Cats and Dogs

[Reiloth]

Kiddiiiiing.

Just trying to make the point that for here, "jarring" is good. It helps drive home the fact that this a different world than our owns. It'd be weird to see the first time, but I think we'd gradually grow immersed over time.

I think we could be a little more creative than 'roof snakes'.

They already exist, so it's reasonable to assume they're doing as real snakes do and eating at least some of the rats.

I've also seen echoes of tarantulas and other large spiders in Allanak - not "eight cords across" large, but closer to real life sizes. Something else to be preying on the rats.

Maybe kagors could establish themselves in the alleys or sewer systems.

Now, Kagors, i'd be interested in seeing more of in the cities. Haha. They're basically possums mixed with badgers, right?

[Jihelu]

Kiddiiiiing.

Just trying to make the point that for here, "jarring" is good. It helps drive home the fact that this a different world than our owns. It'd be weird to see the first time, but I think we'd gradually grow immersed over time.

I think we could be a little more creative than 'roof snakes'.

They already exist, so it's reasonable to assume they're doing as real snakes do and eating at least some of the rats.

I've also seen echoes of tarantulas and other large spiders in Allanak - not "eight cords across" large, but closer to real life sizes. Something else to be preying on the rats.

Maybe kagors could establish themselves in the alleys or sewer systems.

"Kagors are badger-like mammals that inhabit the Red Desert. They typically hunt small lizards, reptiles, and insects, using natural camouflage to avoid detection by predators, such as raptors. They can often be aggressive to anything or anyone that seems to be a threat."
Now, Kagors, i'd be interested in seeing more of in the cities. Haha. They're basically possums mixed with badgers, right?

[BadSkeelz]

More badger than possum at the moment, but I could get behind a smaller, more possum or raccoon-like variety inhabiting the roofs and alleys.

Also, staff, it would let you interrupt meetings between PCs by having a ceiling collapse and release a bunch of baby ravenous kagors in to a room. Imagine the fun!

[Jihelu]

More badger than possum at the moment, but I could get behind a smaller, more possum or raccoon-like variety inhabiting the roofs and alleys.

Also, staff, it would let you interrupt meetings between PCs by having a ceiling collapse and release a bunch of baby ravenous kagors in to a room. Imagine the fun!

Or roof snakes.

[Raptor_Dan]

Rinthi's and elves control the rat population. That is why rat-tail soup is a delicacy.

I mean, in a city, there are a lot of rats. Traditionally, cats take care of most of them. A city without cats and only rats? Would be chalk full of rats, despite an elf/rinth's appetites.

It's one of things we have to either agree there are 'virtually cats' or there would literally be rats everywhere.

Even a Zalanthan equivalent would, I suppose, make me happy. It's just a weird 'plot hole' I see in the scheme of Zalanthas. Basic ecosystem. Which makes places like the Rinth or Allanak appear more 'cardboard' than they should be.

My bad, I meant to say elves, half-breeds, humans, dwarves, and half-giants, spiders, roof-snakes, vultures, lizards, bored soldiers, House Kasix's slaves and House Jal's hunters and gemmed who harvest their skulls, any and all people looking for quick cheap hides. Plus a good quarter of Allanak's player base, your rat-huntin' sons of bitches. This is excluding all of the virtual rats that we don't actually see represented by mobs.

[Yam]

Didn't read this thread, but afaik neither canines nor felids have been domesticated. I have seen both pet quirris and pet gortoks but they were 100% wild animals more akin to pumas or hyenas. Zalanthans seem to be extremely poor/slow at animal domestication and husbandry.

[Reiloth]

Didn't read this thread, but afaik neither canines nor felids have been domesticated. I have seen both pet quirris and pet gortoks but they were 100% wild animals more akin to pumas or hyenas. Zalanthans seem to be extremely poor/slow at animal domestication and husbandry.

What about the feral variety, within cities?

[Raptor_Dan]

Didn't read this thread, but afaik neither canines nor felids have been domesticated. I have seen both pet quirris and pet gortoks but they were 100% wild animals more akin to pumas or hyenas. Zalanthans seem to be extremely poor/slow at animal domestication and husbandry.

Guess we need more dwarves.

[Yam]

Didn't read this thread, but afaik neither canines nor felids have been domesticated. I have seen both pet quirris and pet gortoks but they were 100% wild animals more akin to pumas or hyenas. Zalanthans seem to be extremely poor/slow at animal domestication and husbandry.

What about the feral variety, within cities?

What about them?

IMO they are either 100% feral or they have been captured and broken to behave like modern day exotic pets.

[gotdamnmiracle]

Didn't read this thread, but afaik neither canines nor felids have been domesticated. I have seen both pet quirris and pet gortoks but they were 100% wild animals more akin to pumas or hyenas. Zalanthans seem to be extremely poor/slow at animal domestication and husbandry.

What about the feral variety, within cities?

What about them?

IMO they are either 100% feral or they have been captured and broken to behave like modern day exotic pets.

I don't know about you, but there are only a couple of bands of feral hyenas roaming the streets of Milwaukee at night.

As a minor derail, is that really what gortoks are supposed to look like? Hyenas? I always thought more like very large coyotes. Though I suppose that's the same thing.

