LEPITSUNE ANATOMY

OVERVIEW

Lepitsunes are a small mammalian species, the average individual measuring around the length of a hand from nose to tail base, reaching a body length of a human forearm in their fully grown draconic forms. Though vulpine in overall appearance, their paws and legs are more rodent-like, with opposable thumbs on their forepaws that enable them to grasp at and manipulate things.  Fur covers their whole bodies, but tends to grow thinner on their paws, with thicker ruffs around their necks and elbows.

A special fur grows from the tips of their ears and tails, always the colour of the stardust that makes up their bodies and shows in their eyes.  These tufts help them in their navigation and homing abilities, allowing them to hone in on wishes and sense emotions - lepis that have somehow lost their tufts are hopelessly clumsy and disorientated. They regrow after some time, but during that time the lepitsune is especially vulnerable to getting lost and have a hard time getting around.

Lepitsunes have foxlike heads, with long thin muzzles and (usually) large, fluffy ears, always each tipped with a tuft which is used in navigating. The fur around their necks is usually fluffy, and while the shape of the tail depends on the individual lepitsune's growth pattern, it is always tipped with the same kind of special fur found in the ear tufts, or in the case of Melancholic lepitsunes, consists entirely of it. These tufts are almost always the same colour as the eyes.

They usually have a single pair of large wings like those of a moth's, and over time they elongate and lose their pigmentation to resemble dragonfly wings. In rare cases they may have multiple pairs or may be partially feathered; in even rarer cases completely.