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[Lyn Farel]

This one seems more akin to a very tall, lean and gnarled hyena than a wolf anyway...

[Nicoletta Mithra]

Slaver is a native animal of Syrikos V and has been bred by the Amarrians from the time they first settled the planet more than a millennium ago.

Seems to hint at a xeno species (even if it doesn't clearly say as such), that has been bred and engineered for eons, and so mixing up more and more with the terran biosphere... Of course it could still be a remnant of terran importation, but I chose to take the term 'native' to its literal meaning...

What is the 'literal' meaning of 'native', though? Are 'native americans' native to the Americas or to Africa? What about Europeans? The Darwin finches - are they 'native' to the Galapagos islands?

'Native', in biology and in general, doesn't mean at all that something has it's evolutionary or historical roots where it is 'native' to.

Just the same for the Achura: While they are the natives of the Saiso system (PF states that they are "originally from the Saisio system"), that doesn't mean that they aren't descended from the original terran settlers.

Slaver hounds work pretty much like a carnivore mammal here on earth. We know they have pups/cubs: That doesn't make sense at all if they are not mammalians or don't show parental care. It pretty much explicitly excludes the option of Slaver hounds to be born as fully functional, self-sufficient, though small, hounds. That'd also mean you couldn't really train them, as behavioural plasticity would be narrower due to the constraint of them having the programs for looking after their own survival ready.

I don't think that in an arboreal setting slavers will jump from tree to tree - they are simply too big for that. If you look at the big cats that live in arboreal environments - Tigers, Leopards, Jaguar - don't jump around much on trees. If they hunt from the trees above, they rather work by sneaky ambush (PF says Slaver hounds drop from trees btw.).

Also, it'd make sense not to throw all kinds of 'features' into the bundle because they seem fun. In the end all the features need to be worked into one functional whole to be convincing as well as to work under evolutionary pressure.

[Lyn Farel]

Well that's essentially what I said above and why I put quotes around "native"... I made the choice to lean more on that interpretation, although as I said, it could be actually far descended from a terran species, or a mix of both or whatever you fancy.

In any case, what's truly important are the facts that it seems to have a compatible alimentation as well as a more or less compatible biology with humans, so, that's the kind of things I would left very elusive in fine while concentrating on more direct facts like the latter...

[Velarra]

Slaver hounds work pretty much like a carnivore mammal here on earth. We know they have pups/cubs: That doesn't make sense at all if they are not mammalians or don't show parental care. It pretty much explicitly excludes the option of Slaver hounds to be born as fully functional, self-sufficient, though small, hounds. That'd also mean you couldn't really train them, as behavioral plasticity would be narrower due to the constraint of them having the programs for looking after their own survival ready.

Personally i'm not strictly a naturalist/biologist or have a remotely related background to really engage in the current conversation. As a result, my perception of the Slavers is very generalized. With a very soft-fiction mindset i've tended to lean toward them being much like some canid hybrids or even domestically bred hounds (re: Rhodesians or similar) given the role they've become known for by name.

If anything i would side toward Nicoletta's view of them as primarily mammalian & less than prepackaged balls of furry murder. Even if yes, they may have strong instinctual predispositions toward certain roles/activities hardwired into their furry little heads. Perhaps in that, Vel sees them as on the same page as Pilots who walk the Pilot's road.