In the beginning, there were Izanagi and Izanami.

Together, standing upon ame-no-ukihashi, the bridge of heaven, they brought into the world all things - the land, the sea, and the sky, plants and animals and human beings, and the other kami, the spirits who inhabit the world. All of creation was their child, brought forth from Izanami's womb. But the last of Izanami's children, Kagutsuchi, the god of fire, killed her as she gave birth to him, burning her to death as he came into the world.

Izanagi flew into a rage, and carved his son to pieces with his sword. But it did not bring his wife back from the dead. He was in despair, until finally, he could no longer bear to be away from his wife, and said that he would visit her in Yomi, the underworld, and take her back to the world of the living.

Down and down he descended to see her. In the halls of the dead he met with her and she spoke to him from the shadows. She told him that she could not come back with him, for she had eaten the food of the underworld, and so could never leave it. His protests fell upon deaf ears - she would not return, and could not, until finally, unwilling to discuss it further, she went to sleep.

As she slept, so overcome with the desire to see her, Izanagi lit a torch, so that he could watch over her as she slept. But as the light fell upon her, he saw that his wife was truly one of the dead - her flesh was grey and decaying, and being eaten by maggots. In terror, he screamed, and awoke his wife.

Having been seen for what she had become, Izanami gave chase, hoping to kill the one she had once loved. But Izanagi fled, and sealed the door to the underworld with a great stone, so that his wife could not escape. And he washed himself, to cleanse himself of the filth of dead things, and as he did, he created new deities from each part that he washed. As he washed his face, he created the three greatest: from his left eye, Amaterasu, from his right eye, Tsukiyomi, and from his nose, Susanoo.

Enraged at having been forgotten, Izanami declared that she would take 1,000 lives from the world of the living into her own world every day, but Izanagi swore that if she did so, he would bring 1,5000 new lives into the world to compensate. And so this became the way of the world - people died, and new people took their places. Soon, humans grew strong and found their own place in nature. This was a time of great peace and fertility, when the gods were celebrated by humans and held in highest regards. Men and women aspired to live lives according to the gods, nurturing the balance of their spirit by heightening their awareness of the kami found in the world around them and above them. They found meaning in life through a journey of spiritual ascension that would lead to enlightenment by discovering the key to true universality in all things natural and sacred, both in the world around them, and in the new cultures that were starting to form.

With each passing day, the population grew, and human power grew with it. Power from their knowledge, from their technology, from their ability. And as they grew more powerful, they grew corrupt. Humanity began to go awry, losing sight of the most important sacred truth of being in harmony with each other, heaven, and earth. They began to hunger for more power, growing bitter and jealous, and lusting after dangerous and dark ideals which eventually led to war, great horror, and the eventual loss of the divine.

The gods waited and watched, hoping for a day that humanity would once more find their way back to an era of peaceful harmony once more. But the world only grew darker, more violent. The gifts of the gods had been perverted into weapons of war and destruction, destroying men and women and the world around them.

No longer content with being ignored, and having run out of patience, the kami who ruled in heaven have taken people from across various worlds, to live a life which is simpler, more connected with nature, and more conducive to learning harmony. A world untainted by corrupt societies, by destructive technology, and even by the stain of death itself.

Or, so it seems...

Deities

The deities at play in Kannagara are many. There are thousands of gods and goddesses, as well as Oni, each with their own purpose and role, but only a few are strong enough to control the environment of the world and its inhabitants. The gods, while present at all times, do not usually choose to reveal themselves, and when they do, it must be for a meaningful purpose, or because they are angered. But at times, your character may see them walking through their shrines and temples, or curiously watching from a distance. At other times, they might encounter a vindictive oni who has stolen your character's dinner.

And maybe, they might just witness a battle between the gods.

For the purpose of this game, the moderators will have full reign of the deities and will be happy to play them with anyone if there is a situation or a reason that calls for a deity to be in play. We would be happy to discuss NPC opportunities for players as well, if you are interested in NPCing a deity. Please speak with the moderators about it!

Listed below are some of the more important deities. There are others, of course - too many others to name, in fact. Kami (spirits/gods in Shinto) are numerous, and while some are powerful rulers in the heavens, there are also kami for nearly everything - natural features such as rivers, lakes, trees, mountains, and valleys have their own kami.

