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Description

Name: Unicorn

Pronunciation: Yuu – nee – corn

Scientific Name: Unaillum cornutum medicus equus

Meaning: “Single-horned Healer Horse”

Size: 5ft. Muscular body with strong hindquarters and low-set tails. It has powerful, sloping shoulders and a long, arched neck. The head is well-chiselled with relatively short ears. Its limbs are comparatively short, but strong. It has long feathery or silky fur. The mane is long and thick, often wavy. The long horn is straight and spiral-shaped.

Body Build: Unicorns are generally equine in appearance with horse-like heads and bodies while their legs and hooves are similar to a deer’s. There is a single, long horn in the middle of the forehead, but the shape of the horn depends upon the breed of the Unicorn. Unlike other horse-related creatures, the mane and tail of Unicorns are lion-like. Unicorns have long fur, but it tends to be longer around their lower-jaw, neck, feet and tail-tuft.

Eye colour: A Unicorn’s eyes are shades of blue, green or purple with other colours being exceptionally rare. The pupils of their eyes are round and human-like, but thin into slits when they get angry.

Colour: Unicorns can be white, grey, dun, light-bay or chestnut.

Markings: Unicorns have light markings, manes, leg-feathering and tail-tufts. Leg-markings vary, some only being around the feathering while others may go up to the shoulder. Some may have dorsal stripes along their backs.

Horn & Hooves: Depending which element it controls, Unicorn horns and hooves can be one colour:
Sun: gold
Fire: red
Air: yellow
Thunder: orange
Wood: brown
Crystal: pink
Light: white
Moon: silver
Water: blue
Earth: green
Ice: indigo
Poison: purple
Metal: grey
Darkness: black

Gender Differences:

Males: He has longer beard-like fur along his lower jaw.
Females: She has longer fur around her hooves.

Physiology:

Mountain Adaption: Mostly living within rocky areas or mountaintops, Unicorns are capable of living in environments were the air is thin due to their tolerance for high air-pressure while their manes and feathers protect them from the freezing air. Unaffected by the symptoms of vertigo or similar disorientations, Unicorns can move atop mountains where few predators would dare to tread.

Desert Adaption: As they migrate across the land, Unicorns are able to adapt to harsh environments including deserts. They can survive the heat of the day as the shorter fur around most of their bodies allows them to regulate heat whilst their long manes and foot-feathers helps to provide warmth during the cold nights. Unicorns can travel through sandstorms as their long eyelashes protect their eyes and they can walk on shifting sand due to their large feet.

Horn: A Unicorn’s horn is covered in a fine, soft velvet and is highly sensitive, which allows them to sense poisons and toxins in plants or water. The horn’s skeletal structure has a bone-core within the centre, helping the Unicorn to channel its elemental powers and is protected by a sheath of keratin, but unlike normal horns the keratin of a Unicorn is harder than diamonds and stronger than steel, allowing the Unicorn to pierce or slash through anything.

Enhanced Bite: Unicorns have a considerable amount of strength within their jaw-muscles. Due to their omnivore diet, their teeth are sharper than normal.

Prehensile Tongue: Their tongues are longer than their bodies and are strong enough to lift objects or people.

Extra limb: The tail is prehensile and can be used like a third hand. It is also strong enough to lift another person.

Expanded View: They have an expanded field of view, but not enough to give them the ability to see behind themselves.

Night Vision: Unicorns have several adaptations which allow them to see at night. The pupils of their large eyes can expand greatly at night, enhancing their ability to see in the dark. The rods within their eyes are extremely light sensitive, taking in every ounce of dim light to allow them to see in the dark.

Enhanced Taste: They have an accurate sense of taste, allowing them to sense what foods or plants maybe beneficial or harmful. By just breathing through their mouths, Unicorns can taste what things are edible without having to actually eat the food.

Enhanced Smell: With their highly acute snout they can identify herd members and predators. Their sensitivity to scent allows them to detect poisons and toxins, even when others attempt to mask it with other scents.

Enhanced Hearing: They can hear low to very high frequencies, in the range of 14Hz to 25kHz. Their ears can move 180 degrees, allowing them to focus on the direction of the sound, isolate it then decided wheatear to fight or flee.

Enhanced Strength: Unicorns can effortlessly lift and carry large or heavy objects. They can smash through stone and steel.

Enhanced Speed: They are able to run at speeds almost beyond the point of perception. They can keep up this speed for several hours.

