Shi "Shiro" Yamato (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
stillsmiling) wrote2018-01-05 03:12 pm
stillsmiling) wrote2018-01-05 03:12 pm
World Of .
This is a world where the concept of "spirits" and "kami" is very real. Spirits are entities that have a soul and energy, but no physical form. They exist alongside the physical world, but they themselves cannot separately interact with physical things. Instead they can possess physical beings and use them as a medium, using that form to touch and feel physical life. In the past, it was theorized that humans themselves were a form of trapped spirit: When humans died, it was believed that they could end up stuck in the physical world like a spirit. It was also believed that spirits inhabited certain plants, animals, and objects. A powerful spirit was called a "kami," or god.
** For the sake of this application, I use the term 'kami' not out of sheer weeb-trashiness, but because it's the term I am more comfortable using in my canon. I'm a bit too religious to call these beings 'gods' without feeling squeamish. So I apologize for that. **
Spirits were once known widely to inhabit the world. In this world's history, the stories of magical beings are usually quite real. The power of a spirit is not, however, entirely up to the spirit itself to decide. Spirits gain power from the faith of physical beings. In other words, they need to be worshiped, or at least recognized, by humans.
The last trick to spirits is what drives a large portion of this story. Spirits usually need to inhabit something that already exists in the physical world. However, that does not always need to be a physical thing. Spirits can also inhabit mysteries. For example, they can become a Spirit that represents the mystery of a plentiful crop. When worshiped, they become the Kami of Agriculture. The more humans believe they really do control whether or not a seasonal crop is plentiful, the more power that Kami will actually have over their domain. Thus, allowing them to build more faith and become powerful.
These relationships were positive for many centuries. Spirits and Kami got a place to live and power from human faith, and those humans reaped benefits of their power. Unfortunately, that positive cycle did not last forever. Eventually, humans developed science and began solving the mystery of the Kami. When they learned agricultural science, for example, they solved the mystery of their Agriculture Kami. When a mystery was solved, the spirit inhabiting the concept would have no where to go. Their power would fade until they were irrelevant again, reducing them to simply being lost spirits with no way to exist.
Sadly, spirits do not have any mystical "spirit realm" to go to. They are stuck in the physical world. So when a spirit loses their way to interact with the world they live in, it is natural that they become sad and upset. Their only homes became the few shrines that still existed in the modern world. Even then, that is only a place for them to rest. The issue of spirits being so powerless they could not even possess an object still existed.
So enter another concept in this world. Though not new to the modern age, this concept gained important when worship faded. This is the concept of "Demi-Gods" or "Spirit Mediums." They were humans whose bodies became shrines to spirits. In exchange for some of their Kami's power, they were tasked with building faith again. They would perform miracles or simply advertise a shrine in order to gather small bits of power for their Kami. Spirit Mediums were usually picked by the Kami or Spirit themselves: Both Kami and Spirits have the ability to make Spirit Mediums. Kami's will typically have stronger Spirit Mediums, due to being strong spirits, while a regular Spirit has little infleunce.
Even then, the idea of Spirit Mediums faded from modern history. Though the modern day still remembers the days of Spirits and Kami from stories, a majority of the population thinks they are just that: Stories. Spirits and Kami are losing their power rapidly. It is quickly becoming clear that they will, quite soon, have no place in the world at all. By the start of the 20th century, very few humans could even see spirits anymore. Now in the 21st century, that percentage of the population is even lower.
It is not a realization that many take lightly.
This means that they will forever be observers. Their lives are meaningless. Though the term "spirit" and the goal of being "Kami" seem supernatural, it is important to recognize that a spirit is just looking to live. Humans are privileged in this world, because they can interact freely with the world.
In this moment, I will drop a secret of this world: There is one last place a spirit can reside. That is in a name. A name given to a spirit out of love can become their shrine. As long as there is someone who knows the name and speaks it, the spirit can be linked to the physical world. However, this 'magic' is not well known. The 'Name Kami' is very secretive because of the value of this power. It itself is a mystery of the world which has not been solved. Fortunately so: If humans came to understand this power, and thus gain the knowledge to use it willingly, it would disappear anyway.
In the 21st century, those who know of and interact with spirits are very few anyway. There aren't many chances for humans to name spirits, because not many humans can see them. Only young children and those with a strong will to believe in spirits can, ironically, see spirits. There are still a select few Kami that exist in the last remaining mysteries, as well as those Kami whose cultish following never died entirely. It is also worth noting that any god or goddess you read of in Greek Mythology class or saw in Anime probably still exists, just as a watered down version of their past self. The presence of Kami-like concepts in movies, books, and television does translate to a small amount of faith.
