Legeica

(leh-GAY-sha)

There is a legend in Shengui Guo, about a beautiful legeica that was a friend to all. One day, she heard about a vicious ogre that was heading down from the mountains, planning to attack Shengui Guo and sink it into the sea. Desperate to save her friends, the legeica begged for help from the river spirit. In exchange for the river spirit to help protect Shengui Guo, the legeica offered up the beautiful, magical horns of all of her children as a gift. The spirit agreed, and it stirred up a hurricane-strength wind that tossed the ogre deep into the sea, saving Shengui Guo for all future generations. There is no telling whether or not this legend is true, but one thing is for sure -- no legeica since the ghostly spirit Kiyo has had a full horn.

Legeica free roam all around Shengui Guo, where they live in large herds called dazzles, so named for the way the sun reflects off their jewel-like scales. They are peaceful animals, grazing on plants and flowers, and even wild legeica will wander freely into the city to sniff at the flowers in peoples' gardens and beg for a treat or two from Ujin. They are a tall, dainty equine, that stand around 4.5 ft (1.4 m) at the withers, and they can weigh upwards of 800 lbs (362 kg). Much of their height is in their legs, and they can race at quite a gallop with their long legs. The strongest males will mate with the strongest females, and the mares will give birth after nearly a year of pregnancy. The babies, known as trinkets, are born ready to walk, run, and even play. In the wild, the trinkets will rarely leave their dazzle, and often they are made up of large family groups. The jewel scales on legeica start out quite large, soft, and smooth but shrink as they age. Once they are adults, they will shed these jewel plates every year, and it is common practice to harvest the fallen jewels in the early spring.

Legeicas make fine pets for those that have the space to keep them. They enjoy exercise and are quite comfortable to ride, although they seem to be better suited for bareback riders - saddles tend to fit poorly over their scaled backs! A riding blanket tends to be enough to protect both their scales as well as the rider from the rigid texture. They are quite gentle, and will even get along with other pets - though they seem to form especially close bonds with feli and bovynes. Subetans keep legeica both for work and pleasure, as they are good at both pulling a cart as well as offering gentle companionship.