User:Darkfang Magus

Appearance
Catrai are capable of limited transformation, the simplest of which allows all the possibility of changing their appearance between three standard forms. The first form will be that of their feline heritage, be it a tiger,lion, or jaguar. Their second form, dubbed the Catrai form, is a step toward human but with definite feline attributes. The face is generally human, but with a fine coat of white fur, pointed feline ears stand from the top of the head. A tail appropriate to their species is found. The body has fur patterned after its species. In their third form, Catrai appear completely human. Some Catrai are capable of achieving sub-forms of these as well.

Biology
Catrai must eat meat to survive, as they do not have the ability to digest plant food sufficiently. Catrai are capable of producing breast milk at any point in their lives, this is due to their communal nature. Catrai can only become pregnant when in heat, but because they can control their period of heat, they can prevent pregnancy when it is not wanted. In all but their human forms, Catrai have highly a increased sense of taste, hearing, sight, smell, and near-perfect night-vision.

Genealogy
Catrai genealogy is adapted to use the chromosomes for multiple species, but their abilities are reduced when the genes are not of matching sets. Two different genes are responsible for Catrai attributes; both of them extensions of either an X of Y chromosome. This extension is modular, thus if a Catrai female mates with a human male, two type of progeny can be produced.

CxCx+HxHy /\   HxCx  HyCx T   T   Hx*Cx  HyCx C=Catrai H=Human x&y are their respective chromosomes T=transition state x*=modified x

The female will be half Catrai and half human; under these circumstances, the Catrai extended x recognizes the x chromosome paired with it and extends the human chromosome Hx, thus creating a modular chromosome Hx*. The addition of human genes allow the progeny to consume plant foods, but at the cost of reducing its heightened senses by half the difference. The progeny still can morph between forms, but at greater difficult and now with an energy cost invoking hunger. Magic is also stunted. The male will not progress beyond early fetal development. The Catrai extended X chromosome will not sense a matching pair, leaving no paired chromosome. This is fatal.

Under a pairing of an Hx*Cx female with a human male, the following will occur. Hx*Cx+HxHy /    \       /       \      /\       /\     /  \     /  \    /    \   /    \ Hx*Hx  CxHx  Hx*Hy CxHy T     T     T     T Hx*Hx* CxHx* HxHy  CxHy


 * CxHx* will be equivalent to the maternal parent.
 * HxHy will now be a completely human Male. The x* of Hx will revert to it human genotype, allowing the human Hy to pair with said chromosome.
 * CxHy will be not live past the fetal stage.
 * Hx*Hx* will be a fully modular human with most Catrai attributes. At a great energy cost this progeny can physically transform from Catrai to and from human state, but not to its ancestral feline state.