Ask Dawn and Vern; The Norwulff Split

 

Vernon: Well, it ain't as obvious anymore really. These days, the names are more of a formality for a country that's united on purty much every issue imaginable. Though back in the day, the leadership of both countries were at odds more often than not.

Dawn: Especially when it came to relations with Scottram and Irelamb. Lesser Norwulff especially wasn't keen on having Scottramish and other caprine transplants so close to their borders.

Vernon: Lesser Norwulff was, historically, considerably more of a species-supremacist country. Whereas those in Norwulff had been buildin' 'unconventional' packs fer centuries based on how loyal and reliable them non-wolves proved themselves to be. Lesser Norwulff was strictly a 'wolves' only pack structure. They reluctantly welcomed non-wolf predators into their society as second-class citizens and prey mammals weren't allowed in at all.

Dawn: That's why, even with Erik's royal status aside, his tithe to a sheep would still have been accepted by the populace in general should it have gone public. Granted, it would have been easier to swallow if said sheep wasn't royalty herself. But Ancient Norwulff had by that point seen a fair share of interspecies tithes. Not that they were rampant of course, but there was long since a precedent set. Hel, Erik wasn't even the first Duclaw to pursue sheep mates.

Vernon: *Blushes, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly* Yeah, and Erik wasn't the last either, current couple excluded I mean. *Vernon grins sheepishly* Seems like the Hunter bloodline gets a cravin' for mutton every other generation er' so...But in the case o' what my Honey Lamb is talkin' about, she means my ancient...well...ancestor ain't the right term I think...is it? Y'all have to have pups fer that...

Dawn: There's really no other term to use. He may have been infertile, but he was a Duclaw.

Vernon: Right, anyway...there was a Duclaw that lived about four hundred years before Erik. Back durin' one of our families 'high skirmish' eras against the Scottramish. I'm talkin' back when Norwulff would take and occupy territory in Scottram fer ten ta fifteen years at a time before bein' forced out again. Fenrir Duclaw, yep, named after the god, was one o' seven pups in the royal family. 

Dawn: Just like you...*Snickers*

Vernon: Well, I ain't a royal by any means other than blood. *Shakes head* Anyway, he was a proud warrior, and preferred to be on the front lines rather than in the royal court. The thing about Fenrir was that he was infertile. He suffered an injury while sparing as a pup that...er...well let's just say it...scrambled his eggs permanently...

*Dawn and Vern share a wince*

Vernon: That said, I think that's what ended up kinda drivin' his 'fightin' spirit', always feelin' like a lesser wolf. His brothers tore at him for it, and despite his status as a bein' a royal, as well as his increasin' number of accolades, he was passed over by all the eligible shewolves at every opportunity.

Dawn: Fed up with his lot in life he...well, he spurned the gods and decided to actively buck Norwulff morality when the opportunity arose just to spite them. It was revenge for them dealing him such a bad paw, at least in his eyes.

Vernon: And one o' the ways he chose to do that was to take a new sheep mate with every successful occupation o' Scottram territory. 

Dawn: Not to say he....got rid of the old ones...he just...decided to take a page from the book of the ancient lion prides. 

Vernon: *Shakes head* At the height o' thangs, he had five sheep wives. And as much of his family disapproved, there was little they could do to scold him because he remained such an effective warrior.

Dawn: I will point out though, that every time he and his armies were ousted from Scottram, and his mates had the opportunity to escape, they always returned with him to Norwulff. Even the families of the stolen lambs didn't hate him, as having such a tie to Fenrir allowed their family favor to keep operating in the occupied territory. And it made them even more wealthy than when they were operating in the former Scottramish system.

Vernon: The story has a bit of a happy ending dependin' on how ya look at it. Fenrir's last wife, once she was settled in, was an expert at readin' folks...at figurin' out how to get to a fella's soft yellow underbelly. Both her and Fenrir's personal journals corroborate how much of a 'therapist' she seemed to be...even if the job didn't exist yet. She helped Fenrir face his insecurities, and his anger at his circumstance, and come to terms with the wolf he was, and the wolf he wanted to be.

Dawn: Upon being ousted again, and returning to Norwulff, Fenrir decided to return to the old ways. He gave his mates the opportunity to return to Scottram, or live within the protection of his family name while being allowed to pursue proper mates. All of them preferred the latter. 

Vernon: Fenrir would renew his tithe his second mate Kathrine Lambaher, his most beloved, and his other sheep mates would be free to tithe whoever they wanted in the Norwulff community. Three o' four married other wolves, and the last married a goat who sat in the family's high court. However, they would always remain close to Fenrir, even if it was strictly platonic.

Dawn: It's an interesting little footnote in the Duclaw history and one that was barely talked about until the whole...Moira Blackwool thing came out thanks to Ulric. Of course, it's far from the only instance of Wolf and Sheep relations in Vernon's family lineage as we've found out since then. Not to mention it's not the only unconventional one. One of my favorites is the story of Sheriff Rowan Clawter who lived in the old west. Never tithed, but frequented a saloon run by a very enterprising sheep lass named Maureen Sheepard. *Chuckles* it's believed the sheriff had taken to bankrolling her saloon just to keep Maureen from ever having to resort to prostituting herself like the rest of the girls who worked under her. According to Maureen's diaries, Rowan made it very clear that Maureen was 'his', and that was, apparently, just how she liked it...*Giggles*

Vernon: That's where that fella writin' that there magic western novel got his names fer Rowan and Dolly from...sorta...*Shakes head* Mam', we've really gone off track haven't we?

Dawn: Oh my yes, w-what was the question again?

Vernon: About Greater and lesser Norwulff bein' separate countries? Which...I guess I already said...they are still technically, but it's one o' them formalities...

Dawn: Yes....though that tangent made me realize it might be worth writing a book on the many 'unconventional' affairs that riddle the Duclaw lineage. At the rate they're piling up, I could write something as thick as a dictionary. *Snickers*

Ask Wasty; East and West Hyenya

 

WT: I'm probably going to screw this up, as I feel like I was purposely vague with this in previous answers, but I may have assigned each country already and may accidentally invert them. Still, I guess I'll correct if it's pointed out I've retconned something older.

