Clan Name: Kamui
Location: Scattered
Specialization: Soul Using. Divination. Seals.
Elements: n/a




The Kamui believe there are many minor entities which are truly supernatural, such as sea, land or river gods, revered by a few, from whose faith they feed on to keep existing. These entities did not create anything, as they are human-made, but may actually have intervened on human history, granting better harvests or punishing those who stopped offering prayers and, eventually, even sacrifices. Everytime someone prays, a small bit of inner energy - nowadays called chakra - is offered, and this accumulation ultimately forms the celestial body of that entity, though the process usually takes a few centuries, depending on the level of faith - that is, how much energy is conveyed to the god.

The Kamui's deepest wish is to actually manage to create a god for themselves, as a pure embodiment of human wisdom, and they expect this entity to guide the clan - and the world - into an era of absolute prosperity. Knowledge has a sacred status in the clan, and they are truly devoted to obtaining more and more books and scrolls. For them a library and a temple are one and the same. They do not have a clear understanding of how the universe was actually created, or even if there is a major god who rules all, but the answer to this question may lie within their ultimate creation, that is assumed to be able to transcend human perception and see beyond.

As to the actual method for creating this god, the Kamui developed a way to harvest human souls. Their belief implies that even if the moment of death is somewhat traumatic and stresses the soul to the point that some memories are forever lost, some others will be carried on - and these shall be offered to their forecoming deity. They are able to inscribe the soul's memories into ofudas, which are to be used in religious rituals. This uses up much of the residual energy the vagrants souls have, reducing their sizes significantly. The Kamui then uses some earthly material, such as tree leaves, broken tiles, dead branches or small rocks, to abide that soul to this plane under their command, almost mindlessly. It is not uncommon for a young Kamui to have a few hundred souls under their command, feeding them with her chakra. Some elder Kamui are reported to have subjugated even some minor gods, such as some Tanuki from the plainlands near Konoha, or Kappa from Amegakure.

The Kamui have been fulfilling many duties in the cities they choose to live. Some are librarians, dedicated to accumulating new knowledges; some are teachers, transmitting knowledge that will make better future souls, or scholars, dedicated to actual scientific research; others are gravediggers or monks, caring for the bodies and the souls of the departed; others are shinobi, ever perfecting their skills and partaking in wars. They are not quite interested in spreading the word of their cult - even if most of their activities are not actually secret, it is enough for outsiders to live their lives to the fullest, as long as they produce the best souls they can.

A soul usually produces no sound, but it may do so if it is actually possible. However, the sounds will always be non discernible - that is, this cannot be used to convey messages. A few Kamui have been reported to be able to congregate the lamurious sound into a sad, weird, yet touching requiem, which is a mostly impressive otherworldy chorus for funerals.

Members: May be added another day, I guess.




Kekkei Genkai Description: The Kamui enslaves souls and "free" them from their energy and mind, now stored in ofudas which are to be delivered to temples. These souls will live on with the Shinobi, feeding on his chakra and on other sources he provides - in this sense, this relationship is much like that of the Aburame and his kikkais. The mindless souls lose the perception of their previous form, and thus adopt  somewhat deformed shapes, similar to those of the Chimimoryo folk tales. They are usually quite small, mostly as a result of being deprived of their energy, but some noble souls, such as those coming from land gods, may retain their shape. The Kamui are able to reshape souls through the use of jutsus. The Souls cannot be definitely destroyed - any chakra attacks may damage or disperse them, but the Kamui is eventually able to recompose them.

The souls live within the shinobi and evoking them is a free, costless action, though most members would rather do it while joining hands in prayer. They can emerge from any part of the host's body, and they will never appear far from him, though they do not need to remain in contact with him after emerging. The souls do not have any actual matter and thus are not effectively solid beings, but they manifest a form of psychokinesis, which holds together their ectoplasm and allows them to interact with other solid things, not being unusual for the Kamui to have these entities helping in daily activities, like food preparation or washing clothes in the river. Souls are not proficient in remote chakra detection, though they are very capable of doing so at close range, which enables them to operate defense mechanisms against genjutsus. All that considered, the defense mechanisms they provide are almost useless against Taijutsus and Bukijutsus, and strongly useful against genjutsu. That is to say: -1 effectiveness of genjutsus used against the Kamui.

It is not strictly necessary to employ verbal commands; orders are given through the very chakra they share. Even if only the Kamui are able to interact with the souls of the deceased, once they are reinvoked into existence and made into slaves, any shinobi will be able to effortlessly and automatically see them, even if common people, who are not used to controlling chakra, will not. It is said that some jutsus may hide the souls from the perception of any non-Kamui mortals, but this is yet to be proven.

@ D rank, the Kamui can control up to a hundred souls;
@ C rank, the user can bring forth up to five hundred souls;
@ B rank, a thousand souls;
@ A rank, three thousand souls;
@ S rank, five thousand souls.

The rate of enemies' chakra consumption is decided by the rank of jutsu used. Noble souls will be considered the Summon-like technique of the clan, and thus will not be considered in the soul-count above. There are some renowned shinobis who are credited for their talent in Fuuinjutsu, and there is a number of jutsus of the clan who finds their roots in this art; however, the clan has no effective Ninjutsu or Fuuinjutsu bonus.

A Kamui Shinobi may have a customized pet that abides by the usual pet rules. This customization is limited to the appearance of the beast, which may take the form of a chimimoryo or a minor deity, and to the fact that its damage is applied to chakra, not to hit points. This feat consumes one jutsu slot (to a minimum of zero). Cost & training remain the same, and the ninja may normally adopt seijutsu as one of his specializations. The ninja cannot have a "normal", "flesh and bones" pet.

Drawbacks:
- Cannot use Kugutsus. Even if there are some ways to make a soul possess an inanimate thing, souls are not able to operate the complex mechanisms these dolls have.
- Cannot take Medical Ninjutsu as a specialization. Even if some Kamui do have knowledge enough for being medics, their chakra is so well adapted for dealing with the otherworldy that it just seems to be unable to treat the living anymore. As a clan, the Kamui try to compensate this with the development of advanced surgery methods, pharmacology and alchemy. Unfortunately, the top medics are always those who can employ chakra healing mechanisms.
- Permanent reduction of 20 chakra (D-rank), scaling -5 with each rank (-25 for C, -30 for B and so on), due to the chakra used to feed the souls.
- The Kamui cannot summon living things. Instead, they shall find a minor god and interact with it (a battle, a test, an offering, or any other thing the deity requires) and establish a bond of cooperation or forcing them into submission with a clan sealing technique.