FUR: Worldbuilding, Pt II: Even More Tribes

 Welcome back to TwistedSpoon Studio! Last week, we looked at the first set skeleton and card file for FUR, the furry custom Magic set. This week, we're taking another pass at the creative elements.

    The last time we discussed FUR's world, we created a world based on the different cultures of Earth circa 600 AD, with some fantasy flair.  If 600 AD seems arbitrary, it might pay off to look at the last worldbuilding article here. Long story short, that century overlooks the Tang Dynasty of China, the early Medieval period of Europe, the end of the Greek classical age, and the fall of Rome as an empire, among other things. It was a time when the cultures represented in the set could feasibly have interacted (though not at the scale that they will in FUR).  The tribes that we have so far are the Wolf, Fox, Dog, Cat, and Scale folk; they were the Big Five, because they're the most popular fursona species (according to FurScience.com). This time, we're going to retouch some of the old tribes and add five more to get to an even ten.

Adjustments to the Big Five

Dog Folk

    Dog folk feel like a weird fit for red/white. In FUR, the dog folk are Greek-inspired wildlings who deface or muralize every surface in sight. The mechanics, though, point to an equipment strategy. The punk-wild-dog-graffiti angle plays better in black/red, which has access to vibrant and could play into flavor with abilities that sacrifice artifacts for effects.

Scale Folk

    This one has been bothering me. The reptile races of Green/Blue were originally slated to stand in for Arabic traders due to the association between scales and sequins, whose name comes from the Arabic sikka. However, even indirectly alluding to anti-Semitic conspiracies skeeves me out to no end. Gold coins as sequins also appeared in ancient Egypt, with the tomb of Tutankhamen containing a prominent example. I feel better about Egyptian Scale Folk, which feels further distanced from the problematic associations above. Scale Folk will also rope in Dinosaurs and Dragons where appropriate. The Scale Folk seem like the best fit for a crafting deck, moving into red/white.

Anotha' One (Or Five)

    The next five are a bit looser. Everything unused for the big five includes Rodents, Rabbits, Raccoons, Otters, Birds, Bears, Horses, Aquatic creatures, Hyenas, Skunks, Marsupials, Deer, Squirrels, Ferrets, and Insects.  Of those, rodents, rabbits, raccoons, otters, skunks, squirrels, and ferrets could be rolled up into one Redwall-esque bundle of small mammals; similarly, dinosaurs and (at higher rarities) dragons could be rolled into Scale folk. Birds are an obvious inclusion (the set desperately needs flavorful flyers); Bears are an iconic Magic staple; Deer and horses might cohabitate an archetype; Aquatic can be a fun and diverse group; and thank god that's five, because hyenas are pushing really jostling with wolves and dogs, and I don't see any wallabies in this set's future. (Maybe a one-off kangaroo, if there's room.) Insects are off the list for FUR, but every time I say that, my desire to create an entomology-inspired set grows stronger, so stay tuned.

Small Folk

    Yikes, it's really easy to put any word before "Folk" and sound offensive. This nomenclature will be definitely be replaced with fantasy race names to avoid unfortunate phrases like "Small folk" seeing print, but in this case, I'm referring to the Redwall tribe. (If you haven't read Redwall, imagine a pastoral setting filled with talking mice, badgers, and whatnot, punctuated by grand feasts, nautical voyages, and epic wars of miniscule proportions.)  Mechanically, I think it would be fun to compliment GW's go-wide aggressive strategy and love of tokens with a subtheme that rewards playing creatures with power 1 or less. There might be some spillover into black for skunks, raccoons, and of course rats. It would also be neat to bend Squirrels into white if there's room. While Redwall's timeline is not clearly analogous to a real-life time period, do you want to guess when the first known abbey was founded? 529 AD, baby. (Bonus points, it was established at Monte Cassino in Perugia, Italy. Pastoral fantasy Italy, anyone?)