East Hyenya, the nation on the interior side of the mountain range, would be classified as a Matriarical Dictatorship. It's a brutal place, where its leadership is decided by the strongest females among them. Hence there's no room for a 'royal bloodline' to take hold since literally any other female can challenge and overthrow them. Male hyenas are second-class citizens and are treated harsher than females in every area of life.

West Hyenya is a democratic republic where males and females are supposed to be treated as equals, and leaders are elected. But there's still a hint of female bias here and there. That said, West Hyenya is doing all it can to combat that, sometimes even over-correcting by being softer on males which causes its own issues. But they are actively trying to find that balance, and the nation is doing better for it. West Hyenya is also closer to contemporary technology levels, while those in the East are about twenty to thirty years behind, and pretty much only get tech upgrades when they invade East Hyenya and steal it.

West Hyenya can't go five years without attacking and trying to forcibly re-incorporate East Hyenya back into itself. As such, the border between the countries is always slightly in flux. West Hyenyan's tend to be old-school zealots that believe in female superiority that is in line with the old ways. To them, the fact that the East Hyenyans have split the motherland and actually treat the males of their species as equals is seen as a slap in the face to their ancestral goddesses. This zealotry is why they can't let East Hyenya go, and will probably continue to try to invade them to 're-unify' until they destroy themselves or both sides. East Hyenya simply wants to maintain its right to exist and keep in step with the world around them as they continues to progress. It wants its people to work together on equal footing to improve everyone's lives. 

Sadly, West Hyena's fervent pursuit of keeping the old ways can only end one of two ways. With its own destruction, or with the destruction of both countries. This is why East Hyenya has come to the nuclear talks table, as a deterrent. Whether it would work or not, who can say?

Ask Wasty; U.A.N.?

 

Wasty: The U.A.N. is the United Animalian Nations. It was founded around the same time as our own U.N., in response to the content-wide issue that was the Great Rodent Expulsion, or Exile. As I've mentioned previously, while WWII didn't happen, the Rodent Exile was fairly close to a similar dilemma in terms of mammalian morality and tragedy, albeit around a much more morally grey situation. After various Roaropean nations had adopted laws that deeply discriminated against mice, and Germammy outright expelled them (and may have rounded up and killed many), it was decided that the nations or Roarope, which would quickly expand to the world, needed to have some say in what was going on in their neighbor's countries, at least when it came to what could directly affect others. 

It wasn't entirely an Altruistic Mammaltarian perspective that led to the formation of the UAN. Some countries were simply worried about being overrun with another nation's 'trash'. But others were concerned about the rise of Specisim the rodent plague had caused, and were devoted to finding a solution to the issue of rodent overpopulation and disease vectors that didn't involve the extinction of entire species of sentient mammals. While there wasn't a clean solution, thanks to the UAN, it did help stabilize the region for a time, and kept Germammy from taking matters into its own hooves and marching into every country in Roarope to deal with the problem 'thier way'.

To this day the status of Rodents in Roarope is still precarious, with certain nations still having 'two child' policies or outright bans on any mammal classified as a rodent which led to the creation of several rodent-exclusive countries. And the problem is starting to show itself in North Mammalia and Zootopia where birthrates are currently unrestricted. For now, though, things are still uneasily balanced, largely in part due to the UAN keeping their thumb on the scales. 

Ask Gus and Melly; Scapegoats?

 

Gus: Considering the term was popularized by Mammals who used it as a form of 'transferring sin' to another mammal, yeah, I'd call it offensive.

Melanie: For those not in the know, Simbologists liked to use 'Scapegoats' to attach their 'sins' to, they would then kill the goat in question, and by their logic, the goat would go to the underworld carrying their sins with it. Therefore they would be cleansed of all sin thanks to ritualistically murdering a goat.

Gus: *Shakes head* Granted that practice died thousands of years ago, and the term is more or less just a generalized thing now so it's not...as offensive. But its origins are...*Shrugs* Why lions decided to pick goats for that purpose, I'll never know. But I think we can all agree at this point that old-world lions suck.

Melanie: A lot of modern-day lions suck too if we're being honest...*Chuckles* At the very least I'm sure Dawn would agree with me there. 

Ask Giselle; Are you from Great Kitten?

 

Giselle: Yes, I'm a Great K'ittish native. I lived there with me family until me Dad foinally got the job transfah he'd been tryin' to pull for about a decade. *Laughs* It was sorta the culmination of a multigenerational migration.

Dawn: Multigenerational?

Giselle: Well, I'm sure it won't exactly surprise you to know giraffes ain't a native species to Kingland. *Giselle giggles, taking a small sip of her vanilla chai latte before placing it on a very tall side table.* Up until me Granpa was born, the Zarafah line lived in South Afrikat. But as you prolly' know, South Afrikat, fancy as it is now, still has a bit o' a caste system.

Dawn: *Scratches her chin thoughtfully* R-Right, Right. Because pre-reformation Simbalogy is baked into the culture there right? So Lions at the top, followed by most preds, then prey, then hyenas and lesser animals?

*Giselle nods briskly* 

Giselle: Megafauna, wether predata' or prey usually places pretty hoigh on the caste, but it still wasn't something me granpa could abide. Every memba of me family up till then had put up with things, but me granpa not only wanted to live somewhere where all mammals were equal, but could see tha buildin' tention in the populace around him...so he did everything he could ta get out.

Vernon: He figured there'd be a civil war eventually?

*Giselle nods*

Giselle: It hasn't happened yet, but ya can't say South Afrikat is doin' much better than in his day...

Dawn: Due to the parliament's continued enforcement of the caste system, they were actually expelled from the U.A.N. a few years back if I recall correctly. Most of the talking heads say it's only a matter of years now before that powder keg goes off.

Giselle: Anywho...South Afrikat is very strict when it comes to immigration policy, even more so now. But at the toime, when they still had decent relations with Kingland, they allowed a certain number of South Afrikat citizens to immigrate to Kingland yearly...Which me granpa had to fight for a spot for...took 'im five years before he got accepted inta an internship program workin' at a Kinglish aviary that specialized in Afrikat native species. 

Dawn: Your Grandfather was an Ornathologist?

Giselle: *Giggles* He loved boids! Thankfully his l'ittle 'obby translated to somethin' he could use to get the Zarafah's to Kingland, even if he 'ad to go to college for it once he arrived. Still...Kingland was only step one in his plan...

Vernon: I take it Zootopia was the end goal?

