[IW] Animalia

[Captain-Captain]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

So, it's a furry world?

Does anyone have an idea how all these anthropmorphic species developed on the same planet? It sounds like the result of either superscience or divine intervention. I don't think natural evolution is going to do the trick, this time. :0

Mind you, that's not negative criticism.

I'm tempted to say it's a Fantasy Parallel. Magic works or worked in the past and at one point curses or shape changing elixirs turned once human victims into anthro forms.

Option: Real humans have been driven underground, where this magic doesn't affect them. In effect they are the 'Goblins' of this world, mostly extinct but occasionally coming up at night to raid the 'civilized' folk. Apparently several species of Anthro women will breed true, that is, give birth to true humans if kept underground from impregnation to birth.

Every so often this occurs above ground, but the humans are treated as birth defect babies.

Most humans are found in the tunnels of Afghanistan and Pakistan these days though some colonies are found in the back woods of Missouri and
Arkansas.

[Captain-Captain]

Let me add to that: These furries ARE at base, humans, just magically altered to have animal bodies. They can interbreed, the resulting children will be one of the parent species, though they may have features of the other parent so long as there is no apparent merging of species.

ie a married Goat/Lioness couple is certainly possible. Their daughter has a fifty fifty chance of being a Goat or a Lioness.

Optional: Some species are genetically dominant. If our Lioness is her children are far more likely to be anthro lions than anthro goats. This would produce a certain level of elitism among the more 'favored' species being sort of nobility.

[LoneWolf23k]

Actually, I was thinking that crossbreeding is possible, but that in most cases the child is usually born appearing as the species of the parent of the same sex: if, for exemple, a Lionness and a Goat male had a child, the baby would be a lioness if a girl, or a kid if a boy.

There have been some recorded cases of true species hybrids, like Ligers, but these are very rare.

Also, nearly all mammal species are cross-compatible, but things get more difficult in the case of crossbreeding between live-birth Anthros and Egg-layers.

[Gizensha]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

Does anyone have an idea how all these anthropmorphic species developed on the same planet? It sounds like the result of either superscience or divine intervention. I don't think natural evolution is going to do the trick, this time. :0

Either call it a myth parallel, or blame it on some really odd Reality Quakes would be my guess.

[RyanW]

There will probably be those who consider it just another myth parallel. If Infinity doesn't freak out over the Sherlock parallels, they won't get too bent out of shape about Moreau-1.

[combatmedic]

Originally Posted by Gizensha

Either call it a myth parallel, or blame it on some really odd Reality Quakes would be my guess.

That's just another way of saying 'God did it/it's magic' Nothing wrong with that, of course!

[combatmedic]

Originally Posted by LoneWolf23k

There have been some recorded cases of true species hybrids, like Ligers, but these are very rare.

Are they known for their skills and magic?

[LoneWolf23k]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

Are they known for their skills and magic?

Not really, but at least one skunk-tiger hybrid has become known for her career in pornography. *snicker*

I'll admit, I originally conceived of this world concept for a "Funny Animal" supers setting, in the vein of Captain Carrot and the Zoo Crew, or perhaps Swat Kats.

[Captain-Captain]

Originally Posted by Gizensha

Either call it a myth parallel, or blame it on some really odd Reality Quakes would be my guess.

I can expand on the magic premise a bit here. Magic exists a variant shapeshift spell and/or elixir was made in the past. you didn't become a wolf or a bear but a humanoid wolf or bear. As you went from a sapient form to another sapient form, no IQ degradation occurs. Permanent after a while still but you can still function as a person not an animal if a permanent change occured.

Then came the black death, and the discovery that antrho forms didn't sicken and die. The anthro form comes with Immunity to (Non-anthrocized) Disease. Anyone able to pay a wizard or buy a potion did so. Eventually some people who were already sick transformed and their disease became something that would affect anthros of that type. ie a plague victim who turned into a Bear Anthro could infect other Bear Anthros, while a similar infected Horse Anthro endangered equines.

Unless you had a big community of one type of Anthro, plague effects weren't close to pandemic. Baseline Humans got the disease regardless of source, regular plague or cholera or pox zarked them. Antropocized versions of those diseases were just as deadly. The result was near extinction for them along with a reputation for being unclean and diseased a good basis for society as a whole here to shun them and in some cases consider THEM to be beastial monsters.

Some places pay for live captured humans for hunting purposes.

[LoneWolf23k]

I wasn't actually thinking of having Humans and Human-Hunters on Animalia... But I guess that could fit Animalia-2 or something. Thanks for the suggestion anyway.


Here are a couple more ideas I had:

-Advances in Surgical techniques have allowed for a procedure known as "Trans-Species Reassignment", which allows for an Anthro to have his or her apparent species altered via surgery: wolves being made to look like foxes or even cats, or birds being made to look like reptiles. I'd rate the complexity of the procedure by the TL available: TL7 allows for variations within the same Genus; TL8 allows for cross-Genus alterations within the same animal family, and TL9 allows for universal changes in appearance. At TL10+, it's really easier to just have a new body created via Bio-engineering and use braintapes for mind transfer.

-Similarly, genetic reproduction techniques now allow for "Genetic Translation", which allows cross-Familia Anthros to produce children more easily, by taking genetic material from the father and seeding the mother's embryos with it, while not altering the species, thus allowing say, a mouse and a turtle to have children together.

-Atavism is a condition in which an Anthro "Devolves", reverting to a slightly more primitive state; in game terms, becoming Bestial or gaining Stress Atavism. This can be dangerous and disturbing if the Atavistic Anthro descends from a Predator species. Infinity researchers believe this may be a clue as to the true origins of the people of the Animalia parallels.

-Even more disturbing are those Predator Anthros who develop "Anthrovorous" tendancies, defined as an interest in killing and devouring Anthros of Prey Species descent. These are treated in much the same way cannibal killers are on most other civilized worlds.