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Genesis

Frankly does not matter, I just wanted this section to state that there are no gods. You can say progenitors made the furry people, and that some extinct human race made progenitors, but it doesn't matter.

The ethnicities are botched because one of [redacted]'s conditions was for there to be no racialism. Racialism is organic - but I think I managed to replicate the spirit of historical racialism with some of the cultural habits.

Magic

There are 3 categories of magic in this world: spirit magic, kinesis, and monster magic. The names of each category may vary at times, but I'll explain how each functions in order to help distinguish them. These categories are NOT understood (not by mainlanders, at least) and the acceptance of the truth would spark multiple cultural revolutions.

Spirit magic, first of all, contains a misnomer; the "spirits" don't exist in the way that people thought. This type of magic involves forming a mental link with nearby elemental/natural forces and then persuading those forces to act out your will. You should be able to imagine how awkward it is for an ancient culture to accept the idea that they have to negotiate with non-entities, so they naturally concluded that it was spirits. Example: you want to light a candle, so you "find" the "fire spirits" near you and then negotiate the act with them, perhaps needing to do "them" some favor in return.

Kinesis works by persuading the subjective realities around you, generally surrounding other people or intelligent beings. You can think of it kind of like hypnosis or delusion. It requires an unusual psyche. Child kinetics are often mistaken as odd but talented spirit mages. Kinesis demands conviction and belief and becomes easier to perform when confronted with less opposing ideation. Most commonly, kinesis manifests as control over a particular force. Example: you want to crush a box with your mind, and you believe you can, so you go through the steps you believe are necessary and then it works unless you're surrounded by a doubtful audience.

Monster magic is basically any magic with a monster source (it's very rare for a monster to be kinetic or use spirit magic). Magic monsters willingly give out their power in exchange for what they value, so not only do you find them with servants wielding that power, but they will sometimes arrange to give that power to people that seek it. The greatest spells were obtained accidentally from Challenger-type magic monsters. Most people in the mainland that have a new magic monster spell will pretend they made it up themselves and go sell the knowledge of casting it to the Academy. It works kind of like a phone call. The major limitation is that some magic monsters don't take long distance calls, so a traveling mage may suddenly discover their fireball doesn't work. Example: you perform some ritual as a signal to gain the attention of the monster, somehow identify your desired contract, the monster channels power to you accordingly, then they take their price subtly at some point in the future.

Modern mainland magic taught at the Academy is a mix of all three. Any spells they teach are ones that can be taught, regardless of how convoluted the casting method may be. No records are kept for where any spells come from and the "how" of magic is a feeble science to date. Kinetic spells can be cast by performing a sort of self-hypnosis according to the kinetic school. Most other spells are contract spells, where some prior-established arrangement is called upon from "spirits" (a lot of these are monster magic, but that is heresy). Contract spells are attractive because they take less effort and energy than the equivalent straight spirit magic equivalent, but the details of the contract are not typically recorded (because it might reveal a monster source) and so they serve as poor footholds for advancing magic knowledge.

I should probably mention something of power-levels for magic categories. An oversimplification: monster magic breaks rules, spirit magic bends rules, and kinesis makes new rules. In general, you might see stuff from spirit magic akin to the elemental benders of the cartoon, Avatar. Kinesis can have some crazy effects, but most days it's simple power like telekinesis. Monster magic is what you might expect to see space/time magic from, but such extreme utility requires a domain that the power is imprisoned in.

Kinetics have a poor ability to connect with others and the world around them- this gets worse as their powers grow, but their power will grant them accomodating allies, at least. The flipside of this is that they know themselves really well and can perform feats of willpower. The kineticist churches typically have meritocratic hierarchies based on the church's spells; this unknowingly makes the new leaders approach duplicating the personality/outlook of the founder. Relatedly, if a church ever branches or splits, it could stray from the original teachings. Since kineticism is related to outlook, it's possible that straying from the founder could increase the power of the magic, as it shouldn't be assumed that all founders are 100% pure avatars.

Spirit magic users tend to understand the world around them well. This tends to be mistaken as making them good with people, because monster magic just isn't common knowledge.

Monster magic specialists are the best at connecting with other people.

