Minotaur

Legendary protectors of the labyrinth.

Basics

• Taxonomic Order: TheFolk

• Alignment: Poioumenonic

• Energy: Tutelary Energy

• Lifespan: 200 years

• Diet: Meat-heavy mortal fare

• Habitat: Large structures

Origins

Stories told of humans mating with bulls sent by the Divine were never true, but the repetition of these stories created the poioumenonic forces that gave rise to minotaurs.

Description

Minotaurs stand between 7’ and 9’ tall (not counting horns). They have the head and tail of a bull and the body of a human. Their feet are hooves and their bodies are hairier than most humans’. Minotaurs are not to be confused with bovine folk, who often have a similar appearance, but different inherent powers.

Procreation

Minotaurs reproduce sexually with each other and with other spirit folk of similar size, where the offspring is the same species as the birthing parent. They cannot otherwise reproduce outside their own species without supernatural intervention; this includes bovine folk.

Powers

Minotaurs are supernaturally strong. They have sharp, non-bovine teeth.

Tutelary Powers

Minotaurs are bonded to the place they live in. If they have settled somewhere for more than a week, they begin to have senses that allow them to know what is happening within the structure they dwell in. They also gain the power to alter where passageways and portals within the structure go - i.e., they can open a door and step into a room it isn’t connected to.

The form of the place they dwell in, the structure they bond to, imbues them with specific powers. Some examples include the following:

• Amphitheatre: performance skills

• Arena: presence bonus

• Castle: toughness bonus

• Catacomb: resistance to poarta and msawhat

• Fortress: prowess bonus

• Labyrinth: stealth bonus

• Lighthouse: awareness bonus

• Mausoleum: hard-to-kill edge

• Prison: guarding skills

• Pyramid: resistance to poarta

• Tower: building skills

• Ziggurat: faith bonus

And so on. Form influences power. Other energies present also influence the powers.

Weaknesses

Being away from their home for too long makes them anxious and weakens them.

Nations

There are many minotaur nations:

• Baradhi: extinct nation from Ansulym.

• Epanastáteans: the original nation who rebelled in Stayflies.

• Kizadhi: a powerful eastern nation that rules a massive khanate called Haurkizadh on Wymmera.

Culture

The Epanastáteans are a nation of minotaurs from the isles of the Stayflies. They dominate the seas and are renowned as warriors, but they remain connected to their homes on the islands, which are intimidating, massive, intricate structures from which they draw power.

Long ago, early minotaurs were enslaved by other mortals and kept imprisoned in labyrinths. Eventually, their resistance to enslavement forced these mortals to make a deal with them - they would remain as warriors in these labyrinths where they would work for the mortals as jailers, but they would be fed and supported. However, not long after, these minotaurs learned that the meat they were being given was from other mortals, and in their outrage, they smashed the labyrinths, slew their masters, and captured entire islands as their own.

Though the minotaurs rebelled, they retained tutelary powers as they returned to their labyrinths and other prisons and reformed them into homes. Now, a labyrinth is not a prison but a palace to the most powerful minotaurs. They turn them into ceremonial dancing grounds at their centers, with vast rooms, galleries, and living quarters. There are observatories to watch the stars and study the sun. They keep other mortals as slaves, and they are masters of their islands, called Akmázo for the king they slew to capture them.

Akmázo is ruled by a minotaur warrior-king called a kératovasiliás. The king, always male, has many consorts and wives, who are called derogatorily a vooeidí. Though they ostensibly have few rights, the vooeidí have much power and influence from behind the scenes. Consorts are allowed to have other lovers, but wives are forced to remain loyal to the king in order to maintain patrilineality. Children of consorts cannot inherit the throne, though there have been times there was no other choice.

There is a powerful noble class called the idioktítes. The king is the greatest warrior among these, and can be challenged at any time to trial by combat for the crown. The idioktítes own all of the slaves in the country. There is a class of free minotaurs called anexártitoi. They do work the slaves are not entrusted with, and many of them are former anexártitoi, who earn their freedom through combat. Slaves are called alysodeménos. The mark of a slave is that their horns are shorn down and their hooves are shoed.

Slaves are bonded to the buildings of their masters or to buildings their masters own and force them to live in in order to alter their abilities. Free minotaurs have their own structures, usually smaller buildings, and nobles own massive structures, usually labyrinthine palaces. They are very intentional about architecture, function of buildings, and location of buildings. Their buildings are often ornate, large, and designed with extra features believed to amplify the powers of the minotaur, whether they do or not.

Minotaurs may rise in class through combat. Trial-by-combat is the heart of all Epanastátean society. Instead of court systems, social advancement, or measures of wealth, they resort to violence. These trials always involve rituals, intricate rules, and agreements beforehand. It is always known whether, for example, killing is allowed. Usually, the goal is first blood or clipping of horns (if the combatants have horns). Sometimes the goal is merely a tap or sometimes even a number of parries or dodges. Other times, death is the only acceptable end.

Some common standards (which can be modified if all parties agree) are as follows:

• To be freed from slavery, the battle usually involves a fight between slave and master or the master's chosen champion, and it is always to first blood (masters often insist on first blood for their own safety).

• To resolve a dispute about property, the battle usually involves willing submission from the loser. This is usually done because admission of fault is vital to the proceedings.

• To be divorced, the battle is almost always about clipping the man’s horns or nicking the woman’s shoulder.

