#cartazonon

Fauna of Ulei’Var

 Auscives - Abdegaard Steppes: Khartazhonn

A first look at one of the native creatures of my and my husband’s homebrew fantasy setting, Ulei’Var: The Khartazhonn!

These stout ungulates are endemic to the Abdegaard Steppes between Greymoor and Axia, where the Steppes Dwarves domesticate them for load-pulling companions and battle steeds. They are strong-willed and may be mercurial, best approached with respect for their power and relative intelligence. But once they have bonded with their bipedal herd members, they are loyal and protective.  Their diet is primarily herbivorous, though they are opportunistically omnivorous if more meaty fare is available. They only occur in red, brown, gray, and “black” dun coats, seen sometimes with white markings on the legs and head. Their horn is strong, used in courtship and in battle, and their three-toed hooves enable them to find purchase on stony ground where their single-toed equine counterparts might not.

World lore aside, I basically thought that it would be cool to have a creature derived from the lion-unicorn Cartazonon present in the world of Ulei’Var! c:

Another ArtFight revenge, on Pretty-Pegasus-Wings of their superfluff Cartazonon child, Azure!

Cartazonon are a rare sight in the MLP fandom, being an obscure mythical equinoid from around the Middle East/India/somewhere in mainland Asia in origin. Azure’s creator is one of the few, if not the only, other artist(s) I’ve seen draw them!

ZenVerse Cartazonon

I got bonked in the brain by a blip of creativity, and it decided to focus on these leonine Asiatic unicorns!

Cartazonon in ZenVerse Equestria come in two flavors: The nomadic and tribal steppes culture, and the caste-based city-dwelling temperate culture. The Steppes are generally silvers and blues and grays, with thick coarse manes, and tend to carry themselves with lower heads; where the Temperates are more golds and reds and browns, with longer and smoother manes, and they hold their heads high. The Cartazonon in general regard darker manes and long sturdy horns as a sign of good health and strength. I didn’t draw it very well but their teeth are a blend of lion and horse; they’re more omnivorous than their Equestrian cousins by necessity, though the Temperate can afford more plant matter in their diet than can the Steppe Cartazonon.

I really had to take this one into some thought! See, it’s been a while since I’d put significant thought into the origins of the Five Clans unique traits!

Part of me wants to say that yes, the magic of the land was just that mutagenic; another part of me wants to say that some of them crossbred with Longma in ages past and wings bred true.And the latter part seems to win me over more because I loathed the “because magic” excuse that I would see people abuse early on in the G4 pony fandom’s life. So here goes a little Five Clans History 101!

In the ages past, before Kirin found and settled Neighpon and became the Five, their ancestors, the stag-antlered Qilin (side note, I differentiate between Qilin and Kirin) of Chineigh roamed Far East Haysia. Neighboring them were societies of Longma, scaled equinoids with feathery manes and wings; and Cartazonon, fiery-spirited, golden colored, leonine unicorns with dark curved horns emerging from their forehead.

Inevitably, crossbreeding between the Qilin and these two other societies occurred, bringing traits into the Qilin physiology that would later breed true between pure Qilin and crossbreeds. From the Longma came brilliant feathers and wings; from the Cartazonon came the singular and nigh-indestructible forehead horn-antler. With these new traits now firmly cemented in the physical makeup of their brethren, the proud and traditional stag-antlered Qilin rejected the single-horned and the winged, splitting the group in half. The cast-out half would be the ones to discover the Neighpon islands and settle them. Those who were winged ascended the plateaus, those with the hardest heads and horns settled the plains, the wingless with fiery spirit and brilliant plumes took to the volcanoes, those who felt the pull of the tides trekked there to stay, and those who remained felt the familiar call of the foothills they had left behind on the mainland.

Just a couple of creatures one can find in MidSouth-Southeast Neighsia and Neighpon!

The Cartazonon is from around India in the real world, mythologically speaking. For my Neighpon/Neighsia addendum, they are what crossed with the traditional Chineighese Qilin to contribute to what would later become the Five Clans Kirin. With golden coats, lion’s manes and tails, and a single nearly-indestructible black horn on their foreheads, they protect their territories with ferocity.  I’m really proud of the legs on this one!~

So who here’s heard of a Cartazonon? :D

They’re a form of unicorn with more leonine features, notably the mane and tawny/savanna colorations. And I’ve found they’re highly underrepresented!  But there’s also not much historical lore to work with. The only source that has much on them -other than a site I can’t recall- is a book called Giants, Monsters, and Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth. And barely more than a single paragraph.

That entry describes their appearance thus: “...Like a horse, yellowish-red in color, with a black horn and long mane.” It’s an enemy of lions, interestingly enough! And was said to have hailed from India. Then there’s the aggression; where the classic Amalthea-variety unicorn is described to be shy, the Cartazonon is absolutely not.

Now I’ve taken some artistic liberties, obviously, for the sake of aesthetic. xD I did one a few years ago that stuck to the historical description. It was very orange. lol

If anyone were interested, maybe I’d toss a few adopts of these around? They could fit into the MLP-verse, but don’t have to~