Comic Genesis Forums

Steltek wrote:Wait, stubble? Unicorns don't shave, either!

Not exactly. Like most furries, we trim our hair when it gets unruly. That includes facial hair --- like that meshuggineh goat-beard a lot of the hippie-type unicorns like to wear.

You'll never catch MY chin wearin' one o' those GOATEES!

Squeaky Bunny wrote:Whooo! Generating your own WMD sergeant? (and I'm not talking about that cartoon Cohiba)

Eh, most people who know me understand I have a gas problem...but it's generally NOBLE gas...being a unicorn and all...-:D (now there's a twisted pun for ya!)

The JAM wrote:YAY CALBECK!! And you should see the unicorns over at "Room For One More"...

I thought those only had the ONE drawback (which not any more problem than with a horse as long as one keep a sharp eye out and has Oren on speed dial to fix any transformations if someone messes up). I was under the impression that they were otherwise beautiful etc... although either the dragons were doing there proper job of keeping the unicorns away from the house during the incident after the newborn Red was rescued from the trash bin at the abortion clinic, or those unicorns lack healing powers.

Since nobody has mentioned it yet I will also point out that the unicorns in the beastiary for "Tale's of the Questor" also... umm... DIFFER greatly from the normal image of such things. In fact I would say that the white stag is much closer to being in the spirit of a unicorn than the actual unicorns of that world.

The JAM wrote:Don't worry, Calbeck. RFOM only mentions unicorns occasionally.

Ah yes... but watch where you step

DracoDei wrote:Since nobody has mentioned it yet I will also point out that the unicorns in the beastiary for "Tale's of the Questor" also... umm... DIFFER greatly from the normal image of such things. In fact I would say that the white stag is much closer to being in the spirit of a unicorn than the actual unicorns of that world.

Where's the Beastiary from?

The uber CD among other places.

I keep missing the ubercd announcements,.,,,
All I can say is...
Unicorn means Rhinoceruous
Bhememoth might mean alligator
Levithan might mean hippopotamus (or did I mix it with Behemoth?)
and a Cherub is a Griffin....

It's important to remember that the "magical, beautiful unicorn" descriptions are... well, a little recent. The first description of a unicorn in Western tradition is by the Greek historian and physician Ctesias; he said the "wild ass of India" was the size of a horse, with a white body, a red head, bluish eyes, and a straight horn a cubit long (that's roughly a foot and a half, or the distance from a man's elbow to the tip of his longest finger). The horn is white at the base, black in the middle, and red at the tip, and reputed to be capable of neutralizing poisons. A far cry from Peter Beagle, eh?

Pliny, in his Historia Naturalis, described a unicorn (still a native of India) as having the body of a horse, the head of a deer, the feet of an elephant, the tail of a wild boar, and a black horn two cubits (36 inches) long.

The "modern" description, with the goatlike hooves, the spiral horn, the goat-beard and the lion tail, dates only to the Middle Ages, along with the "captured by a virgin" and "tricked by a mirror" capture methods.

Looking at the older legends, the original unicorns were wild and untamable, and prone to running people through with their horns. They show up on both sides in the Bible (through an odd translation of the word re'em, meaning 'horned'), even.

In any event, it was the age of chivalry that transformed legends of a ferocious, man-killing creature to the wonder of magic and light we know from our legends.

Yours truly,

The well-read, wolfish,

Wanderer

Greetings Wanderwolf.....

Thanks for the info and a big welcome to our happy little asylum here.

*extends paw*

Allow me to introduce myself, I'm S'aaruuk (Sha-Rook) resident giant mutant space wolf. Whatever neuroses you may harbor are considered de reguer here and our motto is: "Normalcy & sanity IS curable".

So pull up a chunk of interdiminsional continuum and make yourself comfortable.

One word of caution though....it's not advisable to feed Solidus after midnight......or at any time for that matter.....you'll find out why soon enough.

S'aaruuk

Greetings Wanderwolf.....

Thanks for the info and a big welcome to our happy little asylum here.

Glad to be here. I read all RH's strips, mind you, so I may be crazier than you think... er, I think... what was I thinking about?;)

One word of caution though....it's not advisable to feed Solidus after midnight......or at any time for that matter.....you'll find out why soon enough.

Oh, dear, and I happen to love cooking food for other furs to eat... you may want to head for the bunker.:>

Yours smilingly,

The danger-appreciating,

Wanderer

*Chuckles* I don't want to insult Calbeck but when I first read this and before he posted, I thought Warhorse was making an apparence as another PC.

