Designing Star-Fantasy Races

[Shadow_in_the_Mist]

I personally would find it amusing if the Jarill found it poetic to destroy planets with bits of other planets. What a sorry way to live!

Agreed on that. It does make a lot of sense.

I feel as if this could go one of two ways: The first being that the Kitsune have a 'cover' in that they are usually servants of high-ranking castes or courtiers to disguise their activities. The other is that they have no cover because the Aurian empire isn't doing anything wrong! They are protecting their charges!

Also, Kitsune maybe should be able to shapeshift, (I know the Japanese version can, I think the Korean/Chinese version can as well?) so having a cover isn't as important to them because you never meet a Kitsune in Kitsune form on the job.

Hmm... hard to say; really, I'm kind of having a hard time picturing the kitsunes as an entire race of spies, couriers and diplomats.

If it helps, this is my current draft of the kitsune statblock in general D&D 5e play; apart from ignoring the Hengeyokai racial trait, because I'm not seeing the "turn into aniomal or human shape" being that useful in a setting this multi-racial, I feel it's pretty solid, and it may help us figure out what to do with kitsunes.

Spoiler: 5e Kitsune stats, spoilered for smoother reading.

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Kitsune
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Charisma, +1 Intelligence
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Vision: Darkvision 60 feet
Foxfire: You know the Produce Flame and Dancing Light cantrips, which you can cast with Charisma. At 3rd level, you can cast Faerie Fire with this trait as a 1st level spell once per long rest, again using Charisma as your casting ability score.
Trickster’s Guile: You have Proficiency in Charisma (Deception).
Hengeyokai: Fox

Racial Feat: Fox Magic
Some kitsune are more magical than others. Through deliberate meditation or just the whims of fate, you are amongst those kitsune whose magical potency is naturally greater.
Prerequisite: Race - Kitsune
Effect: Choose one of the Tails listed below. At 3rd level, you gain the ability to cast a single spell determined by that tail. At 5th level, you gain a second spell also determined by that tail. Finally, at 9th level, you gain a third and final spell determined by that tail. Spells cast through this feat are cast at their minimum caster level and use Charisma as their spellcasting ability score. Spells cast through this feat can be used once, and then you must complete a long rest before you can cast them again.
Special: You may take this feat multiple times. Each time you select it, you must select a new Tail to gain.
Special: When you first select a Tail through this feat, you gain an additional tail. You gain a second tail when you gain a spell at 9th level due to this feat. Extra tails are visible in fox and hybrid form and may, at the DM’s discretion, grant you Advantage on Charisma checks against other yokai, who recognize their numbers as a sign of power.

• Tail of Charm: Charm Person at 3rd level, Suggestion at 5th level, Hypnotic Pattern at 9th level.
• Tail of Wrath: Blindness/Deafness at 5th level, Bestow Curse at 9th level.
• Tail of Fire: Burning Hands at 3rd level, Aganazzar's Scorcher at 5th level, Fireball at 9th level.
• Tail of Malice: Crown of Madness at 5th level, Fear at 9th level.

I feel like a strong culture of hospitality would be welcome here. Perhaps even an inclination to chubbier figures ala the WoW Pandaren.

Also, the idea of them being alchemists is a fun twist on one of their most famous abilities: Instead of turning leaves into money, they turn leaves into profit.

Both the hospitality-pride as a cultural quirk makes sense, as tanuki are generally portrayed as very friendly (or at least amusingly oafish) in myths, and the chubbier figure makes sense; tanuki in real life are pretty fluffy, and in mythology, the round belly of the tanuki is itself one of the reasons why it's a symbol of good fortune. Specifically, it represents being bold and calmly decisive.

Doesn't even have to be decided. My proposal of them suffering a past event and turning (or being turned) to the empire still stands, even if the exact nature of their relationship to the Elixier Vitae is never defined. I would imagine that the areas PCs would likely come from (Roving bands of Vanadiran raiders, Space Pirates, or Gyokutoan rebels) wouldn't be likely to know the truth. I doubt most of the Empire would.

Point... maybe drop that connection then, as you said.

Personally, I don't think anyone will fault you for removing their gigantic....Yeah. Perhaps they are sexist? I don't know how the Aurians feel about that. On the one hand, I sorta like the idea that to the God-Emperors, the differences in sex for their mortal wards is really quite insignificant. I also like the idea that they are a practical, wise people, so instead of splitting up labor by sex it makes more sense to pay attention to personal aptitude then to squishy bits. It also presents a different approach then the Traggen, Aelfar, and Vanadirans. And if everyone is overly concerned with people's sex and what profession they have it does get a little weird.