[Lizzie]

There used to be a specialty-breed of "pet" called a curtok. It was bred by House Kurac from gortoks and currs. There were a litter of them, two survived. One was sold/gifted to a Tuluk templar, I don't recall what happened to the other. I don't remember if anything happened to cause the templar's curtok to no longer exist, either it was abandoned as "just another NPC in the room that no one pays attention to anymore" or if it got nasty and had to be put down, or stolen, or whatever.

There was also a "pet" rantarri owned by either Domani or Cidsarl Kadius - can't remember which one of them. As I recall, something -did- happen with that, I believe it displayed its nastiness and had to be put down.

[Beethoven]

Hyenas aren't really dogs--they just look like them. I always just imagined gortoks as looking like very large and very ugly flea-bitten feral mutts.

[Hauwke]

I personally envision a gortok much like a mangy mongrel dog, its a bit of this, its a bit of that, who knows what that bit comes from maybe a chihuaha or maybe thats a cat tail idk. Point is, I view them as vaguely canine but sort of wide and very varied features.

Also if someone could get a gif of that fat dog in the movie evolution that would be great thanks.

[Jihelu]

I've always imagined as a gortok as a really thick/large dog.
Not as big as a heyena but /really/ rough/thick.
The dwarves of the dog family.

[Hauwke]

Much as I dont want to agree with someone else: What Jihelu said.

[Majikal]

Gortoks are hyena-esque with locking jaws, at least per descriptions/echoes/docs.

[Jingo]

The honest to god reason why we don't have jozhal-dogs and quirri pets isn't because of any ic reason.

It's just because we don't like the idea of player characters running around with a dozen pet objects on their shoulders.

[gotdamnmiracle]

There's that elf in the commoner elven roof slums with a cockroach on a leash. We need more of that, I think.

[Harmless]

Give me pet fizzgigs!!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1FCqDJMWgY

[bcw81]

I didn't read a majority of this thread, but in response to the OP:

There aren't dogs and cats. They're not mentioned anywhere. There are other animals around the city. Barakhan, snakes, rats, mice, cockroaches, various beetles and insects of varying sizes. If you look at the jozhal helpfile, it even states that rich people have them:

Jozhal                                                          (Animal Life)

   These small, desert-dwelling reptiles are hunted for their skin, which,
supple and finely scaled, betrays a multitude of colors.  Occasionally,
they are kept by nobles and wealthy merchants as pets, but generally revert
to their feral state if unfed. While not usually dangerous because of their
small size, they are scavengers by nature, occasionally taking smaller live
animals.

Or the helpfile for barakhan lizards from the old website:

Barakhan Lizard : These small winged lizards, usually colored in dark or sandy colors, are the usual source of eggs in the Southlands, where they are often domestically raised for that purpose. Some barakhan lizards are kept in cages as pets, since their chirpings can be interpreted by the ear as musical in nature.

There are options out there for people to have pets - be in the shoulder-wearable objects like hawks and lizards and snakes, or something more exotic. If you wanted an NPC pet, it's likely that you could work out a plot for a group of people to go capture you one, then another group of people to domesticate it, all while talking to staff to make an object or NPC for you.

[gotdamnmiracle]

there is a history of wild animals returning to being wild, however. Not only IG, but also in real life.

[Reiloth]

Again, though this is from a while ago, I don't see what animal is taking care of the rat ecology in cities.

http://www.livescience.com/18294-cats-world-died.html

"A 1997 study in Great Britain found that the average house cat brought home more than 11 dead animals (including mice, birds, frogs and more) in the course of six months. That meant the 9 million cats of Britain were collectively killing close to 200 million wild specimens per year — not including all those they did not offer up to their owners. A study in New Zealand in 1979 found that, when cats were nearly eradicated from a small island, the local rat population quickly quadrupled.

And if the rodent population shot up, this would of course trigger a cascade of other ecological effects. On that same island in New Zealand, for instance, ecologists observed that, as rat numbers increased in the absence of cats, the population of seabirds whose eggs rats preyed upon declined. If the approximately 220 million domestic cats in the world all bit the dust, seabird populations would likely fall worldwide, while the populations of non-cat predators that prey on rats would be expected to increase.

"All species have an impact," Beck said."



Also, a mildly funny article on cat murder.

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/cats_actually_kill

[Pale Horse]

I didn't read a majority of this thread, but in response to the OP:

There aren't dogs and cats. They're not mentioned anywhere.

Playing devil's advocate, but there is (or was, not sure if it's been removed) a least one item IG that had "cat" in it's main short description and went on to describe what looked like the equivalent of a domesticated cat in it's main description.

Owing to the lack of such creatures in the game we actually play, I always played it up that it was a vestige of the "Old Times" that people still have a social memory of but no actual reference or personal experience to draw from.  It could even be that somewhere beyond the known, domesticated felines survived.

[BadSkeelz]

Again, though this is from a while ago, I don't see what animal is taking care of the rat ecology in cities.

Roof snakes!

[Reiloth]

Again, though this is from a while ago, I don't see what animal is taking care of the rat ecology in cities.

Roof snakes!

God damnit, Badskeelz.