Welcome to the officially unofficial (or unofficially official, perhaps?) Haven OOC. Regardless, this is currently a less-than-official OOC, since Haven itself is a less-than-official RP. Everybody who's interested, please post your ideas, likes/dislikes about the premise of the RP, and anything else here!
To get us started, I'd like to say that Haven is an atypical Pet Friendly.
It will not have the usual neighborhood setup, i.e. pets and owners as family-groups, all arranged into a community-type neighborhood.
Currently, the setting of Haven is a smallish portion of a rather large forest. The forest (yet to be named) is located somewhat nearby a few big cities, a mountain, a lake, etc. (I'll probably draw something up for a map later on so you all have some idea of what I'm talking about, so don't worry!) As for locations in the "real world," it would be somewhere in the northeastern California/southeastern Oregon area (just as a vague idea).
Haven's occupants are not necessarily pets. In fact, many of them (at the beginning of the RP, specifically) will be wild animals, ferals, or ex-pets (strays, y'know, runaways). Haven is not meant to function as a regular RP. There will most likely never be any human citizens in Haven. Haven is intended to be, if everything goes as planned, a human-less animal society. Like a city, with only animal occupants. No owners. Currently no houses. A lot of freedom, and thus a lot of things to do.
The most unique quality of Haven is that Haven itself will not be set up before the RP begins. That means that it'll be up to RP'ers to do just that. Build the community, build houses and new lives, relationships, you name it. Whatever you can think of. Want to live in a nearby cave? Fine! Want to go to the city, find some scraps and build a house in a tree? Go ahead! Haven is yours to compose.
That being said, there is one other thing. A premise of Haven (or what Haven will be in the future) will be posted below. It will be blacked-out in case someone doesn't want excessive spoilers and just wants to go with the flow. Members of the RP will have an initiative that they should work together to achieve. (Though of course not everybody has to participate in the initiatives if they don't want to, or at all; you are still free to do your own thing, like in any other RP, whenever you like). These initiatives, in short, will be like a loose schedule. When the idea of Haven was first generated, there was a certain way that it was intended to turn out, and the initiatives will be like steps in that process. As such, there is a set of guidelines that Haven, as a developing RP, will most likely follow (though of course there can be some differences, that will be encouraged!). For instance, the beginning operative on the "calendar" will be to get the RP rolling, and perhaps to send the first group of animal activists into the city to raise awareness, or something similar.
Below is a copy of the rough outline of Haven. Feel free to read or pass it by as preferred. (If people think it should be un-spoilered, then I'll undo it.)
Character names mentioned, such as Magnus, Pavelle and Felix all belong to me, and are my characters in RV. I don't believe it is necessary, but if you want to read their character sheets, then they are here and here.
Mr. and Mrs. Nelson are just Mag, Pavelle's owners/parents.
Griffon was a guest character I created for RV as well. He was the leader of a group of ferals who abducted pets from Richardson Valley as recruits for his anti-human feral camp.
EDIT: His new character sheet is here.
Anywho, here's the whole shebang. And boy, does it look absolutely terrifying with all the black lines stacked one on the other. ^^'
Pavelle, Magnus, and their parents are forced to temporarily leave RV seeking better medical aid for Mrs. Nelson, whose condition has suddenly worsened. (I'm assuming during this time either Pavelle lost her jobs or subs were hired to hold her place while she was away; the Nelson house sits dormant.)
Unfortunately, Mrs. Nelson passes away shortly after they leave (perhaps a week or so). Mr. Nelson turns to Magnus and his family for comfort and support. Pavelle is largely excluded from this. Mr. Nelson has never really understood Pavelle. In fact, seeing her is a constant reminder of his loss and grief. He snaps and tells her to leave. Already alienated and grieving, she finally agrees to go with Felix to her "home" forest, despite her fears.
In the forest, she finds... a family of raccoons, waiting for her and Felix, and who are in desperate need of help and leadership. The raccoons' home is in danger of being demolished by loggers (the reason Felix came to find her in the first place). So...
