I was thinking about character description for Cicero. What's his history? What's the world like he's in? So I started a little mental exercise of thinking of his universe.

Species: African White Rhinoceros, with some human lineage
Height: 6'5"
Weight: 285lbs
Build: muscular, bulky with a bit of padding.
Hair: none, except fine black to dark gray tufts along the tops of his ears.
Eye color: Royal blue, human iris
Skin: A combination of steel and slate grays, mostly rough and sturdy.
Hands: 3 large fingers with an opposable thumb.
Feet: Looking somewhere in between a rhino's hoof and a human foot, completely functional.
Horn: Cicero's single horn is slightly darker than ivory, but assiduously cleaned and polished.


World history:
23 years before Cicero was born, a series of strange magical or incredibly advanced scientific devices fell around the earth, an event referred to as "The Impacts". Wherever they landed, within a 50 mile radius, any humans were altered to take on the majority of the physical characteristics of the nearest animal life form larger than 3 inches across, but scaled to human size.

Meanwhile, any non-human animal in the same area that was roughly the size of a small human or larger was similarly altered and given human characteristics, as well as having its brain advanced to human level intelligence and development. The now-advanced beasts awoke after the blast knowing their own individual histories, but also with the ability to speak the languages of the nearest former humans.

These hybrids were eventually to be known as Anthros. For 10 years after The Impacts, the Anthros were kept in isolated quarantine zones near their respective Impact sites. Eventually, they were released into the world.

For 50 years, no one has understood how or why this happened.


Family history:
Julius was born an African white rhino and was 7 years old at The Impacts. Bradley Harden was a well-establish Roman history professor at Georgetown University in Washington, DC on sabbatical in South Africa on a photo safari and happened to be photo-sniping the the pre-sentient Julius. At the time of The Impacts, Julius and Bradley were closer to each other than to anyone or anything else in the Impact zone. Bradley and Julius being close in proximity during The Impactsand Bradley being of a paternal nature, Bradley took to looking after the youngster when they regained consciousness after the change. In fact, Bradley was responsible for giving Julius his human name.

Within the quarantine zone, Bradley became a teacher, helping educate the newly sentient Anthros, as well as the formerly human Anthros who were young. When the quarantine was lifted, Bradley had not only been allowed to return, but had actually been invited back to his teaching position at Georgetown. His work within the quarantine had garnered international attention and set the bar for education programs within other zone. Julius, then age 17, accompanied his adoptive father back to Washington DC to enter the Georgetown University as a student.

Rebecca McGinty was the 19 year old oversexed daughter of a wealthy industrialist. She was finishing her sophomore year at Georgetown when the quarantine on the Anthros was lifted. When she first saw Julius walking around campus, the first Anthro to attend the university, she was immediately in lust. She had eyes only for the hulking 7'3" wall of muscle and musk that was to be her husband.

Rebecca spent 2 years trying to woo the Anthro white rhino; she learned her persistence from her father. Julius had been slow to warm to her; at first due to the culture shock, then caution for the size differences. When they eventually paired, the time spent getting to know each other paid off. She was no longer in lust, and they were both madly in love.

Rebecca and Julius were together for 7 years when she learned she was pregnant. Theirs was among the first offspring between Anthros and humans. It had been unclear if there was sufficient genetic compatibility. Due to the nature of the birth, the doctors paid close attention to the pregnancy. When the pregnancy went overlong, they opted to deliver by C-section at 11 months, somewhere between the gestation of a human and a white rhino.

As Rebecca was being sedated, she said to Julius, "I'm gonna have a rhinosserr...rhinoser siser siseros".

Julius thought about Rebecca's drugged rambling, his adoptive fathers education and when she woke, he suggested a name to her. She loved it.

"Cicero, my little statesman."


Cicero:
Cicero had a much more human mix of features than his father. By which, he was lacking even a minor secondary horn on his snout and his fingers, though still counting three digits plus a thumb, were slightly thinner and more dexterous than his father. Cicero was also almost a foot shorter than his father, though he was almost a foot taller than his mother. In addition, Cicero clearly had his mothers blue eyes.

Growing up, Cicero was on his way to be the linguist and lawyer of his ancient Roman namesake. After finishing his undergraduate degree, he decided that law enforcement was the direction for him, and he wanted hands-on. His combination of brains and brawn easily got him into the Washington DC MPD.

Cicero regularly confounds his friends and coworkers: coming out as gay, being one of a few Anthros on the MPD, his family history of money and fame. People often pidgeon-hole him as one minority or another, or as a privileged child riding his family's coattails. Cicero as a result works that much harder to earn his keep.