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meadow-roses · 4 years

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This is Part 1, ✨History✨.

Okay, so I was working on typing up plot stuff for Joden's story that I'm still thinking of a name for, but it's getting really long so I'll post it in parts. :3

Also since this is really early in the story's creation pretty much everything is subject to change, but you get the idea of the general plot. XD

@ascendant-queen 💖

If anyone has any questions feel free to ask 👀

The story is set in a forested landscape, tree dotted grasslands eventually giving way to deep forests climbing up the mountain slopes. The different kinds of animals live in self governing groups, with varying levels of interaction between them.

The smaller critters like mice, rabbits, and squirrels mostly just live in large family groups throughout the entire region south of the Great Pine Woods. They by far make up the majority of the population, and have no uniting ruler.

The cheetahs live in the southern plains, little baronies scattered all around. Their diet consists of fish and smaller birds (? Might change that later haven't decided if the birds are sentient) and the cereal crops they grow. They also trade these grains with the other animals in exchange for goods such as cloth and beads. They love being fancy. They have this system of electing their rulers, but only members of the "nobility" (land owners) ever get voted in because of money stuffs.

The raccoons also form their own society working off the classic monarchy. Their kingdom is built in the Eastern woods, with their homes built up off the ground and literally in the trees. In the most populated villages, rope and stick bridges connect these homes making swinging pathways in the branches. A lot of the smaller creatures choose to make their homes in the roots of the raccoon trees, as their territorial border patrol keeps out aerial predators and the occasional rogue fox. Unlike the cheetahs, the raccoons are small enough they have enemies to worry about, and are known to have an exceptional and disciplined military.

The bear clans live high up in the craggy woods working their gardens, rather indifferent to what happens below and the rumors that they eat their visitors.

The foxes do not have any form of government or organization. Some live in groups and some alone, some pledge a mammal free diet and some hunt their neighbors. As such they are not trusted by anyone. :/

Here is a map I drew up:

A few things are unnamed and the scale is a bit off but you get the general idea of layout. 👍

About twenty years before the story begins:

Down from the Northern pine woods a clan of foxes comes. They are organized, armed, and angry, ready to claim some territory after being chased out of the north by the wolf clans. Most of the southern foxes come to join their cause, pleased at the idea of them having utter lordship over the woods. Skirting around the great cats, they infiltrate the woods to the west and south after establishing themselves in the North. This was done easily with no opposition due to the small critters having no leader. They just swept in and conquered.

With this done they turn their attentions to the East. The raccoons have watched this all happen with great alarm. King Cynric gathered his men in preparation of the attack, but still wasn't ready for the craftiness of the foxes'. They came in great numbers from the south, engaging the king's soldiers in the clash of battle, while stealthy individuals crept past the border guards and set fire to the trees. The wind and dry weather did its work, and the kingdom of raccoons fell to fire and bloodshed. Most died in the fires that destroyed their homes, the remainder of them fled under the guidance of their prince, only to fall at the mercy of their waiting enemies. Unprotected sows and their kits were slaughtered by the sword or captured and enslaved in the ruins of their home and all across the newly conquered forest.

This song really fits the burning of East Wood and Rowan's side of the story.

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Prince Rowan, however, rebelled at the enslavement of his people. With his father the king now gone, he was left the protector of his people and despite his wife's urging, could not lay down in submission. He gathered a small team of close friends and willing boars, bid his wife farewell, and left, hoping to gain more information on the foxes' plans and find a way to free his people. Him and those with him were never heard from again.

The cheetahs watched all this happen around them, and decided not to interfere, but rather formed an uneasy alliance with the foxes. They didn't consider themselves in any danger of being conquered, but weren't bothered by their actions and wanted to avoid the bother of war. The foxes were more than eager to sign peace with the cheetahs, knowing in that their conquest would be secure. It is unknown whether the bears up in their western mountain range are even aware of the dramatic changes to the lower-lands.

The woods are now in an awkward state of affairs, the foxes holding a tyrannical rule over all their subjects. Soldiers are stationed in every town and village to "keep the peace", the inhabitants going about their lives in the fear they or one of their family members will be chosen as the next meal. Most of the Southern foxes still prefer a mammal free diet, but one of the Northern invaders' main objectives is to secure easy prey for consumption.

