FEAR (Shadow Project East)

## Summary

F.E.A.R., also known as Ferro-Electro Adrenaline Rations, is a biological compound which is needed for a youkai to maintain sound health and mind. A typical youkai will consume one dose of FEAR every five days. Humanis provides all youkai with enough FEAR to upkeep this regiment for free.

FEAR has no adverse effects when taken normally, but when taken more often then the standard, both beneficial and intensely negative side effects begin to appear, most famously addiction leading to a youkai becoming insane and feral.

The actual biological importance of FEAR in youkai, as well as the exact method and source of obtaining it, are both secrets known only to the most elite in the youkai hierarchy.

## Production

FEAR is a natural compound which is only found in the human body. It is extracted from the blood. Due to the fact that youkai require it to maintain health, this makes humans very valuable in Youkai society. Supposedly, this creates a very simple strategic mutual benefit to youkai to protect humanity.

To extract the compound, humans of a certain age and above are required, once a week, to visit a medical clinic licensed to extract FEAR. These clinics are always operated by youkai. The process is much like giving blood, although the device used to extract from and return the blood is a black box, both figuratively and literally. The compound can be extracted often, and is thought to 'regenerate' after only a few days.

There is no known physical debilitation or downside to FEAR extraction. It could be extracted many times in a row with no perceptible change. However for many humans, the extraction process can seemingly generate negative feelings of varying degrees, from unease to, as some report, full living nightmares. The effects worsen with more extractions, and those who do not experience it typically may notice after more then one consecutive session of extraction.

Normally FEAR is not extracted more then once a week, so these effects are not noticed. However, a human reported to have skipped a week or more will forcibly undergo multiple consecutive extractions to make up for as many weeks as they missed. While it has never been reported that a human has ever died from a FEAR extraction, there is validity to the rumors that humans have 'died of fright' after having experienced this punishment for several months or years of missed extraction.

## Effects on Humans

It is rare that humans are able to acquire a distilled FEAR compound for testing, as attempting any sort of testing with FEAR is illegal, due to the secrecy involved. Most acquired doses are off the bodies of a killed youkai.

Unfortunately, there does not appear to be any major effects on humans injected with FEAR compound, even when injected with enough of it to an equivalent that would normally trigger an overdose in most youkai. Most subjects reported a strong sense of foreboding after injection that lasted a long time, a foreboding that was often described as "not theirs". As a side effect, subjects injected that reported negative feelings typical when having FEAR extracted also reported that the effect was more mild or not present during their next scheduled FEAR extraction.

As illegal dose of FEAR is just regular human blood, there's no need to test its effects.

## Effects on Youkai

On youkai, the regular effects of FEAR are to aid in maintaining their health. youkai without their regular FEAR dose seem to exhibit skittishness, craving, and/or lethargy. These feelings intensify if they have gone a long time without a FEAR dose. They become more compelled to attack humans for their FEAR or otherwise coerce them into giving it, and depending on the youkai may become violent to do so. This is different from a feral in that their mental faculties are still present, they do not attack other youkai (unless specifically compelled to do so), and they will return to normal once they obtain a FEAR dose.

Extreme periods of time without a FEAR dose will severely degrade their health as well, much like starving. They will weaken slowly, their bodies degrading, and eventually they will die. Strangely, a youkai who dies of FEAR starvation will vanish completely, as if their body was never there.

In a similar vein, youkai express different behaviors just after they take their FEAR dose. It is different for each youkai, but it is usually an intense positive emotion equivalent to a mental high.

FEAR is provided to almost all youkai once every five days from Humanis, as a standard. The standard has no notable effects on youkai physiology, aside from avoiding the negative effects of not having enough.

However, youkai may purchase a subscription of a more frequent regiment of FEAR, often four or rarely three days per dose, after being approved by a physician. This is considered a luxury in youkai society. More frequent FEAR doses have a curious effect of slowly improving a youkai's physical and mental traits over the course of the months they take an accelerated regiment. They become smarter, faster, stronger, more powerful. Some more wealthy youkai are able to maintain this for years, which further cements their elite status in society.

However, a youkai must be extremely careful if they go off of the standard. Power is addictive. FEAR is even more so.

### Addiction

FEAR addiction is the most prominent reason that it is such a tightly regulated compound for youkai. Addiction is invariably deadly after a certain threshold.

A single, powerful dose or set of (within 24 hours) is not capable of triggering an addiction spiral. However it is highly damaging towards a youkai's psyche and may very well trigger a spiral if the next dose is taken soon after.

