Post by ¤ Luna Eclipse ¤ on Jul 26, 2008 16:21:39 GMT -5
You do not have to read this all the way to join or roleplay, but if you have any questions about roleplaying squirrels, see this post please. This is very 'realistic' and probably will change over time
So, for the sake of our roleplay, all of the squirrels have adapted to be able to mate and what not at the same time. Yes, that means that good ol' Bucky the european red squirrel can have bebbies with Cindy the western grey squirrel. That is the only thing that we will let adapt for the squirrels. In this rp, we pride ourselves on having an advanced, well researched field of roleplay. That means that if you want to do well, you bloody well should be able to know that it isn't spelled 'squirel' or 'squirrell' or 'squirele' or any of that crud. Typos can be fixed, you know.... So anyways, let us move on. Oh yeash
1.) Squirrel Appearances and Breeds
First off, let's go over the acceptable squirrel breeds, shall we? I did some research, and decided that we will have not only mixed squirrels (mutlings) but we will also have purebreds. Mutlings are uncommon at best, and when they happen, they are normally fairly low on the hierarchy. In the 'name' section of your character, put this [] with the first letter of your user name, before the name. They can vary from 40cm to 65cm from tailtip to nose. Below are the accepted breeds and their standard lengths
- Douglas Squirrel: 25 to 37 cm
- Eastern Grey Squirrel: 45 to 60 cm
- Eurasian Red Squirrel: 24 to 43 cm
- Fox Squirrel: 45 to 70 cm
- Western Grey Squirrel: 45 to 60 cm
2.) Food
Yes, Mr. Squirrel has to be able to eat. But what does he eat? Well, most tree squirrels are herbivores and they will probably eat alot of the acorns and whatnot. Our rp squirrels, since they have been branching out a bit, have found ways to get milk from plants and make various cheese-like concoctions and they are quite good at using bits of strawberry or blackberry to make drinks for their leaders. If one of our rp squirrels wants to, I am quite sure he/she could be a superb cook. Yes, the food would be the usual size in comparison to the squirrel; so none of this itty-bitty stuff unless they fix it themselves
Here's a list of what you might see your character eating-
- Pine seeds
- Acorns
- Most wild berries
- Mushrooms
- Plant bulbs/roots
- Milkweed(just to chew on, mind you)
- Insects(not store-able, mind you)
- Hatchling Birds(still in the nest)
Not normally
- Grass
- Leaves
- Other squirrels
And yes, squirrels tend to keep a stash. Here's what'll basically happen in our rp: each clan will have 1 to 3 main stashes depending on the size, and they mostly keep all of their food there. In our rp, the squirrels will most often have already declared foragers who go and harvest food for the stash. They forage the most every other day of fall, and during the rest of the year they forage whenever the need calls for it. The highest-leveled squirrels will normally get first pick of the stash, and the lowest squirrels normally have to just go and find their own food; during winter, however, all of them feed from the stash.
3.) Breeding and Mating
"Females can breed for the first time at one year of age but some females delay breeding until two years of age or older. Most females produce only one litter, but in some years reproduction is skipped while in other years some females attempted to breed twice. Litter sizes typically range from 1 to 5, but most litters contain 3 or 4 offspring. Offspring are pink and hairless at birth." - wikipedia.com
so, that's basically how it goes. From what I researched, the actual breeding part can be... violent... in some cases from what I've read. Also, in real life, there tends to be a short to long chase that happens between the squirrels. Because squirrels like to chase each other.
As for the offspring, in our rp, the clans can either choose to keep a nursery or have the individual mothers watch their young. The lead male generally has a small selective group of females dubbed 'breeding females' that he keeps simply to produce better offspring, and he will have a solitary mate that he is normally closely bonded with. The lead male always decides when breeding season should begin for the clan, and when it happens, he can decide which males he allows to be bred.
Also, squirrels in our rp are not beyond inbreeding and the occasional brutal clan will 'cull' unwanted bebbies.
... And for our rp, the squirrels will only have a max of 3 bebbies unless a random event dictates otherwise. So.... yeah.