It could also just be a matter of confusion. Fertility rituals were the ranking priest would don a costume to show exaggerated genitals would certainly confuse outsiders if they didn't realize that the priest was a female. Perhaps with a chubbier figure and thick, plush, fur it's a little harder to tell what is going on underneath. Or Tanuki, being Tanuki, like to spread their fertility rituals and shock outsiders at the same time and a figure or ritual associated with exaggerated genitals became a favored pastime of drunk Tanuki partying in other people's lands.

Another possibility is that unlike the real-life Tanuki, males have glossier, more colorful morphs. With the advent of genetic manipulation, women felt that men shouldn't be the only ones with a lovely golden or reddish coat instead of their drab gray. Having a procedure done to get the male coat is quite fashionable as well as confusing for outsiders. If the Tanuki are fond of pranks (as they well should be), they might find it quite amusing to go as far as to use perfumes to mask their sex to further confuse others as a joke.

Or, the event that caused them to be dependent on the Empire was perpetuated by the Aelfar, who unleashed a plague that caused them to be greatly sexually dimorphic. Males lost their sense of smell and became larger, while females retained their scent and remained small. Not all Tanuki go by such standards, but it is traditional for a female to handle the cooking, brewing and household affairs due to being less clumsy and having a sense of smell. Males are associated with money outside of the household, because being big and intimidating, they are less likely to get mugged. Males are more common outside of their home world not due to a sense of keeping the women home, but because they still dominate trade. Which would preserve the connection between a male tanuki's sack and his sack of money. (and of course, much like the Japanese Samurai class, traditional male tanuki hand over any money they made to their spouse.)

Unlike the other vassal races, the tanuki's sexually dimorphism might be seen as highly aberrant. Even if the Tanuki are quite dimorphic some females might find it funny or safer to pose (or given Tanuki powers, to become as strong) as a male. Tanuki do possess a shapeshifting ability in many stories, after all.

Yeah... I think the real issue why I'm considering the matter is, one, my exposure to the decidedly less than PG-13 rated Golarion setting, and two, my familiarity with Trials in Tainted Space - don't ask about it here, and don't look it up; it's very much Not Safe For Work. It's... probably best to leave out that particular reference, because it's too easy to become magical realmy. I don't know, what do you think, Max_Killjoy? Or anyone else keeping up with this thread?

I feel it is quite evil, easy to mistake as political commentary that wasn't intended, and far too unsubtle for the God-Emperors. Also a good way to make the Tanuki defect.

Aggred; on reflection, it just does not make sense.

Well, hyenas have a psuedo-phallus. If Tanuki are shape shifters maybe they just become male or male-ish when convenient. Stuck outside without a bathroom? Yeah, better become male. Want to write your name in the snow? No problem! Female bathroom has longer lines? Quick fix to that!

You rejected the idea of several male genders earlier, but what if that applied to the Tanuki? See, depending on the food the mother eats, her sons wind up as Alpha/Beta/Gamma males. Outsiders mistake females for gamma males, despite this class of males actually resembling females.

I appreciate the sentiments, but... nah, neither really feels right for a tanuki.

Again, I would shy away from this unless you intend to make political discourse.

I don't know... I do get the logic that maybe it's best to just remove the testicle reference altogether, or go with your "it stems from a tanuki fertility deity and/or rites honoring said deity", and I'm happy to stick with it.

That said, in a world where magic is real, it's logical that people can abuse it out of just not thinking things through - our own world history is proof of that. And, as I said, strong cultural selection for one gender has had a real problematic outcome in our world today; places like China and India genuinely are facing issues where the cultural preference for sons has led to a severe deficit of women. So, it isn't really that implausible on pure logic that you could have a species that screwed itself over by playing around with magic in pursuit of cultural beliefs that, whoopsy, turned out to be not such a bright idea.

So... yeah, I could personally see & use tanuki as a male-favoring/masculine "weird gendered" race, but I admit that's magical realm contaminated. Unless you and Max_Killjoy have a change of opinions, let's stick with this idea:

The tanuki are a bawdy people whose most beloved deity/deities sport exaggerated testes, so icons of those and religious ceremonies where priests wear exaggerated genitalia have become infamous.