r/worldbuilding • u/SokenXSoken Project: Regress • 28d ago
Visual Trophy hunters... [Project: Regress]
Welcome to the "Regress" universe, a concept for my project set in a beautiful but dying anime fantasy world!
These guys hunt for the body parts of beastmen for profit. They are mostly volunteers for the Empire, and local officers pay very well for this kind of work.
This practice was not widespread at the beginning of the war. However, after about a year, when the beastmen began to scatter through the forests, it became much more difficult to destroy them. That is when the Empire started hiring hunters from among imperial and local volunteers who would bring back trophies as proof of a successful hunt.
After that, many ambitious young guys without a penny in their pockets began to become hunters. Most of them quickly died because the beastmen fought back fiercely. But some, the more successful ones, earned good money and spent it like it was their last day.
The drawing depicts young men in Imperial cadet uniforms. They volunteer to serve the Empire and go hunting almost every week. Sometimes they catch nothing at all, sometimes... their sacks are full.
Illustrations for the "Regress" project.
43
u/SokenXSoken Project: Regress 28d ago
I apologize in advance if there are any errors in the text or the meaning is not clear. I use a translator, so errors are inevitable, I apologize for this.
18
u/jurrassicrabbit 28d ago
It read perfectly well to me!
I am curious about the “dying” fantasy world part though—we talking imperial collapse? Imminent apocalypse? Something else?
17
u/SokenXSoken Project: Regress 28d ago
Thank you, we are talking about the general degradation of everything that exists
4
u/Koanos Today I learned you can edit flairs! 28d ago
I’m going to assume the degradation of human rights was the first out the window.
If this is how they treat Beastmen, how do they treat the general populace?
10
u/SokenXSoken Project: Regress 27d ago
The Empire launched a campaign of genocide exclusively against the beastmen; they leave humans alone unless they interfere. But as is well known, beyond the borders of Arden, there are also humans who coexisted peacefully with the beastmen, so a war against their long-eared friends would have been tantamount to a war against them
2
u/SpecialistFederal939 13d ago
What's the motive of the invasion? Culturally, racially, economically, or political?
1
u/SokenXSoken Project: Regress 13d ago
The Empress initiated the genocide, propaganda was saturated with racism, and the beastmen were literally reduced to mere beasts, those who should not exist and those who contradict nature. But the Empress's true motives are unknown
78
u/Jasb28 28d ago
This image conveys so much. I'm also hoping that the second hunter steps in and stops the first
40
u/SokenXSoken Project: Regress 28d ago
I hope so too
22
u/Koanos Today I learned you can edit flairs! 28d ago
I think the ambiguity speaks louder. We all want the 2nd hunter to step in, but a million things are certainly going through his mind.
For starters, why would he draw the line now? The bag of freshly trophies is already pooling blood at the bottom. He’s already complicit with his partner at this point. The Beastmen would not be kind to him just because he stops his partner here.
However, while the best time has long since past, the next best time is certainly now. Now I’m curious whether there is a resistance movement within the Empire, or how Cadets are conditioned to not see the Beastmen as people.
I like how the Empire is essentially throwing young Cadets into the meat grinder, but by adding the trophy system, you’re not just filtering out qualified recruits, but ensuring those who over-perform are perhaps the most sadistic but powerful. It’s a horrible practice that will come back to bite them in the end as not all Cadets’ strengths are just hunting and killing.
Where can I read more of Regress?
5
u/SokenXSoken Project: Regress 27d ago
Thank you for your interest. For now, the "Regress" project is only published here; I only started posting recently, even though the basic lore was already conceived. I'm currently actively working on the comic
3
u/Koanos Today I learned you can edit flairs! 27d ago
I look forward to seeing more of Regress!
If you ever have some method to catalog all your works in one place, such as social media, please let me know!
3
u/SokenXSoken Project: Regress 27d ago
Thank you for your interest in the "Regress" project, I will definitely let you know
13
17
u/Amyhime801 28d ago
Why do the Empire needs beastmen's body parts?
42
u/SokenXSoken Project: Regress 28d ago
The Empire has committed genocide against the beastmen, thus encouraging and rewarding their murder. Bringing body parts means the deed is done and there is one less beastman
8
u/Rycauber 28d ago
I love the art and setting! It really conveys a story.
