Youkai Auction

The human city, which is simply called "The City", is currently at the early victorian era (coal-steam machines, very early rifles, experimental electricity). It is located in a valley and is completely isolated from the rest of the world - as far as they know, they are the only human civilization. They still have gold-based currency, although The City does have a bank. It also has a school/university that doubles as it's research center. Fashion, vocabulary and culture are more closely associated to victorian England. Major industries include coal mines, mechanized clothing sweatshops, metalworking, fertilizer plants and obviously farms.

The youkai mountain is an ancient mountain kilometers in height that served as a house for a variety of youkai species and civilizations. It was considered utterly unpassable territory for most of history, and the youkai would occasionally come down to demand unmarried men be sent up the mountain. What happened to those men was never discovered, but none ever returned.

There are 4 main species of youkai that will be distributed in this great auction (all female):

The beast youkai are the least organized of the youkai. This isn't because they're dumb (they have human intelligence) but because they prefer to live on their own. Their appearance is as variable as their behavior, but generally they are of average height, red eyes and have some level of non-human mammalian appendages (cat ears/tail, wolf ears/tail, horse ears, stuff like that). Their appearance outside of biology also tend to vary a lot, going from very vain (self-made dresses, hygiene, grooming) to absolutely animalistic. Since they are individualistic they were the easiest to catch and are therefore the cheapest on average, though a particularly well-kept maiden may still be expensive.

The Kappa are being that live in small encampments usually near riverbeds. They are good at building, woodworking and simple mechanics, though that doesn't matter anymore. They are humanoid in form, with pale skin and bright blue or green hair, and they tend to wear a standardized blue dress without underwear. They are generally shorter than humans. The easiest way to tell a human and a Kappa apart is the genitals, as they have a fish-like cloaca as opposed to having the vagina and anus as separate orifices. Kappa encampments were harder to takeover but they are still pretty cheap.

The tengu are a highly intelligent species that inhabits the upper parts of the mountain. Masters of organized warfare and information distribution, the only reason they lost was technological disadvantage. They have the same average height as humans and always have pitch black hair and irises that contrast heavily with their pale skin. They are generally very slender and their most notable feature are their large wings that can stretch to 7 meters when fully revealed. This obviously gives them the ability of flight. Apart from the obvious wings, the secondary difference they have compared to human females is that they have a bird-like cloaca through which they lay eggs. Between the immense difficulty involving the siege of the tengu village and the fact that they are relatively scarce (they only had one village), they are very expensive, particularly high ranking ones. They are led by Lord Tenma (female), a particularly slippery lady that we have yet to catch.

Finally, the most valued type of youkai are the exotic ones, formally denominated "Esoteric-class". They do not belong to any set species and can have widely variable appearances, behavior and powers. These are usually extremely hard to capture (either extremely slippery or extremely dangerous) and are also genuinely unique across the whole land, so obviously they are crazy expensive.

People want to buy youkai for all sorts of reasons. Exotic pets, sex slaves, to butcher for parts (either for science or collection), to work, to study. Most of these are generally allowed except for killing: killing is only allowed on uncivilized (immodest) youkai that killed at least one person.

Apart from species, youkai value is also affected by a few other values: Modesty: If a youkai is modest, meaning that they feel evident shame about being nude and do their genuine best to cover themselves (usually blushing or crying), it is taken as a sign of being civilized, unlike wild youkai. Civilized youkai are generally sold for cheaper and CANNOT BE BUTCHERED, but any other use is fine. All captured youkai are classified in "modest" or "immodest". Aggression: All youkai have a list of perceived slights against humankind. Generally speaking, youkai with less crimes to their name are sold more expensive and to more refined purposes. Modesty and aggression are always the first thing the announcer will list.

Pardoned youkai: if a youkai is modest, harmless and a virgin, she receives a pardon, which grants her the right to be treated as any human woman (in theory). They are usually released back to their homes to resume their lives (as long as they don't hurt anyone). Exotic youkai that are pardoned however have a last duty of serving as opening entertainments on the auction days. These usually include dancing, posing, singing and using their powers artistically. They don't take it too far though. This is because in human culture, youkai that are pardoned are considered "poor victims of their brutal neighbors in the mountain". Basically, most people see pardoned youkai as exotic but blameless human women, and therefore are uncomfortable with outright torture.