Tugrik -- Reference Page

This page is an attempt to define the physical attributes of monoceri in general, and one of them in particular named Tugrik. The character and concept are (c) Tor Amundson. Please don't republish or copy any of the images linked to on this page without asking my permission first (and the permission of the image's artist, where applicable).

In my youth I created a character-race which really didn't have a name of their own; they just were. I've had the design in and out of my head since early gradeschool years. The concept came out more visibly when I started getting into bulletin boards around 1984 or so, and later the same year on Michnet, then the Internet in general. I never really 'roleplayed' them so much as simply used the creatures' backgrounds as background filler for my online persona. This changed during 1988 or so, as I stumbled across early MUDs while patrolling the internet, later on falling into Islandia, then Crossroads, then FM where I still play today. The character now exists along with the background, which leads to this page.

Having no official race name, yet fitting in with many types of 'fantasy' races, I've simply taken to calling the creature a Monoceros (one-horned), as it the term's straightforwardness kind of fits. Monoceri is my preferred plural, though I know it's terrible english. Around the net you may find "Monocerai" -- an offshoot creation created with permission for use on SpheresMU* by a good friend of mine. It's the same concept taken into a sci-fi context at a smaller scale, with a whole different social background. I'll put up an info page about them later with proper pointers to the person maintaining that concept-offshoot.

The character I play is named Tugrik. The name was one made up back in my high-school years. Since then I've found out that (a) the Tugrik is the name of the primary Mongolian currency, and (b) the character name is used in the book "In a Judgement of Dragons" by Phyllis Gottlieb. I have no affiliation with either of those things, though I find them pretty cool.

I'll break this page up into three sections: Muck Descriptions, Images and Character background.

Muck Descriptions

The character is a tough one to describe. Any given monoceros has physical traits that make it similar to one of a number of fantasy creatures. Since the monoceri aren't played as a group with a world-base on the mucks I'm on, they tend to try to associate with other more common species. This can lead to some self-image confusion, as shown in the @desc I use on the HLM (Here Lies Monsters) MU*:

An oversized, blue, equine-like critter with a rhino-like nose-tusk? 
Oddly proportioned, azure big cat?  Or a cobalt-hued, wingless furred dragon? 
It's really hard to tell.   This is why he calls himself a monoceros, since
the literal of "one horn" is at least accurate.   His coat varies in
shade from the lighter blues along his muzzle and back to an inky-blue cobalt
along his underbelly and feet.    Walking on all fours, he's about
8.5' at the shoulder, with a tufted leonine-like tail almost as long as his 
body.  The head is mostly equine-like in nature, but if he grins too much or
snarls there's no mistaking the predatorial side.  His lion-like whiskers 
flick when he talks or smiles, adding to his expressions.
  
His paws have six digits each and he usually walks with them curled closed,
using the hardened outside of his knuckles to support his weight.  When 
relaxing to converse with friends he's often found sitting back on his 
haunches, long tail wrapped around his legs like a large houescat.  His mane
is long and a little shaggy, and all four legs have tufted feathering like a
draft horse might.
  
He seems friendly enough, though when hungry is prone to watch smaller 
critters around him in an evaluating fashion.  

The first image a lot of people get upon seeing the character as presented for most of my Mu*-playing years was that of an oversized, draft-horse-like unicorn. This isn't exactly accurate, but it's comfortable and easy to keep up. The description worn most often on the MU* I'm most often on is as follows:

Tugrik is a large monoceros; a variant of what traditionally gets 
called a Unicorn.  The quickest way to visualize him would be as a
possible predecessor to both feline and equine species.  He's huge
in comparison to terran equines, his shoulderheight of 25.5 hands 
(8'6") putting the base of his mane over 2' above a normal 
human's head.  His body has a stocky barrel, but the abdomen is 
longer and sleeker, like a large cat's.  The legs are stocky as a 
draft horse's, but don't joint the same way.  The 'hooves' he 
stands on are actually paw-like hands, six-fingered each, curled 
up in fists to walk on.  His tail is leonine, long and ropelike, 
the end with a sizeable tuft of hair similar to his mane.  The 
most obvious thing about him is his coloring: a rich multishaded 
tone of blue, from a metallic cobalt along his back to an inky 
indigo-blue along his underbelly.  His mane, tailtip, and leg-
feathering are all a much lighter blue, with skyblue patches here 
and there.  The one thing that strikes as the most odd: his horn is
forward nose-set, with a slight curve.  It appears far more utilitarian
than the mythical forehead-set horn on most unicorns.

