Mad_Dog_of_Fujiwara
She/Her- 9,574
- 11,564
Yes I know I said I was supposed to be taking a break, and yes I’m aware that doing this now is a bad idea on my end. There is no third point. This is something I’ve wanted to tackle for a while, but I’m glad I held off on it because I’m not sure I would’ve been able to do it justice when I still sucked at VS debating (not like I’m much better at it nowadays :v).
Spirit is probably the most commonly recurring mechanic across Touhou as a whole, yet oddly enough, it has never been indexed on this wiki in any meaningful way. This thread aims to do exactly that.
Also just to get this out of the way to dissuade any mods complaining about Touhou spam, it was decided that we should focus on the most important revisions first. Considering this thread aims to add about a dozen powerful hax to nearly every single character, I would say that it is more than important enough.
What is Spirit?
Despite its presence in virtually all Touhou games since EoSD, there’s never been a clear, cohesive explanation on what it actually is. But we can start by looking at what is referred to as spirit in the first place.
Starting with the STGs, the little power items you see drop from enemies when defeating them are actually called ‘spirit power’, as mentioned in several manuals over the years. And yes, said items ARE canon, as Sanae explicitly confirms their existence in UFO.
The fighting games expand upon this concept somewhat; Every single fighter gives each character a spirit bar, which we know to be the actual name of it because the training mode for each game refers to it as such (one of Suika's spell cards that affects the spirit bar is also specifically said to be affecting spirit power).
Then we have Gouyoku Ibun, which refers to spirit as a character’s stamina. So right off the bat we have one option for what spirit is.
So spirit is the power items you pick up in the STGs and the bar present in all fighting games. This will be important in a bit.
As for what spirit is actually composed of, the best place to start is with Tenshi. One of her spell cards is simultaneously described as spirit and temperament; Which means spirit is just temperament, and people refer to the same basic thing using both terms.
Supporting this is Marisa’s description of the card, which describes it as spirit, juxtaposed with the in-game description of it, which once again refers to it as temperament. We also have Kokoro, whose spell cards that weaponize her emotions are utilizing spirit.
Then we have Yuyuko directly equating the two in SWR. For further context, the spirit pouring off of everyone’s bodies takes the form of a scarlet mist… with said mist repeatedly being referred to as temperament. So we have pretty explicit and consistent confirmation that spirit and temperament are one and the same.
That’s nice and all, but now we need to know what temperament is. As shown in one of the spell card descriptions above, Hatate mentions that the spirit energy/temperament being used by Tenshi is actually a collection of negative emotions. And as repeatedly stated throughout Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, temperament is a manifestation of one’s emotions, and it’s even said to be the subconscious. That and the definition of temperament is one’s mental characteristics or disposition.
Further expanding upon what temperament is is Komachi, who states that temperament is the same as phantoms. We also have Youmu stating that the scarlet clouds of temperament are made of phantoms.
That brings us to PMiSS, which states that phantoms are the souls of living beings. The Soul Torch, an item designed to attract souls, is explicitly stated to work on phantoms. Komachi is also said to ferry phantoms, but said phantoms are referred to as souls. Supporting the idea that temperament/phantoms are souls is how, when confronted at the end of SWR, Tenshi says that the scarlet mist brought about by her is ‘the essence of living things’.
Last but not least, we have Sakuya stating that the scarlet mist being emitted is chi, and yet again mentions it being phantoms, thus adding chi to the list of spirit synonyms and further solidifying the idea that spirit is souls.
In case there were any more doubts about the scarlet mist in SWR being spirit, Tenshi literally says that what she’s absorbing is spirit.
So the conclusion here is that spirit is equal to temperament (emotions), and in turn, phantoms (souls). Or to simplify it further, spirit is the soul and emotion of all beings, as well as stamina based on 17.5’s manual and chi based on another statement. Honestly, the spirit = souls thing should’ve been obvious from the name alone, but I felt the need to be thorough here.
How Does it Work?
The first thing to note about spirit power is how it’s gathered. In the shooting games, defeating enemies causes them to drop the aforementioned spirit power pickups, after which you can grab them to increase your own spirit power in turn, while moving to the top of the screen causes all power items to be automatically drawn to you. Enemies are also capable of causing the player to drop spirit power with every successful attack. The fighting games work somewhat similarly, as when striking an opponent, their spirit meter actively decreases.
