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The following piece is classified as “anthropomorphic literature.” For those of you less familiar with the term, does a wonderful job of defining it: “Anthropomorphism, also referred to as personification or prosopopeia, is the attribution of human characteristics to inanimate objects, animals, forces of nature, and others. "Anthropomorphism" comes from two Greek words, ανθρωπος, anthrōpos, meaning human, and μορφη, morphē, meaning shape or form.” To make it even more simplified, Bugs Bunny, Rodger Rabbit and Mickey Mouse are examples of “anthropomorphic art,” or, as some call it, “furry.” Going back to : “Furry is a colloquial term used to indicate a particular category of fictional anthropomorphicanimals. Put simply, a furry is a funny animal taken "seriously" for the benefit of an adult audience.” Starting to see where this is going?
Now, contrary to true “furry” literature, humans in their natural state do appear. In fact, they will, although not in the first few acts, play a major role in the drama of the main character. Some of you may wonder why I chose to write in this style, but it is, I assure you, to make more apparent the underlying theme of racism, not for some weird pro-animal stop-the-destruction-of-the-rainforest (not that that would be a bad thing) message. I tried my best to keep the matter of race serious, enough to give certain regions of the world to certain peoples and cultures. You’ll pick up on that as you go along. You’ll even notice some hints at which culture each race “replaces” from that of our world.
For those of you who think that all anthropomorphic art and literature is just a big, steaming pile of copies of Corky Romano (didn’t see that one coming, did you?), I urge you not to read this story and review. Not because this story is particularly disturbing or graphic (there is no, as I believe the slang term is, “yiffing”, in this piece), but because you probably won’t understand it. You’ll probably feel uncomfortable reading it and be left squinting your eyes, saying, “Well, that’s just stupid.”
As I mentioned before, there is a slight change in religion. Most people we’ll meet are monotheists, believing there is one omnipotent God (People from the south tend to use His name a lot). I really try to avoid getting too involved with religion, as that isn’t the focus. For starters, all you’ll need to know is there’s a wacko-cult who follows a Lucifer-like being known as “T’nar” (pronounced “nAHr” (the T is silent)). Try to think of all of our world’s weird religious radicals and roll them into one (I make NO, I repeat, NO references or hints at any one group from our world. Of the little bits of their religion you’ll see, it’s a mixture of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and a few Pagan themes, put into a flat pan, baked at about three-fifty for, oh, say, twenty minutes until golden brown, or until darkness desired). Other than the T’narists, religion isn’t a huge deal. The theme of a messiah, saints, heroes, or anything like that is generally avoided. Most places of worship will remain distinctly ambiguous.
There’s also a bit of back-story to the events that take place. If you caught the old introduction I had posted here, it went into a little poetic detail. Here, I’ll show you:
“The main Continent had been divided in three. To the north was Terra, the smallest of the three, inhabited by Humans. The south and east was claimed by the Coalition, a grouping of eight smaller races to form one nation. To the west was the House of Jerod, a harsh despotism ruled by the Lupus.
The ownership of the Central Desert had been under dispute for roughly twenty years. A few nomadic tribes wandered through the sands, and little value could be found for the arid terrain.
That is, until the invention of combustion engines. The black liquid found under the Desert, dubbed ‘oil’ after its greasy texture, was found to have tremendous potential and became tremendously valuable. Oil had been found on almost every continent, but never in such large quantities as in the Desert.
The Humans were the first to use military options to seize and secure a supply of Oil. The House of Jerod used the incursion to start a defensive war, to protect the world’s oil interests. For seven long years, the Humans and Lupus fought over the Central Desert. Many innocent lives were lost, but the most damage was done to the Humans. A quarter of their land was taken in the fighting and entire cities were enslaved. Weapons designed to strike at the Humans on a biological level were deployed, bringing even more death to Terra.
July 13th, in the year 2600, the Coalition was formed. This new nation threatened the House of Jerod with invasion. With the House’s treasury and manpower already depleted from a long and costly conflict, Chancellor Sal capitulated to the demands of the Coalition.
Seven days after the formation of the Coalition, the war stopped. An uneasy truce was signed.”
So, as you probably read, there was a war over—yep, you guessed it--- oil. I just ask that you remember who started the war. It’s going to be important.
Because most “furry” works involve all types of animals, it’s going to come as a surprise that I only use a small number. I have the list somewhere, but I believe that I only created ten races. I use the animal’s genome as their proper name, and their common name for slang. For example, the main character is a Procyon. I’m sure some really smart people (like you) just nodded slowly in understanding. The common name for a Procyon, as sometimes used, is a raccoon. Now, while the un-‘evolved’ version of animals may appear (also an element of drama later on), I will make a point of distinguishing.
Contrary to how it would realistically develop, language is very similar to that found in our world. The language of the main character, “Terran,” is the language spoken by the Humans to the north. There is a very obvious gap between northern and southern-accented Terran. Southern-accented Terran is much like the American spoken in the northeast USA, while northern Terran sounds like a mixture of true English and Canadian. Other accents will become more obvious as you read. Now, the language itself is copied from modern English-American. Words have the same meaning as they do right now, 2003ce. All the normal curses are there, too. F---, s---, hell, damn, bitch, you get the idea. They all mean as they do today, and, because I’m not going to bother writing a whole ‘nother language, people will act accordingly.
Because this is, primarily, a military conflict, I guess this is a good time as any to describe how the main character’s unit operates. I’m sure I’ll describe this later on, but, if you don’t want to have to worry about not understanding fully until you come across it, here it is. A Light Cavalry squad is made of ten men. Three squads make a platoon. Each platoon has a lieutenant, making the total thirty-one men. The officer usually stays attached to one of the squads. Three platoons make a company. A-platoon, B-platoon and C-platoon. A company’s command is made of a Captain, an aide, and the three lieutenants. Should any of the lieutenants become unable to fulfill his command, the next sergeant down will take over the platoon. Each company has a first lieutenant that acts as the 2IC, or second-in-command. The other two lieutenants are second lieutenants, ready to move up should the captain and 2IC be killed or unable to fill his position. There are three companies in the brigade. Each brigade, sometimes called a ‘division’, is commanded by a major. Three brigades make a Corps. That’s all you’ll need to know. A Corps is commanded by a Colonel. Now, each brigade has its own name and numerical designation. The main character belongs to the 13th Light Cavalry Brigade, otherwise known as the “Dragoons.” A unique trait of his Corps is that they wear an extra layer of tough green fabric over their boots, traditionally to protect the leather from the hot, sweaty sides of a horse. It’s earned the Corps the nickname “The Greenshoes.” They’re sort of a famous unit, much like the 101st Airborne or the 11th Hussars. They’ve done some noteworthy things in the past, some good, some not-so-good. Either way, in this world, it’s an honor to wear the green boots.
Oh, wait, there’s one more thing. I write in spurts. I’ll write about a hundred pages, break it down into about twenty parts, and take a rest. I’ve completed the first spurt, and I’ll probably take a rest. If I don’t trash the project, there’ll be twenty more.
Happy reading!