The only problem with associating with the 'unicorn' stereotype are that monoceri are omnivorus, and hunt. Due to their overall size they live on a combination of agriculture and hunting, varying depending on particular background and preference. There are many sub-cultures of them, much like there are of humans; they're the dominant species of their homeworld, and decently advanced, if a bit more retaining of a natural side. That's discussed in more detail in the "character background" section.

I've had other descriptions over the years, some long, some short. They're all based around the same basic bodyform; the only major changes would be due to age-progression. Monoceri are not shapeshifters or have any alternate forms. They travel on all fours, varying between knuckle-walking for things at pace or distance, and open-palmed when climbing or stepping more carefully. Far enough along the evolutionary curve to be makers and users of technology, they manipulate things by sitting back on the haunches and using both forearms. The tail is heavy and long, and can assist in counterbalancing while in this pose. It's not prehensile, though it has enough ability to help anchor if necessary by a simple curl around something behind. It also helps balancing during running, much like a big cat's tail does.

For more particular details, here is the 'long' version of the prior description. As it's too spammy for regular MU* use, I don't pull it out often:

Tugrik is a large monoceros; a variant of what traditionally gets 
called a Unicorn.  The quickest way to visualize him would be as a
possible predecessor to both feline and equine species.  He's huge
in comparison to terran equines, his shoulderheight of 25.5 hands 
(8'6") putting the base of his mane nearly 2' above a normal 
human's head.  His body has a stocky barrel, but the abdomen is 
longer and sleeker, like a large cat's.  The legs are stocky as a 
draft horse's, but don't joint the same way.  The 'hooves' he 
stands on are actually paw-like hands, six-fingered each, curled 
up in fists to walk on.  His tail is leonine, long and ropelike, 
the end with a sizeable tuft of hair similar to his mane.  His 
neck and head are very equine in nature, albeit strangely wider 
and thicker muscled.  Being the arch of his neck and his mane are 
the most recognizable at a distance, many people mistake him for a 
draft horse until they get closer.  
  
If you look at his face, you can see the head is large, with a 
long jawbase.  His horn, the mark the name 'monoceros' comes from, 
is nose-mounted with a soft backwards curve.  When talking or 
smiling, his teeth and eye-setting show he's an omnivore, and a 
quite capable one at that.  His coloring is what makes him 
striking against most scenery: a deep-toned blue, shaded from 
cobalt on top, to an inky indigo-shade underbelly and legs.   The 
mane, tail, and thick feathering on his legs are all a slightly 
lighter blue, with little tufted sky-blue patches here and there.  
A similar line of ruffled fur runs the entire length of his tail's 
underside, out to the fluffed tip.  While he stands out blatantly 
in a grassy field, against the rim of a twilight sky he'd be 
almost invisible, save for the small patchy skyblue areas. 
  
Shaggy as a horse with a winter coat, he wears no other clothing, 
save for a wide belt around his midriff with many pouches and 
pockets and things clipped to it.  His most often at-rest position is 
crouched on his hind-legs like a housecat, so he can free up a 
forehand or two for working with things or fur-ruffling friends. 
  
His mane has a few significant adornments:  along the entire 
left side, small braids have been made, containing beads of various
metals and natural minerals.  When his neck is still, they fall evenly
into a pattern, representing stories and memories he's collected in
his life.   At the base of his mane, carefully woven into tight macrame',
are other lengths of hair that aren't his own.  They represent the bond 
to the mates of his family.  The rest of his mane is a bit long and shaggy,
moreso in the winters, and if not combed out a bit most of the 
adornments are kind of hard to see.
  
What others find the most unsettling is the way he moves.  Even 
the casual motions, such as turning a head to whicker at a friend, 
shows the cat-like flexibility of his spine.  When he lays down or gets up
it's done with surprising dexterity, as if his mass were no 
more than a soft heft.   When he looks directly at someone, his 
forward set eyes are a little unnerving, though he tries to 
dissapate that effect by perking his ears to listen, or looking 
away from time to time.   Having the horn in the way makes him want
to look at close-up things with a slight turn of the muzzle anyway.

