by Lidellia

To the Monsters and Creatures Treatises

Ere long I crested yonder hill,
And stared with wondering eyes.
Below the deepened vale,
Against the brightening skies,
Stood a beast of raven night,
A horse with horn on head.

It pranced to speak my language,
I know not with mind or tongue,
But I glimpsed a creature I’ll never know,
And became myself so young.

This anonymous poet speaks of an encounter in the realm of the Astral �?a mysterious place said to be the crossroads between all the other realms. What he or she saw was doubtless a black unicorn, a legendary creature thought to be a native of the Astral.

The realm of the Astral was officially ‘discovered�?six years after the discovery of Shavay. An explorer returned to Masalla and was interviewed by a great magician of the time, one Magus Tol. The explorer ( whose name is now lost to history) had witnessed Shavay shamans disappearing to another plane of existence �?when they returned, they often brought strange objects to their tribesfolk.

Magus Tol, utilizing the most potent magics of the day, eventually gained access to that plane of existence, what he later termed the ‘Astral�?

The Astral is a shifting, changing land where things seem to have little reality. But since Tol’s first visits, reports have come back to Carador that there are native creatures inhabiting those lands.

Among the most mysterious and beautiful are the black unicorns.

Today, when modern magics and even certain drugs have made access to the Astral slightly more common, the black unicorn is gaining a name for itself.

Sighted infrequently at best, and almost exclusively within the Astral, the black unicorns nevertheless leave a striking impression. Unlike Caradorian unicorns, which seem to be solitary, the black unicorns often travel in sizeable herds of eight to twenty individuals. Witnesses report being ‘held in rapture�?upon seeing them, for evident in their presence is an indescribable beauty, as well as a keen intelligence. And that intelligence is more than just intuitive observation.

Sanden, perhaps the world’s greatest expert on the Astral, lives in Selarum. He not only visits the Astral himself, but interviews hundreds of people who have had intentional or unintentional Astral experiences.

"The black unicorns enter people’s Astral experiences during times of need �?when people are lost, are caught in a storm, or are being attacked. Almost every report I have of these creatures consists either of distant sightings of herds, or of direct contact in times of need."

What of communication, as is suggested in the poem above?

"That is not quite as easy to answer," Sanden mused. "Most visitors to the Astral are there by virtue of taking Mother’s Milk. Being a drug, Mother’s Milk can also create delusions. Many who experience the Astral through Mother’s Milk claim that they have ‘spoken�?to black unicorns, usually through a sort of ‘sending of the mind'. In contrast, those who use magic to go to the Astral don’t usually report such communications. Although the evidence would suggest that the drug users are experiencing hallucinations regarding the unicorns, there is another possibility. Those who go to the Astral via magic also usually have the means to defend themselves once they arrive, and thus are not often in need of much aid from beneficial creatures such as the black unicorns. Drug users, on the other hand, enter the Astral woefully unprepared, and might require much more intervention on the part of the unicorns."

Whatever the case, black unicorns have eluded our pursuit of knowledge, because none have ever been captured.

Many sages suggest that the black unicorns are related to the nightmares �?the steeds of the most powerful of demonkind. Nightmares have the ability to pass easily from one realm, into the Astral, and then to their choice of location within the next realm. Being masters of the Astral, they essentially are unbound by distance, and can travel anywhere at whim. If black unicorns are indeed related, then might they possess the same ability?

Ancient history suggests that this might be so.

When people first arrived in Masalla, the isles were populated by strange, tribal peoples. The leaders of some of these tribes were reported to ride upon ‘huge, horned beasts, black as night, yet resembling a horse�? Furthermore, these steeds and their riders could ‘disappear into the shadows and not be seen hence�?

Whether this refers to black unicorns and their ability to shift from place to place via the Astral, or simply to some now-unknown steed whose dark coat allowed it to use shadows as camouflage, is still a mystery.

Caradorian sightings have been recorded, but not often enough or by reliable enough sources to suggest that they actually visit our realm. One famous sighting, during the Loredae rule in Masalla, recounts a violent encounter.

My dogs rushed into a clearing and startled a large, black unicorn with a silver horn. It turned upon them and lashed out, scattering them into a yelping pack of cowards. I was stunned by the sight until the beast charged, at which point I turned my horse and bolted. Being of a heavy breed, the monster soon gave up the chase.

Although the texts that refer to the incident have not been well preserved, the silver horn (black unicorns have black horns) and violent tendencies suggest that this was some other beast. Also, a tattered document from the time, barely legible and hardly conclusive, suggests that a ferocious trained warhorse, equipped with a bladed ‘unicorn horn�? escaped from the Loredae stables and ravaged the countryside before being killed by the King’s guard.

Whatever the truths of history, it seems that black unicorns seldom, if ever, visit Carador itself, and that they have some bond with humankind that brings them to our aid when things grow foul in the Astral.

The black unicorn, then, will remain a mystery that few of us will ever glimpse. But at least we know that some of the unknown things of the world smile upon our presence, even in realms where we are not, perhaps, supposed to tread.