Enhanced Agility: Unicorns can rapidly change their body’s position efficiently to perform athletic and martial implements or sprint to avoid danger.

Enhanced Endurance: Even when thrown into boulders or hit by heavier beasts, Unicorns always manage to get back up on their feet.

Enhanced Stamina: They are able to maintain continuous strainous physical action for long periods of time, allowing them to fight harder and longer than other horse-like creatures.

Enhanced Balance: Unicorns can perfectly balance on any object, no matter how narrow or unstable it may be. They hardly every loose their footing, being able to right themselves almost in mid-air. This also makes it incredibly difficult for enemies or predators to knock them down.

Enhanced Leap: Unicorns are capable of leaping 6ft, even vertically without a running start.

Dexterity: They are able to precisely control their movements and muscles, they are never clumsy or fumbling. They always land on their feet when pushed down and never lose their balance when on uneven surfaces.

Disease Immunity: Unicorns are unaffected by any form of disease brought on by bacteria, viruses or parasites. Their digestive systems are so strong that they can eat anything no matter how rotten or inedible it may be.

Poison Immunity: They are unaffected by all forms of poison. No matter how powerful the toxin, Unicorns cannot be harmed.

Escapism: Despite having been hunted for centuries, Unicorns are one of the hardest beasts to trap let-alone capture. They are well known for being stealthy and silent when the need arises, being sighted in one spot before disappearing as if in the blink of an eye. Wranglers have even stated that when chasing a Unicorn, the beast has hidden within the shades of the forests or mountains with no trace as to where it had run. Lassos, ropes and chains of any kind are useless against Unicorns with due to their strength, speed and magic. Cages are no challenge for them as they are able to deduce the pattern of a trap to escape it or if they are caught they always find a flaw to break out.

Climbing: The cloven hooves of Unicorns can spread wide to improve their balance while the sharp points on the tips and rough pads on the bottom of each toe provide the grip of a natural climbing shoe, allowing the hooves to dig into the tiniest cracks on any surface to climb.

Call: Neighing, grunting, and snorting.

Tropic: Omnivore

Diet: Unicorns diet mainly consists of poaceae such as grass, leaves, clover, alfalfa, vines, nettles, roses, honeysuckles, hawthorns, willows, sedges, forbs, lichens, shrubs, weeds, roots, bark, twigs, shoots, tubers, bulbs, hay, oats, corn, barley, wheat, fungi, nuts and seeds.

Vegetables are another main part of their diet such as beets, carrot, celery, cucumber, parsnip, swede, turnip, kale, lettuce, squash, spinach, broccoli, potato, zucchini, peas, yam, chard, artichoke, asparagus, sprouts, arugula, eggplant, mushrooms, peppers, cabbage, onions, cauliflower and pumpkin.

Fruits such as apple, apricot, banana, blackberry, strawberry, cherries, coconut, grapefruit, orange, peach, pear, pineapple, plum, raisins, grapes, tomatoes, radishes, melon and watermelon are harvested.

However, unlike other eqiunian species, Unicorns are insectivorous. Due to their migrating nature, Unicorns do not always have access to vegetation and therefore seek out a different food source. Earthworms, beetles, termites, ants, crickets, butterflies, caterpillars, dragonflies, snails, wasps, bees, grasshoppers, flies, grubs, larvae, scorpions, centipedes and spiders are their main prey.

Habitat: Unicorns are migratory animals who travel around rugged, rocky terrain. During Green-Bloom, they head north to their feeding grounds in the meadows where they’ll feed on the abundance of plants and fruits. However, Green-Bloom is prone to having long droughts, turning grasslands into deserts. Thankfully, there is still plenty of insects so the Unicorns are able to survive the harsh environment.

When White-Fall approaches, the Unicorns turn back south to the mountains to spend the cold months in sheltered climes and caves, feeding on the tough mountaintop vegetation.

Lair: Living life on the road, Unicorns hardly ever make a lair for themselves. The only time they den-up is during storms – be it thunder, sand or snow.

Temperament: Unicorns are known as one of the most intelligent horses in Gaea. Fast-learners, they can adapt and improvise to any situation, being able to perform task or form plans most horses wouldn’t even be capable of. Their high intellect is what has earned them the ire of wranglers worldwide as no one has ever been able to capture one.

