For all you furries... The Beastfolk (quintus) (Patreon)

In the world of Quintus, there are 'people' and there are 'folk'.  People are a broad range of races created long ago by the Ith.  Humans, elves, dwarves, their intermixed children of helves, gnomes, and halflings, and a few lingering races such as centaurs and orkin.  These races breed true, and are without question considered as people.  Perhaps oddly shaped people, but people.

However, there are beings that are not considered natural people.  These are the folk, originally used to describe fae, demons, and angelic beings.  They weren't 'people with souls and mortal lifespans'.  They were otherworldly things you didn't want to offend by calling them 'creatures' or 'monsters'.  So they were Folk.

However, in Quintus, there is a vast reservoir of souls that have been developed over millenia, a by product of the Ith creative process.  These souls collected and created both the gods and holy magic, but also new kinds of folk.  When a mortal soul interacts with a gestating seed, it has the potential to imprint that soul upon that seed.  Thus giving rise to different beings who were also called 'folk'.  When the seed is a gestating animal, the product is a beastfolk.  When it is a plant, greenfolk.  When it is in insect, bugfolk.  Greenfolk and bugfolk are rare enough to be considered curiosities.  However, beastfolk are common enough to have social implications.

When a mortal soul encounters a gestating animal embryo, it can infuse it and alter its development into a folk.  The developing beastfolk will generally crush and absorb any littermates that might also be developing.  Birthing may be difficult for some species used to multiple, smaller young.  In the case of most mammals smaller than a goat, the newborn is almost indistinguishable from natural young save for their size.  Larger beasts may birth beastfolk with more distinguishable homid limbs, but only the most descerning eye would be able to tell a young beastfolk from a naturally deformed offspring.

Sadly, while most parents will try to nurse and care for the beastfolk baby, most will die in infancy.  Larger beastfolk mothers may be able to supply the nutritional needs of a growing beastfolk infant, but smaller ones will wean prematurely.  Occassionally, such beastfolk may move to another mother or find some other food source, but most commonly they expire within the first year.  Baby beastfolk are easy prey for most predators.

Between six and twenty four months, however, beast folk make the first major change and start walking upright.  In smaller beastfolk, the skull naturally pivots atop the spine to face forward.  Some larger beastfolk's upper spine will curve forward, giving a more hunched appearance.  Another change is the development of fingers, usually between three to five, and feet, though some beastfolk will retain their hooves and paws.  Most will retain a digitgrade leg, though some may form a more human like limb.

By the third year of development, most beastfolk will be capable of speech.  Vocabulary varies immensely, with many beastfolk developing grunts, growls, yowls, and chirps that punctuate speech they pick up.  By this point, most beastfolk will encounter other mortal people and start to emulate their speech as well.  By this point, their mental development depends on their interactions.  Some rare beastfolk, able to survive into adulthood outside society, retain almost exclusively feral behavior.  Most will imprint language and social attitudes based on the people that raise them further.

Further beastfolk maturation depends on their species.  Some will reach full maturation by 5 years old.  Others will be as old as humans.  Beastfolk lifespans vary widely, and is generally the time taken to mature times five, to a ratfolk may expect to live to be twenty five, while a cow/bullfolk might live to be ninety or a hundred.

Most beastfolk have reproductive problems.  These range from inconvenient sizes to spiritual difficulties.  Two beastfolk interbreeding may not have the spiritual energy necessary to create a new mortal soul in their young.  When reproduction does occur, the child is always the same folk as the mother, with minimal traits passed on from the father.  If a beastfolk mates with a person, the likelihood of a child increases, as the souls of the created tend to be more robust than that of folk.  If the mother is a person, like an elf or human, the rule still applies though some animal traits may bleed through, such as ears, eyes, or tails.  It should be noted that the children of two beastfolk have lifespans closer to that of humans.  Intersexed beastfolk are as common as other intersexed people in quintus.

