The Polish Hussars (/həˈzɑːr/, /həˈsɑːr/, or /hʊˈzɑːr/; Polish: Husaria[xuˈsari.a]), or Winged Hussars, were one of the main types of the cavalry in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth between the 16th and 18th centuries. Modeled on the Hungarian Hussars, the early hussars were light cavalry of exiled Serbian warriors; by the second half of the 16th century and after Stephen Báthory’s reforms, hussars transformed into a heavily armored shock cavalry. Until the reforms of the 1770s, the husaria banners were considered the elite of the Polish cavalry.
The Hussars were famous for their huge “wings”, a wooden frame carrying eagle, ostrich, swan or goose feathers. In the 16th century, characteristic painted wings or winged claws began to appear on cavalry shields. The most common theory is that the hussars wore the wings because they made a loud, clattering noise which made it seem like the cavalry was much larger than in reality and frightened the enemy’s horses. Other possibilities included the wings being made to defend the backs of the men against swords and lassos, or that they were worn to make their own horses deaf to the wooden noise-makers used by the Ottoman and the Crimean Tatars.
Instead of ostrich feathers, the husaria men wore wooden arcs attached to their armour at the back and raising over their heads. These arcs, together with bristling feathers sticking out of them, were dyed in various colours in imitation of laurel branches or palm leaves, and were a strangely beautiful sight to behold … – Jędrzej Kitowicz (1728–1804).
These dazzling green beauties are only found in Colombia, where a unique form of emerald mineralisation occurs. The 6 rayed wheels are made of carbon inclusions drawn from the enclosing organic rich shales as it grew. The rays, along with the dark core from which the crystal grew (transparent cores, either colourless or green also exist) reflect the hexagonal crystal structure of beryl, of which emerald and aquamarine are two sub varieties. The formation process and crystal structure are similar to a snowflake’s since water also crystallises in the hexagonal system.
You’re a powerful dragon that lived next to a small kingdom. For centuries you ignored humanity and lived alone in a cave, and the humans also avoided you. As the kingdom fell to invaders, a dying soldier approaches you with the infant princess, begging you to take care of her.
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