In the genetics section of the search results, in front of the listed traits, are letters. I'm assuming they correspond to the specific gene (i.e. E for Luporas is Husky)

1) However, I see pets that have a mix of letters. For instance, an offspring Lupora has the Husky phenotype. Its parents, however, display Hyena Markings and Tribal Markings, so each of them should be carrying a Husky gene?

2) Said offspring has the letters (EH) next to the name of its gene on the search results. Does this mean this pet is carrying the African Painted (H) gene while displaying Husky (E)? How is this possible if neither of the parents had gene H?

3) If two pets carrying two different traits are bred, how is the expressed trait determined, assuming the offspring gets a visible for that slot?

Like, (EH) Husky + (AC) Shadow Markings = (CH) Double Spots or (HC) African painted???

Does it have anything to do with what the letters are? (C is before H, so if the offspring were to get both of those genes, they would display C--implying some traits are more dominant than others?)

"I'm assuming they correspond to the specific gene (i.e. E for Luporas is Husky)"
Correct

1) With one parent displaying Hyena (G) one parent displaying Tribal (B), the parents would have to look something like this. The one displaying Tribal would HAVE to be BE. There is no way around this because the husky gene has to come from somewhere and husky is dominant to hyena. The hyena parent would have to carry something recessive to husky. So F, G, H, I, or J. If both parents pass on their recessive gene then a husky phenotype would show.

2) Do you have a link to the pet? That shouldn't be possible.

3) Are you familiar with the terms dominant and recessive? Essentially, some traits take precedence over others. In humans, for example, brown hair is dominant over blonde hair. That means that if you have a brown hair allele and a blonde hair allele then you will be a brunette. The term trait that doesn't show (blonde hair in that example) is recessive. In Sylestia, A is dominant over B, B is dominant over C, C is dominant over D, etc. So a pet that has AE will always show A. A pet that has EF will always show E. It is random which trait is passed on to the offspring.

"Like, (EH) Husky + (AC) Shadow Markings = (CH) Double Spots or (HC) African painted???"
In this example, a pet that inherits H and C traits from the parents will ALWAYS show C. Other offspring possibilities include AE, CE, and AH.

This is where the game gets a little complex, so I'm gonna answer your questions from the bottom up. I think you have mostly already answered this yourself, so I will just try to clarify it.

Firstly, some traits are more dominant than others. From what I know, the earlier letters in a given trait slot are more dominant than later letters. So, if a double spots only (CC) mates with an african painted only (HH), the offspring will be (CH), expressing double spots, but with hidden african painted.

Then we can take it further. If a CH visible offspring mates with another CH visible, then the offspring of that can be CC, HH or CH again. Let's take look at the next example, which is a little more complex:

(EH) Husky + (AC) Shadow markings = ??

The results of this can be AE, CE, AH or CH, which means that the offspring can potentially turn out to be

Visible shadow markings (hidden husky)
Visible shadow markings (hidden african painted)
Visible double spots (Hidden husky)
Visible double spots (hidden african painted)

As far as I am aware, the only way to get a specific recessive, hidden trait to become visible is to have it so that both separate parents carry it. Failing that, if only 1 parent carries the recessive hidden you want, then make sure the other potential parent carries a trait that is more recessive than the one you want.

I hope this makes sense!

To supplement the information already provided by Sakina:

A traits are more dominant than B (i.e. A will show, B will be hidden)
B traits are more dominant than C (i.e. B will show, C will be hidden)
C traits are more dominant than D (i.e. C will show, D will be hidden)

Similarly, if the traits are AD, A will always show and D will always be hidden.

You may find offspring are showing certain trait combinations which don't show in the parent's genetic breakdown if the parents haven't been tested. Say a pet had traits AD, until it is tested it will only show AA in its genetics but it can still pass on D (you just won't know this until the pet is tested and/or you get an offspring with an anomaly).

Ah, ok! I was confused as to the significance of the letters ever since I started and had inferred some of the information, but that clears things up significantly.

As for the EH pet:
https://www.sylestia.com/view/pets/?petid=1837659

and here's the parents:
https://www.sylestia.com/view/pets/?petid=1771692
(Hyena Markings dominant)

https://www.sylestia.com/view/pets/?petid=1696788
(Tribal Markings dominant)

Given the explanation on the "hierarchy" for the genes, maybe one was carrying E and the other was carrying H, both of these being passed down. Since E is dominant to H, the offspring therefore carries H?
(At first I had made the assumption that both were carrying Husky, not knowing that there were different levels of dominance for the genes in the game)

Wow. That pet has quite the extensive family history. I don't really want to go through the whole thing but it's clear that one or both of the parents carried the H allele. Where it came from we may never know. Not without looking through all of those ancestors at least.

But yes, E would be dominant to H if both were passed down. E would be the dominant trait while H is the recessive trait.

Welcome to the start of the wonderful world of genetics. :)

Link: https://www.sylestia.com/forums/?thread=34002&page=1#5 Author: Chaindrive Time Posted: 3/13/2016 at 12:59 AM Ah, ok! I was confused as to the significance of the letters ever since I started and had inferred some of the information, but that clears things up significantly. As for the EH pet: https://www.sylestia.com/view/pets/?petid=1837659 and here's the parents: https://www.sylestia.com/view/pets/?petid=1771692 (Hyena Markings dominant) https://www.sylestia.com/view/pets/?petid=1696788 (Tribal Markings dominant) Given the explanation on the "hierarchy" for the genes, maybe one was carrying E and the other was carrying H, both of these being passed down. Since E is dominant to H, the offspring therefore carries H? (At first I had made the assumption that both were carrying Husky, not knowing that there were different levels of dominance for the genes in the game)

You're assumption that one parent was carrying E and the other was carry H is correct.

The image URLs of the parents are as follows (I've highlighted in red the E and H genes):

Male:
https://www.sylestia.com/image_builder_pet.php?species=lupora&breed=sylesti&gender=male&gd1=BE&gd2=BB&gd3=AB&md1=AA&md2=AA&md3=AB&ec=8cdee4&c1=5e5e6a&c2=f2eeeb&c3=dbe2eb&gd1c=333d6c&gd2c=859497&gd3c=f0f4ee&md1c=e8d5ed&md2c=5385da&md3c=e3c8db&maturity=648&costume=0&owned=1&size=250

Female:
https://www.sylestia.com/image_builder_pet.php?species=lupora&breed=sylesti&gender=female&gd1=GH&gd2=CC&gd3=AA&md1=BE&md2=CC&md3=DD&ec=f2ed5f&c1=808f88&c2=947e96&c3=ece6c2&gd1c=7a7872&gd2c=efecf1&gd3c=f5dd9e&md1c=b2c6d3&md2c=d9d6d3&md3c=e7e2d1&maturity=648&costume=0&owned=1&size=250

The possible combinations these parents could have produced are:
BG (Tribal visible, Hyena hidden)
BH (Tribal visible, African hidden)
EG (Husky visible, Hyena hidden)
EH (Husky visible, African hidden)

You get used to it (almost intuitive) after awhile.