Zoo

Dimensions & Layout:

Inisfree’s zoo is generally a wide, inverted, L-shaped enclosure, its sides measuring about one and a third miles, with a section left out for the Sea-tanks; the aquatic portion of this rare species viewing and rehabilitation facility.  The paddocks of this zoo; all its terrestrial areas, have about 15,681,600 square feet of space; 360 acres. That’s more than enough room for three and a half of the largest zoo of Earth-That-Was; the world-famous San Diego Zoo.

Special Features:

One of the paddocks of this zoo is reserved just for the dragons which also call Inisfree home. As long as you are respectful of them, these dragons will treat you the same way noblemen would treat their colleagues and kin.

 

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Additional Notes:

Paddocks Directory:

Medium-sized ranges are for winged creatures.

Small ranges are for non-winged creatures.

1. Largest: Dragons
2. Medium 1: Griffins
3. Medium 2: Hippogryphs
4. Medium 3: Wyvern-lion-bat Chimera
   ​(WoW mount for Horde flight paths)
5. Medium 4: Pegasi
   ​(winged horses, including the Governor’s black one)
6. Small 1: Unicorns
7. Small 2: White Lions
8. Small 3: White Tigers
9. Small 4: Pangolins

Again, we do not have animals here for show; we have non-human people here recovering from various experiences.  Inisfreeans do not go out hunting, capturing, or collecting specimens of the different species.  Members of certain species which were hunted to the brink of extinction are often invited to come and stay here for as long as they might need to ‘bounce back’.

 

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Relevant Holidays:

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Novels Excerpt:

From that restaurant in the park, they crossed back under the G.A.H. via the same pedestrian underpass they’d taken to get to it from the parking garages. There were still a couple hundred people weaving around through its levels and sections, choosing to walk to and from their vehicles instead of having their vehicles drive themselves to wherever they stood. A few had the bright idea to do both; they timed their summoning so that their vehicles met them right at the park exit when they made it there.

Following the only G.A.H. section through a narrow small-mountain pass leading out the other side of that parking garage, Lucifera and Auz saw the gates of the city zoo coming into view straight ahead. They were ornate wonders standing a few stories tall; far taller than any gates humans would need. Buckingham Palaces and all the finest palaces in Russia would have a difficult time competing.

An Inisfreean on staff greeted them and the others walking up. She told them a little of the history of their zoo, and about its walls, landscaping, and mission; it had been roughly a square mile set aside since the founding of Inisfree, the walls were more for the privacy of the animals choosing to make their zoo a home for the time being, virtually all of their diets could come from the many edible plants they’d grown throughout every paddock, and their mission was to provide a truly natural sanctuary and healing center for people other than just humans. Not a single creature in this zoo was kept in a cage.

They started the afternoon with the smaller paddocks of the city’s zoo; those were for the pangolins, tigers, lions, and unicorns. The pangolins looked like armadillos with dragon scales, or giant ‘roly polies’; they were the size of dogs. The tigers were white with black stripes. The lions were pure white, just like the unicorns.

The pangolins the zoo convoy had driven by had been surprisingly intelligent, behaving more like curious little-people than how most humans thought of ‘wild animals’; many walked right up to the convoy and raised up a bit to get a better view of everyone. There were dozens of them visible where the convoy drove, some climbing, others socializing, and a few taking day-naps. One even approached close enough for the passersby to feel its scales, not going into its curled ‘defensive posture’ at all.

Both the white tigers and white lions were a lot like semi-domesticated or feral cats; they minded their own business, noted the presence of the convoy, but otherwise didn’t pay it much attention. Only the rare few meandered around, considering an approach, until the bravest of them hopped up on top of one of the cage-enclosed convoy vehicles to see everyone from a tree-like perch above. Its eyes were a stunning sky-blue, and it didn’t seem albino at all; it was far too healthy and distinct for that.

Speaking in unison, the Inisfreean drivers (one per convoy vehicle) told everyone about the genetic issues that had arisen from humans inbreeding other white lions and tigers in captivity. Humans failed to understand or sense that their own assumptions, as well as the primitive and harsh conditions of their zoos, had contributed to the degraded bodies of what they sloppily and hastily created within them. Had those same lions and tigers been allowed to breed in their own time and way, and with the loving support of people such as the Elves or Djinn, no harm would have come to their offspring.

