Quote Originally Posted by Shadow_in_the_Mist View Post
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.
Hrm. I really like the idea of the Tanuki trying to fix an alchemical mistake, it gives them some sort of history. Perhaps they used a type of medicine to overcome a sickness or illness and it backfired. The same idea of magical abuse, but without the political implications.

As for the connection between the Tanuki and the Elixir Vitae, I never suggested getting rid of it. Just that the average (and most above-average) person wouldn't know the exact connection so it could be a little fuzzy because the players wouldn't know the exact nature.