Art / Beast Fables

Used with permission.

Beast Fables is a worldbuilding project by Nicolas "NazRigar" Siregar, portrayed through digital artwork posted on Twitter, Tumblr, DeviantArt, Instagram, and Patreon, as well as r/Worldbuilding. It takes place in the fantasy world of Urvara, inhabited by werebeasts on the land and merfolk in the sea. The setting's present is in the equivalent of the 19th century, but it has a long and storied history.

Not to be confused with the trope Beast Fable.

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Beast Fables contains examples of:

• Age of Reptiles: The Primeval Age was inhabited by anthropomorphic versions of all sorts of Mesozoic animals that didn't co-exist in real life, from the mid-Triassic amphibian Mastodonsaurus, to the late Cretaceous Tyrannosaurus.
• All Flyers Are Birds: Downplayed. Werebirds revere the Father of the Skies, a Quetzalcoatlus, who has a lot of influence on their culture even though he wasn't a bird.
• Basilisk and Cockatrice: Cockatrices and basilisks are types of wyvern that show a greater proportion of saurian traits than normal. Cockatrices, which mostly occur among ground birds such as poultry, have sickle claws and toothed beaks in addition tot he wing claws, stronger legs, and long tails common to all wyverns, and tend to be more carnivorous than their base species. Basilisks, which arise among large, ground-running birds such as ratites and seriemas, are more reptilian still, and tend to have fully reptilian heads, necks, and tails; some are venomous as well, and are among the largest wyverns when in hybrid form — an ostrich basilisk can tower over an elephant.
• Cain and Abel: Wereamphibian mythology tells of two brothers, an older Mastodonsaurus and a younger Prionosuchus. The younger one fell in love with a mer-woman, which angered the older brother, so he killed the younger brother.
• Classical Chimera: True chimeras, after which the broader group of animal shapeshifters is named, are lions who can transform in a shape with reptilian and caprine traits. The example in the illustration has a crocodilian or draconic body, a lion's head and neck, and goat horns.
• Crystal Dragon Jesus: Asterianism is a monotheistic religion widely practiced in a Fantasy Counterpart Culture of Europe. Its God is one being with multiple aspects, and it's named after a figure who some believe was the human incarnation of said God.
• Death by Childbirth: Averted. Cephalopod merfolk don't die after reproducing like their more animalistic counterparts but they do apparently suffer bad postpartum depression.
• Dinosaurs Are Dragons: Wyverns are bird-based chimeras that gain features from non-avian theropods, such as hands, teeth, and tails.
• Dire Beast: Dire beasts are animals that can gradually and permanently transform into bigger versions of themselves.
• The Dreaded: Ixandyr the Sea Lord was a Mosasaurus merman who conquered many merfolk settlements and unified them into an empire. Many warriors surrendered when his forces arrived; the only person who dared to fight him was Tyrant King Thunder.
• Driving Question: The closest thing Beast Fables has to an overarching plot is the mystery of why no werebeasts have fully-aquatic animal forms, and if merfolk really exist.
• Either/Or Offspring: Usually, werebeasts inherit one of their parents' werebeast forms. Rarely, they can be hybrids instead, such as a liger.
• Everyone Is a Super: Everything in Urvara has the potential to transform. The humans are all werebeasts, and wild animals can become temporary chimeras or permanent Dire Beasts.
• Fantastic Livestock: According to the description of "Blacktip Reef Shark", merfolk have domesticated noble pen mussels for their "silk" and meat. They've also domesticated manatees and herd them like cattle.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture:
  • "A Second Chance Part 2" describes a thylacine huntress who let some stranded prisoners live in her tribe's town as long as they promised to respect the land, a clear parallel to how the British Empire used Australia as a penal colony.
  • The Priest-Queen of the Sun was a Spinosaurus who ruled over a riverine civilization based on Pharaonic Egypt, as modern Egypt was where the first Spinosaurus fossils were discovered.
• Fantasy Counterpart Map: Urvara's continents are in similar positions to their real-world counterparts, but have a lot of jagged peninsulas. There's also land at the North Pole.
