Pygmy-Minotaurs, the "Pygmins" ****Plus "Chikchaak"

Short Description: Humanoid beings with bovine traits. Distant descendants of the ancient warrior race, the legendary Minotaurs. Females are roughly 7' to 8' tall and several hundred pounds in weight when fully mature, bovine ears, horns, and tails (and sometimes hooves in particular bloodlines), remarkable talents and proclivities as caretakers, extremely gentle, kindhearted, and motherly, but naive. Massive appetite, and miraculously complex and efficient digestive system. Elastic body tissues, could hold weeks worth of food in her belly for future use. Hypothetically capable of swallowing an adult whole but viciously abhor the thought of causing any form of harm. Lactates profusely, sells milk and dairy products. Males are smaller and often similar in stature to human men, tend to be muscular and aggressive.

Origins: The ancient Minotaurs of legend were said to be monstrous creatures of immense size and strength. But many generations of interbreeding with the various humanoids of Felarya have changed their physiology significantly. Especially so for the males, which have shrunk so drastically that many are indistinguishable from humans. Hence why the race are called "Pygmies" or "Pygmins". Most of the race's genetics are dependent on mitochondrial DNA, meaning that the mother's genes will have much greater influence than the father's. Paternal lineages (that often interbred with humans) therefore disintegrated very quickly, but maternal lineages have settled into stability and now stay more or less genetically constant.

Physiology: Pygmins undergo a modified development cycle that involves a number of distinct stages. To begin with, their pregnancy lasts nearly 28 months but the newborn will be similar in size and development as a 5-year old human child when born. Within the first day, the newborn is often able to stand, walk, identify its mother, and vocalize distinct phrases. Its debated whether or not these habits are instinctual, learned independently, or somehow deliberately taught by the mother before birth. The first life stage is the suckling period, which lasts roughly another 2 years. Needless to say, all the various sub-races related to the Minotaurs are famous for milk production and even the Pygmins are no exception. By the time the suckling period ends, the 2-year old Pygmin will have grown to the stature of a very portly preteen human child and already begin to show signs of puberty. Education up to this point has been informal, but young Pygmin have a surprising talent for intuitively grasping the basics of language and arithmetic at a very young age, though even as adults they seldom grasp complex subjects of any kind, leading to the race's reputation for being dimwitted. In any case, they're highly active in the first stage and often need to be in order to help their (almost constantly pregnant) mothers with domestic tasks.

The second stage begins at weaning. The digestive system of the Pygmin is a natural wonder. A fully-mature adult could break down and receive nutrition from almost any substance, even solid stone or metal. But until this point, the young have had no exposure to solid food and it takes a great deal of time for their bodies to acclimate. This is also the period of time when the young leave their mothers to be taught a profession, which is stressful. They quickly lose a great deal of their fat stores and their rapid growth slows to a crawl. The males often learn trades from other humanoids and often blend in with human boys. Very few even realize that they aren't actually human. Once their bodies do acclimate to solid food they put on muscle and are well suited to any task that involves physical labor. For them, the metamorphosis stops there but for the females the process is only beginning. Pygmin girls have insatiable appetites and are practically obsessed with any topic related to food, everything from farming the ingredients to proper table manners. Their mothers and other female relatives often establish small boarding schools to maintain the race's traditions, where the girls are taught etiquette, gardening, culinary skills, and other homemaking crafts. They're very well fed, which is important for development. As soon as they are acclimated to solid food, their growth rate skyrockets again. Meanwhile their digestive system metamorphoses, one stomach dividing into two, and then later four while the bowels similarly develop to meet the new demands. A key point arises late in puberty when the internal changes are complete. By this time the Pygmin girl, now age 10-12, will be a little taller and curvier than a typical human woman in her 30s.

