The soft vore "Arms limitation treaty".
Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 11:27 am
Over the years I've discussed this subject with a number of friends and it might be helpful to some to spell out my thoughts.
Since I am a soft vore fan, and mostly a soft vore artist, I draw and see an awful lots of people being swallowed alive. In some cases these are unarmed humans, who really don't have much choice as to what happens to them once a predator gets them down. They're getting a tour of the digestive system whether they like it or not unless just squirming is enough to make the pred cough them up. (It almost never is.)
And sometimes I draw consensual vore in which a large and dangerous creature gets swallowed and chooses not to maul the predator from the inside. An extreme example of this is my story “Uvuzi and the dragon”, in which the dragon not only could have killed Uvuzi with little effort but could have escaped from her throat up until the very last minute. If he hadn't wanted to end up as a bulge it never would have happened.
In between these two are near same size vore scenes in which a creature with dangerous claws and teeth gets swallowed and doesn't attack the predator from the inside. Unless the predator is invulnerable even on the inside (which strikes me as pretty boring for everyone concerned), there has to be some reason the prey doesn't fight back more vigorously. For example, no matter how strong that dragon's hide is, chances are its stomach is vulnerable, especially if you happen to be a fellow dragon with sharp claws and a lot of strength to work with.
This led me to speculate about a sort of unspoken “arms limitation treaty” among vorarephiles. Here are some of its points:
1. The predator is probably perfectly capable of dismembering the prey or otherwise inflicting death or such crippling injury that it could feed without resistance. Failing that, a humanoid pred could just shoot, club, tie up, drug, or incapacitate the prey with magic if such means are available. The predator does NOT do this, for the simple meta reason that most prey players don't want to see, read about, or scene characters being ripped apart or swallowed while helpless or unconscious. (There are exceptions to the “don't want to be ripped apart” guideline, like a certain squirrel on Furrymuck, cooking vore fans, etc. Likewise, the occasional scene where the prey is tied up or drugged or whatnot and swallowed is fun for some.)
2. The prey for its part agrees that it won't claw or bite the dickens out of the predator from the inside. Now, there are ways to rationalize this without the treaty. You can say that there isn't enough room in there to get any leverage or that the pred holds his belly still from the outside so its meal can't wiggle around. This works especially well with a long narrow stomach like a snake's, where a humanoid fur's arms will be held to its sides by the walls. You can say that the pred belches up the air pretty quickly and that the prey asphyxiates, or that the prey by this time is so exhausted that it simply can't fight much. Maybe the walls are coated with such a thick layer of slime that the meal can't get his claws and teeth into the flesh. Maybe the pred has specifically adapted stomach acids that instantly attack claws and teeth, which would be frustrating and terrifying for the prey and might lead to a fun digestion scene.
3. None of this keeps the scene from being quite violent and vigorous if that's what you are after. There might be rape, there might be a bit of blood spilled and some pain may be spelled out, there may be a lengthy struggle in which the prey nearly escapes or there is some question who will end up inside who. Being a soft vore scene, though, ultimately the prey ends up in a stomach or is sucked in through some orifice more or less intact.
4. This leads logically to the “rule” that “Once your head (or all of you, if you like a longer struggle) is swallowed, it's all over.” Sometimes you have to use this line of reasoning because everyone concerned is so dangerous that soft vore just isn't safe or reasonable unless you adhere to the “treaty”. A recent example is my gold dragon/white dragon/behir story where both big preds wanted to eat the other and the White did end up getting eaten. This story couldn't happen in a logical universe because everyone involved is powerful and sharp clawed and swallowing any of them whole would result in an awfully painful death for the predator unless the prey was dead first. The only way anyone was going to get swallowed alive is if the prey didn't attack from inside for some reason.
This is all pretty self-evident when you think aboout it. Besides the obvious assumption that same size vore is possible, which it reasonbly is not with the exception of snakes, some fish, frogs and so on, you also have to assume one of the following:
1. The pred is invulnerable to attack from within or
2. The prey has no natural or carried weapons or
3. The pred disarms/kills/whatever the prey first, or
4. The difference in size and strength is too great for the prey to effectively resist or attack from within or
5. The prey chooses, for some reason, not to attack from within or
6. For whatever reason the prey simply isn't able to attack from within.
AND you must assume that the pred is specifically adapted to swallow prey whole. In the case of a humanoid pred you must assume its bones and organs can move out of the way and that it can somehow digest prey as large as it is (or even larger in some cases).
Now, you can go the “realism” route and design a predator with dramatic physical adaptions, magic, or supertech that allows it to do these things. (Yes, magic and supertech can be realistic if they are consistently applied.) You can still run into problems if your pred likes to eat things bigger than it is, but same size isn't too hard to swallow, no pun intended. To avoid jumping through these hoops most of my preds usually eat prey about 1/3-1/2 their size. There's a reason I have several preds in the 400-600 pound range; it's not outside the realm of reason that a human-sized creature might fit inside them.
In the end you just have to decide what your pred/prey is going to do and enjoy doing it. Realism isn't a necessity or a rule, but consistency and limitations can help others treat your character as though they are 'real'. If you're a bit anal about detail and backgrounds and so on like I am you do eventually wonder about the “Arms Treaty” thing. In the end you have to just say “I like soft vore and I'm going to keep drawing it/scening it now matter how little sense it might make” or you could explain why the clawing-from-the-inside bit isn't happening. Either one works.
