#centaur worldbuilding

[sirspudd]

first little oc canon universe infodump thingy, with centaur tack and equipment... tldr autism went mad with horse stuff weeehooo

as a big ol' horsey fan the first thing i thought of was "what kind of tack and equipment would they have?" and here i am, with our first two showing a traditional English and Western set up based of irl styles and brands. I altered some of the terms since the "bridle" does onto the torso and not the head, so browbands and nosebands are swapped to chestbands and waistbands but the overall structure and namesake is the same. just kind of like a bridle crossed with a camera harness used by filmographers. Bits work the same with instead sitting as a joint with the cheekpeice and reins instead of a bar across the mouth. Their strength and specialities is much the same as in our world. anyway here is a annoyingly specific description of their shit which i shall painfully list here for my own autistic amusement. Also noted thank uuu to MlleNugget for the help with western tack accuracy as i have limited experience with them irl and they super-helped make my design logical!!

EIJI

⓪ Black cavesson bridle with plaited chest & waist bands

⓪ Two-ring gag bit

⓪ Albion K2 general purpose saddle (pictured) & k4 sport jump saddle

⓪ Anatomically shaped leather girth and Lemuiex vector stirrups

DANIEL

⓪ Colorado Rancher saddle with traditional girth,cinch, and rawhide stirrups

⓪ Tripping Collar

⓪ Simple loosering snaffle bit

⓪ Rawhide overlay headstall with futurity knot chestband

[theartingace]

Your centaurs differ pretty wildly from the base DnD centaurs, but what I am curious about is old people. DnD centaurs travel in migrations that last generations and just leave the old or infirm behind to keep on (at which point they become Chiron types); how do your centaurs handle the elderly?

I actually had no idea that DnD centaurs did that, kinda cool, kinda wild cultural practice?? While I have always encouraged folks to use my workarounds and patches for centaurs in their TTRPG games, I actually have very little idea of what ideas are already in any of the systems that do actually include centaurs! my advice on centaurs is usually much more niche daily life stuff than most game developers and story writers tend to delve into.

For my centaurs the elderly are treated much like any human elder, what do you do with them? You cherish them!! Particularly with my centaurs, who across all their cultures depend a lot on family and group dynamics to compensate for the challenges that come with having a horse body. So elders would be an important font of knowledge and cultural memory! Now MY centaurs in particular tend to be pre-history to medieval style cultures, with access to higher medicines pretty much limited to the Port city of the Merchant's culture so living to a super advanced age would be fairly rare, but that would just make those who DO get to that age generally more important and respected (at least according to Nana)

As mobility issues arise with advanced age, there's lots of options to keep Nana mobile and healthy, from supportive corsets and harnesses to support the back to senior comfort hoof trims and special shoes- but most end up opting for being (literally) carted around in small wagons by the grandkids. Or the more independent minded seniors may drive their own carts with pet ponies and donkeys (or even goats!)

Of course wheelchairs are also an excellent choice to help with mobility at any age!

And even in my semi-nomadic Rider culture, elders are simply packed up with the yurts and tents and travel in the carts that way. No reason to leave them behind when you have stuff to be carrying anyway in my opinion!

[thestuffedalligator]

Typos can be dangerous. The kingdom of Ixion was destroyed in a single night by a typo, when a wizard attempting to create a portal into the Elemental Plane of Force got sloppy with his sigils and opened the door into the Plane of Horses.

Raw, crackling, untethered horsepower had boiled out of the portal, irradiating everything it touched. Unmanned wagons went screaming away at top speeds. Sleepers woke to find their beds trying to buck and leap and throw them off. When the king was kicked in the eye by his own throne, the kingdom was ordered to be evacuated and a quarantine established around its borders.

Today, the kingdom of Ixion is best known for being the origin of hippogriffs, pegasi, and similar fauna. Human cleanup crews still return to the exclusion zone, hoping to restore the kingdom to its former glory.

This is, not coincidentally, also where centaurs come from.

[nazrigar]

Beast Fables: The Many Chimeras of the Horse and other Equids

Returning to the world of Beast Fables, the world of werebeasts and mermaids, another batch of Chimeras, featuring the horse and other equids!

Originally this was meant to be MUCH more extensive, but I had to seperate into more parts saved for later, because the horse is SUCH an important critter IRL, and in-universe the sheer diversity of chimeric morphs for the horse means that the cultural importance and application of them in-universe is going to be extensive as well.

