Domesticated Elk
Since there are no horses or oxen up north, the people there had to find other animals to use as their beast of burden. The inmali are known for their beardoxen, but the hairy beasts don't like the climate in Enarion, so the enari had to look elsewhere.
What did the enari do? Why, they domesticated their local elk, of course.
Basic Information
Ecology and Habitats
The domesticated elk is naturally suited for the edges of the vast Kael Thalori and the parts of the Northern Grasslands close to the forest. While being an animal of the forest, the elks sometimes wanders out on the grasslands, especially when the elkweed blooms in early summer.
Dietary Needs and Habits
The domesticated elk is strictly herbivorous, living on a large variety of local plant life. In summer they like to browse on the forest floor or search for elkweed in the grasslands. Elks don't eat grass, which makes feeding them far away from Kael Thalori a challenge if you don't plan for it. This has forced the enari of the grasslands to learn how to grow less fibrous and more calory dense plants as a farm crop to feed their elks.
During winter, when the ground is covered by a thick layer of snow, the elks are evolved to live on branches and bark of some specific kinds of trees with high sugar content, most of which are leafy trees. The owners of domesticated elks usually keep dried elk-friendly plants to make sure their animals get enough food during the rough winters of the area.
Additional Information
Domestication
The elk was harder to domesticate than the beasts of burdens used further south, like horses and oxen, but the Enari had enough time to be patient about the process. After domestication, the elk has split into a few subspecies, bred for function, that don't exist outside the domesticated part of the species.
Working Elk
Bred for strength, this subspecies of the domesticated elk is mostly used for plowing fields and pulling burdens. The working elk is generally only seen in the Northern Grasslands area, as the people of Kael Thalori don't have a culture for large farmlands.
Riding Elk
This variant is bred for speed and stamina. While most elk can only run at two-thirds the speed of a horse, the riding elks can do about five-sixth the speed of a horse. They are more tolerant of a rider than the working elk, but any rider used to horses will tell you that the elks are way more stubborn and defiant than their equine counterpart.
War Elk
Elks are generally skittish creatures, not suited for the chaos and destruction of a battlefield. As the rarest of the domesticated elks, the war elks are specifically bred and trained to not run away as soon as the sounds of battle are heard. Not all war elks are suited for war, as some will still have too much of that natural skittishness. No amount of training can prepare these more nervous individuals for battle. However, a well-trained war elk lacking the natural urge to flee will gladly storm straight into the noisiest of battles - if it likes its rider, of course.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
The wild counterpart of the domesticated elk lives in The Northern Grasslands and Kael Thalori, mostly in the area that is the border of these two geographical areas.
Up to 50 years domesticated
Females: 300 - 600 kg
Elks and Vaenis
Although Vaenis is a deer, he's the protector of all hunted animals. As deers and elks are closely related, elks are one of Vaenis' more cherished animals. Since the elks are domesticated, they are a popular substitute for a deer in some of the rituals honoring Vaenis.
*Yessss!* As a Swede, who of course has all these elks, I highly approve of this excellent and realistic article. Sweden's elk-cav salutes you :D
Creator of Araea, Megacorpolis, and many others.