Argetlam350 — Roleplayer Guild

:ò Animalia

THERE is a world where humans never came to be and instead animals of all kinds evolved in their place. They learned to build tools for hunting and gathering, to communicate, and to make fire. For thousands of years, the various tribes fought and went to war for land, resources, food, and water. Prey species were fruitful and multiplied as they learned to farm and defend themselves from predators. And as more and more species became intelligent and anthropomorphic, the slower-growing predators struggled to survive and feed themselves.   

ONE fateful winter, a starving pack of wolves approached a community of bunnies, not to hunt them, but to ask for help. The bunnies presented them with soy-milk and soybeans to make it through that harsh winter. When spring came, the bunnies taught them how to farm. Then they made more allies, the turkeys, who showed them how to spot garden pests such as beetles and cicadas and how to tell them apart from good insects such as bees and butterflies. This symbiotic relationship between carnivore, omnivore, and herbivore resulted in the greatest harvest they had ever seen, and the wolves finally were able to rest, no longer needing to hunt. Together, they shared a great feast to celebrate their good fortune. This was the first Thanksgiving.   

TODAY, civilization has advanced to modern-day human standards. The world of Animalia has plumbing, electricity, telephone and internet, cars, and all forms of transportation. Modern agriculture and farming have made plant and insect-based protein widely available. Predators and prey try their best to live peacefully together, for the good of all animal-kind, but not all fears and instincts have vanished.  

OVERCOMING stereotypes may the hardest part of any animal's life, but it is not the only problem they will face. Animals will most likely face speciesism, sizeism, sexism, or classism at some point in their life. Predation and hate crimes are still quite common, and cities often have black markets and gangs. This sandbox-style slice-of-life roleplay will follow our many characters as they struggle to make their way through life.

Rules:
1) Follow all forum rules.
2) No controlling other people's characters (powerplaying) without their explicit permission.
3) If you will be away for a while, please let us know and position your character out of the way if possible. 
4) If you wish to quit the roleplay, please let us know. Don't leave us hanging.
5) No smut. Keep it PG-13. This roleplay is open to all ages.
6) If you have a problem with another roleplayer (myself included), please contact me. Do not verbally attack anybody in the OOC.
Roleplay Type
Sandbox style slice-of-life with GM and roleplayer-driven events. Minor events (ex. NPC murders, NPC kidnappings, crimes, or parties and celebrations) do not require GM approval. Major catastrophic events (for example natural disasters and alien invasions) do.
Expectations
Please post daily if possible, or at least once a week. If we do not hear from you after a week, we may be forced to control your character or retcon events to continue.
Please write at a casual level. Take care to write with proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Make some attempt at character growth and world-building. Write a minimum of one paragraph per post, but avoid excessively long posts (2000+ characters). Use of a spell-checker is advised.
Please write in 3rd-person past-tense.
Mature themes such as drugs, politics, religion, violence, bullying, sexuality, sexism, and racism are permitted and encouraged to add depth to our story and characters. Swearing is permitted. Sex scenes should fade-to-black.
Main Setting
The roleplay takes place on an alternate Earth which is very much like our own. The geography is the same. Much of history is like our own, from caveman living to the Roman Empire, the Dark Ages, and today. The main difference is that animals started to become anthropomorphic, sapient, and intelligent, starting somewhere around the time of the Great Flood (Noah's Arc).

The roleplay will start in modern-day New York City, the city of opportunity and the great melting pot of the nation. Unlike many smaller cities and towns like Wolfboro, Hampsterdam, and New Bunswick, New York has a wide demographic of species. It is the city where "anyone can be anything."

Many of our characters are attending the well-renowned Eukary University, a college found in the suburbs, but you are free to play as anybody you want. You can be a college student, a teacher, or somebody working or living in the city or beyond.
Important Places
Animalia will have a mix of both real and fictional places. Feel free to use real-life locations or make them up as desired. I will update this section as more places are introduced.
Eukary University (EU) is a reputable college known for its very high diversity statistics and a broad range of majors.  It has merit and athletic grants and scholarships. The college is partially State-funded, so tuition is fairly low and enrollment is very high. It is one of the most popular schools in the nation.
Eukary University is all about diversity and including all types of animals. Its name comes from the domain name 'Eukarya', which includes plants, animals, and fungi. The root word roughly translates to "good seed," which ties into the University's mission to help every student grow and flourish into something spectacular.

