#animal xenofiction

[cathedralcomic]

little crazy love song — mary oliver

[supa-nova]

(Animal xenofiction is a genre of fiction novels that centre around an animal protagonist, eg. Warrior cats, guardians of ga’hoole, wolves of the beyond, wings of fire, etc.)

[pumpkinnkidd]

WELCOME TO SPRUCECOLONY! the faithful and guarded.

the first of the three cat colonies in the sea calling. they live in a lush spruce forest with waterlogged meadows and mires. they believe themselves closest to stagcolony, as the ruins of the founding sisters are in their land. other colonies rumor the cold wind of the over-yonder mountains makes their hearts cold.

under the cut, listing of all members and a more in depth look at the highest ranked members!

top to bottom, left to right:

captain smokey spell, deputy spider blaze, sage plum spots, head-nurse grape tail, nurse wool belly, moon fall

wizened raven mask, kindler hoof stomp, kits wren belly & chickadee field, fickle field, adder strike, owl feather

minnow frost, sage-rookie snail swirl, deer skip, honey frost ( eventually changed to honey heart ), coyote bite, and fox bite.

-captain smokey spell is the wise, sentimental , yet troubled, leader of sprucecolony and has been for many years. quite unpopular among his peers for the scandal with the once leader of willowcolony, captain mist drizzle, which then led to the willowspruce war.

-spider blaze is the cold, ambitious, and ferocious deputy of sprucecolony. he succeeded umber blight, who died in the final conflict of the willowspruce war- the drop. despite the former deputy’s wishes for him not to succeed her, smokey spell chose him anyway as he was the most popular, pressured choice. his hatred for willowcolony knows no bounds.

-plum spots is the sage of sprucecolony. she is their emotional and spiritual guide, and is smokey spell’s most influential advisor. while compassionate and brilliant, she is also stubborn and lovelorn. she hates spider blaze vehemently; for work related reasons, and deeply personal ones she would never disclose.

-snail swirl is plum spots rookie, otherwise known as her apprentice. they are sweet, sensitive, and reclusive. they are also spider blaze’s son, and he tries to mold them into a fierce cat. he also disapproves of snail swirl choosing to be a sage deeply. they are very close to their mentor, but are a rock stuck in a hard place; the approval of their cold father, or the approval of their passionate mentor.

-raven mask is the wizened of sprucecolony. he is as old as smokey spell, and the willowspruce war seems to have aged the both cruelly. he is the captain’s second most important advisor, and his best friend since childhood. he is also plum spot’s loving uncle, and just wants the forest to be peaceful before he joins the stag’s above.

thank you for reading! these are only a few of the very important characters of the sea calling. i will be posting more, and willowcolony is next to be drawn! :)) spider blaze and snail swirl belong to my wonderful gf @meta-knight-is-bisexual!

[theclasscalico]

I know that this is very silly and unimportant and I understand why people do this, but I just do not like it when animals that cannot physically produce emotional tears are depicted in clear emotional distress, with tears.

I know that these animals are anthropomorphised (the broader sense, not the furry sense), but for some, unknown reason, this really bugs me.

[anonymous-witness777]

It seems any book that celebrates and centers nature will have heaps of GoodReads reviews interpreting diverse and even contradictory political or social ideas into it. The same book will be disparaged (or praised) as anti-capitalist, conservative, queer, misogynist, left-wing, right-wing. But haven’t we considered that there are whole swaths of human experience that fall outside of the contemporary right-left spectrum, and whole swaths of existence that fall outside of human experience altogether? 

The best thing about animal fiction is not when it tells us about ourselves or holds up a mirror to humanity -- it’s when it tells us about things that are decidedly not ourselves. Even that most delightfully, thickly human animal fiction, The Wind In the Willows, is at its most transcendent when the natural world takes center stage: the river as a character in its own right, the inexplicable tug South during autumn, the Piper at the gates of dawn. 

