The Zenko, Inari, and Shinto Clans of Darkwana

I discussed, last week, the creatures called kitsunes who dominate my novel series, Diaries of Darkwana. I shall, today, as promised, discuss some of the more famous kitsune clans in that same series.

Zenko Clan

Insignia: Maple Leaf

Mascot: Ostrich

Headquarters: The Burrow, a retired elementary school

Location: Swamp

The Zenko Clan takes center stage during the first three books (volume one) of Diaries of Darkwana.

However, they also exist in books four through eight (volume two) and the descendants of their former members take stage in books nine through fifteen (volume three).

Volume two actually takes place before volume one (I promise, a method exists to this madness).

The Zenko Clan, at the start of volume two, exists as a small, almost inconsequential clan, so small that not a single house mother exists amongst them.

(Kitsunes who serve as “house mothers” train and guide small teams of new recruits in the larger kitsune clans.)

An orange-furred kitsune named Ara leads the Zenko Clan at this point. (a kitsune clan calls its leader their “den mother”).

A war against a common enemy forces most kitsune clans to band together, and the Zenko Clan opens its doors to all the other clans’ children.

Ara joins the fight and leaves her yellow-furred daughter, Sahmay, to serve as den mother in her stead.

The Zenko Clan, in book one, volume one (Daughters of Darkwana) stand, after the dust settles from their war, as all that remains of their entire species, a clan of orphans.

Inari Clan

Insignia: Double Helix

Mascot: Owl

Headquarters: Inari House, a massive, cube-shaped building balanced upon a single corner.

Location: Tundra

The Inari Clan proves the most prestigious of all the kitsune clans—mostly due to their ability to grow more tails and thus increase their magical powers.

Many clans send their most promising children to apply at Inari House. However, every pledge must join a three-person team and train under a house mother. They eventually take a dangerous set of tests (the subject of book four, volume one, Duelists of Darkwana).

Many students die in these exams. Those that survive but do not pass face immediate banishment.

A white-furred kitsune named Myōbu serves as the Inari Clan’s den mother at the start of book four. I won’t blab too much about the hierarchy that follows thereafter.

Shinto Clan

Insignia: An Eight-toothed Gear

Mascot: A Steel Hawk

Headquarters: Shinto Palace (a castle constructed of golden gears and other mechanical components)

Location: Desert with Blue Sand

I don’t want to tell you too much here. Let’s just say that this clan starts out good before its den mother, Mordechai (all titles sound feminine, regardless of the holder’s actual gender) leads it astray. Its clansmen afterwards become the “bad guys” for much of the series.

Okay. I’ll discuss, next week, three of the lesser clans you’ll meet in this series.

Thanks for reading!

I publish my blogs as follows:

Mondays and Thursdays: Short stories at martinwolt.blogspot.com

Tuesdays: A look at the politics of the entertainment world at EntertainmentMicroscope.blogspot.com.

Wednesdays: An inside look at my novels (such as Daughters of Darkwana, which you can now find on Kindle) at Darkwana.blogspot.com

Fridays: Tips to improve your fiction at FictionFormula.blogspot.com

Sundays: Movie reviews at moviesmartinwolt.blogspot.com

Kitsunes of Darkwana

I described, last week, a few of the creatures that you will encounter in my novel series, Diaries of Darkwana and how those creatures relate to Japanese mythology.

I will, today, describe the most prevalent creatures you will find in my series. Folklore calls these creatures “kitsune,” but many versions of these creatures exist in many different mythologies across much of Asia.

I, armed with a creative license, picked and chose amongst those mythological factors want I wished to incorporate into my novels.

Let’s start with the word, “kitsune.” A person ought to spell it the same single as plural. I found this confused some readers, so I added an “s” whenever I made the word plural.

Mythology often pictures kitsunes as half-human half-fox. I create the female kitsunes in my series as full-blown anthropomorphic foxes, while the males exist as half-breeds—humans with fox tails and ears.

Kitsunes in my series may mate with humans, kitsunes, or kitsune-human half-breeds.

Male offspring arrive, with one exception (Mordechai), as either human or half-breed.

Female children (with the exception of Rebecca) arrive as either full breed kitsunes or full breed humans.

Female full breeds, consequently, prove more powerful than their half-breed counterparts. This creates a power shift in gender roles. Titles, as a result, possess a feminine ring, regardless of the person who holds that title (more on those titles in a future post).

Most folklore depicts kitsunes as shape-shifters. Some stories suggest that kitsunes could only switch from the form of a regular fox to that of a person with fox traits, such as fox ears and tails.

Many stories portray kitsune as giant, multi-tailed, fox-shaped demons.

Diaries of Darkwana offers only a few shape-shifters, and the effects of two of them prove limited.

York can transform only from her usual form to a larger, beastier body (and back again, of course).

Yuki Onna can transform her body from flesh and fur to other substances, such as diamonds, provided that she touches a sample of such a substance during her transformation.

Buthaynah stands as the only true shape-shifter, which seems strange given her frankness and inflexible personality. She can turn into anything and anyone—but she cannot change her tail, which must remain unchanged for reasons I’ll explain in a bit.

