Designing Star-Fantasy Races

[Shadow_in_the_Mist]

1) Minor nitpick, but gender is technically already 100% cultural roles rather then physical sex. That's what gender IS. I think it should be rephrased to "Further complicating the matter, tanuki do have different gender identities, selected by the tanuki when they become older and decide which role they want when rearing children."

It is nitpicking, but that's a fair rewrite.

2) Why do they swap genders so often? I am not saying that's a bad decision, but I don't think you can have a society with expectations of random gender changes without some explanation. Through I think tanuki should also change genders to prank other races. That's more of their mythos then their 'purse'!

Again, that may require some rewriting. What I meant is that tanuki don't consider gender "fixed"; the individual who know as a "father" might one day decide he wants to be a "mother", talking about how he's found a lover he wants to settle down with and bear children by, or a calm "mother" may resume more "fatherly" behavior and become a wild party-animal once her children have moved out of the house.

Though you're right in that messing with peoples' heads by switching genders is prime prank material amongst tanuki.

3) I thought the beastfolk of the Aurian empire were already pretty animal-like. I...Don't really think most of us have a good idea what an androgynous male tanuki would look like in real life, let alone a humanoid version. Also, did you approve of them being chubbier or fluffier then most other races to give them a rotund appearance?

Keep in mind, you're seeing an orphaned paragraph; in the codex as a whole, there will be more detail to hopefully fill in things so you can picture them.

Also, yes, I approved of them being generally curvier than normal, due to both biology and fluffy fur.


So, do either of you think I should start coming up with and elaborating upon cosmic locales now? It seems like we're pretty much agreed on the tanuki sex/gender issue. Unless Max_Killjoy suddenly swoops in out of nowhere with a well aimed logic torpedo, that is.