The world of Stablehand isn't just a single, homogeneous glob of city and forest. Why would it be?
Accordingly, there are many different populations of hexarts with different shared characteristics. The Common Hexart, Hexartus multipotens, is usually scaled and compact, while the Hinotorian Long Hexart, Hexartus hinotoriae, generally has a long, slender body and tends to be covered in filamentous, hair-like plumage. It also displays sexual dimorphism, with the male tending to have larger, narrower horns with more tine-like projections, whiskers, and a fluffy mane toward the back of the head. The female tends to have shorter horns, no whiskers, and a fluffy bulge mostly toward the chest and back. Hexartus regalis, a tropical species, has bright colours and fin-like structures designed to release more heat.
And then there's Hexartus multipotens familiaris, the hexarts people often try to keep as pets (with mixed results). I was trying to draw one possible breed but was too lazy to finish it.
And these...
This is basically what happens when I make phylogenetic trees out of typos. "Triceraderm" came from a misheard radio ad and "zenra" came from a typo I made while looking for reference pictures that I just couldn't get over.
The monoceros was something I'd been intending to include in Stablehand for a long time, but until I'd built this phylogeny, I didn't have any idea how to draw it. It's like a unicorn, but instead of being some kind of modern, sparkly swan-horse, it's a real, bona fide unicorn from the good old days—you know, the kind with an eight-foot-long horn that couldn't be captured alive because it was just that fierce. At the moment, I see it as being the single most dangerous animal in the entire Stablehand world. (At least as far as common, naturally-occurring animals go. There might be a couple weird anomalies that are worse.)
The zenra is pretty much the opposite, and is just about the most peaceful, serene animal in the Stablehand world. It's gentle, obedient, and hard-working.
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