Lumies

Appearance: Lumies are bipedal furred creatures, the only sapient creatures present on the archipelago. Males are around 5’ 6” (168 cm) on average, while females are a bit shorter, around 5’ 4” (153 cm). Their snout length varies greatly, from shorter snouts reminiscent of most felines, to longer snouts more akin to a fox’s, both paired with furless noses. Lumies have two pointed ears, and a tail that comes down below their knees. Lumies have muscles for controlling their tail all along its length, but don’t have much fine motor control over them. The fur on their tails angles towards the end but curls towards the base, causing them to look fluffier. Lumies are digitigrade, and their feet typically are padded, and their pads are naturally pink.

Physical Properties: Lumies are typically considered mature at 28-30 lunar rounds (around 18 earth years), at which point their bodies and minds are mostly developed, similarly to humans. Typically, they age to around 95 lunar rounds (60 earth years), and some can be as old as 125 lunar rounds (80 earth years). Additionally, Lumies have better directional hearing, and much stronger smell than humans. In return, they biologically are slightly nearsighted, typically making things over 75 meters away slowly become more blurry.

Summercoats and Wintercoats: Due to the extremely long seasonal cycle, Lumies have notable variation depending on whether they were born in the north or southern hemisphere, due to the difference in seasons. Summercoats, born in the northern hemisphere, will typically have thinner coats, more adapted to warmer climates, while Wintercoats, which are more common in the archipelago, tend to have thicker, warmer fur, more adapted to colder climates. Additionally, Summercoats have darker or warmer colored fur, whereas wintercoats typically have white or silver fur, other than accenting on males, and generally, a summercoat will have more contrasting and visible patterning on their fur than a wintercoat.

Gender Ratios and Gender Dimorphism: Lumies have a distinctly unbalanced gender ratio, where a significant majority (around 75%) are male, while the rest (around 25%) are female. Typically, male Lumies tend to be a couple inches taller on average and have an easier time building muscle, due to the difference in hormones, while the female Lumies are shorter and often slimmer in comparison. One of the more distinct differences is that male Lumies have highlights in their fur of various colours, while females lack these highlights. It’s often theorized that male lumies are more instinctively competitive than female lumies, more often challenging each other to contests or putting each other down, however some simply chalk this up to the result of female lumies being viewed as weaker in many societies. Regardless, many guess this has something to do with courting behaviors in the species that evolved into modern lumies, as well as guessing the same for their fur highlights.

Racial Groups

Vȳmzud(Longsnouts): Typically standing a bit taller than the average(5’6”-5’8”), Vȳmzud have larger ears and longer snouts and larger, black noses, more similar to a fox’s in structure. Their tail is shorter, and ones that are wintercoats are white with black accents, reminiscent of a Canadian Marble Fox. Ones that are summercoats are typically reddish-brown with grey on their backs, with darker parts around the muzzle.They’re typically found in Þakngönds, being found only occasionally elsewhere.

Vȳmesh(Shortsnouts): Vȳmesh stand around the average, perhaps a tiny bit below, typically. They have smaller, pointier ears, along with shorter and wider snouts, more akin to a feline’s. Their noses are typically smaller and pink. Their tail is longer, with shorter fur, typically with slightly higher motor control in their tail. Ones that are summercoats tend to have shorter, striped orange and blond fur, while ones that are wintercoats are normally rather fluffy with mostly just white fur, other than accent colors on males. They’re most commonly found in Wēvyzh.