A new world, built atop the bones of the old one.
- “The humans were amazing, in their day. Our world is layered over theirs, and the bones of the old one still poke through. On a clear morning you can see what’s left of one of their cities out in the bay… Huge buildings, tens or hundreds of stories high, standing precarious and mostly-uninhabitable, their flooded streets under twenty feet of water. But the humans’ day has passed. Oh, there’s still a few of them out there, trying to take back the world they squandered. But without claws? Without fur? Without scent? Heh. Good luck to ‘em.”
The Reclamation Project
is a Shared Universe furry anthology edited by John "The Gneech" Robey creator of The Suburban Jungle, and published by Furplanet. The setting revolves around the city of Ambara Down, a former flying city that crashed to the ground forty-five years ago, and is now occupied by scavengers and opportunists, looking to dig up the city's secrets, while the human led Reclamation Project tries to exploit the furry population and regain control of the ground.
As of December 2022, Book Two/Year Two is currently seeking submissions, with a deadline of March of 2023.
Book One/Year One provides examples of:
- After the End: At some point in the distant past, civilization on the surface collapsed and the humans retreated to the floating cities, leaving various furry races to dig through the wreckage and build their own societies.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Pax Machina, which controls an untold number of robots pursing Pax's unfathomable goals. Any peaceful meeting with the AI's minions can rapidly turn into a firefight, and vice-versa. All anyone really knows is that Pax is completely nuts.
- Anger Born of Worry: Hamia briefly chews out Ali, after she runs off to infiltrate a Pax Machina facility by herself.
- Apocalypse How: Earth suffered a Planetary Societal Collapse over a thousand years ago. It's gotten better since then.
- Apocalypse Not: Ambara Down has a functioning government, as do the flying cities, and there are several other furry nations.
- Archaeological Arms Race: The Reclamation Project and the furry nations oppose each other as they dig through the ruins of Ambara Down and beyond to recover old tech.
- Barbarian Hero: Hamia in "Silence and Sword". The story's protagonist, Joe, is nonplussed to see Hamia depending on just a sword for combat.
- Berserk Button: Punched twice in "Silence and Sword" as Joe mistakes Hamia for a slaver, and Hamia likewise gets massively pissed off, as this isn't the first time it's happened.
- Brain/Computer Interface: In "Piece of Mind" Pax Machina uses brain implants to plug a raider gang into its' surveillance network and manipulates them into kidnapping the prefect of Ambara Down so it can make a deal with her. While in "Insecurity" Kerick Strong has an implant salvaged from a dead 'Claimer that hosts a more Benevolent A.I. named Rick.
- Breather Episode: "The Underground Star" and "Sewer Tea", have their dramatic moments, but they're mostly quiet stories about growing up and having a good time with friends respectively.
- Building of Adventure: The Damselfly, a bar/nightclub where many in the city come to cut deals or just have a good time, 'Claimer humans included.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: In "Piece of Mind", Pax Machina allies with and betrays several different people in order to try and climb the rungs of authority.
- City of Adventure: Ambara Down.
- Cold Sniper: Played with. The sniper in "Dark Garden Lake" allows his cybernetics to take over his body and make the shot, because he's too conflicted to trust his own skills.
- Colony Drop: What happened to Ambara before it was renamed Ambara Down.
- Electronic Telepathy: In "Post-Mortem Telepathy" a pair of scavengers accidentally become Mindlink Mates after an encounter with a Pax robot.
- The Elites Jump Ship: Humanity fled to floating cities when the surface became less inhabitable centuries ago, leaving the furry races behind to scrape out a living downbelow.
- Fantastic Racism: Reclamation Project humans regard themselves as superior to the furry races. The furries aren't too impressed by humans either.
- Floating Continent: Ambara was one of several flying cities that humanity built, held aloft by massive anti-gravity generators.
- Grey-and-Grey Morality: Though the Reclamation Project are often the antagonists, there are factions and individuals within the Project who genuinely mean well for the Zoomorphs, and some furries oppose the 'Claimers with outright terrorism.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Hamia and Ali, a Wazagan and vixen mercenary team. Hamia is over eight feet tall, and Ali is maybe four and a half.
- Human Popsicle: Persephone, a human girl from the time before the fall of civilization, who is retrieved from nanostasis along with her Robot Buddy.
- Improvised Armor: Hamia's armor in "Silence and Sword" is made out the hull of a vehicle or warbot.
- Ironic Name: The so called "Sewer Tea" shop is called that because it's built inside the opening of a huge sewer pipe which is connected to a functioning Old World water purification system, making the tea brewed there extraordinarily tasty.
- Large and in Charge: Prefect Durgavati, the leader of Ambara Down, is a very tall lioness.
- Ruins of the Modern Age: A common theme. See the color text at the top of the page.
- Scavenger World: Downplayed. Much of Ambara Down's wealth comes from digging through its warrens and the surrounding wilderness for useful tech, but there are furry nations outside of Ambara, and humans seem to be doing fine in their floating cities.
- Settling the Frontier: One of the Reclamation Project's many goals. The furries already occupying this "frontier" rather disagree.
- Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Definitely on the Idealistic side. Though sometimes it's hard going, the bad guys almost always lose.
- The Speechless: Ali, thanks to her Shock Collar zapping her if she ever tries to speak.
- Wholesome Crossdresser: Mama Bill in "Star of the Savannah," a male bearmorph who dresses in a skirt and provides the survivors of his village with a place of refuge.
- Whole-Plot Reference: "Star of the Savannah" which borrows several plot points from The African Queen.
- Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: In "Dark Garden Lake" the Reclamation Project puts out a hit on a so-called terrorist who's been raiding food shipments to redistribute them to those who couldn't afford food, Robin Hood style.
