Outlast Your Queen

**"Outlast Your Queen"** is the fifth episode of *Revolution* and the 80th episode overall.

The episode was released on February 27, 2022.

In the episode, the mice venture out into the city of Vannastadt as those on Eusuchia fight to survive the most deadly prison in Cartonia.

## The Episode

—Eusuchia—

—April 4, 1051—

Piggy Pie was losing hope. Days had passed in this dank, solitary cell. She wasn’t sure exactly how long, as there was no window. It was barely tall enough for her to stand. The walls and floors were grimy and covered in some thick green slime that resembled mucus. It was so dark that she could barely see long after her eyes had adjusted. A slim crack at the bottom of the door was the single source of faded light. This was a literal nightmare. She had never seen or experienced something so horrifically miserable.

She worried about Alice Carver, whose past imprisonment with Adam Molecule was assuredly causing her to re-experience that trauma.

This time, Piggy was sure she was to die. They had given her no food, no water, no clothes, nothing. She was starving. That was how they’d get her. Starvation and a slow, agonizing death.

Piggy wondered if anyone would find her body, if it would ever return to Toontown. She’d never see her brothers again, nor her friends. Never again would she taste the coffee of her favorite Melodyland cafe, or stargaze in Dreamland during a meteor shower, or sled down the Kinnar Glacier in winter, or live to see another Mayoral inauguration. This would be her final memory. A putrid, dismal cell at a prison camp on Eusuchia Island.

The cell door flung open, startling Piggy. A fox soldier stood in the frame. He wore an all-black army uniform. A white band wrapped around his left sleeve from wrist to shoulder. His face was wide with thick lips, which pursed at the sight of her.

“Come with me.”

Piggy scrambled to her feet and stumbled into the corridor. Two dead crocodiles lay crumpled against the opposite wall. She yelped. The fox place a finger against his lips.

“Quiet. This is a rescue.”

“Wh—?”

“Piggy!”

It was Alice, who looked awful but thankfully alive! Piggy stepped over the dead crocodile to hug her.

“A rescue, you said?” Piggy repeated, turning to the fox. “We don’t trust foxes.”

The fox grinned.

“I assumed. If you’re wondering, I didn’t kill these crocs. They were already dead.”

Piggy grabbed Alice’s paw and blocked her with her body.

“We’re not going with you.”

“Suit yourself.”

The fox walked to the cell door next to Piggy and unlocked it.

“Hello, old friend.”

Piggy was stunned when Usa Uhuru stumbled out, gaping at the fox.

“Heinrich!” she gasped.

Piggy and Alice stared at one another. For one, Piggy had no idea that all three were housed in *adjoining cells*. They were separated when they arrived, but sneakily led to the same place at staggered times. But also…how did Usa know this fox?

“Your rescue has arrived, madam.”

Heinrich staged a bow, which caused Usa to chuckle.

“How long do we have?”

“Twenty minutes, at most. A car is waiting to take you to the shores. My brother will take you to the mainland.”

“Cover story?”

“The Free sprung you from the camp,” Heinrich said. “I discovered the escape in progress and shot the inside help—these two crocodiles.”

Usa eyed the corpses.

“Who were they?”

“No idea.”

“Prisoners?”

“Yes.”

Usa turned to Alice and Piggy, who were both gawking at her and the fox. She gestured to him.

“This is Heinrich Meyer. He’s one of us.”

“He’s a fox,” Alice blurted. “Never trust a fox.”

Usa sighed.

“That ignorance will not win our revolution. I told you. Deer, foxes, parrots…they’re all on our side too. This isn’t a speciesal war. This is a war against Vulpine tyranny.”

It wasn’t so black-and-white for Piggy. She trusted a fox once, and it cost her a brother.

“You will die here,” Heinrich said to Piggy and Alice, “if I do not get you out. This is a death camp. Nobody leaves alive.”

His words cast a sudden hush over them. Usa stepped away from him, just a bit.

“A *death camp?*”

Heinrich nodded.

“Come. This way. I’ll fill you in.”

Piggy and Alice reluctantly followed Usa and Heinrich along the corridor. The place was a labyrinth of halls lined with iron cells. Yet, it was eerily quiet, as if this place was empty. Perhaps it was.

“The Vixen Queens have for decades been herding crocodiles, horses, cows, chickens, ducks, bears…all of them here. The officers here are instructed to murder en masse.”

“That…can’t be…” Usa rasped. “It can’t be as bad as that.”

Heinrich was in front of Piggy, so she couldn’t see his face, but he hung his head as they walked.

“I promise you it is. There are only about 6,000 crocodiles remaining on Eusuchia, and two thirds of those are imprisoned here. The rest are coming…the goal is extinction.”

Usa froze. Piggy bumped into her.

“Are…the rumors true? About the horses and the cows?”

Heinrich faced her to answer her question. This time, Piggy saw his face. It was grave.

“Yes. The horses, polar bears, and the cows are extinct in Cartonia.”

What? *What*?

Usa inclined her head and closed her eyes. It was almost as if she had expected, with dread, this news. This monstrous piece of information. Piggy knew the finality of extinction; it was an unspoken sorrow that plagued Toontown. No more crocodiles, no more elephants, no more cows. It sent the last elephant into solemn exile, the last crocodile to depression, and the last cow to insanity. In Toontown, extinction was a natural waning of the species population. It was unavoidable, unpreventable. Which made it all the more lachrymose.

But here, extinction was forced. The Vixen Queens, including the one that came to Toontown—Vella’s mother—were slaughtering masses of the innocents! It wasn’t enough to conquer the continent. They had to conquer all species. End them.

“Just the cows, polar bears, and horses?” Piggy asked, coming out as a whisper. Heinrich didn’t hear her and she had to repeat it louder.

“Until the crocodiles are gone,” Heinrich said. “Which will be soon. The chickens are next, or the ducks. There are bears, dogs, and elephants in the other camps.”

“*Other camps*?” Alice reiterated.

“25 in total on this island,” Heinrich said matter-of-factly.

Piggy suddenly thought of Clarabelle Cow, the last cow in Toontown and bonafide nutcase. She had staked her freedom and her loyalty on the prospect of returning to Cartonia and Bovo, where she could breed with a fellow cow and have the calves she always dreamed of. The Cogs had promised her this, not knowing that the cows were already extinct up north.

“What about the Expanse?” Piggy inquired. “There are horses in Toontown. They’re not truly extinct.”

Heinrich regarded her with a soft gaze.