[puppetmaster13u]

Doin' some Centaur Worldbuilding...

Right now, specifically how tack and similar would work, alongside pulling carts:

[fantasy-anatomy-analyst]

Centaur Worldbuilding

this one has been in the works for a really long time! but here it is at last: the details about how I personally have chosen to worldbuild with centaurs.

My centaurs are based on chalicotheres, popularly referred to as "gorilla horses". I thought they were a perfect base to start from when making people that resemble a horse combined with a human. Though my centaurs lean way more into the chalicothere look and don't resemble humans much at all.

here are a few variations on color/pattern for centaur coats, based mostly on paleoart of chalicotheres.

(image description: six illustrations of centaurs with different coloration. The two main colors are a red-brown and a duller tan color. the three main patterns are soft gradients, stripes, and spots. end description.)

and it is a really really long post so the rest is under a cut for convenience.

The reason centaurs have six limbs is because somewhere back in their ancient ancestry, chimeric twins became more and more common and then became the default. There was most certainly some meddling from a Life entity in order to make this happen (the immortal beings who channel the world's natural magic energy to mess with living things as they please, though they can only use a limited amount of power before they fade into that vast well of energy and disappear). This does mean that the front "legs" of a centaur are actually a pair of arms. The main differences between the upper arms and the front legs are the placement of the shoulder, the amount of muscle, and how the centaurs trim their hooves for dexterity or support.

(image description: two drawings of a centaur standing while bending down to touch the ground with their hands. the second image shows an overlay of their skeleton, illustrating the chimeric twin anatomy with its split ribcage and two pairs of forelimbs, or arms. They have three hooved digits on each hand/foot on all six limbs. visually, their face is a bit horse-like and their whole body is colored reddish-brown with a pale belly. end description.)

and yes, they can use use their front legs as a pair of secondary arms when needed. They're not as dextrous a pair of arms, but they do make a lot of tasks easier, such as being able to buckle a bag strap around one's own belly, or catching hold of a rambunctious foal before they run face first into your knees.

(any inconsistencies in these proportions from here onward is entirely down to my own artistic flaws, as keeping character/creature designs perfectly consistent is not easy)

Because they are chimeric twins, it is far more common for centaurs to be born with congenital defects than it is for any other group. The second pair of forelimbs and the added height of the upper torso may be extremely useful for leaf-browsing creatures like centaurs, but the messy nature of their gestation often causes problems. Much of the time, this leads to stillbirths and miscarriage. but some defects are survivable and every herd has a good number of disabled members.

(image description: simple sketches of three visibly disabled centaurs using mobility aids. The first one has underdeveloped forelegs, and is using a combination of crutches and a wheeled platform under their lower torso. the second one was born without the chimeric twin, resembling a chalicothere. they have a folding support stand strapped to their belly to support their weight when they need to use their hands. the last one has a ribcage that failed to split, resulting in a short torso like the twinless centaur, as well as a pair of underdeveloped forelegs. they are using a wheeled platform under their chest, which they can push with their upper pair of arms. end description.)

These are just a few of the more visible and survivable disabilities common to centaurs. wheels are a very important invention for centaur life, not only for their disabled population, but also because pulling carts is a much more effective way to carry a lot of items at once, which is very useful.

Centaurs are also enormous. twelve feet, or roughly 3.5 meters, tall from the base of their front toes to the top of their head when standing upright. They tower over pretty much every other people species, as they are basically just a remnant ice age megafauna that became sapient.

(image description: flat colored drawings of an orc, an elf, and a centaur all standing next to each other. the orc comes roughly to the centaur's upper ribs, and the elf is roughly as tall as the orc's armpit. end description)

it would be extremely rude, but anyone the size of an average elf or smaller could easily play limbo under a centaur's belly. it's a really bad idea though.

Orcs are also remnant megafauna, and it's not by coincidence. Their ancestors were the main predator of ancient centaurs. (this also means the ancestors of gnomes were the main predator of centaurs, but this fact is often overlooked since gnomes are so much smaller than their cousins). even into the modern day (of my stories) centaurs mostly live in their own isolated territories, actively keeping other people out. Especially the orcs. The journey from natural predator and prey, to sapient peoples who did not recognize each other as people, to enemies, and then to tensely peaceful separated populations, was a long and difficult journey, fraught with violence on all sides.

