Right but they aren’t arrow proof forinstance or covered with spikes. Not saying an armored warmblood isn’t a good cavalry horse just saying one you have magically tailored to its purpose could potentially be many times better.
If they’re covered in spikes and huge (and more aggressive), you can’t ride them.
Horse armour exists!
Why do you think theurgy is only capable of producing an inferior mount? You can do literally anything you can imagine. Want a vampire bat mount??? Done. Just a slightly faster arab than what is possible with breeding? Also possible.
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Horse psychology and social hierarchy is such a complex and sensitive thing that even messing it up slightly is a terrible thing and I have seen the repercussions. I’ve grown up around horses all my life and you do not want to mess with horses’ natural state in any way. Yes, even like most traditional horse owners nowadays!
Arabs are skittish and faster speed has to be tempered by a trusted “leader”, which contrary to popular belief is not the most bossy or assertive horse or human. They’re overtly sensitive horses. If you can’t get on their backs in the first place, however, due to whatever physical merging, there’s no point in trying to make a Plektoi cavalry.
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Well harking back to my Napoleon analogy the French were also notorious for treating their mounts like absolute crap and they died in such vast numbers it was a strategic problem for the First Empire.
We aren’t talking about beautiful show horses here. I don’t think most professional cavalry outfits gave much of a damn about horse psychology other than absolute obidiance and desensitization to death and loud noises.
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I don’t work in show horses. I’ve never worked in show horses.
The fact is, horses run off mirroring psychologically. Which is another reason why they charge as a cavalry with other horses.
Not to mention the bits, spurs, crops and whips that make it impossible for them to disobey without pain. Now if the horse was stronger than you, and bigger, and more resistant to pain, if you do not know how horses work you are going to be disobeyed or even killed.
You’re talking to the person who’s the consultant for the mule and horse scenes in this game. I will probably be the consultant for any things involving horses in the next games, if I don’t die by that point, and yours is a… terribly unsound idea which I don’t stand by as valid at all unless Havie can speak for the Plektoi psyche.
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Well, I’ve already committed to the idea of Plektoi horses. 
Not covered in spikes or super-aggressive like the upscaled predator hounds; what I had in mind for the mounts was e.g. naturally impenetrable skin, adamantine bones, spiked hooves, and horns.
We can work together on what form of magic adjustment would be needed to horse psychology to make a Plektos horse plausible.
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A rebel force that restructures itself to be closer to its horses - one that utilizes the horse’s psychology, nature and personalities and works within proper bounds can develop quite symbiotic cultural nature.
Those saying show horses are different then “cavalry” horses, really are speaking out of their fields of expertise. Show horses have been breed, trained, socialized and “psyco-taught” (don’t know correct word ) to be war horses - show horses themselves as individuals are just “specialized” for their competitions as they are raised…
My gut instinct is saying if we reject the blood-magic culture, establishing a horse-culture might be the only way to effectively survive, and eventually thrive.
ymmv
A lot of this reputation is fluffed up propaganda of the French enemies of the time.
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Plektoi cows, producing endless rivers of milk. Plektoi chickens, laying clutches of a dozen eggs a day!
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conditioned
You speak a darn good kernel of truth there, Eiwynn! Not only conditioned, but bred, too, in most “elite” cases.
This is actually a really interesting concept I hadn’t thought of before, what with everyone else in this topic believing that there are thousands of unbeatable, redeemable Theurges, that teaching and maintaining theurgy is easy and that everyone has an unlimited supply of aetherial blood. Wow, thanks!
One of the most well known and most effective strategies in the past was hit-and-run mounted archers. It’s what made the Mongols so fearsome, for one. Where’s my option to like your post twice!?
I’m chill with that! 
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The Hegemony limits the number of people it teaches magic, it can be more widely taught then it is today and that is what my mc will be looking into first and foremost.
Particularly since he likes magic, but doesn’t like horses, except on his plate.
Meaning there’s more talent available out there than is currently being utilized.
Considering we can already teach one, it’s also not as impossible as you make it out to be. Though again because of their cultural connotations and the fact that they’re plektoi my mc probably loathes the horses he doesn’t eat.
If anything cavalry use is going to be minimal, not more widespread then it is now.
Again the Ox can be used to take over many of the things the Hegemony may currently use horses for, outside of warfare.
Given its greater intelligence and the fact that weather is hotter and more humid than in real France or England the Elephant could take over warfare uses (and possibly some of the other ones as well) too.
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Oh, comrade, didnt you ever think that there’s a reason oxen never caught on…
Well in-game my mc will make the entirely logical conclusion that this is because one cannot prance about on them, like they do on those damnable horses and with the nobles making all the selections, they would naturally select sub-optimally for horses. 
As far as I know the Ox does just fine as a working animal.
In any case the damned aristo’s obsession with the beasts means that the only possible love my may have for the things goes through the stomach.
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Raw intelligence is only one determinant here whether your MC chooses to believe it or not.
I have a serious question for you - are you playing your MC as having a blind obsession against horses that is all-consuming to the point where he’d lose the rebellion, or will he eventually listen to knowledgeable folk that try to join his rebellion that can help him win the rebellion with resources available?
If it is the former, does this mean you will fight any others that form their own rebellion due to their utilization of horses?
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His character has a problem old Spaniards said some grumpy too strict leaders have had through history. However, I wont say the word here… Our advice is more cereals for the intestine problems and more men on his bed. If i were his second I will drunken or Viagra him with some boys. Until his weird maniac compulsions disappear. A man or woman with problems to make poo regulary and no sex, tend to killing people for weird things or animals… It is like a way to compensate their frustrations.
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Oh, those reminds me of the deadly unicorns from P.C. Hodgell’s Kencyrath series! They have a natural armor thing made from their super bones, and it grows all around them in super creepy shapes depending on their environment. I liked the way she handled them because they are aggressive but not quite predators - something like a bull from hell. More importantly, that crazy armor makes riding and steering them quite a task, so their rider would be sacrificing maneuverability for the ability to brutally trample everything in their path.
For myself I mostly wonder how other animals will react to Plektos horse. They might make trouble for you in more ways than one.
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Do they use different animals tailored to the environment? I could see a big cat being good in a jungle while a ram might be better in a mountainous environment. I could also see using different animals for the various specialist cavalry roles. Something more like a gazell for a courier or dispatch rider while a bear might be better for shock cavalry. A horse is a good all arounder but if you had a choice with magic in play a bear attack on your flank is certainly more shocking!
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Since the rebellion won’t have regular soldiers it won’t have regular “elite”, uniformed cavalry units either, if some cell commanders want to use horses then they probably can, although my mc himself will probably try to refrain from it.
The “regular” cavalry problem only becomes a real problem once the post-war structure of the new army needs to be decided upon.
As for what it might take for my mc to relent (a bit) on cavalry, I already answered that above:
Ride a giant lion friend into battle. Go ahead. Just do it. Your enemies will shit their pants. What’s there not to like?
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While that would be BA I’m asking more along the lines of what the Hegemony already does.
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