The World Today

The world in which Foxville is set is dramatically different from our own in many ways. When predogen began to develop in our bodies during the Industrial Revolution, it caused a cataclysmic shift that altered our history forever. As the map of the globe below depicts quite clearly, in this alternate reality, the spirit of nationalism and the concept of individual nation states has been largely done away with, superceded by a series of massive, interconnected superstates. Bigger is indisputably better, a notion that is exceptionally difficult to disagree with in a world where predogen exists. Small gets eaten by big - don't want to get eaten? Get big! The world has generally become a more communal, more cooperative place - technological progress has been considerably accelerated, with the quality of living substantially enhanced throughout the globe. Many once fatal diseases have been cured, birth rates are at an all time high, and the world's population has grown to a staggering 20 billion people. Our story takes place in the heart of the United North American Republic, a superstate that encompasses the entire North American continent, and one of the most prosperous and powerful nations on the planet.

As the focus of our story is very much concentrated on the day to day happenings of Foxville, the exact details of the world beyond the city are not particularly important for you to know. However, we can still nonetheless paint a broad picture of what civilization has become over the past two centuries. This section is by no means intended to be a grand timeline or some sort of 'lore bible' for you to follow religiously, but rather a quick, general overview to get you started. If you have any specific questions about a specific historical happening that isn't covered here, you're always welcome to ask a storyteller!

The Great Revolution

The world undergoes a cataclysmic paradigm shift as society transitions from patriarchy to matriarchy.

In the late eighteenth century, the world was so different from what it is today that it's almost impossible to imagine. For example, if I were to tell you that men were once calling all the shots, you'd probably laugh in my face. But it was true - for almost all of human history, our civilization was a patriarchy, where men held all the power and women were subjugated to their whims. But then, predogen came along and changed everything. The changes didn't quite happen overnight, however. Modern historians generally agree that the first major turning point in our history came during the Industrial Revolution. As nations began to industrialize and large factories began to spring up far and wide, the demand for physical labourers and artisans grew at a dramatic pace. This demand was accompanied by an unprecedented population boom... and this generation was different than those that came before. Most of them were girls, for a start - and even in childhood, they were showing signs of being bigger and stronger than their male peers. It was a trend that would only continue as they grew older. In an era where strength and stature was more valuable than ever, this new generation of young women quickly found employment in the factories, and with that employment came the chance to earn a living independently of the men in their lives - and with that chance came power. The power to make their own decisions, to live their own lives, and to shape the world around them. The power to dominate.

This trend only continued deeper into the nineteeth century. Despite substantial social upheaval and widespread protests from men, the womens suffrage movement gained a near unstoppable momentum and soon won the right to vote throughout most of the Western world by the mid 1850s. They began to take over the workforce, and soon gained positions of influence and power within law enforcement, the military, and government. By the turn of the century, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom was a woman - the first female leader of a Great Power, but far from the last. With this momentous shift in the balance of power came other dramatic societal changes, too. The traditional family structure was turned on its head. The new generations of men and women alike boasted substantially higher libidos and a much greater sexual appetite than their ancestors, and with the increased desire and need for intimacy came a greater acceptance of sexual freedom and exploration. Pansexuality became the norm, and polyamory a common lifestyle choice. Religious doctrines struggled for relevancy and were forced to become increasingly more inclusive of both women and traditionally 'deviant' sexualities. Homosexual marriages became legal. Rapid advances in the medical sciences saw the development of revolutionary methods to prevent and cure sexually transmitted diseases, which only further encouraged the sexual revolution and continued to enhance birth rates worldwide. The vast majority of infants born continued to be female, but a strange new phenomenon began to emerge - the birth of the 'invert,' a child born with a mutated second X chromosome, possessing entirely functional masculine reproductive genitalia, but otherwise developing and presenting as female. This 'third sex' quickly became a common sight in the world, and the percentage of children born inverts steadily increased while the number of children born male has went in the opposite direction.

But there was a problem, and it was a serious one. The world's population was continuing to rise dramatically, but there simply wasn't enough food to go around. Even with the vast, progressive strides that the world had made throughout the Industrial Revolution, people were starving. Worse, farmers throughout Europe and the Americas were beginning to notice a concerning pattern. The fertility rates of their livestock were dropping dramatically - less cows, less pigs, less chickens. Less food, too many people. The world was on the brink of a catastrophic famine... and that's when it started. Reports of people going missing in the night, of entire villages being found deserted, of strange, monstrous creatures lurking in the shadows. But they weren't monsters. They were people. Hungry, starving, desperate people who had been forced to turn to the only source of food that was left to them. In the beginning, it happened by accident - after all, how could you know you were capable of swallowing someone whole if you'd never tried? But when you were desperate, truly desperate, driven to the edge of sanity by hunger pains, if you had enough of it, the predogen in your body would take over, and you'd find yourself doing things you never thought you were capable of. Muscles stretching far further than they should, jaws that could open wider than you'd ever seen before, a stomach that could expand to accommodate a meal that was far larger than you'd ever thought you could eat. And when you'd finished, you'd feel full, and you'd feel strong, and you'd feel alive. And you'd feel guilty. But not guilty enough to stop you from doing it again. And again. And again.