Amaterasu-ou-mikami

Born from Izanagi's left eye, Amaterasu is the goddess of the sun and the queen of the celestial realm, takamagahara. Famously, after being insulted by Susano-o, she hid herself inside of a cave and denied the world her light. After she was convinced to emerge, she took up her place again as ruler. Although she is usually patient and forgiving, direct insults will send her into a rage, and she is a fierce warrior who is sometimes portrayed as a woman in armor. Despite the fact that she is female and not the firstborn child, she is a ruler in her own right, and is the deity most beloved and most worshipped by mortals.

Ame-no-uzume-no-mikoto

A goddess of joy, light, revelry, and the dawn. She is called "the terrible woman of heaven," and with good reason, for despite her joyful demeanor, she is cunning and strong-willed. When Amaterasu, incensed, hid herself inside of a cave, it was Ame-no-uzume who lured her out by dancing lewdly. Her strip-tease caused the other deities, who were gathered around the cave consumed with worry for Amaterasu, to begin to laugh and have fun. Amaterasu was lured from her cave by the sounds of joy, and the cave was sealed, trapping her outside. Thus the dawn came again. She is ruthless in the pursuit of her goals, which are almost always noble. She is often involved in the goings-on of the earth, and is often portrayed as an advisor and assistant to heavenly rulers.

Ame-no-wakahiko

Though he was sent down by the heavenly deities to subdue the earth, Ame-no-wakahiko decided that he would take rule of the land for himself, and refused to return to heaven. For his treachery, he was shot and killed by his own arrow, and Okuninushi took his place as ruler of the earth.

Inari

A god (or goddess?) of prosperity and plenty, Inari is a deity who appears in many forms - sometimes as an old sage in rags, sometimes as a ruler in court robes. Inari is associated with foxes, who are said to be his (or her?) servants. Inari is a popular deity to whom people pray when looking for success in most anything - love, life, finances, agriculture, industry, and more.

Izanagi and Izanami

Izanagi, the Male Who Invites, is the god born along with his sister, Izanami, from the Seven Divine Generations of the gods after the creation of the universe. Izanagi and Izanami stood on the bridge of heaven and stirred the primordial oceans with a bejeweled spear. The drops from this spear, upon being lifted, fell and formed the first solid land. The divine pair descended to earth and became husband and wife, and gave birth to the rest of the world. When Izanami died following the birth of the god of fire, and was sent to Yomi, Izanagi chased after her to try and bring her back into the world of the living, only to discover that she had eaten the fruits of the dead and had become one with them -- decomposed and rotten. Horrified at the sight of her, Izanagi fled Yomi, and was chased by Izanami and an army of demons. She vowed that she would kill one thousand of his people a day, and he, in turn, vowed that one thousand five hundred would be born each day to create a balance.

Following his departure from Yomi, Izanagi bathed in a river, and several gods and goddesses were born through this purification ceremony -- the most notable being Amaterasu, who appeared from his left eye, Tsukuyomi, who emerged from his left eye, and Susanoo, from his nose.

Okuninushi

Okuninushi is the god of medicine, nation building, and farming, and governs the unseen world of spirit and magic. He is responsible for great ideas that will lead to prosperity and growth within Kannagara, as well as all things medicinal, healing, and magical.

Susano-o-no-mikoto

Born from Izanagi's nose, Susano-o is the god of storms and sea, and also a ruler of the underworld along with his mother, Izanami. Though Izanagi at first assigned him to rule over the seas, Susano-o was overcome with grief for his mother, and as such chose to reside along with her in Yomi. He is seen variously as both a hero and a villain - there are many tales of him slaying monsters and destroying evil wherever he comes upon it, but at other times he turns his wrath against the gods, committing against them terrible insults. He is truly a force of nature, wild and uncontrolled, as likely to bless as he is to destroy. His temper is terrible, and one insults him to their own misfortune.

Tsukuyomi-no-mikoto

Born from Izanagi's right eye, Tsukuyomi is the god of the moon. He doesn't get along very well with his sister, Amaterasu, after having been scorned by her for murdering the goddess of food. Tsukuyomi can sometimes be angered, but is, for the most part, rather even-tempered and brings balance to the tides.

ONI

The Oni are always interested in being around humans because they are so easy to destroy and fragile.

While the gods are usually merciful and benevolent, the Oni are not. The Oni are dangerous and malevolent, demons who will plague humans and cause nightmares, leave cursed God Scrolls lying about to start trouble, and love to create conflict. They especially like it when humans kill each other over stupid little squabbles. There is nothing that entertains Oni more than a petty death to the fight, and there are literally thousands of Oni that creep into the realm of Kannagara.

