Oh yesh, this is good, very good indeed.
Sounds like fun!
Thanks for posting this up, it's much appreciated =)
-Thylacine
Mmmm, a world I don't have to come up with the mechanics of. The idea
has it's charms.
--- In SkunkworksAMA_at_y..., "J.H." <jmhcustomart_at_y...> wrote:
> Hey, man.
> Found this on my other system, so I thought I'd copy and paste it
> here. It gives a little extra info about the Skunkworks reality:
>
> There are a lot of similarities between the world we inhabit, and
> the one which my characters inhabit. Most of the cities share
> identical landmarks, and many of the events in our past have also
> occurred in theirs. But the similarities end there.
>
> In their world, there was never a World War II. There was never
a
> bombing at Hiroshima. The people of their world are not like us.
> For the most part, they have come to realize that they are part of
a
> system that is larger than anything they could create, whereas we
> have yet to understand this concept. There is generally very
little
> discrimination on their world. Sure, there may be some species
> discrimination, but it's not anywhere near as bad as it is here.
>
> Most of the characters get along well enough, even if one is a
> predator and the other a herbivore. However, not all species have
> evolved into sentient beings.
>
> There are a lot of species who share both forms on their world.
> There are sentient (two-legged) cats, and there are non-sentient
> (four-legged) cats. The same is true with horses, bats, some
> reptiles, some dogs, and so on and so forth. Some of the species
> which did NOT evolve into a higher form are cows, several species
of
> dogs, elephants, rhinos, hippos, most birds, most fish, insects,
> etcetera. Just as we share this planet with our assumed
predecessors
> (apes), so too, do the characters of this other world. Many of the
> sentient creatures have non-evolved versions of their own species
as
> pets (for example, Tamara Jolsen of Caterwaul Inc. has a pet cat
> named Jinx).
>
> Some of the various species are rare. Avarian species are pretty
> rare. Most of that lineage contains birds of prey, such as eagles
> and hawks. There are also a few species of parrots, as well as
> cardinals and bluejays. However, there has been a mutation which
has
> become more prevalent over the last 50-60 years, and it seems
focused
> on avarian species only. The mutant gene, which has not yet been
> identified, causes avarian offspring to be born without wings. The
> wings of sentient birds, like those of sentient bats, are attached
to
> the arms and back. The mutant gene somehow turns off this cell
> growth while the young are being formed in the womb (it should be
> noted here that all sentient species on this particular version of
> our world give birth to live young, reptiles and birds included).
As
> a result of this mutation, more and more avarian young are born
> without the ability to fly. Some scientists have argued that this
> may be a form of evolution, but those avarians denied the joy of
> flight would argue otherwise.
>
> There are currently only two known types of water-based sentient
> life-forms. Dolphins are still mammals, whether they are sentient
or
> not, but there are several species of sentient sharks, who,
> thankfully, do not share their predecessors' biology. Sentient
> sharks, like all sentient forms on that planet, are air-breathers.
> Unlike their distant forefathers, sentient sharks do not need to
swim
> around continuously in order to "breathe". They do, however, have
to
> come to the surface in order to extract the air that their bodies
> need. And, unlike their un-evolved cousins, sentient sharks get
> along just fine with sentient dolphins.
>
> Bats are also somewhat rare, as are kangaroos, koalas, weasels,
> badgers, wolverines, most deer species, reptiles (alligators,
> crocodiles, chameleons and the like), jaguars, and bears. Please
> note that there are no apes or monkeys on this world; they, like
> their human cousins, fell victim to the vicious food chain. Armed
> with very little, neither ape nor man was able to defend himself
> against the (then-feral) sentient predators. Humankind died out
> long ago, and the scientists of today still speculate on what these
> strange creatures may have looked like.
>
> It is important to remember that these anthropomorphic characters
> are NOT people with fur. They are humanoid, true, but they are
still
> animalistic. Things which we do not use, or have, such as body
> (ear,tail, etc.) language, heightened vision, hearing, and
olfactory
> senses, and the fabled "sixth sense" which many animals seem to
> possess to warn them of natural or unnatural events or situations,
> are quite commonplace in this other world. The people of this
other
> world could be great allies, or deadly enemies, if ever our world
was
> to encounter theirs.
>
> Hope this helps out some!
>
> --JMH, still working on those friggin' character bios.
Received on Sun Oct 28 2001 - 01:11:50 CST