Okay ... no tortles in my world but there are people that follow an animistic religion and identify turtles as their spirit guide. They have all the mannerisms, beliefs, culture and lore of tortles. Not only that, they've been granted the ability to wear holy turtle armor even if their class doesn't qualify. I give you ... Tortle Man!
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That to me is compromise. If it's still not good enough then people don't want compromise, just admit you want to be the ones deciding what species are allowed.