Alice Margatroid

1. #1Gensokyo

   Keys: Gensokyo,

   This is a remote place, far from any human habitation. In ancient times, this place was densely populated by youkai and those humans who wandered too close would be eaten by them. Most people feared the youkai, but a brave warrior would occasionally rise to defeat them. Some of those brave humans settled in Gensokyo to keep close watch on the youkai. Scientific advancements among the human race further contributed to Gensokyo's growing human minority. Due to this, Yukari Yakumo implemented a plan roughly 500 years ago to restore the power of youkai in Gensokyo by creating a "Barrier that divides Reality and Fantasy" called the Youkai Expansion Project. With the plan's implementation, Gensokyo became a place where it brought in things that have become fantasy outside; in other words, things that were forgotten in the Outside World such as youkai, lost items, and such are paranormally transported into Gensokyo. In 1885 A.D., Gensokyo was again made isolated from the rest of Earth with the creation of the Great Hakurei Barrier. Gensokyo has made next to no attempt at contact with the outside world since its creation. Gensokyo's language is modern Japanese. Gensokyo is populated by youkai, humans, and animals. 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. Youkai make up the majority of Gensokyo's population. Many youkai are sub-classified into other races, such as devils, magicians, vampires, fairies, kappa, oni, and many more. Many types of spirits also inhabit the world, such as Ghosts, Poltergeists, Evil spirits, Divine spirits, a number of Tsukumogami, and apparitions. Many unusual items exist in Gensokyo, of which quite a few are based in Japanese mythology in one way or another. However, given Gensokyo's nature as a "land of that which is forgotten", even more modern items that have fallen out of style for a long time (such as the smart phones, handheld consoles, etc) have occasionally turned up. Many of these "new" items appear near Muenzuka, and both Rinnosuke Morichika and Nazrin are said to have picked up various objects there. In addition to the unusual items floating in, many goods are the same as those from old Japan. Goods like black tea and coffee are considered to be a luxury. There are two known sources of media in Gensokyo: the Bunbunmaru Newspaper, written and edited by Aya Shameimaru; and the Kakashi Spirit News, by Hatate Himekaidou. The former seems to be far more popular, however, with its sometimes loose depictions of reality. Gensokyo exists roughly parallel to the outside world. As the inhabitants of Gensokyo, however, have developed their spiritual lives instead of following the trend of technological advancements in the outside world, Gensokyo itself can look like Japan from hundreds of years ago.

2. #2Great Hakurei Barrier

   Keys: Great Hakurei Barrier,

   Sometime in the 15th century, the youkai now known as Yukari Yakumo set the groundwork for the barrier with her "Youkai Expansion Project", turning Gensokyo into a haven for youkai by enchanting it to attract the fantastic and repel the mundane. The Barrier was proposed by Yukari and the other Sages of Gensokyo and erected later in Meiji 18 (CE 1885). Although the Gensokyo Record states that it was made by human priests and later reinforced by youkai, however the Gensokyo Record is unreliable and that Yukari is widely acknowledged as the creator of the Barrier One doubter of this is Yuyuko Saigyouji, who doubts that even Yukari could form such a strong barrier. While the idea was at first highly controversial among youkai and led to much infighting between them, it is now almost universally accepted. The barrier is so important to Gensokyo that the year of its formation is now marked as the year 0 in the Gensokyo Calendar. The Hakurei Shrine, which exists on both sides of the border, is supposed to be its only gateway. However, the phenomenon of "spiriting away" can also cause objects and even living beings to slip through the border at random, particularly if they have started to be forgotten by the outside world. For instance the crested ibis started to become more common in Gensokyo after the Japanese variety were recognised as extinct, and paper started showing up more frequently with the rise of digital storage. Outside humans are not protected by the Spell Card rules and thus can be freely preyed on by youkai, but they may choose to become citizens of the Human Village or request for the Hakurei shrine maiden to send them home. Even in modern times, it is still possible for youkai, gods and even entire locations (such as the Scarlet Devil Mansion and Moriya Shrine) to pass through the border and enter Gensokyo. While some youkai (most notably Yukari Yakumo, Nue Houjuu and the zashiki-warashi) have shown the ability to exit Gensokyo and travel to the outside world, it appears that this requires uncommon knowledge, abilities and/or conditions, as other characters seem to think of it as nigh-impossible. It is believed that youkai go on "hunting trips" through the border to gather humans from the outside world as food, disguising the kidnappings as stories of people running away from home, but it is unclear how and when these are performed. As a "boundary of common sense" the barrier is designed to affect only living things and their creations, while allowing natural forces to pass through (hence the barrier is permeable to sunlight, and Gensokyo's rivers are connected to those of the Outside World). The space on the edges of the barrier is non-Euclidean - humans who attempt to leave the barrier will find themselves encountering the same landmarks over and over, without ever getting any further from where they started. There are two ways of travelling through the Barrier. True, complete passage can be achieved by punching a hole in the barrier and walking through. However, beings may also enter or leave Gensokyo by being "spirited away", a method which is often only temporary and allows only certain items to be brought inside or outside Gensokyo. Some of these spirited away travellers have little physical presence (sometimes to the point of appearing only as a shadow) and will eventually be pulled back home, remembering their trip as if it were only a dream. In fact at least some of these trips have taken the form of literal dreams, with the traveller's mind returning to their body when they awake. However, it is still possible for a dreamer in the Outside World to bring some objects from Gensokyo to the Outside World and viceversa. Yukari is known for being the one who purposedly spirits away humans by causing fluctuations in the barrier. The barrier is weaker around objects which carry the spiritual energy of the Outside World. Usually this effect is barely noticable, outside of concentrated sources like the Occult Balls. However, when one of the trees around the Hakurei Shrine was killed, a tree from the Outside World was drawn in to replace it, causing the surrounding area to become distorted. On another occasion Rinnosuke Morichika was briefly drawn into the Outside World due to concentrating on an MP3 player while Reimu was nearby tampering with the barrier.

