You say 'various transformative substances.' Are there any non-animal sources of transformation on Merra?

sorry for the late reply x.x Yesh there are a few races that are not based on animals, creatures like darkstrayers and
petras are not directely based on real animals, there are also a few more, but i wanna work out the "basic ones" first :)

What I mean is are there any plants or inorganic chemicals that cause transformation on Merra?

oh yes! ^^ Especially the nariok race (the sharks) experiment a lot with this and have a bunch of chemicals that can trigger a transformation x.x
Sometimes the result is even a hybrid of multiple races. There are also plants that have infective pollen and living armors ^u^ On the other hand there are also plants and chemicals that can stop or prevent a tf for some time, or at least keep the mind intact. Most of these "prevention-drinks" or "-injections" can be bought in the big cities, but they are pretty expensive for regular adventurers x.x
I will introduce them soon, but tizzians do not need prevention drinks since they are already above a human rating and immune to most transformations. (since im currently working on Tyx, the tizzians capital... i will also finish up the new rating system soon, that shows the races in relation to each other ^u^)

Sound like a lovely place.

Interesting story!!!Very intiguing series i must say-so many wonderfull characters with interesting and unique backgrounds!!!Absolutely top notch stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!