A Brief Exploration of the Vulnerabilities of a Fictional Canid Society to Subjugation by Dissident Fascist Elements due to Canid Pack Mentality.
By Samuel Chambers (Mirel Yirrin)

This is an issue that has long since been troubling – or perhaps inspiring – my conscious thought, and one that is perhaps of interest to other fiction writers of the same persuasion as I.
In this text, I aim to explore and accurately extrapolate the ideas and vulnerabilities that a fictional canid society may encounter when a dissident fascist element attempts to subjugate it – and even, if any other form of government could even occur within a society that would be uniquely based in pack mentality and the ideal of a strong, all powerful leader.

Firstly, then, we must make some assertions about the type of canid society that we are dealing with in this instance. Because of the scale and breadth of all possible fiction, and therefore the scale and breadth of the societies portrayed therein, it is possible that one could create a situation that is indeed canid, but inherits many more human psychological points than is usually considered “Normal” or “Mainstream”, indeed bringing the level of anthropomorphic take-up to a level where the society in question would be almost human.
Therefore, for the purposes of this experiment we will assume that our society would be one where the traditional ideas of a pack mentality were maintained through its transition from an unevolved animal into an evolved anthropomorphic creature.
Again, we make another assumption – that the society did indeed evolve from some base animal representing it in a manner similar to the method by which humans came into existence, and did not come into existence by some other, more magical method.

Assumptions now made, we can begin to explore how a society such as this might evolve. One can imagine that in its very early stages – as with human development – each individual tribe might have an experienced Elder Headman or tribal leader of some sort, either the strongest or wisest amongst whatever genetic group in question. They would occupy the same slot that an Alpha male might in a standard wolf pack, though they would hold no direct cultural ties or memories due to the sheer scale of time between evolutionary levels. It would be a form of social history, based upon observation or extrapolation – not on any kind of genological memory.

Before we go further into the historical development of our fictional society, we must examine the possibility that a traditional democratic system could not possibly emerge in this kind of society. Rampant speculation aside, it could be that because of the biologically ingrained nature of the pack mentality, any other form of government would simply not evolve. This possibility could render this entire speculation null and void – but again for the purposes of this exploration we will assume that the environment is suitable for the evolution of alternate forms of Government.

Moving onwards, the first test of our society will come when the roving bands or tribes settle down into static villages and towns. This is a process that could take years of trial and error to get right, but as global climates change over time, and it becomes more logically sensible to stay in one place – or a set, small number of semi-static settlements – our society would adapt and lock into a single location.
We assume now that we are only charting the development of a single society – as I am sure most readers are aware, dozens of human communities sprung up over time, separated by thousands of miles and sharing only a single common genetic link, born about from this tribal exploration phase of growth.

(It is pertinent here to add that a society, whilst beginning its development based heavily in the pack mentality, it might forget or otherwise have its ideologies corrupted or lost and form others to take their stead)

Fast-forwarding now again in time – skipping over some important parts of history - we come to a more medieval phase of development, an age where the pack mentality has perhaps reached the very limits of its ability to control. You have kingdoms, fiefdoms and other large empires, each controlled by one man – again here we see the Alpha male, the dominant member of the pack. He might have inherited the role from his father, and the process of passing down the role of command has now swapped from one that might be considered extremely violent to one that is usually benign, a simple passing on of some icon to ones Son or Daughter.

It is important to mention here the role of Barons and other local extensions of the King's power. As the size of any individual kingdom increased, it was necessary to appoint trusted members to be, as stated before, extensions of ultimate power. Whilst they do not wield the full extent of the King, they will rule locally and enforce the will of the King, whatever this might be.
Religion, too, plays into this. The right of a King to rule could occasionally be questioned or countermanded – so if one can utilize religion, one can validate the right to rule of anybody, if indeed the religion in question is well followed and controlled effectively.

I estimate that once this level of society has been reached, then the possibility for the actual development of alternate social governance ideas becomes real. Prior to this the idea that any other form of control or guidance whatsoever has been an alien and unimagined topic – but as society evolves and people become as an gestalt entity more enlightened, new philosophies and ideas will emerge and perhaps vie for dominance.
In the real world – and to flick back on track – Fascism comes about as a result of social unhappiness with the current state of affairs, or perhaps simply a coup or militaristic grab for power. Either way we can assess that a canid society would be more likely to fall back into the old ways of single dictatorship – regardless of advancement – sheerly because of imperative biological drive to do so.

One might argue against this by saying that in the path of human development we have thrown off the shackles of our biological drives and imperatives, by saying that as our sentience has evolved and grown inside us, we have lost the need for a guiding light or urge that we previously found in the scope of our impulses or instincts.
To this I say that you are more deluded than you think
Almost every action of our lives, of your life, of the lives of every single human being alive today on this planet, is driven by the needs and desires brought forth from the most basic of human instincts. Of course, they may be far more subtle or less powerful than they were, say, a million years ago, but they are still there and they still affect and guide us in the action of our daily lives, regardless of if we wish to accept this biological truth or not.

However, for the average Canid, the development and structure of his species is such, that the impulses of daily life are stronger and more prominent at the very earliest stages than they are in the tree dwelling mammals that evolved into humans. Therefore we can assume, and this is all that we can do here, that in the end product of his evolution the instincts that remained active and pertinent would also be stronger – relative to the same level of human dilution of instinct.

In conclusion, I imagine that a fictional canid society of the type I have just outlined would find itself very confused and liable to rapid changes in public opinion, as each individual would be torn between the idea of a pack, with a strong Alpha male, and the ideals of Democratic rule. That said, however, democracy really is only a form of limited dictatorship – the people simply decide who is in charge, and have more of a say over his actions, rather than every tiny detail being the produce of one mind and one mind alone. Therefore I think that the society in question would be extremely vulnerable to subjugation by Fascist elements – people wishing to control vast tracts of population and land for their own gain and self-fulfilment of some personal societal ideology, shaping society to his singular vision.

Next:

Exploration of how traditional canid elements of society could be applied to more modern societies, with regards to day to day functions.

Exploration of how a traditional canid society might integrate with a human society, either through side by side evolution or through introduction of one to the other midway into the evolutionary process.

Exploration of specific elements within a traditional canid society with regards to functions of language and self-expression, and the tools therein.