Animals of Forsilvra

[Ariana Castell]

There were some discussions in the cbox about the animals that are native to the provinces in Forsilvra, especially surrounding horses. I have begun choosing horses for each of the provinces and I am working on the wiki page for horses in Forsilvra.

I do need some help for the selection of horses for the different provinces and your feedback as well.
(You can click on the links to see a picture of the horse)

For Tocken:
-Icelandic horse
-Halflinger

These are both horse breeds that are smaller than other horses and sturdy, not sleek. These are horses that are native to countries with primarily cold climate that can carry large loads and walk across frozen land without any problem. The Icelandic horse is the best example for this.

For Blasa:
-Drought Horse
-Clydesdale

Not only are these horses so very beautiful (I mean, look at them!) but they are native to colder climates and they can carry a lot of weight. Sturdier and a lot larger than the horses of Tocken, they should be fine for Blasa.
I was wondering whether Blasa needed another type of horse breed specifically for war purposes, although, they might as well have traded horses by now and got themselves a Sankan horse to compensate or something. Let me know.

For Atra:
-Friesian
-Camargue horse

I have no idea why but when I think of Atra and when I read the description, for some reason, it fits to France. With the rivers and the slightly warmer temperature and different trees and fine wine and caviar in the north. I thought that maybe Atra could use elegant horses that are nevertheless really good war horses.

For Ovador:
-Andalusian
-Dartmoor Pony

For Ovador I instantly thought of show horse. Something majestic and proud and beautiful. The Andalusian is a wonderful breed of horse that are usually used for shows but are also very strong and can thus be used in war. They are also incredibily disciplined which I thought was a nice touch for Ovador of all places.
For a laugh I also added the beautiful but very poorly behaved Dartmoor Pony from England. These are wilder ponies that are almost impossible to tame and still live wildly (is that a word?) in Dartmouth, England. They live in the South of England in the areas that have marshes. It would make sense for these ponies to live in the North of Ovador where there are also marshes. See my research there? =P

For Sanka:
-Arabian Horse
-Shagya

Beautiful Sanka would do well with elegant, exceptionally spirited horses that are not extremely fearful. They are sleek and used to warmer climates but also to rockier terrain (mountains in the north). Also, if there is one thing that Arabian horses love, it is water. Arabian horses are also very smart horses. Does it count that I find them lovely?

For Svavel:
-Paint Horse
-Mustang
-Rocky Mountain Horse

Of course Svavel needs some of the fastest, strongest and wildest horses. I thought that the Paint Horse and Mustang were typical wild horses, the same very ones that there are still some select few wild ones in America of. They are fast, elegant, strong and warmblooded horses. Since Svavel is literally the province of the horse people I thought that they would be best at taming even the wildest of all horsebreeds, thus, the mustang.

(I have to go to bed now. I'll finish Gyllene tomorrow. I also do not think that Glodhet or Strom would have their own native horse breeds. I do think that they could have brought horses over from the mainland.)

Let me know what you guys think or what should be changed or added. Also, please add some animals that you think are native to some of the provinces. Go crazy in Strom. It's exotic!

[Melari Forthwind]

I don't love the horse breed choices for Svavel. To start, the Mustang isn't really a breed -- just a bunch of various horses that escaped their owners and managed to survive in the wild. Any horse of any type that did this would probably grow fierce, just like feral cats and dogs.

Biggest problem I have is that paints and mustangs would probably not be built to carry someone wearing full armor into battle. Also attempting to tame a wild horse is really hard. A lot of people would say it's not worth the effort, though -- mustangs tend to be inbred and not formed very well, to say nothing of their rebellious spirit. If you're relying on your horse to save your life in war, the last thing you would want to ride is a little mount that doesn't much care for you/isn't trustworthy.

Here are some other suggestions!

*FREIBERGER
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freiberge

*ROCKY MOUNTAIN HORSE
http://images.google.com/images?hl=E...i=g10&aql=&oq=

*GYPSY VANNER
http://images.google.com/images?hl=E...q=gypsy+vanner

*BARB
http://images.google.com/images?hl=E...&oq=barb+horse

*APPALOOSA
http://images.google.com/images?hl=E...l=&oq=appaloos

*LUSITANO
http://images.google.com/images?hl=E...3g-m1&aql=&oq=

*IRISH DRAUGHT
http://images.google.com/images?hl=E...i=g10&aql=&oq=

*IRISH SPORT HORSE
http://images.google.com/images?hl=E...7g-m3&aql=&oq=

*MORGAN
http://images.google.com/images?hl=E...i=g10&aql=&oq=

*FRIESIAN CROSS/FRIESIAN SPORT HORSE
http://images.google.com/images?hl=E...qi=g1&aql=&oq=



All of these have good confirmation, size, intelligence, and temperament to be used as war horses. I think for this purpose the Gypsy Vanner and Irish Draught are THE war horses to end all war horses, with the more streamlined breeds (Irish Sport, Friesian Sport, Rocky Mountain, Morgan, Freiberger, and Appaloosa) still study/strong enough to carry an armored man into battle. All these breeds are famous for their endurance and strength, so I think any of them would do well for Svavel. Also, I think Svavel should have mustangs too -- wild herds running around that a few people can try to tame, even if they're no good as breeding stock. It could be a sort of "prove your manhood" thing!

....Yes, I really like horsies. >.> So shoot me. <.<

[Christopher Mallory]

That's cool, but the war horses that Svavel is famous for are Draft Horses. Not Paint or Mustang. The breed in particular that the Mallorys breed are Percherons, but they also breed thoroughbreds for speed and pleasure. The Mar-Stellars bred Fresian.

It is just that Svavel has various breeds. Not all of them are bred for war.

[Ariana Castell]

Hey guys. On the wiki, I treated the horses as breeds of their own, just using the horse breeds as templates as to how each of the breeds looks like. So it's called the Ovador horse or the Tocken horse and so on. I'll change the Svavel one to make everyone happy but here is what I have so far and I'm still missing a Gyllene:

http://www.forsilvra.info/forsilvra/...p?title=Horses

[Arryk]

Strom has ELEPHANTS. I think... Indian Elephants? Luke, you have to remind me on that one. And we went with wolves.

Also: monkeys. I want marmosets too because it's fun to say. Also, I'm 99% sure they would have howler monkeys, because... um it's Strom.

I'd also vote for lemurs and rodents of unusual size.

[Rowan Shadowmere]

ROUSSSSSSSSSS

[Victor Castell]

Can you write up a version to put in here?

http://forsilvra.net/forumdisplay.php?f=168

<3