4.) Squirrel Dreys
Every squirrel that you would play, whether an outsider, a clan member, a drudge or whatever, will sleep in a drey. "squirrels build a type of nest, known as a drey, in the forks of trees. The drey consists mainly of dry leaves and twigs." - Wikipedia
"Squirrel nests are called dreys and can be seen in trees, built from sticks and leaves wrapped with long strands of grass. There are two stick nest types made by the Western Gray Squirrel: the first is a large, round, covered shelter nest for winter use, birthing, and rearing young. The second is more properly termed a "sleeping platform," a base for seasonal or temporary use. Both types are built with sticks and twigs and are lined with leaves, moss, lichens and shredded bark. The birthing nest may be lined with tail hair. The nest may measure 43 to 91 cm (17 to 36 in) by up to 46 cm (18 in) and is usually found in the top third of the tree. Young or traveling squirrels will also "sleep rough" when weather permits, balanced spread-eagled on a tree limb high above the forest floor." - Wikipedia
That means, for all of you lazy bums who dun want to read all of that, that the squirrels in clans like to sleep in roundish, covered shelters in the winter, and sleeping platforms other times occasionally. In the majority of the clans in our rp, the higher-leveled the squirrel is in the hierarchy, the denser part of the tree it gets to sleep in. In the post name for your profiles, put the first letter of the gender of the squirrel in brackets on either side of the name. The lowest squirrels sleep at the less dense top, guards at the very bottom, and the general population in the middle. Normally, there are 1 to 3 sleeping dreys and 1 platform drey in a large trees. Mother normally get their own trees and for the clans that keep slave squirrels, the slaves normally sleep in the scrawny trees on rough platforms or without a platform at all.
5.) Squirrel Clans
I think we shall start with the standard clan hierarchies. Most clans have one of the following setting up their structure(Btw, normally, males are the most dominant squirrels and females won't usually lead a clan)(Also, your clan does NOT have to have all of the below in it to be considered a clan. This is just to give you an idea.)-
Royalty:
- Leader
- Leader's Mate
- Leader's Kits
High Ranking Members:
- Breeding Partners to the Alpha
- Advisers
- Council Members
Norm. Members:
- Guard members
- Scouts
- Current Mothers or Nursery Workers
- Foragers
- Misc. Members
- Kits
Drudge Members:
- Drey Builders
- Prisoners
The clans also have rather rigid family hierarchies... this would be the level of in charge-ness that each squirrel has. The ones at the top can boss any of the ones at the bottom around, and even though members of the clans may move up in description, the members within each group are organized like this. Also, for a clan with no system of jobs, it is quite frequent for the list of clan members to be organized in this fashion.
The Basic Outline of Family Statuses:
- The Highest Male (can be called alpha)
- The Highest Female (can be called alphess)
- Adult and Young Kits out of the current alpha and alphess
- Any Other Kits, both Adult and Young, Born out of the current Royalty
- The Other Breeding Partners of the current alpha (Selected specially by the male)
- Adult and Young Kits out of the current alpha and a breeding partner
- Any Adult or Young members distantly related to the current royalty
- Any Other Kits, both Adult and Young, born into the clan
- Outsiders that Joined
- Degraded and Ex-Royalty Members
- Captives
- Traitors of any bloodlines
So, for the sake of our roleplay, all of the squirrels have adapted to be able to mate and what not at the same time. Yes, that means that good ol' Bucky the european red squirrel can have bebbies with Cindy the western grey squirrel. That is the only thing that we will let adapt for the squirrels. In this rp, we pride ourselves on having an advanced, well researched field of roleplay. That means that if you want to do well, you bloody well should be able to know that it isn't spelled 'squirel' or 'squirrell' or 'squirele' or any of that crud. Typos can be fixed, you know.... So anyways, let us move on. Oh yeash
1.) Squirrel Appearances and Breeds
First off, let's go over the acceptable squirrel breeds, shall we? I did some research, and decided that we will have not only mixed squirrels (mutlings) but we will also have purebreds. Mutlings are uncommon at best, and when they happen, they are normally fairly low on the hierarchy. In the 'name' section of your character, put this [] with the first letter of your user name, before the name. They can vary from 40cm to 65cm from tailtip to nose. Below are the accepted breeds and their standard lengths
- Douglas Squirrel: 25 to 37 cm
- Eastern Grey Squirrel: 45 to 60 cm
- Eurasian Red Squirrel: 24 to 43 cm
- Fox Squirrel: 45 to 70 cm
- Western Grey Squirrel: 45 to 60 cm
2.) Food
Yes, Mr. Squirrel has to be able to eat. But what does he eat? Well, most tree squirrels are herbivores and they will probably eat alot of the acorns and whatnot. Our rp squirrels, since they have been branching out a bit, have found ways to get milk from plants and make various cheese-like concoctions and they are quite good at using bits of strawberry or blackberry to make drinks for their leaders. If one of our rp squirrels wants to, I am quite sure he/she could be a superb cook. Yes, the food would be the usual size in comparison to the squirrel; so none of this itty-bitty stuff unless they fix it themselves
Here's a list of what you might see your character eating-
- Pine seeds
- Acorns
- Most wild berries
- Mushrooms
- Plant bulbs/roots
- Milkweed(just to chew on, mind you)
- Insects(not store-able, mind you)
- Hatchling Birds(still in the nest)
Not normally
- Grass
- Leaves
- Other squirrels
And yes, squirrels tend to keep a stash. Here's what'll basically happen in our rp: each clan will have 1 to 3 main stashes depending on the size, and they mostly keep all of their food there. In our rp, the squirrels will most often have already declared foragers who go and harvest food for the stash. They forage the most every other day of fall, and during the rest of the year they forage whenever the need calls for it. The highest-leveled squirrels will normally get first pick of the stash, and the lowest squirrels normally have to just go and find their own food; during winter, however, all of them feed from the stash.
