In my experience, I have found a compromise where there is a story but also the creator is like "but if you want to use the species for your own personal project by all means feel free to give them the ability to fire lightning bolts." dislaimer. Because yah, some folks really love having a continuity to work in, but some folks fall in love with a design and just want to go their own path. And usually having a note from the creator saying they don't mind if someone does the latter helps smooth out most things.

That said, congrats on the job! That sounds like a pretty enjoyable job. :3

Yeah, I thought after posting this that that might be what I'd do, since I want to make adoptables of a species I've been working on, and they've got a homeworld and physiology and all, but I'm also like "they can be whatever if that wouldn't fit your character style". I've always been open to people doing whatever they'd like with characters they get from me anyway, so yeah~

And thank you! The job really is great. We've been concentrating on hand-training our baby parakeets lately, and we're making some really good progress!