Feren

Feren are (the plural and singular forms are the same) human-like sophonts with ears and tail resembling that of a different mammal animal. There are four species of feren.

• Furleen -- cat
• Iguntail -- mouse
• Rokate -- fox
• Usagin -- rabbit

Basic Information

Anatomy

Feren are superficially human in appearance, and their skeleton is similar, with the exception of an elongated spinal column to form the tail.
All feren have ears and a tail that largely resemble another mammalian species (fox, cat, mouse, and rabbit). They do not have any trace of human-like ears.
The largest departure from human-like anatomy is the reproductive system, which is the biologically defining trait of feren as a genus.

Genetics and Reproduction

Feren Reproductive Biology

Feren are single-gendered, and resemble human females. Despite this, they reproduce sexually, and require genetic matter in the form of a gamete or germ cell from another person to become reproduce. The behavior feren display to share this germ cell is analogous to other mammalian reproduction.
It could be asked how feren existed as a species independent from others if they are all "female" but reproduce sexually. The answer is that in addition to their mammary glands, uterus, and other human female-like organs, feren have an additional hormone gland and an organ that is only seen externally during intercourse.
Aroused feren on physical contact exchange a special hormone that bonds with the same hormone excreted by their potential partner. This involuntary exchange determines who the potential mother will be. Note that this communication is not always successful, and sometimes both partners will be assigned the mother or "father" role (feren do not use the word "father" -- their word, padret carries a meaning more like "benefactor" or "patron"). Feren have over the years concocted several herbal treatments, often used as teas or oils during foreplay, that help predetermine which partner takes on which role.
Feren possess an organ called the phelleng inside their reproductive canal. This organ is analogous to the penis in that its role is to inject gamete cells into a mother partner during intercourse. After the hormone exchange, the padret partner's phelleng elongates, emerging from the reproductive canal, allowing the padret to implant germ cells in the mother.
Once gametes have been received, the mother's uterus breaks down both a donated germ cell and one from the mother. It then combines the pieces to form a coherent stream of DNA and set of chromosomes. This is delicate work, and it often results in an non-viable zygote, which the body immediately rejects. If the combination results in a viable zygote, it is implanted in the uterus and a pregnancy period of five to six months ensues.

Due to the nature of feren motherhood, they are reproductively compatible with most other sophont species found in Caldonia. A feren womb is as capable of using elf, cerebrek, or human sperm as it is feren gametes. Any male child of a cross-species pairing involving a feren will, genetically, be of the father species. Hair, eye, and skin color, as well as other traits such as height and proportions, will be a mix of traits from both parents like the child of human parents. Non-male children of such a pairing are always feren, though the mix of non-species specific traits is also present. In other words, the familial resemblance of both parents can be seen in their offspring, but none of the children are of mixed species.
When a feren mother carries a non-feren child, gestation is generally longer, matching more closely the father species' gestation period.

Growth Rate & Stages

Feren children age faster than human or elves. It depends on the exact species, but feren children are usually out of their toddler stage by their first birthday. They reach adolescence in four to seven years, and are full adults by age ten.
Feren have a lifespan of between 60 and 80 years.

Additional Information

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Feren hearing, is much improved over human or elves. They also tend to be faster runners with more endurance. This is not supernatural or magic in nature.
Feren do not have significantly improved smell in the sense of the quantity of airborne or surface particles they can detect, but they are able to better separate multiple smells in the same location.

Civilization and Culture

Common Etiquette Rules

Pronouns

Being monogendered, Feren do not have gendered pronouns in their native tongue. The singular subjective pronoun is kyth (ex. "Tyan told me kyth enjoys exploring the forest.") Mek is the singular objective. (ex. "Tyan invited me to visit the forest with mek") They use shen for the singular possessive pronoun. (ex. "I was impressed with shen knowledge of forest lore")
This has led to uncertainty in humans over what human language pronouns to use. It is common, but not necessarily correct, for humans to assume she/her are the correct pronouns. Historically few feren objected to this, and frankly, were not in a position to have their opinion known without reprisal. In current day, she/her is still very common, but they/them have become the preferred pronouns for many feren.
There are also a small but nontrivial number of feren who prefer he/him. A large part of this is due to feren observing historical social structures in human society where men held more positions of power. However there are also a portion of feren who simply feel they fit the male gender role description better than the female, and wish that to be recognized.
Likewise, most feren are not bothered by the use of feminine gendered words ("woman," "girl," et al) to describe them. This is far from universal however, and diplomatic and polite individuals will avoid it except in cases where an individual feren's preferences are known.

