Rhinoceros

Huge, bulky, armoured war creatures with giant-horned faces, Rhinoceroses are native to the Plane of Earth, and have a larger than life, semi-mythic quality in the Palimpsest zeitgeist. Although particularly skilled magic users can summon Chthonic Rhinoceroses with a Summon Monster IV spell, most ordinary citizens have never seen a full-sized Rhinoceros.

Variations

A smaller breed, the Gnomish Pygmy War Rhino, does exist in Palimpsest, harking back to the days when Palimpsest had a cavalry, but even these are rare and expensive. The Noble Ratrider Family, who were responsible for the Palimpsest Cavalry before the Humans arrived at court, bred Dire Rats to be large and obedient enough for Goblins to ride, as a cheaper and more plentiful alternative. On the South Star (Plane of Earth) itself, even larger Dire Rhinoceroses can be encountered. Vizier Balthazar Ironside displays a Dire Rhinoceros head in the entrance hall of the Ironside Estate: a trophy from one of his hunting trips to the Plane of Earth that he affectionally calls Bucephalus.

In Mythology

The Rhinoceros is the favoured animal of the Soldier due to being immensely more capable as a military asset than most native Palimpsest animals (who have generally evolved to be small, dextrous and docile). Several myths of the Soldier speak of regular armies of soldiers being annihilated by huge armies of these house-sized tusked behemoths, under the supervision of a few favoured warriors.