#Original Xenofiction

[redneaththedogwood]

Introduction

Hi! Call me Red.

I am a queer young adult artist with a passion for making stories! My pronouns are he/they/it.

Red 'Neath the Dogwood is a feline centric xenofiction world building project that is inspired by the blogs @/barrenclan, @/bonefall, @/trinitywc, and @/cathedralcomic, as well as published works such as Warrior Cats, Ratha's Creature, Guardians of Ga'Hoole, and Watership Down. Other influences may show through, particularly the horror aspects present in media such as The Magnus Archives and Old Gods of Appalachia.

My goal with R'NtD is to create compelling groups with their own religious beliefs, food cultures, and a unifying language. The overarching story has not been decided yet, and while I flesh that out I will focus on characterizing the groups and who resides in them, along with creating unique roles and government systems for each.

This blog is a passion project and it is mostly just me working on it, with language help from my good friend @elkpaws.

Things To Know

Red 'Neath the Dogwood will not be a project for children and will include serious discussion of topics ranging from mental health, cultism, oppressive structures, and more. If these topics upset you, that is absolutely okay! This project will likely not be for you.

You are not bothering me with like spam or reblog spam! I appreciate the love and engagement :)

I ADORE seeing people talk and reply in tags and replies, it makes my day!!

I love asks! I will read them all!!! I might not get to all of them if I ever get super popular, but as a smaller work I will do my best to answer.

Please do not ping me on other people's work. It feels very rude!

The main theme I want to portray with Red 'Neath the Dogwood is generational differences, finding one's sense of self, and what drives people to fall into fascist ideas. GROWTH, CHANGE, and PROGRESS, for better or worse.

This will likely be a story that follows many characters and will grow to reflect that, with different "arcs" and offshoot tales about characters within the three groups present. I will do my best to tag for organization's sake, but be warned that I am forgetful and might lose posts.

I will also try to remember to tag for triggering or otherwise upsetting subject matter, but if I miss something send me an ask and I'll take care of it as best I can.

Closing Thoughts

For now I believe this covers everything I can think of, and as this project grows I will likely rewrite this pinned post to reflect those changes. In future I hope to have several original tags set up for this blog, including things specific to food, culture, and character posts.

Thank you for taking the time to read this! I hope I can make this blog worthwhile.

Ask Status: Open

[ririarts]

OC art (for valentine's day) - characters from my webtoon The Rabbit's Foot

[sparkylurkdragon]

A detail I really love in the Watership Down comic is how every rabbit in Cowslip's warren is almost constantly smiling widely. It is incredibly unsettling, given the characters usually have minimally anthropomorphised expressions.

Like, here's a smile from (I think) Pipkin. Note how it still reads as a small little bunny mouth and is just barely enough to tell he's smiling.

And then there's THESE SHADY MOTHERFUCKERS.

Like, here's some with Strawberry side-by-side with Hazel and Bigwig so you can see the contrast.

It's a wonderful tell that Something Ain't Right.

[wanderingokali]

Witch Hat Atelier artstyle study with Kalops and some elements from chapter 1. Mostly wanted to replicate the little chapter illustrations that usually feature one character and some nice visual elements and frames.

[emerald-dragonflame]

You know, the worst part about making xenofiction is the horrific balancing act of trying to make the animal characters realistic, without making them unrelatable. I genuinely don’t wanna go the warrior cats route, but it is popular for a reason…

Anyway: Cast in Amber is being a bitch, and I’m trying to beat it into submission

[vixymix101]

Some design concepts for a xenofiction idea I'm working on called "The Red Pine", a story about a mother red squirrel trying to get her two sons, Rusty and Boomer, to a safe place, all while squirrelpox runs rampant among the pine forests she once called home.

[feliniakattus]

skulk :)

[jackalawful]

Conker (he/him ♂)

never given a "true name", the secret name that differentiates a cat from outsider riffraff, he's more than happy living wild and free. reckless, overconfident, he charmed a cat who wandered far from nandryx, and was surprised when his soulbound platonic partner showed up with Conker's sister in tow.

they live now in a strange family unit of sorts, happy to take advantage of arcadia's kindness, two pairs of mates and their shared kits between them.

[leopardsealz]

a pair of hyena siblings

[redneaththedogwood]

Writing up a post to talk about the three focal groups rn and augh, it's already so long and I've only talked about one

[ririarts]

All I need, darling, is a life in your shape.

OC art once in a while! From my webtoon The Rabbit's Foot

[kattheerat]

[wanderingokali]

Got a burst of Saspi energy and busted this out in like an hour lol gotta love it when an OC gets a grip on your attention like that

[xaeyrnofnbe]

Death Claims His Champion

(info under cut)

hrgfhvngn i went into a trance for about four hours drawing this

the drawing depicts some OCs of mine, Ifre (the god of death/time,) and Walker (or Walks On Time Itself, Ifre's champion.)

Once Walker was old enough to comprehend what was happening to them, Ifre made his presence known, revealing himself to the young cat. Walker, orphaned before their eyes were open, was promised survival by Ifre to their mother's spirit, on the condition that his champion-to-be would help him settle a cosmic bet against his sisters once they were older.

these are characters from my personal worldbuilding project, Athzurea, which has been a work of passion and love since i was a preteen. i am endlessly happy to gush about them or their world, and my asks are open to anyone who wants to hear about them!

[emerald-dragonflame]

A common greeting in this area of honey badgers, the lord is greeted by his ladies (as I’ll call them) and he responds in kind. I’ve come up with this idea that each lady has something to give to the larger territory to be traded at the gathering grounds (where all the ladies’ territories meet), and thus they have a “city” of sorts, and a place where the lord rests his head when he isn’t on patrol with his subordinates.

This is also to show how much tinier Lotus Bones is compared to an average (male) honey badger

I swear, this isn’t common in honey badgers, but they are the most cooperative solitary hunters that I have ever researched, that they would do this if they had sapients

[feliniakattus]

hey sorry i haven’t updated in a while! here’s dark and crane as an apology gift