Beastfolk face significant discrimination in almost every land.  Part of this is simply due to the unsure origins of folk.  Some people assume that beastfolk are the result of profane or perverse rituals, or the application of magic by horny wizards.  This isn't helped by the religious practices of some cults.  Predatory beastfolk are often assumed to be feral or innately hostile, while prey beastfolk are dismissed as stupid or disposable.  Misinformation is rampant, with beliefs that rodent beastfolk will outbreed people and spread like a plague across the land, or that feline beastfolk are innately magical.

Most people's positive experience with beastfolk is when the family pet gives birth to a strange kitten or puppy, or hearing a baby crying in the walls only to find an infant beastfolk.  While some families reject such foundlings, many see it as an opportunity to get a free set of hands around the house.  Some childless families may see a beastfolk as a 'blessing', and there are occasionally stories of farmers finding baby beastfolk in their fields and taking them as their children.  In reality, most families that do adopt beastfolk tend to treat them as prized labor more than family.

Others see beastfolk as simply malformed animals.  This is due to the belief that because folk were not created by the Ith, they lack mortal souls as well.  Superstititions abound that beastfolk with souls obtained them by eating the hearts of mortal children or babies.  For others, the assumption is economical, allowing exploitation of labor with a clear concience.  If it's not wrong to hitch an ox to a plough, why is it wrong to hitch an oxfolk to one as well.  Forced sex with a beastfolk isn't rape, just bestiality, a mortal depravity.  Thus beastfolk can be either abomination, monster, or beast depending on the society around them.

Beastfolk tend to either be isolated, rural, or form small communities.  Isolated beastfolk might be the pet of a human family, work for a farmer, or otherwise be isolated from other beastfolk.  Such isolation can be a benefit or boon, as they can be protected from social condemnation, or a liability, as they are exploited or violated.  Rural beastfolk often suffer from loneliness and mental illness, since animal packs reject them as unnatural.  Such beastfolk often fall into zoophilia or even mutism as they try to be the beast they came from, adopting feral thinking.

Rarely, enough beastfolk come together to form a community.  Usually the community is intermixed, fixating on the folk aspect.  Such communities offer rare opportunity to find kinship in ones kind.  Rarely, though communities form around a common beast type.  Thus one might find a small cluster of wolffolk camps or a farming commune of rabbitfolk.  These communities tend to favor more of their own kind and less of other beastfolk species.

Most beastfolk communities focus on the issues of survival, love, happiness, and security.  Beastfolk tend slightly towards polyamory, as there are few religions that recognize their unions, thus blunting monoamorous advantages.  Relationships are generally open, since bad things can happen and individuals need to look out for their own.  Children born in beastfolk communities have the opportunity to grow strong and healthy, and many second generation beast folk are much more ready to deal with challenges.  Homosexual, bisexual, and heterosexual pairings are all generally equally regarded.  Gender roles are superfluous, and generally ignored past birthing and nursing.

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Most nations in Quintus have rules and laws that limit beastfolk.  In most of Ferria, Beastfolk are animals, and folk meat and hides are no different from animal hides.  It took the actions of a rabbitfolk named Coney to earn the most minimal protections in the nation of Ambernathis.  Dyne likewise has equal protection under the law, and the Irrynian Empire granted legal rights to beastfolk that serve in the army.  Prejudices abound, however, and the nobles of Ventaros often take 'menageries' of beastfolk for depraved ends.

The Lithican nations are somewhat better, but beastfolks are largely ignored or displaced by the human conflicts there.  The harsh climate has allowed some cold weather beastfolk to thrive near the icecap.  Most people treat beastfolk on an individual basis, and people who have had good relations with beastfolk look upon them favorably.  Olderune is the only nation in Lithicus that recognizes beastfolk as serfs, and grants them the same protections (and penalties) that serfs possess.  Centaurs will occasionally tolerate beastfolk, though some have odd discriminations and rejections, as centaurs will violently object to being called 'folk'.

The elves of Argentium don't tolerate beastfolk any better than they tolerate any other non-elf on their continent.  On the islands of Guldyrr, beast folk are secondary citizens, given the protections of any laborer or dockworker, while blocking them from any noble rank.  For many beastfolk, this is seen as a pretty good deal, and the largest island has one of the largest beastfolk communities in the east.