It is a greater triumph to build a portal than a mirror. If in every book we see merely ourselves (or our political opponents), maybe we need to, as they say, “touch grass.” And then imagine what the grass feels when it pricks against our skin, as a beetle scuttles between its towering blades, unaware that the shadow you cast over it belongs to anyone at all. 

[foxsketch6543]

Going to write an animal xenofiction comic called ‘No Man’s Land’ where it takes place many years from the future where humanity was presumed to be extinct but animals managed to outlive them as they start to evolve and adapt when they all got mutated. It focuses on a deer named Rowan as he navigated the land around him.

This concept art is going to be a major scene in my story where he discovers the existence of humans by witnessing a skeleton. It represents the cycle of life as old life ends and new life carries on.

[satthirasstrikes]

Mindtober 2022, Day 10 - Bite

“You need to bite in this life, boy.” Rassvet sneered through a bloody muzzle.

“I didn’t see him, uncle, I tried-“

“You hesitated. Don’t!” He continued, his golden eyes piercing the powdery haze of dusk. It was enough for young Sumerki to bury his haunches in the snow, a desperate attempt to seek chilling comfort. “The moment your paws stop, so does your life. Always run, and always bite back.”

-

None of us are born with anger, yet such an emotion can be taught and instilled in the young. Not even Rassvet knows why this is their work, but he does know that anger has helped him survive this far. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Sumerki’s journey however, is a different story.

(I know Borzoi actually never hunted wolves. There’s Dobermans and Shepherds that also have the ability to hunt wolves, reality of our world has no place in this story. 👍🏼)

[cathedralcomic]

another cat i’ve added to my “missing and presumed dead” list! truffles smith darrow, who, yes, has a middle name. she and her deceased brother jade are related to darcy through whittaker. if you think frond bethel is anxiety on legs wait till you meet this gal. also, my initial rough sketch of her 👇

[yagurlhere]

Also really disliked the "Flurry attacks Bramblestar" scene. Just, the fact that it gets brushed off so quickly and even though I hate Bramblestar I still don't like how it's brushed off that Flurry tried to kill a LEADER. Pretty sure she would've has a restraining order against her by now. And, since it's Squirrelflight's Hope, of course, it's treated as a horrible, shocking moment but barely anything is done to confront Flurry for it. I mean, wouldn't Squirrelflight be outraged at her for trying to kill her MATE? A Sister that had respected and she had respected tried to kill a LOVED ONE? (Even though he sucks and she should get a divorce.) And of course, since it's freaking Squirrelflight's Hope and modern Warriors, Bramblestar blames Squirrelflight, even though she tried to help him, she literally told him that, and she also immediately came to check on him after Flurry attacked him. Also, Crowfeather was there.

[lepurcinus]

Watching lion xenofiction and, why the most are literally copycats of the other? There's a lot of interesting things on lions life just to make the same thing over and over. And some of the "realistic behaviour" is not really realistic, is just a lot of misconceptions and stereotypes.

Just, Holy hell, i heard the entire story of the Mapogo lions coalition and why anybody writtes an story based on it? It's perfect, is HOLY SHIT like a xenofiction story actually happened. These lion coalitions have a LOT of potential to writte an story about it.

[nightly-ruse]

I NEED HORSEY UPDATE OLIVE

Hehehe I mean spotty u got the doc already but I have more thoughts on it.

So the creatures follow a general story of how life was made and set on their world in that a long long time ago comets crashed down and distributed the first sprouts of life. The craters are still on the land and held sacred by all. But after the plants started thriving and growing the last comet fell which held the animals, specifically magic animals like the Equestrians, Kelpies, Silkies, and Lycans.

This is where the Folik and Fearn started.

Folik are strict herbivores and consist of Equus, Equestrians, and Silkies

Fearn eat meat and mostly known as Kelpies, Manticores, and Lycans

While not named Griffons eat both though over time have become more and more herbivores

It was simple as the populations kept growing. But the Equestrians grew much faster slowly taking over more and more. Their magic a particular power to them. Before now the Equus class wasn’t a thing there were just the horned horses that all had some form of magic.

