Elk and the Centaur

The centaur‌ did not hide from the Brightsword‌ so much as they rode into the vast Ruohom Grass Sea‌ where they could not be tracked and could not be caught. Eventually, it became clear to both sides that it was too much effort to continue the conflict, and so the centaur were left to their preferred dominion and largely forgotten about.

The interaction between the men who would become the Elk and the centaur was sparse and sporadic at first, due to both the lingering resentment over the war with the Brightsword and the vast area of the Ruohom Grass Sea‌ that was their shared living space. In time, the centaur came to an understanding with the Elk; perhaps not respect, exactly, but a recognition of their revered status and an admiration for the free-running and unfettered lives the humans led.

In turn, the centaur began to feature prominently in the Elk spiritualism and culture. Elk in the middle of a conflict would see a herd of centaur watching from a distance, and each side of the conflict would take it as a good omen. For their part, the centaur always enjoyed a good show, and would cheer for any display of prowess or skilled horsemanship.

Centaur even started naming their foals after human warriors they particularly admired, thus cementing their place as the pinnacle of Elk spirituality. Now, when an Elk herd hears that a centaur has the name of one of their ancestors, they remove that name from consideration when naming their young and their horses. That centaur is seen as the successful union of a warrior and his horse and their reincarnation into a single, perfect being.