Animal Words

In feren relationships, it is not uncommon to refer to partners with words that are homonyms of words for animals or have the connotation of those animals. Between intimate friends and lovers, this is an expression of endearment and even admiration.
However, it is extremely rude, but not uncommon, for other races, particularly humans, to use animal words in regards to feren. It is a grave insult to describe feren as "cat girls" (or "bunny girl" etc as corresponds to their particular species). It is especially insulting to draw comparisons between feren and the animal their ears resemble. This is partly due to the long history of racial marginalization -- which included reducing the personhood of feren to mere beasts. Other examples of this racist behavior are the names many humans use for ferenboroughs.

History

Creation

Feren were created by the goddess Nekarra to be her improvement on the human race, which she found too violent, too crass, and far too aggressive. Humans were creative and intelligent, yes, but it seemed they only used these gifts to create tools of war.
Nekarra responded by creating her daughters, the first four feren. Nekarra intended them to be unified, and she expected them to be docile and cooperative. She gave them a rule: They must not ever have discourse with humanity, for such interaction would inevitably bring sorrow. Her daughters nodded obediently, and ran off to play. But the feren were as divided in personality and temperament as humans. Nefin the furleen was aggressive and moody. Kishut the rokate was full of guile and deceit. Baartyl the usagin was prone to distraction and self-absorption. Rousil the iguntail was cowardly and greedy. They were constant trouble, but Nekarra resisted disciplining them. As they grew into adults, they remained troublesome as ever.
Secretly, Kishut began exploring the world wider than the realm Nekarra had chosen for them. She discovered humans and was fascinated. She took one as a lover, and it wasn't long before she had several children. Baartyl discovered Kishut's children and wondered what motherhood would be like. She became obsessed with it, and soon she had a human lover and children as well. Nefin and Rousil eventually followed suit, and Nekarra discovered what her children were up to. Nekarra wept with anger and grief. She raged at her children, but more at herself. Everything she had intended, everything she had created had come to ruin. She called her daughters and their children to her. She ordered them to leave their lovers (Rousil and Nefin already had) and their human children. The feren children were welcome to come live with Nekarra. The feren mothers refused, not in anger, but in contempt for their creator-mother. They left Nekarra's realm and entered out the human world, ignoring Nekarra's final warning that their choice would end in misery.

Insurrection

It did not take long for the feren to understand the truth about humanity. Baartyl's lover became possessive and jealous. He kept her in his house and would not let her leave. He put her children to work in the fields and kept her from contact with her human children. Baartyl's lover knew the lovers of the other feren, and they spoke often. In time, he exerted a powerful influence, and Kishut's lover tried to enslave Kishut the same way. Kishut was too clever and escaped, but she was unable to save her children. Humans in the community were increasingly convinced of their own superiority. Even those who had never seen a feren came to believe feren were animals, feral brutes. They began hunting all feren, and it didn't take long to enslave most of the infant race. For centuries that is how most feren lived, in servitude to humanity. They labored on farms and construction. They filled housekeeper and seamstress roles. The nobility of humankind thrived on the blood and sweat of feren. A resistance formed. Kishut, Rousil, and Nefin remained free, and their children, when not caught, ran liberation efforts. They were rarely successful enough to make a difference. Disdain for ferenkind became ingrained in human society. Feren were only chattel and were abused in all the worst ways.
Then came the alliance with the demons.
It is not known why it took centuries for the feren to reach out to the demons. Nor is it clear why they formed an alliance at this time. However, it was most likely easy to convince the demons to help the feren. The demons, while hardly oppressed by the humans, had their own grievances to settle. The war was not a short one, but at no point did humans have the upper hand. The weakest demon was larger, stronger, and more durable than any human. While humans vastly outnumbered demons and free feren at the beginning of the war, great numbers of feren were liberated early on, reinforcing their numbers. The primary tactic of the feren-demon alliance was to hit several plantations or factories with large populations of feren slaves at once. Usually in squads of three or four feren and a single demon -- though multiple squads might be used if heavy resistance was expected. Thus, long before humans were fully aware they were fighting a war or could organize, hundreds, even thousands of feren had joined the insurrection, simultaneously weakening human supply capabilities. Human cities held out for much longer. They were difficult targets and had trained militias. Feren forces were not properly equipped or formed to participate in large-scale, long-term battles. But over decades, feren guerrilla tactics wore down human resolve. Only a very small percentage of humans actually held feren slaves -- the very rich and the very noble. War weariness grew -- humans believed themselves superior to feren almost unilaterally, and strictly from a war-making standpoint they were correct. But few humans relished fighting demons even with heavy reinforcements. This combined with growing sympathy led to protests and steadfast resistance to fighting. Army enrollment dropped and drafting became mandatory, which led to still more protests. Feren resolve held, however, and their numbers continued to grow. Growth was slower than at war's beginning, but as young feren grew to adulthood -- much faster than human reproduction -- and slaves were slowly emancipated, the feren army received more strength.

