Name: Fukuma (Including the Alpha), and Cheshire

Race: Fukuma: Beast

Cheshire: Monster

Sub-race: Big Cats

Place on the Pyramid of Power (PPP): Fukuma: Apex Predator to Supernatural

Cheshire: Supernatural

World: Xentos and Derthune

Habitat: Both: Jungles, Forests, Alleys of the Underground, and even the Caves of the Underneath. They prefer spaces that can be hidden behind with decently open areas for them to teleport around.

Biology: Fukuma: Teleporting panthers, with big saber teeth might be the best way to describe a Fukuma. A mix of tiger, lion, and puma to make such a strange and almost regal creature. They are pack hunters by nature, that tend to roam in prides between five and twelve members. Each pride led by a single alpha, that shall be better described after explaining what a normal Fukuma is.

The fur of the Fukuma is generally well kept, as it is a source of pride for the creature. Most of their days are spent grooming themselves, and other pack mates. Which tends to leave the red fur, with purple stripes, with an almost glossy appearance. Grooming is so important to them, that it is the first thing that their cubs are taught. It's to the point, that a Fukuma kicked out of its pack, will approach sapient creatures or tamers just to keep their fur groomed properly. Which ironically is how most of these creatures are bonded with such tamers.

The intelligence of the Fukuma is like that of a near sapient beast. Clever enough to lay traps, to hone their skills, and even crudely communicate with each other. Though they are still guided by their instincts to hunt, kill, and eat their prey. This also lends itself to interesting interactions between different prides. They are clever enough to understand when they are outmatched, and need to work together.

Fukuma can form a sort of great pack, or large pride if properly threatened. In a hostile environment, they will gravitate towards each other, working together to carve out territories that can be defended. Other packs will not enter the territory of an established pack, unless their leader sounds the call for help. Something that generally isn't done unless the cubs are threatened, or some extremely powerful creature arrives.

Fukuma are prideful beasts, with sleek and powerful bodies. They tend to stay within their territory, only leaving to go hunting. Even if they form a large pride. In those instances, the Alpha is the one leading them along the boundaries of the other territories. Teleportation is usually done while others watch, and it is very uncommon for prides to attack others in such a setting.

A Fukuma typically hunts, using its ability to teleport wherever its eye can see. Due to this habit, Fukuma have striking cat eyes, that are very honed. In most cases, a Fukuma will teleport in front of the prey animal, or beast, and swipe at them. This is to direct attention towards them, while they prepare to teleport away. The goal is to either distract the prey, and have another Fukuma deliver a finishing blow from behind, or test the defenses of said prey.

Fukuma claws are sharp enough to rend hardened leather, and gouge metal armor. Their saber teeth are capable of puncturing through metal armor, and tough hide. They prefer to attack vital spots, and end fights quickly. They are prideful after all, and a good kill to them is one where not even a drop of blood lands on their fur.

It should be noted that Fukuma have two tails. These tails are actually sensory organs, that have adapted to sense space in a sense. To cut off a Fukuma's tail, is to remove their ability to teleport. Though naturally such a thing is largely unknown by most denizens on Xentos, given that Fukuma are very keen on not having their tails touched.

While the displacer fluid inside a Fukuma's organ is what allows them to teleport. The tails do the fine work of using minimal amounts, while actually doing such. Both are needed to teleport, and if you pull out the organ, chances are the Fukuma is already dead. The displacer fluid itself will break down within hours after death, and is organic in nature.

Out of everything you can get from killing a Fukuma, the displacer fluid is the most valuable. Which is why a lot of alchemists commission hunts through the Guard, or guilds to stabilize it if a safe Fukuma den is discovered. The pelts are prized possessions of many nobles, and even the iconic teeth make decent trophies or mugs. (I know I never actually did a drop section before, but it fits in the Biology, plus the other creatures didn't really have anything too useful to pick off their bodies)

Alphas have three tails. They have a bigger chest, with more powerful lower claws. The upper claws are different by virtue of being sharper. Alphas have a darker striped mane, that trails along their back. The middle tail is the thickest, with duel colors, while the other two are more slender and have one of each color.

The main difference between a Fukuma, and the alpha of the pack, is the fact that the third tail allows it to teleport without being able to see. Despite that advantage, it is rare for the alpha to actually hunt. They are more like powerful baby sitters, whose job relies on making more cubs, and protecting them. The alpha will run off members of their pack so they can join other packs, or make their own. They will watch over hunts, and if too many members die they will call the retreat if needed. Which is why it's rare for such to actually attack.