3.) Breeding and Mating
"Females can breed for the first time at one year of age but some females delay breeding until two years of age or older. Most females produce only one litter, but in some years reproduction is skipped while in other years some females attempted to breed twice. Litter sizes typically range from 1 to 5, but most litters contain 3 or 4 offspring. Offspring are pink and hairless at birth." - wikipedia.com
so, that's basically how it goes. From what I researched, the actual breeding part can be... violent... in some cases from what I've read. Also, in real life, there tends to be a short to long chase that happens between the squirrels. Because squirrels like to chase each other.
As for the offspring, in our rp, the clans can either choose to keep a nursery or have the individual mothers watch their young. The lead male generally has a small selective group of females dubbed 'breeding females' that he keeps simply to produce better offspring, and he will have a solitary mate that he is normally closely bonded with. The lead male always decides when breeding season should begin for the clan, and when it happens, he can decide which males he allows to be bred.
Also, squirrels in our rp are not beyond inbreeding and the occasional brutal clan will 'cull' unwanted bebbies.
... And for our rp, the squirrels will only have a max of 3 bebbies unless a random event dictates otherwise. So.... yeah.
4.) Squirrel Dreys
Every squirrel that you would play, whether an outsider, a clan member, a drudge or whatever, will sleep in a drey. "squirrels build a type of nest, known as a drey, in the forks of trees. The drey consists mainly of dry leaves and twigs." - Wikipedia
"Squirrel nests are called dreys and can be seen in trees, built from sticks and leaves wrapped with long strands of grass. There are two stick nest types made by the Western Gray Squirrel: the first is a large, round, covered shelter nest for winter use, birthing, and rearing young. The second is more properly termed a "sleeping platform," a base for seasonal or temporary use. Both types are built with sticks and twigs and are lined with leaves, moss, lichens and shredded bark. The birthing nest may be lined with tail hair. The nest may measure 43 to 91 cm (17 to 36 in) by up to 46 cm (18 in) and is usually found in the top third of the tree. Young or traveling squirrels will also "sleep rough" when weather permits, balanced spread-eagled on a tree limb high above the forest floor." - Wikipedia
That means, for all of you lazy bums who dun want to read all of that, that the squirrels in clans like to sleep in roundish, covered shelters in the winter, and sleeping platforms other times occasionally. In the majority of the clans in our rp, the higher-leveled the squirrel is in the hierarchy, the denser part of the tree it gets to sleep in. In the post name for your profiles, put the first letter of the gender of the squirrel in brackets on either side of the name. The lowest squirrels sleep at the less dense top, guards at the very bottom, and the general population in the middle. Normally, there are 1 to 3 sleeping dreys and 1 platform drey in a large trees. Mother normally get their own trees and for the clans that keep slave squirrels, the slaves normally sleep in the scrawny trees on rough platforms or without a platform at all.
5.) Squirrel Clans
I think we shall start with the standard clan hierarchies. Most clans have one of the following setting up their structure(Btw, normally, males are the most dominant squirrels and females won't usually lead a clan)(Also, your clan does NOT have to have all of the below in it to be considered a clan. This is just to give you an idea.)-
Royalty:
- Leader
- Leader's Mate
- Leader's Kits
High Ranking Members:
- Breeding Partners to the Alpha
- Advisers
- Council Members
Norm. Members:
- Guard members
- Scouts
- Current Mothers or Nursery Workers
- Foragers
- Misc. Members
- Kits
Drudge Members:
- Drey Builders
- Prisoners
The clans also have rather rigid family hierarchies... this would be the level of in charge-ness that each squirrel has. The ones at the top can boss any of the ones at the bottom around, and even though members of the clans may move up in description, the members within each group are organized like this. Also, for a clan with no system of jobs, it is quite frequent for the list of clan members to be organized in this fashion.
The Basic Outline of Family Statuses:
- The Highest Male (can be called alpha)
- The Highest Female (can be called alphess)
- Adult and Young Kits out of the current alpha and alphess
- Any Other Kits, both Adult and Young, Born out of the current Royalty
- The Other Breeding Partners of the current alpha (Selected specially by the male)
- Adult and Young Kits out of the current alpha and a breeding partner
- Any Adult or Young members distantly related to the current royalty
- Any Other Kits, both Adult and Young, born into the clan
- Outsiders that Joined
- Degraded and Ex-Royalty Members
- Captives
- Traitors of any bloodlines
