Mammal, we think
Where: Overveer, Thirun and the Unknown Territories
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| The unicorn. View from the only safe place: high up in a tree |
The unicorn lives in troops of about 10 animals, and they hunt for living beings with their horns. They usually impale their prey on tree trunks with their horns. Some unicorns who have attacked other animals in this fashion have died because they could not free their horn from the tree. It is said that climbing a tree is a good way to escape from the unicorns, but many a man has died in the attempt of climbing the tree.
A troop of unicorns can easily trample other creatures, and many men died this way.
It is not known why the unicorns are so violent. They do not eat their prey, although some hunters have reported that the unicorns drink the blood of their victims. The unicorn eats usually ferns, berries, grasses and dried leafs, of which there are plenty in the forest of Rhauthuz.
The unicorns do breed in the forest of Rhauthuz and the lands east of it. A unicorn mother usually has two baby-unicorns. The baby-unicorn stays about three years with its mother. Male unicorns fight over the females and over territories using their horns. They can get very violent with each other and even kill each other.
In winter, they go southeast, to the mountains they once came from. The people of Overveer claim they take treasure with them, and hide this gold in caves and unicorn palaces down there.
The unicorn meat is delicious (especially cooked in a sauce of red wine and fireberries), but very expensive. Especially the smoked meat is popular in Overveer. This smoked meat is sold as small sausages, to a price low enough for the average inhabitant to pay. Sometimes the sausages are sold on silver stakes that remind of the horn of the unicorn.
The horn itself is used as an amulet. They say that when a unicorn horn is placed in a building where cattle or other animals live, the other unicorns will keep away. Many Overveer farms have unicorn horns on their facade.
Many have tried to tame the unicorn, and even so many have died trying. In legends virgins can tame the unicorn, but it has proved that these are just legends. A lot of young girls have ended their lives impaled on the horn of a unicorn. The only one who could ride a unicorn, will be a heir to the Overveer Kings. Since the revolution after which Overveer became a republic, nobody has ever seen anyone riding a unicorn.
The skin of a unicorn is expensive, but not really different from that of a horse. Any horse skin can be sold for a unicorn skin (but with a hole in it where the horn should have been sticking out).
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