For the purposes of this world, there are two Kami who reign above the others. They are the concepts of Matter and Anti-Matter. In this world's lore, they are the creators of the world as a whole. The world was born from this pair of star-crossed lovers, who were then torn apart in order for the world to exist. The Kami of Matter is powerful enough to have a human-like form: She favors the form of a woman with long, flowing hair and a gentle smile to match her gentle heart. Her lover, the Kami of Anti-Matter, prefers the form of a young man with long black hair and an enternal scowl. He did not take the separation well, and stories tell of him occasionallythrowing tantrums cursing the world for tearing the couple apart.
Below them, there are still powerful mysteries controlled by Kami. Until humans can understand and control these things themselves, they are safely in the control of Kami. These are concepts like Time, Space, Life, and Death. They are considered almost to be children of the 'original' Kami.
Despite being quite powerful, all of the remaining Kami do pick out Spirit Mediums. In recent times, they have come to call them their "Sacred Children." The idea being that Kami see their Spirit Mediums as children to be raised and groomed, potentially to replace them. The reason? Well. The modern age hasn't brought any kindness to Kami.
The last world building block to be sent is the recent idea of "Spirit Hunters." They are humans who know of spirits and want to exterminate them. Every Spirit Hunter has their own reason, but the more prominent is a belief that spirits and Kami simply do not belong in the modern world. They believe that the reason Spirits cannot interact with the physical world is because they should not be there. Spirit Hunters have made it their goal to destroy all the remaining spirits and Kami.
This presents a problem. If a Kami were to be destroyed, then its mystery would now cease to function. If you destroy the Kami of Life before humans can control Life, then no one will ever be born again. The remaining Kami may be powerful, but they recognize that they are not what they once were. So their Spirit Mediums serve a secondary purpose: The power they borrow from their Patron is a back-up. If their Patron were destroyed, they would hold enough power to control the mystery and keep the world stable until a solution is found. Think of Spirit Mediums as a buffer, which prevents the world from just imploding from confusion.
This does mean that Spirit Mediums are targeted more than they ever were. It is a sad reality to modern Spirits and Kami: They carefully pick a Sacred Child, empower and raise them lovingly, and then are generally powerless to prevent their murder. So while it made sense in the past for Spirit Mediums to be very vocal about their powers, they are now encouraged to stay quiet. In fact, some Patrons go as far as never revealing themselves fully to their human child. They simply allow them to live normally, hoping that they are ever necessary...
** For the sake of this application, I use the term 'kami' not out of sheer weeb-trashiness, but because it's the term I am more comfortable using in my canon. I'm a bit too religious to call these beings 'gods' without feeling squeamish. So I apologize for that. **
Spirits were once known widely to inhabit the world. In this world's history, the stories of magical beings are usually quite real. The power of a spirit is not, however, entirely up to the spirit itself to decide. Spirits gain power from the faith of physical beings. In other words, they need to be worshiped, or at least recognized, by humans.
The last trick to spirits is what drives a large portion of this story. Spirits usually need to inhabit something that already exists in the physical world. However, that does not always need to be a physical thing. Spirits can also inhabit mysteries. For example, they can become a Spirit that represents the mystery of a plentiful crop. When worshiped, they become the Kami of Agriculture. The more humans believe they really do control whether or not a seasonal crop is plentiful, the more power that Kami will actually have over their domain. Thus, allowing them to build more faith and become powerful.
These relationships were positive for many centuries. Spirits and Kami got a place to live and power from human faith, and those humans reaped benefits of their power. Unfortunately, that positive cycle did not last forever. Eventually, humans developed science and began solving the mystery of the Kami. When they learned agricultural science, for example, they solved the mystery of their Agriculture Kami. When a mystery was solved, the spirit inhabiting the concept would have no where to go. Their power would fade until they were irrelevant again, reducing them to simply being lost spirits with no way to exist.
Sadly, spirits do not have any mystical "spirit realm" to go to. They are stuck in the physical world. So when a spirit loses their way to interact with the world they live in, it is natural that they become sad and upset. Their only homes became the few shrines that still existed in the modern world. Even then, that is only a place for them to rest. The issue of spirits being so powerless they could not even possess an object still existed.
