Sorry for the delay on asks and stuff...I really kinda fell flat on my face this week health-wise and it's been a struggle to get any work done. My brain feels like it's suspended in a thick jelly, and it's making writing anything extra difficult. That said, I apologize for the reply quality if it seems to have suffered.
-Wasty
Kodi: I like the quotes around 'Building nations", I feel like there's an implication there. *Laughs*
Conner: The Zootopian Reserve's idea of nation-building isn't the old Kittish Army and Navy's idea of nation-building, that is to say razing and pillaging a newly discovered nation before installing some sort of puppet government in place. It's what it says on the tin, sometimes literally.
Kodi: A majority of the time it's helping impoverished nations build housing, or set up agricultural systems, and of course, we also help establish and organize medical care deployment when a nation suffers from some sort of horrible disease outbreak. Although that's not to say all those situations are...well...one hundred percent clean operations.
Conner: Depending on exactly what kind of trouble is occurring, firearms might be required to help keep order and make sure everything runs smoothly. You don't want a mob of sick mammals rushing a medical station and destroying it accidentally in the stampede because they are desperate for medical aid. You also don't want guerrilla gangs and warlords looking to take advantage of the aid we're providing by shaking down the citizenry of everything we've provided for them. Sometimes the job needs more than just mammalitarian aide, sometimes it needs peacekeepers.
Kodi: Then there are the actual hostile warzones. Usually our primary focus there is to help refugees get out of horrible situations like that while minimizing casualties. Although sometimes that requires us pushing back some sort of extremist faction and taking out their wannabe dictator of a leader in order to protect those mammals who are simply trying to live their lives.
Conner: Of course that's all still considered small-scale operations. If such a crazed militant faction is too large, or some dictator has got a deep enough foothold in controlling a nation while the populace suffers and struggles to fight back and is pleading for outside help, that's somethin' that...well I mean that's full-scale war at that point. That requires agreement from multiple mammals at the top, and multiple nations going in to topple somethin' like that.
Kodi: Basically, when countries ask us to help, we do our best to fulfill that request. And if we aren't enough to help, then it enters a larger discussion as to what Animalia can do to help as a whole.
Dawn: That's... a bit of a tall order if I'm being honest. I mean, the religions of Animalia are...well there's quite a few.
Vernon: Every species of mammal has at least one religion specifically for 'em, although most species got multiple under their belts due to different packs and herds of the same species spread over different parts of Animalia have their own sorta flavor.
Dawn: For simplicity's sake, it's probably best to focus on some of the larger ones, like Simbology, Bambism, or Preygansim. Although Preyganism is sort of...cheating, as it's considered sort of a catch-all title for the various larger prey religions. Capridism falls under that banner as well, which is the religion that...well I want to say practice, but I feel that's too strong of a word. I mean, I consider myself a capridist, but I'm not devout...While Vernon and I had caprid elements infused into our tithe, I'm not the kind of ewe that attends caprid service every Sunday.
Vernon: That's alright Honey Lamb, y'all know my family is purty much the same when it comes to Norwulff religion. It's mostly just an excuse to use the curse words. *Chuckles*
Dawn: *Giggling* Anyway, I'll try to give a brief...explanation of some of the religions I mentioned, as well as a bit about mine and Vernon's own. Hopefully, that will be enough to suffice, otherwise, this reply would take forever. *Ahem* Anyway, let's start with one of the largest religions, Simbology.
Simbology was born of the Pridelands empire, or rather legends that came from the various lion prides before the formation of their empire. In Simbology, there is an 'old testament' and a 'new testament'. The old establishes the god lion Mufasa, as well as his dark opposite in his brother Scar. Like many other religion's primary god, it is through Mufasa that morality and the religious laws of Simbology are established. He performs miracles, punishes wicked mammals, and is supposedly responsible for crafting the 'circle of life'. Scar is his silent antithesis who represents all that is wicked and bad. Of course, Scar doesn't come to his full prominence as the ruler of the 'Great Graveyard" until the new testament. In the new testament of Simbology, we follow Mufasa's only son, Simba, which is where the name for the religion is derived. It is there that all the sort of major players in modern simbology come together to craft one sort of overarching narrative instead of a series of small tales plugged into an anthology. Scar kills his brother, and banishes Simba with the help of his hyena minions. While in exile Simba gathers mammals who would become his apostles, later deified as saints in the church, and returns to the Pridelands to banish Scar and his wicked minions to the "Great graveyard" For all time.
