Animal person

xTATTEREDx · +FINE+ · *SUPERIOR* · ≡EXCEPTIONAL≡ · ☼MASTERWORK☼

v50.14 · v0.47.05

This article is about the current version of DF.
Note that some content may still need to be updated.

Animal people are indigenous tribes of half-man, half-beast creatures with various animal-like traits (such as flying, thievery, and poisons), inherited from their base animal. The original animal people were based on creatures classes, while more recently discovered animal people are based on variations of species instead. They may appear either wandering above ground in savage environments or in the caverns; these two populations form distinct groups. Animal people generally have significantly longer lifespans than their base animals, as well as the ability to learn.

Subterranean animal people are a civilization of sorts, rarely encountered when exploring the caverns. They are often equipped with primitive weaponry such as wooden spears and blowguns (they are also the only known source of blowdarts, which they will not willingly relinquish). They are not interested in formal negotiations with dwarves and will be treated as hostiles, who will attack you on sight. Animal people are not trapavoid and will often blunder into your cage traps, serving as live bait for larger game and uninvited guests. Tribes of animal people will not appear as neighbors in the embark screen, nor will they be included in the civilization list when encountered.

History

Present from the very first release of the game, in the early two-dimensional releases animal people did not exist as a class but were instead part of a small group of subterranean creatures (so called "river monsters") that would emerge from the cave river to harass your dwarves (the frogman, now amphibian man; the lizardman, now reptile man; and the snakeman, now serpent man). With the release of 40d and three dimensions these creatures had their properties and names redefined and were moved to flock near underground rivers and pools.

In the v0.31 release these underground water features were expanded into the current-version caverns, and the original animal people were renamed to their current forms and moved there. Their behavior was redefined as well to make them more interesting, as they would now linger around "camps" and use poison-tipped weapons. v0.31 also introduced a small number of other underground creatures, these named after and based on specific animals: the antman, bat man, cave fish man, cave swallow man, olm man, and rodent man.

The v0.34 release added hundreds more animal people species, all of which appear exclusively above-ground in savage biomes; these creatures are more or less distinct from the earlier, subterranean ones. They differ from subterranean species in that their behavior is much simpler: they simply wander around the map like any other wild creature would, and do not form camps or wield poisoned weapons. They do not exist as civs per se, unlike their older counterparts, but can sometimes be found living in human, dwarven, and elven civs, where they behave more or less like other members of their adopted culture.

The v0.42 release introduced conversion tables which would produce an anthropomorphic race from every animal species generated with the world. Conversion tables also produce giant versions of each species, and Toady has announced that giant anthropomorphic variations will be added. This release also allowed for animal people to occasionally join civilizations during worldgen, allowing for them to show up in site populations, and be playable in adventure mode. They can also visit fortress mode taverns, and even join the site as permanent residents. A grizzly bear man hammerman has much to offer a dwarven society.

Ethics

Subterranean animal people, being an entity of their own right, possess ethics much like other races. However, in their case, their ethics are incomplete - in the current version, their ethics are copied from kobolds and their values are all set to 0, with comments left by Toady One implying he intends to work on them at a later date.

The copied ethics mean animal people consider the killing of other living beings very much acceptable, but treason is unthinkable and they'll respond to the killing of their own by exiling the killer from their tribes. They oppose torture as an example as well as the torture of animals, but consider torture for fun fair game. Assault is considered a personal matter, while slavery, making trophies and the consumption of sapient beings, animal people or otherwise, are all considered unthinkable acts. All other ethics are not applicable.

Animal people

Subterranean tribes

These animal people will appear as subterranean tribes, who may or may not be hostile to the player.

Savage animal people

These animal people spawn in savage biomes and when encountered, will act essentially like animals. However, unlike the subterranean animal people, these will occasionally be accepted into surface civilizations and will act like civilized beings in ways such as wearing clothing and wielding equipment. Animal men native of caverns are accepted into dwarven civilizations, while above-ground races are typically found living in elven lands. When an animal people species joins a civilization, they become playable in adventurer mode under the Intelligent Wilderness Creature option.

Animal person

Contents

History

Ethics

Animal people

Subterranean tribes

Savage animal people

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