“The Expanse is colonized only by foxes. Queen Vella has been advised to carry out similar extinction programs in Toontown to mirror the work done on Equine Isle.”

“No!” Alice cried. “No, those are our friends!”

How many horses lived in Toontown? How long did they have? Or were they already dead?

Usa had been quiet this whole time. She was mulling everything over. The gears were spinning in her skull. What next?

“Can you delay the extinctions?” she posed to Heinrich. He shook his head.

“Not possible. I am rarely involved in the killings. This is an unstoppable machine. The goal is total extinction of all species by the end of the century.”

This was what the Vixen Queens wanted. Nothing was ever enough for them. They couldn’t just have all the land in grasp, they had to be the sole owners of the land.

Something bumped behind Piggy, and Heinrich snapped into action.

“Come on. We have to go!”

—Vannastadt, Vulpus—

—*Formerly Mus, Willie*—

Days had gone by since Mr. Meesh left and hadn’t returned. No one else had come by either, leaving Hyla, Eileen, and Mickey alone. Their supplies were already rather meager. Without Mr. Meesh, they had no way to replenish. It wasn’t as if the Free was providing the food; Mr. Meesh was simply to go to the market. Hyla, Eileen, and Mickey had no money and didn’t know how to navigate the city. They were mice, so they should in theory fit right in. Except for the colors of Hyla and Eileen. Most mice were black, like Mickey. Hyla’s pink skin and Eileen’s maroon complexion were conspicuous anomalies.

“We’re going to run out of food soon,” Eileen said, pulling all the canned goods out of the cabinets. “Two days, unless we strictly ration.”

“I say we ration,” Mickey said. “We’re better off waiting for someone to realize Mr. Meesh is missing than go out there and fend for ourselves.”

Hyla knew Eileen disagreed. The expression was plain on her face. She was distrustful of the Free.

“If they’ve captured Mr. Meesh,” Eileen said, “which we have to assume as the worst case scenario, they might discover his hiding hole. We’re in his hiding hole!”

Hyla folded her paws across her lap. She pondered both options. Neither of them were particularly good.

“I think Eileen is right…without a protector we aren’t safe here. I think we have to move.”

“Where?” Mickey urged. “We can’t go upstairs into the castle, can we?”

Eileen shrugged.

“Plain sight. We are mice.”

“Colorful mice!” Mickey retorted.

There were merits to both arguments, and this debate had been ongoing for days. Their protector disappeared, which may mean he was dead. Their safehouse could be compromised, but then again nobody had come through in the last week. They were going to run out of food, but maybe by then the Free would send someone else. If Mr. Meesh had betrayed them, it was taking the foxes a long time to find them. The windowless apartment was either their haven or their coffin, it seemed. Hyla wasn’t sure which was more likely to be their fate.

“I’m going,” Eileen decided. “You can stay here. I’ll be right back.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Hyla cried. “We’ll go with you. Right, Mickey?”

The old Mayor blinked at her with incredulity. His dropped jaw said, *seriously?*

Nonetheless, the three ventured out together. The apartment door opened onto a stone wall inches from the threshold. Ladder rungs were embedded in the rock. The apartment door locked from the inside, but they left it open or else they’d never get back in. Eileen stuffed three cans of food into her jacket and zipped up the pockets before climbing. This was the way they came in, so it was a bit familiar. Hyla grabbed a thin flashlight from the closet and aimed it upward so Eileen could see where she was going.

Mickey was slow coming up, but soon all three were on the ledge at the top. Mr. Meesh explained when he first brought them here that the hill upon which Musenzollern Castle rested was hollow in the core. Steam tunnels connected the four main sectors of the city. The apartment was located beneath one of those tunnels.

It took a few tries, but eventually the three managed to find their way into the steam tunnels proper. They were uncomfortably hot. At regular intervals, scalding steam would burst through one of the vents. They hurried around these to avoid being scalded.

“This way,” Eileen said. “I remember this.”

They followed her down a tunnel. She paused at an intersection, and turned right. They maneuvered left, then left again. Down a ramp, up a ladder. Hyla’s mental map clouded, and she hoped either Mickey or Eileen would remember how to get back.

Her mind began to wander to her triplet children back in Toontown. They were born right before the foxes came, and she was wrenched from their nursery to be taken here. Her husband, Kilo Byte, was with them now, but she longed to be back with them all. She had been with Samara, Newton, and Margot for such a short period of time that she could barely picture their faces. What kind of mother didn’t know what her children looked like?

“Here we go!” Eileen cried out triumphantly. “The exit!”

Sunlight was streaming in ahead, the literal light at the end of the tunnel. Hyla, Eileen, and Mickey ran toward it. Hyla slowed once they neared. It wasn’t a door, or a gate. It was a window. A small, square window just big enough for a head. It didn’t even have a latch. Most surprising was the view. This whole time, Hyla thought they were descending downward toward ground level, but they must have gotten turned out because they were near the summit of the mountain. The fortified walls surrounding Musenzollern Castle were just visible in the vista’s periphery.

“Okay, we’re lost,” Eileen moaned. Mickey clucked his tongue.

“So we’re going to die in the tunnels, not the apartment.”

He removed his shirt, sweating profusely. Hyla had half a mind to shatter the window to get some air in here before she suffocated. Instead, she searched for some other way out. Obviously, they’d have to trek downward. Was there a sloping tunnel nearby?

Hyla found another ladder, but it went upward. She beckoned to Eileen and Mickey and began to shimmy up.

“What are you doing? We have to go *down*,” Mickey said.

“I see light up here! It might be another window!”

She scampered to the top, where a latch held a trapdoor in place. She had to push her whole body against the wall and thrash against the latch until it clanged open. The light was coming through the creases of the trapdoor. Once unlatched, she could slide the door open.

She covered her eyes as the light blinded her. Dust floated down from above, gleefully spinning into the dark tunnel from which she just emerged. Hyla pulled herself out of the hole and onto polished wooden floors. A floor-to-ceiling window was to her back, warm in the afternoon sun. Huge curtains were pulled shut, sealing her in the space between the drapes and the window. Hyla helped Eileen and Mickey up, and all three gawked at the panorama.

They were inside the castle! The city was sprawled out before them. Hyla could make out the delineations of city blocks, bustling with the weekend crowd.

“We should go,” Eileen whispered. “It isn’t safe up here.”

Definitely not, but Hyla was too curious. She peeled back the curtain and stuck one eye through the slot.

