Creatures of immense savage power, or at least thought of as savage, the zoanthropes of the world are largely surrounded by mystery, and fear. Which has been largely cultivated by themselves in centuries past as a way of keeping the expanding Kingdoms of Elves, Orcs, and Humans, out of their forests and wilderness territories. While powerful, their ‘truebirth’ rate has required them to remain on the fringes, guarding ancestral territories and only occasionally revealing themselves to others or serving a respected lord or ruler openly.

Zoanthropes generally revere the Divine Artemis as their patron, crediting her for their creation during the upheaval of the Alignment. As the goddess of the hunt, beasts, and the moon she is often credited as being the Zoanthropes' master, though the statement is misleading as while she is the Divine most of them pray to and follow, she is not by any means in control over them.

While zoanthropes have never much cared for the civilizations that rose and fell around their tribal lands, Imperial Germany and the destruction they brought to Europe, Russia, and even parts of Africa were too much for many to stand by and do nothing. Many of the changers joined Arthur’s coalition, led by the wolf Magir Bjornson, a powerful tribal leader from Norway.

Being a zoanthrope is a genetic trait, not something passed through a bite or claw. It has a low birth rate, as zoanthrope ‘truebirth’ only happens in roughly 1 in 25 children and truebirth rates do not seem to increase if either one or both of the parents are zoanthropes. And while the name for their people is sometimes spoken as ‘lycanthropes’ , calling any of the changers ‘a lycan’ is a good way to end up on the wrong side of claws and fangs.

Zoanthropes can be born from humans, elves, dwarves, orcs, and the rare goblin here and there. The goblin were-badger Harold ‘Crazy Claws’ Fienstein is such an example, a resident of Chicago and beloved entertainer there. Zoanthropes are not bound to the phase of the moon and are able to change between their ‘humanoid’, animal, and were-beast forms at will. Zoanthropes cannot take cybernetic augmentation due to their shifting abilities and regenerative traits, their body simply rejects them. Some are able to work magic however, their magic users often being quite shamanistic in their manner.

The Infection Wars destroyed many of their tribal lands and territories around the globe, and while the zoanthropes fought valiantly against the Infection many were forced to seek refuge in the city states as time went on. Suffice to say it's been a bit of an adjustment for them. It is commonly thought that there is a wide variety (at least before the Infection Wars) of zoanthropes. Common known types are: Badgers/Wolverines, Bears, Wolves, Cats (Including Panthers, Tigers, Lions, and Cougars), Ravens, Foxes(referred to as Kitsune), gators/crocs, and sharks (oh its a thing).

In recent years zoanthrope Dens, large communities of the shape shifters that gather together for safety and social needs, have begun an experiment of sorts, having younger, more progressive members of their packs reveal themselves to the other races they are living among in order to see if they will be accepted or feared and hunted. So far there has been mixed results, with the most positive ones being in the city of Chicago, perhaps because of the citizens there being used to things such as dragons and large groups of fae such as the Caps, making the city their home already.