"Akasha Appear! Arise from your slumber, you hidden selves…
-And unleash chaos."
-And unleash chaos."
Japan, 16th December 1970.
On that day, the Akasha appeared, but the people didn't know it at the time. They came quietly, only to certain regions of Japan, and they have remained ever since.
You wouldn't know it walking around by day. There was no panic. No one knew, after all. But soon enough, strange phenomena began to occur. People began to disappear at night. Odd incidents that couldn't be explained. There were whispers that the Kami had returned.
And they were angry.
February 24th, 1971
It was a snowy day in winter when the first nation-wide incident occurred. They called it the First Awakening. On that snowy night in February, the Akasha appeared. The Yokai of myth and legend suddenly attacked, with a seemingly unnatural, undying hatred for human life, they inflicted many casualties before the military was able to be deployed.
The military was able to weather the first assault. After they were deployed, the wave was quickly supressed, as the First Awakening incident was mostly isolated to the areas the Akasha had first appeared. However it was a victory with many civilian casualties, not to mention the assault itself was only the beginning of the ramifications of the First Awakening.
It gave birth to two distinct supernatural phenomena.
The appearance of the so called "Yokai Villages":
In the areas the Akasha appeared, the barrier between the realm of the Yokai and the mortal realm had been permanently sundered. Supernatural beings walked freely amongst the humans, in those areas that had survived the First Awakening. Over time, the humans and Yokai there came to a peaceful co-existence. It wouldn't be for many long, hard years, as in the meantime all Yokai were approached with fear and suspicion due to the presence of the second phenomena…
The Akasha Scourge:
Seemingly the source of the aggression that had possessed the normally passive Yokai during the events of the First Awakening. The Yokai that could be communicated with described it transmitting like a "Plague", spreading from one Yokai to another until entire communities were taken over. It unleashed chaos on both human and Yokai communities alike.
Areas affected by the Akasha Scourge eventually become overrun with these mad Yokai, and even humans could be affected if they stayed too long, or were attacked by the infected. These areas were quarantined by the government, however in the earlier stages of the outbreak, all areas suspected of harbouring the scourge were also quarantined.
This meant many of the new Yokai villages, and the many towns the scourge originated in. In many cases, humans weren't evacuated from the places placed under quarantine, as the Akasha Scourge affected humans differently than it does Yokai. Most became frenzied and eventually died, like normal, but those who survived began to develop mutations.
There was a secondary wave of panic once this was made public. With all of the public's opinion at an all-time low, and with chaos threatening to erupt from dozens of fronts, it was clear something had to be done.
August 27th 1972
The Akasha Agency is formed.
In essence it was a way for the Japanese government to organize their various departments into one to form a better response to the emergency. Its leaders however immediately begin to put forward drastic initiatives, and the adoption of these initiatives ultimately helped to stem the tide of the Akasha Scourge.
One of their key initiatives was that they began to reach out the Yokai for information. However, due to the distrust the Yokai now harboured against humanity, it didn't prove to be a very effective tactic to start with. It wasn't until a certain event that the initiative would begin to bear fruit.
On November 4th 1972, the Kami appeared. Japan's Gods from folklore, and the rulers of the Spirit World. They made a proclamation to Japan. The Spirit World and the human world would remain separate. However if they offered unconditional aid to Yokai stranded in the Human World, the Kami would repay those efforts.
The Japanese government accepted the deal. Yokai Villages were now under the full protection of the Akasha Agency and the Japanese military. With the aid thus rendered, the Yokai were more ready to offer their information in kind.
They began to be able to coordinate their assaults and defences against the Akasha Scourge. They began to find greater and greater success in pushing back the threat. Eventually, it was thought that the Scourge had been eliminated entirely.
No more 'active' cases of the Scourge were reported by the end of 1974, however a great many were still affected by it, in the form of mutations. The absence of all other symptoms made the government mark them as 'recovered', but the public's opinion of matters was still one tainted by fear, and these survivors would often face discrimination.
