Kitsune

Kitsune
Race
Pronunciation	Kit-su-nay
Archetype	Human
Nicknames	Fox People, Wild Folk, Beast Men, Fox Girls (Gender Specific)
Languages	Common
Vampiric Conversion	Not Possible
Aetherial Affinity	Level 5 - Naturally Casts Magic
Roleplay Difficulty	{{{roleplay}}}
Racial Traits
Aetheriality	Semi-Aetherial
Max Age	160 Years
Strengths	Superior Agility, Excellent Hearing, Excellent Night Vision, Adept at Magic
Weaknesses	Hypersensitivity to Aether, Aether Dependent, Primal Desires
Height	5' to 6'6"
Weight	100 to 220 lbs
Eye Colors	Brown, Hazel, Blue, Green, Silver, Amber
Hair Colors	Black, Brown, Blond, Gray, White and Red
Skin Tones	Ranging from Pale to Brown
Average Physique	Slender to Muscle-god
Aetherial Limit	Class 6 Beta
Significant Demographics
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The Kitsune are best described as humans with the addition of several large tails, fox ears, and a particular sensitivity to magic. As a semi-aetherial being, Kitsune are a particularly interesting race. They are characterized by their primal desires and peculiar culture. Very few in number, most people of Amestria will live their lives never seeing one of these magnificent beings.

Physical Characteristics

Kitsune are very similar to the humans that they were based upon, however their aetherial soul has caused various aspects of their physiology to reflect their aetherial nature. They have standard human skin, hair, and eye colors, but will also have up to nine tails, and fox ears instead of human ears that will be the same color as their hair. They also have slitted eyes, complete with fantastic night vision. They have a naturally athletic body, and their high metabolism makes it almost impossible for them to gain excessive weight. They also have exceptional agility, having faster reaction times and more precise reflexes then humans. Their ears are very sensitive to sound, allowing them to hear things at great distances or even underground. Some kitsune may sport whiskers like what a fox would have. They are extremely sensitive to aether, more so then any other race. This sensitivity comes from the unnatural nature of their half aetherial soul and human body. They can live up to 160 years, and reach maturity at 18 years old. Kitsune will retain their natural youth and beauty a lot longer then a regular human. Kitsune children do not have any tails until they reach ten years old, after which they will get their first tail. They will get a tail every 10 years until they are 90 years old, receiving their ninth tail. A tail will grow in a matter of a day or two, it's growth being accelerated the their aetherial soul. A tail will go from 3 feet long in childhood to 6 feet long in adulthood. Kitsune require a constant intake of ambient aether to survive, their body requires food and water also but their aetherial soul requires aether to continue to exist. If a kitsune is starved of aether they will die. Kitsune are far more resistant to diseases then humans.

Mental Characteristics

Despite their similarity to humans physically, kitsune are very different mentally. They alternate between their human and aetherial beast natures. As they were created from aether beasts, one side of them lacks empathy and has very strong primal desires. The other side comes from their human based body and has empathy and compassion. They constantly flip between the two sides, and it is a constant and unending cycle. As a general rule, they will have more control over their primal desires as they obtain more tails. Kitsune are naturally flighty, being very easily frightened and prone to hiding or running from things they are scared of. Just like the aetherial foxes they were created from, they are very clever and have a gift for deception. They are also partial to being playful, creative and in some cases flirtatious. Most kitsune do not like being around large groups of people and prefer to be in close knit social groups or alone.

Primal Desires

The most prominent aspect of a kitsune are their primal desires, which are a major aspect of their personality and character. Primal desires come and go much like emotions, however while the desire is present the kitsune will feel a strong urge to fulfill it. These urges are more controllable as the kitsune gets more tails, but can be very overpowering in the early years of a kitsune's life. The following list contains the most common desires and their associated behavior. As a general rule of thumb for primal desires, they are animalistic in nature and are associated with a sub-sentient creature's need to survive.

Primal Desires: (All desires fade after a few hours or a day)

• Flight - The kitsune will feel a strong desire to flee, usually from the rest of society or an object of fear. Commonly results in ending up far away from any other people.
• Playful - The kitsune will feel a strong desire to play with another, perhaps even forcibly.
• Wanting - The kitsune will be compelled to take or grasp a specific object and not relinquish possession of it.
• Hoarding - The kitsune will be compelled to amass a collection of a particular thing (likely food), and will be very aggressive towards anyone who wants to take from the collection or even get near it.
• Aggression - The kitsune will feel a strong desire to either fight or avoid the object of aggression, depending on their personality they may want to fight physically or verbally, or simply display cold behavior.
• Dominance - The kitsune will have a strong desire to assert superiority over others they deem inferior. This may include anything from competitive behavior to all out brawls.
• Procreation - The kitsune will experience a strong desire to procreate with another individual. This does not involve any shared feelings and is purely primal lust.
• Safety - The kitsune will be compelled to hide in an area or space they consider safe and will refuse to leave.
• Hunting - The kitsune will have a strong desire to stalk a lesser animal and kill it if given the opportunity.
• Protection - The kitsune will have a strong desire to protect someone close to them or someone in need, and will be very aggressive towards anyone who threatens the safety of the protected individual.