Due to the fact that the Pridelands became a multi-continent spanning empire, it sort of fixed Simbology's place as Animalia's largest religion for nearly a millennia, with multiple species being forced to take the religion on while living under the rule of the Prideland Monarchs. After the Pridelands collapsed, the prevalence of Simbology waned to a degree, with many of the former occupied nations reverting back to their previous religious systems now that they were free to do so. Simbology is still a fairly big religion today, but not nearly as big as it was.
Vernon: Iffin' I recall, Simbology is one of the biggest reasons why hyena became such a vilified species, what with them bein' considered Scar's lackey's.
Dawn: Black maned lions also suffered as outcasts as well, being considered 'children of Scar', this is of course completely ignoring the gospels of Kovu, but the church of Simbology has always sort of picked and chosen its favorite scripture to canonize. Whatever benefitted them the most were generally chosen to be canonized, while the rest were cast aside as blaspheme despite there being no actual difference between the two in terms of authors and time periods. Then again, I'd be lying if I said they were the only religion out there that plays favorites.
Vernon: Ain't no perfect religion I suppose, we all needed our demons to slay.
Dawn: At the very least a more anonymous villainous entity doesn't malign any specific species, like the infamous "Hunter" of the Bambism faith. Its species is never defined, it is simply meant to be a sort of... analog for all the darkness, hate, and savagery that mammals are capable of, and must overcome. Otherwise, it's actually quite similar to Simbology in that there is a god, 'The King of the Forest", and his son, Bambi, who grows to become the "Great Forest Prince". Bambi too has his own apostles, and essentially grows to become the diametric opposite of the Hunter, representing all that is good and righteous. Mufasa's death is even mirrored in Bambi's own mother, although in this narrative the 'Hunter' was trying to prevent Bambi from coming into the world and becoming the avatar of the forest.
Vernon: Wasn't Bambi already a faun by then? I'd say that hunter missed his shot by a mile if that's what he was aimin' fer.
Dawn: Well you can't have evil prevail, especially in a religious narrative. What kind of inspiring story is that?
Vernon: *Chuckles* I suppose that's fair.
Dawn: Anyway, just to wrap up Bambism, Bambi becomes the avatar of the forest, and creates the moral laws of Animalia, while his father ascends to join his mother and preside over the great forest in the beyond, and the souls who dwell within. Of course, one could also file bambism away under Preygansim, but it's one of the larger, more recognizable religions under said banner.
Vernon: It's also...probably a bit more organized than our stuff. Capridism and Norwulff religions er'...more about deep nature rituals and real wild tales.
Dawn: *Giggles* Maybe Norwulff religion sure. I mean, you've got a crazed, wild boar creature that guards the gates of hell, and what about that giant world-eating snake? Compared to those, Caprisdism is just a bunch of gentle sheep prancing in the meadows.
Vernon: Well we're...a rough and tumble species, and our belief system reflects a lotta that. I mean, Oldwyn tore out his own eye, all fer the sake of making himself wiser. And almost every piece of lore and story from the era features some sort of battle goin' on with amazin', fantastical and horrifyin' beasts.
Dawn: It's hard to believe your ancestors could ever settle down and make peace with my people with tales like that fueling every facet of your lives.
Vernon: Well, in terms of our religious text, while we relished a good battle, we were no fools either. Again, Oldwin yanked out his eye to become wiser, not stronger. Wisdom and temperance were also important virtues of ours, and when that edict came down from Lupa, the one true den mother, most of us held wisdom highly enough to listen.