This longer description shows some of the adornment. Many of the monoceros cultures have things woven into manes (and sometimes tailtufts and fetlocks) as their form of 'jewlery' for daily wear. The group (tribe?) that Tug comes from is known for saving little trinkets and tokens throughout life; small items that mean special things or commemorate events. The importance of collecting and giving such things between friends and mates is covered more in the character background section. However, this does lead into the next description. Monoceri of Tug's group do have a form of 'formal wear'.

Before you is an odd sight... a technocorn in full formal layout.  Tugrik's
mane is tied short along his neck, but the base and the forelock are both
long and braided; the tied-back section making all the tied-in trinkets and
collected bits show.  His tailtuft is brushed out well, making it look even longer than
the torso-length it usually is.  The tufts of hair on the 'ankle' of each 
leg are carefully brushed, and the sides of all four legs are decorated with
long bands of white paste-dye, going up to his knees in the front, and midway
up his hindquarters in the back.  Around his waist is an array of heavy
belts, buckled and riveted, thick leather, looking like an odd version of
weightlifter's gear.  Attached to them are numerous natural stones, from 
nuggets of natural gems to engraved bits of normal granite, all about 2" big.
To top it off, a 'necklace' of hematite stone is wrapped from around his 
horn-base, and behind his left ear, to dangle a few inches below his jaw.
The collection of gems, metals and stones provides a leather-muted rattling when 
he walks; the impression is one of a general with many medals, or a tribesman
with heirlooms passed down through generations of family.  Most of the items are
well worn and look quite old, though carefully cleaned.  Each one most likely bears
a story.

The nickname shows up here: 'technocorn'. This was jokingly given to me by friends met on Muds in my early days. It's a play on the gadget-prone behavior monoceri like Tug exhibit, and their easy fitting in with the unicorn crowd, if on an awkwardly large scale. The description shows their formal wear as just an extention of the already exhibited mane-weaving behavior. Due to the adaptability of their coats vs. the smooth-changing climate of their world, they never developed too much clothing-as-shelter behavior. Things worn are either for decor and remembrance, or for specific protections (such as safety gear on the job, or storm-gear during the worst of the weather, etc). They may wear clothing-like things around other races to blend in a bit better, but it doesn't suit them well.

That's the end of the MU* descs I use. The others are silly costumes and the suchlike for holidays, and don't really apply here; they're terribly out of character. I don't have 'sleeping' or other special-action descriptions. And, while I do have more adult-oriented information on them (behavioral and physical data, etc) it's not something I would share on a page like this. For the sake of artistic reference, I'll simply state that all that shows is very similar to draft horses. It's acceptable in polite company when it's not made a big deal of... though when regularly interacting with societies that may have a problem with that, some monoceri are known to wear a light cloth-barding along shoulders and flanks, providing with a little more discretion.

Their coats change notably with the seasons. In the hotter summers, the fur is very thin, and quite short; similar to horsehair, but softer and as a result more prone to brushings/mattings depending on activity and grooming level. The tailtuft, mane, and fetlocks all stay pretty long. The males have longer whiskers (lion/cat-like) as well as a gentle curtain of hair along the jawline and chin. The females have more fine-haired whiskers that are harder to see unless up-close, and a line of longer bodyfur along the bottom of the throat, flaring out into a diamond-shaped patch along the chest to just between the forelegs. Individuals may trim this or reshape it a bit as personal preferences dictate; it's just fur, after all.

In the winters, the ones that stay in/near cold areas get much shaggier. Much shaggier. They do 'big fuzzy blue monster' well. :) In addition to just generally more fur everywhere, a line of longer fur grows along the backs of all four legs and along the underside of most of the tail's length. The males get shaggier overall than the females, but the extra leg/tail tufting is much more pronounced with the females. And yes, come spring, they shed like mad. Even those that keep clipped short all winter still have excess that comes out. While they're used to this and have ways of dealing, it's commonly a sorce of mild social problems when around other not-as-fuzzy creatures in the spring.

There's most likely things I've missed here. As I get reminded of them or asked about them, I will add them to this page. If you have any shape/form questions, please email them to me so I can add them to this page.

Progression

This one is harder to describe and is quickly-tapped entry that I really must come back and rewrite at length someday. Keep in mind that a monoceros *isn't* a horse, or a unicorn, or a dragon, or any of those things that get 'pointed at' when giving reference. They are their own type of critter. As played online, Tugrik ended up on his own at a very young age and has little contact with his own kind. Imagine growing up without knowing how old you can get, how big you'll grow, or even what older people of your kind look like. It's a bit puzzling. However, it's a fun bit of discovery.