• Fearsome Critters of American Folklore: Jackalopes are hares who become chimeras, animals capable of limited shapeshifting, and develop the ability to grow antlers. They're known to be most common in areas where they are lots of antlers and bones for them to gnaw on.
• Gentle Giant: The Shastasaurus merman in "Paleontology Influenced Merfolk", based on the largest known marine reptile, is described as a peaceful nomad.
• Glass Cannon: A variant. Were-arthropods are capable of physical feats of speed and strength that can rival or even exceed those of the other clades. However, most have very poor stamina compared to the rest of the weres and can tire quickly, forcing them be to be careful and conserve their energy.
• Grey-and-Gray Morality: This was a big facet to the war between Tyrant King Thunder, and Ixandyr the Sea Lord. The former was far more compassionate than his ancestors and attempted to rule fairly, but was still the heir to a dynasty of tyrants and wasn't above using violence to accomplish his goals, such as threatening to kill anyone who tried to harm Torch Bearer. The latter turned the merfolk into a united people with greater safety and education but was a ruthless conqueror who killed anyone who tried to fight back. Further muddying the issue is the fact that it's unknown who started the conflict between them and why.
• A Head at Each End: Amphisbaenae are bustards who become chimeras, animals capable of limited shapeshifting, and develop the ability to turn their tails into scorpion stingers with markings strongly resembling their normal head feathers, eyes and beak.
• Hidden Elf Village: Merfolk live in waters far away from werebeast civilisation, and it's a serious taboo for them to even surface. This doesn't deter mer-poachers from killing werebeasts, though.
• Jack of All Trades: The description of "The Great Werebeast Clades" says that weremammals are generalists, and you can find them working in almost any job, from warriors to intellectuals to janitors.
• "Just So" Story: Wereamphibians believe that they can't survive in saltwater for long because a mer-woman cursed them in revenge for one killing her lover.
• Last of Their Kind: Kosumi and 'Awha'y were the last merfolk of their respective kinds — a sabretooth salmon and a Semirostrum porpoise, respectively. Their legacy was passing down myths of the Primeval Age so it will always be remembered.
• A Lizard Named "Liz": Kara Otodona is a great white shark mermaid whose name sounds like the species' genus, Carcharodon.
• Mad Artist: Were-birds see themselves as artists and put their entire being into their craft. Many of them also become warriors of some kind and they see combat as another form of art. They're even described as "a people of the arts, culture, dance and song… and violence."
• Magic Pants: As explained in the description of Kangaroo and Komodo Dragon, werebeasts' clothes transform with them because transformation magic affects everything in Urvara.
• Meek Mesozoic Mammal: Were-mammals revere a Moses-like figure called the Torch Bearer, a Didelphodon who led their ancestors to safety away from the Tyrant King, implying that other mammals at the time were meek.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: Chimeras are animals capable of a partial version of the human werecreatures' shapeshifting, which allows them to take on the features of one or two other species. Unlike humans, who include individuals capable of transforming into almost all terrestrial or amphibious creatures, most animal species are only known to have one chimeric form. The exception is equines, which have six — the knight's unicorn, diomedes, tikbalang, centaur, longma, kelpie, and hippocampus.
• Monstrous Seal: Tizheruks are a form of pinniped morph — the one shown is a leopard seal — that combines the basic seal or sea lion with elements of eels, snakes, and extinct marine reptiles. It's mostly used when hunting to overpower or outrun prey, although walruses and elephant seals also use for intea-specific competition.
• My Instincts Are Showing: The bleed-in effect is a phenomenon where physical or mental traits from one's werebeast form carry over into their human form. For example, were-beavers hate the sound of running water.
• Not So Extinct:
  • "Catalysts of Transformation" speculates that if merfolk did exist, they're probably all dead by now... right above an image of a shark-person hiding from two werereptiles.
  • For a more meta use of this trope, some present-day werebeasts have animal forms that were extinct by the 19th century in the real world, such as mammoths and moas.
• One-Gender Race: Some chimera forms are sex-linked. For example, only stallions can become unicorns, and only mares can become diomedes.
