The latest in my long line of strange and fantastic creatures: I present to you, the Urk'a'tan mount and a desert rider.
I got this idea looking at an illustration in an old book from my childhood: Dinotopia by James Gurney. The picture was of a stone house perched on the side of a mountain. Out front, a pair of equine-ish creatures and something similar to a rhinoceros were meeting with a group of people. I liked the short, broad-chested physique of the equine creatures and their sloped, slightly leonine features, and so I decided to base a new creature on them. Digging deeper in an attempt to figure out what these creatures were that I'd based my drawing on, I found them to be Moropus, a genus of mammals closely akin to horses and tapirs under the group Chalicothere. They had split hooves that had evolved into something like claws (maybe meant for digging or defense), and were built short, tall, and muscular. What I did was copied the face, broad chest and sloping back, but accented the leonine features and elongated the tail. Once I had that drawn, I couldn't resist the temptation to give it saddle and bridle. That in turn prompted me to draw a rider, and soon enough the notes on the culture to which these two belonged were spreading all around the margins of the drawing.
The Urk'a'tan comes from a desert environment, and as such is generally colored a grayish tan or sandy brown with little striping or spots. Their toes are slightly webbed (though you can't see it well here) to keep their massive weight aloft on the shifting desert sands, and it's capable of going long periods of time without water. They don't run as smoothly as a horse (more of a loping gallop where the entire body cants to one side when the shoulder drops), but they're faster over short distances, and they're extremely agile. Unlike horses, they're capable of climbing anything that can hold their weight, using their dexterous toes and prehensile tail to hoist themselves into places after anchoring with their claws. They're herbivorous, despite their fierce looks, and extremely intelligent.
The riders, like the mounts, are well-accustomed to desert life. Their dark eyes are adapted for night life, when they tend to do most of their daily business, and they wear light armor and white cloaks to repel the heat when they do go about in daylight. They're shortish of stature, but trained fighters, and though they carry few weapons, they're generally avoided in fights on account of their fearsome hand-to-hand combat skills.Those of their race who ride the Urk'a'tan are specially picked and trained at a young age to become messengers, and it's their duty to ride across the breadth of the desert to deliver messages to other tribes, peoples, races, etc. Mount and rider share roughly the same lifespan, so partnerships are lifelong, and an Urk'a'tan will not allow another rider to mount unless said rider is given permission. Riders tend to give their mounts little adornments, such as gold earrings or the tail bands that mark every fourth year of service as a messenger. Overall, the pairs are well-respected, and will be given safe passage and accommodation wherever they find it in the vast desert lands.
The wider world to which these two belong is slowly evolving. I've yet to draw out a map, but so far I have an observatory tower of the winged folk, the Royal City where the kingdoms are centered, and a bit of a history involving a war with the demon race and parallel worlds to which said demons were banished. I have several sets of characters housed in this world, and I'm excited to see where it will evolve.
To my readers, I hope you're enjoying your summer (despite the gnats). Keep a lookout for more blog posts, and as always, happy reading.
S.R. Koch
