Fantasy I CAN PUNCH IT! Our Spirit-Slaying Startup《 Roleplay Information & Lore 》

[Blu]

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When college dropout Ryota Shikinami gets into an automobile crash during a drunken binge, both of his arms are completely destroyed in the accident. He wakes up in a seemingly abandoned hospital and, to his surprise, he's been transplanted with two entirely new arms—although admittedly they look a bit odd. Not long after, he is approached by two strangers in suits asking him to come with them.

Out of nowhere, the three are attacked by an entity called a 'Yōkai'—a malicious spirit. In truth, Ryo could always see yōkai ever since he was a kid but, no matter how much he tried, he could never touch them. His hands would always phase through and they, in turn, would completely ignore him. But now he is being attacked by one. On the verge of imminent death, he shouts "Screw it!" and throws a blind punch. Splat! An explosion of blood and viscera covers the room and Ryo.

The two suits had the intuition to hide behind cover to avoid the mess. Finally, one of them smiles and says, "You passed. Welcome to our spirit-slaying startup company." Huh?

So begins the story of a group of coworkers out to save the world, one yōkai at a time… for a nominal fee of course!

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In Japan's distant past, yōkai roam the land in search of human hosts to devour their souls and take possession of their physical bodies in order to evolve to new heights and gain unspeakable power. To combat this threat, exorcists known as Onmyōji—practiced in the sacred rituals of Onmyōdō—battled tirelessly against these evil spirits using a variety of weapons and magic at their disposal. In the event of a possession, often times the human victim would be saved but countless lives were lost throughout. Regardless of their occasional failures, the onmyōji swiftly became revered as mystics and heroes that kept Japan safe from otherworldly dangers.

Fast forward to modern times and, well, the concept of yōkai and onmyōji are seen simply as myths and folklore, fit for cautionary tales but nothing to pay heed too. But every so often, mysterious disappearances and unexplainable deaths occur. Yōkai still reside among us to this very day. While the general public is ignorant of this issue, Japan's government does have a secret division that is involved in all matters paranormal. The ASC—Agency of Supernatural Containment—recruits present-day onmyōji to deal with the persisting yōkai threat. Only nowadays, onmyōji, having abandoned their esoteric ways and rituals, are simply referred to as Spirit-Slayers. No fuss, no fanfare. It's a job first more than anything.

Spirit-slayers are paid for their talents, and that idea blossomed into independent companies run by slayers who contract themselves out to the highest bidder. While government-sponsored work is steady, they tend to have poor compensation. Sometimes you'll get lucky and score lucrative private cases and really rake in the money. So as it stands, this is the current state of the world: yōkai cause trouble and spirit-slayers get hired to eliminate them for a fee. But dark forces rarely sit idly for too long. The eternal struggle between the yōkai and those who slay them may soon come to a head...

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Welcome to this Anime-style RP revolving around a small startup company that slays yōkai as a service. Players will take on the role of a spirit-slayer in said company and, together, we'll take on nasty otherworldly baddies while going through the pitfalls of owning a small business run by a tightly-knit group of eccentric troublemakers.

《 1 》 Spirit-slayers uses special weapons and/or magic to fight against their foes. Since this is anime-styled, you have a lot of freedom in what your powers may look like. If you're unsure of a character concept once the CS is up, feel free to DM me. Alternatively, you can study up on the ideas of Onmyōdō and draw inspiration from that.

《 2 》 This will be a mostly plot-driven roleplay. I'm always open to story ideas so everyone's welcome to contribute. I'll be looking to accept 3 other players as part of our protagonist group. If there are extra interested players, you can optionally join as side characters that can freely go about doing whatever in the world and will occasionally show up in the main plot. Note that these side roles are more open to a variety of character concepts: you can play a good guy, bad guy, spirit-slayer, yōkai, yōkai-possessed human, etc.

《 3 》 There is a specific role that I'm looking to fill: our startup's President/CEO. I'm looking for a female character to fill that part but, other than that detail, there are no other requirements for the role.

《 4 》 The other two established employees of the startup have been with the company for at least a couple of years so pre-existing relationships should be discussed between all three characters (including the president).

《 5 》 The main setting of this RP is Tokyo, specifically the Hatagaya suburbs. The team operates out of an old ramen shop and the name of the company can be decided among the three players in the company group.

《 6 》 Our starting post in the IC will be a collaborative effort, retelling the events mentioned in the Premise in detail so I'll be providing a discord later on to facilitate that as well as just being an extra OOC.

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• Spirit-Slayers
• Yōkai
• Spiritual Resonance
• Ghosts
• Agency of Supernatural Containment

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  The modern-day equivalent of an onmyōji, slayers have long forgo the esoteric teachings and sacred rituals known as Onmyōdō that defined their order in the past. In a sense, they have become jaded to it. Despite this, they still maintain the use of magic and the ability to wield supernaturally-enhanced weaponry in their fight against the malevolent spirits that beset Japan. While some slayers opt to work for the government's ASC, most prefer making a better living off their talents by joining private spirit-slaying companies.
  