It is their kindness, however, that has earned them such high esteem. Pacifists by nature, Unicorns despise violence and prefer to use their powers defensively. These gentle beasts will help anyone in need, be it a person who has gotten lost or an injured creature, expecting nothing in return. Due to this, very few animals prey on them and instead protect them from larger predators or wranglers, knowing they can turn to a Unicorn should they ever be injured or sick.

Although friendly, Unicorns usually tend to avoid humans unless necessary. Should anyone manage to befriend a Unicorn, they are loyal companions and wise teachers with some people claiming to have learned magic and healing from a Unicorn.

Breeding and Herd Life: Mares and their foals live in large herds while stallions are mostly solitary. The herd is led and protected by the lead mare who remains in charge until she grows too old and passes the right down to one of her daughters, but should she be killed or not have any fillies then leadership will pass to her next of kin.

During the mating season, stallions compete in duals, challenging each other by butting horns. These fights are as spectacular as they are dangerous as stallions not only brandish horns, bite and kick, but also cast spells and use elemental attacks. This demonstrates to the mares how much control the stallion has over his powers as well as his ability to take care of his future family. No matter which stallion comes out the victor it is ultimately the mare’s choice if she wishes the winner to be her mate. If she does accept him, the two will prance around each other before tapping their horns together. Touching horns is very intimate and meaningful for Unicorns as they only do it with their mates and foals as a show of trust and affection.

Stallion Unicorns are nomads who leave their birth-herds when they come of age. He may join other stallions form a small all-male herd during his travels, but ultimately lives most of his life alone. A stallion can have 2-3 mates, one each in a different herd. During his wanderings, he alternates between each herd to watch over his mates and foals from afar. He only rejoins each mate during the breeding season.

A mare will remain with her birth-herd, learning to care for her younger siblings and herd-siblings until she too is ready for motherhood.

Mare Unicorns have a single foal – on rare occasions, twins may be born. All the mares share the duty of child-care and if a foal looses its mother then the other females will raise it. From the time of its birth, the foal is able to use its magic and elemental powers which often causes a lot of trouble as they don’t have full control of their powers.

Abilities:

Healing: Unicorns are able to heal themselves as they restore low vitality, heal wounds, broken bones and can even grow back severed limbs or organs. They can heal others as well as cure illnesses, diseases or poisoning, even when it has damaged or withered organisms.

Purification: As creatures of purity, Unicorns can turn evil to good or merely make someone pure. They can remove the darkness or evil from people, animals or objects, including demons who may have possessed them.

Lie Detection: Unicorns value virtue and honesty as such they have the ability to sense whenever someone is lying. Like most animals, they can smell it within the liar’s pheromones or hear it in their heartbeat, but Unicorns uniquely can sense the true virtue of someone’s words through their soul. If the light of a person’s soul is tainted in darkness then the Unicorn can detect not only the lies which the person has spoken at present, but what other secrets they’re hiding and how bad they are.

Magic: A Unicorn’s mana is powered through it’s horn, allowing it to perform magic. Due to their peaceful nature’s, Unicorn magic mainly focuses on defensive spells or nature revival. To use their magic offensively is considered taboo.

Pure of Heart: Unicorns are creatures of goodness with strong hearts devoid of malice or darkness, as such, they can never be corrupted by evil. No matter what cruelty a Unicorn may face, it will never allow itself to retaliate in a rage. Focusing upon the good emotions within its heart (happiness, kindness, friendship, love, etc) a Unicorn’s pure intentions can banish evil and vanquish impure magic. It is for this reason why they are so revered.

Elemental Abilities:

Elemental Energy Absorption: Unicorns can gain strength or increase their powers by absorbing their element.

Element Manipulation: They can create, shape and manipulate all aspects of which ever element they control.

Elemental Aura: Unicorns can surround themselves in elemental energy becoming almost untouchable. In this state their strength, speed and durability is enhanced and their attacks can cut through anything.

Weakness:

Horn Break: In the rare occasion that a Unicorn’s horn is broken, it grows back, but if the bone-core of the horn is damaged then the horn will never re-grow. Without the bone-core and keratin-sheath, a Unicorn is unable to control its element or magic, causing it to release violent, destructive blasts of energy that not only harm those around the Unicorn, but the beast itself. It also diminishes the Unicorn’s ability to detect poisons or toxins.

Glowing Eyes: Due to having good night vision, a Unicorn’s eyes reflect light when it is shined upon them within darkness. This tends to give away their positions to enemies.

