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Post by Alma on Mar 6, 2021 13:06:25 GMT -6
I've recently put myself to the task of trying to figure out how my character keeps her pets on a non-kennel property, and it's been quite a bit of trouble. Most of the predators hate being near each other, such as sarane needing nearly a city-wide space to be truly happy or trying to put more than one aquatic creature into a small river containing a halberd shark. A good chunk of beasts require so much food that it would take my character the better part of a day to merely collect and distribute meals. They would all need to be exercised under constant supervision to avoid health issues, with their programmed quick attachment requiring my character to be the one dealing with them. And, assuming they are not caged 24/7, there would be the issue of them jumping over walls to hunt in areas not on the property. And none of that even brings into consideration the sentient ones who might wander off to interact with others or explore out of mind-numbing boredom. Or that any herbivores on the property would require each predator to be trained not to hunt them, or be trained not to fight each other or so on.
When they were kept in the kennels, I liked to pretend there were some mechanized systems that, if not capable of keeping the pets locked in a magically dormant state, at least could help with the collection/distribution of food and cleaning of the very large, pen-like cages. But trying to take more than a small handful out is boggling my mind.
Figured I might as well ask how you handle it. Do you hand-wave it all, shoving aside potential issues with a vague explanation or ignoring them altogether? Do you only focus on one group of active pets a time and ignore theoretical the care of the rest? Do you have a ton of assistants that help your character in caring for the beasts? How do you keep predators tightly packed and not leaving your property line if you let them roam your land? Is your paid property just a way to divide what your character owns vs what you personally like but can't see them using?
I am leaning towards using the hand-wavy vague explanation. I'm not sure how my character could safely keep a few angry drakes on the same property, much less caring for the full thirty varied beasts her farm can hold. What's your method?
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Post by Xentus on Mar 6, 2021 13:25:44 GMT -6
Realistically speaking, if our critters were kept in spaces that were perfectly accommodating to them, we'd all have giant zoos, with staff to keep the animals fed, clean, and healthy. But this place is magical! And has the technology. Kennel lots are probably magical in nature, providing spaces that are much bigger on the inside than one might imagine from the outside. And has the tech for automated feeding/cleaning. For non-kennel spaces, you could have a magically enchanted lot/stable with barriers that prevent pets from seeing each other. Or turn to technology for enhanced versions of electric fences to keep critters where they should be. If you want to avoid either, you'd probably have a place with a ton of space and basically free-range your critters. You could turn to cruelty and keep animals in cages too small with the bare minimum requirements.
I personally hand wave 98% of the pet housing context. The trod cares for whatever's in the kennel, and the leopard buys food every so often for the ones at home. And that's about it! Pets that need space have it. Pets are fed however they are. Pets are always healthy too. Do they keep out of trouble? Maybe, maybe not, who cares, I'm playing with a dragon :D
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Post by Kristofor on Mar 6, 2021 13:37:28 GMT -6
Presently Kristofor has a pretty open space kennel, with some partitions for each of his three (now four) pets. I wrote as he doesn't have any actual doors, because every creature he owns is about knee height or shorter, without the finger dexterity to operate latches. Plus, he can open a gate when walking around on fours. I haven't decided on how a small city apartment will manage four creatures yet, as in plot, Kristofor has to move for the renovations in kennel on his floor to replace the water mains.
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Post by Alma on Mar 6, 2021 13:38:35 GMT -6
Xentus- I like that idea. Think I was getting a bit too caught up in what's "realistic" on a site with psychic spiders that see the future and dragon-wolves that have elemental hearts. XD Thank you.
Kristofor- Downsizing does seem like the way to go to stay 'real'. I'm a bit too greedy to play that way though. XD Thanks for sharing.
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Post by Riku on Mar 6, 2021 14:03:08 GMT -6
I really love Xentus’ ideas. Especially the “bigger in the inside” and illusion magic for them to not see each other if needed.
Personally, Riku currently has his many Malii in a public place where they live now. He (and now a few other hired staff) care for them there, and they have members of the Mantra who visit them. (Varying by personality, training, and loyalty requirements on how that goes lol)
For everything else, ny characters still use kennels. I haven’t really gotten into housing yet. Riku lives with his parents still, and Adam sleeps where he -cough-. I kind of imagine the kennels are stocked with tech and staff who care for the animals for us. Possibly funded by the government out of taxes. Possibly for a monthly fee - but since it’s the common starting place for animals, I assume it’s an amenity.
Some creatures aren’t really kennel pets. Riku has his amulet spirit who’s *always* with him. He also has Scarlet, his favorite Malii currently, who’s very often with him. She actually lives with him and sleeps in his room. He has mining familiars who live in the mines. He meets them at their ‘nests’. And his sentient creatures come and go as they please, usually with their own personal business or friends.
