Species name: Drometaur (named for the Dromedary, or one-humped camel)
Threat: Medium, sometimes High
Appearance:
Drometaurs are relatives of the centaurs. They have the upper body of a human and the lower body of a camel, and have become specially adapted to survive in the harsh conditions of Felarya's vast deserts. They tend to stand at an average height of 110ft tall, with the males usually slightly taller.
Drometaurs tend to have healthy looking, tanned skin with dark brown, black or sometimes red hair. Lighter shades of hair have been reported, but these seem to be a rarity. Their camel half has a single hump on its back and comes in several hues, but it is usually a shade of brown or tan.
Abilities:
Perhaps the best known ability of the drometaur is its sheer endurance. Their internal body temperature is extremely adaptable, helping them to keep from overheating, or getting too cold during the blazing hot days, or cold nights found in the desert. Their wide, padded feet also allow them to walk across the hot sand in relative comfort. The body of the drometaur is able to conserve food and water extremely well. Their multi-chambered stomach ensures that as much energy is extracted from their meals as possible, and their body has several internal storage spaces for water. On a full stomach, and after a long drink to fill their internal reserves, they can potentially go on for days and days on end before having to eat and drink again.
The vast majority of drometaurs also seem to have a natural talent with water based magic. They are able to sense the location of a body of water from many miles away, and some of the more gifted ones can even pull moisture out of the air as an emergency water source. This amount is usually fairly small in the middle of the desert, but with the drometaur's already incredible endurance, even a small amount of water will allow them to continue on for a good while longer.
Most humans and other hybrid species have the misconception that drometaurs are slow, awkward moving creatures, but they would be wrong. While not as fast as a centaur on the plains, the distinct, awkward looking gait of a drometaur can propel them to great speeds when they feel like it. They just tend to not be in much of a hurry to get where they are going most of the time.
Personality:
Compared to other species of centaur, and a good number of other species for that matter, drometaurs tend to be fairly laid back. They tend to walk at a fairly constant, easy walk (which has earned them a reputation as being slow) and only run when they abolutely need to.
Drometaurs are usually less voracious than other species. They need to eat less to survive, and will eat a wide range of desert dwelling animals and plants that they come across. They also tend to be on relatively good terms with humans and won't usually go out of their way to eat them, unless they are particularly hungry when they happen to run across a human. Most drometaurs place a high value self-sufficiency and the ability to survive, and will generally respect those who are capable of them, regardless of species. This has led to several of the more developed human settlements in the desert to form fairly good relationships with local drometaurs. They will sometimes enlist their services as supply haulers, or ferries across the burning sands, which drometaurs will usually do in return for a long drink from town's oasis and an interesting conversation or story during the trip.
Subject: Camel hybrids 
Tue Mar 31, 2009 4:38 pm