Cheshire: A contrast to how the Fukuma are, they are solitary creatures, due to the circumstances of their creation. A Cheshire is made whenever a pack of Fukuma have fallen, and the Alpha is left alone. When it feasts on the flesh of a monster, it's saber teeth fall out, it's muzzle becoming flatter. The face of the creature grows more round, the whiskers zigging and zagging. The unnatural smile of its razor sharp teeth, glowing.

A cheshire looks more like an overgrown cat, versus the more slender frame of the Fukuma. Cheshire are more round, their tails splitting into five, with four of them spiraling around the main one. They are able to actively manipulate the space around them, and teleport much further than the Fukuma. Naturally their bodies are also a little stronger due to the monster blood, but their strength isn't noticeably different. Their fur turns from red with purple stripes, to an ashy blue with purple stripes.

What is truly different, is the overwhelming control a Cheshire has on the space around it. It can bend the space to take on any form it desires, often choosing to just appear invisible. Though if they are not invisible, they will either be lazing about in their desired form, or even practicing their appearance. They are vain creatures, and adore spending hours just shifting what space they feel on themselves to better enjoy themselves.

When I said they can take on any form, I meant within reason. A Cheshire cannot become more than three times it's actual size, but beyond that they are able to do as they want. Quite a few enjoy taking on humanoid forms, just to enjoy the luxuries that thumbed creatures can offer. They are solitary by nature, but that doesn't mean others can't work under them after all.

Cheshire do have intelligence, and the longer they live, the smarter they get. They very often refrain from outright killing, since that isn't fun to them. They can just bend the space around them, as they walk to a prey, and slice open unguarded flesh. If there is a slight gap in any armor, a cheshire claw can find its way in that gap and do damage. What they enjoy instead, are bouts of wit and intrigue. They are still prideful creatures after all, and the kill needs to be a game.

They will drive individuals that have earned their scorn to suicide. They will spend decades guiding human families to interbreed to keep the bloodline 'pure.' (Something they learned from elves mind you.) They will steal documents, and other things, all to plant evidence and bring down families or sow discourse. How they go about it varies as much as the individual, but they all have rules that they will not break. If that rule is broken, then the game is lost, and no longer fun. If a Cheshire has to get its hands dirty, then they just leave, since that isn't fun to them.

Naturally killing a Cheshire reveals what it actually looked like. They do have displacer fluid, but it is tainted and black. Which means that only monsters can use such a thing. Still the Fire Kingdom enjoys mounting their heads in the houses of nobles, and their pelts can be used as rugs often times.

Diet: Both: Raw meat, as they are predators that hunt. Though Cheshire can eat cooked foods, and veggies which they will not enjoy.

Concept: Fukuma: Noble, arrogant, and clever big cats. The Fukuma are magic beasts that can teleport, and use that ability to hunt their prey. The concept behind them has less to do with what they are, but more how they hunt. The kind of threat they can pose to other creatures. They are supposed to be smart enough to understand not hunting towns, but are fine with hunting villages. They are predators, clever enough to know when they need to run away or set up a trap.

Essentially they are supposed to be a creature adventurers fear. It isn't that they are tough, they can't take much damage after all, it's that they can move around and not be hit. A pack that is being hunted, will require the hunters to be clever. Good hunters will release flares, or sparks to blind the beasts. Others might notice a pattern to how they teleport.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

The point is, that they are a good encounter to help others think more about their environment and how it can be used. They are supposed to be engaging fights, and also interesting creatures. Basically a tiger, but better.

Cheshire: Cheshire make wonderful hidden villains. They can be anything or anyone, but they choose not to. The rules of their games tend to follow these set rules for all of them: Do not kill with your own hands. Do not change your form. Do not reveal what you truly are.

Beyond those rules, anything goes. They are clever and cunning, prideful but patient. If it is a matter of life and death, then they already lost their game, and will break their rules to survive. Though, losing their game is roughly the same as dying to them, with how bad it makes them feel.

Most Cheshire start off brooding, and lamenting their fallen. You could start a campaign around the party stumbling upon one. Then as the adventure goes on, they might catch it changing their form, and eventually declaring to get revenge. Perhaps someone else might tell the party such a thing? Naturally the monster decides when the game truly starts, which is usually when they settle on the form they will use.

Relationships: Fukuma: Oddly enough the two creatures are viewed and treated differently in the different kingdoms.