The Oni and the gods fight for balance of In and Yo within Kannagara, but it is up to the humans who are being tested who decide where the balance ultimately falls.

Population

Population Kannagara is home to a thriving indigenous population that has lived in Kannagara for thousands of years. Unlike your characters who are soul imprints that are spirited away from their home world, the indigenous population were not merely spirited away by the gods, but physically brought here long ago to reside within Kannagara and follow the path of the gods. Their presence in this world empowers the gods through god worship, offerings, and rituals that much of the population practices, passed down from generation to generation.

However, not everyone in this world follows the path the heavenly gods created for them. Some made the conscious choice to reject the beliefs and the traditions that the dominant population practices; others had their choice taken away from them. As a result, three distinct races of people reside in this world.

All of them bear a genetically occurring birthmark that manifests on their foreheads. What color that birthmark happens to be gives away how the individual is categorized.

The Celestials

The Celestials are, by all appearances, a rather happy, harmonious race who religiously practice god worship and perform the rituals, rites, and traditions expected of them by the heavenly gods. They all have a golden birthmark on their foreheads, known as "ajna," that rises to the skin seven days after birth. The Celestials consider themselves to be a superior race, as they consider themselves the people chosen by the gods. They are very careful to live in accordance with divine law, giving offerings to the gods daily, praying to the gods, and making sure to practice harmony with one another, with nature, and with the divine spirits of the world. They dislike engaging in violence against other Celestials, as violence is against the divine laws of harmony of the world, but have no problem exercising violence against Yomites, with whom they are at spiritual war.

In order to maintain spiritual cleanliness and purity, the Celestials have a rather complicated set of rituals that they perform in order to maintain the golden shine of their birthmarks. Celestials who do not complete the rituals, provide offerings to appease the gods, or who do not practice the traditions find themselves with a darkening birthmark. Those who lose their divine purity and do not appease the gods in time are stuck with a permanently blackened birthmark. Unfortunately, the Celestials discriminate against those with darkened birthmarks, as they consider them to have "fallen from grace." Those who have lost divine purity are cast out of the Celestial villages and forced to live in Yomi or become Nomads. 

There is nothing more shameful or hated by the Celestials than one who does not possess divine purity. They are considered incapable of salvation, spiritually diseased, and many fear those with darkened birthmarks. Unfortunately, some children are naturally born with darkened birthmarks. No one knows why they are, but infants with such "deformities" are frequently abandoned by their mothers.

The Yomites

The Yomites are mostly comprised of former Celestials who have either rejected the rituals and beliefs practiced by the Celestials, were thrown out by Celestials for falling from grace, or were abandoned at birth. All Yomites possess a black or near-black birthmark on their foreheads. While there are plenty of Yomites who are criminals -- murderers, rapists, thieves, drug dealers, and other low-life scum -- there are also plenty of Yomites who simply have nowhere else to go and try their best to live as well as they can in the dangerous village of Yomisato. Some Yomites attempt to continue practicing god worship, but due to their location in Yomisato, the heavenly gods frequently ignore them or simply don't hear their prayers. In Yomisato, many worship the fallen gods, and give offerings and prayer to them, often receiving strange and unnatural rewards in return.

For many Yomites who were cast out by their families against their will, the longer they stay in Yomisato, the more they lose their faith in the heavenly gods. Few Yomites continue to worship the heavenly gods after six months of living in Yomisato -- adaptation is the key to survival in this village, after all.

Many Yomites despise the Celestials for thinking themselves to be the chosen race by the gods, and even more Yomites resent the heavenly gods for what they consider to be unrealistic and problematic traditions and expectations of harmony and purity. They disagree with the way the heavenly gods do things in Kannagara, and do not want to follow the path the gods want them to follow.

The Nomads

The Nomads are an indigenous race that never did truly follow the path of the gods from the very beginning of Kannagara. Since they were brought to Kannagara, they have wandered, traveling in the wilderness and setting up camp from country to country. They are a relatively peaceful race of people who have their own beliefs of harmony and spirituality; some worship the heavenly gods but do not practice the extreme rituals and traditions that the Celestials follow, others have created their own traditions. But all Nomads possess a reddish-brown birthmark. Many are born with this birthmark; some are formerly Celestials who were thrown out before their birthmarks could darken to black. Some accept Yomites into their tribes, and over time, the black Yomite birthmark lightens to the reddish-brown birthmark of the Nomads.