Anti-Magic

There is no all-purpose anti-magic. Magic monster domains have the highest potential, but they typically just block spirit magic and selectively/arbitrarily block monster magic - they cannot block kinesis directly. The caveat of magic monster domains is that the more restrictive they are, the more powerful the host is, and the more tools the host must provide to intruders to defeat it. The primary blocking mechanism of the domains is that they are seperate dimensions where contract magic typically cannot function; there may be spirits inside the domain and those can be utilized for spirit magic. The metaphysical codification is actually the same as the soul steel spell, so soul steel cannot pass through a spatially anchored domain - this would be the same as putting a pocket dimension inside a pocket dimension, and unlike dnd I am outright banning this event rather than make an explosion.

There is a type of fungus called saint breaker that can dampen kinesis. It's actually a type of monster, but it's passive so no one notices. It dampens kinesis by having a strong will that denies kinetic delusions (to put it simply). This doesn't disable kinesis entirely, it just makes practitioners have to try very hard to get a fraction of their power output relative to how much of the mold is nearby. It's called saint breaker because that's how most kinetics are recognized in this setting, is as saints (after they start a cult and die). Fire can suffice for destroying the fungus, but that isn't always a simple matter - saint breaker can grow underwater and in absence of oxygen and occasionally grows on mindless monsters. What is needed to produce and sustain saint breaker is a lack of nearby willpower - once grown, it is not easily starved because it would need to be exposed to a stronger will for days. It is commonly treated as a cursed fungus, but still with a demand for alchemists and assassins.

Finally, there is a type of crystal that grows near concentrations of monster magic. It absorbs and nullifies any monster magic that it comes in direct contact with. Because it is not understood that a lot of modern magic is in fact monster magic, it is merely seen as an all-purpose anti-magic material that sometimes fails. It is highly valued and desired by adventurers for protection, though it does interfere with support spells so you don't often see it used in defensive gear. Generally, the more of these crystals you find somewhere, the stronger the nearby magic monster - these crystals typically provide poor safeguard against the more dangerous types, so it is little comfort to adventurers. Magic monsters do not mind the crystals being near them, as the crystals only drain away their excess magic as long as they don't make direct contact. For some reason, the crystals never encroach on stationary magic monsters. Even shattered or powdered, the crystals maintain their function. Curious enclosures of these crystals can mark magic monster domains (but cannot cross the spatial barrier). There is a disease in a few of the eastern citystates where these crystals grow from the people, due to constant soul steel magic saturation. The crystals cannot grow on or drain soul steel directly. People with this disease make very poor mages and have a natural resistance to magic.

Monsters

Firstly, there are two general categories of monster: monsters and magic monsters. Monsters are part of the ecology and basically competing for resources normally even if they're freakish and strong. Magic monsters are disconnected from ecology and are metaphysical catalysts for societal problems.

The most dangerous monsters are the intelligent ones. These are not necessarily magic monsters. Magic monsters have terrific power, but they can't maximize the output of it on their own most of the time.

The most powerful monsters are Challenger-class. These have powers like controlling space and time. They are extremely hard to beat and require specific procedures. They're rather like the Hive from Destiny, in that their domains bolster all their power, with the caveat that they must allow there to be methods to defeat them. So most of these domains will give clues on how to do it. Defeating one means getting a portion of their power, but this is such a rare occurrence that it isn't known. They're just known as challenging monsters to avoid. Their domains don't expand and are usually hard to find. They cannot be killed, only defeated.

One special thing to note about monsters in general is that the imagination of societies can shape and generate new ones (even if not magic monsters). A stupid rumor about an abandoned house can generate enough emotional charge in a citystate to create a new monster inside of it. A totally false idea about an existing monster can spread enough and convince enough people to make it true in some way.

If it matters, there is a parallel dimension where magic monsters are born. We don't talk about that place. Imagination flows in from reality, forms new magic monsters, and they cross the border to perform their role.

Magic Monster Domains

Some magic monsters create dimensional nests, called domains. It's like a bubble, where the laws of nature and reality change when you go inside, depending on the boss monster. The domain boundary can either be soft or hard: a hard boundary is one where walking in is like walking into another plane of existence, while a soft boundary is one where reality is distorted in some way near the boss monster. Hard domain boundaries generally cannot be seen through, but some are invisible.

Domains expand over time. Soft domains expand more rapidly than hard domains. Area of coverage for a domain is often related to the power of the boss monster (Challengers are an exception). So, boss monsters get more powerful over time.