That was until Queen Rayet. She was the powerful sun queen of the Equestrians that in a show of her strength took over the whole midlands of the world. Destroying its residents if they didn’t bow to her. While the Equus class says she was just protecting everyone the other side is the horror she caused. And here is where the biggest story comes from. The birth of the Equus.

On one hoof the higher hooves say that Queen Rayet was faced by her sister who wanted the power for herself. So they fought and when defeated the scorned princess used all of her magic to cut the magic from everyone who followed her victorious sister. But before she lost her horn Queen Rayet destroyed her sister killing them both with the beam

But this isn’t necessarily the truth and behind closed doors more often told in a different way. Queen Rayet was overusing her power and using her title of queen to control all creatures under the sun’s flaming gaze. Her sister couldn’t stand for this, attacking her to stop her destructive path. Even though Rayet was weaker she was still an incredibly powerful equestrian and defeated her sister who was barely above average in magic. The princess couldn’t let it go on any further and with her whole soul cursed the horned horses that followed her sister to lose their magic and horns creating the hornless horses known as Equus. In rage at what happened Rayet attempted to use a new form of magic but instead of it working it turned against her and burned her from the inside out.

Even in both stories the ending is the Equus being magic-less equestrians. But they still controlled all the land and kept it. Developing non magic weapons. They still had some access it was just less and harder to find as the equestrians who didn’t follow or weren’t around when the spell was cast kept their magic and horns.

Seeing the growing power the Silkies joined the Equus kingdom using their threads for many things as well as just being stronger in general.

While the griffons didn’t meld into the Kingdom of Cassyrris (Equus + Silkies under Equus Rule) they did ally beside them in fear of being taken over next. The manticore king Obsidian taking a pledge to the newly risen Queen Capricorn saying their kingdoms would help and supply each other.

The only other forces against the kingdom now was the Kelpies and Lycans.

But when the kelpies disappeared one foggy month the Lycans submitted. While not pledged to them the Lycans have decreased in size significantly and have harder times ahead as the Equus class looks down on their work as herders, butchers, and animal product suppliers.

[pumpkinnkidd]

the divorce was so messy they split the world in two

[saintsandsinnersarg]

Deeper Lore

Had a sudden realization I forgot to share the lore to people only participating on tumblr, woops

I’ll do more lore deep dives as more lore is discovered ingame.

(Quick overview: SAS is a arg/cyoa where you act as the gods to a clan of cats, inspired by various African mythologies. Discord link is https://discord.gg/dvgpqkAXUN)

Khaosmor is a wild, new world, born only 25 years ago at the default starting date. Rising out of a magical extinction event that messed with memories, they try to find their footing. Prehistoric creatures from all eras roam its surface with Amolacaris lurking in the seas and dire wolves and American Cheetahs running on the plains. This universe is populated by many creatures, such as spirits, Madimu, Alusi and the cats–the mortal creatures closest to the spirits. The cats feed upon magic as well as prey, and they obtain magic via either controlling territory or other’s Belief (be it in their Power, their Cunning, or their Benevolence). 

 The cats of Khaosmor need to face many challenges, from disaster–causing eclipses that spawn from their aberrant, 5 moon night sky, to cat-eating monstrosities, malevolent false gods known as Alusi, and dwindling magic to consume all plague the lives of the cats. When most cats die, their souls descend to the Sprawl, which is a content if chaotic way to spend eternity. But when a cat's tale is told enough, when they die they become a Saint--part ancestor, part spirit, part god. Among the cats arise creatures known as Saints – cats who, after their deaths, had their tales widely told that they ascended to proto-deity status. Saints try to protect the living clans, but they aren’t very good at this considering they’re constantly fighting amongst themselves over limited amounts of divinity.

In addition to the cats, there are many other kinds of creature inhabiting Khaosmor; some are sapient, some aren’t. Other animals, both prehistoric and not, dot the landscape–you can see foxes and dire wolves running side by side.