So we know that with every hit, characters reduce the amount of spirit power present in their opponents, and can steal it for themselves in the midst of combat. Now that we know that spirit is just a fancy way of saying souls, we can recontextualize ‘destroying and absorbing spirit’ to ‘destroying and absorbing souls’; A clear cut example of Soul Manipulation & Absorption.
But there’s more we can do with this. In the STGs, the amount of spirit power is directly correlated to the amount of damage you deal; More spirit power, more damage, and conversely, less spirit power, less damage. This is something explicitly stated by the manuals. As such, via the ability to reduce or steal spirit power to increase your own power while decreasing your opponent’s, this would be Statistics Amplification & Reduction.
With the previous context of spirit power also being stamina, the process of destroying/stealing spirit would decrease an opponent’s stamina while increasing your own, so this would be Stamina Reduction & Stealing.
Another important thing to note is that, in the fighting games, spirit is required to use flight and the majority of one’s special moves. Using these techniques depletes the spirit gauge, and they cannot be used at all while possessing insufficient spirit. With the prior context of characters being able to reduce the spirit of their opponents, this would be Power Nullification, as it can prevent their opponent from flying or using certain techniques.
Furthermore, with spirit being equivalent to temperament, and temperament being a primary component in the usage of spells, this further complements the idea of spirit reduction being a form of power null. It’s also said that, due to the mental layer of reality, magic is a force that moves alongside the spirit, implying the two are directly intertwined and affecting one affects the other.
On the topic of fighting games, every character naturally regenerates lost spirit over time. Every character can do this, and it only takes a few seconds for this to occur, even if their spirit is effectively at zero. This is where things get complicated, because there is no actual consensus on what regenerating just your soul is; I’ve seen people say it’s mid-godly, low-godly, or just good soulhax. Ultimately, this will need to be discussed in the thread itself, and I am more than open to other suggestions. However, it should be noted that youkai and Hourai immortals can already regenerate from bodily destruction, so regardless of which end we go with they would be upgraded to mid-godly due to being able to regenerate the soul as well. @Hecatia_Gaming has suggested noting that the mid-godly only applies to souls, while also upgrading youkai and Hourai immortals to full mid-godly. This is my personal preference for what we should go with as well.
This leads into yet another ability: Reducing the rate of your opponent’s regeneration. When applying a guard crush, a portion of your opponent’s spirit will temporarily recover at a decreased rate. A better and more clear explanation of this can be taken from the koumakan wiki. While this is not regeneration negation per se, it is still actively limiting the extent of said regeneration, and would thus be better qualified as Regeneration Reduction.
When spirit is reduced to 0 in the fighting games, this induces a ‘guard crush’ that briefly stuns the opponent, a very clear example of Status Effect Inducement.
Furthermore, as we’ve established that spirit is equivalent to temperament, and temperament is the emotional state of a living being, this means manipulation spirit is akin to manipulating emotions, or in other words, Empathic Manipulation. Because temperament is also the subconscious, this would also be Mind Manipulation. Adding onto this is Chi Manipulation since spirit is, well, chi.
Because everybody can recover from emotional draining/destruction and a loss in stamina in mere seconds, spirit regeneration should also qualify for Supernatural Willpower.
When hitting an opponent while any projectiles they've fired are on the field, the attack will be cancelled and turned into spirit power, which is then automatically absorbed. This would be Attack Nullification as well as Transmutation, as it is changing the structure of what the danmaku was originally into spirit power.
Spirit manipulation even works on characters like Yoshika or Mayumi (you can see them drop spirit power in the scans provided), despite the fact that they lack spirit entirely; This means spirit manipulation can be performed on characters who should have outright immunity to it, granting Immunity/Resistance Negation. It is important to note that this is not an outlier, as it occurs on two distinct occasions, is similar to other illogical showings of negation (like Yukari being able to induce death in Mokou, who lacks a concept of death entirely), and in the case of Mayumi, the entire plot of the game she's in hinges on her not having a soul. Additionally, spirit manipulation cannot be simply targeting other aspects of what spirit is in these cases, as Yoshika and Mayumi lack minds to affect as well. However, it should also be noted that spirit manipulation works equally well on characters who resist things like soulhax; For example, it works fine on Futo, who can resist getting hit by dream souls in her AoCF route, which ordinarily removes one's soul from their body and sends it to the dream world. Due to this, it should qualify as Resistance Negation regardless of where we end up on the matter of immunity negation.
