Here is my response to your two critiques, in the order that they are listed in your comment.
1. In keeping with the Running Wolf and Running Leopard, the Running Rabbit probably should have the Wind modifier behind it (rabbit--wind).
1A. Now that I think about it, I think it may actually make more sense to not have modifiers on unpromoted pieces where possible. The most important part of the graphics are the animals (except when pieces are not animals, such as with the Rook and Bishop) for obvious reasons.
2. I'm not sure that a piece should promote (when promotion is at the far end of the board) to something whose primary move is forward, as the Gold General does into the Great Elephant. (I'd suggest Phoenix instead, but then you'd probably have to change Silver General to promote to Kirin for symmetry's sake.)
2A. The main refutal of this critique comes from H. G. Muller in his critique of an early version of Seireigi. In that comment, he quotes Hidetchi in a response to an old proposal to have Golds promote to non-royal Kings. Hidetchi replied that this was pointless because it doesn't provide anything of substance with which to check the enemy King with, and the act of dropping a general in the zone, promoting it and then moving the resulting promoted piece takes unaffordably long. Hidetchi's point is that he King tends to stay in the back for the majority of the game, and would never expose itself willingly. As such, forward-facing moves are needed in order to force the enemy King to an area where he can be checkmated.
Also, having such pieces is perfect for promotion chains, as they can serve as an intermediary between a weak piece and a strong piece that exclusively appears with promotion. For example, in Dai Seireigi I can have the Free Pup and Treacherous Fox in the initial setup and promoting to something stronger.
However, even if both of these reasons were to be completely untrue, the pieces that promote to them mainly serve as defensive pieces since their moves are weak but maneuverable and are effective at stopping Lion attacks, so they are unlikely to occur anyway.
@Bob Greenwade,
Here is my response to your two critiques, in the order that they are listed in your comment.
1A. Now that I think about it, I think it may actually make more sense to not have modifiers on unpromoted pieces where possible. The most important part of the graphics are the animals (except when pieces are not animals, such as with the Rook and Bishop) for obvious reasons.
2A. The main refutal of this critique comes from H. G. Muller in his critique of an early version of Seireigi. In that comment, he quotes Hidetchi in a response to an old proposal to have Golds promote to non-royal Kings. Hidetchi replied that this was pointless because it doesn't provide anything of substance with which to check the enemy King with, and the act of dropping a general in the zone, promoting it and then moving the resulting promoted piece takes unaffordably long. Hidetchi's point is that he King tends to stay in the back for the majority of the game, and would never expose itself willingly. As such, forward-facing moves are needed in order to force the enemy King to an area where he can be checkmated.
Also, having such pieces is perfect for promotion chains, as they can serve as an intermediary between a weak piece and a strong piece that exclusively appears with promotion. For example, in Dai Seireigi I can have the Free Pup and Treacherous Fox in the initial setup and promoting to something stronger.
However, even if both of these reasons were to be completely untrue, the pieces that promote to them mainly serve as defensive pieces since their moves are weak but maneuverable and are effective at stopping Lion attacks, so they are unlikely to occur anyway.