Centari

Centauri are large, quadrupedal humanoids with the upper body resembling a human, and lower body resembling that of a horse. Most centauri are between 8 and 12 feet tall, and show high amounts of individualistic variation that may depend on region, family genetics, and certain mutations.   Hair color oftentimes matches fur color, though typically does not match pattern. In centauri with multicolored or patterned coats such as paints and brindles, the hair may oftentimes be multicolored as well, with distinct patches of each coat color. This oftentimes leads to a streaked appearance, though many will often dye their hair to be a more uniform color. Where fur ends and hair begins can sometimes be up for debate, as it is quite common for a 'mane' to run up a person's back, connecting to their head, with little definition between the two. These are oftentimes trimmed for the sake of comfort under clothing. Longer furred centauri also oftentimes have a full body covering of fur that is significantly shorter on their 'human half', more akin to a peach fuzz. This can tint their bodies more closely in line with their coat colors, and in winter typically grows longer in cool regions.

Centauri are known for having incredible stamina, being able to travel vast distances and outpace bipedal humanoids in marathons, and generally are known to be much faster. Races, however, are where many centauri struggle, particularly with sprints or higher agility sports, as they may grow tired quite quickly due to their larger body sizes and significantly higher need for water and risk of overheating.

Pregnancy in centaurs is long, usually between 14 and 15 months, and will almost always produce one offspring. Infants are able to stand and hold themselves upright directly after birth, however usually begin to run after a few weeks and will have limited mobility until then. Centauri infants are much more developed at birth than that of their human ancestors, more close in development to that of toddlers than human newborns. Twins are quite rare and a risky pregnancy, often putting one or even both babies at risk, although it is possible for them to be delivered healthy. Often in the case of twins, one infant will be much smaller and weaker than its sibling, and need medical assistance to remain healthy.

Infant centaurs are weak and vulnerable for their first weeks of life, able to walk slowly, but not run. They are prone to falling down and injuring their face and upper body, as they often lack the motor control to protect their head when falling.   Centaur children are much more robust than infants, and as many parents have claimed, to be 'made of rubber'. They put on considerable weight and grow quickly through childhood, and are full of energy for playing and roughhousing.

Centaur are at home in almost any natural environment, particularly those that are open and have plentiful space. It is rather uncommon to see centaurs in urban environments such as cities, as most feel as though it is a claustrophobic environment. Due to their natural ability to traverse harsh terrain, centaurs are much more common in mountainous areas than other races may think, and their natural stamina allows them to travel further before becoming tired, so centauri dominated areas often have services and amenities further apart than most humanoids may be accustomed to.

Centaurs are herbivores, and have little tolerance to meat products, which can cause indigestion. Due to their large body size, they require a considerable amount of food, over double that of a human. Centaur prefer grains such as bread, barley, quinoa, and fruits low in sugar. Wheat pasta and oatmeals served with fruit and grain are a staple food item found in almost every household alongside salads, cheeses, and savory but meat free pastries. Nuts are also a common garnish and additive to Centauri meals and one of the primary sources of protein in their diets.

In the winter and colder environments, centaur commonly will have longer fur than in the summer months.

Centauri are well known for maintaining close family bonds throughout their lives, oftentimes living with their birth families for their entire duration. Families are generally patriarchal, and led by a father or grandfather of the majority of members, with the title passing from father to adult son. Should there be no son for the family's leadership position to be passed to, it will oftentimes be passed to a male sibling or eldest woman in the family if there are no adult men within the family.   Among traditionalists, the patriarch of the family is in charge of major life decisions as well as taking care of managing their household and its members. This includes basic household duties such as cleaning, repairs, cooking, and shopping, but also ensuring all members of the house attend work, school, and religious ceremonies regularly and on time. Oftentimes it is considered that a patriarch must maintain some sort of farmland or livestock as part of his duties, but in more developed regions this tradition is oftentimes passed over. Due to a patriarch's duties surrounding the home, most traditionalists have deemed that a family's patriarch cannot participate in military service, tours, or pilgrimages that keep him from home without passing the mantle onto another. While brief vacations are allowed, the patriarch must remain at home for his duties the majority of the year.   Families will generally live together in multigenerational groups, consisting of grandparents, parents, children, and close relatives such as aunts and uncles without children of their own. Other relatives will oftentimes have their own family groupings that while still close knit, will oftentimes set boundaries with the 'main' family group, and live in their own dwellings nearby, starting their own family structures. Outcasts from these family groups are not common in centauri culture, and generally deemed as a shame not only on the individual outcast, but the rest of the family as well, and known to cause fractures where members will willingly split from their family to start a new social group. Such is oftentimes reserved for only the most serious of acts, and treated as more serious than any act of law or divine.

Centauri can be found around the world and favor rural areas, finding most cities to be claustrophobic and too crowded. The highest population of centaurs are found in Laramidia, Canada, and Eastern Europe, although they also have substantial numbers in northern Asia. Many centaur families will stay close to the regions they were born, but frequently will move about the region itself, maintaining a close knit family structure.   The global distribution of centauri has been hotly debated throughout the years. Many centaurs themselves will claim that urban areas are too crowded and induce a feeling of anxiety to explain why most live in more rural regions. At the same time, many urban areas are not constructed with centaurs in mind be it their larger body sizes, unique needs, and furniture not being made to accommodate them. This has been dubbed the Centauri Effect by many, as the hostile architecture of urban areas makes it far more difficult for them to exist in such spaces, further encouraging many centaurs to remain in rural areas with smaller communities that are far easier to adapt to accommodating their needs.

