#centicore

A bunch of doodles I have done, some character designs and others full pieces of art

So heres some wips >_< I've been designing domesticated fauna for my fantasy alien world Archai. First sketch is of a Centicore (common name is Yale), a goat like creature that can move its horns like additional limbs for foraging and combat. Second are some notes on the common domesticated cockatrice, and the third is a concept for a draquine which takes the role of a horse-like mount on Archai. Animals that would take the place of ungulates on Archai stem from the Basalisk family tree, but the relation is very very distant.

im waaay behind on Inktober junk, but i do intend to do em when i can! anyways the theme i’ve picked for this year is Relatively Obscure Mythical Creatures.

Image © Life Magazine, by Rudolf Freund. Accessed at @abookofcreatures here

[The yale is sadly obscure, partially because it shares a name with a major university. I pondered for quite some time how to make its moving horns actually mechanically meaningful before hitting on the idea that it could use the like manufactured weapons with iterative attacks.The flavor text of them as eccentric duelists followed suit.]

Yale CR 9 CG Magical Beast This antelope-like creature has a long tufted tail, small tusks growing from its lower jaw, and long curved horns. It turns to look at you with a gleam in its eye and its horns swivel into a strange approximation of a duelist’s salute.

The intelligent beasts known as yales are stalwart crusaders against evil. A yale’s most remarkable features are its two long horns, capable of swiveling and moving independently and of rotating to face any direction. A yale is a master swashbuckler using these horns, and they take the opportunity to prove their martial prowess in vigorous duels. Any creature that looks capable of defending itself is likely to be challenged by an itinerant yale. A non-evil opponent that loses a fight with a yale will be allowed the dignity of a graceful surrender, and if a yale is bested and not killed by a non-evil foe, it often responds to its opponent’s honor with friendship. Yales make for valiant (if not entirely stable) companions, capable of bringing joy and bravery into the hearts of their allies. Their headstrong natures and constant need to prove their valor often gets them into dangerous situations.

Due to this devil-may-care attitude towards mortal danger, long life spans and low fertility rates, yales are relatively uncommon in the world. Strict vegetarians, they feed on fungi, roots and tubers that they dig for with their stout tusks and cloven hooves. Due to their magical horns and intelligence, yale are suspected of being close relatives of unicorns, but the two species have little regard for each other. Yales consider unicorns to be priggish and boring; unicorns think that yales are needlessly irresponsible and violent. Unlike unicorns, yales have a great fondness for humans and will sometimes directly protect villages in great peril. Somewhat nosy, yales have even been known to play village matchmaker, encouraging young couples and giving solace to the broken-hearted.

A yale stands about three feet high at the shoulder and weighs up to 200 pounds. Their coats can be any number of colors from white to brown to black. Although most yales have curved, scimitar-like horns, a few yale bear thin straight horns instead.

The yale is a creature found in European heraldry and mythology. It is typically depicted as an antelope or goat-like animal with boar-like tusks and two large horns, which it can turn in any direction.

The yale first appeared in Pliny the Elder's Natural History. It was subsequently used in the heraldry of the British Royal Family, on the roof of St George's Chapel and on the official banner of the President of (the unrelated) Yale University.

Image source.

Monster master list.