Tianxia:Kioku Danpen

Background
Since ancient times, memory has been one of humanity's most powerful tools. Memory allows us to pass our knowledge onto our kin. Memory allows remember our mistakes so they cannot be made again. Memory allows us to know our heritage. Memory allows us to keep our skills sharp, and even improve them.

Since ancient times, one of humanity's most powerful fears has also been losing their precious memories. From that fear, a youkai was born. Her terrible power was to eat memories and thoughts, spreading epidemics of memory loss and forgetfulness. Knowledge and skills were erased, leaving only the fear they may not be regained. Many times was mankind set back. Like many youkai as old as she, she was once savage, deadly, ripping away at whatever memories she could get, inspiring even more fear. Men were helpless against her, even forgetting how to fight, the instinct of running always kicking in as they learned (and subsequently forgot) who she was, but remembering the terror instilled by her. She would travel the world spreading her terror, but never written about. Those who knew of her would soon know nothing more, as she spread her disease of the brain.

However, as the millenniums went by, humanity became more civilized, and so did their thoughts. Eating these new, sophisticated thoughts, Kioku would no longer be as savage, evolving with humans. She would still consume the thoughts and memories of others, but with great amounts of time, even that would wane.

When written history began, so did her power begin to wane. Memories could be transcribed, beyond her ability to erase. Hundreds more years passed, and history continued to expand, memories becoming more and more easy to write, store, and send.

When advances in science threatened to wipe her power, and herself, out completely, with research into brain disease, and emerging technology that claimed to allow recording of the human mind itself, Kioku retreated into the depths of the unknown and forgotten, only occasionally heard of in rumors and unexplained incidents within the modern world.

With the evolution of humans, and with the loss of much of her power, now turning against her in times of hunger, and being lost with the lessened need for memory, Kioku became more civilized, much like humanity itself. No longer a savage, even in pursuit of her own knowledge, Kioku now wanders in search of memories of her own, ones which she hopes not to lose when her own power begins to eat away at her mind. Although her former power is now but a fragment, it still lies hidden, waiting to be used. Behind her evolved mask of indifference and new hunger for knowledge, she is still being the terror capable of eating away at minds, and draining every thought they've ever had...

Personality
Kioku is a very reserved youkai, more interested in eating then bothering people, almost to the point of being meek. Like the satori, people who are aware of her power usually seek to avoid her, but she is more or less okay with that (if not a bit shy). She prefers not to talk unless spoken to, and has few interests. She is interested in learning things and gaining new experiences, so she will often wander around or pursue sources of knowledge. Since she often forgets her own memories, knowledge and experience are held dearly to her.

Kioku, taking the traits of many youkai, doesn't put thought into the considerations of others, mostly only thinking for herself (when she can remember her own thoughts). Most people avoid Kioku for her power, and those that don't often become forgetful anyway, so she generally doesn't have to worry much about others. She doesn't treat others like cattle, and in fact can be nice if talked to peacefully, but being introverted, she doesn't go out of the way to start off nice or interact with other people. She is inquisitive, often savoring thoughts about who people are when interacted with. If she can she also enjoys eating good memories of other people, and she is interested in the experiences other people have had. She can get a little emotional in an especially strong memory, like a tragedy or someone having the best day of their life, and it can affect her mood a bit.

Her favorite activity is, of course, to go out in a well-populated public place and gather the thoughts of others nearby, eating them and learning things. She also enjoys other forms of gaining knowledge, such as reading or watching television, although since this doesn't 'feed' her as effectively, she doesn't do it too much.

Kioku is not really a malevolent youkai, at least in these times, and does not seek to attack others, just consume their thoughts. She is actually a peaceful youkai, albeit a dangerous one due to her power. She is, however, an extremely dangerous foe if forced to protect herself, however, using her powers to her fullest extent if she needs to, but ultimately does not see a point in fighting past self-defense, and won't kill if she can avoid it.