Everybody should also get Resistance to Soul Manipulation via surviving all of this. They are quite literally having their souls destroyed or ripped from their bodies, and while doing so does negatively impact them as demonstrated above, the fact remains that soul destruction does not kill them. Thus, they can survive without a soul despite the negative effects it imposes on them. Note that this would necessitate the removal of resistance to soul absorption already present on most profiles. The only characters who would keep it are those who do not qualify for spirit manipulation in the first place.
In case this seems questionable, let’s look at another feat that supports this: Tenshi absorbing the souls of all living things with 0 casualties. First off, the fact that nobody died is evidenced by how the text never mentions some kind of mass death across Gensokyo, which would’ve been the case if soul hax did kill people, and ultimately every single character we see in Touhou canon today is still very much alive (aside from the undead, but since their bodies are purely souls anyways, the fact that they didn’t get absorbed/destroyed is enough for a resistance). And just to prove that this IS a universal thing, Youmu outright says the temperament “of all living things” is rising. This isn’t even exclusive to Gensokyo, as it was also causing phantoms to disappear from the Netherworld, proving that this absorption is spreading across Otherworlds and can therefore be applied to just about everyone (the fact that it was specifically affecting phantoms further helps prove the temperament = souls argument).
And Tenshi isn’t just absorbing souls, either; She is actively destroying them. Yet in spite of this, nobody died, and what’s more, everybody obviously still has their spirits intact post-SWR; A very clear case of spirit regeneration, since said spirit was destroyed, but ultimately came back. This should make the potential mid-gody regen far less questionable.
Finally, while this is not an application of spirit manipulation in and of itself, it should be noted that Fear Manipulation is a potential delivery method of spirit manipulation, should hitting the target not be viable. For instance, Kogasa's ability is surprising/scaring people, a trait shared by other tsukumogami. Successfully scaring someone can drain them of their spirit. This, naturally, should give all tsukumogami Fear Manipulation, with an additional note on how this causes a loss in spirit to the target.
Additionally, this applies to all youkai to a certain extent as well. All youkai possess an aura often referred to as 'youkai energy' that can cause one to feel pins and needles throughout their body (being strong enough to deliver these effects even while sealed away) and make one start to tremble; Clear cases of Aura, Fear Manipulation, & Sense Manipulation.
Conclusions
Everybody who is shown to be fighting within a Touhou game should get the following:
-Soul Manipulation & Absorption (Through repeated attacks, one can reduce an opponent’s reserves of spirit power, as well as take said spirit and use it to empower themselves)
-Statistics Amplification (A greater amount of spirit power increases the damage dealt with basic attacks)
-Statistics Reduction (Via reducing their opponent’s spirit power, which in turn weakens their attacks)
-Stamina Reduction & Stealing (Spirit power is also equivalent to one’s stamina, and as such reducing or absorbing spirit power is equivalent to absorbing or reducing stamina)
-Power Nullification (Via reducing one’s spirit power/temperament, which is a primary component in the usage of magic, and is required to use flight and certain techniques such as skill cards)
-Status Effect Inducement (Reducing one’s spirit power enough can cause them to become temporarily stunned)
-Empathic Manipulation & Mind Manipulation (Spirit is the same as one’s temperament, and as such controlling it is equivalent to controlling one’s emotions and subconscious)
-Chi Manipulation (Spirit is additionally the same as chi)
-Regeneration Reduction (Fully draining an opponent’s spirit reduces the rate at which it naturally recovers)
-Immunity/Resistance Negation (Spirit manipulation even works on beings like Yoshika or Mayumi, who lack spirits to manipulate in the first place. Additionally, spirit manipulation works equally well on characters who have some degree of resistance to soul manipulation)
-Resistance to Soul Manipulation (Can survive even when their spirit has been completely absorbed or destroyed. Survived Tenshi absorbing and subsequently destroying the souls of all living things across Gensokyo and various Otherworlds)
-Regeneration (Mid-Godly) OR Regeneration (Low-Godly) OR Soul Manipulation (Can regenerate their spirit after a few seconds, even if it has been completely absorbed or destroyed)
