Theriads

To everyone else, theriads are accursed beasts. They are little more than the descendants of scum, of people so hateful that even the World-Eater itself couldn't bear the sight of them. To each other, theriads are family. Their ancestors were blessed by the Life-Bringer, given the power to survive, carry on, and see all the wonders the world has to offer. No matter what happens, they will not squander this gift.

Aging

Theriad lifespans match human lifespans almost exactly, and much like humans, their fur tends to grey and whiten as they age. Elderly theriads tend to suffer from the same illnesses as their animal counterparts: for example, feline theriads tend to develop kidney or thyroid problems, whereas canine theriads are more prone to lipomas or hip issues.

Animism

There are no limits to what creatures a theriad might resemble. No matter what animals a theriad's parents, or grandparents, or great grandparents resembled, no matter where they're born, a newborn has limitless potential in what it could be. On an individual basis, this is completely true. But when you zoom out and look at theriads' animals on a larger scale, trends emerge.

The world of Enchiron has magic thrumming throughout its soil: it fuels the natural magic found in the landscape, in the people, and indeed, in the animals. While theriads have no natural magic they're able to use, they are more sensitive than any other race to it, and it affects them on a community-wide scale. Theriad communities are changed by the fauna they spend the most time around. For example: most theriads live as shepherds in nomadic caravans, relying on their animals for transportation, food, clothing, and countless other resources. Therefore, it is very common for theriads to share aspects with the domesticated animals they spend so much time around. However, if you look solely at the theriad fishing villages up in the Frozen Wastes, aquatic traits become far more common, since many of these theriads spend their time on or near the ocean. A theriad community of bug collectors would slowly, through the generations, display more insectoid traits, and so on and so forth.

This isn't an instantaneous process. Young children can sometimes be mildly affected: for example, if a theriad family moved from the Eniyan desert to the Frozen Wastes, then a young child might experience a shift in coat colors or textures, but they wouldn't develop paws if they had hooves. Adults tend to be much more stable. A shift in coat like the one described can sometimes happen, but it takes decades of life in the new environment to occur. Most often, these community-wide trends occur as one generation passes into the next.

Notably, no matter where theriads live or what creatures they surround themselves with, it is always more common to see theriads with mammal traits than anything else. While insectoid, reptilian, or avian theriads aren't a novelty worth gawking at, there are always less of them than mammalian theriads. In the aforementioned example of a theriad fishing village, you will always see more aquatic mammals (such as seals, orcas, or bears) than you will true fish.

Hybridization

There are no limits to what creatures a theriad might resemble. This is still true, even when a theriad is having a child with a non-theriad: hybrid children are nearly always indistinguishable from pure theriads. This quirk is the root of much of the prejudice against theriads. It is often viewed as the theriad curse, that anyone tainted by their blood will be beastly like them. For caelians already obsessed with maintaining the "purity" of their traits; ignii who view all other species as weak; and humans insecure about their place among the more powerful species, theriads are an easy scapegoat.

That said, curiously, hybrid traits are seen among theriads, though it is exceptionally rare. The appearance of these traits simply has no relation to any of the other species. Two theriad parents without a drop of mixed blood can have a child with ignii wings, or caelian halos, or ianthina tails, or any strange mutations that tend to appear in hybrid children. Some have heard stories of hairless, hornless children who nearly resemble humans, and entire folklores have sprung up around hybrid children born to a parent of an entirely different species and a theriad.