Lupen

Species of posthuman uplifted canids created by Ancient America on Terra.

Biology

Lupens are bipedal, standing slightly taller than humans, a design choice by their creators so they could use existing equipment designed for humans. They have tall pointy ears atop their heads, tails, and digitigrade feet. Fur coloration varies, but is usually some shade of brown, grey, or black. Unlike humans smell is an additional primary sense for lupens, relied on just as much as sight and hearing. In the evening they can smell what someone had for breakfast.
Alcohol is poisonous to lupens in large doses and unpleasant in any amount, hence they do not drink it. In later centuries there exists a subspecies with modified livers capable of metabolizing it, but they are a minority. Gene therapy is also available for adults.

Psychology

The lupens' creators learned an expensive lesson in the fact that giving someone the physical traits of a wolf also gives them the psychological traits of one, which can be disturbing for humans who are not used to people with the mindset of an intelligent predator.
Lupens are more afraid of heights than humans (because they have no arboreal ancestry), and perform worse at three-dimensional tasks like flying aircraft. Because of this, lupen-designed buildings tend to be squat and flat with the most important or privileged spaces located close to the center. On the other hand, they're not afraid of the dark--night is, after all, prime hunting time.

History

Canis lupus sapiens was created by Ancient America in the twenty-first century AD as supersoldiers with the intelligence of men and the loyalty of canines, to keep order against internal strife and waves of migration caused by the ravages of global climate change. The first lupens were feared and despised by humans, since they served as tools of elite power for the hyper-wealthy dynasts ruling the country.

Scientific Name

Canis lupus sapiens