The One Eyed Bandit
rotworm
So, Hi. The world building title on this may be a little misleading, rather, I'm looking to patch this setting. It's from an old(ish, I only made it like two months ago) RP, that, unfortunately died due to my own lack of adequate management. However, moving on I'd like some feedback on, if I were ever to try and make an RP in this setting, or a setting like it again, what I should change, or, in short, What do you like about the setting? What do you dislike? What details should I add? What should I make more, or less, complex?
HISTORY
Things weren’t always as they are now though. People didn’t always believe in Spirits, and the SHA weren’t always around to deal with them, they have, undeniably been around for a very long time, standing at an age of around two hundred years, since the Resurgence. The Resurgence occurred during the Industrial Revolution, an age when mankind had forgotten the existence of Spirits, and, as such, were unprepared for the what was to occur. Suddenly, due to what is speculate to be the rapid growth of technology, and human influence, Spiritual activity increased significantly, with several incidents occurring simultaneously in major cities all over the world.
Because of this there was panic en-mass, the Governments of the world scrambled to find a way to fight back against this new threat, who seemed immune to all the methods that modern technology could present, seemingly in vain, as even with the latest innovations in technology the most they could do was lay a scratch on the enemy they fought. That was, until they turned to the Arcane, assigning a sect of men and women to look into anything they could find within mythology and folklore, and eventually, after a years of Spirits having free reign to do as they wished they found something within Chinese myth, the Binding Ritual.
People were, understandably, speculative at first, but, in the face of such an enemy people had to take any chance they had, and thus, the first wave of Spirit Hunters were born, and with them, humanity finally had a way to fight back. But the fight was slow, the newly born Hunters still not knowing how to properly combat Spirits, how to adequately use their newfound power, or yet working together properly as a worldwide force. This, was why the Spirit Hunter’s Association was founded all those years ago, to manage the Spirit Hunters, train them, and find new methods of combating the Spirits, and with the Association bringing together researchers and new hunters alike progress against the Spirits quickly increasing in traction, with the discovery of the Spirits Core, along with pushing out the second generation of Spirit Hunters, this time being trained specifically to fight back the Spirits, and doing so to great effect.
Soon followed the discovery of another ritual with which Hunters could gain their abilities, The Pact. Like the Binding ritual, the Pact allowed humans to take a Spirit, and gain their capabilities, but, until the Binding, the Pact required a willing Spirit, to which the prospective Hunter would have to find agreeable terms with to properly perform the ritual. Though the numbers of successful Pacts were at first, very low, the numbers steadily increased, as Spirits able to hold a level of sentience heard tell of it, and chose to work with the ever expanding Hunters, rather than risk Binding or death, and with them, the tides began to sway. Mankind finally began to beat back the waves of Spirits, and stability was restored to society.
Since then we have come even further, spreading knowledge on how to fight back, and even establishing facilities worldwide to train the next generations of Hunters, funded by the governments of the world to provide the highest degree of preparation for all prospective future Hunters. Despite their accessibility the number of graduates from these Academies is rather low, due to the rigorous training and requirements for those who wish to enter the field of Spirit Hunting often leading to students dropping out, failing or even in rare occasions, dying during their years of study.
PREMISE
You are a graduate from one of these Academies, and a new member entering your second month of employment within the Tokyo Branch of the Spirit Hunter’s Association, up until now you’ve mostly been handling further training, preparation for fieldwork and getting to know the strengths and weakness of the rest of your squad. Recently, you’ve been given the announcement that, under supervision, you’ll be moving onto actual fieldwork as a fully fledged Spirit Hunter. Adventures await, will you rise through the ranks? Or will you die before you have a chance to do anything?
Spirit Hunters
Spirit Hunters are Humans who have somehow come into the possession of the powers of a Spirit. The methods with which this can be achieved vary, falling into one of four categories, A Pact, Binding, Possession and Birth. All Hunters have a Seal located somewhere upon their body, the appearance of which varies depending on the nature of the spirit they use as a source for their powers, with the location being based on a different factor for each method of gaining their powers. The powers of a Spirit Hunter also vary, being based on the type of spirit they use as a source.