Concentration: Using magic takes concentration and focus, and there are rules to follow when using it. A Unicorn must have the proper knowledge and skill in order to perform magic. If a Unicorn does not have all of these qualities or is interrupted in a crucial moment then the results can range from amusing and annoying, but mendable, to destructive and lethal or even catastrophic and apocalyptic.

Consequences: When using magic there is always a price. Unicorns must be well aware of the risks when casting spells as the price must always be paid, one way or another. The consequences can range from something as insignificant as the magical energy required to activate the spell or something devastating such as the Unicorn’s soul or worse.

Compassion: While their generousity is the Unicorns greatest virtue, it can also be their undoing. The story of maidens or young women being able to tame Unicorns is a myth as the horned horses are weary of adults. The gentle beasts, however, do have a soft spot for children, never failing to approach them. Unable to resist helping those in need, Unicorns are often trapped when wranglers use children as bait though their time in captivity never lasts long thanks to the horse’s intellect. Surprisingly, the Unicorns never hold a grudge against the child, seeming to understand that the child is simply too young to understand what’s happening.

Elemental Weakness: Like all Gaeaians, a Unicorn is weak against whichever element is opposite to the one that it controls. For instance, a Unicorn with fire abilities is weak against another being that controls water.

****

The most iconic fantasy/mythological creature in history. No fantasy series would be complete without such a famous creature which all little children dream about in it.

In terms of design, rather than just going for a regular-looking horse with a horn stuck to its head and a lion's tail at its butt (boring) I decided to go back to the earliest references of this beast from medieval times. Unicorns back then were truly chimera-like with parts from horses, goats and lions. I thought those concepts were really cool, sticking closer to what ancient people believed this creature was like while giving it a unique look that's different from modern Unicorn designs (AKA, my little pony, the last unicorn, etc).

Rather than give the coat bright rainbow colours, I felt the natural pelt colours of real horses was a better choice, giving it a more natural feel. Also I didn't go for a traditional completely white Unicorn because 1) no animal is purely white, rather just a diulted cream 2) it's boring.

Behaviour-wise, its a mix between horses and goats with a little bit of onyx, camel and aardvark.

All-in-all, I think this design turned out well.

Destiny Stones, Gaea (c) Dragoness-Tiger

Description

Name: Unicorn

Pronunciation: Yuu – nee – corn

Scientific Name: Unaillum cornutum medicus equus

Meaning: “Single-horned Healer Horse”

Size: 5ft. Muscular body with strong hindquarters and low-set tails. It has powerful, sloping shoulders and a long, arched neck. The head is well-chiselled with relatively short ears. Its limbs are comparatively short, but strong. It has long feathery or silky fur. The mane is long and thick, often wavy. The long horn is straight and spiral-shaped.

Body Build: Unicorns are generally equine in appearance with horse-like heads and bodies while their legs and hooves are similar to a deer’s. There is a single, long horn in the middle of the forehead, but the shape of the horn depends upon the breed of the Unicorn. Unlike other horse-related creatures, the mane and tail of Unicorns are lion-like. Unicorns have long fur, but it tends to be longer around their lower-jaw, neck, feet and tail-tuft.

Eye colour: A Unicorn’s eyes are shades of blue, green or purple with other colours being exceptionally rare. The pupils of their eyes are round and human-like, but thin into slits when they get angry.

Colour: Unicorns can be white, grey, dun, light-bay or chestnut.

Markings: Unicorns have light markings, manes, leg-feathering and tail-tufts. Leg-markings vary, some only being around the feathering while others may go up to the shoulder. Some may have dorsal stripes along their backs.

Horn & Hooves: Depending which element it controls, Unicorn horns and hooves can be one colour:
Sun: gold
Fire: red
Air: yellow
Thunder: orange
Wood: brown
Crystal: pink
Light: white
Moon: silver
Water: blue
Earth: green
Ice: indigo
Poison: purple
Metal: grey
Darkness: black

Gender Differences:

Males: He has longer beard-like fur along his lower jaw.
Females: She has longer fur around her hooves.

Physiology:

Mountain Adaption: Mostly living within rocky areas or mountaintops, Unicorns are capable of living in environments were the air is thin due to their tolerance for high air-pressure while their manes and feathers protect them from the freezing air. Unaffected by the symptoms of vertigo or similar disorientations, Unicorns can move atop mountains where few predators would dare to tread.

