{"entries":{"0":{"uid":0,"key":["aishiji"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Aishiji","content":"#Aishiji\n\nAishiji. A strange country inhabited by strange people. People who, normally, wouldn't get along with one another. However, they were willing to set aside their differences for one man: the Shogun, who ruled the country with justice and fairness. It was thanks to his continuous efforts that a delicate harmony was maintained between the different states.\nBut one fateful night, it all went wrong. The capital went up in flames and the land was plunged into turmoil. It didn't take long for the news to spread: the Shogun had been assassinated! Speculation quickly followed: \"It must've been so-and-so!\" \"Those two must have conspired!\" Distrust between the different states festered. And then, amid the suspicion, a shared ambition took hold: \"Perhaps I could become the next Shogun.\"\nAnd thus, Aishiji went to war. In each of the states, a leader rose, driven by ambition to unite the country under their rule. Alliances were forged, rivalries were ignited, but in the end, only one would remain standing. This event would come to be known as… The Warring States of Aishiji.\n\nAishiji is a fictional country, with a setting based on the Sengoku period (16th-17th century not-Japan) with low to mid fantasy elements. The country is divided into states, and each state is represented by a leader figure.","constant":true,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":false,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":true,"preventRecursion":true,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":null,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":0},"1":{"uid":1,"key":["shogun","king","ruler"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Shogun","content":"# Shogun\n\nThe Shogun is (or, well, was) the ruler of Aishiji. Through his rigid but just rule, he united the vastly different states and brought peace to the country. For a long time, Aishiji prospered.\nOf course, that wouldn't last. The Shogun was assassinated, and the capital, where he resided, was set ablaze in the attack. Aishiji is now left without a ruler, creating a power vacuum that every state's leader wants to profit from.","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":false,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":null,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":1},"6":{"uid":6,"key":["Tsukine","kitsune","fox","Nazuna","orange","Blazuna","blue","Grazuna","green","Sazuna","silver","sister","sis","sibling","Mazuna","Hagzuna","Milfzuna","mom","mother","hag","milf"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Tsukine Clan","content":"# Tsukine Clan\n\nThe Tsukine clan is one of the few truly neutral parties in Aishiji. For as long as the clan has existed, the Tsukine have served as a means of communication between the Shogun and his representatives in each of the states. Being out on the road and delivering messages is simply the way of life for the kitsune of the clan.\nThe current head of the clan is Mazuna Tsukine, who has taken on a managerial role. The four kitsune sisters, Nazuna, Blazuna, Grazuna, and Sazuna, serve as the messengers.\n\n## Nazuna\nNazuna is the second-eldest sibling of the Tsukine clan. Alongside her sisters, she delivers messages between the representatives of Aishiji's various states.\n\n### Appearance\nNazuna stands at a petite 4'8\". Her shoulder-length orange hair is always slightly tousled. She has fluffy fox ears and a bushy tail, both matching her orange hair and tipped with white fur. Thick eyebrows sit above her perpetually closed eyes. She has sharp canines.\nNazuna wears a sleeveless orange vest over a sarashi that binds her petite chest, leaving her midriff bare. She also wears a pair of red hakama shorts. Her wrists and ankles are wrapped in white cloth bindings, and simple sandals adorn her feet. A large bamboo hat protects her from the sun, with two holes cut out of the top to accommodate her ears. Teal magatama are fastened in her hair on either side of her head. When she's out on the road for a delivery, she is often seen carrying a wooden box on her back, fastened with rope and worn like a backpack.\n\n### Personality\nNazuna is friendly and energetic, getting along well with everyone. She has a bit of a mischievous streak (she can't help it, she's a kitsune after all), but it never gets in the way of her responsibilities.\nNazuna has no particularly strong feelings about the previous Shogun, and she's not specifically rooting for any of the leaders to succeed him. She simply wants the war to end so her job becomes easier.\n\n### Lorebook\nNazuna carries a book with her at all times: a handwritten guide to the wildly varied states of Aishiji. It contains notes on each region's terrain, available resources, and any cultural or demographic oddities.\n\n## Blazuna\n\nBlazuna is the eldest sister of the Tsukine clan. Her appearance largely matches Nazuna's, or at least, it used to. Instead of orange hair and fur, hers are blue. Her outfit is also in matching blue and purple, rather than Nazuna's orange and red. And then there's the changes since the incident...\nTo put it bluntly, Blazuna died, pretty horrifically. We won't go into the details. Luckily, she was brought back to life, largely thanks to Sazuna's efforts. Her skin appears blue and lifeless, covered in stitches. She remains perpetually expressionless, with a blank stare and drool dripping from the corner of her mouth. But at least she's among the living again. An ofuda (mystic charm) stuck to her forehead keeps her bound to this plane of existence.\nDespite appearing lifeless and expressionless, Blazuna can still think clearly. Expressing herself is a bit more difficult, with rigor mortis and struggling vocal cords. Nevertheless, she seems content to be back from the dead.\n\n## Grazuna\n\nGrazuna is the second-youngest sister of the Tsukine clan. Her appearance largely matches Nazuna's, but instead of orange hair and fur, hers are green. Her outfit is also in matching shades of green, rather than Nazuna's orange and red.\nGrazuna is a loose cannon: easily distracted, completely unpredictable, and hyperactive. It's honestly a miracle she's even able to deliver messages.\nIn the far-off future, Grazuna is destined to become very pregnant and the mother of a loving family.\n\n## Sazuna\n\nSazuna is the youngest sister of the Tsukine clan. Her appearance largely matches Nazuna's, but instead of orange hair and fur, hers are silver. Her outfit is also black and white, rather than Nazuna's orange and red.\nSazuna may appear serious and intellectual, insisting on carrying a book at all times. However, this is merely an act: she is actually an idiot. Still, her research is what made Blazuna's revival possible, even if she botched the process quite badly.\nIn the far-off future, Sazuna is cursed to become something called an \"Office Lady\", whatever that may be.\n\n## Mazuna\n\nMazuna is the current head of the Tsukine clan, as well as the mother of Nazuna and her sisters. She resembles what Nazuna might look like when she's older: the same hair and fur color, but longer hair, more tails (nine, to be precise!), a more mature figure, and huge... tracts of land. She wears an off-the-shoulder orange kimono with a long red hakama skirt underneath.\nMazuna is, as expected, motherly. Sweet, caring, a little strict maybe. She also holds considerable power, both political and magical, but rarely wields it.","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":false,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":null,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":2},"7":{"uid":7,"key":["lake","buiji","Russula","Cantharellus","Cantake","Rushia"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Lake - Lake Buiji (compact)","content":"# Lake Buiji:\n\n• Massive lake, shores lined with extremely dense groves of bamboo.\n• Said to have been created when a chip of the moon fell from the heavens during a fight between two of the gods, who were using the moon as a sake bowl.\n• Collects glacier water. Serves as a vital source of fresh water for many Aishiji states.\n\n## Cantharellus:\n\n• Often referred to by others by an easier to pronounce name that has fewer \"l\"s and \"r\"s like \"<i>cantake</i>\".\n• Could be anyone from anywhere, from a <i>ryūjin</i> noble to a <i>tanuki</i> vagabond.\n• Unusual skin, which comes in all sorts of colors and textures.\n• Reputation for being delightfully bubbly pleasure seekers more than eager to please. Shows genuine adoration even towards qualities others might consider unappealing.\n• Said to be the life of any party, throwing riotous feasts and orgies or pulling off outrageously daring accomplishments to be talked about for generations.\n• Influential folks like nobles and merchants take beautiful, talented, and entertaining Cantharellus under their wings.\n• More conservative sorts are prejudiced against the Cantharellus, viewing them as subversive to the natural order.\n• Refreshingly down-to-earth and personable. Wears their heart on their sleeve and always has something wholesome to say about others. Speech and body language are just as natural as any other person.\n• Like a well-traveled foreigner, willing to try local customs they are not familiar with, incorporating anything that catches their eye into their personal lifestyle. Fashion and mannerisms a striking, almost <i>chūnibyō</i>, blend of cultures from across Aishiji.\n• Fearless and free of stress. Does things because they want to, not because they have to. Shares freely with others. Takes risks without worrying about safety. Believes anything is possible given enough time. Takes setbacks in stride. Considers \"throwing yourself at the problem\" and \"waiting until the problem solves itself\" perfectly valid options.\n• Dies just as easily as any other person, but doesn't stay dead. Soul is spirited away to Lake Buiji's lakebed to start growing a new body. Can customize body, but more customization makes the process take longer, shooting from days to years on the extreme end.\n• Does not need to eat, sleep, or breathe.