In Aurum, the worth of a beastfolk is seen in their wealth, and since most nations systematically block beastfolk from being able to earn and obtain wealth, their station is low.  Beastfolk frequently have wages stolen, are usually evicted from housing first, and may be subject to fees and bills that people do not pay.  For example, any beastfolk in Floria may be fined for 'possessing fleas or ticks' while the lice of their human tax collectors are ignored.  Aran often promotes itself as 'tolerant to all' but pay beastfolk and half to a quarter of what they pay other people.  Corsans simply rob beastfolk on sight, knowing they likely won't have the strength to prevent it.  The Chaldeans employ beastfolk in demeaning or dangerous positions, like sewer cleaning.  The dwarves of the dominion hold no animosity for beastfolk, they simply refuse to allow them to live with them save as the occasional guildhall pet.

The only land where beastfolk thrive is Ossia, where the denucleated city states of the Pash desert allow rapid movement between communities.  Skilled beastfolk can carve out niches in the city, though their comfort is proportional to the tolerance of the city ruler.  Many Pashas take beastfolk into their harems, as the land lacks the same sexual expectations of other lands.  A beastfolk lover, wife, or concubine is seen for their skill and trade first, and their appearance second.

It is only in Ossia that the only truly beastfolk nation can be found.  The Rajhis was carved out of the hot and humid jungles in north Ossia by enterprising tigerfolk.  Enslaving both humans and other beastfolk alike, they were able to clear a network of roads connecting the river with dozens of small farming communes.  In the Rahjah, all beastfolk are considered equal to any mortal... but some beasts are more equal than others.  At the top are tiger, crocodile, and elephant folk.  These folk have bred large enough populations to be able to assert military and economic dominance over regions of the Rahjah.  Below them are lesser predators and omnivores like boarfolk, bearfolk, foxfolk, and wolffolk.  Then there are the large herbivores and smallest carnivores.  Finally small herbivores make up the majority of the population and the labor force.  

Predation is seen as a right of the upper classes over the lower classes.  This has warped the Rajhis' society in unfortunate ways.  Females of the lower classes can be violated almost with impunity, since children take after mothers, while females of the upper classes find their reproduction and activities sharply curtailed.  Many a beastfolk refugee has journeyed to the Rajhis only to find their situation worse than back home.  The situation was improved slightly when the rabbitfolk Coney travelled their, killed a tigerfolk who sought to violate her, and lead a revolt of the lower classes that sieged the largest city till the upper classes trapped within devoured each other.

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While mammals are the most widely recognized folk, birdfolk and scalefolk exist as well.  Birdfolk are curious in that they may have wings, wings and arms, or just arms with vestigial wings (The same goes for batfolk).  Birdfolk and scalefolk are noteworthy because both hatch from eggs, and can sometime survive by eating bugs, small fish, or other easy prey.  Most birdfolk lack the ability to fly, but some are capable of gliding and riding thermals.  Birdfolk thrive with fruit, nuts, fish, and insect diets that don't compete with human settlements.

Some scalefolk claim to be birthed from dragons.  Some actually are, but true dragonfolk are usually devoured by their hatchling mates before maturing.  Dragonfolk are noteworthy for having lifespans that go for centuries, though few have further powers.  Small dragonfolk called kobolds can be found in the caves of Lithicus's Shatter gorge.  These dragonfolk are notoriously territorial, but will trade gemstones mined from the canyon walls for metal and cloth.  Many scalefolk, however, are solitary, thriving in environments that furred beastfolk avoid.  Some snakefolk are born with fused legs and move about on their tails.

Fishfolk can likewise be found, though most rarely develop the mental simulation to go beyond feral intellect.  Some who have, like some sharkfolk, congregate and form undersea communities, raiding or trading with surfacers.  Most are semi-amphibious, but prefer to submerge themselves for a few hours every day.  Whalefolk are some of the largest beings on quintus outside of giants and dragons.  Sadly, most starve unless they can secure some large feeding grounds.  Fish folk may have legs, legs with tails, or just tails.