Inisfree’s zoo staff had been careful to give the animals in its care the right thoughts and other energies, the best possible diets, and even picto-telepathic interaction. Their bonds with the animals here were strong and full of trust. They’d even learned from the animals own guidance how best to find and help their relatives elsewhere in the world, keeping their hidden prides healthy and safe from the humans.

The Inisfreeans were on patrol along the fences, walls, and mountainous perimeter of the whole zoo, maintaining a presence in each paddock, but always a politely discreet and distant one, giving the animals plenty of space. They would only approach a creature in their zoo if that creature showed signs of distress, requesting their help. The Inisfreeans and everyone else otherwise kept respectfully away, helping them to stay ‘wild’; free, uninterrupted, natural. There was no forced mixing of cultures or species in Inisfree.

As their convoy drove on, making its way to second-last of the ‘small’ paddocks, the Inisfreean driving Auz & Lucifera again spoke up so everyone in their vehicle could hear. “All these animals can come and go as they please, and we have separate entrances to their paddocks reserved just for them. The only thing we make sure they understand they should not do is try to go into the paddocks of the other species; it would be regarded the same as if someone let themselves into your house without an invitation. All the animals here work together, just as they do outside Inisfree when no humans are looking, but we all like a little personal and private space, and that is what we give them. They, like we, are here to relax and heal.”

Entering the second-last small paddock, the convoy fanned out to stop in the semi-circle it formed, and the set of parallel-fence gates were re-closed behind it by the Inisfreeans posted there. The lead-driver got out and walked ahead of the convoy’s semi-circle to a place halfway between it and a grove’s tree-line. There she stood for a moment, giving off this amazingly pure aura, until… a minute of quiet later… a stunningly-bright horse made its way out of that grove to meet her.

Unicorns were the white and one-horned horses of (accounts said to be) ‘fairytales’. They looked much like the ones on so many paintings, pillows, and heraldic charges. The legend was that they had been hunted to extinction, their discovered weakness being to trust virgin maidens to the point of falling asleep by them, heads resting in their laps. What was later understood was that the unicorns weren’t temporarily tamed by the presence of a virgin, but felt reassured by anyone with a youthful, light, and pure heart; most who had chosen to reproduce in the human way did so in a way that resulted in a lot of negativity metastasizing, which is why unicorns were thought to’ve been rare and then extinct; they could sense dark energies, and avoided them the same way migrating birds follow the seasons and magnetic field lines invisible to humans. Humanity bred a lot of bad vibes, not just members of its species, and the unicorns knew better than to stick around for that. So it was that they had been labeled myth, fairytale, and extinct.

The unicorn which had come out of the grove to say hello back to the Inisfreean woman up ahead… now turned its attention to the rest of the convoy, and started walking its way over. It moved regally, almost like a show-horse marching for review. There was no wonder why people had considered its kind to be divine and magical.

Communicating picto-telepathically with Lucifera, they told of their lineage, descending from narwhals, both species having the ability to focus and project their wills through their single horns. Other mental images they sent to her explained why their horns did not work the way hunters and salesmen intended; when unicorns were hunted, the hunters intending to remove their horns and use them for themselves, the horn could not focus the erratic human energies, from minds never trained to focus well enough, so all that went through those captured horns was faint negativity. In short, when the horns were sold as ways to purify poison water, or magically cure the ill, they, if anything, made things slightly worse.

Only when in a mutual agreement with a unicorn, and riding upon its back or resting an arm around it while standing close, with both your mind and the unicorn’s mind focusing the same intent through the horn, could one hope to render poison water pure, or sick people well. Other ‘magical’ effects were possible through this partnership, people in agreement having a synergy beyond what the humans taught or knew of in their schools. It all required peace, trust, love, understanding, and much better-trained minds than most humans had, though. In ancient times, when people had much better minds and mindsets, it was easier.

