shedding inhibitions:
the comic's world and its lore
Time periods of the planet
Vildtiden (VT)
The epoch before year zero. When life in the world was still savage and dangerous. Evolution had still taken course, and many species had developed sentience, sapience, and civilisation. The continents were geographically segregated from one another, providing little reason to interact culturally, or politically since the landscapes were so vast. This meant that whatever species evolved as dominant species on their continent also kept their evolved diets and behaviours. There could be more than one dominant species, which in turn would lead to civil wars and political turmoil. Predators still fed upon prey, regardless of the similarity in intellect.
This was the way of life for eons, for all the continents – each one separated by deep seas and slithering walls of electric storm clouds. Few of the major civilisations had the technology or courage to cross these natural barriers. Similarly, many species evolved to live deep underneath these stormy waters, where the environment was calmer, forming their own aquatic civilisations. Thus the world, hitherto largely unnamed in any official capacity thanks to its continents' isolated makeup, was incredibly diverse and rich – yet woefully savage, uncertain, and unjust.
The Violet Disrobing (VD)
It was a global phenomenon. A relatively small inconspicuous asteroid hit the south pole of the planet. The icy glacier which had rested for millions of years was thrust open, revealing a truly gargantuan reservoir of biological mass one could only describe as pure life energy. Bacteria which had evolved in total isolation filled the cavity in the crust of the south pole continent, feeding on various radiation and volcanic activity. Their byproduct, a violet coloured crystal material of unknown makeup, was subsequently scattered across the globe and spread through the atmosphere. These countless and now microscopic crystals shone brilliantly, ultimately accumulating and interacting with the strangling storms separating each continent. For nearly a decade these globe encompassing storm walls were glowing a vivid violet, while reducing in size. The scientists of the various different continents could not discern why or how. One day the last of the storm walls had its final thunderclap and then quietly dissipated, along with the crystals. The world was finally exposed.
Age of Unity (AU)
After the continent-splitting storm walls disappeared there was a short period of wars, political stalemates, cultural crashes, and unease. Continents whose dominant species were carnivores tried conquering continents ruled by herbivores, the latter almost succumbing. It was only after major scientific breakthroughs studying The Violet Disrobing that worldwide peace ensued. The bacteria which resided, and still reside, in the crust of the south pole is easily and inexpensively converted into a form of synthetic alternative to meat. The crystal byproduct can be used for a variety of technologies as well. Unsurprisingly, this was a major turning point for all life on the planet.
The importance of the discovery and production of synthetic meat led to the unification of all continents and civilisations. The bacterium, C. Lingon, was named after the scientist who first discovered it – Clarah Lingon. A global treaty was signed by all continents and their leaders to ensure that the reservoir in the south pole was protected, and that stewardship of the bacterium, and production of synthetic meat – now dubbed Violet – would forever be safe from misuse, profiteering, or sabotage. After significant progressive legislation in carnivore societies banning biological meat, hunting, and killing, the world reached new heights of cooperation and technological advancement.
Lingonic Era (LE)
After achieving world peace and a global rise in happiness, people of the planet were now focused mostly on the future. Bureaucracy was a small hindrance – especially regarding continent names, and more specifically, the name of the planet. Following a world leader meeting, a proposition was made to name the planet Lingon after the scientist whose role was invaluable and undeniable in creating the utopia. There was a global vote on a few other selected names, but ultimately Lingon took the crown. The official renaming of the planet to Lingon also happened to coincide with a meteor shower, which were traditionally used to mark the beginning of a new year by various societies. That day would become known as the beginning of Year Zero.
Axropicai
Overview
Once the people of Lingon were at peace after the beginning of the Lingonic Era, many took it upon themselves to travel or emigrate. One of the most popular destinations ended up being Axropicai. Situated near the equator, it's the largest island in a collection of many smaller ones. Their past proximity to a particularly ravenous storm wall left it exposed to drastic changes in the weather and therefore geological makeup. The climate here is subsequently varied. This chain of islands was originally home to a collection of Kobold tribes – omnivores who had long abandoned eating meat, even before the Age of Unity. It was no surprise then that it became one of the first truly mixed societies post-Violet. Kobold societies were naturalists and highly selective of who they mated, so selective in fact that it wasn't unusual for relatives to marry – this practise is largely antiquated in the modern society of Axropicai, but nonetheless it is well known and respected, for there are still Kobold tribes that hold onto past traditions in the northern islands. Axropicai decency laws are loose for this reason, and may even be the reason for people to visit, and even settle down.