-Supernatural Willpower (Spirit regeneration also allows one to recover their stamina quickly, or recover from having their emotions drained and being affected by fear)
-Attack Nullification & Transmutation (Striking an opponent while they are attacking will turn their attack into spirit power)
Additionally, all youkai should get the following:
-Aura, Fear Manipulation, & Sense Manipulation (All youkai possess 'youkai energy' that takes the form of an aura, capable of causing people to start to tremble and feel pins and needles throughout their body. This aura is strong enough to be felt even while sealed away, and successfully inducing fear in a target will drain them of their spirit)
Tsukumogami will gain the following addendum to this description:
(Like all tsukumogami, she can surprise people to induce fear and gain a portion of their spirit)
This isn’t really feasible to put on every single profile (save for the youkai fear manipulation stuff) since many are already artificially bloated with other in-verse mechanics and physiology that overwrite traits actually unique to the character, and since this is a primary energy source/mechanic in-verse I believe it is best to treat this as a unique verse power with its own page. Every character who qualifies will get ‘Spirit Manipulation’ under their P&A, which would link to that page. Given most of the necessary information is already present in this thread, if everything is accepted, I can mostly just copy/paste what’s already here (with a few necessary edits to make it appropriate for a blog).
AGREE: Shiroiyo, GlaceonGamez471, Pixy (Neutral on immunity negation), FantRin_The_First (Disagree with immunity negation and power null), BlastX, Vietthai96 (Disagrees with immunity negation and power null), Angelzewolf (Neutral on power null), Hecatia_Gaming, OnsokunoSonic, Oblivion_Of_The_Endless (Disagrees with immunity negation), Shmooply (Neutral on immunity negation), Jibz (Neutral, leaning disagree on immunity negation), DaimaouAshura (Neutral on immunity negation), Kirbonic_Pikmin, Zencha9 (Disagrees with immunity negation), OverlordDonnelly (Neutral on immunity negation), Maverick_Zero_X (Neutral on immunity negation), Yemma670 (Disagree with immunity negation)
DISAGREE: Malomtek, TheGreatJedi13
NEUTRAL: Theglassman12 (Disagree with immunity negation)
Spirit is probably the most commonly recurring mechanic across Touhou as a whole, yet oddly enough, it has never been indexed on this wiki in any meaningful way. This thread aims to do exactly that.
Also just to get this out of the way to dissuade any mods complaining about Touhou spam, it was decided that we should focus on the most important revisions first. Considering this thread aims to add about a dozen powerful hax to nearly every single character, I would say that it is more than important enough.
What is Spirit?
Despite its presence in virtually all Touhou games since EoSD, there’s never been a clear, cohesive explanation on what it actually is. But we can start by looking at what is referred to as spirit in the first place.
Starting with the STGs, the little power items you see drop from enemies when defeating them are actually called ‘spirit power’, as mentioned in several manuals over the years. And yes, said items ARE canon, as Sanae explicitly confirms their existence in UFO.
The fighting games expand upon this concept somewhat; Every single fighter gives each character a spirit bar, which we know to be the actual name of it because the training mode for each game refers to it as such (one of Suika's spell cards that affects the spirit bar is also specifically said to be affecting spirit power).
Then we have Gouyoku Ibun, which refers to spirit as a character’s stamina. So right off the bat we have one option for what spirit is.
So spirit is the power items you pick up in the STGs and the bar present in all fighting games. This will be important in a bit.
As for what spirit is actually composed of, the best place to start is with Tenshi. One of her spell cards is simultaneously described as spirit and temperament; Which means spirit is just temperament, and people refer to the same basic thing using both terms.
Supporting this is Marisa’s description of the card, which describes it as spirit, juxtaposed with the in-game description of it, which once again refers to it as temperament. We also have Kokoro, whose spell cards that weaponize her emotions are utilizing spirit.
Then we have Yuyuko directly equating the two in SWR. For further context, the spirit pouring off of everyone’s bodies takes the form of a scarlet mist… with said mist repeatedly being referred to as temperament. So we have pretty explicit and consistent confirmation that spirit and temperament are one and the same.