Binding
Binding is the most common method in which Spirit Hunters earn their powers. Binding a Spirit suppresses it and stores it within the body of the Hunter, allowing to freely use the abilities of the bound Spirit. A properly bound Spirit is dormant, and has no sway on the Hunter that acts as it’s host. If improperly bound the Spirit will actively attempt to leave the host body, there are no recorded cases of Hunters being able to keep a improperly bound Spirit under their sway for more than a few weeks, though, there are a few in which the Spirit was fully bound afterwards, though they are exclusive to either high caliber Hunters, or weaker Spirits. The location of a binding seal is wherever the Spirit is stored within the body of the Hunter.
Pact
A pact is the second most common method in which a sanctioned Spirit Hunter comes into the possession of their abilities. This requires the Hunter, who at the time will be a regular human, to find a method of communication with the spirit, which, as of the modern age and the formation of the Spirit Hunters Association, is one of the easiest parts of forming a pact, afterwards the Hunter must come to terms with the Spirit, and convince them to form a pact with them, physical contact is required to make a Pact. Spirit Hunters who form a pact can not become Demons against their own will. The current head of the Spirit Hunter Association attained his powers via a Pact. The location of a Pact Seal is based on located where the Hunter touched the Spirit in the formation of their Pact.
Possession
Possession is just as it sounds, a Hunter gains their powers via an unsuccessful possession attempt by a Spirit. A Hunter gaining their powers through possession is very rare, being the second least common form of gaining their powers, this is due to the fact that the act of a Spirit attempting to possess a human is somewhat uncommon, coupled with the high rate of success of possession, along with the low survival rate of failed possessions leading to a small amount of people gaining their powers in this fashion, and due to the fact that a possession is generally unplanned, not all victims go on to join the Spirit Hunter’s Association. Possessed Hunters are at the risk of becoming a Demon, and while this is unlikely, it has occurred in the past, usually when a Hunter is under extreme mental and physical stress. The location of a seal on the Possessed is based on the Spirit they were possessed by, mimicking one of their primary traits.
Birth
Those born with Spirit Hunter powers are extremely rare, with a rate of around forty children being born with the abilities of a Spirit a year. Unlike other Spirit Hunters they do not have a Seal present anywhere on their body, do not rely on a Spirit as the source of their power and are generally trained from birth to enter the profession of Spirit Hunting. Contrary to popular belief, among both civilians and Hunters, those born with their abilities do not possess are not inherently more powerful than Hunters who attain their powers via other methods, and only appear that way due to the training they undergo from childhood. Those born with their abilities are at zero risk of becoming a Demon, due to the fact that there is no Spirit inhabiting their body, though they are also incapable of being Possessed or performing a Pact or Binding.
Spirits
Spirits are beings that appear in the world naturally, as despite all being classed as Spirits, vary widely in their abilities and behavior. The majority of Spirits are aggressive, being mostly split between more territorial Spirits, staying in a designated location, attacking anyone who comes near it, and Spirits who actively roam, attacking anyone they come across. Spirits have a core and a primary body. Any damage dealt to the primary body can be regenerated, to kill a spirit the core must be destroyed.
Territorial Spirits are the more common variety for which the Association is called in to deal with, generally presenting a problem when they manifest in populated locations, such as cities and towns. Though, despite being the more common case Hunters are called in to deal with, they are also considered the smaller threat, as loss of life and injury can normally be avoided by instructing the population at large to avoid their territory until they are dealt with, allowing greater preparation time for Hunters before having to take them out. Roaming Spirits though, present an entirely different problem, usually appearing suddenly the only real hope at preventing loss of life when dealing with them is mobilizing against the threat as soon as possible, generally resulting in a lack of information on them while going into battle, leading to them presenting a larger threat to the average Hunter until more details can be ascertained.
In terms of abilities, Spirits are normally divided into four categories, Corporal, Ethereal, Elemental and Anomalous. The rarity of all these are around equal, though the amount of incidents involving each does vary, due to the different natures common to each type of Spirit, and the environments in which they reside. Corporal Spirits are the simplest of the lot, manifesting themselves physically to protect their core, and attacking with brawn rather than magical or elemental attacks.
Ethereal Spirits instead focus on evasion to protect their cores, taking on a spectral form to allow them to phase through objects and attacks, specializing in energy based attacks, allowing them to stay at range and harass enemies with blasts and waves.