Timeline before Shedding Inhibitions
Monique Amaryllis
Year 775 LE The Lavender Snow Kingsnake Monique Amaryllis hatched into a family of landscapers in Hyvemont during an unusually cold winter plagued by frequent blizzards. Her father also had a side business of cleaning and maintaining various pools and city fountains.
Year 775-787 LE As a kid, Monique was a ray of sunshine and she was always in a contagiously happy mood, she loved animals and dancing, had a lot of friends in her neighbourhood, and seemed to be really smart for her age. Even scoring higher than some adults on the Friday neighbourhood trivia nights.
Year 788 LE Monique's mother falls ill, and spends most of her time in the hospital. Monique, now thirteen years old, is just starting junior high school, and is feeling depressed – rarely talking to class mates and focusing on studies instead. A local troublemaker bumps into her while running from school security after a prank on the principal, and they briefly lock eyes. Monique drops some homework in the commotion, and loses a few points in Language studies that semester.
Year 788-792 LE Somewhere in the middle of high school, Monique's mother recovers from her illness and this gives Monique motivation to seek out both old and new friends, and she also joins the cheerleading club – she's quickly accepted by her peers, much to her surprise. After becoming cheerleader captain, she gets really popular and sometimes lets her status get to her head. Her best friend at the time is a Rat Snake called Ran, a pitch black and slender snake not much unlike her – cheerleaders and gossipers.
Kyra Zandra
Year 777 LE On the outskirts of Hyvemont, a clutch of eggs lie abandoned, and the sole surviving egg hatched and gave the world Kyra Zandra, a diamondback rattlesnake. Somehow managing to not perish, she was picked up by a local orphanage who found her crawling near a road on a scorching hot day without any clouds. They named her Kyra Zandra after an old Axropican deity, Zandrakyr, goddess of good luck, plentiful harvests, and clear skies.
Year 784-790 LE As a person outside of the system, Kyra faced some difficult choices during her youth. She leaned into the lifestyle, somehow getting by. Thankfully, Axropicai had plenty of facilities to house and feed the less fortunate – the existence of Violet was after all an extreme boon to any society. While bouncing from various orphanages and foster homes, Kyra spent most of her time taking free classes provided by various schools, yet she still caused troubles, including bumping into a cute girl after escaping some guards. Kyra would frequently return to try and see her again. Kyra being intersex led to her having a very different outlook on life, and also a pretty promiscuous puberty. She therefore met many students, adults, people of all walks of life, and gained a lot of experience from this. Both socially and sexually.
Year 790-792 LE As Kyra would spend most of her time around the Hyvemont high school, she developed a couple of lasting friendships, and earned pretty good money being a hotel receptionist substitute where she learned from her coworker that incest is bad, actually. Her free time was taken up by urban exploring, and while doing so found a gang of street rats to hang with. This did not help her out in the long run, but it passed the time, and she learned some valuable tricks.
Convergence
Year 793 LE After a long period of senior high school drama between opposing cheerleader teams of Hyvemont High and Norrhage School of Athletics, Monique is feeling frustrated and goes bar hopping with her friend Ran. Plenty of guys recognize her and Ran and make advances, but she’s feeling really picky this evening and rejects all gentlemen hopefuls.
Kyra had been trying to flirt with people hoping for a hookup all day, it was her birthday and she was feeling uncharacteristically picky. It was in the third bar she entered where she saw that incredible and lustrous magenta hair she remembered from her young teens, sitting at a table in a booth facing away from her.
Monique had just downed her second shot of alcohol, and was talking to Ran about the cheerleader drama, when a cocky snake with emerald hair sat down on the empty seat in front of her. The room was slightly crowded and had a thin mist of herbal incense in the air. The three of them sat silently for a good twenty seconds, patiently waiting for one party to break the bizarre quiet that had settled.
