"It's like a sunny, fuzzy hell with birds singing and butterflies." -Gneech

Hanta's Gilded Cage: or The Great Escape from the Habitrail of Dr Morreau

First Intro Attempt

You live in a huge and varied world. There is a forest, grassland, multi-colored gravel desert, Heap-of-Big-Rocks Mountain, several small ponds, one deep lake with a beach, a town full of a wide variety of animals... and all of it is surrounded by walls. Tall black impenetrable unscalable walls. Its a cage - you and everyone else know it.
Most of the older residents have learned to live with it. Most newcomers hate it. Many spend their whole first year looking for a way out. Some never stop trying.
If you can cope with captivity, its quite the good life. There is always food and water available, the weather is (almost) perfect and predictable, and everybody is... well, not everybody is friendly, but most are at least civil. But there are always reminders. Every time you eat a food cube - every time night falls suddenly and totally - every time it rains on schedule every seventh day - every time you look outside...

... and the wall looks back.

Second Intro Attempt

"Ever try to escape?"

"Not really, never been that motivated to try. I mean I've gone around the perimeter once, but everyone does that... sooner or later. Even the kids do; they make some sort of game out of it, sort of a 'find the secret exit' or something. I'm not sure any of them really believe there is such a place as outside. Sometimes I'm not sure I still believe it myself; It was so long ago.
"Still, people keep trying and I suppose they always will. Maybe one day someone will find a way, (and if you ever do, make sure you tell someone before you go.) I do wonder though, after all this time, how many would leave if given the option.
"We're almost done here. Look, Give yourself a few days to settle in, and if you're still interested, drop by the library. Someone has been writing down stories of previous escape attempts. That way, you know what's been tried before. Someone there will be willing to teach you to read.
"Well, everything checks out. You're healthy as far as I can tell, but you may want a cane or something til you get used to walking on two legs. There is a guide outside to show you around the town, place to stay, things you can eat without retribution, all that.

"Good luck, and welcome to our paradise... like it or not."

Third Intro Attempt

Yesterday you were an animal.
Life wasn't easy, but you were always good at it.
You hunted when you were hungry. if you looked hard enough.
There was always enough to eat

But now you're here. Life IS easy.
You don't have to hunt and forage for food anymore, its just there for the taking.
Nobody is looking to eat you.

Theres something so horribly unsatisfying about this new life.
Why did it happen?
Someone did this to you. Someone built this cage, Someone captured you, altered your body, and put you in this fake world with walls. You've become a pet. That is intolerable. It must end.

Escape.

Suddenly you realise you've just found yourself a purpose. Feels good.
You have a mind that can plan and dream, and hands that can build, and you're going to use them to get out of this insidious paradise and back into the hostile world you were born in. That's where you belong.

And if you're really lucky, maybe you'll find the one who did this to you.

Delusions of Literature

Its about finding a purpose in life or a reason for living at all.
Its about the horrors of paradise.
Its about deciding whether you make the best with what you have, or spend all your effort fighting for something better?

Without challenge there can be no achievement.
Without temptation there can be no virtue.
If they are taken away, what do we have left?

Its a giant terrarium with tall black walls. The town is populated with all kinds of mice, cats, racoons, and whatnot. They are provided food and water and other stuff. Many inhabitants just can't cope with all the constant reminders that they live in a cage.
It sounds like a cool background for a roleplaying campaign. :) It also sounds astoundingly like The Village, and more than a little like Fraggle Rock. It also sounds vaguely like a Marxist paradise, which makes my skin crawl.
I was thinking of The Prisoner while I wrote it, as well as Dr. Morreau, except here The Keeper stays offstage. I don't know much about Fraggle Rock.

Have I forgotten anything?
-EMail hantamouse(at)cox(dot)net