Buraq

The buraq are celestial horses, friends to virtuous princes and rescuers of many holy warriors. They pick their own companions and acknowledge no rider as master. Each is dappled gray and white with the face of a wise, strong man, bigger than a donkey but smaller than a mule. Its coat gleams even at night, a sign of its vigor. Toward the hindquarters the dappling brightens with flecks of green, blue, brown, and black, and its long, fanned tail shows blue, gold, green, and red, marked with peacocklike eyes. Its silver hooves never need shoes and make no sound even at a full gallop.

A buraq can carry a warrior into battle but seldom enjoys it, preferring to keep its rider in a commanding position away from the press of melee. When it must fight, it kicks with each hoof for 1d6 or bites for 2d6. A foe struck by both hooves is knocked down automatically and trampled for 2d6 per round until he spends a full round scrambling free. Three times per day it can comprehend languages, and it may speak with animals whenever it likes.

As a mount for journeys it has no equal. After building up speed for three rounds or more it can gallop through the air as fast as on land, though once aloft it cannot stop moving. If it wishes, a time stop is in effect for anyone on its back, so even a long ride feels instant. This lets it keep a rider who is poisoned, starving, or mortally hurt alive until help is reached, and some riders have covered vast distances this way and lived far longer than ordinary folk. Navigating by sun and stars, it crosses any terrain by day or night without ever getting lost. It can manage straits and narrow channels, but not oceans, since it must rest on land each night.

The buraq befriends the faithful and the worthy, but a would-be rider must first earn its trust through some mix of lifelong good deeds, personal care (currying, combing, braiding its mane), gifts of fresh fruit and sweets, courage and generosity, and readiness to set aside his own ambitions for others' needs. He must show mercy and respect to everyone while still honoring the law and the hard justice it may require. Few qualify, and a single lapse sends the buraq away for good. In exchange for devoted care it gives wise counsel and serves fearlessly in danger. Wild herds are said to roam the world's farthest rim and the meadows of the good-aligned Outer Planes.

It has a fine horse's ordinary needs yet can live with no physical food at all, because it is nourished by the care behind feeding and grooming rather than the fodder; it literally eats good intentions. A kind-hearted beggar could keep one healthy, while a cold, proud sultan might watch it waste away.

Its tail feathers are prized for scrolls, especially protection scrolls and priestly scrolls of healing and protective magic. A buraq sometimes visits a famous or devout congregation or a mystic's hut and leaves one feather as a token of divine favor. With inks of ground gems and gold dust, one feather can inscribe a single scroll of protection or one scroll holding as many as 14 spell levels, combined however the scribe wishes (a pair of 7th-level spells, or a 4th-level spell plus two of 5th level, for example).