Desert Adaption: As they migrate across the land, Unicorns are able to adapt to harsh environments including deserts. They can survive the heat of the day as the shorter fur around most of their bodies allows them to regulate heat whilst their long manes and foot-feathers helps to provide warmth during the cold nights. Unicorns can travel through sandstorms as their long eyelashes protect their eyes and they can walk on shifting sand due to their large feet.

Horn: A Unicorn’s horn is covered in a fine, soft velvet and is highly sensitive, which allows them to sense poisons and toxins in plants or water. The horn’s skeletal structure has a bone-core within the centre, helping the Unicorn to channel its elemental powers and is protected by a sheath of keratin, but unlike normal horns the keratin of a Unicorn is harder than diamonds and stronger than steel, allowing the Unicorn to pierce or slash through anything.

Enhanced Bite: Unicorns have a considerable amount of strength within their jaw-muscles. Due to their omnivore diet, their teeth are sharper than normal.

Prehensile Tongue: Their tongues are longer than their bodies and are strong enough to lift objects or people.

Extra limb: The tail is prehensile and can be used like a third hand. It is also strong enough to lift another person.

Expanded View: They have an expanded field of view, but not enough to give them the ability to see behind themselves.

Night Vision: Unicorns have several adaptations which allow them to see at night. The pupils of their large eyes can expand greatly at night, enhancing their ability to see in the dark. The rods within their eyes are extremely light sensitive, taking in every ounce of dim light to allow them to see in the dark.

Enhanced Taste: They have an accurate sense of taste, allowing them to sense what foods or plants maybe beneficial or harmful. By just breathing through their mouths, Unicorns can taste what things are edible without having to actually eat the food.

Enhanced Smell: With their highly acute snout they can identify herd members and predators. Their sensitivity to scent allows them to detect poisons and toxins, even when others attempt to mask it with other scents.

Enhanced Hearing: They can hear low to very high frequencies, in the range of 14Hz to 25kHz. Their ears can move 180 degrees, allowing them to focus on the direction of the sound, isolate it then decided wheatear to fight or flee.

Enhanced Strength: Unicorns can effortlessly lift and carry large or heavy objects. They can smash through stone and steel.

Enhanced Speed: They are able to run at speeds almost beyond the point of perception. They can keep up this speed for several hours.

Enhanced Agility: Unicorns can rapidly change their body’s position efficiently to perform athletic and martial implements or sprint to avoid danger.

Enhanced Endurance: Even when thrown into boulders or hit by heavier beasts, Unicorns always manage to get back up on their feet.

Enhanced Stamina: They are able to maintain continuous strainous physical action for long periods of time, allowing them to fight harder and longer than other horse-like creatures.

Enhanced Balance: Unicorns can perfectly balance on any object, no matter how narrow or unstable it may be. They hardly every loose their footing, being able to right themselves almost in mid-air. This also makes it incredibly difficult for enemies or predators to knock them down.

Enhanced Leap: Unicorns are capable of leaping 6ft, even vertically without a running start.

Dexterity: They are able to precisely control their movements and muscles, they are never clumsy or fumbling. They always land on their feet when pushed down and never lose their balance when on uneven surfaces.

Disease Immunity: Unicorns are unaffected by any form of disease brought on by bacteria, viruses or parasites. Their digestive systems are so strong that they can eat anything no matter how rotten or inedible it may be.

Poison Immunity: They are unaffected by all forms of poison. No matter how powerful the toxin, Unicorns cannot be harmed.

Escapism: Despite having been hunted for centuries, Unicorns are one of the hardest beasts to trap let-alone capture. They are well known for being stealthy and silent when the need arises, being sighted in one spot before disappearing as if in the blink of an eye. Wranglers have even stated that when chasing a Unicorn, the beast has hidden within the shades of the forests or mountains with no trace as to where it had run. Lassos, ropes and chains of any kind are useless against Unicorns with due to their strength, speed and magic. Cages are no challenge for them as they are able to deduce the pattern of a trap to escape it or if they are caught they always find a flaw to break out.

Climbing: The cloven hooves of Unicorns can spread wide to improve their balance while the sharp points on the tips and rough pads on the bottom of each toe provide the grip of a natural climbing shoe, allowing the hooves to dig into the tiniest cracks on any surface to climb.

Call: Neighing, grunting, and snorting.

