Tashiro

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Tashiro, more commonly known as Foxtrot, has been a member of the furry community for over fifteen years. Initially introduced to MUCKs through FurryMUCK, he has also been a member of Tapestries, Southern Cross, FoxMUCK, and is the current head wizard of FurryFaire. Tashiro's most known in the furry community for his guide, Foxtrot's Guide to Kitsune Lore.

1 Background - OOC
- 1.1 FurryMUCK
2 Foxtrot's Guide
3 FurryFaire
- 3.1 RP Wiz
- 3.2 Head Wizard
4 Background: IC
- 4.1 Other Notes
5 The Player
6 FurryMUCK in Fiction (search Chrome Circle)

[edit] Background - OOC

Foxtrot was first created as an online persona for FurryMUCK. The name 'Foxtrot' was chosen because of the character 'Foxtrot X-Ray' from the Mercedes Lackey book, 'Born to Run'. After the character was made, his player read the book 'Chrome Circle', which introduced Foxtrot X-Ray as a kitsune, and even showed the FurryMUCK world within the novel. (See References Below) The fact that Foxtrot's player had chosen a kitsune as his persona made the symmetry very eerie, but the two coinciding with one another was simply an uncanny coincidence.

[edit] FurryMUCK

Originally, Foxtrot was called 'Foxtrot X/Ray', but after the death of actor Toshiro Mifune and director Akira Kurosawa, Foxtrot's name became 'Kurosawa Tashiro' (having mis-read 'Toshiro as' 'Tashiro'). Foxtrot became a 'cover handle' for the character, used for his association with non-Naiponese. During roleplay on FurryMUCK, Tashiro's history and connection to his homeland slowly grew fleshed out, but not to the detail which occurred when the character was transferred to FurryFaire.

Foxtrot is still present on FurryFaire, though appearance there is sporadic.

[edit] Foxtrot's Guide

Foxtrot's player was given a copy of the book 'Kitsune' by his then-mate Myrla on FurryMUCK. At the time, there was perhaps only one web page on the internet involving kitsune, and information in general on the Japanese race was scarce. Using what information he could get at the time, Foxtrot began to collect what he could into a 'for role-play' document called Foxtrot's Guide to Kitsune Lore. Unfortunately, the information that he had collected was sparse, and historically inaccurate in a number of places, but it was posted for public use.

[edit] Version 2

Moving to FurryFaire, Foxtrot was requested to make a more 'play friendly' version of his guide. This version included the 13 Elements and examples of personality associated with the elements. This guide was more focused on the role-playing environment of the kitsune, but held more information than Version 1. Foxtrot was not impressed with this version of his guide, and quickly began working on Version 3.

[edit] Version 3

The current version of Foxtrot's Guide, viewable online, is the longest fan-made document on kitsune to be found online. The information is somewhat dated, having not been improved upon for over ten years, but is the second-most referenced document on kitsune to be found online. Foxtrot has admitted that the information there is not as accurate as he might like, and there have been rumours of a Version 4 in the works.

[edit] Version 4

Version 4 of Foxtrot's Guide has not been started, as Foxtrot wishes it to be a collaborative effort with the help of other scholars of kitsune lore. He has admitted to wanting to write about the place of kitsune as trickster figures, and discussing their place as teachers as well as their place in legend and myth. There is no specific date for when this project will be finished.

[edit] FurryFaire

Foxtrot's appearance on FurryFaire was near the beginning of the MUCK's operation. Foxtrot was reluctant to go to a new MUCK at the time, but the role-play environment drew him in. Before coming to FurryFaire, Foxtrot's exposure to the MUCK environment was always as a social gathering. The idea of online, serious, dedicated role-playing was a new experience, and one that required some transition by the player.

[edit] RP Wiz

In a few short years, Foxtrot went from player, to RP-Staff, to RP-Wiz on FurryFaire. Before this time, FurryFaire was not an organized MUCK, with clashing themes and locations, and a very rough and not well-detailed history. Foxtrot began to organize the history of the MUCK and had petitioned a map to be drawn for the game. After another two years, he resigned as RP Wizard due to a conflict of interest with the new Head Wizard, Typhon.

[edit] Head Wizard

Foxtrot was selected to be Head Wizard upon Typhon's removal from the position in the early 2000s. He has been Head Wizard of FurryFaire since.

[edit] Background: IC

Foxtrot was born Kurosawa Tashiro noh Kurosawa, a member of the Edo Kitsune, a group of three Clans found in the mythic world of Naipon - a spiritual mirror of Earth's Japan. (In FurryFaire, Naipon is instead one of the nations of the realm, and is not connected to Earth).

Foxtrot's father, Kurosawa Miyage, was a shape-shifting sorcery from the nation of Hinde, and a servant of the demon known as Ravana. Ravana (the Devourer) is also known as the 'Mother of Rukshasa', and has been waging a spiritual war on the nations of Chang'Na and Naipon. Miyage was an infiltrator, and had been given the order to destabilize Naipon and send the Edo Kitsune against one another. As part of this plan, Miyage seduced the daimyo of the Saotome Family to produce a potential heir under his control - Saotome Kwaidan, better known as Vex.

Miyage's weakness was that he had become an 'experience vampire'. He had developed a ritual which allowed him to steal the memories of others, leaving their minds a blank and learning their skills and experiences once he had stolen them. This, however, left him somewhat unstable, as he could no longer learn anything through normal means. To combat this, Miyage sent Foxtrot world-walking, sending him to other worlds so that Foxtrot would experience new things, only to have these experiences siphoned off by his father before being sent out again.

Upon coming to Kith Kanaan, Foxtrot settled into the region known as The Shire Lands. His half-sister (only known as his cousin, Vex), soon followed him, and when the four years were up, she turned against Miyage, calling on the help of Foxtrot's young wife and on allies she had made there. Miyage was exposed before the Imperial Court and banished from Naipon, hunted by the assassins of the Saotome. Eventually, driven mad, he was hunted down and killed in another realm (This story-line was concluded in Southern Cross, the details adapted to FurryFaire canon later).

After the defeat of his father, Foxtrot shed the 'handle' given to him, and has been known as Tashiro since. With his father's disgrace, his mother retired to a monastery, leaving him as daimyo to the Kurosawa Clan, while his half-sister inherited the position of daimyo of the Saotome Clan. A short while later, Tashiro retired from the position of daimyo and handed the role to his adopted daughter, Kitaya.

Tashiro is married to Kurosawa Raine, also known as 'Jade', a gaijin from the Shire Lands in Kith Kanaan. They have a daughter (Kaede), who has become head of the Naipon Embassy in the Shire, and who is married to Kurosawa Shiro noh Koketsu, a former member of the Koketsu Clan (the third of the three Edo Kitsune Clans).

[edit] Other Notes

In FurryFaire, Tashiro is a 'full blooded' kitsune, meaning that he is a true supernatural creature, and thus is treated as semi-immortal. This is a carry-over from FurryFaire 1. Because of this, he is not a player-character in FurryFaire 2, since true supernatural characters are no longer allowed. His 'heir' for the game is Shiro, who is follows the rules of the new setting, and is thus a 'half-blooded' character, meaning that he has a supernatural heritage, but is considered to be a mortal character.

[edit] The Player

Tashiro is played by 'Kit' LaHaise, who lives in Ottawa, Canada. He has appeared at a grand total of three Furry Conventions, and is only peripherally a 'furry' (having interest in the fandom, but not as immersed as he used to be). He has been a part of the furry community since the early '90s, introduced by WindRunner from FurryMUCK.