Dawn: I suppose that isn't all that far off from Capridism's own Hornunnus or Cervidwen, who also greatly valued wisdom, temperance, and patience. Although...they didn't have to take such...graphic means to achieve such things...which admittedly makes it less cool. *Giggles* A big element of worshiping them was the belief that above all else Animalia would provide for our kind, so long as we took care of her. The forest, the meadows, it was all to be respected, and it would reward that respect with great bounties so long as one was patient. The same was said of great wisdom, which was an equally valued virtue. Wisdom and understanding came with time and patience.
Vernon: Y'all are sellin' capridism short. Y'all got some killer festivals and feasts. And o' course we ain't got no 'ruttin' in the fields' tradition in Norwulff lore. Talk about some wild sutff...
Dawn: *Blushes slightly* W-Well, it was how we...it was another way of connecting with nature and our roots! I-We saw it as natural! We don't do it anymore!
Vernon: Hey I wasn't complainin'. Though I gotta wonder, were those gods of yer's right pleased with that little show we put on in the cornfield that time er...?
Dawn: *Blush intensifies* P-PUPPY NoooooOOOooo!
Dawn: Oh of course not. Any mammal can be a member of either party despite the names, as they represent ideas rather than a strict social order or exclusionary club. Although I can't necessarily blame you for thinking that off-hoof, as both parties did sort of start out as diet-specific political classes, which is why they are named as such. The founders of the Preygressives were exclusively prey, and the same went for the Preditionalists in terms of being founded by predators. However both remained sort of...diet exclusionary for only a few decades after they were founded, ironically with the Preditionalists caving first and allowing prey mammals into the party a good decade or two before the Preygressives followed suit. With the Preditionalists, I think they saw fairly early on that the party wouldn't survive if they remained an exclusionary organization, as prey outnumbered them nine to one. As for the Preygressives, it was their push for more progressive ideas that would inevitably push them toward doing away taking an exclusionary stance. Of course, the process would have been inevitable regardless of how resistant both parties would have been to change, as eventually, the animal rights issues would have forced them to abandon being exclusionary.
Vernon: Although, y'all could argue that if the two biggest players weren't both pushin' to resist that sorta thing, what with them bein' the primary political parties in Zootopia, they might have been able to stay that way, right?
Dawn: *Shakes head* Unlikely, the positions were already becoming unfavorable at the time, and had they remained resolute in the face of the idea of extending party eligibility to all mammals, they would have been brushed aside by up and coming smaller parties willing to be all-inclusive from the get-go. So, had they not changed, there more than likely wouldn't be a modern Preygressive or Preditionalist party. Or, if they still existed, they would have been niche, extremist parties.
Vanna: I don't really know about that...I mean, I've never heard anything like that from my parents, or from any other tigers I've met during my lifetime.
Dawn: That cow waitress must have felt terribly self-conscious.
Vernon: I take it a cow caught mooin' is a lot like how y'all feel about bleatin'?
Dawn: *nods* Or like your howling.
Zach: Iffin' yer friends imitation was good enough, I imagine that cow was purty mortified. She probably thought the whole restaurant was lookin' at her like she was the culprit.
Vernon: Still, that's such a...weird thang. It's such a specific question...y'all sure there ain't no basis behind it Vanna?
Vanna: Well...I mean....hmm...my father could do some pretty amazing bird calls. Of course, you'd probably expect that of a trained orthanologist.
Vernon: Wait yer Pa was an Otho...Othan...bird scientist type?
Vanna: *Nods* He's been working at the San Furnando Aviary as a vet since I was kitten. He's always loved birds, especially parrots and other birds that specialize in mimicry. Sometimes you couldn't tell the difference between his own bird calls, and the sounds of the actual native birds when he'd take us down to Aviary for the afternoon. But I just sort of assumed that...well...he's around birds all the time, so of course he's good at bird calls.
Dawn: Can you do any bird calls yourself Vanna?