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Religions are all over the place when it comes to beastfolk.  Shamanist and Animist faiths teach that beastfolk are blessed spirits.  The Immaculates declare that beastfolk are a contamination and abomination.  The feywarders claim that beastfolk are the product of faerie magic.  The philosophists claim that beastfolk are the product of an animal and mortal soul fusing, while the materialists don't care and simply want to put them to work.  The elven Primus claims beastfolk are somehow BENEATH drow and humans, as it refuses to accept life and souls might originate from something other than the Ith.

The dodecan faith generally ignores beastfolk, or claim they were the product of the Dark One.  However, cults of the Lover and cults of the Beast have intermingled the more perverse corners of their faiths to spawn midnight orgies where humans go out into the woods to have sex with each other, beastfolk, and the occasional unfortunate animal.  Needless to say, the official hierarchs of both gods denounce such practices as immoral and excessive.  The non salacious faith of the beast is the most tolerant of beastfolk, and many infant beastfolk found are brought to their temples and raised in the faith.  Though the faith of the beast generally treats beastfolk as inferior, it does stress kindness and tolerance.  This is mirrored by the Onian church's Saint Ludo, who likewise stresses that followers should show kindness to beastfolk.  Radical Ludites even push for marriage between folk and people, though they are a fringe in the church.

Magically, Beastfolk can technically learn any and all magic that any other souled individual may.  Realistically, Beastfolk rarely have the economic opportunity to attend schools of magic.  Those that do face a slurry of prejudices that beastfolk are unintelligent, that they are subject to instincts that interfere with magic, that they will use magic to create more beastfolk (something that is not possible as it requires souls), and on and on.  Most beastfolk become hedgewizards, are self taught, and often either limited to the most basic of magical expression.  A handful may become more proficient, but they are the extreme few.  Holy magic is little better.  Few religions allow beastfolk clergy, and those that do often shackle the mage with expectations and oversite that limit their development.  Thus many beastfolk holy practitioners are drawn to cults, which feeds into negative stereotypes.

Militarily, beastfolk are the definition of irregulars, and many nations will 'hire' beastfolk to go rampaging across the land and disrupt rivals prior to war.  More line battles, however, see beastfolk as a liability.  A larger folk will be a natural target, and a smaller folk will be a point of weakness.  Most beastfolk fielded in battle work as skirmishers on the fringes and flanks.  Some beastfolk have pooled their natural talents into mercenary companies.  The Ice Fangs of Lithicus are a notorious band of canid raiders that specialize in night attacks and striking during winter.  The Band of the Red Rabbit, founded by Coney, mixes humans with perceptive beastfolk like rabbits to fight gruella style with hit and run tactics.  The Rusty Claw are a syndicate of ratfolk that specialize in urban warfare.  The sharkfolk of The Shoal specialize in pirate and antipirate warfare.  Finally, the Thunder are a company of bull, ox, horse, and elephant folk that annihilate most enemies with brute force.

Economically, beastfolk suffer a multitude of setbacks that are largely social and arbitrary.  Even Aran, which claims to be indifferent to species, rarely gives beastfolk the opportunity to thrive.  No beastfolk has been able to afford more than a baronial title.  Beastfolk companies that try to parley their strength into advantage wind up viciously targeted.  Most require a human partner at the minimum to ward off the worse abuses.  Criminal organizations are little better, loving beastfolk talent and ability, but rarely repaying what it is worth and never sharing power.  Only rat and mice folk have been successful at carving out rival criminal syndicates in Floria.  Many beastfolk operate 'networks' of other beastfolk contacts and can sometimes get help when needed, though often the community as a whole is at disadvantage.

Sadly, while individual folk represent a minute portion of the population, beastfolk as a demographic are almost a fifth of the world population, out numbering both elves and dwarves.  It remains to be seen if this circumstance will change.