Elemental Spirits are fairly varied in their abilities, though all having the common ground that they are based on one of the elements. The more powerful an Elemental Spirit the ‘purer’ their elemental affinity will be, E.G a Magma Spirit would be a mix of fire and earth, and of a medium level of power as a result, while one with a pure affinity for fire would be far more powerful.
Anomalous Spirits are those that don’t fall into any established categories, or defy one of the norms of the other types. E.G An Anomalous Spirit could be a Elemental Spirit that despite having an impure affinity, such as Steam, is still powerful, or it could be a Spirit with a physical form that relies on energy based attacks and such forth.
Demons
Demons are essentially Spirits given a permanent physical form, gained by possessing a living creature, only Spirits of a high level of power are able to attempt possession, and because of this the rate of success is rather high, while the number of attempted possessions being fairly low. Possession can also be performed on any living creature, not only humans, with the mental capabilities of the Demon being based on both the host creature and intelligence of the original Spirit. When possessing non-sentient creatures Spirits maintain all their memories and original personality.
Human based Demons start in a mental state similar to an infant, mindlessly moving around and attacking their environment. They naturally develop personalities and traits like a growing child would, being swayed by the original personalities of the host body and the possessing Spirit, eventually developing a one unique to themselves, ‘borrowing’ bits and pieces from both the Human and Spirit, along with the traits it naturally develops on its own. It takes around a year for a Demon to fully mature mentally, and, though physical and magical traits can still be developed after this point, it is uncommon for it to occur.
Unlike Spirits, Demons do not have a core, and can be killed by destroying their physical body. This however, is not an easy task, due to the extreme generative capabilities, shown by a majority of Demons, in conjunction with their seemingly unlimited stamina and vast levels of power, they can cause issues for even the most powerful of Hunters, normally taking multiple squadrons to take down. Because of this Demons are of an extremely high priority for the SHA, with it not being uncommon for Hunters to abandon an ongoing case to deal with a troublesome Demon, often leading to the escape of potentially dangerous Spirits.
| Spirits. They’ve existed as long as anyone can remember, their presence instilling into man both fear, and respect. In the days in which we now live their existence is as natural to us as that of animals, but presenting a threat far greater that any lion or tiger could ever hope to pose. That is why we, The Spirit Hunter’s Association, exist, to control the threat that they pose, and put a stop to it. Now, to clear up any misunderstandings, the purpose of the Association is not to exterminate the Spirits as a whole, trying to wipe the Spirits out in their entirety is a fruitless cause, believe me, we tried that back in the 1900s, and they just kept cropping up as fast as we could cut them down. No, we’re around to try and… Keep them under control… Namely, we exist to neutralize any Spirit related threats that present themselves. -Introductory Speech for new members of the Spirit Hunter’s Association |
HISTORY
Things weren’t always as they are now though. People didn’t always believe in Spirits, and the SHA weren’t always around to deal with them, they have, undeniably been around for a very long time, standing at an age of around two hundred years, since the Resurgence. The Resurgence occurred during the Industrial Revolution, an age when mankind had forgotten the existence of Spirits, and, as such, were unprepared for the what was to occur. Suddenly, due to what is speculate to be the rapid growth of technology, and human influence, Spiritual activity increased significantly, with several incidents occurring simultaneously in major cities all over the world.
Because of this there was panic en-mass, the Governments of the world scrambled to find a way to fight back against this new threat, who seemed immune to all the methods that modern technology could present, seemingly in vain, as even with the latest innovations in technology the most they could do was lay a scratch on the enemy they fought. That was, until they turned to the Arcane, assigning a sect of men and women to look into anything they could find within mythology and folklore, and eventually, after a years of Spirits having free reign to do as they wished they found something within Chinese myth, the Binding Ritual.
People were, understandably, speculative at first, but, in the face of such an enemy people had to take any chance they had, and thus, the first wave of Spirit Hunters were born, and with them, humanity finally had a way to fight back. But the fight was slow, the newly born Hunters still not knowing how to properly combat Spirits, how to adequately use their newfound power, or yet working together properly as a worldwide force. This, was why the Spirit Hunter’s Association was founded all those years ago, to manage the Spirit Hunters, train them, and find new methods of combating the Spirits, and with the Association bringing together researchers and new hunters alike progress against the Spirits quickly increasing in traction, with the discovery of the Spirits Core, along with pushing out the second generation of Spirit Hunters, this time being trained specifically to fight back the Spirits, and doing so to great effect.