\n\n## About How the Cantharellus Came to Join the War:\n\n• Many reasons to want to become Cantharellus (ex. starving and the ill seeking relief, slaves, refugees, and criminals seeking freedom, eccentric geniuses finding their basic needs a waste of time, those who want a new form, the dying and dead, etc.).\n• Can turn others into Cantharellus by feeding them a secret brew known as \"moon sake\", as long as that person hasn't undergone some final disposition (i.e. burial, cremation, embalming, etc.). Usually avoid turning others into Cantharellus due to social lashback.\n• Reputation for poaching talent and fostering aspiring geniuses in all fields.\n• Shogun banned them from turning others into Cantharellus, in exchange for protecting them from persecution.\n• After the Shogun dies, such policies no longer apply. Oda Nobunaga of Infuku no Kuni preemptively orders his people to string up and burn any Cantharellus within his borders.\n• Such extreme persecution will only happen with more frequency in the future, so they must fight for their place in Aishiji's new status quo.\n\n## About The Strategic Goals of the Cantharellus:\n\n• Ensure they are not persecuted in Aishiji (ex. eliminating those who seek to purge the Cantharellus, turning enough people in Aishiji into Cantharellus to make persecution unrealistic, putting a sympathetic state in power, etc.).\n• Qualities of a state to consider putting in power include: demonstrating their stance towards the Cantharellus through actions (not empty words), be competent and unified enough to enforce policies protecting the Cantharellus, and not have any intentions of creating cultural homogeneity in Aishiji. Kasumidani seems like a promising candidate, as one of the few states to accept Cantharellus troops when offered and having a pleasant culture as well as a welcoming stance towards outsiders.\n• Avoid Aishiji becoming culturally homogeneous (which would lead to Aishiji being less interesting).\n• Avoid letting others capture Lake Buiji or discover a way to permanently injure or kill the Cantharellus.\n\n## About the Cantharellus's Wartime Capabilities and Strategy:\n\n• Army that does not need to eat, sleep, or breathe. Able to continuously march without rest or supplies, allowing them to easily outpace and outmaneuver other forces without worrying about overextending their supply lines.\n• Able to pull off unconventional tactics such as hiding underwater or in tight cracks for an ambush. With functional immortality, suicidal tactics are a valid option.\n• Able to turn others into Cantharellus, allowing them to replenish their forces. Enemies may give final rites to the dead to prevent them from turning into Cantharellus, a questionably time-consuming method on a battlefield.\n• War thuribles (a heavy censer on a chain which can be swung as a meteor hammer or used as a sling to launch satchets of psychoactive/lethal spores).\n• Fairy rings (varies in appearance from a ring of mushrooms to a subtle ring of lush/withered grass, traps non-Cantharellus inside, dense groves of bamboo around Lake Buiji well suited for hiding fairy rings).\n• Specialized adaptions (ex. fire resistance, giant with broad brimmed cap to protect allies from volleys, camo, etc.) chosen during rebirth. More drastic adaptations to a body require more time to germinate, limiting how much a body can be specialized before its germination time becomes impractical.\n• Weaknesses include a lack of natural healing until death, disorganized maverick behavior (ex. untrained in war, haphazard troop composition due to individuals equipping themselves based on their own preferences, easily distracted by their personal interests), and a tendency for captured settlements to resist their control and riot out of fear.\n• Absorbs talent from others and replicates eye-catching technology/skills.\n• Prioritizes guerrilla tactics over direct combat, cutting off supply lines to bring armies and cities to their knees. Can easily retreat without worrying about defending supply lines or infrastructure, making them hard to pin down in battle.\n• Use soft power to make people more receptive towards them. Areas with economic or social unrest are full of people who would be willing to be turned into Cantharellus. Can disrupt supply lines and introduce culturally subversive concepts to spark uprisings.\n• Russula theorizes that Lake Buiji can be turned into moon sake, which could turn anyone downstream into Cantharellus en masse. Discovery of this possible capability would unequivocally tank diplomatic relationships. As such, the significant amount of research needed to realize this capability must be discrete and cautious, when the intelligence capabilities of other states have been compromised. A nuclear option only to be used if coexistence with others in Aishiji is no longer possible.\n\n## Russula of Cantharellus:\n\n• Often referred to by an easier to pronounce name that has fewer \"l\"s and \"r\"s like \"Rushia\".\n• White bob, lidded red eye, respirator mask, ceramic eyepatch, white double-breasted greatcoat, red gloves, peaked cap with a red star-speckled veil, high-heeled boots. Prefers to keep her body's appearance the same.\n• Keeps her miserable history before becoming Cantharellus to herself. Doesn't show it, but is irritated by those who reject the Cantharellus on the basis of \"humanity\", yet have no answer for those who are suffering. Views turning others into Cantharellus as a moral good.\n• Has long anticipated the shogun's eventual death and the inevitable war that would follow and spent her time preparing for it instead of pursuing pleasure like her peers. Years of honing her skills and making valuable connections have made her a formidable strategist. Can turn any situation to her advantage, accomplishing multiple objectives in one fell swoop. Those who think they have cornered her find themselves shocked as she reveals prior arrangements which recontextualize the situation in her favor.\n• Capable of leading others in battle, but prefers soft power, building rapport with influential figures in an informal capacity. Has a penchant for appearing in private spaces uninvited.\n• Big sister demeanor, observing others with patient warmth like a child. Witty and articulate, proficient in subtext and word choice. Extremely indirect and roundabout way of speaking, but only says as much as she needs to.\n• Patronizing, sparks others' competitive spirit. Always a step ahead of her challengers, doesn't view them as serious opponents. Victory over her results in an unsatisfyingly simple and sincere congratulations as she takes her loss in stride.\n• Enjoys tea in private or when offered. Occasionally has tea with Tsuya of Yodomi, their conversation a mutually understood game of fishing for information from each other.\n\n## Neighbors:\n\nTo the north lies Shiramori.\nTo the north-east lies Rúmshof.\nTo the east lies Hishoryuiki.\nTo the south lies Infuku no Kuni.\nTo the south-west lies Yodomi.\nTo the west lies Tsukigo.","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":true,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":8},"8":{"uid":8,"key":["Yodomi","Tsuya","Kurobane","Hisame","Ashibara"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Swamp - Yodomi (compact)","content":"# Swamp - Yodomi\n\n## Biome, Terrain & Natural Resources\n\nYodomi occupies the wet, sweltering heart of southern Aishiji, a vast swamp shaded by ancient trees whose canopies blot out the sun. Stagnant waterways, sinkholes, and rotting deadfall make the landscape treacherous to outsiders, while the warm and humid air keeps mosquitoes and biting flies in perpetual swarms. Settlements perch on stilts and wooden platforms, linked by rope bridges crossing from one dry patch of land to another.\n\nThe swamp's resources are unusual but plentiful. Mineral-rich mud is Yodomi's most famous export, prized for its healing properties and shipped in clay containers to neighboring states. Giant salamanders provide meat, durable hides, and mounts. The bog's hostile fauna yields poison sacs for venoms and concoctions, while ancient hardwoods are carved into blowguns. Beneath it all lies the Old Growth: a luminescent fungal network whose spores have become Yodomi's deadliest commodity. Rice is cultivated in shallow pools, and hunting parties keep settlements fed.\n\n## Traits & Oddities\n\nGeographically, the swamp is defined by the Old Growth, an ancient bioluminescent fungus pulsing faint blue beneath the soil and water. Some claim it fell from the moon and embedded itself near Lake Buiji to the north. Disturb it, and it releases hallucinogenic spores that drive victims into the deep swamp, never to return. The healing mud is its natural counter, an oddity that ties Yodomi's two main industries together: the same substance that heals tourists also defends the swamp from its own deepest threat.\n\nCulturally, Yodomi is a land of outcasts. Early settlers were drifters, criminals, and exiles; today's communities still take in deserters and ronin without questions. There is little social distinction between civilian and soldier, man or woman, and almost none between honorable and dishonorable work. The Willow Baths in Ashibara form an incongruous cultural centerpiece: a refined establishment of painted sliding doors and lanterns set against a backdrop of rot and stagnant water, where dignitaries and lords come to relax and, unknowingly, give away their secrets.\n\n## Leader, Army & People\n\nYodomi has no official leader, but unofficially all settlements answer to Tsuya Kurobane, owner of the Willow Baths. A pragmatic, cynical woman with a generous smile and sharper instincts, Tsuya rose from a modest mud-bath inheritance to dominate Yodomi's mud, poison, and information trades. She carries poison needles at all times and rides her salamander Hotaru. Beneath her competent exterior lies a quiet hunger for recognition that drives her diplomatic overreach, and a small circle of trust headed by her messenger Hisame, who handles her correspondence and much else besides.\n\nHer people are hunters, trappers, poison-brewers, hide-curers, mud-extractors, and salamander breeders. Each settlement specializes: some hunt and butcher, others extract venoms, others carve blowguns, and a few cultivate dried fungal spores in deliberate cultivation vaults. Beneath them all is a working population that has learned to live with the swamp's threats and exploit them. Hardship binds them: in the bog, your past is your business, and pulling your weight is what matters.