Thus, the solution to the world's food crisis was temporarily found. The strongest people in society - those with the most predogen in their system, those who were capable of this freakish feat of voracious consumption - they acted as a force of nature, apex predators that helped to keep the world's population in check. Tales spread of women as tall as a house, with muscles that could crush stone walls to dust, and stomachs capable of swallowing entire families whole. It was murder, of course, and murder isn't terribly popular... but neither is starving. Population levels began to decrease, at first, and nothing quite drives scientific and economic progress like the very real fear of being eaten and digested alive because your bigger next door neighbour has missed a few too many meals. Rapid advances in agriculture and synthetic food production became the scientific miracles of the early twentieth century, and have only developed further since then, facilitating the world's increased fertility rates without the human cost. This widespread outbreak of cannibalism began to decline, but its legacy would last forever more. The hunger had been awoken, and it wasn't going away. Those who had feasted had saw firsthand just how good it felt to consume another human being, and experienced the after effects firsthand - they'd grown bigger, stronger, better. Even if they never did it again, they never forget that feeling - and when they had children, they grew up even bigger and stronger than their parents had been at the same age. Those children would feel it too, as they grew older... the urge, a rumbling inside their guts, a craving that no amount of ordinary food could ever satisfy. The world had changed, and it was never going back.

Modern Times

A new world order, a new way of life, a new reality.

The tumultuous effects of the Great Revolution have left an indelible mark upon the world. Gender roles have been reversed, sexual and biological norms shattered, unprecedented scientific advances achieved, and remarkable evolutionary adaptations made. An era of abundance and prosperity began - with women in charge, there were remarkably fewer wars between nations. And indeed, nations themselves began to seem like something of an outdated concept, anyway - unity movements and federations grew throughout the world, as old rivalries faded, new alliances formed, and the borders between countries blurred. The world was becoming a more cooperative place, and with that cooperation came further acceleration in technological progress and the quality of living. The world's population continued to grow, and grow. The newly formed superstates of the world no longer viewed military might and conquest as the primary means of achieving their goals, and instead focused on their internal economic and social development. The United North American Republic led the way in this regard, and soon became considered the most prosperous state on the planet.

Computers became more and more powerful. The internet became widespread. The world was more connected than ever before, and with that connection came greater understanding. Progress continues to accelerate at an unprecedented pace. Innovations in space travel have led to extensive colonies on both the Moon and Mars, and allowed for the capture and mining of resource-rich asteroids, an endeavour only made possible through extensive international cooperation, leading to less competition for resources on Earth, a traditional source of conflict. The world's energy needs are almost entirely met through renewable sources, and the world's cities are cleaner, more efficient, and more beautiful than ever before. Most people are well employed, and the average family is very large indeed. The concept of masculinity has almost completely evaporated, with femininity the norm. 75% of the world's population are female or X-inverts, while the remaining 25% that are male can hardly be called so at all. The vast majority are feminine in aspect, behavior, slender, and frequently infertile. Many scientists are predicting the current generation of men might well be the last... and this matriarchical world considers that to be a good turn of events, all things considered. Some might even go as far as to say that the world has become a utopia. But it's not a utopia for everyone. The cannibalistic legacy of the 'terrible hunger' still lingers. The descendants of those who were forced to become predators found themselves with advantages that their ancestors could never have even dreamed of. Sure, they were bigger and stronger than the other kids, but they were just a little bit smarter too, a little bit more charismatic, a little bit more attractive. They were the ones who got the best jobs, the best houses, the best partners. They were the ones who got to make the rules, and they were the ones who got to break them without consequence.

In the vast majority of superstates worldwide, cannibalism is treated no differently than murder or manslaughter. But you better believe that it happens. People just go missing. Do you want to know what the most commonly dealt with incident report by police officers happens to be? Missing persons. In fact, there are far more people reported missing than there are legitimate cases of murder. In towns, cities, and villages all around the world, people go missing every single day. Many people, most really, know exactly what has happened to them... but very few cause a fuss. The police know too, you see. The police understand exactly what has happened, and why. They don't just understand, they frequently sympathise. Maybe they even contributed to a few of those missing persons themselves. Every now and then, a few arrests might be made, for someone who got a little too greedy. There are limits to what society will tolerate, even if the lions are running the zoo. Prison is full of big gals who couldn't keep their hunger in check. But if you're smart enough about it, well connected, or just live in the right town with a very 'negligent' police department, and you've got enough predogen in your blood, you can satisfy that deep-seated itch without anyone ever being the wiser... and be better off for it, too. Need an edge in school, or on the track? Eat the competition. Want to get ahead in the workplace? Eat your boss. Want to get ahead in life? Eat your family. It's a dog eat dog world, and you can be the biggest dog of all. Just don't get caught walking down main street with your belly too full, or eat the wrong person, and you'll be just fine.

This has created a society that appears equal only on the surface. Some people are more 'equal' than others. The more power acquired by this growing generation of apex predators, the more they've been able to shape the world to their advantage. Culturally, economically, politically, and socially... they've become the ruling class, and the rest of the world is in danger of becoming their playground. Voracious cannibalism has even become a widespread fetish, and the world is filled with people who find themselves curious about the idea of being eaten, some even going so far as to seek out predators to consume them, even if it means their own death. Others seek solace in virtual reality, living out their fantasies in safety, getting as close to the ultimate climax as they can get without engaging in the real thing. For some, it's enough... for others, who can say? Like we've already covered, people just go missing. And who runs the gaming companies behind these virtual reality experiences? The same people who run everything else. Predators.