>>96078005
maybe the problem isn't the steed but the rider, if it was, say, a monstrous cavalry of lesser cockatrices ridden by halflings knights then you would still have the visual connection to the griffon, you would still have a monstrous cavalry, but you would also have an excuse for the exceptionality of the thing, since it would be a fantastical element of the moot, rather than something you have to explain and justify for normal humans and how it doesn't make their previous traditions moot