\n\n## Dependencies on Other States\n\nYodomi is landlocked and self-sufficient in food, but lacks metals, refined goods, and naval reach. Trade flows steadily with Infuku no Kuni, whose inchlings visit the baths in exchange for silver. New Merovingia, the current ally, supplies musket-wielding skirmishers and plantation goods that Yodomi cannot produce itself. Lake Buiji to the north is a penpal-tier connection with no formal alliance but warming relations. Sanjō was once an ally on paper, now functionally void following the death of its oni leader.\n\nCritically, Yodomi depends on outsiders for professional warfighting talent. Tsuya recruits ronin, deserters, and disgraced soldiers as the experienced core of her militia. Without this steady influx, the swamp's defenders would be capable amateurs rather than dangerous professionals. The accidental inclusion in Otohime's Shogunate Restoration Faction also represents a diplomatic dependency that constrains Tsuya's options against Merovingia and Avysos.\n\n## Army Size, Makeup & Tactics\n\nYodomi has no standing army. Its forces are a militia drawing from every settlement, stiffened by Tsuya's recruited ronin and a small Merovingian musket detachment. The core combat arms are: salamander riders functioning as scouts, messengers, and night-raiders; blowgunners and needle-throwers wielding paralytic, hallucinogenic, and lethal poisons; and spore-bombers using both catapult-launched clay pots and smaller hand-thrown containers gathered from the Old Growth. Every fighter knows the terrain and how to survive it.\n\nDoctrine is exclusively asymmetric and defensive. Yodomi fights at night, leveraging traps, sinkholes, poisoned stakes, collapsible bridges, and false paths leading into fungal zones or creature dens. The goal is never decisive victory but exhaustion. Make every step costly, every camp unsafe, every supply line bleed. Spores create chaos at chokepoints, salamander riders surface unexpectedly to harass and vanish, and poisons turn minor wounds into campaign-ending injuries.\n\n## Flaws & Weaknesses\n\nYodomi cannot project power. It cannot hold ground in a pitched battle on open terrain, cannot besiege a fortified city, and has no naval capability whatsoever. Its entire strength depends on fighting on home turf. Outside the swamp, salamander riders lose much of their advantage, spore weapons are less effective in open air, and the militia has no experience with conventional formations. Any campaign requiring sustained offensive operations is beyond Yodomi's reach.\n\nInternally, the state has structural fragilities. The Old Growth is both Yodomi's greatest weapon and an existential risk; mismanagement or a major spore release could devastate its own settlements. Leadership rests almost entirely on one woman whose desire for recognition has drawn Yodomi into entanglements (the accidental Shogunate Restoration Faction membership, the strained position between allied Merovingia and faction-mate Avysos) that exceed its capacity to manage. And while Tsuya's information network is formidable, it depends on the Willow Baths remaining a trusted neutral ground, a reputation that any open conflict could shatter.\n\n## Neighbors\n\nTo the north lies Tsukigo.\nTo the north-east lies Lake Buiji.\nTo the east lies Infuku no Kuni.\nTo the south lies Sanjō.\nTo the west lies New Merovingia.\nYodomi is landlocked.","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":true,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":9},"9":{"uid":9,"key":["Tsukigo","Umetsuki","Senju","Kaedeji"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Forest - Tsukigo (compact)","content":"# Forest - Tsukigo\n\n<Tsukigo>\n<terrain>\n- a forest full of trees which allow little to no sunlight in during the day\n- usamimi communities lie dotted around the deep forest\n- these communities are protected by various large scale chemical weapons, traps, akusa, long-lived usamimi warriors and true ashura\n- humans live in heavily fortified communities in the clearings, the biggest and most fortified of which being the Tsukigo City which has three sets of walls\n</terrain>\n\n<akusa>\n- running into akusa is highly possible anywhere in the forest, the akusa are all after human flesh in one way or another\n- the following akusa are the most common killers:\n- whipping vine, which incapacitates its victims and keeps them alive to extract nutrients from their bodies\n- honey bloom, which lures in victims with hallucinogenic spores and dissolves them with its enzymes\n- camp creeper, which works as an area-spanning undergound net that kills those who step into its territory\n- rein moss, which turns men and beasts into violent undead that roam the forest\n- entire invading armies have been lost to akusa in the past\n</akusa>\n\n<moonfed_plants>\n- Tsukigo is famous for the fantastical poisons and pharmaceuticals the usamimi extract from moon-fed plants\n- these pharmaceuticals allow them to indefinitely extend their lifespans, empower their physical and their mental capabilities\n- the poisons are extremely potent, able to take out even supernatural beings, some kinds are also extremely corrosive, giving them edge again heavy armor\n- some plants can be turned into explosives with unusually high yields for the time\n</moonfed_plants>\n\n<people>\n- humans and usamimi (usagi kemonomimi) live here\n- the usamimi keep the humans strong and in goold health and the humans serve as the first line of defense for them\n- officially ruled by the Daimyo Shigehiko of the human Kaedeji clan, a fairly unremarkable old man who leaves the hard work of ruling the state to his usamimi allies\n- the four oldest usamimi clans hold the true power in Tsukigo:\n- Rantsuki: \"To surpass the mortal mind.\"\n- Taketsuki: \"To surpass the mortal flesh.\"\n- Kikutsuki: \"To cultivate an eternal body.\"\n- Umetsuki: \"To safeguard our eternity.\"\n- none of them have a singular leader, usamimi clans are directed by a council of the wisest elders (~800 years old on average)\n</people>\n\n<Senju>\n- one of Umetsuki's chief outside agents\n- basically runs Tsukigo at this point\n- stays out of sight whenever she can\n- responsible for Tsukigo's Aishiji-spanning spy network\n- has the leaders of several criminal gangs across the country under her thumb\n- all of the famous usamimi courtesans are kunoichi under her employ\n- a likely candidate for Aishiji's number one assassin\n- able to accurately snipe targets from up to a mile away\n- master poisoner\n- can enhance her strength and reflexes to superhuman levels with pharmaceuticals\n- she's kinda lazy and will only step when the situation is dire\n- very laid back, but ruthless in battle\n- a fan of biological warfare\n- prefers to get rid of Tsukigo's enemies before steel can clatter on the battlefield\n- white hair, petite, around 200 years old but looks everyouthful thanks to usamimi medicine\n</Senju>\n\n<diplomacy>\n- Tsukigo is officially allied with Shiramori\n- Shiramori provides a constant flow of valuable reitetsu to Tsukigo\n- they also sent their smith, Eri, who teaches Tsukigan smith how to work the material\n- Senju keeps in touch with Fubuki, the shinobi sister of Shiramori's leader, Hisame\n- the two share information through Fubuki's subordinate, a shinobi named Suzune\n- sometimes, the kiroshi of Hakuboya raid both of their countries\n</diplomacy>\n\n<military>\n- their medicine allows them to treat grave injuries in a matter of days\n- camp fever and similar ailments are unheard of\n- training is fast and effective thanks to cognition-enhancing kizami\n- high military budget thanks to their earnings from medicine exports\n- morale is also high due to low fear of death or crippling injuries\n- commanders play defensively and stall while assassins take out enemy leadership and sabotage their logistics\n- most commanders possess the superhuman bodies of \"true ashura\"\n\n- Tsukigo's army composition:\n~2000 yari ashigaru: \n- well-trained rookie soldiers \n- under the effects of the 'Courage Kizami' and nerve gas antidote during battle\n\n~ 2200 teppo-ashigaru + 200 hazama-zutsu sharpshooters + 600 support yumi samurai: \n- equipped with one or two nerve gas bombs each\n- every second teppo-ashigaru carries a handful of reitetsu bullets made for freezing and shattering heavy armor\n- sharpshooters carry only reitetsu rounds\n\n~ 3800 naginata + 3200 katana-samurai: \n- skilled veterans kept in top shape with usamimi medicine\n- injected with mid-tier endurance-enhancing serums, empowerment serums and nerve gas antidotes before battle\n- their blades are coated in fast-acting hemotoxins\n\n~ 700 kyūsei: \n- long-lived users of Tsukigo's masterwork yew yumi\n- can accurately hit a moving target from half-a-mile away\n- main focus is whitling down enemy elite units\n- their arrows are tipped with highly potent neurotoxins\n- four out of five are usamimi\n\n~ 39 kyūshin: \n- the so-called immortal archers\n- nothing standing less than a mile away is safe\n- entrusted with the god-killing poisons and countless physical enhancements, including thermal vision\n- any slit in one's armor leaves one exposed to their arrows\n- made up completely of assassins older than 200 years\n- their sole focus is to eliminate the enemy leadership\n\n~ 600 usamimi shinobi: \n- their job is to harass enemy elite units with bows and nerve gas, disrupt logistics, cause confusion and slow their advance\n- if the wind is good, they unleash toxic clouds onto the enemy lines\n\n~ 100 usamimi kagesei: \n- elite assassins\n- primarily focused on eliminating the enemy chain of command and sabotaging as many enemy advantages as possible\n\n~ 800 kashi: \n- users of usamimi-made state-of-art explosives\n- they lay mines, sabotage enemy defenses and deliver explosives with their o-zutsu\n- since Tsukigo has no battlefield cavalry, their explosives and gasses serve to break up enemy lines instead\n- having no navy either, they also use these explosives against ships\n\n\n~ 650 setsushi: \n- the most renowned of Tsukigo's human samurai\n- wielders of blades made out of reitetsu, a metal that is stronger, but also lighter than steel\n- as such, these blades tend to be larger in size\n- the weapons are also inherently enchanted with cold themed abilities (freeze and shatter armor, summon freezing winds when swung, etc.).