Beastmen

Beastmen, together with Lamias, Drakons and Elves can be considered the most internally diversed specie, with their exact number of subspecies actually unknown. They are differentiated by the fact that there used to be a 'central' subspecie, which is believed to have died out in late Preimperial Era - but this is at best a guess. It is sometimes referred to as meta-beastmen or proto-beastmen.
They were created together with other races of Menorian Empire, believed to be assembled by advanced genmaturgy of Mechanics. To what reason, it is unknown. They were almost victorious in the early Great Menorian War, their military might forcing other species to temporarily unite against them, leading to a genocidal war against beastmen.
Soon they were forced to flee to Lana to actually prolong their existence. There, they fell into barbarism, becoming a chief producer of bloodthirsty warlords and their hosts... and slaves, as many of them were captured in wars against various outside invaders (be it Imperium of Menoria, or barbarians from Karadia).
Today they are encountered mostly in Lana and in faraway Bharata Kanda (were the most succesful warhost of Syrathsi Throatslicer settled), but there is also a significant presence in Karadia. Especially in northwestern Arrica, Vestirian Isles and Scavian Peninsula - where various less succesful warhosts decided to settle. In most of this cases, however, locals managed to mostly eradicate them politically, with majority of beastmen living in a clan-like structures among the commoners. Very few of them keeps some of their old culture.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Pre-split beastmen were supposedly looking like simple humans, with their only notable feature being the deep violet hair. It is unknown why their creators choose this particular trait to mark them. It is believed that it played the same role as pointed ears for elves - a simple clear marker of modified specimens to allow easy differentiation.
Beside this, their only difference was the ability to assimilate genes of certain species of animals, overtime gaining certain traits of said specie. It was done via an unspecified ritual, knowledge of which sadly disappeared together with them. Once taken such morph - as it is called - was taken permanently. It might take up to several years to fully manifest modified traits. What's more, morph is inherited, meaning that meta-beastmen were almost guaranteed to go extinct, sooner or later, replaced by a multitude of subspecies.

Genetics and Reproduction

As all beastmen. Only with another beastmen, and with subspecie inheritance connected with gender. In short - if a male X beastman mates with female Y beastman, their sons will inherit their father subspecie while daughters their mothers. Notably more cases of multiple pregnancies (especially twins).

EXTINCT

Created by: ??? [Command AI].
IC: Occurence: None
IC: Danger: Extinct

Subspecies
Common Morphs
Cat People
Wolf People
Lizard People

Uncommon Morphs
Boar People
Fox People
Shark People

Apex Morphs
Tiger People
Lion People
Bear People
Dragon People

Conservation Status

If baseline beastmen were discovered to be alive after all, they would be considered a most important asset for Imperium of Karadia - while applying genmaturgy is absolutely forbidden, actually gathering knowledge about it is endorsed.