The "free" creatures are allowed to live their lives "as they would please", but have limited allowance to travel and must give payment at the end of every week to their resident "guardians". This payment can be anywhere from a basket of wheat berries or a bolt of cloth to an older child.

The raccoons have a far stricter control placed over them, as they are viewed more capable of revolt. Scattered across the foxes' open woodless territory small slave towns hold the remnants of Cynric's kingdom. They spend their days working for their masters, boar and sow alike, tending fields, cooking and cleaning, mining, etc. They are kept under strict control with heavy penalties for disobedience. Their meal times are regulated, their sleep times, work times, housing, children, everything. It is in one of these dusty, dead towns Joden grows up in.

His mother is old enough she remembers what life was like in the old kingdom, remembers a life of freedom under the trees. Joden's father died shortly after the foxes' attack, he is told later he was one of the faithful boars that accompanied Prince Rowan for his last stand. She raises Joden on these tales, urging him to never give up the hope that they can one day be free.

It is for his mother's sake Joden's intense optimism grows. Can he truly be considered a slave if he goes about his work with a smile and a song? If he willingly puts on the yoke and carries the load they have required, who is the one truly in control here? They can enslave his body but they cannot enslave his spirit.

As he gets older he also grows bolder. Just being cheerful to lift his mother's spirits is not enough. He wants the entire slave town to be free in the way he is. They all go about their days in unnecessary gloom, only because they lack someone to lead them out of it. By the time he reaches maturity the entire town looks to him as their leader, hoping that someday a hero will come to set them free and lead them home. He stands in for them against the cruelty of their masters, fighting for the justice of his small community of raccoons. This often gets him into a good bit of trouble, which he somehow always manages to get out of and back home to his worried mother.

He meets Twylla when she is relocated from another slave town by stepping in when a few of the slave masters decide to teach the new coon a lesson. The girl had made no grave offense, just a slip in her understanding of the schedule this different camp functioned under. It was a great surprise to her when a random coon detached himself from the troop marching past, and demanded they punish him in her stead. He would take responsibility for the sow and her actions throughout her initiation and teach her obedience to their rules, all her mistakes laid to his shoulders instead. This was agreed to, as they had nothing in particular against the new coon but did enjoy taking out their boredom on Joden who usually escaped from any attempts against him. Twylla really had no idea what to think of any of this. She helped him up off the ground with repeated apologies he gently brushed off. She very willingly trotted along after him as he taught her not only how to function in this new town, but also how to hope. Then later they get married. :3

Jaceryn is the son of a Cheetah land baron. He has been raised in the lap of luxury, his father being the wealthiest of the barons and the cheetah's current elected leader. He is a rather naive boy who has never left his Father's estate, but naturally has big plans on how he will make the world a better place. He has grown up in a world where the foxes have dominion of all the forest outside his Father's control, and this is normal, but he doesn't understand what that means until he sees it for himself. They have little raccoon slaves all over his Father's land that they purchased from the foxes, so the concept of raccoons being a race of slaves is kinda engrained in him. There's no such thing as a "free raccoon".

His mother instructed him to stay on his father's estate when he plays outside, but one day he gets curious like young boys do, and decides to venture into the trees. He really likes the way the forest feels and goes deeper and deeper, thoroughly enjoying himself when he hears voices and decides to investigate. He comes across a raid in a woodland village, the fox overlords collecting their taxes. He sees the children ripped from their mother's arms, the weeping villagers, the carts of goods and the miserable raccoon slaves pulling them, and the jeering, laughing faces of the fox soldiers and the injustice burns within him. It is true the foxes defeated them in battle, so the captives are their spoils of war, but this is unnecessarily cruel oppression and he hates it. He hates that his own people- free people- are doing nothing to change this and he resolves to be the one that frees the slaves. His parents are told this scheme by their proud little thirteen year old and are very quick to try and dissuade him. Not only is this a dangerous task for him to undertake, but this also holds the possibility of starting a war that neither of them wish to fight. Jacer agrees to "abandon" the dream to put his parents fears to rest, but secretly continues plotting and preparing his coup. It would be risky, and he would need to be sneaky. Break into a camp and take out the guards, let the little coons run free…

He went on frequent trips out to the forest to swing around in the branches and practice creeping silently through the underbrush. The other cubs his age wrote him off as a weirdo, so he went alone. His father eventually began to worry about him on these trips, remembering how impulsive his son can be at times. It had been years since Jacer had talked about his quest to end slavery and had shown no signs that he still held that belief so his father thought nothing of purchasing Jacer his own personal slave. This slave's job would be companion and voice of reason and just general personal servant.

