Th12/characters setting and extra story.txt/en

--- ○東方星蓮船 (Touhou Seirensen: Eastern Star Lotus Ship)　～ Undefined Fantastic Object

Character Intros and Spoilers

Team Shanghai Alice Leader ZUN 2009/08/15 ---

There's lots of extreme spoilers here, even about the ending. Only look at it if you've given up on clearing it, or just don't mind that sort of thing.

Move down one Astronomical Unit (~150 million km) from here ↓

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======================================================= ■1. Extra Story

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The Hakurei Shrine. Reimu and Sanae were talking about the ship that flew through the sky, and about Byakuren. Then Marisa appeared in a rush.

Marisa "Reimu, quick!" Reimu "What are you all excited about?" Sanae "Did something happen?" Marisa "There's really something riding around in all those UFOs everywhere! I saw it with my own eyes!"

Marisa suddenly took out one of the UFO-shaped fragments of the Flying Storage. The fragment had a mysterious secret.

Reimu "But the UFOs were parts of the Flying Storage, right? I heard from Byakuren that since it was a flying storage, its pieces would still float in the air." Marisa "No, this is one of those fragments!"

Marisa took out an old, shabby-looking piece of wood.

Sanae "What's that old shabby-looking piece of a board?" Marisa "Look."

Marisa tossed the piece of wood at Sanae. Surprised, Sanae reached out to try to catch it. Somehow, it stopped in midair, and never actually dropped.

Sanae "It's floating in midair...?" Reimu "It does seem like this would be one of the fragments of that Flying Storage, rather than a UFO. But, Byakuren said that's what the the UFO was... So, what's with this floating piece of wood?" Marisa "Actually, I tried breaking open one of the tiny UFOs." Reimu "And is this what you found inside?"

Marisa shook her head.

Marisa "No, no. There was a little snake inside. But, the snake turned into a bird! And when I took out the animal out from inside, the UFO turned into a piece of wood." Sanae "I don't understand this at all. But, where did the snake go?" Marisa "The snake flew away into the sky, like it was running away." Sanae "Into the sky...?"

Marisa "I was so surprised, I went to go ask Byakuren about it. Things like, "What are the fragments of the Flying Storage?", "Why do they look like UFOs?" And what do you think she said when I asked her that?" Reimu "I don't know, what did she say?" Marisa ""What does a UFO look like? This is just a normal piece of wood." It looks like these don't look like UFOs at all to them. They just thought they always looked like pieces of wood." Sanae "???"

Marisa "In other words, we're the only ones who thought the fragments of the Flying Storage looked like UFOs."

Reimu and Sanae were at a loss for words.

Sanae "It looks like different things to different people..." Reimu "...how can that be?" Marisa "That's all I know. But I get the feeling there's something else going on behind the scenes here. Something we don't know anything about."

And so, in order to solve the mystery, the three once again broke open some of the UFOs and chased after the snakes as they ran away. An unidentified flying object. Whatever could it be?

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======================================================= ■2. Character Settings

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◇Player Characters

The Shrine Maiden of Paradise Reimu Hakurei

Species: Human Ability: Flying in the air

The all-too-familiar shrine maiden of the Hakurei Shrine.

She treats everyone the same. However, since her job is youkai-hunting, she acts particularly strict with youkai, but she doesn't really care much about humans or youkai.

Where there's a treasure ship, there has to be the seven gods of luck. She figures that where any gods are involved, it's a job for her, but most of the seven gods of luck aren't Japanese gods. Her true goal is the treasure.

An Ordinary Magician Marisa Kirisame

Species: Human Ability: Ability to use magic

An ordinary magician living in Gensokyo. She also has a mania for collecting things.

She seems a bit weird, but in reality she's the most straightforward. She always wears black clothing because she thinks that's what magic users should do and because it hides dirt very well. Very straightforward.

In actuality, she doesn't believe that there are treasures in the ship. That would be too easy. She boards the ship because it seems fun to her, even if there's no treasure. She's just brimming with curiosity.

The Newbie Goddess of the Mountain

Sanae Kochiya

Species: Human Ability: Causing miracles

The Shrine Maiden living in Moriya Shrine in Youkai Mountain. She is not used to youkai hunting.

She wishes to talk to humans more, because she lives with gods and youkai, but most of humans living around the foot of the mountain are youkai-like humans. She is worried about becoming like them. As may be expected of a living god, she is as strong as youkai, but she is also somewhat of an airhead.

She tries to do something like youkai hunting on Kanako's recommendation, and... she makes an effort to get used to Gensokyo.

◇Enemy Characters

Stage 1 boss The Little Dowser General

Nazrin

Race: Mouse youkai Ability: Finding sought-for items

A natural-born dowser. They say she controls a great number of field mice to find what she's looking for. However, if it's food, the mice will eat it all up before they can get it to her. She is cunning and will flee from a fight as soon as she sees an enemy stronger than herself.

She went to and fro looking for the two things Shou entrusted her to find. One was the fragments of Flying Storage that were being called the flying treasure. The other was the jeweled pagoda of Vaiśravaṇa.