Adam’s Archarelion (cross) is usually with him, if not on his own personal side adventures. He ‘has’ a creature who hangs out at the gardens, a creature who fades into the wind and is summoned, and a dragon who graces him with his powerful presence when he is bored or wants something. So pretty much just free-will friends. The only creature he actually owns is a new Sarane hatchling. I’ll probably get him a place to settle down temporarily in, first, to care for him.
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Post by Lethalia on Mar 6, 2021 14:21:31 GMT -6
I actually do mess with playing this as straight as I can IC, it's a fun personal challenge to play this way for me! I keep my kennel slim because I enjoy a smaller collection, and I think a tight color palette looks nice. I keep all of the critters I don't want to use on her in a separate post for looking at or later doling out, but otherwise all of the critters in her kennel (and most live at her house) are hers. Most pets technically live at the farm, only unbroken drakes who will stay that way live at the kennel. Everybody needs a place on the farm, if not an actual purpose on it.
Some things are definitely hand waved; I mention my character doing chores or feeding a lot. But they definitely get fed 'however they get fed' like Xentus said. I'd LOVE to make a character just to expand on a super magical/tech kennel, as a foil to my current play.
I ignore the drakes needing that much space - especially because critters do different things in captivity than they would in the wild. The dominant two drakes stay at different ends of the farmstead in their own shed-shelters, and mostly leave eachother alone aside from kicking up dirt at one another sometimes. My non-dominant (non-t3) drakes are essentially like bachelor lions, and often group as such. The hens all roost together, with the dominant one being 'the boss'.
Just... fun or silly things like that, which make it more enjoyable to put my farmstead together. Almost like a soft magic system! Rules can't be broken if you don't establish any. Why haven't the sarane eaten the pures yet yet? I don't have to acknowledge it if I don't bring it up. xD I'm still not sure how to frame a pliathor in my pond though lmao
So I guess I play it straight where it's fun for me or gives me writing fodder, and the rules bend otherwise. *snort*
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Post by Renathan on Mar 6, 2021 15:17:51 GMT -6
Renathan has been downsizing. He's got a job now, so he's no longer a Critter Tamer 24-7. He has a pretty large farm that he invested in once getting to the City, and he does make a good penny from his profession (since he mostly serves rich clientele). His farm is canonically kinda gigantic though.
When it comes to his sarane, his hen has all of his drakes whipped into submission, so all of the drakes live in DoW's territory.
His other animals have specific amenities tailored to them.
I like to think Renathan's interns sometimes come to the farm to do some of the chores as part of learning how to shoe equillion and make barding and such.
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Morgan is canonically super rich and spoiled. They have paid wait-staff to do a lot of the chores, and robots as well. Morgan doesn't actually have to do the chores if they don't want to, and a lot of time they don't really have the energy to do that and run WELP so, kind of par for the course for rich folks.
They have a mount barn, and a whole inn for their tat-lungs, and a dog kennel, and two different sarane barns... Wiltholm is absolutely huge.
Waar's got his own barn too, and a large area for him to fly in that has metal netting to make sure that he doesn't escape and eat the equillion, which are housed clear on the other side of the estate to keep them as far away as possible. Honestly, I kinda think that Shy Guy and his kelpie brood could probably kill most predators anyway (and maybe he does if someone's animals get out and come too close, he's very territorial).
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So yeah, Renathan makes a lot of money from his high-end job but spends most of it to feed his critters.
Morgan's just a spoiled filthy rich person.
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Post by Ashe on Mar 6, 2021 16:16:22 GMT -6
Ashe actually has staff onsite. He bought a few of those new droids from the TT shop. Like this: One takes care of the Aquarium pets when he's not there. One helps around his farm (combined a couple huge properties, trying to get most of his pets out of the kennel). He also has a trod, and ICly my second character, Jinx, lives at his house literally employed by Ashe to take care of his pets, primarily equillion. Aquarium has different tanks. The house has huge fields for Equillion, and a huge stable for the Sarane. I play around a bit here - Sarane either stay babies forever, or the "dominant drakes" have to stay on opposite ends of the stable. I have a "forest" that's big enough for random pets to live in. Sentient pets either patrol and guard the property, or help in some way. Between Fafnir, Dracula, Maverick, etc, it's pretty well protected with high walls and a sturdy gate. The main thing I fudge is "good lord how expensive is their food!" Ashe has no issues taking "free pets" from the labs and using them as food. He routinely feeds brown sarane to his Pliathor. He fed his CC enough to get it to grow. So I'm sure there's some sort of meal plan available. But he also has great jobs - being the leader of a Keep to defend the city, running an Aquarium, doing training, and his technical job... He makes decent money.
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Post by Alma on Mar 6, 2021 19:18:49 GMT -6
May be weird, but I really enjoyed reading all of your methods, from the rich hiring help or valuable tech, to the assistance of those who are pets only in name, to the creatures themselves choosing when to deal with your character, to pets simply not being in the wild and therefore not acting in the same way. Surprised at how many ways folks go about it. It also helps to learn that a little bit of fudging is pretty common, and it makes it a little easier to plan out things. Thank you all.
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