How equal can a society be if some fundamentals are unusable by a third of the population? You can learn a lot about a world by looking at the little details, especially in furry settings!
The Lapine native to Hawta travel less regularly than their Eastern relatives. So they have more need to protect themselves and usually prefer bludgeoning weapons like meteor hammers, maces, and slings. This lady is a trained guardian, but not a warrior, so she wears no armour and relies on her natural agility to avoid danger. There's great honour in Hawta for those who go unarmoured.
Oztenkig is a Kingdom that strives to win the Chatterung War through a combination of social forward ideals, technological advancements, and sheer overwhelming numbers.
Both soldiers here are of the same rank, but their backgrounds are different. As all resources are owned by the kingdom and divvied out among the people, so some areas can outfit their warriors better than others. Oztenkig is also a kingdom primarily covered in swamps and marsh land, so metal is only used where completely necessary once brought down from the Western mountains and shared equally among the people.
Due to these restrictions the scientific minds of the kingdom developed a technique that allows them to process and smith insect chitin into a sturdy leathery plate. A material that makes for a nearly perfect armour.
The soldier on the left is wearing the processed chitin, it takes on a brown shade as part of the process, but takes much time and degrades the health of those who create it. So only settlements that posses the factotum and skilled hands in great numbers will be granted this miracle armour. On top of that, they may not get a full suit, substituting parts for metal, leather, or raw chitin.
The soldier on the right is from a small village. With no factorum the soldier wears bulky, slightly oversized, but effective chitin, straight from the insects the people farm for food and leather. Only one out of twenty people in this era can write, closer to three out of ten can understand basic written words. Writing is a commodity, seen as intention given form. So favours may be done for a local priest in exchange for writing upon their armour. This one roughly means: 'The Power of Countless Bodies.'
Within the hidden fortress of Kell mountain the Waizentrum forces confer with their protectee. The artefacts they bring to his discerning eye seem valuable, but Vinod clearly has a more important tasks to tend to.
This time let's circle back to equity later and focus on some basics! What's up with TAILS?
Transcript under the cut:
1.
First of all, why do the people in a setting even need tails?
Humans don't have tails for a number of reasons, we don't chase prey so we don't need it to help us change direction like a rudder. We also don't climb trees so we don't need one for keeping hold of branches or for balance.
But in a world of megafauna, maybe you need a tail to help you turn fast to flee?
Or maybe a hunter needs a rudder to swim?
But most importantly!! It's fun & helps your people feel unique!
[IMG: A an anthro rat and sea lion, the rat is leaning over in a similar fashion to the sea lion who naturally stands horizontally like a T-rex. This shows how they both can use tails as counter balance.]
Think about why species in a setting might have tails and perhaps you will think of something that adds depth to your world…
For warmth, like a blanket! To increase visibility when foraging! For Combat!!!
[IMG Three tails, a big fluffy artic fox tail, a tall lemur tail, and a spiny draconic tail.]
2.
Clothing is the main issue I see brought up when discussing tails & Furgonomics. many solutions can be found when looking at furry artwork, so look around! The only solution i'd say is not valid is…The belt under the tail.
[IMG: a tailed person from behind, their jeans are below the tail, you can see their butt cheeks.]
[IMG: Two illustrations of human femurs with tails, the spine points them downwards.]
A tail would sit far too low to comfortably wear trousers there, imagine wearing yours below the pelvis at your hips? Even with a belt that is far too risqué!
The best solutions all put the waistband above the tail and either have a hole for the tail or in the case of clothing like dresses and skirts allow the tail to sit freely beneath.
[IMG: Three different people with different garments. The first is labelled 'breech cloth', it's a Y shaped cut of fabric attached to the waist by a string. The second is labelled 'sarong', the feline figure from the side has a length of fabric around the belly with a length hanging down over their pubic area like a loin cloth. The third is the most like trousers/pants, the belt keeps shut a flap that goes over the base of the tail that overlaps with the tail hole.]
In my setting of Firnus different cultures have their own designs to fit environmental needs. The Gilter
braghe is a sleeveless trouser designed with modesty in mind. compare this to the rav breechcloth, made for wearing under robes. Or avoid the tail hole all together and beat the heat with the pantheran quarter sarong!
3.
So where else can tails be a problem…? CHAIRS.
[IMG: Two normal chairs, they have back rests but also gaps between that and the seat.]
most people are going to jump immediately to seats like these:
But i'm going to make my case as to why this would not be comfortable:
See this dog skeleton to the right? When a quadrupedal animal sits, they don't rest on their upper legs or put any pressure on their fragile tails, Instead they rest on their hocks & hind feet!
Why? Exactly as we discussed with trousers, tails wouldn't go out, they'd go down.
As part of the spine, if you wanted to sit back in a chair your spine would be vertical.
[IMG: A dog skeleton from the side.]
[IMG: A small concerned mustelid says: "Sitting on your tail would feel like bending your fingers backwards with your full body weight!"]
…So, I believe anthro species wouldn't want to put pressure on their tails by sitting on them… So we cut a hole out from the bottom and back of the chair, right?
Yes! and no. Yes because when you're world building you can do whatever works best for you! But no because I'm not satisfied with this answer and I'm driving this PNG!!!! So how do we fix this? Let's see why chairs even exist in the first place!
[IMG: a chair like the ones above with a half circle cut from the back of the seat.]
4.
The earliest (known) chairs come from the 2nd dynasty of Egypt during the Thinite period. These chairs were as short at the seat as 10 inches! …But like, Why? as a status symbol! These caught on as nobility wished to copy kings, and then the common people copied nobility. They're also useful to keep your clothes clean and prevent you from resting on cold or wet ground.
[IMG: Two desert foxes, one on a chair is joyfully sitting upon a chair, covered in gold adornments like a pharaoh. He says: 'I'm sitting higher! So I'm better than you!' The other fox looks concerned, wears no gold as she kneels and says: 'Hm.']
But we don't need kings!!
If you want something for similar use without those connotations. Here's some options:
[IMG: Two people sitting on a bench and a large plush pillow as well as a rectangular cushion that's rolled up.]
Kneeling! While many cultures use
this to show reverence, few still
kneel for comfort.
Benches and stools! Before chairs
became affordable for the average
person simpler furnishings were
commonly used. These don't have
tricky tail holes to fumble around
with and can be as simple as a plank.
cushions! A thick pillow or rolled
rug would allow a person to sit
cross-legged without their tail
pressing down against a hard
surface.
Think about who needs chairs, where they'd be used, and the
answer will come naturally! Have fun world building!
A little illustration showing three different kinds of magic users in my setting. The Arcanist (bottom-left) The Beldam (bottom-right) and The Warlock (top.)
