Lost Lore: Ikiryo – The Living Spirits

Some people never show their emotions. Perhaps they consider them a weakness enemies can exploit, or they were taught that emotional displays are improper when in public. Sometimes situations arise where powerful emotions must be repressed. Displaying anger at a powerful lady can be dangerous; openly lusting after the lady’s consort could prove deadly. With most people, repression of emotions can lead to stress or even illness — mental, physical, or both. With some, however, those emotions run deep and hold great power. How does the repressed emotion of a powerful sorcerer manifest itself? What of a young person with the undeveloped potential to be a summoner? Or what if a relatively normal person just dams up a reservoir of repressed emotion, only to have a triggering incident ignite it into life like a tindertwig tossed in a vat of lamp oil? In rare cases, these powerful emotions manifest, arising from a person to take on a life of their own. These are the ikiryo, the living spirits. Guided by the subconscious desires of its progenitor, an ikiryo acts where the person does not, free of its creator’s inhibitions, morals, and reservations. This powerful emotional force is a danger to all it encounters, especially the focus or cause of those emotions, and potentially deadly to those with which it interacts.