The Vusae

A sentient race of cat-like bipedal mammals. They are the primary sentient species on Teoris.

Anatomy

Vusae are bipedal, digitigrade, omnivorous animals that resemble a mix of housecats and wild hares. Some primary distinguishing features are long prehensile tails, conical backswept ears, large eyes with slit pupils, and proportionally small but dextrous hands with four digits. They are covered in a fine, velvety fur, with areas of longer hair that can be styled as needed. Vusae are primarily bipeds, but are capable of moving on all fours when necessary. Their hind- or lower feet are proportionally long compared to the rest of their legs, with a fifth toe visible on the inner sides of their feet near the heel.

Head and Face

Vusae's heads are feline-like, with large eyes, high cheekbones, and a relatively short and blunt snout. Their noses are V-shaped similar to a rabbit or hare, with a handful of whiskers on their mystacial regions and on their eyebrows. Vusae ears are unique compared to the Earth animals they resemble. Instead of being more of a flat shape that curves in on the edges, Vusae have almost fully conical ears with a small groove in the middle for channeling sound into the outer ear hole at the bottom. The ears visually look more like horns but are made of fleshy cartilage instead of hard keratin. These ears can be moved around for the purpose of expressing emotion, but they have a very limited range of movement, more similar to a human in that way than a cat.

Teeth

Vusae are omnivores, needing to consume both plant life and other animals' meat to get all the nutrients they require. They have fairly large canine teeth surrounded by incisors, with molars in the back of the mouth for grinding and chewing.

Body and Limbs

The upper bodies of Vusae are very similar to humans', with roughly the same muscle groups in the same places. The only difference is that the Vusa spine is a little longer and more flexible. Their arms are of a similar proportion to humans' as well in terms of length, the elbow on average lining up with the naval. Vusae have digitigrade legs with strong proportionate thighs, short calves, and long feet.

Hands, Feet, and Tail

There are four digits on Vusae hands and five on the feet. Their hands are arranged similarly to the human hand, with three longer digits and one smaller opposing thumb. Their fingers are relatively short but their hands have roughly the same level of dexterity as a human's. They have semi-retractable claws on the tips of their fingers and fleshy pads on each finger and the palm.

Vusae feet are proportionally long compared to the rest of their bodies, with four main toes for walking on and a fifth smaller toe, like a dewclaw, on the insides of their feet near their heels and ankles. Like their hands, there are semi-retractable claws on each toe and fleshy pads on the bottoms of the feet. A remnant of an earlier evolutionary time, Vusae have kept a pad on their heels despite not regularly using them to walk on.

Vusae have long, thin prehensile tails that are, on average, the same length as their bodies. Tail tips are most often covered in a tuft of long hair and the skin underneath is sensitive to touch. Their tails cannot bear a lot of weight, but can be used for holding or grasping small things, including other tails.

Differences between Sexes

Biological sexes of Vusae are determined by a lot of factors and are not always entirely binary. For illustration purposes, this guide will define the average "male" and "female" Vusa, but note that there commonly are exceptions, variations, and blending of sexual features that cannot strictly be grouped together in a binary or even tertiary way.

Male Vusae and female Vusae do not exhibit much of a difference in size between each other, but they do exhibit other forms of sexual dimorphism. For example, males tend to have broader shoulders and more muscle mass in the upper body, with more fat distributed around the stomach. Females tend to have broader hips and more muscle mass in the lower body, with more fat distributed on the hips and rump. Females also tend to have visible fatty mammary structures on the chest for the purpose of nursing their young.

* The image below has been censored due to an artistic rendering of fantasy sexual organs. Please view with caution, it is NSFW.

Examples of "male" and "female" Vusa genitalia.

Breeds

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