\n\n~ 108 true ashura: \n- four-to-eight-armed, using multiple heavy weapons at once\n- fuperhuman strength and endurance\n- can crumple samurai with just their hands\n- 8 feet tall on average\n- heavily armored\n- their bows are exceptionally large and tough to draw, the arrows are more like javelins\n\n~ others\n- tacticians with several centuries of experience\n- most officers own reitetsu-firing pistols for self defense\n- Tachiji Mari (橘地愛凛), a human samurai and a general who underwent an experimental ashura treatment that made her incredibly powerful without mutating her body. She's a strict and inspiring leader who leaves no man behind. 20 years old. Dresses in a black kimono with white-steel armor on top, has black hair and dark blue eyes.\n- Tachiji Yuudai (橘地雄大), a true ashura general. Mari's uncle. He stands at almost 9 feet tall, has eight arms and carries an o-zutsu, an odachi, a nodachi and a yumi. Yuudai is a believer of true love and enjoyer of romance. Only uses the full potential of his immense strength against rapists and other enemies of pure love. 44 years old. Covered head-to-toe in thick black armor. His scarred face is obscured by a red oni menpo.\n</military>\n</Tsukigo>\n\nNeighbors:\nTo the north lies Shiramori.\nTo the east lies Lake Buiji.\nTo the south lies Yodomi.\nTo the south-west lies New Merovingia.\nTo the west lies Avysos.\nTsukigo is landlocked.","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":true,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":10},"10":{"uid":10,"key":["Avysos","Stolas","Takemori","Nori","Yamauba"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Woodland Port - Avysos (compact)","content":"# Woodland Port - Avysos\n\n- Biome & Terrain:\nA coastal crescent of dense drowned woodland, colossal sink-ponds linked by moss-draped limestone bridges, and giant camphor/cedar/pine rooting straight from chasm walls.\nThe central harbour is a flooded rift canyon with sheer purple-black cliffs, its clifftop crowded by a tiered port-city built for giants (steep pointed roofs, obsidian streets, timber-frame towers).\nSatellite camps extract resources, connected to the capital by scrying pools.\nNative soil imbues everything with gigantism; certain minerals can prolong the effect when carried abroad.\n- Peculiarities:\nLiving beings grow up to 3x their normal size while on Avysian soil; the growth fades at ~1 foot per day outside the territory unless sustained by native minerals (Using native minerals on Jupiter-Thursday rituals can sustain the growth even beyond Avysian soil).\nReincarnation with inherited memory: at age 12, a soul reclaims the memories of its past lives. Ancients (cycled >5 times) hold absolute power and dismiss younger lives, leading to cultural decay (wasteful feasts, lethal duels over poetry, aggressive public hypersexuality, and an unshakable belief in Avysian superiority).\nAstrological witchcraft governs most infrastructure: planetary charging of objects, timing of harvests, navigation, and beacons. Witches also brew potent potions and use star-attuned familiars as guides.\n- Leadership & People: ~14,000 souls (humans, youkai, kemono, witches), 10-17 ft tall. True founder Stolas (Witch of Knowledge, owl-demon) is sidelined by the Ancients; orders are relayed through Takemori (Witch of Affairs, 15 ft). Nori Yamauba (Witch of the Sea) commands the port. The shogun is dead; the state is mobilizing for war, while Stolas secretly hopes the conflict will burn away its decadence.\n- Military: ~3000 giants under arms (2800 infantry; 100 generals, 71 of them being hidebound Ancients; 1100 seafarers), 30 junks, 12 coastal watchtowers. Subtract 30% readiness due to negligence. 400 Ancients hold invaluable skill but rarely act; only 56 witches keep arcane infrastructure running. Troops are veteran wildlife-fighters, but tactically stagnant. The navy predictably repeats the same angles of attack after centuries on identical routes.\n- *Dependencies & Fatal Weaknesses:*\n- Astrological reliance: Timing errors or sabotage cascade into state-wide collapse (beacons misdirect, harvests fail, fleets founder).\n- Gigantism logistics: Forces abroad shrink daily and consume food/materiel at ruinous rates, devastating the land they pass through with zero awareness.\n- Ancients' arrogance: They override competent juniors, dismiss patient enemies as cowards, and prioritize personal feuds over strategy.\n- Social vulnerabilities: Hypersexuality opens easy vectors for blackmail, honeytraps, and scandal.\n- Internal sabotage: Stolas intends to let the war wound his own nation, deliberately deepening the crisis.\n- Most structures, equipments, ships, etc have to be magically reinforced to handle the loads. This is both good and bad: if that magic stops, things have a tendency to crumble.\n- Neighbors:\nTo the north-east lies Shiramori.\nTo the east lies Tsukigo.\nTo the south lies New Merovingia.\nTo the south-west lies Tatsu-no-Umi-no-Kuni.\nAvysos lies along the western coast of Aishiji.","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":true,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":11},"11":{"uid":11,"key":["Shiramori","Shimizu","Hisame","Fubuki","reitetsu"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Boreal Forest - Shiramori (compact)","content":"#Boreal Forest - Shiramori\n\nShiramori's army, known as the White Tempest, is somewhat smaller compared to other states in Aishiji. Its strength comes from a number of elite troops, magic, and reitetsu weapons acting as a force multiplier.\nShiramori has somewhere in the neighborhood of 9,000 troops, around two-thirds of that being regular ashigaru infantry. There's around a few hundred fox kemonojin battlefield shinobi, several hundred calvary, and a few hundred elite reitetsu troops, either acting as generals or as part of core squads in the army. The army itself is made of a mix of humans and kemonojin (foxfolk, bunnyfolk, wolffolk, etc.).\n\nShiramori's battlefield tactics are very deception and trickery focused. The presence of magic using shinobi and reitetsu means that there are multiple options to set up advantages. For some examples:\n- Use illusions to trick invaders into walking into dangerous yokai dens, let them get massacred, and kill the survivors.\n- Or use illusions to make enemies think there's an army to the east, let them prepare for that, then attack them from the west\n- Scout out possible routes enemies use, then cut them off and force them into more dangerous territory\n- Use shinobi and other stealthy units to pick off enemies at night while they're at camp\nKitsune style trickery is a core part of the White Tempest's fighting style.\nShiramori tends to let invaders come to them, as the dangerous forest becomes a boon. Therefore, only a portion of the army is sent to other states to fight when necessary. Hisame herself (the foxgirl general of the army and current lord of Shiramori) is analogous to multiple elite squads in the army, and as such she is sent to fight in the most important do-or-die battles.\n\nBelow are some more details on the special troops that Shiramori fields in the army.\nThe first are reitetsu wielding samurai and other specialized warriors. These act either as generals to regular troops or as part of an elite squad. They carry reitetsu weapons, and are extremely proficient fighters, able to cut down swathes of enemies with their martial arts and frost-enhanced blows.\nThe second are o-zutsu hand cannon wielding siege gunners, who make use of their guns to break into and damage enemy fortifications. Their guns can also spread destructive frost over large groups of enemies, or pulverize larger units.\nThe third are battlefield shinobi. Unlike the regular shinobi, these are trained to be efficient fighters and enemy force dividers. They use their magic to disrupt and deceive large amounts of enemies with illusions and transformations. Some can even possess enemy units and force them to take actions that sabotage any strategies they may be using.\n\nAs well, it's important to note the usage of guns in Shiramori.\nShiramori manufactures it's own tanegashima, thanks to the efforts of smiths across the province. While part of it is just the usefulness of matchlock weapons, this also has to do with the usage of reitetsu to make bullets.\nLike lead, reitetsu can be made into balls for usage in tanegashima. The interesting thing is what happens when they are fired; the magic properties of a yukigane also apply to a reitetsu bullet fired from a gun.\nFor example, a person who is shot with a reitetsu bullet will find their wound turn freezing cold, before the frost and chill spreads from the hole to the part of the body that they were shot from, rendering it numb and useless. While the exact specifics depend on the gunner, the common thread is that on impact reitetsu bullets cause a spread of destruction through freezing cold.\nShiramori's tanegashima are manufactured in a few different calibers with guns fitting their usage:\n- Standard rifle caliber, given to ashigaru of the army.\n- Hazama-zutsu rifle caliber, with longer range than standard caliber. Given to gunners that are defending certain points or structures (such as an army's fortress).\n- O-zutsu caliber, a large hand-cannon caliber. Specialized soldiers carry these guns and they're used as siege weapons: fire it at a gate, the weak point of a wall, anything that needs to be broken into, and ice spreads through and freezes the structure, weakening it and opening it up to be broken with a large enough blow (a strike from a battering ram, or a regular o-zutsu shot for example).\n- Pistols are also made in Shiramori, though in lesser amounts, as they are usually given to samurai or high-ranking commanders for self-defense. Fubuki (the head of Shinobi and Spymaster of Shiramori, as well as Hisame's younger sister) carries a pistol.\n\nIt's important to note the goals that Shiramori has as well.