Slime Squisher
Posts: 377
Joined: Thursday, 12th June 2014, 06:56
Reflavour Minotaurs
The use of "minotaur" as a common noun to refer to members of a generic species of bull-headed creatures developed much later, in 20th-century fantasy genre fiction.
The developers have expressed a dislike for Tolkien, yet this particular use of minotaurs is even newer than Tolkien, as far as I can tell. Moreover, there are plenty of mythological warrior peoples that the design of Mi corresponds very nicely to. These are all from Greek mythology, but I'm sure people can come up with examples from others:
- Spartoi: The warriors who grew from dragon's teeth. Known for fighting each other into near-extinction for a very silly reason, so a nice fit for a "good at bashing things but dumb" species. Doesn't actually seem to be related to the historical Sparta.
- Myrmidons: Achilles' warriors, almost certainly mythological. Also a pretty good fit.
- Amazons: Possibly more historical, so that may be a problem. I don't see any issue with the gender implications, though - it's not like Crawl ever references the player's gender.
This change would also entail the retooled Minotaurs losing their horns. I don't see a problem with this. If the retaliatory strike is thought to be worth keeping, it can be reflavored to not require horns (they're just really good at elbowing monsters).
- For this message the author ion_frigate has received thanks:
- duvessa