HWE Zashiki Warashi

Name: Zashiki Warashi

Alias: 'zashiki child', kura-bokko (warehouse child), Chopirako, guardian spirit

Alignment: Neutral Good - Lawful Good ( aka Chaotic FUN)

Rank: 1 Kaijin

Race: Yokai/ghost

 

*Zashiki Warashi can be boys or girls. Boys wearing ceremonial but smaller versions of samurai armor or a lord's robes and girls wear traditional but beautifully patterned kimonos and bobbed or hime-cut hair for girls with a flower accessory for Zashiki Warashi of particularly powerful nature and large households. Many domestic or houses with court ladies tend to attract girl Zashiki Warashi while military families and lords attract boys to their estates. They tend to be predominately girls due to the changes in social structure and even more rare due to modern architecture. Rarely they manifest as wild hairy brutes in places that have traditional sitting rooms but are removed from conventional society.

 

Size:

 

Height: Zashiki Warashi are the ghosts of small children, rarely reaching more than 2-3 ft tall. Rarely in their 'wild' incarnations they appear as 8 ft tall Neanderthals.

Weight: N/A, these Yokai are spirits and are effectively weightless except when they put actual effort into manipulating their environment in a typical poltergeist like fashion.

 

Powers:

 

Guardian Spirit - Zashiki Warashi are the spirits of children that attach themselves to households that take good care of their zashiki which is a traditional Japanese reception or sitting room covered in tatami mats. They frequent the Inner Planes a majority of the time and thus are rarely seen and only by those they wish to see them which are usually the owners of the house, kind elderly people and small children. They can otherwise do much of what you'd expect from a poltergeist, able to interact with people and objects as well as going through walls and generally using subjective gravity to allow them to walk on walls or the ceiling. They love sweets and treats left out for them and in return they 'haunt' the house. This is a good thing because...

 

God of Luck - Zashiki Warashi bestow good fortune and luck upon houses they inhabit. They play with the children of the household and teach them games, looking after them. Money comes easily and disaster is often averted  under the Zashiki Warashi's playful eye. Entire generations can benefit from a Zashiki Warashi's presence.

 

Playful Prankster - Zashiki Warashi like many Yokai love mischief. The difference being that Zashiki Warashi love the sort of harmless fun and oddities that attract attention. Bouncing balls down hallways, crinkling paper, random giggling, spinning wheels all night and playing kagura (shinto holy music). One of their favorites is to step in foot powder or soot and walk all over the house, leaving their footprints all over the floor, walls and ceiling. These are often a way of getting attention, particularly if the zashiki hasn't been cleaned in awhile or has been neglected. They use more obnoxious, chainable and complex versions of these pranks to drive away more nasty Yokai and malicious spirits, with the pure power of FUN.

 

Weaknesses -

 

No Daddy No! - Zashiki Warashi are oddly vulnerable to the whims of the owners of the house or their family. If an owner of a house or a family member actually shoots or attack them, it can dispel them from the house. They can also be driven out by neglect and abuse of the zashiki. Naturally this greatly upsets the Zashiki Warashi and almost always results in it leaving and...

 

Doomy Dooming Doom - A Zashiki Warashi's unwilling or intentional departure always results in the same thing: utter ruin for the household it was haunting. The karmatic backlash of the Zashiki Warashi is such that nearly nothing can save it from collapsing on itself. Things like mass cases of food poisoning, financial disaster, horrific accidents and other calamities, even victimization by other, understandably upset Yokai are things that happen to a household that abused or shunned a Zashiki Warashi. A theory as to why this happens is because the Zashiki Warashi holds back and bundles up all the 'misfortune' that would otherwise have come at a steady but weatherable pace. Thus one could consider the Zashiki Warashi's presence to be a ticking time bomb that grows exponentially worse the longer it stays in the house. All the good luck now having a massive and terrible cost later. Something like a more benevolent form of blackmail. The only way to escape the curse is to abandon the household or to evict the Zashiki Warashi as soon as possible.

 

Just a Kid - Zashiki Warashi are basically ghost children with a knack for over the top pranks and harmless gags. Outside of the horrible consequence of them leaving, Zashiki Warashi are largely harmless and more powerful and deadly Yokai can be too much for them to deal with if their pranks don't drive them off. Enigma Sensitives can also detect and deal with Zashiki Warashi, safely dispelling them and sealing the incoming misfortune with Shinto rituals. Most that know of their presence prefer to simply let them be and take care of them as the cost of appeasing a Zashiki Warashi is much less than driving them out.

 

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*after Hanari Onago*

 

"Zashiki Child? They haunt the sitting room?"

