SpiderFoxes 1/3 So as part of the research for the SpiderWolves, SpiderFoxes seemed an almost necessary addition to the fauna of Fragment. And I was so happy with what I managed to put together, their inclusion added so much to my world-building that I came up with an entire sub-genre of BloodReign cuisine that I just had to include int my story. As an aside, I feel it can be really tempting when making a story revolving around anthros to solve the issue of sapient/v/non-sapient species of the same name to just omit one in favor of the other, like the scenario of 'domestic chickens: *exists*, therefore anthro-chickens: *exist*'. Now that isn't a criticism on anyone that chooses to go that route, far be it, there are story and world crafters that are way more skilled than me that execute that dilemma better then I ever could. I, however, wanted to keep what I call 'Namesake Beasts' thus allowing me to have anthro counterparts to exiting animals, i.e. fox(feral) and Fox(anthro). All that to say, yes there are both and that's how I have such comparisons as 'spiders the size of foxes' and them not being five feet tall but instead about the size and weight of wild foxes. The above was also meant to explain why I have domestic cats and wild foxes, SpiderFoxes were not a replacement of them so that I could avoid the anthro/feral dilemma, they're just an addition to the fauna in general. I really distracted myself in that paragraph. ________ SpiderFoxes 2/3 Exploring what SpiderFox silk would be used for, and how it would be gathered was one of the things that was a logical step in my mind but once I stood back and looked at as a whole I was hit with the sheer bizarreness of it. Like, it didn't not make sense in the context of the setting, but man, was it weird. But the real fun didn't start until the next page... ________ SpiderFoxes 3/3 It was in my dive into the chemistry of spider silk that led to the creation of 'silk cuisine', and was such an -almost absurd- idea that I couldn't ignore the beautifully ironic juxtaposition of it. My main discovery was that in addition to sometimes eating their own silk during lean times, some spiders' silk has a not insignificant amount of the chemical tryptophan. Yes, that same chemical in turkey meat that makes you feel satisfied and lethargic, can be found in spider silk! I was so blown away with that information that I made it a part of a whole type of cuisine in Fragment. And being mostly protein I also imagined it would be quite satisfying dish... And here I am now, making myself hungry for -of all things- spider silk. I gonna go make myself some ramen.