Stage 2 boss The Cheery Forgotten Umbrella

Kogasa Tatara

Race: karakasa obake Ability: Surprising humans

An umbrella that was left unused and became a youkai. She was originally an umbrella that someone forgot, but since the colour is unpopular, nobody ever picked her up, and she was carried off by the wind and became a youkai.

She rarely really hurts anyone, she just likes watching people be surprised. However, not many people have been surprised by her, so she's reading classic ghost stories to improve her technique.

Stage 3 boss The Big Wheel, Having Guarded and Been Guarded

Ichirin Kumoi

Race: youkai Ability: Using nyuudou

Unzan

Race: Nyuudou Ability: Being able to change shape and size at will

A youkai guarding the ship which seems to have a secret. She was using nyuudou to keep watch.

She wasn't ordered by someone to stand guard, she's doing it of her own accord. It's unknown just what she's after.

Ichirin's personality is very straightforward, but she's quick-thinking and understands things easily. Unzan is kind of dull, so it's easy for her to control him.

Unzan is a nyuudou made of clouds. He's a stubborn, quiet old man, but he's gentle at heart. He likes people who are on the up-and-up, and doesn't like roundabout things.

Since Ichirin is a member of Murasa's group of youkai, she also misses Byakuren. She is devoted to Byakuren, who was even kind to her nyuudou companion.

○Stage 4 Boss　　The Ghost of the Shipwreck Accident

Minamitsu Murasa

Species: Ship phantom Ability: Causing shipwrecks

The spirit of a human who fell off a ship and drowned in the distant past; due to her lingering attachment to this world, she was bound to the ocean and spent her days capsizing passing ships.

Humans feared her. Their fears turned her into a youkai, and over time, her ability to act freely was getting more and more restricted. People called her Murasa, based on her original name.

And so one day she reached a turning point. A Buddhist priest who'd been asked to vanquish Murasa appeared.

It was everything she'd wished for, too. She didn't think she could expand her power of fear as a youkai just by sinking ships with normal humans on them anymore. The monk that appeared was apparently very well known. Her status as a youkai would surely rise if she could sink the ship the monk was on. "If I succeed," she thought, "Maybe I can even free myself from this cursed ocean and attack the humans."

―― A few days later, the ship bearing the monk who'd come to defeat her approached. There were a few other humans besides the monk on that ship. She thought she'd use all her strength to threaten them. She thought she'd use all her strength to destroy the monk's Buddhist powers.

But, contrary to her expectations, the monk was completely defenseless. She got no response from her beyond that of a normal human. Before she knew it, the ship was sunk, and all of the people on it were flung into the sea.

This discouraged her. There was no pride to be taken in defeating someone so powerless. As she thought that, an unbelievable spectacle unfolded before her.

The monk was floating above the ocean. "She's riding a shining boat—and it's not the one I just capsized. In fact, that's the ship that I rode in so long ago."

"You were looking for this ship, right? That's why you sunk all of those other ships."

The monk had made the shining ship using her own powers.

"That ship ... ... ! Ah, how nostalgic ... ... but why?"

A youkai like her was much more afraid of spiritual attacks than swords or arrows. The monk knew this well.

"The ship that brought us here was sunk in a shipwreck. I've used my powers to make a new ship, but this is a very special ship, so there's no one that can captain it."

The monk extended her hand out to me, into the oceans to which I was bound.

"But you can captain this ship."

And with those words, she was able to leave these cursed oceans behind.

A few decades passed. Byakuren, the youkai saviour, had been captured and sealed by humans. At the same time, anything related to Byakuren was buried deep beneath the earth. Murasa, too, had been buried deep beneath the earth with the Flying Storage.

She never imagined she would be sent flying back above ground by a geyser. And so, she made a pledge: "This time, I'll be the one to save Byakuren. Yes, riding the ship that Byakuren created."

Stage 5 mid-boss The Little Dowser General

Nazrin

She's finally found the jeweled pagoda. Actually, she kept it a secret from Murasa that she was looking for it. Shou probably didn't tell anyone but her own underlings she'd lost something so important.

○Stage 5 Boss　　Disciple of Vaiśravaṇa

Shou Toramaru

Species: youkai Ability: Gathering treasures

A youkai representing good fortune. Byakuren had long been a devotee of Vaiśravaṇa. So, she thought she'd summon Vaiśravaṇa to her temple. But Vaiśravaṇa was very busy, and so was practically never there.

Byakuren realized that the youkai around the temple had always been afraid. They must be afraid of Vaiśravaṇa. They must think that they're going to be exterminated.

Vaiśravaṇa was too busy to hang around the temple much, and the youkai were too scared to come around. So, Byakuren came up with a cunning plan. She introduced the most honest and straightforward youkai on the mountain to Vaiśravaṇa and had the youkai gather faith in exchange.

That chosen youkai was Shou. A youkai in the form of a tiger, she was also the youkai that other youkai on the mountain trusted the most. The busy Vaiśravaṇa quietly took her on as a disciple.