 

"Correct. The most common form of a Zashiki Warashi is that of a small girl dressed in traditional and lavish clothes  with the amount of accessories and the like determining how many years it has stayed in a household and how powerful and rich that household has become due to its presence. Their cheeks are always very rosy and they often give the impression of being a living porcelain doll. They can also appear as boys in traditional warrior uniforms or samurai armor tailored to their size. If the household is of a more rural and isolated region in the wilderness the Zashiki Warashi may take the form of a large, hairy, heavily muscled wild man. What kind of Zashiki Warashi comes to a household often depends on what kind of household it is. The common type favors domestic households, the boy, military, and the wild man homes close to the wilderness or isolated retreats. All are rare."

 

"Wait, these Yokai actually make households rich?"

 

"They are among the foremost of a 'luck kami' and guardian spirits of the households they inhabit. They are often formed from the spirits of children that lived happy lives that were cut short by illness, accident or tragedy. The most lavishly loved and solitary of these are the Chopirako who take the form of the child but shine a brilliant and warm white and unlike the Zashiki Warashi who prefer the zashiki, the Chopirako enjoy the sanctity of their room which is often turned into a shrine on their death. In either case, the Zashiki Warashi are generally the most positive and benevolent of 'Warashi' type Yokai and their presence makes fortunes rise and luck ever present."

 

"It's a still a Yokai...that must mean that it must do something horrible in return." Ruki guessed.

 

"Actually...that's not really the case with this one."

 

"You mean it really wants to do people a good turn?"

 

"As long as the zashiki is cared for and an offering of treats left out for it every so often, the Zashiki Warashi likes nothing more than playing with the household's children, teaching the games it knows, and making the household and all within it prosperous and healthy. It has the mind of a child which means it likes to play pranks every now and then."

 

"A-hah! If it plays pranks then that must be how it gets people!"

 

"The Zashiki Warashi is a rarity among Yokai in that it's pranks are almost entirely harmless. It does things like crinkle paper, giggle at random times, bounce balls down the hallway, spin wheels all night long and their personal favorite: stepping in ash or soap powder and the like before tracking their foot prints all over the house, including the walls and ceiling."

 

"Okay that last one is pretty bad but otherwise it doesn't sound too bad..."

 

"They even make kagura music on occasion. Much of what they do is to attract attention if the zashiki hasn't been cared for properly or to simply let the household know they are there. They can make more elaborate chains of pranks but they save these over the top measures in warding off other Yokai that try to harass or bother the house."

 

"That actually works?"

 

"The power of FUN is not to be underestimated little Miko. Zashiki Warashi are very good at turning situations around and making what looked like a vulnerable household into a humiliating chain of 'shenanigans'."

 

"Sounds like that one movie where a kid get's left alone and two thugs try to catch him, only to fall for elaborate trap after elaborate trap. Power of 'fun' indeed hihihi."

 

"Hrmmm...sounds about right. Unfortunately this good fortune only lasts if a Zashiki Warashi stays with the household. If they are removed or they leave, the result is absolute ruin of the household that could very well kill the entire family."

 

"So...does all the bad luck that COULD have happened just come rushing back all at once? How does that even work? Do they do it on purpose out of spite?"

 

"There are many theories as to why a Zashiki Warashi's departure causes such a spiral of misfortune, your idea is one such theory.  It would make sense that the Zashiki Warashi's leaving would cause such disaster if it was holding back and gathering all the misfortune. Over time the amount of 'misfortune' grows to the point that when it is released perhaps years or entire generations later it becomes devastating."

 

"So what kind of things make a Zashiki Warashi leave?"

 

"The same sorts of things that would make any child leave home. You see Ruki, the Zashiki Warashi is normally invisible to most people. Only the owners of the house, kind elderly people and children can see a Zashiki Warashi and usually when they want them to. However some people do not share the Zashiki Warashi's love for pranks and have no sense of humor. There was an incident where a lord's son shot the Zashiki Warashi and after that their fortunes crumbled. In another case the family saw the Zashiki Warashi leaving and the following day the entire family died of food poisoning. Even malicious Yokai can freely antagonize a household whose Zashiki Warashi has left it."

 

"Wonderful. So if you let it stay, it will bring disaster when something makes it leave. If you drive it out before it can cause too much trouble, you're basically committing child abuse and missing out on potentially generations worth of good luck. Kinda like a household form of Ko-Dama that is more fickle."

 

"From my experience most Zashiki Warashi don't WANT to leave as it goes against their nature as kami of fortune. However abuse, neglect, violence toward the Zashiki Warashi can force it away. They are much like any child and despite their mischievous antics on occasion they seek acceptance and care. When these things aren't provided then it has little choice but to vacate and find a household that can. With the changes to society and modern architecture, this Yokai is truly rare."

 

"I suppose the good ones always are." Ruki sighed.

 

" I'd advise you to think on it some more. The next few Yokai I will cover will be creature's a flame and guilt. There will be no doubt as to the intentions of those Yokai."

 

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