Fictional thought exercise

[chipotle]

In a setting that is an alternate version of feudal Japan, with races of anthropomorphic animals instead of humans but no other (overt) magic and myth, what would it mean for a fox-person to be a kitsune?

Comments

Oh dear.

[tashiro.livejournal.com]

Okay. The way I do it is that you have fox folk. The kitsune are considered the 'nobility' of the fox folk (the upper, upper ranks of the Great Clans are kitsune, while the nobility and down are descended from them).

The kitsune in this case are seen as legendary figures, just one step short of being gods. They're kami, lesser spirits with spiritual powers, and represent the paragon of what a fox is supposed to be. They're ancestral spirits, divine guides, and the like.

Fortunately, the kitsune aren't alone. There's also usagi spirits, tengu, tanuki, ryu, etc. So it isn't that foxes are 'special', but they're the ones focussed on in the game I have.

Re: Oh dear.

[chipotle.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting approach. I think for the story setting I'm working with there'd be a stronger delineation between the mortal foxes and the kami, although if there are kitsune equivalents there's certainly other mythical beings from the folk tales -- the question is mostly whether they'd ever come up.

(The setting does have a story in it already, which is a very "straight" samurai story with nothing unusual other than the anthropomorphic animal aspect -- so while it's similar to "Usagi Yojimbo" in feel, there hasn't been any sign of magic. I suspect I'd keep it low-key enough that the main character suspects she's met a kami in fox guise, but is never going to get conclusive proof.)

Re: Oh dear.

[kynn.livejournal.com]

Why's it an anthro story if it's a "straight" samurai story, out of curiosity?

Re: Oh dear.

[kereminde.livejournal.com]

Author fiat.

Re: Oh dear.

[chipotle.livejournal.com]

It was written for Further Confusion's con book. I wrote it in a way that not only left the door open for other stories but all but required future stories, since I was using samurai movies as a template.

I don't want to really step into the whole "do anthro animals in a story need to be justified" debate here (and I use the word debate advisedly, in that it's been kicked around among furry writers and panelists for as long as I've been in the fandom). Part of what I'm indirectly exploring with this question, however, is one way in which the non-human-ness of the characters might manifest itself over the course of the story cycle.