Tengu are one of a number of [[youkai]] species. At first glance, they are humanoid creatures with avian traits, the most prominent of which is a pair of feathered wings on their back. Tengu also possess pointed, elf-like ears, and upon close examination, appear to grow both hair and feathers. The small amounts of regular hair are mostly concentrated on a tengu's head and face (hair, eyebrows, facial hair). Besides the wings, which have the largest and most obvious feathers, a tengu's body may have patches of extremely fine feathers where body hair is normally found on humanoids, which may feel like coarse hair to the touch.
The wings of a tengu are functional, and they are capable of flying and hovering in the air with them, which opens them to a number of uncanny strategies and combat tactics.
Tengu skin tones range from tanned to dark, hair and feather color always match, and is usually typical of crows and other corvids; by far the most common is black (~66% of individuals), but other colors exist, namely brown, white, silver, various shades of blue (from silvery-blue to turquoise), or, extremely rarely, green.