THE
ICELAND
WISON |
The Wison is a member of the bovine family and has many similarities to domestic cattle. However, it is clearly an animal that is suited for the Coast of the Icelands in Northern Sarvonia. It provides a veritable cornucopia of products that the Ice Tribes use to survive in the harsh environment of the Ice Coast.
|
|
|
Appearance.
Having the general
appearance of domesticated
cattle,
it is easy to see that the Wison is part of the bovine family. Though
considerably smaller than the thunderfoot, the
Wison is itself a very formidable creature. It stands roughly two
peds in height at the
shoulder, with the males being slightly taller, and its weight is around 40
pygges, again, with the
bulls somewhat heavier.
The most obvious thing about the Wison is its dense, coarse coat, which, in the
adult, is blue in colour. It is believed that this is a result of its diet of
hrugchuk grass. The hair is thick
and quite long, giving them a very shaggy appearance. The colour can be used to
estimate the age of an animal. When born, the Wison is a pure white in colour.
This is thought to aid the young calves by allowing them to be hard to see
against the backdrop of the ice fields. As the calf ages, it begins to darken in
colour, from the white to a pale blue in young adulthood. The older animals get
to be a dark blue in colour, while the males change to almost black. Very
rarely, a calf is born that is albino, and this Wison will stay white for its
entire life.
The males of the species have a large hump above its shoulders. These humps are
full of fat, and it is surmised that it sustains them in times when grazing land
is hard to come by. The cow has a less pronounced hump,
as her fat is more evenly distributed.
Both genders of the species have horns, usually white with the tips darkening to
a deep blue or black, though the females have smaller ones. The horns of the
males may span 1 ped, 2
fores across, while, in the
females, they rarely reach a span of 1
ped.
The legs of the Wison are heavy and covered in thick hair to protect it from the
snow and ice. They are slightly longer in the front than they are in the back,
giving them a very noble look. It is thought that this is to give the Wison more
power in its front end to assist it with the ritual head butting that the males
do at mating time, though observers have not yet concluded why the females are
so adorned (see below). The foot of the Wison is wider
than that of domesticated
cattle,
helping it to walk in the snow. As well as this it has a small bony growth
underneath that is sharp; not like a claw, but rather a spur.
The facial features of the Wison are directly affected by its environment. Its
eyes are small for its otherwise great size, and are a dark blue in colour. It
has no visible white in the eye. The ears are small, and covered with a thick
blanket of fur. Its nose is dark blue, and very thick. It is believed that this
keeps it from freezing when rooting through the ice for food. The mouth is built
similarly thick, while most of its teeth are molars, to grind the
hrugchuk grass.
Special Abilities.
The Wison is equipped with a small but sharp spur on the underside of its front
hooves. Though not long enough to serve as a defensive structure (the Wison is
not built to attack with its front hooves), the spur is cleverly used by the
Wison in its search for the buried
hrugchuk grass.
The Wison, by use of a small muscle, pushes the spur down so it is protruding,
then uses its front hooves to dig through the ice and snow. This spur is
particularly effective in breaking the layers of ice. When not actively pushing
the spur out, it slides back within the hoof.
The Wison is an excellent swimmer, and its thick coat gives it perfect
protection from the freezing waters, coupled
with a generous layer of fat beneath. This is an important ability, as the Wison
must cross many wide channels in its migration route. Sometimes these channels
are not frozen over, and sometimes the ice is not thick enough to support the
weight of the Wison herd. In most crossings of the channels, however, the Wison
herd stretches out and only a few animals at a time can be found together. The
herd normally keeps much closer together when not crossing the frozen channels.
There have been reports where the ice has broken and the Wison were not able to
climb back out. In these situations, hundreds of animals were found drowned and
frozen. In most instances, the animals are able to pull themselves back onto the
ice or swim to the surface.
“It happened that on the twelfth day of our journey to
track the wild Wison on its migratory path, that we encountered a frozen
channel. It was interesting to observe how the herd would stop and the
leader of the herd, a magnificent creature, huge compared to the rest of
the herd, would venture out alone onto the ice. First, he crossed the
channel alone, cautiously stamping on the ice, several times correcting
his path, I assume to miss the thin areas, before he returned to the herd.
What happened next was a marvel to behold in an animal with minimal
intelligence and no language, save for the bellowing of their calls. The
sub-leaders would gather small groups of cows and calves, and lead them
across the channel, no more than about ten animals in each group. The
leader went with this first group. Once across, the leader and a couple of
sub-leaders stayed with these animals, while the other sub-leaders crossed
back to the other side again, to get yet another group of cows ands bring
them across. This went on until there were only fifty or so left on the
first side of the channel. |
Territory.
