Clouded Soul - Bloodline Inheritance

As clans are such a big part of stories like these, I just want to put it on record that yes, there will be forms of specific powers that run through specific bloodlines. The basics would vary case by case. For this document I'll be referring to the concept as halfbreed or demi-humans, but the official term I will probably go with is spiritborn or something of that nature.

Spirit inheritance

The level of inheritance is dependent on the power of the spirit. A clouded spirit who has a child with a human will produce a human, whereas a bright spirit will produce a halfbreed whose bloodline is strong in that generation but will diminish in subsequent generations. For resplendent and above, you will create an offspring whose halfbreed nature and powers will always be a part of their bloodline as a defining feature of the clan. This is all assuming that the halfbreed doesn't ascend to a level of soul purity which would make their halfbreed genes more dominant and assure they are passed on.

The sole exception to this are Yiansha halfbreeds, who by nature taint the entire bloodline as soon as they enter it regardless of that Yiansha's refinement level. They obviously produce stronger halfbreed if they are stronger, but unless something is done about it that bloodline is forever cursed.

The things that are passed on differ between the types of spirits, so we'll just run through those one by one.

Sacred beasts

For sacred beasts, their half breeds would exhibit certain animalistic traits but not actually things such as animal ears and tails. If their ancestor was a powerful tiger, they might have Tiger looking eyes, claws, fangs, and a tiger-like attitude. Ears and tails are saved solely for actual spirits or spiritual transformations further on in their refinement. Sacred beast half breeds would not have the option of forming a contract or spiritual marriage, but they will suffer from a very toned down version of the racial difficulty they have with soul refinement. Let's say they are 10 to 20 percent less skilled at it than a full-blooded human would be, but the benefits of their halfbreed nature would drastically make up for any difficulty.

Sacred beast heritage is the (second) most obvious to spot, and like sacred beasts themselves, the way they are treated varies by different regions. They are often feared, but it's hard to truly discriminate against them when they are so physically powerful more often than not.

Worldly spirits

This type of halfbreed would inherit the demeanor of their ancestor. Trees produce very calm and gentle halfbreeds, rocks, halfbreeds who are sturdy and unyielding, and so on. They are obviously gifted with very, very high affinity for the type of nature spirit there ancestor was. If your grandfather was a rock, you are good at earth. Simple as. I might actually make the third girl one such halfbreed since my plan for her was to be a ice/snow user, come to think of it. They are not as easy to spot as your average halfbreed, depending on where you live and the power of their ancestor. In minor cases, the halfbreed might have strangely colored hair and eyes that matches their element, but this can be covered up with dyes and the eyes explained away somehow, and in some cases, the hair might be your average black but with a tint of the element that isn't super noticeable. Even so, worldly spirits and their halfbreeds are rarely discriminated against except by very extremist anti-spirit people in general. Plenty of people have relatives that were killed by a tiger or a disease ridden mouse, few people hold grudges against trees.

Soulful treasures

Soulful treasures halfbreed's can pass entirely as human and you will never know the difference, unless the one in your ancestry had extremely obvious nonhuman hair and eye colors which even then aren't necessarily always passed down because they aren't as much of a defining feature as green hair would be for a nature halfbreed. The main and really only thing you can reliably look out for is if an entire family has a hyper focused lineage that excels around one specific talent or object, and even then you can't really prove it. Just because this clan is really good at swords doesn't mean they all have an ascended sword in their ancestry, same for the family full of flute players.

Yiansha

Even more obvious than sacred beast half breeds, Yiansha halfbreed are traditionally demonic in appearance, if not as much as their full-blooded ancestors. They have a wide range of features they can inherit, ranging from fangs, altered skin tones, wild hair colors, and even more extreme cases such as additional limbs or appendages depending on their specific ancestor. They are widely treated even worse than sacred beast half breeds as you might expect- but Yiansha don't accept them either, by and large. Refinement is very difficult for a half Yiansha, as they can refine like a human and also refine like a Yiansha through the pain and suffering of others, but neither method is as effective as it would be. This is somewhat made better by their lineage granting even more benefits than descending from a sacred beast would. They are far stronger than ordinary humans and have specific Yiansha powers related to their bloodline.

On top of discrimination, they live very accursed lives. Trying to remain good while half soul is tainted and inherently sadistic is not something many can withstand for long, so you see a lot of half Yiansha giving into these impulses and becoming savages of varying levels of intelligence. They are often used as pawns by their full-blooded ancestors as well, promising to make their lives better if they accomplish certain tasks or even promising to make them a full-blooded Yiansha, which is very possible but difficult to do without their help. This isn't something that happens very often, the relationship being similar to a vampire and their thrall. You give little rewards along the way, just enough for them to remain loyal, but you don't want to totally lose a valuable pawn.

Other bloodline abilities

I believe the way is open for there to be specific blessings that get passed down through a clans generation. Say an ancient hero pleased a god and blessed them with a power, promising that this power would serve their clan so long as they still lived. There is also room for the other end of the extreme here, with curses being passed down the bloodline. Also, Gods are not the only way this can happen. There are magical treasures, fruits, and other such things which could alter a refiner on a genetic/spiritual level and make it so that they pass down whatever gift or curse these other things added to their makeup.