As a result the character Tugrik has ended up 'evolving' as much as growing. At each stage in life he's been a better fit for a different kind of social arrangement. When small, he fit well with the horses. Growing up, more of a draft. Somewhere beteween there when the nosehorn became prominent, he fit in quite well with the unicorn set, though they viewed him as a bit odd. Into adolescence, the more hunting-prone side of his omnivorus nature came to the front, and such behaviors kind of put him lightly at odds with the herbivores he associated with growing up... but opened a gateway to hanging out with the big-cats and similar types. Add in another decade or so of mild growth and open self-acceptance of his developing behaviors and he became much more comfortable hanging around dragons or draconic-typed creatures. He's still not figured out fully what he's supposed to be, and the desire to fit in has him constantly thinking that he should eventually 'completely fit somewhere'. It'll probably take a good bit more of life before establishing that he is of his own kind and that's *ok*. For now, though? Consider him a furred, wingless blue dragon. It works. He's still what he was when this all started; it's just a matter of associations and self acceptance. He's not a shapechanger, not at all; he's just grown and is figuring out his place in the world.

As example, a year after the rest of this web page was written, here is the desc now worn on the Muck:

A cobalt-hued, wingless furred dragon?  An oversized, blue, draft-equine-ish 
critter with a rhino-like, ivory horn? Or an oddly proportioned, azure big 
cat?  It's really hard to tell.   This is why he calls himself a monoceros,
since the literal of "one horn" is at least accurate.  Yes, he's a type of 
unicorn, but he's about as un-storybook and non-traditional as they come. 
His coat varies in shade from the lighter blues along his muzzle and back to
an inky-blue cobalt along his underbelly and feet.    Walking on all fours,
he's about 11' tall at the shoulder, with a tufted leonine-like tail almost
as long as his body.  The head is mostly equine-like in nature, but if he 
grins too much or snarls there's no mistaking the predatorial side.  His 
lion-like whiskers flick when he talks or smiles, adding to his expressions.
  
All four paws have six digits each.  He usually walks with them curled
closed, using the hardened outside of his knuckles to support his weight.
When relaxing to converse with friends he's often found sitting back on his
haunches, long tail wrapped around his legs like a large housecat.  His mane
is long and a little shaggy, with all manner of beads, trinkets, feathers
and keepsakes woven into it.  The 'ankles' on his stout legs have tufted
feathering like a draft horse might; moreso when he's all shaggy during the
winter months.
  
His voice varies from a smoother, bassy roll to what's almost a grumble-
growl, though rarely an angry one.  He answers to "Tug", "Big Blue", or
these days even "hey, dragon"... though you might sometimes hear one of his
old friends still jokingly call him "hey, horse." He seems friendly enough,
though when hungry is prone to watch smaller critters around him in an
evaluating fashion.  

Images

You can find the images directory here. Click the thumbnails to be taken to a web-sized image, and click that one if you want the full sized original. Be warned: some are digital paintings of huge sizes, with associated huge download times for the non-broadband-equipped.

For this section I'll pull out a few of the 'best of' images for bodyform and comment on what was right. As the images of monoceri are in my head and I'm no artist of skill, I have commonly comissioned others to do pictures. Since I don't have a mind-to-mind link perfected yet, I have to tell them by text (like this page here) what things look like, and then I get their interpretation. Many individual bits show up as 'very right' or 'more like that, yes'. Those are the ones I'm going to point out, as together they'll make a patchwork of references for others who wish to try drawing them.

We'll start with a favorite here, "Tug and Miell", by Djihouti. The #1 thing done right here is the tail. Stout and heavy, decently long, and leonine. That's a 'summer tail', with the tuft shortened and no underside shag. In the winter the tuft grows out long and flowing, and runs right into the longer underside fur, all the way up to a foot or two from the base. Secondly, he got the muzzle very good. It's slightly equine like in nature (though the lips part farther back and the jaw opens wider, see other pictures below), with the nose-set horn (ivory, though it shows blue in that picture). The overall bodyshape is good, and the hands are hefty as required for a big creature to walk upon.