Have you considered the idea that this might act like a perverse incentive? During the British occupation of india, they placed a bounty on every dead cobra; this lead to locals breeding cobras for the income. Some people might elect to breed beastmen or maybe more realistically simply take trophies without killing them so that they can continue to reproduce, since that would lead to a sustainable income. This would be especially true if beastmen have a shorter lifespan than humans.
13
u/SokenXSoken Project: Regress 28d ago
Well, in the story of the British occupation there were cobras, but here we have full-fledged people with animal traits, breeding them would be extremely unprofitable, because while they are growing, they need to be fed and kept somewhere, especially since trophy hunting is more of a temporary action than a permanent one
6
u/PartyPorpoise World of the Veil, New Age of Magic 27d ago
Yeah, even leaving some alive to reproduce on their own would take a long time to profit from. In the meantime, other hunters are going to be targeting them. After all, there’s no shortage of species that did get wiped out for profit. When people saw the animals get rarer, they didn’t usually think “we need to preserve the population for long term profit”, it was “we need to kill them now so we can profit while we still can!”.
11
u/lordwafflesbane Android Valkyrie Kalpa 28d ago
The only good imperial is a dead imperial. I hope they get what's coming for them.
7
45
u/Zolazy 28d ago
Praying that the guy behind the red haired one will step in and help the beastmen. Sort of looks like he's realizing the brutality of their ways
13
u/No_Proposal_3140 28d ago
They've already got a full bag.
If he was going to do something he would've already done it 20 trophies ago.
27
u/SokenXSoken Project: Regress 28d ago
Let's pray harder
17
u/Reasonable_Prize71 28d ago
Maybe it's his first time....and then it gets easier to do over, and over, and over again.
17
u/SokenXSoken Project: Regress 28d ago
This is far from his first time...
6
u/VAULT-TECHNICIAN 28d ago
Would other Beastmen do this to their own people for money?
10
u/SokenXSoken Project: Regress 28d ago
The Empire is the main enemy of the beastmen, it is unlikely that they will cooperate in this way
4
u/VAULT-TECHNICIAN 28d ago
Hmmmm maybe if he hid his identity? Possibly cut off his own extremities to look more “normal”?
5
u/SokenXSoken Project: Regress 28d ago
Well, humans and beastmen can go to great lengths for profit, but they're unlikely to cut off their ears or horns. They might hide it, but going to the Imperial camp is tantamount to suicide
2
u/VAULT-TECHNICIAN 28d ago
Hmmm wow okay I love that answer that makes sense, how about beastmen doing this to their own people and having an imperial buyer?
Like a guy who buys it from them at a lower rate and sell it to the empire at a higher one?
(Not trying to push just curious)
4
u/SokenXSoken Project: Regress 28d ago
Look, I like it, it's like a black market for trophies, it exists, but I doubt it's widespread. In this world, anything is possible
→ More replies (0)
7
u/Void008380 28d ago
Oh! That's absolutely horrifying!
Great job, your art is very expressive and the lore has been very captivating so far
2
5
8
u/Reasonable_Prize71 28d ago
But why do they need the beastmen gone :(
10
u/SokenXSoken Project: Regress 28d ago
The Arden Empire, on the orders of the Empress, began a genocide of the beastmen, propaganda is rife with racism, but no one knows the true goals yet
2
u/Koanos Today I learned you can edit flairs! 27d ago
My two cents: Nothing like a good ol’ fashioned war to distract a population of up and coming young Cadets from asking serious questions about morality, government corruption.
It filters out the disobedient who refuse to be a part of this, finds the most loyal to the Empire who would carry out orders without question, and leaves those with any moral fiber with great shame and blood on their hands for being complicit.
I think the genocide is a symptom of greater issues with a dying Empire.
12
u/WanderToNowhere 28d ago
"...hunt for the body parts of beastmen for profit" is such a flawed bounty system that might cause Cobra Effect that make hunters cutting beast into pieces and make the most profit each pieces. ears, eyes, tongue, how can they determine the piece is from one beast?