So enter another concept in this world. Though not new to the modern age, this concept gained important when worship faded. This is the concept of "Demi-Gods" or "Spirit Mediums." They were humans whose bodies became shrines to spirits. In exchange for some of their Kami's power, they were tasked with building faith again. They would perform miracles or simply advertise a shrine in order to gather small bits of power for their Kami. Spirit Mediums were usually picked by the Kami or Spirit themselves: Both Kami and Spirits have the ability to make Spirit Mediums. Kami's will typically have stronger Spirit Mediums, due to being strong spirits, while a regular Spirit has little infleunce.
Even then, the idea of Spirit Mediums faded from modern history. Though the modern day still remembers the days of Spirits and Kami from stories, a majority of the population thinks they are just that: Stories. Spirits and Kami are losing their power rapidly. It is quickly becoming clear that they will, quite soon, have no place in the world at all. By the start of the 20th century, very few humans could even see spirits anymore. Now in the 21st century, that percentage of the population is even lower.
It is not a realization that many take lightly.
This means that they will forever be observers. Their lives are meaningless. Though the term "spirit" and the goal of being "Kami" seem supernatural, it is important to recognize that a spirit is just looking to live. Humans are privileged in this world, because they can interact freely with the world.
In this moment, I will drop a secret of this world: There is one last place a spirit can reside. That is in a name. A name given to a spirit out of love can become their shrine. As long as there is someone who knows the name and speaks it, the spirit can be linked to the physical world. However, this 'magic' is not well known. The 'Name Kami' is very secretive because of the value of this power. It itself is a mystery of the world which has not been solved. Fortunately so: If humans came to understand this power, and thus gain the knowledge to use it willingly, it would disappear anyway.
In the 21st century, those who know of and interact with spirits are very few anyway. There aren't many chances for humans to name spirits, because not many humans can see them. Only young children and those with a strong will to believe in spirits can, ironically, see spirits. There are still a select few Kami that exist in the last remaining mysteries, as well as those Kami whose cultish following never died entirely. It is also worth noting that any god or goddess you read of in Greek Mythology class or saw in Anime probably still exists, just as a watered down version of their past self. The presence of Kami-like concepts in movies, books, and television does translate to a small amount of faith.
For the purposes of this world, there are two Kami who reign above the others. They are the concepts of Matter and Anti-Matter. In this world's lore, they are the creators of the world as a whole. The world was born from this pair of star-crossed lovers, who were then torn apart in order for the world to exist. The Kami of Matter is powerful enough to have a human-like form: She favors the form of a woman with long, flowing hair and a gentle smile to match her gentle heart. Her lover, the Kami of Anti-Matter, prefers the form of a young man with long black hair and an enternal scowl. He did not take the separation well, and stories tell of him occasionally
Below them, there are still powerful mysteries controlled by Kami. Until humans can understand and control these things themselves, they are safely in the control of Kami. These are concepts like Time, Space, Life, and Death. They are considered almost to be children of the 'original' Kami.
Despite being quite powerful, all of the remaining Kami do pick out Spirit Mediums. In recent times, they have come to call them their "Sacred Children." The idea being that Kami see their Spirit Mediums as children to be raised and groomed, potentially to replace them. The reason? Well. The modern age hasn't brought any kindness to Kami.
The last world building block to be sent is the recent idea of "Spirit Hunters." They are humans who know of spirits and want to exterminate them. Every Spirit Hunter has their own reason, but the more prominent is a belief that spirits and Kami simply do not belong in the modern world. They believe that the reason Spirits cannot interact with the physical world is because they should not be there. Spirit Hunters have made it their goal to destroy all the remaining spirits and Kami.
This presents a problem. If a Kami were to be destroyed, then its mystery would now cease to function. If you destroy the Kami of Life before humans can control Life, then no one will ever be born again. The remaining Kami may be powerful, but they recognize that they are not what they once were. So their Spirit Mediums serve a secondary purpose: The power they borrow from their Patron is a back-up. If their Patron were destroyed, they would hold enough power to control the mystery and keep the world stable until a solution is found. Think of Spirit Mediums as a buffer, which prevents the world from just imploding from confusion.
This does mean that Spirit Mediums are targeted more than they ever were. It is a sad reality to modern Spirits and Kami: They carefully pick a Sacred Child, empower and raise them lovingly, and then are generally powerless to prevent their murder. So while it made sense in the past for Spirit Mediums to be very vocal about their powers, they are now encouraged to stay quiet. In fact, some Patrons go as far as never revealing themselves fully to their human child. They simply allow them to live normally, hoping that they are ever necessary...