Saint Patrick's day was yesterday and that made me remember I had this for my drafts in 2 years lmao almost nothing was written today I don't know why I didn't finish and post it already when it was almost finished anyway ; oh well :
Leprechauns are part of my favorite magic creatures ever to the point whenever I can I have the species exist in my different original stories along vampires, werewolves, bird-like species in general, dragons and others. And something I like to do when I write (or rather write in my head 8') ) different stories that all take place in different universes but have the same species in them is to vary, it's the one opportunity to make the lore behind their species' history, biology and anatomy varied from one world to another and explore different possibilities even in their designs half of the time !
(For instance, vampires are also one of my most recurring species to experiment with and are probably the one creatures tha look different everytime, in a story they are grey-skinned with yellow sclera and upper canines sticking out with cat-like pupils that can shrink or go round, in another are literally white with fangs that stick out too with red lips and long hardened nails and their irises turn red when menacing, another has them looking the most human-like from afar but paler with longer canines but they don't stick out and their ears are pointy, talon-like fingers, their eye colors often look abnormal like red or yellow or bright ice cold blue with pupils that can shrink too, etc etc I have others)
I don't have many physical differences for leprechauns from one story to another, but I have come up with an explanation behind a little mystery behind them ! In no legend or tale females are mentioned, it's only ever male leprechauns ! Except King Iubdan's wife Queen Bebo and her maidens but their species are not said in the legend. So a lot of people always wondered : how do they reproduce ? I thought several ideas were food so I have several ones for different stories ! Also the question of clurichauns which I like a little less but ARE extremely similar
In one, females do exist, but they are much more discreet than the males. They are not as mischievous as them, and as a species males and females alike are both a private and traditional society staying all together not truly mingling in cities with several species coexisting (and when one marries a different species, in most case THEY come to live in their leprechaun villages rather than the opposite), preferring living with each other extremely homesick when leaving their villages, and usually males working and "working" (doing the shenanigans we know with humans like tricks, stealing jewelry etc) while females are home wives taking care of the children (therefore humans never saw them since they do not come to them, except Queen Bebo, the wife of legendary King Iubdan). Clurichauns don't exist, its singular and is just a popular last name
In another, more faithful to folklores and mythologies in general the way they are written, I used the version some tales have that they are actually disformed fairy children they abandonned at birth in disgust, so they all live together and raise the new ones into their unique community ; therefore being "ugly fairies" they can marry and reproduce with fairies who do not reject them, which was Queen Bebo to King Iubdan, the children can be as much fairies males and females alike or leprechaun, the genetic "disformity" only happening for males. So female fairies can reproduce as much with male fairies as leprechauns. Clurichauns are also aknowledged, but in their case the mystery is never said they just... "pop out" here and there and are very mysterious, even more private and secretive in their community than the leprechauns from the first story
In yet another, leprechauns simply are the males of fairies who themselves are all females. Queen Bebo is also a fairy to King Iubdan, BUT King Oberon is a leprechaun to Queen Titania ; clurichauns are their own parralel species genetically very close to leprechauns and fairies who have BUT they have their own females who, similarily to the first story, are just more discrete (not because they never came to humans, but because sadly the ones stories they are mentioned in were lost to time)
At last, in the story whose drawings of Bebo and Iubdan you saw from me, females exist but are mistaken for males by humans because not only are they as hairy as the males, they are taller and bigger (fat, muscles or both), hence why Bebo in these 2 drawings so far is muscular and taller than her scrawny husband. To them, manly human men look like femboys. As for clurichauns, they are essentially like Gremlins : they turn into clurichauns if they drink too much and go beyond a drunk state and become as wild as a Looney Tunes Tazmanian Devil/The Mask with physical alterations too and have no memories the next day. They all have to be careful
