That MIB parallel makes me think of a religious secret society, keeping the secrets of the surface from the regular pukafolk, and keeping the surface from interacting too much with their underground. Probably more heavily leaning toward repressing interest in going to the surface via fear and such.
DerKriegs
joined 2 years ago
I'll definitely check out the link!
And hey, Ich sprache ein bisschen Deutch, so it's all good. Ich habe im hochschule Deutch gelernt, fur vier jahre! The gendering is a bit strange to me, but I got use to it, sort of...
I enjoyed the write-up, but I see what you mean about the lack of cultural depth (put most assuredly intended for the deep folk). Also liked what you said about the other comment in terms of cultural motivation. But how they need to survive can play directly into those motivations.
Perhaps people are starting to delve too deeply for minerals and ores, and are encountering these folks in even greater numbers? They see the firearms they possess and are starting to pry into their smything. The priests are nervous it could cause conflict if the don't acquiesce, but would spell ruin if they did.
How they react to such triggers could certainly help broaden their cultural leanings.
Makes more sense with some context, very "In Soviet Russia..." style joke, right up my alley! Besides, as a white guy in the US, I suppose I'm no arbiter of what is and isn't PC anyway.
An interesting perspective for worldbuilding though, could think more on that for my cultures that have pretty set gender norms.
I don't delve much into post apocalypse settings, but a good write up nonetheless. Might cut that last part out about gender utilization though, as it seems vaguely unnecessary for the topic and a bit reductionist. That socioeconomic sphere has a lot of historical and religious factors that don't fit what you're posting, at least in my opinion.
The rest is certainly a solid framework of thought, thanks for posting!
The closest thing to this topic in my setting is the remnants of an empire that was killed off by a necromantic ritual, killing everyone within any built settlement (the necromancer "poisoned" the stones of the empire, so anyone living in a city built with masonry was affected).
The rutlral populations left now have to contend with roving hordes of the undead, limiting their ability to band together and rebuild. A religious movement (as you mentioned) also stalled the progress of redevelopment. They are now being overtaken by an industrial republic from across the ocean, and though put up quite the fight in pockets, are unable to stall the republic's progress.
My thoughts exactly! I imagine birds would have some sort of hands free tech for Bluetooth and such as well, which would help in that. Could be as simple as them getting a "traffic" citation for not having one on, like not wearing a seat belt. Also good for directions, sort of a Google maps audio alerts for where to turn and such.
The data and location privacy is an interesting implication indeed!
I think the best method would be a system of air traffic control, flying animals required to wear some sort of gps/radar system so the control towers can ping their location and alert them to what air space they are in.
This would be more for professional flight transit/transport, but could be scaled down to a private industry level given the need in certain cities, sort of like a neighborhood watch app, but for safe flight paths.
You've put some real work in here, mad props!
The ultimate plot you mentioned near the end is really compelling, would be a great read/view (from previous posts, I understand you'd like an animation made from the material: I'd binge the hell out of it!). The Trophies cells are an interesting concept, are they still maintaining a certain level of lifestyle? Or are they becoming feral?
Also, concerning the civil war/revolution, this video (YouTube link) is an excellent watch for getting down to this brass tacks. Everything Hello Future Me does is pretty excellent, some great long-term Worldbuilding video essays.
Very cool write up, thanks for sharing!
Some serious gray area here with the Unitist terrorism, and how brutal that the same people that made peaceful coexistence possible were also the self made arbiters of their own government's fate.
The idea of Catsbane is quite devious, but feels like a really natural progression of their protein research and the need for such measures. I imagine (as it's in the zeitgeist) Dandelionpaw having some sort of "I am become Death" moment a la Oppenheimer.
Question about the revolt: other than these high profile assassinations, what did this civil war look like? What did the felids & co deal with on the streets? What, other than the deaths of many leaders, caused the government to finally capitulate/fall?
Not so much a legal code as a series of trade agreements and stipulations for said commerce.
The Cartric Republic, formerly the Holy Realms of the Cledic State, require a series of conditions to be met in order to truly benefit from their economic model and global trade connections. While certain quotas and other mundane numeric goalposts must be reached, the widest in scope and most heavily criticized requirement is the banning of magic in the nation that wishes to trade.
The HRCS was a colonial theocracy, spreading the gospel of the true creator and laying low those that worshipped heathen entities, all to save the souls of humanity from the temptations of darkness (I feel like I've heard this before...). The use of earthly magics was a tell-tale sign of said worship, and the magic frequently attracted or birthed shadowy corruptions that would periodically plague the land.
The HRCS was eventually transformed into a republic, but the resentment of magic was still deeply ingrained in the culture and government. The regions of the world they hadn't taken over outright would often capitulate for the lucrative technology that came from these anti-magic zealots, and often adopted many facets of Cartric/Cledic culture.
Exceptions have certainly been made, such as for the viceroyalties of Varhoste, as their deep mineral deposits are a great resource for the industrial Cartref, but the Varhoster mining infrastructure relies on stone weaving, an ancient magic practice. The deeply religious practice of stone weaving has since been restricted, requiring a license to use (for industrial and military use only), causing some discontent.
That anxiety bit is too true, it has me fairly despondent when I think about it too long. It's fair assertion you make, for sure.
Ah, so even the "landed gentry" made the migration... /s