Unicorn Trials

Well, certainly many people will use the term 'werewolf' as a derogatory, in much the same way you might be made fun of for your glasses or your frizzy hair. In Jason’s case its actually a term of respect. He'd never come out and say this, but he actually holds a very deep reverence for Lily and what she is. As for the possessive, I will work her annoyance in to future stories, but that's just one of Jason’s character flaws that I don't intend to fix(it's important for characters to have flaws, it makes them more realistic)

Now, one thing of note is that according to the Foundation, Lily is not human. She is officially classified as a Binary Changling. Hunter is also technically in the same class, the Foundation is not aware of it. By population, 'humans' make up over 99% of sentient life forms in the Known Worlds. However, considering the sheer awesome scope of the Known Worlds, that stills leaves room for tens of billions of sentient species of none-humans.

And even within the official 'human' classification, there is only a very loose agreement as to what is 'human'. The difference between a human and a frog is less than 2% genetic material--heck, the difference between a human and a tobacco plant is very small. The difference between a human and, say, a Kamian(Which whom humans are biologically compatible) is about 1 tenth of 1% genetic. Kamians, however, have major biological differences between humans, and are not consider human.

In Lily's case, as in Hunter's, the difference is quite a bit larger. Lily's DNA is about 4 times more complicated than human DNA. A single strand of her DNA contains six helixes (compared to two on a human) and is over twice as long. By volume, her actual human DNA takes up less than 20%.

She has one complete series of human DNA, one series of wolf DNA, a series that allows her to change from human to wolf. The last part is the largest, comprising 60% of the strand. Genetically speaking, she has as much in common with a human as she does with, say, an oyster.

The true question then becomes one of sentience. As you recall, Jason had to issue an extensive battery of none-invasive procedures to determine her sentience. These tests were put into place after an incident shortly after the Mage Wars.

Referred to as The Unicorn Trials, it deals with the fact that for several decades, Unicorns were hunted and captured by the foundation, and subjected to intense and invasive scientific study. We're talking Mengele and Auschwitz type stuff here. Well, not quite the same level of intentional cruelty, but they were studied and treated as lab animals because they were not considered sentient.

It was not until one of the captured Unicorns finally spoke out in common that the Foundation realized they were dealing with sentient life forms. The scientists involved in the studies were then arrested for crimes against the Battle Charter(Which lists a very clear set of rights to SENTIENT life forms, not just humans) The primary question of the Unicorn Trials was whether or not the scientists could have known the Unicorns were sentient without torturing them to death.

Many of the Foundation's finest scientists were eventually sentenced to death for crimes against sentient life. Before the trials officially ended, a joint Alliance/GS Task Force was assembled to determine a set of criteria for evaluating the sentience of a being through none-invasive methods. The series of tests Jason administered were designed to be harmless.

So sentience is the determining factor in the rights of a living thing. Humans make up 99% of the population of the Known Worlds, however the Known Worlds do not include the lands controlled by Elves or Dwarves, and neither the Foundation nor the Alliance has population records on them. Humans could be a very small minority. Genetically, Elves and Dwarves are nothing like humans, and data on biological compatibility is lacking. But they are considered sentient, and therefore protected by the Charter.

So it may hurt Lily's feelings to note that Jason does not consider her 'human', but Jason is also not one prone to prejudice, and the thing that drew him to her in the first place was her being a werewolf.

So you see, it is all very complicated.