[FUR Friday] Worldbuilding, Pt VI: The Band

     Welcome back to TwistedSpoon Studio! Festival of Urbestia, the custom Magic set about a world of beast folk, is currently going through playtesting. While that's going on, we're continuing our series with a creative push. 

    Last week we covered the overarching plot-- something fell to Urbestia long ago that accelerated the evolution of beasts; a Festival is held every year to celebrate that event, and the Story Circle is here to learn more. There's mystery, ancient secrets, and an eldritch force lurking just beyond sight.

    But today, we're looking at the small stuff. We need something grounded and down-to-earth for players to identify with and to set the tone, so that the big plot twist hits that much harder. To that end, the set has a cycle of uncommon Legendary creatures that act as B-plot protagonists. 

Meet the Band

    Originally, I wanted these characters to represent the Big Five tribes, but ran into two problems: 1) they felt like they blended into the background; and 2) most of the trope space for those types of characters was used at common, and uncommon is going to stretch those limits further. Instead, maybe we can dip into the less-used tribes for this cycle to make them feel more unique.

    So who are these fools? How do they play into the story? Writing is not my strong suit, so I'm going to lean into a tried-and-true structure-- the Five Man Band. (Well, Five Person band. FUR is all about inclusivity, after all.)

The Leader

    The Leader is the one who corrals the group into whatever adventure they're going on. Since we want this particular band to be getting into mischief, it feels appropriate to make our leader the red character-- impulsive, reckless, and quick to get into trouble. 

    Colors in Urbestia are mapped to biomes (imagine that), and red represents the desert biome. There are a few animals that fit both the desert biome and the mischievous aesthetic, so I put the species up to a poll. The final result? The Fennec Fox!

I know I said we weren't going to use any Big Five tribes, but just look at this guy!

 

    Fun fact, animals that are adapted to desert environments are called xerocoles. Chop it up, flip it and reverse it, and we get the name Corex. I also really like the idea of subverting expectation by making the leader nonbinary.

The Lancer

    The Lancer is a foil to the Leader. If the Leader is rash and outgoing, the Lancer should be methodical and reserved. It sounds like the Lancer is going to be our blue character.

     Blue is, unsurprisingly, the aquatic biome. Maybe I've been paying too much Splatoon, but I like the idea of an octopus in this spot. I like the idea of leaning into the inherent silliness of an anthropomorphic cephalopod, so maybe the name could be Phalop. Becasue the name sounds like Phillip, the lancer will be male.

The Heart

    The Heart is the emotional and spiritual core of the group. They balance everyone out and hold the group together. If anyone is going to wield the Power of Friendship (TM), it has to be the white character. (Gazelle)

    White represents the grassland biome in this set (and all sets, I guess). While there are plenty of options for this slot, few are as aesthetically distinct as the gazelle.  I like the idea making her female so that I can use the name Leza.

The Strong One

    The Strong One is just that-- someone tough who can get the group out of a tight spot if need be. They can be a badass bruiser or a gentle giant, but either way, the muscle is probably going to be the green character. (Panda)

    Green is the forest biome, as well as the color of the beast creature type: Bears. Again for aesthetic reasons, the panda feels like a cool, unique pick for this slot. For names, I like either Leuca (alluding to the species name Ailuropoda melanoleuca), or Xiong Mao (the Chinese name for the giant panda).

The Smart One

    The Smart One is also very aptly named. They always have a plan, and may just save the group's bacon with their quick thinking. We've already used blue, but black is also adept at scheming, so there you have it.

    Black represent the tundra biome in FUR. We're going to use the snowy owl here to help distance the character from the negative connotations associated with black mana. For her name, we'll call her Nyctea to allude to the Latin name Stryx nyctea.

Encore, Encore

    That's all for this week! Let us know what you think about the cast down below or over on the subreddit! Next week, we're doing a Monday Musings breaking down Kamigawa Neon Dynasty; on Friday, it's another round of worldbuilding, this time on the story's antagonists.

    Until then, check out last week's worldbuilding where we established the set's Planeswalkers as well as the big twist; or see my take on cyberpunk card design in the latest Workshop Wednesday!

See you soon!