#014. Cernine

Pokémon is © to Nintendo and Game Freak

Cernine is © to me.

Scary Fang Fakemon50% Male / 50% FemaleField(Lv. 16)Shrublands, grasslands and temperate forestsHerbivoreLeast Concern (LC), formerly Extinct in the wild (EW)During evolution, Cervang's baby fangs are replaced by larger, permanent tusks which are more pronounced in males of the species. Though these tusks appear intimidating, they are actually rather fragile and are used only as display of a male Cernine's social status within a group. Females of the species typically favorize the males with the largest and most curved tusks. During breeding season, these Fakemon release very strong odors which can be used as powerful perfume fixatives.Over 500 years ago, mysterious mass slayings of livestock (primarily Coddlamb) were mistakenly attributed to the vast populations of Cervine that used to populate Acuma. Though a herbivorous species, their frightening tusks led townspeople to believe that Cervine are bloodthirsty beasts, thus they were massively hunted down near the brink of total extinction. Once the real culprits of these slayings were identified, the residents of Acuma established a program to rehabilitate this fragile species and save it from fading away forever.Acuma's first Fakemon reserves were established with the intent of protecting and conserving the small populations of Cervang and Cernine that were left. These conservation efforts were a complete success, and today these species' numbers are so abundant that there is no fear for their future existence in the region. All rehabilitated populations were successfully re-intoduced to their natural envirnoments, and today Cernine stands as a symbol of man's potential to realize his mistakes and rectify his negative influence on nature.These Pokemon show gender-based differences, with males having larger tusks than females."Cervine" + "Canine" + "Thylacine"As with the pre-evolution, this Fakemon is based on the musk deer and the water deer, both of which do not have antlers or horns, but rather possess large, vampire-like fangs. I went with the idea that they are peaceful animals that only look scary and intimidating, which can lead to a lot of misconceptions and foolish acts from humans. The whole thing about the livestock slayings will be explained in detail once we get to the Fakemon actually responsible for them (Tasmabra and Diabra).Now for the part which you have probably been wondering about since you saw the markings on Cernine's back. Yes, it is also based on the thylacine (tasmanian tiger), which most of you already know is an extinct marsupial that was hunted down by people in the early 20th century. I actually read a book about the subject, "Thylacine: The Tragic Tale of the Tasmanian Tiger" by David Owen, and it opened my mind about some things relating to this species. The formal reason the thylacine was hunted down is because it was supposedly massively killing sheep. The truth, according to Owen, is that these claims were both overexaggerations and blatant lies. The sheepkeeping industry in Tasmania at the time covered up their incompetencies by making up scary beast stories about the thylacine, antagonizing it in the eyes of the world and leading to its total annihilation from existenc, when the real culprit were most likely feral dogs and dingoes. It was blamed for everything at the time, it was Tasmania's boogeyman. Recent studies actually suggest that the thylacine's jaws were too frail for the animal to be killing sheep all the time. So, in reality, it was falsely accused of being a pest and was eradicated for no reason. And now that we got rid of them, we are so ashamed of this mistake that scientists are actually trying to clone this animal and revitalize its population, without any success thus far.So you probably understand the story I'm going for concerning this Fakemon I created. I wanted it to be something much more than a "regional rodent", something that ties in with the themes of conservation, past mistakes, superstition and the war between the old and modern world that are core elements of this Acuma region I'm creating. But, unlike the tragedy of the thylacine, this Fakemon's story has a happy ending, as it is actually the catalyst for all conservation efforts in the Acuma region, and I wanted to make it pretty ironic that it now stands as some kind of heroic symbol that man can help nature, but man was also the reason the need for such help ever arised.If you got to this part of the text I thank you very much for the interest you have shown, basically I've started this hobby out of a need to share my knowledge, creativity and interests with likeminded individuals, and it makes me pretty happy that anyone likes my content for what it is and what I'm trying to do with it as best I can.You can use or share my artwork however you see fit as long as you also credit me and/or supply a link to this page.