Like so many people of non-human species, unicorns were mis-perceived as being “extremely wild”; they were merely reacting to, and being somewhat excited by, the wild, unruly, and rebellious nature of the humans who’d gone looking for them for nefarious purposes in the recent era. In Inisfree, because of how loving both the people and the lands were, the unicorns there seemed as docile and approachable as ever. It was all a matter of setting and context.

To be near human cities, or even groups of humans in the wild, meant risking the energies of those humans enveloping the unicorn’s horn, thereby possibly providing enough of that energy, overlapping until it was effectively focused, to be amplified and sent out by the horn, affecting the whole area, or at least whatever the horn was pointing at as the unicorn moved. Imagine having a lightning-rod or phone-antenna on your head, and one you couldn’t always control. What the unicorns could control was where they roamed; which energies they allowed themselves to be around, sending back out into the world.

Perhaps the most breathtaking of their moments in the zoo that day was when the other unicorns in that ‘herd’ (family) decided to come out of their paddock grove next. They had seen their leader be received well by the Inisfreeans and the convoy group they’d brought in, so they would walk up and greet them, too. One Inisfreean was even allowed by them to touch their horns, demonstrating how people nearby could feel the energy in the air change if they were close enough. She thanked that unicorn with a hug, petted its coat, and bowed to it. It bowed in return.

The medium-sized paddocks came next. They contained the pegasi, griffins, hippogriffs, and a wyvern variation which combined a wolf’s head, lion’s body, bat’s wings, and scorpion’s tail. Chimera was another term in use by modern people to describe a similar hybrid, but both chimera and wyvern could mean multiple things.

Pegasi were winged horses, and they were very intuitive, each one’s third-eye even more aware than those of regular horses. Whatever Lucifera wanted, they could sense; if she wanted to pet the mane and coat of one, it would walk up to her. When she was ready to see another part of the zoo, the pegasus still near her bowed and walked on to rejoin its kin. On the convoy’s way to the next paddock, a small group of pegasi got to galloping and took to the sky, soaring up and overhead.

Griffins were horse-sized eagles with the back-halves of lions; their front legs were the horse-sized versions of those of regular eagles, while they back legs were those of lions. One could easily carry off an actual member of either of those species. Griffins were also proud beasts –or people, as the Inisfreeans saw them; fierce and brave. They recognized Lucifera’s natural royalty, though, and showed her their respect.

Being descendants of dragons, they didn’t require very large wings to fly; most humans, brought up to assume nature had to work a certain physical-mechanical way, unaware of the unseen elements of it beyond their narrow range of senses, concluded that the art depicting griffons was surely fanciful, woefully unscientific. Ironically, it was this thinking that was woefully unscientific. Griffins were fantastic at flight, even more-so than most birds-of-prey.

This species also, similarly to its dragon ancestors, found and used veins of gold and other valuable metals; griffins had been known to lay their eggs alongside gold nuggets. Some were even recorded as having guarded various treasures. Perhaps they knew the unseen effects of being in the presence of such purified stones.

Hippogryphs were similar to griffins, in that they were mostly a horse-sized eagle, though their back-ends were those of a horse, not a lion. It was said that they descended from the griffins in ancient times. They, like their possible progenitors, were a proud and energetic people, and they greeted Lucifera respectfully the way the griffins of Inisfree’s zoo had.

Their kind was said to’ve populated a small area of France before they slipped into assumption and legend in the minds of mankind. Another account had them coming from the Far East. Today, like most of the dinosaurs, dinoids, giants, griffins, pegasi, unicorns, white lions, and white tigers, they had ‘gone underground’, retreating back into the paradisiacal regions and levels of the Earth where energies were still good, ‘magic’ was still public and strong, their relatives still maintained herds and homes, and no one competed to capture or steal all the other creatures’ (people’s) abilities or parts.

The wyverns of Inisfree were semi-pack animals, sometimes keeping to themselves, sometimes moving with other wyverns. Like lions, their family unit was a pride, and they related to the Inisfreeans on this matter; Inisfree was itself, as a whole city and community, one big lion-like pride. The wyverns enjoyed both the fields and boulders; wherever they could rest their wings between flights around.