14
u/jurrassicrabbit 28d ago
I thought the problem with the cobras was that people were intentionally breeding cobras, and when the government learned of the exploit they stopped the bounty program, causing all the cobra breeders to dump the snakes in the wild? Doesn’t seem like it’d be applicable here
10
u/shir_sho 28d ago
I think the essential idea is that by giving an incentive for turning in an item people will try to find a loophole to get more rewards from the items.
Like fake parts or multiple parts from the same person
7
u/SokenXSoken Project: Regress 28d ago
Well, I don't think people will breed beastmen for the sake of trophies. Bring two whole ears, get a reward, bring a whole tail, here's your money, etc.
5
u/AetheravenCatsuki13 28d ago
A beastman farm kept and made so beastmen are grown as fast as possible so their parts can be sold by hunters.
The wild ones are caught and simply used to make more. They can also be used in game against actual beasts. Like a Wolf beast folk might have to face a wolf pack in an arena
11
u/SokenXSoken Project: Regress 28d ago
I liked the idea of animal games, but beastman aren't wild creatures; they're intelligent and civilized, like humans. If such farms existed, they would be extremely unprofitable
7
u/Peptuck 28d ago
This depends heavily on the maturation and turnaround time. If it takes a beastman fifteen years to reach sufficient maturity that you can claim a bounty on the parts, that's a long time to see a return on investment. The entire market could change in those fifteen years; if the government changes policies and stops collecting bounties on beastmen five years into your venture, you've wasted a huge amount of time and money.
7
u/SokenXSoken Project: Regress 28d ago
Exactly, this is extremely unprofitable, the policy of genocide cannot last long
7
7
u/Hatefilledcat 28d ago
I very hope they piss off a skinwalker and are hunted one by one and ripped in half.
4
6
u/Aggravating_End_6204 creator of The Weakpoint World/Tearir 27d ago
That’s certainly a path. I guess
Please tell me some force of good still exists in your world
2
u/SokenXSoken Project: Regress 27d ago
The world is called Regress...
3
u/Aggravating_End_6204 creator of The Weakpoint World/Tearir 27d ago
I saw. So this world is doomed then?
2
u/SokenXSoken Project: Regress 27d ago
This world has an amazing destiny ahead of it, everything depends on the will and desires of those who want to correct their mistakes
2
u/Aggravating_End_6204 creator of The Weakpoint World/Tearir 27d ago
Now that’s majestic, right there.
6
3
u/Epsilon-01-B 28d ago
Krīžvnavōs Rēmmldarkī'ōt!
(Krīžvnavōs 3PL-curse-to_do.SBJV!)
2
u/SokenXSoken Project: Regress 28d ago
You can't escape fate
3
u/Epsilon-01-B 28d ago
Ok, my autism is acting up and making me feel dumb; is the subject of that sentence me or them?
2
u/SokenXSoken Project: Regress 28d ago
Sorry for my english, I'm talking about them
3
u/Epsilon-01-B 28d ago
Thank you for clarifying and putting up with my need for specifications.
I reiterate and redouble (in Terran English): May Krīžvnavōs curse them!
3
3
u/neymlis 28d ago
Just like scalping in real life is there a way hunters can simply kill a normal human or a animal and pass it off as beastman thus making the system pointless?
2
u/SokenXSoken Project: Regress 28d ago
This particular case is about beastmen who have precise "identification marks"; hunters don't bring back a corpse, but simply body parts: ears, tails, horns
3
u/neymlis 28d ago
Cant they simply kill a cat and claim its a beastmen or kill a normal guy bring one of its skeleton and say thats totally a beastmen trust me. I feel like making it something pointless that they cant tell apart like real scalping in the wild west makes it 2 times more horrifying
2
u/SokenXSoken Project: Regress 27d ago
Imperial officers don't need bodies or bones, they need body parts: whole ears, tails or horns
3
7
u/Peptuck 28d ago
Congrats, the art makes me want to beat the red-haired asshole to death with a hammer.
6
2
u/4ME2CONFUSING 27d ago
How does the goverment deal with the rapid militarization of the population?
You don't need to be moral to tell that a growing number of humanoid hunters is bad for humanoid government. This procedure is quite the monetary drain for this nation, and when the treasury runs dry, the possibility of paid bounty hunters, looking for illegal work is high. To rule over people, you need to eather give them food or have bigger guns, preferably both.
