The Foxlin of Ashirion

As time has passed these creatures have changed from how they first interacted with the broken sphere and her people. It is time at last, now to reveal a little about how they came about and what they are like now, as the tribal ways are lost and the ways of the City Folk permeate their every pore and moment.

The Foxlin are the result of a magical experiment that went wrong, or some say that Fortune's hand was felt that day indeed. Or rather her darker and mostly sombre side turned a coin to their destiny. A powerful mage was experimenting with various concoctions and potions, always seeking a way to enhance his power and to increase his intelligence.

Some say that Fortune turned her hand of luck to his endeavours and allowed him to hit upon a formula that would do exactly that. But some also say that while her good luck shone upon him in this endeavour, it was her dark shadow that turned a success into a twisted chance for a new race to emerge.

The mage's familiar, a fox, spilt the wizard's concoction and drank of some, fearing for its life from the terrible pain it suddenly felt the creature fled. It went out into the world, but the mixture changed it and from that day forth when the pain subsided the creature remained a fox, losing its bond to its master. It was no surprise that various unions occurred between this once familiar and vixens around the forests.

But the cubs were different, they were beyond normal foxes and eventually they grew to use two legs and not four, their intelligence was far advanced than a normal cub and the race spread like wildfire into the regions of Ashirion. This all came to pass a mere thousand years ago. There were three tribes of Foxlin in the beginning and they were known as:

The tribe of the moon

The tribe of the sun

The tribe of the river

They had a rich way of life in the beginning but as time moved on and the events that shrouded Ashirion in fire and ash still raged, even in the so-called peaceful times through the other lands, the shards of the broken sphere still had their own fair share of problems. There was a cadre of savage elves who were lost in their own ways, which were convinced that the forests and wild places of the world belonged to them and to them, alone.

To them the history of the sphere was a lie and the protectors of the land were a myth, for the purposes of this tale we shall call them the warriors of the thorn. They swept into the forests and wild places while the rest of the lands were trying to battle the Shadoen and ruthlessly butchered everything that was not like them, human settlers and Foxlin alike.

So the three great tribes were decimated, their ways were lost and the survivors became a ragtag mixture of the tribes, fleeing across the broken sphere - away from the bows, swords and spells of those ignorant, savage elves.

Now there are remains of the old ways that struggle to keep going, like dying candle flames in a heavy harsh wind. But death stalks their people out in the wild, not the Lady but death as a force of nature - they cannot remain as they are now and survive, they are too few in number compared to the others, those who escaped and made their homes in the stone and steel places of the world - the City Foxlin.

So there is very little information on the wild Foxlin, they are dwindling in numbers while the canny City Foxlin rise almost daily. What follows is the general Ashirion knowledge of the Foxlin of both kinds.

The wild Foxlin were split into three tribes and those tribes worshipped the natural ways, the Goddess Ch'marr and the Great Wolf were amongst the two of the deities that those creatures followed. The moon tribe were the sages and wise amongst the three, the sun were the warriors and more militant and the river were those who walked the path of the healers and brought food into the central villages. The three tribes existed in peaceful harmony with each other and called a moot every end of month to discuss the various issues that came to their attention.

The first Foxlin were gentle creatures and worked in harmony with the land they lived on, utilising the instincts of their kind to build homes into the very earth, as a fox might build a den. But their dens expanded into homemade caverns and simple huts in the forests. They evolved a tribal but complex social structure with many laws and a specific code of conduct, one of those laws was to limit contact with the outside world, the corrupting influences of the City folk might upset their delicate balance - but sadly it was not the City folk who caused the demise of these great people as the story tells, it was the savage elves who saw only a mixture of fox and man, an abomination to be cleansed by blade and fire.

The last devastating attack only happened around a hundred years or so ago.

They fought back of course but they were not the elves that had the ways of combat and the life span of magic on their side. The Goddess Ch'marr sought aid for the Foxlin from the protectors - the Shakari, even that proved futile since the Shakari were hard pressed in the greater battles that were being fought and stretched too thin.

Now there are very few wild Foxlin left and those who are hide in forests and shadows and are deeply entrenched in the dark places of the world, far away from the eyes of the savage elves and other enemies. The remains of the shattered tribes of three fled into the human and other occupied lands where they were offered refuge, all save Sudelar where they were killed on sight or made into slaves or worse.

In the last hundred years the Foxlin have changed from a nature-loving race of quiet creatures into something else. They have adapted to City life and now can be seen with no culture of their own, adopting the ways and means of their surrounding City - truly creatures of a chameleon nature. They pick up the local skills and talents that make the City live, trying their hand at anything, being minstrels, thieves or guards - a Foxlin is a creature that will make the best of adversity.

At one time they might have been a frivolous race, but many harsh lessons in the City and the very real threat of the Shadoen changed them from the happy and lucky creatures they were, to more pragmatic and mercenary in their outlook. There are some who attempt to cling to the old ways, but they often lose their minds to the attempt - becoming sad mirrors of what they used to be, babbling about the wild places and making a foolish 'mrrr'ing' noise that often causes other folk to treat them with a kind if not, semi-tolerant manner.

The Third War of Shadows caused a change in the Foxlin outlook and they have turned their hands towards more visceral tasks and occupations. Many find that they have a taste for a life at sea and the most notorious of them all is a Foxlin that goes by the name of Captain Russet, she commands a vessel known as the 'Brazen' and inspires loyalty and courage from her crewmembers. In the last few months of the War against the Shadoen, Russet lost virtually all of her crew and the Brazen was crippled, but due to her actions she was rewarded by the Crown and given one of the coveted Soulsteel blades bestowed by the mysterious Sh'roud.

The typical Foxlin outlook now is one of careful and suspicious tolerance of others - they are not the happy friendly race they once were. They have changed to reflect a more human approach and outlook over the years and thusly have no defined racial or species traits anymore. What a human might do a Foxlin certainly could try - jacks-of-all-trades and masters of none.

A typical Foxlin look and costume would be similar to those that are worn by characters such as Kadojala, Snowfire, Alexander, Fira.

Lian Sheng and Katsu are examples of Foxlin who have embraced other cultures and come from different Shards.

+showdesc <name of char>

Foxlin are anthromorphic creatures with planti-grade legs (normal human type), a humanoid style body and body structure apart from the head, which is that of a fox. They also have tails and are covered in fur. They do not have paws and have perfectly shaped clawed hands, often they adorn those as well because it seems to be the in thing, again it's highly dependant on the City they are in and what the influences are around them. They have a range of heights just like human beings and they age, live and die just like humans do. The Foxlin senses are as sharp as a fox's and so is their hearing. They give birth to other Foxlin and never to proper foxes, they also follow the human race in that respect and have no abnormal changes to their life cycle.