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budgie-city · 9 months

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"Budgie City" — how is it organized and what is the story about?

Hello, I'm glad you decided to read my lore article about "Budgie City". The second article talks about where this world came from in general and how I came up with the idea. If you haven't read that article yet, you can check it out here. This article right here will tell you about the world itself and the society of the budgies, as well as describe the plot of the book in general terms. I remind you that the book is currently in the process of writing and will only be published when I have finished it completely.

Fundamentals of the "Budgie City" world

Yes, this is a story about talking animals, in particular, about birds! Set in a world much more wild than our own, filled with lush forests and untouched lands, you can meet the wild variety of birds (the story focuses on parrots though) you may know from all across the globe. From Australian (Cockatoos, Cockatiels, Grass parrots, etc.), African (Lovebirds, Ring-necked parakeets, Grey parrots), and South American parrots (Macaws, Amazons, Short-tailed parrots) to Weavers, Sunbirds, and occasionally even birds-of-paradise - you may find a broad spectrum of non-predatory birds residing right here.

But, of course, the bulk of the population of Budgie City, the main setting of the story, consists of colorful budgies. The city is essentially a large colony that has developed enough to turn into a complex system that depends not only on internal organization, but also on foreign trading. Trading between colonies in their world is based on barter, though inside cities there are local currencies — in most cases they are not metal coins, since metal is a rare and heavy material for birds, but they have their own kind of money equivalent.

The only species that has mastered metallurgy are African Grey parrots. Their colonies settle near volcanoes, and they are one of the only birds strong enough to handle such heavy materials. Therefore, metal is the main trading resource for them.

To show you what other species living in the city have to offer, I have this small excerpt from the first chapter that summarizes this quite concisely:

"Large parrots, due to their large carrying capacity, could easily transport quite bulky baskets with all kinds of food or raw materials, therefore, instead of independently transporting goods to other colonies, the budgies simply unloaded the goods large parrots brought, loaded them with their own and sent them back. Macaws most often brought figs and wild apples, cockatoos were famous for their special success in growing berries and gathering wild bee honey, grey parrots were the only birds in these forests who tamed metal... each species could provide something of its own to others, and as a result, all neighboring forests lived on trade links with each other. Budgies were skilled craftsmen in the manufacture of wooden utensils, and their chicks were believed to have the softest fluff among all parrots. So the fluff of the chicks that came down with molts was carefully collected, and other birds used it for the most delicate bedding in their own nests."

For such mentioned exchanges between the different birds, there is a trading base in the city — a group of large platforms on the trunk of the main baobab, where birds arriving with cargo are received, and cargo from the budgies is sent to other similar colonies.

The Budgie city stands "on seven baobabs" — an analogy to one well-known large city in our real world, which I came up with in 2014, and has since then remained more or less unchanged.

As can be understood from the scheme, the Seventh Baobab is considered the main one — it stands in the center and it is surrounded by the main structures that secure the functioning of the city. The remaining six baobabs are mostly residential. Instead of roads there are rope bridges connecting the structures to one another, which prove quite convenient in the case of carrying something around or to simply reduce the energy consumption that continuous flying demands. They start from the platforms on the baobabs, form multi-tiered intersections on the lower and branching trees standing between the baobabs, whereby, of course, this web converges on the seventh central one.

As for common areas, there are the market, the canteen, the baths (some are located on the Third baobab + the pool in the crown of the Seventh) and numerous interest clubs scattered throughout the city. For example, there are several board game clubs based in the crown of the Fifth Baobab, which the main characters tend to visit, especially Gesha and Gosha (since the two initially met at checkers).

Seventh Baobab concept art (artwork by me and @blackteaarts)

How did Budgie City come into being? Are there other cities in this universe?

