I am Dr. Kalinka z Kłusak, a wildlife biologist from the Royal Academy of Prezia, and it is my pleasure to introduce all the readers to this exciting collection of knowledge my fellow Professors, Doctors, and enthusiasts have assembled for you all. This introductory issue will detail a very significant animal to my homeland of Prezia, horses.
There is hardly a land that we are aware of today that has not heard of the common horse, regardless of breed. Used for labor, recreation, sport, companionship, and transportation, horses have been a staple part of the development of aethrin for time immemorial. In Prezia however, horses have taken on a much more significant role. The Karina Steppe that makes up our home is vast, spacious, and verdant enough to support horse grazing. The climate being on the warmer side of temperate lends itself well to the shorter coats found on our horses.
A brief excerpt of Prezian history, for many many years our people had to outrun the Brume’s encroach on the large landmass to our north that is now covered. It was with the help of horses that we were able to build homes that could be taken with us and moved as necessitated by the Brume’s constant pursuit. Great yurts that would one day be amassed into the city of Prezia where we discovered civilization’s necessity in pushing Vrokiva’s mist back and preserving ourselves and our way of life. For a more complete history, I would recommend Professor Alexandry Sindariyev’s “Ancient Foundations of our Proud Nation”. While he is quite wordy, he covers the early founding of our land up through the conclusion of the Chumuk era in extreme depth.
What makes Prezian horses so special? To address that, we must first look at the two different breeds of horses that originated in and now populate our land.
Sevalaćian
Perhaps the most prominent breed known to come from Prezia, we have the Sevalaćian horse, named for the city Sevelac where the breed was first documented. The stallions stand typically between 15 to 16 hands (155-165cm) at the withers, mares typically around 2cm smaller. They have a gorgeous bay coat that fades from warm brown to black at the hooves, mane, tail, and tip of their noses, and a small white spot on their heads. This spot is said to be where the Horse God kissed the first of the breed to bestow their blessing upon them and their descendants.
Doubtless what is most unique about the Sevalaćian horse is its uncanny intelligence. The breed was created with the purpose to be companions in an aethrin’s efforts to carve out a living in the land we have settled, and as such high intelligence was valued when selectively breeding for the best offspring. While pre-Cicloism theologians thought that it was a blessing from the Horse God, modern sensibilities tell us that it was a properly balanced diet and selection of good partners during breeding that resulted in this trait. In modern times, Sevalaćians are able to understand an aethrin’s speech, though due to anatomical differences in the vocal cords are unable to communicate the same way in response. As such, it is common for people in Prezia to have a larger understanding of non-verbal communication that horses display and gives them a natural talent for raising the animals.
For years, the breed was the mainstay of the Karieban Military, with a Hataman and their mount commanding equal respect between aethrin and beast, each trained from their enlistment to form a bond with a particular mount. During the Karieban Crusades, there are multiple documented accounts of Arenian Jaguar Knights and their foot soldiers being so scared of the fact that both the soldier and their mount were acting on the same level that some flat out refused to be in a tribes territory if they knew they had a significant amount of Calvary.
In modern times, not only are these horses treated with rights that can be enforced in any of the Federation's states, they are also represented in the Sejm by three members of their breed to represent their tribes, a sight that is always entertaining with foreigners. Within the Sejm chambers, they are accompanied by interpreters who are often the riders they fought with on campaign, continuing to act as one in the government like on the battlefield.
Vladstoski
Coming from the city of Vladsto on the banks of Przepływ Zachodni and just Northwest of Jezioro Kopinki, the Vladstoski are the most common breed of working horse in Karieba. They are a very robust breed of draught horse, meant to carry heavy loads of farm equipment and carts for transport. Their coats are typically chestnut and become white around the hooves where it feathers to protect it from the underbrush. There is also a variant known as the Prezian Black, named due to their black manes and feathering around their hooves. Both stallions and mares stand between 15 to 16 hands (155-165cm) at the withers, the same height as the Sevalaćian but significantly more stocky, weighing about 50kg more in pure muscle.
As a trade off, their top speed is between 10 to 15 percent slower than a Sevalaćian. Being a slightly newer breed as well, the focus was less on intelligence and agility to outrun the Brume, but strength and durability to work the now secured lands. Prized around Terota for their ability to meet both qualities, while the Sevalaćian is the more famous of the two, the Vladstoski is the most widespread outside of Karieba.
I hope this has been as interesting of a read for you as it has been for me to write, and I hope you look forward to discovering the other unique fauna across Terota and gaining, or perhaps, rediscovering an appreciation for our natural world. My colleagues and counterparts will soon release their own examinations, and to tease what is to come in the future are the Arediani Pukoro Manureva, meaning the Pouch Bird or literally Flying Pouch, the Talarenian Capybara, and another visit to Karieba for the mythical Spadać Lew!
