==Fluffy Basics==
If it exists in the real world, or is reasonably possible, it exists in the fluffiverse. This includes people abusing fluffies that are able to learn and love, with their defects bred out of them, as well as people adopting and loving ferals breeds that most people would consider pests. Fluffies that can’t grow past their programming, fluffies that are as intelligent as a school age child (10-12 year old upper limit, as a rare exception), and hellgremlins. While limited by their programming and design, the vast variety of fluffy models as well as their sheer overpopulation allow them to be far more complex than the original Hasbio classic model.
While fluffies can be reprogrammed to grow to various sizes, there are 5 basic fluffy size categories.
-Micro: adults the size of a pinkie mouse or slightly smaller.
-Mini: Handheld; adults the size of a guinea pig or hamster.
-Small: Around the size of a small dog. Think of a range of chihuahua to pug.
-Classic: Roughly basset hound or bulldog size/shape.
-Large: Stable up to poodle size, but larger than this and their start to break under their own weight. Fluffies designed to be harvested for products/food may be grown larger than this, and if released will be unable to move or will injure themselves from the attempt.
Also worth noting in regards to the size chart, the size is relative to the body itself and does not include their coat. Also they tend to be lighter than an animal of the same volume and bodyfat content due to their frail bone structures.
While their programming allows them to speak as early as they open their eyes, a fluffy’s brain is smaller than most animals their size. On top of this the majority of their brain is devoted to processing emotions and social interaction. The net result of this is a fluffy that can love you and express this love, but lacks in basic motor control. They can waddle and hug, but any complex actions, including sprinting, is generally too difficult for them. A positive side effect of this difficulty is that fluffies can enjoy much simpler toys. Building a tower with more than 4 blocks tall is to them comparable in difficulty to a human throwing a backwards shot in basketball.
Something to note is that while their programming gives them much of their knowledge, brain size is still important. For the most part, Small fluffies and up have a brain about the same size. Mini fluffs are slightly less advanced, but in general are still able to feel and process as well as their larger counterparts. Micro fluffs however, run almost entirely on their programming, without any real ability to learn or adapt. Their brains are too small to perform complex functions. While they will say that they love and seem to show emotions, these are all pregenerated responses. It is worth noting that they can still feel pain and fear, as these basic animal instincts are still hardwired into their neurology.
While fluffies have a sturdy immune system, their proramming is fraught with defects, or neural-glitches. Smarty syndrome, hellgremlinitis, foal rejection and alicornophobia are just a few of these. While newer models have attempted to patch these out via their templates, cross breeding and ferals carrying original genes make most breeds susceptible to these glitches. Developing foals are especially vulnerable. Introducing the wrong concept, hormone or event to a foal who’s brain is still forming will often lead to the fluffy developing a permanent glitch.
A perfect example of this is Smarty Syndrome. Bestest-babbehs or foals who are overly praised by their mothers have a very high chance giving the foal the fluffy version of megalomania, Smarty Syndrome. Also worth noting is that foals who are spoiled, who get too much sketti or toys, can lead to the development of a recursive id; an unquenchable desire for everything the fluffy believes it deserves. This can occur alongside smarty syndrome, but typically is seen as a symptom of hellgremlinitis.
While some more adaptive models of fluffy can be recovered from these glitches, most breeds that develop these dysfunctions will be irredeemable.
Also, as mentioned, certain hormones can lead to the development of these glitches. These can be encountered from environmental sources such as diet or injection, but are most often encountered in vivo; fetal foals inside uterus of a defective mare whos blood is tainted with the hormone. With every generation of fluffy corrupted in this manner the likelihood of the hormone permanently becoming part of the template rises, leading certain groups of ferals, or fluffies sourced from disreputable breeders, to be completely irredeemable.
While they’re immune to most infectious diseases, due to their robust immune system and unusual genetic structure, several fluffy STDs have arisen. These are typically bacterial infections that release hormones that wreak havoc on the fluffy’s neurochemistry. While the more mild of these will simply lead to the traditional glitches being developed, some of the more aggressive strains will lead to what are often described as weirdbox behaviors. In some rare cases the entire template can become corrupted and horrorbox-grade mutations can occur.
==Fluffy Design==
Fluffies have 3 general stages of engineering that went into their creation and further development.
The first is their base DNA. This is a mostly mammalian genome; [REDACTED MAMMAL] DNA with a few genes spliced in from other mammals, birds, fish, amphibians and even a couple of insects. This, the bulk of their genome, is the hardest to modify and most intricately balanced. It’s what Hasbio spent the bulk of their early fluffy development on, and had been designed to make the 3rd stage, the template, possible.
The second stage is commonly referred to as their programming. This is a combination of genetic memory and neural development that makes fluffies what they are. The fluffies develop a patented neurological structure that loads kernel genes, including their lexicon (fluff speak for the marketed language/region), recognition subroutines (knowledge of sketties, types of fluffies, adoption by humans) and baseline behavior (designed to give the fluffy a child friendly demeanor, as well as flexible enough to adapt to a new household’s environment). The behavioral gene was the most difficult of these kernel genes to design, and the development was still in it’s early stages when PETA raided Hasbio.
The last of the genetic layers is the template. This was designed to be by far the most versatile, as well as most easily modified. This is what determines not only a fluffy’s size and bodyshape, but also coat length, colors, designs, and activation of the designer phenotype (unicorn, pegasus or alicorn). While designed to be modified, it also includes several security telomeres, which allow DNA replication but inhibit deliberate modification. Several years after the dissolution of the original Hasbio, several companies had developed enzymes that allowed them to “jailbreak” part of the fluffy template. While the phenotype and colors are located on separate genes, the size shape and coat growth parameters were all located on the first template gene to be unlocked. This allowed manufacturers [Artists] to develop new models, or breeds, of fluffy. While some of the larger corporate manufacturers managed to develop a template level patch to some of the behavioral problems (through no small expense) [hugbox based artists], the jailbreaking procedure eventually became accessible to more and more people, leading to small business breeders developing bootleg and often still unpatched fluffies.
==Fluffy Fine-Tuning==
These are very specific pieces of headcannon that conflict with part of the community. In conformity with the rest of my headcannon, I’ll give some explanations.
-Hellgremlins: They shouldn’t be the norm, but they should absolutely exist. Think of it this way, if you see inhumane or insane behavior in a human being, why can’t you see at least that much in a semi-intelligent creature that was programmed to behave cartoonishly. Not every fluffy should be a hellgremlin-- at least, not without good reason (eg a heard infected with a fSTD or other infection that triggers it). But the fluffy population as a whole by no means should default to this.
-Turdspace: (See: Hammerspace - Wikipedia). As a rule I don’t like to include the impossible, but fuck it. These are comics, poop is funny and it’s the #1 most common physical attribute of a fluffy (Think it’s the fluff? even a shaved fluffy still poops). Personally, I like to believe a fluffy is capable of producing anywhere from 50%-125% of it’s bodyweight in crap. And most of it comes right after you think it’s cleared itself out. De-shitting a fluffy, through physical manipulation (squeeze the bitch) or more advanced techniques (ipecac enema, #trademarked), should generally work successfully. But a fluffy left to shit on it’s own measures will always seem to find more.