Guar

The guar is a large reptilian creature native to the grasslands of the Southeast. Scaled, with large eyes and mouth and heavy legs as well as a tail to keep its balance, the guar's diet consists mostly of plant matter, though they will consume insects and even rotting carcasses on occasion.

Guar are docile creatures, though some will become temperamental if provoked, and have been domesticated by several peoples on the Great Grass Sea. While they can be ridden, this is not particularly comfortable, and while in many ways more intelligent than horses they are less easily trained for the stresses of combat. Their primary use is as pack animals, due to ability to bear heavy loads, and as livestock for their meat and hides (though the hides of domestic guar are thinner than those in the wild, leaving brisk business for Southeastern hunters.

Guar compete with other herbivores of the grass sea, such as Gnu and Cattle, for grazing territories. While they are perhaps the least aggressive of these species, their thick scaled hides make them far more resistant to both aggressive competitors and even predators... the Gravy Fly has difficulty with their hides and so tends to pass them over in favour of easier prey, while the claws of creatures such as Claw Striders, Tyrant Lizards, and Soaring Mantises likewise face difficulty, which can allow a guar to keep up its flight and make a recovery when a Dazzling Horse or Gazelle would have been felled.

As with other non-cattle Livestock, those tribes who worship the bull-god Ahlat are instructed by their patron to drive guar away from good grazing and fight those who keep them to the death, rather than mere cattle raids.

Amongst those who study dreams and portents, the sight of an albino guar, with its snow-white scales, is said to foretell momentuous events and provide guidance.