Fox Spirit

While they are called “fox spirits” (in English), they are not “spirits” in the sense of being full spiritual beings. Fox spirits (also called “demon fox”) are a type of yāoguài/yōkai (that is, they have a physical body) native to East Asia. The archetypal fox spirt is the nine-tailed fox. Prominent nine-tailed foxes include the Dragon Suppressing Great Immortal (壓龍大仙) (from Journey to the West) and Tamamo-no-Mae (from Japanese mythology).

Appearance

Being masters of the transformation, fox spirits often take human form, usually attractive men or women. Fox spirits gain an additional tail for every hundred years of life, and with each additional tail, their fox form grows larger such that by the time they reach five tails, they are the size of a tiger. After 1000 years, a fox spirit will possess nine tails and reach the peak of their power, being able to change the size of their fox form as well. Apart from their beast and human form, fox spirits can gain a third, hybrid form with sufficient training, allowing them to maximize their power usage and efficiency.

Abilities

The fox spirit’s signature ability is their fox fire (狐火, kitsunebi). Their demonic aura (妖気, Chinese: yāoqì, Japanese: yōki) can is of fire-attribute, and a denser, more powerful aura will produce a more powerful flame. That’s why fox spirits with more tails can produce more intense, hotter flame. Fox spirits are able to manipulate this fire at will, making it flow over their body to form armor, emit it from any part of their body, and even control their flames remotely.