Where the line falls between animal and people is murky and difficult to define. When exactly did the natural behavior of hunting prey become grounds for warfare? No one is really sure. Even if the line is drawn, what would it change? nothing. the past already happened. their people already have an enormous divide between them; a chasm of blood that can't be forgotten.

(image description: a vividly colored digital painting of an ancient centaur trying to escape three ancient pig-like predators as they pounce and bite in their attempt to bring it down. end description.)

many orcish artifacts still remain in centaur territory as the result of many clashes and hurried retreats. The orcs conceded, in the end. they returned all their belongings that were made from the bodies of centaurs, allowed the centaurs to draw the territorial lines, and then kept themselves far away and avoided those areas for centuries.

Centaurs are a migrational species, so orcs were too. Orcish culture used to focus on centaurs as a sacred animal, and then they had to toss it all aside and build their culture back up from whatever they had left. and in the meantime, the centaurs who had spent so many generations fleeing predation, watching their most frail herd members be picked off, and fighting back at last to defend themselves, were free to rest and build their culture far beyond their prior means. they became master weavers, using a wide variety of plant fibers to create clothing and art and useful items they didn't have time for when they were more in danger of being hunted. Though most centaurs still choose to go around with very little clothing, if any, because it feels more practical.

(image description: three different centaur outfits. the first is minimal, all jewelry and simple gloves. the note on it says "small accessories and jewelry are often more practical for an active centaur." the second one is wearing bark cloth around both of their waists to act as a barrier between their body and the straps of large bags on their back. They are also wearing gloves and cloth wraps around their hands and feet. the note here says "centaurs are largely nomadic and have developed many durable weaving techniques to create high quality travel bags." and lastly is a ceremonial outfit, featuring a cape and gloves all dyed in vivid shades of green with leafy patterns in the cloth. the cape is decorated with a fringe of thin cedar strips, matching a headdress of the same material. behind their head, the centaur wears a skull. the note here says "Religious garb often uses centaur skulls to reflect the nature of their conjoined deities. The Withered Twins are more commonly represented because they are a healer and gentle guide." end description)

and one very common piece of clothing for all adult centaurs is the "I'm not your mom" blanket; a weighted cloth laid over the flank to deter nosy newborns during peak baby season.

(image description: a striped adult centaur wearing a cropped shirt with beaded straps and a fancy looking leaf-pattern blanket strapped around their lower waist shoos off a speckled foal who looks a bit confused. end description.)

nosy newborns very easily forget who their mom is and need to be redirected quite often. though some lactating centaurs are more than willing to share the burden of keeping all the babies fed, and their culture does involve a lot of communal child rearing. monogamous couples and exclusive marital bonds are uncommon in centaur herds.

Most herds are led by a council of elders, who are trusted to make wise decisions as they follow their ancestral migration paths and constantly assess the needs of the herd. Some of the most important elders are those who act as religious leaders, representing the conjoined deities. Centaurs generally have two main deities. The Perfected Twins, a warrior deity, and The Withered Twins, a deity representing both death and healing.

(image description: two vibrant illustrations of centaur deities, both with a long braid of hair, their heads framed by shining circular designs like halos.

in shades of red, the warrior deity, the perfected twins, is noted to represent defense, fury, power, and hope. they have two active heads, joined at an angle in the middle so they look in different directions, two pairs of upper arms holding a shield, a spear, and a bow and arrow, and four legs. They are wearing armor on their upper waist and all of their arms. They are rearing up and look to be charging into battle.

in shades of blue, the death deity, the withered twins, noted to represent protection, healing, love, and grief. they have one active head and a smaller, partly decayed head attached to the back of their skull. Their forelegs are also underdeveloped and scrawny. their whole body is overlayed with a skeletal design. They are curled into a protective pose, holding a twinless infant with their whole torso and front limbs depicted as bones with no flesh. the deity is also wearing a translucent cape attached to upper arm bracelets.

