[Anhita]

Youkai and You! Summoners and Me!

I pretty much CTRL+F'd youkai through like every thread
If theres anything I missed, let me know.


Hey Dev, I have some questions but I don't need too much detail, really. Feel free to answer with yes and no if I'm being a bother.
1. How do contracts with Youkai work? Are they all simply ledgers written out that bind the two? Can there be different contracts? Do youkai always need contracts to exist within a person?
2. How far does the bond between summoner and youkai go?
3. Do summon doors lead to the Youkai plane of existance? Or are they just a pocket dimension or something like that.
4. They feed off the users magic to manifest. Does this mean they are somewhat parasitic? What do they benefit from this bond?
5. Do they have some control over an individuals body, or no?

1) A contract is a tattoo-like symbol that the Youkai puts on your skin when it's contracted, which signifies its soul resides inside of you. Usually the 'terms' of the contract are hashed out before it actually happens. A youkai doesn't necessary need a contract to be 'within' a person, but that starts to get into the territory of possession, and it's dangerous for the youkai so usually it doesn't happen.
2) Depends on the person and the youkai. If the youkai doesn't like you very much, they probably just see it as a way to get free focus and will only put forth the minimum effort. But if the youkai does like you, they may be willing to do almost anything if it would help you.
3) The nature of the doors to summoning houses isn't fully understood because not everyone is aware of them, but Karaten seems to believe they are similar to B.D.P.s, only much more stable.
4) Somewhat. The benefit for the youkai is that they are whimsical by nature and so they may just want to have fun. Normally, it is difficult for youkai to maintain their physical form in our world for very long because it requires a large amount of focus; by making contracts with summoners, they can do this for extended periods.
5) When installed, yes. Otherwise very little, if any.

If a summoner install their youkai, do their appearances shift during this if the bond between them is particularly strong, or any other situation would cause something of the like to happen?

Slight appearance shifts are possible, but nothing dramatic like your head turning into a dragon's or growing fairy wings. But your skin might appear harder or 'scaled' if you had Dragonscale while installed, for example.

-Beyond the Youkai currently represented in-game, are there more out there you can contract in-characterly?

You can only contract what you can contract in-game. Needless to say, more Youkai will be added down the line.

Would a Reihou(or various other youkai specific healing) be able to heal someone who has installed themself with a youkai? At least lore wise, and not mechanically speaking.

Probably not.

Can Youkai bind objects they hold value in to themselves so when summoned they appear with said items? Or is this possible at all?

If yes, can they be brought forth without these items at times as well? Would it be at the will of the summoner or the youkai?

And Can Youkai summon themselves from the summoners contract list?

Where specifically do youkai go when they are contracted as well? Are they aware of the summoners action while not summoned?

1/2) No.
3) No.
4) They become contracts on the summoner's body; they are aware of the summoner's actions while they are not summoned.

Since youkai require faith to have more contracts, Judgement blade and Healing Discharge require faith to be effective, does this mean youkai have any sort of connection to Mercala? Or Summoners in general?

Faith isn't a Mercalan thing exclusively, so not directly.

The wiki says Oniga pays homage to protective spirits like Seiryuu. Does that mean that there are multiples of Seiryuu/Byakko (i.e. they're a type of protective spirit/youkai)? Or are they singular, and there are multiples for gameplay purposes. Sorry if this has been asked before.

Seiryuu/Byakko aren't unique spirits, no, but they are seen as protective spirits, particularly on Oniga.

So, I was looking through the lore questions and noticed you had said youkai take contracts on the summoners body.
1). Does this mean that each one is a sort of tattoo on the summoners body?
2). Do these spots glow when that youkai is in use?
3). Does the summoner get to choose where these contracts take place on the body?
4). If the contracts are like tattoos are these symbols the same for each youkai or different?
5). If the Tattoo question is also true, about how large are these symbols on the body?

A) Yes.
B) They can, yes.
C) The youkai chooses, and often it just picks a spot where it feels comfortable.
D) Yes.
E) It depends on the youkai. Usually smaller youkai have a smaller contract.

