Tariq
Sarna News
| |
| Tariq | |
|---|---|
| (Saurus Tariqus Brashae) | |
| Creature information | |
| Type | Reptile |
| Homeworld | Brasha |
| Environment | Desert |
| Average mass | 510 kg |
| Average length | 275 cm |
| Average height | 200 cm |
Tariq (plural Tariqim) are bipedal lizard-like creatures, native to Brasha, whose swiftness, durability and tamability allowed them to be used as mounts for Beast Mounted Infantry.[1][2]
Contents
Description
Appearance
Normally standing just under two meters tall at the shoulder, Tariq had fleshy deposits near the base of their tails, which stored energy allowing them to go without food and water for several days. Their rough, wrinkled and sandy brown hide, as well as transparent inner eyelid, helps protect Tariq from desert sand and grit.[1]
Abilities
Somewhat like a Terran ostrich, Tariq are very fast over ground, with their speed rivaling some BattleMechs and Combat vehicles. This was combined with a camel-like durability while traveling through environments lacking in water.[2]
Tariqim are also highly intelligence, and thus able to be trained, if removed from their litters before they reach three months old. Older individuals (beyond seven years of age) are renowned for their bad temper however, and when angry, are able to spit a viscous, smelly pinkish liquid which stains whatever it touches.[1]
Habitat and Diet
Native to the desert dunes and rocky flats of Brasha, Tariqim eat smaller lizards and large waterfowl, which inhabit the oases within these deserts.[1]
History
On Brasha, and elsewhere in the Outworlds Alliance, Tariqim are used as an alternative for horses as a riding mount. This even extended to use as Beast Mounted Infantry, by forces such as the Qum'ran Guard who formed part of the Brasha Planetary Militia[3][4], as well as by local Brasha bandits.[5] Such soldiers formed a close bond with their mounts, caring for them like a family member, and morning their deaths like a comrade in arms.[6]
Tariqim were also kept and tamed by some circuses within the Inner Sphere.[7][8]
Due to these uses, following the Clan Invasion Clan Snow Raven investigated the economic feasibility of exporting Tariqim more widely across the Inner Sphere, to other customers.[2]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Handbook: Major Periphery States, p. 182
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 A Time of War, p. 244
- ↑ Handbook: Major Periphery States, p. 199
- ↑ Handbook: Major Periphery States, p. 151
- ↑ Technical Readout: Irregulars, p. 22
- ↑ Technical Readout: 3085, p. 218
- ↑ Technical Readout: 3145 Lyran Commonwealth, p. 28 Rarald Fitzsimmons
- ↑ Technical Readout: Dark Age, p. 40 Rarald Fitzsimmons