Rakūnara

Tribal Rakūnara

Rakūnara (often called **Rakuun** or **Rakūn**) are small humanoid raccoons considered a kind of beastkin. Most of them live in forests, although they've been found to lurk elsewhere. This species is considered to be endangered by most scholars.

## Etymology

The word "Rakūnara" is an exonym used mainly by differing groups of human scholars based on the term "Rakūn," which simply translates to Raccoon; the animal closely resembling the species. Rakūnara is considered by most to just mean "raccoon-person." Like many other species, Rakūnara also bare a variety of nicknames (often playfully)-- including, though not limited to; "the masked bandits," and "the gray hermits."

## Biology

### Build

The average Rakūnara stands between 1.2m to 1.4m (120-140cm) tall, weighing around 50-80lb (23-36kg), though they've been known to sometimes exceed or fall short of such heights and weights. The puffy tails of Rakūnara help serve them in many ways, particularly providing counterbalance to assist in keeping footing (especially useful when climbing), overall maintaining a Rakūnara's balance and contributing to their agility. Their sharp claws can assist in climbing and (if-need-be) combat-- being used to especially deadly effect when paired with their equally sharp teeth (only often used in combat when one lets their primitive instincts take-over). Being heavily nocturnal, Rakūnara have proficient if not excellent eyesight at night, though fall-short in the daytime with their distance vision drastically decreasing due to the reflection of light.

### Integument

Behind a Rakūnara thick fur (majority of which is just underfur to keep them warm) lies protective layers of skin, being quite hypersensitive. Their fur/hair color often varies, though average Rakūnara have a patterned mixture of black, gray, light gray [or brownish] colored fur-- helping them blend in with their environments, particularly that of forests. The distinctive area of black fur around a Rakūnara's eyes, when paired with some of their activities, have coined them the nickname of "the masked bandits."

### Lifespan

In the best of times for their species, Rakūnara averaged around 70 years of age (much like humans), being able to live even longer through both natural and unnatural means. However, in modern times, the average lifespan of an Rakūnara paired with the overall population has dropped tremendously, with the average lifespan having decreased to around 30-50 and the population reduced to an endangered stage. This massive loss of lifespan and the Rakūnara population in general is widely considered to be the doing of human hunters (seeking a Rakūnara's expensive fur pelt), famine & disease, which triggered a series of events including the collapse of Rakūnara society.

## Cultures and Societies

### Personality

Rakūnara, according to most peoples who have had the pleasure of running into one of these creatures, are often quite mischievous, having a bad reputation of thievery (themselves being quite good at the art of thievery when paired with their skills in stealth), which is often contributed to their wider scavenger culture. While mischievous, Rakūnara can be quite laid back compared to other creatures (generally varying between hedonistic and epicurean values with emphasis on pleasure), sometimes borderline careless, though will still face major situations with what is required/appropriate. Most Rakūnara may have an excessive distrust of humans (due to the issues regarding hunting) and creatures relating to such, though they are known to be capable of peacefully interacting with and at times even intermingling with human populations.

### Social Order

While there are many different groups of Rakūnara with their own social orders, they're generally often relatively tribal and/or anarchic at times. Most tribes/groups would place special emphasis on family, lacking much structure beyond those lines.

[to be continued]