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In my book series, there is an underwater civilization called the Lobster Empire (basically underwater Rome inhabited by Crab and Lobster people).

Stuff to know about the Lobster Empire:

  • Roman-esque culture and technology
  • Are more like people than lobsters (anthropomorphized, walk on two legs, wear clothes, etc).
  • The way anthropomorphic animals work in this universe is that they are essentially treated as and act like humans. They walk on two legs and are sized slightly shorter than humans (the average lobster is around 5'7"). For example, if a talking lobster eats a talking fish, that is cannibalism. If a talking lobster eats a wild or farmed lobster, for example, that is completely normal.
  • The Lobster Empire is looking for two types of cavalry: heavy cavalry and lighter recon units.
  • The Lobster Empire only occupies sunlit, shallow regions (1-600 feet from the surface). They have no need for land troops since the entire planet is underwater, and they have no need for deep-sea units because those areas are uninhabited wasteland.

Anyway, what sea creatures would work best as underwater cavalry?

Preferences:

  • Can breathe underwater or at least can hold its breath for hours at a time
  • Easy to feed
  • Is not more dangerous to the rider than its opponents
  • Fast
  • Can carry decent amounts of supplies
  • Is not super expensive to maintain
  • Reproduces relatively quickly
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  • $\begingroup$ Following on from @user535733: What terrain? Amphibious? Deep sea? Sea bed? Shallows? $\endgroup$
    – nzaman
    Commented Oct 23, 2018 at 15:36
  • $\begingroup$ What sort of scales are the lobster people operating on? if they are the size of lobsters this is a different question to if they are the size of people. $\endgroup$
    – Ummdustry
    Commented Oct 23, 2018 at 15:39
  • $\begingroup$ All questions have been answered by the latest edit. $\endgroup$ Commented Oct 23, 2018 at 15:48
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ The sea horse, obviously ;) $\endgroup$
    – user39548
    Commented Oct 23, 2018 at 17:50
  • $\begingroup$ @Hosch250 those are too small to ride. $\endgroup$ Commented Oct 23, 2018 at 17:51

2 Answers 2

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For heavy cavalry, Meet the Blue Marlin:

Lance already included!

They can be very large (5 meters, 818 kg), have an awesome underwater burst-speed (around 120 km/h) and have "incorporated" lances!

Dolphins of similar size can carry a person for a small period of time. So you can use it "for charge" purposes.

For domestication purposes: they release millions of larvaes 4 times a year...

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Blue Whales, or other filter feeder whales. So they will not eat lobsters. They are social, so will be easy to to domesticate and use as a group. Their large size is a major advantage in battle. But they do need to come up for air every once in a while.

For deepwater operations, look for non-predatory fishes.

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