Designed for the same setting as used for the
Monster_Girls profile; is not the same player though! See the profile for more details.
"In a universe where anyone can be born with unpredictable super powers, there is always the possibilty of those powers being dangerous, beyond the control of the user, and/or being used for evil."
-The Super-Mutant Principle, as phrased by
Justin Tolkiberry
Monstergirls, youkai, demons, supes, witches, mutants... people had many names for them, when they first appeared, but whatever they called them, once they started coming out of hiding, they didn't stop. Society changed within a few years, to the point where new laws had to be drafted just to keep order. Eventually, it was decided to extend equal protection laws to apply to the new races as well, regardless of origin or abilities, and human society eventually began to accommodate the various unique needs of their new neighbors. Cities became filled with all manner of strange magical beings, and suddenly the world of humans became much, much greater and more diverse.
"Honestly, it's simpler than that. In any society where one race has the ability to impose their will on another, eventually at least one member of that race is going to realize that the only thing keeping them from lording it over the other guy is a completely voluntary moral code. And eventually, the one that realizes it is going to be the guy who doesn't care if it's wrong. When it's a case of political or landholding power, you get a feudal lord. When a monster with pyrokinesis comes to that realization in the middle of a city of humans, people die. It's not about fear, and we're not some new Klan. It's about being ready, because as cute as they tend to be, monsters are just as capable of being evil as humans are."
-The Daibutsu, Commander of the Worldwide Oversky Normal-Defy Elimination Rangers
Of course, even with equal laws, things aren't always well between humans and their new friends. Humans have a rather bad history where such things are concerned, and when normal people come to realize that super-powered beings exist, possibly even live right next door, they start to get antsy. You can't acknowledge other races as being the same as humans without realizing that those beings have the same capacity for turning their powers on those who can't resist them as a human would. That humans would try to act on that fear was inevitable.
It was probably the worst step they could take. The various communities tended to work to keep their own members in check; vampires kept other vampires from trying to take an entire city as their thralls, weres took down anyone trying to spread the curse to innocent people, and so on. With radical groups forming among the humans with the express intent of wiping out the non-humans and magic-users, numbers of rogue members of these communities exploded far out of the capacity of the leaders to control, and every member that worked to keep the radical groups from murdering innocent beings was a member too busy to keep rogues from subjugating or outright slaughtering the humans.
Eventually, it was decided that the supernatural races could not handle this problem on their own. Radical human groups were simple enough to deal with for the supernaturals, but having to deal with members of their own race who abused their powers as well was too much of a burden. Thus, humans began to make their own plans. If the supernatural races had powers that would allow them to easily dominate any human, then humans would have to develop powers of their own to stand on equal ground with them.
The result was WONDER, an organization of humans that, through various means, attained powers that would allow them to fight against supernatural beings. (And whose name is, as some might have guessed, based on the JUNKERs.) Many members specialize in a certain type of supernatural race, wielding powers that allow them to dominate that group as easily as they would overcome a normal human. Ostensibly, WONDER is a group of humans employed as a peacekeeping force to help combat crime among the supernatural community. However, their primary mission is to hunt down and either apprehend or eliminate supernatural beings who have chosen to make use of their ability to harm humans without the humans being able to fight back.
"Of course I believe that humans and youkai can coexist. I'm a WONDER because I believe that. I gained these powers so that I could help keep the peace between our two races. Humans shouldn't make the youkai do all the work of keeping evil youkai from hurting people. It's only fair that we help our youkai friends keep the regular humans safe from the people they can't stop."
-Awamo Kinuko (沫茂 絹金), shrine maiden
Awamo Kinuko was born the sole daughter of the CEO of a japanese textile company, one that had seen a major boom since the advent of the Supernatural Being Equal Rights Act, particularly with the migration of quite a number of monstergirls into the city. Her grandfather, seeing a business opportunity like no other, formed a partnership with a number of the arachne, serving as the business manager and sales front for the human-shy, inexperienced spidergirls while the girls themselves provided the raw material and spun what would prove to be one of the year's hottest luxury items. Naturally, such a partnership drew fire from the more supernatural-opposed factions in the city, and Awamo grew up with more than her fair share of taunting and bile.
The eventual attack, however, came from a lone monster, not humans. Just as some humans believed partnership with monstergirls was wrong, so some of the supernatural believed allying with humans to be beneath them. And arachne, while monstergirls... don't particularly have much in the way of superpowers. Awamo woke to find one of the arachne bent over her, badly hurt but busily using her own silk to bandage the wounds. Her weak-voiced attempts to get the girl to find safety herself fell on deaf ears... it wasn't long before Awamo realized this wasn't some self-sacrificing act of heroism, but a dying girl's final act towards one she cherished.
Thanks to that final act, Awamo survived the ordeal, and even remained conscious long enough to see a cloaked figure fire a stake so hard at the attacker's heart it pierced through entirely. A bit of paperwork and a certain arranged contract later, the remnants of her father's company were left in trust with another member of the
keiretsu, and Awamo, the sole heir, vanished into the mountains for a number of months.
That's where WONDER found her, struggling to master skills the mountain's hermits had been willing to teach her only the very basics of. Her story from there is one you've heard before. Awamo joined the organization as a Runner, and with the help of their senior members she honed her talents, bringing to the table an aptitude for a miko's holy powers and a rudimentary understanding of spirit mediums. Despite her young age, she has at present been made a full Runner, licensed to fight against and put a stop to any supernatural being that decides they're above the laws of both worlds.
"Of course I love youkai. I owe my life to one. But we couldn't call them the same as us if there weren't bad guys among the youkai too. So that's where I come in. Sheesh, people act as if I'm some sort of secret agent or something... I'm basically just a very young policewoman..."
Awamo is a fairly level-headed young girl. Generally considered mature for her age, she's generally focused and dedicated to her duties as shrine maiden and Runner. She doesn't tend to talk much about herself, or about her father's company and the other
keiretsu member that's keeping it afloat, but she's social enough when not on duty. Her own powers revolve mostly around sealing techniques and holy magic, especially effective against the various youkai races, as well as many sorts of wards and methods to strengthen the body. She also has some powers related to spirits, though these are less related to combat and more to simple communication. Despite her past she's on quite friendly terms with all supernatural races, particularly arachne for obvious reasons. (Incidentally, her ceremonial kimono is woven from arachne silk.) Beyond that, she's a fairly simple girl, and friendly. Give her a talk sometime, and see what you might learn about this young miko!