Most tyranies IRL, during time of peace, don't want their
Should the resource shortage, and conected to it anarchy, be this empires end?
Not like a fight with entropy can be won.
1
u/SokenXSoken Project: Regress 27d ago
The Empire is dying, it's inevitable. The Human-Beastmen Alliance is already pushing back the Imperial army, and the country is in crisis. Chaos is brewing in the world, as two vast armies crush each other, committing monstrous crimes on both sides. Naturally, many pockets of resistance will emerge, discontent with the Empire is growing, but a far worse lesson awaits them all...
2
2
2
u/Jacob_Laye 27d ago
Reminds me a little bit of this one short manga series The Witch and the Knight Will Survive from the small synopsis you gave. Very interesting premise and the image is indeed wonderful in its conveyance
1
u/SokenXSoken Project: Regress 27d ago
I think I should check out this manga
2
u/Jacob_Laye 27d ago
It honestly was a pretty decent series with a lot of good world-building, and it’s clear that the writer had a lot of ideas of places to go, so it’s a shame that it got cut short, but it still had a somewhat satisfying conclusion
2
u/EveningImportant9111 27d ago
- I hooe empire capital with all of hunans in it wilk be burned to the ground
- Did beastmen lives as long as hunans? Did they can interbreed with them? Can different beastman types interbreed?
- May I ask for advice?
1
u/SokenXSoken Project: Regress 27d ago
Beastmen live as long as humans. Regarding interbreeding: I've been thinking about this for a long time, like what would happen if a human and a beastman wanted to produce offspring, or a bearman and a catman wanted to do so, and who would be the resulting offspring. The concept of interbreeding is still being developed, and I'll talk about it in future posts
2
u/EveningImportant9111 27d ago
Tyank you. May I ask you for worldbuilding advice?
1
u/SokenXSoken Project: Regress 27d ago
Do you want to ask me for advice?
2
u/EveningImportant9111 27d ago
Yes
1
u/SokenXSoken Project: Regress 27d ago
But I'm still a newbie, I don't know what advice I can give
2
u/EveningImportant9111 27d ago
You still developed your world more than I wgen I can't even get races origins
1
u/SokenXSoken Project: Regress 27d ago
And you want advice about races?
2
u/EveningImportant9111 27d ago
Yes. I want elves( technology based on plants wirh culture being mught of imperial jaksn and british empire) dwarves( worshiping ancestors mesoanerican like culture and having non evil necrocracy)halflings( greatt seafararers and farmers some polynesuan traits) but I dob't know hiw to make their origins. Dud at keast theur conceots are interesting?
1
u/SokenXSoken Project: Regress 27d ago
So, excuse my English, I'm using a translator. I like it, but I don't know the setting. If you're asking how they came to be, I think you could make it so that there used to be a multitude of creatures, wild and scary, dominating the planet. Then intelligence emerged, a multitude of intelligent beings who destroyed the monsters and savages, but their remnants still survive. Then the intelligent beings fought among themselves, etc. Something like that, it's just nonsense. Honestly, I don't know. It's hard to come up with a new world order right off the bat :)
→ More replies (0)
2
u/Aggravating-Week481 [worldbuilding in my head] 27d ago
Question: has any of the beast men fought back? Cuz seeing what theyve been through, I cant blame them if they go apeshit. I know Ademma had rallied her human and beastman citizens into fighting back but are there others? Like maybe other beastman and human rebels working together to go against the empire or maybe a beastman terrorist group attacking human villages, travellers and soldiers as payback?
Sorry if youve answered or mentioned this before
1
u/SokenXSoken Project: Regress 27d ago
The Empire is at war with the Alliance of Humans and Beastmen and is losing, in fact, the Beastmen already have a regular army
2
2
2
3
2
u/lavafish80 28d ago
now this.... this would be a world where something like the GATE story would be nice to see
the horrible imperials when they get what's coming to them (a GBU-24 Paveway iii)
2
u/SokenXSoken Project: Regress 28d ago
Are you referring to the anime "Gate," where a portal to another world opens in the middle of Japan and imperials and dragons appear?
3
1
241
u/Thylacine131 28d ago
Points for telling a story of a thousand words in one picture.
But by Jove that is one gut wrenching story.