Having finally read more about it and thought on it, I'm admiring Observer's chutzpah more and more for how on the dot he got Kitsune Japanese of circa 16th century should be. IE extremely insular, xenophobe, slightly nationalistic, and different values than a modern human.
Kitsune are insular? Yeah the fear of harming benefactors discourages intimacy outside of your close social circle of family, add on the ability to feed and drain others to the point of death means failure to control extreme emotions can result in unpleasant outcomes. Imagine wars between Kitsune clans or god forbid outsiders where they kill captured enemies through draining them to supercharge themselves right before battle. Keros helped institute a strict soceity where ritual, order and Hierarchy are maintained to limit discord between his children.
This insular nature contribute to their xenophobia, their ways are to protect others from themselves and themselves from others, as they're widely seen as spiritual vampires. Their fear spirals into a continual cycle of segregation from the world to the point they have functional organic arcologies to keep them above the "Natives". This means as a side effect that even if you sell your soul to Keros you're still viewed as an outsider in their hearts. Except Kohaku, Kohaku understands, then again as a colonial she suffers from the same discrimination that many historical colonials suffered from their homeland.
Nationalistic: They survived the Gods war and dodged the Belharans annexing them.
Different values: Many people are ascribing modern perspectives on bronze age peoples. I try to play in character, and in character I'd want my children to be independent and prepared for the future, because I foresee the death of Kiyoko and my absence, I need Kinu to be ready and prepared to think for herself and solve her problems independently. I could die from disease, or battle, or take down Kassyra with me, or get scooped up into a different dimension like Calla or Kiyoko did. In the Marches life can be short indeed, and Kiyoko even cites that when it came to Kinu's courtship. Kiyoko is indeed correct that I don't deserve much say in the running of my children's day to day lives specifically because I'm not there most of the time, not just because I'm a native. Calling me a native is nicer than accusing me of not being there to really decide.
Point being I understand and applaud how the story is going, I just wish I had more say in how I reacted and not have it be assumed I'm insulted or worried or what have you. For example when Kinu gets territorial over Rindo I wish I had the option to say use Presence to try and explain how to read Hitoshi and Rindo's body language to assuage her fears, or express disappointment that is how she thinks, or express disappointment but acceptance, she could react the same any way you slice it but the choice would be nice even if it has no effect.
Also for the "absentee father" people are worried about, in character I feel that its fine as long as there is a reason for it and I try to give them as nice a life as I possibly can. In character its cause she lacked strong parental figures and feels knowing and doing her best for them is acceptable even if she shows favoritism to one segment via her settling down with them over others. After all its hard or even impossible to be there for her harpy, manticore, and wyverns, for the Cat harem In character the plan is give them a lot of money and send them to where they want to go. My character values independence and individual freedom and so encourages it, but won't conscious herself being tied down herself. Selfish yes, but she acknowledges she's probably never going to be a perfect father/mother and pursuing it is just going to tear people apart. When her children get older and they want to know more about her they can find her, she ain't going far from the marches and she'll have a kickass castle for them to visit and get to her know her at. If they think her an absentee asshole who abandoned them that's fine in her mind, no use getting worked up over something she couldn't realistically fix.
Most people are going to be upset with my opinion on that and thats fine. My only response is the African American community going through this exact same crisis and I'm happy that people are thinking about this and care enough to feel pain and discomfort over it cause its a sign of a good story.
Sorry I'll stop gushing now.
Kitsune are insular? Yeah the fear of harming benefactors discourages intimacy outside of your close social circle of family, add on the ability to feed and drain others to the point of death means failure to control extreme emotions can result in unpleasant outcomes. Imagine wars between Kitsune clans or god forbid outsiders where they kill captured enemies through draining them to supercharge themselves right before battle. Keros helped institute a strict soceity where ritual, order and Hierarchy are maintained to limit discord between his children.
This insular nature contribute to their xenophobia, their ways are to protect others from themselves and themselves from others, as they're widely seen as spiritual vampires. Their fear spirals into a continual cycle of segregation from the world to the point they have functional organic arcologies to keep them above the "Natives". This means as a side effect that even if you sell your soul to Keros you're still viewed as an outsider in their hearts. Except Kohaku, Kohaku understands, then again as a colonial she suffers from the same discrimination that many historical colonials suffered from their homeland.
Nationalistic: They survived the Gods war and dodged the Belharans annexing them.
Different values: Many people are ascribing modern perspectives on bronze age peoples. I try to play in character, and in character I'd want my children to be independent and prepared for the future, because I foresee the death of Kiyoko and my absence, I need Kinu to be ready and prepared to think for herself and solve her problems independently. I could die from disease, or battle, or take down Kassyra with me, or get scooped up into a different dimension like Calla or Kiyoko did. In the Marches life can be short indeed, and Kiyoko even cites that when it came to Kinu's courtship. Kiyoko is indeed correct that I don't deserve much say in the running of my children's day to day lives specifically because I'm not there most of the time, not just because I'm a native. Calling me a native is nicer than accusing me of not being there to really decide.
Point being I understand and applaud how the story is going, I just wish I had more say in how I reacted and not have it be assumed I'm insulted or worried or what have you. For example when Kinu gets territorial over Rindo I wish I had the option to say use Presence to try and explain how to read Hitoshi and Rindo's body language to assuage her fears, or express disappointment that is how she thinks, or express disappointment but acceptance, she could react the same any way you slice it but the choice would be nice even if it has no effect.
Also for the "absentee father" people are worried about, in character I feel that its fine as long as there is a reason for it and I try to give them as nice a life as I possibly can. In character its cause she lacked strong parental figures and feels knowing and doing her best for them is acceptable even if she shows favoritism to one segment via her settling down with them over others. After all its hard or even impossible to be there for her harpy, manticore, and wyverns, for the Cat harem In character the plan is give them a lot of money and send them to where they want to go. My character values independence and individual freedom and so encourages it, but won't conscious herself being tied down herself. Selfish yes, but she acknowledges she's probably never going to be a perfect father/mother and pursuing it is just going to tear people apart. When her children get older and they want to know more about her they can find her, she ain't going far from the marches and she'll have a kickass castle for them to visit and get to her know her at. If they think her an absentee asshole who abandoned them that's fine in her mind, no use getting worked up over something she couldn't realistically fix.
Most people are going to be upset with my opinion on that and thats fine. My only response is the African American community going through this exact same crisis and I'm happy that people are thinking about this and care enough to feel pain and discomfort over it cause its a sign of a good story.
Sorry I'll stop gushing now.
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