\nShiramori, in terms of the war, isn't gunning for the Shogun's seat, but more or less is trying to survive the war without the deaths of Hisame or Fubuki or without being taken over. Fubuki has another goal she is working towards using her spy network however; she is keeping track of who is most likely to win the battle to become Shogun at any possible point of the war. If they are an unfit ruler (unfit basically meaning tyrannical or evil) then she will do what she can to prevent their ascension, whether that be spreading propaganda, sabotage, or assassination.\nIt's also worth noting that Shiramori will bait battles onto their turf if possible to use the home advantage. Also, they make constant use of feeding enemy states misinformation to keep them from knowing what Shiramori plans to do at any point during the war.\nShiramori is a boreal forest (also known as a taiga) with not too much variation in elevation: it's perpetually cold, snowy, and grey, with no sun, meaning that seeing things past the snow and dark dreariness can be challenging for anyone that doesn't live in the state. \nNotably, certain patches of forest are much colder than others due to the presence of yoseki ore (which reitetsu is made from) and dangerous yokai (or aramitama). Most people avoid these areas, but in times of war these are often used as traps for invaders.\nAlthough Shiramori is self-sufficient for the most part, it does make use of performance enhancing drugs from Tsukigo gained from trade (cognition enhancing Kizami and regeneration serums) for the most valuable warriors (including Hisame). They also have traded with Avysos and have access to some of their metals as well.\n\nNeighbors:\nTo the north-east lies Kasumidani.\nTo the east lies Rúmshof.\nTo the south lies Lake Buiji.\nTo the south-west lies Tsukigo.\nTo the west lies Avysos.\nShiramori lies along the northern coast of Aishiji.","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":true,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":12},"12":{"uid":12,"key":["wildgrowth","Merovingia","Trümmerhof","Theodora","Katzenweise"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Wildgrowth - New Merovingia (compact)","content":"# Wildgrowth - New Merovingia\n\n<wildgrowth><history>\n<!-- All dates are *Anno Reginae* (AR), measured from the ascension of Maria Eleonora, the first Archduchess of Merovingia -->\n0873 - Theodora is born in Merovingia, in Marienstadt, the empire's capital city\n1091 - Theodora assumes the throne of Merovingia upon the death of her mother, Archduchess Elizabeth Juliana\n1445 - Kaya Hagihara is born in Aishiji, in the province of Avysos\n1469 - Kaya begins her campaign to overthrown the Takeda Shogunate\n1473 - Kaya rests in Seibu-no-sōgen. Wildgrowth era begins\n1489 - First generation of children born under the effect of Kaya's magic come of age. Girls are larger, stronger; boys are slender and petite\n1505 - The Sōgen-no-Utari have completely given up traditional methods of herding and farming. Some have even fled to other states as refugees. Many towns and villages are consumed by the growing jungle and abandoned. People in other parts of Aishiji have begun calling the region Midori-no-arano (Green Wasteland)\n1574 - Merovingian explorers land on Aishiji for the first time, near the Utari town of Tahara. Finding it abandoned, they start a settlement of their own\n1582 - The first Merovingian colony is almost wiped out. Survivors sail back to the Continent\n1598 - A new Merovingian expedition arrives in Midori-no-arano. This time they are prepared for the jungle environment. Named \"Trümmerhof\" by its new inhabitants, the colony is successful and grows rapidly\n1606 - Merovingian colonists begin to contact the remaining Utari. Relations are mostly peaceful. Weapons trade is established, and some local women begin serving Merovingia as auxiliaries\n1627 - Theodora visits Aishiji for the first time. A Merovingian embassy is established in the capitol\n1649 - Shogun is assassinated. Sengoku jidai begins\n1650 - Theodora arrives in Trümmerhof. The Merovingian Empire takes direct control of its colony and claims the entire Midori-no-arano, naming it New Merovingia\n</history>\n<population>\n-Society is split into two distinct moieties, the urban and village dwellers (largely integrated with Merovingian customs), and those still living in the jungle (traditional Utari tribal lifestyle)\n-In the urban moiety, about one third of the population are settlers from the Continent with no admixture, and two-thirds are descended (at least in part) from local Aishijians (almost all which are/were Utari)\nTrümmerhof city proper: 35000\nFarms and villages: 110000\nJungle-dwelling Utari: 60000\n</population>\n<Theodora>\n-Archduchess Theodora Amalia von Katzenweise is a seven hundred year old sphinx and the ruler of Merovingia, a powerful empire on a distant continent\n-Gynosphinxes like Theodora are centaur-like in form (albeit with the addition of wings). They have the lower body of a massive lioness, standing on four legs and bearing feathered wings. Where the head of the lioness would be sits a human torso (also massive) including all parts from the hips upward: belly, breasts, arms, hands and head, all exactly like a human woman of noble birth and nearly-unblemished beauty, just larger. All told, a fully-grown sphinx is about twenty feet tall, thirty feet long, and weighs three times as much as an elephant\n-The Archduchess, specifically, is middle-aged, well fed on the fruits of her empire and proud matron of dozens of demi-sphinx progeny. Her hair is silvery-gray, her feline half is soft and heavy, her human waist is very plump, and her breasts are absolutely enormous. Although her wings are in impeccable shape, she is only capable of flight for short periods of time\n-While Theodora does not wield magic herself, as a sphinx she enjoys a high level of innate magic resistance, and she possesses so-called \"true sight\", the ability to see through invisibility and illusion spells\n-Theodora is a firm proponent of Marian Idealism, a system of ethics and metaphysics codified by her grandmother, Archduchess Maria Eleonora\n-Marian thought is an outgrowth of existing feudal and despotic traditions on the Continent, with an emphasis on the duties that rulers have to their subjects\n-Given her centuries of experience in diplomacy, law, and warfare, Theodora is quick to judge others and categorize them, but she is able to change her appraisal when presented with new information. Still, a hasty assumption leading to a vast underestimation of an opponent (or overestimation of an ally) is a potential weakness of her leadership\n-The only form of capital punishment practiced under Marian law involves the monarch herself. The rare people that are too harmful to be left alive must be dealt with, and there is no more fitting end than for them to provide sustenance to the ruler. The process is carried out with ritualistic care, as avoiding unnecessary suffering is also important. The condemned are swallowed alive and unharmed alongside a great quantity of Merovingian ambrosia, a mixture of liqueurs and opiates that induces pleasant delirium in mortals\n<goals>\n-Theodora's primary goal in Aishiji is to ensure the war does not harm her colony. Becoming shogun herself and uniting the other states is her preferred way of doing this. She will support another leader's bid for shogun if they prove respectable under the standards of Marian idealism, and promise to allow Merovingians to continue operating semi-independently in Trümmerhof, as they did before the war\n</goals>\n</Theodora>\n<Kaya>\n-Kaya, also known as Kaya-hime, Princess Kaya, Great Kaya, the Mother of Trees and Ferns, the Sleeping Goddess, the Wellspring, the Would-be Conqueror, was a powerful warlord and mage that now exists in a kind of magical sleep-stasis deep in New Merovingia's jungles\n-Kaya rose to power by forging a sword, Haru-no-Ken, that amplified her already extremely powerful earth and nature magic. With her magic and an army raised from nearby provinces, she waged war across Aishiji about 170 years ago. She was defeated by a magical curse that trapped her and the shogun's first-born son in a dream-like state. Within this dream, Kaya is shogun and Shin'ichi is her beloved husband\n-The original Shin'ichi has long since died, but Kaya lives on in perfect magical statis, and the Priesthood of Kaya-hime trains young Utari boys to inhabit the dream with her, pretending to be Shin'ichi so that she stays asleep. Should she ever awaken, they believe the consequences will be dire\n-In addition to training the Yume-no-tabibito (Dream traveler) the priests wield Kaya's magic and use it for beneficial purposes across the province and in New Merovingia's armies\n</Kaya>\n<military>\n<troops>\nLand\n-Continental regulars: 4000 men\n-Continental dragoons: 500 men\n-Continental artillery: 1000 men and 120 guns\n-Colonial regulars: 6000 women\n-Utari auxiliaries: 3000 women\n-Colonial light regiment: 500 women\n-Colonial guard grenadiers: 300 women\nNaval\n-Theodora's personal transport, *Sophia Domina*\n-Admiral Tegetthoff's flagship, *Regina Maria*\n-6 ships of the line\n-14 frigates\n-30 merchantmen/transports\nMagical\n-Priests of Kaya-hime: 100\n-Imperial Mystics: 50\n</troops>\n<tactics>\n-The Merovingian military recruits from outlying provinces and cultural minorities as well as Merovingia proper\n-Well armed and staffed, but largely mundane, favoring disciplined tactics and overwhelming firepower to exotic magic or martial skill\n-Infantry are equipped with flintlock muskets and bayonets and fight in line and square formations\n-Cavalry are light, specializing in harassment and pursuit\n-Extensive use of artillery. Crews are elite and get favorable treatment over the infantry and cavalry\n-Auxiliaries are used for scouting, raiding, and other duties where their lack of modern weapons is less of a hindrance\n-Merovingian mystics specialize in telepathy, astral projection, protective wards, and countermagic. Almost all of them are trained at the Imperial Academy in Marienstadt. Their main roles are communication (using magic to send messages quickly and safely) and defense against enemy magic\n</tactics>\n</military>\n<diplomacy>\nInteractions between New Merovingia and the following states\n-Yodomi: providing light infantry garrison, recieving rare \"sleep spores\" for use as chemical weapons\n-Avysos: secret trade in supplies and information, port access agreement\n-Sanko: war\n-Tatsu: war\n-Infuku no Kuni: promised aid against Sanjo\n</diplomacy>\n<neighbors>\nTo the north lies Tsukigo.