Lepori

The Lepori are a race of rabbit folk that live North of the Plateau. Their form ranges simply being large rabbits all the way to nearly human with some animal qualities, and is dependent on the phase of the moon at the time of their birth.The Lepori base much of their lives and culture on their strange mythology and folk-tales, as well as the prophecies and warnings of their oracles. Those with the ability to speak have retained their knowledge of the ancient Tabaxi tongue, but after they met settlers the younger generation have switched to the Common tongue as their primary language. The Lepori worship Selune, and with the help of the settlers have instituted the order of the Dragoons to fight back the mythical dragon Bakunawa when he again tries to devour their goddess.

## Physiology

Lepori are usually divided up into four varieties, their forms dependent on the moon's phase at the time of their birth. During the New Moon, the Lepori are fully animalistic, only appearing as a larger variant of the common rabbits, but as the moon waxes their form gets larger and more humanoid. The color of their hair and fur is also dependent on the phase of the moon. If a Lepori is born during a waxing moon their fur and hair are pure white. If born when the moon is waning, their fur and hair is a pitch black. The shade of their skin varies per the individual, but is usually a dark muted tan.

While the Lepori are categorized in the following ways, the difference between the kinds of Lepori is a gradient. Those born on a new moon will be smallest while those born nearly a week later will have many traits that resemble Usagi. While these labels are used among the Lepori, they're used more to describe each other than the categorize each other. All Lepori, no matter their form, consider themselves to be first and foremost Lepori, not Yutu or Viera.

#### Yutu

The Yutu are born when the moon is most waned, between a new moon and a 1/4 moon. They resemble large rabbits and to the untrained eye are virtually indistinguishable from their animal cousins. Named after the rabbit who is said to now reside with Selune, the Yutu Lepori are considered by their kind to be the basic, true form of the Lepori, the Lepori would seldom call them Yutu unless using that name to distinguish this form to someone unfamiliar with their culture.

Yutu are Tiny in size, usually only weighing around 20 lbs, and cannot speak. However, they are just as intelligent as the human races, and are able to verbally communicate with other Lepori, as well as understand spoken languages. They simply lack the ability to respond in kind.

The Yutu have nearly equal numbers of male a female members, grow more slowly than other rabbits, and live to around the age of 30. The Yutu comprise upwards of 70% of the Lepori population.

#### Usagi

The Usagi are born between the 1/4 moon and the half moon. Equally good on all fours as they are on two feet, the Usagi are just shy of 3 feet tall (just shy of 4 feet tall if you count their ears), weigh around 50 pounds on average, and have the ability to speak verbal languages (albeit with some difficulty). The Usagi generally don't fuss over covering clothes, but will more often than not don a jacket or vest so as to stow things in their pockets.

Because they more resemble their goddess, the Usagi population is roughly 1/3 male and 2/3 female, and usually being born in liters of one or two make up about 20% of Lepori population. Usagi live almost as long as humans and mature at much the same rate. The Usagi feel equally as comfortable living among the other humanoid races as they do with their Yutu family, and strive to retain good relations among the races. Usagi are sterile about half the time.

#### Nainai

The Nainai are Lepori born between the half moon and the 3/4 moon and resemble humans in body with only the heads and limbs sharing their rabbit family's traits. Averaging just over 5 feet high and 140 pounds, the Nainai are on level with other humanoid races and can wear all the same clothing aside from their feet. Nainai seldom wear shoes, but do tend to wrap their feet when traversing roads. Most Nainai are born with an even coat of fur across their body, though some have manes of hair much like humans. Nainai consider it as important to wear clothing as humans do, but prefer loose fitting trousers and tightly strung shirts and vests.

Nainai are about 80% female and make up a smaller 7% of the Lepori population. They mature at the same rate as humans, and only live slightly longer. Because of their size, Nainai prefer to live among humans and tabaxi rather than with the Yutu, but consider it their duty to keep the Yutu safe from both wild animals and from hunters, and so will spend much of their time away from humanoid civilization when they feel they need to. Nainai are almost always sterile, especially as they are born closer to the 3/4 moon.

Nainai use the statistics of Tabaxi.

#### Viera

Born between the 3/4 moon and the 1/4 moon, the Viera more resemble humans than their Lepori counterparts, and tend to be more comfortable around other humanoid races than the other Lepori. Still, they value their people and their culture, and when a great threat arises it is the Viera who champion the cause of keeping their people free.

Viera are usually taller than 6 feet, reaching over 7 feet when their ears are erect, but some of this height is due to their longer legs and the way they naturally stand on the balls of their feet or their toes. Their fingers and toes are tipped with small sharp claws, and while they can wear the shoes of other humanoids they prefer custom foot attire. Since they balance on their toes when walking and only use their heels for resting on when standing still, they appreciate shoes with flexible soles and long heels, preferably with openings for their claws to grip the ground when running. Viera appreciate very light and breathable clothing.

Viera have always been female, are always sterile, and make up only 2-3% of the Lepori population. They mature into adulthood at the same rate as humans, but tend to live one and a half centuries. Since the unification of the Lepori and the humans, Viera are often expected to become Dragoons, sacred warriors that train in anticipation of the coming of the dark dragons spoken of in prophecy.

There are stats for the Viera.

## History

### The Myth

*While some aspects of this legend seem to be true, the tale as a whole is obviously inaccurate in many ways. Still, the Lepori consider it to be true, at least metaphorically, and trust that the story's inaccuracies aren't important to the legend as a whole.*

 It's not clear how the Lepori came to be, but they boast that they were once a race of plain rabbits. Once, in an age long past, Selune, goddess of the moon, gave birth to a son called Bakunawa. It's unclear who the father was (if there even was one) but it's speculated to be a dragon God due to her son's form. Immediately after birth, Bakunawa began to devour his mother's body to take her divinity.

Powerless to stop his attack from below, the animals of the world cried out to a god who would listen. Lenmana was too busy protecting the animals to help her sister. Oberyn cared not for the dealings of the sky, only the order of the earth. And Helune was unable to get close enough, for when she approached the dragon it could hear her coming and would lash out and cast a star down from the sky.

But there was one who did hear the call, a blessed mortal called Arcturus. Unable to reach the god himself, he came up with a different strategy. He assembled all the animals of the forest together, then at his command Arcturus and all the animals began to howl and chirp and clash instruments together to create such a racket that Bakunawa had to stop to cover his ears. With that opportunity, Selune used the last of her strength to strike Bakunawa, casting him down into the sea.

Still, Selune was dying from her wounds. To heal her, Arcturus and Helune combined their knowledge to create an elixir of life. Helune imparted her knowledge and power and Arcturus brewed the elixir into a rice cake. But even when completed they couldn't deliver the elixir up to the moon.

Arcturus called for the animals to help with the delivery, first calling out to the eagles. But the eagles refused, as there was no way back to earth for whomever made the trip. Instead a lowly rabbit volunteered to deliver the rice cake. He bade farewell to his family, took the rice cake, strapped it to his back, and just in the nick of time he leapt as high as his legs could take him, up into the sky, and delivered the elixir to the goddess.

In return for giving his life to save hers, Selune blessed his children to pass on the blessing of the moon. The more power she had, the more the newborn babes would resemble her majesty. And thus the Lepori were made.