ENTER THE BURROWS
The old Nomad sat in the middle of the circle of young rabbits, eager to hear the stories of their world’s past. They had gathered in the smoky den beneath the ramshackle ruins of an abandoned factory, and the sound of an old Ramones song could be heard faintly in the background.
The walls were covered in faded posters and graffiti, and the scent of marijuana and oil hung heavily in the air. The lines around his eyes were deep, as if he had seen more than any of them could imagine. His worn leather jacket was adorned with patches and pins, and a NOMAD patch was proudly displayed on the back. His fur was marked with colored ink and battle scars, proof of his years of experience and hardship.
“Listen well, young ones,” he began… “
Our world was not always as it is now… In the time before, a race of malevolent beings ruled over everything. They had the power to shape the world, to create and destroy. But they abused that power. Wars raged, and destruction reigned. And so, in their desperation, they turned to a new solution, not considering the horrors they would unleash.”
He paused, his sharp gaze scanning the faces of the young rabbits. Their Burrows style was unmistakable, with brightly colored fur, piercings, and leather jackets adorned with patches of their various gangs and favorite bands.
But their expressions were serious, their scowling eyes wide with wonder and a hint of fear. The old Nomad rabbit knew he had their attention, and he continued his tale…
“But they were foolish. They didn’t understand the consequences of their actions. They had created monsters, hybrid creatures that were part rabbit and part beast, with abilities far beyond those of ordinary creatures. And soon, they had lost control of their own creations…”
The old bunny leaned closer to the young ones, his gruff voice growing softer.
“But out of that chaos, something beautiful emerged. The Knuckle Bunnies were born, the perfect combination of rabbit and warrior. They emerged from the darkness to bring freedom and hope to a world that had lost both.”
The young rabbits eagerly leaned in, their curiosity piqued.
“But where did we come from?” one of them asked,
“yeah!” yelled another, “who TF are ‘they’, and how did we come to rule the Burrows?!?”
The old Nomad bunny laughed loudly, his gaze lingering on each of the young faces.
“Listen up, my young bloods,” he said,
“Those are stories for another time. But I can tell you this, we fought hard for our freedom, and these Burrows now call home were paid for in blood.”
The young rabbit gangs nodded in agreement, their eyes shining with excitement.
The Nomad bunny rose to his feet, his leather jacket creaking as he stood tall. “We are the punks of the Burrows,” he yelled loudly, “The rebels, the fighters, the ones who REFUSED to bow down to tyranny!!”
The young rabbits cheered in response, their fists pumping in the air.
“But let us never forget,” the Nomad bunny continued, his voice lowering to a serious tone, “That there are still dark forces at work, lurking in the shadows. We must remain ever vigilant, and always ready to fight for our freedom.”
The old bunny fell silent, lost in his own thoughts and reached for his medicine bag.
The young rabbits looked around, their eyes wide with excitement as someone turned up the music. The sound of a frenzied distorted guitar riff filled the air, and the gangs of bunnies began to wildly dance in their uniquely violent way.
They started punching each other and jumping around wildly, chanting “WE THE BURROWS! WE THE BURROWS!“
They knew they were part of something bigger, something that stretched far beyond their little corner of the world. They were ready to fight for it, and eager to learn more of their past…
to be continued…
City Gardens, a former city park and some of the surrounding city, transformed into a lush and vibrant oasis by the rastas, hippies, and skate punks who called it home.
As you enter the burrow, the first thing you notice is the strong odour, plants everywhere with little star-like pointed leaves grow all over the city gardens. As abundant as it already is, usually the bunnies are smoking the greens cultivated from their own personal gardens off the terraces of the city apartments or in their own, overgrown, fenced off yards. These home growers take their excess product to the streets, most commonly to a bustling market square in the centre of the park known as “Harvest Haven.” Here, vendors hawk their wares to eager buyers, their stalls overflowing with an incredible array of “fresh produce” as well as vegetables and handcrafted goods, glass blowing being a large part of their inter-burrow economy, buying sands from the outer and getting furnaces built or rented out of steamtown. The hippies, meanwhile, are usually busy brewing “special teas” and selling handmade clothing made from hemp, while the skate punks were offering up their latest creations – hemp beer, skateboards and homemade weapons which they often tested on themselves in a form of spectator sport.
