Raph originally came from contemporary earth, but was turned into a species from the Gilor/Mirachoco universe. He spent a few months on Nomania, another nexus realm, thereafter.

The Skyvel are a species from a relatively cool planet. It’s along the lines of moderate ice age Earth, with summers that melt snow, but even far south there are long-term glaciers and usually most of the planet, as far down as 39 degrees north, sees winters with multiple feet of snow for up to half the year. The world has 3 large moons in resonant orbits. The Skyvel evolved to survive in the cooler latitudes, and have 4 different coats of fur they progress through as the year goes on.
The Skyvel are very similar to mammals. They have 2 genders, warm blood, and various body temperature regulation mechanisms. They use similar biochemistry to the Gilor, Humanity, and the rest of the galaxy, a situation explained by panspermia (The exact location of the origin of life is unknown, but there are sufficient biochemical similarities, such as oxygen breathing, use of liquid water, and breakdown of sugars, that it is generally accepted). The Skyvel physically resemble a mish-mash of earth carnivores, but in reality they are omnivores. They have short muzzles and large eyes, not dissimilar to a cat’s, but with 4 color receptor cells and can see clearly in a huge variety of light conditions, from sunny day with bright fresh snow to dark, moonless night. They have triangular ears on their head, often covered in fuzz. They’re said to resemble a red panda’s or foxes. They have large feetpaws, to allow them to walk on snow without sinking in. They also have large fluffy tails, which they use for balance. Their hips are not as well developed for bipedal motion as human hips, so the tails help them balance. In addition, when sprinting, they tend to go on all fours. They have 4-fingered hands with opposable thumbs (So base 10). They evolved from certain tree climbing animals, so their fingers have sharp retractable claws, while the feet are nonretractable.

The Skyvel typically live 80-100 years. There’s often significantly more noticeable age differentiation with Skyvel than with humans. Infants and young children have different patterns and mottled fur, to act as better camouflage, when they get older grey fur usually forms in distinctive patterns, allowing a Skyvel to hazard a guess at another’s fairly easily. Skyvel have a huge range of sizes and traits. They can stand from under 4 feet tall to nearly 7 feet tall ( extremely rarely) when fully grown. Their fur comes in a variety of colors, but in adults the pattern is typically restricted to a solid color with a lighter colored belly and chin, with maybe a few highlights. Stripes and other patterns are typically only found in the summer coats.