with lycanthropy in the Shudderwood. (They're normally invalid targets because lycanthropy only effects humanoids, but fiendish werewolf centaurs strikes me as goofy yet awesome.)


Jeven wrote:

The neighboring Ustalav county is Versex, the one with the forest in the SE corner. That one is all about Cthuluesque horrors. You could have a tribe of savage centaurs contaminated by the Dark Tapestry, having interbred with alien horrors. You would have to come up some good descriptions of the creatures which don't make them seem too silly though -- centaurs with just tentacles added isn't enough.

Perhaps rotting undead centaurs near Gallowspire? The Whispering Tyrant ravaged all the neighboring nations so he should have encountered (and perverted) the race.

There are definitely some ideas in there that could work, what about half-undead centaurs near Gallowspire?


Zhangar wrote:
Or centaurs who've somehow become infected with lycanthropy in the Shudderwood. (They're normally invalid targets because lycanthropy only effects humanoids, but fiendish werewolf centaurs strikes me as goofy yet awesome.)

How would something like lycanthropy work with a centaur's physiology? I would think in would be easier to have a centaur like race that was wolf lower body and maybe a bite attack. Perhaps focused more on pack hunting and raiding isolated human settlements.


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Its possible to make the werewolf centaur work without being too lame.
For the wolf form, give it six wolf legs.
For the hybrid form, have it standing upright on two horse-legs (like a satyr or some fiends), but give it four hairy wolfish arms and a wolfish head. That creates a more demonic image with hoofed feet, animalistic head and multiple arms.


Shadow Centaurs may also fit well.

As for Lycanthrope Centaurs, the most natural thing, though likely the least fun, is to give them a human and horse form and their centaur form is already the hybrid. I know ... it is definitely lacking in the coolness factor, but most "realistic".

Otherwise, their base form is just centaur instead of human. So a Centaur Werebear would have a bear, centaur, and Hybrid form, of which I would keep the bottom half of a centaur and the top half of the bear.

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Another thought: Monsters in Gothic horror tend to reflect psychological anxieties. Centaurs, from this perspective, like lycanthropes, could represent the bestial side of human nature. Whereas lycanthropy tends to involve anxieties about repressed violence and loss of physical control, centaurs (like satyrs) could represent fears of social, sexual, or alcoholic licentiousness. A party of centaurs draws near to town and pulls the curious into uninhibited dances of lust and abandon. Drunken or maniacal centaurs laughingly hunt down anything that moves. Folk dread to be caught outside after dark when the centaurs dance, but there are always a few curious youths who long to dance to those mad pipes and horns.

Along slightly different lines they could represent the dark side of the Romantic longing for a return to a state of nature. While they have elements of Rousseau's noble savage, Gothic centaurs could also lead Hobbesian lives that are nasty, brutish, and short. The strong take what they will and the weak suffer what they must. A centaur with a broken leg is killed, not nursed to health. Weaklings (especially those poor wretches with two legs only) are tormented or enslaved.

Or perhaps the centaurs, pure and free, are the foil to the decadent and corrupt nobles of the human society around. The glimpse of light through the choking clouds.

Finally, the "wise Chiron" version of the centaur could be translated into a Gothic milieu as a sort of tragic Cassandra figure, doomed to foresee the terrible ends to which people (i.e., the party or the realm) are headed, but unable to do anything to stop it. Like Macbeth's witches, the centaurs of Ustalav could have the gift of dire, self-fulfilling prophecy.


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I could definitely see where tribes of Turkic-esque centaurs (like the Khazars or Bulgars) would fit in well with the tone and themes of Ustalav. Much of the "classic" gothic horror of Ustalav is, after all, based on Eastern European horror myths and locations.


Just some random ideas for centaur like creatures in Ustalav:

How about a race of centaurs that instead of being half horse are half nightmare, they can breath smoke and fire.

Or maybe undead headless centaurs.

Frankenstin like flesh golems that are horses and men stitched together.


This thread has some good ideas. Big fan of centaurs here.

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