Kitsune in Polesia

It is unclear exactly what the kitsune are or where they originated from. Many of the Okubo hold them to be trickster spirits; however the race’s corporeal nature and seeming mortality lead many to think that they might be some sort of descendent from migrating fey, much like the elves and gnomes.

The kitsune live in Asashiro in secluded locales. Specifically, the great and ancient forest of Kitsune-Mori is the home to almost all kitsune. Like wood elves, they live in homes and communities that blend seamlessly with nature. (Though rather than building homes that tend to reach high into the trees like elves, kitsune tend to live on ground-level or lower.)

Kitsune are closely tied with spirits of the natural world. They are tricksters at heart, and tend to toy with people in an almost childlike way.

They're similar in many ways to the rakshasa of the south eastern contries, who are also shape shifters. But while rakshasa have dark spirits, wanting to enslave and destroy and use their imperious magic to subjugate, kitsune are smaller, weaker, and more prone to fun and mischief than evil.

Some may notice that rakshasa are in many places in the east, but there are none in Asashiro. Ancient legends tell a story that the kitsune tricked rakshasa into leaving and never returning. No one is sure how this was accomplished, and many scoff at it as a kitsune exaggeration, but it seems strange that while they exist in in many other lands throughout the Sengari Sea, they are conspicuously absent from the larger continent.

Kitsune like to take human form and wade into humanoid society, often to play tricks, spy, or just explore. Old folktales often mention female kitsune like to approach human men and convince them in tricky ways to commit to acts of incredible bravery, which often leads to a kitsune character appearing in many legends and sagas.