Monoceros

The monoceros is a one-horned, hoofed creature, similar to its still more famed cousin the unicorn. However the monoceros more strongly resembles a gazelle than a horse, and its coat is a flaming ruddy hue. Although very rare and seldom sighted, the monoceros is said to reside in some remote parts of Idiri, chiefly in the desolate lands where the Great Hazari Desert meets the Gilded Plain.

As with the unicorn, the gleaming golden horn of the monoceros is said to have wonderful magical properties, especially for healing and neutralizing poisons. It is also rumored to be able to grant some measure of invincibility, at least briefly. It is said that one may kill the creature easily enough (if one can find it in the first place), but if one does so, the horn simply sublimates into the air, leaving the hunter with nothing to show for their efforts. If one can catch the creature alive, however, a gentle touch to the base of the horn will cause it to drop off into the hunter's hand.

The trouble is that it is the next thing to impossible to capture the monoceros alive. Besides living in the most remote and difficult places, the creature is masterfully elusive. It is capable of great bounding leaps and is wonderfully sure-footed, and it is also said to be able to take fullest advantage of its rugged environment by hurling itself off precipices to escape pursuit. Rather than plummeting to its death, the monoceros is able to twist itself in mid-air so that it falls head-first, landing on its incredibly strong horn which absorbs the shock of the fall. Legend says that it may also strike its horn against obstacles that lie in its path, shattering them apart and allowing the monoceros to escape what would otherwise seem to be a dead end.

How much of these stories is true and how much legend only is impossible to say, but at the very least the existence of the monoceros is not in doubt.