Giselle: Initially, yes...he wo'nted to live in a place free o' state-sanctioned specism, a place that stroived to make all mammals equal. Zootopia was that place, according ta all the back alley gossip and secret literature the South Afrikat government did its best to ban and burn. But it took him decades to migrate the rest of the family to Kingland, especially as South Afrikat kept toitenin' migration restrictions, and by the toime we all made it ova, me granpa had sorta ingrained inta Kinglish society. But that didn't stop him from inspirin' me on Dad with stories of Zootopia.

Vernon: And that's how y'all ended up here?

Giselle: Me Dad was a Kinglish military mam'. And the Kinglish military frequently collaborated with the militaries of Zootopia and the NMU.

Wade: No offense Darlin' but yer Pa...doesn't exactly look like 'military material' to me...*Chuckles*

Giselle: *Giggles* He wasn't a soldier, he 'elped desiogn technology for the coalition of nations. A lot of what he designed is actually gadgets strictly for Mammalitarian purposes, somethin' the Zootopian Reserve frequently partakes in...

Dawn: Ahh...so he was building up a portfolio of work to eventually aim for a dedicated position in the Zootopian Reserve's Research and Development arm?

*Giselles nods briskly.* 

Giselle: It took a lotta' toime and effort, but eventually they soigned him on and we finally left Kingland for Zootopian shoires. I was around fourteen then, hence why everyone in the family still has the accent...

Vernon: Y'all even miss it?

Giselle: Well, in me heart Kingland will always be me home. Me Granpa still lives there, and a lotta' me friends from when I was a calf...But if me father never brought us here, I never woulda met me precious little' Bobby...*Proceeds to ruffle Wade's head fur with one of her rather hefty hooves.*

*The dusky grey wolf lamely fights back with a laugh before clasping the massive hoof in his paws and planting a kiss on it.*

Wade: I wouldn't have it any other way Darlin'...

*Giselle cooes, bending down partially to plant a kiss on the top of Wade's head before stopping a foot or so short and momentarily making a strained wince before aggressively rubbing a particularly angular-looking bend in her neck.*

Giselle: *Laughs* Even the neck strain and the pricey massage bills are worth it.

Vernon: That custom little home fer y'all still ain't done yet huh? *Chuckles*

Wade: *Wade rubs the back of his neck, a look of unease and mild guilt lacing his features.* We're uh...still saving up for it...Megafauna homes are expensive to build from scratch...Plus most a' Tundratown ain't zoned fer housing mammals with as much neck as Giz has...

Giselle: Mammoth's seem ta be the limit...so we were lookin' into buyin' a mammoth home and renovatin' it...

Wade: But again, permits...don't y'all just love bureaucracy? 

Dawn: *Rolls her eyes, letting out a dull chuckle* Wade, you don't know the half of it...

Ask Dawn and Vern; All Mammals are Omnivores?

 

Vernon: I'd say the simplest answer fer that is more than likely just...y'know...culture and social stuff...like norms...

Dawn: Mammals, all mammals are social creatures, *Rubs the back of her neck awkwardly* Though some are more social than others. *Coughs awkwardly* Generally, we do like to have little 'checkboxes' we're made to fit into that are clean-cut. Those sorts of social norms also promote further ignorance and the continued enforcement of those norms whether you know those sorts of historical tidbits or not. It's just easier for the general public to classify someone by strict, unyielding categories than take into account the levels of nuance of everything that lies in between.

Vernon: I mean, I've known fer a fact wolves had diet variation since I was real little...if we didn't, my Ma would never make pumpkin pie er' roasted corn. We'd all just be eating slabs o' meat fer breakfast, lunch and dinner. *The wolf cringes visibly before letting out a scoffing chuckle* Fer cryin' out loud, they touched on that stuff all the time in biology class...but...

Dawn: The title of being 'Predator' or being 'Prey' was too perfect a standard to not utilize to formulate cliques?

Vernon: Exactly. I imagine fer 'Preds', that title also carries a lot of weight and power to it historically. It puts 'em above Prey folk by virtue of the fact Preds used to eat Prey, even if most of the preds I'd seen in High School coulda easily get bowled over by a Megafauna mammal. Carnivore leanin' body sizes tend ta top out at around tiger size, and there weren't exactly any tigers at my school, so there's a big gap between them local wolves and say...an elephant...

Dawn: *Snickers* I'm sure those Preds were glad there weren't any elephants at your school...That said, while Prey, as a term, is...more commonly used in contemporary settings, it's really not accurate anymore. Then again, the term 'Herbivore' isn't fully accurate either as you pointed out. However, most Herbivore mammals use vitamins to supplement deficiencies rather than going as far as eating a stray piece of meat or gnaw on a bone now and again to make up for the lack of iron and calcium. 

Vernon: As fer y'all, you eat some salmon now and again when the mood catches ya right...*Vernon snickers knowingly*

Dawn: *Blushes Slightly* Well...Vernon did turn me onto salmon a little while after we started dating officially, and even after being pregnant I still find myself craving it from time to time.

Vernon: Our Hunter-Bellwether flock sushi night is probably the pup's favorite dinner tradition...well, next to taco night...*Snickers* 

Dawn: Veggie or otherwise, Taco Night is the undisputable household dinner champion. *Giggles*

Vernon: That all said, when usin' names like that to group mammals together, 'Omivore' complicates thangs...even iffin' it don't make sense at all anymore...and don't even get me started on 'Scavenger's'...

Dawn: They're probably looked down on more than anyone else...even if literally no one scavenges anymore in civilized society. At least, not like they scavenged in ancient times.

Vernon: *Shakes Head* I know despite everythang, Ada still has mammals look down their snouts at her because a thousand years ago her ancestors ate carrion...It's why that whole 'Circle of Life' Symbology rule demonizes 'em...

Dawn: *Shakes head* Everything has a place in the circle, except Hyenas. Lions are only meant to be absorbed by the earth, not eaten up by lowly scavengers. *Chuckles* Systems like that are always balanced right up until it's the mammal at the top who's at risk of being brought down to everyone else's level, then they assert themselves as the King of all they surve-Oh! I-I'm sorry, I don't...I didn't mean to insult Symbologists...I mean...

Vernon: No disrespect, all religions have their hypocritical parts to 'em...and we know most folks don't follow that sorta stuff to the letter anymore...

