Inugami

Inugami are one of the Youkai Races of the world, a race known for its loyalty and strength.

Physical Description
Inugami are an athletic race of individuals with average builds. Males tend not to be overly muscular or slender while females don't tend to be particularly voluptuous or petite. Inugami as a whole tend towards much more average but athletic body builds. Their most noticeable feature are of course their wolf ears and tails. Now unlike other races these features can vary a bit, from coloration to length. Inugami can often be mistaken for Kitsune due to how long their ears and tails can get. Though one of the easiest ways to tell the difference in their body builds as Kitsune are not typically quite as average in their bodies as Inugami.

Inugami can have just about any skin tone and color to them, but their hair colors tend to be a bit more simple with only rare exceptions, most being white or black haired. Their eye colors also have little variation, most being yellow or red but other colors being quite possible.

Inugami can easily live between 90-100 years with little trouble and with proper healthcare and lifestyle can live up to 110-120 years.

Physical Quirks
Inugami have very sensitive noses and sense of hearing, giving them a wider range of things they can percieve naturally than many other races. This sensitivity can persist in hybrids of Inugami as well, but usually its not quite as strong. Exceptionally loud sounds or exceptionally strong smells have been known to deafen the corresponding sense in an Inugami for extended periods of time and are known to be quite painful to them.

Inugami actually have a very sensitive spot at the base of their tail, which makes the act of pulling their tail quite painful, but scratching the base of the tail very relaxing and pleasurable.

Instinctual Behavior
Inugami have a very strong pack mentality, with a perception of pack ranking as well. Inugami will gather about an Alpha and work under them to accomplish their various goals entirely on their own instinct. Inugami once they pick an Alpha are very unlikely to change allegiances unless absolutely forced to through circumstances or their Alpha is wholly unsuited to lead. So long as they believe in their Alpha Inugami will follow them to their deaths. While in many such pack mentalities the existence of multiple Alpha's would be absurd, with Inugami Alphas of Inugami can in turn have an Alpha themselves. With this quirk in their instinct Inugami have a natural inclination to form into villages, towns, cities, and even countries with an orderly structure of power and control from smaller village packs which make up town packs which make up city packs which make up country packs.

Inugami also have a strong protective instinct, a strong desire to protect their personal pack whatever it is from all outsiders.

Because of these two mentalities, concepts of Honor and Duty are a very big part of their cultural identity.

Inugami have a strong inclination to make their homes underground, preferring to make their homes in caves both natural and manufactured. Finding the earth comforting. This instinct has led them to being excellent miners and metalworkers, something their structured and orderly tendencies also promotes.

Perceptions and Stereotypes
Inugami are often considered less intelligent and foolish than other Youkai because of how loyal and obedient they are to their leaders.

Inugami themselves often view most of the other races as dishonorable and untrustworthy, especially members of the Youkai Races. The rare exceptions to this viewpoint primarily being Elves who are very clan and family based and the Oni who place a high value on loyalty to one's friends.

Relationships
Inugami view their family and friends as being practically the same thing, and should be given equal levels of respect and loyalty. Often their friends being considered distant relatives regardless of blood ties. Meaning that insulting an Inugami's friends is often the same as insulting the Inugami's parents. Inugami are not particularly quick to accept someone as a friend, but once they do they are not likely to betray them for any reason and will do whatever they can to protect them.

They do however view their relationship to their mate as being very different, seeing their mate as one they trust and believe in enough to share their weaknesses and failures with, something they will not do with friends and family. A mate is considered sacred and an Inugami will not betray their mate lightly for any reason. While Inugami will choose a singular mate, it does not mean however that they will not choose others as lesser mates. Inugami Alphas are in fact known to take in and support multiple members of the opposite gender to act as parents to their children as Alphas are rarely known to have time to act as fulltime parents. So instead they take additional partners to assist in child rearing. This practice is less used when a community is more tightly nit together, but in mixed communities of populations it is more likely to occur. Either way Inugami don't naturally find an issue with it.

Inugami have an additional relationship they place with their pack Alpha, they see their pack Alpha as the ultimate authority between what is right and wrong in the pack and as such will betray family, friends, or even their mate so long as they still see their Alpha as deserving that position. Though often betraying those people to an unfit Alpha leads to a social exile from all of their pack. Especially if it is to an unfit Alpha of a higher pack, such as betraying a family member of your village pack to an unfit Alpha of a city pack.

Major Population Centers
Inugami are found mostly in Xexas, with population pockets extending up into Bria and Zentreza.

Magical Affinities
Inugami are naturally strong with Enhancement Magics finding the way it enhances their own natural abilities very easy to grasp the use of. Thought based magics in turn are very hard for them because trying to understand the thought patterns of others proves exceptionally difficult for an Inugami.

In addition to this, Inugami have a natural magic they can learn to use through many years of training, an ability that hybrids of Inugami cannot learn thus only pure-bred Inugami can use it. An Inugami can put their body in a state of stasis and detach their head, and move it about through a form of limited telekineses and then attach their head to a headless and lifeless body. Jumpstarting the body and healing it to an extent for their own use. However prolonged departure from their original body will slowly weaken the stasis on their original body, and if they leave their original body for more than a few days it will completely break the stasis and begin to decay.