Common Name: | Fanin |
Other Names: | Anthros (Earth), Beastians (Portan) | Lifespan: | Generally 70-85 years, with some exceptions. |
Sapient?: | Yes |
Adult Age: | 18 |
Rarity: | Common |
Anthros language depends on where they live, though since humanoid anthros are most common on Lynxon, they'll most often be speaking the languages of whichever country theyre from on Lynxon. They do all have the ability to still make vocalizations like their animal counterparts (like meowing, barking, neighing, etc) but these have become more of basic emotional indicators, like smiling or frowning, rather than understandable speech. They cannot understand animals any more than we can, which is to say, they can make their best guesses based on known behavior and body language, but that's all.
Lynxon isn't a very religious planet, in any country, at least not in terms of organized religion. There used to be some old religions, but most have fallen out of popularity. Some individuals will still gravitate toward religious behaviors, and in those cases, it's usually toward one specific god (since in the past most religions followed a pantheon of gods, much like greek mythology.) Some small groups form, but finding a church of any sort is incredibly uncommon, and so most are simply practicing individually. After Earth Humans began moving to Lynxon though, some anthros have taken to the idea of their various religions, but those are still in the minority.
(Half-WIP) Lynxon has a variety of holidays in every country, and so Anthros on planet celebrate these as well. they have some similar equivalents to many Earth holidays (like a non-religious version of Christmas, which also functions as their New Year's Eve), and some theyve willingly adopted from other planets (like Halloween). Most of these holidays are based around events or time periods, without many religious connations to them, since religion hasn't stuck around as much on Lynxon compared to Earth.
Social norms have adapted in a rather similar way to our own, but theres still a lot more variation between species, since many still have some of the behaviors of their animal counterparts. Flicking one's tail might just be a sign of curiosity for one, while it could be seen as hostility to another. Overall though, they tend to share an agreement that, similar to us, smiling is meant to be polite, frowning means someone is upset, etc. It's also usually common practice that trying to keep their tails out of the way is polite as well, but accepted that sometimes it can't be helped. Misunderstandings are very frequent, both between themselves and the other types of anthros. While the humanoid ones often behave more like humans with some animal tendencies, the other most common type of anthro is the reverse, leaning more toward animals with human tendencies. Both will still have most of the cultural norms from wherever theyre born, but humanoid anthros tend to have more behavior in common than not, while the other type have much more variation. Humanoid anthros have more of a standard with ear and tail motions (usually determined by whichever species has more influence in the region, or even just area to area like accents. A lot of the Mownyien republic tends to lean toward cat-like body language), but 'typical' anthros will often follow their instincts more. Plenty still try to follow what's most commonly used where they live, but much like how some people can't stop themselves from smiling at a bad time, 'typical' anthros sometimes end up giving off the wrong cues by accident, ones that would make more sense to their own species, but maybe not so much to others, especially in areas where humanoid anthros might be more used to following a different set of determined cues, or when surrounded by other typical anthros that aren't the same kind of animal as them.
Politics are, frankly, quite a mess sometimes with anthros in general. Especially on Lynxon. With so many differences between species, it's easy to forget to consider certain things, whether accidentally or on purpose. Lynxon in particular, cats have sort of dominated the political spheres of many countries, especially in the Mownyien Republic, where many things are considered with them in mind first, and other species secondary. This leads to lots of problems. Issues vary from country to country, but when cats dominate the politics and policies of the country with both the most land and the most influence, the issues they cause will often leak into other places as well, making it everyone's problem.
In the Mownyien Republic specifically, cats and other mammals tend to end up having the easiest time navigating the world (most of the time), while others often become an afterthought, especially so for bugs or aquatic animals like fish or other sea creatures, which are frequently forgotten about. Size also plays a factor, while less of an issue for humanoid anthros, who are all mostly within similar height ranges, typical anthros have much more variety in their heights, like mice often only being around 4'0" to 4'8" feet tall, while something like an elephant might start pushing 8'0", or taller. Most cheaper places to live are built rather small, leading to very cramped living spaces for larger species who can't afford anything better. Job discrimination is illegal on paper, but many species still struggle to get certain jobs, rejected under the disguise of other excuses, when often the real reasons are either petty or based upon stereotypes (ex. many species with more unconvential looking hands, like hooved animals or sea creatures, face struggles with getting jobs that involve lots of dexterous work, like surgery. Even despite the fact that nearly all of them have just as much fine motor control as any other species around.) This especially happens with typical anthros, who are more judged sometimes on what they might be capable of based upon how their bodies resemble their animal counterparts more. Or others potentially finding their sizes, whether 'too small' or 'too tall' to be either a detriment or simply just inconvienent.
