Dota Anthropology - Furries Defined & Organized
Furries. Trust me, i tried to think of a less
cringy term, but i couldnt find one. And that
is because, as you will see, what i consider
within the term furry in the dotaverse, is
a large variety of things from the ursine,
to satyrs and vhouls. So lets start off this
video by defining what is a furry and what
isnt, and then talk about the different kinds.
Simply put, all humanoids with non-human mammalian
features, and intelligence high enough for
language, is what i consider a furry. This
includes things like satyrs and tusks people,
but excludes things like centaurs. Centaurs
are weird, because they arent 50/50 animal
and human, or even 75/25. They are like 75%
human AND 75% horse, which adds up to 150%.
In the dotaverse there is also a lot of different
kinds of things following the same basics
as centaurs, like the magnoceroi, the prowlers,
underlord, and even more magical and otherwordly
heroes like enchantress, leshrac and OD. For
that reason in my definition, furries do NOT
include centaurs. They include all other mammals
though. Other “animaly” kinds that arent
furries, is snakey and fishy people like the
meranths, and arthropods like brood and nyx
assassin. Skywraths people, cobalts, the ravenhooks
and smeevils are also not furries.
So when comparing them to humans, keenfolk,
oglodi and trolls, their behavior, cultures,
physical ability and intelligence is very
similar to humans. There is nothing that suggests
that furries in general are dumber or smarter,
stronger or weaker than humans, but just that
whatever animal they are based on will sway
them to either direction. Ursa for example,
gets bear strength, while bounty hunter gets
cat-like agility. Interestingly, none are
INT-heroes. Just to clarify - furry in the
dotaverse is a term ive made for the sake
of organizing the kinds of playable characters
we have. It doesnt actually mean anything
in the games, and isnt mentioned anywhere
in lore. Its simply because they all have
in common that they are anthropomorphic mammals.
Within this umbrella term theres a large variety
of dirrenet kinds, which we are now going
to talk about.
From the ““european”” and ““north
american”” part of the dota world, we
have bristleback, meepo, pangolier, tusk,
rix and ursa. From the ““asian”” part
of the dota world, we have brewmaster, monkey
king, phantom lancer, riki and bounty hunter.
Note that this is based on the personality
and lore of the hero, and not necesarily where
the animal in our real life world is found.
First up we have the bear kinds: the tusked
polar bears from the north, the red panda
bears from the east, and the brown or grizzly
bears from the west.
Icewrack, cobalt, Azura, and basically everything
north of the barrier is inhabited by Tusks
people. They seem to be anthropomorphic polar
bears with walrus tusks, so lets just call
them walrus bears. Notable characters that
are walrus bears, are the characters crystal
maiden is helping in her comic, the NPCs from
siltbreaker act 2, Jull from underlords, yzir
who is one of tusks ancestors, and tusk himself.
Tusk is from Cobalt, which is near icewrack.
He knows Crystal Maiden, and they may have
grown up together. He doesnt like to travel
southwards, and prefers the north. Yet, after
a particularily violent fight that destroyed
a tavern, the barkeep told tusk that if he
survived the biggest fight he could find,
the next round would be on the house. There
is a mandela effect among a lot of lore nerds
- including myself at one point - where they
think this fight in the wolfdens tavern is
the same one as the one where tusk wins over
bristleback - but thats not true. The fight
between them was before the one that sent
tusk out to the battle of the ancients.
So brewmaster is half panda furry, and half
celestial. Though he is a red panda, i kind
of imagine his people like Pos family in kung
fu panda. A bunch of chinese old bears living
in peace and like balance and chi n stuff.
The celestials are basically a whole species
of godlike entities that control elements.
The spirits that became ember, earth and storm
spirit were celestials, for example. And void
spirit, of course. But other than being a
half god, brewmaster is a red panda from the
wailing mountains. His people believes that
to get truly in touch with your spirit and
to get enlightened, you must drink. And the
highest form of art to them, is the art to
brew and consume alcohol, and fight while
drunk. Brewmaster is a title you must earn
through challenging the current brewmaster,
to a drunken battle. Manginx, which is the
dota heros name, fought the brewmaster for
9 days and 9 nights, while simultaneously
chugging down, before he finally won and was
appointed the new brewmaster. He thinks that
if, while drunk and in touch with his spirit,
he thinks the single right thought, the schism
will be undone, and the physical and spiritual
plane will once again be united.
The ursine are much more at one with nature
than the other bear furries. Especially ulfsaar
the ursa warrior, who despises science, technology
and the keenfolk. He is the strongest member
of his tribe of ursine, and is dependable
both physically and when it comes to loyalty.
When the mothers and cubs of the tribe hibernate
during the winters, the male ursine protect
them. They venture out making sure no harm
can come near the nests, often proactively
planning to take down growing threats before
they can get out of control. In Artifact he
is helping out the vhouls against the bronze
legion, which we will come back to. Depending
on how flexible your faith and imagination
is, the hellbears may also be ursine. Or at
least used to be. Theres a theory that the
cubs ursa is always protecting, used to get
caught by the king of slom’s men, and then
turned into slave soldiers using sorcery.
