Fanak (Fennec Kitsune)

Fanak

Habitat
Fanak is a race of Kitsune that can be found in places with open space like Akaptor Desert and Great Rocky Fields.

In Akaptor Desert, they live and travel together with Akaptor Nomads.

It is rare to see them in places where lack open space, like the jungles and cities.


Racial Characteristics
Unlike other races of Kitsune, Fanak are smaller in stature. They have shorter in height and their physical strength is even weaker than that of normal kitsunes. However, their body is adapted to survive and travel long distances in harsh environments like deserts by keeping water loss at the minimum.

The fur of their ears and tail is bright in colors.

Another visible difference is that desert kitsunes has a pair of large and long ears, as big as their faces. Together with their small body, these ears make them look cute and child-like. But these ears are not  just for show: they can pick up the faintest noise from far away, and are able to filter out information from environment extremely quickly. For example, they can hear a dozen people talking in a closed room simultaneously, while still being able to hear someone dropping a needle on the street outside. However, their extraordinary sense makes them more vulnerable against sound-based attacks.

Their vocal structure allows them make diverse kinds of sound. With this ability, they can change their own voices, mimick animal's noises, and let out of a ear-deafening shriek.

Like normal kitsunes, Fanaks often have more than one tail, depending on their lineage and magical power. The stronger they become in term of magic, the more tails they have.

Fanaks do not have the attractive scent as strong as other kitsunes. The reason is that their scent gland is not as developed. Though they still smell somewhat nice, they don't have the alluring scent capable to alter people's mind.


Abilities
Like other kitsunes, Fanak is capable magic users. Their magic of choice is wind-based, which they use expertly in open space. They also have a natural talent for illusion magic to trick people when needed. Their specialization, however, lies in enchantment magic.

Their art of enchantment excels enough that they enchant virtually everything physical from inorganic items to organic body parts, both permanently and temporarily. The drawback is that the enchantment often has side effects when using on living creatures, such as suffering serious muscle pain after muscle enchantment spell wears off. For this reason they tend to avoid temporarily enchanting anything organic and focus more on permanent item enchantment. Items that enchanted by Fanak are highly sought-after for their high quality and permanent effects, such as flying carpets, rustproof and wornproof weapons, etc. However, best ones are usually imported from Akaptor Desert, making these items very rare and pricey. This also leads to fake Fanak-enchanted products in the market.

Their extraordinary hearing sense allows them to detect faintest noises from a long distance, so it is not a wise idea to badmouth or speak of a plan against a Fanak unless you are a few miles away from the target. Fanak is also very good at eavesdropping. In a direct interaction, Fanaks can know whether someone lies or not by hearing the heartbeat. Finally, in combat, unless completely moving in absolute silence, it is very difficult to ambush a Fanak.

Next, Fanak can adjust the sound and the frequency of their voice depending on the purpose. For example, by talking with a sweet voice at a frequency that makes the listeners feel happy, their voice sounds nice and addicting to listen to, allowing Fanaks to easily convince people to do something for them. Or when they want to threaten someone, they speak with a harsh voice with a fear-inflicting frequency, making the listeners feel overwhelmed and  have to accept their terms. Not only that, Fanaks can also enchant their vocal chords in order to achieve better results, but such an act is considered cheating among Fanaks and like mentioned earlier, organic enchantment can cause side-effects.

Social behaviors
Fanaks have a strange weakness: they have claustrophobia, and often avoid visiting cramped places, like narrow alleys, crowded streets and closed buildings. When being imprisoned in a cramped place, they will grow panicked and may actually die. For this reason, they prefer living in open space like Akaptor Desert and places that does not have closed and solid walls, like tents. When having business inside small buildings, they feel more comfortable when staying near windows or entrances.

Their moral teaching often revolves around freedom, lessening the sadistic nature that is often found on other kitsune races and allowing them to have a little more respect for other people's freedom. However, lesser sadists are still sadists, so if there is an opportunity for them to make someone dance on their palms, they still gladly take it.

While looking cute, Fanak is actually a scheming folk and would not lend out their hand without expecting something in return. Their relationship with Akaptor Nomads is also thought to be the same: long time ago, when Fanak first immigrated in Felarya, the Nomads taught them how to survive. So in turn, Fanak offers their abilities to the Nomads to boost both races' defense against the harsh nature. But, it is difficult to know whether the relationship is mutual, because kitsune species are known for manipulating people, so the Fanak might try to do the same on the Nomads when the opportunity appears. Therefore, though they are still living together in harmony, the Nomads keep an eye on the Fanak folk.

About culture, since Fanaks have being lived together with Akaptor Nomads for a long time, most of their traditions and customs are shared with that of the Nomads. However, Fanaks still keep some trace of Kitsune traditions, such as celebrating whether a new tail sprouts out and the habit to make everything they obsess over an art.

Still, not every culture of Akaptor Nomads is absorbed by Fanaks. For example, the Nomads are famous for being able to use on stilts as a way to avoid touching the deadly sand of Akaptor Desert. Fanaks, in the other hand, have trouble walking with stilts and are often made fun of by other species when they do, so they sought other ways to keep them from the sand, like flying carpet and levitation boots.

While Fanaks can let out an eardrum-shattering shriek, adults consider this sound very embarrassing, and never let anyone hear it. The shriek is what Fanak children often make when feeling scared or excited, thus it is labeled by adults as a childish sound. Therefore, trying to startling these children is a very bad idea. Some adults, however, accept the embarrassment and train to use the shriek, which can throw their foes off balance in combat.