Standing over five feet at the shoulder, Goltr are a mountain of muscle and fur that would strike terror into the heart any sane man who encountered them in the wild of Mannheim. The curious truth is that these mountainous beasts are normally a placid herd animal, within the tolerances of what ‘placid’ means in the savage lands of Mannheim. They will still gore any hapless mortal that happens to encounter them during mating season but are otherwise remarkably tolerant and non-territorial. The Nords have managed to exploit this, with the female sows being the lynchpin which allows this ‘domestication’ process to happen.

Seeking the warmth of sturdily constructed barns for their farrowing, the sows are happy to be housed and cared for during the depths of winter, hibernating and giving birth in a manner very similar to that of bears. During these hard periods, in the absence of the calming effect of the sows, the males establish their dominance over each other laying down their breeding patterns for the spring to come. 

While the initial benefit of this symbiosis was limited to the protection the enraged males offered during the most dangerous season, over time the Nords managed to extend their benefits. The runts of a Goltr litter, neglected by its mother and hounded by its peers, form the backbone of Nord diet during the hard months of winter, particularly if they can be fattened for a few months. Gelding these young boars has allowed Nords to replicate the relationship most human civilizations have with dogs, in the creation of a smart, loyal pet that is unlikely to murder ones family. 

A generationally domesticated Goltr boar can be loaded into a vessel and transported as the core of a new herd in the calming presence of a female and on a steady diet of fermented oats and mildly intoxicating berries. Careful partitioning of the herd into different berths can even see a handful of boars transported while calmed by the presence of a few females.

It was inevitable that time, ambition or desperation would see someone attempt to deploy the boars in combat. The process is so simple it is almost intuitive: while calm and docile the boars are clad and caparisoned in armor. Then, on the eve of battle the sow is killed as the Goltr are weaned from their diet. The increasingly irate boars are then led to the front where their surging aggression and the din of battle throws them into a wild frenzy.

So long as the Nord forces are careful to give the Goltr a wide berth on the battlefield, they are guaranteed results as the rampaging mass of a herd of Goltr boars is more than capable of shattering a shield wall on the charge. In fact, Goltr have been known to eviscerate fully armored men and horses, trampling those unlucky enough to get in their way with little regard for their own safety, centuries of repressed evolutionary pressure turning the maddened boar into a murderous muscled mountain of savagery.

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And throughout this all, a maddened god sighs in both satisfaction and regret…