Bird Folk

    The Birds, besides being a fantastic Hitchcock flick, are an interesting tribe. Flying is primary in White and Blue, which are associated with both crafting and tradition in this set. We could lean into the equipment Voltron theme, encouraging players to stack equipment on one evasive creature and hammer home the win; or we could encourage a tempo-style deck that accrues advantages by blinking and bouncing creatures with Tradition effects. Por qué no los dos? Having multiple archetypes for one or two color pairs is a great way to add replayability to the set, as it adds more to explore and discover. Now, what does flying have to do with tradition and crafting? Maybe the birds are nomadic merchants, following migratory routes and bartering unique treasures that they've picked up on their journey. The burgeoning empires of the Americas (the Aztec, Inca, and Maya civilizations) were coming into their stride in the era that we're looking at, and while they didn't historically have connections to Eurasia at the time, flavoring them as birds fills the gap nicely. (I'm strongly imagining Kass from Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild as a starting point.)

Bear Folk

    It's hard to think of bears without thinking of the Russia. While Russian history is thought to start around the ninth century AD, the area was populated with Slavic peoples who migrated prolifically in the 6th century. The first known Slavic state, Samo's Empire, appeared in the 7th century. Slavic culture has some beautiful rituals associated with the natural world-- festivals to celebrate the Winter Solstice, pagan proto-Easter Spring rites involving colored eggs, Summer Solstice celebrations of fire and water, and more. These vibrant traditions may bridge Tradition and Vibrant in red/green.

Antler Folk

    This one is a tough cookie. Horses and deer don't have as much in common as you might think, belonging to two different families in two different orders; taxonomically speaking, they diverge after Class Mammalia. Cervidae, the family that Deer belong to, includes the elk, caribou, and moose, as well as the white-tailed, red, roe, and fallow deer that you probably think of when you hear the word "deer." Horses, on the other hand, belong to Equidae, which only boasts one extant genus of seven species, ranging from zebras  to donkeys in addition to horses. Given the choice between the two, I'm going to opt for the one with more space to play in, but let me know your thoughts on this. Are horses worth including outside of one-offs? 

    Nearly every culture has venerated or mythologized the deer in some way. Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Shintoism, Judaism, to Native North and Central Americans, all attribute powerful spiritual symbolism to these graceful creatures. With so many choices, it's hard to choose; ultimately, I like the idea of secluded Buddhist Deer folk in green and blue (we have representation for practically every other continent, and GW is already taken). Our timeline aligns with the late Classical Period of India. Mechanically, this could also be a blink/bounce-oriented Tradition archetype-- one moment you look up, and there's a deer staring at you from across the clearing; your breath catches in your throat; you blink, and it's nowhere to be seen.

Sea Folk

    For the record: Fuck Hans Christen Anderson. With that out of the way, let's look at the last archetype. With only blue/black remaining, this is going to be another tricky one. Pirates seems like an obvious choice, but 1) I'm tired of them and 2) representing a foreign race as invasive pirates perpetuates harmful stereotypes. Let's think about blue and black for a minute, and see if we can find something positive to work with. Blue is about knowledge, perfection, and self-improvement. Black is about ambition, determination, inevitability. This sounds like a deck that cares about technology in the form of artifacts. I would have to wager that the culture most people associate with technology is that of Japan. Our timeline lines up with the Asuka period of Japan, during which Buddhism arrived to the island; it also saw the imperial court remodeled after that of China. Japanese sea-folk craftsman sounds good to me.

Recap

 Looking at our new tribes and archetypes, here is an updated list:

• WU: Mesoamerican Bird Folk (Crafting Voltron)
• UB: Japanese Sea Folk (Crafting)
• BR: Greek Dog Folk (artifact sacrifice)
• RG: Slavic Bear Folk (Vibrant meets Tradition)
• GW: Italian Pastoral Small Folk (Small creature go-wide)
• WB: Medieval Wolf Folk Knights (Tradition midrange)
• UR: Chinese Fox Folk (Vibrant tempo)
• BG: Celtic Cat Folk (Tradition graveyard midrange)
• RW: Egyptian Scale Folk (Crafting)
• GU: Buddhist Antler Folk (Tradition blink)

    That's all for this week. Are there any tribes you wanted to see that still didn't make the cut? If you were to pick a time period for a fantasy setting, what era would you go with? Let me know in the comments below!
 
    Next week, we're going to be doing some mechanical soul-searching for our archetypes and try to math out the structure of the set. Until then, check out Redwall (the novels or the animated films), or just do some research on the 6th to 7th centuries AD-- it's fascinating stuff. 

See you soon!