• Our Centaurs Are Different: Centaurs are a form of equine chimeras that develop insect traits, giving them six arthropod limbs — four for walking and two for grasping; the latter are sometimes replaced by mantis claws — alongside compound eyes and insect abdomens projecting from their hindquarters. They can emerge among zebras and donkeys as well as among horses.
• Our Gryphons Are Different: Griffons are a form of chimera that emerges among birds of prey that incorporates traits of large mammals, chiefly but not exclusively felines; like all chimeras, they spend most of their time in their natural form, but can take on their larger, hybrid form at will, and mostly use it for hunting and fighting. In hybrid form, they are the size of a large cat and are quadrupeds, with modified, taloned wings acting as forelegs, with their mammalian traits manifesting chiefly in the anatomy of their torsos, their size, and leonine tails.
  • Griffons arise from different avian groups at different rates. Eagles are the most likely group to become griffons — almost all eagle chimeras are griffons — and tend to be sturdy and powerful in hybrid form. Hawks and ospreys come next, and primarily tend towards leaner, swifter builds. Owls and then vultures come next, and finally falcons.
  • There are two rarer forms with the broader griffon type, the bugbear and the hippogriff. Bugbears incorporate ursine traits instead of feline ones, and tend to be very heavily built and strong. Most bugbears are owl chimeras, who use this form to outmuscle competing predators. Hippogriffs are partly equine instead, and are usually found in vultures who decide they want live prey or to bully away other scavengers.
• Our Hippocamps Are Different: Hippocamps are horse chimeras sporting cetacean traits, resulting in a stocky quadruped with dolphin-like skin, flippered hooves, and a long tail tipped with a fluke. They forage in fresh and salt water alike, and are preyed upon by crocodiles and orcas.
• Our Humans Are Different: All humans in Urvara are born with "The Gift", which gives them the power to turn into an anthropomorphic land animal. Because of this, they're also known as werebeasts.
• Our Kelpies Are Different: Kelpies are horse chimeras sporting the scales, tails, teeth, and hunting habits of crocodiles.
• Our Mermaids Are Different: The seas of Urvara are inhabited by merfolk who look like anthropomorphic sea creatures, from sharks to bony fish to cephalopods. Unlike the werebeasts, they don't have human forms. Most werebeasts believe that they're a myth.
• Our Minotaurs Are Different: Minotaurs are one of the most common kinds of chimeras in Urvara. When bovines are under great stress, they can temporarily transform into a great ape hybrids. They can be distinguished from were-cattle by their forward-facing eyes and sharp teeth, and have an important place in most werebeast cultures.
• Our Perytons Are Different: Perytons are deer chimeras that develop avian traits in the form of the tails, wings, and beaks of raptors. They are clumsy flyers are best, especially the stags weighed down by their huge and decidedly non-aerodynamic antlers, but are capable fighters and retain hooves on their wings that can be used as efficient pummeling weapons. Like all chimeras, they spend most of their time in their natural form but can take on their hybrid form at will, and mostly use it to defend themselves and their herds from predators.
• Our Werebeasts Are Different: The lands of Urvara are inhabited by werebeasts (also known as werefolk, beastfolk, or werepeople), who have a human form and a beast (anthropomorphic land animal) form. They usually transform into their beast forms involuntarily when triggered by certain "catalysts", such as strong emotions, the taste of raw meat, or entering a certain environment. However, it's possible for werebeasts to learn how to shapeshift at will.
• Our Wyverns Are Different: Wyverns are avian chimeras who, unusually, incorporate traits of extinct animals — in their case, raptorial dinosaurs. Like all chimeras, they spend most of their time in their natural form but can take on their hybrid form at will, which they mostly use to overpower prey, defend against predators, or expand their dietary options. While most chimeras are specific to a single species or genus, wyverns can arise among any kind of bird. They are broadly divided into a handful of types:
  • "Base" wyverns essentially resemble larger versions of their base forms with larger legs, clawed wings, and bony tails. They tend to have exaggerated versions of their species' existing adaptations, such as bigger and stronger beaks for a parrot.
