I have unicorns in my story. Here is a description of them:

"It's a delicate little thing," Gerwen had said, "with pink hooves and a flowing white mane. Unlike the deer, it has only one twisted horn in the center of its forehead, and it has a long tail like the horse. It makes only soft whooshing sounds; except when it is in pain, it screams like a woman."
"But here's the best part," he had continued, "there is only one way to catch a unicorn. A pure young maiden must go deep into the forest, and then sit absolutely still. It may take minutes, it may take hours, it may take days, but if she is perfectly quiet, the unicorn will come to her. Then if she is gentle to him, he will let her do whatever she wants with him, and he will only leave her if she tells him to."

When my MC girl is young, she goes out into the woods and tries to catch one. She thinks she sees something white approaching her in the distance, but a squirrel makes a noise suddenly, causing her to jump. When she looks back, the white is gone. The unicorn comes back into the story near the end, serving as a powerful symbol of the girl's purity.
In this world, unicorns are so rare that the younger generation is not sure they exist. Only the old people, like Gerwen, know they are real.
Are any of you using unicorns in your stories? Please tell me about them, or ask questions about mine.

I have unicorns! They come from a setting I started developing when I was ten and didn't realize that unicorns are supposed to be all white. So mine have different colors.

I like the pink hooves of yours and the woman's scream when they're in pain. They're cool little details.

Thanks! I don't see anything wrong with different colors of unicorns. It's your world, after all. But you probably knew that.
I suppose my unicorn is very traditional. I don't think his horn has any powers, though.

I'm leaving for a while, I'll be back in the morning.
<>< Aemi

Haha, yeah, when I discovered that unicorns are traditionally pure white, I thought about changing mine and then realized I liked them better colored and I could do whatever I wanted.

Unicorns are mostly just animals in my world. They are symbols of purity and righteous power. I do have them in my head as white but I may use other colors. Their horns are clear, white or blue.

Cool! Mine are just animals, too, as far as intelligence goes.

Unicorns as a symbol of purity is cool I've never thought of that...

eruheran

I've always liked unicorns.
Do your unicorns have "beards"?
Also, -just fuel for your imagination- in some pictures, unicorns actually have split hooves like a goat or deer instead of regular horse hooves.

No, they don't have beards. I know that in some early illustrations of unicorns, they look more like goats, but I decided that a horse-like unicorn suits this story better.

Have you read my story, yet? It's in The Fireside.

I have unicorns, but they are brown and hairy and ug. My dwarfs ride them when they play their messed up version of polo.

So, are your dwarfs evil, then? I don't have any dwarfs in my story.

Fun, fun, fun!!

Nope, no unicorns here. Do the unicorns have any special powers?

Their only power is the ability to sense a girl's virginity. Do you think they should do this by smell, or by some sixth sense?

Well technically-... never mind, let's just go with that... *slaps scientist half of my brain*

Ha ha, yeah, the sixth sense works better.

Could you possibly finish your sentence, Riniel? This is a made-up world, remember; my unicorns could have amazing noses if they needed to.

Yeah, but I think the sixth sense thing works better. You could make the smell work, but it would be harder.

You're probably right, Griffin.

No, believe me, I don't think you want to know. The sixth sense is a much better idea.

If you say so. I think you are right.

Does anybody else have unicorns in a story?

Yes

I have "ordinary unicorns" that inhabit some places in my main secondary-world, winged unicorns (which I need to develop quite a bit more before attempting to coherently describe them), and unicorns of "unicorn country".

An "ordinary" unicorns is a somewhat large horse with a horn. Most are white in color, but this varies almost as widely as the color of ordinary horses. And they are, like many creatures, quite intelligent---able to understand human speech fairly well, carry out moderately complex tasks, and so on.

The unicorns of unicorn country are several steps above "ordinary unicorns". They also are equine creatures, but they average 18 hands high, which would be unusually tall for a horse. Their coats vary in shade from a dark grey to a pure white, but any true color would be vanishingly rare. Each has a brilliantly-white horn that by adulthood is at least three feet long. These unicorns are more than merely "quite intelligent"; they are very intelligent, capable of thinking, reasoning, acting on their own or in cooperation with others, and of understanding human speech. And they have one gift that makes them a strictly fantasy element: A unicorn foal less than a month old, or very rarely an adult, can form a life-long empathic bond with a human being of pure heart. This bond is not telepathic---words, thoughts, and images can't travel across it---but allows the sharing of emotions and, with practice, instincts, so that a unicorn and rider can move in unison without thought. A bonded unicorn---even after the death of her rider, assuming she survives such a tragedy---also gradually gains various metaphysical powers for the protection, healing, and defense of the unicorn, its rider, and others.

