The Legend of Galgom Rock
In a time forgotten, there lived a man, interesting of countenance, and the lady of great beauty and high standing who was to marry him...The Hoofkin of Dreandril are a particularly unique sophont. Known for their donkey-like ears, hoofed feet, and short tassel-like tails, they look to be some combination of horse and humanoid. The strangest part about them is that there doesn't appear to be any major history about the sophont that doesn't date from before the Rising. Necessity is the mother of invention, and that appears to be true about the legend itself as well as its heroine...
The Story
The legend begins with Lucia Bliebl, a princess of the ancient predecessor of the current Richterland of Galeo. She greatly desired the hand of another nobleman, a Gallon Bliebl. Depending on the person doing the telling, it's at a tourney, a stormy night at his castle in Rapulari, or some other suitably romantic location that she first espies the lord, and she falls immediately in love. She wishes to stop at nothing to gain his hand, and by that she truly means nothing. She attempts to take an interest in hunting, one of his main hobbies, as a way to get close to him. It is on one of these hunts that she finds a wizened lady, possibly even Taynèo himself in disguise. This "crone" tells her that while his heart is against love in many forms, Lucia will marry him and bear his children. She is so happy to hear this news that she desperately pleads with the crone to give her the secret to winning his heart. The crone cryptically answers that he will open his heart to "the finest horse that ever did ride." Lucia immediately strides into court the following day with a stallion so black that it seemed to cause torches to lose their shine near it. While Gallon is suitably impressed and accepts the gift, he doesn't offer his hand to her. Lucia thinks that he is ungrateful and returns to the forest to find the crone. The crone says that the horse of her prophecy has not yet arrived, but the potion that she has brewed in the shadows of the stones of Galgom Rock will bring it right to Lucia. Lucia downs the potion in one rapid gulp, so desperate is she for Gallon's affection. It isn't until the following morning that Lucia realizes that she is "the finest horse that ever did ride." This is because the potion transforms her into a horse, giving her a flowing golden mane, a flickering tail with nary a hair out of place, and such brilliant piercing eyes that any she looks at will be paralyzed instantly. Delighted with her new appearance and not yet seeing its drawbacks, she returns to Rapulari to woo her husband-to-be. Gallon is so smitten with the horse that has wandered into court that he vows to never marry another woman, for this horse will be his true bride. Lucia is beyond excited, and Gallon immediately "tames" her in full view of the court and rides her into the forest to go on a hunt with him. A wonderful night of tracking and wandering through the woods serves as Gallon and Lucia's "honeymoon" adventure; Just before dawn, with Gallon resting peacefully in the shade of a tree, Lucia begins to realize that she wants to change back. Now that she is a horse, though, the crone is mysteriously nowhere to be found. The thought that she will be forever a mare begins to worry her deeply, especially as she is unsure how she will supposedly bear Gallon's children in this form. It isn't until she returns to the campsite and Gallon stirs that the crone appears, announcing that Gallon's beautiful horse will transform into a beautiful woman if he brings all three of them to Galgom Rock by nightfall. Lucia, relieved that she will be soon free of her horse form, gallops as fast as she can to the place, arriving just as the sun sets. During the night, the crone brews another potion by the strange shining light of the runestones, then gives it to Gallon. She instructs him to give it to Lucia the moment that the sun's rays hit the side of the ruin, otherwise a terrible curse will be laid on them. And while Gallon is just as excited to meet Lucia as she is to escape her current form, he tragically falls asleep just before dawn, missing the timing by the smallest possible margin. Despite this, he feeds the potion to Lucia anyway, and Lucia turns into a woman of even more beauty than she had before. Years pass, and Lucia finally is about to give birth to their first child. The crone reappears on the eve of the birth, warning that Gallon's laxness and Lucia's desperation has laid a curse upon the couple and their progeny. Gallon and Lucia, still deeply enamoured of each other, refuse to listen, and the baby is born. Nothing appears wrong, and they have six children over the next decade. It is when the oldest son, Haris, reaches maturity that the curse finally reveals itself. One day, Haris awakens with the tail of a horse, the ears of a donkey and the hooves of a cow. Over the next few days, all of his siblings awaken with the same traits. The court makes fun of the Hoofkin, as they are quickly called, and the entire family - including Gallon and Lucia, whose desperate love led to their birth - are driven from the high places of the land, forced to the margins of society. They die penniless, but their bloodline lives on in the tens of thousands of Hoofkin that cover the world.
Date of First Recording
172 PR
Date of Setting
~200 BR
Related Ethnicities
Related Locations
Related People
Related Organizations
Reception
The story is a cultural staple among the Galvan who live alongside the same Hoofkin who are supposedly descended from the characters of this story. The idea of people turning into horse-like humanoids is often used to ridicule and marginalize the Hoofkin, as they also transform into their adult forms around the time of puberty like Haris and his siblings. On the other side of the divide, the Hoofkin use this legend as a way to legitimize their claim to the title of Galeorichter. It gives them a history and something to be proud of while they are degraded by the Galvan majority of the nation and by neighbouring realms as well. Many Hoofkin want to become wizards or great knights directly because they want to respectively escape their appearance or emulate their ancestor Gallon Bliebl.Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
What an interesting and well considered legend. Beautiful!
Necromancy is a Wholesome Science.