Just outside the old city park at the heart of City Gardens, just past massive iron gates or high chain link fences, you come across groups of heavily-armed guards and sentries that patrol the area, and they can be easily found throughout the city, keeping an especially close eye on outsiders entering Harvest Haven. They’re a tough, no-nonsense bunch, thought to be more inclined to consume uppers than the usual green fare, though it’s not as if those are entirely out of the question. These guards keep a watchful eye on the city gardens, scattering bands of raiders, thieving rabbits or general shit disturbers that hang around the borders looking to steal some of the valuable produce. The guards may not always seem to move with a sense of purpose, but their looks are very deceiving, their bloodshot eyes don’t very well hide the bloodthirst that these rabbits hold – their weapons are always at the ready. Luckily for many visitors, these guards are controlled by the high ranking gangs of the burrow, and what they say, goes – and usually they tell these guards to stay in line… key word being usually.
Despite the looming presence of these guards, the City Gardens is a bustling and vibrant place, filled with the sound of chatter and laughter, the skate punks zipping along on their boards, and the hippies and rastas lounging in their tree houses or on shaded patches of grass.
As night falls, this park takes on a new life, with campfires burning bright and the sound of drums echoing through the trees. It is a place of community and connection, where rabbits of all backgrounds come together to celebrate life, weed and the natural world.
Though a sense of danger lurks in the shadows. Some have said that rabbits go missing in City Gardens, snatched away by some unseen force. Mostly rumoured to be thieves who thought they could outsmart a bunch of potheads and get away with it, coming back for more… The gangs that patrol the park – the Garden Rollers and the Dread Hops – are always on high alert, watching for any signs of trouble, maybe causing it when things get a little too quiet, or when somebunny gets a little too cocky…
You peek down an alleyway, graffiti scrawled on the walls, nothing unusual, but distantly in the dark you see something move – a poster barely hanging off the brick wall fluttering in the dry burrow’s breeze. You step closer to investigate, you can feel the buzz of live music and hear melodies and words under your feet muffled by the layers of concrete between you and The Underground.
Based out of the basements of old city ruins and abandoned subway tunnels, The Underground is more than a fenced off territory in the burrows – it spans all over the map, very literally underneath it all. When you aren’t at the hub or main entry to the underground some place under the raised highways of Neon Row, every now and again you can come across an entrance in one of the other burrows. These entrances are usually identifiable by the distinct lack of anybunny – some of the condemned structures of the burrows had the basements hollowed out or tunnels dug through to connect it to the network of tunnels. Alternatively these spots can be recognized by small groups of punks, goths, glams or hipsters loitering around, quietly coming and going.
The culture of The Underground is very heavily based in it’s music and club scene – having some power in the old subway tunnels from Neon row, it can be one of the best places to go if you want to party that isn’t too exclusive. The clubs are so popular in fact, it’s not uncommon to see disco ravers or rockers partying or playing live music, in addition to many other kinds of rabbits coming by.
Many tunnels in The Underground network had been dug by hand in relatively recent years – with this The Underground is one of the few burrows that can more easily expand their territory, although not every gang is the biggest fan of this. Some gangs that are fond of this though would be the ones in Steamtown and The Outer. The Underground, having mined out large amounts of earth, have had easy access to raw materials that others jump at the chance to get – so in trade, the steamtown residents often provide more advanced mining tools and help hook up electrical systems, much to the dismay of Neon Row Inhabitants. Meanwhile, The Outer provides other structural materials as well as moonshine, medicinal supplies and weaponry, as well as safe passage in and out of entrances to The Underground situated in The Outer.
Now the inhabitants of The Underground are usually known for being incredibly invested in three things: music, partying and fashion. Shiny pins and sleek leather jackets, mirror like sunglasses and piercings – all emblematic of some of the residence down under.
Although with the reputation that these bunnies have, sometimes others forget that they aren’t only about the glitz and glamour – for example the glams, while they are especially invested in the glitz and glamour, you shouldn’t forget about the raw power of a psycho with a manicure like knives and platform shoes that could break skulls.