They were in a ballroom, or some large room of sorts. There was hardly any furniture. Empty frames were hung on the walls, which was strange. Why would the foxes take the paintings but leave the frames? This room must not get much use.

Hyla checked for people, saw none, and stepped through the curtain. Eileen and Mickey hissed after her.

“Come on!” she encouraged. “Let’s check it out!”

“*Why*?” Eileen growled. She reluctantly followed.

The space was cavernous. Twenty or more of Hyla could be stacked on top of one another and there’d still be space before the ceiling. A dozen crystal chandeliers hung in perfect symmetry. Two were lowered to the floor, maybe for polishing. There were two sets of double-doors, one on either side of the room. Hyla’s shoes clacked against the lavish wood. Before the War, what had this room been used for? Was this once the war chamber of Willie? What was it now? Multi-purpose?

“It’s beautiful,” Mickey remarked. “The frames are a bit creepy.”

Eileen studied one of them against the wall.

“It’s like the paintings were cut out. Not recently…”

Hyla felt strange in here. She couldn’t help but imagine what her life could have been had the War never happened. This would be her home. She’d be a Mus, and she could even be Queen. It was a startling realization.

Hyla crossed the room toward one of the only pieces of furniture, a podium with a glass dome. Something was under the glass. Eileen and Mickey followed.

“Oh my…” Mickey muttered, approaching. “That’s not…”

“It can’t be!” Eileen gasped.

“Official crown of the Willonian monarchy,” Hyla read off a bronze plaque in front of the dome. “Abolished 716.”

The three stared at it in stunned silence.

“They kept it,” Eileen said after a while. “Why’d they keep it?”

Mickey glanced over his shoulder.

“Maybe…the foxes don’t know?”

Hyla shook her head.

“Mr. Meesh said the foxes run this castle. They own it.”

Mickey grazed his paw against the dome. He suddenly squirmed, realizing he was still shirtless. He flung his shirt back on.

“I want to wear it,” Hyla said.

“*What*?” Eileen cried. “No! Nope!”

“It’s mine, isn’t it?” Hyla said. “Aren’t I the heir?”

“Aren’t you going to get yourself killed?” Eileen shot back. “That crown in meaningless. Your *royalty* is meaningless. You didn’t even know you were descended from the Muses until last month. Forget the crown! We have to go. Right now!”

But the crown was beckoning to her. It was hers; her family’s. The last King of Willie wore it, and his daughter should have. And her daughters, and so on. For three centuries, it had gone without royal contact.

Hyla removed the dome, much to Eileen’s ire. Ignoring her angry hisses, Hyla lifted the crown onto her head. It fell between her ears. Her arms lowered, and Mickey gaped. With an aura of grace, he bowed.

And then the door opened. Mickey and Eileen shot backward against the wall, hidden between the open door and its entrant: a fox. He stared, openmouthed, at Hyla in the crown. His eyes flicked over to the glass dome and empty pedestal.

“INTRUDER!” he bellowed. Hyla turned to run, but the fox snapped a gun in her face. He approached, his back still to Eileen and Mickey. They were frozen in place, but were looking at each other as if contemplating attacking the fox.

“Name yourself,” the fox demanded. Through the open door, which led into another large chamber, Hyla saw other foxes rushing.

“Hyla Sensitive, heir to Willie.”

“No shit…” the fox stated. “IN HERE! I GOT A TOON!”

Eileen and Mickey began inching away against the back wall. Hyla didn’t look at them; she had to give them a chance to escape. They were going to the curtain, behind which was the trapdoor down into the tunnels. If they could just make it.

Hyla moved left, and the fox followed. His back was now to the corner, his periphery obscured.

“Go on,” Hyla said to the Eileen and Mickey while looking at the fox. “Leave me.”

The fox narrowed his eyes. The gun was centimeters from her nose. Her paws were raised.

“I’m not leaving you at all.”

Eileen and Mickey had reached the curtain. Mickey was feeling for the opening.

“HALT!” cried a voice to the left. Hyla turned and saw a dozen or more foxes arriving with weapons. “Get that thing off your head!”

Hyla gingerly removed it and held it out. Someone came and collected it. When she turned back to the first fox, the one with the barrel of a gun in between her eyes, she couldn’t see Mickey or Eileen anymore. They had escaped! But they may be on the other side of the heavy curtain, debating whether or not to stay. Hyla knew she would have to make a sacrifice and hope for her own rescue.

“Don’t worry about me! Run!” Hyla screamed, loud enough for Mickey and Eileen to hear even if they had already entered the tunnels.

The foxes looked around.

“Who are you talking to?” one asked.

“My husband. He’s in Toontown.”

The highest-ranked soldier, a Commandant according to his lapel, glowered at her.

“What do you mean? How are you communicating with your husband?”

Hyla inclined her head.

“He is always with me.”

“She’s stalling,” the Commandant scowled. “Search the room! Thoroughly! She’s with the others.”

The first fox saluted the Commandant.

“Sir! May I contact the hotline?”

The Commandant eagerly nodded. Hyla presumed there was some number to call when a Toon was found, which wasn’t good for her.

The foxes threw back the heavy curtains, and the blinding light burst into the room. Hyla now believed this was the former throne room, hence the crown. When the light subsided and Hyla could see properly again, she was relieved to see that Mickey and Eileen were gone. The trapdoor was sealed back in place. The foxes walked right over it, oblivious.

They were safe, for now.

The question for Hyla was what would happen to her once she was returned to the custody of the Vixen Queen?

—Toontown—

The Vulpine occupiers of Toontown, in the immediate aftermath of the Night of Shattered Stone, revoked homes and livelihoods from a multitude of Toons. Those displaced were ordered to find their own shelter in the Gardens. Due to the kindness of others, no Toon was without, but the Gardens was now overpopulated. The foxes had already established themselves a community of their own in the remnants of Cashbot Headquarters, which was largely intact. Why did they need to take Toon homes too?

Constance Miller was informed in a matter-of-fact tone by the emotionless Commandant Hans Einfach that the foxes were to start dwelling in Toon homes, whether occupied or unoccupied. Constance’s own apartment in Toontown Central was now the home of two male foxes. They slept in the two bedrooms, with Constance relegated to her couch. It wasn’t her home anymore. It was theirs, and she was the guest. She’d already been locked out once.

Toontown was broken after the Night of Shattered Stone, and it was the responsibility of the Toons to clean up after the foxes had their “fun.” Constance spent her morning sweeping broken glass and trying to repair the fractured stonework. The Toons were silent as they worked, bent over on the sidewalk as the foxes watched. It was humiliating and so unbelievably sad.