Calbeck wrote:

Steltek wrote:Wait, stubble? Unicorns don't shave, either!

Not exactly. Like most furries, we trim our hair when it gets unruly. That includes facial hair --- like that meshuggineh goat-beard a lot of the hippie-type unicorns like to wear.

You'll never catch MY chin wearin' one o' those GOATEES!

If it were on a unicorn wouldn't it be called a horsee?

Squeaky Bunny wrote:Whooo! Generating your own WMD sergeant? (and I'm not talking about that cartoon Cohiba)

Eh, most people who know me understand I have a gas problem...but it's generally NOBLE gas...being a unicorn and all...-:D (now there's a twisted pun for ya!)[/quote]

I've heard that you were in the tank division. He He

actually, there is a scholarly medieval dissertation that has all those descriptions of unicorns....

The most detailed is Magnalucius' "Ve Historia et Veritate Unicornis." Allegedly a 15th century monk from the north of Italy who described, in great detail several different types or "families" of unicorn. This included the more popular current form, the asian Ki-lin, the aforementioned "ass" with the cubit-long, tricolor horn, a breed described more akin to a rhinoceros, even one variation that was supposed to be carnivorous. I do know that the manuscript was reportedly incomplete: the writings obtained mentioned there being something like 12 different unicorn families, but only gave details on seven of them.

To quote one page referencing the book....
http://www.unicorn-dream.co.uk/unicorn5.html
"It is up to the reader to decide how to accept this beautiful book. It is either a skilfully constructed fictional account of a fifteenth century monk's study of the Unicorn, based on his personal experience, or a genuine translation of an amazing manuscript. It all depends on whether you believe in Unicorns or not."

Wanderwolf wrote:

Greetings Wanderwolf.....

Thanks for the info and a big welcome to our happy little asylum here.

Glad to be here. I read all RH's strips, mind you, so I may be crazier than you think... er, I think... what was I thinking about?;)

One word of caution though....it's not advisable to feed Solidus after midnight......or at any time for that matter.....you'll find out why soon enough.

Oh, dear, and I happen to love cooking food for other furs to eat... you may want to head for the bunker.:>

Yours smilingly,

The danger-appreciating,

Wanderer

Oh dear... Shayl... you got enough room in your bunker, bud? I think you might have guests on the way! lol!

Chaser617 wrote:*Chuckles* I don't want to insult Calbeck but when I first read this and before he posted, I thought Warhorse was making an apparence as another PC.

I know Waarhorse, that's no insult. -:D

Squeaky Bunny wrote:If it were on a unicorn wouldn't it be called a horsee?

*whapwhapwhaps ya wif an inflatable mallet*

Squeaky Bunny wrote:I've heard that you were in the tank division. He He

It was an experience that expanded my horizons immensely. I found it uplifting. -:)


On the reality of unicorns:

If there ever was a "true" unicorn, it most likely was that of the Indus Valley in what is today modern Pakistan. Excavations at Mohenjodaro in 1927 unearthed what appear to be seals dating to 2600 B.C., each seal bearing the image of one of five animals. Four of these are well-known, real animals indigenous to the region at the time --- the Rhinoceros, Tiger, Bull, and Elephant. The fifth, and by far the most common, is the Unicorn. Mohenjodaro is one of the world's most ancient cities.

http://www.harappa.com/seal/10.html

The Unicorn seals appear to have been involved primarily in trade and commerce, as they are most commonly found on clay tags that were affixed to bundles of goods. Seals also were made from soapstone, copper, and even silver, though these are progressively more rare. Many of these types of seals have also been found in Mesopotamian cities, indicating a substantial trade route between what is today Pakistan and Iraq. Although some scholars have suggested that the Unicorn is actually a two-horned animal being shown in relief, others point out that the Bull is shown as two-horned without any problems, and that there appears to be no indication that the one horn being shown grows from anywhere other than the top, rather than side, of the head.

From what has been discerned regarding the society of the Harappan culture, which made the seals, the Unicorn was a revered creature which was hard to hunt but which could be lured to its doom --- a direct parallel of the more modern Western mythos. It is always shown as garlanded, and possibly collared, standing before what is thought to be either a trough of food or possibly an incense burner. Sacrificial animals are even today garlanded this way in modern India.

