Beastkin (6)
No, humans were definitely animals just like them. But how could they end up like that?
Were those suspicious bipedal critters hoping to hang out with humans, so they changed? Or did humans start wanting to get intimate with those animals? How the hell was any of this even possible...? I just couldn't wrap my head around it.
Sure, if you trace back to the roots, they all came from the same branch! And yeah, it hadn't been that long since the roots split!!! About a thousand years, right?! Still, this was kinda weird!!!
Maybe some other factor was involved. Like... mana, for instance. If mana reacts to willpower and causes changes, then maybe it could make kids between humans and animals possible. But no matter how I thought about it, it still didn't make sense! Why screw around with animals when there were perfectly fine humans available?! I seriously had no clue?!
And the kids born from those unions were all kinds of messed up too! Some had just animal ears and tails on a human body! Others were covered head to toe in fluffy fur, basically bipedal animals! What the hell was this?! Were their genes unstable or something?! Was it okay to just leave them like this? Wouldn't problems crop up?! Could those hybrid kids even have kids of their own?! I heard mules from horses and donkeys can't reproduce! Wasn't it the same for them?!
Okay, calm down. Just calm down. Not every human was out there banging beasts. It was just some weirdos with peculiar tastes! And those bipedal animals seemed pretty content hanging around those humans. They showed their wild side now and then, but it was just minor stuff.
If they ended up blending into human society... well, there wasn't much I could do about it. If they wanted to live that way, who was I to interfere? All I could do was hope it didn't cause any problems.
After some fur-loving weirdos joined certain human groups, things started changing bit by bit.
First off, to avoid sounding discriminatory, let's call the humans mixed with beasts beastkin.
With beastkin joining humans, people gained a new option beyond just hunting or farming: raising animals directly for meat, fur, and other byproducts. In short, the dawn of animal husbandry.
At first, they just hunted wild boars or bison, but the beastkin opened up new possibilities. For some reason, beastkin could communicate their intentions perfectly to animals, so some started taking in strays and raising them—that was the birth of the first herders.
Humans realized it was more profitable to raise animals and get all sorts of stuff from them than just killing them on sight. That's how they got wool from sheep, milk from cows, eggs from chickens... and just meat from pigs, of course. But it wasn't limited to that. They even used oxen to make farming easier.
Anyway, this process revealed the beastkin's potential. They were natural hunters and shepherds. Was it the animal blood? They hunted with instinctive senses, conveyed their will flawlessly to livestock, and protected herds from predators as herders... They were integrating into human society way better than I'd expected.
Really, how did this even happen? I had no idea.
Beastkin hunters could intuitively track beasts' habits, set simple traps, and supply humans with plenty of meat. Add in their bravery tending livestock and fending off wild animals... Human groups without appearance-based prejudices generally welcomed them.
Of course, not everyone accepted beastkin. Their looks were alien enough that not all could. In other worlds, people discriminated over skin color alone—how could they not with what looked like entirely different species? And even among beastkin, they came from all sorts of animals, making it hard for them to band together.
Still, their efforts to become part of humanity were kinda admirable! Anyway, there wasn't much for me to meddle in with beastkin. Until something big blew up, I'd just watch.
Surprisingly, beastkin-human hybrids had no issues producing offspring. Except... beastkin animal traits sometimes caused problems during birth.
For example, rabbit beastkin popped out kids frequently and in litters. Male rabbit beastkin... uh, let's not go there to preserve their dignity. Heat cycles, shedding seasons—plenty of issues, but the biggest was probably hybrids.
Take a wolf beastkin and a rabbit beastkin—what comes out? One's a carnivore, the other's herbivore. Totally different ecology and looks. If two such beastkin miraculously paired up, what happens to the kid?
The answer: It seems to inherit one side's traits. I don't know much about genetics or chromosomes, but there was even atavism. A wolf beastkin born to rabbit and wolf beastkin parents marries a sheep beastkin and has a rabbit beastkin daughter.
Nearly caused a cheating scandal, but a passerby mentioned the wolf's mom was a rabbit and explained grandmother's blood could do that—saved one couple from breakup. Seriously, that gave me chills. I even jumped in to help, and I was just watching!
Good thing atavism stops at the second generation—grandparents' traits at most. Record the family tree properly, and no confusion.
So beastkin lived mixed in with humans. But wait—horse-human or cow-human beastkin? That's how centaurs and minotaurs were born...
Beastkin live in forms between animals and humans. These can be classified into three types: human-like, beast-like, and intermediate.
Human-type beastkin are closest to humans, with only tails and ears differing. Due to this proximity, their beastkin senses are dulled. Still, as beastkin, their strength and agility surpass humans', though less than other beastkin. But their human likeness lets them blend in without much discrimination.
Beast-type beastkin walk on two legs, use hands, and speak, but resemble beasts. Their beast-like faces and mouths make speech slurred; many have reverse-jointed legs like animals, looking so alien they could be mistaken for monsters—some regions even attack them as such. Yet their intelligence far exceeds beasts', combining human intellect with beastly bodies to excel as hunters. They sometimes lose control to wild instincts and cause trouble, but accounting for that, they make fine adventurers.
Intermediate beastkin sit perfectly between, inheriting both sides' pros and cons. Human-like faces but fur-covered bodies hiding skin; human-like bone structure but beastly muscles granting superior strength. Their in-between looks make acceptance hard from either side, leaving them lonely. Some prefer their human faces with beast fur, but they're a tiny minority.
Yet... why are so many of that minority wealthy or powerful? Perhaps those suspicious types craving wealth and glory, tearing at each other like beasts, instinctively desire beast-like beastkin.