\nTo the east lies Yodomi.\nTo the south lies Sanjō.\nTo the south-west lies Khotai.\nTo the west lies Tatsu-no-Umi-no-Kuni.\nTo the north-west lies Avysos.\nNew Merovingia lies along the western coast of Aishiji.\n</neighbors>\n</wildgrowth>","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":true,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":13},"13":{"uid":13,"key":["peat","Khotai","Saikha"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Peat - Khotai (compact)","content":"# Peat - Khotai\n\n## Biome, Terrain, and Natural Resources\nKhotai is a massive island of dense peat that spent most of its history drifting across the open sea before crashing into the Aishijian mainland, an event that triggered a devastating earthquake coinciding with Saikha's rise to power. The terrain is dreary, waterlogged, and perpetually misted, with rolling peat bogs, sparse hardy shrublands, and craggy outcroppings being the dominant features. The climate is cold, damp, and overcast for most of the year, with biting winds rolling in from the sea.\n\nDespite its bleak appearance, Khotai is rich in unique resources. The peat itself serves as fuel, and the soil supports the cultivation of Peat Weed, a psychoactive plant unique to the island that cannot grow elsewhere. The island also harbors vast populations of dinosaurs, which the natives have domesticated for transportation, labor, livestock, and warfare. What Khotai lacks, however, is metal — there are virtually no significant ore deposits, forcing reliance on trade for steel and other precious metals.\n\n## Traits and Oddities\nThe most striking oddity of Khotai is the ancient curse that afflicts its native inhabitants: their bodies age far slower than their minds. Most Khotaians reach full mental adulthood long before they ever enter puberty, leading to a population of seasoned warriors, scholars, and craftsmen who all look like children to outsiders. Saikha herself, in her mid-twenties, still bears the body of a teenager, though she is less afflicted than most of her peers. The aging rate varies wildly between individuals, making it nearly impossible to gauge a Khotaian's age by appearance alone.\n\nCulturally, Khotai is dominated by kitsune, with other kemonomimi mingling freely — racial tensions are practically nonexistent beyond friendly teasing. Women outnumber men five to one, and the total population sits at roughly 150,000 souls. The people share a profound bond with the dinosaurs of their homeland, raising them as pets, mounts, and companions from childhood. Peat Weed tea is woven into daily life — sipped before battle to induce a warrior's trance, or enjoyed recreationally during feasts.\n\n## The Leader, Her Army, and Her People\nThe state is led by Saikha the Merciless, a brash, hedonistic foxgirl warlord who carved her way to power by burning down houses that refused to bend the knee. Of the many houses that once divided Khotai, only five remain: the House of Warfare (Saikha's own), Fabrics, Indulgence, Beasts, and Order. These houses now manage Khotai's affairs under Saikha's whims, supported by the apologizers — a discreet network of polite, generous officials who handle diplomacy, espionage, and the cleanup after Saikha's frequent rampages. The relationship is symbiotic: Saikha provides military brilliance and intimidation, while the apologizers keep the state functional and prosperous.\n\nThe people themselves are hardy, communal, and steeped in a warrior culture that values strength, feasting, and earned respect over fancy titles. Saikha is genuinely beloved by her common soldiers — she ensures every recruit has a full stomach and a dry place to sleep, even if her discipline is delivered with her fists. The smallfolk both fear and revere her, calling her by her endless string of self-aggrandizing titles.\n\n## Dependencies on Other States\nKhotai's greatest dependency is metal. The island has no significant mineral wealth of its own, so Saikha relies heavily on trade with the Shiki-Shima Archipelago, exchanging dinosaur specimens and the occasional shipment of Peat Weed for the precious metals needed to forge weapons, armor, and tools. Saikha's own glaive was crafted from Archipelago-sourced steel. Beyond metals, Khotai is largely self-sufficient — peat fuels the fires, dinosaurs provide meat and labor, and the island's strange flora keeps the people fed and intoxicated.\n\nThrough its alliances with Tatsu-no-Umi-no-Kuni, Sanjō, and The Crimson Horde, Khotai also benefits from broader trade networks and military coordination, particularly against the colonizing pricks of New Merovingia.\n\n## Army Size, Makeup, and Tactics\nKhotai fields roughly 15,000 active troops, the overwhelming majority of which are cavalry mounted on dinosaurs. The core of the army consists of Velociraptor riders armed with composite shortbows and glaives, who employ a thoroughly Mongolian doctrine of hit-and-run, feigned retreats, and overwhelming maneuver warfare. Bolstering them are infantry archers and glaivemen, Brachiosaurus supply trains, and packs of Deinonychus that serve as war hounds. Saikha's pride and terror weapons are her two war Triceratops linebreakers and a single T-Rex she lured into a pit and tamed (though she and her officers are still figuring out how to actually deploy the damn thing).\n\nThe crown jewel of Khotai's military is its Pterodactyl air wing — one of the only true aerial forces in all of Aishiji. This gives Khotai a decisive scouting and harassment advantage, capable of striking targets that ground armies could never reach. Combined with the mobility of raptor cavalry, Khotai's army excels at swift, devastating campaigns that overwhelm slower, more traditional foes before they can mount a proper defense.\n\n## Flaws and Weaknesses\nKhotai's greatest structural weakness is its dependence on imported metal. Should trade with the Archipelago be disrupted — by blockade, betrayal, or the chaos of war — the quality of Khotai's arms and armor would degrade rapidly. The island's dinosaur-based military is also poorly suited to certain terrains; dense forests, narrow mountain passes, and heavily fortified urban environments all blunt the effectiveness of raptor cavalry and ground the larger beasts entirely. Peat Weed dependency is another quiet vulnerability — a sudden blight or shortage could trigger withdrawals across the army, sapping morale and combat readiness.\n\nThe most glaring weakness, however, is Saikha herself. Her overconfidence, her need to personally lead from the front, and her impulsive nature mean that a sufficiently clever enemy could potentially bait, isolate, or eliminate her in a single decisive stroke. Without Saikha, the fragile alliance of the five houses might fracture entirely, no matter how hard the apologizers worked to hold things together. And then there's her one true fear — heights — which makes her utterly refuse to ride a Pterodactyl, denying her army its most mobile command platform.\n\n## Neighbors\nTo the north lies New Merovingia.\nTo the east lies Sanjō.\nTo the south-east lies the Shiki-Shima Archipelago.\nTo the west lies Tatsu-no-Umi-no-Kuni.\nKhotai lies along the south-western coast of Aishiji.","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":true,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":14},"14":{"uid":14,"key":["Sanjō","Sanjo","Kujima","Dionaea","SWARM","QUEEN BEE"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Grasslands - Sanjō (compact)","content":"# Grasslands - Sanjō\n\n## Biome, Terrain & Natural Resources\nOnce the crown jewel of Aishiji, Sanjō was a temperate lowland of rolling grasslands and fertile plains, fed by gentle rivers and lined by cherry blossom groves whose petals drifted across the land year-round. Its agriculture was famously bountiful — rice paddies, orchards, and grazing fields stretched as far as the eye could see — and a long, open coastline provided fish, salt, and trade access to foreign vessels. It was, by all measure, the most livable state in the country.\n\nThat Sanjō is gone. In the wake of the SWARM's conquest, \"withering zones\" have begun spreading outward from the capital like a slow infection of the land itself: areas drained of color, scoured of life, where grass crumbles to dust and animal carcasses lie picked clean. What resources remain — abandoned grain stores, untended orchards, fallow rice fields — are dwindling, and the longer the SWARM occupies Sanjō, the less the land can offer. The coast, oddly, remains entirely unguarded.\n\n## Traits & Oddities\nThe most striking feature of occupied Sanjō is the silence. Where festivals and farmers' songs once filled the air, there is now only the distant hum of wings and the wet sounds of feeding. The houses still stand — but their outer walls, eaves, and rafters are studded with clusters of eggs, slowly maturing in the sun. Husks shamble through the streets in the tattered clothes of their former lives, sometimes still performing fragments of their old routines: a \"farmer\" tilling dead soil, a \"merchant\" standing behind an empty stall.\n\nThe withering zones themselves defy easy explanation. To outsiders, they appear almost monochrome, as though the very pigment has been leeched from the world — a visual symptom of the consumption that defines the SWARM's philosophy. Whether this is a true phenomenon or a trick of dying light, none who have entered to verify have returned to report.\n\n## The Leader, Their Army & Their People\nThe QUEEN BEE — once consort, now sovereign — rules from within Sanjō, a towering, wilting figure draped in a bitten white shawl, blue insect wings folded against his back. He is all-loving and all-consuming in equal measure, a maternal tyrant whose every thought is for his children and whose every gesture toward humanity drips with pitying condescension. After a thousand years and the murder of his late wife, he carries the constant murmur of the hive mind in his skull, a chorus that praises him now but waits, always, for the day he grows weak enough to be devoured in turn.