Further parallels include the role of wild cattle in ancient Indus society: the bull, for example, was symbolic of male virility, and its slaughter was integral to fertility rituals. It should be noted that in Harappan culture, however, it is only the Unicorn which is always accompanied by the "cult" object. Other animals appear either with a shallow trough or, most often, no object at all, suggesting that the Unicorn alone was the revered creature of the Harappan culture --- even compared to bovines.

Looking at the seals, it is hard to ultimately define what species (other than Mammal) the Unicorn belongs to. Variants of the seal include striping on the face which could refer to facial coloration of the sort that Pliny referred to --- especially if the species is related to the Gazelle. The curving horn, which appears segmented in more detailed seals, also suggests influence from the Gazelle, which could explain the "leonine tail" and "goatlike legs and hooves". The main argument against this is the somewhat elongated appearance of the Unicorn, suggestive of a larger animal.

It is also known that moving the horn buds of a goat or cow adjacent to each other via surgical procedures results in a centrally-located single horn growing from the forehead. This is how the Barnum and Bailey Circus got their "Living Unicorn". It is not beyond the pale to suggest that such an arrangement of horn tissue could have occurred as a natural mutation.

In other words, the Unicorn may have represented a branch of the Gazelle family, perhaps the size of a small Bull, with a single central horn resulting from the horn buds being merged, hunted to extinction by Indus Valley citydwellers for their fertility and marriage rituals. These rituals, involving the hunt as well as offerings and bait to capture the animal alive, may have provided the root memes for the medieval Unicorn's transfiguration into the well-known mythology of today.

Calbeck wrote:

Chaser617 wrote:*Chuckles* I don't want to insult Calbeck but when I first read this and before he posted, I thought Warhorse was making an apparence as another PC.

I know Waarhorse, that's no insult. -:D

Squeaky Bunny wrote:If it were on a unicorn wouldn't it be called a horsee?

*whapwhapwhaps ya wif an inflatable mallet*

Squeaky Bunny wrote:I've heard that you were in the tank division. He He

It was an experience that expanded my horizons immensely. I found it uplifting. -:)

Which makes me wonder if that's a horn on your head or a valve stem?

On the reality of unicorns:

If there ever was a "true" unicorn, it most likely was that of the Indus Valley in what is today modern Pakistan. Excavations at Mohenjodaro in 1927 unearthed what appear to be seals dating to 2600 B.C., each seal bearing the image of one of five animals. Four of these are well-known, real animals indigenous to the region at the time --- the Rhinoceros, Tiger, Bull, and Elephant. The fifth, and by far the most common, is the Unicorn. Mohenjodaro is one of the world's most ancient cities.

http://www.harappa.com/seal/10.html

)text deflated(

In other words, the Unicorn may have represented a branch of the Gazelle family, perhaps the size of a small Bull, with a single central horn resulting from the horn buds being merged, hunted to extinction by Indus Valley citydwellers for their fertility and marriage rituals. These rituals, involving the hunt as well as offerings and bait to capture the animal alive, may have provided the root memes for the medieval Unicorn's transfiguration into the well-known mythology of today.

What about the narwhale? Is there any possibility that they might have been a precursor to some of the legends?

I'm actually trying to figure out weather these guys are Clerics, like we all assumed Ben's PC was at the begining, or just Town Civil Guard.

You know, as ar as I can tell, none of this party has what the theif so lovingly refered to my Paladin as, The Meet Shield(TM) unless you want to count the little Barbarian Princess....

Squeaky Bunny wrote:I've heard that you were in the tank division. He He

I thought it was the tanked division.

I just want to pendantically point out that if this were 3rd or 3.5 then all she would have had to have done was spend the 2 skill points to get the 1 rank in Knowledge[Arcana] or perhaps Knowledge[Anthropology*] and Ben would have had her make the DC 5 roll to have him break the sad news to her gently and out of character.

*Would it still be called this in a furry universe? If not this than what? "Sentienthropology"? "Mensthropology"? I am probably mixing up Latin and Greek together here but it is the best that comes to mind at 2 AM.

Squeaky Bunny wrote:Which makes me wonder if that's a horn on your head or a valve stem?

Depends entirely on the plane of reality I inhabit at the given moment. -:D

What about the narwhale? Is there any possibility that they might have been a precursor to some of the legends?

Nope. The Narwhal is more of a "tack-on" thing. Since it lives in the open sea, it wasn't discovered until ships began to venture out past the coastlines --- which was well after the Western unicorn legends got started. Narwhal teeth were harvested for "unicorn horn" scams throughout the late medieval period, but that's about the only real connection.