On her way to get lunch from her apartment, she found Vidalia VaVoom scrubbing insulting words from a wall on Punchline Place. She was using a modest kitchen sponge to dab away the harmful letters.

“Need any help?”

Vidalia smiled weakly.

“Sure.”

Constance tore the sponge in half and the two set to work, dipping their pieces into the tepid, soapy water and scrubbing.

“We need to do something,” Vidalia whispered. A fox was lounging on the fence nearby, playing with his gun. He was an elder, and yet he didn’t have the wisdom to see the monstrosity he was a part of.

“That new resistance we spoke about a couple of weeks ago…how’s the word spreading?”

“Quickly,” Vidalia assured, “though it goes without saying we all want the foxes gone. What are we actually going to do? We need a plan.”

Constance broke a claw and swore. Vidalia dug a bandage out of her pocket and stopped the bleeding.

“I have a plan,” Constance muttered. “I want a meeting.”

“A meeting? With whom?”

“The influential and mighty. Those who can quietly disseminate word of a coordinated uprising.”

Vidalia nodded. She cast a cursory glance at the old fox, who wasn’t paying them any mind.

“Who did you have in mind?”

“Just six of us,” Constance replied. “Any more and there’s a greater chance of detection. We’ll meet in Sellbot Headquarters. I’ll get you a list.”

—Vannastadt, Vulpus—

—*Formerly Mus, Willie*—

Eileen and Mickey found the exit to the tunnels, and they never stopped running. Hyla had given herself up to the foxes, a noble and stupid move. Eileen and Mickey had been too slow to save her, but with them on the outside they could at least try to find the Free or somebody who could save her.

Mickey had slipped through the crack in the curtain just in the nick of time. As the fabric fell into place, Eileen saw at least ten foxes enter with guns. They had barely made it through the trapdoor when the curtains open and light flooded the tunnel passage. The whole time they raced through the steam tunnels’ labyrinth, Eileen swore she could hear footsteps running behind them.

Now, they were out in the city. Eileen took a moment to formulate a general idea of where she wanted to go, then took off down the thoroughfare. Mickey tracked after her. For an old man, he was keeping up with her surprisingly well. Then again, she was no spring mouse.

The streets were thronged with people. Shops were open, restaurants were serving lunch, soldiers were marching down the center of the road either in practice or application. Eileen and Mickey were sweaty, frantic, and not doing a good job fitting in. They also had no idea where they were or where they should go.

The streetlamps crackled as Eileen and Mickey waited at a crosswalk. A uniformed crossing guard was standing in the center of the intersection, directing vehicles and pedestrians. It was overwhelming, as Eileen had never been somewhere like this. In Vista, they were always confined to a vehicle. Eileen was now out in the open, a mouse in the former capital of Willie.

“Speakers,” Mickey said, pointing to the streetlamps. The source of the crackle was indeed loud speakers affixed under each light. A voice then boomed,

“This is a fugitive alert. Southern savage Hyla Sensitive was discovered in the city. Be on the look out for any other fugitives from Toontown.”

Mickey grabbed Eileen’s paw. She looked at him, trying to mask her fear, and then her eyes settled on a wall of posters behind him. Her face was staring back at her.

**WANTED: EILEEN IRENIC**

**TOONTOWN FUGITIVE**

**DANGEROUS AND UNPREDICTABLE**

**CALL THE FUGITIVE HOTLINE:**

**1-333**

“There they are!” someone shouted at once. Eileen didn’t bother checking to see who said it, or if they were even looking at her. She pulled Mickey’s paw and bolted. They ran for their lives.

Whistles blared behind them, confirming Eileen’s instinct. They were being pursued. The heavy fell of boots on pavement echoed behind them. Mice and foxes alike tried to grab them as they raced past. Eileen leapt over a cafe table and slammed into a waiter. He collapsed to the ground, but Eileen kept going.

“Eileen!” Mickey panted. She ignored him. There was no slowing down. She took a zigzag approach, avoiding running too long on one city block and also careful not to turn back toward a potential trap. The foxes owned this city, and knew it well. Running could only go so far.

“Eileen!” Mickey begged, falling behind. She couldn’t lose him. She yanked him down a narrow street and, hedging her bets and praying for a miracle, she barreled into a shop.

A frail elder mouse shrieked when they entered. Her glasses fell off her snout, causing her to get on all fours and search for them. Eileen shuddered the blinds and locked the door.

“Please, can you help us?” Eileen pleaded. The mouse replaced her spectacles and analyzed them.

“What’s wrong, dears? Is something the matter?”

Eileen and Mickey weren’t sure what to say. Lying felt wrong. Surely she was of the Free?

“We’re being chased,” Eileen said truthfully. “The soldiers…”

The mouse’s eyes went wide.

“The fugitives!”

“We’re not going to harm you!” Mickey said, paws up. “We need to contact the Free…”

The mouse dove for the telephone. Eileen saw four numbers dial, the same as the hotline.

“RUN!” she shouted. Mickey wrenched the phone out of her paw and ripped the device out of the wall. The mouse covered her head with her hands and burst into tears. Eileen ignored her and jumped over the shop counter into the back room. There was another exit! The mouse was now running through her front door, screaming for help. Eileen was furious with her, but that wouldn’t help her now.

They were outside again, exposed. Mickey was still tired, but was it worth trying another shop? What if all of Vannastadt was like that mouse?

“There!” a soldier cried from the end of the street. He blew his whistle. Eileen ran down an alleyway. Mickey was right on her heels. As they rounded the corner, someone grabbed her.

“No!” Eileen lamented, wriggling against the hold. The grip softened.

“Hush!” the voice whispered. “I’m Free.”

—April 5, 1051—

—The Next Day—

Three of the Toons were in Vannastadt. Hyla Sensitive was found *inside* Musenzollern Castle! Wearing a replica of the Willonian crown, no less. She was a bold bitch. Vella was furious that she had managed to get inside one of Vulpus’s most fiercely protected strongholds!

Also spotted in the city were Eileen Irenic and Mickey Elias, though neither was apprehended. They disappeared just as the foxes were closing in. A thorough search of the city was underway.

