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![[SI Commission] Balloh Reference Sheet](http://d.furaffinity.net/art/darkmark/1409897569/1409897569.darkmark_balloh.png "Click to change the View")
"How would I describe my people? ...Proud, perhaps too much so. Able to empathize with others. Masters at what we put our hands to, given enough time. Tightly and deeply bound to our partners. And... foolish... very foolish. I hope very much that some day, I can truthfully omit that last statement if you ask me the same question again."
It was about time for me to get an upgrade from the reference sheet I cobbled together way back with a piece from
not-fun. And just to be absolutely, 100% clear, they are not taurs, they are hexapeds, the difference being that a) They can stand and walk on their back two legs alone; b) Their middle limbs are hands, not feet, but can be used interchangeably; c) 'taur' is basically a made-up furry term for "I took a creature from an existing species and made it centaur-shaped".
The Balloh are a hexapedal mammalian race native to the planet Vhanarr, a frigid world with 90% surface water, of which 75% is perpetually frozen over, and with a magnetic field in a state of flux, causing frequent electrical and magnetic storms. They have thick fur to survive in this harsh climate, and possess a great deal of physical strength due to their size and extra limbs.
The barren surface of Vhanarr is contrasted by its thriving underwater ecosystem, but that's not the say the surface is completely devoid of life, it's just sparse. The Balloh are excellent swimmers with their extra limbs, and can obtain a great deal of food from underwater if they live by the coastline or a large body of water. They have large, long lungs that let them hold their breath for some time, allowing them to dive deep in a break in the ice and return to the surface with their catch.
Once a nomadic, wandering species, the Balloh gained sentience and formed tribes, but their bodies are well-suited to surviving on their own for long periods of time. They can store food with reasonable efficiency in case they are unable to catch something each day, and the layer of fat on their bodies provides even more insulation from the cold.
They are carnivores, and can only eat meat, so they only have sharp canine teeth for tearing off meat and crunching up bones. The babies (seen on the left side of the picture) can drink milk until they are weaned off it; until then, they are little balls of fluff with legs, a head, and a tail sticking out.
They are expert climbers thanks to their extra limbs, and have claws on their forelimbs and feet but not on their middle limbs, which can interchangeably be used as arms or legs as the situation desires. They have long tails, which helps to give them balance when climbing.
They have canine-like noses, which are black like the rest of their skin underneath their white fur, and short ears partly protected from the cold air by their fur. Their senses are reasonably good, though they mostly rely on their ability to sense spirits to track their prey - almost all Balloh are capable, in some way or another, of sensing natural and living spirits around them. Using and manipulating these spirits is the art of Mysticism (shown on the right) and gives them a powerful edge when fighting.
The Balloh wear little clothing, as their fur is generally sufficient both for warmth and for decency, though they are more open about the latter point anyway. Each clan has its own traditions and styles of jewelry, in addition to certain dialects of their language and a particular type of mysticism, so a trained eye can easily tell what clan a Balloh hails from.
Their language is made mostly of soft sounds, with hard consonants only used for undesirable or unpleasant things. They use a symbolic written language, but to translate some of the words from the Malgraan language they have had to glue together words from their own language to approximate the meaning. Most of their history is passed down orally from one storyteller to another, which has resulted in a lot of Balloh history and legend being lost to the mists of time due to conflicts between the clans.
Almost all creatures on Vhanarr, including the Balloh, are hermaphrodites, though it is not outwardly obvious, which leads many Malgraan to believe (until informed otherwise) that the Balloh have two genders, just like them. This is beneficial due to the sparse nature of most life on the planet's surface, as any pair meeting up in the empty landscape can reproduce.
Their fur is quite fluffy on their chest, and they usually keep their offspring held close there during their first few days until their first coat of fur grows in. The Balloh don't shed their fur, unlike the Malgraan, as their home climate is stable and the temperatures do not change drastically between 'seasons' of "frequent snowstorms" and "occasional snowstorms".
None of their four hands have pads on them, and they will often spread their fingers/toes out wide to spread their weight over a larger area of the snow and sink into it less. Their feet, however, do have pads, in addition to long claws that help keep grip on ice or rock.
Their eyes come in only a few colors - blue and brown are the most common, but green, gray, and dark red happen on occasion.
If you want to know more, you can look through the Balloh pictures in my gallery I commissioned for information about the Balloh's culture and lifestyle.
Balloh race and setting is mine.
Picture by not-fun. Original here: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/14450037/
It was about time for me to get an upgrade from the reference sheet I cobbled together way back with a piece from
not-fun. And just to be absolutely, 100% clear, they are not taurs, they are hexapeds, the difference being that a) They can stand and walk on their back two legs alone; b) Their middle limbs are hands, not feet, but can be used interchangeably; c) 'taur' is basically a made-up furry term for "I took a creature from an existing species and made it centaur-shaped".The Balloh are a hexapedal mammalian race native to the planet Vhanarr, a frigid world with 90% surface water, of which 75% is perpetually frozen over, and with a magnetic field in a state of flux, causing frequent electrical and magnetic storms. They have thick fur to survive in this harsh climate, and possess a great deal of physical strength due to their size and extra limbs.
