Yukiko Inari

Yukiko within Amberforge

Yukiko Inari is a Kitsune woman born to the Kitsune country Kyūbi-no-Kuni, where she was raised to be a shrine maiden. During this time, her fox form would be sealed from her by her mother and Head Priestess of Tsukimaka Village, Hanako Inari. Unexpectedly, her mother had another child when she turned 9, a male Kitsune named Misaki Inari. The next 9 years of her life would be dull, as she found the work and duties of a shrine maiden were tedious at best, but mostly annoying. After these rough years, she fled the village at 18.

After fleeing the village, and subsequently breaking the seal on her fox form and leaving Kyūbi-no-Kuni, she became a stowaway on a ship and found herself within the Magocracy of Aeldora. For the next 4 years, she would use both her fox form and intelligence to hunt, living off of animal meat and selling their hides afterwards. The money she got from this would be spent on drinking and socializing in local bars and taverns. This earned her a unique reputation as the Drunken Kitsune in a couple of them.

This reputation of being able to hold her beer caught the attention of many traveling among the towns that hosted her, but none were as intrigued as a Dwarf by the name of Urist Ironshield. By coincidence, the two managed to meet within a bar, and tales were sung of that night about the Kitsune woman who managed to match a Dwarfs thirst for beer. After this night, they found they got along well with each other, and she asked him if she could join him on his trip. He ultimately agreed, and they set out for a trading village. It was during this small journey that Urist saw she had a knack for working with metal in rather unique ways. Between this and her social ability, he thought that bringing her to the Dwarf island colony, Amberforge, off the western coast of the Magocracy would be of great benefit to the city. Given this opportunity and her newfound interest in metallurgy, she immediately agreed.

Over the course of the next 9 years, Yukiko would spend all of it within Amberforge learning under Urist. At first, the resident Dwarves were wary of her, especially because of the recent hostility of the Empire of Drevaria, which now included Kitsune. This would cause Urist to be looked down upon, but a gut feeling told him it was worth it. This gamble would turn out to be amazing, as she was a natural genius with clockwork mechanisms, firearms, and metallurgy, quickly picking up the crafts. Especially firearm engineering. It was in this field that she even started to outperform other Dwarves. It also helped that she would spend most of her days off socializing within the bar, where she further earned others respect. It did still take time for her to gain the complete trust of all of the Dwarves there, but her love of their culture made it worth it to her. Urist even gave her a new last name, Gyld, to show that she was one of them now.

However, after 9 years and turning 31, she started to feel distant. She enjoyed Amberforge and its community, and did wish to spend the rest of her life there, but her spirit wished to see the world at least once. Urist noticed this change and how it was effecting her work, so when she came to him asking about leaving for some time he was very willing to get her a ship to anywhere. Many Dwarves wished her a safe journey, and she set out for the Magocracy.

## Biography

### Early Life within Tsukimaka Village

Yukiko Inari was born in a small village, called Tsukimaka, within the Empire of Kyūbi-no-Kuni. Her mother, Hanako Inari, was a Shrine Maiden within the village. Her mothers position as the Head Priestess, and only priestess at that, meant her family were treated to some opulence, as the village residents were very happy to finally have an envoy of their deity, Daikitsu, watching over them.

However, this meant as soon as Yukiko could read and write, her mother was drilling into her the customs and duties of a Shrine Maiden, since she had planned to make her one as soon as she was born. Hanako was harsh, seeing to disciplining her if even the slightest thing was not perfect, whether it be her room or her handwriting. Although she was not abusive towards Yukiko, her actions teetered on it. When she was not performing her duties, she was teaching and disciplining her daughter. These conditions would cause Yukiko to gain a deep resentment for her home village, mostly aimed toward Hanako herself.

At age 6, Yukiko started to show signs of her shapeshifting ability. To her mothers shock, she managed to almost perfect the transformation between her fox form and normal form relatively instantly. This uncanny ability would be seen as a useful gift to some within the Kitsune Empire, but it was quite the opposite for Hanako. Her mother immediately told off Yukiko, telling her that she would be punished if she caught her shapeshifting. When this did not work, Hanako took an extreme measure; sealing the young Kitsunes shapeshifting ability off from her using magic. It made attempting to transform a painful experience that ended with Yukiko remaining in her true form. This caused Yukikos resentment of her mother to grow even more.

