Terra Advena - Domesticated Beasts, part 1

Every sapient species on Advena, from gnolls to humans to gargoyles, has worked their will upon their environment, making it more suitable for them by taming or exterminating predators, and herding and keeping prey such that harvesting it is a simpler matter. Many of the creatures they keep for livelihood or companionship mirror those of earth, but many are distinct to Advena, whether in their form or just temperament.

For the races of Terra Advena, I've tried to associate them with different animals, because the animals kept by a society are - especially in a pre-industrial land - enormously impactful of the feel of that society. Because the goal is to make most of the races on Advena feel distinct from humanity, their choices of pets and herd beasts are similarly distinct - and, frankly, because the idea of a group riding giant ground sloth to battle was far too cool to be kept to the Codex Alera, so I stole it.

Common Beasts

The most common domesticated animals in Advena are chicken and glyptodonts (more commonly "donts"). Chicken are kept across Advena for meat and eggs, as they are wont to be. The glyptodont - essentially a giant armadillo - serves as a sort of cattle replacement. That is, it is a large herbivorous creatures used for meat and milk, and unique to glyptodonts, also used for wool. Glyptodonts are rougly four foot height at the top of the shell, and like cattle, they live for roughly fifteen years. There is no glpytodont replacement for a bull - male or female, glyptodonts are generally more even-tempered than cattle.

In the wilds, large rodents akin to capybara are the primary wild herbivore, much like deer throughout much of North America and Europe. Kangaroo are a similarly common site outside of wooded areas. Elephants can be found in the southern sections of Advena, but appear to never have been domesticated. Though uncommon, rhinocerous, hippopotamus, beavers, koala, rabbits, mice, and the like all exist in Advena.

Boar and Gnolls

The most common house animal for gnolls is the boar - instead of dogs or cats, neither of which exists in Advena. Boar, like modern pigs, are surprisingly intelligent. What they tend to lack is any sort of restraint - while smart, they're quite belligerent. That's not a problem for the enormous gnolls, who are ready and willing to put the boar in their place. Violently, if necessary. And, hey - if the boar doesn't get the hint that the gnoll is in charge, bacon.

Boar are used in both gnoll hunting and warfare, where they fight alongside the large humanoids, using their tusks to deadly effect in battle and their keen sense of smell outside of it. Gnolls have no direct analogue to horses - they're already able to outrun most other species, and boar, despite sometimes growing quite large, are seldom large enough to support one of their masters.

Missing Animals

In order to help with the feel of a different ecology, many animals that are commonly seen in our world do not exist in Advena. Dogs and wolves, both, are unheard of - though the fey are known to keep wargs, semi-intelligent oversized wolf-type creatures, they are alien to the mortal races of the world. Similarly, deer, elk, and moose are missing, though deer, at least, once again show up as mounts for the fey.

Cats exist, but only smaller members of the feline family, similar to housecats. That said, unlike on earth, they are not common pets, but instead rarer and less friendly to humanity. Ursines of all stripes are completely missing from Advena, as are cattle and most other bovine-type creatures, though enormous oversized yak are known to live in the far north. Horses were unknown in Advena until the arrival of humanity, who brought the large beasts with them when they arrived several centuries ago.