Animals can Awaken to sapience with enough magic; thus there are individual Beasts dotted about Khaosmor distinguished from mere animals. The Beast of the Falls, the Beast of the Sea, and the Beast of Clawswamp are all some examples.

As well as regular animals, there are also fearsome false gods known as Alusi. They take the form of great creatures wearing odd jewelry and speaking in lilted tones, weaving mighty feats of magic–and yet everyone can tell there is not a spark of divinity in them. There are rumors that the Alusi did not always take this form, that they were spat from the sea, that they were trees that got up and walked, that they come from other realms, or that the first cats were their familiars. Nobody’s quite sure what’s true.

What everyone can agree on, however, is that the Alusi don’t have the cat’s best interests at heart. They demand lavish tributes, worship, and servitude, and bad things happen to those who disagree.

Most enigmatic of all of the creatures are the spirits. The spirits, like cats, feed on magic and embody concepts. They take physical form. They come in three varieties:

Sleeping.  Mostly inanimate natural things like stones, plants and fungi, although they can awaken. They sometimes form hiveminds.

Dreaming. These are the animal-equivalent spirits, sentient but not sapient. Cats depend on them for prey, or bargain with them for power, or offer sacrifices to appease them. Like Sleeping spirits, they can awaken; sapient Dreaming spirits are known as Dreamers, and they usually wear jewelry to denote themselves as not-prey. Dreamers are more powerful than naturally Awakened spirits, but are also more beholden to their instincts.

Awakened. These are sapient spirits, and they come in a variety of personalities and attitudes. Some communities worship Awakened spirits, others fear them; still others allow them to live in their camps. There are some Awakened spirits, however, that are very unsettling….

The most fearsome to the cats, however, are the Madimu; aberrant monsters that resemble different beasts crudely stitched together. They crave the taste of cat flesh because the Alusi created them that way; they seem to think the cats screaming and running in terror is entertaining.

There have been whispers of another kind of beast, some sort of creature with wings and wheels and too many eyes, but nobody’s quite sure what they are.

The cats are hybrids of spirits and mortal beasts for reasons nobody quite understands. When a cat is born they take on traits of the area they're born in (e.g a cat born in a wildfire might have smoky eyes) and they’re strongest close to their birthplace. For this reason expecting cats often range far away, hoping for more unique kittens. 

The 5 forms of magic (Ike/Creation, Mmebi/Destruction, Yipada/Alteration, Nghota/Divination, and Ifowoyi/Control) are the core of Khaosmor’s magic; each cat is born with one of these, and each in turn is tied to a specific plane. Ike is tied to the Plane of Comets, Mmebi to the Black Holes, Yipada to the Moons, Nghota to the Stars, and Ifowoyi to the Rings. 

Each cat is then granted an element they can manipulate in this specific way, For example, an Ifowoyi Sea cat would be able to manipulate the sea, and only that. Even then, cats can only perform tiny bits of magic without a) some precious metal or gemstone to attract more magic or b) the assistance of others in a ritual known as a Clansyowl.

The vast majority of Khaosmor’s landscape is odd, resembling the bottom of a coral reef bed. Seaweed savannahs, coral mountains, and anemone moorlands all dot the land. Areas known as Redseas where the sea splits in two, leaving a stretch of beach in the middle, are often inhabited by brave clans looking for easy sea prey. Nobody’s sure what holds them apart. In addition, deep twisting cave systems dwell within the planet, often inhabited by the cats. Don’t go too deep in them, however.

The cats don't have a ton of cultural overlap; journeying out into the wild lands is perilous. Thus nearby clans tend to share culture but there's almost nothing faraway clans would have in common. 

Notable landmarks include:

 the Alliance Lands (Seaweed Savannah, Coralridge Mountains, and Pawprint Lakes), especially lush and rich territories with an abundance of prey and magic. The clans there ally with each other to defend these lands, though they often quarrel within themselves. 