Soon followed the discovery of another ritual with which Hunters could gain their abilities, The Pact. Like the Binding ritual, the Pact allowed humans to take a Spirit, and gain their capabilities, but, until the Binding, the Pact required a willing Spirit, to which the prospective Hunter would have to find agreeable terms with to properly perform the ritual. Though the numbers of successful Pacts were at first, very low, the numbers steadily increased, as Spirits able to hold a level of sentience heard tell of it, and chose to work with the ever expanding Hunters, rather than risk Binding or death, and with them, the tides began to sway. Mankind finally began to beat back the waves of Spirits, and stability was restored to society.
Since then we have come even further, spreading knowledge on how to fight back, and even establishing facilities worldwide to train the next generations of Hunters, funded by the governments of the world to provide the highest degree of preparation for all prospective future Hunters. Despite their accessibility the number of graduates from these Academies is rather low, due to the rigorous training and requirements for those who wish to enter the field of Spirit Hunting often leading to students dropping out, failing or even in rare occasions, dying during their years of study.
PREMISE
You are a graduate from one of these Academies, and a new member entering your second month of employment within the Tokyo Branch of the Spirit Hunter’s Association, up until now you’ve mostly been handling further training, preparation for fieldwork and getting to know the strengths and weakness of the rest of your squad. Recently, you’ve been given the announcement that, under supervision, you’ll be moving onto actual fieldwork as a fully fledged Spirit Hunter. Adventures await, will you rise through the ranks? Or will you die before you have a chance to do anything?
Spirit Hunters
Spirit Hunters are Humans who have somehow come into the possession of the powers of a Spirit. The methods with which this can be achieved vary, falling into one of four categories, A Pact, Binding, Possession and Birth. All Hunters have a Seal located somewhere upon their body, the appearance of which varies depending on the nature of the spirit they use as a source for their powers, with the location being based on a different factor for each method of gaining their powers. The powers of a Spirit Hunter also vary, being based on the type of spirit they use as a source.
Binding
Binding is the most common method in which Spirit Hunters earn their powers. Binding a Spirit suppresses it and stores it within the body of the Hunter, allowing to freely use the abilities of the bound Spirit. A properly bound Spirit is dormant, and has no sway on the Hunter that acts as it’s host. If improperly bound the Spirit will actively attempt to leave the host body, there are no recorded cases of Hunters being able to keep a improperly bound Spirit under their sway for more than a few weeks, though, there are a few in which the Spirit was fully bound afterwards, though they are exclusive to either high caliber Hunters, or weaker Spirits. The location of a binding seal is wherever the Spirit is stored within the body of the Hunter.
Pact
A pact is the second most common method in which a sanctioned Spirit Hunter comes into the possession of their abilities. This requires the Hunter, who at the time will be a regular human, to find a method of communication with the spirit, which, as of the modern age and the formation of the Spirit Hunters Association, is one of the easiest parts of forming a pact, afterwards the Hunter must come to terms with the Spirit, and convince them to form a pact with them, physical contact is required to make a Pact. Spirit Hunters who form a pact can not become Demons against their own will. The current head of the Spirit Hunter Association attained his powers via a Pact. The location of a Pact Seal is based on located where the Hunter touched the Spirit in the formation of their Pact.
Possession
Possession is just as it sounds, a Hunter gains their powers via an unsuccessful possession attempt by a Spirit. A Hunter gaining their powers through possession is very rare, being the second least common form of gaining their powers, this is due to the fact that the act of a Spirit attempting to possess a human is somewhat uncommon, coupled with the high rate of success of possession, along with the low survival rate of failed possessions leading to a small amount of people gaining their powers in this fashion, and due to the fact that a possession is generally unplanned, not all victims go on to join the Spirit Hunter’s Association. Possessed Hunters are at the risk of becoming a Demon, and while this is unlikely, it has occurred in the past, usually when a Hunter is under extreme mental and physical stress. The location of a seal on the Possessed is based on the Spirit they were possessed by, mimicking one of their primary traits.