September 1, 1975
The Akasha Scourge returns.
When society had just started to rebuild, and the Government had just put forth the motion to disband the Akasha Agency, a 2nd wave of attacks began. The key difference between the first scourge and the new outbreak was the presence of a group of people that called themselves the Yomi Troupe. They posed as a travelling circus and unleashed a terror attack in the heart of Tokyo.
The Yomi Troupe featured many who had been mutated by the Scourge. Feeling ostracized by society, they decided to take back their dignity through force. They declared war on the Japanese government, with the stated intention of creating a world where those who had been afflicted by the Akasha Scourge could live fairly.
The war would end up lasting five years.
The Yomi Troupe were elusive, and they seemed to be everywhere. It was hard to tell which were simply copycat groups inspired by the Yomi Troupe's ideals, and which attacks were the actual group itself. In a controversial decision, it was decided the ones captured would receive the death penalty. It was done to make an example of the members of the Yomi Troupe, and show that the Japanese Government wouldn't tolerate the actions of these "ruthless thugs."
The main group was eventually cornered in their base of operations, a warehouse hidden in the forests some distance away from Osaka. Those trapped inside mostly chose to commit suicide by recklessly charging at the military as they closed in. The last one standing, the leader of the Troupe who had made that declaration all of those years ago chose to stay alive until the end. He made one final statement live on national TV before he was sentenced to death and executed.
"This is not the end. This is only the beginning."
While the main branch was gone, the copycat groups and other splinter groups formed when higher members of Yomi found their differences too great, remained. And while they could never match the true threat of the original Yomi Troupe, they were still genuine and dangerous threats that drained the Akasha Agency's resources at every turn.
July 4th, 1980.
After examining the data in what was left of the Yomi Troupe's files, as well as reports from the various Yokai Villages and the Spirit World and other gathered reports, there was something disturbing discovered. The live Yokai the Troupe had found in the wilderness were likely not remnants of the first Akasha Scourge, as expected.
Rather, the Scourge was starting to reappear on its own. And it was gaining momentum. The incident with the Yomi Troupe had helped contribute to the increase in cases of the Scourge, but the amount of cases increasing in regions that hadn't been targeted by them was also increasing.
If the Akasha Agency and the military had been at full strength and resources from the get-go, they would've been able to halt the storm quickly, as the numbers were still relatively low. However, with the various splinter groups to deal with, they were finding themselves stretched thin.
This was when the final new initiative the Akasha Agency would enact entirely on its own. To combat the ever growing corruption in almost every region around Japan, recruit the locals who know the land, to fight it. Give them the training and resources to be able to defend themselves and deal with the smaller scale threats, then expand the program to the entire nation.
Give enough incentives, like stable pay and steady work and you can make careers out of hunting the Akasha Scourge. The mutated victims of the Akasha Scourge were also included in this initiative. Most of them could sense the presence of the Akasha Scourge if it was close by, making them invaluable in rooting it out.
The possibility of not including them wasn't even considered. Great lengths were taken to make sure they would take part in these hunts. This would kill two birds with one stone, since the mutated had an ability that could not be replicated elsewhere, and it was a little known secret that the majority of people joining with the splinter groups the Agency was dealing with were these mutated humans.
It wasn't just lip service that they were recruited to help make Japan safer, however. A lot of research and testing went into creating the right protocols and structures to make sure these hunts were as successful as possible and had the least amount of casualties possible. There was no effort to make sure the mutated humans were always on the frontlines and likely to die. In fact, they were often one of the most protected, as their overall numbers was also beginning to dwindle due to the reduction in cases of the Akasha Scourge.
The initiative was a success in many ways. The local initiative was more effective than expected. In almost all cases, the local population of agents that had been recruited manage to lower the amount of cases in the immediate area dramatically. In some cases they eliminate cases within weeks.