Three years after her mother sealed her fox form, Hanako suddenly became pregnant again. As the Head Priestess, she insisted to the village residents that this child was with the same father, but it was clear to Yukiko that it was not. She didn't even know who her own father was. However, the village believed her, and she insisted that this next child would grow to be a great Shrine Maiden. However, to everyone's disappointment, the child was a boy. A male Kitsune could be taught to be a priest, especially if born to one, but it was clear that the village were wary of it. Between this and wanting to keep her focus on Yukiko, Hanako very quickly dashed the idea of making him a priest. After naming him, giving him the name Misaki, she quickly refocused her time on Yukiko, something she lagged behind on during her pregnancy.

If Hanako was teetering on abuse with Yukiko, she outright abused Misaki. However, this was not through beatings but through neglect. Instead, Yukiko spent almost all of her free time raising him herself. It was a hard experience, especially since it meant she could not make the short trips to the village that she enjoyed. She grew to find this time abhorrent, being forced to raise to a child and memorize spells and texts from her mother. However, none of this hate was aimed towards her brother, as she loved him dearly, and was instead even more fuel to the fire of hate that she felt towards her mother.

As soon as Misaki was old enough, she would bring him to the village to spend their free time. It was in these visits that she was able to socialize with others, and she was very happy to be able to do them again. Although it was a village of mostly older Kitsunes, there were a couple others her and her brothers age. She enjoyed being able to spend time with others, even though she found the older Kitsunes too formal and hindered by work for her interests.

These visits, however, had to be very quick, as her mother was insistent that she return home as soon as possible. Even so, she managed to befriend some of the villagers over the course of dozens of visits. She even managed to convince them to take care of Misaki when he was 6. She did this because she didn't want him to grow up cooped up in a house with a mother who didn't care for him, and she didn't think she could take care of her brother effectively. She did feel she was taking a gamble, though, thinking that Hanako would chastise her for not bringing him back. One of the final straws for her, though, was when Hanako didn't even ask her where he was.

Soon after her 18th birthday, Yukiko fled from the village. She wanted to get out of there as soon as she could, something she decided from a very early age, but Misaki complicated things. At first, it was clear to her that she would take him with her, an idea reinforced after seeing her mothers neglect for him. However, after seeing how well he got along with other kids in the village, and even some of their parents seemingly willing to take him in, she started to think that leaving him there would be better. After some thought, she decided that she would not bring Misaki with her. She did not want to force him into a life of running, and wanted him to choose his own path. Not to mention. she only wished for him to have a proper family, something she did not see Hanako or herself as.

Yukiko knew that she would need her fox forms agility and low profile in order to run away successfully, something her mother tended to quite harshly at first. Luckily for her, Hanako had forgotten to strengthen the seal leading up to her birthday. Yukiko even managed to find a book her mother left out about seals, in which she read that they needed upkeep to remain effective. It also told her that a large amount of magical power could destroy a mismanaged seal. Even with this information, it was still a massive risk, as she only had the chance to break it while she was running away.

However, Yukiko had no choice, and made her getaway. She doesn't remember that night well. She remembers exhaustion, desperation, and a glowing blue light. After that, the seal was broken, and she had changed to her fox form to get away. What she didn't remember was the plea to Daikitsu she made to have the seal broken, and that her second tail appeared that night.

She stayed within her fox form for months, fearing showing her face. To other Kitsunes, this would be devastating due to the fear of losing oneself to the form. However, the blessing she received that night allowed her to keep this form without consequence. In this time, she taught herself how to hunt and found that she had an excellent sense of smell. At least, while she was in her fox form.

Eventually, she started to stalk a port village with the intention of finding a ship to stow away on. After a couple weeks of this, she managed to sneak on the ship.

### Time within the Magocracy

After a several day journey, she got off in another port town, this one within the north of the Magocracy of Aeldora. The environment within the country of mages was different from the forests she was used to, consisting more of large, open fields with patches of trees. The large sprawling farms were also different from the flooded and hill based farms in Kyūbi-no-Kuni.

#### Living Freely Alone

There was definitely an adjustment period, especially when hunting. The aforementioned landscape forced her into adopting new methods in order to survive. However, unlike when she was in Kyūbi-no-Kuni, she had no fear going into local towns and villages. The humans in these places generally treated her as an outsider, as it was very uncommon to see a Kitsune within the Magocracy, but as long as there was no fear of her mother finding her she could manage any disdain the people felt towards her.

