Yoriteishou


 * The content of this article can be used without the consent of the original author

The Yoriteishō (撚り提唱, "Twisted Advocates") are an Order of Spiritually Aware humans whom were born with great talents in the Occult arts; the Order has reputely existed for over a millenium, its first doings dating back to roughly 873 AC. The Order is closely tied to the supernatural race known as Diabolus, but they are indeed bitter enemies of one another, especially concidering the Orders frequent summoning and enslavement of the creatures - trough the use of their True Names, or as they're more commonly known as - Epithets.

The Order is known to carry great knowledge about True Names and such, and have worked to further that knowledge for as long as they existed; this leads to the Order possessing knowledge that even their demonic subjects cannot replicate, much less defend themselves against.

The Order is unlike other similiar organizations not one of charity, and they are for the most part content with letting the Diabolus do as they please provided that they don't meddle in their buisness; prefering much rather to use their supernatural abilities to accomodate themselves in the living world, involving themselves in politics, power struggles and perhaps most of all, their own Occult Arts; most of them quickly manage to use their extraplanar "contacts" in order to accumulate great wealth and prestige. Occasionally though, one of them may decide to use their powers to protect humanity from such forces by using their summoned servants to fight what they represent, chaos, destruction and immorality.

Membership
Membership in the Order is for the most part hereditary, meaning that the members at any one time are decendants of the very first branch of the Yoriteishō that lived at the time when the Order was first founded - the gifts of the Occult traditionally being passed along to their second child, regardless of the gender, which then proceed in a long cycle, and as long as they give the Occult knowledge further their family stays a part of the Order; but if they don't - they will have their membership revoked, if there is no child to give it to, they may instead choose to grant the knowledge to someone close to them, which serves to both add the recipient to the membership list and to make the teachers family remain as well.

Becoming an actual member is not easy though, as while there are countless practioners of the Occult all over the world, the Order is only interested in the very best and as such the new "recruit" are required to agree to an extensive trial that tests both the abilities and knowledge of the aspiring Twisted Advocate at once. The way to add ones own family to the registry is even harder to do and requires even more extensive tasks to accomplish successfully.

When membership is granted, the newly recruited Occultist is commonly given a physical or telepathically implemented map that works as a way for the Order to show its recruits the way to their personal recluses, which are in fact a chain of Miser Uteros created by enslaved Black Witches; constantly being kept under surveilance and the respective Witch of those realms being constantly held in shackles and confines.

Traits & Perks
Book of Names: A Book of Names is an object of great personal value to the Yoriteishō ---and despite its name, it needn't nessecarily be a book, but rather any object which means alot to the Order member in question - such as a family heirloom, a gift from a friend or lover or perhaps even a photo of ones family; the book of names is quintessential for the Yoriteishō as it is the tool of which they channel their powers trough ---it has been compared to the Crosses that Quincy employ in order to create their Spirit Bows: Book of Names are commonly small, easy-to-handle objects which can easily fit into a pocket and who appear completely inconspicious in public. The Book of Names itself is created trough an extensive magical Ritual known only to the most experienced members of the Order - whom assist new recruits in harnessing their own Book of Names.


 * Store/Project Memories: The main function of the Book of Names, is to store the memories of its user and allow him or her to harness those memories whenever they want to do so ---this is particularily useful to them in regards to remembering the often rather long names of the Diabolus that they summon. Its also very useful to check for clues and hints where required and the Yoriteishō can also, with some mental effort choose to project their memories in the form of a spectral disk that shows those memories like a recorded movie.


 * Summoning and Binding: By making itself into the point of destination and forcibly pull on the essence of a Diabolus which the user has met at least once before. The Book of Names can be used by the Yoriteishō in order to summon Diabolus, bypassing the need of a Pentagram completely ---furthermore, the summoned creature is bound completely to the casters will and cannot free itself from its confines unless it manages to find some loophole or trick the caster in question in a battle of willpower.


 * Detection: The Book of Names warns its user of the presence of any nearby Diabolus and will inform the user trough telepathic sensations and pictures about the Diabolus' percieved power-level and basic capabilities; furthermore, the Book of Names will inform the user if the Diabolus' True Name are known to them in addition to what the name in question is: This ability renders the disguises of Diabolus effectively void - which greatly increases the surrivability of the Yoriteishō.

Sphere: Once a Twisted Advocate has learned the true name of a given Diabolus and gained intimate understanding of the link that binds it to him or her, they may choose to embrace one of that Diabolus' vices or alternatively, commanded elements and knowledge trough their Book of Names - this reproduces a part of that vice or element within the essence of the Twisted Advocate that grants them supernatural abilities and qualities tied to that vice, knowledge or element. This linked ability is known as a Sphere and it grants a certain form of control over what it represents and grants the Yoriteishō a slew of special abilities relating to what it represents. Spheres need to be refined and focused over time in order for the user to gain access to the most powerful abilities - furthermore, how many times the abilities may be used depend on how intimate the Twisted Advocate is with the existence of the bound Diabolus. However, the more intimate the connection is; the more does the Twisted Advocate take on Diabolus traits and assets, wether they're visible or not. ---Furthermore, a sphere always has precisely seven attainable abilities, who can only be attained by advancing in ones understanding of their own Sphere.

Basic Sphere Access: When a Twisted Advocate has basic access to a sphere, they can use any the special abilities from 1 to 2 who are listed in the sphere once per day each as unique abilities, this is the basic form of Sphere access that all who have spheres possess. There are no physical changes to the user at this point and the Twisted Advocate remains completely human and untainted save for an extra slew of abilities.

Advanced Sphere Access: When a Twisted Advocate has advanced access to a sphere, they can use any the special abilities from 1 to 4 who are listed in the sphere two times per day each as unique abilities; the charges are subtracted from the sphere as abilities are used and therefore energy levels are of little issue for the Twisted Advocate; at this point the Twisted Advocate may have begun to realize that he has begun to take on qualities from the type of Diaboli that his Sphere is associated with and that this effect is irreversible.

Expert Sphere Access: When a Twisted Advocate has expert access to a sphere, they can use any the special abilities from 1 to 6 who are listed in the sphere three times per day each as unique abilities; however, at this point they have begun to develop strong Diabolic tendencies and their bodies may indeed be tainted by all the negative energy that has resulted from their training, and as such some of them may have shifting bodies, horns, scaly skin, etc depending on the traits of their originally bonded Diabolus. Furthermore, achieving this level of understanding of ones own Sphere increases the strength of their Spiritual Power a great deal, enough to rival that of middle-ranked Shinigami officer.

Master Sphere Access: When a Twisted Advocate has master access to a sphere, they can use all of the special abilities who are connected to their chosen sphere four times per day each as unique abilities; only a handful of people have managed to get this far, because of the great dangers that lie in achieving it. First and foremost the user must have a very intimate connection with their contracted Diabolus, as in, they must understand him or her and their goals and desires perfectly - albeit it ain't nessecary for the two of them to be friends, secondly, the demon that has begun to take form inside the Twisted Advocate over the pursue of their chosen sphere must be defeated; or the Twisted Advocate will be warped by the negative energies and malformed into a Lorem. If he or she is successful though, they will become Half-Diabolus and gain limited access to their shapeshifting abilities, allowing them to hide whatever inhuman traits they might have possessed from the earlier Sphere levels. Their Spiritual Power also increases expontially upon achievement and it becomes a dual-type energy as well, one part spiritually aware human, another part Diabolus.