Wyldkin - See Also Gelgelans
Also known as “furries” or “morphs”, Wyldkin in general is the term for any intelligent creature which is humanoid but has animal features. These features can vary strongly from ‘skins’ (those who have more human looking features but sport a tail, pointed ears or a muzzle, or markings and claws), ‘kin’ who are upright animals, ‘shifters’ who can shapeshift from either full animal form to full humanoid (still furred) form or from one animal to another, and ‘kind’ who are four-footers without the benefit of thumbs. Notably lacking are ‘taur’ shaped Wyldkin who would have the full body and four limbs of an animal and a morphic torso with head and arms. It is possible they existed but died out due to lack of available partners. Though in general the types of Kin tend to breed true, it is possible for almost any version of their furriness to give birth to one of another type – a four-footer born to a skin, for instance. This is extremely rare, but documented reasonably regularly.
Skins and Kin types almost always have hair in addition to fur on their heads, and can sometimes have ‘facial hair’ features. Those who are shifters or non-upright may or may not, it’s highly variable. Most markings and colorations are natural, including eye colors, to their specific breeds. However those with magical properties do often (as with Griffins) show brighter or unusual colorations. Those run in families strongly.
Almost every breed imaginable could be possible on Dragondeep, but over time some have gone extinct due to lack of mates. It has always circulated as rumor, that there used to be this or that among the Wyldkin – unicorns, winged horses, hydra, and the like. It’s never been proven, of course, since there are none around today and there exist no records of them on Dragondeep. There are no known insect or fish Wyldkin, though there are rare amphibians and even more rare aquatic mammals. Some of those have isolated themselves in order to keep their lines going. Wyldkin do not suffer from inbreeding effects unless it’s a very long-term back-breeding situation. Their genetic diversity, and possibly a distant magical origin, prevents poor results. While it is possible for almost any Wyldkin to successfully reproduce with another, conditions must be right for the crossbred offspring to be fertile, and certainly magic must be used to make them ‘one breed or another’. There are ‘mutts’ and ‘mules’, crossbreeds which don’t resemble one parent over another, mixing features and markings, or averaging their appearances but being infertile. Those who are more closely related in terms of the animal from which they spring – felines, canines, etc – are much more easily bred and have long lines of multiple-breed parenting. (Why yes, that sleek orange tomcat morph does have a tiger in his lineage, see how tall he is? If only Wynnah’s son with that Fox duke could come out of hiding…)
The origin of the Wyldkin is completely a mystery, as they had come through the SandShire gate when it was still a Gate (that is to say at least six thousand years ago and like as not closer to ten). Their lives being normally humanoid in nature, and their lifespan being less than one hundred fifty years, means that any clues to their actual creation or nature are long lost. They have the ability to learn natural magic as well as spell magic, but it is not innate to any of them at random. There are family lines which practice spell magic, and definitely a few psionicists among noble houses – many of those nobles became such because of that power. It is rarely as strong as more natural users among other races.
The sizes of Wyldkin varies widely, from the diminutive mouse-kin who stand no more than two feet tall, to the elegant and massive tiger-kin whose height reach upwards of eleven feet. Obviously cross-breeding between hugely varied sized kin is not only discouraged, but nearly impossible. Most Wyldkin however are of human size, around 5 to 6 feet tall at the head. Since most of them have fur and tails, they rarely need clothing – however they actually wear quite a lot. Avian Wyldkin do not have ‘extra wings’ as Dragonkin do, their arms are typically longer and feature feathers capable of short gliding flight. Avian hands, and those of bat-kin, are found at the ‘wrist’ joint of the wing, not at the ‘tips’ of the feathers. (In this regard, Avians have extra bones forming their ‘flight’ fingers, in addition to those which become ‘manipulation’ fingers.) Those species who may have stubby fingers or even hooves generally have short but present digits, rather than just one solid hoof at the end of each arm. They do vary considerably between three, four, five or more digits on their hands/feet. Those with a normal set of flexible fingers numbering either four or five (three or four plus thumb) may be able to work spell-magic, while others might have a difficult time.
Wyldkin are effectively Human for all intents and purposes save appearance. They hunt, farm, craft, sail, govern and war equally well, and there are only slight differences among groups for their preference of duties. They have three languages distinct among the groups of Kin: that spoken by predator-types (wolves/canines, cats, raptors, bears, weasels), the one spoken by primarily prey types (deer, sheep, pig, fowl, and the like), and a dialect of prey-speak that is considered ‘domesticate-only’, that many farm living Kin speak. They are all capable of learning whatever else comes their way, provided the reason and instructor to do so. Bird Kin are often more adept at learning languages, except for some canines who are extremely good at communication in general.
All Wyldkin are omnivorous, regardless of their type. Many do settle on their ‘normal’ food sources, but they are all geared toward eating just about anything rather than being restricted by stomachs incapable of digesting blood or cellulose, and have teeth that grow with cutting, piercing, as well as grinding surfaces as Humanoids tend to. There is no stigma against any given Wyldkin hunting ‘their own type of animal’, a boar Kin is just as likely to want to sit down for a dinner of pork chops and potatoes as dig in to a stew of just vegetables.