Of note to Vella was that all three were mice. The mice were in former Willonian territory. That meant the ducks—the Beckers—were likely in the area that was once Mallardia. Mata Hairy and Alice Carver would go to Simeone, and Piggy Pie would be in Porcinia. The Free made a critical error splitting them up like that. It would be simple to track them now. Of course, Piggy Pie and Alice were safely imprisoned at Camp 17 on Eusuchia. Mata and the Beckers, and Eileen and Mickey, were the only ones unaccounted for.

Once Hyla was found, the hotline was called. Vella and Dr. Czufran Monet flew out posthaste. Finding the Toons was of the utmost importance to Vella. In the hands of the Free, they could do so much more damage. The last thing Vella needed was the Toons spreading their toxic stories of democracy.

Hyla was imprisoned in the dungeons of Vannazollern Castle. Czufran was overseeing the forceful interrogation when Vella entered Czufran’s makeshift laboratory. Hyla was strapped down with metal brackets. She appeared exhausted, but determined. Czufran bowed to Vella.

“Majesty, she remains silent.”

Vella rolled her eyes. The Toons were so idiotically stubborn. It would get her nowhere.

“Hyla,” Vella boomed. She stepped up to the table and glowered down at the pitiful mouse. “Where are Eileen and Mickey?”

Hyla was silent. Vella lacked the patience of a professional like Czufran. She went right for the jugular.

“If you don’t tell me, I’ll have Kilo and your babies killed.”

Hyla’s eyes bulged. She whimpered and shook her head. Tears sprung to her eyes.

“I don’t know where they are,” she croaked. “They escaped…”

“How?” Vella demanded.

Hyla cried as she recounted how they snuck into the castle through the sewer system and how Eileen and Mickey got separated from her, but saw her arrest and fled.

“The *sewers*?” Czufran snorted. “That’s disgusting.”

Vella snapped at a soldier guarding the door.

“Check the sewers.”

She could be lying. The arrest report did not say that Hyla stunk to high Vixen. She probably *was* lying. Vella did not trust any of these Toons. The interrogation was really only to see if Hyla would turn on her friends to save herself. Vella had lived with these Toons in their backwoods town; she knew how fiercely they’d defend each other.

A soft buzz distracted Vella. It was emanating from a briefcase carried by one of the soldiers in her entourage. The buzzing grew louder until she nodded at the soldier. The briefcase was required to be near the Vixen Queen at all times, a direct line between two monarchies.

“Connect the video feed,” Vella instructed. The soldier connected the briefcase’s contents to the large monitor hanging on the wall. Doe Halley appeared on-screen. She squealed with delight when she saw Vella’s face; she always got so giddy when the direct line worked as it was designed to.

“What is it?” Vella snapped. Halley’s face fell.

“Vella,” she cooed, “are you cross with me?”

Vella struck down the urge to roll her eyes. She put on her best sincere face.

“Of course not. I’m busy.”

Vella moved slightly to the left so that the image of Hyla strapped to the table would be seen. Halley herself then jumped out of frame, revealing her own torture projects. Doctor Smith, Bradley Wolfe, and Slate Oldman were all tied to the wall, arms above their heads. Slate’s paws were encased in fat metal orbs to halt the spread of his powers. All were bleeding, and Bradley appeared to be darker in color than he had been the last time she saw him.

“Is this what you wanted to show me?” Vella asked, confused. Halley was bouncing up and down.

“Oh, please let me kill them! You promised—“

“*NO!*” Vella shouted. “Absolutely not.”

“*Please!*” Halley whined. Vella crossed her arms and glared. She was not going to repeat herself. Halley mellowed and dropped her head. “Of course, your Majesty…”

The greatest challenge any Vixen Queen faced was keeping Cervidium in check. It was a relationship that ebbed and flowed, teetering between peace and war. Cervidium was smaller, sure, but if war erupted between the two nations, few non-foxes would rally to assist the Vulpus Empire. Revolution would be inevitable. Cervidium could emerge victorious. The situation was tenuous, which was why every Vixen Queen was forced to maintain a direct line of communication with the Doe or Stag of Cervidium. Vella was unfortunate in that the current Doe was deershit crazy.

Halley of the House Cervus was the most recent in a long line of Cervus monarchs, stretching all the way back to just after the War. The family was old, and powerful. Halley’s father, Stag Elaphus, had strengthened the bond between Vista and Lyme. Vella’s mother, Queen Vixen XXXI, considered Elaphus not only an ally but a friend. Elaphus suffered from chronic cervidavirus that ultimately took his life three years ago. Halley’s mother, Caspia, served as regent until Halley came of age just this year. Already, it was near-impossible to control her.

“Halley, sweetie,” Vella said gently, “I need you to obey me. The prisoners *must* not die on your watch. Don’t make me take them away.”

Halley stamped her hoof and glowered at Vella through the camera.

“That’s not fair!” she whined. “You promised me at least a month of playtime! It was *my* spies that told you about the Free heading toward Yefoxerinburg. A warning, by the way, that *you ignored*.”

“Don’t be so immature—“

“*And!*” Halley cried. “It was *my* species that discovered Toontown in the first place! *We* caught the signal and *we* informed your mother.”

Vella clucked her tongue.

“That was your own mother, dearest. You were still underage at the time. If any deer deserves credit for the discovery of Toontown, it’s the Doe Mother.”

She was right, and Halley knew it. The two went quiet. Vella could sense the tension in the room from those around her. A verbal spat between Vixen Queen and Doe was not uncommon, but still rife with the potential for danger.

“I won’t kill them,” Halley said eventually. “But I’m still going to play with them.”

“Fine,” Vella said, and terminated the call.

—Vulpus Strait—

—April 6, 1051—

—The Next Day—

Piggy Pie, Alice, and Usa were returning to the mainland, sailing across the Vulpus Strait on a fishing boat captained by a Free bear. His fur was tinted a dark navy, almost black. But it reminded Piggy Pie of Doctor’s royal blue color. The boat captain had not heard anything about any of the other Toons scattered across Cartonia. His duty to the Free was purely as a ferry to and from Eusuchia, something that he admitted was rare. In his seventeen years as a fisherman, he reported seeing hundreds of container ships dock at Eusuchia, but he could never see the cargo itself.

Of course, now Piggy, Alice, and Usa knew that Vulpus was carrying out mass extinctions in the prison camps on Eusuchia. It had to be stopped, but Piggy could not even conceive where to begin. It shouldn’t be her concern, but ever since Toontown and Cartonia blended into one world, she couldn’t imagine letting such evil continue. Cartonia used to never concern her; what happened in the Kingdoms was their own problem. No longer…

Heinrich Meyer, the double-agent fox who enabled their escape from Eusuchia promised to buy them as much time as possible. It wasn’t enough to get them off the shores of Eusuchia; they had to safely reenter the mainland and disappear into the countryside or even the Death Fields. Piggy dreaded the idea of traveling through those black stains on the continent she had seen from the air.

