I'm wondering, would the tiger be considered too "exotic" for a heartbeast? I'm actually thinking of a character that comes from the far eastern reaches of the Novgorod tribunal.
As long as the tiger is native to where the character was born I don't see why it couldn't be a HEartbeast.
In medieval times there were still tigers in the Caucasus too. Still outside the normal scope of the Order, but certainly closer than the Far East.
Or had seen one at one point in his life, or had familiar linneage traceable back to an area with tigers (i.e. family had migrated as merchants/refugees in grandparents' time. Young magus has had strange dreams of giant, stripped white cats since he was a small child. Now he knows why.)
Even more appropriate if there's Mythic Blood involved.
You could come up with a pretty neat story about a traveling menagerie and a young child (Pre-apprenticeship). However, a tiger running around in medieval europe is certainly going to raise the hackles of the locals... devil-cat stories and all that.
If you don't want the very exotic I'd recommend the snow leopard, it can be found in the Carpathians and is both a beautiful and agile animal, navigating the slopes very smoothly in search of prey.
Hungary is full of Iranians...has villages for them and everything, as I recall. THey work in the royal mint.
Tigers are certainly found at the edges of Mythic Europe. I would note that what is called a 'tiger' in the bestiaries (e.g. http://bestiary.ca/beasts/beast131.htm) was probably a cheetah rather than what we think of as a tiger. The bestiary tiger is known for its swift speed, and it has spots, not stripes...
Mark
Alexander was in India, so it stands to reason that someone from Mythic Europe may once have seen a tiger, and hence it could be known. Also, Marco Polo might have passed through areas with tigers, and that's somewhat in period of the standarsd ArM setting, right?
I've toyed with that concept myself, but think that such an exotic animal fits best for an exotic character. So I was going to make a magus of Indian origin.
Alexander was in India, so it stands to reason that someone from Mythic Europe may once have seen a tiger, and hence it could be known. Also, Marco Polo might have passed through areas with tigers, and that's somewhat in period of the standarsd ArM setting, right?
I've toyed with that concept myself, but think that such an exotic animal fits best for an exotic character. So I was going to make a magus of Indian origin.
There were Tigers in Novgorod territories too, like some said on Caucassian area.
And the tigers are part of the bestiaries, they are possible heartbests to me.
I would point out that Crocodiles and Hyenas are also found at the borders of Mythic Europe, were known since antiquity, and are described in bestiaries; but they are the very examples that HoH:MC uses to say what types of beasts are mythical, rather than everyday, to the common European, and are thus best represented as creatures with Magic Might (and therefore unavailable as heartbeasts). That was exactly my concern with tigers.
Incidentally, Mark Shirley is right about the fact that the "tiger" in the bestiaries of the time is quite unrelated to the tiger we know today, in looks, bulk and abilities.
But HoH:MC goes on to say that playing a Bjornaer with a heartbeast that is a mundane version of these animals, if permitted by the storyguide, requires at the least an exotic origin, and perhaps the Well-Traveled Virtue or Outsider Flaw. So it is possible, as long as your storyteller or troupe agrees, and you already have that exotic origin. So even if every tigers your troupe will ever encounter has Magic Might, because in your story tigers are mythical creatures, you could still have a mundane tiger heartbeast. If your storyteller agrees.
I guess, technically, you only need to have exotic ancestors, as Heartbeasts are ancestors.
Beware the pomeranian crocodile!
Xavi
You mean actual honest-to-God Persian Iranians? Or peoples from the steepes, like the Sarmatians, that spoke Iranian group languages? If the former, how did they end up in Hungary working for the king?
I think he means either these people http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jassic_people or a similar group. There are a number of similar ethnic groups of refugees.
They are largely there (in numbers) for the usual reasons --- displaced by the rise of some regional power (and / or displaced by mongol invasions).
Nifty. So we're talking steppe peoples, rather than Persians, if these guys are the ones Timothy is referring to. Tigers are a bit iffy, since the Caspian tiger isn't supposed to have roamed north of the Caucasus. On the other hand, that species is apparently very closely related to the Siberian tiger (if Wikipedia is right that is), so who knows, maybe the range overlapped and these folks were familiar with the big cats. Either way their involvement in Hungary is interesting and I'd love to hear what there had to do with the mint.
This sort of takes into account that some places in ME think an animal common while others think that same animal very exotic. So magi from Schwarzwald most likely think crocs and hyenas exotic, while roman magi having visited their covenant's chapter house in egypt feel otherwise. IMHo as long as there is some excuse for the magus or his ancestor having come from a place where the animal is known, it's ok.