¶ MINOTAUR
As is all too often the case in Hyboria, the story of the minotaurs is steeped in mythic kingdoms of ancient, dark sorcery. Legends say that the first generation of minotaurs - the “true minotaurs” - were the children of some bestial demon-god revolving around horns, bulls, rage, and fertility. Perhaps he was a child of Jhebbal-Sag; perhaps he was Jhebbal-Sag himself. Regardless of his actual origin, the Horned Lord’s objective was to breed a legion of single-minded, ruthlessly obedient guardians to watch over his labyrinthine places of worship. As his sons were flawed mirrors of his own power, he knew exactly how to exploit them to the maximum potential. Like him, they were driven by raw instincts to breed and aggressively defend their territory. They saw their own sisters - female minotaurs - as little more than vessels through which they might express these urges, so the Horned Lord turned this against them.
He cursed his own sons to forever defend their territory - his labyrinths - as long as their mates were there, somewhere, encouraging competitive bloodshed so that only the fittest bulls would be left standing to find and claim cows and strike out on their own. What the Horned Lord didn’t tell them was that their sister-mates were gone from Hyboria altogether. He had spirited them away to his own labyrinth-realm in hell, where he and he alone would breed them and prove his superiority. His sons were left chasing phantom scents of cows in heat, endlessly stampeding through infinite twisting passages, slaying each other when they met, set on an impossible task. No one is sure how long this went on - centuries, millennia?
Something happened. They say the Horned Lord suffered some great wound in his home realm from a rival and the labyrinths in Hyboria crumbled, fell, and cracked. The minotaurs were free and for a time ran wild, their spirits and minds twisted by their cursed imprisonment. As time passed, however, it turned out that they were not bound to their curse for eternity without hope. They discovered that the less they actively gave in to the instincts hyperbolized by their curse, the less powerful its hold was over them, and eventually, some came to take solace with females of other races. Their natures were once more transformed and their society changed dramatically to become what it is today. Modern minotaurs are not “pure-blooded” for they have lost their females but are capable of reproducing with most humanoid races.
Language Spoken: Minotaur
Subrace Information
N/A
General Racial Information
- +3 Strength +2 Vitality
- Darkvision
- +1 Wisdom -1 Intelligence
Minotaur Racial Kit:
- RA Eyes Glow 01
- Horns of Minotaur Attached 1000243
- Horns of Minotaur 1000244
- Horns of Minotaur Small Attached 1000245
- Hoofed Feet 1000497
- Bull Tail Attached 1000255
- Bull Tail Small Attached 1000256
- Unequip Attached Tail 1000257
- Bull Head 298454497
Appearance
- Tall (165 to 250 cm).
- Brown or black skin and hair.
- Muscular Build.
- Hooves.
- Horns.
- Tail.
- Head.
- Eyes.
- Minotaurs are built like the most massive half-orcs, standing as tall as the tallest frost half-orc (not counting their horns) and as broad as the broadest mountain half-orc. Their muscles are thickly padded, often with some layer firm-padded fat, with frames more akin to squares than v’s. Every minotaur takes great pride in their horns and the only tradition they have regarding them is that there is no tradition - they are the human equivalent of piercings and tattoos.
- Omnivores.
Age
- Minotaur reach maturity at age 20. 100 is middle aged, 165 is venerable and 200 is their maximum lifespan.
Demeanor
- Minotaurs are a far cry from their beastly progenitors. They are almost exasperatingly calm, level-headed, and patient, slow to take offense and even slower to dish it out. They highly prize personal space and honesty but also privacy. As long as you’re willing to let them do their thing, they are willing to let you do yours. Their standard mode of expression with strangers is friendly but reserved. Some come to mistakenly believe that minotaurs simply have no real passion but the exact opposite is true. This Zen-like state of mind is a cultural tradition passed down through the ages, helping them prevent devolving into anything resembling their ancestors. Those rare cases when a minotaur loses his cool are frightening to experience and often traumatizing, not only for the intensity of their darker impulses that rise to the surface, but the duration in which they are lost in this state. They look upon such episodes with humiliation and despair; in their minds, there is no reason to ever fall to such levels of depravity. On an unrelated note, minotaurs show exceptional abilities of navigation in subterranean situations, but some prove to be highly claustrophobic.
Society
- Minotaurs are few in number, have no centralized government, religion, or written-in-stone universal laws.
- They prefer quiet lives of predictable simplicity.
- They are often either nomads or integrate into compatible, accepting cultures regardless of race, either as individuals or small families. Much rarer are communities made up predominantly of minotaurs, with populations rarely exceeding a few dozen, commonly situated on arable plateaus or nestled in secluded valleys. These communities have an almost cloistered feel to them, with each individual naturally gravitating towards whatever they can do best for their fellows. They rarely have single leaders let alone anything resembling a closed canon of laws, preferring largely democratic methods of governance, with certain individuals notable for their experience, skill, or respect rising to prominence as unofficial village elders or guides. Perhaps of most interest is the sex-based social dimorphism in such communities. Females almost always hold more sway, spoken or inferred, on familial, romantic, and communal levels. Due to their history and dark instincts, minotaurs hold up the females of their villages almost as spiritual leaders, though they are far from slavishly obedient or without their own opinions. The composition of the female populations of these communities are wildly diverse, since most often a minotaur will find a mate through purely individualized means, writing each their own love story. However, there are usually more females of races with which minotaurs are physically capable of siring young (or at least doing so comfortably), including humans, half-orcs, spellscales, and planetouched. Such unions produce female offspring far more often than male (of their mother’s race) but there is a slim chance that a very male, very minotaur baby might be brought into the world.
Despite their easygoing nature and society, minotaurs can be both very territorial and very jealous, especially of their families, their personal land and homes, and their mates. If you absolutely want to take a peek at that legendary minotaur-darkness beneath the placid, bullish exterior, bringing danger or shame to their territory or loved ones is a good way to get it.
Favored Profession
- Fighters and artisans.
Restrictions
- Male only.