After all, agonizing over every tiny detail isn't any fun unless you are an obsessive sort. My realizing that soft vore is often silly doesn't mean I don't still like it. It's a fetish and it wouldn't do to let reason get in the way. 83
Since I am a soft vore fan, and mostly a soft vore artist, I draw and see an awful lots of people being swallowed alive. In some cases these are unarmed humans, who really don't have much choice as to what happens to them once a predator gets them down. They're getting a tour of the digestive system whether they like it or not unless just squirming is enough to make the pred cough them up. (It almost never is.)
And sometimes I draw consensual vore in which a large and dangerous creature gets swallowed and chooses not to maul the predator from the inside. An extreme example of this is my story “Uvuzi and the dragon”, in which the dragon not only could have killed Uvuzi with little effort but could have escaped from her throat up until the very last minute. If he hadn't wanted to end up as a bulge it never would have happened.
In between these two are near same size vore scenes in which a creature with dangerous claws and teeth gets swallowed and doesn't attack the predator from the inside. Unless the predator is invulnerable even on the inside (which strikes me as pretty boring for everyone concerned), there has to be some reason the prey doesn't fight back more vigorously. For example, no matter how strong that dragon's hide is, chances are its stomach is vulnerable, especially if you happen to be a fellow dragon with sharp claws and a lot of strength to work with.
This led me to speculate about a sort of unspoken “arms limitation treaty” among vorarephiles. Here are some of its points:
1. The predator is probably perfectly capable of dismembering the prey or otherwise inflicting death or such crippling injury that it could feed without resistance. Failing that, a humanoid pred could just shoot, club, tie up, drug, or incapacitate the prey with magic if such means are available. The predator does NOT do this, for the simple meta reason that most prey players don't want to see, read about, or scene characters being ripped apart or swallowed while helpless or unconscious. (There are exceptions to the “don't want to be ripped apart” guideline, like a certain squirrel on Furrymuck, cooking vore fans, etc. Likewise, the occasional scene where the prey is tied up or drugged or whatnot and swallowed is fun for some.)
2. The prey for its part agrees that it won't claw or bite the dickens out of the predator from the inside. Now, there are ways to rationalize this without the treaty. You can say that there isn't enough room in there to get any leverage or that the pred holds his belly still from the outside so its meal can't wiggle around. This works especially well with a long narrow stomach like a snake's, where a humanoid fur's arms will be held to its sides by the walls. You can say that the pred belches up the air pretty quickly and that the prey asphyxiates, or that the prey by this time is so exhausted that it simply can't fight much. Maybe the walls are coated with such a thick layer of slime that the meal can't get his claws and teeth into the flesh. Maybe the pred has specifically adapted stomach acids that instantly attack claws and teeth, which would be frustrating and terrifying for the prey and might lead to a fun digestion scene.
3. None of this keeps the scene from being quite violent and vigorous if that's what you are after. There might be rape, there might be a bit of blood spilled and some pain may be spelled out, there may be a lengthy struggle in which the prey nearly escapes or there is some question who will end up inside who. Being a soft vore scene, though, ultimately the prey ends up in a stomach or is sucked in through some orifice more or less intact.
4. This leads logically to the “rule” that “Once your head (or all of you, if you like a longer struggle) is swallowed, it's all over.” Sometimes you have to use this line of reasoning because everyone concerned is so dangerous that soft vore just isn't safe or reasonable unless you adhere to the “treaty”. A recent example is my gold dragon/white dragon/behir story where both big preds wanted to eat the other and the White did end up getting eaten. This story couldn't happen in a logical universe because everyone involved is powerful and sharp clawed and swallowing any of them whole would result in an awfully painful death for the predator unless the prey was dead first. The only way anyone was going to get swallowed alive is if the prey didn't attack from inside for some reason.
This is all pretty self-evident when you think aboout it. Besides the obvious assumption that same size vore is possible, which it reasonbly is not with the exception of snakes, some fish, frogs and so on, you also have to assume one of the following:
1. The pred is invulnerable to attack from within or
2. The prey has no natural or carried weapons or
3. The pred disarms/kills/whatever the prey first, or
4. The difference in size and strength is too great for the prey to effectively resist or attack from within or
5. The prey chooses, for some reason, not to attack from within or
6. For whatever reason the prey simply isn't able to attack from within.
AND you must assume that the pred is specifically adapted to swallow prey whole. In the case of a humanoid pred you must assume its bones and organs can move out of the way and that it can somehow digest prey as large as it is (or even larger in some cases).
Now, you can go the “realism” route and design a predator with dramatic physical adaptions, magic, or supertech that allows it to do these things. (Yes, magic and supertech can be realistic if they are consistently applied.) You can still run into problems if your pred likes to eat things bigger than it is, but same size isn't too hard to swallow, no pun intended. To avoid jumping through these hoops most of my preds usually eat prey about 1/3-1/2 their size. There's a reason I have several preds in the 400-600 pound range; it's not outside the realm of reason that a human-sized creature might fit inside them.
In the end you just have to decide what your pred/prey is going to do and enjoy doing it. Realism isn't a necessity or a rule, but consistency and limitations can help others treat your character as though they are 'real'. If you're a bit anal about detail and backgrounds and so on like I am you do eventually wonder about the “Arms Treaty” thing. In the end you have to just say “I like soft vore and I'm going to keep drawing it/scening it now matter how little sense it might make” or you could explain why the clawing-from-the-inside bit isn't happening. Either one works.
After all, agonizing over every tiny detail isn't any fun unless you are an obsessive sort. My realizing that soft vore is often silly doesn't mean I don't still like it. It's a fetish and it wouldn't do to let reason get in the way. 83