Tropic: Omnivore

Diet: Unicorns diet mainly consists of poaceae such as grass, leaves, clover, alfalfa, vines, nettles, roses, honeysuckles, hawthorns, willows, sedges, forbs, lichens, shrubs, weeds, roots, bark, twigs, shoots, tubers, bulbs, hay, oats, corn, barley, wheat, fungi, nuts and seeds.

Vegetables are another main part of their diet such as beets, carrot, celery, cucumber, parsnip, swede, turnip, kale, lettuce, squash, spinach, broccoli, potato, zucchini, peas, yam, chard, artichoke, asparagus, sprouts, arugula, eggplant, mushrooms, peppers, cabbage, onions, cauliflower and pumpkin.

Fruits such as apple, apricot, banana, blackberry, strawberry, cherries, coconut, grapefruit, orange, peach, pear, pineapple, plum, raisins, grapes, tomatoes, radishes, melon and watermelon are harvested.

However, unlike other eqiunian species, Unicorns are insectivorous. Due to their migrating nature, Unicorns do not always have access to vegetation and therefore seek out a different food source. Earthworms, beetles, termites, ants, crickets, butterflies, caterpillars, dragonflies, snails, wasps, bees, grasshoppers, flies, grubs, larvae, scorpions, centipedes and spiders are their main prey.

Habitat: Unicorns are migratory animals who travel around rugged, rocky terrain. During Green-Bloom, they head north to their feeding grounds in the meadows where they’ll feed on the abundance of plants and fruits. However, Green-Bloom is prone to having long droughts, turning grasslands into deserts. Thankfully, there is still plenty of insects so the Unicorns are able to survive the harsh environment.

When White-Fall approaches, the Unicorns turn back south to the mountains to spend the cold months in sheltered climes and caves, feeding on the tough mountaintop vegetation.

Lair: Living life on the road, Unicorns hardly ever make a lair for themselves. The only time they den-up is during storms – be it thunder, sand or snow.

Temperament: Unicorns are known as one of the most intelligent horses in Gaea. Fast-learners, they can adapt and improvise to any situation, being able to perform task or form plans most horses wouldn’t even be capable of. Their high intellect is what has earned them the ire of wranglers worldwide as no one has ever been able to capture one.

It is their kindness, however, that has earned them such high esteem. Pacifists by nature, Unicorns despise violence and prefer to use their powers defensively. These gentle beasts will help anyone in need, be it a person who has gotten lost or an injured creature, expecting nothing in return. Due to this, very few animals prey on them and instead protect them from larger predators or wranglers, knowing they can turn to a Unicorn should they ever be injured or sick.

Although friendly, Unicorns usually tend to avoid humans unless necessary. Should anyone manage to befriend a Unicorn, they are loyal companions and wise teachers with some people claiming to have learned magic and healing from a Unicorn.

Breeding and Herd Life: Mares and their foals live in large herds while stallions are mostly solitary. The herd is led and protected by the lead mare who remains in charge until she grows too old and passes the right down to one of her daughters, but should she be killed or not have any fillies then leadership will pass to her next of kin.

During the mating season, stallions compete in duals, challenging each other by butting horns. These fights are as spectacular as they are dangerous as stallions not only brandish horns, bite and kick, but also cast spells and use elemental attacks. This demonstrates to the mares how much control the stallion has over his powers as well as his ability to take care of his future family. No matter which stallion comes out the victor it is ultimately the mare’s choice if she wishes the winner to be her mate. If she does accept him, the two will prance around each other before tapping their horns together. Touching horns is very intimate and meaningful for Unicorns as they only do it with their mates and foals as a show of trust and affection.

Stallion Unicorns are nomads who leave their birth-herds when they come of age. He may join other stallions form a small all-male herd during his travels, but ultimately lives most of his life alone. A stallion can have 2-3 mates, one each in a different herd. During his wanderings, he alternates between each herd to watch over his mates and foals from afar. He only rejoins each mate during the breeding season.

A mare will remain with her birth-herd, learning to care for her younger siblings and herd-siblings until she too is ready for motherhood.

Mare Unicorns have a single foal – on rare occasions, twins may be born. All the mares share the duty of child-care and if a foal looses its mother then the other females will raise it. From the time of its birth, the foal is able to use its magic and elemental powers which often causes a lot of trouble as they don’t have full control of their powers.

Abilities:

Healing: Unicorns are able to heal themselves as they restore low vitality, heal wounds, broken bones and can even grow back severed limbs or organs. They can heal others as well as cure illnesses, diseases or poisoning, even when it has damaged or withered organisms.