Eclipse: More like pests to the people in the Underground. Gangs will hunt them down, but it is typically costly. They are generally left alone, since they can't do much inside the city itself. So long as they are in the dead-zone, or outside the walls the are tolerated. Though more than a few tamers do pay coin to get their own Fukuma to raise or care for. They are decent, if a bit arrogant, companions after all.

Kingdom of Light: The elves running the Eastern kingdom are rather content with the Fukuma. They even have a beastman tribe that wasn't run off by the bigger cities. Fukuma tend to shy away from eating elves or wood elves, and they are more commonly tamed here than any other kingdom. Eclipse on the other hand likes their whisper wolves, over Fukuma and is a small source of tension between the nobles that argue which is better.

Kingdom of Dark Fell: Fukuma rarely go that, and there isn't much to eat. The Monster King likes them, but even the few he does get do not live long. What he really wants, is to figure out what he needs to do to make more Cheshire.

Kingdom of Fire: They were fine with Fukuma for a while. Then one of them bit the Fire Lord, and so he decided to banish them from the kingdom. They were hunted, with many Alpha fleeing and starving by the end of it all. This gave rise to many Cheshire, and one of the kingdom's many problems.

Northern Kingdom: Far too cold for the Fukuma to enjoy, and the tunnels are too cramped for them. A few packs were tamed, but the mimics did their thing, and the bonds were severed when a tamer became a doppelganger. Most of them fled into the Underneath, before ending up in Eclipse.

Cheshire: Other kingdoms are aware of Cheshire mainly thanks to Oswald's manual. Though they are very difficult to discover and pin down without someone able to sense spatial magic themselves.

Eclipse: They are required to show themselves, and are tested before being allowed to become citizens. The test mainly revolves an eldest banshee sniffing for the monster king's taint, before they are allowed to do as they wish. There are a couple Cheshire nobles kept happy and well fed. This is mainly to facilitate an engaging dynamic between the nobles.

Others become gang leaders in the Underground, just to keep the dead-zone dwellers in check. A couple even became rune smiths just to impart knowledge of spatial runes to the King as thanks for taking them in. The Cheshire in Eclipse know about the origin of the hordes, and what the monster king does to their ilk.

It was actually a Cheshire, that helped make the matrix for the runic inner most walls. The thing that nullifies magic, while also bending space so that it is bigger on the inside. A lot of Cheshire are loyal to the king of Eclipse, thanks to everything he did for them. After all, it just wouldn't do to repay kindness with their own after they can play their games as much as they want.

There are naturally other monster types hidden around Eclipse, the ones that escaped the taint of the monster king. They linger just below the surface of everyday life, hiding themselves for the day their true king destroys the monster king.

Kingdom of Light: A few have made their way into the kingdom of light. They mostly work as ambassadors, since elves take things too slow for their liking. The Cheshire do what they can to make sure certain tribes, or cities, aren't bringing in anything too dangerous. There is a network in place, to make sure no rogue Cheshire is trying anything that might aid the monster king.

Kingdom of Dark Fell: The monster king actually adores them, since they are very capable minions. Whenever he gets his hands on one, he invites them to meet him personally. This is all so he can taint them, and make it their life's mission to bring about the ruin of other races. Which with a Cheshire's cunning and abilities, is easier than just charging at the enemy all the time.

The Cheshire themselves do hate the monster king for this fact, and a few will even work together to end the pitiful existence their fellow has become.

Kingdom of Fire: Pretty mutual hatred from both parties. Most Cheshire were created, because the old fire lord ran them off. Which means most of them were made because their packs were hunted down while they were Fukuma. A lot of Cheshire tend to hang around the Fire Kingdom, exacting revenge on the specific families that hurt them. Most of them leave for Eclipse after they are satisfied, while others stay to make new packs or continue messing up an area.

New packs for Cheshire tend to revolve around leading villages, or small outposts. A place where they can laze around, without having to do physical work, but they do enjoy paper work.

Northern Kingdom: They can pull of being a dwarf rather well, but a lot prefer not to. Dwarves work hard a lot of the time, and the food they eat isn't that good. When a Cheshire does make their way to their kingdom, it's usually to deal with the wet beards. Essentially hermits that trade for fish, or just enjoy killing monsters in the Underneath.

Romance: Fukuma: Really ask yourself if you want to contemplate it. They aren't sapient, and they are walking on four legs. I suggest not pursuing this unless you want to be ostracized. Keep the thoughts to yourself, unless you really want to stick a talent on them that makes them humanoid and sapient. Still weird, but hey, I won't judge you.

Cheshire: They can bend space, and are sapient enough. Their forms can be altered, but you read what came before. Keep the horny out of your games, and those around you will enjoy it more.

