Horizonback tortoises are massive tortoises found in swampy regions of Xhorhas. They are used by the goblins of Xhorhas as mobile housing and in times of war are used as living siege engines.[2][4]
Description[]
Appearance[]
As their name would suggest, horizonback tortoises grow to gargantuan sizes, 50 to 80 feet from nose to tail.[5] While stationary, a horizonback can often be mistaken for a low hill, as they often allow plants to grow on their backs.[2]
Characteristics[]
Horizonbacks are omnivorous scavengers, though they prefer to eat dead vegetation.[6][2] Their tremendous strength has allowed them to be cultivated by the goblinkin of Xhorhas as mobile homes, building structures atop their shells and outfitting them with additional armor along their legs and head.[7][8]
In the Barbed Fields, the shells of dead tortoises are used as shelter by the denizens there.[9]
Known horizonback tortoises[]
In one of the climactic battles of the Calamity at the gates of Bazzoxan, the human warrior Alyxian faced a commander of Torog's forces who rode a full-grown horizonback tortoise; he slew both the commander and the tortoise to break the enemy forces' back.[10]
The entire town of Urzin is comprised of around forty horizonback tortoises.[8] Other horizonbacks are known to exist in the village of Jigow, as well as Asarius.
Within the Brokenveil Marsh is an ancient horizonback known as the Mossback Steward.[11] Due to mystical properties of the swamp in which the Steward resides, it has gained a number of magical abilities, such as telepathy and the ability to predict the future.[11]
In 836 PD, goblin family of Kruzkrenner traveled from Rosohna with a welcoming visit of their bugbear side of the family in Asarius. They traveled on the back of Big Yuyo, a tortoise named after a vegetable Yuyo.[3]
Trivia[]
- The Goblin name for horizonback tortoises is "kinespaji".[2]
- The boiled spit of horizonback tortoises is used as the broth for a vegetable soup called "kinespaji spaaldl".[12]
- Horizonback tortoises have two creature types: beasts when they are young and monstrosities when they are adults. Not only are young horizonback tortoises' statblocks a variation on a beast's, but young horizonbacks can be charmed by an Animal Friendship spell[1][13] (which can target only beasts),[14] suggesting that these creatures go through some sort of transformation before reaching adulthood that makes them something different than a simple animal.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 See Call of the Netherdeep, p. 26.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 292.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 See Call of the Netherdeep, p. 47.
- ↑ See "Feral Business" (2x52) at 0:42:29.
- ↑ See "Feral Business" (2x52) at 0:43:01.
- ↑ See "Feral Business" (2x52) at 0:43:21.
- ↑ See "Feral Business" (2x52) at 0:58:12.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 147.
- ↑ See "Chases and Trees" (2x65) from 0:33:18 through 0:44:31.
- ↑ See Call of the Netherdeep, p. 154.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 256.
- ↑ See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 198.
- ↑ The ankylosaurus is a beast. See D&D: Monster Manual (2014), 5th ed., p. 79.
- ↑ See D&D: Player's Handbook (2014), 5th ed., p. 212.
Art:
- ↑ Official art of a horizonback tortoise, by Kent Davis (source). Used with permission.
- ↑ Fan art of a horizonback tortoise, by Kiyoko (source). Used with permission.