This profile shot was done for me by Silent_Red. The chin-tufting is good, and the mouth/lips are excellent. This is the only picture so far that shows the leonine whiskers right. The muzzlebridge and forward-looking eyes are quite accurate too.

Sketched by the talented Carolyn Mitchell, this image is a wonderful action pose. The shaggy 'fall coat' coming in is pretty good, but the best part about this picture is the knuckle/wrist structure when running, and the leonine-aspect to the body that shows when in motion. She also has the ear-shape accurate, though the fuzzyness doesn't show here.

The reason I add in this smaller sketch is more for the 'feel' of the image than anything else. It's hard to convey properly, but monoceri look quite benign. It's not until one is hunting or you annoy them notably that you get snarled at, and then the longer jawbase and omnivorus tooth-set shows. It also shows when they do those cat-like yawns, but at least most of them don't do that in polite non-monceros company. Gaelif's interpretation here is wonderful. If you want specifics on the teeth, design them after most other omnivores. Monoceri aren't quite as fangy as a big cat; some of that has been lost during long term evolution and the development of agriculture to go along with the hunting.

This is winter-mane goin' on here. The muzzle confirmation is good, the chin excellent (if bare), and the forward-looking eeys and horn-size are wonderful. It's the mane, however, that works best in this pic; especially the forelocks. Shaggy, unkempt, unruly; it's just hard to take care of in the winter; only few of them try. There's still grooming involved, but it's usually just in different ways to pull off the ruffled look. The eybrow whiskers show here, as does the earring (a recent in-character addition, a heavy 00ga 4"-dia gold hoop. hey, big ears).

This pencilwork was done by Dancer. The way the braided mane-bits are bundled up along the side of the neck, along its middle, is what you see in the 'Formal' description up in the 1st section. This is what's done with the bulk of the non-usually-braided manehair to show the trinket-laden braids that normally lay underneath the fuzzy stuff along top.

Okay, time to embarass myself. This is a horrible drawing I did back in highschool or shortly thereafter. The reason it's included is that it shows the extra tufting that happens on the backs of all four limbs, and the underside of the tail's length. it also shows how the mane goes down to the midback -- it doesn't stop at the shoulders like it does on equines. The other pic I drew (even more embarrasing) also shows the tufting and such, but I'll leave you to dig through the rest of the images site for that particular bit of embarrasment.

This is a very old pic by Paula Shricker. The reason I bring it up is the beard -- the chintuft and the curtaining that flows along the jaw and up the back of the jawline.

I'll finish with another favorite: A naboo-like image from Ezuli as a gift to Lynx, Revar and me. The chin/jawline tufting here is wonderful, as is the inky-blue underside, bordering on black. She also has the fuzzy ears downright perfect. Also shown is how (when grown out and properly groomed) the fetlocking can hide the paw-hands during walking. This is why monoceri can get away with letting folks assume they're unicorn-related or horselike when they want to.

There are other images I'll dig up and add to this list over time. I have others I use for reference (one for color, other for chest/forearm muscle configuration) but I don't have the right to post them. I'll just point you at the cover for Bone #8 for the red dragon crouching on a ledge for the chest-musculature shot, and the cover of the Patrick o'Hearn album "between two worlds" for the best 'cobalt to indigo blue' shading color I've seen in print. That's tug's main bodyfur color spot-on.

Character Background

This part of the page I'll take a while before putting online. There's a lot of background material about monoceri, and a good set of short stories that form a tapestry of history for Tugrik himself. I've just been shy about posting it for a very long time now. I feel much more comfortable relaying 'personal history' in person, storyteller-like, than I ever will with just slapping it up on a webpage. I also need to filter down the general Monoceros background data to something more readable and science-book like. I've seen way too many species-descriptions that are too powergamey or too self-fantasy-fulfillment oriented. Monoceri are just pretty levelheaded critters with a good society, but they're just as flawed and normal as any other prime race. When I get an acceptable subset of data together, it'll end up here first.

Thanks for reading this far! I'll end with a plea for questions from those who read this. I do best describing things when asked about them. If left to my own devices I gloss over or assume about some things others may find non-obvious, and obsess on tiny details others already 'get'. So if for any reasons (art? online interaction? simply curious?) you have questions about Monoceri in general or Tug in specific, please, come and ask. I will be quite glad to answer. If you wish the question to be kept private, just say so; I only publish what I have permission to.

Thanks again for reading!