Dawn: Yeeess....*Blushes* But that may have also been the chip on my shoulder regarding my former boss talking...and for that, I'm very sorry...

Vernon: I will, however, call Mr. Leodore Lionheart an Ass....and I ain't apologizin' fer that one...

Dawn: I wouldn't want you to.

*The pair share a snicker*

-----

Wasty: Yeah, I actually knew a lot of this stuff, but only came to learn about it in the past few years. Between seeing videos of various animals we deem to be purely predators being fed varied diets, while their handlers explain the importance of that variety. As well mind-blowing videos of wild deer eating birds, horses sucking up baby chickens, etc...The first time I saw that deer eat that bird, it was like I was staring at an anomaly. It was a cognito hazard. It just didn't compute, like the matrix had broken down. Now I'm used to it, knowing those prey animals are supplementing for low calcium or iron levels. The animal Kingdom truly is wild.

Ask Dawn and Vernon; Federal or Unitary Government

 

Dawn: It's pretty much entirely federal despite our small, nation-state size. Power is balanced between the lower and higher offices of the federal government, Districts can institute their own laws without oversight to a degree. If it's anything super oppressive, controversial, or contrary to the laws across all Districts it can be challenged and voted down by neighboring Districts. And while the high echelons of the Zootopian Government largely deal with our position on the world stage and the negotiations and resource allocations that come with playing nice with the international community, the Districts largely deal with the local issues. There...isn't really all that much more to say on that...  *Dawn Shrugs* I do hope it was enlightening. I know 'Goverment Talk' is boring to most mammals.

Vernon: I'm sure they'll be satisfied to have even gotten an answer, Honey Lamb. *Chuckles*

Ask Wasty; Pawaii and the San Furnando Territory.

 

WT: Pawaii I think would be technically its own region, due to distance making it financially prohibitive (At least when it was 'founded') to have an easy system to share resources and wealth with the Sanfurnando and Mesa Valley Regions. I also imagine that the natives of the area would want to retain some form of independent autonomy like many of the other regions in the NMU. As I've mentioned before the NMU is sort of a hodgepodge of...cultural enclaves thanks to the spread of different dominant native and non-native species. So aside from state-level autonomy of legislation, which is akin to the modern American state dynamic, you also have a different priority of legislation in regard to regions, as well as vast cultural differences.

Not to say that any region is culturally, or societally backward, they all hold advanced, contemporary cities that are on par with what one would expect of a modern, civilized society. But obviously the 'Bison Territories' are going to prioritize different laws and rights, as well as have a distinct cultural flavor baked into everything when compared to say 'United New Kingland".

As for the San Furnando Territories, for all intents and purposes, it is primarily the very densely populated Southern California region including San Francisgoat, Los Angoralis, and Howlywood. One could argue it includes a bit of Arizona, but in terms of Zoning in this universe, it would all be considered Southern Cowlifornia, or rather, we'll just refer to it as 'Cowlifornia', whereas what would be 'Northern Cowlifornia' in the Mesa Valley Region would be called 'Jeffurson' after the very real proposed partition of California that was once proposed.

-WT

Ask Dawn and Vern; Cross Political Party Allegiances

 

Dawn: Oh, actually it's not all that uncommon...the issue at hoof is which party the candidate is representing the majority of....which usually tends to whittle down to Preygressive or Preditionalist.

Vernon: Granted a few third, forth and fifth party folks will run from a purely outsider position, but usually it'll break down to maybe two er' three candidates total to pick from....er' at least the ones ya know got a real shot at winnin'...

Dawn: As the candidates sort of whittle down, the parties whose representatives didn't make the cut will often choose to endorse one of the leading candidates who align most with their own interests. And if said candidates agree with those endorsements, they'll often take on the party title as a...well 'sub' party.

Vernon: Naturally, the Tundratown candidate would have a vested interest in also supportin' the Pachyderm Party...considerin' she's a member of the elephant and general Megafauna family.  Even if the Pachy Party has less chance of winnin' over a more general public candidate. But a Preygressive candidate who also understands and wants to help Megafauna would overlap interests with both.

Dawn: Technically there's no limit to the number of parties you can associate with...which can make it pretty confusing, but on the other hoof it does require you to pick a candidate that you feel most represents your values, and what values you feel Zootopia should have...which means doing research.

Vernon: Somethin' most folks hate doin' when it comes to votin'...*Chuckles*

Dawn: That's how you get a Lionheart...*Giggles* well that, and lots of financial backing from the 'right mammals'.

Ak Wasty; Glitz and Chips AU Villians

 

WT: Hmm...I'm thinking sort of a mixture of corpos and government figureheads...essentially a 'board of shadowy figures' ala Clone High, but with one exception. There is a...I'd call him an antagonist really, that is still in the concept phases for the eventual last fic in my series, "The Bellwether Legacy", (If I can actually get back to god damned writing) which kind of flip flops between the present (in terms of the fic universe, around the time Paige is born) and twenty years into the future following Paige starting at the ZPD. The main conflict in that section of the fic is meant to be two rival factions of pred and prey supremacists that are in an arms race against each other. However, both factions are being driven on and supplied by these two very commanding and charismatic figureheads.

The spoiler and twist are that both of those figureheads are entirely fictitious, fake personas being managed by the same mammal who is riling up both of these factions to make money paw over fist on illicit weapon sales. To add a further form disparity, while the figureheads would be something like a Tiger for the Preds, and a Stag for the Prey, it would be revealed the actual mammal is something small and omnivorous, like a prairie dog. 

So that said, I could very easily see this villain becoming sort of the leading force of the shadowy council, playing as his two 'counterparts' as needed. That said, I think arms dealing and blackmail would be his bread and butter. Arms dealing to approved insurgents and armies to keep the public in fear and clamoring for these despotic figures to protect them, and blackmail to keep his fellow council members on board. 

Also, in the fic, while it was going to be set 20 years later, I'm not sure how 'advanced' the tech would be in terms of helping him keep up the illusion of being two other mammals. Initially, I thought it would be cool to have this guy have full robotic suits of each of his personas that he piloted as a mech, but now I'm leaning more toward an AI model of his personas that only ever appear on screens or recordings because I feel it would be more feasible and realistic. Maybe even some holograms that give the illusion of actually existing since we see that tech now to some degree.

