TaurianThe Builders
The bull-headed being is one of humanity's oldest mythic figures, from the Minotaur to Mesopotamian lamassu. The Taurian is the Atlas's synthesis of that lineage with modern speculation about a race associated with the constellation Taurus.
At a glance
- Home system
- Taurus
- Avg. height
- 6′7″ – 9′10″
- Appearance
- Robust, bovine features, horned
- Reported lifespan
- 300 – 600 years (lore)
- Social structure
- Described as guild-based
- Technology
- Described as monumental engineering
- Primary traits
- Strong, industrious, steadfast
- Relationship to Earth
- Folklore casts them as possible allies and builders
Physical profile
The Taurian is a bull-headed humanoid: massive, broad-shouldered, with a bovine face, curved horns, coarse hair or fur across the head and shoulders, and heavy hands. Heights in the lore run from seven to ten feet. Dress is usually leather, hide or metal harness, marking the type as a labourer and builder rather than a courtier.
Reported origin
Taurus is a large zodiacal constellation containing the Pleiades and the Hyades, with the orange giant Aldebaran as its eye. The Taurian lore attaches to the constellation's name and to the ancient sacredness of the bull; there is no witness tradition placing beings there.
Culture
The Taurian society of speculative lore is a society of makers, organised into guilds and devoted to monumental construction. The type is portrayed as steadfast, industrious and slow to anger, an image drawn from the ox as a working animal and the bull as a symbol of strength.
Technology
Monumental engineering, stonework and metallurgy, in the fashion of the ancient-astronaut 'builder race'.
Craft
Not described.
Communication
Not described beyond speech in speculative fiction.
Earth encounters
There are no encounters. The Taurian is a synthesis: the Minotaur of Crete, the bull-men lamassu that guarded Assyrian gates, the Apis bull of Egypt, and the bull cults documented at Çatalhöyük nine thousand years ago, all combined with the constellation that carries their name.
Lore & history
The bull was sacred across the ancient Near East and Mediterranean, and the bull-headed being is one of the oldest hybrid figures in art. XenoAtlas records the Taurian as folklore given a modern, speculative frame.
Bull-leaping frescoes at Knossos, the Apis bull of Memphis and the winged bulls of Nineveh are all in museums today. The Taurian is what those images become when the lore reaches for a star.
Source notes
- Comparative bull-deity mythology · folklore
- Lyssa Royal and Keith Priest, The Prism of Lyra (1989) · channelled literatureFind on Amazon
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XenoAtlas documents extraterrestrial concepts appearing in mythology, contactee literature, popular culture, speculative accounts, and related sources. Inclusion does not constitute scientific verification.
Related species
See every type in the Types of Aliens guide.