Human or higher

Common

It is considered rude to approach centaur from behind or with weapons drawn, as they are typically quite cautious and make perceive the notion as a threat and flee. Centauri are also known to kick and buck when startled, and although forgiving of those they injure by accident, blame is put on the one who startled them in the first place.   An incredibly common rule among Centauri households is to wash or rinse one's feet or hooves before entering a residence. Most Centauri dwellings often have a wash bin outside the door, or a stoop to bang one's shoes off on before entering.   It's considered extremely rude by Centaur to intrude on one of their kind before they have had a chance to do their hair and dress appropriately for the day. Most often, Centauri will refuse even close friends and housemates to make any kind of conversation with them before they are ready for the day and fully dressed. This rule does not apply to children and family, in most circumstances. A counter to this rule often happens among rebellious teenagers, where they may begin to treat their parents as ones who have to follow this social rule, but also will refuse to get ready for as long as possible.

Centauri fashion is often consisting of long tunics, shirts, and shawls over the whole body with separated leg coverings and sleeves. Ornamentation of the mane, tail, and hair is quite common in the form of wraps, braids, and twists, and jewelry is typically made of wood, shells, bone, or soft metals like copper and gold. Although not known for hunting and consuming animals for meat, they will utilize fur and hide in their clothing, and wool is a staple material for leg and back coverings.   Centaur do not often wear the clothing of other races, and view those who only cover their torso as exposed. Knee-length clothing, outside of the world's hottest regions, is generally considered most appropriate for most settings. Those who forgo long clothing, especially on their torsos or backs, are considered to be embarrassingly under dressed or even inappropriate by others.   Although not a hard rule, it is incredibly common for Centauri to have long hair across all genders. Most often, the hair is kept long in similar proportions to the length of their tails, and almost always kept up in braids, wraps, or twists. Short or loose hair is considered by most to be rather counter culture, and shunned by some. Centauri who are members of cults outside of Shia's, however, often get around this cultural norm by keeping their hair in ponytails, buns, or only partially up, especially in the Pack of Ferventi, Cult of Life, and the Crane God's Cult, who often have their own dress codes surrounding one's hair style.

Centauri are known for excellent traditionally made weaving and knitting. Much of the agriculture done by centauri is sheep herding for wool to make clothing from, and also the production of sheep's milk for cheese and dairy products.   Globally, Centauri make up the highest number of Shia's Cult members, with most of their race at least being partially associated with the Death God and celebrating the major holidays. Typically for the Festival of Death, centaur paint their bodies with skeletons in traditional colors like black, white, purple, or grey using natural pigments.   Avian, flying, or aquatic gods are almost unheard of in Centauri pantheons, and gods of large predators such as wolves, big cats, and bears also quite uncommon but still given large amounts of respect, though not commonly worshiped directly. Generally, centaurs view gods such as Appylon and Mora also as very similar to their patrons and are commonly worshiped. An exception is made to Ferventi, God of Wolves for many centaur living in North America, Laramidia in particular. Ferventi remains a commonly worshiped god among centaur men, in particular young men and new fathers, due to close ties with the current God of Horses, Devin. This exception however follows the trend that worship of Ferventi overwhelmingly dominates the region, especially among demographics such as men, young men, and fathers.

Centauri Death Paint is a long held tradition among the Centauri and strongly tied to many festivals, religious rites, and funerary tradition.

The origins of the centauri have long been lost, with many different myths and legends around their creation. Many claim that their originators were followers of Shia, the God of Death or an unknown fallen horse god, and transformed in their image to carry out the will of their god. The earliest accounts of centaur are from eastern Europe and the Middle East, some time during The War of Black Ash, though many speculate that they may have arisen far earlier. This is hotly debated, as the group is known for being named after mythological figures originating from the human era in Greece, and may be due to confusion of myth and historical fact.   The truth is likely somewhere in the middle, as the vast majority of centauri have been followers of the death god, and still frequently remain in social and religious communities surrounding gods of horses throughout history.   Early groups of centaur are known to have been either strongly shunned or accepted by other groups, as evidenced by human writings of the time. Many human groups claimed that their existence was the work of gods they worshiped at the time, and either seen as a blessing or a bad omen, strongly influencing their interactions. In areas more strongly aligned with evangelicals, centaur were oftentimes outcasts of society, only permitted to be in the fringes of society as traders, woodsmen, or scouts. This led many early centauri groups to keep loose contact with humans and human led settlements, instead venturing into areas more hostile to them.

A myth of their origins is often attributed to the first god of horses was in love with a human priest of theirs, and was unable to save them from the fate of extinction. In mourning, the god shaped their children from clay in the human's image, but could not understand how to make the figures not fall over, and gave them the lower body of themself to stand upon. The god brought life to the clay and the first centauri were born.   A differing origin myth from Europe says that the first centaur were born of the last Greeks, who prayed to the gods to let their children be born in the image of a mythological figure of theirs, Chiron. Shia, amused by the prayer, granted it, having once had the body of a horse shiself.   Both of these myths are hotly debated, and have no evidence to support them and their origins remain unknown, perhaps having multiple starts and later became the race known today.

Centauri are one of the few races that have a long, good history with Fairies, although this relationship typically trends to 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' mentality, due to a shared disdain to the dragons over territory. They can easily coexist with any other race, as long as their own needs and culture is not ignored.