By noon, the boat docked in a deserted fishing harbor. The captain said that all the other fishermen were out in the Strait. The foxes’ patrol lapsed for a few hours each afternoon, the perfect window for the Toons and Usa to vanish from the Vulpus machine.

Another bear was waiting for them on the docks. She was wearing olive green and brown, like the camouflage pattern popular in some Toon clothing. A truck was parked beyond the pier.

“Benjamina,” Usa greeted. “Good to see you again.”

“What did you find?” Benjamina asked at once, leading them toward the truck.

“Let’s get going first.”

Alice and Piggy glanced at each other, annoyed. It was too often they were ignored or overlooked because they weren’t Free.

“Hi,” Alice stated. “I’m Alice, thanks for asking.”

Piggy snorted. Benjamina frowned.

“I know who you are. Get in.”

Piggy climbed into yet another vehicle to take her to yet another unknown destination. Once they were driving away from the pier and into the unpaved terrain, Usa told Benjamina everything about Eusuchia.

“And the Vixen Queen will now have the Harmony Crown,” she finished.

“Shit!” Benjamina exclaimed. “Do you have a plan to retrieve it?”

“Not yet. We’ll have to get to Vista. That’s where it’ll be, if not already destroyed.”

“We’ll have to talk to our sources in the capital. One of them may have seen it.”

Sources in the capital? The Free’s extensive resources astonished Piggy. The Toon Resistance only ever had two insiders: Mata Hairy and Flippy Flopper.

“Where are the other Toons?” Piggy asked, thinking about her friends. “Have you found Doctor, Slate, Mata, and Bradley?”

Benjamina heaved a sigh.

“The Beckers are safe, last I heard. No sign of the other four. As for the mice…their safehouse was compromised. Mr. Meesh is dead.”

Usa leapt out of her seat, but was restrained by her seatbelt.

“*How?”*

“Ambush at the message center. They knew he was coming, but his apartment wasn’t located. It looks like the Toons ventured out searching for him. Hyla was captured in Vannazollern Castle, but the other two are MIA.”

Piggy whimpered, whereas Alice angrily demanded,

“Captured? Where is she?”

“Still in Vannastadt, being tortured by the Vixen Queen and her wicked doctor. That Czufran lady.”

Usa cringed.

“Get your messages to the Vista sources to see if anyone can find the Crown. Take us to Willie. Hyla is an heir; we must save her.”

“Yeah, and don’t forget about Eileen and Mickey,” Alice said. “They’re just as important.”

Usa nodded. Benjamina didn’t do anything.

“What about the 1 May deadline?” Benjamina asked. “Do we proceed?”

“Absolutely,” Usa urged. “That date will not waver. We will continue with the revolution, with or without all the heirs.”

Piggy did not like the sound of that.

—Vannastadt, Vulpus—

—*Formerly Mus, Willie*—

The old throne room of Musenzollern Castle was just storage now, an extra space. When the former castles of the Granite Bloc were conquered and adopted into the Vulpus Crown’s collection of palaces, there was clear intent to remove any symbols or remnants of the dynasties that had once lived there. If history was erased, future generations would have nothing to look to. Hence the change from Musenzollern to Vannazollern, after Vella’s ancestor Vanna Vixen, and the renovation of the throne room. All the pictures were removed from their frames, which still hung empty on the walls, curiously enough. The throne room was actually divided in two as identical multipurpose rooms. The thrones themselves were melted down ages ago to cast new regalia for the Vixen Queen.

Vella wasn’t fond of any of the old castles. Mother had a proclivity toward Highland Castle in Canis. It was the only one which kept its old name, and was only adored by Vixen Queens previous because of its significance in the War. The evil and weak Bentley Connelly staged his last stand there, dying a coward’s death after ordering the Great Vixen Queen Valda’s murder.

“Here,” Skulksmarshall Rook James said, drawing Vella out of her thoughts. He was prying up a floorboard by the enormous windows. Vella peered over the edge; a ladder was leading downward into the darkness. A gust of warm air hit her face. The steam tunnels.

“This is how they got in…” the Skulkscolonel of Vannastadt declared softly. “All this time…that’s been there…”

“Close it up,” Vella ordered. “And why haven’t you found the others?”

The Skulkscolonel held his ground.

“We are conducting nonstop sweeps of the city. The gates have been closed, and--“

“They got in around the gates,” Vella snapped. “Find the holes, find the gaps, and *close the city*!”

Rook stepped away to take a phone call. Vella gave the Skulkscolonel a verbal beatdown for his failure to locate the Toons. The Skulkscolonel believed the recent capture and execution of a known Free agent and BioFreak, Malcolm Meesh, was related to how the Toons got into Vannastadt. Meesh may have been the one to smuggle them into the city. Once he was killed, the Toons would have been left to their own devices. But where were they being kept?

Vella eyed the steam tunnel entrance. They would soon find out.

Rook rushed back, his face flushed red. He bowed deeply, which could only mean he was about to deliver bad news. That was his habit.

“Majesty,” he said breathlessly, “Usa Uhuru, Piggy Pie, and Alice Carver have escaped from Camp 17.”

The words assailed Vella like bullets. She stumbled backward, absolutely shocked. *Nobody* had ever broken out of any of the camps on Eusuchia. Not one soul. And then the three most high profile prisoners walked out in the night?

“When?”

“They think a few days ago…”

Vella erupted with anger. She took her crown off her head and flung it with full force at the window. The metal cracked the glass and rebounded, nearly striking Rook. She was totally consumed with fury. What should have been a simple execution on the Toons’ first day in Cartonia had become an unending series of outmaneuvers and lucky breaks. For *them*! She was the Vixen Queen! Victory should always be hers!

The situation was getting out of control. She could only vouch for four of twelve Toons, the three at Cervidium and the one in her dungeons downstairs.

Should she just kill them all now? Halley was literally begging to do it. To her own irritation, she just couldn’t allow Halley to have her way. Halley was a spoiled brat as-is, and Vella was determined to never let her get to carry out such a momentous act and take the credit. The Toons, when executed, must always be executed by the foxes. The deer were not the superior species! Only the foxes.

But a message must be sent. Not just here, but Toontown as well. The Toons didn’t seem to realize that their actions up here affected the ones they left behind.

