Hippocampus

Hippocampi were aquatic, horse-like creatures.

Description
They had the body of a horse, a scaly fish's tail, and fins instead of hooves or a mane. Their front sides were covered with small scales, with larger scales at the rear. Their skin was colored with ivory, blue, or green according to the shades of the sea.

Hippocampi could breathe either salty or fresh water and even normal air for a short period of time. They were also proficient in swimming and deep diving, moving very swiftly.



Personality
Being wild and desiring to keep their free spirit, hippocampi were not easily tamed, but they could be trained to carry and fight with a rider. Being good creatures and skilled judges of character, they would more commonly serve good causes and refuse to assist any creature they considered evil or hostile. They were excellent racers and good mounts. They served as a favored steed for sea elves and tritons and could even be the special mount of an aquatic paladin.

Society
Hippocampi lived in pods, made up of one to three stallions and around eight to twenty mares. In each pod, a stallion is designated as leader through custom and/or rituals. Each stallions had its own harem that are compound with mare that had chosen to join it and remain in it for life generally.

They would often ally with tritons which, in return, would keep the hippocampi's eggs in their castle.

In case of great danger or crisis, several pods could gather to join their effort against a common threat. A gathering of this sort could be compound of thousands hippocampis.

Habitats
In the Unapproachable East, hippocampi could be found in the lakes of Rashemen and around the waters of Aglarond.

Languages
Hippocampi were generally known to speak their own language, as well as Aquan, though like any intelligent creature they were capable of learning others if properly trained.

Relationships
Among aquatic mounts, they were considered to be one of the most prized.

Hippocampi were sometimes found as courtiers in the palace of Kalbari al-Durrat al-Amwaj ibn Jari.

Notable Hippocampi

 * Swiftide, the mount of triton hero Keros the Wanderer.

Trivia
The Happy Hippocampus was an inn in the port of Procampur.

The sea unicorn, a hippocampus with a glowing horn, was a myth among worshipers of Sashelas, as a symbol of great changes. This was especially true for the Lances of the Sea Unicorn, who were the clergy and warriors of the Sharksbane Wall.

The village of Lathtarl's Lantern had a temple decorated with the mastheads of wrecked ships, some of which were known to resemble hippocampi.

Those who specialized in sea-based magic could summon a hippocampus with the spell monster summoning IV.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Polyhedron #87, "Eye of the Leviathan"