Vanna: *Blushes slightly* Well...I mean...maybe a couple. The easier things I think. Like that weird noise riding Reahs make when trying to establish territory.
Zach: What's that sound like?
Vanna: It's like...a two-toned kind of groaning noise...like....*Imitates a reah's groaning sound with near-perfect accuracy.* Like that.
Zach: I...don't think I've ever heard one o' them birds make a noise like that...then again, the last time I had to deal with any reahs was...Ol' Mam' Klawsky's Reah ranch. And well...y'all remember how that went...
Vernon: *Chuckles* Oh mam', that the video Vanna shared on Furbook where y'all was screamin' like a she-wolf while that big bird chased y'all around the paddock?
Zach: *Furrows his brow and crosses his arms* Ugh...yes...Thanks fer that by the way Kitten.
Vanna: *Winces* Sorry Goofball...Ada made me...
Dawn: Can you do any more bird calls?
Vanna: A few. I mostly picked up the sounds of the birds that were my favorites at the aviary, like the secretary bird. *Vanna Mimics the strange almost honking noise of a secretary bird*, oh and the penguin, I always loved them. *Mimics a few different braying and whistling penguin calls with almost perfect accuracy.*
Zach: Wow...it's like I'm at the aviary myself...*Chuckles*
Vanna: *Blushes* Th-they aren't that good. I mean you guys could probably do it just as well as someone like me...
Dawn: Vanna, I don't know where you got the idea that bird calls were an easy or common thing to do, because it really isn't. Look...*Dawn attempts to mimic one of the calls and fails miserably.* *Coughs*. See?
Zach: *Attempts to whistle like one of Vanna's penguin calls, and also fails* How was that?
Vernon: Y'all tryin' to whistle along to a tune er' tryin' to make a bird call there?
Zach: I was tryin' to do that penguin call like my Kitten did. Was it that bad?
Vernon: I think that would scare off purty much any penguin y'all tried it on...er' get ya attacked like when that Reah went after ya.
Zach: Yeah, well...I ain't plannin' on goin' to any aviaries any time soon, that's fer sure. Last thing I need is a whole flock of different birds descendin' on me with a cold, bird fury...
Vernon: Y'all just described a scene from my nightmares. *Glances at Dawn*And y'all wonder how me and my brother can sometimes eat birds. *Chuckles*
Dawn:*Shakes her head* *Chuckles*
Dawn: Oh, well much like our neighbors in North Mammalia and their presidential office, Zootopia's Mayor and Assistant Mayor hold a four-year term minimum, at which point they can run for re-election provided it's not the end of their second term. This should tell you that the maximum term limit for both offices is eight years or two terms total. At the end of their term limit, generally, a Mayor goes on to endorse an up and coming candidate, which more often than not is their own Assistant Mayor although not always. It's also worth noting that the law for Mayoral term limits has a bit of a loophole in that it states an elected Mayor and Assistant Mayor can serve for 'no more than two consecutive terms', meaning that theoretically a candidate could run again and win provided there was at least a one term gap between his or hers previous time in office. Granted since the term limits were enacted in 1945, no one has ever tried to pull that maneuver... Probably more so due to the fact that even the most beloved politicians reputation would be quickly soured should they try it.
Vernon: I mean, most folks have a healthy distrust o' politicians to begin with. But one that's willin' to publicly exploit a loophole...well it wouldn't exactly build any confidence in me that such a fella was right fer that kinda job.
Dawn: And many of Zootopia's population share that sentiment. Had I not worked in the political field myself, I'd find myself wondering why that loophole has never been removed. But during my time as Assistant Mayor it...it was such a small thing, and I was far too focused on other pressing matters that I never got to addressing it myself. *Shakes head* And I imagine it's been the same for my predecessors.
Vernon: Well, I imagine even iffin' ya drafted somethin' about it, Lionheart probably wouldn't o' cared to read it.
Dawn: *Shrugs* More than likely. If it was a trifle to me compared to my workload, it would have been insignificant compared to his *Ahem* important business and networking appointments.