Wow, that's awesomeness. Thank you for sharing!

Fascinating as usual, kingjon.


I haven't made an official decision yet, but it's likely that Murel will have unicorns.
My unicorns will probably be different than the way most people view them though. For one thing, my cobha works in such a way that it is most likely that unicorns are demonically altered horses.
I've played around with the idea of having winged unicorns (demonically altered pegasi), but that will depend on if I decide to give Murel pegasi.

As to intelligence, they are just as much an animal as a bunny or a bear.

I'm planning on having them, but I'm not quite sure how I'll go about it yet. I was leaning towards giving them the size and strength of a Clydesdale and the fiery nature of a wild stallion. Now that would be fun.

Those are both cool ideas, Sui and Riniel.

I have Unicorns. They are full white, not a single blemish in them. Also, the hoofs of the Unicorns are white. Their riders are the Elves, although not every Elf has a Unicorn. The unicorn will come to its rider if the rider is alone. Same thing goes with my Pegasi.

Hmm... in my fantasy trilogy, a glory of unicorns (glory being a term like herd, only for unicorns) appears for a chapter or so. But they don't play an integral part.

But then, there was a novel I was planning out called The Fall of Mysticalia, in which there were four different types of creatures as the main characters--unicorns, dragons, wolves, and griffins. I never got very far in it though.

I like the "glory of unicorns" term. Where did that come from?

That came from a book by Bruce Coville. He put together a collection of unicorns, and he says that instead of 'herd', he coined the term 'glory'. I'm only using it temporarily, since I want to make sure he doesn't have it copyrighted. But he's usually very good at answering emails from his readers, so it shouldn't take me too long to find out.

I hope you can use it. It's much nicer than "herd".

I received a reply! And it's good news.

"Hi, Theodora -

Thanks for writing, and particularly for asking about the term "glory" as a name for a group of unicorns. Though it is a term that I came up with, it is not copyrighted. In fact, it is my hope that the word might someday become the commonly accepted term for a group of unicorns. So if you would like to use it in your own stories, please do so, with my blessing!

BC"

For the record, unless I'm vastly mistaken, in the United States it's not possible to copyright a term. What you would have to worry about is a trademark. (But his answer applies equally well to that.)

Oops. Yeah... I still haven't learned much about the whole official thing of copyrighting or trademarking, so I wasn't sure.

Only problem I see and it's probably just me but you say it screams like a woman and then refer to a male unicorn? I mean it just kinda messes with my head.

Ah, good point. Thank you.

When the King James refers to unicorns, it's from the Greek term used to recognize a rhinoceros. Europe had myths of unicorns we are familiar with, but when explorers found the "real" unicorn, they were baffled at the contrast between the graceful creature in lore, and the tank in reality. It could be really neat to create a mythical unicorn that shares traits with a rhinoceros as well.

I have Kirin..... they're like Japanese unicorn...things. *shrugs* Also Jeshil-horns, which are shaggy-haired, goatlike unicorns with a green-and-white horn and green hooves in which they store chlorophyll.

Marco Polo had some words to say on that subject, which may prove interesting in regards to this conversation that some of you might find inspirational. He sounds so disappointed. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Trav ... /Chapter_9



As for me, I do not have unicorns. I try to avoid standard fantastical beasts because they break my suspension of disbelief in my own storyverse, which is a problem.

I always enjoy reading that account.

Though if you want to have rhinoceros that can only be tamed by virgins, that's pretty cool.

BTW added note I can't even have unicorns in one of my story worlds, I have dinosaurs and dire animals all over the place, domesticated horses are rare enough couldn't imagine any kind of wild equine not savage enough to pulverizes a man out of fear.

The other world well I have unicorns but they are a bit of a one note joke. They descend from Oberon's steed and are kind-of just really stupid horses with horns on their heads. They will approach just about anyone and have a tendency to be quite clumsy. This is because they have been inbred a lot...

Yes, Yes I am a monster.

Mankind has domesticated elephants. I'm sure they can take some savage, pulverizing, pointy equines.

War unicorns!

Know that is an idea...

Like in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe? It could certainly be interesting, but could clash with the symbolism associated with the unicorn, but that could be deliberate and used effectively.

Perhaps male unicorns represent chivalry in the same way that female unicorns represent purity.

Maybe I'm just too modern but that seems a bit sexist...

I want this in something

Shall you, or shall I?