Sojiruh

A sojiruh comes into existence when a creature who has dedicated multiple lives to achieving enlightenment turns their back on these goals and deliberately tears themselves away from the cycle of reincarnation before their death. These monstrous creatures are the most common nindoru and are also the most hated by followers of Sangpotshi, since so many of these fiends rise from fallen members of that very philosophy.

This type of nindoru relishes the flavor of an oft-reincarnated soul and finds this life force tastes best when consumed while the physical body still lives and screams. To sojiruhs, the sound of a perfect scream from the body it feeds upon is akin to the perfect wine pairing with dinner.

A sojiruh's mouth is stitched shut with lengths of its own hair. Despite this, they can speak freely, their hollow-sounding voices issuing clearly from sealed lips. They only stretch these stitches when they choose to shriek and scream. Their arms are long and broken-looking, while their chests are little more than rib cages filled with red wet butterflies that crawl through and cling to the creature's ribs and organs. When a sojiruh screams, the wings of the butterflies in its chest flutter frantically.

Sojiruhs symbolize the cycle of reincarnation come undone from its purity and becoming mired in decay and corruption.

---

When an evil mortal soul that has been reincarnated multiple times is wrenched from the cycle of souls and corrupted, it can undergo a horrific transformation into a fiend known as a nindoru. A force for entropy and the breaking of cycles, nindorus are hideous creatures whose bodies often appear distorted, who wield weapons that have been shattered yet still function, and whose true face is often hidden from view. They display traits one might expect to see in an undead creature, such as decaying flesh or exposed bones, yet a nindoru is very much still alive.

Each nindoru epitomizes the fracture of a specific cycle, be it one from the natural world or from societal traditions. To the nindoru, nothing is more delicious than the consumption of a creature who has reincarnated multiple times, with those who are theoretically about to ascend to true enlightenment presenting the tastiest meal. Those slain by a nindoru are themselves torn from the cycle—the lucky ones move on to the Boneyard for judgment, but many are instead corrupted to form more of these horrific fiends.

Followers of Sangpotshi find nindoru to be particularly abhorrent and count them among the greatest threats imaginable. Most commonly found in regions of the world where the reincarnation cycle is strongest, nindorus are, like rakshasas and oni, associated most strongly with the Material Plane.

Reincarnated Souls

In some cases, you'll know if a creature a nindoru attacks has a reincarnated soul. Ancestries like samsarans are always reincarnated souls, and a PC's backstory or even their background can often indicate the presence of a previous life. All of the PCs in Season of Ghosts qualify as reincarnated souls, as they've relived their lives over and over for decades. If you ever need to determine if a creature's soul is reincarnated for the purpose of adjudicating a nindoru's ability, attempt a @Check[flat|dc:11]—on a success, it has a reincarnated soul.

Nindoru Demigods

The most powerful nindorus are demigods, although their cults are quite rare. Prone to reincarnation after death, nindoru demigods like Kugaptee are more properly known as "nindoru ascetics."

Nindoru Traitors

While most nindorus are purely chaotic evil in nature, legends tell of exceptionally rare nindorus who manage to escape their own nature and ascend, reincarnating after death into kami or other more benevolent spirits and shedding the nindoru trait as they do so. Of course, these "traitors" are regarded as the most delicious meals imaginable by the nindorus left behind.

Nindoru Butterflies

One of the strangest shared traits of the various types of nindoru are the blood-red butterflies that seem to follow them around, nest on their bodies, or periodically emerge from their wounds. These unnerving insects are physical manifestations of the nindorus' thoughts and symbolize the countless past lives they once lived but turned their backs on. Nindoru butterflies never last long once they flutter more than a few feet from their source, fading away into smoke that quickly dissipates into the air.

Other Nindorus

Many other types of nindorus exist beyond the four presented on these pages. Others include the corpse-copying akashtis (sobbing nindorus), infiltrators of society known as kagekumas (lurking nindorus), the dead defiling shisagishins (crooked nindorus), and the powerful and brutal argyrzeis (headless nindorus).