What is The Flying Ypotryll

What is the Flying Ypotryll?

So, what is an Ypotryll... and what is it doing flying??

And what does it have to do with pirate.. err Privateer ships??

Ypotryll pic from http://www.heraldicclipart.com/catalog/Ypotryll.html

A ypotryll is a mythical beast (well, not so mythical).. that has the head of a boar, the body of a camel and the feet of a goat.. and a huge.. err pistle.. (you know.. a .. thing.. a male thing *blush*). Oh and glowing red eyes and huge tusks and teeth..

And why is it flying? Well, that's a bit more complicated.
You see, in the far lower reaches of the Knowne Worlde is a very strange place known as Lochac.. and even further towards the edge of the world is the high seas in the southern part of the land known as "Stormhold".

And on these seas plies a pirate (err.. privateer.. that being the politically correct word for pirates who have a 'deal' going with the local populous).
And this privateer is Hanbal Reis al Barbary, known and feared universally for his two-hander of doom and his teeth of peril. And he likes Ypotrylls. See?

Oh, and why are they flying? Well Capt'n Hanbal says they are..

The Flying Ypotryll is a household within the Barony of Stormhold, which is Melbourne, Australia for those who didn't know. It is all part of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), a medieval recreation society. See the link to SCA Lochac for more information.