This is probably where the actual story would start lol, so all that is setup. XD

I'll share more as I finish writing it, cause I'm really excited about this story. :3

#joden #jacer #text #writing #anthro #original story #original character #oc #cheetah #raccoon #fox #map #if anyone else wants to get tagged in these posts lemme know 👍#deepwood

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a-wandering-fool · 6 years

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From the article;

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According to a report published by Politico, Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) chose to appear pressured when, in fact, he masterminded the latest Kavanaugh delay. His subsequent media statements about his motivations and his media appearances in light of this report suggest Flake’s true motivations are far less pure than he would have us believe.

Flake’s focus on optics, on his raw ambition (for 2020?), and on the kind of “swamp creature” political maneuvering surrounding this planned reversal paints for the American people a hideous and disturbing portrait of the Arizona senator.

On Friday, Flake told the Atlantic that he insisted on the seventh FBI investigation into Judge Brett Kavanaugh because he was trying to save two institutions, the Senate and the Supreme Court. During this interview, he also explained that he was deeply moved by Chris Coons’ pleas and decided that it was up to him, Jeff Flake, to “bring a little unity,” to stop our country “coming apart on this.” A move that apparently brought Coons near tears.

To follow up on his preening media tour, Flake showed up on 60 Minutes with Coons in tow. CBS is revealing parts of this interview leading up to its Sunday night airing.

CBS News reports:

In an interview with “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley airing Sunday, Sens. Jeff Flake, R-Arizona, and Chris Coons, D-Delaware, discussed what they thought of Kavanaugh’s emotional testimony. Both senators were instrumental in delaying a floor vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination for one week while the FBI conducts an investigation into claims against him.

. . . . Coons said Kavanaugh’s reaction to questions posed by Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Amy Klobuchar about his drinking and behavior in high school “went over a line.”

“He was clearly belligerent, aggressive, angry. And I thought there was a tough dynamic there. As I watched him, part of me thought, ‘This is a man who believes that he did nothing wrong, and he’s completely unjustly accused. And he’s being railroaded. And he’s furious about it,'” said Coons.

Coons added that Kavanaugh’s more “partisan” responses made him question his fitness for the bench.

“There were some lines that he delivered that were sharper, more partisan, more, ‘This is the Clintons paying me back. This is a Democratic smear campaign,’ that I was surprised, struck to hear from a judicial nominee,” Coons said. “I’m not at all surprised to hear that from other colleagues in the committee or on television. But I was really struck that I thought his anger got the best of him. And he made a partisan argument that would’ve been best left to be made for his advocates and defenders on the committee.”

Flake said he “didn’t like” Kavanaugh’s “mention of the Clintons and whatnot,” but added, “I had to put myself in that spot. I think you give a little leeway there.”

Watch:

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Flake’s positioning of himself as some sort of unifying force whose sole mission is to save the Senate and SCOTUS because he is driven by patriotic desires for national unity is unraveling, however.

The plot to further stall the Kavanaugh nomination was hatched Thursday night in Senator Susan Collins’ (R-ME) office. Also allegedly in attendance were Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Joe Manchin (D-WV). The four put their heads together and realized that as only Flake serves on the Judiciary Committee, they couldn’t pull off their devious plot without the assistance of another Senator serving on the committee.

They somehow landed on Senator Chris Coons (D-DE), and as noted above, Flake has been putting him to good use as a political prop and general useful idiot.