In Glitz and Chips, however, I could go whole hog with the Cybernetic robot suit idea, and make this mad prairie dog a true force to be reckoned with on the day of the showdown. Lord knows those suits would be the most cutting-edge weapons tech that DecoPunk Zoot had to offer.

Thanks for the ask!

Ask the Hunters; Religious Beliefs

 

Dorian: I think most of my pups largely take after us in terms of our religious beliefs...

Vernon: Yeah, we're probably all passive Volkinists...Norwulffish, whatever ya'll choose to call it.

Zach: 'Cept fer maybe Yuri...no offense little brother, but I mean, y'all spend a lot o' time crackin' off Native Wolf stuff.

Yuri: *Shakes Head* Just cause I like to throw around words like 'Ome-'.

Audrey: Ah! Ah! Ah! What did I say about usin' the 'O' word in this house?

Yuri: Aw c'mon now Ma! Ain't like I'm callin' any of these sorry sacks o' wolves around me an O-*Stops himself* Look, my point is, I use that stuff cause it gets under folks pelts, not cause I give it any real credence, okay!?

Trenton: That sounds about right. *Chuckles*

Dorian: Anyway, what they mean by 'passive volkinism' is that we follow rites fer big family events and uphold certain traditions. But it ain't like we're holdin' er' attendin' any services on full moon nights er' nothin'.

Wade: And a lot of us don't exactly pray all that often...to the Norwulffish gods I mean.

Yuri: I think the only one of us that breaks form is Ulric...I'd...honestly, I don't even know what to call that mutt...*Chuckles* I wanted to say he's one o' them atheists...but...*Rolls his eyes as if he's mulling things over.*

Xavier: His belief system tends to be in flux based on his current fixation...

Ulric: How many times do I have to say I am a 'TRUTH SEEKER', I seek "TRUTH', and when I find a newr, more compelling argument, I must pursue it!

Yuri: *Rolls his eyes* Here we go...

Zach: He does tend to gravitate back to that one really....weird obscure one though...that one that sound's like it's right out of a Loveclop novel?

Xavier: The space, tentacle thing? The one with the big eye?

Ulric: If you guys would just actually LISTEN to me for once, you would see that that 'things' filthy tendrils have left prints on every culture, in nearly every age of Zootopian history! It's merely modern historians who are trying to bury the lead as-!

Audrey: Honey, have you taken your medication today?

Ulric: I TOOK MY MEDICATION! GEEZE! Listen, he's-!

Vernon: I was gonna say, he tends to start talking about that thing when he's been off his meds for a while...

Ulric: YOU GUYS BROUGHT IT UP! Besides, that's when he....when I see him! That's why I know he's planning to try and set events in motion that will cause his avatar, a son, to be born on Animalia!

Honey: Ully, did you replace-? Uhg, yeah, he replaced the meds in his bottle with M&Ms again...*Clasp Ully's wrists with her strong badger paws, restraining him.* I've got backups in my bag, I'm going to take him to our room give him a dose.

Ulric: NO! NOOOO! I have to TELL THE WORLD! H-HONEY! *Honey starts dragging the wolf toward the stairs.* HOOOONEY STOOOOoooOOOP!*

Honey: OH, and before I duck out, I'm agnostic for the record. I believe there's something...just not sure what. *Is now easily dragging the struggling wolf away.*

Ulric: NOOOoooOOOO! *Voice and whining fades as he is dragged up the stairs and out of sight.*

Vernon: *Coughs* Anywho, yeah....uh...let's just pick it up from Honey's answer and move on to the gals...

Dawn: Well, I'm a passive Capridist I suppose. I do about the same amount of worship and prayer that the rest of the Hunters do when it comes to Volkinism, and upholding the traditional ceremonies. I do...believe in the Elysian fields, or heaven as a sort of basic catch-all, but I don't think I truly believe in any of my pantheon's specific gods...I just feel traditions are important and a nice thing to pass on to your lambs.

Vanna: I agree with Dawn, to some extent. Traditions are nice, and Binduist beliefs have a great many traditions I look forward to sharing with our...kittens *Blushes softly as she grips Zach's paw.* when we adopt. *Smirks* But the tenets of Binduism and the concept of Karma and Dharma are a great sort of...moral framework to live by, and pass on to your kittens.

Zach: *Smiles at his mate* I think so too, although the same could prolly' be said fer Volkinism, and Capridism...

Dawn: Yes, it's good to have a moral framework to live by, and instill in your lambs...

Trenton: *Leans in to inspect Zach and Vanna and smirks* Y'all too got awfully smiley when talkin' 'bout adoptin'....you two fixin' to finally...?

Vanna: *Retracts slightly, covering her muzzle to hide her growing blush* Well...I-I mean....

Zach: We've been talkin' about it a lot lately...and well...we're gonna start touchin' base with agencies next month...

Vernon: *Flashes the couple a wide, toothy smile* Well I'll be dipped! *Chuckles* No way! Yer fixin' to take up rearin' some pup's finally?

Vanna: *Still blushing* W-We've-We feel that we're finally ready to t-take that step.

Zach: Already talked to Pa privately about addin' the new pup's bedroom to the house...we're puttin' some foundation down next week.

Ada, Dawn, Qali, Malcolm and Audrey: *Various excited and girlish squealing*

Dawn: OOOH! I'm so happy for you guys! *Hugs Vanna's leg* If there is anything Vernon and I can do to help, letters of recommendation, anything, you don't even have to ask!

Vernon: I imagine a letter from us could make thangs real nice and smooth fer the whole process all things considered. *Chuckles*

Vanna: *Leans down and hugs Dawn, slowly the other Hunter gals and Malcolm pile on the hug, Vanna's blush only deepens as she tears up. *T-Thank you all...

Audrey: *Audrey turns to Dorian while hugging Vanna* And when was you fixin' to tell me this was happenin'!?

Dorian:*Holds up his paws defensively* I was sworn to secrecy! I swear! They had time constraints, so they had to tell me, but they wanted to tell y'all as a group when the time was right...

*The hug breaks up, and Auddey returns to Dorian's side, giving the older wolf a hug*

Audrey: Alright, I forgive ya Darlin'...*Audrey giggles, planting a kiss on Dorian's muzzle* Next time, y'all might not be as lucky...*Laughs*

*Dorian looks relieved, letting out and audible *phew* As he grips Audrey to his side.*

Vernon: Now 'er pups will finally have some cousins to play with. *Chuckles*

Ada: Dat's so great! I'm so happy for yas too! *Smirks at Yuri* Aldough it's gettin' me tinkin' I might be wantin' my own pups soon...