Creation: Fukuma: Created by wood elf trees, that acted as incubators for creating predators. They were made to round out the ecosystem, and keep herbivores from attacking the trees themselves. (Hey guys! Something not made by the mad god!)

Cheshire: (He took it personally xD) Created by the mad god, when he saw the Fukuma crop up in the area near Dark Fall. He thought it would be cool if he made a tragic monster type, setting the conditions. The irony is that these conditions were easy enough to create more of them, especially when the hordes came. Though it also allowed them to be free of the Monster King's curse. Since none of them really go to Dark Fell.

Purpose: Fukuma: They don't have sapience, or a real reason for being. They are beasts that were created for the purpose of hunting other beasts. To make an ecosystem that was more viable and stable. They naturally spread through the world, settling into places they can survive. Their purpose is simply to live life as a beast would. Eat, breed, and die. No real semantics, no overly dramatic opinion on how noble they are. They just are, until they aren't.

Cheshire: Given how they are made, a Cheshire tends to keep to themself. They don't worship the mad god, for giving them sapience or life. Instead, they understand their existence is one mired in brooding. They are content to laze in their caves, or whatever dark corner they crawl into. They spite the tragedy that created them, and scorn the god that made them. They seek to use their knowledge and learn what they can about the world around them, but often push of any grand plans to the next day. They are lazy by nature after all, and prey are fairly easy for them to find.

When a Cheshire sees fit to take action, they are very cunning and dangerous. They are subtle, and guide things from behind the scenes. Most don't even know that a Cheshire or two, are working to make certain events play out.

Lore: Fukuma: The Fukuma started off as a species in the Eastern Kingdom with the wood elves. They were able to hunt, and grow instead of dying out. Which meant that they were able to spread around Xentos. In some villages they are revered as guardian beasts, in others they are at the center of stories meant to scare children. A few nobles appreciate their temperament, and keep them around as pets.

Technically, these beasts are responsible for a couple of beast tribes, thanks to the elves. The most notable one, would have to be the panther tribe in the Underground. The Fukuma tribe is a small one in the Eastern Kingdom, but it does exist around the blue wood elf tribe. As for how the Fukuma are responsible for the panther tribe, well they kind of hunted panthers and the like to extinction. Some elf tribes sought to preserve and protect the beasts, which given how elves are, you can fill in the rest.

Cheshire: Given the cleanse of Fukuma in the Fire Kingdom, happened roughly fifty years after the fall of Dark Fell. It should come as no surprise that the Cheshire that wanted revenge, are the ones guiding monsters towards the kingdom through the western land bridge. Their influence is subtle, and most nobles along the outer walls rarely even noticing the Cheshire moving about their lands.

They aren't afraid to shift their forms to something more agreeable with the local people. They will even play roles that they feel like playing in a village, town, or even city. If they are happy, they will continue playing along. If they are angry, they will simply wait for the right moment to strike. Though the population of Cheshire can be measured in the low thousands, so they aren't a very big issue.

Fun Ideas: Fukuma: Plenty of ideas for these guys. You can have a beastman race that are able to teleport. Which is great for stronger leveled campaigns. They can be the experiments of some mad scientist, coming out of a vat and making a very dangerous fight. They can even be a group's bane, where one dedicated Fukuma is tracking down the party for some unknown reason. You don't even have to make them pure beasts. You can have a group, with one that knows how to talk and so much more.

I think they can be a different kind of Spinx if that makes sense. You find an ancient tomb in the jungle or some kind of forgotten temple. Your party feels eyes on them from different angles, and a low rumbling voice asks why they are trespassing on their land. It lends multiple ways to get what the party wants, and it doesn't even have to be riddle based. Maybe they just want the temple cleaned up a bit, or maybe they want offerings of fish and meat. Sky really is the limit, and it adds local flavor and mystery. After all in a campaign where everything is typically the same. A talking red big cat, with purple stripes will stand out.

They are great for most genre, though they would probably struggle in a science fiction setting. Even as a test subject with a chip installed to allow them to teleport. They won't be crazy good against people with guns or explosives. They are supposed to feel mystical, or even strange. They are dangerous because they are in groups, and having a whole pride of them in some research facility kind of seems forced. You can do it, but maybe ask whether you should?

Cheshire: How much do you hate your party? Joking aside, they can be anything you want. Most of the inspiration did come from Alice in Wonderland. Though I figured such a creature could be very dangerous. They aren't meant to be fought, but if you feel like it they can. I am posting stats in the post author notes.