The barren surface of Vhanarr is contrasted by its thriving underwater ecosystem, but that's not the say the surface is completely devoid of life, it's just sparse. The Balloh are excellent swimmers with their extra limbs, and can obtain a great deal of food from underwater if they live by the coastline or a large body of water. They have large, long lungs that let them hold their breath for some time, allowing them to dive deep in a break in the ice and return to the surface with their catch.
Once a nomadic, wandering species, the Balloh gained sentience and formed tribes, but their bodies are well-suited to surviving on their own for long periods of time. They can store food with reasonable efficiency in case they are unable to catch something each day, and the layer of fat on their bodies provides even more insulation from the cold.
They are carnivores, and can only eat meat, so they only have sharp canine teeth for tearing off meat and crunching up bones. The babies (seen on the left side of the picture) can drink milk until they are weaned off it; until then, they are little balls of fluff with legs, a head, and a tail sticking out.
They are expert climbers thanks to their extra limbs, and have claws on their forelimbs and feet but not on their middle limbs, which can interchangeably be used as arms or legs as the situation desires. They have long tails, which helps to give them balance when climbing.
They have canine-like noses, which are black like the rest of their skin underneath their white fur, and short ears partly protected from the cold air by their fur. Their senses are reasonably good, though they mostly rely on their ability to sense spirits to track their prey - almost all Balloh are capable, in some way or another, of sensing natural and living spirits around them. Using and manipulating these spirits is the art of Mysticism (shown on the right) and gives them a powerful edge when fighting.
The Balloh wear little clothing, as their fur is generally sufficient both for warmth and for decency, though they are more open about the latter point anyway. Each clan has its own traditions and styles of jewelry, in addition to certain dialects of their language and a particular type of mysticism, so a trained eye can easily tell what clan a Balloh hails from.
Their language is made mostly of soft sounds, with hard consonants only used for undesirable or unpleasant things. They use a symbolic written language, but to translate some of the words from the Malgraan language they have had to glue together words from their own language to approximate the meaning. Most of their history is passed down orally from one storyteller to another, which has resulted in a lot of Balloh history and legend being lost to the mists of time due to conflicts between the clans.
Almost all creatures on Vhanarr, including the Balloh, are hermaphrodites, though it is not outwardly obvious, which leads many Malgraan to believe (until informed otherwise) that the Balloh have two genders, just like them. This is beneficial due to the sparse nature of most life on the planet's surface, as any pair meeting up in the empty landscape can reproduce.
Their fur is quite fluffy on their chest, and they usually keep their offspring held close there during their first few days until their first coat of fur grows in. The Balloh don't shed their fur, unlike the Malgraan, as their home climate is stable and the temperatures do not change drastically between 'seasons' of "frequent snowstorms" and "occasional snowstorms".
None of their four hands have pads on them, and they will often spread their fingers/toes out wide to spread their weight over a larger area of the snow and sink into it less. Their feet, however, do have pads, in addition to long claws that help keep grip on ice or rock.
Their eyes come in only a few colors - blue and brown are the most common, but green, gray, and dark red happen on occasion.
If you want to know more, you can look through the Balloh pictures in my gallery I commissioned for information about the Balloh's culture and lifestyle.
Balloh race and setting is mine.
Picture by
not-fun. Original here: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/14450037/
Category Artwork (Traditional) / Portraits
Species Mammal (Other)
Size 1194 x 812px
File Size 1.57 MB
Listed in Folders
On all sixes, they're 4.5 feet / 1.3 meters tall.
On four legs, they're 5.5 feet / 1.6 meters tall.
On just their back two legs, 6.5 feet / 1.9 meters tall. They're big!
For length, on all sixes, they're about 6 feet / 1.7 meters long.
Their mysticism works by manipulating the power of natural spirits that other creatures cannot sense. Every living creature has a spirit, but there are also uncountably many more that are free-roaming - the origin of these isn't known, but it is believed that each spirit was once a living creature and that, after death, they become a spirit that still inhabits the world in some way. Which type of spirit is manipulated determines the type of mysticism. Powerful enough mystics can use this power to create effects in the real world that can strike an opponent and cause them physical harm.
But they can also use mysticism in a different form with the spirit that each living creature has - essentially a form of empathy. They can sense surface emotions, but can't read thoughts.
On four legs, they're 5.5 feet / 1.6 meters tall.
On just their back two legs, 6.5 feet / 1.9 meters tall. They're big!
For length, on all sixes, they're about 6 feet / 1.7 meters long.
Their mysticism works by manipulating the power of natural spirits that other creatures cannot sense. Every living creature has a spirit, but there are also uncountably many more that are free-roaming - the origin of these isn't known, but it is believed that each spirit was once a living creature and that, after death, they become a spirit that still inhabits the world in some way. Which type of spirit is manipulated determines the type of mysticism. Powerful enough mystics can use this power to create effects in the real world that can strike an opponent and cause them physical harm.
But they can also use mysticism in a different form with the spirit that each living creature has - essentially a form of empathy. They can sense surface emotions, but can't read thoughts.
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