Being able to go into these villages with relative freedom gave her an option she didn't have before: Money. Yukiko hunted often for food, of which she would leave the hide of the animal, but she learned that she could sell them for some money. However, it was rare that someone would buy the hides she offered, as they were very poorly cut and many held prejudices against her at first. Her cuts did become more refined over time, and more would buy from her at higher prices, but there was still a hurdle when selling to any who had never met a Kitsune before.

Even with these issues, she found doing business became easier and faster. She would rather take the time to relax and do nothing, so this improvement was very welcome. In these times of relaxing, she also found herself within taverns and bars. The environment differed immensely from the merchants and traders she dealt with at first. Using the money she finally had, she spent a night in a local bar. Being able to drink was a new experience, and she loved it. Although many who drink tended to get angry, she found the some that became even more social were her favorite. Especially since it's how she got. This night would lead to many more full of drinking and getting loud, a habit that would eventually lead her to receive the nickname Drunken Kitsune around the couple of towns that she frequented.

However, there was something missing. After around 3 and a half years of this freedom, she felt as though something was wrong. Nothing was apparently wrong. She was fine physically and life was generally still how she wanted it, but something was missing. Maybe it was the lack of a thing to focus on. Her needs were met by her hunting, even her free time was spent doing something she enjoyed, but nothing she explored could keep her interest. She always found what she was doing 'boring' after some time. When she did get a job to make some more money, she found she would become disinterested and leave. This was much to the dismay to the employer, as she usually did quite well in them.

This all changed when she encountered a certain Dwarf on his travels.

## Appearance

Yukiko is a tall, slender Kitsune woman with black hair and yellow eyes. Although her face is free of any permanent scars or cuts, it's rare to see her without some blemish. Her hands and arms, however, are a completely different story. Her palms are callused, scarred, and full of burn marks, evident of years holding a hammer and welder, and her arms and forearms are extremely well defined and covered in similar scars. The rest of her body is not as well built as her arms, as she feels exercise is useless for her. However, most of these traits are hidden by the clothing she wears, as she dislikes showing skin.

### Tsukimaka/Miko Clothing

The only clothing she had available to her while growing up was Shrine Maiden clothing, consisting of an Hakui (a plain white robe), a blue Hakama (loose pants with many folds), and black, wooden shoes called Asagutsu. Although she did not like wearing accessories, she was made to wear earrings and some jewelry to keep up an image.

### Amberforge/Current Clothing

The clothing she typically wears closely resembles the Dwarven culture she spent years within, consisting of many layers of clothing made up of leather, cloth, and metal. Underlying everything she wears is a cloth shirt and slightly loose trousers. On top of the shirt is a leather tunic, with other leather accessories adorning her forearms, legs, and shins, as well as leather gloves. She then wears a metal breastplate and shoulder and elbow armor, but only on her right arm. Many pouches and pockets also line her clothing, all holding something of importance to her. She wears a pair of large, laced boots designed for use anywhere. When out on adventures or exploring, she has a large backpack for carrying anything she might need for her inventions, or the inventions themselves.

## Personality/Alignment

Yukiko is Neutral Good, with emphasis on the Neutral part. She's unwilling to go out of her way for people she doesn't know and would typically mind her own business unless in a social place, like a bar. She would never do harm to people unless they first harmed her in some way as well, hence the good part of her alignment. However, she does care for the people close to her and any she considers her friends. To these people she will generally act harsh or rudely, but it is a sign of affection from her. This is something she picked up from the Dwarves she spent nearly a decade of her life with.

She is very intelligent, being able to pick up most crafts she does, but this quick learning leaves her finding many things rather boring. She does her best to ignore this, however, and uses the constant tinkering of her devices to prevent this boredom. In some ways, going on an adventure is another way to prevent these feelings. Still, the biggest contributor to her wanting to go on an adventure was simply to see the world. She is an artisan at heart, but she still has the desire to explore and see things she could never see if she simply stayed in Amberforge. This free spirit was one of the many reasons she fled Tsukimaka.

## Trivia

* Yukiko is a character created by user Du Hass Jr (hey, that's me!), who also made this entire page
* Misaki Inari (Yukiko's brother) is Kliff Hargrave, who had a name change within his character story
* The Dwarves within Amberforge use her given last name, Gyld, when referring to her