While not extreme, some places populated with more humanoid anthros will look down a bit on the other type of anthros on the planet, mostly out of percieved 'inconviences'. Humanoid ones are able to keep things a little more universal between species thanks to their similar shapes and sizes, only really having differences mostly in head, hands, and tails. But 'typical' anthros vary much more in size and shape, and struggle a little more finding places willing to make accomodations for them in some places. Clothes are mostly pretty well covered, but with quite a few countries being influenced by the Mownyien Republic in general, on top of the fact that typical anthros are a little bit less common than humanoid ones, issues can arise pretty easily, like having homes of appropriate size, and the subtle job discrimination. Some countries are better about this than others, the Mownyien Republic being a bit middle of the road in this regard, but leaning just a little bit further toward the worse end of things.
Gender roles vary quite a bit from country to country, but overall, as opposed to Earth, most of Lynxon's history has been more matriarchal. Nowadays things are fairly equal in most places, but there's still some remnants of those pasts, especially with anthros, and especially in the Mownyien Republic. Women have most positions of power and influence. And it does shine through at times, there's still some bias and problems that exist, both in the past and present, but it's never gotten quite as bad as Earth has when it came to sexism. Anthros on Lynxon have far more problems surrounding specieism that tend to distract from caring about gender as much, making it much more of an afterthought. When it does become a problem, usually from extremely conservative anthros, it's usually about beliefs that men, anthro or otherwise, are too aggressive to be trusted with power, and being much more willing to believe that they've committed violent crimes even with little evidence, despite most statistics on the planet showing that bad behavior is pretty evenly split between genders. Beyond this occasional issue, most either don't have very strong thoughts about particular gender roles, or have just a few that are encouraged within their own particular group of animals. But there's very little that becomes any sort of dominant belief across multiple species. There are, however, some issues that come with species who don't fit into the usual 'male and female' categories, which is another problem that a lot of certain bug and aquatic anthros face. While they're acknowledged in terms of legal documents, socially most are still expected to align one way or the other. While homophobia isn't much of an issue anywhere on Lynxon (besides from a few extremists, as well as some backwards ideas being spread by some humans from Earth who have moved to Lynxon), transphobia and intersexism is still a bit of a problem in some places. It presents itself a bit similarly to the same issue on Earth, but there's a bit less of a focus on clothes ever being part of it, since clothes aren't as gendered as they are on Earth (but it does still happen at times.) Most of these issues are in social perception, there aren't many laws or restrictions on gender-affirming care, but a lot of it is still hard to access on account of being very pricey. Perfectly legal and possible, but often discouraged.
WIDELY varies across both particular species and country, what one group considers beautiful might be wildly different from another. Like many things with anthros, it tends to align somewhat with what their animal counterparts tend to seek out as well, like many birds finding bright and vibrant colors to be attractive. In the Mownyien Republic, regardless of species, fatphobia is still quite a bit of an issue, even for those species that are naturally heavier. This contributes to a lot of the specieism issues, some anthros jumping to assumptions about others even if they know better. Being too thin is also rather looked down on though, but not quite as much. Despite this, it's usually not too hard for clothes of the right size to be found, but often only because of the species variety. This happens a little less with typical anthros, only because they're more clearly shaped more like their animal counterparts, allowing a sort of cognitive dissonance from humanoid anthros that thats just 'how they are'. But it does still exist to a degree still, even if it's a smaller one.
Relationships can get pretty complicated with all the different species around, even when only considering the species within anthros. For similar reasons as the misunderstandings in social norms, sometimes relationships can get a bit messy as well. Interspecies relationships aren't usually discouraged outright, but they do often have to face lots of silly or outright rude/invasive questions from confused or overly curious people. Homophobia is pretty rare, most won't really bat an eye at it at all (though theyre not entirely safe from dumb questions either). Overall anthros are pretty accepting of most kinds of relationships, mostly only having issues surrounding people asking things they probably shouldn't. But every now and then some problems related to specieism will crop up.
Clothing styles vary from place to place of course, but in the Mownyien Republic, clothes with bright vibrant colors are usually the most common, as well as black and white. Duller colors like greys, browns, or desaturated tones are a little harder to find unless youre specifically seeking them out. The anthros of the country have a fashion sense similar to America on Earth, lots of casual wear like t-shirts, with a focus on either comfort or making a statement. Patterns and accessories are pretty common, even more so with the wealthier people, often going for rather wild and out-there looks. Most clothes for typical anthros are designed in ways to try and accommodate as many species as possible, but this is a little more difficult for them with the larger variety of shapes and sizes they can be. Having adjustable tail holes, and elastic band usage is common. But trying to make mass-produced clothes accommodate everyone is still very tough, anthros with some more unique features can still face wardrobe issues, things like spines, large feathers, rough scales, thicker than usual tails, or even just having differently shaped legs can cause issues in clothes hunting sometimes, often needing to either settle for less, or hope that there's a specialist store somewhere nearby. Shopping online can help, but it can still be difficult, and much pricier. Clothes meant for such specific niches won't reach as many customers as just going for the generic ones. Clothing is a little less gendered than it is on Earth, but only a little. Things like dresses and skirts are still considered rather feminine, but smaller things that are mostly just details and accents aren't really, things like color or how revealing/unrevealing an outfit only have minimal sway. Especially color, which has extremely little association with either gender.