end description)

centaurs have been fully aware of their chimeric twin biology for centuries, though they did not have the means to study it in detail or understand exactly what was happening during gestation. it's not hard though, to notice that your species is made of fused twin bodies when so many of your people are born with their bodies fused wrong, especially those who are stillborn. They believe they also have twin souls, and that the twin who is sacrificed in the womb gets to be the dominant twin in their next life. those who are born twinless usually undergo a lot of spiritual meditation to connect with their lost twin so they can meet up again in death. the stillborn foals with more obvious conjoined anatomy are said to be twins who had a fight about which of them would be dominant this time, and so they came out wrong and had to try again.

the infant held by the Withered Twins represents the sacrificed twin who waits as a spirit for their turn in the next life while the living twin uses their arms and ribs. The Withered Twins are the most commonly worshipped deity, prayed to for comfort and healing and guidance, acting as a conduit for living centaurs to stay in touch with their twin's soul. but the Perfected Twins also play an important role in centaur culture, even though their fierce warrior nature is no longer needed since the centaurs were able to separate themselves from the orcs.

the Perfected Twins represent the idealize form; the possibility of both twins sharing a body, neither being sacrificed while the other remains alive and dominant. they represent community action, partnership, cooperation. when needed, they are prayed to for strength. their image guards the borders of centaur territories, a signal to all outsiders that the centaurs have not grown docile even in isolation. at a moment's notice, they will take up arms again to keep themselves safe.

in the canon of my main stories, there was a very important historical event involving centaurs. some centuries after the Goblin Revolution shook the world and put everyone through some rough patches as various populations turned to isolation and self-imposed segregation to prevent any other interspecies troubles, while other populations embraced interspecies cooperation, there was an orc in one country who took the lead of a large clan and decided to end their tradition of isolation and reach out to the other people species in the local area. his name was He-esh and he was the first orc in that part of the world to strike an alliance with the nearby dwarf clans. he did a lot of other notable things, acting as a diplomat and repairing the broken relationship his people had with their gnomish cousins.

most notable of all, however, was his bold decision to contact the centaurs and lay his life on the line to carry an apology for the actions of his ancestors and plea for alliance between their peoples, hoping it would someday turn into friendship.

(image description: a grayscale illustration with gold accents, showing an orc kneeling in front of an armored centaur while they hold a spear to his chest. both figures have a golden halo drawn around their heads. the orc is wearing simple but elegant looking clothes, including a fringe of black feathers on the hem of his coat, and a pair of long straight tusks in his hair. his own tusks are curled with the points facing backwards. end description.)

He-esh's plea to the centaurs was received with apprehension, quite reasonably. but he never asked forgiveness, only a chance to let the future be forged anew. eventually, the centaurs accepted his plea and he was able to strike an alliance with them, gradually opening trade between them and other people species in their area. though he was never allowed very far in, He-esh got to walk into the centaur territory once to meet with their elders. at the end of He-esh's life, a centaur diplomat made history again by being the first to enter orc territory in a peaceful manner, as far as any records could tell.

this event marks the beginning of my most central story project, so I won't give away all the details yet.

as a final note on my centaurs: they don't have genders. their pronouns are based on age (child and adult) and social hierarchy (important adults).

ila/ las (child pronoun) hul/ hes (adult pronoun) ma-hul/ ma-hes (important adult pronoun)

I haven't been using the correct fantasy pronouns for all my characters very consistently, because it is a little tricky to keep track of them all and I have yet again made changes due to dissatisfaction with a few of them lol. but when I eventually have completed stories, I'll be using all those pronouns to enhance immersion.

this post has been a long time in the making, so i'm glad to finally have it done!! thanks for being patient!

[tangle-dragon]

Inktober Day X: Nomadic, featuring a Nightchaser centaur from @jayrockin 's amazingly designed universe. Go check out their work!

[lost-locket-antiques]

Thinking about alien teeth

[hoofpeet]

all of ur centaur stuff is so cool!!!!!!!!! love the worldbuilding !!!!

teehee thank you :]c

[averyghe]

Certain Lunacy

[clock-onyx]

Marmura!

"Do you understand what this power holds, my dear child? Having a planet all to yourself is no easy task."

INFO (SHORT):

Name: Marmura

Age: 70,000~

Pronouns: He/They/Star (Mainly uses he/him)

Gender: Omnigender

Orientation: Omniromantic

Height: 15' (~457 cm)

Species: Star

Title: God of the Stars

Status: Deceased

INFO (LONG):

YAYYYY FINALLY DID A FULL BODY FOR HIM!!! This was one of my most difficult designs to master, as he always had something changed to his design... this is so crazy I had so much motivation after drawing Veda's design

Marmura's basically the one who kickstarted everything, from convincing Sol, Selena and Emory to rule a planet to the creation of Vizion and Oculus. While in paper he seems like a good guy heeeessssss not

Star's a greedy, selfish bastard that is, used to shield behind the others when danger came around, willing to let any of them die for his sake while they did nothing, well that sure ended in karma huh?

