our headmate strix is the protag of a story we want to get around to writing eventually... they're a tawny owl therian who lives in the 22nd century, where a new branch of chemistry, named alchemy in honor of chemistry's historical forebear and the once-thought-impossible chemical reactions associated with it, has opened new doors for transhumanism to flourish. however, while things have gotten generally at least a bit better, capitalism still dominates society and species transition-esque body modifications have become a sort of class symbol for the the elite. strix, a university professor who's been researching alchemy in hopes of being able to species transition themselves, someday, tasks themself with finding a sustainable method of doing so while trying to undermine the corporations seeking to make body modifications inaccessible for the general public.
they're intensely dedicated to their research, which leads to them closing themself off for days at a time and general loads of anxiety (they 100% have ocd in-source too. but we didn't know we had ocd when we first came up with them, but they definitely also have it because their anxiety is heavily based on our own). they also engineered a lot of gear that helps them emulate the traits of their theriotype (telescopic goggles to emulate an owl's eyes, a winged cloak that allows them to silently glide short distances, and talon boots, for example).
they live with an eastern cottontail rabbit therian named amber, who was their roommate in college, too. they're kinda intended to be opposites in a lot of ways. strix is aroace and agender, amber is pansexual and genderfluid. strix is reserved and uptight, amber is outgoing and energetic. but it's the differences between them that make them such a dynamic duo. while strix decided to stay in university to pursue further education and research, amber got a job at one of the corporations that was pioneering body modifications, but left after being disgusted with how the executives were treating it as a status symbol rather than something that everyone should have access to, among other issues with their methods.
amber and strix both have an interest in otherkin and therian history and general "vintage" (i.e. stuff from our era. remember, they're from the 22nd century) internet culture.
there are some other characters we have planned (we want to include a strawberry poison frog therian as a student in one of strix's classes that ends up becoming a research assistant, for example, but we don't have much in mind for them yet) but a big idea we have is that like. the therians in the story won't have character traits typically symbolically associated with their theriotypes, while the executives trying to turn body modifications into a status symbol will, as a sort of way of showing that their connections to the animals they model themselves after are more superficial, if that makes sense? we have a lot of thoughts about this story but i think the big thing we need to figure out before actually writing it is the general rules of alchemy in the world so we can write everything around those rules.
the way that this sounds like exactly how it would go dhfjsdfk no body modification science would be made to that extent without practically being owned by the elite. this is a really fascinating premise i don't think i've personally seen explored in much else and your take on it is really cool; i especially like the decision to make the main characters not reflect stereotypical personality traits of their theriotypes but make the executives reflect them as a way of showing that it's superficial; it makes me wonder if they'd all also choose "popular" animals that humans generally think are cool in contrast to like, the strawberry poison frog that you mentioned for example
good luck with figuring out the alchemy system, that sounds overwhelming LOL.