That’s nice and all, but now we need to know what temperament is. As shown in one of the spell card descriptions above, Hatate mentions that the spirit energy/temperament being used by Tenshi is actually a collection of negative emotions. And as repeatedly stated throughout Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, temperament is a manifestation of one’s emotions, and it’s even said to be the subconscious. That and the definition of temperament is one’s mental characteristics or disposition.
Further expanding upon what temperament is is Komachi, who states that temperament is the same as phantoms. We also have Youmu stating that the scarlet clouds of temperament are made of phantoms.
That brings us to PMiSS, which states that phantoms are the souls of living beings. The Soul Torch, an item designed to attract souls, is explicitly stated to work on phantoms. Komachi is also said to ferry phantoms, but said phantoms are referred to as souls. Supporting the idea that temperament/phantoms are souls is how, when confronted at the end of SWR, Tenshi says that the scarlet mist brought about by her is ‘the essence of living things’.
Last but not least, we have Sakuya stating that the scarlet mist being emitted is chi, and yet again mentions it being phantoms, thus adding chi to the list of spirit synonyms and further solidifying the idea that spirit is souls.
In case there were any more doubts about the scarlet mist in SWR being spirit, Tenshi literally says that what she’s absorbing is spirit.
So the conclusion here is that spirit is equal to temperament (emotions), and in turn, phantoms (souls). Or to simplify it further, spirit is the soul and emotion of all beings, as well as stamina based on 17.5’s manual and chi based on another statement. Honestly, the spirit = souls thing should’ve been obvious from the name alone, but I felt the need to be thorough here.
How Does it Work?
The first thing to note about spirit power is how it’s gathered. In the shooting games, defeating enemies causes them to drop the aforementioned spirit power pickups, after which you can grab them to increase your own spirit power in turn, while moving to the top of the screen causes all power items to be automatically drawn to you. Enemies are also capable of causing the player to drop spirit power with every successful attack. The fighting games work somewhat similarly, as when striking an opponent, their spirit meter actively decreases.
So we know that with every hit, characters reduce the amount of spirit power present in their opponents, and can steal it for themselves in the midst of combat. Now that we know that spirit is just a fancy way of saying souls, we can recontextualize ‘destroying and absorbing spirit’ to ‘destroying and absorbing souls’; A clear cut example of Soul Manipulation & Absorption.
But there’s more we can do with this. In the STGs, the amount of spirit power is directly correlated to the amount of damage you deal; More spirit power, more damage, and conversely, less spirit power, less damage. This is something explicitly stated by the manuals. As such, via the ability to reduce or steal spirit power to increase your own power while decreasing your opponent’s, this would be Statistics Amplification & Reduction.
With the previous context of spirit power also being stamina, the process of destroying/stealing spirit would decrease an opponent’s stamina while increasing your own, so this would be Stamina Reduction & Stealing.
Another important thing to note is that, in the fighting games, spirit is required to use flight and the majority of one’s special moves. Using these techniques depletes the spirit gauge, and they cannot be used at all while possessing insufficient spirit. With the prior context of characters being able to reduce the spirit of their opponents, this would be Power Nullification, as it can prevent their opponent from flying or using certain techniques.
Furthermore, with spirit being equivalent to temperament, and temperament being a primary component in the usage of spells, this further complements the idea of spirit reduction being a form of power null. It’s also said that, due to the mental layer of reality, magic is a force that moves alongside the spirit, implying the two are directly intertwined and affecting one affects the other.
On the topic of fighting games, every character naturally regenerates lost spirit over time. Every character can do this, and it only takes a few seconds for this to occur, even if their spirit is effectively at zero. This is where things get complicated, because there is no actual consensus on what regenerating just your soul is; I’ve seen people say it’s mid-godly, low-godly, or just good soulhax. Ultimately, this will need to be discussed in the thread itself, and I am more than open to other suggestions. However, it should be noted that youkai and Hourai immortals can already regenerate from bodily destruction, so regardless of which end we go with they would be upgraded to mid-godly due to being able to regenerate the soul as well. @Hecatia_Gaming has suggested noting that the mid-godly only applies to souls, while also upgrading youkai and Hourai immortals to full mid-godly. This is my personal preference for what we should go with as well.