The beginning of the third stage occurs only if circumstances allow it. If they are not met, her physical development will be forever stunted and she'll stay more or less the same size for the rest of her life. The trigger will be a sudden urge to gorge herself to capacity as soon as her four stomachs are fully developed. The practice is steeped in ceremony and ritual, and even has its own name- the 'First Feast'. Often treated as a well-anticipated and joyous celebration of the passage to adulthood and attended and catered by the entire boarding school. Pygmin girls who are unfortunate as to not be placed in such a school are rumored to do scandalous acts at this crucial moment like thievery and swallowing large objects whole. But if she does successfully gorge herself on cue then her body will continue to develop and only if so will she become fertile. She will continue to increase in size and mass slowly as time passes, most of her bulk being consolidated rather than simply added on. Pygmin girls begin to lactate almost as soon as they're weaned but only in low quantity and quality. After the First Feast, her milk production will increase dramatically and will be sold to fund the boarding school. At this point she is considered a legitimate adult and gains social status among her race. She is now marriageable, though arranging a legitimate marriage seldom happens. Most Pygmin children are conceived in casual relationships with other races, usually humans.

Though interbreeding is frowned upon and Pygmin culture is very old-fashioned and prudish, chance encounters that produce new children are necessary for the race's survival and often hypocritically tolerated. And good that they are, as reproduction is the catalyst for the fourth and final stage in the Pygmin growth cycle. Early in the Pygmin's first pregnancy, she'll once again be naturally compelled to gorge to capacity and to continue doing so for several following days. Hence the occasion known as the 'Second Feast', which is an even more elaborate and respected ceremony than its predecessor, often drawing in Pygmin women from the entire region. The event marks an even higher social status for the mother and yet another growth spurt. Over the course of the first pregnancy she'll continue to grow to a final height as much as 8' and a final weight at least 700 lbs, or perhaps even more with the right diet. This is necessary to gestate and then later nurse the very large and demanding Pygmin calves. Another odd quirk about their process is that one successful insemination could affect all of her eggs, which are few in number but would then all be released in sequence. Its entirely normal that just one sexual encounter may lead to several consecutive pregnancies, each taking more than two years to complete. But for the Pygmin, high fertility is the zenith of her social status and wealth. Her final growth spurt comes with yet another significant increase in milk production and quality, the latter of which continues to improve in following pregnancies. If she manages to be a mother of five, her milk even begins to take on medicinal value. If she manages to be a mother of ten, her milk is practically worth its weight in gold. But few Pygmin ever produce enough eggs to make it that far. Though there was one remarkable individual who is said to have produced 17 young in sequence and rose to legend.

Roles/Occupations: Pygmin women whose final calf is weaned are left at a crossroads. The ones that were abundantly fertile can easily retire in wealth, and often establish new boarding schools in large settlements for the benefit of their daughters and granddaughters. The ones that were not so fortunate either stay in the school that raised them to become instructors, or seek work elsewhere, often as housekeepers, wet-nurses or nannies. A growing number are now finding their place in adventuring parties even in spite of it clashing with their domestic tendencies. They're surprisingly useful in the field- when mature they can subsist on just about anything and can then feed the rest of their party aplenty. And though they appear slow, cumbersome, and dimwitted, they can defy expectations when threatened. In a pinch, they make a fine healer, and otherwise are famous for being fantastic cooks. Large predators however have learned that just one fully grown Pygmin has the nutritional value of dozens of humans and are prized catches. Its unusual for Pygmin to deviate from their gentle, caring, and formal nature, but there are some remarkable exceptions. The best example was called "Dana the Nightingale", who turned out to be Felarya's least expected professional assassin. She had built a reputation for being a high-class housemaid, dutifully serving the rich and powerful just like a member of their family. At some point she was offered a massive sum of money to make a notable heir to the fortune conveniently disappear. And in spite of her reservations and protests, she so happened to miss dinner the following night and was tempted to kill two birds with one stone. After she caved and discretely swallowed him, none would dare guess that his missing remains were right under their noses, in the bulge that ever so gently pressed against the inside of her frilly apron. She would go on to make dozens of other targets disappear in following years without ever having been suspected.

This article is informative and funny. I like these Pygmin Minotaurs. My favorite point is the smaller nature makes them more unique for the setting and the semi-intelligent infancy. It sounds like having a Pygmin Mino army would make one able to breed a slave army much easier than most races native to Lydus...If one had such desires hypothetically.

Incredbile race! Very well balanced and thought out! Honestly one of the best minotaur designs I've seen. Loved the details on our thier quirky society and biology but the lore about a vorish cow maid at the end has to be my favorite part XD

Thanks for the replies. I had considered writing a little more about some notable individuals. We started with Dana the Nightingale and how she began a highly unlikely side job of assassinating unsuspecting former clients by swallowing them. I could elaborate on her a little.

