Kithkin

Kithkin
Creature Type
(Subtype for creature/kindred cards)
Beeble Scale	7
Statistics	63 cards 77.8% 3.2% 3.2% 12.7% 1.6% 1.6% 9 Kithkin creation cards 66.7% 11.1% 11.1% 11.1% as of Commander Legends
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type:"Kithkin"

Kithkin are a quick and agile race of small humanoids, mostly associated with white mana. The first card to bear the creature type was Amrou Kithkin in Legends.

Description

Kithkin are humanoid or elf-like creatures that are predominantly associated with white mana; however, kithkin have been shown to be associated with green, blue and red mana, albeit always secondarily.

Kithkin value "community, simplicity, and forthrightness" and are "quick, agile, and highly cooperative in battle". Although no more than 4'5" tall, they are taller than dwarves, hobbits, and halflings. Furthermore, culturally, they are different from hobbits, as kithkin do not "have an unusual fondness for 'pipe-weed' or ale, they don't go barefoot or burst into song more than other races, and they don't take particular pride in their beards or gardens".

Generally, kithkin are fair-skinned and have notably exaggerated noses and ears, and otherwise unremarkable physical features.

Inception and reception

Early conceptual illustrations of kithkin, illustrated by Steve Prescott.

Initially, in the conception stage of Lorwyn, kithkin were depicted in artwork as more monstrous, more closely resembling humanoid rats; however, they became closer in appearance to the humans that they were replaced in the block.

Originally, kithkin were to be called hobbits, which is reflected via the common phenotypic characteristic of their short stature and hairy feet; however, to avoid conflict with the estate of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit author J. R. R. Tolkien, the name of these creatures were changed from hobbits to "kithkin", a term original to Magic. This origin story of the kithkin creature type name has been confirmed by the illustrator of the inaugural kithkin, Amrou Kithkin, Quinton Hoover.

Fittingly, as community-oriented creatures, the creature type name may be formed from or influenced by the archaic English term "kith and kin", which is a term for friends and family.

Market research showed players disliked Kithkin. They were often called “creepy”. As such, Eventide was the last major appearance of kithkin, and the return set Dominaria had no mention of them. Commander Legends would then print a new card featuring this creature type by the name of Kinsbaile Courier. March of the Machine's multiversal war storyline brought back Lorwyn and with it two new Kithkin, Kithkin Billyrider and Mistmeadow Vanisher.

Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms introduced Halfling as a creature type, which like kithkin has a similar origin as a term interchangeable with hobbits.

Storyline

Dominaria

The kithkin of Dominaria once lived in an idyllic country called Amrou Haven , but after the Apocalypse, their home was destroyed. The kithkin remained in their ancestral home, seeking out a meager existence as nomads on the dusty salt plains of the ruined paradise. After the restoration of Dominaria, the kithkin set about the long task of restoring their homeland.

Dominarian kithkin resemble short humans more than anything else. They are about four-and-a-half feet tall; their distinguishing characteristics are their brown hair, large noses, and feet covered in light hair. Kithkin place great emphasis on community and are highly cooperative in battle, and are known for their simplicity and forthrightness. The kithkin of Dominaria do not have access to thoughtweft like their Lorwyn cousins.

Lorwyn-Shadowmoor

Lorwyn concept artwork for kithkin.

Lorwyn Kithkin

The kithkin of Lorwyn are a quick and agile race of small humanoids, mostly associated with white mana. Lorwyn kithkin society is centered around interrelated villages and towns called clachans. The head of a clachan is called a cenn, or mayor. Known clachans include Kinsbaile, Burrenton, Goldmeadow, Cloverdell, and Dundoolin. Their society is based on a type of collective consciousness called the thoughtweft. The thoughtweft connects the kithkin by a kind of empathic web, allowing them to share their emotions and thoughts, making them very effective in battle cooperation. Thoughtweft naturally binds kithkin together into tightly knit communities; the better you understand the thoughts and feelings of your fellow townsfolk, the closer you feel to them. Kithkin generally welcome travelers of other races to their clachans, but it's said that if you pick a fight with one kithkin, you're choosing to fight them all.

Kithkin Militia

Physically, Lorwyn kithkin are shorter than their Dominarian counterparts, with stout bodies and thick limbs. Their faces are round and almost pumpkin-like, with highly expressive features. Lots of convex and rounded shapes in armor and weapon design reinforced their visual sensibilities.

Kithkin Balloonist

Kithkin are peaceful farmers but are fierce warriors when provoked. They can be innovative builders and alchemists, using both craftsmanship and magic to construct melee weapons, armor of leather and bronze, bows, slings, traps, farming equipment, furniture, potions, powder-bombs, healing circles, barrier rings, flight auras, and balloon-driven air vehicles.

