Side-Write: A World of Sex

After several side-writes exploring subjects that I found interesting but that many might have found... creepy, it's finally time to explore something a little lighter in the developing world and story of Project Wild One. There's still loads we don't know, and I'm not even sure how story-heavy this game will be in the end, but the characters need a world to live in, and that world needs to support the kind of game this is turning into. I hope you enjoy following my creative process!

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We've established that this project must be set in a world with some rather peculiar "rules." People do not die when they are killed, and that changes a lot of things about life, as we've explored. But another important question remains-- one that many games with a more sexual focus must answer, or labor very hard to avoid answering: why is everyone so dang horny?

There's something to be said for having characters in the game that aren't all that eager to jump your bones, but this style of game certainly flows better when you have a lot of NPCs, maybe even the majority, be pretty eager to "have fun" with the player character and each other. Unfortunately, usually normal people aren't like that, and arguably neither are mythical creatures. So why should they be so eager and willing here? What else can we learn about this world and what it needs to be in order to satisfy the needs of the gameplay?

The easy answer if the "normal humanoid" population is a bunch of furries may be simply that... it's a bunch of furries, and they tend to treat sex more casually than stuck-up humans. But a more satisfying answer may be that only some of the population is seen out here-- specifically, those that are so inclined. The rest, the sane, normal ones, stick to the towns where it's safe, and creatures like the player do not often tread. That might work better as a solid, sensible and interesting explanation, but it would then necessitate the narrower question: why are there only perverts going out in the wilds?

And short of something like some sort of radiant effect or something in the air or water making everyone horny out here, it seems like the only logical answer to that is that the creatures in the wild will sex up just about anyone they come across. This feels a little more "solid" than saying "all furries everywhere are just super horny." Beasts like dragons or werewolves are already the product of something supernatural and incredible, where furries, especially in a world lacking humans, tend to work best as the "normal species you can relate to" and thus need a more varied and reasonable set of motives and interests. We don't yet have a good reason for why these more unusual creatures are here, so it sounds like this is a good time to examine and refine them.

Right now, the main "lore" we have for the monsters in this world is that they haven't always been here, but that they were introduced into a world similar to ours, and while the gods could not remove them, they could save the people and animals of the world by making them immune to death by violence. We don't know if these creatures were brought to this world by other, antagonistic gods, or if they somehow found their way here on their own or with the help of some other agent, or even if they were foolishly summoned by the denizens of this world. Nor do we know what they're here for, besides apparently slaughtering the natives.

A simple answer to their eagerness to mate might be that they are able to reproduce magically with any species-- that any of them could mate with a furry and produce another monster. But we want to open the door for all sorts of sex-- even an all-homosexual game, if the player so desires. So it can't be for the sake of breeding, but most likely for satisfaction. Perhaps they were literally brought here to corrupt and tempt the natives, and those we see are those successfully "converted" to this hedonistic way of life? No, that feels a little too morally "flat," and has been done rather a lot in very similar ways in other games out there.

But it's true that the creatures will also be interested in having sex with each other. For the flow of the gameplay, they should be quite indiscriminate in who they want to have sex with, save perhaps some measure of personal preference from one to the next. Are they simply so incredibly horny that any warm body will do? Or do they simply lack reason to not have sex? It's true that they don't have to have been like this from the start-- this could be a more recent development.

Perhaps the very fact that violent death is no longer the end has truly made all people and creatures less frightened of each other. In the real world, a certain degree of fear of the worst case scenario always necessitates caution in meeting new people, and especially in engaging with a wild, potentially dangerous creature. In this world, that was probably true for a long time, but the people have had many generations to grow used to the idea that these mighty beasts cannot actually kill you for good. Indeed, it is people that would be more capable of doing so at this point, as we've discussed. So perhaps we can reach the current state of affairs through a few steps of cultural development.

People might hunt these monsters for sport, and they might go to mingle among them willingly, at least those that are unafraid and willing to accept a painful death now and then. In turn, the creatures, perhaps used to being feared and hunting the people, would gradually come to grow comfortable around them, or even lazy. Without fear or hunger to define their relationship, perhaps the door would, with time, open naturally. Perhaps it wasn't entirely the "fault" of either side, but that a few furries were inevitably "curious" and the creatures would turn to other appetites when they no longer had to worry about filling their bellies. A strange series of steps to take, but over many generations, a new way of life might take root. These creatures are not wild animals, but neither are they so civilized as people. Their understanding could change and grow over time, and there would be few pleasures so universal to all of them when the threat of death is removed as that of sexual congress.

It's a lot of little steps, and a lot of if's and maybe's, but it's not entirely hard to believe that, with death by violence off the table, peace among the wild and bestial could take a very different shape. Maybe a few other little touches from the gods would help. The game does feature a rather optimistic idea of how much bodies and holes can stretch under pressure, and maybe that's another, smaller blessing from the gods, maybe even to encourage more sexual goodwill. Perhaps all of this is the doing of some kind of "god of life" that both preserves and encourages a flourishing world, even if some of the creatures in the world now weren't here a while back.

But it could also be that these creatures actually came from another world where sex was simply wildly common even across borders of species, and they brought that custom here. Or perhaps these creatures were literally created from the depraved fantasies of some cult that gathered to perform an incredibly powerful ritual that went out of control, to fill the world with the kinds of creatures they desired, unaware of the dangers. Maybe sex is a bodily need for these magical creatures just as important as food, to fuel their magic or keep their bodies material, or to maintain their transformation from furries, and they crave variety in their "diets." Or maybe they really can procreate with anyone, but even gender is not a barrier, and any creature can breed with literally anyone via literally any means of sex. To extend that, perhaps it's possible with anyone, but only has a small chance with anyone, so they must sow as many oats as they can, any way they can. Maybe they literally only need sex to survive, and mostly eat for fun and pleasure. Maybe they are all devout servants of the god that brought them here, and sex is how they pay tribute, or how they feed their god power. Maybe they are all here to gather essence too.

There are a lot of possibilities, really, but which fits best remains to be seen. There's still more to develop with the story, gameplay and mechanics, and that may narrow our options, or make one a clear best fit over the others. But I know I want there to be a solid answer, even if it's something that remains largely a mystery to the player...