Dana was born and raised in a relatively poor neighborhood in Negav. She grew up in one of the smaller boarding schools and always dreamt of moving up in the world. For her race, she was relatively small and thin, which put her in very low status. Scored top marks for etiquette and hospitality in her school, but because of her small figure it was difficult to sell enough milk to pay her room and board. Because of this, she tried to get outside work early in adulthood with nobility in the upper echelons of Negav and was generally liked by the Negavites for being petite and attractive for her race. In no time she had worked her way into a respectable living and soon served some of the most prestigious families in the entire city. Eventually she followed the unspoken rule and fraternized with one of the male servants. Luckily by this point her position was secure and she's said to have went through several pregnancies without ever missing a day of work. She was also said to have kept her good looks even after her final growth spurt.

It was at some point during this period when she was first asked by a mysterious outsider to eliminate the heir to the family fortune. At first she vigorously protested even in spite of the massive reward. The outsider tried a new tactic- suggesting that her client family hadn't sent her calves to good schools as promised but instead had them taken away and killed in the false suspicion that they might be illegitimate bastard-children of the heir. The idea, though totally untrue, rattled Dana to her very core. She never looked at her client family the same way again. Though deeply conflicted, she eventually resolved to poison the heir's food but soon realized that this plan was incredibly difficult and risky. What if she accidentally poisoned the wrong dish? Or used the wrong amount? Or got caught? She spent days trying to work out the details but eventually her Pygmin brain just did what it does. She was late in a pregnancy, had missed dinner, and was hungry, distressed, and confused. Just so happened to cross the heir alone in an isolated hallway of the penthouse and one big *NOMPF* later history was made.

Dana herself was very shocked and confused about what had just happened. At first she felt extremely guilty and expected to be caught on sight. A few days passed uneventfully and it dawned on her that she had done the unspeakable and actually gotten away with it. When the outsider paid the promised reward and revealed that the earlier statement was just made up, Dana was even more disturbed at what she had done. But time passed and somewhere along the way she had internalized some measure of human cunning and malice. Eventually, reward money alone would be enough to convince her to repeat the act on another several targets and by then she even seemed to enjoy it. 50 kills later and she was considered a leading member in the fraternity of assassins under the alter-ego 'Nightingale'. But in all that time, the humble housemaid Dana was never even considered a suspect, and in fact went to great lengths to represent the gentle, harmless nature of her race in public by funding human-rights campaigns and outreach events.

And continuing from the previous post of odd and unusual Pygmin, the tragedy of the 'Second Duchess':

There was once a Pygmin who was said to have come from a pure lineage, had married legitimately, and then went on to produce seventeen calves in succession, each adding to her prestige. Its said that she had reached a pinnacle of wealth and status that no other Pygmin had ever seen before or since. Her milk is said to be so pure and rich that it could cure any wound and conduct mana even more efficiently than ascarlin. She was remembered only as 'The Duchess' and many generations later considered a legend of her race.

In the present, it was rumored that a direct descendant of The Duchess had been found and from infancy seemed to have all of her key traits. The child had all the best pedigrees, was the largest Pygmin seen in generations, and was beautiful beyond comparison (Pygmin standards of beauty differ from ours, but that's another story). She was raised in luxury, fed only the best in plenty, and given all she could desire. Its said that at her First Feast, she consumed enough food to feed an entire village for a week, and that after her first growth spurt was taller and heavier than many fully grown adults. She was widely called the Second Duchess thereafter and was set in a legitimate arranged marriage with a male Pygmin of respectable lineage. The first of its kind for many decades. The couple rose to the apex of the social hierarchy overnight and were expected to establish a clan of numerous descendants with higher status than any that come before.

