Are Ferrens just White Furred Vashals?

They are snow ferrets:

https://www.google.com/search?q=sno...ved=0ahUKEwjpn6ahupzLAhUY1mMKHfu0BLMQ_AUIBigB

 

I don't remember exactly, though they are largely an extension of the original Ferpent which came out in the 3rd Expansion for Pox. So Snow Ferrets has been a part of Pox for a long time, though it was more "wormy" with the Ferpent.

That same expansion brought the original Ambling Frond and we've had hairless rats (Moga) and humanized bats (Voil) since expansion 2, so Pox has always had a bunch of weird critters in it. And that's continued over the years with Pirate Turtles, Man-Kitties with the Leoss, and Dogmen in the Kanen, so I think Ferren fits well in that idea.

 

While I agree that Ferren and Corgi are less "mature" in some sense (particularly Corgi, which aren't a theme in of themselves and mostly one-offs that I didn't do and have no intention of expanding much if at all), I don't think this is a "newer" vs "older" divide nor is it a "creative" and "artistic" one. I think some of the early champs were more "traditional" in design (like Angels and Barbarians), but I don't think there's anything more inherently creative in Deep Elves, Yetis or Lizardman than there is in newer themes like Wings, Stitched or Vashal.

 

It really depends on the specifics as to "why" or "how."

In the case of the Tardigrade I was developing the Frostfall region of ST in the lore and the ideas was this was a largely unexplored region of the Tundra was considered too dangerous for the Jakei to live in. Lore/myths have spoke about strange creatures living in the area so we have things like the Icewisps, the Hydra and the Tardigrades from there, etc.

The SL Tardigrade came later when people seemed to love the ST one, with the idea being that they come from a common heritage but have adapted to their environments.

 

People also like it conceptually.