# Riding beasts



## Jagunco (Dec 21, 2012)

Hi

I'm currenty gearing up for my next short story and am trying to think of some sort of fantasy mount.

As with all my other intrepid attempts at the 'does not exist' stuff I like to at leat try to do a bit of research before I just go ahead and make something ridiculous and I found a thread on 'what kind of animals can be ridden by humans' and it got me thinking about various things. For instance the whole tiger riding apparently would be bad for a cats back because of the way its shaped....

So yeah I thought I'd drop in here and get some ideas whilst tearing the internet apart for inspiration.

A few pointers of course. The animals in question are communicated to by telepathy and are used for hunting and war and other manly pastimes.

Anyway anyone have any ideas give me a shout... Ta


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## Chris Miller (Dec 21, 2012)

Are you sure this is the best forum for this?


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## Deleted member 49710 (Dec 21, 2012)

Giant vicious fire-spitting gerbils with terrible frightening talons and webbed feet, so they can be used in sea battles as well. Do they need to fly? If they're telepathic I don't see why they couldn't be psychokinetic.

sorry. The bus is boring.


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## Jagunco (Dec 21, 2012)

Chris... no I'm not but if you have a better option I'm willing to listen.

Isam.... errrrm I'll consider it


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## Chris Miller (Dec 21, 2012)

Hi Jagunco, I'd guess that the Writing Discussion forum here might be the best fit: Writing Discussion

Though if you hadn't posted here, I never would've known you can't ride cats.


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## Leyline (Dec 21, 2012)

Chris Miller said:


> Hi Jagunco, I'd guess that the Writing Discussion forum here might be the best fit: Writing Discussion
> 
> Though if you hadn't posted here, I never would've known you can't ride cats.



A myth. You can.



But it _really_ annoys them.

I think it's the bridle.


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## Jagunco (Dec 22, 2012)

Yeah you're right.... sorry.... Um how do I move threads?


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## Burlesk (Dec 22, 2012)

Chris Miller said:


> Though if you hadn't posted here, I never would've known you can't ride cats.



Or dogs, or wolves. Unlike horses, whose backbones remain straight and level even at full gallop, felines and canines have backbones that flex and stretch when they run. Any rider would either be hurled off or suffer horrible motion sickness.

The animators working on the _Lord of the Rings_ movies faced this problem when they came to animate the warg-riders. Tolkien had put orcs on wargs without considering their anatomy. But it was a cool idea, so it had to be put on the screen. The animators' solution was to put the saddles right up on the shoulders of the wargs, where they'd be reasonably stable.

So, you can ride cats (or dogs) if you saddle them up correctly.


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## Staff Deployment (Dec 22, 2012)

Jagunco said:


> Yeah you're right.... sorry.... Um how do I move threads?



Contact a moderator and politely ask them to move it for you.

On the subject at hand, the most elegant mount possible, a warrior's pride and a lady's pleasure, the most distinguished and worthy of all animals to have such a rider as the main character of a fantasy novel: it could only b*KOMODO DRAGON

yes*


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## Jagunco (Dec 22, 2012)

and look at the level back... bet its comfy....


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## ppsage (Dec 22, 2012)

Giant, fire-breathing, saber-tooth worms, that melt in water?

Racially distinct members of their own species, bred specially for the purpose in open air pens?

Spouses, the end result of evolutionary sexual selection, sort of like black widows?

Chthonic golems, summoned as needed from the living clay of the planet?

The motile phase of giant, terrestrial, corals which soar like kites?


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## lothianwriter (Dec 22, 2012)

I am wondering about the location where the story is taking place as that can have an impact on the type of animal picked as a mount.


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## Leyline (Dec 22, 2012)

ppsage said:


> Racially distinct members of their own species, bred specially for the purpose in open air pens?



Have you ever read Jack Vance's _The Dragon Masters_?


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## dolphinlee (Dec 26, 2012)

As your story is a fantasy you are in charge of deciding which animal can be ridden.


If it is an Earth animal that has been transported to a different place than it can be genetically modified so that its structure is more suitable for riding.

If it is an animal that is native to a place you can give it any characteristics you like.

One of the most enduring episodes of the original Star Trek series is the one with the Horta. This was basically an intelligent creature made of silicone that looked like rock.  

If you get into trouble with your creature and its characteristics, you could always make it a shape shifter.


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## Jagunco (Dec 30, 2012)

Thanks for all the replies 

No never read deargon masters but dragons have been done to death  but then again at this point in history what hasn't.

 The location is a reigon on a planet that has similar topography to say eastern europe. Lots of vast forests, mountains, cool year around. Night and day are somewhat different in that they last long enough to interprited as seasons rather than sleep night/awake day if you know what I mean.

The technology level is roughly dark ages/medieaval, armour swords and such. There are however higly technological factions at work behinf the scenes if you will. 

Finally everyone on the planet has to some extent telepathic abilities that are taught according the induviduals profession, for instance someone might train to relay messages over long distances and such.

This ties into the beast thing as it is possible to have a level of communication to animals and so I need something suitably majestic to ride and basically have a chat too. And me being me I want it to be sientifically pausable to a certain degree... call me pedantic so Im steering away from grand statements like dragons and shapeshifters and what have you


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## dolphinlee (Dec 30, 2012)

Hi again, if your location is lots of forests in a medieval time then the forest will be more or less inpenetrable except for pathways. This would tend to limit the size of the animal. (Horse width at most) 

If it is necessary to go from place to place, and you have introduced telepathy could your animal be telekinetic. That way you wouldn't have to ride it just be in contact with it. 

I have a problem with season long nights. The temperature would drop below freezing unless there were some very warm winds to heat the area up.  (Or volcanic vents/geothermal areas)


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## Staff Deployment (Dec 30, 2012)

Your planet sounds like the slow day/night cycle of mercury.

The side of mercury close to the sun is hot enough to melt the skin off your bones.
The side facing away from the sun is cold enough to freeze the water in your body.

I may be exaggerating. _I may not be._

I'd recommend having your planet have a normal day/night cycle, but put the climate right near one of the poles, which would have essentially the same effect of lengthening the day and night to several months each. Unfortunately that means that the climate you described wouldn't be able to subsist there, so that's probably not an option either.

It's very difficult to work realism into this sort of thing.

What I would do is forgo the whole "planet" thing. Make your world exist on the inside of a sphere, curving in on itself with a sun in the middle (for reference, watch the Game of Thrones opening). Then make the sun blink out half the time. It's just crazy enough to work, and you avoid all that realistic "planet" nonsense. Psshh, _planets._


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