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Cattle:Wild | Musky Ox | Hârnic | Ivinian | Shorkein
Ivinian Cattle
Ivinian cattle are medium to large framed beef cattle with a very deep and broad body. Their color is white to cream with a pink muzzle and pale hooves. They have a short, broad head and heavily muscled loins and haunches. Ivinian cattle grow very fast.
Ivinian cattle trace their ancestry back to mainland Lythia and are believed to be descended from musky ox.
Ivinian cattle can range up to 10 KM in a day, although they usually do not stray far from a good source of food. If lost, Ivinian cows always return to their herd or die trying.
Heifers get sick easily, especially during calving; high losses to the herd are common if conditions are not just right.
Ivinian cattle are bred primarily for their perfectly white hides and meat, although milk and cheese product figure prominently as well. They are predominantly found in Ivinia and Shorkein. Ivinian cattle require a lot of fodder and fresh water to remain healthy. The best herds are located in flood plains and on the verge of swamps. Ivinian cattle do not deal well with high heat, humidity or drought.
The leather from these hides is highly prized because of its natural color and that it tans well.
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Salters and Hide workers
Working hides requires a lot of salt. Salters and mercantylers both trade in salt-dried hides, although most mercantylers prefer to deal with fully tanned hides because they last longer, and require less care. Officially only a manor lord can allow the sale of a cattle hide, unofficially if a serf has a hide to sell it is no secret.
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Cattle and peasantry
Even beef cattle breeds are used by the peasantry for their warmth in winter, manure on the fields and milk they regularly provide. If the peasantry must slaughter a cow, it is because they can no longer afford to pay the manor lord for the right to let it forage or because it is sick or too old. One quarter of the meat will go to the hide worker who slaughters the beast and tans the hide. Another quarter (at least) will go to the manor lord; leaving the family with a lot of a lot of sweetmeats and organs to preserve (smoke).
Peasantry will cull their herds in proportion to those culled from the manor lord's own herd, relying on the village reeve and master herder to determine which beasts are best suited to culling. Manor lords will always buy young cattle deemed either too expensive for the peasantry to keep or perfect for oxen training. Often feed rights (allowing the peasants cattle to eat for free that year) are traded for the calf rather than actual coin.
Cows live in the same houses as the peasants. The stable is often right off the kitchen, providing more warmth than the home's fire. Any manure deposited in the home is the peasant's; who often puts it on their fields. Any manure deposited outside the home is the manor lord's. Families trade the manure collected in return for minor rights (nut right or berry right) from the manor lord through his reeve. Manure is often collected by children and left with the reeve to be dried and put on the fields when they are fallow.
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HMIII Rules
| Ivinian Cattle | |
|---|---|
| Habitat | Plains |
| Height | 180-190 CM |
| Weight | 600 KG |
| Diet | Vegetarian |
| Life span | 8-12 years |
| Group | 3-25 |
| Price | |
| Attributes | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35 | Str | 10 | Eye | 04 | Int | 20 | End |
| 15 | Sta | 18 | Hrg | 05 | Aur | 28 | Mov |
| 11 | Agl | 16 | Sml | 10 | Wil | ||
| Skills | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | Initiative | 60 | Awareness |
| 55 | Dodge | 55 | Horn 7p |
| 44 | Trample 6B | 52 | Stealth |
| 40 | Bite 1P | 40 | Swimming |
| Armor |
|---|
| B4 E3 P1 F3 (except eyes) |
| Strike Locations | |
|---|---|
| 01-12 | Head |
| 13-20 | Neck |
| 21-30 | • Fore Leg |
| 31-60 | • Flank (thorax) |
| 61-75 | Abdomen |
| 76-90 | • Quarter (hip) |
| 91-98 | • Hind Leg |
| 99-00 | Tail |
| • Odd = Left, Even = Right | |
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Market Value
| Item | d | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Meat | 1d/lb. | Manor/Market |
| Sweet Meats | 1d/lb. | Manor/Market |
| Pelt | 4d | Manor/Market |
| Vellum | 1f | Hide worker |
| Eyes | 1f/ea. | Manor/Market |
| Hooves/Horns | 1f/set | Manor/Market |
| Leather | 7d | Hide worker |
| Hide | 5d | Hide worker |
| Milk/Butter | 1d/pt. | Manor/Market |
| Cheese | 1d/lb. | Manor/Market |
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April 27, 2005
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