“Skulksmarshall,” Vella said quietly to a tense Rook, “Prepare the courtyard for an execution.”

“Yes, your Majesty.”

“One more thing. Is the communications tower finished in Toontown?”

“It is.”

Vella smiled.

“Dial Commandant Einfach.”

—April 7, 1051—

—The Next Day—

Through darkened windows on the third floor of a foreclosed industrial warehouse, Eileen Irenic and Mickey Elias watched as their friend, Hyla Sensitive, was led through the streets of Vannastadt, shackled. Foxes and brainwashed mice threw rotten produce at her. She was maimed, exhausted, bloody, a sight that made Eileen physically ill. A crown of mud had been shoved onto her head between two sliced ears. She was limping, still injured from the rescue in Yefoxerinburg.

“Please,” Eileen begged to the serene mouse who had saved her and Mickey from the chasing foxes in the city, “Please, save her.”

The mouse regarded her with sad eyes. Her name was Sairene Rendle. Sairene was so similar to Eileen’s dead daughter’s name, Irene. Ridiculously, that was the whole reason Eileen trusted her. When she misheard the name the first time, she felt as if it was a sign from the universe that she was in good hands.

“I’m sorry,” Sairene sighed. “I cannot do anything. Some of the Free may try to stage something during the execution, but I don’t know…I haven’t heard anything concrete.”

Eileen turned away from the window once Hyla was out of sight, continuing her death march to Musenzollern Castle. The execution was to be televised from the courtyard.

“Come on,” Eileen said to Mickey, “we have to try!”

“No, don’t,” Sairene said gently. “Please don’t.”

Eileen was adamant. What if Eileen and Mickey burst into the courtyard during the execution? If Vella was there, she’d see them. They could negotiate for her release!

Then again…Vella may kill all three.

Sairene crossed to the empty room’s door and bolted it. She stood in front of it, blocking any exit.

“I cannot let you go out there. Usa is coming back for you.”

Eileen slid to the floor, trying to block out the images she had just seen of her friend on the street.

“She’ll be too late for Hyla.”

—Toontown—

Constance Miller held one side of a glass pane while Ichabod Irving, Councilmember of Dreamland, held the other. The shopkeeper whose store was looted and destroyed in the Night of Shattered Stone directed them as they lifted the new window into place. The shopkeeper’s husband sealed the pane’s corners first. Constance and Ichabod withdrew their hands.

“Good as new!” the shopkeeper joked, though no one laughed. The exterior may be healing, but inside the Toons were still severely wounded.

“Thank you for your help,” Constance said to Ichabod. “I’m glad I ran into you.”

Ichabod smiled.

“Any time.”

He was once a passive, apathetic, ineffective Councilmember. Even during the heyday of the Cogs, Constance was unsure how far he’d go to defend Toontown. The last few months had assured her that Ichabod loved this town deeply and was not afraid to step up. He had personally visited every home in Dreamland in the wake of the Night of Shattered Stone to take survey of what repairs would be needed. He said he hadn’t rested in days.

The intercoms crackled overhead.

“Oh lord,” Constance growled, “what now?”

“Attention: Toons of Toontown,” Hans Einfach spoke to the masses. Constance could picture him in her old office, feet up on the desk, drinking in the power. “Due to the insurrection of Alice Carver and Piggy Pie in Cartonia, the Vixen Queen has issued the following proclamation. On this day, the seventh of April, 1051, the Commandant of the Toontown Colony is commanded to compile a random list of 200 Toons. These 200 Toons are to be executed on sight by members of the Vulpus militia. The 200 Toons must be dead by midnight. Here is the list.”

The world fell out from underneath Constance. Horror bled from her heart to every part of her body. Hans read the names aloud as if they weren’t a kill list. She was suddenly very aware of all the foxes around her, listening to the decree. She heard “Clark” and ached for the family that had already suffered tremendous loss in the *Chipper* disaster. She heard “Potbelly Pie” and pained for Piggy, who may be unaware that whatever action she performed up north was resulting in her brother’s death down below. Constance couldn’t even focus on the fact that the announcement inadvertently revealed that some of the Toons were still alive in Cartonia.

“Ichabod Irving.”

The color drained from Ichabod’s face. Constance reached out for him, but a fox had already recognized him, and sprinted across the street and drove a knife through his throat. Blood splattered Constance. She reeled backward and stepped through the glass pane she had just put in place. The window shattered like her heart. Great sorrow washed over her as an avalanche. The screams throbbed around her, Ichabod’s choked last breaths faded, the noises died away. The only thing that she could fully comprehend was the emotionless tone of Hans Einfach as he continued to sentence the people of her town to death.

She was on autopilot then. It didn’t matter that she was covered in her own blood and cut up from the glass. She couldn’t say with any certainty that her name was not read out. But she was running, racing, with fervency, toward Toontown Central.

Foxes were chasing Toons, hunting their quarries for sport. Constance came across a wounded fox lying in a puddle of blood on Loopy Lane. She picked up his sword. Never in her life had she held something like it, but she’d need it. For Hans.

Constance sliced a fox who tried to stop her from entering Toon Hall. Shocked, the fox collapsed, clutching her wound. She proceeded down the hall to the Commandant’s office. She swung the sword at the knob and kicked it open.

Hans jumped up from his desk in surprise.

“What the hell happened to you!”

Constance lunged at him. Sword over her head, she jumped onto the desk and swung downward. He leapt out of the way, and the sword embedded itself in the leather chair. She wrenched it out and tried again, but Hans had by now picked up his own weapon. The metals locked, Constance’s fury matching Hans’s determination. Constance knew that one of them was not leaving this room alive. It would not be her.

Their battle destroyed half the decorations in the room. A framed photograph of Hans with the last Vixen Queen was cut in half. His army medal display was knocked to the ground. In one attempt to stab Hans, Constance drove her sword through an oil painting of the Vixen Queen. Hans fought back, and came close to cutting off Constance’s head a few times.

“Drop the sword!” Hans shouted. Constance disobeyed and twisted it toward his shoulder. He blocked the blow and swung his own sword with such force that Constance nearly dropped hers. She pushed him toward the wall. He spun left, ending up behind the desk. They circled, eyeing each other. Hans then jumped onto the desk and kicked the lamp into Constance’s face. Momentarily blinded, she held the sword out in front of her as a spike, but she felt a striking pain on her wrist and she dropped the sword. Hans had hit her, forming a gash below her paw.

