Ikiryo

Ikiryo were evil lesser spirits native to Kara-Tur. The creation of a living person's darkest thoughts, the ikiryo obsessively hunted and drained the life from another until one of them was destroyed.

Creation
Ikiryo were created as a psychic manifestation of a person's dark emotions of anger, hatred, or jealousy towards another, who became the specific target of the spirit. Only humanoids like humans could create an ikiryo and they could not be created intentionally. Often the person who created an ikiryo was not even aware of its existence. Once created, the ikiryo had a will of its own and could not be commanded or controlled, not even by the individual who created it, and it did what it did regardless of whether it would benefit its creator.

Description
An ikiryo had no physical form or appearance whatsoever. Its incorporeal form could only be revealed through a true sight spell, whereupon it would appear as a shimmering and ghostly version of its creator. Since an ikiryo was an incorporeal version of the individual who created it, its appearance varied greatly. Otherwise, it could be sensed as a presence of psychic energy.

Behavior
Ikiryo were hostile towards a single living individual. When created, it traveled any distance to its target and found them without fail, even if they were on the far side of Toril. If the target was on another plane, the ikiryo was unable to find them, and if this was the case when the ikiryo was created, then in dissipated after one full day had passed, unless the target returned in that time. But once an ikiryo found its target, it followed them everywhere, even across planes. It followed the target until either one was destroyed.

An ikiryo drained its victim of their physical and mental abilities, taking a bit every twenty-four hours and this could not be recovered or restored while the ikiryo remained. The targeted individual became disturbed, fatigued, lethargic, and restless. They would take no joy in things; even fresh air would feel oppressive and stagnant. As it also gradually lowered the mental capacity of the victim, if they were a spellcaster, they eventually lost the ability to cast or memorize spells. Otherwise, they had no idea of the ikiryo's existence or why they felt the way they did or how bad it was. Once drained completely in some capacity, the victim died and the ikiryo vanished forever.

Since it was a manifestation of psychic energy, an ikiryo was undetectable by the targeted individual except through certain spells. Detect evil or detect harmony spells were able to reveal that something was wrong with the individual, revealing only an evil aura in the first case and a sense of something out balance about the victim and their environment, while true sight was the only way to actually see the evil spirit. Spells like detect invisibility and detect life would not reveal it.

Once detected, the targeted individual could use several spells against the ikiryo. Invisibility to spirits prevented the spirit from tracking the individual, but only as long as the spell was in effect. Protection from evil, 10' radius and protection from spirits pushed away the ikiryo without harming, while dispel evil drove it away for a full day, giving the individual a temporary respite from the draining effects. If summoned via a summon spirit spell, the ikiryo appeared exactly like its creator in all respects. Its summoned form could then be destroyed, thus freeing the targeted individual. An exorcism spell banished the ikiryo permanently, but did not destroy it.

Another solution was to find the person who had created the evil spirit. If confronted about the presence of the ikiryo, the spirit vanished for good, whether or not the creator took any responsibility for it.

Abilities
As a psionic creature, an ikiryo was capable of the mind thrust, ego whip, id insinuation, and psychic crush psionic attack modes and the mind blank, thought shield, and mental barrier psionic defense modes.

Society
Ikiryo did not live in lairs nor did they collect any treasure. They were created and hunted alone, not forming into and groups.

Superstitious folk in rustic villages shunned victims of an ikiryo, thinking them to be bad luck.

Lands
Free ikiryo might have roam in the ruins of Tempat Larang in the mid–14 century DR.

History
In Wa Year 1775 (1357 DR), in Nakamaru in Wa, Lady Kei, the second wife of daimyo Funada Mitsuhide, bore a jealous hatred of the new third wife, Lady Nyo. This brought into being an ikiryo that began to haunt Nyo.

In 1431 on the Kozakuran Calendar (1357 DR), on Tenmei in Kozakura, a shukenja of the Temple of the Red Fog named Regeki also had a jealous hatred of some prominent people in Yoshida. This created an ikiryo that slew them, and Regeki's visage was revealed in the process, but the citizens feared to punish him. Adventurers were requested to find him and bring him to justice, but Regeki's hatred for them made them the target of the ikiryo too.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Blood of the Yakuza • Dungeon #33: "Mad Gyoji" • Ninja Wars