So, today I was asked, “Why are you a fennec?” and so I figured I should perhaps explain that. It all started a long long time ago before I was born in a time historians call, “The Golden Age!” The year was 2831 (As it’s 3240 here for those that don’t know.) Medical science truly outdid itself. Through the new process of genetic printing and aggressive vector mutation people now had the ability to look like anything they wanted. Now admittedly body mods, offspring design, and genetic optimization had existed for some 200 or so years before this. It was really only a fashion of the super rich. From time to time one might hear of a celebrity designing their child to look like something. But when Alphabet-Generations released the gene printer in 2831 body modification and gene manipulation became available to everyone. Not only could one look entirely different in a week, but they could set up their genes so that their kids would too. At first people used the tech to change how they looked: fairer skin, painless tattoos, different color hair, but soon the population began to really experiment. People designed themselves to look like different animals that walked on earth, many of which were extinct, and the tech only got better from their. A hundred years later and humanity had changed so much that someone from the 2500s might not recognize their own kind. GMH humans became the norm. (Yes, I know that stands for genetically modified human humans, but it sounds weird if I just say GMH.) We took to the stars, with the ability to change our bodies to adapt to any planet we arrived on. Though not long after that we found ways to change planets to look like Earth. We became the aliens our ancestors once dreamed about. The word human is considered pretty old fashion and when people use it today, they are often referring to a group of pure human extremists. Some thought that changing our bodies was something evil. But that particular set of people vanished in deep space many years ago, like before I was born. At some point one of my Grand dads wanted to look like a fennec, so here I am. I’ve never really thought about changing my own looks. I like who I am, though I wish that I was a bit taller sometimes. (Obviously I don’t wish I was taller to the point of going and buying a height kit) Genetic printing facilities really only exist on larger planets. Those who grow up on small rural worlds are stuck how they are. If you’re wondering, we often just refer to ourselves as people. Since it’s hard to classify us as a race when members can simply change nearly everything about themselves. As we launched ourselves into the stars, many technologies were lost. Some planets look more like the settlements of the 19 century instead of the homes of voyagers of the 34th century. That’s what I was taught in history class at least. I look like my mom, and I like that. So that’s why I’m a fennec.