Ialy

Ialy have somewhat hyaena-like heads, with a short muzzle, large nose, and large, rounded ears. An ialy's jaws can open to a near-30° gape and are capable of crushing bone.
  Their arms are long, reaching their knees, and their hands are large, and five-fingered, with blunt claws at the end of each digit, which early ialy used for digging out extensive warrens or shallow "scoops" to rest in. These structures allowed ialy to sleep in safety, with only their venomous quills exposed to predators.
  Ialy are adapted for the subtropics: high humidity, warm to high temperatures, and high rainfall. They have a layer of waterproof fur all over their bodies and are fair swimmers, but more comfortable on land.

Sex differences

Male ialy are about 10% smaller than the females, with comparatively smaller hands and slimmer jaws, but they are still capable of using their teeth to crush bone.
  Ialy quill size and placement is sex-dependent, with females having more, longer, and thinner spines, but males having more potent venom.

The species is genetically predisposed towards multiple births, with three to five pups being common. No more than one of the young will be male, giving the global ialy population a female-to-male ratio of approximately 5:2. New-born ialy are small (0.5-1 kg), blind, and entirely dependent on their parents, but grow rapidly, gaining up to 2kg every month during the first year. Families traditionally share child-rearing and feeding responsibilities, with siblings and even adult children helping to care for and nurse newborns. Due to the pressures of raising a litter, ialy are able to delay development of implanted embryos, allowing them to stagger births to allow for the greatest chance of survival for their own young. Undeveloped embryos will eventually be reabsorbed into the body, and a pregnancy delayed in this manner may contain fewer pups than average.
  The largest single-male litter on record is seven children; although large (6-8) bimasculine litters have been documented, they are presumed to be the result of an excessively delayed previous pregnancy.

Ialy pups open their eyes between six and eight weeks old, and usually start complimentary feeding at twenty weeks, transitioning entirely to semi-solid foods at 8 months. At this age, there is already a notable difference in size between sexes, and parents must ensure that the stronger and more aggressive females do not steal food from the male. Experiments in raising males away from their siblings have found that isolated males consistently fail to meet developmental milestones, even when raised alongside other males, and suffer increased health issues and even food sensitivities in later life. The smaller stature of males is not attributable to reduced food in infancy and carers often unconsciously over-feed male offspring to make up for this presumed deficiency.
  The skin and hair of ialy children are dramatically marked in high-contrast stripes and bright coloured, indicating to predators that they are poisonous - they are born with fully-developed venom glands. Quills develop during their second year and the warning markings begin to fade as they mature, becoming less noticeable past middle-age.

The Huswat name for ialy translates to 'eats all', and the species is renowned for their ability to consume almost anything. They are opportunistic omnivores, and have a robust digestive tract that can manage matter that other species find indigestible, including nut husks, shells, and bones. They can and will eat non-food items, despite their poor nutritional value, and are known to ingest toxins of varying potency for recreational and spiritual purposes. The common belief that this consuming poison enhances their own venom is unfounded.
  Ialy naturally follow a feast-famine eating pattern. They are able to consume several kilos of food in one sitting and may be quite comfortable eating only two or three large meals a week.

Ialy are extremely social and a traditional society comprises a number of intermarried matriarchal family units with multiple generations of related women living together. Young men normally leave home upon reaching adulthood and form loose bachelor groups before they find wives, though this may not occur in small families where the absence of one member could cause the unit to destabilise. Traditionally, a man would join his wife's family but, in small and/or unstable families, the two family groups may merge.
  Women generally remain with their family; in same-sex relationships, it is usually the younger woman who adopts a pseudo-masculine role and joins her wife's family. Men in same-sex relationships may remain in a 'bachelor' group indefinitely, although some historic ialy families are comprised entirely of men in same-sex marriages who adopt young men into the family to continue the line. Men adopted into these families who go on to marry a woman would join their wife's family in the traditional manner.
  Ialy who do not fit within a defined gender role often join organisations that function as a 'found family' such as artistic, religious or academic communities, and/or integrate into mixed-species communities.

Originating in Ophoné and spreading outwards across islands and land bridges, ialy can be found worldwide, although their comfortable range excludes the most extreme cold regions.
  In their ancestral territories, ialy were predated on by large "terror birds" – an ancient ancestor of Kana'ōnah – which were later hunted to extinction.

Ialy are widely considered to have poor eyesight, but this is a misconception. Their vision is attuned to movement and some ethnicities tend to be colourblind, making their eyesight poor in comparison to a yutaaq or a kana'ōnah.
  Sight is a secondary sense for ialy; their primary sense is smell, with professional trackers able to trail people from multiple kilometres away.

Symptomatic host of Therianthropy

Ialy evolved in the forests and rain forests of Ophoné. Historical ialy communities move between several regular warrens or campsites during the year, foraging and hunting as they travelled, with small family groups exploring between the islands by boat. Having already made landfall on North Erwa, they travelled across the new landmass, meeting the first representatives of the yutaaq nations in the Western Isles. The two species integrated, formed multi-species alliances that has lasted into the present day.

Ialya are genrally gregarious, socially inclined and co-operative. They get along very well with other sapient species, especially yutaaq. With the benefit of their natural defences, ialya are extremely relaxed in the company of alien species and tend to adopt a species-agnostic approach to community, forming the backbone of many budding cosmopoloi.