Let's go to Australia and poke horrible things with a stick for fun!

1. So on board for this.
2. In the US.
3. The Huli Jing. Though I don't know if the Prices would recognize them as being a separate species from the Kitsune and Kumiho (I think there's a pretty strong argument that they're at least a different population, and likely genetically at least somewhat distinct.) Really, this arises from my love of Pu Songling's "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio" (really, the Qin dynasty literary version of Weird Tales) which draws on a lot of the northern chinese stories of fox spirits and their rather ambiguous interactions with humankind. (Also, lots of down on their luck scholars and strong and mysterious swordswomen. It's the best.)

[Sorry about the edit. Just can't be leaking apostrophes everywhere...]

Aren't we supposed to be using cryptids from Seanan's series? (Unless the foxes appear in one of her side stories, in which case you'd better clue me in so I can read it. ^^ )

I would argue that the three fox species share ancestors, similar to the human populations of China, Japan, and Korea, although they have some some notable cultural differences. But in the tales I've read, their actual abilities tend to be fairly similar regardless of the country (e.g., fox fire, illusions, etc.) which suggests shared genetics.

Pu Songling's book is great. Have you read Nozaki's Kitsune: Japan's Fox of Mystery, Romance & Humor or Zong In-Sob's Korean tales? Very interesting how each culture has put its own stamp on the fox myths.

Well, the directions weren't entirely clear on that point, and it is clear that the cryptids we've seen are not a patch on all the cryptids that exist. It's entirely likely that I'll be disqualified for drawing outside of the lines - on the other hand, we are encouraged towards original choices, so I figured hey, I'll just have fun with it. (There might have been some migraine influence in this decision, OTOH, who's to say I wouldn't have decided the same way otherwise?)

I haven't read the others, and I really ought to - most of my exposure to kitsune were in folktales I read as a child, whereas most of my exposure to huxian has been since early adulthood, when I could (slowly) read Chinese. And the foxes weren't the main reason I read Pu Songling, at least going in.

Oh, you linked your field guide so I assumed. :shrugs: