History

"*The dogs started it. They killed Peacemaker Frederica of House --"*

"*No. No, wait, the cats. It was the cats that murdered Ambassador Maximus in his own home!"*

"*What? Felines? Felines have only ever respected boundaries! Canines, on the other hand, are hypocrites who claim a territory and then encroach on their neighbor's space like they own it. A noble Feline--"*

"*Ha! Those don't exist. Not when you oh-so-adore getting your filthy paws into places they don't belong. Just because someone told you not to. Just because someone had the guts to stand up to your tyranny."*

> One hundred years is an awfully long time to be at war.
>
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## **Before the War**

The lore of the world before the events that have taken place in the group are as follows;

### **In Fables --**

Some believe that at the start, there was a jackalope, a phoenix and a unicorn. Three gods that would be seen as peculiarities in the modern world, if only because they were all non-predatory.

Together, they are said to have shaped reality with sigilmancy. They offered their own blood to the stars above to create a world where they could rest their weary limbs. When they were satisfied with what they had created, when they were convinced that their part in the cycle of life was competed, they taught sigilmancy to the predatory species that had awoken on their newborn land. Predators that had awoken because of a need for balance. The three gods called these new species 'caretakers' and passed on their duties, so that the gods might seed life elsewhere while the new children became the wardens of this beloved world.

The predatory species left behind were dogs and cats, of course, and foxes and bird and bears and others lost to time. All of them tried to work together, at first, determined to follow the teachings that had been impressed upon them. Still -- slowly but surely -- they began to listen to the base instincts. These instincts called the fellow shepherds 'enemies' and 'trespassers'. That only their own species new best.

They began to fight over every small detail in their territories; the placement of each blade of grass, who was allowed to claim prey to what type of prey... The list was as endless as the sea. And so, they lived apart from one another. They scorned the company of those not like themselves, shepherding over only part of the world.

They reluctantly, tenuously, obeyed the parting words of the non-predators that had taught and nurtured them into being.

### **150 Years Pre-War --**

Philosophers propose a utopia where all predatory species coexist and exist in harmony by ignoring their instincts. The goal is to compromise with each other. "Surely," they said, "this is what the jackalope, the phoenix and the unicorn wanted all along? Unity?"

*[Source: Two pages from a single remaining essay of a lost newspaper. Confiscated from a House vault, threadbare and barely legible. Only a third of the passages are preserved enough to translate with any meaning.]*

### **120 Years Pre-War --**

**“BREAKING NEWS: SENATORS FROM ALL PREDATORY HOUSES CONFER AT ████████████ TO ██████████████”**
“‘██████████████████ of House Bernarius, who ████████████████████” ... ‘What the ██████████ dreamed of,’ she says, her ██████████████████ glinting with █████. ‘Canines and Felines of all kinds should feel pride in their designation, for they have become figureheads of a movement to pioneer a new age.’
It should be noted that ████████████████████████████████████ ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ ████████████████████████████████████████████████████”

*[Source: tattered newspaper from government storage. the headline and the first two paragraphs are legible. the rest has been smeared and torn beyond recognition.]*

### **90 Years Pre-War --**

“Debates have finally ceased. Representatives from all species have agreed to a shifting of land and territories so that there might be a neutral ground with which to build the projection city. Due to floor and street plans needing to be accommodative of all predators, a variety of minds are being called upon to serve the greater good. Construction is estimated to take ██████████████████”

*[Source: an unmarked journal found in the remains of a pawn shop on the dog’s side of The City after said shop burned down.]*

### **50 Years Pre-War --**

“It’s done. It’s done. It’s finally done, my dear. The Cats and the Dogs walked into the city together, side by side. The Foxes trailing behind the dogs and the Birds tentatively taking up roost overheard and the ████████ entering however they do. (I know, dear, we are living in a peaceful age now, but they still... unnerves me. Perhaps living in the same city as them will cure me of this wariness.) I am not ashamed to say I wept. You should visit, ███████████. It is beautiful here. I did not know the birds liked to circle their settlements in the dying of the light.

Yours Always,

Fiona of House Yates”

*[Source: found on a cat patrol outside the City. a crumpled letter had been stashed in a tree trunk. there has been no recorded “Fiona” in a House Yates in either species.]*

### **2 Years Pre-War --**

"AMBASSADOR MAXIMUS FOUND DEAD IN HIS HOME, HUSBAND AND DAUGHTER IN CRITICAL CONDITION."

"PEACEMAKER FREDERICA ASSASSINATED ON THE WAY TO A CONFERENCE. HUSBAND AND BODYGUARDS MISSING."

"FOXES DEMAND RETRIBUTION FOR THEIR BRETHREN."

"CATS FORGE ALLIANCE WITH THE BIRDS?"

### **Alpha War: Year Zero --**

The foxes side with the dogs, their sometimes-acknowledged cousins. The cats, for a time, buy the loyalty of the mercenary birds. The middle of the city where the senate once resided is destroyed by mobbing and riots from all species.

### **5 Years Into the War --**

The wall begins construction. It has a troubled start -- both cats and dogs independently attempt to construct a wall and sabotage each other's efforts, thinking that their enemies are creating a new weapon to use against them.

### **7 Years Into the War --**

Both cats and dogs allow the wall to continue crawling its way across the Capital. Each side attempts to use the tunnels in a series of counteractive surprise attacks. This is abandoned rather quickly -- half of the expeditions through the tunnels and to the other side are not seen from again. (Or they are returned, weeks later, disoriented and confused.) The decision to collapse the tunnels is quietly acted out.

### **28 Years Into the War --**

The last fox dies in glorious battle. Robin of House Breckenridge is immortalized in dog history. The cats simply note them as "the last fox."

Cats lower the enlistment age to 15.

### **35 Years Into the War --**

The last Bird dies of infection. The cats hold a memorial and move on. Allegedly one of Dimitri's (of House Schultz) flight feathers is preserved in some bigwig's office.

### **100 Years Into the War --**

Present day.

The start of the group events begins here. You can read about them on the Event Timeline.