Then, as we see in artifact, they escaped
when kwerthias was killed and his animals
freed, and can now be found in the hellbear
camps in dota 2. They cant find their way
back to their ursine mothers though, because
the magic the cruel king used may have removed
their sense of smell and altered their looks
too much. Siractionslacks has a loregasm episode
where he talks more in detail about this,
but thats the basics of the theory. Though
bear in mind it is a little bit far fetched,
and its very likely that hellbears are their
own kind of animal in dota 2. Regardless,
they arent intelligent enough and human enough
to be considered furries, wether they used
to be ursine cubs or not. They arent capable
of speaking in artifact voice lines, like
the satyrs can. But its still a fun theory.
So monkey king is actually a character i was
considering not including, because hes based
on the real life chinese folklore legend,
and hes immortal and super powerful - way
beyond furries like for example tusk. But
its possible that he was a regular little
monkey furry once, before ripping out his
page in the book of the dead, and also i remembered
theres another monkey furry in the dota universe,
in the legion commander comic tip of the spear.
Or at least to me he looks like one. So wether
or not monkey king should be included in this
video or not, at least there is some evidence
that there is a monkey people. But anyways,
just for fun, lets include his lore. So basically,
in his arcana and his second comic, we learn
that in the past first of all he was hatched
from a magic stone, and not born. Though the
lore text itself questions wether or not this
is true. Secondly, we learn that he has done
3 main things before ending up under a mountain
in his dota 2 bio. He got the mkb through
tidehunter, and then according to ilexa he
also escaped from dark reef prison. But people
argue wether or not we can trust her word.
Then he went to the narrow maze and sparred
with razor, and ultimately ended up cheating
death by tearing out a page in the book of
the dead - becoming immortal. Lastly, he was
imprisoned by the 4 spirit brothers for his
misbehavior, punished by ember spirit in specific
to be locked in the eternal furnace. He burned
there for 49 days, unable to die. But instead
of being cleansed of mischief and unnatural
longevity, he instead meditated and ascended
- even stronger than before. Then, the elder
gods imprisoned him under a mountain, wher
ehe lay for 500 years, with only his head
poking out. Eventually, he was able to make
a deal with the old gods, and a chance at
redemption. He would protect an acolyte transporting
a relic, and guide him home to his temple.
He actually completed the mission, and was
forgiven. But then, with new blank pages,
he figured that he just couldnt help himself
- offending gods never gets old.
Riki was born the turd in the middle, just
like me. (hashtag relatable) His people were
likely satyrs, a race of furries we dont see
much in dota 2. We see them in a medium and
large creep camp, but no other hero. In Artifact
though, a bunch of characters fit the criteria.
The criteria is horns, a goat-like face, and
goat legs. Jolixia is a faun, which is basically,
at least in the dotaverse, a satyr just less
goaty. IRL there is no hard distinction. But
theres also trivian the satyr duelist who
is a nivan gallant, allegra the satyr magician,
and giamma the cursed satyr. Part of the bronze
legion are satyrs, for example pololo the
legion standard bearer, an unknown deserter
whos a member of the mercenary exiles, and
belasanno, who might be romanticly involved
with legion commander. (face of yikes) But
lets focus on the most important satyr - ma
boi Riki. He was born in the great, noble
tahlin dynasty, where his older brother was
the heir to the throne, and his younger brother
was the cute little baby. So there was not
much spare attention left for poor lil riki,
causing him to become quite literally invisible.
But this stealth would prove itself a blessing,
because one night his people and family were
all slaughtered, except the agile middle child.
He managed to escape using suprizing stabs
from the shadows and silencing smoke, but
he was left without a family, and only a burning
desire for revenge. He has since joined the
jasper circle, a company that among other
things, lets you hire assassins. Its lead
by Lorlin lasan, a cobalt.
The vhouls are most known for being a creep
camp in dota 2, and for their beta uprising
in artifact. They are a dog or wolf-like people,
and their most notable character is Rix. They
inhabit the forests around stonehall, such
as roseleaf and redmaw, which is why sorla
and tresdins feud got extra personal for rix
- roseleaf got in the crossfire. So basically,
rix is a vhoul, and used to be part of the
bronze legion. Before he rebelled, he was
already getting fed up with guilt and resentment
for the stonehall empire he was fighting for,
who were referring to his people as savages.
But then, when legion commander decided to
occupy roseleaf, it was the last drop for
rix, and he spazzed out hard. He backstabbed
marcus, one of tresdins closest underlings,
and started a full war within roseleaf, trying
to REEE the bronze legion out. Meanwhile,
sorla khan and the red mist horde were sieging
their way in to roseleaf, which is why tresdin
was occupying them in the first place. Sorla
was trying to get to stonehall, so legion
commander wanted to ambush the red mist by
meeting them in the roseleaf forest instead.