Marmura was the first to shapeshift out of the first generation, opting for a more 'divine' look, where he gave up his two legs for a centaur look, mimicing the colors of the North and how Stellaris' rings shine to give that illusion

He was also the one to rename the planet itself, before he and the others came down towards the planet, it had a completly diffrent name spoken in an old and now lost language all ancient civilizations spoke togheter now lost for eternity. And also hes the one that convinved Selena and Emory to conceptualize and create the artificial moon, Octavian, ALL so he could create some servants outta that.

Etc etc, It'll be so much more to talk about JUST the relationship he had with both of his children YEOUCH!!! BUT ill save it for later mwaahahahahaha...

I MIGHT still change some aspects of the design, the whole 'Marmura's a centaur' is still fresh out of the oven and I might play around with the colors (although hes super shiny and reflects light that mames him pastel)

HERES A NO BG VERSION!!! VVV

Fun fact: Marmura's entire character was created because I just randomly imagined him one day and was like "lmfao what if I make them an awful person" LMFAOOO

OLD DESIGNS?!!! Ignore if they ugly af all of these are super old and not canon at all 😭

OK THAS IT ILY GUYS /P

[whereserpentswalk]

Centaurs do not view humanoids riding them as an act of dominance or even as a neutral act. To them its an act of pure submission. They do this to humans they conquere, oftentimes to serfs from lands they rule over, or hostages takes from human noble houses they vassalize.

Humanoids can't control a centaur that they're riding, the human is purely along for the ride. What a humanoid can do is utilize weapons to help the centaur fight, useally a lance, bow and arrow, or battleaxe. This basically gives a centaur two sets of hands while they're fighting at all times. There is useally an element of closeness between the human and the centaur, but it's always clear the centaur is in the dominant role. This is actually so deeply etched into centaur culture that sexually males who are "riding" other males are seen as submissive.

Before centaurs had a chance to conquer the humans on their borders they utilized malfunctioned centaurs for this. Since centaurs don't reproduce naturally, sometimes the spells they use to create more of themselves fail, and this can lead to centaurs with bad combinations of man and horse. Back in ancient times, it was useally a creature with a humanoid body and horse head riding a centaur. With their empires shrinking, mabye they will again.

This is important information. It may come in handy on your upcoming quest.

[theartingace]

Been working on some centaur clothes, exploring more options- especially for my much more clothing-focused Mountain Culture and Merchants And then for funzies DRESS-UP DOLL and way too much chatter!

First a couple Runner outfits - first the average casual harness most Runners would wear around home base, allows family members to rider comfortably at any time but more importantly the make and decorations are personal and declare group affiliations. Wearing no harness or at least a girthband basically says you are unridable or unaffiliated with a herd. Second image is an above-average armored battle harness- front end is plated for protection while charging, back end harness is all about additional contact points and stability for the rider to hook a foot in for their acrobatics.

Next, a comparison between Mountain robes and Merchant robes! The first, Mountain robes are heavy expertly woven rugs with lots of fiber decorations and fur and wool linings to keep comfy in their alpine homes- our model is quite a bit lankier than the usual Mountain folk so he gets less coverage but he'll stay cozy regardless. Second is the more svelt Merchant Trader robes! These are more light and loose linen fabrics, meant to block the sun in their more Mediterranean climate and more importantly- show wealth and status. Wrapped legs are common and almost entirely decorative.

And lastly: some assorted armors- this would be an EXTREMELY uncommon sight in my own headworld as the interactions between the metallurgy-rich eastern human kingdoms and the centaurs is usually pretty tense or business oriented at BEST and hostile to exploitative at worst so the chances of them crafting such large difficult pieces of fitted armor for any of them would be rare one-offs at most. But it's still fun to think about!