These domains repel normal magic monsters; they will refuse to go near one (and when forced, have a chance of being dominated by the domain).

Killing a domain boss erases the domain. An erased hard domain will drop all real contents in a pile (no corruption is reverted). An erased soft domain will cease to distort reality, but some scarring is expected (if it was setting everything on fire, the damage won't be undone).

The reality space covered by a hard domain still exists in reality; a hard domain at the bottom of a lake does not drain the lake, nor does it fill with water (the domain may react to its overlapped reality space and copy that water, though). Any living thing that enters a hard domain is generally unable to leave that domain unless they find an exit or the boss is killed. Putting your arm inside doesn't do anything, it's an all-or-nothing transfer. Non-living things get transferred only if they are possessions of someone getting transferred and were within the transfer range at the same time (borrowed/stolen things drop in reality and are trapped under the hard domain).

Hard domains have a sort of ecology to them, but it is unnatural. It's just a rule they have to follow; hard domains have to give people the tools to survive. However, unlike Challengers, hard domains do not have to give people the tools to win or escape. This means a person could live long term inside of a hard domain. They would not want to, because there is a sort of corrosive force inside hard domains that changes the nature of real things to suit its theme. Living things become deformed and have their anatomy changed (people can become monsters and vice versa). Non-living things generally turn into magic items, which is tremendously useful. Scouting parties and dead parties always leave behind items that turn into magical tools. It takes about a month for these corruptions to start manifesting, and once it starts, they are classified both as real and as figments of the boss monster. Killing the boss monster will revert their classification to real, while maintaining all corruption. Not all of these magic items will have useful or beneficial effects.

Boss monsters are difficult to fight, but the primary challenge is always reaching them. Soft domains are simpler and generally have a single type of extreme obstacle to overcome repeatedly. Hard domains involve exploring 3d constructed dungeon spaces that follow some theme related to the boss monster. Boss monsters also create lesser monsters as figments - unlike real monsters, which are imagined by people, figments are imagined by monsters. Figments are involved in the domain's ecology, though observing them directly, they would appear to be magic monsters. Every figment borrows power from the boss monster, so if the boss monster can use a type of magic, so can all of its figments.

Spirits

This will seem to contradict what's written about spirit magic, but some spirits do exist now in a noticeable form. Other spirits have actually gained an invisible existence (unknown in-setting) that follows common belief; fire spirits are hard to find in a forest, water spirits are rare in a desert, etc.

In existential principle, it's very similar to magic monsters in that they were created by imagination. They are much like standard fantasy fairies, but a bit less cruel and trickstery. You could hear a tale or two about how a stranded wanderer was saved by a spirit, despite having no magical inclination.

In meta, fair's fair, the spirits are here along with magic in general to mark out the virtue and salvation of man. The part is played well even if the spotlight falls elsewhere.

The noticeable form spirits are like elementals. They follow their own logic, and if angered, can make a tough battle and fuck up a region.

Animals

This is awkward, but there are still normal animals alongside the anthros. There are a few new animals and may be some real world animals missing. Characters in-setting will often mistake monsters as animals and vice-versa, which is some meta humor I guess.

Luckily, slavery is okay so the people don't feel too awkward about it.

Catbox Ore

A physical embodiment of possibility. It isn't actually an ore, but the only known method of acquiring it involves mining. It can take on ANY property, and will do so immediately upon perception. Because this is a uselessly volatile result under normal procedure, it is only useful with a careful procedure.

It can only be mined in absence of sentience (by machine or automaton or puppet). Once mined, it can only be retrieved in absence of perception. This means total sensory disconnect, as perceiving anything about it locks in properties that rapidly diminish its utility. Transport must be done indirectly to avoid perception. Specialized workshops and craftsmen are needed to fully utilize it.

It's rather like a kinetic playdough. The craftsman asserts a set of beliefs onto it, and then perceives it to solidify the qualities that achieve those beliefs. This isn't a science; they fuck up a lot, but even a failure can be powerful. Certain craftsmen are better at achieving certain qualities.

It should be obvious that the retrieval and transfer processes are not 100% successful. A pure sample can only be utilized by taking the craftsmen to the site, but this can be a feat because these mines must be very deep, and subsequently can be quite dangerous.

Why Furry

I don't think this really needs an answer, but you can blame it on Progenitors.