Budgie City was founded by Phoenix. A bird whose species is unknown to anyone, so she is considered unique by the other residents. In addition to that no one knows her real age — she outlived those who helped her founding the city, outlived their children and their grandchildren, and so on. At this point no one is even trying to guess how old she is and where she came from. There were rumors about her, which had long become urban legends that every chick knows — they say she has magical abilities and can control fire. But there is no real evidence of this anywhere. In fact, no one living in the city has ever noticed anything supernatural about her — she is just a wise, kind bird with beautiful plumage, who treats every citizen like a mother treats her chick — with love and care.

Chroniclers often tell stories about how she herself was once raised among budgies and considers them part of her kind, and therefore decided to create a place where her sworn brethren can live in harmony and prosperity. Until then budgies had never lived in a colony this large before — usually they resided in rather small communities scattered many hundreds of square kilometers away from each other. Therefore Budgie City is the biggest known colony around. In number of citizens, it surpasses almost all others, which is why it is the center of attention of all the inhabitants of the surrounding forests.

Other parrots and some weavers live in a similar way. Small colonies have built their settlements right around the baobabs — in so-called suburbs, but similar formations exist in other places very far from the Budgie City as well.

What is the plot of the book?

I want to clarify that the book is currently in the process of writing in the form of a paper draft, and will be published only after the completion of the full work. Here I will give a brief description of the plot in general, without spoilers or delving into details, but so that you can have an idea of what this story is about.

In the peaceful and steady life of Budgie City — a life without any prerequisites ever before, there is a sudden turning point — Phoenix disappears. Moreover, she does not just go missing, but literally incinerates, leaving behind only one golden feather. In its entire history, the city had never had to change its mayor before, since Phoenix had ruled continuously since its foundation, so confusion and panic among the residents ensues. The so-called Royal Family, a circle of Phoenix's close advisers, who are direct descendants of the budgies who helped her founding this city, decide to hand over the reins to whom they deem the most responsible and emotionally resistant of them — Clementine and Jack.

But in a fit of desire to preserve their relationship with their son Fenya, who is slowly distancing from them, the couple, without putting it out as a question to the rest of the advisers first, use their new powers, and hand the reign to him. Subsequently, Fenya is now at the head of the city — an unstable, egocentric, arrogant yesterday-teenager. Having been partially raised by a zebra finch nanny, he sees more traits of finches in himself than those seen in other budgies. Therefore invites them to live in the city and he certainly does not go into details about why finches were never favored in the colonies of parakeets. Because there are good reasons for that... Finches are not just small and harmless birds, especially when there are a lot of them. And very soon the residents of the city will feel the effect of the appearances of the uncalled visitors…

In the midst of the ever growing chaos lives Gesha. A quiet florist who loves his routine filled with greenery and quiet pastime, who had always rested in a rather small circle of acquaintances, is forced to get out of his comfort zone and starts acting against the messy situation at hand. All because, it seems to him, that everyone around him prefers to believe and hope that everything will get fixed by itself, when this is clearly not the case. His friend Gosha is of the same opinion — although he often gets a bit carried away by his desire to administer justice (periodically turning into stupid brawls). He's just like that — against everything bad and for everything good, but tends to cross the line sometimes. Together they decide to create a secret society where they keep records of everything that upsets the citizens in this new reign, and try to find ways to solve these problems. While Gesha wants to deal with the situation through negotiations, Gosha, as usual, is more eager for a showdown.

Further down the line, Yasha appears — a native of a remote village who came from distant forests, where Budgie City is only considered a legend. He is a hopeless dreamer and a restless talker, but just as he is looking for a cozy home in this, for him, new and magnificent place, it is meanwhile literally bursting at the seams. Which soon forces Yasha to take off the metaphorical rose-colored glasses and, together with his new friends, face the harsh reality head-on.

Will the united citizens be able to solve the problem of the finch invasion and pacify the restless Fenya? Or maybe even bring Phoenix back? You will find it all out when the book is completed!

Huge thanks to @annchanorsomethin for helping with translation of this article!

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