Animal Lords

Animal Lords are people who have an extreme connection to a certain type of animal. Be it a wolf, bird, lion, etc. The bond of the Animal Lord and the animal allows them to gain abilities of that animal and they are often considered by the animals they bond with to be their protector. The stronger the bond with their animal the more prominent the abilities, until the bond is complete and the Animal Lord is capable of assuming a hybrid form, a cross between human and the animal.

Faith
Animal Lords usually relinquish any faiths that they possessed prior to the bond. Though they may still possess a reverence for their former religion or deities, they will no longer participate in any of the practices.

Languages
The Animal Lord is still capable of learning any languages that they set out to, though they usually only retain their native language. Once they have completed the bonding process, they instinctively know the language of the animals they have bonded with.

Government
An Animal Lord will usually remain with their Familiar and a group of the animals that they have bonded with. The Animal Lord will completely assimilate with the order of the animals, though they will be highly respected and cared about. The Animal Lord will usually be considered the animal's protector. If the type of animal that they have bonded with is a solitary species, they will live with only their Familiar.

Lands
An Animal Lord will live in the native environment that their bonded animal lives in.

Technology
Animal Lords usually have no need for technology once the bond is completed.

Appearance and Physiology
Animal Lords have two forms, their native form and their hybrid form, once the bonding process is completed. After the bonding process is completed an Animal Lord will usually remain in their hybrid form at all times, unless a situation calls for their original forms to be taken. Their hybrid form is a cross between their normal form and of the animal that they have bonded with, they appear like a Lycanthrope of the same type.

Magical Abilities
During the bonding process with their animal, an Animal Lord has a Familiar, that is the same type of animal that they are bonding with. The Lord cannot directly communicate with their Familiar at this point, but they are empathically connected. This empathic connections allows them to move silently through the animals native terrain (like the Environment Walk Spell). Both the Animal Lord and the Familiar can feel when the other is in danger.

Once the bond is complete, the Animal Lord becomes like a Lycanthrope of the animals type, a Wolf Lord would be like a Werewolf, able to assume a human-wolf hybrid form at any moment. Once they have reached this stage in the bonding process, the final one, they have a new host of abilities. They can summon their Familiar from any distance, having their Familiar appear instantly in front of them. This is only a thought away, and nothing can obstruct the summoning process, other than magic. They can also emit a yell infused with magic that will travel for miles in all directions, all animals of the type that they have bonded with will come, unless physically prevented. By this time, the Animal Lord is capable of communicating both verbally (in the Animal's language) and telepathically with the type of animal they have bonded with.