| abstract | - In Native American mythology (specifically the Jivaro* from the Amazon region of Brazil/Ecuador), the Pasuk is a type of tsentsak (spirit helper) (Brazilian version of a European Familiar) which assists a tsungi (Jivaro shamans). The Jivaro are famously known for being headhunters and shrinking heads. (*= Jivaro prefer to be called the Shuar since Jivaro has the connotations of meaning "savage") Tsentsaks are invisible and can only be seen under the effects of hallucinogens. They tend to be metaphorically called "magical darts". The shamans of Jivaro society make frequent use of tsentsaks to both cure illness and afflict illness. The Jivaro believed most illnesses and non-violent deaths were caused by witchcraft from some evil tsungi, namely using tsentsaks to do harm. These tsentsaks could also be used as "shields" to protect a tsungi from evil tsungi's tsentsaks. What divides tsungi is how they react during their initiation training. If as their first tsentsak emerges from their mouth and they use it for something they desire, they will become an evil, bewitching tsungi. But, if they swallow that first tsentsak and resist the impulse to use it, they will become a healing tsungi. The strength of the illness depends on the force with which the tsentsak is thrown/projected into the victim's body and the nature of the "magical dart" itself (just as with shot wounds, the severity depends on the velocity and the projectile itself). If the tsentsak has enough power to pass all the way through the victim, the victim dies. If the tsentsak gets lodged in the body, the victim can be cured by another tsungi, though they still stand a chance of dying. When tsentsak are being used, the tsungi must drink tobacco juice every couple hours to keep them nourished so they will not leave his body. Tsungi regularly drink tobacco juice (which acts as a narcotic) to help repel any tsentsak attacks from bewitching tsungi. Tsentsaks are obtained during the initiation/novice phase of becoming/being a tsungi. The longer a tsungi initiate abstains from sex, the more powerful they come (both varieties, the bewitcher and healer). During this time, they collect, plants, insects, and objects and have the power to convert them to tsentsak. Anything they can swallow is fair game to becoming a tsentsak. Each different type of tsentsak could perform a different ability, so the more types of tsentsak a tsungi had, the more skilled they were. Tsentsaks were primarily used for attacks or healing, but also occasionally for other tasks. Five years after the event of receiving their initial tsentsak, a bewitching tsungi has to perform a test to see if they retain enough power to continue to use tsentsaks to successfully kill people. This test involves using natema and launching a tsentsak at a tree where two of its main branches join to the trunk. If the tsungi still has enough power, the tree will split in the spirit world (it will still look intact in in the normal world). If they fail, they need to find a strong tsungi to acquire a new supply of tsentsak from. They contact/acquire/gain use of these beings through consuming natema, a hallucenogenic drink used to enter a trance state (called yagi/yage/yaje in Columbia, ayahuasca in Peru, caapi in Brazil). Anthropologists consuming this beverage determined the imagry they see in these altered states has shaped their view of reality. It is in this state the true nature of the tsentsak could be seen (in normal reality, they look like an ordinary animal or object). The tsentsak were important to the Jivaro world view. They believed the real world was subject to supernatural forces from the spirit world, which was the more powerful of the two worlds. The tsentsak were a part of this world view. Natema also allows healing tsungi to see into a person's body and allow them to find the bewitching tsungi's tsentsak. Healing tsungi only work in the dark since the light disrupts their drug-induced visions. The pasuk is a special type of tsentsak. Pasuks assist the bewitching tsungi. They are used when regular tsentsak cannot be used. They are used to get close to the victim, usually in the guide of an insect (which would include spiders) or some other forest creature. They can act after the tsungi has left the area on their own volition. The pasuk can shoot its own objects into the victim just as a tsungi shoots tsentsak into a victim to cause harm. The pasuk use this manner of attack when a healing tsungi has succeeded in removing standard tsentsak sent by that bewitching tsungi from the victim's body. The pasuk also has a protective 'shield' to defend it from attacks by the healing tsungi. Think of the pasuk as a sort of proxy for the bewitching tsungi. They are the most skilled spirit helper a tsungi can have. Each tsungi can have only 1 pasuk. To the naked eye, the pasuk resembles a tarantula, however, under the influence of the natema, the healing tsungi sees a pasuk as a fully-sized human covered completely in iron except for their eyes. Pasuks can only be slain by a tsungi shooting one of their tsentsak into its eyes. The Pasuk isn't the only special type of tsentsak. There is also the wakani, a bird tsentsak which can be used by bewitching tsungi to fly into a victim's house, scare them, cause insanity, and a fever which kills them in a short while. Wakani can also perch on the victim's house and wait for a healing tsungi to remove the tsentsak from the victim and then they can shoot tsentsak from their beak into the victim, making sure the victim can never be cured. Wakanis are not considered as good as pasuks, however, they can only be encountered when a healing tsungi drinks maikura, an even more potent hallucinogenic brew than natema. The appearance of the pasuk as a tarantula to conventional reality explains why Square-Enix chose a Diremite model for Pasuk. The fact that tsentak are invisible or have mundane forms in normal reality, but function in different, powerful forms in the spirit world ties in perfectly to the nature of being an ENM, NMs which reside as ghosts of sorts, fading out of Vana'diel.
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