Her Second Feast came to great fanfare and nearly every Pygmin in all of Felarya attended. At conceiving offspring her place was secure and she was expected to produce more calves than could be counted. There was great debate as to exactly what her title should be thereafter, and how far the borders of her estate would reach out to. Excitement amongst her race reached its peak in the following months, but the Second Duchess herself didn't make many public appearances. The fabled due date of the first calf came... and then went without event. Many speculated that she was merely overdue, rare though that be amongst Pygmin mothers. Another year would pass before it was announced that the Second Duchess had in fact miscarried and was not expecting again. This was the darkest of days for the Pygmin race, and overnight the royal couple plummeted from being at the helm of the greatest dynasty in their race's history to being lowest caste in the hierarchy.

How or why the Second Duchess miscarried is unknown. But in any case, for the Second Duchess herself the shame and loss were immeasurable. She went into a total mental breakdown, and fled from her home into exile. Years were spent alone in the wilderness, where her features withered and her size began to wane until she looked no different than any other Pygmin woman. She eventually returned to society, but hid her identity and tried to make do as a commoner. But her mental scars had still not healed, which led to derangement. She had opened a small cottage bakery that she ran on her own. For a time it seemed that she was adjusting well but this hid sinister intentions. She had in fact been luring children inside and swallowing them whole, just to feel the sensation of having life in her belly. Some say that dozens would disappear at a time. At some point she suspected that others had caught on to her ruse and she fled into the wilderness again. She's still at large and often mentioned as a boogeyman to convince children not to disobey their parents or to wander off alone, else the Second Duchess might get them.

An idea for a different species that was subject to convergent evolution alongside the Pygmin-
Semi-domesticated pygmy harpies called the Chikchaak:

These are a particular breed of harpy with a fast rate of evolution, that has grown continually smaller and rotund to a point where they are all but flightless and no longer threatening to most humanoids. Most Chikchaak stand between 4'0" and 4'6", but are very broad and bulky, often at least as heavy as a grown man. They still retain their wings, but their power of flight is limited due to their weight. Their hips are wide-set and the legs are thick and muscular, they are able runners and voracious predators of anything they can swallow whole. Their mouths, throats, and stomachs are incredibly flexible, easily able to accommodate prey animals the size of a small dog. Because of their silhouette, gait, and familiar vocalizations they are often nicknamed "chicken-harpies".

The Chikchaak have spent many generations living among the Pygmin race, some speculate that both races' massive ancestors held some symbiotic bond that never vanished. To varying degrees they can be considered domesticated, though communication and cooperation between them is limited by a severe language barrier. Chikchaak are intelligent enough to understand spoken dialogue, but the shape of their shrunken vocal chords makes it all but impossible for them to speak any humanoid language. They communicate through a series of clicks, clucks, and screeches that most other species find incomprehensible. Their bond with the Pygmin (or companions of other species for that matter) is for the most part, unspoken.

Symbiosis between the two species is fairly straightforward. A flock of Chikchaak provides the Pygmin with thorough pest prevention by zealously eating any unwanted rodents, insects, or any other vermin found in sight of the communal areas and the much-vaunted vegetable gardens. They are also highly efficient in converting all of this protein into a form the Pygmin can make use of though egg-laying. Like the Kiwi, they invest considerable energy into producing a single massive egg which can end up taking up as much as 20% of total body mass at the time of laying. Needless to say that this is a significant cause of their ravenous appetites, which can't always be satisfied though hunting alone. Handouts of incredibly nutrient-rich Pygmin cuisine (including the occasional suckle of a Pygmin's engorged teat) has become a staple of the Chikchaak evolutionary path.

A large majority of observed Chikchaak are female, though male specimens have been documented as well. Initially, sexual dimorphism was absent in the species but has increased in recent memory likely due to other species' influence. Ordinarily they would mate by conventional means, lay eggs, and the young would then emerge fully independent and capable of hunting for themselves from day one. Lately however the taste for Pygmin handouts has curiously led to the young making sympathetic cries which have been highly effective at soliciting mothering behavior not from their actual parents, but from their Pygmin caretakers. In a further development, the ordinarily flat-chested Chikchaak females have even begun developing mammaries of their own in response. Most contemporary specimens have little to show for it, barely filling a humanoid's A-cup at the most. Though if this evolutionary path continues they may at some point become very well endowed. Rumors abound that their means of reproduction has also been changed due to domestication, that if only well enough fed a female Chikchaak will lay self-fertilized eggs that emerge as identical clones of the mother, not unlike an aphid. This however has not yet been scientifically verified.