[lucianinsanity]

Reading Dungeon Meshi is an interesting experience, since they started talking about the anatomy of dragon Falin and I was like ''like a centaur, her mouth is too small to eat enough for that body size'' and Laios mentions that and I have to pretend I'm not offended at that

[stitchy-face]

Ran a quick poll of species to draw- Centaur and Merfolk tied! Reminded me of some worldbuilding things about Khimara (chimera) of Calibreon.

Khimara are any children of parents of two differing species- like Fauns. Less commonly non-human species can have kids together and this is one of them!

It's hard to fit all the info together but it's mainly inspired by branching evolution and stuff. My merfolk are based on Seals, and my Centaur are all even toed ungulate. I always find it funny that Whales are some far offshoot of deer so I took that to an extreme/fun level here!

[cy-cyborg]

Hey im trying to write a centaur type character… the character has fibromyalgia and i want to represent them well by giving them some kind of mobility aid. But because of their being a centaur and the way their bodies are so different from humans’, i don’t know what kind would work best yet, and i’m afraid of designing something that won’t support their weight or will just look silly

Hm, that’s tricky. I’m not super knowledgeable about fibromyalgia, I know a few people with it and I know it causes things like pain, difficulty breathing and fatigue but that’s about it so definitely run these suggestions by someone else before you use them. I do know a decent amount about horses though.

So for mobility aids that would be primarily used by the human half, so long as you make them tall enough they should be fine. Things like crutches, canes etc, though admittedly, I’m not sure if they’d actually be helpful unless they’re only needing support for their front legs, since it probably wouldn’t relieve any pressure from the back ones. A rotator might be slightly better depending on how it’s structured, but it too wouldn’t help much with the back limbs

The centaur equivalent of a wheelchair or similar device would be much more complicated though.

Horses… don’t take well to mobility aids as a general rule of thumb, so anything for the horse half specifically is going to have issues. most quadruped animals who need a wheelchair can use a little cart or buggy like this:

[ID: A picture of a golden retriever in a mobility cart that's supporting their back legs. /End ID]

But horses really, really struggle with them. A lot of it’s behavioural, they’re prey animals and having something strapped to them like these “wheelchair carts” freaks them out and causes a lot of stress - especially if it gets stuck on something (like a rock, or crack in the ground). with training, they can learn to be relatively ok-ish with it, like how other horses are trained to be ok pulling carriages, but those carriages aren’t attached to them 24/7, these carts are.

This isn’t necessarily something that would apply to your centaur unless they’re very horse-like in behaviour, but I thought it worth a mention just in case. The bigger issue though is physical, and would 100% be a problem for centaurs. Horses are big creatures and are very heavy. It’s not good for them to lie down for too long, as all their weight can put pressure on their organs and do damage. It also makes it harder for them to breathe (that’s why, when horses are sedated for surgery, they try to keep them standing upright where possible). Likewise, a cart has to take at least part of the creature’s weight, and so long-term use puts a lot of pressure on the soft underside of their belly and chest, and causes many of the same issues.

One thing you could potentially do is give them something that mimics the ways horses “naturally” try to alleviate pain and fatigue. My mum has a very, very elderly pony (he turns 29 this year) and his knees have been giving him trouble lately, which means standing is hard, but if he lays down he might get stuck. Instead, he goes and finds trees or fence posts or the side of his stable and just leans against them (mum has padded the side of the stable he usually leans on). As a mobility aid for your centaur, this might look like the front end being supported by crutches or a cane, and the back half being supported by something tied to their back leg. I image the hind-leg crutch would stick out at a slight angle so it’s not constantly dragging along the ground, and when they need a breather or break, they could lean their body and shift their weight onto it. Something like this

[ID: A poorly drawn image of a centaur. Its human half is holding a stick-figure drawing of a crutch. Another similar crutch is tied to one of their back legs. The image shows them from the front and side, with the front showing that the rear crutch sticks out slightly. /End ID]

(I’m a professional artist lmao)

It’s not a perfect solution (and probably wouldn’t be great for their back tbh) but I’m not sure what else you could do, this at least gives them a way rest if they need it without depending on straps that could cause pressure sores/injuries to their abdomen and (horse) chest

Of course, centaurs in and of themselves are very unrealistic and their anatomy doesn’t really work either, so you can always take liberties with the realism of the horse-end mobility aid stuff. If you don’t want something on the more realistic end, I would say a cart wheelchair for the back end + crutches/canes/rotators for the front would be fine. It depends on the tone for the setting!