School colors are Green and White with Gold/Yellow accents. There are no school uniforms, but sports uniforms are usually mainly green with white with gold/yellow accents. Sports uniforms often are embroidered with the player's last name, number, or a big "EU" (for Eukary University).

The school's academic symbol is an Acorn with Oak Leaves. 
The school's sports mascot is an Angry Acorn.
If you can think of it, they can teach it. They have traditional majors, pre-med, craftsman trades and vocational classes.
The campus is like a small town, just a little removed from the rest of New York City. It is surrounded by a few hundred feet of trees on all sides. At the very front, near the city streets, you will a fence with a large gate leading to the Administrative Building, which is where you will find officials, financial offices, and teacher offices. There is streetside parking and small parking lots on both the left and right sides of the Administrative Building.

Immediately behind Administrative is two buildings. On the left is History & People Studies, and on the right is  Languages & Literature. These subjects are often intertwined, so too are their buildings with a connecting bridge. Most classes in these departments are taught in large auditorium-style classes.

You can continue under the bridge to find the Eukary Quad. This is an area with luscious green grass and beautiful flowerbeds near the edges and surrounding buildings. There are a few benches and trees for shade. There are interconnecting paths between each building and a fountain at the center.

If you take a left (clockwise) you will find Science & Medicine. It has an abundance of labs and it is where you will find the school nurse, who runs a walk-in clinic with the help of pre-med students. Many professors students conduct research on behalf of the school.

Continuing straight (clockwise) from there you will find Mathematics & Computing, which has state-of-the-art computers and servers that provide free wi-fi to the whole campus. 

The Dormitories line the back of the Eukary Quad (see room and board) and at the very back of the campus is the Eukary Fields, where outdoor sports are played. Events, such as carnivals and festivals of all types, are held here as well.

Heading clockwise back toward the Administrative Building you will find the Arts Building. This is where you will find many art studios, dance studios, and dark rooms. There is also a theater that is used for both live performances and for projecting films.

Lastly, continuing clockwise back toward Admin, you will find the Vocational Center.  This is where students learn many trades such as carpentry, metal-working, automotive, electrical, plumbing, and printing. It has a small mall run by students (with a restaurant, salon/spa, convenience store, and an auto-shop). The school newspaper is printed here. 

Farther into the campus you will find the 24-hour Cafeteria and Recreational Building. It has a cafeteria, indoor track and field, a climbing wall, indoor pool, gymnasium, and several smaller rooms dedicated to events such as bingo night, coffee house/open mic, and clubs. It is a great place to be loud and have fun.

Near the Recreational Building, you will find the Library. It is beautiful, quiet, and known for its excellent variety of both educational and recreational collection. In addition to books, you may borrow comics, manga, graphic novels, audiobooks, CDS, and movies. The building is multiple stories and has multiple computer labs as well as a few rooms for meetings and educational use. There is a small cafe where culinary students and volunteers may work.

All around campus, you will find blue-painted safety/emergency poles. If you press the red button, campus police will be dispatched to the pole's location to assist you. These poles were implemented around the nation to help prevent rape, assault, or devouring and to help students feel safer traveling alone around campus.
Students may choose to purchase room and board along with their education. Those who do have a choice of several different themed dormitory buildings. (Including  Male-Only, Female-Only, Herbivore-Only, Athletes, Artists, and Nocturnals.) Alternatively, students may commute from New York or beyond. The Dormitories line the sides and back of the campus, with a road leading up to each dorm for easy move-in. There are few parking spots for movers and visitors (not for students). Key cards are required to get into dormitory buildings, as a safety precaution.

Each Dorm varies, but they typically they have 3 floors with rooms on both side of the hallway and bathrooms and stairwells on each end of the hallway. Bottom floors usually have a common room and a laundry room. Bicycle storage is available in the stairwells. Dorms are usually for 1-4 people, depending on the size of each animal (and their budget).