 Orisha’s Whisper, a strange cave by the coast. An inlet full of fish and pearls runs into the cave, feeding its inhabitants- strange, arcane spirits of gem and gold, burrowing gardeners that grow magical seaweed, and a bustling community of living spells. Ghosts also roam deeper into the cave, and for this reason all but the most desperate stay away despite its riches. This is the area where the clan we follow has set up.

The Wildwood, a coral-forest. Inhabited mostly by  spirits, but with a good deal of cats as well. Parents leave kits they don’t want there, knowing the spirits will take care of them. The Wildwood is protected from predators, being the favored grounds of some Minor Alusi,  but the Alusi can be worse than predators at times, and burrowing menaces will steal any prey left on the ground, so most Wildwood inhabitants are entirely arboreal. The spirits often feed the kits anemone growths on the higher branches; they’re sweet like fruit.

The Howling-Isles. This tropical island draws in swimmers during storms. At first glance, it appears to be a paradise, with plentiful prey and tempting fish, and many wonder why it hasn’t been claimed already. But if an unlucky creature falls into the island’s only water source, they’re sucked into a watery wilderness created by corrupted water spirits-and unlike regular water spirit lands, you never return.

[flutterclouds]

Oh to be a creature in a vintage animal xenofiction novel illustration

[anonymous-witness777]

Unfinished manuscript, author unknown. Found in parking lot of [redacted] Reformed Church, [redacted]. Transcribed by [redacted]. Size: 8mm x 5mm

~

I am Caterpillar woman I dress red and black bear fuzz to keep warm in winter. I am writing book. I do not good grammar because I am Caterpillar please forgive. My friends are: Pastordavid and earthworm. Pastordavid has no eggs or wife. Earthworm has wife but she very small smaller than me. Pastordavid very large like pinetree and scary with loud very scary voice but he show me writing and bible so friend. I show him eat dandelion and teach him dandelion story because he thought dandelion bad animal before he learned. Earthworm can’t read

~

I live in Sunflower. It is big town with only me and earthworm and earthworm wife. It is yellow and green. Pastordavid read bible in morning he try to quiet but voice very loud. He try he sorry. We say, this okay we like bible even loud bible. He read for the director of music of the sons of korah a Mask. It long to me but earthworm cry because it say unfailing love. Earthworm always cry when it say unfailing love. He cry from happy not sad. Pastordavid ask us what stood out to you? He always ask. I say when it say, Awake lord. Is lord asleep do I wake up him is lord same as god? Yes lord same as god. Then Pastordavid say, but he doesn’t need waking up heis awake already just sometimes it feels like he’s asleep sometimes it really feels like that and it okay to say we feel. I say okay yes it is okay it is okay because Pastordavid crying. He cry from sad.

~

This morning very large animals large as Pastordavid very many near Sunflower. They come they go. It happened before. They very loud and many feet very scary. I ask Pastordavid he say church. They come he read bible. They sing bible. Pastordavid say they nice not bad animals. I say he teach me like I teach him dandelion. He say first pastor gone he second Pastor they come sunday but they not many anymore.

~

I learned new Pastordavid story. He sad because egg die. Earthworm tell me.

~

 I give Pastordavid yellow blanket because now I know why he sad and cry when he read bible. But blanket too small for him it only cover finger. He say thank you it is a beautiful flower petal. I say it blanket it come from Sunflower. You mop up cries with it so you know it okay and god lord not sleeping. God lord made Sunflower very nice not bad animal. God unfailing love earthworm tell me god unfailing love. Earthworm tell me god lord cry very much when you sad. Pastordavid just cry he not say anything. I say I am writing book and I write you in it you are good animal and teach about god lord it not end yet. He just cry he say he know god has plan but what is it? I say we learn after book done. He say yes he still sad though. Then he say thank you Caterpillar. He put blanket on his eyes to mop very gentle because face large. He say I love you Caterpillar. I say I love you Pastordavid.