Closer to Earth

Still blocked with the Joy of Hunting part 7. I've just went and realized that I've inspected the wiki a little too much; I'm depending on that resource more than I should. Personally, I use the wiki anytime I need something that people will be familiar with. However, using the wiki alone might undermine the story as well as my ability to portray a dangerous environment. So trying to diversify my sources, I thought about getting myself some wildlife the sort people might be more familiar with, like polar bears or bombardier beetles. The fairy threats listed in the wiki aren't enough, I need something more mundane than a 40-foot long armored centipede with humongous non-insectoid teeth and ginormous scorpion pincers. Fairy hunters can't exactly fill a niche either; we need to start thinking more inside the box, think more fire ants, cougars, small scorpions, aardvarks, pikachus, and so on. I know we already got duikers, thank Zoekin for that, now we need to get working on the rest.

For starters, I checked the 3.5 Monster Manual. I know this isn't D&D, but it has a couple appendixes, one for mundane animals and another for vermin. Whatever you think of that game, you can't in good faith tell me owls and frogs don't exist, can you? Whether they'd belong in the Forest of Whispers (which I'm finding tough as ffffff to portray) is another matter entirely. Also, checking the AD&D 2nd edition monster manual, I learned that gophers and moles are two different animals! Unless one of them is actually a monster from mythology they adapted for the game. Gophers aren't mythological animals, right? Because if they are, I've just went and embarassed myself. While we are at it, do wolves really go after mice, frogs, insects, squirrels, and well... everything, if they can't find larger game, going through like 30 mice a day if they can? This old-school monster manual says some weird stuff, like that bats actually have rather good eyesight, it's just they rely on their echolocation when there's no light, and bump into things not because they're blind, but because light and noise startles them to the point they stop paying attention. Heck, it even says some species of bats eat fish. I'm not sure I believe that.

There's also the thing I'm starting to regret having used a duiker in Part 1 of the same fic. Well, two. I really should've tried to find alternatives; fairies don't just eat humans. Matter of fact, I'd like us to start thinking harder about what do fairies eat all over the world. They can't just eat fruits and the wiki's contents, there should be other options. I'd recommend we start thinking about edible birds and small animals... say, just enough to allow over 400 fairies to live in an area of a few square miles. Kortiki ain't a vegan town, and no, it wouldn't be funny to have the fairies pick on the tinies instead. I've been thinking eggs, birds, lizards, fish, frogs, snails, other land-going mollusks, insects, worms, there's gotta be a way to put protein in their mouths without a fetish. No, not even that other fetish, this isn't some seedy bar's restroom (though if there's a seedy bar, maybe in the restroom?).

Felarya's a place full of tasty things, so there's got to be at least 5 animals that breed like mice and aren't icky to swallow in the vicinity of that town (then there's everything else). Freshwater prawns/shrimps (what's the difference anyway?) and river fish are my first two occurrences; if Kortiki's a town where humans live, it has to be close to a river. I don't think it'd be much of a problem to ask for a swamp close by as well. Now, bats and birds are right out; I don't think a creature with no bowel control could taste very well. Mice might do, after giving them a wash, but they bite unless you catch them by the tail, and fairies aren't ninjas, so cute or not to swallow, I don't think they are a good option, except when they're trapped. I know weasels like eggs, and it sounds like a good idea to me too: eggs can't fight back, and the mother doesn't want them once you touch them. Makes for a cute "Soooooowwy" scenario, don't it?

So, see, I believe we have something to gain out of Wikipedia and Microsoft Encarta (and other less iconic, but more accurate sources) for some flora and fauna to use. Really, when was the last time we saw a butterfly in Felarya? I mean a tiger swallow butterfly, not someone with butterfly wings swallowing a tiger. I know I've used and abused bears, and I'm a big fan of boars too. Piglets are so cute, you just wanna rub their tummies! And I know tigers want to rub their tummies too.


I'll make the point short- what's your opinion on animals that exist? You use them much? How do you use them? Any thoughts?

Well what's great about Felarya's fauna is that it's now huge and it contains many, many animals.

I personally havent used that much the forum. I kinda never used it I only know a bit of cannon, thats it. And yet, it didnt prevent me from writing anything that was completely out of felarya. the wiki is like a dictionnary: you use it when you are not sure hell, you can even create your own animal if you want. as far as I know, felarya is still open to completely new animals

Doesn't it say somewhere in the wiki that the fauna listed there are just the cool/exotic/crazy animals and that there are several more much more mundane species knocking about that aren't listed? If so, it's totally possible that there's all these fairly normal little birds and fish and rodents and reptiles all over the place that no one pays any attention to. Maybe it's time we start paying attention to them? Duikers can't be the ONLY stock food animal in this setting.

I've never doubted of regular animals being possible or not in Felarya. After all, we're talking about a "world between worlds", and if sentient beings from many worlds have ended up there, why not other animals? I wouldn't find it strange if there were usual birds flying around, or bunnies that don't jump on your throat.

I used fireflies in one of my stories, for example. And not "giant enemy fireflies", but normal fireflies. So anyone can use more mundane animals, not just the ones on the wiki, just taking in account where they fit (you can't, or at least shouldn't, place a polar bear in a jungle, for example... no, don't get me strated on Lost xD). And of course, they can serve as food as well.

Dunno, I never got that problem because I've always assumed that, among the exotic flora and fauna, you can find something more mundane.