Their lives too mirror Humanity, but tend to have a shorter youth. They are all live-bearing, even those who are more reptilian or avian in kin-shape. All Wyldkin females have milk-bearing breasts with which to nurse their young. While twins and singlet births are common for most breeds, it is rare to have more than two offspring at one time, except for those females of breeds used to having ‘litters’ in which case they would have four at most. They go through the very typical stages of childbirth, with their eyes open and ears working at birth, rather than like their animal counterparts who are generally blind and deaf at birth. They quickly mature, most Wyldkin are adolescents at the age of six years, and adult at twelve. Most females are fertile at around ten, but generally are not encouraged to have offspring until they are around twenty. Males are sexually mature around age ten as well, but unlike their Human counterparts, they are interested in girls around the same time as girls become fertile…
Males and females may be dimorphic based on their breed. However, they rarely split duties in a “girls must be weak and make a home / boys are strong and must be the worker” way. Males and females are equally adept at crafting, fighting and the like, and are fully expected to do whatever they are best at doing, for a living. Given the fact that many females of solitary breeds (such as tigers) are incredibly fierce at defending their territory from the very males (in nature) that provided them with offspring, it’s common to have such females in strong roles around keeps and villages, or in prominent hunting roles. They find other intelligent species who do segregate their male or female roles to be a bit silly, and self-defeating at best.
In pretty much all other respects, they act as Humans do. They require more grooming tools and time spent bathing than most Humans of course! They must be treated as individuals in terms of who likes what other kind of person or group. The only exception to this is the shapeshifters – they are almost universally mistrusted, and tend to be shunned into the Fey realms.
Four-footers, Kind, are often misunderstood but usually pitied, and since they have their own place upon the Griffinfall mountain, there is no reason for the parents of a four-footer (because they may be born to normally two-footed Kin) to fret. Kind are usually ‘normalized’ for size, meaning that a Kind cat will not be the size of a housecat, instead they will approach 3.5 feet at the shoulder, likewise a tiger Kind will be slightly smaller than their wild version but still quite large. It is known that they are exactly as intelligent and emotional as their two-legged Kin, but lack their abilities to communicate properly. Bird Kind are rarely born, but are among the only ones who might still easily commune with normal folks. Magical aides are used to help facilitate communication, since Kind births are still common enough that there is already a long-standing network in place. They more often than not, do breed true. Kind are born slightly more commonly than Shifters, around one in five or six thousand births.
Shapeshifters are rare, perhaps one in ten thousand Wyldkin turns out to be a shifter-type. They breed true, but if they breed with a non-shifter their offspring only stand a small chance of being shifters themselves. Depending on their type of shift, they might actually be able to breed successfully with four-footers, Griffs, humanoids and other species more easily. It is very typical for a Shifter to visibly go from almost-completely-Human to completely animal, for their range of ability. Many, however, go from a ‘Skin’ to a ‘Kind’ shape and rest somewhere closer to Kind – a feral-looking Kin. Almost every time a Shifter is born, bad things happen – and thus they are often exiled within the first few years of their lives. They do grow up quickly, after all, and can often fend for themselves even better than a Kind might. It is possible for a Shifter to remain in their birth-setting as long as they behave themselves, but that itself is a bit tricky: it would seem that the very genetics governing that shapeshifting also tend to make them more mischievous and selfish. There are compelling reasons why they’re exiled, after all.
Wyldkin have a strong monarchy in place, something perhaps brought with them, but definitely honed over the centuries. With a number of ruling noble families, different areas across their huge territory collect tithes and make sure that roads are monitored, laws are dispensed, and peace is kept. Wyldkin noble houses often include wolf, ferret, elk, lion and raven breeds. It is not unheard of for a very popular lower-born or Domestic-type to attain a high office, particularly horses and geese. Many pig-kin are merchants, and numerous canine types are found in the judicial system. Birds are often in record-keeping and clerical (office) settings, as well as for translation.
Their names are typical of Humanoids: they sport a given, personal name, a family name, perhaps a title if they are noble, or a nickname if they have earned it. Family lines are usually traced through the father, though not all – royals and nobles all give theirs regardless of gender, so many of them have extensive hyphen-heavy names. Because they speak and write just like anyone else capable, their names are often individually short, ‘Tsaka’, ‘Lily’, ‘Dryvis’. Bird morphs tend to have more colorful song-like sounds and longer in syllables than others. Families of nobles, and some very long-standing merchant lines, have a crest or symbol which is used for their correspondence, as well as banners around their homes / businesses. While it is not illegal or improper for a lesser family to have such a thing, it’s not very common.
Prominent Wyldkin of the Current Era
The Wolf Queen, Wynnah - The reigning Wolf family has been in power for four generations, and is currently led by a Queen whose first husband died in a winter hunting mishap which also took the rest of the hunting party. She is a full Kin grey wolf with pale creamy grey fur overall, and silver and graphite shading on her ears, back, and limbs, with graphite colored eyebrows and head hair. Her eyes are blue-grey. She stands around six feet tall, and has a strong set of social skills to go with her equally rugged muscularity. She prefers elegant clothing, but like almost any Kin she also has sets of durable hunting gear and armor for the occasions that require it.