History

The Ancient Era

The kitsune were created during the Exodian Empire's golden era. The exodians were known for their mastery of magic and machines, and fused aetherial foxes from the forest with a body of flesh using the human body as a template. This resulted in a being that was of both worlds, and of neither at the same time. The kitsune proved valuable to the exodians, with superior physical senses and hypersensitivity to aether. They were used to detect spells and anomalies that could not be detected by human mages, as well as serve as assassins and servants for various members of the exodian aristocracy. After the collapse of the Exodian Empire, the kitsune were released from servitude and migrated to regions near present day Haru, Yumiko, Hayamashi, and Sakairen. Those regions were largely unsettled when they first arrived, and they formed primitive villages ruled under a tribal government.

Historical evidence suggests that these primitive villages prospered and over time evolved into a more civilized culture. The details of proto-kitsune culture are largely a mystery to present day Amestrians, however it is known that it involved a hierarchy that was based on age, with elders holding the most authority. There is evidence that the overall population of these kitsune villages grew to exceptional numbers, and that around this time large numbers of humans migrated into the region and were integrated into the kitsune villages. A hierarchy of clans within each village formed with the increase in human numbers, and the culture of the villages continued to evolve into a clan based power structure. Some villages became militaristic and waged war on the other villages in order to obtain more power and to eliminate competitors. This would result in a period of time in kitsune history known as the clan wars.

The Clan Wars

During the clan wars, large militaristic villages would wage war against each other for supremacy. These large villages would force smaller villages around them to swear fealty to them and provide soldiers and resources to fuel the warring village's war machine. The cultures of these villages evolved with the war, with most inhabitants being involved or indirectly involved in the military. The kitsune's proficiency for agility and superior magic casting and detection made them key warriors during the war, being far superior to humans in combat with the other predominantly kitsune villages. They developed their own fighting styles that monopolized on their agility and ability to cast intricate magic, and their weapons and armor became specialized to fit the needs of their unique fighting styles. All surviving war stories from this period speak of battles where fantastic feats of acrobatics and subtle magic were used by kitsune to outwit their opponents. In fact, there is evidence that the key historical villages involved in the clan wars had their own academies for training young kitsune these exotic fighting styles. The clan wars ultimately resulted in massive kitsune casualties, often entire villages being destroyed. Since humans were considered at the time to largely be inferior to kitsune when fighting other villages, they were often spared during village takeovers and comprised the bulk of a village's work force.

In the later stages of the war, the majority of the kitsune race had been eliminated through the constant battles between villages. It was during this time that humanity began to play a more direct role in the clan wars. Human inhabitants of a village were originally reserved for labor and did not participate in the war, but as the war progressed they were permitted into war academies to learn the combat skills needed to participate in the war. Villages had initially been ruled by a major clan and were inhabited by numerous smaller clans that would join them in battle. This would change throughout the course of the war, where major villages would instead appoint a feudal lord to take care of domestic matters while a war lord took care of military matters, and the feudal lords would appoint governors under them to rule the various minor villages that had sworn fealty to the major village. Unlike kitsune, humans lacked heightened senses, agility, and the ability to cast very complex magic, but they did possess the ability to cast powerful magic. The various combat styles they inherited from the kitsune would be changed to reflect humanity's lack of fine control and senses and greater reserves of power. The human warriors of the various villages would bring about the end of the clan wars, where their powerful magic based fighting styles would cause destruction on a level that the kitsune could never achieve.

Feudal Servitude

The Temarai clan had slowly grown in power over the course of the clan wars, and ultimately with the decrease in kitsune numbers and the increase in power due to human magic were able to assert dominance over the other major villages. The Temarai clan was human in lineage, and upon winning the war, cast all remaining kitsune into forced servitude. An era of peace would follow the aftermath of the catastrophic war, and the unique combat styles of the clan wars era would slowly fade away. There was much segregation among the villages and they would occasionally wage war against each other in major disputes, under the watchful eye of the Temarai clan leader. Traditional weapons would be used during these skirmishes, and wars were far more traditional and only a pale reflection of what had once been. The number of kitsune continued to drop over the course of time, the remainder of which resided within powerful families and were used as servants or assassins. Some prominent families within the Temarai Feudal States have intermarried with kitsune servants, resulting in some kitsune being noble blooded and not bonded to servitude. In present times the kitsune are almost non-existent, the remaining few reside within the nobility or as servants of elite families within the Temarai Feudal States.