Furscape Character Guide

26 August 2000

Page Contents

• Human and Human-like Characters
• Recoms (I.E. Furries)
• Aliens
• Mutants
• Pokemon and Their Kin
• Special Powers
• Magical Mystery Critters

Human and Human-like Characters

Humans wiping themselves out through warfare is one of the central elements of Furscape's background story. For this reason, players are not generally allowed to have pure-strain human characters. (At the time I write this, we have one human who is a special exception to this rule, but it's unlikely we will be accepting any more.)

However, players can have partly-human or human-looking characters.... Including mutants, androids, recoms, and others. We are pretty flexible, but your character should be distinguished from an actual Homo Sapiens in some way.

Incidentally, even the animal-like recoms are usually considered to have about 98% of their DNA in common with humans. For comparison, a gorilla or chimpanzee in real life has about 99% of DNA in comman with humans.

Recoms (I.E. Furries)

Before the Apocalypse War, human science developed recombinant DNA technology (from which the word "recom" is derived). They created recoms -- beings who combined traits of two or more species, most often a combination of human and animals. In some nations these were treated as slave labor, while their status was a bit higher in others. Since humans were wiped out during the war, recoms have inherited the remnants of Earth's civilization. They have also spread out to form colonies in other star systems now, so all recoms are not required to come from Sol System.

Recom furries are considered the "standard" characters in Furscape's setting. They occur in all the usual species that furry fan are accustomed to, and a few exotic ones too. They may have species-derived abilities, such as heightened senses or strength, and they may vary considerably in size and appearance.

Species abilities shouldn't be out of proportion. For example: A feline-recom may have excellent night vision, but not better than a real-life cat. And real-life cats are nearly colorblind, which could add a little twist to your RP. Quirky characters are more interesting than super-powerful characters.

Another example I like to point out is flight. The laws of physics and biology being what they are, it's very hard to get a human-sized critter airborne in full Earth gravity. On Luna, with one sixth as much gravity, it shouldn't be much problem. Bats and birds should be able to fly OK -- but they should keep in mind, flying in Luna's gravity is not the same thing as flying on Wolfia or Oceania. Also I am still skeptical of winged felines, canids, an so forth. Simply grafting wings onto the back of a random mammal can be cute and stylish, but doesn't make it aerodynamic.

Aliens

Aliens usually are the more exotic beings, ones who don't fit into the standard recom/furry mold. They may have strange shapes and strange customs. Some of them may resemble recoms, but not usually close enough to match them with a particular species. (For example, a Kzin looks similar to Earth felines, but not enough to really be mistaken for one.) Many aliens may not look like anything that has ever lived on Earth.

Players can invent their own alien races. You can be a lone visitor from some far-off race that nobody in these parts has ever heard from before. However, we also want to have some established alien races that you could choose to play. Each race will get a web page here with information about how to play them. Players are welcome to invent their own races and submit them; then we can post them here and other players will be able to use them too. Your race could even have its own homeworld linked into our spacegrid!

Here are the currently established races of Furscape:

• Caninites
• Kree'sha
• Palarians
• Vulpana

Mutants

During the Apocalypse War, terrible weapons were released on Earth. These included bio-weapons and nano-weapons, some of these were mutagenic in nature. They were helped along by the fallout from nuclear weapons. During the dark times of the war, Luna Colony was also exposed to these mutagens, although not nearly as much. Even today, 150 years after the war, some of the mutagens still are found in ruins on the lunar surface, or in drifting derelect spaceships, or are brought from Earth to Luna by reckless artifact smugglers.

As a result, we have some peculiar recoms roaming around Sol System. Hermaphrodites are not too uncommon, while taurs and non-morphic recoms are also seen. Furs with missing limbs, extra limbs, strange fur color, and so forth are seen seen in public without raising any commotion. The ones with two heads are not unknown, though they still tend to earn a second glace and raised eyebrows. There even could be human mutants (these are not "pure" humans, and so are allowed.)

For the players.... If you want to have a mutant character, you can either say he was born that way, or your character can be exposed to mutagens and transformed. Being transformed is usually a traumatic process -- the faster it happens, the more traumatic -- but Luna Colony has been dealing with such cases for 150 years now. The medical facilities in Alpha Dome are some of the best anywhere, and there are experts who really know this mutation stuff. In other words, if you just show up one day with a new desc and say you have mutated, you could be missing a chance for some fun roleplay!

Pokemon and Their Kin

Pokemon-derived characters (and related, such as Digimon and Monster Rancher) are forbidden from Furscape. We have found they simply clash too much with our theme and undermine our hard-SF oriented roleplay.

Special Powers

If your character has special powers which are not considered normal for our setting, you are required to list these in your CINFO. This is done so that you won't accidentally disrupt tinyplots. Other players should never invite you into a tinyplot, then learn halfway through it that you can teleport, cast illusions, shapeshift, lift spaceships with your mind, and so forth. You should also be aware that some tinyplots will only be open to characters with no special or extra-thematic powers.

Here are some examples of special powers:

• Magic
• Superhero Powers
• Super-Technology (i.e. Star Trek stuff)
• Teleportation or Telekinesis

The list is by no means comprehensive.

Magical Mystery Critters

Our setting is not designed around the existance of magic, powerful psionics (beyond limited telepathy), ultra-tech, super powers, or mythical creatures such as kitsunes. You can play these characters, but should be aware of some guidelines.

Basically, the existence of magic and super-natural abilities is not widely recognized in Furscape, any moreso than it is currently in real life. They are the stuff of tabloids, like the Midnight Star in your checkout line. (The headline screams: I HAD A KITSUNE'S BABY!) These kinds of beings attempt to conceal their origins, at least publicly, and especially on Luna Colony and in Alpha Dome. However, there may indeed be planets somewhere in space where they are more widely known and accepted. Each planet or RP-area may have its own rules and guidelines on this subject.

Concealing their origins on Luna is made easier by the many species, both recom and alien, plus mutants who roam around the colony. The sight of a three-tailed vixen in Central Park won't even raise eyebrows. However... If that vixen should magically teleport herself into the park, or shapeshift while people are watching, she should expect:

1. People screaming and fainting.
2. People calling 911 and alerting the news media.
3. Mysterious burly men coming to take her away for study in a lab.

It is possible that some roleplay in the style of the X-Files could come out of this situation. Players are free to interpret as they wish, as long as the general rule holds true: The existence of extra-thematic beings will never end up being confirmed to the general public! There can be hints, rumors, tabloid stories.... but these kinds of characters will never be seen on the evening news, or on talk shows hawking books with their life story.

On a more practical note, they also should be played in a way that does not disrupt the hard-SF roleplay that is more central to Furscape's theme.