This leads into yet another ability: Reducing the rate of your opponent’s regeneration. When applying a guard crush, a portion of your opponent’s spirit will temporarily recover at a decreased rate. A better and more clear explanation of this can be taken from the koumakan wiki. While this is not regeneration negation per se, it is still actively limiting the extent of said regeneration, and would thus be better qualified as Regeneration Reduction.
When spirit is reduced to 0 in the fighting games, this induces a ‘guard crush’ that briefly stuns the opponent, a very clear example of Status Effect Inducement.
Furthermore, as we’ve established that spirit is equivalent to temperament, and temperament is the emotional state of a living being, this means manipulation spirit is akin to manipulating emotions, or in other words, Empathic Manipulation. Because temperament is also the subconscious, this would also be Mind Manipulation. Adding onto this is Chi Manipulation since spirit is, well, chi.
Because everybody can recover from emotional draining/destruction and a loss in stamina in mere seconds, spirit regeneration should also qualify for Supernatural Willpower.
When hitting an opponent while any projectiles they've fired are on the field, the attack will be cancelled and turned into spirit power, which is then automatically absorbed. This would be Attack Nullification as well as Transmutation, as it is changing the structure of what the danmaku was originally into spirit power.
Spirit manipulation even works on characters like Yoshika or Mayumi (you can see them drop spirit power in the scans provided), despite the fact that they lack spirit entirely; This means spirit manipulation can be performed on characters who should have outright immunity to it, granting Immunity/Resistance Negation. It is important to note that this is not an outlier, as it occurs on two distinct occasions, is similar to other illogical showings of negation (like Yukari being able to induce death in Mokou, who lacks a concept of death entirely), and in the case of Mayumi, the entire plot of the game she's in hinges on her not having a soul. Additionally, spirit manipulation cannot be simply targeting other aspects of what spirit is in these cases, as Yoshika and Mayumi lack minds to affect as well. However, it should also be noted that spirit manipulation works equally well on characters who resist things like soulhax; For example, it works fine on Futo, who can resist getting hit by dream souls in her AoCF route, which ordinarily removes one's soul from their body and sends it to the dream world. Due to this, it should qualify as Resistance Negation regardless of where we end up on the matter of immunity negation.
Everybody should also get Resistance to Soul Manipulation via surviving all of this. They are quite literally having their souls destroyed or ripped from their bodies, and while doing so does negatively impact them as demonstrated above, the fact remains that soul destruction does not kill them. Thus, they can survive without a soul despite the negative effects it imposes on them. Note that this would necessitate the removal of resistance to soul absorption already present on most profiles. The only characters who would keep it are those who do not qualify for spirit manipulation in the first place.
In case this seems questionable, let’s look at another feat that supports this: Tenshi absorbing the souls of all living things with 0 casualties. First off, the fact that nobody died is evidenced by how the text never mentions some kind of mass death across Gensokyo, which would’ve been the case if soul hax did kill people, and ultimately every single character we see in Touhou canon today is still very much alive (aside from the undead, but since their bodies are purely souls anyways, the fact that they didn’t get absorbed/destroyed is enough for a resistance). And just to prove that this IS a universal thing, Youmu outright says the temperament “of all living things” is rising. This isn’t even exclusive to Gensokyo, as it was also causing phantoms to disappear from the Netherworld, proving that this absorption is spreading across Otherworlds and can therefore be applied to just about everyone (the fact that it was specifically affecting phantoms further helps prove the temperament = souls argument).
And Tenshi isn’t just absorbing souls, either; She is actively destroying them. Yet in spite of this, nobody died, and what’s more, everybody obviously still has their spirits intact post-SWR; A very clear case of spirit regeneration, since said spirit was destroyed, but ultimately came back. This should make the potential mid-gody regen far less questionable.
Finally, while this is not an application of spirit manipulation in and of itself, it should be noted that Fear Manipulation is a potential delivery method of spirit manipulation, should hitting the target not be viable. For instance, Kogasa's ability is surprising/scaring people, a trait shared by other tsukumogami. Successfully scaring someone can drain them of their spirit. This, naturally, should give all tsukumogami Fear Manipulation, with an additional note on how this causes a loss in spirit to the target.
