[ Excerpt from Beast Bazaar — Porcs! ]

  On their original homeworld of Ikana, the species we now know as Porcs have a complicated history. They once lived in deep mountain ranges and underground caverns, where they raided or warred with most of their neighbours. Over time they became insular, more focused on defense than war. Porcs who ventured outside their territory were best known for performing mercenary work.

  It was one of these mercenaries, the legendary Daggers Jorgon, who would come to define modern-day porcs.

  Jorgon was a retired mercenary captain, and the author of The Unofficial Mercenary Strategy Guide. This seminal military treatise discusses everything you need to know to run a mercenary unit in 66 simple chapters, from military stratagems ("#7: Shoot The Healer First") to logistics ("#15: Seriously, Feed Your People Actual Food, This Is Important") to politics ("#46: If Someone Asks You To Work For Exposure, Shoot Them Immediately"). Porcs would come to consider it a foundational guide to leadership, and even Zettamall porcs continue to rely on Jorgon's teachings. Porc mercenary companies can be found selling their services in all compatible territories.

  As for the porcs on Ikana... they continue to survive underground. In fact, the Zettamall continues to accept applications from porc cities. Newer generations of porcs often join private military companies such as WARCRIMES and Porc City Pharmaceutical, where they might have a chance to exact revenge on their old neighbours, the shoplins.

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  Unlike other customers from Ikana, porcs did not change their species name to commemorate their new life in the Zettamall but to avoid a trademark conflict with a brand of ketchup.

  [ Excerpt from Beast Bazaar — Mallbatz! ]

  Mallbatz are the Zettamall's most prolific invasive species. These pests have been making a nuisance of themselves since the Zettamall first opened its doors, and today they can be found on 27% of its surface. This might not seem like a lot, but it's actually 810,000 Earths worth of surface. That's a lot of guano!

  The mallbatz have survived this long for two reasons. The first is that they are extremely adaptable, able to survive in all manner of dangerous conditions from frozen mountain peaks to fast food restaurant car parks. The second is that they possess excellent toolmaking skills, especially when it comes to nest construction. The beasts may never understand what a quantic resonator does, but they can still take one apart and make a nest for their offspring if Management isn't careful.

  These traits make mallbatz quite a problem, but the Zettamall has found a solution: get these slackers out of their parents' cave and into a job. Every gamified shopping experience needs enemies whose purpose is to annoy the player in large numbers, and the mallbatz fit the bill. Even better, they can be easily trained to build their own Lairs.

  Once placed in a mall, a mallbat colony is self-sustaining. If left alone for long enough, they can even be deadly. Our improved, job-having mallbatz have been consistently voted Most Annoying Enemy in post-tutorial surveys, rating even lower than shopping worgs, imp simps, and toilet maws.

  Occasionally, a mallbat will get into a piece of our patented Technology? and somehow acquire skills or stats it shouldn't possess, triggering a physical mutation. These mutated mallbatz are typically employed as Lair bosses. Those that develop significant intelligence are terminated instead—the regular ones are bad enough already.