While Wynnah does not do spell magic openly, she does know some reasonable number of spells. But it is known by a few that she is among a family line of strong Life elementalists. What that means for long-term effects is found in the bloodline after her. Not all Kin can breed the way she has (with non-Wolf- or even Wyld-kin), or has lived quite as long. She also displays, as Vaelan will attest, some amount of healing power that may be why he is alive today after the attacks that ravaged his traveling party in the Fey realms. She was among the rescue party that his distressed, dying, psionics provoked.
The Queen is known for her gregarious nature, quite unlike any Wolf before her, and though she would never be allowed to admit it, she and a fox duke had an affair (and a child) even while her husband was alive. She would prefer not to remarry, but she had yet to produce an heir to her throne, and would certainly need to do so even if it was a crossbreed. Up until the point when Vaelan the Lumin king arrived, Wynnah had resigned herself to an endless series of courtiers and offers from other Wolf lines… Along with the regular proclamations of ‘the Queen should step down because, reasons!’ quelled easily by her diplomatic, or fierce, conversations with said loudmouth lordlings. Vaelan and she have produced three children (triplets from one birth). Because of his society, the older, though second-born, boy Nalhaw will likely inherit his Realm, while their firstborn daughter Navala will surely be named as Wynnah’s heir. Their third, a son as well, may become a multiversal ambassador, if his father has anything to say about it. Wynnah has been off-world, and may in fact have other non-pure offspring.
Miranda Varnhagen, Mage – a raven Kin, with the expected sleek black feathers and keen dark eyes, the Varnhagen line has made a name for itself for almost two hundred years working on magical devices and spell casting. Miranda is no exception, being extremely gifted with the creation, enchantment, and use of rings and weaponry.
She is large for a bird Kin, but still not taller than 4 feet. Her arm feathers are technically not flight-capable on their own, but it is known that she uses a ring which allows her to fly for short distances, and she makes the best of this. Though she hails from the same large city that Wynnah rules from, Miranda is hardly ever seen in the same township for long – she is very much the adventurer at heart, and enjoys both running around the countryside with a disparate group of people, as well as handing out business cards for her consultation business. After all, those tombs needing loot carted out have a wealth of stuff needing to be identified. She can do that, for a fee…
Some of her weapons include an electrified chain whip, shuriken enchanted to bounce against numerous targets, and a pair of katana-like swords which animate at her whim. In all honesty, she’s used those weapons as both offensive and defensive tools in every day use. As talented as she is, however, she knows better than to try her skills in a Combat Magic pit fight. She’s still a hollow-boned bird Kin after all, not at all like her big bear friend. It’s worth noting that Miranda Varnhagen is the name of a human on a world which is connected to Dragondeep, also an inventor.
Bruno, Cap’n Peccadillo of the Saturn Quarter (that’s what he calls himself, anyway) – a white bear (polar) who started out studying magic in a small town, often adventuring with Miranda but is equally likely to be on his own these days. Bruno is an … inventive spell caster. Where one of his instructors might ask the students to create a spell that is ‘useful but not durable’ and others make things like temporary lighting or a ‘clean my fur’ spell… Bruno created his ‘Centerfold’ spell to look at girls without getting caught. That kind of sets the tone for him, doesn’t it?
Bruno is massive, at least 8 feet tall (and some say 8 feet around) with a strong build and typically snow-white fur, shining black eyes, and lacking ‘head hair’. He has absolutely no problem getting that brilliant fur dirty, being adept with the use of a heavy mace along with slingshots for range. (Let’s not talk about what he flings, they tend to scream when you catch them by the tail, and monkeys are plentiful in some parts of the world, they’ll recover.) Though he’s still young, Bruno has already made a name for himself and it’s not always a bad one. A number of magic schools have asked about his ‘quick, stupidly perverse’ spells, and it’s likely that they will become his legacy. He has absolutely no problem with this either. For such a huge, intimidating Kin, he actually is laid back and enjoyable company for most people, though bar wenches should be wary, he will take every opportunity to grope before he’s kicked out.
As evidenced in the Magic section, Bruno’s spells are both useful and perverse. If he felt like going on the offensive (aggressively fighting, not being offensive which he definitely already is) he would probably make an impressive Combat Mage. But as it is, he actually prefers intellectual and… soft pursuits, rather than outright picking fights.
Features of Wyldkin
• Are furries, plain and simple
• Are generally northern/temperate forest type creatures as well as domesticated breeds such as cats and dogs, any more exotic breeds such as rhino or giraffe have died out due to lack of available mates, or have been bred into mutt-mixes
• Are humanoid in size, configuration and mood
• Ruled by nobility, with a strong monarchy / feudal type system
• ‘Skins’ and ‘Kin’ both have Human-like hair in addition to fur, while other forms vary
• Can learn magic of different types but are not innately able to use it save for very few family lines
• Come in several types of furriness including ones with practically no morph features, to those who are four-footed, and some who can shapeshift
• Serve all manner of jobs and in almost all environments, and are the most populated around the world (though not per density which would be the zombies, but they hardly count because they’re dead)