3. #3Forest of Magic

   Keys: Forest of Magic,

   Since Gensokyo isn't a huge place, if you say "forest" (森 Mori), it refers to the Forest of Magic. It's called the "Forest of Magic" because of the wide number of hallucinogenic mushrooms that grow here. Many magicians live in this forest for the sake of increasing their magical powers with these hallucinogenic mushrooms. The forest has areas of ground where the sun never shines, thus making them dark and damp for mushrooms to endlessly grow there. It's a place whose true nature is clouded by strange rumours and weird happenstance. The forest's environment is extremely hazardous to both humans and youkai and both kinds typically also find the place uncomfortable. The spores of monstrous mushrooms dance about in mid-air and a normal human's health would worsen simply by breathing here, putting aside the human-eating plants and inevitable, horrible misfortune that will surely befall all who even think of trespassing into the forest. However, if one could stand the noxious gases that the monstrous mushrooms emit, then it would be both a safe and secretive place to seclude oneself, or a fairly nice place to live for people who don't like to be disturbed. Marisa Kirisame and Alice Margatroid's homes are located somewhere within the forest near to each other. Near both their houses is the tree where the Three Fairies of Light used to live, but they have now moved behind the Hakurei Shrine. Rounding out the main attractions is Kourindou, Rinnosuke Morichika's shop of odds and ends (including many objects from the outside world), which is found on the very border of the forest itself.

4. #4Scarlet Devil Mansion

   Keys: Scarlet Devil Mansion, Scarlet Manor,

   The Scarlet Devil Mansion, also referred to as the Scarlet Manor or Scarlet Mansion, is a European-style mansion owned by Remilia Scarlet. It is located on a ridge on the edge of the Misty Lake. From the outside, there are scarlet-colored windows, but there aren't many windows because of the nature of its vampire residents. There are plenty of rooms without windows at all, too. The entrance to the mansion is usually not fully closed. There is a clock tower on the roof, but the bell on it only rings at night. The inside of the mansion is much larger than is apparent from the outside. This is due to Sakuya Izayoi's ability to manipulate time and space. The mansion's owner is Remilia Scarlet. Patchouli Knowledge, a friend of hers, resides in the library, while Remilia's sister, Flandre Scarlet, is not allowed to leave the mansion. Hong Meiling acts as the gatekeeper, but is frequently overpowered by many characters. Some time after the events of Ten Desires, a number of hofgoblins were hired on as additional help. Many fairies are employed by Remilia Scarlet as Fairy Maids in order to clean the mansion, and they're overseen by the head maid, Sakuya Izayoi. The maids don't appear to be very useful, however, since they are just fairies. According to an advertisement in Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red (Cirno's interview), maids are provided with three meals a day and uniforms, but no paid vacations, breaks, or afternoon naps. However, unofficially (in terms of the mansion's policies), the fairy maids are free to do as they please,and another employee gatekeeper Meiling is known to take afternoon "siestas" (which is either close enough to a nap, or an excuse to cover up that it is an actual nap). The advert shows the mansion is open to hiring other beings as maids, and Sakuya has indicated in the vampire team ending in Imperishable Night that if she were to train a successor, it would be human, but currently Sakuya is the only human maid at the mansion. The maids are free to leave and return to regain their posts, but despite the fickle nature of the mistress, their lives are comfortable and most end up staying. The magic library in the mansion's basement is said to be the largest in Gensokyo, but as it is not open to the general public, it's relatively unknown what kinds of books are in there. Hieda no Akyuu suggests that there are very rare magic books, and there are also many books from the Outside World. Certainly, unconfirmed to Akyuu, at least some books are in Esperanto, some were written by Patchouli, and some are dangerous to even touch. Remilia created a swimming pool in the library after the events of Silent Sinner in Blue, but this is not intended to be a permanent fixture. Koakuma resides here and serves Patchouli. It is unknown if she's the only little devil at the mansion, or if there are others. Events are quite commonly held at the mansion, but as there is usually no previous notice of them, the residents are the only ones that attend. Various events are depicted in Strange and Bright Nature Deity, and it seems that Marisa Kirisame is a frequent visitor. One exception was when the mansion held a publicity event during Silent Sinner in Blue to promote Remilia's plan to fly to the Moon in the Moon Rocket, inviting pretty much everyone from Gensokyo. The incident in Embodiment of Scarlet Devil in 2003 made the mansion well-known to humans.

