#taurtober

[theartingace]

I know we're already a week into october but I've decided to make a little Taur-tober for myself, not that I'm making any structure or promising anything more than at least one page of centaur doodles a week, but I'm going to be trying to just doodle at least once a day to get back into the rhythm cause I miss sharing my headworld 💜

[theartingace]

Should it be Taur-Tober? Or Oc-Taur-Ber? (thanks @pale-peryton for the suggestion) I can't decide 🤔

Anyway enjoy a Runner and his halfelf Rider

[theartingace]

Love your art! For your centaurs, how do Rider/Runner bonded pairs tend to meet each other and decide to pair up? Are there any particular rituals around it, how common is it for pairs to change, etc?

Thank you! :D And i've covered bonding a couple times waay more extensively here and here (but man did I ever have to scroll to find those posts oh MAN) but the main jist of it is that they grow up together! And if you don't like any of your weedy little a-hole human cousins, there are a ton of games played at the home camps that simulate battle maneuvers in various ways that help pairs figure out if they work well together!

There's not much set ritual associated with it, most approach it very casually but depending on the culture of the family group or just individual's love of drama some will have a full little ceremony somewhat similar to handfasting!

But the unfortunate reality is that it's not uncommon for one of the pair to be killed in a fight and leave the other behind, or just for pairs to run together for a month or season before figuring out they're not a good match! So the more casual nature of playing around and matching partners is a feature to help cope with those changeable dynamics.

[theartingace]

you said before that all your centaur cultures have main exports and trade with each other, so what are those exports?

Ohhhh a dangerous question for me to blather on about pre-industrial ECONOMIES??? Don't mind if i DO!

Merchants of course, by their name are primarily focused on the trade of EVERYTHING, their primary city-state is the hub of their continent as it is a well-placed port city from which all shipped goods are transported via centaur-wagon trains across their continent and connecting most of the cultures spread accross it. So Trade is technically their primary business but for -physical- exports, they have wood! The great eastern forests are maintained by elves (affectionately called squirrels by their centaur counterparts) and a subsect of the merchant culture work as loggers live and work with them felling and transporting some of the best timber in the entire world. The elves manage and direct the centaurs who log and transport the lumber, maintaining the health of the forests and bringing in trade goods in exchange!

(Pictured: A Rider centaur next to a Logging class Merchant)

Riders primary occupation is war, they have a strong culture of mercenary work that occupies a large portion of the more able bodied population in other people's wars (and sometimes some inter-band conflicts of course), but most of the individuals in family groups stay behind and tend large sheep herds! So they do also export primarily wool and rough woolen goods like thread and some larger families specialize in strong canvas/broadclothes- which they primarily sell to the Merchants for either trading on or more often used as sails for the ships! However the type of sheep they herd are large, hardy plains beasts and their wool is rough and mostly used for rough fabrics and felt which is where..

The mountain folk come in! They mostly keep to themselves, very isolated and insular against all those in the lower plains, but they are MASTERFUL weavers and the fine quality and beauty of their fibrecrafts are widely sought after. So they don't export much, but if a merchant can establish a good relationship with one of their towns they can make themselves and their families very comfortable as long as they can make the long journey!

I think i kept it pretty succinct 😅 thanks for asking! Someday I'll draw my elves, I've drawn many in sketchbooks while figuring them out but they never turn out digitally so I haven't shown them properly yet. Someday.