January 1, 1981
As the initiative begins to spread throughout the nation, cases began to fall dramatically. Prominent activists who had been biding their time for such an opportunity used it as a springboard to fight for mutated humans' rights. A long since buried issue, under the guise of not wanting to 'shake the boat', it hadn't been talked about at all in parliament except for the various laws and initiatives that had been created to track them all.
Lobbyists were successful in getting the majority of these laws repealed. They continued to fight for mutated human's rights still, even afterwards, and eventually this led to Yomi's splinter groups eventually losing their power with the people as popular perception began to change.
The Akasha Scourge never really disappeared. It resurfaced time and time again, but as information continued to be collected, and the Akasha Agency's methodology continued to evolve, each outbreak has proved less and less of a threat.
It seems that soon, Japan may finally find true peace.
And now...
Japan, May 4th, 2020. It's been 50 years since the Akasha Scourge first appeared, and Japan has rebuilt. The cities have become beacons of modern technology, but there are many towns that are still in the process of modernization. The Old Guard has finally decided to retire for the most part, to let the a new generation of Akasha Operatives take up the reigns.
Much has changed since those initial days. These Operatives' primary roles had once mostly been to scout, research, and suppress the spread of the Akasha Scourge, now are mostly rendering assistance to the local Yokai. Outbreaks are exceedingly rare, to the point of being deemed almost impossible in the modern age, but the Akasha Scourge has never really disappeared. By keeping a constant vigil, the Akasha Agency's information network can pinpoint the precise location of threats before they even arise, and in this way they can send in Senior Operatives to make sure it never becomes a problem.
Thanks to the safer conditions and the extent to which our Operatives' responsibilities have changed, the Akasha Agency is now recruiting people as young as 16 as new Operatives. The face of the Akasha Agency has changed forever with the rise of new technology, but in many ways, the way their missions are carried out over the years have stayed the same.
Our story opens in Sentouji City, a city which has had a long history with the Akasha Agency.
Sentouji City
Our story takes place in Sentouji City, one of the first places in which the Akasha Scourge struck. What had once been nothing more than a rural farming town, is close to being a small city. Students of all ages will walk from their suburban houses, past old farms and traditional shrines, as a backdrop of apartment buildings and high-rises begins to fill the horizon. In the North of the city, you'll find it like the heart of metropolis anywhere else. And though modernization has been slow to reach other parts of the city, it's now considered fully modernized and it can no longer be described as "rural".
But there is still a legacy that the city will never forget.
Sentouji City is split into two districts, for a very obvious reason if you know the history of the town. The north-side is where most of the development of the city ended up being focused on, and many of the traditional places and the remnants of 'old town' reside in the south. This is because the North had once been the quarantine zone for the Akasha Scourge.
The quarantine was placed quickly enough to contain the Scourge to a certain part of the city. The phenomenon which allowed the Yokai to cross over from the Spirit World to the Human World was not localized to the North of the city. The south became one of the first Yokai Villages as Yokai fleeing the exlcusion zone sought refuge, and stranded Yokai also found they had nowhere to turn to.
The inhabitants of Sentouji, after initially being fearful of the Yokai, after a while welcomed them as they proved to be a means to fight the Scourge. A type of technique which would later be known as Arts were taught to any with the aptititude as an early defense against the Akasha Scourge.
After the tide of the Akasha Scourge had been eliminated, residents returning to the North of the city decided it would be easier to rebuild it from the ground up. The rest as we know it, is history. The Akasha Agency have a long past with Sentouji. Though the threat of the Akasha Scourge has greatly, the Akasha Agency has never left their post.
The local training center is still one of the largest the Akasha Agency has to offer. It relocated from the south district, it now occupies a high-rise building in the north side of Sentouji, and features several different Fighter Dojos on each level, as well as some of the best Arts training Japan has to offer.
The local scene is also thriving in the South, with many local certified training dojos which offer more specific training and fighting styles to master, and many Yokai in the temples and hidden places of the South District still ready to teach students the ways of Arts Masters.