Vernon: I think that fella picked the wrong field considerin' the ego. Maybe actin' woulda been better fer him.
Dawn: As for the District Representatives, they also have a term limit, but it is double the length of the Mayor and Assistant Mayor position. While the election cycle is the same, with a new election being held every four years, you can hold a maximum of four terms, or sixteen years as a Representative or Assistant Representative.
Vernon: Well that explains why my Pa's friend Ruddy has held the position fer what's felt like ferever...though I imagine he's gotta be nearin' the tail end of his term limit by now.
Dawn: Well if he is, I think he's got a good replacement in Loupon, especially seeing how much he's grown since the...er...fair fiasco.
Vernon: I dunno, I'd say he's got a bit of an uphill battle bein' one of the first open crosser candidates runnin' fer the position. But who knows...?
Dawn: As for past Mayors and Assistant Mayors well...that's quite a long list to delve into for something like this. But I can give a general...um...idea of things. I've been out of the game for a while now, and my knowledge of every Mayor who has ever served is...less stellar than it used to be. I can tell you that five Bellwethers, myself included, have held political office. Archibald and Fergus Bellwether both held positions as District Representatives of the Meadowlands. Then there was Garret and my Grandfather Ash Bellwether, who both went from district reps, to Assistant mayors, and finally Mayor's themselves. I of course cut the line by going straight to an Assistant Mayoral Candidate. As for the Lionheart family, there were seven Lionheart's that held office, including Leodore. One of the most notable was Theodore Lionheart, who was Zootopia's Mayor for three consecutive terms, running from 1932 to 1944. He was so beloved he probably could have ran for a fourth and swept the competition easily, but instead, he proposed and pushed for the term limits law that would be passed a year after he voluntarily stepped out of the running.
Vernon: I remember readin' about that fella in school cause the quote about the term limit law stuck with me. He was like " I hold the deepest love fer my home city, and I know that its citizens hold great adoration fer me. Because of that, there's a part of me that would love nuthin' more that to continue to hold the office of Mayor fer as long as Zootopia would have me." Uh...*Vernon scratches his head* Oh, right..." But any mammal can become a dictator given enough time, even in the best o' circumstances. And so I propose these limits not just fer myself, but for the possible future despots in hiding that may take advantage of the cities goodwill to fulfill their own ends." *Clears throat* I ain't sure if that was the whole quote but...
Dawn: No, that was pretty close to spot on. He was afraid of a charming candidate with dark intentions taking advantage of the cities 'good will'. Zootopia was a democratic republic for a reason, and his...rather unique situation of being repeatedly elected made him fear for the cities future should something not be done to prevent that sort of thing from growing out of hoof again. It was a good call too, because his younger brother who would run four years after he left the office would prove to be the deceptive charmer he warned us about. Johnathan Lionheart was actually responsible for the terrible state of the mental care asylums that my grandfather Ash would eventually get caught in a scandal over. The mental health system still hasn't recovered from it.
Vernon: Iffin' yer wonderin' if any Düclaw Hunter descendants ever held an office in Zootopia, that'd be a no. Granted some wolves have held the position of Alpine Glade Representative but...I don't think a single wolf has ever been Mayor of the city. Don't think we got that same sorta...prestige that draws folks to follow under lions.
Dawn: Sadly this is true. In fact, the position of mayor in Zootopia, not counting the lineage of Lionhearts, has been largely populated by prey. Usually mammals with that same look of...prestige to them that Lionhearts exude...so cervids, bovines, equines, etc. Prey mammals that had a sort of...majestic quality to them. It made them easy to rally around. Of course, there were a few tigers and bears that would hold office, and the predator skew started to grow significantly within the last century. It's actually a lot more common to see predator and prey teams now than it was back then, sort of in the same way that preygressives and preditionalists run together, in the last twenty or so years almost ever Mayor and Assistant Mayor canidate was a pred and prey team. So...y'know. Lamb-steps.
