Weres in Thaumaturgaea

The term "were" refers to shapeshifters who can turn from a human form to an animal form, and vice versa. The general term for humans (born as humans) who can turn into animals is simply wereanimals. Meanwhile, there is a separate but related term for animals (born as animals) who can turn into humans, which is animalweres. Both types of weres will be explained further in this article.

The more traditional form of wereanimals, or rather the very specific and classical case of werewolves changing into a monstrous and uncontrollable wolf monster, is a separate type of entity altogether in this setting. Please see the lunar beast article for further information.

Wereanimals

Wereanimals work a little differently here than they do in other settings and series. “Wereanimals” (with specific animals replacing part of the name, such as werewolf, wereshark, werehawk, etc.) are humans who can shift at will to an animal form. For most wereanimals, there is no limit on how long they can stay as an animal, though for some they may have trouble with staying in an animal form without further training. For others, they may even get “stuck” in their animal form until they make themselves tired enough to switch back.

Unlike traditional werewolves, people cannot be "turned" into wereanimals. It is an inherited trait, and there is ongoing research as to how/when/why wereanimalism appeared in humans. The current major theory is that it originated from ancient shamans gaining new magical powers from animal spirits that they were respectful towards. Some say

With further skill and training, they can also shift into and even stay as various “in-between” forms, such as a human body with an animal head or an anthro animal. Some wereanimals can also “disguise” themselves as a “beast man” human (in this setting, that really just means have the ears and tail of the animal they can shift into, or otherwise other superficial traits).

If a wereanimal has a child with a non-wereanimal human, the resulting child has a higher chance of ending up as a non-wereanimal human rather than a wereanimal. Typically if the child is a wereanimal, they will have the same or a similar animal for their transformation type. However, note that having a completely different animal is also a natural possibility, and thus is not an immediate sign of infidelity if it happens. Unfortunately some people may see it that way anyways, especially no thanks to soap operas and dramas who use this trope.

If both parents are wereanimals, it's a three-way split between having the same/similar animal as one parent, the other parent, or just being a normal human.

There are rumors of wereanimals who can turn into any animal, thus being a "true" wereanimal. However, no confirmed cases nor proof of such a person is currently known. The last reported case of a supposed wereanimal dates back to the 16th century. Even then, that particular case is suspected to be a hoax orchestrated by a troupe of wereanimals, who were working together to scam several villages throughout Europe at the time.

Animalweres

There is also what are known as animalweres, such as dogweres and crowweres. This is basically an animal who has gained human sapience and can transform into a human. Similar to wereanimals, animalweres can also achieve in-between forms with further training. Animalweres are not a natural occurrence like with wereanimals, but are instead created when a wereanimal shaman channels their magic to “uplift” an animal. Once, uplifted, an animalwere should be treated as a human, and animalweres themselves insist on being treated as a human once they gain sapience. Of course, not all people may see it this way, and thus animalweres can face discrimination in some locations.

The animals that a wereanimal shaman can uplift can only match the one they can turn into (i.e. a werewolf shaman can only uplift wolves into wolfweres). The resulting animalweres also will need to be taught human mannerisms and customs, given that up to that point they only lived as an animal. At the least, they end up with the same language skills as whoever uplifted them, as well as basic/common knowledge of certain things. The creation of animalweres is of course highly restricted and regulated in modern times, though illegal upliftings can still happen.

If an animalwere has a child with a non-animalwere human (wereanimal or not), the resulting child actually has a higher chance of being a natural wereanimal. Usually in such a case, the child will have the same animal type as their animalwere parent. If the other parent is also a wereanimal, then it's guaranteed that the child will be a wereanimal, with 50/50 chances of which animal the child ends up with. If an animalwere gives birth, they can only do so as a human. There have been no documented cases of animalweres being able to give birth to animals at all. However, it's a common trope used in dramas and soap operas, much to the chagrin of most actual animalweres.