An aguara's true form.
| “ | I've met one of these things somewhere over in Southeast Asia and one over in Southern Brazil. They're jumpy, slippery, silver-tongued bastards. But they ain't all bark and no bite. They can bite real good and can get quite nasty if you piss 'em off. Shame they had to be gorgeous broads when the coats are off. | „ |
| ~ Hellboy |
Aguara, more commonly known as Werefoxes, Vulpanthropes, Alopecathropes, Fox Children, Werevixens, or Vixens, are a subset of lycanthropes and are a rare species of therianthropes, also known as Werebeasts. Aguara are very rare amongst the Werekin to the point where supernatural hunters and scholars have reported seeing only one or two in their lifetime. They are also almost exclusively all-female.
Overview[]
Much like Werebears, although to a lesser extent, Aguara are rare and few in the supernatural world. It is unknown where exactly they originated, but some believe it may have been from parts of Southeast Asia or Japan. What is known is how they originated. According to legend, Inari Ōkami, a Japanese kami, granted a Kitsune who tried to shirk its duties presented to it by Inari herself three promises.
Regardless, Aguara are known for being tricksters and out of all the Werekin, aguara have been documented to be the most troublesome to deal with not for their power but for their cunning minds. Over the course of the centuries, Aguara have been documented as protectors of Inari Ōkami's heavenly mandate while some have deviated from her path, becoming thieves and sorcerers. Aguara that deviated from Inari's path would become lone travelers while others remained in Japan and Southeast Asia. Cases involving Aguara have shown that they prefer to con and trick their way out of a situation or into something that they would that would prove beneficial for them.
An Aguara's trickery is deadly to the point where a Witcher claimed that several villages found themselves in deep financial trouble due to the fact that a Werefox was able to trick local banking and trading posts into rearranging the methods of transferring currency and other goods back to the Aguara itself with the traders, merchants, and bankers never realizing that the individual that was making a deal with them was an Aguara. This particular Aguara was known to use the goods it obtained through its trickery to sell them off for the sake of food and a luxurious lifestyle. It was not long before a Witcher caught the werefox but its fate is unknown.
Some Aguaras, much like regular foxes, were especially troublesome and dangerous towards farmers and their livestock. There have been many reports of farmers seeing what looked to be a woman hunched down and devouring a rabbit before she noticed the farmer and shifted into a fox then ran into the wilderness with the rabbit still in her mouth. It is because of this that farmers were struggling to feed not only themselves but also provide nourishment to other villages with increasing difficulty due of the Aguara's feeding on their livestock.
Description[]
Despite the similarities, Aguaras are distinguishable from Kitsune, a Japanese yōkai or spirit. Kitsune are fox-like spirits that are known for being mischievous and deadly much like the Aguara but are considered to be divine and have greater powers than the latter. Moreover, a Kitsune was never human to begin with whereas a Werefox was originally human. In relation to this, it is unknown how exactly one becomes an Aguara but given the lore behind the creation of Werebeasts in general, it is safe to assume that Aguara fall in the same category of conception that being a curse or breeding.
Unlike Werewolves, Aguara are solitary and do not travel in packs. Although, there have been instances where there was more than one Aguara but it never exceeded past the number of three showing how independent they are from one another. But they do seem to have something akin to a hierarchy of sorts which is dependant on the number of tails they have similar to a Kitsune, however, no Aguara has ever reached the number of nine tails except possibly their ancestor. It is likely because of this solitary nature that few of them are even around today and have been hunted to near-extinction by Witchers in the far past. Aguara usually meet another of their kind if they are fighting over territory, a kill, or are willing to make a trade.
Aguara are almost always active at dusk and dawn, similarly to regular foxes, making it easier for them to sneak into villages to devour livestock and steal valuables. Aguara also have the ability to not only become an anthropomorphic fox but also shift into a complete Vulpes form which grants them a greater chance of evading and hiding from other hunters and villagers. When in human form, they are noted to be very beautiful women with lustrous hair (the color of the hair depends on the type of fox) and at times would even have elven traits such as pointed fox ears.
Capabilities[]
While they are nowhere near as impressive as their lycanthropic cousins and other Werebeasts, they are still nonetheless very dangerous creatures. Aguara are known for their cunning minds, they are tricksters that only care about self-preservation and have no concern over what happens to humans. At first it was believed to be a form of hypnosis but this was debunked as a Witcher, who was hunting an Aguara, saw that it would use an elaborate form of wordplay to trick its target into providing it what it requires. Some Aguara would even put seduction in the mix since they are almost always female; this gave birth to the term "vixen".
While not as strong as Werewolves and Werebears, Aguara are still superior to humans as one was capable of holding a full grown man off the ground and toss another several feet away so hard he crashed through a stone wall. They are incredibly fast to the point where normal human hunters find it to be almost impossible to chase after them and even more so to shoot them since they would dart from one spot to another while running so fast they would disorient their opponents. Their speed and sense of stealth is so proficient that they could even become nothing but a quick blur in one's peripheral vision and would have no idea that one was standing right next to them. This could indicate that they have some form of cognitive control over one's field of vision.
Perhaps an Aguara's greatest asset is their ability to become mist, which may have taken inspiration from the Japanese Kitsune, known as the Shadow Veil. When an Aguara is in mist form, their scent is completely hidden, making them impossible to track and even erasing their breath and heartbeat from detection. This aids in their ability to hunt and commit sneak attacks on their enemies. This power is something that is usually taught and very rarely does an Aguara learn this power by themselves. Similar to Shéxíng, they can sense and even manipulate chi to some degree which ties into their abilities like allowing them to speak to the dead. In addition, depending on the path they take, Aguara have a fondness for magic which is referred to as Jyu-Ho in Japanese. In terms of their paths intertwined with the powers they harness through Jyu-Ho, certain types of Aguara wield elemental magic which also determines their roles within their society; Eji, warrior Aguara, wield lava, Doshi who are sorcerers wield lightning, Gukutsushi who are illusionists are masters of the mist, and finally the Kataribe who are chroniclers bond with clay.