Birth
Those born with Spirit Hunter powers are extremely rare, with a rate of around forty children being born with the abilities of a Spirit a year. Unlike other Spirit Hunters they do not have a Seal present anywhere on their body, do not rely on a Spirit as the source of their power and are generally trained from birth to enter the profession of Spirit Hunting. Contrary to popular belief, among both civilians and Hunters, those born with their abilities do not possess are not inherently more powerful than Hunters who attain their powers via other methods, and only appear that way due to the training they undergo from childhood. Those born with their abilities are at zero risk of becoming a Demon, due to the fact that there is no Spirit inhabiting their body, though they are also incapable of being Possessed or performing a Pact or Binding.
Spirits
Spirits are beings that appear in the world naturally, as despite all being classed as Spirits, vary widely in their abilities and behavior. The majority of Spirits are aggressive, being mostly split between more territorial Spirits, staying in a designated location, attacking anyone who comes near it, and Spirits who actively roam, attacking anyone they come across. Spirits have a core and a primary body. Any damage dealt to the primary body can be regenerated, to kill a spirit the core must be destroyed.
Territorial Spirits are the more common variety for which the Association is called in to deal with, generally presenting a problem when they manifest in populated locations, such as cities and towns. Though, despite being the more common case Hunters are called in to deal with, they are also considered the smaller threat, as loss of life and injury can normally be avoided by instructing the population at large to avoid their territory until they are dealt with, allowing greater preparation time for Hunters before having to take them out. Roaming Spirits though, present an entirely different problem, usually appearing suddenly the only real hope at preventing loss of life when dealing with them is mobilizing against the threat as soon as possible, generally resulting in a lack of information on them while going into battle, leading to them presenting a larger threat to the average Hunter until more details can be ascertained.
In terms of abilities, Spirits are normally divided into four categories, Corporal, Ethereal, Elemental and Anomalous. The rarity of all these are around equal, though the amount of incidents involving each does vary, due to the different natures common to each type of Spirit, and the environments in which they reside. Corporal Spirits are the simplest of the lot, manifesting themselves physically to protect their core, and attacking with brawn rather than magical or elemental attacks.
Ethereal Spirits instead focus on evasion to protect their cores, taking on a spectral form to allow them to phase through objects and attacks, specializing in energy based attacks, allowing them to stay at range and harass enemies with blasts and waves.
Elemental Spirits are fairly varied in their abilities, though all having the common ground that they are based on one of the elements. The more powerful an Elemental Spirit the ‘purer’ their elemental affinity will be, E.G a Magma Spirit would be a mix of fire and earth, and of a medium level of power as a result, while one with a pure affinity for fire would be far more powerful.
Anomalous Spirits are those that don’t fall into any established categories, or defy one of the norms of the other types. E.G An Anomalous Spirit could be a Elemental Spirit that despite having an impure affinity, such as Steam, is still powerful, or it could be a Spirit with a physical form that relies on energy based attacks and such forth.
Demons
Demons are essentially Spirits given a permanent physical form, gained by possessing a living creature, only Spirits of a high level of power are able to attempt possession, and because of this the rate of success is rather high, while the number of attempted possessions being fairly low. Possession can also be performed on any living creature, not only humans, with the mental capabilities of the Demon being based on both the host creature and intelligence of the original Spirit. When possessing non-sentient creatures Spirits maintain all their memories and original personality.
Human based Demons start in a mental state similar to an infant, mindlessly moving around and attacking their environment. They naturally develop personalities and traits like a growing child would, being swayed by the original personalities of the host body and the possessing Spirit, eventually developing a one unique to themselves, ‘borrowing’ bits and pieces from both the Human and Spirit, along with the traits it naturally develops on its own. It takes around a year for a Demon to fully mature mentally, and, though physical and magical traits can still be developed after this point, it is uncommon for it to occur.
Unlike Spirits, Demons do not have a core, and can be killed by destroying their physical body. This however, is not an easy task, due to the extreme generative capabilities, shown by a majority of Demons, in conjunction with their seemingly unlimited stamina and vast levels of power, they can cause issues for even the most powerful of Hunters, normally taking multiple squadrons to take down. Because of this Demons are of an extremely high priority for the SHA, with it not being uncommon for Hunters to abandon an ongoing case to deal with a troublesome Demon, often leading to the escape of potentially dangerous Spirits.