Something a bit far-fetched: Since youkai are considered spiritual beings and can also "possess" you, would it be possible for a youkai to "kill" a spirit, or can they not because of their contract? Or can they just not at all.

2) You can't kill a spirit, no, and Youkai wouldn't be able to do much to force it out, however a summoner with Install spirits is better suited to shaking off and resisting the possession.

Question Three: Regarding lore, are there generally a lot of stories of heroic deeds involving the youkai of the east and west gates, Seiryuu and Byakko?
Question Four: Do youkai bleed? (asside from maybe Drowned woman or something similar which would be obvious)
Question Five: How are youkai produced? Asexually or Sexually?
Question Six: If youkai are summoned out of combat, is sustaining them any easier? Or is the strain still the same?

3) Seiryuu and Byakko are more like guardian spirits in those places. Not really heroes.
4) Some can, some can't.
5) No one knows. They come from a different world, after all.
6) Summoning them at all causes the same level of strain.

How long can one keep up multiple youkai? A full day, without consequence?

How far can you control these youkai and familiars? Could you control them from, say, a different continent?

1) Keeping up youkai is an exhausting activity. I'll liken it to jogging. Keeping up multiple youkai is like jogging multiple times. It becomes easier when one has large stores of focus and is well rested but keeping it up for an entire day is unlikely. You'd be lucky if you could keep one summoned for that much time while in an area with no innately high focus content, like summoning houses, which are very rare and typically mage-made areas like the Shadowless Spire (the Mashiama Stronghold).

2) I'd say about the length of a football field is the maximum.

So, another question of youkai, are they capable of communicating with the summoner while not summoned? Perhaps telepathy or something of the sort?

If so is this communication a two way process? (as in you can have mental conversations.)

Yes, summoners and youkai can communicate telepathically while the youkai is not summoned.

A few Youkai seem to exist natively on Sigrogana, without a summoner (Firefoxes, for instance). Is there a reason for this, or is it just reused assets (i.e they're different creatures in actuality, despite looking identical)? If they are extraplanar creatures on Sigrogana, how did they get here?

2) In rare cases Youkai can exist without a summoner, but usually it doesn't last long.

Also, are there any 'special' methods of summoning Youkai? I mean stuff like the card-crushing from Persona 4 and what not, since summoners seem to be based off Shin Megami Tensei.

Summoning youkai require a contract and a medium, which is typically the body of the summoner. It's quite possible that there would be alternate summoning methods, although nothing like card crushing.

People keep asking where the hell Youkai are going when they are desummoned so Im just going to start skipping these.

Are Youkai capable of summoning themselves near their summoner, given sufficient reason to do so?

They have to be ordered to be summoned, doing so on their own isn't something that is really thought of happening.

Considering the idea. Ignoring the undead Null species, can any other species be capable of being given intelligence similar to that of a human

I'm not sure what's being asked here but I guess it's something along the lines of 'are there any creatures as smart as mortals?', and the answer is yes. Youkai can be just as intelligent as a mortal, for example.

In SL 1 Youkai could have mutations on them when contracted... Does the same happen here?

1) They don't really mutate anymore, no. There are some variations between Youkai of the same type (or some that become a new type altogether, like Jhun), but we'll probably get to that in-game at some point.

The Phase Python is an interesting youkai. What causes it to phase in and phase out? Is it attributed to something, like the void or time?
When you phase-fang, you end up elsewhere. Is this at random lore-wise?
What's going on when it phases out? Is it just invisible, and harder to hit/moving faster, or does it actually phase out? When it teleports you behind an enemy, is that by choice or is it just a side effect of phasing out with it's fang?

Likewise, it's function of moving back to where you began the turn, circumstances permitting. Why there?

1) It's just a power that PP has, really. It has supernatural speed.
2) No, it's pretty deliberate on PP's part.
3) See 1.
4) See 2.
5) No real reason, it's just the way the skill works.

Can Aquarian spells be used to heal? While there is a Youkai that can use Aquarian healing magic, I was told Youkai spells might be different.

Can Aquarian spells be used to heal? While there is a Youkai that can use Aquarian healing magic, I was told Youkai spells might be different.