Historical
Cyantia, and all related works are copyright of Tiffany Ross.
Immigrant Cyantians were created by the Rumah to function as ideal servants. Mostly they were either modified from or toward human base types. As a result they are all mammalian, and all have fairly similar biologies. Provided the blood types matched, an Immigrant Cyantian could even receive blood from a human. A Cyantian race that had been modified from a human starting point would have fewer problems with such a blood transfusion than a race that had been modified for a Human end point starting from some other starting animal. (Note that all species that walk Plantigrade--that is with their whole foot flat on the ground--were modified from human starting points. The Digitigrade races all had other animals as their starting ancestors.)
Cyantians do not teach the fact that Cyantians have a human base DNA from which they were modified. They write off the fact that they have a common DNA because of their physical similarities. It is a sort of societal taboo. In spite of the fact that it was well documented by their creators, and most likely known by early Cyantians, they see it as merely something small they don't want to acknowledge as possible, more of a theory.
Immigrant Cyantians as a race are very healthy, and do not take a lot of medicine. Those medicines they do take are typically of a much lower concentration than those taken by humans. For most drugs, just imagine that the recommended dosage would be equivalent to the overdose amount in a Cyantian. They'll get sicker quicker on too much sugar and alcohol as well.
Psychology
Cyantians think differently than humans, always keep that in mind, and each race thinks a few things differently as part of their cultures.
Cyantians in general, believe that females are just as good as males in the majority of situations. Sometimes better. There are not any expectations past their own nature in the realms of being parents and what they can and cannot do, except for certain times of the year.
Culture
All the varied races get along as well as can be expected. The main contentions would be between the Fox thinking they're superior to everyone else. Now, if there's a food shortage, there could be problems because the mainly carnivorous types WILL eat the herbivore types. They will eat anything with meat in it if they're hungry enough and the herbivores will also eat meat if there's no vegetation. Culturally, it is acceptable for them eat what they do. However, it is against the law for Cyantians to eat other sentients.
Most of the races in the Mars Academy are young so stereotypes among them are not quite as strong as they are among the mature adults... who will get into it more than the kits will. Scuffling does occur, that's why there's a security department
General fighting among Cyantians is common, but usually not to the extent of actually harming the other. Most of it is bluffing. Except for a few over aggressive males or females, the usual extent of fighting is merely shoving someone to show that you're stronger than them. It doesn't take an individual long to figure out that someone else is stronger than you and not to mess with them. Of course close friends or a close group of Cyantians might go a bit further. For example, Celina HAS bitten Darius several times to get her points across to him. Does he retaliate? No. Could he easily beat her up? Yes. Why doesn't he retaliate? Because she's expressing just how angry she is with him at any given point and the amount of physical harm she could do if provoked isn't worth the time and pain. Is Darius a wimp? No way. He just doesn't see a need to react other to make sure she has his attention. Now, if someone who's a stranger to him did that, he'd probably trounce up and down on them royally and chew them inside out in offense.
Needless to say, the humans who have lived there are very affected by what they see in the Cyantians and mimic their relationships as their own role models, although they don't tend to BITE each other. Shoving, picking on each other if they're irritated and a general disregard for personal space are common among them. I actually don't think ANY of the humans raised in that environment are antisocial, so far.
Family
Gestation is typically six months long for most of the Cyantian species. It does vary though from as few as four months for Rabbits to as many as 10 monts for Native Cyantians.
Nice thing about that, females only come into season once or twice a year depending on the species. Of course, during that time most of them are allowed to stay home and take time off to avoid distracting the males.
As far as interbreeding among the races, intermarriage among Cyantians is rare, but it does happen. Those Cyantians that walk digitigrade (upon their toes) can interbreed amongst themselves, and those that are plantigrade (walking like humans) can interbreed amongst themselves. The two groups are not generally compatible with each other. It is possible for a Mounty and a wolf/coyote to intermarry, but children are deformed and most of the time die. It is genetically possible for a human to have 'normal' healthy kids with a plantigrade Cyantian, but it's quite taboo on both sides. The Fox are the only digitigrades that cannot naturally interbreed with ANY of the other races. Native Cyantians of course are a completely different physiology, and cannot interbreed with each other or with any of the immigrant species.
A Wolf is loyal to her/his mate no matter what shows up. He doesn't trade her/him in for a younger model no matter what just out of loyalty, never mind the chance he/she could get their throats handed to them on a platter. The Fox are similar, as are the Koyoti. The felines on the other hand, do have a small problem with infidelity at times. The main ones running everything mate for life *The Saber Toothed mountain lions, but the others kind of break up down the line, ordinary lions tend to have more than one wife, some are more solitary but they've been raised to take on the role of raising their children mutually. *While as noted before the felines DO live in cities, some also opt to live outside the cities but still work together when it's necessary.* The touch of humanity in their basic genetics carried with it a few good things as well, such as the responsibility to care for your children and do everything you can to help them survive.
Casual relationships are undertaken by all of them, they're just careful not to do anything that'll get them into trouble, like say any activity leading to cubs/kits. Relationships are there, they have their close groups of friends and cliques. Rabbits are kinda weird though, their entire focus is to have as many kits as possible and as many boys as possible. Among the rabbits, there are illegitimates and quite frequently. It's next to impossible for a female to do anything but depend on her husband to support the family. *But the husband DOES at least stay around.* The Rams are a different story, they clan and believe strongly in monogamy. Family ties are better than family numbers.
Incest at a genetic level is expressly forbidden throughout most of the races on Cyantia. You do NOT marry your brothers, sisters, cousins or parents, due to the horrible implications. You also don't marry anyone who while may be compatible with enough to bear children, is different just enough that your children would be deformed. *
Immigrant Cyantian have a scruff of the neck, ie, just a lot of loose skin there, most evident when they're kits or cubs. It makes it easier for mother to grab them and make them behave and is about the same as a human mother grabbing an ear.
Naturalized
Skunks
Skunkupine
