tol’Gorga, Orcish Horse (Dentiequus ruudashi) are a rare breed of equine that evolved on the brutal planet of Ruudash before being transplanted to Arclund during the Ruudashi Arrival.
Scholars have long been curious about the manifestation of several animalistic species across several worlds. These species often follow similar body and behavioral plans, such as dogs, cats, pigs, and horses.
However, the tol’Gorga1, while a true equine, is quite different from its cousins across Materia.
Their thick fur often comes in shades not seen in other equines, particularly purplish grays and greenish browns, and rarely an Appaloosa-like pattern of white and flinty blue.
They are large beasts, rarely standing shorter than 6’ 3” at the shoulder. And then come the more distinctive changes.
Their forward-facing eyes have keen night vision, the slit pupils more closely resembling the eyes of a cat. Their sharp tusks, which jut upward from their lower jaw, a feature commonly found among Ruudashi fauna, imply some manner of common ancestry.
But what truly sets them apart is their diet and stance. tol’Gorga are able to stand and walk on their hind legs, which are much more heavily muscled than their already impressive forelimbs. This form of locomotion is not found in any other breed of equine but can be seen amongst the Duckbills of the eastern jungles. They seem to prefer this form of locomotion in most cases, excluding when needing to run.
Their forelegs have particularly thick and heavy hooves. While, as noted, their back legs are quite strong, and their tusks can do some serious damage, their main weapon is their front hooves. Powerful enough to crack stone with one swift punch-like kick, they are an effective predator deterrent.
In regard to their diet, while all equines are given to minor cases of omnivory, tol’Gorga lean more towards carnivory.
Ruudash was a harsh land even prior to its fall, and as time went on, the tol’Gorga adapted to the increasing rarity of plant life by gaining more and more omnivorous tendencies.
While they could hunt, they favored themselves as scavengers, much of their diet consisting of carrion. Their thick tusks and heavy molars allowed them to crack and consume bone and pierce thick hide.
On Arclund, however, those that have escaped Ruudashi pasturing have entered into much more actively predatory lifestyles, stalking and running down deer, goats, and antelope, depending on their resident territory.
Their hardwiring as opportunistic scavengers, despite their size dwarfing even the largest Human-bred plow horse, can be explained when one looks at the other fauna taken from Ruudash.
This diet and their bipedal stance are believed to be features of most equines on Ruudash, as seen in stories and records taken from Ruudashi archives. These records discuss truly massive water-wading beasts that ate fish and horsetails in equal measure along a vast edifice of water called the "ruu'Matra-Tal" or Ever River and the slight, multi-toed mountain climbers that hunted moss, rodents, and bird eggs across the peaks. They are believed to have died with Ruudash.
Despite its harsh nature, Ruudash grew its fauna large. The Dire appellation used by common folk often refers not to a magically altered specimen of a common species but to the Ruudash subspecies. Wolves and Big Cats the size of Brown Bears, Boars and Bears the size of Elephants, and Mastodons (also prone to cases of omnivory) were all animals higher on the food chain than the tol’Gorga, saying nothing of the sophont natives or Hydra, the world’s apex predator in most environments.
The tol’Gorga’s heavy hooves worked well against predators and adapted to resist or regenerate from slashing or piercing attacks. At the same time, their temper and ability to ignore seemingly lethal injuries made them as scrappy and tough as any beast that walked Ruudash’s deserts and scrublands.
Females are typically larger than males, and the largest lead herds of up to fifteen individuals. These herds are commonly females and their young and a handful of stallions. However, young Males are often nomadic, being the lowest rung of the tol’Gorga hierarchy, relegated to look-outs when the herd grazes or rests, and females have been seen tripping these males when fleeing a predator, sacrificing them so they and their young can survive.
grum'Kar (Orcs), as with many other Ruudashi megafauna, have long tamed and enjoyed the company of the tol’Gorga, and many tame herds can be found in the lands the grum'Kars have claimed as their own. However, feral populations have spread far afield, descended from escapees from grum'Kari pastures or having outsmarted the few non-grum'Kari breeders that have tried to raise the ornery beasts. tol’Gorga are also noted to be much smarter than their other equine cousins, showing problem-solving capabilities comparable to those of various ape species.
Curiously, tol’Gorga seem to have an affection for Smallfolk ancestries, listening to their directions more often and attacking them far less than even Ruudashi. Some scholars posit that this means there were other people on Ruudash at one point who bonded with the equines but never made it to Arclund for one reason or another. As with other horses, there are variations of tol’Gorga, and three breeds will be discussed as follows.
The Marduni are perhaps the largest, with small kod'Kar (Ogres) being able to ride them without issue. Noted for their unique silver manes, this breed has been raised as war mounts for the grum’Kar Paladins that were some of the first that joined Relae’s call to push back the horrid taint of the Lesion. Marduni has been noted to consume the flesh and bone of demons with little to no ill effects, though many Crusaders have commented on the disconcertion felt watching a horse dig through the belly of a fiend for its melting sweetmeats.
The Ishtai are the smallest and the fastest, their fur taking on a dusty orange shade that allows them to camouflage into the surrounding desert. While they seem utterly wild at first glance, each and every one of the Ishtai tol’Gorga are owned by the Malakan People, Fiendblooded grum'Kar descended from a city cursed at some point during the Separation. Some claim that the Ishtari breed also shows signs of Fiendish influence in their appearance.
The last is rumored to be a Mutaform of Caliendo that descended from a trapped band of war horses following the Cascade. These rumors claim they have dipped even further into carnivory, with limbs more closely resembling the raptors of Eastern and South Western continents.
Other breeds exist, of course, but are not so well documented, as the Ruudashi are quite protective of the fauna that they brought with them from their dying world. This is the case with most Arrivals, who seek to safeguard their own familiar fauna and domesticates, which have, as history proves, often led to escaped ferals spawning new populations that can threaten native fauna. However, interestingly, native Arclund fauna seems strangely adapted to niche partitioning, and populations that should have been massively affected instead saw very little fluctuation. In turn, the feral populations largely remain small but stable, integrating to the point where folks unfamiliar with their origins would not know of their alien nature.
As such, the tol'Gorga have become just another fascinating animal that calls this varied, mystifying sanctuary home and are perhaps most fitting as the first entry in our journey across its biomes to document that beasts of land, air, sea, and more.