Mounts: Horses, pseudosaurs?

[archhealer]

I'm helping my girlfriend make up a character, so far she's a noble, and she has a yacht. She asked if some of the cargo space could be used to house a mount, and I figured sure, why not... but of what sort? What are the common mounts in Traveller? Horses I imagine are fairly common, but what about pseudosaurs? If they could be trained, they could be ridden, I suppose. Other suggestions?

 

[Golan2072]

It's a big universe, and gengineering has been in it for a long time (both Ancient and contemporary), so imagination's the limit.

Wooly Mammoths? (probably trainable)
Miniphants? (trainable)
Terran Elephants? (trainable)
Gengineered huge rats? (certainly trainable)
Donkeys? (an old standby and I love these animals

)
Mules? (trainable)
Camels? (trainable)

 

[archhealer]

All good thoughts! I've been down the terran road, and souped up a few old favs, but was wondering specifically if anybody had anything they'd come up with from alien worlds? Are there any cannon mounts common on Vilani worlds? Do Aslan ride? Vargr? Think you could brainwash a K'Kree to let you ride it?

 

[Golan2072]

Originally posted by Archhealer:
Think you could brainwash a K'Kree to let you ride it?

If you are a Zhodani noble, then probably yes

 

[vutpakdi]

Don't forget the increased life support requirements in terms of additional air/water and storage space for fodder (of whatever sort). Also, I would imagine that every planet will have its own vaccination (and possibly quarrantine) requirements.

Ron

 

[Spinward Scout]

You could always have an alien flying mount. It may go over well in a civilization that has grav vehicles. Aquatic mounts for water worlds, etc... Then there's always the robotic psudobio mount with lots of options: eight legs, multisensors, vocorder, natural armor, increased intelligence, sanitized metabolism (so as not to leave stinky waste), flesh pockets, vacuum tolerance, natural (or unnatural) weapons, etc...

Hope that helps,

Dameon

 

[Maladominus]

Originally posted by Archhealer:
I'm helping my girlfriend make up a character, so far she's a noble, and she has a yacht. She asked if some of the cargo space could be used to house a mount, and I figured sure, why not... but of what sort? What are the common mounts in Traveller? Horses I imagine are fairly common, but what about pseudosaurs? If they could be trained, they could be ridden, I suppose. Other suggestions?

Several canon mounts appeared in the JTAS.

The Kian is the perfect example. It's the Traveller copycat of the taun-taun. Remember tauntauns from Star Wars?

Also, I would imagine that everyone here forgets the most famous "steed" in the entire Traveller Canon-verse: the Sylean "poni". The Sylean poni is the 8 legged steed from Sylea, which became the official symbol of the Imperial Interstellar Scout Service.

P.S. --- the history of the Sylean poni (as symbol of the IISS) came from one of the rare DGP products... methinks it was Grand Census...

 

[archhealer]

Thanks, I'll be looking up those suggestions ASAP. I like the idea that certain breeds/specie came to be more widespread and popular than others. Gives an interesting feel to things.

Oh, and I've already designed a robotic horse (Using the T20 design rules) that I may let her find on a high tech world and purchase. It'll be fun when she gets to a remote low-tech place with it, and they want to give it shots and quarantine it... hehe heh.

 

[veltyen]

Had any luck breeding your robot lately

There are certain advantages to organic systems, replacement for one.

Traits I can see in a popular alien mount:

- Must be able to carry at least one rider easily, and preferably two or more
- Trainable and obedient. The more intelligent the better, but not to the point of suggesting sentience. Smart monkey level or better.
- If popular enough to be on multiple worlds it must need to be very tolerant of a wide range of gravities and atmospheres.
- Cute factor enough to appeal to a wide set of tastes.
- Speed enough to outdistance humans on foot, preferably much faster.
- Herbivore or omnivore. Carnivores are sexy but a little dangerous.
- Bisexual or hermaphrodite. Self fertilising hermaphrodite has certain advantages.
- Other traits, for example a manipulative appendage or the ability to climb, would be highly noted.

Any thing else?

I still can't get the image of a permed pigmy wooly mammoth with enourmous eyes, ribbons in its hair and a petite little saddle. Too cute for its own good.