  • Cockatrices are a form of wyvern with greater maniraptoran traits, such as sickle claws and toothed beaks. They're more carnivorous than their base species, and mostly arise among terrestrial birds such as poultry.
  • Basilisks are the most reptilian kind, with scaly skin and beakless mouths; some are venomous as well. They are most common among large, ground-running birds such as ratites and seriemas. They can grow very big as a combination of the wyvern morph's size boost and their base forms' height — an ostrich basilisk can tower over an elephant.
  • Ocean wyverns are common among aquatic birds such as penguins, and incorporate traits of marine reptiles such as pliosaurs.
• Panthera Awesome: The most feared of the dire beasts are the dire tigers, who are capable of taking on even large chimeras. They're The Dreaded not just because of their tremendous strength and agility, but also being far more intelligent than an ordinary tiger. It's mentioned that military forces are required to bring them down, and even then, casualties are to be expected.
• Precursors: Thousands of years before the current werebeast civilisation, there was the Primeval Age, when were-dinosaurs (and other anthropomorphic Mesozoic animals) ruled the land. They're long gone, but their memory lives on through oral traditions and artefacts.
• Pregnant Reptile: It's been stated that all werebeasts and merfolk get pregnant and give birth like humans, even ones that are based off species that lay eggs such as cephalopods and birds. This is used to show how they are different from regular animals.
• Pun-Based Creature: Some chimeras, animals capable of limited shapeshifting, are based to various degrees on wordplay on their names.
  • Splendid bullfrogs are common bullfrogs who develop the ability to grow actual bull horns.
  • Drakonflies are dragonflies who develop reptilian traits in the form of vertebrate-like feet and claws, flexible serpentine bodies, and teeth along their mandibles, resulting in something rather like an insectoid dragon. They also get big enough to hunt good-sized birds.
• Rebel Leader: The Tyrant King, an ancient Tyrannosaurus monarch, was opposed by a rebellion led by a Triceratops named Ironhorn. She was originally the queen of a kingdom conquered by the Tyrant King's empire but was defeated and forced to take part in gladiator games. She survived long enough to muster some of her people, escape, and mount a long rebellion against her former captor.
• Serious Business: Were-birds place a great deal of importance on art and self-expression and will dedicate everything they have to their chosen artform. They also consider nearly anything as an art, even completely mundane professions such as repair or accounting.
• Terrifying Tyrannosaur: During the Primeval Age, Urvara was ruled by a long line of Tyrannosauruses known as the Tyrant Kings. They're described as lacking empathy and toppling other civilisations, but the last king, Thunder, had a vision for the empire and didn't want his subjects to always live in fear. However, it's implied that he's responsible for merfolk hiding their existence from were beasts, since he defeated a Mosasaurus-man called the Sea Lord.
• Unicorn: The knight's unicorn is a chimera that particularly aggressive or protective stallions can transform into. They have sharp teeth, three-toed hooves, and a rhinoceros horn, and make loyal companions for those who can tame them.
• Unusual Pets for Unusual People: In order to emphasise how Urvara is different from Earth, its inhabitants have domesticated all sorts of animals that would be too dangerous to keep as pets in real life, such as hippos, monitor lizards, owls, bears, and cheetahs. Meanwhile, the merfolk have their own pets, such as various sharks bred for hunting and/or companionship, and bioluminescent squids used to send messages and mark borders.
• Wandering Culture: Certain weremammal nations, such as elephants, are constantly migrating. The closest things that they have to settlements are portions of cities ruled by non-nomadic people.
• Wise Old Turtle: Werereptiles have long lifespans, especially tortoises (who can live for three centuries), so they have a tradition of passing knowledge up and down through the generations.
• Work Hard, Play Hard: This is a facet of werereptile culture. They believe in putting everything they have into whatever job they have so as to both learn from it and strengthen their community but they also see rest as a sacred time to recover and will typically do so in whatever way they find most relaxing.
• World of Funny Animals: Urvara is inhabited by werebeasts and merfolk, who can look like any terrestrial or aquatic animals respectively.
• World of Mammals: Downplayed. There are werebeasts for all of the major land animal groups (tetrapods and certain arthropods), but mammals are the most dominant clade.

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