Yuri: *huffs and crosses his arms*  We got tithed last year fer cryin' out loud! We ain't doin' this now!

Ada: So later den? *Chuckles*

Yuri: *Growls* UGGGH!

Xavier: I think it would be better to give in now Yuri, Ada does seem to always win these sorts of discussions between you.

Malcolm: *Snickers* Best to stop strugglin' and ride the current out...

Yuri: Let's just get back on track already! *Snorts* Ada, tell them about your kooky religion...

Ada: *Rolls her eyes* Hey, don't take potshots at Zoodoo just cause youse know gonna lose dat pup fight.

Dawn: You practice Zoodoo? I thought the Sam Hain Costume your was last year was...well...

Ada: *Chuckles* A gag? Eh...a little from column A, a little from column B. My parents was passive Simboligsts, but me's, I couldn' jives with a religion dat frames all hyenas as evil...considerin' I was one...*Chuckles* 'Specially when I becames a moody teen...

Qali: So what is Zoodoo exactly?

 Ada: Eh...I ain't gonna bog ya downs wit da details. Clops notes voision is da Hyenas fleein' from South Afrikat to escape da treatment dere settled in Suddern Mammalia and da islands and sorta reinvented Simbology usin' a lot of 'non-canonical' texts and meshin' it with old Hyenyan Predganist religions. 

Dawn: Non-canonical...you mean...like Kovu?

Ada: Yeah, and reframin' da hyenas who was vilified unda Scar and puttin' dem' back into da whole 'cicle o' life' where day belong...aldough, we did put a hyena at da top of da pole. Dat would be Jasiri, da den mudder of us modern hyenas, and da goddess of death...

Giselle: She's a goddess of death...you don't see many that many religions with a death goddess at the top...

Ada: Wells, Hyenas as a species are verys intune wit death, I means, are ancestors was da undatakers of da wild...*Snickers*. Besides, she was balanced out by her mate Kion, God of life, and a lion a dat...a forbidden tryst...*Snickers*

Dawn: So do you still...I mean are you still-?

Ada: Eh...I'm passive about it now...more into it when I was a teen...back den I did spell rituals and stuff...no chicken sacrifices dough...wasn't willin' to go dat far...

Vanna: I was about to ask...

Trenton: As for Qali here, she's also a Volkinist...

Qali: My family bloodline trace back to Northern Roarope, and the way things were with foxes of all pelts at the time meant the Norwulves were going to be the only mammals who accepted us as equals...Naturally, my family's patron saint is Vulki! But we don't practice too deeply...

Trenton: It made things much easier durin' our own tithe...we didn't have to worry about meshin' anythin' into the frame work....no offense you guys...*Gestures to Dawn, Vern, Vanna and Zach*

Zach: Eh, we got along just fine...wasn't to hard...

Vernon: Same here, y'all and Gus did a great job mergin' two types o' ceremonies on such short notice. 

Xavier: We're in the same boat, Malcolm is also a passive Volkinist.

Malcolm: So we won't have any trouble at all durin' our tithe this Fall! *Laughs*

Vernon: Cheers to that! We're lookin' forward to it!

Wade: What about you Darlin' yer a Simbologist, right?

Giselle: Yes, my family was from Afrikat originally, and our species never really got a chance to have an organized religion of its own before the Pridelands took over. But like the rest of you I'm a passive worshipper, as are my parents...

Wade: Good thing too, 'er else we might run into some hiccups iffin' we ever got tithed... Simboligists are very anti-cross species tithin's and all...

Audrey: Iffin' yer ever gonna ask that gal, that is! *Laughs*

Wade: Aww MA! Don't start!

Ask Padaprascha and Lucero; Bindu Gods

 

Padaprascha: Binsuims has many deities. So many that it even I would probably need to spend time researching to name and explain all of them.

Lucero: As we've mentioned before, Bindu's origin was a sort of an amalgam of local religions, beliefs, and deities. And the nature of Bunduisim, with its openness to adapting and absorbing portions of outside religions into itself, its theology has only been added to for millennia after it was initially founded.

Padaprascha: So for brevities sake, I'll just mention some of the key gods and goddesses my family kept me familiar with. First there's our primary god of creation Brahman, who is...unironically worshipped the least among Bindu practitioners. His consort, Simmrawati is the goddess of learning and creative endeavors, essentially arts and poetry and such...

Lucero: Next ones I can recall are Ursidnu, god of preservation, and the most involved of the gods with us mortals on Animalias. He's also the god that has the strongest connection to the concept of Dharma, and has interceded directly many times through incarnating on Animalia in order to maintain cosmic order.

Padaprascha: Good job my love. You recalled quite a bit more about Usidnu than I thought you would.

Lucero: *Chuckles* Well, it helps he's one of the 'biggest gods' in Binduism. Otherwise, I assuredly would only recall Tigra and Purravati.

Padaprascha: *Snickering* Of course you'd be best versed in the gods most commonly associated with our species. But before we get there, let me mention Lakshmaw, the goddess of wealth, prosperity, and beauty. She's also a bear.

Lucero: Moving right along we have Tigra, the god of destruction, which...should make his role in the grand scheme of things very apparent. His consort is Purravati, the godess of power, courage, and a little addendum there that she also represents fertility and beauty. 

Padaprascha: As a tiger, she has to steal a bit of the other god's thunder by representing some similar aspects of life.

Lucero: *Chuckles* As a tiger, she can do it better. As can Tigra. God of destruction and the goddess of power and courage...a true power couple if ever there was one. *Snickers*.

Padaprascha: By now you may have noticed a theme among the gods, each of the primary gods representing the birth, preservation, and death of the universe, and the stages of life to an extent. With their consorts representing an extension of those aspects. Though there are a few other gods that are sort of... ancillary?  if that is the right word?

Lucero: Essentially gods outside of the main set that holds a high prominence, that is what you were trying to say, right my dearest?

Padaprascha: Yes, exactly my love. And I have three deities on my mind that would be worthy of noting I think.

