Kumiho

Very little is known of this race, if it exists at all.

What the stories say however is that the Kumiho's natural form resembles that of a fox. Their life spans are extremely long and can stretch into the thousands of years and some speculate that they may actually be immortal.

Over the course of their first thousand years of life they grow additional tails (in addition to their first) at a rate of one every 125 years. As they develop they gain better abilities.

For instance one-tails can only stay in their normal state and often live as normal foxes during this stage. Once they gain a second tail they gain the ability to shape shift, create small illusions, and have some minute control over fire and it's creation. These abilities however are fairly poor until about the time they receive their fifth or sixth tail.

After a thousand years of life a Kumiho receives it's ninth and final tail. These creatures are quite powerful and can create very convincing illusions to the point that they can cause physical damage to individuals who give into the illusion. They are very rare even among the Kumiho as one has to live a thousand years to become a nine tail. The Kumiho may have long life spans but this does not mean that they are invulnerable, many fall prey to accidents or other factors before reaching this phase.

One distinguishing feature of the Kumiho is glowing red eyes which can be noticed in dark environments. The Kumiho can control this, however, sometimes they may slip-up and allow this glow to show especially if they are weak or very stressed.

It is said that some dogs (strangely particularly three legged dogs) can detect the presence of a Kumiho.

Although it is doubtful that these creatures exist, it is rumoured that a number of Patoxian officials are actually Kumiho and the nation is secretly controlled by them and an ancient Kumiho council chamber exists under the Patoxian Imperial Palace for their use. This however is considered to be an insane conspiracy theory in most circles.