(urth) therians

[b sharp]

Dan'l asks:
>are there any human-scale cacogens on Urth who are _not_ Hierish?

and later says:

>Heh. The question was bait and I got switched! I guess I was trying to see 
>if, for example, anyone >would suggest the alzabo as a cacogen: certainly, 
>a case can be made.

Maybe, since it is alien and has a personality(s), though stolen. Do we want 
to stretch the cacogen definition to include the salamander?  The slug? The 
avern? These are somewhat lacking in personality.  And since cacogen is 
defined as a social class, we expect its members to be persons.

Anyway cacogens are hated on Urth (hm, why? lol) and stay out of sight. But 
Tzadkiel's ship is a more pluralisitc, multi-race society and might be a 
better place to search them out.

Then Dan'l asks:
>What human-scale "therians" can you point to?

Jeff Wilson answers:
>The various human-animal hybrids serving the autarch, from the mastiff men 
>in the coach full of >gold, to the anpiels, and perhaps even the ape-men in 
>the mine at Saltus.

We can add Thecla's cat nurses, the jiber bear man and others to this list.  
But I don't think it is on the mark. A therian is a shamanistic, 
shapeshifting person associated with a certain animal.  These creatures seem 
permanently fixed in their human/animal form.  Say, what Commonwealth cult 
of biotechnologists could be mass-producing these genetic hybrids?

Are the megatherians (i.e. Abaia, Erebus et al.) human or alien? I think 
there is evidence pointing  both ways.  The undines are in human form and so 
if they are the daughters of Abaia it suggests he has a human origin.  
Therefore, if undines are kilotherians and Baldanders is a dekatherian then 
perhaps they all originate on urth.

Some evidence for their alien origin exists in a string of oddly related 
facts:
1. Jonas tells the story of a woman who throws a handful of black beans, 
brought from the stars, into the ocean, which grow into monsters.  2. beans 
are seeds  3. Agilus calls the avern seed a stone.  4. We hear, over and 
over before the avern duel, the name Cadroe of the 17 stones. 5. There are 
17 megatherians. (More evidence for alien origin below)

But Dan'l wants to know about human-sized therians.  I submit The Cumaean, 
Father Inire and Hethor as shapeshifters associated with a certain animal- 
snake, monkey and (maybe) slug respectively. Are they hieros? The text says 
yes to the Cumaean. I'll say Father Inire is a probable yes and Hethor rates 
a formerly yes.

The shape shifting and the short, old, twisted appearance of all three 
combined with the fact that sometimes their eyes are revealed to be shining 
leads me to think they originate from Sainte Anne.  There is a strong 
shamanistic component to the magic of the abos/shadow children. Moreover 
this is only one of a number of connections to 5th Head I see in BotNS.

-bsharp