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In search of lost Skiltaire
16 years ago
Many years ago, I received a wonderful letter from a Skiltaire fan (I wish I could locate it now..) asking about 100 questions about my electric-telempathic space weasels. This sort of thing is just great if you are trying to flesh-out a creation.
Skiltaire were born out of my love of the mustelid family of critters, and my frustration at the lack of non-humanoid intelligent species/races in most SF. I was 'writing' a story (in my head, mainly) about a human zeno-botanist who rescues an abandoned skiltaire kit and raises it, learning much about the species in the process. Later, I was asked to include the skiltaire in the SF-RPG "Other Suns". Playing skiltaire myself, and experiencing others playing them was a great help in developing the species... They began to exist independently from me, which was wonderful and weird at the same time.
So, I digress... One of the "100 questions" from my secret fan was about skiltaire creation stories and mythology. I assume they had a similar species-centric creation concept, but I was intrigued by the idea of a society (civilization) of self-reliant, usually solitary carnivores. The myth/story of The First Tribe was born to answer that conundrum.
The story involves four individual skiltaire, their gender and type (Aquatic, otter-like or Arboreal, marten-like) wasn't important. The important thing was that each of the four had a well-developed survival plan that worked well for them.
One was aggressive and depended on immediate response to senses with strength and agility for hunting and avoiding danger.
One believed that being stealthy, hiding and laying in wait for potential prey, and being "Invisible" to any dangers was the best way to survive.
One thought hunting and hiding was way too much work, as well as trying to compete with other predators. There was a lot of good food to find that didn't run from you, and you could spend the extra time just relaxing.
One noticed things, the seasons, trends and history, and made a life plan based on the information. Where the best place was to make a good, secure den, and which prey animals should be left alone to insure better hunting in the future.
Of course, the four, being intelligent and curious weasel-ish creatures, eventually discovered their brother/sisters, and realized that working together would be a good thing for all.
I gave The Four the simple names of "Bright", "Dark", "Warm", and "Soft". and wrote a short article describing them and what the stories about them were like. Later (much later), I actually started writing an example of one of The First Tribe stories, which I have a completed draft of now. I will have to put them up here some time, for your enjoyment and critique.
My mate, Seriayne (www.furaffinity.net/user/seriayne) is our family Games Master, and included skiltaire in our home-brew Traveler RPG. In modern skiltaire culture, the Four Aspects became something similar to our Earth-human Western and Eastern Zodiac or other personality-defining touchstones. Many skiltaire believe in the concept of the Aspects, even if frivolously, and that every person has some of each Aspect as a part of their being, but one of the Four will be their prime Aspect, guiding their life. In the Aspect definition article, I included occupations that modern skiltaire might have based on their Prime Aspect.
One art project which I have spent considerable time on (more idle thought then actual work... ) was creating artistic renditions of the members of The First Tribe. I had many false starts, trying to come up with poses/props/scenes for the Four which would reflect their Aspect visually. In 1991 (18 years ago!) I managed to come up with sketches of The Four that I liked enough to not trash. Then I proceed to loose them. I mean, if you lived in a house with 6 other "fans" (of.. whatever...) who like to collect... stuff... imagine how difficult it would be to hang on to 4 pieces of paper?
Well, I found them again, about a year ago.. then misplaced them.. then found them again! And, strangely enough, I still thought they were worth keeping, and working on. So I have posted them on FA, and I will post "work in progress" art as I do it (IF I do it...). I may used these sketches, or re-do them, but I believe I have found the right poses for The Four, so I have a place to start.
I hope you enjoy the art, and the writing I should be posting soon. If you like skiltaire, let me know! If you have any questions about them, please forward them to me. Questions help me develop them even more. If you want to do art of skiltaire, Please Do!, but send me a link :)
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Skiltaire were born out of my love of the mustelid family of critters, and my frustration at the lack of non-humanoid intelligent species/races in most SF. I was 'writing' a story (in my head, mainly) about a human zeno-botanist who rescues an abandoned skiltaire kit and raises it, learning much about the species in the process. Later, I was asked to include the skiltaire in the SF-RPG "Other Suns". Playing skiltaire myself, and experiencing others playing them was a great help in developing the species... They began to exist independently from me, which was wonderful and weird at the same time.
So, I digress... One of the "100 questions" from my secret fan was about skiltaire creation stories and mythology. I assume they had a similar species-centric creation concept, but I was intrigued by the idea of a society (civilization) of self-reliant, usually solitary carnivores. The myth/story of The First Tribe was born to answer that conundrum.
The story involves four individual skiltaire, their gender and type (Aquatic, otter-like or Arboreal, marten-like) wasn't important. The important thing was that each of the four had a well-developed survival plan that worked well for them.
One was aggressive and depended on immediate response to senses with strength and agility for hunting and avoiding danger.
One believed that being stealthy, hiding and laying in wait for potential prey, and being "Invisible" to any dangers was the best way to survive.
One thought hunting and hiding was way too much work, as well as trying to compete with other predators. There was a lot of good food to find that didn't run from you, and you could spend the extra time just relaxing.
One noticed things, the seasons, trends and history, and made a life plan based on the information. Where the best place was to make a good, secure den, and which prey animals should be left alone to insure better hunting in the future.
Of course, the four, being intelligent and curious weasel-ish creatures, eventually discovered their brother/sisters, and realized that working together would be a good thing for all.
I gave The Four the simple names of "Bright", "Dark", "Warm", and "Soft". and wrote a short article describing them and what the stories about them were like. Later (much later), I actually started writing an example of one of The First Tribe stories, which I have a completed draft of now. I will have to put them up here some time, for your enjoyment and critique.
My mate, Seriayne (www.furaffinity.net/user/seriayne) is our family Games Master, and included skiltaire in our home-brew Traveler RPG. In modern skiltaire culture, the Four Aspects became something similar to our Earth-human Western and Eastern Zodiac or other personality-defining touchstones. Many skiltaire believe in the concept of the Aspects, even if frivolously, and that every person has some of each Aspect as a part of their being, but one of the Four will be their prime Aspect, guiding their life. In the Aspect definition article, I included occupations that modern skiltaire might have based on their Prime Aspect.
One art project which I have spent considerable time on (more idle thought then actual work... ) was creating artistic renditions of the members of The First Tribe. I had many false starts, trying to come up with poses/props/scenes for the Four which would reflect their Aspect visually. In 1991 (18 years ago!) I managed to come up with sketches of The Four that I liked enough to not trash. Then I proceed to loose them. I mean, if you lived in a house with 6 other "fans" (of.. whatever...) who like to collect... stuff... imagine how difficult it would be to hang on to 4 pieces of paper?
Well, I found them again, about a year ago.. then misplaced them.. then found them again! And, strangely enough, I still thought they were worth keeping, and working on. So I have posted them on FA, and I will post "work in progress" art as I do it (IF I do it...). I may used these sketches, or re-do them, but I believe I have found the right poses for The Four, so I have a place to start.
I hope you enjoy the art, and the writing I should be posting soon. If you like skiltaire, let me know! If you have any questions about them, please forward them to me. Questions help me develop them even more. If you want to do art of skiltaire, Please Do!, but send me a link :)
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I'm glad to see you here. Maybe it's us old school furry fans that remember your works, but we still do enjoy them. Know a couple of people who still play Skiltaires or skiltaire-like folks in my Flock, to this day.
I'll have to see about including some Skiltaire in my future commissions as well.
Do you still play skiltaire on-line? Where?