Kyra gazed at Monique, memories flooding back to those days. How her hair still hadn’t lost its shine, she pondered. With a complete absence of nervosity or etiquette, Kyra blurted out a short sentence.
“What?” said Monique in response to the woman with amber eyes, tilting her head in confusion. Ran put her hand on top of her mouth to contain a fit of laughter, barely succeeding. The snake sitting opposed to them didn’t budge, her expression did not change. She was completely and utterly serious. This would ordinarily have made Monique also laugh uncontrollably, were it not for the circumstances. She surprised herself when she stood up, took the strange snake by the front of her tank top and walked away from the table, and left the bar. Ran was obviously stunned and rather speechless, and spent the rest of her night trying to make sense of what just happened.
Monique Amaryllis and Amon Amaryllis
Year 794 LE As she neared her high school graduation, signs were showing that she might have become pregnant, and after a quick panic-filled visit to a corner store in search of a pregnancy test, she found out she was going to become a mother. At just 19 years old, this obviously scared her immensely, but after lots of nights venting about it to Ran - dreading the loss of her freedom and incoming years of child care - ultimately, she decided to stay the course.
Her parents did not particularly approve, but were willing to help in any way they could, provided Monique found a place to work and earn a living. She only had one egg, and after lots of love and care, it hatched on a warm autumn evening. Monique named the boy Amon after a comment Ran made about how protective she thought Monique was of her egg, “Gee, Moni’! You’ll make a diamond out of that egg if you keep this up~!”
Year 794-813 LE Spending an exorbitant amount of time and effort raising Amon led to Monique losing out on a lot of fun and opportunities, but she slowly got acclimated and became more reserved and content in her new life as a mom. Along the way, she ended up taking over a flower shop that was falling into disrepair. After many months of hard work restoring it with the help of her parents, it became a central part of her life. She started getting orders from all over Hyvemont and is now delivering flowers to many marriages and events.
She tried finding out where Kyra lived through official means, but never succeeded - it’s as if she vanished out of thin air. This caused Monique to become slightly jaded, and believed Kyra to be a lost cause. Amon would regularly ask who his other parent was, and Monique would have to shoot him down with various excuses. This pained her, and made her certain she needed to protect him from harm if he were to find out Kyra didn’t care. One day a letter arrived in the mail, and it was from a government agency who had recently discovered that a rattlesnake named Kyra Zandra had registered as a resident in Guulport, in the south of Axropicai. The letter was addressed to Amon.
Kyra Zandra
Year 794 LE After somehow getting with Monique, they parted ways intending to meet again sometime, but life got in the way and Kyra, being Kyra, got into some trouble as usual. She spent a few months trying to repay a debt she had with a local gang doing various odd jobs, but in the end she decided to skip town for her own good. It was fortunate that she never was introduced into the governmental system, at least to avoid being tracked, she thought. She got a hold of a train ticket to Guulport and set off.
Year 807 LE After a long adult life of renting second hand apartments and getting around on local, unofficial welfare, she landed a great job thanks to a guy she fucked the brains out of. It wasn’t a dream job, but it paid well and it happened to also be an adult only service on the internet. She was mostly in charge of content moderation, but would regularly ham it up with users, coworkers, and eventually become a rather popular personality on the platform. Life was good.
Year 809 LE Her friend - now co-owner of RaisedTail, the adult platform Kyra was helping moderate - suggested she try out being an actual model and performer on his platform instead of being just a faceless gal on the site. Kyra seemed fond of the idea and kicked herself for not trying it sooner. It was a major success, and she rose through the ranks to climb near the top! When she began streaming, she demanded her friend to not use his influence and position to prop her up - she was confident she could do it just fine on her own.
Year 813 LE Kyra’s incredible success on RaisedTail enabled her to finally purchase a nice home on the outskirts, about 30 minutes from Guulport. This also helped her become a citizen at last, having to register in the system in order to purchase the house. Unbeknownst to her, this would immediately trigger a notification to anyone who had previously attempted to reach her, directed to next of kin by default...
