V3: Collars/Gargants

As with so many issues the Outfit faced, the number of draft animals required to transport their gear on long campaigns was more a matter of scale than dearth of options. Migratory herds of massive, quadrapedal beasts called gargants roved across the plains in the hundreds and thousands, but the matter of their domestication was a closely held piece of knowledge. Hunting them was a challenging and somewhat dangerous way to make a living, most often practiced by bands of extraordinarily ambitious youngbloods seeking renown. Given their prodigious size, gargants were no easy game, hard to kill and possessed of a known proclivity for encircling unwary pursuers and collectively crushing them into a fine slurry. Their shaggy pelts, thick hides, and heavy bones being just a few of the useful raw materials attainable from their bodies, the rewards were usually sufficient to disregard the risk.

Where the problem lay was in domestication. Just the length of time required to tame and train the wild creatures was enough to make amateurs balk, almost always requiring an early start with a barely weaned calf; any younger and they were difficult to maintain, any older and they became intractable. Years of constant work were required to produce an animal capable of tolerating a rider and following their commands, putting them far beyond the means of all but the richest clans. Herdbosses with the skill and means to raise gargants enjoyed a lucrative monopoly, putting them on a similar social strata to master swordmakers and wielders of the Edge. There was little incentive for them to share the wealth, or to devalue their trade by easing the way.

Sarj Beorn’s grim yellow glare had a way of inspiring a most focused and energetic desire to show results, and the herdbosses were no exception to the phenomenon. Some clans tried to hold out, banding together to decry the injustice of such demands on their ancient rights. Outfit ledgers were marked with quotas impossible to meet under traditional methods, Alistair hands tapped casually on the hilts of sheathed swords; the Bossman’s irritation was often shared by his tribal subordinates. Sorcerers of the Seidh and runewise smiths were hurriedly consulted, segregated pools of knowledge were shared, and a solution to the problem was swiftly found.

Crude runic constructions were uncovered which, when applied in ink or iron, would reduce the aggressive resilience of the marked creature. Finding them too wordy and complex for efficient branding en masse, the herdbosses commissioned a series of Chalice Steel collars of sufficient circumference to comfortably lock around the throat of an adolescent gargant. Later, they would be moved to the beast’s ankle as it began to reach adult size.

Early, cautiously practiced experiments proved to be a resounding success. Even feral gargants captured while nearing adulthood proved more tractable and docile when bound by a collar, at least enough to train for simple tasks in the near term; that alone would greatly accelerate acquisition, since rambunctious adolescents were far easier to cut out of the herd than the well protected calves. For those calves the bindings were yet more effective, making them downright friendly, and somehow eager to please their trainers. What had once taken years was reduced to the matter of a few months, with young gargants soon being sufficiently domesticated to carry small loads; this had the additional benefit of making them familiar with the work, bearing cargo over long distances, sometimes in unfamiliar territory.

Collared gargants surpassed their traditionally tamed brethren as soon as they entered the scene, being far less likely to balk or run amok granted their Lakelander ‘family’ was nearby. Not only were they obedient, they also had a unusually stolid, calm disposition, while retaining a certain wariness of strangers. These traits combined made them even more difficult to rustle or stampede away from a caravan, both pursuits being a perennial favorite for youngbloods and competitors alike.

Before long, the herdbosses reported that their quotas had been met, and with a superior end result than Sarj Beorn had ever expected. Sumptuous rewards were dispensed to all involved in the form of the Outfit’s favorite currencies: reputation and rank. What was even more pleasing to the hard-worked steelsmiths, sorcerers, and gargant-raising clans, the Bossman’s irritable gaze turned away from them and on to other quarters.