But maybe she shouldnt have treated the vhouls
so poorly, because their rebellion may have
been what ultimately made sorla win over legion
commander, if my theory is correct. What i
think ended up happening, and we wont know
until artifact 2.0 or an expansion, is that
legion commander ended up shutting down the
vhoul uprising, but then, weakened by it,
loses to sorla. And then the continuation
of the story, is the battle moving from roseleaf
to stonehall, maybe with a bunch of undead
vhouls added too. Because Most people agree
that it is rix we see in the oath, which means
he made a deal with the demons of the court
of ristul, and he is the reason why the dead
are rising.
Bristleback seems like a mix between hedgehog
and boar, but he is actually a porcupine.
His original design and dota 1 model was based
on boars, so i think they nailed it with the
porcupine look. Porcupine includes the word
pork, and hedgehog in norwegian is literally
translated to pin swine. But despite his boar-like
or piggy parts, he is definitely a porcupine
furry. His story is quite simple, that hes
angry and likes to fight - so he got a job
as an enforcer at a bar. He was incredibly
strong, and beat the change out of anyone
who didnt want to pay up for their drink.
But one day a particular tusked polar bear
didnt want to pay his check, and after the
fight it remained unpaid. Bristleback had
been bested in battle, and so he set out to
train so he could beat his new rival.
Pangolier is a pangolin furry. His people
are hunted by poachers for their hides, so
its likely that they are rare. He grew up
as a noble, and ended up joining the nivan
gallants - the same group of swordsmen that
the satyr duelist is part of. They like adventure,
justice, honor and romance. Pangolier is very
flamboyant and extravagant, and likely based
on a mix of the 3 musketeers and zorro.
Bounty hunter and phantom lancer both have
asian references in their lore, design and
names of abillities, so ive placed them both
in the far east. On my map the wailing mountains
is china, while the eastern isles are japan.
Roughly, something like that. Its the best
i could do that makes the most sense. But
what bounty hunter and PL also have in common,
is their feline properties. Bounty is likely
a sphynx cat furry, while phantom lancer is
a blue lion furry or something. He grew up
in a remote village in Pole, a kingdom where
wars waged. He had no knowledge of it growing
up though, as his people were concerned with
fishing and living quiet peaceful lives. But
eventually the war reached them too, and so
PL vowed with his lance to defend his home
and people. He and his kin were placed in
the vanguard against the dread magus vorn,
and he watched as every single one of his
brothers perished next to him. But PL alone
was able to get through the traps and enemies,
and duel the evil magician. PL ended up winning,
and as he gave the final blow, vorn exploded
into many light fragments. This gave PL his
new power over illusions of himself, that
he could command at will. Bounty hunter on
the other hand, has a much more debated and
mysterious past. It is argued how exactly
he did originate, but most stories aggree
he was some sort of low class orphan. He had
a rough childhood, and had to grow up quickly
to learn how to survive a cruel and unforgiving
world. Other tales people tell, are of what
frightening achievements he has made in adulthood.
He has taken down many impossible bounties,
like the tyrant king goff, the thief white
cape, and soruq the hunter. No one is safe
from gondar, if their bounty is high enough.
One such bounty is on mireska the dark willow,
set by her own father. She got tired of the
high class life as a revtel merchant kings
daughter, so she burned her fathers estate
down and escaped. Now bounty hunter has captured
her, as we have seen in artifact. But there
might still be hope for her.
Meepo is some sort of a rodent furry, wether
theyre a bunny, a rat or whatever you wanna
call them. For me, its rabbit, but i know
some people insist theyre a rat, so im going
to include it. In dota 2, their lore is simply
that they are geomancers digging around ruins,
looking for crystals to sell. They have developed
a pretty shady personality, after having to
live a difficult life of big fish eats smaller
fish. In Artifact, they have taken a large
loan to pay off some debt that they cant pay,
and so to avoid getting killed by a bunch
of people who are pissed off, they have decided
to save dark willow from bounty hunter. Their
plan is that then she will owe them, and so
she will save the day and solve their problems
some how. But first of all, could they beat
bounty? And then second of all, even if they
did succeed, how do they know dark willow
would be able to help them? Shes in just as
much trouble as them, if not even more, and
doesnt have her fathers wealth. She is a capable
thief though, so maybe she could steal something
valuable they could sell? I dont know. Either
way, the meepos are in some pretty deep shit.
So thats all the furries! Sorry for the cringy
term, i just couldnt think of a better one.
Oh and btw, youre welcome that i didnt use
this opportunity to just not be in the video
as my riki cosplay as an epic witty joke.
You know theres always that one guy who just
CANT help himself and has to make the riki
joke. OH HEY NICE DOTA 2 FAN ART PAINTING
I ESPECIALLY LIKE RIKI! Ok i will admit i
secretly find it funny but im very ashamed
of it since that joke has literaly been repeated
a billion times. So yeah youre welcome.
Thanks for watching, and thank you for all
the amazing comments you leave me. I cherish
every single one, and its such a great motivator.
Thank you. PEACEEEEE
