League of Guardians Commitment to Protect All Sapient Species

When the League of Guardians was first created, it only served to protect the Yokai, since mortals had been the cause of most issues the League dealt with. Humans had hunted yokai and driven them from their homes. But after the Japan's population started to decline. Instead of yokai prospering with fewer mortals, the yokai population mirrored that of the humans. Upon this discovery, the League decided to protect all sapients - mortal and immortal. Both needed to survive, for their fates were linked. An imbalance could prove disastrous for both groups.

by Topvector

Thus the most controversial document in the history of the organization was drafted. Soujoubou wrote and convinced the ruling council to sign the 'League of Guardians Commitment to Protect All Sapient Species' pact, ensuring that all self-aware life would be protected. After that, the Task Force for the Discovery and Conservation of Semi-Sapient Slimes gained more traction. Slimes were added to the list of sapient beings and the wording of the document was re-written to be more inclusive.
The League stores the pact in it's archives in Kyoto.

Background

In 2012 an investigation, into the hunting of a pack of boar yokai, Envoy Morine Kichiro to a small struggling village. A dam was built cutting it off from easy access to roads and supplies needed to thrive. He found the culprits, who were not aware the herd of boar they were chasing off from their fields, were spirit beings. These old farmers only wanted to keep the creatures out of their crops. The small community needed that harvest desperately. Most of the young people had moved to the big cities for the job opportunities, and the older generation did not have energy to replant nor time to do so before winter.
The more Morine-san investigated, the more links he found between humanity and yokai. Each depended on the other. As young people left for cities like Osaka, Kyoto, and Tokyo, fewer mortals were born, due to long hours put in at work. Thus there were decreasing numbers to tend the shrines and fuel belief in the kami and other spirits of the less densely populated areas. Spirit beings were fading away at a rate all too similar to the decline in human population. When he visited the larger cities, he thought the yokai there would be much stronger, but they were congregating together in the densely populated areas and relying on numbers for protection.
He brought his report to the League, which could no longer deny that all life was important.

Yokai and mortals alike, we are all in this together

— Morine Kichiro

League of Guardians Mon

Type

Manuscript, Historical

Medium

Vellum / Skin

Authoring Date

2013

Location

Kyoto

Signatories (Characters)

• Soujou-bou

Boar by Freepik