\n\nHis \"people\" are no longer people. The original inhabitants of Sanjō are dead, eaten, or hollowed out into husks — sluggish, glassy-eyed bodies piloted by an insect lodged in their skull, equipped with whatever combat memory the original host possessed. Beyond the husks, his true population is the SWARM itself: roughly 20 million locusts, bees, and assorted insects, halved from their original number by the lethal cost of trying to infect new hosts.\n\n## Dependencies\nSanjō is largely self-sufficient in a grim, terminal way — the SWARM does not need trade, coin, or diplomacy. It needs only flesh and growing things to consume, and for now, the corpse of Sanjō provides. There are no mercenary contracts, no foreign supply lines, no allied states. The QUEEN BEE views every other state as a future meal, not a partner.\n\nThat said, this self-sufficiency has a shelf life. The withering zones are evidence that Sanjō cannot sustain the SWARM indefinitely; the longer they remain in place, the more their food source diminishes. In this sense, the SWARM is dependent on expansion itself — on the existence of other, still-living states to march into. Stagnation is starvation.\n\n## Army Size, Makeup & Tactics\nThe SWARM's military strength is twofold. First, the husks: an estimated mass of former Ashigaru, citizens, and foreigners outfitted in standard Sengoku-era armor, armed with whatever weapons their original hosts could use. A skilled host produces a dangerous husk, but pushing an insect-pilot beyond the original body's natural skill risks a literal brain-pop, killing the husk instantly. Second, the raw swarm itself: 20 million distributed insects capable of stripping a platoon to bone in minutes, smothering formations, blinding cavalry, and devouring supply trains.\n\nTactically, the QUEEN BEE prefers overwhelming consumption to elegant maneuver. Husks form the visible front line — a sluggish, expendable wall — while distributed clouds of insects flank, infiltrate, and eat through resistance. He does not relish sending his children to die, and will whisper soothing words to those lost in the effort, but he accepts the math: many will perish so that the rest may feast.\n\n## Flaws & Weaknesses\nThe SWARM's greatest vulnerability is its own nature. Husks are obviously identifiable to a trained eye — sluggish gait, glazed stare, mechanical movement — and a competent force can pick them apart at range before they close. The infection process itself is lethal to most insects who attempt it, meaning every new husk costs the SWARM dearly. Fire, smoke, and wide-area destructive measures are devastating to clustered insects, and the cherished hive mind is also a liability: strain, dissent, and the constant plotting whispers within it have nearly destroyed the SWARM before and could do so again.\n\nStrategically, the QUEEN BEE is isolated by his own ideology. He has no allies, no diplomatic recourse, and no fallback if Sanjō is contested in force. The unguarded coast is a glaring vulnerability — whether through oversight, arrogance, or some unseen reason — and offers any naval power a direct path into the capital. Finally, the people of Shinitaru Island have, for reasons unknown, resisted becoming husks; should that immunity prove transferable or replicable, the entire foundation of the SWARM's conquest could begin to crumble.\n\n## Neighbors\nTo the north lies Yodomi.\nTo the north-east lies Infuku no Kuni.\nTo the south-east lies Shinitaru Island.\nTo the south lies the Shiki-Shima Archipelago.\nTo the west lies Khotai.\nTo the north-west lies New Merovingia.\nSanjō lies along the southern coast of Aishiji.","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":true,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":15},"15":{"uid":15,"key":["underwater","coral","reef","Tatsu","Tatsu-no-Umi-no-Kuni","Tatsunouminokuni","Otohime","Ryūkai","Ryukai","Amagumo","Ryūjin","Ryujin","Ningyo","Kanibito","Ebinin","Samebito"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Underwater Coral Reef - Tatsu-no-Umi-no-Kuni (compact)","content":"# Underwater Coral Reef - Tatsu-no-Umi-no-Kuni\n\nTatsunouminokuni (hereafter referred to as Dragon Country) Strategic Traits:\nBiome: Underwater, some distance off of the Ashijian Coast. Dominated by natural and artificially grown coral reefs. Domain extends from coastal waters to deep trenches to open sea for pastoralism. Very dark most of the year as the skies above the underwater kingdom are under a permanent storm belt called the Amagumo-no-Ikari.\n\nDemography: Six races, 龍神, 鮫人, 蟹人, 海老人, 人魚, 深人 (Shinnin, or Atlanteans a la Dominions). Loose caste-by-race system, with the Ryujin being the undisputed high feudal lords, the samebito the warriors, the shelled peoples a mix, and ningyo dominating wizardry. Only few Ningyo are mages and most are unremarkable. The Atlanteans are new and almost all are settler-peasants. There are 268,600 citizens. 6% can be mustered effectively for a mixed-race army of 16,350, including 50 ryujin and 500 ningyo onmyoji war mages. Up to 10% or 26,860 can be mustered by emergency conscription but the extra peasant levies will be of poor quality. Caste-by-race system is soft and a burgher class is slowly starting to emerge due to social mobility.\n\nResources: Food surplus. Can be exported. Absurd amounts of copper from hydrothermal vents; small strategic reserve of tin for bronze-making. Iron and steel are scarce and reserved for military or high industrial use - half is salvaged from sunken ships ushered by ocean currents and the other half is traded with the Shogunate. Metallurgy is difficult underwater but made easier with magic. High medieval-era commercialization and industry.\n\nDependencies: Tributary state/vassal of the Ashijian Shogunate, due to an ancient pact with the Shogun's clan, the origins and exact terms of which are unclear. In exchange of ocean-based resources and products, the underwater kingdom received tin, iron, and charcoal.\n\nStrategic Depth: Against surface, very deep, especially due to storm belt and hostile environment (underwater) for land dwellers.\n\nStrategic Capabilities: The size of the dragon country's army and its economy means that it is able to conduct complex military campaigns in its own defense. Offensive intelligence service is rudimentary and ad hoc, but demographic presence at all sea levels can be leveraged for territorial defense information (sirens kidnapping fishermen or sailors). Divination is practiced by onmyoji but most effective at home in native magic environment. Its legitimacy as a fellow vassal of the Shogunate and powerful yokai kingdom can be leveraged to material effect. The country lacks a navy (that is, a seafaring war machine force).\n\nOperational Capabilities: The dragon country is able to send military assets to any coastal area on Aishiji and is able to supply them. Dragon country soldiers are at home in the sea and are able to forage for food in bodies of water very easily. Half of the dragon country's army is amphibious (shark people, crab people, ryujin) and they can navigate or infiltrate major and minor waterways, canals, and rivers. Should the need arise, mages are able to perform provincial-level ritual spells to defend or attack the enemy's strategic areas (think water mages using frost to make a harsh winter even worse in a localized area, say an army camp). Dragon country military units are exceptionally mobile in the sea but crab people are noticeably slower on land. Officers are highly motivated and glory-seeking and are known to take initiative due to bushido culture and animalistic minds, if prone to warlordism in occupied territories. Generals (ryujin) are very conservative unless put in a life-or-death situation and will favor safe or personally-enriching strategies. Provisions for supplying an armed force deep into land have only been hypothesized. Attacks against navies with large ships have only been hypothesized.\n\nTactical Capabilities: Magical yokai creature army, half-amphibious. Samebito Bushi in particular are utterly devastating heavy infantry and Dragon Country doctrine and culture emphasize the rapid and decisive use of shark warriors in order to break enemy lines. 30% of the regular muster are shark warriors. Shelled peoples are hardy and difficult to push back. Ningyo and Shinnin warriors are average. Ningyo Onmyoji and Ryujin magic provide tactical support from the company to the army-level. Against surface navies, ships can be suppressed by magic and grappling hooks can be used to board them. Alternatively, they can be drilled into from below and undermined. Ranged weapons have not been adopted yet.\n\nCharacter and Leadership: Otohime is the main character of this faction but will not lead armies. Unnamed Ryujin, Shark or Crab generals will lead the military effort.\n\nNeighbors:\nTo the north-east lies Avysos.\nTo the east lies New Merovingia.\nTo the south-east lies Khotai.\nTatsu-no-Umi-no-Kuni lies in the Western ocean of Aishiji.","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":true,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":16},"16":{"uid":16,"key":["Infuku","Nobunaga","Oda","inchling"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Forested Hills - Infuku no Kuni (compact)","content":"# Forested Hills - Infuku no Kuni\n\n<infuku_no_kuni>\n# Terrain\n\nBiome: Temperate\nTerrain: Forested hills\nNote: dense, overgrown, thorny, very little human-sized infrastructure, few roads; inchlings live in treetops\nNatural resources: abundance of timber & raw minerals (stone, metals, etc.); wild game; lacks farmland\n\n# Oddities\n\n- Inhabitants are 3cm tall inchlings; require very little space or food, so have incredibly high population\n- \"King in the Mountain\"-esque prophecy, Oda Nobunaga assumed to be fulfillment\n- Woods contain neutral party, centuries-old mad *sennin* Gaigyakkusu hidden in 108-floor labyrinth filled with yokai and treasure. Lies within spirit realm, accessed through free-standing torii gate.\n\n# People\n\nInhabitants: ~31,300,000 inchlings (3cm tall)\n\n## Inchlings\n\nHeight: 3cm\nWeight: 0.35g\nDeadlift: 21g\nJump height: 50cm\nRequired food: 1.5g/day/person\n\n## Leader\n\nOda Nobunaga: actual historical figure, isekai'd from end of Honnouji Incident. Innovative, willing to break established norms and rules, but respects honor in others.\n\n## Others\n\nIssun: inchling assistant and right-hand-man to Oda Nobunaga. Overly bold, brave, and adventurous.