As per Thornwolf's prompts, today is Inktober Day 16: a kirin! It's funny to me how these are often depicted in modern Western culture as 'Chinese/Japanese unicorns', when they're really only similar in that they have an ungulate's body. Some kirin have one backwards-curving horn, but it's much more common for them to have one or two antlers, especially for Chinese qilin. They have a dragon's head and scales, a lion's or an ox's tail, and the body of a deer or ox. Some of them breathe fire. Like a unicorn, they are considered to be 'pure', with Buddhist incarnations refusing to even walk on grass for fear of crushing a single living blade. They show up for auspicious occasions, often to royalty, and will defend the righteous against malicious forces. That's about where the similarity ends, though. In the Japanese hierarchy of powerful magical creatures, kirin occupy the top spot. Plus, they're fun to draw!

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