Pavelle decides to turn activist.
She sends groups of the raccoons into the nearby cities to protest and raise awareness for their cause. Meanwhile...
She hatches a plan to buy the land of the forest and turn it into a reservation for homeless/wayward animals, not just the raccoons. Strays start to join the cause, tempted into the forest by the animal protesters, and the plan expands.
Why not begin to protect the strays of the cities, who have been cast out by humans (like herself), or who disagree with human society and the way things are run? Why not build a haven for animals of every type to live free of the humans who have wronged them?
But she would need manpower to do such a thing. And in a world still governed by humans, she'd need human currency and supplies.
She knows that buying large quantities of land will be expensive. And too many new "recruits" are showing up; there are too many new mouths to be fed by the small amount of land the raccoons had managed to hold onto. But Pavelle can't bear to turn away the new arrivals, not after they left their lifestyle in the cities for the sake of her cause. Until she has the resources to build her Haven, the newbies will have to go somewhere...
And then there is the problem with the violent ferals that have already taken up roots in the forest.
Pavelle decides that she has to reach out to an old enemy... effectively killing two birds with one stone.
To her reason of thought, a known enemy is easier to keep under control than an unknown.
She approaches Grif (I don't know if you remember Griffon?) with a proposition.
After the notorious AC raid, Grif had suffered a loss of nearly half his "camp" and most of his supplies. While he can replace supplies easily enough... soldiers he cannot. And he still had a bone to pick with the humans...
Pavelle's deal is this. The new recruits (the strays from the cities) who agree with her deal will serve terms in Grif's camp. In doing so, they'd learn survival and fighting techniques, learn to function as a community, and also would get the food and attention they needed to survive in an unfamiliar environment. The "loaned" animals would add numbers to Grif's bedraggled camp. With these numbers he could gain some power...
Pavelle gives him leave to attack/overcome/drive away any other feral camps in the forest. The members of those camps could choose to leave or join the cause, and many would choose to join.
In exchange for the power Pavelle offered, Grif would
1.) aid in protection of the forest
2.) provide the necessary "woodland smarts" for new members of her organization
3.) change the quality of his leadership, educating his troops (teaching them to read and write and simple math) and doing away with the savagery and violence in his camp once and for all
Grif agreed.
Together, he and Pavelle start to gain power amongst the animals of the forest, but they still have to gain against the humans.
So, aside from the raccoon protesters, they begin to send out groups of Grif's once-feral pack to scour the cities for any other unhappy/dissatisfied animals, strays or pets.
They begin not only to protest deforestation, protecting the environment, but also protest animal rights, and especially animal cruelty. Animals in unhappy homes/situations are asked to join the cause, and their numbers continue to grow. They also reach out towards the animals of the forest itself, wild animals --bears, deer, rabbits, squirrels, mice, beavers, wildcats, falcons/birds, etc.-- to join. And they start building their numbers up to a point that even people --mainly environmentalists-- believe their cause is a worthy one.
But there is still the question of money.
The answer, in part, comes from a tragedy.
A hunter kills one of Pavelle's recruits (a deer) in the very forest she has come to protect.
Pavelle knows that that will never happen again.
She and Grif organize parties of recruits to detain any hunters on sight. They don't kill or harm the hunters in any way; they merely capture them. Once defenseless, the animals steal their guns, ammo, useful gear, and even their vehicles. Any animals found with hunters are untouched, even if hostile. Hunting dogs (and such) are even invited to join the cause. Some join, others refuse and are given a warning: don't return. Most hunters don't come back to the woods. The monetary loss associated with their "crimes" there is enough to dissuade them to come back again.
And if any of them decided to come back angry... well, by then there would be enough animals in the woods to drive out any hot-headed humans.
The cars that are stolen (this might sound familiar: Pavelle has a tiny bit of experience in such matters...) are scraped for parts or sold, some even back to their unhappy owners for half the price (since who wants to admit to the authorities that they were outsmarted by a bunch'a animals in the woods?). And in this way, Haven begins to gather funds.
