Lore
Origin
Wikipedia: Firefox (tulikettu or tulirepo or tulikko) is a mythical creature in the folklore of northern and eastern Finland. It is a fox whose tail twinkles fire. Firefox has given its name for northern lights which are called "fox fires" (revontulet) in the Finnish language. In Lapland it has been told that the Firefox causes the northern lights with its tail which flings sparks when it touches low hanging branches or bushes while the fox is running.
So basically I’m Tuli the Firefox! But I used the Finnish name since I knew that otherwise I would forever be confused/associated with the browser.
Tuli started as my vtuber persona. Before that, there was a short time where I went by Star Girl Mira, but the lore/branding for Mira didn’t really vibe with me enough (Mira remains the mascot of the little art studio I’m a part of, and is all over our artist alley table setups, so she’s not gone).
I started designing Tuli during the vtuber rush in 2020. Back then it seemed like there were much more rigid rules on what made a vtuber (probably since the English side was still very much emulating corporate Japanese vtubers), and this influenced how I developed Tuli. I wanted to incorporate some sort of animal (my nascent furry-ness was showing) and then usually it was some sort of mythological creature/version. Foxes seemed fun, but the most common go-to was a kitsune and there were way too many kitsune vtubers already around; added to that, I also was uncomfortable having a persona based on a Japanese mythological creature when I wasn’t Japanese.
So why a firefox? I was a big fan of the webcomic A Redtail’s Dream; I had followed it as it was updating and even was lucky enough to get the physical book (it’s a pity the creator did such a dramatic heel turn into Christianity, but that’s neither here nor there). The story is based on Finnish mythology and includes a family of firefoxes, and was my first introduction to them. So when I was thinking of an animal to base my vtuber on, a firefox seemed like a fun choice: I hadn’t seen anyone else with one, it was not overused or incredibly popular, and I loved the winter/snow/northern lights themes. The bright red on her eyebrows and under her eyes can be considered a bit influenced by Japanese vtuber designs.
Story
The in-universe story for Tuli is pretty simple: she is a firefox in training, and she’s…. vtubing on the side? Yeah, that’s about it.
Tuli’s true form is a fox. Not a human with fox features, or an anthro furry. A literal fox, a red fox in particular. To help with her training, she has the power to shapeshift, but she’s not proficient in it so anything she changes into is influenced by her true form. This explains why - even in human form - she has the black and green stockings on her arms and legs.
Firefoxes are supposed be black during the day, I translated this to Tuli’s design by having her red fur be pretty dark (I also wanted to capitalize on the red/green opposite colors, and I really couldn’t find a more orange color that I liked) as well as giving her full black legs. Because she has the power to create and guide the northern lights, her tail ends in a green glow, rather than white (I just recently learned that the game “Spirit of the North” does the same thing - great minds and all that. I really need to get around to playing both games).