FEAR addiction typically begins when a youkai has began taking a FEAR dose on average every three days or fewer. A youkai on a 3-day plan may be able to stave off addiction for a time, but should not stay on it for more then a few months time. 2-day or even 1-a-day dosage quickly leads out of control, and the former tends to advance to the latter over the course if unchecked.

If a youkai takes FEAR too often, they begin to develop a tolerance, and a craving to take it more often, marking a Stage 1 Addiction. Youkai that enter Stage 1 can recover if they re-adjust their plan to a more normal subscription, like the standard one. Of course, the cravings for FEAR may make it more difficult.

Youkai that are not able to keep the addiction in check will invariably find themselves taking the dosage more and more often, further building up a tolerance towards FEAR. A large dosage or multiple consecutive dosages can build up this tolerance very quickly, though at the very minimum it takes at least three days to go from non-addicted to Stage 2.

Stage 2 is the point of no return. When tolerance hits a threshold, FEAR begins to build up in the body, not filtering out. Youkai in stage 2 will begin to have uncontrollable cravings for FEAR as it builds up more and more, and will lash out and attack humans for their blood, or use other methods to feed themselves. Inevitably, a mental breakdown occurs as a result. Whether or not they manage to continue to fuel the buildup and fuel the addiction, their mind continues to degrade. Their supply will run out, and they will Crash. They will be perpetually stuck at the same level of build-up with no way to filter it out.

### Crash

FEAR Addiction eventually reaches Stage 3. Due to the tight controls on FEAR and the accumulating bodily need for more and more, eventually a youkai will not be able to upkeep their addiction's needs, and crash. Their body will remain at the level of FEAR accumulated by the addiction, and their mind tears itself apart as insanity sets in. Their bodies will assume a more monstrous form.

This is known as a youkai going Feral. Feral Youkai are dangerous individuals, and can be more or less so depending on how far they were able to build up their FEAR tolerance over the course of the addiction. They will attack youkai and humans alike and will cause mayhem until a police response can be called against them.

Feral youkai are generally chased out of the city, sometimes killed on sight if they prove to be too much for the police to handle. Outside of the city, Feral Youkai gather and thrive, and the many, many Feral youkai outside the city serve as a makeshift defense against anyone who may be left outside trying to enter... and to prevent anyone inside the city from leaving...

## Illegal Use

Due to being a product of blood, it is no secret that there is a much more easy and simple method of obtaining FEAR. A simple syringe of pure human blood contains just as much FEAR as what the city provides to youkai.

Naturally, this is banned outright in Humanis, as it subverts the careful control the city has in limiting supply. Indeed, most FEAR addiction is caused by delving into illegal use, whether that be by purchasing it through illegal means, or taking it - by force if needed - right from the source.

The most minor downside of using un-filtered blood is that it is useless once it starts clotting, but that is a problem very easy to resolve, by the same methods blood is stored for the use of actual blood banks.

### Black Market

Despite being illegal and highly controlled, FEAR is just too easy to obtain. The black market for the product thrives and flourishes. Many become very rich just though selling FEAR illegally. FEAR is sold to those who crave power, and - in even more underhanded fashions - those who become addicted, strangled for their money as they slowly lose their minds.

The black market for FEAR is truly special. The many ways youkai sell the product is telling of their cunning. Some claim that their FEAR is more concentrated, stronger dosed then what you get from Yakumo or from others. It's not really known if this is possible or true, due to the mysterious nature of the compound. Some simply sell it in higher quantities, which can be much more dangerous then snake oil about 'concentration'.

The most peculiar point of the black market is those who sell by 'taste'. Government-provided FEAR is considered by many youkai as 'bland' compared to an illegal dose. They may 'mix' their collected FEAR to prevent any sort of problems with concentration. Youkai claim that each human's FEAR has a different taste, and by far the biggest market comes out of selling particular 'tastes' of FEAR - of blood. Puportedly, the humans most terrified by youkai produce FEAR that tastes 'the best', making those who are found to be such very useful for illegal production very valuable indeed.

Humans are the real victim of the FEAR Black Market. Those in dire straights may have no choice but to sell their blood for piddling money, while youkai turn over a massive profit. Some humans sell their bodies outright, relegating them to a sad fate, as a slave used for their body and their blood. Human trafficking is a huge problem for Humanis. A 'tasty-blooded' human may be sold at a high price like a slave, or an animal, around the black market, fetching high price. Of course, humans are just second class citizens, many police are willing to look the other way, especially the youkai who get kickbacks from their own share of the FEAR...