Now more and more bands of animals are being sent into the city, but now with different goals entirely. The original protests continue, but the newest objective is to gather knowledge. Even though most of the animals disagree with human society, they know --and Pavelle, more than anyone-- how important human knowledge is. If they are planning to create a Haven to rival a human city, and with only animals citizens... well, they need as much knowledge as possible. The animals in the new groups are the most trusted, loyal, and level-headed of the cause, and they are sent... to intern, much in the way that Pavelle and Ven did at The Wall.
At first they are only allowed in coffeeshops and such. But as the human populace becomes used to the idea, the recruits are allowed into more and more occupations. They intern in libraries (renting books upon books to send to Haven to be read), in electrical and water companies, by architects, in vet clinics (most important), and even in a law firm. Now animals are sent to learn and pass the knowledge back to Haven. And some of them even earn money in this manner, and invaluable connections to sympathetic people who can vouch for Haven and its citizens against the hordes of humans who are frightened/enraged by such an animal organization.
Soon they have enough resources to begin buying. They buy their land and the supplies needed to keep the Haven citizens (hundreds, now) healthy, well-fed, and happy. Animals who want to construct homes are allowed, and those (particularly the wild animals from the forest) are allowed to live freely off the land as they had before, but without threats from humans or attacks by ferals.
And the plan, after all this?
To continue to protest. To gain more and more currency, buy more and more land, and win more and more followers.
Pavelle starts personally going to animal shelters to buy and thus set free any impounded pets. And if people refuse to allow her to do so, she can persuade one of her few human allies to buy them for her, then drive them to Haven if they want to join.
And she begins to set her sights on the zoos, next...
And all of this because she finally agreed to come back to the forest with her brother.
There are no hard feelings toward pets who don't want to join.
Animals and even people are allowed to pass through the forest if they wish, unharmed. Though campers have to pay a "toll," and have to agree to be closely surveilled.
"Who knows? At the pace this... revolution has been moving, perhaps in a couple years the human farmers around the area will live on land owned by Haven, and will pay taxes to Haven, and no longer to the human cities."
"Really, all Haven is is another option for animals. To level the field. The system isn't fair to animals. To have to submit to being a pet, or to leech off human society as a stray, or have to live like some brute in the sticks and mud as a feral. Haven is just offering something else."
Okay. I've already given this exact outline of Haven to a few other rp'ers, and heard their views on it. If they want to post here what they said before so that others can hear it, that's great! If anyone has thought of any suggestions or anything, post it here! Haven is a big work in progress, that's kinda the entire point of the RP, building something! So feel free to share.
Just some issues people have brought up before:
1.) Attacking the hunters is not realistic
2.) The general dangers for the animals involved. Like... humans being threatened by Haven and such a dominant group of animals, etc.
3.) The pets might not be able to get jobs in the cities
4.) Land ownership by animals
Things like that. It'd be good to discuss them here, or set up times here to discuss them elsewhere (Skype, or IRC or some such).
Just saying, there will probably be a lot of NPC's in this board, pets who have come to Haven to live who aren't actual characters made by people, or humans in the cities, or the wild animals off in the woods, or members of Grif's pack. But I don't think that'll be a big issue.
Also, remember that my characters (I think) are the only ones mentioned in the outline because I didn't know who else would want to be involved. Any character personality can be merged into this plan (though I'd have to say that it is a rather realistic roleplay, so please tone down the temptation to use magic powers and such, as they don't fit in much).
And... erm. That's about it? I've probably forgotten something, and will add it on later. Hopefully all my babbling isn't too confusing. If there are any questions, feel free to ask!
So, yeah. That was Haven. Thanks for reading! ^^ Hopefully this board won't completely flop!
If you need any more information, please feel free to PM me, or just ask on this board!
EDIT:
Things like character template, forum rules, etc. here. The link is to the Main OOC. I imagine everybody here knows of it, but in case in the future we have really new members joining this, there it is.
I'll hopefully design a vague map of Haven within the week(?) but I need to see if I can get my tablet working. ^^'