A Shugendo refers to a lone psychic, typically an outcast, that does not belong to a collective and instead acts on their own accord as a freelancer that connects with secretive clients to take up missions that require their psionic abilities. Unlike the dogmatic mass of collectives, the Shugendo are eclectic and diverse, both in their approach to the psionic arts as well as their own identity and motivations. Their identities can range from an undercover civilian to an eccentric hermit living in the wild.

A recurring pattern is that an individual becomes a Shugendo through an event known as “the Unlock”, in which their psychic potential is realised and a new stage of their life begins as they wake up to an extraordinary truth that they now must live. Most Shugendo are young and live as ‘scavengers’, foraging for mystical objects and constantly shifting practices. They may even pledge to a collective to receive specific missions for a period before moving onto another client that may suit their needs better.

Despite the message of liberation, conspiracy theories point to the mass occurrence of “Unlocks” and rising numbers of Shugendo as marketing tactics by collectives, raising a powerful generation of self-centred psychics that can greatly benefit their causes in a cycle of economic exploitation and a superficial sense of spiritual truth.

Backgrounds

All Shugendo have their own backstory and circumstances prior to their psychic journey, and truthfully any unsuspecting individual could already be awakened. Nonetheless, here follows some common Shugendo backgrounds:

• Alchemist: During a state of intense chemical imbalance, the psyche transmuted beyond lead and into gold.

• Amnesiac: An unusual brain tumour operation resulted in not only memory loss, but a sudden shift of psychic perspective.

• Celebrity: A publicised breakdown and sudden disappearance from the spotlight lead to a new kind of stardom.

• Cultist: Persuaded towards a great beyond, sacrifices for salvation, the psyche had clicked amongst the masses. 

• Dropout: Even at the height of academics, the university could no longer serve the psyche’s realised higher purpose.

• Fortune teller: An intense divination performed on the self, so daring that the subconscious mind unfolded a newfound destiny.

• Hermit: As still as the woods and mountains, ages of dwelling had finally turned all senses inwards to newfound enlightenment.

• Hippie: Drunk on peace, love, and a hallucinogenic breakthrough; the psyche rose like a lotus out of the mud.

• Infidel: Shunned for the rejection of a particular faith, the disdain had only made the direct experience of mind stronger.

• Labourer: After a series of mundane shifts and lost sense of time, boredom cracked the key to the mind open.

• Neurosurgeon: Having the mind crunch on intense studies of the brain, something about the pineal gland struck the psyche open.

• Prisoner: Convicted and serving a lifetime of a sentence, the mental turmoil finally turned inward and beyond the bars.

• Rebel: Fatigued from an intense protest, the persuasive zeal lingered on and revolutionised the psyche.

• Shaman: As a result of an entrancing ceremony, the ritual concluded with the spirit ascending to a greater plane.

• Subject: Already suspected of psychic potential, an experiment gone wrong had only carried the journey onward.

• Wayfarer: Having travelled far and wide, what seemed like a resting point for the pilgrimage was only the beginning.

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