Arcitenus

Arciteni are two-headed centaurs. Apart from being much bigger and stronger than ordinary centaurs and carrying two heads on their broad, muscular shoulders, they are physically the same. Scholars think they may be the brutish ancestors of centaurs, but views on their origin differ.

Chiron the Wise, in the Natural History, repeats the popular belief in a magical origin, told in villages of the eastern steppes. Plains folk once hired a magician to hold back a vast centaur migration, which his spells did for a time. When the villagers then refused him the payment he asked, he angrily called the centaurs in instead, led them to conquer the land and ruled it as a tyrant. For his own safety he made a troop of bodyguards like centaurs but bigger and fiercer, with two heads so they could always keep watch. After he was killed, his followers scattered and the villages regained their freedom. Many scholars reject this tale, and the truth is buried too deep in legend ever to be settled.

Arciteni are barbarous, even more aggressive and savage than typical centaurs, uglier, more bad-tempered and fonder of senseless wrecking, and they seldom use advanced weapons, armor or tools, favoring heavy clubs. With two heads they can fight enemies ahead and behind at once. Fortunately they are far rarer than centaurs. They roam the same lands in small wandering bands or tribes. An arcitenus also gets two saves against any attempt to surprise or ambush it.