Lucero: If they are the gods I'm thinking of, they are certainly relevant, but considering their parentage, I can't help that I've always had some questions. *Snickers*

Padaprascha: A god of great importance that most outsiders know of, aside from Ursidnu and Tigra, would be Gompesha, the elephant god of wisdom and the remover of obstacles in one's life. He's quite commonly worshipped among Bindians. He's also the son of Tigra and Purrvati...

Lucero: Two tigers give birth to an elephant...that must have cause quite a stir. *Laughs*

Padaprascha: Well, apparently Ursidnu sired a camel who would be the god of love, so there's another species peculiarity.

Lucero: I suppose it's reasons like this why one must not take scripture as pure gospel...then again with the birth of Vanna's sister-in-law's hybrid kitten...perhaps Binduism was telling us ahead of time that the barriers that separate species were not as thick as we assumed they were. 

Padaprascha: or you could just go with the standard excuse for religious inconsistency. It's the work of the gods, they can bend reality and therefore do anything! *Snickers*

Lucero: But that's the easy route...*Chuckles* I prefer encouraging letting one's mind wander rather than stifling it with a vague, unsatisfyingly cryptic answer. It's more fun that way.

Ask the Author; Zootopian Summer Vacation

 

Wasty: I think it's kinda dependent on just where you are in Zoot, as much like in our real world, summer vacation is sort of dependent on climate. Back when I went to school, we went from September to June, and I had relatives in the south who went from May to late August because it was hotter there generally...even if it didn't feel it compared to where I was. Generally, Zootopian schooling has less days and hours across the board, but the way they'd be distributed would more than likely differ down to the district since almost all of them have dramatically different climates.

In the North and South Meadowlands, as well as Alpine Glade, I could see school pulling a start in October, and ending in June, which would be the template for the cooler climates.

This would largely be matched in Savannah Square and its downtown area. Where we start to depart from the average would be places like Savannah Central and the Rainforest district. Because these places are hotter than average, they would probably see a start about a month sooner in September, whereas they would end closer to mid-May to get ahead of the brunt of the worst of the season's heat. Tundra Town would more than likely would adopt a similar scheme, but instead of try to get ahead of the warmer season, they would be trying to make the most out of it as possible before returning to those rapidly cooling months after September.

The only District that's up in the air is the Nocturnal District, which cavern climate sets in a somewhat different situation than all the others. I feel like what they'd probably have to worry about the most is a rainy season, or heavy melt season, depending on what other district is feeding into the caves the most. I'm going to go with 'melt runoff' being the primary concern, as the Noceternal District is positioned mostly under snowcapped mountains. This would probably put them starting school somewhere around August, and being let out in April to keep travel minimized during 'flooding season.'

Ask Wasty; Pawaii Error

 

Wasty: Ah shoot, well it was bound to happen eventually. There's a reason I call the ask blog 'soft canon', well two reasons actually. One is so I'm locked into ideas I come up with for characters on the fly if I come up with something better down the road. The other is of course that I may screw up a retroactive ask with a new ask. A lot of my...ask work for questions like this one aren't really kept track of...I don't go adding them to the "Series Bible" because I don't really expect them to come up in my fics, and if they do I'm prone to adjust it or totally revise it for the canon tales in the BellHunterverse. That said, it helps me a great deal when this stuff is pointed out as...between my brilliant note-taking skills and my health, as well as the scope of it all, stuff's bound to slip through the cracks.

So Pawaii, let's just go with my first answer. It's the better answer and still keeps the 'Pawcific Theater' skirmishes on track. Apologies for the near retcon guys. 

Ask Wasty; North Mammlian Colonialism

 

Wasty: I'd say fairly similar. Although Zootopia being founded was the 'joint effort' of multiple nations and so it remained a sort of neutral, sovereign place, North Mammalia was still colonized by the Kittish, at least on the east coast. The Mexicat and Prench weren't traded to North Mammalia, but agreed to join into a coalition with the colonies once they had broken away from Kitten after the revolutionary war. This would essentially end up laying the blueprint for how North Mammalia would go on to function in the future, with groups of states making up 'regions' largely created by previous territorial lines.

The civil war still happens, though it's less about slavery and more about economic priorities and representation in the United New Kingland government. Slavery does exist, but what with it being scattershot among a variety of different species it was...significantly harder to justify why one species should be slaves and another shouldn't. Thus slavery was less popular and largely looked down upon by both sides of the conflict. I imagine slavery, in terms of Alambtic Corridor States was probably more akin to the Roman version, whereas slaves could earn freedom and become naturalized citizens. But the United New Kingland region of North Mammalia would take the position of slavery being an absolute non-starter, and the Atlambitc Corridor maintained that 'earned freedom' form of slavery in a very limited capacity for several years after the conflict.

I wouldn't say the south won in this war, more like both sides reached a point where they were willing to agree to make what would become the "Atlambtic Corridor States" its own grouped region after significant losses on both sides. In the end though, it only took about another fifty years for the "Atlambtic Corridor States" to largely align with the United New Kinglish States in terms of economic pursuits and their stances on slavery.

Kitten meanwhile would continue to colonize much like its real-world counterpart, squatting in Bindia, and taking Hog Kong. It would largely still be unpleasant for Bindia, and reflected on guiltily by modern Kittish folk. Great Kitten would, however, have had a great deal less colonized areas in Afrikat in this universe, as South Afrikat played the role of competing colonizer when it came to that continent. And despite how big and developed South Afrikat is today, it is still plagued by a host of Mammalian Rights issues and other horrors. They even had their own version of an Arpartied, the effects of which are still being felt today.

Oh also, Alaska and Hawaii are not part of the NMU in this universe. Pawaii is considered part of Japanda, and Alaska is partitioned into the "Klondike Region" and Sibearia, with sibearian soil spilling onto the North Mammalian continent. Naturally, this made the cold war that much scarier with having Grussian outposts on North Mammalian soil, and also made Canidea and its regions more war ready and on-guard than its counterpart in our world.

