World of CYBERBUN: Scouts
Some rabbits are just built differently.
A Scout, with cybernetically enhanced back legs, on assignment in a secret tunnel.
Most of the population of the world of CYBERBUN are bipedal, in that they walk around on two legs like humans do. However, there are a lot of ‘traditional’ looking rabbits featured in various parts of the mythology, that look and move like rabbits - noticeably smaller quadrupeds, using their hind legs together to propel themselves forward, being able to reach considerable speeds, and proven to be highly dexterous. They are also shown to be mute, beyond the occasional chittering, grunt or squeak, but clearly understand normal spoken dialogue.
Within the world, these rabbits are known as Scouts. They are often tasked with undertaking duties that the bipedal residents of the world can’t easily do, such as access small burrows or tunnels, or getting between points quickly. The criminal gangs such as the Thyst often use Scouts to deliver messages or contraband more safely than usual methods.
Due to their size, Scouts are able to access parts of the city’s infrastructure that was never designed to be accessed. This not only provides them unfettered routes away from danger, but a means of escape and safety.
Most Scouts aren’t subject to cybernetic enhancements in the same way as other residents are. It’s thought that because they can’t verbalise neither their desire or disinterest in undergoing the surgical procedures required for enhancement, many legitimate doctors won’t undertake the work; however, more unscrupulous surgeons - especially those who carry out procedures for the gangs - have been known to apply various strength, speed, visual or hearing enhancements to subjects. These have made some Scouts especially useful as lookouts or spies for various factions.
A blueprint of a Scout cybernetic enhancement project, providing the subject with additional rear leg strength and speed, and enhanced visual and auditory capabilities.
It’s not clear why Scouts exist as an alternate species alongside their bipedal counterparts. Genetically, they are identical. One theory suggests that they are descended from a troop or set that was isolated from the events of The Great Evolution, and over time were integrated into the larger society. There have been examples of kits born from bipedal parents retaining quadruped characteristics, but with more naturally-enhanced capabilities of developing speech; however, these kits are often ostracized by their peers, and parents have been known to abandon them.
However they came to be, Scouts are an interesting dynamic to the mythology, and have been central to several key situations throughout the series, most notably when Scout-wrangler Luna inadvertently discovers plans that would bring the Emeraldi and the Thyst gangs into direct conflict.
Luna, Pasturage City’s most renowned Scout-wrangler.
Whilst not the only Scout-wrangler in Pasturage City, Luna is generally the most respected. She believes this is because chooses to keep herself to herself, living most of the time underground (and away from the above-ground conflicts), where she manages a comfortable stable of a dozen Scouts to deliver messages on behalf of anyone - for the right price. Luna charges a high price, but her delivery of whatever it is she needs to have transported is always the most efficient. Her Scouts are well rewarded and they in turn reward her with unwavering loyalty. She has been able to establish a means of communicating with her Scout-troop via a custom-built helmet that translates the Scouts’ chittering into words. Utilising the city’s expansive telecommunications network, this allows her to keep in direct contact with her Scouts up to ten miles away. The communication is two-way - with simple instructions she is able to dispatch Scouts onto new assignments even when they are away from her base. This allows her to have eyes and ears on vast sections of the city and is exposed to some of the deepest, darkest and strangest secrets of its inhabitants.
