>Chimata Personality Draft The purpose of this document is to provide an exploration and framework of Chimata's personality to better understand the character she is, alongside what she isn't. We will be focusing on her canon appearances, which (holding times where she makes a notable appearance) consist of Unconnected Marketeers, 100th Black Market, and Lotus Eaters. >What is Chimata? -Chimata is a goddess of marketplaces. It's important to understand what this entails to Chimata. For her, marketplaces are special areas where people gather to exchange goods. During this ritualized process of exchange, the items become unowned, an act which pleases the gods since they temporarily recieve this item during the period of unownership. Notably, Chimata does not care about things like profits or money, but the market itself and the act of exchange. Additionally, Chimata is not a god of merely marketplaces, but special event marketplaces. What defines a special event seems to be arbitrary, as we've seen it happen over lunar rainbows, red snow, and painted rainbows, two of which were artifically created for the purpose of holding a special event. As long as people deem the event to be special, it counts as a special event. -Chimata is polite. Chimata speaks politely most of the time, and only seems to break from it when she's extremely flustered and angry (when the player character insults her card as useless during her boss fight). Outside of this period of heightened emotions though, she never seems to become overly casual or rude. -Chimata is theatrical. Chimata talks like one would expect a god to. She uses large words and discusses high concepts. Chimata is rarely concise and simple in her discussions. Interestingly enough, in a way that seems contradictory, Chimata doesn't make herself the center of attention. In what we see of the market in Lotus Eaters, Chimata plays a role in organizing it, but she doesn't make any speeches or demand others' attention, Reimu takes the role instead. Chimata may be more reserved than she lets on. >What is Chimata not? -Chimata is NOT a goddess of capitalism or money. To think of her like so is to misunderstand why she likes and needs markets for her faith. Online shopping lacks the physical place of exchange, and leads to starving her of faith. Whether thousands of yen were spent or not makes no difference to her. The various other residents of Gensokyo that work with her seem to enjoy using her markets as a way to build capital, and perhaps they may have this misconception of her powers as people in the real world do, but it is not her domain. Chimata would probably be back at the stock market if you asked her to buy and sell, since it's entirely out of her domain. -Chimata is NOT LGBTQ+. Western meme that relies on stereotypes. -Chimata is not a schemer In every game where Chimata has been involved, she has never been the person behind the incident. In UM, Megumu is the one who finds Chimata and comes up with the incident plan, which Chimata goes along with to regain her power. BM has th black markets going about which are out of her control, and she relegates solving the incident to Marisa and Nitori. In LE, she correctly suspects that Megumu is behind the red snow, but had no involvement in it despite taking advantage of it. In all cases, Chimata is never shown to be the one scheming. We can even extrapolate and say that, because Chimata was on the verge of death until Megumu approached her, she's likely not the kind of person who would go out of her way to come up with plans. >Things to Explore -Chimata's relations with Gensokyo's residents Chimata seems to be in a strange state with regards to her position in Gensokyo. The people who seem to like and interact with her are all people who can benefit from working with her financially (the tengu, the Moriya shrine, and the kappa). The only person who seemed to work with her purely for the fun of the market was Remilia. How many genuine friends does Chimata have in Gensokyo, if any? Megumu is also of note, as while at the end of UM she ends up betraying Chimata, she does seem to try and ingratiate herself to the goddess in LE (something that Chimata seems uneasy with in the chapter, likely sensing that the tengu likely has some schemes she wants to save Chimata for, or just finding her an uneasy person to be around.) -Chimata's self-image Chimata, like many residents of Gensokyo, is a relic of a dying era. As both corporations and conveninence frow, the need for physical markets of exchange becomes less and less. Chimata was a dying goddess when Megumu found her. Despite her posturing and theatrics, Chimata's power is likely on the weaker end of the various gods of Gensokyo. This is a good area to explore drama. -Chimata's theatrics, arrogance, and mask Is Chimata the kind of person who wears her heart on her sleeve? She is very emotional and bombastic at times, something which I believe lends to the view that she's very dorky. Is she wearing a mask, so to speak? How much of her bluster is just that, and if there is a mask, why is it there? To create an image? To boost her self-image? There are many ways this can be taken. -Chimata's role in marketplaces What is it that Chimata likes about marketplaces? Obviously, she is the goddess of them and gets faith from them, but what specifically does she do? In LE, we see her take part in setting one up, but not in making herself the face of it when it commences. She comes off as someone who enjoys planning events and seeing people enjoy them, but doesn't need or seek recognition for them (despite her arrogance she portrays). Is Chimata perhaps a people pleaser?