rustedtusks.com

So, we know there's ~120 sentient species in the Slopverse, including crocodiles (or alligators?)

My question; are there sentient snakes? If so, what do they look like? (arms? Arms and legs? no limbs? Etc...)

Of course if they were very snakelike (no limbs, external ears, eyelids, or vocal cords) it'd be pretty hard to tell if they were sentient O-o

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That's the problem with life that's alien.

As for snakes...there are archaelogical findings that show the remains of anaconda-like snakes in association with the remains of stone structures and temples. One theory is they were merely animals worshipped as gods. Perhaps they were gods that spoke somehow to their people.

There are also legends...of serpents...huge cunning serpents deep in the jungle. If they're there, they're not willing to be found.

I wonder, are you going to forever torture us with speculation, or are you ever going to release an official list of SLOP species?



I'm also quite interested in how the species came to be. Something i've given a lot of thought to.
It's not normal, biologically, for more than a handful of species to develop sentience. The range we've seen in SLOP so far indicates either a higher intelligence (be it god or another species), or some sort of focal occurance. (Think Mutagen from Ninja Turtles. Something that has the same evolving effect on anything it contacts.)


I've often wondered. A thousand, two thousand, or more years from now.. what would humans be doing? We would have hopefully solved the problems of age, disease, and war (though I doubt war..) and I could see the human race playing God on another planet. Taking the DNA of animals from Earth and creating their own little world of sentient critters just to see how it turns out.


Other questions spring to mind..
Racism and hatred have been established in SLOP. What about genocide?
How many species have been nearly, or even HAVE been eliminated from the planet by another?
With so many species in the same area, such things I think would be common, especially in such a dark universe. On top of that, population growth would be much slower for many species, such as corvids. Unless species can inter-pregnate, which I haven't seen any sign of being possible. Using human style 'mating techniques', species with smaller litters and monogamous relationships would be severely disadvantaged.

The problem with official lists is that they effectively halt the creative process, because if a list is official then it is exempt from revision.

Also, the Slopverse is a mystery wrapped in a conundrum wrapped in a burrito wrapped in a ham... And I enjoy the mystery.

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I doubt Mulefoot is going to make a comprehensive listing of all the sentient species in the "Slop"-verse. Listing all the species appearing in "Slop" would be far more attainable in the short run. The "Slop"-opedia requires ornerous amounts of creative thinking and foresight for each written entry.

Heck, I tried shooting for something far less/more ambitious by making a list of animals and providing links out to databases that had encyclopedic information for said creatures. I figured I spent over 100 hours of researching links and expanding tables before I was done... with most of the mammals. I actually threw up my hands and quit when I got to the mammalian branch for bats with their some 500+ species. And yet nothing I tried to accomplish used or created any original content from myself.

Of course, Mulefoot could just ride his fanbase for a bit by, say, opening up a contest where he accepts submissions of "Slop"-pedia entries to exchange rights for citation credits and temporary fame among the "Slop"-izens for a winning entry. Just thinking...

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"Y'know, if nothing else, living here has incredibly sharpened my 'Hey, there's someone coming for my dick!' defense skills." -

Abraxus is right in why I won't do a comprehensive list. I'm usually happy to say what you won't find.

I will list what's definitely in the SLOPverse...

Under canines: Wolf, Coyote, Raccoon Dog, Blackmouth Curs, Northern Type Dogs...Think of these really as all separate races, not unlike how we humans can boil down into races and yet all interbreed. Foxes...Reynard...they can sometimes interbreed with the other canines of SLOP but the offspring are usually sterile and this interbreeding is rare. Laura Deighton was such a hybrid. In the real world of quadraped's, I don't think a fox/dog hybrid has been made to date.

Under equines there are larger horse types as well as pony types. There are also moderate to small donkey types. There are of course mules.

With caprines there are two races of goat. Harle was one race...the Coronado. I haven't decided about the other yet.

There are suffolk type sheep in SLOP. Carol is one of these South-folk
They can interbreed rarely with the coronado and make sterile offspring.

There are white tailed deer morphs in SLOP...the Fel. Connie was a Fel.

So far I've had raccoon.

There are mustelids... the Fitch...they're ferret looking. Another race like mink and still another look like otters. Sam was a Eurasian badger type of mustelid.

There are the corvids...they're the last avians.

Uthalla is a gator...asian alligator, not american though those exist too in SLOP. There may be one more reptile race. We'll see.

Obviously there are pigs in SLOP. Those come in a few races. Vepr are just one. You'll meet the other in Issue 4.

There are tigers...the Tag. There are lions as well...of the old european variety. Cheetah exist as well. So do Lynx. There also exists a race analogous to the Black Mouth curs of the canines. They're essentially a liger-like race that can be found in some port cities. They're traditionally seen as laborers.

I left out skunks like the coroner from Red River. I'm sure I'm forgetting something else.

Oh...there's the Gnathy...a rat race.

There were other races. They're gone. Some died out 40,000 years ago. Others were victims of more recent genocides. In some more savage areas of the planet in SLOP you even find some carnivore races eating others.

Someone said the existance of multiple sentients was a possible proof of a creator. The Intelligent Design religious folk of SLOP certainly agree. Scientists on the other hand refer to even that happened between 150,000 and 180,000 years ago where species rapidly changed and physically converged in the bipedal, tool using, upright form. I'd have mentioned it in SLOP if there were a story where it seemed relevant.

I hate doing the whole "As you know, Bob, the hyperspace transporter works by...."

You could always collab with the tech-trek furs, heh. There's a #Techfurs channel on Furnet. ;D

When you mentioned predatory anthros eating others I immediately had an idea for an alphabet book in the vein of Edward Gorey's Gashleycrumb Tinies, which would warn young of potential ways offspring might end up eaten, while at the same time teaching them their ABC's.

I'd also had a Slopverse spinoff story idea run through my head about a crocodilian child in the Everglades who learned why his little friend of another species was forbidden to associate with him, when his mom and pop snatched him for the cooking pot, providing a harh lesson about the 'circle of life'.

Whether either of these ideas will materialize into something to show people is another matter. I'm pretty busy with work and I have just been evicted, so I will have very little time for projects.

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One of the biggest problems for me in terms of designing each race is actually coming up with a race name.

And I do like the crocodilian idea, Abraxus. Sounds like it could be a much darker version of the Fox and the Hound.

Fuck a bunch of snakes, as we say. Waaaay better off without them.
Didn't Niven once say essentially, the problem with being too definitive is, you paint yourself into a corner if you're doing an ongoing series.

--lj

Yar, I agree it's more fun not to make a complete species listing


Awesome take on snakes, too. As much as I love them, talking snakes with limbs that don't swallow their prey whole just don't seem very snakelike anymore

Well I hope those mysterious sentient serpents are out there in the SLOPverse, even if they never get their own story! (woot, there's a concept for you, wishing things in an imaginary universe to be real but not making any appearances...)

Hmm... what about wolverines?

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"Y'know, if nothing else, living here has incredibly sharpened my 'Hey, there's someone coming for my dick!' defense skills." -

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My webcomic

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A lone figure sits still by a pool - he's been stamped human bacon by some butchering tool - he is you...
Social Security took care of this lad - we watch in reverence - as Narcissus is turned to a flower

Yup Vepr is Russian for boar. I wonder now how many people know that the mulefoot breed is an actual breed of pig...[/u]

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Gas burns fast. Liquor burns quicker.

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"Sharp sword and empty horizon. Sometimes that's all a man needs... sometimes."