  Slayer firms accept both governmental contracts and independent cases from private citizens in their venture. They investigate suspicious deaths and disappearances linked to the paranormal, ascertain the locations of yōkai and the possessed, and ultimately slay them for the sake of public safety. In the process of slaying a possessed human while their soul remains somewhat intact will also generally expel the invasive spirit and return that person back to normal.
  
  Legally-registered slayers are given an identification badge by the ASC, identifiable by the Japanese police which will prevent potential conflicts or unwanted interference from law enforcement while they work a case. These badges are nationally recognized, meaning a slayer can operate anywhere in Japan without concerning themselves with the local jurisdiction.
  
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  Yōkai are typically malevolent spirits that prey on human beings for their souls and their physical bodies. They are solitary beings for the most part; even those who have developed intelligence tend to strictly act alone in their endeavors. With that said, it is common to see multiple yōkai amassing in the same place. If not slain, a yōkai could potentially exist for thousands of years. Many yōkai roaming Japan today are the same ones that lived during the age of the onmyōji.
  
  There are also numerous yōkai that aren't considered threats to the public. They are usually smaller in scale and passively feed off negative energy that people give off. Thus they can be safely ignored. The dangerous ones are catalogued in an official guidebook printed and updated annually by the ASC themselves.
  
  The Official Yōkai Guide (which every slayer should have a copy of and studied religiously) grades a yōkai threat level on a scale of 1 to 100. The higher the number, the bigger the threat. This book also covers a spirit's behavioral patterns and the most common strategies for combating the threat. Yōkai-possessed humans are the result of a person falling under the thrall of a yōkai. While they're possessed, the yōkai within slowly devours the human's soul. When the soul is completely gone, saving the afflicted individual underneath becomes impossible. They are considerably more dangerous than normal yōkai with enhanced powers and the ability to freely change their physiology based on their controlling yōkai.
  
  Certain unique yōkai and possessed humans can go beyond the Grade 100 threat soft limit. These individuals are considered the strongest of their kind and, at this point, the guide may or may not have information regarding them. It is likely not possible for a single slayer to handle one of these spirits alone and, more often than not, it is recommended that a slayer flee from combat instead of engaging one outright.
  
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  'The strength of one's soul' or so they say. Every human soul resonates in the presence of paranormal activity. The stronger the resonation, the more likely it is for the individual to perceive and interact with paranormal events. But there is another factor at play: the active or passive state of a soul. When a soul is 'active', it vibrates in place furiously, infusing every fiber of a human being with spiritual power. This is the driving force behind a spirit-slayer's abilities.
  
  Experienced slayers can train their souls to intensify this vibration, infusing them with more spiritual power and enhancing their capabilities in critical situations. In contrast, when a soul shakes very little or not at all, it is referred to as a 'passive' state. This dormant existence of the soul is the case for most ordinary people who, in turn, are unable to see or interact with supernatural phenomena.
  
  While a person's spiritual resonance may be very strong, if their soul tends to a passive state, then that person is limited in their ability to engage with the supernatural. Hence why certain ordinary people can see yōkai but are otherwise powerless to resist them. Yōkai instinctively seek out those with strong resonances but is not bothered to discern whether that resonance is active or passive as they can force any soul into an active state by invading it.
  
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  When a person dies, sometimes the soul lingers on after death and becomes a ghost. This is usually the case when a death can be considered tragic, premature, when funerary rites are not performed, or when the person who died experienced an incredible influx of negative emotions around the time of their passing. In the early stages of a phantom's existence, they still retain the appearance and characteristics of who they were in life.
  
  As time passes however, their feelings of regret, doubt, melancholy, envy, and the need for vengeance amplifies and ultimately alters them. This will eventually lead to the birth of a new yōkai. In days past, part of an onmyōji's duty would be to help purify a ghost's attachment to the material world and send them to the afterlife, but that ritual is now considered archaic knowledge among the spirit-slaying community.
  
  Only a handful of dedicated slayers still know of the process. Fortunately, that isn't the only method to purify a ghost. If one were to convince a ghost to accept their death and to pass onto the next world, and then a proper funeral is held for the individual, their soul can also be put to rest in that way.
  
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  The Agency of Supernatural Containment—ASC for short—is a secret division operating within the Japanese government. They attend to all matters relating to the paranormal on a national level. The ASC has close ties with law enforcement agencies in all sectors of Japan in order to protect their own agents and associates from exposure to the general public. Spirit-slayers must officially register with the agency and receive a special identification badge to benefit from this protective service.
  
  It is also mandatory for all private firms to have their employees register if they wish to operate legally. While the agency recruits spirit-slayers of their own, they tend to be of lower skill level than what you can find at private firms. The ASC is also often underfunded and short-staffed leading to the need for outsourcing cases to slayer companies on a daily basis. These cases are not very well compensated for but they are a source of steady work for independent slayers and small startups.
  
  The ASC has an official operating phone number and e-mail address that it distributes to it's employees and outside associates in order to send out its available allotment of cases. Casework can be accepted by any legally-operating slayer but normally includes a wealth of guidelines and details to ensure a slayer does not accept a case beyond their ability.
  

_{「 Questions, comments, or concerns? Please let me know in the OOC or via DM. Thank you! 」}​