Camels, various

Class:Real beast - and derivatives
Hab: Any dry area, wild or civilized
Fre: Common
Num: Wild: 10-100, Domestic: as kept
Lair: Nomadic of wild, as kept is domestic
Size: Horse-sized or taller
Move: Horse-like; slower sprint but better longer cross-country
Def: Tough hide
Att: Vicious bite, may kick
Int: Medium animal, = horse (but more stubborn)
Spec: Desert adaptations, domesticable
Posns: Draft use, wool, milk, flesh, hide

Camels, various

The "ship of the desert" is famed for its ability to grow long distances through the most difficult of desert terrain. Given sufficient reasonably juicy fodder, a camel can go indefinitely without water. With only dry fodder, or none, a camel can still be driven a week across the sands, but becomes ever more likely to divert if it scents water. After such a parching drive, a camel may drink a whole troughful of water at once.

Broad, padded hooves support the camel in sands where a horse or goat would sink.

Notoriously temperamental, all members of the camel family are likely to spit at those who bother them; this means anyone who wants them to move or work who has not yet earned their respect. They are quite accurate, and often aim to blind. Some may also nip if they think they can get away with it.

Perhaps worse than being spat at by an irate camel is being drooled on by an fond camel. Great, green, viscous gobs of stinky drool are a camel's way of saying "You're OK." Ick. Perhaps some alchemist could actually concoct something useful from this goo.

Dromedary

The one-humped dromedary of Arabia can carry loads of 500-600 lbs and travel upwards of 30 miles a day. Depending on their quality, a dromedary can be as fast as a swift horse; "dromedary" means "runner." Such racing dromedaries are very disdainful of bearing baggage.

Bactrian

The two-humped Bactrian camel of central Asia is adapted to bitter cold as well as parching heat. Depending on their quality, Bactrian camels can carry anywhere from 500 to 1,200 lbs of baggage for as far as thirty miles a day. They can be found wild from Bactria (present-day Afghanistan) through Mongolia.

Poly-humped Camels

Naturally, in a fantasy world, there are liable to be longer bodied camels sporting three to six humps, able to carry a passenger between each and able to last commensurately longer with minimal food. Ideal for baggage-hauling caravans, these poly-humped camels are not racers.

Bipedal Racing Camel (and analogs)

Two-legged camels are the swiftest of all but can carry only minimal baggage. There are likely to be analogs of such a creature in many settings, ranging from alien beasties on far away planets and tractable (herbivorous?) bipedal dinosaurs in the prehistoric past to fluffily cute and /or vicious fantasy mounts; just take your basic camel, increase speed, minimize baggage limit, and reupholster.

SEE also llama entry for (real) New World camels.

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Apr 4, 2006