Additionally, this applies to all youkai to a certain extent as well. All youkai possess an aura often referred to as 'youkai energy' that can cause one to feel pins and needles throughout their body (being strong enough to deliver these effects even while sealed away) and make one start to tremble; Clear cases of Aura, Fear Manipulation, & Sense Manipulation.
Conclusions
Everybody who is shown to be fighting within a Touhou game should get the following:
-Soul Manipulation & Absorption (Through repeated attacks, one can reduce an opponent’s reserves of spirit power, as well as take said spirit and use it to empower themselves)
-Statistics Amplification (A greater amount of spirit power increases the damage dealt with basic attacks)
-Statistics Reduction (Via reducing their opponent’s spirit power, which in turn weakens their attacks)
-Stamina Reduction & Stealing (Spirit power is also equivalent to one’s stamina, and as such reducing or absorbing spirit power is equivalent to absorbing or reducing stamina)
-Power Nullification (Via reducing one’s spirit power/temperament, which is a primary component in the usage of magic, and is required to use flight and certain techniques such as skill cards)
-Status Effect Inducement (Reducing one’s spirit power enough can cause them to become temporarily stunned)
-Empathic Manipulation & Mind Manipulation (Spirit is the same as one’s temperament, and as such controlling it is equivalent to controlling one’s emotions and subconscious)
-Chi Manipulation (Spirit is additionally the same as chi)
-Regeneration Reduction (Fully draining an opponent’s spirit reduces the rate at which it naturally recovers)
-Immunity/Resistance Negation (Spirit manipulation even works on beings like Yoshika or Mayumi, who lack spirits to manipulate in the first place. Additionally, spirit manipulation works equally well on characters who have some degree of resistance to soul manipulation)
-Resistance to Soul Manipulation (Can survive even when their spirit has been completely absorbed or destroyed. Survived Tenshi absorbing and subsequently destroying the souls of all living things across Gensokyo and various Otherworlds)
-Regeneration (Mid-Godly) OR Regeneration (Low-Godly) OR Soul Manipulation (Can regenerate their spirit after a few seconds, even if it has been completely absorbed or destroyed)
-Supernatural Willpower (Spirit regeneration also allows one to recover their stamina quickly, or recover from having their emotions drained and being affected by fear)
-Attack Nullification & Transmutation (Striking an opponent while they are attacking will turn their attack into spirit power)
Additionally, all youkai should get the following:
-Aura, Fear Manipulation, & Sense Manipulation (All youkai possess 'youkai energy' that takes the form of an aura, capable of causing people to start to tremble and feel pins and needles throughout their body. This aura is strong enough to be felt even while sealed away, and successfully inducing fear in a target will drain them of their spirit)
Tsukumogami will gain the following addendum to this description:
(Like all tsukumogami, she can surprise people to induce fear and gain a portion of their spirit)
This isn’t really feasible to put on every single profile (save for the youkai fear manipulation stuff) since many are already artificially bloated with other in-verse mechanics and physiology that overwrite traits actually unique to the character, and since this is a primary energy source/mechanic in-verse I believe it is best to treat this as a unique verse power with its own page. Every character who qualifies will get ‘Spirit Manipulation’ under their P&A, which would link to that page. Given most of the necessary information is already present in this thread, if everything is accepted, I can mostly just copy/paste what’s already here (with a few necessary edits to make it appropriate for a blog).
AGREE: Shiroiyo, GlaceonGamez471, Pixy (Neutral on immunity negation), FantRin_The_First (Disagree with immunity negation and power null), BlastX, Vietthai96 (Disagrees with immunity negation and power null), Angelzewolf (Neutral on power null), Hecatia_Gaming, OnsokunoSonic, Oblivion_Of_The_Endless (Disagrees with immunity negation), Shmooply (Neutral on immunity negation), Jibz (Neutral, leaning disagree on immunity negation), DaimaouAshura (Neutral on immunity negation), Kirbonic_Pikmin, Zencha9 (Disagrees with immunity negation), OverlordDonnelly (Neutral on immunity negation), Maverick_Zero_X (Neutral on immunity negation), Yemma670 (Disagree with immunity negation)
DISAGREE: Malomtek, TheGreatJedi13
NEUTRAL: Theglassman12 (Disagree with immunity negation)
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