Fox Spirits

Basic Information

Anatomy

Fox spirits are shape-changers, they can alter their appearance at will. Their traditional appearance is that of a large quadruped of the family vulpine. They can change there shape to that of any humanoid they have seen with some minor hold overs from their original form, or they can perfectly mimic the appearance of any creature which they have eaten. They can have anywhere from 1-9 tails that flow behind their main body like smoke or flames.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Fox spirits who receive worship do not need food. However those that are not worshiped must eat a single human soul every 6 months to remain healthy or risk starving. They can eat more than this and then go for years on end without eating. Most spirits cannot eat souls out right, they must force a series of circumstances that allows them to more easily separate the soul from the living host. Fox spirits, however, have evolved to remove souls from the body with their teeth alone. How they have managed this is unclear, but Theoretic Spiritualists believe that they are able to make their jaws exist in both the spiritual and material planes simultaneously, thus allowing them to rip the soul and flesh from their target.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Fox spirits tend to form small close knit family units called dens. A den consists of a single fox, its mate, and whatever child / children they are currently rearing. Fox spirits will live on their own for long periods of time and will be isolationists until they find themselves a mate. A fox spirit will only take one mate throughout its life time, and does not take a new one even when their mate dies. Even when living among humans, they tend to emulate this structure.

Uses, Products & Exploitation

Fox spirits are seen as useful by spiritualists.  They supposedly make excellent familiars and are often sought out for this purpose.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Fox spirits are most commonly found in East and South East Asia (China, Vietnam, Korea, Japan).  In Chinese, the fox spirit is referred to as Huli Jing, in Korean as Kumiho, in Japanese as Kitsune, and in Vietnamese as Ho Tinh.

Average Intelligence

They are extremely intelligent spirits whose intelligence typically outstrips that of the average humans. They tend to be rather arrogant because of this

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Fox spirits have incredibly keen senses, the greatest of which is there sense of smell. They can track an individual from several miles away on a near cold trail. However, these senses only become more honed the longer they live. When they are first born, their senses are comparable to that of a wild red fox.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Fox spirits often give their children names based on the region their birth. Many in Korea and Vietnam give their children names that are common to humans in that region. However, in China and Japan, fox spirits are often named for celestial events, higher concepts, their geographic area of birth, or some other factor.

History

Fox spirits were first recounted in China in the year 284 of the Age of Minoa (circa 407 BCE using the RWC). While they are first written of during this time period, they are believed to be far older with stories of vulpine trickster spirits going back over 7,000 years. Over the centuries, the names of these entities have been recorded in Japan, Korea and Vietnam. In China they are referred to as "huli jing," in Japan as "kitsune," in Korea as "kumiho," and in Vietnamese as "Tinh linh." For as long as they have existed, they have been recorded as man-eaters. While they do not need to eat humans, humans are their preferred prey and they have developed the ability to shapeshift to increase their success on the hunt.

Fox spirits hunt humans, but humans also hunt fox spirits. Their tails have a variety of uses, acting as ingredients in powerful magical spells, elixirs, and focuses. A single fox spirit tail is considered to be not only a very rare ingredient but owning one is also considered to be a status symbol (1 tail = roughly $500,000* US on the black market). Because of this, poachers who are willing to risk their lives can make millions of dollars on the black market. Fox spirits claim the reason they target humans is because of these senseless killings, although it is more of a chicken / egg scenario when it comes to who killed first. Not all humans see fox spirits as conniving tricksters and killers, some worship them as gods. This is particularly true is certain parts of Japan, where they are seen as guardian deities and divine messengers. Some humans even have fox spirits within their own family tree such as the famous Japanese Sorcerer, Abe no Seimei, whose mother was said to be a fox spirit.

Historical Figures

One of the worlds most infamous fox spirits is a female that referred to herself as Tamamo-no-Mae (Lady Duckweed). A nine tailed fox spirit, she transformed herself into a young woman and presented herself as one of Emperor Toba's courtesans. She made the emperor sick, and was eventually exposed by Abe-no-Yasuchika forcing her to flee the palace. She was finally imprisoned in a stone outside of Nasu. This stone became known as Sesshouseki (the killing stone) because it killed everything it came in contact with. However, the story everyone knows that claims the stone was excised by a Buddhist monk is false, the stone that the public is allowed to visit is a fake, the real one is actually located outside of town in a cordoned off area. It has been declared a private zone by the Japanese government and a death sentence is placed on anyone who enters the region without the permission of either the current Emperor or the Head Court Wizard. The fox was believed to be responsible for the death of an Indian King, the near death of a Chinese Emperor, and is believed to be responsible for the death of countless other humans via the manipulation of these rulers. She is considered to be one of the most evil spirits in the world.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Fox spirits rarely form interspecies relationships, as they tend to look down on other spirits. There are rare occasions in which a fox spirit forms a strong emotional attachment to a specific human, however that human would have to do quite a lot to prove worthy of the spirits trust and this emotional attachment can be easily broken by small things. A relationship between these two species rarely ends well.

Lifespan

30,000 years? (no one is entirely sure how long they live)

Average Height

1.9 - 2.4 m

Average Weight

90 - 130 kg (in true form)

Average Length

5 - 8 m from tail to snout

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Fox spirits run the gambit of natural colors for a fox, with fur in colors of grey, red, orange, brown, and white; however, unlike real foxes, their fur can also come in the colors of blue, gold, bronze, silver, and green. Some fox spirits will mark their fur with colors that stand out against their natural colors as a show of power but not all choose to do this.