Politico reports:

In Susan Collins’ third-floor office in the Capitol, she and her Republican colleagues Jeff Flake of Arizona and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — joined by Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia — agreed they had the power to make or break Kavanaugh. And without settling on precise details, they decided to use their leverage to insist on a process that would allow them to reach a comfort level with Kavanaugh’s confirmation process and seek more information, rather than to kill his Supreme Court nomination outright, according to two people familiar with the meeting,

What resulted on Friday afternoon threw Washington into chaos and guaranteed another week of uncertainty and suspense surrounding Kavanaugh’s confirmation. Just hours after Flake endorsed Kavanaugh and seemed to put him on a path to the high court, the Arizonan said he first wanted a week-long FBI investigation into Christine Blasey Ford’s allegation that the judge assaulted her. It was a victory for Democrats who’d been demanding such a probe, to no avail, and promises to define the retiring Flake’s legacy as someone who refused to let Kavanaugh get a vote while under a cloud of doubt.

. . . . But the Flake-led rebellion, however long it lasts, had been building for nearly two weeks.

Though Murkowski, Collins and Manchin all endorsed the FBI investigation on Friday, Flake needed another partner to pull off his move because none of them serves on the Judiciary Committee. So Flake, who’s been mocked for writing a book blasting the Trump presidency only to vote for his agenda, teamed up with a Democrat.

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) has spent his eight-year Senate career making earnest attempts to build relationships with Republicans, at times to liberals’ annoyance. He and Flake have taken trips around the world together as part of their duties. And on Friday afternoon, with a Supreme Court seat on the line, it all paid off.

Coons, who appears to be a hapless victim of Flake’s skullduggery, was then blindsided by Flake’s announcement that he was insisting on a further delay and investigation.

Politico continues:

Coons and Flake vacated the Judiciary Committee shortly before the panel was expected to vote to advance Kavanaugh, a seemingly innocuous moment that left onlookers increasingly bewildered as more senators joined them in the back room. They returned minutes later with a deal that forced GOP leaders to bow to the minority’s demand for an FBI probe, delaying the confirmation for as much as a week.

“I did not expect him to do this today,” Coons said of Flake, speaking for nearly everyone in official Washington.

Flake’s plot doesn’t stop there; it includes signalling to Senate Republicans that his intentions are not to bring down Kavanaugh. It’s unclear how true that is, but Politico continues:

In fact, Flake was playing a longer game. He said his statement supporting Kavanaugh was a signal to Republicans that he wasn’t joining the Democratic resistance and would show he wasn’t out to bring Kavanaugh’s nomination down.

“I hoped that would help provide leverage,” Flake recounted. But he needed some Democrats to endorse the FBI investigation, if not Kavanaugh’s nomination, to get fellow Republicans to agree.

Flake wanted to demonstrate “that the process is fair, at least, even if [Democrats are] not going to vote for” Kavanaugh, he added.

Flake wouldn’t say whether the protesters played a role in his decision. But he acknowledged he was in the middle of a “remarkable” moment and ticked off his “interactions with a lot of people, on the phone, email, text, walking around the Capitol, you name it.”

. . . . In his speech, little-noticed at the time, Coons suggested that someone with a “partisan agenda” might have leaked to the media Ford’s letter alleging the assault — harmonizing with what Republicans had been saying for days. Coons’ speech also repeated his request for an FBI investigation.

It was exactly what Flake was looking for.

Not long afterward, Coons and Flake repaired to a committee anteroom to hash out an agreement: Democrats would endorse a one-week FBI investigation into Kavanaugh, and Flake would use his leverage in the narrowly divided Senate and threaten to vote “no” on the floor if Republicans refused to go along.

Read the rest.

There is a somewhat disturbing revelation in the remaining Politico report.

Collins asked that Kavanaugh’s friend Mark Judge, whom Ford alleges was in the room during the alleged assault, sign a letter and send it to the committee rather than let his lawyer do it, according to two Republican senators. The letter was turned around in a matter of hours. And Murkowski had endorsed an FBI investigation days before, only to change her tune after meeting for more than a half-hour privately with McConnell.

We covered this letter which was submitted, the letter states, “under penalty of felony.”

Meanwhile, Flake—again with Coons in tow—was proclaimed a “hero” at Saturday’s Global Citizens Festival.

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