The end of the war came when General Michel Bretand and their command switched sides. Bretand was a soldier to the bone, and they always believed their loyalty to humans was untarnished. But they were deeply upset about the lives lost. They believed far too much of the army was comprised of humans not cut out for military life. They commanded subpar soldiers, and it was evident as human casualties grew with each battle. Bretand also hated the idea of slavery. They believed in hard work, duty, and obedience to one's designated superiors, but that was a far cry from slavery. Bretand was beloved by their troops. Those who had met them called them Father. When Bretand proposed defection to their immediate subordinates, their officers not only agreed, but laid plans for ensuring the cooperation of the rank and file.
While their officers worked on the troops, Bretand arranged a secret meeting with leaders of the feren resistance. Mistrust was strong, and it took many meetings to convince the feren of their sincerity, but Bretand managed to arrange plans to defect with their entire command. This was accomplished by allowing the feren and their demons into the city holding Bretand's command post. Then the general sent a formal missive to the king of Caldonia, declaring that their command held sophont rights above loyalty to a ruler. The declaration held forth that through legalizing, encouraging, and participating in the abuse and slavery of anyone, human, feren, or otherwise, the king had lost claim to his throne.
Copies of the declaration were sent to as many human army posts as was possible. It was not easy, but where possible, the declaration was read aloud so soldiers and civilians alike understood what Bretand had done. As the highest ranking officer in the Caldonian military, Bretand's respect extended beyond their troops. The intention was to undermine confidence in the government. It worked less well in some places than others, but enough of the population was pushed over the line to the anti-war side. A few commands also defected, raising Bretand's personal banner to signify so. The king was forced into negotiation.

Integration

Bretand and several demons attended, but took no part in the negotiations. Feren demands were simple, but too harsh for humans to accept: the immediate manumission of all feren slaves, prohibition on slavery of any sort, reparations representing fair wages for all enslaved feren, and banishment of the king, much of the aristocracy, and several of wealthy humans.
The eventual compromise gave two weeks for slave owners to comply with emancipating their slaves. This led to a few problems where slaves were smuggled out of Caldonia and cases where feren were abused harshly before liberated, but it mostly went smoothly. Slavery was outlawed, but it only specified humans, feren, and demons. It was unlikely angels, elves or cerebrek would ever be subject to human enslavement, but it still left a sour taste in the mouths of many feren.
Reparations were much lower than originally demanded, and most were never paid. The king was not banished, nor any nobility. However, all the named persons were stripped of rank, though not wealth or property, and a new human king was coronated establishing a new dynasty. Three of the five most egregious abusers -- known to be especially violent in their treatment of feren -- were executed. The other two escaped across the sea.
The unsatisfactory conclusion to the war divided feren, and while it was not, strictly speaking, along racial lines, it appeared to many that ignutails were upset with the rokate and so on. This led to fracturing of feren into small communities.
Today most feren communities are small and are scattered outside the borders of Caldonia. Some communities are close neighbors. Iguntail and usagin communities tend to group near each other, and to a lesser extent, rokate and furleen communities associate.
There are also a very few communities within Caldonia. But feren presence in Caldonia at large is rather small. Many Caldonian cities have a neighborhood where small feren populations reside, often known as ferenboroughs, or, less politely, "cat house" or "mouse hole."
While slavery was officially ended after the war, oppression and human perception of feren was not. In the last two centuries small gains have been made in rights and perception of feren, though humans, as a rule, treat feren very poorly. The previous king pushed reforms, but they turned out to have little tooth or traction.
The current king has focussed on enforcing the reforms made by his father. He has the city guard protecting feren and preventing their abuse. The actions are imperfect, relying at least in part on the sympathies of the individual guards. But the king feels inter-racial equality is important, and has appointed several feren to important positions, including his council.