Base: Kitsune
Kitsune, or fox folk, are vulpine shapeshifters known for their love of both trickery and art. Kitsune possess the ability to mimic the shape of other medium humanoids with reasonably similar features to their own, such as lynix and vanara. Despite a nearly irrepressible penchant for deception, kitsune prize loyalty and strive to develop true companions and friendships. They delight in the arts, particularly riddles and storytelling, and are found anywhere there are networks of civilization cutting through the wilderness.
Though a few kitsune work as farmers, traders, shopkeeps, or other more mundane professions, most prefer to interact in the realms of music, theatre, the arts, or the collection and curation of rare antiquities and fine goods. Though mischevious, their charming personalities often get them out of minor trouble with individuals of other races who know them well enough.
Kitsune tend to be vocally superstitous about any number of minor, innocent events, usually snippets of wisdom passed down family lines forever after a specifc hazardous event befell a prominent character in the framework of kitsune cultural legends.
In their natural form, kitsune appear as anthropomorphic vulpines, standing bipedal, with arms ending in hands with opposable thumbs, and a fox head. Their coats are universally a shade of light or dark red, with occasional white and/or black accents, but many kitsune entertainers will partially or completely recolor their fur, either for an act or for fashion. Their eyes are always a very light shade of golden or amber eyes, and are comparatively larger and more expressive than most other races.
The innate shapeshifting abilities of the kitsune allow them to slightly alter their form in such a way as to mimic other humanoids they have seen with a certain amount of similarity to their own form. Kitsune of the Weeping Reaches are known to easily be able to mimic a vanara, satyr, or lynix. Rarely, a particularly brave kitsune may attempt to impersonate something just outside their size range, such as a gnoll, or a ratfolk. This skill is magic in nature, but instinctual in execution. The numerous alternate forms an individual kitsune possesses are expressions of that individual's unique personal energy, and the depth of their body's ability to handle shapeshifting. As such, while a kitsune can make themselves look like a lynix, they can only ever appear as the same lynix each time they adopt that specific form. The only thing that never changes about a kitsune assuming a different form is the color of their eyes.
Few isolated kitsune communities exist, with most kitsune living in integrated communities. K itsune culture is viewed as enigmatic, as kitsune prize loyalty among their friends, even while they delight in good-natured mischief and trickery. Kitsune take pleasure in the pursuit of creative arts and in all forms of competition, especially in games of skill or in the telling of stories interwoven with tall tales and falsehoods.
Though most kitsune are not particularly envious or greedy, many enjoy the finer luxuries civilization has to offer, more from a hedonistic point of view than a materialistic one. It is not uncommon for particularly charistmatic kitsune to charm their way into the upper echelons of a town's social circles for the sole purpose of accessing ameneties otherwise unaccesible to them.
In some places, kitsune are distrusted as con artists and thieves, and, in those places, the lack of trust is well deserved, as kitsune with greater degrees of moral ambiguity often take well to lives of crime and will usually band together with other like-minded kitsune to out-think and out-charm their ways to the top of the underworlds in their chosen territory.
Kitsune get along with most other animated, charismatic races, such as lynix and vanara. Though they don't dislike the more stoic races, like the orrk'ari or the varanidae, the latter usually can't (or won't) say the same about the former. Crafters and artisans who work with kitsune peers almost always consider their colleague in a favorable light, admiring their skill and passion for their choice of craft or trade.
Their mischevious nature can often put them at odds with the more serious races. For this reason, many kitsune rarely rise very high in "serious" endeavors, such as politics or trade, though it is rare for a kitsune's passions to lead them into such positions in the first place. They tend to view life as a series of experiences to be had, rather than a progressions of hurdles to overcome.
Regardless of background, kitsune trend towards neutrality, though particularly mischevious and/or troublemaking kitsune are most certainly chaotic. Their perchance for trickery can cause them to come up at odds with local laws and customs, though most kitsune are smart enough not to make a mess in their own front yard.
There are few true kitsune deities, and few kitsune practice and sort of spiritual or religious worship. Those kitsune that are drawn to the path of the divine are just as content to pick gods from other cultures as they are their own, leaning towards deities of craftsmanship, trickery, or wealth.
Many kitsune hold a secret (or, sometimes, not so secret) desire to become heros of legend, and to be notable characters in the eventual myths of the current age. Sometimes, for no apparent reason at all, they will risk life and limb for a cause they have no reason to back. If it sounds interesting, or somehow serves one of their many personal goals, they will gladly and amiably join a group of adventurers set on any random quest.
Ayaki, Chankotu, Imhakaru, Jiyoki, Kyrsaku, Miyaro, Namkitu, Shinyai, Yanyeeku, Yulai