Year Of The Rabbit
YEAR OF THE RABBIT - PROLOGUE
The year is 2311, considered to be an honoured year. Not for any specific reasons. No one famous was born this year - yet at least. No major scientific breakthroughs have been made, AIDS was cured ages ago, and homosexuality has stopped being frowned upon for quite some time. I'm not entirely certain of that last bit, as I'm only 17. I still see discrimination, but it's apparently not nearly as prevalent.
But what's the state of humanity? Well, technological advances have been made. Lasers have nearly replaced caliber ammunition - I say nearly because they're still working out some kinks with that. We've found traces of life beyond out galaxy with our probes. As mentioned earlier, diseases such as AIDs and Cancer are a thing for the history books. Racial discrimination still exists, unfortunately, but not quite how you might think. Oh, and the most widely imported and exported vegetable of the world is the carrot.
Still with me? Good, then let me elaborate a bit farther. Maybe you remember the big uproar about 2012 being the 'end of the world' because of the whole Mayan calendar thing. Well, what if I told you that, in a sense, they had a point? Sure, at the end of 2012, there wasn't a massive asteroid, the polar ice caps didn't melt, and we weren't covered by a massive sheet of magma or sunk into the world from earthquakes.
Near the end of 2011, there was a massive breakthrough in gene splicing, as well as cloning technology. Wouldn't you know it - it was the Chinese that made these discoveries. How did they use it though? Well, they did have wonderful intentions, but with the proximity of 2012, they had a different plan.
They created the world's first 'Furry' as the Internet called them. Using their knowledge, as well as having access to several zoos across China, they spliced the genes of a Komodo Dragon with that of a human, and used that to fertilize a cloned human egg. Doing this, they managed to exploit a loophole when it came to human rights - what they were doing wasn't wrong, as the clone had no official parents, and therefore, no hereditary genes or behavior - or preferences. Several specimens 'failed' to produce the desired effect, but they managed to not only give 'birth' to a successful human/reptile hybrid, but managed to accelerate its growth to that of a mature adult in only a couple of months. The being - simply named 'Zodiac' - was revealed on the 23rd of January, 2012 - The day of the Chinese New Year, and the start of the Year of the Dragon.
At first, the world was shocked by this reveal. These scientists had accomplished what had only been done in comic books and video games - They had made an anthropomorphic human/animal hybrid. Naturally, PETA had a field day with the whole affair, but nobody really paid them any mind anyways. Rather, this caught the attention of several human rights activists, who were up in arms about the whole thing. Seems the Chinese had made one mistake - they gave the creature a name, and therefore, through some more political jargon and loopholes, this meant that this creature had every right to a normal human life, which had been stripped away by not officially being human. And since she (yes, she) was - apart from the whole 'part Komodo Dragon thing'- was perfectly healthy, euthanizing her would lead to murder charges being pressed. So, with no other options, Zodiac was given rights to a normal human life, and was even educated as anyone else would be. It seemed simple enough. The only hitch? To prevent further 'damning of humanity,' as several people called it, Zodiac had undergone a hysterectomy. Crisis averted, right?
But, naturally, the scientists that made her wanted more. They saw potential in human gene splicing, as well as cloning. The following year, they revealed that they had made another human-animal hybrid. This one was a radically different being than Zodiac though. With 2013 being the Year of the Snake, their new creation was simply named Naga, and for good reason - This new creation had no legs, but rather, had the lower half of a snake. Once again, the press exploded. Some of it was backlash from before, some more of it was trying to basically make the whole thing out to be some radical form of self-promotion. Who knows really. In the end, they finally proposed one main argument:
"We know that what we are doing is strange. We know that what we are doing is not looked upon very favourably by many. But we are not doing this for that. We are doing this because we know that we can help the world. We can take the world leagues beyond its potential with this. With these advances, we may be able to cure the currently incurable, and even enhance life as we know it. We showed Zodiac and Naga off so that the world would know of our existence - so that we could potentially gain some favourable attention for our cause. Zodiac and Naga are our presents to the world, and you look at them with disdain. With an attitude like that, it is no wonder the world remains at a standstill.
"We will continue this work, and yes, we will continue to make our anthropomorphized humans to release on the Chinese New Year. All we ask is for the knowledge that we can trust you with the fruits of our labour - that you will not turn them away like a leper. If we do this... We can - and will make the world a better place!" The crazy thing was the fact that that hokey speech worked.
After delivering that speech, the organizations speaking against them calmed down. It didn't take long for the group to even start receiving funding for their work after a time. Before too much longer, they had grown - several people joining their cause for a 'better' tomorrow. Succeeding where others failed, they expanded rapidly - within just a year, they had grown to become the world's largest facility in genetic sciences. I find that last statement hard to believe as well - trust me.
And, true to their word, despite people still being a tad iffy towards the thing, they continued releasing their 'presents' to the world on the chinese new year, each one being a mix between human and animal - the animal having to do with whatever the Chinese Zodiac had planned.
Actually, let me touch on these creations for just a moment. It seems that, in their growing techniques, these guys had overlooked something. Because they managed to make these creations from embryo to adult in mere months... they continued to age rapidly. In fact, their life span wasn't really that much more than a few months after release - Zodiac lived the longest of the group, actually getting to meet Naga before she passed away a month later. The others ended up passing away around the time Spring was in full bloom. My guess is that it had something to do with the komodo dragon genes, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
I do have a point to this all. I wouldn't bore you with a history lesson if I didn't have a good reason behind it, so bear with me for just a little bit longer.
Well, after a time, these guys managed to prove their second statement. They managed to, with their advanced knowledge and techniques, they managed to provide cures to various obscure diseases at first, but then, within a few years, they made their first major breakthrough in medical science - They cured the common cold.
