Kitsune

The Kitsune is one of the species inhabitating Mareth. Not to be confused with the fox-morph, the kitsune resembles a human but with fox ears and one or more fox tails. A kitsune may also have fox paws.

Kitsune NPCs

There are currently four kitsunes in the CoC game:

The three Forest Kitsunes - Three sisters living in a mansion in the Deepwoods. One of them is a hermaphrodite, the others female. All are six-tailed.

https://static.orain.org/corruptionofchampions.orain.org/images/thumb/c/c5/Kitsune_Blck.png/101px-Kitsune_Blck.png https://static.orain.org/corruptionofchampions.orain.org/images/thumb/9/96/Kitsune_Blnd.png/102px-Kitsune_Blnd.png https://static.orain.org/corruptionofchampions.orain.org/images/thumb/7/7b/Kitsune_rdhd.png/100px-Kitsune_rdhd.png

Zetsuko - A four-tailed female kitsune enslaved, corrupted and driven to insanity by Ceraph. If a player takes Ceraph as a slave, there is a chance that if they call her for sex, she will be busy and will send this NPC in her place.

Becoming a Kitsune

The archtypical kitsune has fox ears and fox tail(s) but is otherwise human in appearance. You also count as a kitsune if you have fox paws for feet but if your Fox Score is too high, you become a fox-morph. (It is possible you count as a kitsune with two or more fox tails even if you don't have fox ears - further research is needed to determine this.) You can gain fox ears and a single fox tail by consuming Fox Berries or Vixen's Vigor or by using Fox Jewels or Mystic Jewels. Additional tails can only be gained through Fox Jewels or Mystic Jewels. Fox Jewels can be used in two different ways: regular use from your inventory or by meditating at the Kitsune Shrine with a Fox Jewel in your inventory. The latter method increases the chance for the transformation to occur. You can only gain a maximum of eight tails by regular use of Fox Jewels. The ninth tail requires either meditation at the shrine (available only if player has not taken the golden statue) or a Mystic Jewel. Please note, however, that your level limits the number of tails you can have. For instance, if you are level 4, you can only get up to 4 tails. The number of tails is equal to your level all the way up to level 9+ where you reach the maximum number of tails, nine. In other words, becoming level 9 is a requirement to gaining 9 tails.

History

It is said that Taoth, the fox Trickster god was involved in the kitsune race in some way. It's just a rumour and may not be true but the existence of the abandoned Kitsune Shrine must mean that the kitsunes once had a much richer and complex culture than what the scattered semi-savage in-game kitsunes show. According to rumours, there are at least one surviving kitsune village where much of the old culture is maintained.

Locations

Kitsune's Mansion - The home of the three Forest Kitsunes in the Deepwoods.
Kitsune Shrine - An abandoned kitsune shrine in the Deepwoods.

Related and Similar Races

Other canine anthropomorphic races in Mareth are:

Amily's Description

"Kitsune," she says matter-of-factly, nodding gently. "There's a race that's hard to categorize, if there ever was one."

You ask her what she means by this.

"Well, they don't seem to be demons, exactly, but they do share a few things in common with them. In spite of that, they somehow seem to have an amazing resistance to corruption. From the tales I've heard, they existed in their current form already for a long time before the demons arrived," she explains. Seeing your perplexed expression, she continues. "They have extremely potent magic, and they draw their power from living things to sustain it. They can get it in lots of ways, but it seems like their favorite way is through sexual contact. They form a sort of... link, with their partner, I suppose, and absorb small amounts of their life energy."

You nod, noting that you can see how that is similar to some of the demons you've come across.

"Physically, they're not the strongest, but they don't have to be–once they've got you caught in one of their illusions, you're pretty much under their power. Despite that, they don't seem to be particularly evil... at least, for the most part."

You give her a slightly quizzical look and then press her on the details.

"Well... I've never seen one face-to-face, but I've heard some other travelers tell stories about meeting corrupted kitsune. Nasty pieces of work, if any of it's true. Most kitsune are fairly innocuous, if a little irritating. Sometimes they can actually be pretty friendly, if you play along right. They seem to get off on making mischief, but it's more or less harmless–the worst that ever happens is you wind up getting lost in the woods or find some kind of treasure that turns out to be a box of rocks when you bring it home. The corrupted ones though... they cross a line. Their tricks are downright vindictive... and once they finish tormenting you, they'll suck the life right out of you without a moment's hesitation."

You ask how anyone knows this much about them, if even meeting one is so dangerous. Amily scratches her head a bit and blushes, clearly a little embarrassed to not have a definitive answer for this one. "W-well... it's mostly just conjecture. Like I said, I'm only repeating what I've heard."

She pauses for a moment, and then speaks up with another interesting fact in an attempt to save face. "They do seem to have a strange fascination with tentacle beasts, for some reason."

From the blush on her face, you get the feeling that she may be speaking from experience. You don't press her on the matter though, just nodding politely as you process the information.

Notes

The Kitsune village mentioned in the History chapter is a proposed extension to the game. It's uncertain whether it will ever be implemented.

Trivia

Kitsune is the Japanese word for fox. Japanese mythology contains numerous legends about fox people with strong magical powers. The Mareth kitsune seems to be inspired both by the Japanese kitsune and by European mythology about the fox as an acomplished trickster.