• To prove innocence when accused of a crime, the battle is against an agent of the state. The accused may demand a non-combat trial, but that is almost always seen as a sign of guilt. Trial-by-combat in this situation will be lopsided - proof of murder means the accused must be killed while the agent of the state can only be to first blood.

There are many, many variations, and the complexities of what is allowed and when are all social norms and not written down.

Noble children are raised by slaves. Free children are raised by their immediate families. Children or slaves are raised by slaves, but they are not enslaved themselves automatically. All children are taught to fight from a very young age; anything else they are taught is determined by their families. Nobles instruct slaves in how to instruct the children of nobles.

Children are allowed to fight for their independence and their status in society through trial-by-combat once they turn thirteen. Most wait until they are at least sixteen. It is custom that these trials are with padded weapons and to first hit, and that children may try as many times as needed to become adults. If they reach the age of 20 without winning their trial, they are enslaved. If they win their trial before age of 20, they are the status of their parents or, if their parents were enslaved, they are free. If they become slaves, they must still win their adulthood and their freedom, but it can be in a single battle.

Once adults, they are expected to find their own building or structure to live in and bond to. They can remain in their own communities or move to another. If they are noble, they usually remain on their family’s lands. If they are free, they usually leave for another place to find new work or new opportunities. If they are slaves, they either belong to their parents’ owners or they are put up for auction.

Though their diet is meat-heavy, they do not eat beef. They prefer mutton and goat. This is supplemented by wines, oils, and spices, heavy grains, and goat’s butter, cheese, and milk. Their primary art is architectural - ornamentation on buildings is complex. They enjoy other arts, especially poetry and music, but structural art is their greatest passion. They play many combat and contact sports.

Every community has multiple annual festivals. These are feasts and games hosted by the local nobles, who fund them in order appease the masses. Slaves draw lots to see who must work and who may rest on these days. Those who may rest are allowed to join in the games, and if they perform well, they will be given special advantages if they engage in trial-by-combat for freedom. There are other prizes for nobles or free minotaurs who play in the games, which are always combat-oriented.

National Cultures

The Kizadhi are even more brutal. They bond not to laybrinths and palaces, but their tent-compounds and ships. They land-based Kizadhi are nomadic warriors who control the plains of southern Wymmera. The sea-based Kizadhi raid the coasts. Both are massive slaving empires who are feared in their part of the world.

The Baradhi nation was wiped out by the validuses when they landed on Shem. Nothing of their culture remains that is not now part of Amolian culture.

Esoterica

Minotaurs are beings of tutelary energy and wield it inherently. They are commonly users of d’qiarsea, oalkhaylaoataa, and other combat-focused energies. They are capable of wielding any energy, but tahalana and momentum are very rare.

Religion

Minotaurs worship Theós Tou Tópou, the God of the Place, a Divine being who is a protector and shaper, an artisan and warrior. They believe Theós Tou Tópou showed them how to build their first homes. They honor their god as a great warrior, and they believe other gods are lesser but also worthy of honor if they are warriors as well. Within minotaur society, they have vast temples where the agiasménos, or priesthood, are bonded, live, and guide the people in their faith. They perform ritual sacrifice of animals, tell stories of their history, and honor the Divine through complex rites.

Gender

Minotaurs enforce a strict gender binary, though there are minotaurs who do not fit into that paradigm and rebel. Some minotaurs have successfully won via trial-by-combat recognition of their non-binary or non-birth-assigned genders, but these are very rare and still face major social stigma. Homosexuality is accepted as an act of dominance only, so queer minotaurs hide behind tough façades in order to be more accepted.

Among minotaurs, slaves may not get married, though they are welcome to have sex with one another and reproduce, and couples often remain together monogamously without marriage. Since they can’t own property, marriage has little economic use to them, but they often yearn for it as a social construct to validate their love. Freed minotaurs may get married and often do, but only to one person at a time. Noblemen keep many wives and many consorts; noblewomen may marry only once. Consorts may be of any class.

Economy

Both nations live in a slave-based economy.

Military

All minotaurs learn to fight and are formidable warriors. Among the Epanastáteans, every noble keeps both slaves and free minotaurs as part of a military force. Nobles lead these forces and are always powerful warriors as well. Among the Kizadhi, the whole nation is one large military force, either a navy of raiders or a nomadic army.

Language

Epanastátean is Greek. Kizadhi is made up.

Occupations

Some common roles within Epanastátean society

• Agiasménos: priests

• Agrótis: farmers

• Alysodeménos: slaves

• Anexártitoi: free commoners

• Idioktítes: nobles

• Kératovasiliás: king

• Oikodómos: architects and builders

• Polemistís: elite tutelar warriors

• Stratiótis: free soldiers

• Vooeidí: consorts and wives of the king

• Zootrofí: slave soldiers

Outside View

Minotaurs are viewed as monstrous, intensely violent, brutal, barbarous tyrants and killers.

Notables

• Ageláda, Minotaur Manifest, Aeonian

• Barauna Eraur, minotaur drummer, deceased

• Incal-Hasdain, Gods of The Pit, deceased

• Nwa'Andaur, Minotaur Subsequent, Outcast, Aeonian, deceased

• Raeng Banukh, minotaur mercenary captain, deceased

• Traa’ Arkaun, Champion of Guth, Aeonian

Estimated Populations

• Baradhi: 0

• Epanastáteans: 1 million

• Kizadhi: 2 million

• Other: 1 million

Sample Stats

PRO 11
ATH 9
STR 12
AWA 8
WIL 8
PRS 7
STH 7