Here's my newest character, Stalemate the Horse. I gotta squeeze him in before 2021 ends.

In the treasure hunting lore, Stalemate is Reptu's puzzle and chess coach. He used to be a grandmaster, but he retired, and now he teaches. It's apparent where the name comes from, and also because he's old. The stalemate is the most interesting outcome in chess, in this equine's opinion. And yes, he is a horse, which was inspired from the knight piece. Horses in Reptu's anthro world tend to play lots of chess, since they practically invented the game, and gave the strangest moving piece to them. What's cool is that horses have 64 chromosomes in each cell nucleus, and there are 64 squares on a chess board. Coincidence?

Stalemate is a wise, caring horse. Reptu needs a coach to train him with solving all those tricky treasure mazes, so Stalemate constantly brings him random puzzle books and toys to keep Reptu's brain exercised. He also helps Reptu managing his emotions with his chess losses against other animals. Reptu hates losing, and he gets a bit angry and disappointed in himself, but Stalemate tries to bring his emotions up by saying, "At least you put up a good fight, Reptu."