Kithkin are reverent and quite superstitious. They venerate the mysterious greater elementals of Lorwyn, beings that embody the abstract concepts and dreams (and sometimes, nightmares) of the plane. They feel that the movements and actions of the greater elementals represent omens for their own lives, and watch them with respectful distance. Everything that is of cultural importance, like stories and customs, are found in the Book of Kith and Kin. Kithkin knights and soldiers ride into battle on springjacks, which they also raise for their wool and meat.

This augury mingles with the kithkin propensity for superstition; they propagate hundreds of odd little folk practices to protect their good fortune. For example, a kithkin might wear a bit of silver on her knife hand when eating jackmutton, to prevent the rest of the herd from becoming nervous or irritable. Most of these superstitious practices fall somewhere between wise folk medicine and utter hogwash in terms of actual usefulness, but kithkin follow them faithfully. Their magic is often powder-based.

Kithkin Holidays

Annual Kithkin holidays include Lammastide, the celebration of the Aurora, the Springjack Festival, and the contest of the Knights of Meadowgrain. Thoughtweft-infused dances called "reels" are an elaborate affair among kithkin, serving to heighten and solidify the bonds of thoughtweft.

Lammastide is a holiday involving the tying of ceremonial ribbons and the dancing of reels including the "three-toad" and the "cotfolder." Dancing is an elaborate affair among kithkin, serving to heighten and solidify the bonds of thoughtweft. Long ago, it is said two young kithkin brothers were cursed by an elemental, crippling their sense of thoughtweft. A year and a day later, at the Lammastide holiday, the cleric Harrick Teeg broke the spell. He wrapped enchanted cloth ribbons around the brothers, then sliced them away, freeing the brothers from their dreadful dreams. Thus the tradition of tying and tearing ribbons at Lammastide was begun.

During the Aurora, an annual show of flickering lights that plays across Lorwyn's sky, kithkin celebrate with a gathering of multiple clachans and droning cenn speeches.

At the Sprinjack Festival, kithkin undertake a lifting competition, where the stoutest kithkin try to lift ever-increasing weights of springjack; a joust, a crowd-pleasing show of determination where each kith's jacksmanship is put to the test; and the Springjack Reel, a lively, twisting dance symbolic of the story of Talbin Beel, the first kithkin ever to tame a springjack.

Once a year, each clachan sends its most worthy knight to meet on Meadowgrain Lawn, a sanctified clearing a half-day's ride from Kinsbaile. The hopefuls engage in a series of tests to prove their valor, grace in combat, and jackmanship. The winner of the contests is inducted into the Knights of Meadowgrain, the most respected order of kithkin knights in the world.

Shadowmoor

After the Great Aurora changed the idyllic plane of Lorwyn into the fearful world of Shadowmoor, the kithkin became furtive creatures with oversized white eyes or gold with no pupils. The mindweft (the name that the thoughtweft receives in Shadowmoor) that once bound them together in comforting harmony now linked them all in a state of constant paranoia; they are obsessed with conformity and fear anyone not like themselves. Their rustic clachans became armed fortresses called douns where the kithkin huddled together like rats in a corner, barely keeping the horrors of Shadowmoor at bay.

Some douns seem to be more paranoid than others (fearing even leaving their own houses alone), while others have lone scouts that watch the area.

Like their Lorwyn culture, they can also have a designated Hero who is empowered by the mindweft.

The kithkin of Shadowmoor were the creators of huge inanimate scarecrows, though they became animated for unknown reasons and they lost control of these malignant constructs.

Notable Kithkin

• Brigid Baeli
• Deagan
• Jack Chierdagh
• Gaddock Teeg

Tribal type

Lorwyn block featured two tribal Kithkin cards, which could be fetched by Kithkin Harbinger or can be made cheaper to cast with Ballyrush Banneret:

• Militia's Pride
• Surge of Thoughtweft

Tokens

Token Name	Color	Type Line	P/T	Text Box	Source	Printings
Kithkin Soldier	White	Creature — Kithkin Soldier	1/1		Cenn's Enlistment Cloudgoat Ranger Guardian of Cloverdell Gwyllion Hedge-Mage Kinsbaile Borderguard Militia's Pride Patrol Signaler Repel Intruders
Goldmeadow Harrier	White	Creature — Kithkin Soldier	1/1	, : Tap target creature.	Goldmeadow Lookout

External links

• Mike Flores (July 31, 2008). "A Closer Look at Kithkin". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.