Buthaynah exists as a purple-furred, brown-eyed kitsune who drinks Scotch, smokes fat cigars, gambles, and insults her opponents with phrases such as, “twat waffle,” “ass-hat,” and “dick mitt. Her vocabulary stands at odds with that of her clansmen, many of who speak regally.

Buthaynah also exists as my favorite character from my series. I often feel as if I exercise little control over her. With Buthaynah, I serve as a reporter, not an author.

In Japanese mythology, a kitsune can grow up to nine tails. She or he grows more powerful with each tail.

I use this in my novels. The kitsunes of Darkwana frequently gain new tails throughout the series. Whenever a kitsune evolves a new tail, she or he also evolves new, supernatural abilities. My kitsunes cap out at nine tails.

I manage to incorporate this also in my upcoming card game (Duelists of Darkwana), which I based upon my novels.

Since tails serve as the source of their owner’s magic (called “fox fire”), Buthaynah cannot shape-shift her own, lest she lose her ability to change back into her normal form.

Many kitsune clans live in Diaries of Darkwana. Each possesses a unique headquarters, history, family crest, specialties, and customs.

The Inari Clan stands as the most prestigious, but all clans (with the exception of two) hold membership with the C.K.C. (Council of Kitsune Clans).

These separate clans and their customs serve as the subject of next week’s post.

See you then!

I publish my blogs as follows:

Mondays and Thursdays: Short stories at martinwolt.blogspot.com

Tuesdays: A look at the politics of the entertainment world at EntertainmentMicroscope.blogspot.com.

Wednesdays: An inside look at my novels (such as Daughters of Darkwana, which you can now find on Kindle) at Darkwana.blogspot.com

Fridays: Tips to improve your fiction at FictionFormula.blogspot.com

Sundays: Movie reviews at moviesmartinwolt.blogspot.com

The Creatures of Darkwana

My fantasy series, Diaries of Darkwana borrows heavily from Japanese mythology. Today, I’ll discuss a few of the creatures I adopted from that mythology and their roles in my novels.

Let’s start with tengu.

Mythology often depicts these “mountain trolls” in possession of either a ridiculously long, red nose or a bird’s beak. Mythology almost always depicts them with wings.

Tengu in my novel series, Diaries of Darkwana, appear as humanoid birds, with large, white wings, fingers and toes armed with black talons, and orange beaks.

Tengu appear in various folklores while in possession of a ha-uchiwa, a type of magical fan.

While the tengu in Diaries do not wield such fans, another character named Sparrow, who appears in my first novel (Daughters of Darkwana), possesses several . . . let’s say “special” fans.

Tengu make their first appearance in the fifth book of Diaries (entitled Deceivers of Darkwana). They serve as the former slave owners of a kitsune clan (more on kitsunes later).

The mythological tengu possess the ability to change their shape at will (often into human or bird form). They do not do this in Diaries.

Many tengu in mythology possess (control) and torment humans. Such stories tell of a tormented spirit named Sasaki, who, in his rage, projects a giant image of a big-nosed, winged demon. Remind anyone of a certain antagonist from the Japanese manga, Naruto?

Stories exist of a land called tengudo, which belongs to the tengu. In Diaries, tengudo exists as a range of mountains in which the tengu take refuge after their kitsune slaves revolted against them.

The slave revolt serves as old news by the start of the fist book, Daughters of Darkwana.

Many specific tengu (too many to recount here) earn mention in the old mythologies. Many of these characters (each afflicted to some degree by my creative license) make appearances in books five-through-seven of Diaries.

Tanuki (not tengu) exist in the real world as a creature known as raccoon dogs. They also exist in the world of myths. A tanuki, in the latter, serves as trickster god with a power set similar to a kitsune’s own.

In Diaries, only a single character, named Tanuki, appears on behalf of these deities.

In Diaries, Tanuki appears as an anthropomorphic raccoon giftwrapped in chains and surgical dressings. My Tanuki serves as an assassin who specializes in summoning creatures via “summoning strings” (more on those in a future post).

In mythology, kodama serve as small spirits that live inside trees. In Diaries, they exist as human-sized creatures that appear as if constructed entirely from different types of plants. We meet the first one in book four (Duelists of Darkwana).

The kitsune proves, of all the mythological creatures that make appearances in Diaries, the most important.

A large sum of the characters in Diaries exist as kitsunes (you should spell this word the same singular as plural, but I add the s at the end for multiple kitsunes. Many readers found it confusing if I didn’t).

I enjoyed such a wide creative license with these creatures that they alone stand as the subject for next week’s post (Wednesday).

I publish my blogs as follows:

Mondays and Thursdays: Short stories at martinwolt.blogspot.com

Tuesdays: A look at the politics of the entertainment world at EntertainmentMicroscope.blogspot.com.

Wednesdays: An inside look at my novels (such as Daughters of Darkwana, which you can now find on Kindle) at Darkwana.blogspot.com

Fridays: Tips to improve your fiction at FictionFormula.blogspot.com

Sundays: Movie reviews at moviesmartinwolt.blogspot.com