The Night Mandate
Sentouji City's population of Yokai isn't as numerous as it used to be. The reason is something known as the Night Mandate. Eventually a method had been found to return the Veil separating the Human World and the Spirit World to a more stable state. This meant no Yokai was ever stranded on the other side any longer.
Still, many didn't want to leave. They had good memories of the Human World, and wished to stay. However, the rules and values of the humans and Yokai were fundamentally incompatible. Not all Yokai are inherently 'good', and in the Spirit World there's hardly such a moral compass amongst the more comomon Yokai. The wrong kind of Yokai allowed to live permanently in the human world could cause untold chaos.
To remedy this, the Yokai treated with the Japanese Government and formed something called the Night Mandate. During the day, no Yokai would be able to cross over into the Human World, but at Night the gates are let open, for whichever areas still have them. Yokai can choose to cross over and stay indefinitely if they like, as long as their application is approved by the Japanese Government. But only at night can they make the crossing, and many mischievous Yokai will choose to come along for the ride.
The Akasha Agency helps with managing this issue on the human side. Mostly it's just to make sure Yokai don't get into too much trouble. The Kami passed a decree saying that Yokai entering the human realm must abide by their rules as part of the Night Mandate, but Yokai being Yokai, who can say how effective such a decree really is? Any Yokai caught breaking the rules is returned to the Spirit World to face punishment there, or at least any the Akasha Agency can get their hands on.
This takes us to the likely scene of where our protagonists will be, the night of May 4th, 2020. The Akasha Agency's local Shokuden職田 for the night, the place where our Operatives will be assigned their very first missions. Shokuden職田 are repurposed civilian facilities which serve as the local hub for missions in a particular area. This particular Shokuden職田 is located in the South side of the city, close to an area which has proven to ne a popular place for Yokai to appear.
It promises to be an eventful night for our Akasha Operatives. If their skills are up to the task, they may make it just as uneventful a night for the townsfolk as any other night for them is.
Akasha Operatives
Akasha Operatives are the Agency's elite agents, sent directly on the field to combat the Akasha Scourge. Or at least they used to be. Now it's a much more widely reaching field of experience, separated into three distinct classes depending on the field they most excel in. Each class corresponds to a certain type of expertise which each represent one field which the Akasha Agency has jurisdiction over when it comes to its affairs.
Fighters specialize in direct combat and pure fighting skill. They are the frontline in a squad of agents. Assignments that require Fighters are ones that require the quick application of force, which often can't be achieved as easily by other classes.
Arts is an umbrella term used to describe the various techniques and types of Magic the Akasha Agency employs on its missions. It can be anything from exorcism, divination, seals and talismans, to direct elemental manipulation and the like.
Arts practitioners generally take on a more expertise heavy, investigative role compared to Fighers. Bringing their unique knowledge to solve problems which may have more to them than meets the eye.
Specialists are unique, in the sense that this is the class for those who have Mutations. Mutations from the Akasha Scourge can make it difficult to practice Arts, and while it never stops them from being Fighers, their methods for engaging in combat often go against the grain and require a different kind of training.
In the past they were vital to rooting out the Akasha Scourge due to their ability to sense it. However the role hasn't vanished because it was discovered that Mutated humans possess a sort of intuition. If it's something at all remotely to do with the Akasha Scourge, they tend to gravitate towards it. Not to mention that their unique abilities mean, more often than not, they can suit any team composition.
An Operative can train in all three styles if they are so inclined, (Specialist's have an extra condition of if it's possible), but career Operatives can also specialize in a single one.
The purpose of this system is to be able to quickly determine a prospective agent's strengths and weaknesses, streamline the process of assigning Operatives to missions. Each Class has a standardized baseline to compare with other classes, and separates the various levels of strength displayed in each Class via Rankings, starting at Rank 1 and going up to Rank 9.
Breakdowns on each class, including how to write one into a character sheet are listed below.
Fighters
Arts
Specialists
General Class Addendums
Character Sheet Template
Here's a to do list for those who stuck it out to the end so you all know what I still have left to complete.
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