This is a personal project made by an amateur artist who is extremely ambitious, but also persistent in never giving up (so far)…
SCROLL TOWARS BOTTOM FOR LATEST UPDATES
The Animals of War is a concept that explores the idea of military animal characters that work for the government. Basically, it’s a semi realistic portrayal if the world ever pushed the idea of turning animals into military weapons. In my world, they use a series of genetic alterations that are injected into the animals transforming their brain to grow more like a human, allowing them to walk, talk and use gear, such as rifles and body armor. The story takes place in modern day, and its setting spans between America, Russia, and Australia!
The art direction I’m aiming for is dark cartoony realism.
Think of a blend between Rocket Raccoon and Zootopia. Not as cartoony or colorful, its more of a blend between the two styles, like right in the middle. We’re aiming for the cartoonish, expressive face that Zootopia has, but with darker, more realistic looking fur and body to match the realistic environments I’m putting these characters in.
I also have a discord channel dedicated to this project, and is the quickest way to message me one on one.
Join the discord! https://discord.gg/C29tepa
Older characters
How this started:
Well, in June of 19’, while on TDY for the Air Force, I was told by many that my previous project, which was a fanfiction, had too much work put into it just to be called a “fanfiction”. After some pondering, I shifted towards making an original series based off of the lore I had given that project.
What’s Animals of War about?
As mentioned above, Animals of War is a graphic novel series and (hopefully) an animation series about the long term use of animals as spies and weapons for the governments of the world. With it’s history dating back into the 50’s, our story takes place in modern day Alaska.
Full Lore: OUTDATED from 2019
It’s 1957, the space race had just started. Russia sent it’s first man into space. First satellite. Surrounding countries wanted a glimpse on how they did it, sending hundreds of birds, animals with cameras strapped onto them, listening devices.
After just a few months, the Soviets grew tired of other countries spying on them, having to send groups of men just to hunt down these animals, wasting time and resources.
Mikhail Lebedev, a nuero scientist, and veterinarian, offered a solution. What if there was a way to modify an animal to identify the difference between friend and foe? To be able to release this animal and hunt down foreign spies on its own.
The concept was wild, and some laughed at Mikhail. But he insisted that this was the future of animal technology, and continued his research.
Five years later, in 1962, Lebedev developed a genetic modification, capable of enhancing the animals focus, and mindset.
The Soviet Union’s Committee for State Security, or KGB, recognized Lebedev’s work and offered an official role in the organization, calling the program “S.O.A.D”. Special Operations Animal Division.
A program designed to weaponize animals in a way that has never been done before. Smarter than a trained K9, and can follow specific orders from over a radio, these animals were lethal.
20 years later in 1985, Lebedev designed a new neural enhancement for his animals. Code named “Gen 2 SOAD”, this modification allowed the animal to have an understanding similar to a human 10 year old, can read and count, and have self recognition.
But this was just a stepping stone to what Lebedev envisioned. After the Cold War in 1991, The Russian Federation was born, with the KGB being replaced with the Foreign Intelligence Service, or the SVR.
This new organization questioned Lebedev’s program, failing to see the purpose of using spy animals on the field. Threatened to be shutdown, Lebedev and his scientists were forced to demo their latest project, the Gen 3 SOAD.
Gen 3’s are a new breed of weapon, giving the animal a human adult level of intelligence, as well as having the ability to use tools such as weapons and equipment. The success of the Gen 3 modification gave the SVR a good reason to continue funding SOAD, proclaiming it as the future in spy technology.
But as successful as SOAD got, it didn’t take long for problems to arise. Living conditions for the agents got poor within a few months, and food was getting rather scarce, due to the recent population growth of the program.
Agent 811, Aleksei Boroskov, a guinea pig; had saw enough and managed to escape SOAD’s clutches, fleeing towards America’s CIA headquarters in Langley, VA, planning to defect.
Boroskov explained his situation, but the CIA directors couldn’t understand his language believing he was a messenger from Russia, stating propaganda and rigged to explode.
One person, Brennen Wyatt, a director for the Science and Technology Department, defends Boroskov, hopping between him and the others. Wyatt noticed the guinea pigs amazing ability to walk and react to the environment like a human. He explains that maybe the guinea pig was here for other reasons and that they should listen to what he has to say.
After a Russian translator came in, the directors were mind-boggled, shocked by the fact that Russia had been using animals in this extent for 40 years, unknown to the world.
Curious to know more, Wyatt was granted funding to study the agent, calling it Operation Rogue Rodent. Aleksei willingly contributed to the research, and in 1993, the first iteration of the genetic modification was built. Called a failure, the animal couldn’t reason as well as Aleksei, and research pushed on.
In 1995, the Mk.2 modification was introduced. Injected into three seperate guinea pigs, results almost perfectly replicated Boroskov’s DNA and physical capabilities.
Now it came time for field testing. After a successful mission in Iraq to find evidence of biological weapons, the Director of the CIA requested for Rogue Rodent to be transferred into the Intelligence branch.
Wyatt accepted, and on August 11, 1995, a new agency of animals was born, code named “Project Menagerie”. With similar intentions to SOAD, PM was to equip animals for various types of uses within the CIA’s interests. A ranking system was put into place, with the agents being lead by their own species. Over the next decade, PM conducted over 500 missions throughout the world, have over 1000 agents at 12 different locations in the US and overseas.
Animals of War: Project Menagerie will feature a ton of things!
-
Animal Characters!
(2021)All Characters are Plantigrade creatures.
Ex. include Red Pandas, Raccoons, Lemurs, Wolverines, including…
All Rodents (Mouse, Rabbits, Squirrels, etc)
All Marsupials (Opossums, Possums Kangaroo, etc)
All Mustelids (Otters, Minks, Badgers, etc) -
Weapons and Gear!
These animals are going into war! They’re going to need gear. This includes full plate carriers, vests, backpacks, helmets, hearing protection, guns, etc. Everything built by the humans, specially fitted for them! -
Environments!
Episode One takes place in the beautiful land known as Alaska! It includes a massive underground base located on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. This is the Alaska branch headquarters of PM. It’s Area of Operation covers most of the pacific, as well as the artic! -
Much more!
We have vehicles, boats, tools, auditoriums, explosions, blood, language, fur!.. Hey, I never said this was kid friendly… It’s made by a military guy.
And finally, I encourage all feedback, and I’m always looking for people to help contribute to this project, PM me if interested or click on the discord link above to directly find me!
