MYTHOLOGY

Tanuki were one of, if not the first magical creatures brought to Earth VIA Dragons and their magic. They are considered the counterpart to Phoenix; as Phoenix spawned all magical humanoids and Tanuki spawned all magical animals. While completely unable to naturally spawn more of their kind, Tanuki can produce offspring with any of the animals they are capable of turning into. Unlike Phoenix and their regenerations, there are no unified theories on how new Tanuki are created. The most popular ones include; Tanuki have true-immortality and thus never need to spawn more, that their reincarnate through the wind as Phoenix do through fire, or that by doing a Tanuki a great service, it will spawn a young Tanuki into existence at will for you to raise as a reward.

CHARACTERISTICS

Tanuki largely resemble our modern raccoon dogs- but whether that is a conincidence or that Tanuki had to adapt a new "true form" upon exposure to our universe is debated. Physically speaking, a large difference is that Tanuki can function completely bipedally, as well as quadrepedally. Their tails tend to be a bit shorter and their bodies a little stouter, as well as having a slight luminescence exuded from their fur upon nightfall. Unlike other shapeshifting creatures, Tanuki can remain in their disguises for years at a time and even through their sleep- all accounts of methods to trick/shock them out of their disguises are strictly folklore, nothing has been proven to work universally yet. While they can shapeshift into creatures of humanoid intelligence, Tanuki are often smart enough to recognize that they will be unable to blend into human societies and prefer to stick to lesser creatures that they will be harder to detect as.

PRESENT WORSHIP

As a part of the trifecta of Living Gods, Tanuki are seen as Holy beings by a large population of the world. Osone contains fewer pockets of Living God worship, while nearly the entirety of New Eupis worships the Living Gods in one way or another. The primary religion that includes Tanuki is Medeism; the worship of all three kinds of Living Gods equally. As they are unable to be easily communicated with, the vast majority of worshippers live by the rule of "help Tanuki if they're in need, leave them alone otherwise". Witnessing one in every day life is meant to be a miracle that only the luckiest may be granted and to intrude upon the Tanuki's life if it does not directly need you will grant you a lifetime of the worst ill-luck imaginable. After Medeism comes Maluism, or the worship of Tanuki as the most important and/or the only true Living God. A much smaller following that works with the idea that, since the Tanuki were the most propogative of the Gods, they spread magic into the world the most and are the most deserving of worship. They are much more inclined to interact with Tanuki, believing that to see one and not give it offerings of some kind would be blasphemous.