Origin Island - Origin Island is the place where Skull Monkeys abide unchanged *moderately* by the outside world.
What is Smog?~All Islanders are born with the smog.
~The smog is a genetic disease that seems to hit harder the more intelligent an Smo is.
~Years and years ago the Smog hit the island with such ferrocity that 2/3 of the population was killed by it.
~As of right now the Smog is currable.
Can I get Twins???Short answer... ALL SKULL MONKEYS ARE BORN TWINS. But because of the extremely high death rate, about half of them are stillborn. Even then most cases both twins do not live past the age of five. There are a very few rare cases of twin sets that have made it all the way to adulthood... Ernie and George Swiss being one... I'd say about 1 in fifty sets get to grow up together.
What's with the books?~ When the 2/3 of the population was killed, there were only a few monkies monkys left. And since the Smog hits harder the more intelligent you are, that left behind Smos that really only knew how to take care of the sick. They didn't know anything about technology, they didn't know anything about science. There were a few Smo's that could remember how to read and they tried to teach the younger monkeys, but there was so much to do that there really wasn't time. So one year a couple crates of books that were destined to go to a small bookstore in Durem washed up on the shores. There were a few Smos that still knew how to read... the older and wiser ones. And so when the crates were opened and these respected Monkeys read passages to the younger ones, the books became the pinacle for a sort of Smo religion. The few monkeys that could read did so and taught the younger monkies.
~Now what the island has, is a mismatched culture built using the books as an example. There were hundereds of books all in different genres... children's books, sci-fi books, gardening books, cooking books... anything you could imgaine, and yet somehow not enough at the same time.
Can my islander be a genius?~Short answer, No. Smos can be relaticely smart, they don't have to be challenged, but there will be no real rocket scientists. Simply because no Smo will be able to be extremely intelligent at this time and live through the smog.
Why are some Smo kinds anthro and some not?~Islanders have VERY unstable DNA. So they can be either animal form or fifther (anthro) At almost any stage... but becuase they have such unstable Dna, they can't switch back and forth like Skull Monkeys can.
can I name my Smo Islander Bob?~It is considered most common for Islanders to have both first and last names...
~Almost all the names come from a book somewhere, and quite a few aren't really names in Human terms... (ex: Brick Yellow was named after the yellow brick road in the Wizard of Oz... and Felix Cerulean was named Felix for a play and Cerulean because his mother liked the way it sounded but didn't know it was a colour.)
~Children's last names don't always match the parents... they didn't seem to catch that from the books.
~Names are not gender specific. (ex: John is the Kings advisor... and she's a female.) No one considers it strange for a girl to have a boy's name, or a boy to have a girl's name.
why are some things just plain retarded on the Island?~Things that humans would consider simple have been confused a lot of the time... the shoping store is called Rental's for example...
The Committiee? What's a Committiee? ~The ecconomy works very much like a communist society. Everyone is assigned a job by the Committie, and everyone is assigned hours that they have to be at the generators.
~The committie carries out 90% of the orders on the Island.
~Islanders are allowed to make their own choices and appeals to the committie... they are allowed to date freely and choose their own mates, but housing and schooling is assigned by the committie.
~For the most part, the Committie is the government, and the Smo's are treated well by government.
What's a Generator?~The generators are what power the whole island, and each monkey is assigned at least 2 hours at the generators at least every two days.
~The physical challenges of the generators keep them healthy enough to continually fight the smog.
~There are several different types of Generator machines. Think Hampsters in a Hampster wheel only on a much bigger scale and with Skull Monkeys. There are machines for anthros and adults, and there are a variety of methods to use each one... it all depends on which muscles you want to work.
King?~The King's name is Felix, and he's an idiot, but a really nice guy.
~His daughter, Kaye Cerulean, is not an idiot.
~His advisor is named John Jasper, and she is also not an idiot.
What's a Wandering Kestrel?~The only trasportation on and off the island is on Brick's ship (the wandering kestrel) ... The ship is owned by him, and operated by him and the help of his five monkey crew. The crew doesn't talk and are all pretty simple when it comes to intelligence. The Committie assigned them all to Brick's ship as punishment for something he did in the past.
So what's the Culture based on?~Think steampunk. Victorian, modernish technologies.
Do's and Don'ts in Character Concepts
Do not:: mrgreen Have your character be uber smart... a litle smart is ok, no A+ students though.
mrgreen Cover them in peircings or tatoos.
mrgreen Mutate them beyond recognition.
mrgreen Plan for them to be rebels.
Do:: mrgreen Create a small mutation for your Islander caused by the smog at a young age.
mrgreen Know where they came from and who their parents were/are.
mrgreen Figure out what they'd be good at, and think up a job for them.
mrgreen Give them a first and last name.
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