Spirits

Spirits are one of the primary reasons humans retreated behind their walls, but what most commoners don't know is that spirits exist on both sides of the wall

— Toshihiro Tokunaga, a scholar of the history of magic

Spirits are the Divine's spirit that has somehow managed to gain life and intelligence through reacting to changes to its previous form, such as a guardian spirit of a forest being born after its destruction. The exact method by which spirits are born however is largely unknown with most spirits being hundreds of years old dating back to the reappearance of magic in the 19th century. As with the use of magic itself those who can't see the divine are unable to see a spirit without a physical form. Due to a wide variety of origins spirits vary greatly, some with the form or without, with some possessing creatures like ghosts and some not. Spirits can be extremely intelligent and wise, but unlike humans and yokai they don't have complex desires and emotions instead of preferring simpler things, to dedicate themselves to one goal for centuries or more.

Spirits being creatures created from the Divine, naturally can use magic, but are limited a few abilities based on their type, and increase in power based on their age.

Types of Spirits

Spirits are categorised based on the function they serve.

Nature Spirits

Nature Spirits are the one type which posses plants and animals, humans and yokai can't be possed due to them having souls. These spirits will utilize their powers to assist the said creature strengthening them slightly which has helped many species with food shortages and disease. Nature spirits are a reflection of their host, and maybe peaceful or hostile, however in rare cases, they can be extremely aggressive, transforming their host into a much more dangerous form, however, thankfully these forms cannot reproduce. Normally though Nature spirits benefit the environment by making it more resilient and as such nature spirits are greatly revered and respected by mages and those who live near them.

Machine Spirits

Machine spirits are similar to nature spirits in which they possess objects, but in this case nonliving objects mainly machines. Machine spirits like their cousins befit their hosts increasing the efficiency of the machines. In the 21st century with the advent of A.I., machine spirits were found to be used as replacements for ai as they were more loyal. Both machine and nature spirits without their host lack any form and instead would appear as a mist or cloud if seen.

Guardian Spirits

Unlike machine and nature spirits, guardian spirits have a form and don't possess anything. Guardian spirits as the name implies are born and driven out a desire to protect an area, such as a mountain, river, building, or rarely a single object. They are the most powerful and as such are the most dangerous to fight. Like nature spirits in guardian spirits are revered and respected but even more so.

Minor Spirits

Minor Spirits are like guardian spirits in the sense they have a form, but unlike them are extremely weak and commonplace. This weakness however allows the to bypass barriers which would impede other spirits. The spirits themselves have minor abilities, easily doing something useful if minor such as slightly increasing crop yield. The exact form of guardian and minor spirits take varies usually basing it off something in the local environment.

Shikigami

Shikigami is technically not a type of spirit but is one which is in the service of a mage and as such can be any of the previously mentioned types. Shikigame is used in various ways, such as nature spirit dogs being better than normal dogs for tracking, and the use of guardian spirits in fights.

Lifespan

thousands of years

Limatations

Spirits cannot pass through earth, nor can they pass through magical barriers and are weak to water magic in general.