Ask Wasty: The ZBI

 

Wasty: Given the fact that Zootopia is its own independent city-state, with its own government, it's a given it would have a ZBI. That said when compared to the equivalent in significantly larger nations, I imagine Zootopia's ZBI is rather small. Maybe less than one hundred employees total, working out of offices nestled within the different ZPD buildings across the city. Their job is largely the same I'd imagine, dealing with threats to Zootopian security with long-term stealth investigations, monitoring chatter on the web, that sort of thing. Basically slow burn investigations that don't require urgent scrutiny. That said, the minimal size of the ZBI has hurt their ability to keep tabs on all the goings on they would prefer to keep track of, which led to two massive blunders that really damaged their reputation in recent years. Those blunders were of course the Night Howler Scandal and the Zootopia's Last Night Case.

With the Night Howler case, the nature of it and lack of coherent chatter surrounding it led the ZBI to believe, like much of the general public, that it was some sort of virus or predator-specific tic. What little work was done on their end regarding the situation was digging into foreign channels to see if it was some sort of Biological warfare effort from a foreign government. As the Night Howler attacks ramped up, Predators on staff were pressured to leave the organization, and most of them did not return after the true nature of the case broke. Naturally once Dawn was exposed, of the many fingers of blame pointed by the public, a number of them fell on the ZBI for their failure to find out the true nature of the conspiracy despite the tools at their disposal. Needless to say, confidence in the organization was wounded.

However, when the Last Night Case occurred, and many powerful mammals and sycophants were exposed and planted in various organizations and political roles, the ZBI included, public trust in the organization completely bottomed out. This led to even more ZBI agents, (The ones who weren't found to be co-conspirators), retiring early or quitting altogether, and brought us to our current number of active agents being around fifty or less or so when it had close to one hundred pre-Night Howler Scandal. At present the ZBI is in a bit of disarray, much of its investigative tools have been turned over to the ZPD while the organization is restructured by the order of Mayor Snow. Whether it proves to be a competent organization after the restructuring is unknown, only time will tell.

Ask the Author; Mammal Maternity Medians

 

Okay, so I don't have every species in my Zootopia fics planned out, as this is again the sort of information cultivated when it's called for in a fic. What I can tell you, is that I have a general rule of thumb for estimating a species gestation that I go to in order to figure out any species gestation that may help you. Generally, when calculating a species' gestation period, I take the species in question, and the average human gestation and then find a median between them.

Let's use Paige as an example, as she's semi-complicated. So first I took the gestation period of a grey wolf, which is around 62-75 days. I used the maximum, converted it to months ( roughly 2 and a half ), and then weighed it against a human's 9-month gestation. With that, I reached a middle average of around 5.75 months, so I chose to round up to a flat 6 months.

Now, in comparison sheep have a gestation of about 5 months. So again using the median system when compared against human pregnancy you get 7 months total.

So now we have our average gestation for Zootopian Wolves ( 6 months ), as well as our Zootopian Sheep average ( 7 months) Which places a hybrid like Paige's gestation at 6 and a half months at the earliest.

So that's my rule of thumb system you can use with any species. Mega or Micro, whatever, that's the general rule my gestation periods will be going by. And if you're wondering why I weigh all the gestations against human gestation periods, I mean...it should be obvious. We are the only sapient species in our reality, and so it seems that in order to produce another functioning sapient member of our species, we take about 9 months to do so. Taking that into account, it seemed like the best development cycle to weigh against a bunch of sapient animal folk.  For similar reasons, I use the 6ft height marker as my character average as it's easier to figure everything else out around it. I'm just glad that according to the documentation for Zoot wolves stood at about 6 feet, as I was able to sort of figure out everyone's size around one of the main characters in my fic. Though probably taking an average from all the species in Zoot would probably make the average closer to 4 feet.

Feel free to use this method for your own fics and works if you want guys, I don't mind.

-Wasty

Ask the Author; Pawaii

 

Wasty: Pawaii is part of the NMU, as well as Alaska. Of course, this was the case even before North Mammalia became an E.U. style nation. As I mentioned in a earlier ask, The war of the Pawcific theater still happened which I guess would be called the Pawcific War since it wasn't a smaller part of world war II (As it didn't happen), so the attack on Purrl Harbor still occured. 

Hence, Pawaii was defended and held by North Mammalia, and so it remained a part of it later when North Mammalia united with Mexicat and Canidea to become the NMU.

Ask the Author; No WWII; for Real?

Wasty: As I've said before, the primary reason there was no direct WWII in my lore was because I just didn't want to touch Hitler and the Nazis and that whole mess. I can imagine that with the heavy punishment on Germamy there was definitely a resentment left there that left them cold to working with the allied nations of Roarope for many years. However, I imagine the 'Great Rodent Expulsion' that was a shared sentiment by most of Roaroupe did a lot to mend relations between formally adversarial countries. Germamy's economy rebounded in part due to the influx of jobs thanks to the mass exodus of rodents, as well as Germamy providing services to help get rodents out of other countries.

There was more than likely a Pawcific theater standoff between North Mammalia and Japanda, which culminated more than likely in the same events, including Hiroshrewma and Nagasowki. This would leave contemporary Japanda in a similar state to its real-world counterpart. 

As for the North and South Purrea split, it would still occur, as communist Grussia and Communist Panda would still play their parts in history up until the more recent decades. 

Lastly... I apologize in advance in terms of whatever knowledge of world history I'm lacking to make more robust 'alternate histories' for my AU. It's been years since I actually took a history course and it was never my favorite subject, plus I'm American and well... you've all heard about our educational system. I really never intended to go too deeply into the whole world in my Zootopia-verse, and its detailed history when I started writing my fics...my fics were more...locally focused. So forgive me if I stumble in trying to keep the weird tenuous connection Zootopia has to our real world by way of dumb puns.

Ask Wasty; Animalia Governances

WT: Well, the NMU is a constitutional republic, and Zootopia is more or less the same...Norwullf, Great Kitten, and Scottram are all constitutional monarchies, in so much that the royal bloodline still exists, and is propped up by its citizenry. Still, the government is made up of elected officials. That's not to say the royals don't have some input in the workings of the nation or swaying public opinion, but it varies on each nation, with Scottram probably being the closest to deeply involving the royal family in government affairs, and Kitten having the lightest royal presence.

The Saharalands is a rather large nation that takes up much of Northern Afrikat west of Egyipt. It is a traditional monarchy, currently ruled over by a royal family of camels and in terms of laws it is quite progressive for a monarchy. 

As for other nations...Well I try to come up with something as the need arises. But the default answer is many of them play similar roles in terms of government structure to their real world counterparts unless otherwise specified.