The Wison’s territory covers most of the Icelands Coast. However, it is a
migratory animal, so it can be found in different areas depending on the time of
year. In the summer, the Wison is found up north, in the lands of the Vertans.
As autumn approaches, they begin the migration south, reaching the mountains
north of the Wastes of Despair, where they spend the coldest part of the winter.
Then, in spring, they begin the journey north once more. They seem to travel in
smaller herds, making use of the few hot springs that occur in the north, to eat
the hrugchuk grass that grows
abundantly there. The cows have their calves while making
this trip. This is the most difficult time for the Wison, as the predators of
the north come looking for the weakest of the herd, the newborns. The summer and
winter destinations are a gathering places for the wison, and at these two times
of the year, herds of up to 5000 animals can be found; a veritable sea of
animals covering the land from horizon to horizon.
Habitat/Behaviour.
The Wison is a herd animal. As individuals, their eyesight and hearing are not
that advanced, but within the herd this is compensated for. These herds are
typically 100-200 animals, though herds of up to 400 have been sighted. When
pushed to extreme agitation, herds have been known to stampede. Nothing can
stand up to a stampeding herd, wildly charging as one massive entity, and
anything caught in its path is usually crushed by the multitude of hooves.
In the wild, a Wison may live up to 30 years of age. It has few natural
predators, the caracal being the main threat, next to the
Ice Tribe hunters.
There is a hierarchy to the herd. A single bull acts as the leader, and the herd
follows where he leads. This bull is usually older, but at the peak of his
physical form. Next to this, are many sub-leaders; bulls that take positions on
the flanks and rear of the herd, both to keep stragglers from falling away from
the herd, and to watch for danger. Younger bulls and cows
make up the majority of the herd.
Bulls are very aggressive. If they spot danger they will bellow. This bellow is
to warn the herd and, if the danger is a predator, to chase away the predator.
If the predator does not heed this warning, the bull will charge, using its
horns in a deadly fashion. Often, if one bull is engaged with a foe, other bulls
will join in the fray. They have learned to coordinate their attacks, much like
a pack of wolves, to form a deadly cohesive force.
Bulls often compete in a head butting ritual to determine dominance. They bellow
a challenge at one another, and then charge from a distance of 10
peds or more. They can hit
one another with tremendous force; the resulting crash is very loud. Though it
can sometimes lead to death, more often then not, one bull will submit after a
dozen charges or so. Young bulls challenge sub-leaders, and sub-leaders
challenge for the lead bull position. Bulls usually have a harem of
cows that they breed with and protect. The leader and his
sub-leaders usually have 6-10 cows, while younger bulls
typically only have 1 or 2 females.
Cows are somewhat more docile than bulls. This is not
true when a cow is protecting her calf, however. In such
a case, she will become enraged, her own life secondary to that of her
offspring. Though her horns are smaller than those of a bull, she can wield them
with lethal accuracy.
When a leader or a sub-leader gets old and is overthrown by a younger bull, he
loses his harem and is no longer welcomed in the herd. The dominating male will
chase him out. Should he try to return to the herd, several of the sub-leaders
will attack him as they would any other threat to the herd. This individual bull
is now known as a rogue. Rogues are solitary animals and, as such, are extremely
unpredictable and dangerous. Without the herd advantage of extra eyes and ears,
and its own senses substandard, it is believed that the rogue will attack almost
anything, as it struggles to survive. This is possibly a madness brought on from
not being in the herd.
Because the competition for food is so great, if a herd of Wison and
thunderfeet meet, it is usually a tense affair,
though rarely are animals on either side killed. The
thunderfoot has the definite size advantage, while the Wison have the
numbers. They will usually try to stay a respectable distance from each other,
but once in a while they get too close. When this happens, the male Wison go
into their protective stance, while the female
thunderfeet assume their circular stance. Charges are usually made by the
Wison, but most of these are feints, in an attempt to make the
thunderfoot abandon the area. In a few cases, this
works, but for the most part, the Wison move further along, having satisfied
themselves that the thunderfeet are not a physical
threat.
Diet.
The Wison can eat most types of grasses, but as it comes from the Icecoast, its
main diet consists of the hrugchuk
grass, in particular the flower, which the bulls get most, as it is probably
considered a delicacy. If a female finds a flower, she usually bellows so that a
bull can come and get it. Bulls, if they spot a calf about to eat a flower will
charge at them. This charge is usually enough to cause the
cow or calf to run away, leaving the flower to the bull. However, it has
been seen where a particularly aggressive female will stand her ground.
