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You’ve always experienced odd things. An inexplicable sense of dread, the feeling of being watched when alone. And misfortunes may have consistently happened around you, or to you, as if you were being targeted. You may brush it off as mere superstition and coincidence, you may look deeper into it, or you may wonder if there’s something wrong with you.

There isn’t. The odd happenings aren’t your fault; rather, by responding to the hidden presence of another entity, you’ve alerted them to your ability to sense them.

Onryo, the spirits of those wronged in life, unable to find peace. The longer they remain bound to Earth, the more their stability wanes and the more their anguish consumes them. Most living people can’t see or sense them, but can still be harmed by the onryo’s grudge. Such a malevolent spirit lashes out at the living by cursing them, or causing disasters. Merely getting back at the one who wronged them in life rarely satisfies them, and these lingering regrets will continue to wreak destruction until put to rest.

This duty falls to you. You have been lucky enough to draw the attention of a more benevolent spirit, a tsukumogami. An object of 100 years old or over may acquire a soul, hence sentience, and gain the ability to bond with a mortal who has such potential. When their abilities combine, the human gains their true power, becoming a hunter.

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[center][h2]Lore:[/h2][/center]

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Some people are born with the ability to connect to what’s usually unseen. From early childhood, they can sense the presence of nearby spirits. During adolescence, their potential grows, and they gain the ability to bond with tsukumogami. 

Once bonded, they can combine their power to enter the world in between the material and the spectral, a limbo of sorts. It looks like a greyed-out version of our world, with people in the material realm resembling shadows, and onryo appearing in full clarity. There, the human takes on their hunter form, the tsukumogami becoming either their weapon or part of their outfit. This transformation allows them to use various abilities to lay ghosts to rest.

A hunter’s powers are linked to their bonded tsukumogami; for instance, someone bound to a paper lantern will have control over fire or light.

Outside of limbo, they can still see onryo as opposed to simply sensing them, although these spirits will appear blurry and transparent. They can also pick up on the presence of nearby hunters, whether in limbo or in the material world.
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A particularly old object, of 100 years or over, has a small chance of gaining a soul. To most, they still appear inanimate, but when nobody is watching they seek out potential hunters. They aim to form these bonds as quickly as possible, so newly recruited hunters are often young. Dragging children into a war against dangerous entities may seem cruel, but since these youngsters are often targets, leaving them defenseless against the onryo would be far worse.

The possessed object is fairly tough, even if made of a normally fragile material, and if damaged, will slowly heal over time. However, during recovery, the hunter’s powers will be weakened. If the tsukumogami is destroyed beyond repair, they’ll remain as a spirit until they can find another suitable vessel, and for that time the hunter will be depowered, unable to communicate with their parter’s soul beside their basic ability to sense their nearby presence. The new vessel must be fittingly old and of the same nature; for example, a kasa-obake (umbrella tsukumogami) can only possess another umbrella.

Just as a hunter cannot enter limbo on their own, neither can a tsukumogami, meaning the hunter has to carry them around and pass them off as an ordinary item. Fortunately most are small, but this can still be inconvenient, with the bonded human having to get creative in order to not draw undue attention.

These beings come in various forms. Here is a [url=https://yokai.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Tsukumogami]list[/url] of some of the best known in folklore.
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Those significantly wronged in life, or consumed with regret or despair, have a chance of remaining bound to Earth after death. Being trapped between two worlds, looking in at life from the outside, doesn’t exactly help their tormented state. Twisted into someone unlike who they once were, they take out their grief and anger on the living. 

The most common way they do this is to lay curses, causing unexplained physical sickness, sapping someone’s will to live, or drawing out people’s destructive urges. More powerful onryo can cause disasters, such as fires or freak storms. The strongest can briefly manifest in physical form and cause direct harm to their victims, giving rise to many urban legends.

The longer they remain trapped in limbo, the more their grudge grows, increasing their power but eating at their sanity. They can also grow stronger by absorbing the souls of victims who die from their curses, thus preventing the creation of another onryo who could torment them. Exorcising the onryo will free these souls. Some, however, actively seek to create other restless spirits out of desperation for company, or break the wills of victims-turned-ghosts, making them into underlings.

Despite being commonly depicted in pop culture as stringy haired women in white kimonos, males exist, and onryo take on various forms, representing their regrets or the way they died. Someone who burned to death may be surrounded by wispy flames, or smoke. Varieties of onryo include funayurei (the souls of those who died at sea), and goryo (the angered spirits of nobles and martyrs).
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Hey! Cat here, with a magical girl RP. Well, I say that, but you're not gender locked, plus the RP will have horror and shonen elements. You'll be playing fairly new hunters, learning to work together and hone your combat skills, while a supernatural threat grows. I'm looking for around 7-8 people, who can post on a semi regular basis. Let me know if you're interested!