Nature of Nature's Art/Analysis

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Animal Society

While the glossary does help a little in understanding what is going on within the story, it often raises more questions than it answers. What follows is an attempt to explain just how animal society works, and how they are able to fight with extreme Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness.

  • Most animals are able to speak in either Common or in a language specific to their species. In the comic, Common is shown in a handwritten font, while the species-specific languages are typed.
  • The names of the animals are usually scent codes, which are represented as a series of capital letters. While the full, formal code is seven letters, it's often abbreviated to two letters. Consonants indicate a sapient smell, while vowels have a feral smell to them. They can also have informal nicknames for each other, which is how Marigold and Nutsedge got their names.
  • All or most animals in the comic are intelligent due to a "halo brain" that exists outside of their normal brains. Halo brain have interesting properties: they are usually incorporeal, though it can be made visible with certain techniques in battle. They also make styles and factures possible.
  • A style is like a school of martial art. Some styles, called leases, involve mimicking another animal in order to fight. The most basic lease is taking on the weight of the animal; this is called a weight buffer.
  • Factures are basically special moves within a style. They're the ones with big, sophisticated names, which are often medical terms. The effects of these factures is very much up to the interpretation of the reader. The biggest and most Badass factures are called supreme factures.