Sometimes this can result in physical altercations, though rarely resulting in
any serious harm. The flower will then be eaten by the victor. The Wison is a
voracious eater, and will eat the
hrugchuk stalk down to the root, leaving the
earth bare in its wake. This is what probably precipitated the Wison’s
migration pattern, as it searched for land not laid bare.
Mating.
The mating cycle of the Wison takes place in summer, while they are in the lands
of the Vertans. The mating ritual of the Wison is a fairly simple one. The bulls
will begin bellowing, this sound often can be heard for miles. Receptive females
will then approach, and after a brief moment where they sniff each other, the
bull mounts the cow. It is believed that the sniffing is
both to recognize each other, and to detect sickness and already impregnated
cows. Bulls have been known to chase off females that it
has deemed not acceptable for mating.
The pregnancy results in a gestation period of around 8 months. The calves are
then born during the migration north to their summer lands. Within mere hours of
birth, the calves are able to walk and keep up with the herd. This is
imperative, as the herd does not stop to wait for the newborns, or the weak and
infirm. Those left behind are easy prey for wolves and
the ever dangerous caracal.
Cows give birth to one calf, usually every two years. She
will nurse the calf for nearly two months, as the calf will then learn to eat
grass. The calves will mature in about 4 years. Until then, they will stay with
their mothers. It is not uncommon to see a cow with more
than one calf, one nursing and the other chewing on grass.
Usages.
As the Wison travels through the lands of most of the
Ice Tribes, each one relies
heavily on this creature. As such, the nomadic elements of the population follow
the herds as they cross their lands.
The biggest resource that the Wison provides to the
Ice Tribes is meat. Without this
meat, it is debatable whether the Ice
Tribes would be able to survive at all in the hostile environment. The meat
is very rich and nutritious. No other animal is put to such complete use as the
Wison.
The Wison is also used as a mount by the
Ice Tribes. Some of the permanent
settlements have domesticated the Wison, keeping a bull and
cows. It is a dangerous practice, as the wild nature of the beast never
completely disappears. However, if a calf can be separated from the herd at a
young age, and given extensive human
interaction and training, it can become a useful beast of burden. Though rare,
the males can be trained to serve as war mounts, after being gelded. This takes
extensive training, usually by the warrior who will eventually be the rider. If
that warrior dies, the Wison is usually unable to be trained to take a new
rider. It is this inability to take a new rider that coined the phrase “lonely
as a Wison mount”, to refer to a man (sometimes a woman though less frequently)
who has lost a spouse and never remarries.
The Remusians are the one tribe that does not use the Wison as a mount. They
prefer to use their Kor'och fey Mologh, the
Remusian horse. They use their
horses to hunt the Wison, chasing the herds and using
the bow, spear
and lance to bring down the creatures. The other
Ice Tribes hunt on foot, or on
trained Wisons. Those on foot wear Wison cloaks and headdresses to get close
enough to use bows and
spears to bring down their prey. Whichever
way is used, hunting Wisons is a dangerous prospect. Many a warrior has been
killed or maimed by a stampeding herd, or a bull protecting his harem. Some
clans use the hunt as a rite of passage into manhood for young men.
After a hunt, men and women set to work butchering the carcasses. Then the haul
is brought home using travois or sleds. This is done quickly, so that any
wolves or caracal in the area do not pick up the scent of
blood.
Myth/Lore.
There is a tale the
Ice Tribes like to tell around a
campfire on how the Iceland Wison was created:
A Hunter's Encounter.
Ages ago, before the War of the
Chosen, the Ice Tribes were a
lost people. They lived on the frozen plains of the Ice Lands Coast. It happened
that one a day a young hunter went out to find food for his family. He traveled
far, but could not find anything to hunt. Knowing that the very lives of his
family were at stake, he continued on, though he could see a storm was brewing
in the sky. When the storm hit, the young man was far from home, and without
shelter. He knew that he would not see the morning light. He continued onward,
praying to the gods as he went. Just as he was about to give up, he could smell
the smoke from a fire. Gaining strength from
this, he pushed himself until he saw a small hut through the swirling snow. |
The
Ice Tribes consider the sight of an albino Wison a good omen, and it is
thought that this is the god Zundefor himself, come to the land to see that his
creation is fairing well. It is against the laws of the
Ice Tribes to kill an albino
wison, though if an albino hide is found, its value is immeasurable. It is
considered to bring good luck to its owner. A warrior would never voluntarily
give one away.
|