Mr. Steve
Scribe
Horses are great mounts, reliable and versatile, but what about other, more unusual animals? I know that, in the real world, warriors have also ridden into battle mounted on camels and elephants. Obviously, since this is fantasy, we can stretch what is possible , but one of the things I pride myself on my writing is doing my homework and not being TOO fantastical.
The piece I am working on is your standard Middle-Ages set fare, in a world both like and unlike our own. I'm admittedly short on the "fantasy" elements to the extent that I don't have mythological creatures or magic in the traditional sense - anything that could be construed as magical could be chalked up to simply masterful materials forging techniques that have been lost to time and other such mundane causes, but there is still that hint that maybe something a little "extra" is going on.
With that in mind, that there is no explicit magic, what is the feasibility of using bears as war mounts? Compared to horses, how would they perform in battle? I would imagine a bear would be somewhat more aggressive and more willing to aid its rider directly and would probably be able to take more punishment then a horse, although a bear would probably be slower. Would the reduced speed make a bear an ineffective mount in a fight? Is it utterly impossible to train a bear to take a mount at all?
The piece I am working on is your standard Middle-Ages set fare, in a world both like and unlike our own. I'm admittedly short on the "fantasy" elements to the extent that I don't have mythological creatures or magic in the traditional sense - anything that could be construed as magical could be chalked up to simply masterful materials forging techniques that have been lost to time and other such mundane causes, but there is still that hint that maybe something a little "extra" is going on.
With that in mind, that there is no explicit magic, what is the feasibility of using bears as war mounts? Compared to horses, how would they perform in battle? I would imagine a bear would be somewhat more aggressive and more willing to aid its rider directly and would probably be able to take more punishment then a horse, although a bear would probably be slower. Would the reduced speed make a bear an ineffective mount in a fight? Is it utterly impossible to train a bear to take a mount at all?