As mentioned under the beauty standards section, sometimes clothes for those who are overweight or underweight can be a little harder to shop for. Shirts/tops and dresses are usually easier to find in correct sizes, since they're mostly built the same for both humanoid and 'typical' anthros (who vary more in size), pants can be a lot trickier for typical anthros though, sometimes having to settle for pants not made for their leg shapes, and wearing ones made for species of a larger or smaller size than they are, which can still fit, but might look odd and fold/wrinkle strangely. But usually proper fitting clothes can still be found easily enough. It's mildly harder, but not exactly 'difficult' either, at least not difficult compared to trying to shop around for more species-unique traits as mentioned before. Shoes are a little easier in regards to accommodating differences, but not perfect. Stores will usually carry shoes for all kinds, but a lot of brands might limit what species they actually make products for, limiting some species from fashion styles they can choose from. This is often a bigger problem for typical anthros, who don't have as much of a universal foot shape as the humanoid ones too. Those with paws have it easier than others, since paws are a little more similar in shape, but some other typical anthros will have feet different enough that it becomes hard to find shoes made for them. Some typical anthros will just choose to go barefoot because of this, others will settle for what they can get that is made for them, and some will try to deal with shoes not made for them every now and then for the sake of fashion, sort of like how high heels are often worn but not necessarily comfortable.
Food is greatly experimented with on Lynxon because of both kinds of anthros around the planet. With so many different kinds of diets, food can get very experimental and often there will still be a demographic that ends up adoring it. Some places might focus more on one specific kind though, making it a little harder for typical anthros to eat healthy there without having to cook everything themselves. This can especially be a problem for typical anthros in smaller towns, since they more often than not have to stick within their normal diets, but cities often have a wide variety of restaurants and other kinds of catering to choose from.
As for art, there's just as much of an extremely wide range. With such a wide variety of anthro species, there's just as much variety in perspectives and in experimenting with art. In the Mownyien Republic in particular, art often follows suit with their preferences in clothes, enjoying the usage of saturated and bright colors. Decor is vibrant, architecture gets the chance to be incredibly artsy as well. People making homes 'truly their own' is very common. Some places are more limited, like cities where apartments are a little more 'samey', but most places like to have a variety of home shapes, and people love to paint them in whatever colors they like. A lot of suburbs manage to avoid the dreary repetitive feeling this way (though it can still be an issue in poorer areas.)
Typical anthros can't handle alcohol quite as well as humanoid anthros can, but that won't really stop a lot of them. Most won't have any adverse reactions or anything, but it will often take either a lot less or a lot more for them to get drunk. Alcohol is pretty universal, but other kinds of drugs can vary a lot more on how they affect each species. Lynxon's version of catnip is a pretty common one spread around, but the same drugs or very close equivalents to drugs from earth also exist.
Anthros of all sorts can be found across the universe, but are most common on Lynxon, given it being the place where quite a lot of them actually originated from. Two kinds of anthros ended up evolving on the planet, the 'humanoid' sort, and the 'typical' sort. Both have a fairly equal spread across Lynxon, but the typical type have often been a little more shoved to the side throughout history, and this continues to happen. Especially in the Mownyien Republic, where despite there still being quite a lot of them, humanoid anthros have had more of the spotlight and things built for them, and the country has massive influence in the modern day, being somewhat like America's large influence when it comes to Earth. (WIP because frankly I need to think more about the history and I'm not going to just make up a bunch of shit right now because I won't have thought it through as well as I could.)
Lots of things on Lynxon are tailored with anthros in mind first. Like mentioned in some of the other sections, certain countries might focus more on one particular species, as well as sometimes focusing more on either humanoid or typical anthros more than the other, which can lead to some struggles for others, but other places will try to even it out a little more and cover as many as possible. Cars are a very good example, most cars have seats built with gaps near the bottom of the back for tails to go through, which can usually accomodate most tail types, but some still might have more trouble (like those who have less flexible tails may end up with their tails getting in the personal space of those in the backseats, a common issue for birds with large tail feathers)
Buildings and interiors are much the same, though face more issues sometimes. Cars manage to do a better job at being a little more universal, but some buildings expect to be having humanoid anthros more often than not, making the ceilings a bit uncomfortably low for some typical anthros, despite these ceilings still usually being taller than average compared to earth. (Anthros with long necks like giraffes or some birds tend to have to deal with this problem the most.) Some furniture handles this issue better than others, seating tends to have more issues. While lots of chairs also accomodate for tails, it can be a little harder to have a size that can work for all anthros, often resulting in situations where some might look either tiny or far too big while in a chair. Most public places try to cover this issue by having multiple sizes around, especially in cities, but some smaller places might try to cut costs by only having one size.