Tide hardback

Tide hardbacks are large animals domesticated by halflings. They are best known for travelling with Berari halflings all around the continent and the many seas that surround it.

Lifecycle

The average lifespan of a tide hardback is 130 years. Thus, most tide hardbacks go through a couple of owners or generations in their lives. Incidentally, keeping a turtle that has been owned by three owners already is considered bad luck. Most often when this happens, the would-be next owner sacrifices the turtle and harvests the meat. Sometimes, the turtle is simply asked to leave and follow their own path.

Mating

Tide hardbacks reach sexual maturity in their third decade of life. Mating usually only takes place once every two decades, so when a turtle actually gets to mate for the first time is quite variable.

Mating takes place on estuaries and deltas. Females then have to travel upstream and overland until they reach a lake where to deposit their eggs.

Nurseries

The eggs are laid at the bottom of the lake, among the stilt and covered by faeces. The mothers remain on the lake for several months, recovering energy by eating anything that could harm the hatchlings.

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Independence

Hatchlings spend their first 13 years of life in the lake where they were hatched. The survivors then disperse, seeking fresh running waters. For some the trek takes years. For others, only a few weeks. Most young hardbacks die within this period.
Those that reach permanent rivers stay there for a decade, at which point, they transition into the seas.

On hardbacks

Hardbacks have modified flippers with very sturdy bones, which allows them to walk on land as well as swim.
Hardbacks are able to regulate their temperature independent of the environment they are found in. This is thought to be an adaptation to the wide range of environments the hardbacks must go through in their lives.

Naming

There's is a small, inconsequential debate in regards to the origin of the name.

Some people think that the name "tide" comes because they are so big they can cause small tides when they swim in a pod.
But really, it's just because their size allows them to swim anywhere, regardless of tides.
Valek, a studious man on halfling issues

To train a hardback is to make a lifetime commitment

Training and taming is done by teenager halflings who were born in the year before turtle mating was observed in the river mouths. These 15 and 14-year-olds move into nurseries themselves to live for a year before the hatchlings are expected to leave. Throughout this year, teenage halflings are expected to fend off for themselves in the wild, without aid from their families. If several teenagers are taken to the same pond, they are allowed to team up, and it is actually expected.

During this first year, the teenagers are not supposed to pay particular attention to the hatchlings. Most follow the guideline because they are usually busy building themselves shelter, foraging in the surroundings of the lake, and protecting themselves. There is always a halfling or two that do start forming a bond or taking a liking to a specific hardback. These are usually the more naturally-inclined ones, future rangers and druids, but it is not always the case.

The only exception to not minding the hatchlings too much is that the teenager halflings are expected to keep the hatchlings safe. If a creature, even a humanoid, tries to harm the hatchlings, the halflings are expected to deal with the intruder, even if it costs them their lives.

Once individual hardbacks start making forays outside of the lake, often travelling around the lake's area for one of two days, the teenagers know it is their time to leave. They are to pack up rations and anything else they may need to survive, choose a hardback, and start travelling with it. Hardbacks very rarely travel in groups, most often choosing to disperse on their own, so the teenagers must be able to survive on their own by this point. It is during these weeks, sometimes even years of travel that the bond between a halfling and their hardback is formed.

Later on, once they reach a river or a swamp, halfling and hardback, rider and mount will learn to coordinate with each other. It is during these times when they find other halflings and their turtles. Most often, also in training. But sometimes, they find caravans of travelling halfling clans. This gives a chance to the now adult halflings to catch up and trade. They will remain in the rivers until their turtles are ready to mature at sea.

These halflings will form small groups, often forming relationships and even having kids during these years. By the time their turtles have matured and they are ready to rejoin halfling society, they have spent a couple of decades together. These tight-linked groups often stay together for life, joining a clan as a group rather than going back to their original clans; the decision on which clan to join is made jointly, and sometimes, they join a clan with which they had no kinship relationships with, but rather good commercial relationships or a relationship developed throughout the years of chance encounters.

Uses

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Tide hardbacks are the main animals that Berari halflings use to transport goods. They are able to transport goods swimming in water or when diving deep below it. They are also able to carry items on their backs on land, although not nearly as much as they can carry while on the water.

The shell of a tide hardback that dies on land is repurposed into housing. Not for the owner of the hardback, or for their clan, but for anyone in need. These bothies are called tide shells, and while rare, more often than not they have saved someone's life, or at least, given them a night of respite.

Another used body part of tide hardbacks are the bones from their frontal flippers. Berari halflings often fashion wands and rods out of these bones. Their claws are sometimes also used; broken into shrapnel and used as a wilderness substitute for caltrops.