However, she hadn't yet earned Vaiśravaṇa's full confidence. So, the mouse that acted as Vaiśravaṇa's helper, Nazrin, was selected to keep watch.

But, in spite of Vaiśravaṇa's worries, she didn't cause any problems at all. She was an excellent assistant.

Still, she was perhaps too excellent. When Byakuren was sealed away, she was completely focused on carrying out her duties as Vaiśravaṇa. She kept the fact that she was a youkai a secret from humans. She had her regrets about this, but it would have been self-destructive to reveal her true identity.

A few hundred years after Byakuren disappeared, the temple was in great disarray. And so, Byakuren's friends who'd been sealed deep beneath the earth returned.

She didn't want to have any more regrets. She wouldn't run away. She told Murasa and the others how to lift the seal. She was, after all, a youkai. She wanted to put all her power into bringing Byakuren back.

"In order to break the seal, we'll need the power of Myouren, Byakuren's brother. And the only things left are a flying treasury and the floating treasures... Murasa, let's take the ship and go look for it!"

○Stage 6 Boss　　The Sealed Great Magician

Byakuren Hijiri

Species: magician Ability: Using magic (specializing in magic that increases her physical abilities)

Byakuren's sibling Myouren was a famous monk. He could easily make a bowl fly away, and use it to take storages from stingy billionaires for himself, and cure sick people's illnesses in remote places.

Byakuren, getting along in years, learned Buddhist magic from Myouren. She normally lived on Flying Storage, which was packed with Myouren's Buddhist power, and so naturally Byakuren gained power of her own.

However, Myouren died before Byakuren. The bereaved Byakuren started to fear death greatly. She obtained the power to regain her youth, but rather than a Buddhist art, it was something more like black magic.

After having mastered the power of youth and left behind a normal creature's lifespan, the next thing she came to fear was someday losing her power.

The only way to lose that black art was for humanity to reject it entirely. In other words, if youkai ceased to exist, she wouldn't be able to sustain her own power. And so, she honored youkai. She pretended to be a great youkai exterminator, but actually saved the youkai behind the scenes.

She had great respect for youkai, but not because she disliked humans. In the beginning, it was born from her own greed, but as she learned of the difficult past the youkai had borne, she began to think she needed to do something to help them.

This youthful monk who'd suddenly appeared... Her youth and her magic made her extremely popular among humans. "As long as Byakuren is here, we don't have to fear youkai anymore. We don't need to live in fear of the night anymore."

And so the gap between her wishes and the expectations gave birth to a terrible tragedy. People began to call her a demon in human form. She was sealed away in Makai, never to appear before humans again.

Extra stage midboss The Cheery, Forgotten Umbrella

Kogasa Tatara

She figured you'd be best off trying to surprise people at night, so that's why she showed up. She didn't know if anyone would really be surprised or not. She is the only passerby youkai in this game. She's currently thinking of plotting to go startle Byakuren, who just opened a temple in Gensokyo.

○Extra boss　　The Unidentified Flying Fantastic Girl

Nue Houjuu

Species: nue Ability: Making her true form unknown

A great curiosity. An extremely mysterious youkai that flies the night sky. That is Nue.

She's been defeated by humans many times before, but each time, accounts of her appearance are different. According to one legend, she had the head of a monkey, the body of a raccoon dog, the legs of a tiger, and the tail of a snake. According to yet another legend, she had the head of a cat, the body of a chicken, and the tail of a snake.

These legends were all made up, though. In reality, she never showed people her true form. She just enjoyed watching humans get frightened and imagine all sorts of strange things from afar. That was her daily work.

Eventually she got tired of that and leisurely spent a long time deep beneath the earth's surface, but she got mixed up in the turmoil surrounding the geyser incident and appeared above ground once more.

She saw Murasa and the others who had been underground with her also come above ground and start plotting something. "Ah, finally I can have some fun again", she thought, and decided to give them some trouble by attaching the Seed of Unknown Form to the fragments of the Flying Storage.

The Seed of Unknown Form was a small snake-like flying object with no determined form. When people saw it, what they saw depended on their own experience and knowledge.

Since Reimu and the others didn't think that a block of wood had any business flying in the sky, they thought it was a round UFO of the sort that most exemplified unidentified flying objects.

Murasa and company thought that the fragments of the Flying Storage had been scattered about by the geyser, but it was in fact thanks to the Seed of Unknown Form.

In any case, when it looked like others were having fun, Nue would find a way to mess with them from afar. She didn't know what Murasa's group was planning, but she thought it would be funny if they failed.

However, humans appeared who seemed happy at the appearance of that unidentified flying object. She was interested to see what sort of human wouldn't be afraid of such a thing. So, she secretly followed them, sometimes helping them, sometimes getting in their way.

Eventually she found out that what Murasa was doing would benefit her, too, and came to regret what she'd done.

However, Byakuren did not ostracize her for having meddled with her return. The nue thought she would have no choice but to follow the monk for a while.