Silas the Goat Hound! (an open species by  spiralofvertigo https://toyhou.se/27862684.goat-hounds-species

Goat Hounds are formed from fractures of the souls of humans that became unraveled and corrupted in some way- and before his death and soul fracture, Silas was a Sin Eater.

A Sin Eater was (usually) a pariah in society in the 16-1900's. Either they were queer, disabled, suffered addiction, were mentally ill, or had been cast out from the church. They lived on the edges of society, shunned, avoided, and even driven away violently, depending on the time and place.

However, they served an important purpose. When someone died, food (usually just a slice of crust of bread, maybe some water or watered down ale) would be laid out on the deceased's chest during, or after a wake, and the Sin Eater would come in to eat the food. By consuming the food, the Sin Eater would take the sins from the deceased, devouring them, and freeing the deceased's soul to go to heaven. (Usually people of the wake would either leave the room, or turn their backs to avoid looking directly at the Sin Eater.) Afterwards, they were given some coin(never very much), and then were chased out of the home with brooms, to sweep them and their corruption away.

Not only were Sin Eaters outcasts before becoming Sin Eaters, but they were reviled, vilified, even chased out of town if they came too close to town after becoming a Sin Eater. Many believed that contact with the Sin Eater would corrupt and damn them. Many Sin Eaters only took up the mantle, because they were destitute, and had no other options. Many felt God had already abandoned them, so felt no objection in picking up a mantle that would at least guarantee them a bit of food and coin when someone died.

Silas was a queer man of science who was outcast from town in the 1700's in Appalachia (the Haywood County area), working with a doctor of medicine who was also his lover, and they were driven out of town when were caught doing autopsies on the dead.

He became a Sin Eater out of desperation when he couldn't get work anywhere, couldn't find a place rent or buy to live, and was ravenous with hunger- and he was a known queer, so any time someone saw him, he couldn't linger long, which made trying to settle anywhere, even just long enough to forage, was difficult.

When the local Sin Eater passed away, a member of the church approached him about taking up the mantle. With the role, he would be left alone by the town. He was guaranteed a modicum of a life.

Silas took it, desperate... but with his own plans in mind, that resulted in the fracturing of his soul, and his physical death, which led his soul splintering into a goat hound.

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(Yes, I reused some of my own lineart and tweaked it. Work smarter, not harder.)