5. #5The Three Fairies of Light

   Keys: The Three Fairies of Light,

   The Three Fairies of Light, or the Three Fairies for short, also called the Three Mischievous Fairies, are a small group of fairies composed of Sunny Milk, Luna Child, and Star Sapphire. They are known for causing mischief to humans by playing pranks on them using their powers.

6. #6Spell Cards

   Keys: Spell card,

   Spell cards appear to play an important role in casting powerful character-specific magic. During a spell card trance, the user's offensive and defensive capabilities appear to increase greatly. In some cases, the user becomes completely invincible for the duration of the trance. However, the user may only cast the spell that was specified by the spell card until the trance ends, limiting its overall usefulness. The spell card system was developed by Reimu Hakurei (however, the original draft being written on a youkai contract has called this into question) and first used in the Scarlet Mist Incident. They were designed to give even weak youkai and humans a chance to win, as well as to provide youkai a way to defeat the Hakurei Shrine in a fair duel. This reason was Marisa Kirisame convinced Watatsuki no Yorihime to use the spell card rules in order to make fights equal and, as Yorihime puts it, to prevent bloodshed. Marisa Kirisame describes them in terms similar to a regular duel: You must dodge your opponents or be crushed by them. However, the difference between spell cards and a normal duel is that "the most beautiful one wins. It's a very mental contest." Reisen Udongein Inaba clarifies that "beautiful" in part means without dirty tricks. As it seems in the following, spell cards regulate rules for the time a duel is held such as: Used equipment, a time limit, winning and losing conditions and restrictions (mostly for the dodging part). Spell cards however don't seem to be limited to magic. Sanae Kochiya is able to call upon the power of a god, while Nitori Kawashiro or Marisa are able to use equipment, such as the Mini-Hakkero. Everything that can be used as an attack counts as a spell card, including everyday objects. Kogasa Tatara throws umbrellas in some of her spell cards while Minoriko Aki uses potatoes. Not having such equipment cannot create unique spell cards. If Marisa didn't have her Hakkero, then she wouldn't able to use her Master Spark.

7. #7The Palace of the Earth Spirits

   Keys: Palace of the Earth Spirits,

   The Palace of the Earth Spirits is a mansion situated in the center of what used to be Hell (now Former Hell) in the Underworld, and is near the Former Capital. The palace is a Western-style mansion with what appears to be many stained glass windows on a chequered floor. In the courtyard is a large hole that leads to the Hell of Blazing Fires below. It's said that the palace was constructed after the Underworld was separated from Hell. Satori Komeiji took control of the palace and managed it by herself with the help of her pets, keeping it relatively peaceful. Of her pets, Rin Kaenbyou's duty is to carry corpses to the Remains of Blazing Hell for the heating of Former Hell and Utsuho Reiuji is to maintain that heat. The other pets' duties were said to be tending the garden and playing with Satori's sister, Koishi Komeiji.

8. #8Underworld

   Keys: Underworld,

   The Underworld is made up of several different layers. The highest one, which is still very far below ground, is known as Old Hell, which was once Hell long ago, before the Yamas decided to relocate due to overpopulation. The Old Capital and the Palace of the Earth Spirits are located on this layer, supposedly at the center of what used to be Hell.

   Below that, accessed via a hole in the courtyard of the Palace of the Earth Spirits, is the Remains of Blazing Hell, which produces the heat for Old Hell. Below even that lies the Nuclear Furnace, seen in Stage 6 of Subterranean Animism, which is kept alight by Utsuho Reiuji, and functions the main power source for the rest of the Underworld. Even lower is the Hell of Blood Pools, where the emotions of countless organisms congeal as blood that can be perceived as oil.

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