Freisians

General Description
Freisians usually take on a humanoid form for day-to-day life unless they need to use their beast form for harder labor. Both sexes are mostly human from the waist up (but the face has a slightly pronounced slope than that of a normal human being) and tend to have similar facial features - long jaws, narrow noses, brown hair and blue eyes. Males usually have facial hair. From the waist down, most Freisian members of society have more animalistic traits - digitigrate stances with clawed, paw-like feet and long kangaroo-like tails topped with an expressive tuft of fur. Males tend to have long, silky hair at the backs of their calves. In their humanoid form, they wear clothes and have senses comperable to humans, with a slightly better sense of smell. They do not drag their tails on the ground habitually. Females are often larger and more broadly-built while males are smaller and slimmer.

Freisians also have a 'beast' form mostly used for running, hunting, intimation and fights. These beast forms stand about half the Freisian's human height at the shoulder and closely resemble hyenas and kangaroos. Beast forms are true quadrupeds with inarticulate paws which are unable to manipulate tools. Their skull shape resembles those of theropod dinosaurs with long, kangaroo-like ears, their bodies are heyna-like with wide chests and sloping backs, and their paws resemble that found on most canines, and they have long tapered kangaroo tails. Found on the backs of most Freisians are manes, and males have larger, thicker manes than females.

Female Freisians give birth to live young, eyes and ears open due to the harsh environment the desert offers. A young, or 'baby' Freisian is called a whelp, and Freisian women usually have one to three in a single birthing. A whelp develops much faster than a human child and will remain in beast form until they are about five years of age. They take long naps that are interrupted by short bursts of energy used in playing and learning - as small Freisians are pure instinct and rather feral. Sororicide was a commonplace in older times with litters of all females, but due to Freisian mothers becoming much closer with their children this is less and less of an occurrence.

Whelps will then grow slowly with size until their fourth year, where they begin to retain more human intelligence and are called kits. A Freisian kit will mature then much more slowly than before. Within the twelve or so years a kit stays with its parents, it will look for an occupation. At about the age of 15 a clan marking will appear on the kit, and they will be considered responsible enough for adulthood and be called an adult. Most kits leave home right away, and live on their own. By 17 the subadult will be fully grown and sexually mature.

At about age 40 a Freisian will begin to slow down, though capable of doing work. Their senses will dull, but they are much more wiser. Many times, a Freisian will retire and become an aide or counseller to a clanleader. Elders are also much better at taking care of whelps than then younger Freisians. Freisians do not live past the age of 70 and often die around their 40th year, unless the desert gets them first.

Clans
Freisian clans are a large part of Freisian society. As Freisians have a matriarchal system, the clan leader will nearly always be female, with very rare exceptions to this (such as a martriarch who has had no female children). The average clan has about 17 members, with as few as 2 or 3. Clanmembers are bound by their mark, but do not live in the same general area - clans tend to be widespread across Freese, and some live out in the desert as nomads.

Clans are organized by what marking a Freisian has obtained. For example, a Freisian with a crude, tribal eye is part of the Quickeye clan, and cannot be part of any other. When in humanoid form, a Freisian cannot alter its marking. Markings are passed down through the female parentage. For example, if a Quickeye female and a Blackspine male conceive a child, the child will have the Quickeye marking. However, if the female is not Freisian and the male is when having a child, the child will have the father's markings.

Clans tend to specialize in a field of work better than other clans. For example, the Halfeye clan are excellent religious teachers, the Blackspine clan are good sentries and guards, the Diamondback clan are good healers, ect. Most of a clan's members take up its specialized job, but exceptions aren't uncommon.

Freisian surnames are taken after their clan name, for example, a man named Arzu Bladeback will be of the Bladeback clan. Surnames cannot be changed, but some Freisians do not mention them.

Society
Freisian females are much more aggressive than males and their occupations outside their clan-jobs such as bodyguards or brawlers. Males tend to be more artistic and take on jobs reflecting this, such as sculptors or dancers. It is incredibly uncommon to see a female artist or a male bodyguard.

Freisans are highly religious people, and their lifestyle could be compared to the modern Muslim. They pray or meditate every day, and often have religious rituals in everyday tasks. A hunter would bless and thank animals after they are slain, a dancer would thank the Gods for keeping his feet nimble, a gardener would encourage and pray for their crops and flowers to grow. Not showing proper respect to an object or a person is blasphemous in the eyes of Freisans

Freisans are monogamous so marriage is taken very seriously. Homosexuality is accepted in society, but sometimes these partners marry the other sex to have children and have an affair with the same gender. This is frowned upon. Freisans do not re-marry after the death of a spouse. Married Freisan women have two studs in each ear, where a male will have a piercing in the neck. Widows will have two gold rings, while widowers have fishook barbells. This is another trait they have adopted from the Caranis.

Dreams are also very important to Freisans. They have a certain amount of lucidity within them, if they do occur. If they foresee an event in a dream, it is taken very seriously.