Tashiro

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 was the head wizard of FurryFaire. Tashiro's most known in the furry community for his guide, Foxtrot's Guide to Kitsune Lore.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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 until the end of 2010.

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 sorcerer 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).

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.

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.

In 2010, Tashiro released Fox Magic, a roleplaying game that lets the players play kitsune. He is currently writing an expansion book for it which will effectively replace his Guide.

FurryMUCK in Fiction (search Chrome Circle)

 * http://www.anvil.demon.co.uk/furry-novels.txt
 * http://forums.comicbookresources.com/archive/index.php/t-164500.html (By the writer's own words)

Fox Magic

 * http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=68865