Other races of wyvern included bipedal dragons, amphibious ones with a barbed fish-like tail, and even a goddess who took the form of one. Another deity was said to have a pair of them for pulling his chariot. Wyverns of these other varieties were found on crests, helmets, and other heraldry, hinting at a time not that long ago when their presence on the outer surface of the world was still widely-known.

Then there was the largest paddock at the end of the zoo’s tour. Auz was especially proud of this one. “This is where all of our guests who are dragons may fashion their grand homes. The Inisfreean forces will protect them –and even fly with them when they wish it.” The Inisfreean driver and tour guide let him speak on this part of their journey through the zoo, knowing it made him happy to.

This largest of the paddocks was roughly one-third of a mile by two-fifths of a mile; thousands of feet along its sides, with enough room for hundreds of homes. Where were all the dragons, though? It was empty like the Great Plains…

“There is already one of the ancient dragons here with us,” Auz went on, walking farther out into the middle of the empty, vast paddock, “and she has taken a human form, that our guests might better approach and get to know her first.” Then, right on time, and as if on cue, a fully-grown forest-green dragon emerged from one of the cave mouths. If it was the one he was talking about, he didn’t say, nor did the dragon indicate.

It recognized Lucifera with a bowing of its head, and let her walk right up to it and reach out if she wanted to. Its wings opened up and stretched out, blocking out much of the sky, and it carefully relaxed and lowered them again, knowing to flex and flap them down would cause a hurricane-force wind for a few seconds that would surely send Auz and Lucifera tumbling backward. Looking to Auz, it regarded him for a moment, as if expecting something from him.

Auz smiled up to it as if seeing an old friend returned, and then with an expression clearly indicating he had something fun in mind. “Will you speak for us?” he asked the dragon in a confident tone. The great and towering creature moved its head back on a serpent-like neck, its chest swelling up with a full, deep breath, and then it roared so loudly that Auz almost had to cover his ears and take a knee; the ground shook from that roar, and it echoed back to them off the mountains. It could only be described as the sound of a lion roaring and an eagle screaming at once, but many times greater than the volume either of them could ever summon, even if combined. Its voice had been truly humbling; deafening.

In the moments following the fading of its echo, the lesser roars (voices) of some of the other animals they had just seen in the zoo sounded forth in reply and greeting. The lion-wyverns roared together as a pack. Those in paddocks more distant were difficult to make out.

Easing down to rest on its scaled belly, it let Lucifera walk around and marvel at it if she pleased. Spread out over the grassy ground of its paddock, its wings were easily the size of three normal house plots. Its ‘skin’ (of scales) felt hard as rock.

With the dragon’s permission, Auz walked with Lucifera down the rocky slope of the cave mouth it had come up out of, and showed her the start of its lair. The cave was large, and its tall walls were being fashioned by its breath and claws. Inisfreeans had sometimes joined in to help. They were preparing chambers for it that looked a lot like the cliff-carvings of Petra, Jordan. There was also a pile of large jewels that looked like both an expensive landfill and the dragon’s nest or bed.

Back outside the cave and on the surface, he invited Lucifera to dinner, and for the next hour he would chat away with her about all her impressions of the amusement-park rides and the people residing in their zoo. (Again, the Inisfreeans made no distinction between the terms ‘people’ and ‘animals’. Even plants to them were people.) Her feedback and suggestions were appreciated and noted. When it came time for bed, he thanked her again and walked her to the large cube-shaped building of modern studio-apartments next to the Epcot II museum; a room had been reserved for her there for the rest of the evening and night. Auz slept on the roof.

 

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Overall:

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Cage Trucks:

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Dirt-roads Route to All Paddocks:

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Largest Paddock:  Dragons

See the sub-webpage for details including image albums.

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Medium Paddock 1:  Griffins

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Medium 2:  Hippogryphs

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Medium 3:  Wyvern-lion-bat Chimera
​(WoW mount for Horde flight paths)

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Medium 4:  Pegasi
​(winged horses, including the Governor’s black one)

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Small 1:  Unicorns

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Small 2:  White Lions

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Small 3:  White Tigers

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Small 4:  Pangolins

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Other Fauna:

More TBA.