So you’ve mentioned that Jamack has killed people and made it clear that Kwat and Harris likely have also done that, care to elaborate on the specifics of it if you have any? I’m actually super intrigued in these frogs and their violent/ugly side.
Oh absolutely. When I was first making my Jamack mix, I found I had too many violent songs and had to add more normal songs to even it out XD
I’ve always been very much into the idea that despite going through a redemption arc and bonding with the protagonists, Jamack is still, and always has been, a ruthless motherfucker
I mean heck, back in April I had this line in an early draft of The Scorpion and the Frog:
Jamack looked away. “You don’t have any blood on your hands yet. I didn’t want you to think you did. You should hold onto that while you can.” He looked back. “Until you can get your hands on Scarlemagne, of course. Can you imagine? Having Scarlemagne as your first kill?” He grinned, his eyes bright.
So yeah it’s a concept I absolutely adore. ANYWAY!
The Mod Frogs have influences from 1960s Mod subculture and early 1900s mobsters. Iconic mobsters tended to be sharply dressed, snarky, witty, organized, strict, greedy, and merciless. Sounds like the Mod Frogs to me!
And IRL frogs are slippery little killing machines! They hunt and eat just about any living thing that they can stuff in their huge mouths. And that’s not an exaggeration! That’s how they’re described in some scientific texts, because it would take too long to list their prey! Along with the usual bugs and such, frogs have eaten fish, snakes, mice, small birds, and other frogs!
One of IRL frogs’ best strategies for survival is massive amounts of offspring. Which means that their lives hinge on the assumption and acceptance that the majority of their tadpoles won’t make it to adulthood, and that even then, adults get picked off constantly by predators and bad luck
Most species of frog don’t even care for their young. They’re entirely defenseless and most start off eating plantstuff and algae. But once their guts develop enough they’ll eat a wider range including other tadpoles. Yep! They’re cannibals.
And they don’t have any like, social family structures outside of breeding. While primates, canines, felines, and a number of other animal groups help care for not just young, but sick, injured, or elderly members of their community, frogs do none of that.
Even the call they make when in danger is thought to be not a warning to other frogs in the area, but to instead startle the predator and/or attract another bigger predator so that they might be released as the predator gets into a fight or runs away. Frogs have very few behaviors that humans recognize as compassionate
Instead, if a tadpole is slow in growing, they might get picked apart by their bigger siblings when they get hungry. An injured frog is dinner, full stop.
With that in mind, we throw in sapience, a record of human morals, and newly intelligent predators prey neighbors, and you get the Mod Frogs.
Are they objectively more “moral” than their ancestors? You could argue it either way! But they’re still pretty chill about killing
They’ll kill for food, obviously; they’re carnivores. They’ll kill mutes who try to hurt them, because they can do that and have a chance at surviving the encounter now. And albeit on a smaller scale, they still kill each other.
Kwat, Harris, and Jamack have all killed. In battles over territory; you strike hard enough in any fight and that’s a killing blow. And sometimes someone is so big a threat that they’re worth going out of their way to murder. Maybe there’s a personal grudge, or they’ve done something to threaten the whole group. It’s not hard! Toss some toxic sludge in their pond and that’s several generations *snap!* gone. Instantly decimate the Frog population. So you can understand if they’re aggressive about establishing and maintaining their strength and reputation. They can’t afford to have anyone think they’d survive an entanglement with the Mod Frogs
A hypothetical: Cats love fishing, and the pond is perfect for that, but the Timbercats won’t step foot in Mod Frog territory. A while ago some Cats got curious, they went to the pond, maybe they even caught and ate some tadpoles. They look like fish! And the Mod Frogs retaliated. Chased the Cats out, killed one before they could get away, and made a whole production of hunting down the others to set an example. “Don’t mess with us. This is what will happen if you do.”
And they’ll fight over resources too, not just territory
Most local mute packs they can handle in a fight. Cats, Hummingbirds. It gets harder with bigger, stronger mutes, especially if they used to be their natural predators. Wolves and snakes? Difficult. So they’re not all show-of-force, they’re diplomatic too, trading off resources for agreements--like mobsters do! “We could either continue to fight or you’ll agree not to hunt here and we’ll trade any guitars we find and even make repairs.” Course, people go back on deals all the time, which again calls for revenge
I’ve gotten very broad, so before I wrap up I’ll at least describe one kill that each of these three frogs have made:
Jamack: Back when he was at a lower rank, he noticed one of his superiors was abusing his position, making Jamack and his coworkers’ lives hell--which wasn’t a problem in itself, and rather typical--so that he could skim the extra profits off the top for himself, and not tell his own superiors--which was strictly prohibited. So he invited his boss out to see something he said he found and wasn’t sure was valuable, and planned to jump him when he got far enough. The older frog turned first though and pulled a knife on him. Said he noticed Jamack was getting too nosy. They fought, and Jamack won by cracking his boss’ head against a pointy rock
Harris: In a turf war, which the Mod Frogs eventually lost, Harris took down a snake on his own. He fled into an alley, where she thought she had him cornered, but he climbed the wall and pushed over a brick chimney that then landed on her face
Kwat: Choked out an invading Newton Wolf. Yeah. Incidents involving Wolves went down 30% for the following two years
Goodness this is morbid lol. Thanks for asking!!!!