Yes. I am not shitting you, these guys cured the common cold. They then managed to move on to cure the next big things - several persistent STIs were covered, including the HIV virus. In the same year they moved on to cure AIDS. The year after that, they cured cancer. It seemed that these men could do no wrong.
Or... so we thought. These men continued their expansion like clockwork, until 2023. The Year of the Rabbit. To celebrate their 12th year of working, the company bred two subjects - anthropomorphic rabbits, one male, one female. They named them Carl and Laura, rather than a more enigmatic name such as their predecessors. Some of us have an alternate set of nicknames for these two though, but I'll get to that later.
These two though were... different. In the short time they knew each other, they became attracted to each other very strongly. So strong in fact... that merely a few days after their reveal, one day before their scheduled hysterectomy, they escaped.
The corporation was in a state of panic, but told no one. These two escaped, and from that point... they did what nature intended. They began to breed. And breed... and breed. Before long, some of the children were being spotted in the cities, and there were even reports that they were proceeding to breed further. Unfortunately... there was very little we could do about it. These children were stronger, faster, and, thanks to how their bodies worked, they aged quicker, being capable of breeding in merely a few weeks.
And so, they multiplied... and then came the first incident - a woman had taken to one of the offspring, and together, they fathered a child. Of course, the media had a field day with this - the first human-anthro couple and their child. With the human DNA stronger, the child aged a tad slower. Once the first pairing had come out into the open... others began to follow suit.
I seriously wish I was kidding. Humankind and the anthro-people, known as Homo Cuniculus - though most prefer to simply call them the Lapine - were beginning to coincide with one another. they proved to be intelligent, on par with normal human intelligence even. It was several years later that the population eventually evened out, an equal mix of humans and the Lapine. It is for this reason that Carl and Luna have their alternate nicknames - Adam and Eve. Then, the trouble started.
Yeah, that whole 'Humans and Lapine mixing' wasn't the bad news. The trouble began with mutations being noticed around the ages of puberty in several of the Lapine. This gave rise to the 'Mixes' - a slur used for those whose genes had shifted a bit, not being a 50/50 match between human and rabbit. The technical, less 'offensive' term, is 'Hybrid.' These Hybrids are frowned upon, not only by Lapine culture, but even by human culture. They don't belong in either, technically, when it's thought about.
But, thankfully, humanity as a whole being at least partially civil, the Hybrids are not deliberately hunted down, or hung at birth, or whatever. No, instead, they get to deal with oh-so-glorious racism. Or I guess you could call it speciesism. Either way, while according to the law, Hybrids, Lapines and Humans are all equal, in the eyes of society, things work a little differently. Returning to almost primal instincts, an unwritten caste system has been in place since the Lapines first became at peace with the human race.
At the top of the system, we have the Lapines. Some flaunt this fact, acting as if they are some form of ascended and enlightened human being. Thankfully, this only accounts for the asshole population - at most, a measly 0.1%. Still a fair amount, but hey, nobody said it'd be perfect. This being said, I'm sure it comes as no surprise that most of the aristocrats in the world are Lapines. Next in line though, we have the humans themselves. They're alright though. Not many assholes there. Much less than the Lapines at least. Oftentimes, a Human could easily get work under a Lapine with ease - from simply working in an office to (again, mostly the aristocrats) being a personal manservant - butlers, maids, the works.
Next in line is rabbits. No, I am not kidding you. Cats, dogs, mice, birds - if you have one of those as a pet, it's nothing much to glance at unless it's a rather nice breed. Conversation pieces, or they're there for those that love animals. If you own a rabbit though... that's a whole other story. Kinda like how having an exotic pet way back when would turn heads in an instant. You hear about those people who had things like Tigers, Ocelots, Peacocks, et cetera, who basically got one to brag about it, or to show they had money. Now, Rabbits have fallen into this category. Sorta makes sense, what with the whole 'Their DNA made this new race' and all that. Yeah. Despicably common, and yet they cost a fortune in pet stores. Some people try and pass themselves off as sophisticated by catching one in the wild - save for the fact that it was made a felony in 2085 - need a license to catch one, and even then, it's only if you're going to sell them as a pet store owner.
Lastly, on the bottom of this system, is the Hybrids. They're not sold or bought as pets of course. Well, mostly. There's still some places in the world where Hybrids are sold as servants. It's mostly stopped, but still done in some places in the world. Mostly Africa, and even then that's a longshot. There's a funny thing about Hybrids though - namely, how can you tell that someone's a Hybrid? Well, in the early years, you can't really. A Hybrid will look just like a normal Lapine, least until puberty. Afterwards, depending on how they're genes balance, their body will naturally even itself out. Got more rabbit in you? Well, then expect to be a bit more primal in your years as they go by, get some slightly longer feet, and hell, maybe even sprout coarser and thicker fur. Got more human? Well, these ones are easier to spot - they lose their fur more and more, and sometimes their ears even get shorter. The tail though has never left. I dunno why, maybe it's hard-coded into Lapine DNA to always have a tail. Either way, the rabbit are clearly the trickier ones to spot, as it's mostly behavioural stuff that changes for them. Spot what looks like a human with rabbit ears? You've found yourself a Hybrid.
To make a long story short...er... Day to day life has been radically altered with the introduction of Lapines. Their breeding and aging has, thankfully, calmed down to a much more natural pace. Yeah, it's still a little accelerated, but hey, that's Rabbits for yah.
Oh, right, the whole year thing. Earlier, I made some big fuss about how this year, 2311, was important. Well, this year, on the Chinese Zodiac, marks the Year of the Rabbit.