Coming Soon
Coming Soon
Coming Soon
Coming Soon
Neon Row is the most high-tech and one the most (comparatively) sophisticated of the Burrows, being one of the few Burrows with a working power grid. Everywhere you look, there’s technology – souped up motor bikes, trucks and cars so high-tech, they look like they could fly, not to mention the flickering neon signs everywhere advertising the local businesses, enticing any passersby to party in any one of the local clubs or upgrade their tech – or maybe upgrade themself. The residents of Neon Row replace limbs and organs with the finest technology like they would change their clothes to keep up with the hottest trends. Much of the discarded machinery is often repurposed or sold if it isn’t snatched out of dumpsters by scavengers… As for the discarded rabbit parts, it’s hard to say where exactly those go…
Now of the most powerful gangs in Neon Row, there are the HiTeks – fanatics of technology and gadgets, with their neon-coloured hair and cybernetic enhancements making them stand out in a crowd, or blend into their home city streets and the Crypto Cult, lurking in the shadows of their city, mostly renowned for their stakes in the crypto-economy of the burrows, as well as their role as the reason why no network or secret systems are truly secure. As with the rest of the burrows, there exist many smaller gangs – though they are either puppets of one of the higher ups, or they are futilely trying to get their mechanical legs on the ground standing up against the leading gangs of Neon Row.
Within these gangs, Neon Row is home to four bunny subcultures: Cyberpunks, Disco Ravers, Aliens and the Robo Troopers.
The Cyberpunks are edgy and futuristic, often seen wearing neon-coloured accessories, sleek leather and more often than not sporting cybernetic implants like its jewellery .
The Aliens are a mystery, with their strange, otherworldly appearances and advanced technology that sets them apart from the rest. Some rumours state that they are spliced with alien bacteria or DNA from a comet that decimated the burrows long ago to look the way that they are – others think that they look like that because of the party drugs that are rampant in Neon Row rave scenes.
The Disco Ravers, often dressed in lit-up neon outfits, are constantly on the move, rolling hard to the beat of the thumping electronic music that echoes through the streets. The Disco Ravers, as their name would suggest, are known for frequenting the nightclubs and dance halls, bringing the area to life with their enthusiastic and energetic dance moves. If you’re in the mood for a euphoric high that keeps you dancing all night, look for the Discos… not that it’s hard to see or hear them from a mile away…
The Robo Troopers are covered in heavy metallic armour, with glowing eyes that hint at the advanced technology beneath, and are known to take cybernetic enhancements to the next level, sometimes becoming more robot than rabbit, though that can be difficult to see through the armour. For some of the troopers, dawning this armour and slowly replacing their bodies with machinery is a religious practice – their beliefs largely coming from the group called “The ethereals”.
The ethereals as a group are older than the burrows themselves, many of the older members thought to be retired nomads, too old to travel like they used to. The ethereals rest in guarded places called the “Ethereal Chambers” alongside ancient relics that they protect, and that is partially where the Robo Troopers come into play. Their beliefs stem from old legends that state bunny society as they know it was created by technology and that this technology should be worshipped like a god and protected with their lives, because without it, they would never have existed. To the Robo Troopers, the more technologically advanced you are, the more that you can function as a bastion or turret against the heretics, the closer you are to God.
As you wander deeper within the heart of Neon Row, under the power plants and past churches of the robo troopers, the exclusive and highly guarded areas known as the “Ethereal Chambers” can be found. Guarded by many dedicated robo troopers, accessible only to the elite few of the burrow, these chambers contain some of the most advanced and highly coveted technology in all of The Burrows. It is said that only the certain skilled and respected members of the Hi Teks and Crypto Cult are granted access to this highly secretive area, in addition to the ethereals themselves.
Neon Row has a somewhat distant relationship with the other burrows, as they deem themselves above the other Burrows, and often prefer to keep to themselves to focus on their own advancements and innovations. However, they do recognize the importance of maintaining strong relationships with the other burrows in order to ensure the safety and stability of the entire community.
This was the burrow that never sleeps, a place where the future was being created in real-time. And as you look up at the towering skyscrapers and the neon lights that illuminate the night, you can’t help but feel a sense of awe and wonder at the possibilities that lay ahead. It’s a place where the elites gather and the party never stops, where the brightest and most advanced technology can be found, and where a mysterious and powerful group known as the Ethereals are said to reside. But despite the bright lights a darkness lurks…