Narram add a new draw it appears that Garuik has a transformation of some it looks canine.
Given this new drawing it makes less sense that he's an Ursudins. I mean, Tao knows this race and I think he would have mention that they have a beast mode. On the other hand if I recall correctly Paulo talks about the danger of going to the see caused by the inhabitants of the Islands, so maybe this beast form is what caused the distruction of the ships.
I don't think he's behind the swamp werewolves since one of the sprites has Garuik blushing, so he's romanceable and I don't think MC would date someone who experiment. I'm more inclined to think that the witch is behind that, since she requested a lizard egg to test the modification of the curse of lust, the exiled in the mist talked about Hiss and how he thinks the curse of lust is the next genetic evolution for the lizards, because, while searching for the swamp werewolf, MC says something about putting plants in different environments always related to genetic experiments, plus she's the one that introduces us to the wolf's den.