HELLO AND WELCOME!  THIS IS A SHORT VIDEO ABOUT THE INSPIRATION THAT LEAD TO THE CREATION OF A
PARTICULAR MONSTER ON ALTER AEON. IF YOU HAVE EXPLORED THE KORDWOOD, YOU HAVE PROBABLY ENCOUNTERED
THESE:

MELANISTIC MUTANT TREE RATS.

SOUNDS LIKE A RUNAWAY SCIENCE EXPERIMENT, DOESN'T IT?  WELL, MELANISTIC MUTANT TREE RATS ARE REAL.

"TREE RAT" IS A REDNECK TERM FOR SQUIRREL.

UNLESS YOU LIVE IN A FEW SELECT REGIONS OF NORTH AMERICA, YOU'VE PROBABLY NEVER HEARD OF--LET ALONE
SEEN--A MELANISTIC SQUIRREL; HOWEVER, HERE IN NOWHERE, ILLINOIS, MELANISTIC SQUIRRELS, OR "BLACK PHASE"
SQUIRRELS AS THEY ARE SOMETIMES CALLED, ARE A COMMON SIGHT.  MELANISM IS AN RARE MUTATION THAT RESULTS
IN AN UNUSUALLY DARK PIGMENTATION.

IN CENTRAL ILLINOIS, WE HAVE TWO CATEGORIES OF SQUIRRELS: THE FOX SQUIRREL AND THE EASTERN GRAY
SQUIRREL.  EASTERN GRAY SQUIRRELS HAVE A 1 IN 10,000 CHANCE OF DEVELOPING THE MUTANT GENE THAT CAUSES
MELANISM.  FURTHERMORE, THE MELANISTIC GENES ARE DOMINANT, MEANING THAT THE OFFSPRING OF ANY BLACK
PHASE SQUIRREL WILL ALSO BE BLACK.

BUT WAIT, YOU MAY ASK, IF THE GENES FOR MELANISM ARE DOMINANT, THEN WHY AREN'T ALL EASTERN GRAY
SQUIRRELS BLACK?  A VERY GOOD QUESTION WITH A VERY INTERESTING ANSWER.

YOU SEE, BEFORE THE WILDERNESS OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA WAS COLONIZED, MOST SQUIRRELS ACTUALLY WERE
BLACK!  THEY THRIVED IN THE CANOPIES OF THE THICK DECIDUOUS FORESTS THAT USED TO COVER THE REGION,
WHERE THEIR COLORATION WOULD HELP HIDE THEM FROM PREDATORS IN THE PREVALENT DARKNESS.

WHEN THE FIRST SETTLERS TAMED THE LAND, MANY OF THOSE DENSE FORESTS WERE CUT DOWN.  THE LIGHT
FORESTS THAT TOOK THEIR PLACE DID NOT PROVIDE NEARLY AS MUCH CONCEALMENT AS THE OLD FORESTS, SO BLACK
SQUIRRELS LOST THEIR EVOLUTIONARY ADVANTAGE OVER THEIR LIGHTER COLORED COUSINS.  AS A MATTER OF FACT,
BECAUSE THEIR BLACK FUR CONTRASTED SO MUCH WITH THE NATURAL LANDSCAPE, MELANISTIC SQUIRRELS WERE EASIER
FOR THEIR MOST EFFICIENT PREDATOR TO LOCATE AND KILL THEM, AND THOSE PREDATORS WERE HUMANS.

FARMERS HATED SQUIRRELS BECAUSE OF THE DAMAGE THEY CAUSED TO CROPS, AND HUMANS FIGURED OUT THAT THE
BLACK SQUIRRELS' HIDES MADE NICE GLOVES AND CAPS, AND ALSO THAT THEY WERE TASTY LITTLE BUGGERS.  SO,
HUMANS HUNTED BLACK SQUIRRELS TO EXTINCTION.  ONLY NOW IN ISOLATED COMMUNITIES ARE MELANISTIC SQUIRRELS
MAKING A COMEBACK, VERY SLOWLY RECOVERING FROM THE GENOCIDE COMMITTED AGAINST THEM AGES AGO.  GOOD
LUCK, GUYS.

THAT CONCLUDES THIS BEHIND-THE-SCENES VIDEO PRESENATION.  IF PERCHANCE YOU HAVE STUMBLED ACROSS THIS
VIDEO WITHOUT EVER HAVING HEARD OF ALTER AEON, WE INVITE YOU COME AND PLAY!  ALTER AEON IS A TEXT-BASED
MEDIEVAL FANTASY ROLE-PLAYING GAME THAT IS FUN FOR ALL AGES!  VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT ALTERAEON.COM,
THAT'S A L T E R A E O N DOT COM.