Shakoki Dogu

The Shakoki Dogu is an ancient, powerful but very local spirit in the Twilight Mountains. For most of its history it was quiescent and calm, as most Earth spirits, but it was woken by a great battle between two immense foes, Shiba and the First Oni. The First Oni died and its evil and Taint soaked into the rich veins of iron ore that comprised part of the Shakoki Dogu. Unlike many spirits it was able to contain the Taint and prevent itself from being corrupted. The First Oni's evil was asleep, unpleasant but bearable. Some time later humans came to the Shakoki Dogu's domain and started harvesting iron ore. Whlie this activity was curious and slightly unsettling, the spirit did nothing but observe the humans. It shifted once, and the humans stopped moving about and multiplied. The spirit was curious and allowed the humans to go about their business without intervening, thinking of them as some interesting sort of pet.

Soon, however, another human came. Before anyone knew what was happening the newcomer had woken some of the evil of the First Oni with the blood and pain of the local humans. The pain and desperation shocked the Shakoki Dogu into action and it attempted to stop the crime by drawing the humans into it. It only partially succeeded. For centuries the new hybrid spirit suffered what might be called a mental breakdown. The incompatability between ancient earth spirit of Ningen-do and the flighty, temporary multitude of humans was great. Over the years, the new entity emerged, a spirit with a unique ability to understand and communicate with humans. The souls of the Boar were whispers in its ghost that slowly stilled over the years. Just as the Shakoki Dogu was getting used to its new reality, more humans came and tried to awaken the First Oni again. They briefly succeeded but another heavenly creature stopped the monster in its tracks. Wide awake again, the Shakoki Dogu waited: it knew that humans would soon come to it again.

Come the humans did, this time bringing a member of the Boar and the hated lump of iron that was wrenched from the heart of the mountain. The spirit helped the humans in destroying the Anvil and freeing the trapped spirits, but the process also ripped out the spirits the Shakoki Dogu had absorbed so long ago. Though it was technically closer to its original state than it had been in centuries, the spirit felt empty, hollow, and the nearly awakend power of the First Oni is a constant source of pain and distraction.

One of the humans who caused the most recent disturbance made a deal with the spirit: it would stay and keep the spirit of the Twilight Mountains company, and bring more humans to help. Now the Shakoki Dogu is incessantly curious about humans. It learned some from the souls it absorbed but watching them on their own is very different. Just about every member of the Boar clan, from eta to champion, has had some form of contact with the spirit. Overt communication is rare, but just about everyone has felt the presence in some manner, such as a slight rumble in the earth warning of an unsafe area or spending time communing with the spirit. While the traditional worship of ancestors and Fortunes (and the Tao of Shinsei) is still dominant in the new born, there are signs that the veneration of the Shakoki Dogu is slated to become equally important, perhaps even dominant one day.