 

[Golan2072]

Who says a pigmy wooly mammoth? The full-size one (or a full-sized elephant) is good for transportation for an entire party of adventures, India or Hannibal-style.

Intelligent, sturdy, ultra-strong and capable of carrying several people. Food, however, is an issue...

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Actually, 2-4601, the problem wouldn't be so much food, as the other end of that process...

And you thought the Type-S funk was bad!

Also, a regular size mammoth would have some serious difficulty fitting in a yacht (remember it's called a mammoth - this thing would be at least two decks high!), I would think.

 

[LordVince]

Dogs.

Bred/geneered to the size of ponies. Smart, loyal, good carrying capacity, fine stride; omnivourous, but capable of significant damage at your command.

Imagine your Noble Lady sitting astride a magnificently groomed Golden Retriever....

 

[Spinward Scout]

(Hey, these are great ideas! I'm saving this thread.)

 

[Ran Targas]

The type of mount is highly dependent on the intended rider. Is your PC a prissy noble, needing a comfortable mount more for making a statement or is the noble an adventurous thrill seeker needing a steed of some endurance and capability? A wanna-be fairytale princess is not going to ride a smelly, bouncy, high maintenance, mini-mammoth poop machine when a well groomed and behaved geneered unicorn or pegasus is available for more money. Then again, a 'wish she could just run away and join the scouts' kinda girl would probably be looking for a gentle brute capable of carrying a ton of gear.

If your looking for some untouched territory, I would recommend googling some pre (Carboniferous to Permian, even early Triassic) and post dinosaur age (Paleocene thru Pleistocene) critters. There are plenty of Lucas-esque animals (mammals, birds, reptiles, and others), now extinct and open to generous imagineering, that may meet your tastes without being too cliche.

 

[Chaos]

There´s a book called "How to Keep Dinosaurs" by Robert Mash that´s a great resource concerning pets, mounts and farm animals for the... uh... slightly excentric Traveller.

Yes, the book is joke, but it´s a freaking hilarious joke.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Originally posted by Lord Vince:
Dogs.
/SNIP/
Imagine your Noble Lady sitting astride a magnificently groomed Golden Retriever....

But, what would her Vargr friends say about that?

 

[archhealer]

LoL. Actually, she'd go nuts for dogs... She's planning a noble girl who's really a very spoiled, prissy, equestrian type but who WANTS to be a rough-and-tumble, tomboy, join-the-scouts type of person... so long as she can bring her maid, her yacht, her make-up kit, and all the rest.

So... Big dogs would be right up her alley, I think. and I can't believe the Genengineered Unicorns and Pegasi didn't occur to me. Sheesh. And carnivores... yeah, cool but dangerous... See her riding through a high-tech, wealthy city on a huge tiger.

 

[Chaos]

Originally posted by Archhealer:
*snip*So... Big dogs would be right up her alley, I think. and I can't believe the Genengineered Unicorns and Pegasi didn't occur to me. Sheesh. And carnivores... yeah, cool but dangerous... See her riding through a high-tech, wealthy city on a huge tiger.

There was once a lady from Riga
who smiled as she rode on a tiger.
They returned from the ride
with the lady inside
and the smile on the face of the tiger.

 

[Ptah]

This may sound a little basic, how about "just" a horse? A pure-bred horse with no genetic modifications from a long-line of champion Solomani thuruogh breds. Such gentically pure animals might be rare. In the far-future when genetic modification of animals to proivde various desired traits is common, the rarity is the orignal, the un-modified.

I'd still add in the big dogs though because that's just cool. Maybe daddy sent them along to watch over her, maybe they are very intelligent.

 

[archhealer]

I've actually been toying with the ideas of various 'terran' equine stock. The thing is, I've been playing with the idea of what horses will LOOK like that far in the future, what with ordinary breeding strategies. I mean, we've only been at it a few thousand years, and look at the number of different kinds of horses we have. Add another few thousand years, and it'll be nuts. Especially horses bred for survival/usefullness on certain alien worlds.

Also, I've decided her 'noble' family earned their nobility not so much through valorous service or any such thing, but by being the ruling family on a small aggricultural world and breeding really, REALLY good horses, that are of course desired by all the local nobles.