Entry tags:
visibility/memorability

[ VISIBILITY ]
Gods and shinki in Noragami exist between the Near Shore (the living world) and Far Shore (the non-living world). They aren't strictly invisible to humans, but they exist within a "blind spot" that normal humans unconsciously avoid looking into, similar to the way they avoid death.
If Yato calls direct attention to himself, humans will notice him; otherwise, he will seem like a perpetual background character and escape the eye's focus. Here's a canon demonstration of what that might seem like! However, as a character forms memories of Yato, they will be able to see him as they would any other person. All of this extends to all recorded aspects of Yato's existence: his writing, photos, art, and so on.
General exceptions: young children, animals, people with particular darkness lurking in their hearts, people with strong spiritual blood, other non-living beings. And sometimes, just cuz, random people on the street can see him. IDK. Whatever's convenient to your needs.
AS OF MARCH 17, 2018: Characters on the Retrospec network will be able to hear Yato and notice a faint outline of him, regardless of their spiritual aptitude.
The fun part! In addition to being hard to see, Yato is hard to remember. In canon, it's impossible for normal humans to retain memories of him. Even if they see and interact with him, they will quickly forget him as a person, though the interaction itself may remain in their memory in some form.
Example: If Yato goes to the bakery and buys 20 cakes, the clerk will be able to remember that someone bought 20 cakes but unable to recall that person's identity. If Yato accompanies Anya (a normal human) to the bakery and he buys 20 cakes, the clerk may instead remember it being Anya who bought 20 cakes.
General exceptions: again, young children, animals, people with particular darkness lurking in their hearts, people with strong spiritual blood, other non-living beings. These will all be able to remember him normally.
!!RETROSPECCERS!!: Due to a Retrospec glitch, humans in the Retrospec system will be able to remember Yato for longer periods of time. Memories of him will remain ranging from roughly a few days (if a distant acquaintance) to a month or two (if a very close friend) before starting to fade with lack of exposure to him. Past a couple months, human characters will forget him completely -- no exceptions.
However, seeing Yato again (according to the visibility rules above) will kickstart a character's memories, and everything will come flooding back at once. The more effort someone makes to remember him, the longer he will stay in their memories. Photos, written reminders, etc. will help, but with enough time away from him, Yato will be forgotten, and those reminders will become forgettable or disconnected from memories of Yato.
If a Retrospec character becomes an NPC, they will quickly forget Yato as any normal human would. Should that character rejoin Retrospec in the future, they will be able to regain memories of him by interacting with him.
Please fill out this form to give me an idea of how your character will be able to interact with Yato! If these mechanics are too much of a bother (memloss within a memloss game lol yea I know), feel free to opt out and we can blame Retrospec for glitching…!!
Yato will also have an increasingly loose regard for privacy and will be doing a lot of intrusive… everything... particularly with his closer CR, so please let me know how kosher/not kosher that is with you. He won’t be watching anyone on the toilet or in the middle of changing or anything tho so there’s that I guess……..
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