According to the workings of the game, foxes are the poor and underclass. So I thought of salt of the earth type laborers. Hopefully this image generates a lot of pathos and hopeful "nobility" of a kind. Though the class distinctions in the game are fairly clear cut, I wanted to portray each of them with a sort of dignity. Ma vixen is shown here pulling up turnips and her young'n is helping her out with some that've tumbled loose.
I guess these guys live in the forest and squat by the wooded roadside, gnawing bamboo and spouting wisdom and big bellies (cute!) His big black panda "eyepatches" pretty much totally mask his eyes, so he can look inscruitable, which i think is a fitting zenlike thing. I'm sure his roly-poly demeanor and build hide a fairly capable cleric who's a lot more hardcore than he lets on.
Unlike the pandas, who get out in the world and walk the earth, the yaks are the sorts of monks who hole up in the wintery wastes of the Himalayas in convents and temple sanctuaries to meditate and hone their minds and spirits, etc. I love wildebeests and gnus and yaks and those generally homely types. Looking at a reference picture, I saw that yaks are incredibly shaggy and their fur tends to knot and tangle and kink into thick fat dreadlocks on its own. Which makes for great character design!