Balaha

The balaha is the winged horse of the spirit world, a radiant and beautiful being from the higher planes. On our plane it appears as a splendid white horse with spread eagle wings, glowing with a light all its own, though that is only one of the shapes these creatures of light can take.

Coming from a higher plane, balaha are normally ethereal, yet like the Deva they can take on full bodily form without losing their shining beauty. Very rarely one becomes stranded here, whether through magic or because an injury has stripped it of the power to see into or travel to other planes; such a balaha can sometimes be tamed by ordinary mortals as a flying mount. Mostly, though, they keep apart from our world and mortals seldom meet them. Once a day a balaha can look into any plane with Celestial Vision for a minute per level, and it can move between planes whenever it wishes.

The Deva sometimes ride balaha, and a balaha on the material plane usually means a Deva has come visiting. Their grace, beauty and speed surpass mortal understanding, and the sight of one fills lesser beings with awe. A formula of Divine Magic is said to call them here. Aeetes of Colchis preserved part of it in The Hidden Powers, describing white spirit horses with wings spanning six fathoms that obey the will of the Powers and can be drawn here by masters of Divine Magic through words of knowledge and sacrifice, the gateway lying within rather than without. His account of the rite is plainly incomplete, and he may never have known all of it. In game terms, a balaha can be summoned as a steed by those who practice Divine Magic, High Magic or Mysticism.