Purification: As creatures of purity, Unicorns can turn evil to good or merely make someone pure. They can remove the darkness or evil from people, animals or objects, including demons who may have possessed them.

Lie Detection: Unicorns value virtue and honesty as such they have the ability to sense whenever someone is lying. Like most animals, they can smell it within the liar’s pheromones or hear it in their heartbeat, but Unicorns uniquely can sense the true virtue of someone’s words through their soul. If the light of a person’s soul is tainted in darkness then the Unicorn can detect not only the lies which the person has spoken at present, but what other secrets they’re hiding and how bad they are.

Magic: A Unicorn’s mana is powered through it’s horn, allowing it to perform magic. Due to their peaceful nature’s, Unicorn magic mainly focuses on defensive spells or nature revival. To use their magic offensively is considered taboo.

Pure of Heart: Unicorns are creatures of goodness with strong hearts devoid of malice or darkness, as such, they can never be corrupted by evil. No matter what cruelty a Unicorn may face, it will never allow itself to retaliate in a rage. Focusing upon the good emotions within its heart (happiness, kindness, friendship, love, etc) a Unicorn’s pure intentions can banish evil and vanquish impure magic. It is for this reason why they are so revered.

Elemental Abilities:

Elemental Energy Absorption: Unicorns can gain strength or increase their powers by absorbing their element.

Element Manipulation: They can create, shape and manipulate all aspects of which ever element they control.

Elemental Aura: Unicorns can surround themselves in elemental energy becoming almost untouchable. In this state their strength, speed and durability is enhanced and their attacks can cut through anything.

Weakness:

Horn Break: In the rare occasion that a Unicorn’s horn is broken, it grows back, but if the bone-core of the horn is damaged then the horn will never re-grow. Without the bone-core and keratin-sheath, a Unicorn is unable to control its element or magic, causing it to release violent, destructive blasts of energy that not only harm those around the Unicorn, but the beast itself. It also diminishes the Unicorn’s ability to detect poisons or toxins.

Glowing Eyes: Due to having good night vision, a Unicorn’s eyes reflect light when it is shined upon them within darkness. This tends to give away their positions to enemies.

Concentration: Using magic takes concentration and focus, and there are rules to follow when using it. A Unicorn must have the proper knowledge and skill in order to perform magic. If a Unicorn does not have all of these qualities or is interrupted in a crucial moment then the results can range from amusing and annoying, but mendable, to destructive and lethal or even catastrophic and apocalyptic.

Consequences: When using magic there is always a price. Unicorns must be well aware of the risks when casting spells as the price must always be paid, one way or another. The consequences can range from something as insignificant as the magical energy required to activate the spell or something devastating such as the Unicorn’s soul or worse.

Compassion: While their generousity is the Unicorns greatest virtue, it can also be their undoing. The story of maidens or young women being able to tame Unicorns is a myth as the horned horses are weary of adults. The gentle beasts, however, do have a soft spot for children, never failing to approach them. Unable to resist helping those in need, Unicorns are often trapped when wranglers use children as bait though their time in captivity never lasts long thanks to the horse’s intellect. Surprisingly, the Unicorns never hold a grudge against the child, seeming to understand that the child is simply too young to understand what’s happening.

Elemental Weakness: Like all Gaeaians, a Unicorn is weak against whichever element is opposite to the one that it controls. For instance, a Unicorn with fire abilities is weak against another being that controls water.

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The most iconic fantasy/mythological creature in history. No fantasy series would be complete without such a famous creature which all little children dream about in it.

In terms of design, rather than just going for a regular-looking horse with a horn stuck to its head and a lion's tail at its butt (boring) I decided to go back to the earliest references of this beast from medieval times. Unicorns back then were truly chimera-like with parts from horses, goats and lions. I thought those concepts were really cool, sticking closer to what ancient people believed this creature was like while giving it a unique look that's different from modern Unicorn designs (AKA, my little pony, the last unicorn, etc).

Rather than give the coat bright rainbow colours, I felt the natural pelt colours of real horses was a better choice, giving it a more natural feel. Also I didn't go for a traditional completely white Unicorn because 1) no animal is purely white, rather just a diulted cream 2) it's boring.

Behaviour-wise, its a mix between horses and goats with a little bit of onyx, camel and aardvark.

All-in-all, I think this design turned out well.

Destiny Stones, Gaea (c) Dragoness-Tiger