Animals have been a part of storytelling for many thousands of years. Some the first artistic depictions ever discovered were of deer and other beasts scrawled across cave walls in southern France. The Native Americans follow a type of spirituality/religion that have close ties to the natural world, and many animals play a significant part in their beliefs. Aesop's fables would not have stuck with so many generations if the use of animals hadn't been present.
The above examples are merely a small sampling of how animals have played a part in our culture and storytelling over human history. Where does this fit into game development, and my own interests though?
Animals are a constant in video games, the most memorable ones being Sonic the Hedgehog and perhaps Yoshi of Mario fame. Many of these animal protagonists are found in the genres of platform and puzzle games, leaving a wide swath of space open for further development in other genres. We've all (hopefully) played Frog in Squaresoft's Chrono Trigger, and without a doubt he is one of the most popular playable characters of the game. This is a good indication that animals are a popular alternative to human-like player characters within the fantasy-RPG genre of video games.
If you haven't read the Redwall series by Brian Jacques, I highly encourage everyone to at least read his first installment, this will give you a good idea of how animals can easily be brought into the fantasy genre and succeed wildly.
It is with these interests in storytelling through animals, and the past success of playable animal characters, that I am setting out to create a rich and thriving world much like our historical world, seen through the eyes and experiences of animals.
I am not looking to write the perfect plot, or to have a single game produced, let alone conceived, without an amazing and magical world full of history, peoples, and cultures to support these endeavors. What I am looking to begin with is, like most any good reality, is a history to recount to children, a world to explore with the mind, and a story to tell to those with an open ear and open heart.
I am the beaver, the architect of community, of home, of hearth.
Welcome to my home. I call it Fahrenguard.
That's me.