The Nomads spend most of their time in Kannagara herding animals, hunting and gathering, farming, and living peacefully with nature. They derive their spirituality from nature, and spend more time worshiping nature than they do the gods. Nature to the Nomads, is the most important thing in their lives, as it is what will determine whether or not they will have successful harvests that will feed their families. Many Nomad tribes band together, traveling well-worn ancestral seasonal trails.

Some are said to have strange and powerful healing powers, which is why they are frequently sought after when there is a strange and incurable disease that the gods don't help cure. But despite this power, they are still discriminated against by the Celestials because they are not considered spiritually pure. The Yomites don't care for them much either, because they refuse to take a stance in the war between the gods.

The Other-Worlders

Your characters will be considered as "special" because of the lack of a birthmark that denotes where your character falls within Kannagara. Many Celestials may be intrigued by the Other-Worlders, especially because the gods have brought them into this world. They may be surprised to hear that the Other-Worlders have been living in Kannagara for some time, which is even more evidence of divine interest in this new race of people whom many will not know what to think of. Some Celestials may be overly friendly and welcoming of your characters; others may be a little more cautious, or even downright scared to interact with them -- afraid that divine interest in the Celestials is being displaced to a new group of people.

The Yomites will treat your character the way they would treat any other -- depending on who your character runs into in Yomisato, it might not exactly be the warmest welcome. To the Yomites, your characters are not really all that special. With or without a birthmark, your character is no different to them than any other person in Yomisato, though they might not discriminate against your character or show as much resentment towards them as they would towards a Celestial. But be warned that many Yomites are a "rougher" variety of people -- some might not have any problem roughing your character up or trying to steal from your character.

The Nomads will regard your characters rather warmly. They are a friendly race of people, and they will not reject or deny your characters anything, unless you give them trouble or reason to fear your character in some way. They are a rather inquisitive group of people, so be prepared to have a lot of questions asked and even a bit of prodding.

The Birthmark

The birthmark, which the indigenous population call "ajna," is considered to be the spiritual eye of the individual in the world, or their third eye. The Celestials believe that the ajna is what allows the world to see into the person's soul. The Yomites believe the ajna means nothing at all -- some even consider it a curse. And the Nomads can't be bothered to have an opinion on the matter.

Kannagara Culture

Kannagara's culture largely reflects real world ancient Eastern cultures, such as ancient Japanese and Chinese cultures. Much of the cultural values, ways of social interaction, and traditions are derived from these ancient cultures -- particularly Shintoism, in the case of the Celestials. As such, there really won't be any characters who will possess overtly Western values, ways of thinking, or social interaction; while many characters are different across the board, as this is a predominately Asian-influenced culture, the majority of the world's inhabitants will possess values shaped by the social norms and traditions of ancient Asia.

Interaction with NPCs

While the moderators may control some pre-established NPCs with fleshed out profiles in this world, the players ultimately have creative freedom in their interactions with NPCs in Kannagara. Though we don't recommend writing extensive logs with NPCs, your character is allowed to have interactions with much of the world's population. If you want to make up a shop owner or coworkers for your character, or a farmer or even a sleazy drug lord, feel free to do so -- as long as you don't play that NPC too extensively. If you wish to name the NPC, you may want to run it by the moderators first. If you would like to have a moderator play NPCs for you, we are more than happy to do so.

Simply contact any of the mods and we'll definitely accommodate you. If you have questions in terms of how to properly characterize a Celestial, a Yomite, or Nomad, you might want to ask a moderator in advance as well! We would be happy to talk to you about any questions in regards to the NPC population. We suggest talking to us in advance if you have some kind of a storyline that may heavily involve NPCs. We also ask that if you want to kill a bunch of NPCs that you let us know in advance, especially if it is occurring in a Celestial village -- this way we can include this news in Kannagara's newsletter.

NPC Death and Powers

Be advised that killing an NPC will result in consequences for your character if it occurs in the Celestial territories. In contrast, nothing will happen to your character if they kill someone in Yomi territories. In fact, they might even be rewarded, depending on who it is that they kill.

Unlike your characters, when NPCs die, they stay permanently dead. They also do not have the power to travel quickly between villages like your characters -- travel for them from village to village may take days, or even weeks, depending on where they are traveling to. While NPCs do possess a number of super powers -- some, even frightening powers that may rival even the strongest shounen characters -- many are powerless. As a general rule of thumb, those with powers in Kannagara are universally considered to possess divine gifts from the gods.