From: peacock5293@iscsvax.uni.edu (Greywolf)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.furry
Subject: Assorted Thoughts on a "Furry" World Setting
Date: 19 Nov 92 14:33:36 -0600
Organization: University of Northern Iowa

(The following are an assortment of thoughts which I welcome comment on.  Of
course, looking over this, I see how a lot of my comments could lead in several
tangential discussions...  My basic purpose, though, is to bring up a reason
why a common concept of "furries as genetic construct slaves" that I've seen in
stories seems somewhat unrealistic to me, and to try to see if I can come up
with a setting that has some of the same elements but somehow seems more
"realistic".)

For some time while I've been trying to sit down and think up some sort of a
storyline for Yarf! or some other fanzine, so I'd have a story to illustrate
rather than just spot illos all the time.  I've seen a few stories that use the
premise that furries exist in a human world because they have been
bioengineered to be servants or sex objects or whatever.  Many times the theme
is that these creatures are just as "human" (for lack of a better term) as we
are.

Something about the theme (furries as genetic constructs) sounds interesting,
but something also strikes me as kind of hard to believe.  From what I've
gathered, although I think most folks will agree that this country still has
its racial problems, there's a general feeling that pursuing equality is a Good
Thing among all peoples.  (And, there are some who seem to think that animals
would have rights, too.)

If, say, corporations or the government or whatever were to come up with
sentient human-like "furries" as genetic constructs, how realistic would it be
that people would just accept them as slaves, as "robots", as "just animals",
even though they spoke and acted pretty much like people?  Personally, I'm
inclined to think that there would be some severe problems with this.  Many
times I see settings where the writer throws in an additional conflict by
suggesting that the church (namely, Christian denominations) would refuse to
recognize the sentience of such beings.  Being from a church background, and
having been in several discussions with those of like mind, I'm inclined that,
if anything, the church would probably be an instrument for *fighting* a new
sort of institutionalized slavery.

So, the idea of a setting in which:
   a) it's a near-future setting, extrapolated from our own present
   b) "furries" exist as genetic constructs
   c) there may be some sort of conflict as to the social position of
      furries which could serve as story material
   d) humans still exist, and are likely in charge of things

...has some appeal to me.  The idea of "furries as slaves" doesn't seem quite
right, though.  So, there was a little scenario I was thinking up, though it
has both its good and bad points...

Let's say that genetic engineering tech reaches the point where bioengineered
human-types can be constructed.

1) Why are they "furry"?
   a) perhaps the government requires that completely bioteched humanoid
      constructs must be visibly different from humans.
   b) perhaps corporations are able to copyright genetic designs and even
      the appearance of their constructs, so each different corporation will
      use a different appearance for any "race" they create.
   c) existing Terran stock would be useful for "splicing" material rather
      than just coming up with something from scratch
   d) different constructs might be made with different skills in mind, so
      through some technical mumbo-jumbo it can be explained that certain
      animal types may be used to encourage certain attributes found in the
      original creature.

2) Okay, so why make them if they're not going to be slaves?
   a) perhaps corporations might have an interest in creating "synthetics"
      with racial aptitudes toward certain skills.  The "synthies" would
      be raised by the corporation and trained, and upon reaching a certain
      age could expect to have a job with the corporation.
   b) maybe the government is interested in ultra-soldiers

3) What's to make the furries do what they were made to do?
   a) a sense of "belonging" to the corporation, of "family" could be
      encouraged in the furry as he/she is being raised.  the corporation
      is his or her "family".
   b) the furry has a guaranteed job if he/she stays with the corporation.
      if he/she decides to leave and seek a job elsewhere rather than taking
      this opportunity, he/she has to compete in the outside world.
   c) going into the outside world would mean sticking out like a sore
      thumb.  there may be ill feelings among humankind toward furries, as
      they represent competition for jobs that used to be held by "real
      humans".
   d) specialization in certain skills or attributes desirable for the job
      may mean trade-offs in other areas.  jack-of-all-trade superhumans are
      bound to be over-qualified, and hard to engineer to boot.

So, there might be a setting where we have the Big Corporations, with various
furry types associated with them, though there *may* be some variation. 
There's nothing to *prevent* a cat from Corporation A from getting a job at
Corporation B if he's qualified to do so and manages to outdo the dogs over
there.  =)

Also, I'm inclined to think that not all furries in such an environment might
look much like humans or like Terran animals, for that matter.  I could imagine
hulking, shelled, draconian walking-tank super-soldiers that might be
engineered, or muscle-bound quadruped (or hexaped) types that might be used for
hard labor.

Anyway, just a bit of a brainstorm here, not very well organized, and I expect
a lot of my half-formed ideas have major holes in them, eh?  Just wanted to see
what folks thought...

-Jordan            ..      PEACOCK5293@iscsvax.uni.edu
                  .OO.     Jordan Peacock (Jordan Greywolf)
                  O/\O     (New Address):  1610 Parker
                   --                      Cedar Falls, IA  50613