Races

Ferinals - by C. Stephens ©2011 v1.2. Submitted for use with the World of Imarel.

Racial Summary Appearance

Ferinals are a race unique within Imarel: Bipedal, sentient, and intelligent lionish humanoids. They are vaguely humanoid, greatly resembling their distant Zodasian cousins. Their limbs are long and corded with thick, coiled muscles that can store and burn energy with extreme efficiency, especially in times when food and water are scarce. Ferinals have strong, dignified features with powerful jaws that house large, carnivorous teeth made for ripping and tearing large quantities of raw meat. Their ears are small and round, positioned at the top of their head with a good range of motion for their excellent hearing. Eye color is usually gold or amber, and any variation in between. No other eye color is possible.

All Ferinals are covered with a fine, dense body coat; depending upon the region will vary in thickness and color. Ferinals in the Burning Lands will display silky, short gold coats to help them blend in with the sands, as well as helping to keep their temperatures regulated under the extreme temperatures of the desert. For the Ferinals of Zoda, their body coats tend to be much thicker and coarser, colored dark tawny for the grasslands, and almost silver for the Ferinals in the colder, northern climates. The few Ferinals of Miroa are ruddier in coloring, with coarser coats than those in Zoda.

Males are generally much larger and bulkier than the females. The males, as with most lions, are bestowed with generous, bushy manes which, by adulthood, are all but shaved off and trained to stand upright in stiff crests. Some females have retained an ability to grow hair, those that do generally plait it into hundreds of tiny braids adorned with stone beads.

Every Ferinal is taught to walk upright from an early age, though some may see this as very awkward as their legs are shaped like a lion's hind-legs, walking on thickly-padded, digitigrade paws. Their arms do somewhat resemble a humanoid's, though they are outfitted with thumbed forepaws. Each paw, including their lower feet, has independently extendable/retractable claws. Though a Ferinal has the ability to revert back to all fours, the option is rarely taken. Every Ferinal also has a tail, about four feet in length in adulthood, for counterbalance. Some fit the tufted ends of their tales with bits of metal shrapnel, to use as an additional weapon.

There have been a few documented cases of albinism in Ferinals and most albino Ferinals do not live to see adulthood. All black Ferinals fair a better chance, though they are nearly as rare as albino Ferinals. Much of the Ferinal folklore suggests that a black-furred Ferinal is a born leader of a pride, though not all black-furred Ferinals have lived up to this expectation.