The Taurus

Minotaurs
Descended from ancient herbivores, minotaurs are a rough, proud race known for their strength, their resilience, and their legendary stubbornness. Adult males stand twice the height of a human and just as much in muscular bulk, their broad heads crowned with impressive horns. Adult females, known as holstaurus, are much smaller and not as intimidating, but still packed with muscle and able to go on for days at an end without food or water. Both sexes are covered in a layer of fur (usually dark coloured in the case of the males), which can range from very light to extremely thick, and are as comfortable on all fours as they are on two legs.

Minotaurs prefer open areas such as plains and grasslands, settling in large clan-herds ruled by the strongest bulls. While the more peaceful females generally stay all their lives within said herd the males split off as soon as they come of age, living as wanderers until they start their own clans or join another herd. In many cases young bulls end up reuniting with their original herds with a mate of their own, thus making the herd larger and stronger. A good amount of clan-herds have become prominent this way, the Great Plains of Nyx in particular are home to a large empire of dozens of united herds

In the ancient ages of U’rth minotaurs were hunted by other civilized races as sport, and though such practices have long since abandoned, scars from the old ages still abound; Minotaurs tend to be distrustful of orcs, and hold an intense hatred of stabbing weapons such as spears, lances or some varieties of sword. Similarly, while they could easily disembowel an opponent with them, male minotaurs consider killing with their horns to be barbaric, and will only do so in the direst of circumstances.

Dwarves
Dwarves are the smallest of the known taurus races, Much less imposing than minotaurs, they are nevertheless possessing of a sturdy and stocky physique, and are more agile than their short legs might suggest. Males grow one or two sets of thick, curled horns that keep growing throughout their lives, and instead of fur they bodies are covered in wool, which in hotter climates must be sheared periodically to avoid overheating.

Gregarious and extremely social, dwarves are more fertile than minotaurs and happily expand their numbers in truly massive herds. They usually raise their settlements in hillsides and grasslands, but many communities establish themselves on the edges of mountains, and even underground caverns. Dwarves are famously laborious, especially on the realm of metallurgy, and there are few areas of craftsmanship they haven’t successfully mastered. Unfortunately this is partially offset by the general belief that dwarves are dim-witted, spurred perhaps by the fact they can be gullible and easily manipulated. Dwarves try their best to dispel this notion, most often through teamwork and sheer thick-skulled determination.

Dwarves get along with most other races but have a particular enmity with black elves, as the latter constantly attack their underground homes should they become aware of their presence. For all the comments about stupidity, dwarven warriors are universally praised for their bravery, charging at the foe regardless of the differences in power or size.

Nains
Also known as “duergars”, nains are very similar to dwarves but differ from them through a physiology built towards combat and a utterly vicious and unpleasant demeanor. Their horns are bigger in number and sharpness than dwarves, and their black wool is often matted and grimy, a haven for parasites that keep the nains even more agitated.

The origins of the nains are shrouded in mystery, but they maintain that they butchered their gods in ages past, and that by doing so they ascended to godhood themselves. It is the opinion of many scholars that nains were magically bred by some unknown party, much like the orcoids known as gremlins, but unlike the gremlins the nains not just escaped control, but wiped out their masters and claimed their dominions as their own. If such a tale is true, it would explain why nains are the most technologically advanced of all taurus races, and why such use of technology feels ill-fitting and clumsy on their hands.

Regardless of their beginnings, nains are universally hated across U’rth, tyrants and despoilers that pour their cruelty upon the modern world, enslaving and destroying as they please from their much reviled Kingdom of Ash. They make deals with no one, and happily they make enemies and playthings of whatever realm they target next. Attacks to their settlements are a constant from the rest of civilization, for if nothing stops them they will conquer and desecrate until U’rth burns under the fires of industry and war.

Proud, dominating and egocentric to the extreme, a nain’s love of destruction is only surpassed by its love of masochism, and their lust for new and exciting flavors of pain more often than not spells their undoing.

Satyrs
Though not as often seen as minotaurs and dwarves, satyrs are probably the most widespread of all taurus races, combining natural limberness and a wider vegetarian diet to prosper on areas more challenging to the rest of their kin, such as thick forests and mountain cliffs.

Satyrs live in loose herds and are well known for their energetic and carefree nature. As their philosophy goes, the many delights of life must be caught and enjoyed before it flees, and the bad times must be either avoided or rushed through so the good things are at reach once again. It is such belief that makes satyrs impulsive and never still, always ready for the next round of fun. Parties are almost a daily occurrence in satyr culture, and wherever they go it can be assured that a memorable night will follow. It must be also noted, however, that such events tend to quickly grow out of hand, for satyrs are intensely fond of alcoholic beverages but handle them poorly. And while a lone satyr will do his/her best to avoid complications, in inebriated groups they let their impulses run free and they have been known to lay waste to entire fields and wreck through villages in crazed, slurred joy.

Satyrs have been traditionally one of the few allies nymphs have, and in many areas both species coexist happily -with the subsequent boom of half-satyr nymphs every so often-. The cult of the Bogmother is fairly popular among them, given the hedonistic lifestyles, and this similarly has caused a number of herds to move within their lands; whenever the slug people hold their ritualistic orgies, and satyrs are present, the end result is consistently referred to by witnesses as something disturbing, yet inexplicably captivating.