Hans was then upon her. He shoved her against the wall and pinned her in place with two hunting knives. She tried to knee him but he struck her knees; she howled in pain. Nonetheless, she pushed back. She spat in his face and twisted her shoulder. One of the knives fell out of the wall, freeing her arm. She removed the other and went for his throat. His paw caught hers. She pulled away and retrieved her sword.

They circled the desk again.

“Stop this,” Hans panted. “You’re not even on the list, but I can put you there.”

“Do it,” Constance said. She meant it, too. “DO IT!”

He didn’t answer. He couldn’t put her on the list. Vella wouldn’t permit it. She wanted Constance in her post, for whatever reason. She was just a puppet. Always just their puppet. She couldn’t protect Toontown from the Night of Shattered Stone, and she couldn’t protect them now. She was a failure.

Footfalls behind her indicated the arrival of reinforcements. Foxes burst into the office, guns aimed at her. She dropped her sword.

“Please,” Constance begged to Hans. “Just kill me.”

His mouth twitched.

“No. Soldiers, take her home.”

Constance did not budge. Had Hans always been this evil? Were all the foxes wicked from the onset? Was there any hope for any of them?

“Hans,” Constance muttered, “I ask for mercy.”

He rolled his eyes.

“Yes, well. I’m sparing your life tonight, aren’t I? That’s mercy.”

“Not for me. Stop the killings. I am begging you. We are innocents. We should not be hunted like this.”

Hans shook his head.

“I have my orders, and they do not come from you.”

“You know the orders are wrong! You know this is a crime!”

Hans looked confused.

“Soldiers, take her.”

She struggled to refuse their grasp.

“See reason!” Constance shouted. “Have compassion! Have mercy!”

He didn’t even look at her. He just beckoned to the soldiers, who continued to drag her out.

“I understand now!” Constance called to him from the doorway. She dug her heels in so she could say what she wanted to say. He met her eyes. “I knew you were all evil but I had hoped that there was some shred of reason left in you. You’re not blind to the pain you’re causing. You see it, and you just don’t care. You have no empathy. You aren’t just invaders, or killers. You are iconoclasts! You won’t stop until we’re all gone, until there’s nothing of Toontown and its history left! We are defenseless against you because we cannot reason with an irrational mind. You are a fanatic! And it’s going to be your undoing!”

“Take her home,” Hans scowled to his soldiers in reply.

—Vannastadt, Vulpus—

—*Formerly Mus, Willie*—

The humiliation of walking through the streets of Vannastadt paled in comparison to the fear of what was to come. Hyla Sensitive was about to be executed, and she knew it. This was her fault, in many ways. She had ventured into the ballroom, and she had rashly placed the crown on her head. The Free wasn’t going to save her now, and she wouldn’t want Eileen and Mickey to sacrifice themselves to attempt a rescue.

All she could think about as the foxes led her into the courtyard of Musenzollern Castle was her family. Kilo and the triplets. They’d be without her. She’d never go back to them. Her children would never know their mother. Vella Vixen didn’t care about that. She murdered her own mother; why would she show clemency toward another?

The courtyard was ringed with soldiers. On the balcony above, Vella stood there. She was watching, and Hyla looked away. At the center of the courtyard was a wooden scaffold. A single stake impaled the center, surrounded by small sticks and straw. Kindling. So this was her method of execution: burning at the stake. She had only read about such an atrocity in the Diary of War. Never in her darkest nightmares had such a fate been conceived.

There were cameras filming. She was certain the footage would be shown in Toontown as well. Her children would one day be old enough to view it. They would look upon their mother, and therefore Hyla was determined not to show fear. She blocked out the spectators and Vella Vixen, who read her death sentence aloud from the courtyard as Hyla was tied to the stake.

Closing her eyes, she pictured Toontown. The pleasant aromas of the Melodyland bakeries, the salty air of the Docks, where she and Kilo first met, the might of the Toon Council and the grassy plaza of Toontown Central. She imagined Kilo and his big, stupid glasses as he worked at his lab. Together, the two of them developing the gags in their attempt to defeat the Cogs. And then their three little bundles of joy: Margot, Samara, and Newton.

Her feet felt hot, but she didn’t open her eyes. She hummed herself a tune as smoke caressed her. The pain began to swell, but she was home with Kilo and the triplets. Everything was hot, warm like their embrace.

She was melting. Hyla was dying. She could barely breathe. She refused to open her eyes, but her final thought was one of courage. Kilo and her children would always wonder what had gone through her head at the moment of death, so she would tell them.

Summoning the last of her strength, she bellowed to the world,

“OUR LOVE WILL OUTLAST YOUR QUEEN!”

*Until I see you again,* Hyla said to Kilo and her children as she floated into oblivion. A figure appeared to her, a mouse in a crown.

*Let go, Hyla*, it said.

And she did.

—Toontown—

As the final few of the 200 Toons were murdered, Kilo Byte hushed the babies. They were crying, and had been ever since the commotion began.

“It’s alright,” he soothed. “It’s okay. You don’t have to cry. Dada’s here. And your Mama too. She’ll be coming back for us soon. We all have to be strong for her until she comes homes.”

## Production

### Continuity and Story Arcs

Piggy Pie makes reference to Clarabelle Cow as “the last cow” in Toontown, who was driven to insanity by her loneliness. She also mentions “the last elephant,” who is known to be Card Tatum.

The interior of Musenzollern Castle was last seen in “Lest We Forget” when the Mus Royal Family fled.

Vella Vixen and Doe Halley discussed Cervdium’s discovery of Toontown. A flashback scene of this event was portrayed in the season 3 episode “Out of the Frying Pan.”

## Trivia

* The title of this episode was quoted by Hyla Sensitive at the moment of her execution.
	+ The title was chosen for this quote, and not the other way around as many other episodes are.
* Heinrich Meyer is named after Heinrich Maier, a central figure in the Austrian opposition to Hitler.
* The extinction camps on Eusuchia are based on the Nazi death camps.
* The cut-out portraits of the throne room of Musenzollern Castle were inspired by the 1990 heist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
* The Cervus dynasty is named after a species of deer.
* Stag Elaphus is named after the deer species *Cervus Elaphus* (red deer).
* Doe Caspia (the Doe Mother) is named after the Caspian red deer.
* Benjamina is named after Benjamin Franklin, an American revolutionary.
* Sairene Rendle is named after Irena Sendler, a Polish woman who rescued thousands of Jewish children from the Holocaust.