Power/Combat
Kioku is the embodiment of lost memories and forgetfulness. Kioku has the power to eat thoughts, plucking them right out of your head right as you think them, but rather then simply reading your mind, she consumes the thought, so you likely won't be able to remember what you just thought. Kioku's power is mostly involuntary, and thoughts are her primary food source. Initially, on its own, the power is mostly benign as well, limited to simply eating the thoughts of what people are thinking at the current moment, but when she is around enough people, and with enough time around them, her power will slowly amplify on its own, and she can cause, in order of magnitude: confusion, forgetfulness, loss of short-term memory, and amnesia when near her for too long. As well, her radius of thought eating is only a few meters at her weakest, but as the effects get stronger, so does the range of her power. At the maximum buildup, her powers can extend for a few kilometers in each direction, the effects gradually getting more severe the closer you are to Kioku. The power is involuntary, as is the buildup. She has no real control over the buildup of her power however, aside from prevention. Kioku is mostly content to let her power build until someone forces her to stop or the buildup becomes too great, since she otherwise gets hungry. The buildup of her power to maximum takes a lot of people around (such as in the Human Village) and a long time (a few weeks) before it starts causing an amnesia epidemic. Because of this, however, Kioku frequently travels around, not usually staying in any place too long to prevent the buildup from spiraling into a problem that would draw attention to her. On the flip side of the coin, if she goes without eating the thoughts of another for too long, she will begin to eat her own thoughts, eventually causing the same effects to her, like a thought starvation of sorts. If she needs to, she can temporarily force her power to strengthen, although she only ever does this in self-defense, and she has to expend energy to do this. While she can temporarily cease the effects of her power, it requires a very large expenditure of effort and concentration to do so. She becomes hungry very quickly when her power is turned off, so she is extremely uncomfortable when she cannot use it.

Fortunately, the effects of her powers are mostly temporary. Long-term memories are regained over a short time (a week at most if you've suffered the worst of her power in combat, only a day or two if you're subject to her for longer then an hour at her maximum ambient power). Short term memory and recent memory, however, is unlikely to be recalled without great effort if lost, probably unrecoverable if you've been badly affected by her power, and new short-term memories will have to be created. Regaining her own memory doesn't take quite as long as someone else having thoughts eaten, perhaps only a few minutes of thought-eating to remember her name, and an hour to remember more important details and long-term memories. Unfortunately, her memories tend to be fragmented after very long periods of starvation, so she takes great care to try to preserve what she can remember.

Spellcards
Kioku causes general forgetfulness as it initiates the spellcard, causing a foe to distract themselves with questions. Kioku collects the remnants of an old and forgotten strategy the target uses, and then unleashes an attack back at the target based on that strategy. Kioku clears her current thoughts by eating them, allowing her to make more focused and deadly attacks. A strong mental attack that greatly disrupts the target's current thoughts, possibly causi Kioku attacks the hippocampus to eat your long-term memories, especially tragic ones (which are more valuable to her), and unleashes a powerful mental attack based on the strength and type of the memories eaten. Kioku inflicts amnesia on herself to power this devastating attack, delivering a powerful mental attack that targets the strongest memories, such as self-identity, using them inflict even more damage on the target's mind. Koiku's event horizon. Kioku unleashes all her remaining power at once, causing it to spiral out of control. Directly attacks the brain stem, eating away at the unconscious thoughts that control your breathing and heartrate. The mental attack is extremely dangerous, so perusing her is likely to be akin to suicide. It forces those around her to mentally and manually control their own breathing and heartrate, while forcing them to endure an onslaught on their mind. This is a last resort, only used to aid an attempt of Kioku to flee, but pursuers may be wise to disengage or find themselves dying of a heart attack. This far out of control, her powers are causing the same effects on her as well, and once her power runs out, she falls unconscious, barely clinging to life.
 * Forgetful Sign ｢Memory Lapse｣
 * Recollection ｢The Lost Memory｣
 * Thought Cannibal ｢Clarity｣
 * Mind Flayer ｢Brain Drain｣
 * Amnesia ｢Feast of Raem｣
 * Dementia ｢Forgetting Oneself｣
 * Heartstopper ｢Nervous Breakdown｣