The world has never ceased to change.
Once, the human population was small. But now, humanity exists in every corner of the world, building vast cities to house their numbers.
In such places, incredible things are accomplished and created.
In such places, darkness festers in low places. People feel pain and anger. Resent and hatred. These bubbling feelings boil over and spill into lonely and isolated places, sinking into a mire of spiritual corruption.
Kegare. The black-red ichor of death and trauma that lingers in sites of devastating accidents and traumatic deaths, of deep wounds that can't easily heal. These spiritual corruption lingers and feeds on the negative emotions of human beings, forming physical bodies with which to sew further pain.
Grudges.
Grudges are these physical beings, these manifestations of spiritual corruption fueled by the negative emotions of humanity. The hatred of an overbearing boss. Jealousy towards the praise earned by a top-rank student. These feelings for the nourishment of Grudges, who in turn sew further pain by attacking humanity. Weak Grudges may simply cause illness or influence others to become hostile or depressed. But once they become strong enough, they are able to attack and kill human beings and feed on them directly.
Grudges have always been the price of humanity's existence. But in this world of mass population and enormous cities, that price has increased dramatically.
For all the amazing things that can be accomplished in the modern world, that can't prevent the manifestation of Grudges.
And yet---
Spirits. Demons. Youkai. Gods.
These beings have existed alongside humanity. Sometimes worshipped and respected, other times reviled and hated. But their nature as beings outside of human existence allows them a unique capacity to destroy Grudges.
And by forging contracts with these beings, humans can gain this capacity as well.
Once, those who formed these Shadow Contracts with the Unseen were a special class of warrior or mystic. In Japan, there were a number of families who formed contracts spanning their entire bloodline for this sole purpose. But in this modern day, more Contract Holders are needed than ever.
It is for this reason that the families permitted the creation of the Shadow Contract Academies, technical schools for the expansion of contract holder numbers and their education. While they still hold a stuff grip on the progression of this side of the unseen world, they have permitted new blood to enter it all the same.
These Contract Holders must face the world of night and destroy the Grudges that would devour human lives.
But, perhaps---
This world isn't so simple.
And Grudges may not be the only enemy.
The Tokyo Shadow Academy is one of the two primary schools focused on the education and development of Contract Holders. Operating in secrecy, hidden from most of the mundane world, these schools are responsible for the next generation of defense against Grudges. Primarily they focus on education about the context and nature of Shadow Contracts, as well as live-fire training exercises where students are sent to destroy Grudges with the supervision of school faculty.
It's the only way to truly prepare for the future, after all.
Students are sent from both the Founding Families of Shadow Contractor Techniques as well as discovered by routinely maintaining observation of the rest of society for anyone who may have formed a contract through other means, or unintentionally formed one. It is not only for the purpose of protecting society as a Contractor, but also for their own sake due to the dangers of holding a contract and the abilities it grants without understanding it.
Its elder sibling, the Kyoto Shadow Academy, operates in much the same manner.
Shadow Contracts: Contracts held between a human being and a supernatural entity, being a spirit, youkai, demon, or god. These contracts grant the contractor an ability of some form, which can manifest in a variety of ways. Some Contract Abilities may be broad and flexible, while others may seem like they are narrow and function in a rigid and structured way. All of these abilities surpass the material world and allow for the permanent destruction of manifested Grudges. The use of Contract Abilities requires a steady supply of spiritual energy. The more spiritual energy a human being possesses, the more freely they can use a Contract Ability. Spiritual Energy levels are determined by a variety of factors, one of them being bloodline. It goes without saying that the founding families possess high levels of spiritual energy. Contracts can be made on an individual basis, but in the case of the founders their entire bloodlines are under contract to powerful supernatural entities. A contract is a two-way street, the human side gains an ability but in exchange they must provide some form of payment in the form of the Contract's
Cost. Cost can be anything from a one-time payment to something that must be done every time a contractor uses their abilities. It can be performing an action such as singing or prayer, offering an item or even a piece of oneself, or even pledging years of one's life. Typically, the stronger a contract ability the steeper the Cost, and one-time payments will inevitably be a harsher Cost then those that are paid daily or on ability use. Techniques utilizing Contract Abilities are known as Shadow Techniques, the most developed of which are held by the founding families due to their long history.
Grudges: Masses of spiritual corruption known as kegare that have festered in places rich in negative emotions. By feeding on this negative energy, Grudges are capable of developing a physical form. Weak Grudges can merely influence emotions or cause illness, but once they have become more powerful they can directly affect the physical world and cause harm or even kill human beings. Most Grudges are monstrous in appearance and beast-like in intelligence, but some particularly powerful Grudges can develop human-like intellect and even take on more human-like forms. Grudges are difficult to permanently harm with conventional weaponry, but attacks made using spiritual power are capable of destroying them. Grudges posses their own spiritual energy, and thus operate under similar rules to contracted humans in that regard. If exhausted of spiritual energy, a Grudge will be unable to continue using their abilities. Grudges are ranked from E to S, with E-rank Grudges being low level threats any contractor can deal with an S-rank Grudges being a high grade threat that only the most capable of Contractors may face.
Hey, this RP is mostly just born from a desire for some urban fantasy action! Players are going to be students, primarily first and second years(ranging from 15-17). The RP intro will depend a bit on if we have any new blood just learning about the hidden side of the world now, so a mix of newcomers and people who were born into this would be nice.
I'm aiming for no more than 8 players, and I'm expecting at least one post a week.
Also,
@PKMNB0Y will be my co-gm!
- Name:
- Age: (15-17)
- Gender:
- Appearance:
- Personality:
- Backstory:
- Skills:
- Spiritual Energy Grade: (From E to S, E being low and S being a special rank for high level Spiritual Energy. Naturally I'm expecting most characters to fall between these two ranks, and I'm not likely to accept an S-rank without a good reason.)
- Contracted Being: (As this takes place in Japan, largely Japanese mythology and folklore entities are to be expected. You may also use human ghosts and others being as contracts!)
- Contract Rank: (A vague grading of contract ability power from E to S. This rank is determined by contracted being, contract ability, and the use and capability of the contractor in use of that ability. Contracts abilities can rank up based on increased performance. Most should fall into the C-B category, though a very well-justified A-rank may be permitted. S-rank contracts are not acceptable.)
- Contract Abilities: (What does your contract let you do? It can be a broad ability with multiple applications or a narrow one with specific uses, or anything in-between. It should have some thematic connection to the contracted being)
- Cost: (What does your character pay to uphold their side of the contract? It can be something they pay at regular intervals, something they pay on ability use, or something they paid once when they contracted. Typically, higher rank contracts have higher costs, and single payments are always higher then payments on ability use or on regular intervals.)
Member
Octo,
Raineh Daze,
TokyoPewPew,
Snowdrops,
Chronic,
Rezod92,
Ithradine,
vietmyke,
Remram,
Damycles