ralphrepo said:
encinodude said:
Dravean said:
UniversalWolf said:
Haenlomal said:
if you call a young lady a "Hu Li Jing", you are basically saying that she's a good looking woman with evil intentions (i.e. an adulteress/seductress). I don't think I really need to point out why that has a very negative connotation.
If you're ever looking for an English equivalent, I'd go with
succubus. Nothing to do with foxes though. Just FYI.
But Succubus also has evil connotations, being a demon and all.
Plus, I don't see that word working as a name.
You know, I'm starting to believe I subconsciously left it as Kitsune to troll Chinese people.
Anyhow, can anyone confirm if the NPC leveling bug has been eliminated?
LOL... If it was a "codename" then it could be anything (including "Succubus" or whatever) and it would not matter. However, as a given name for a Chinese, it would have so many game world social and political ramifications that it goes directly against the suspension of disbelief. Not only is the name not Chinese, but rather, one which sounds strikingly similar to that of one of their most recent enemies. Moreover, according to the story line, she supposedly married a high level Chinese general. In real life, no Chinese general would even consider marrying a woman with a name like that, as it would subject him to ridicule and quite literally put stoppers on his career.
But whatever, it was just an observation.
She might be a double agent for what we know
I just thought I'd throw in my 2-cents for those interested in Asian fox myths since I made a presentation a few years back.
Foxes are pretty common in Asian and European folklore. In China, foxes were deemed to possess an innate deceitful and chaotic nature, often cheating gullible people or messing up whatever situation they were involved in.
These assumptions might emanate from the hard time farmers had when defending their poultries against hungry foxes but there are probably countless other reasons.
In traditional chinese myths, Lao Hu (Old Foxes) who live up to a great age acquire additional tails and many abilities; one of the most commonly used being shape shifting. They become Hu Li Jings and just like their Japanese counterparts their age and power is marked by the number of tails they have.
Hu Li Jings (sometimes abbreviated to Hu Jing) are spirits that have great influence on humans, sometimes helping them, but most of the time leading them to their own doom. Most often, they take the appearence of beautiful women or old men in order to accomplish their agenda. One such story is that of the Fengshen Yanyi (I recommend reading it since it is translated) where a Nine tailed Fox Spirit possesses the empress Daji and leads the Shang dynasty to its end.
As Haenlomal already stated, Hu Li Jing (sometimes abbreviated as Hu Jin) has taken a negative meaning in modern Chinese and calling a woman Hu Li Jing would probably net you a slap.
Hu Li Jing are often depicted as having nine tails although it is not always the case. This might be due to the importance of the number 9 in China (9 is the strongest single digit number, stories fo the 9 dragons, etc.) . These 9 tailed foxes are referred to as Jiu Wei Hu and are described in Japanese and Korean myths as well.
Although it is not always the case, fox spirits are sometimes benevolent. In Korean culture, if a fox lived 1000 years, it became a nine tailed fox named Kumiho (The hanja reading for 9 tailed fox). For some reason, these spirits were considered benevolent and rather gullible often been tricked by cunning humans up til a certain point in history. It is difficult to know what happened but one thing is sure: nowadays the Kumiho is only viewed as an evil being who seduces men and brings them to meet an untimely fate.
In Japan however, the kitsune (common term for fox) managed to keep a rather good image and are considered mainly to be good spirits although there are also bad ones. Contrary to China and Korea, kitsune are not associated with misfortune and death but rather they are seen as mischievous and pranksters.
So far, out of the 3 countries I mentioned, only the Japanese fox managed to make its way into the local religion, and many shinto texts.
There are many categories of foxes in Japanese folklore and they are usually divided among zenko (good fox) and nogitsune (plain fox). Popular Zenko include the (o)inari, a major fox deity and its messenger the myoubu (this title is also given to imperial court ladies).
Another (not so commonly used) term for spirit fox would be Youko which is employed in a bad context (the first character of the word means calamity/bewitching).
Fox spirits are often portrayed as having between one and nine tails. The famous Kyuubi no kitsune (nine tailed fox) sometimes refered to as kyuubiko, kyuubi no youko, or just kyuubi is probably the most popular one. Starting from two tails, fox spirits are also referred to as Osaki Kitsune (split tailed fox) although the term is not commonly used. Shinto texts describe these foxes as being able to bring great wealth and power to those they take a liking to.
When I went to visit shinto temples, I saw fox statues in quite a few of them and the kitsune's general image remains pretty popular. The fox is even associated with popular dishes such as inari zushi or kitsune udon.
That being said, I am curious as to know the whole background story encinodude came up with regarding Kitsune's codename.
