stronghorn

The stronghorn was both a beast of burden and a source of meat to the ancestral nomads whose descendants now populate the women's river. They were brought into a new part of the continent, outside their natural habitat, when the nomads crossed a mountain range to escape tribal warfare. They did not thrive as well on their new diet, but with extra travel the nomads managed their herds well enough. A multi-year drought ended this relative stability, and well over half the stronghorn herds starved entirely. The lucky bands whose herds survived remained in the lowlands, but the ones who lost all their livestock migrated into the hills in search of good hunting. It is those bands who eventually settled the villages women inhabit today. Although there are now cities in the lowlands that still practice stronghorn husbandry and raise breeds better adapted to the local vegetation, none have been reintroduced to the mountain residents. To the women who could only know stronghorns through stories of legendary beasts, the animals are as good as extinct.

Additional Information

Uses, Products & Exploitation

Hides were used for clothing and shelter, flesh for meat, bones for tools, horns for containers.  When the nomads were on the move, the animals could be made to pull a travois.

Facial characteristics

The stronghorn's defining characteristic is the set of horns that protrudes from its forehead.  They grow horizontally outward, then curve in and tilt to point forward and up.  The horns are useful to defend the stronghorn from predators, but males also use them to fight each other for dominance.

Scientific Name

Bos primigenius (aurochs)

Average Height

150-180 cm

View from the future

Civilizations in other parts of the world didn't suffer the same double whammy that killed off the nomads' herds, and descendants of the stronghorn are still raised everywhere else.  Vastlanders found a suitable substitute in the water buffalo; however, those creatures did not take well to being transported on ships, so Oceanfolk alone among human cultures lack domesticated bovids.