Meal plans are available for those who would like unlimited access to the 24-hour buffet-style cafeteria. Students access the cafeteria with their key card and have the option to purchase moderately priced meal passes for visitors. Otherwise, there are many nearby restaurants and grocery or convenience stores.
Hidden deep in the city is a small alleyway full of vendors selling meat, blood, pelts, and other illegal animal products. Cops, who are usually predator species, do not patrol the black market so the area can be potentially dangerous and is a center for gang activity. 
The Wolf Pack - A night club near the Eukary Campus. Usually where carnivores/predator species hang out.
The Warren - A sports bar near the Eukary Campus. A common destination for herbivore/prey species to hang out.
Dingo Donuts - A popular chain coffee and donut shop.
Important People (NPCs)
Use existing celebrities, officials, and personalities or make them up as desired. Characters based on real people can stay human or be made into another species. This section will have NPCs added as they are introduced.
Mr. Rodney Bulman the Angus Bull: Humorus, dramatic, but long winded. He is almost always with his assistant, Bobbie Lenox (Lynx), who is quiet but helpful. (History Dept)
Mr. Aaron Ramsey the Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep: Friendly, casual, easygoing. Enjoys outdoor photography and hiking adventures. (Art Dept)
Ms. Sophelia Savage the French Lop Bunny: Kind, sweet, but promiscuous. She will help tutor any of her students, but males might get special treatment. (Math Dept)
Bartholomew 'Tholo' Whitlock the Wolf - Owner of the Wolf Pack (night club).
Animal Terminology
Predator:
 Animals that eat or used to eat other animals.
Prey:
 Animals that are eaten by other animals.
Carnivore:
 Animal who must eat meat to survive, and are not able to or poorly digest other food. 
Omnivore:
 Animal who requires a varied diet. (Meat, plants, fruit, nuts.)
Herbivore:
 Animal who can survive by only eating plants. They may be able eat other types of food, but can survive without.
Lower Lifeforms:
Insects, arachnids, and mollusks are plentiful in nature and are considered non-sapient and safe to eat. Many keep these animals as pets. 
Land Animals:
 These are the kinds of animals we will see most of. Land animals are usually between 2 ft to 10 ft tall and are anthropomorphic in shape. They usually speak the primary language of english but may communicate with primitive sounds and gestures. 
Amphibious Animals:
Amphibious animals (frogs, crabs, walruses, penguins, etc.) are usually anthropomorphic, but sometimes less so than land animals. They may speak aquatic languages, land languages, or both. They often work or serve as diplomats or interpreters. 
Aquatic Animals:
 Aquatic animals can be anthropomorphic but are unusually less so than land animals. Many aquatic animals can only breathe in water or may only be out of it for a short time. Aquatic species have many different languages and we still have much to learn about them. The intelligence and sapience of non-anthromorphic sea life is hotly debated, so eating fish and other aquatic life is considered taboo.
Farm Animals:
Animals like cows, chickens, and pigs were once enslaved by humans and other apex predators for their milk, eggs, and meat. All types of slaves were freed in the US when this worlds 16th President issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. The battle against slavery didn't stop there, but it certainly began.

Specism and racism is still alive today, affirmative action programs help to combat it. Farm animals and other slave species and races may be eligible for scholarship, grants, and special loans. Employers and educational facilities are offered incentives for taking in slave species.

Milk and eggs are still available and affordable. Meat from sapient animals is illegal and only available on the black market. There are strict laws with heavy fines in place to protect animals that sell body products (such as milk, eggs, feathers, teeth, scales, and fur.)
Domesticated Animals:
 Animals such as dogs and house cats came about from their parent species (wolves and wildcats) during the Great War. They were designed to be superior to their parent species as well as being exceptionally obedient to those in command of them. With time, they grew smarter, friendlier, and evolved traits favored by those that created them. Once the Great War was over, these 'domesticated' species were all but forgotten by those who created them and had to adapt into society. Sometimes there is tension between domesticated and ancestral species for this reason. Many animals look down on domesticated species for being "pets", a discriminatory word to describe domesticated animals as lower beings compared to other animals.

Inspired by Zootopia, Beastars, Blacksad, Bojak Horseman, Star Fox, Aggretsuko!,  There she is! and other fandoms.

Discord use is optional but available.

Original idea and RP is by @LostButterfly92
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