Recent History
Minotaurs have been one of the Beastfolk races who have adapted best to the spread of cities across the New World, easily transferring their lifestyle of family values and a strong work ethic to the more interactive world they increasingly find themselves in.
General Description
The largest of all the Beastfolk races in overall size and mass, Minotaurs are humanoids notable for having the highest muscle density compared to size of any Oerth race; they are also noted for the extreme dimorphism between the sexes. They are covered in fine hair which can be in a variety of patterns and colours (usually dark brown, white or black on males while females will be usually be white, black, sandy brown or one with patches of another of these colours), and have heads and tails resembling those of bovines and cloven digitigrade legs. The males tends to look hunched due to the immense size of their shoulder and neck muscles, which coupled with their long sharp horns and size can make them extremely intimidating. Females on the other hand are generally less muscular and a bit more on the chubby but voluptuous side, with much smaller horns, and are also considerably shorter than the males. Female Minotaurs are noted to have very large breasts, a holdover from their bovine ancestry and something which they get rather annoyed at being brought up.
Language
Minotaur is deep, guttural, bellowing and one of the hardest Orthian languages to learn, as like many Beastfolk races it largely depends on context to convey correct meaning. As such it is seen as mainly an ancestral language and most Minotaurs do not speak it anymore, and Centaur has supplanted it as their main language. Most will also be fluent in one or both of Common and Yeti for practical reasons.
Culture
The Minotaurs are a famously hard-working race, with many of them having careers in heavy manual labour thanks to their great strength and stamina. Many of them in the Beastfolk Heartlands or the Yeti Republic work as farm hands or miners, while those within the Empire and Bēti are often dock workers or factory porters amongst other such jobs. While they are not as strong as Giants or Yeti, their naturally hard working mindset and high endurance make them a perfect fit for work like this. This also makes them good soldiers, though the average Minotaur is not generally predisposed to violence despite the innately aggressive and aloof behaviour of many males (females tend to be strong-willed but more docile). Minotaur culture focuses greatly around close-knit tribes which reside throughout the Heartlands and various cities, with the strongest male at the head. Unlike many Beastfolk cultures, polygamy is the exception rather than the norm, and Minotaur males are often extremely protective of their families. The males are usually the warriors of the family (though female warriors are not unheard of) while the females generally have more pastoral careers like shopkeepers or barmaids, not being the type to just stay at home and look after the children. A Minotaur of adult age who refuses to work is a Minotaur who has disgraced their family, and will usually be severely reprimanded or even disowned if it goes on long enough.
Tradition is Everything
Despite their innate nature as being peaceful and pastoral, the Minotaurs as a culture have a completely justified reputation for being highly conservative and traditionalist to the point of cruelty. Those of adult age who cannot work are often cast out, and those who do not fit with the culture's predisposed gender rules, be they a homosexual or transgender or just don't want to be a traditional female, are usually disowned or shunned. As such, their culture is largely seen as an outdated relic by anthropologists, and as outright cruel by the other more liberal races they often interact with.
Labyrinthine Design
Far from the stereotype of being dumb muscle, Minotaurs are quite intelligent and as a race have a great appreciation of complex architecture and puzzles, and are fairly good designers in their own right. This has fed into their own architecture. For the Minotaurs, building their settlements in a labyrinthine layout is defensively advantageous and rather intuitive to them as a race. To anyone who isn't a Minotaur it can make traversing places Minotaur populations hand built, such as the infamously hard to navigate Minos Square area of Caballus, certain areas of Eastward Gaze Docks and any of their numerous small villages, a nightmare to get around in without getting lost unless one is incredibly familiar with the place. This mentality also allows Minotaurs to have a startlingly high capacity for lateral thinking, and they are often very good at complex problem solving and improvising offbeat solutions to issues, which can be as valuable an asset to any adventurers travelling with one as the race's notable physical prowess.
Charge
Most Minotaurs will begin any close combat attack with an incredibly powerful charge, hoping to incapacitate their opponent in one hit by knocking them unconscious or, with males, impaling them on their horns. This is often assisted by one of the Minotaur races' most well-known weapons - their huge, heavy square shields which are designed just as much to be battering rams as protection.
Natural Weapon
Minotaurs have incredibly thick skulls, and a headbutt from one is just as dangerous as their horns, as combined with their physical strength it can easily knock most other races unconscious or even kill.
An Unexpected Source of Aid
Minotaur milk has been noted for its regenerative properties, able to increase the speed at which someone heals from their injuries and greatly restore one's stamina if one was to drink it. Naturally, some female Minotaurs have thus used this fact as a source of income or alternatively first aid if they are a nurse or other medical professional. Most though are understandably reluctant to provide any directly (and are also usually highly offended at the implications of such) if you ask them for some outside of a few obvious situations, so one must be cautious about this particular subject as an angry Minotaur woman, or worse her husband or lover, is not something the majority of people want to deal with.
Unstoppable Force
Minotaurs are surprisingly fast, but their muscle mass and weight makes it very hard for them to stop quickly or change direction when charging at full speed. The sheer momentum though makes them incredibly powerful, able to plough through wood, concrete or even low thickness steel with relative ease.
Seeing Red
Due to a psychological quirk of their species that is of unknown origin, when they see a large area of the colour red Minotaurs are overwhelmed with the urge to charge at the object in question. Many are able to overcome this with willpower to an extent, but at a certain amount it becomes irresistible and one's best course of action becomes to simply get out of the way.
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