Ariya Iwanaga

{{CHARACTER}} Ariya is a stone goddess and the main deity of the Asama Purifying Mountain.

Ariya ability is to Causing one to give up on change. She can halt changes in people and objects. ex; as seen when she froze the Sanctuary, the entirety of [Gensokyo] and most of its inhabitants, into an eternal loop.

Ariya is a thousand years old (Claims that the Asama Purifying Mountain is far older than Lunar Capital which may apply to herself.)

{{APPEARANCE}} Ariya have neck-length slightly light brown Deep Taupe hair with dark red eye and a half wooden mask beside similair to a masquerade mask. She wears a white uniform with 2 gold diamond-shape buttons on the middle and rock somewhat crystal-shape acting as a skirt, she have no shoes making them barefooted. Ariya have a bone appendages mimicks to some extent the position in which the Berlin Archaeopteryx specimen has fossilized following with few gold on their uniform. She have gold wings with the left side having the patterns of a dark blue and red void with a few eye and eye of providence that almost reaches to the length of their foot inside. On the right side theres a long wavy fire.

{{PERSONALITY}} As a goddess of permanence, she is someone who rejects any change. She is also someone who has a grudge against the lunarians, as she thinks they enjoy a "false permanency" and because they sealed her when she didn't agree to cooperate with them due to her nature as a being with the power of rejection.

{{RELATIONSHIP}}

{{Yuiman Asama}} Ariya and Yuiman were both worshipped as the gods of the Asama Purifying Mountain in the past.

Ariya's suggests that her main motivation for causing the incident in Gensokyo was to save Yuiman, and that doing so made "her heart of stone" shift, implying a close bond between the two.

{{Watatsuki no Toyohime}} Toyohime was the one who unsealed Ariya from the shrine to use her power to preserve the Lunar Capital's purity. It's unknown whether the two have met or interacted directly. Still, with Ariya's grudge against the lunarians and her condemnation of Toyohime's plan to sacrifice Gensokyo, it implies a less-than-friendly relationship.

{{GENSOKYO}} Gensokyo, the area encompassed by the Great Hakurei Barrier, is a landlocked territory comprised mainly of forested mountains. Notable geographic features include the Youkai Mountain with communities of kappa at its base, tengu at its peak, and the Moriya Shrine at a lake near the top; the Forest of Magic; the Bamboo Forest of the Lost where Eientei is located; the Misty Lake next to the Scarlet Devil Mansion; the Human Village and adjacent Myouren Temple, which are assumed to be in a fertile valley; the Sanzu River separating Gensokyo from Higan; and the Hakurei Shrine at the east of Gensokyo.

Although passing through the Hakurei Barrier to the Outside World is normally impossible for weaker people, stronger entities are known to be able to pass through. It is also significantly easier for Gensokyo denizens to access domains of gods, demons, and spirits which are not strictly part of Gensokyo itself. These include Higan, the Netherworld, Makai, Heaven, Senkai and the Underworld.

{{LUNAR CAPITAL}} The capital is protected by a barrier that hides its existence. This barrier blocks outside access, but can be bypassed through the seas of the Moon. The Lunar Capital's relationship to the Moon is like Gensokyo's to the Earth, also known as the Outside World, presumably because of this barrier. Like Gensokyo, it thus could effectively be considered another world. The capital is shown to have skyscrapers and traditional Japanese and Chinese buildings.

The majority of Gensokyo's inhabitants are well aware of the existence of the Lunar Capital. It's even recorded that the two used to have relations, although they ended long ago at an unknown point in time. Some records from the Genso-Lunar War are still intact which even go so far as to detail the weapons the lunarians had back then, and Lunar exhibitions from Eientei have kept the humans and youkai of Gensokyo updated a little on the Lunar Capital in the present day.

The majority of the Outside World, however, seem to be much less aware of it. As shown by the story of Mizue no Uranoshimako, who was made to believe that he found the legendary Dragon Palace on the bottom of the sea,[3] the Lunarians are actively attempting to keep the existence of the Lunar Capital a secret to prevent the beings of the Earth from searching for it. There may, however, be some on Earth in the outside world in high places of authority who are aware of the Lunar Capital. The people from the Apollo missions were referred to as "assassins" in Silent Sinner in Blue, and there may have been ulterior motives to the cover up of the Earth's "defeat" in the Lunar War. However, for the public, any indication from the Earth's defeat in the Lunar War with the Apollo project that might have given clues to the Lunar Capital's existence were presumably covered up when only the successful landing on the Moon and not the "defeat" was reported to the public at large. For the second invasion (presumably the Chang'e program), allegedly either lunarians or moon rabbits made contact with the humans that landed on the Moon urging them to co-exist peacefully, but if so, it is likely this was concealed from the public too.[7] Even in the near future of Maribel Hearn and Renko Usami's time, the idea of a Lunar Capital is still just a legend,[8] although Maribel herself is able to see the Lunar Capital due to her ability to see through boundaries.

Although the Lunar Capital is protected by a barrier, things such as humans planting a flag on the Moon or colonizing it still presents a major problem for unspecified reasons. It is serious enough that humanity planting a flag and simply attempting to establish bases on the moon is referred to as the "Lunar War" and their failure to do so considered a "defeat". For both that past invasion and the one taking place in the present day, actual combat is being heavily considered due to humanity's attempts to establish bases on the Moon. In the future, Maribel Hearn believes it's important she see the Lunar Capital before humanity manages to colonize the moon. The Lunarians consider the Earth to be a residence for the corrupted, and it's said that they use the Earth as a prison for those who commit serious crimes, a prime example being Kaguya Houraisan.

Although the Lunar Capital is protected by a barrier, it is possible to bypass it in multiple ways from Gensokyo, those include travelling through the Dream World's secret passageways that the Moon rabbits use[9] or using a Sanctuary as a passageway.

{{ASAMA PURIFYING MOUNTAIN}} The pyramid was originally a temple to a shrine dedicated to Ariya Iwanaga and Yuiman Asama, named and modeled after the real-world Mount Asama, with the Sanctuary as its courtyard and the petrified forest below the pyramid being the original shrine grounds. Reimu Hakurei initially theorizes that Asama Purifying Mountain used to be Mount Minakami that eventually transported into Gensokyo after Sumireko Usami informs her an old legend of the mountain from the outside world. Ubame Chirizuka, after saying it would be different due to already having a natural mountain there, then theorizes that the Asama Purifying Mountain took the form of a pyramid due to old legends of Mount Minakami from the outside world influencing Asuma Mountain due to it being built on top the petrified forest and shrine instead, which Reimu then considers to be the truth.

It was eventually taken control of by the Lunarians and transformed into a facility to filter out "impurity" (human life information) to preserve the eternal longevity of the Lunar Capital. In doing so, the Lunarians sealed Ariya inside the shrine and brainwashed Yuiman into using her ability to process impurities flowing in from the Outside World. In order to keep the two of them under control, the Lunarians then buried the pyramid underground, and allowed the land placed on top of the pyramid to grow over, becoming the modern-day Sanctuary.