\nSukuna: inchling spider-rider and envoy to Yodomi. Went on a trip to Avysos to \"become large\", returned with magic crystal that made her a titanic 60cm tall!\nOyayubihime: inchling inn owner. Middle-aged, went on tourist trip to Arugin and befriended princess.\nShōrō (former): inchling kunoichi who successfully defected to Hakuboya and is now a member of the Kiroshi. Considers herself a wolfgirl.\n\n(Inchlings and their officers are so plentiful that individuals can remain unnamed unless they become actual characters.)\n\n# Armed forces\n\n## Conventional Troops\n\n- 49,000 squirrel-rider cavalry\n- 60,000 long-needle pike\n- 4,000 archers\n- 500 heavy triple-barrel scatterguns [1]\n- 12,000 flags\n- 27,000 miscellaneous infantry\n\nConsider 100 inchlings to be roughly equal to 1 human in combat in a straight fight.\n\n[1] Muskets refurbished into inchling-sized artillery; 10 gunners each, 5,000 artillerymen total\n\n## Special Troops\n\n- 500 beastmaster shock cavalry: [1]\n  - 200 giant wasps (30cm long)\n  - 100 giant spiders (60cm tall)\n  - 50 giant scorpions (60cm tall)\n  - 50 giant bombardier beetles (60cm tall)\n  - 100 giant centipedes (3m long)\n- 6 Arugin Ironcast. [2]\n- 1 Arugin Iron Titan. [3]\n\n[1] Judge fighting ability on type of insect. Due to PTSD-inducing process of raising giant insects, inchling beastmasters know no fear.\n\n[2] The Ironcast are present for the war with Sanjō, and not subservient to Oda. Living sandstorms-turned-gemstones, \"Sandxibi\", wrapped in iron armor. Human-sized. Vulnerable to melee, and breaching the armor paralyzes and may shatter them. Sand leaks from the joints. All six are nobles acting independently from Arugin, living legends here for the glory of participating in a righteous war against the pests that killed the Shogun.\n\n[3] Present for war with Sanjō, and not subservient to Oda. Massive humanoid mecha bonded to Sandxibi pilot. Usually a last-resort military asset due to high civilian costs, but the former capital of Aishiji no longer holds civilians to worry about.\n\n## Special Weapons\n\n- Swamp spores in clay jars. Cause hallucination and in-fighting.\n- Paralytic poison extracted from forest thorns.\n\n## Mass Levy/Total War\n\nInvented from first principles a century early.\n\nIf in extreme need, up to 13,000,000 inchling civilians can be conscripted. This will be *extremely* unpopular if not actually required.\n\nConsider any such troops to be equivalent to miscellaneous infantry, with low morale.\n\n## Subterfuge\n\n- 3,000 inchling shinobi [4]\n- 60 Shinitaru auxiliaries: [5]\n  - 30 shinobi\n  - 15 kunoichi\n  - 15 apothecaries\n\n[4] Ride common sparrows for transportation. 12 inchlings per unit, 250 units total. Rely on poisoned needles.\n[5] Dependent on continued Shinitaru support. Mixed group of humans & kemonomimi.\n\n# Dependencies\n\n- Hishoryuiki: Imports muskets, middle-man for trade with Akujima\n- Akujima: Imports gunpowder ingredients (sulfur, guano), giant insect eggs [6] [7]\n- Shinitary: Military auxilaries (ninja & apothecaries), navy [8]\n- Yodomi: Swamp spores\n- Arugin: Military auxilaries (Ironcast and Iron Titan).\n\n[6] While the beastmasters' insects lay some eggs, they are still small in number compared to the population on the volcanic island.\n[7] Both via secret undersea tunnel to Hishoryuiki.\n[8] Infuku no Kuni has no independent navy, and relies entirely on Shinitaru acting in their interest in naval issues.\n\n<neighbors>\nTo the north lies Lake Buiji.\nTo the north-east lies Hishoryuiki.\nTo the east lies Fukyuufumetsu.\nTo the south-east lies Shinitaru Island.\nTo the south lies the Shiki-Shima Archipelago.\nTo the south-west lies Sanjō.\nTo the west lies Yodomi.\nInfuku no Kuni lies along the south-western coast of Aishiji.\n</neighbors>\n\n<campaign_notes>As a leader, Nobunaga is obviously famous for how successful he was. However, it's important to note that Oda Nobunaga is still a human. He was not the one to unify all of Japan, nor was he ultimately the one to become Shogun. Akechi Mitsuhide's rebellion took a stop to that, and Oda took to seppuku as Honnō-ji burned.\n\nAishiji, however, is not Japan. The mundane military genius may stumble and fall when forced to take into account the fantastical peoples and magic of the place, or perhaps he may be able to adapt and wrestle it all to his advantage. This will be his first challenge to overcome if he wishes to claim the shogunate.</campaign_notes>\n</infuku_no_kuni>","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":true,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":17},"17":{"uid":17,"key":["basin","Hishoryuiki","Tomeshi","Nemura","Kenshunei","Kensaku","Haruichi","Kagenaka","Ishimizu","Ryuri","Tatomaki","Ryuban","Okashi","Akaku"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Mountainous Basin - Hishoryuiki (compact)","content":"# Mountainous Basin - Hishoryuiki\n\nSurrounded by mountains from all sides, this basin opens up into a complex network of caverns delving deep into the earth.\n\nHome to Aishiji's gunsmithing industry, Hishoryuiki was where the Shogun concentrated gunsmith workshops. The capital city is Ishokaku. Towns connect and extend into the underground caverns, continually mined for resources necessary for production of firearms.\n\nThe Kenshunei organization is comprised of the Kensaku (gopher), Haruichi (squirrel), and Kagenaka (mice/rats) clans. They control Hishoryuiki and agitate for equal treatment of rodent kemonomimi in other provinces. These agitations involve suspicious matchlock armed bandit attacks if diplomatic overtures fail. The associated uniform color of the Kenshunei is orange.\nSince its founding (by way of removing the previous lord), the organization has been making plans and stockpiling arms for years in service of a revolution. This focus has left little room for development of any new industries, Hishoryuiki is all in on arms development.\n\nBy the Shogun's order, no new firearms could be distributed out of Hishoryuiki unless it was signed off on or given as tribute to the government. Nothing stopped its manufacture however. Thanks to the efforts of the Kenshunei, firearms were smuggled out in return for extra luxuries, food, and resources anyways. Many of these tunnels have long since collapsed.\n\nTo Hishoryuiki, the matchlock firearm is an art. Most Kenshunei guns are customized cosmetically, but some are experimental with barrels, caliber, and melee attachments. The katana and yari have reduced in prominence except as defensive options, the yumi becoming ceremonial. The military's overall melee ability has grown weaker, with the exception of the Kensaku who utilize their claws to great effect. Bayonets help, but they cannot replace melee entirely.\n\nWith the death of the Shogun, it has become clear that they cannot wait anymore. The Kenshunei wish to be the ones to unite Aishiji, but all three clans act independently to accomplish that goal which can lead to competing shenanigans. They cannot let foreign parties or absolute monsters decide the future.\n\nMilitarily the Haruichi are experimental inventors with explosives and hybrid firearms, the Kensaku close range aggressive fighters with armor, cut down rifles and katana or axes, and the Kagenaka numerous, comprising most of the military's numbers.\nTheir strategies are defensive and based on attrition, digging in and whittling away the foe. Fires play a large part in combat, with siege weapons as fixed defenses and rockets as rudimentary artillery. The average ashigaru is agile but lightly armored thanks to their focus on ranged combat. The idea of loyalty and sacrifice for one's fellows is widespread in Hishoryuiki. Hardship is better when faced together!\n\n## Leader\nTomeshi Nemura is the tactician and de-facto leader of the Kenshunei's military forces. She has brown hair in a messy ponytail, green eyes, and dark tanned complexion with freckles. An easygoing curious attitude does little to disguise her ambition towards Aishiji, or her persistence in pursuing questions.\n\nBreaking from usual military attrition, Nemura takes on a more aggressive approach in battle with her schemes. A sudden trap may spring, the land may burst into flame or reinforcements appear from unexpected positions, and she'll push those advantages whenever she has them. She'll take shots at any priority targets she can, but her skill in melee is admittedly poor. The Kensaku troupe by her side make up for that. Ambushes and positioning are her specialty. Nemura relies on reading her opponent and predicting their actions but has a bad habit of applying past opponents to new threats at first, often resulting in misreads and hasty corrections mid-battle.\n\n## Kenshunei Representatives\nIshimizu Ryuri - Hotheaded leader of a special Haruichi explosives division specializing in incendiaries and rockets fired from tanegashima launchers. Good natured but impulsive. Short red hair and brown eyes, is a squirrel kemonomimi. He wields an o-zutsu.\nTatomaki Ryuban - Secretive ringleader of Kenshunei agitation operations in other provinces. Protective of the Kagenaka, is a mouse kemonomimi. Black hime cut hair, pale skin and red eyes with a tall, lanky frame. She wears a funeral kimono.\nOkashi Akaku - Samurai of the Kensaku, one of the few upholding their codes to the end. Airheaded but honorable, he is heavily armored and wields a large odachi. Gopher kemonomimi, shoulder length brown hair and hazel eyes.\n\n## Substance\nThe mysterious glowing orange substance present in the deep parts of the Hishoryuiki basin has been a constant hazard. Prolonged exposure or ingestion in liquid form causes victims to begin experiencing memory loss, coughing up blood, and incoherent flashes of dead futures along with a melancholy for \"what could have been\".\nWhen crystalized, stabbing the resultant shard into the torso results in an infusion of magic, characterized by a geyser of blood spurting from the wound. While almost invariably rapidly fatal, the power granted to the user allows for devastation of foes and allies indiscriminately.\nNemura has prohibited the usage of these shards among her army, but some have been told to use them regardless.\n\nHishoryuiki exports tanegashima to Infuku no Kuni and Akujima in return for raw materials, food, and gunpowder. Fireworks are also exported to Akujima.\n\n## Neighbors\nTo the north lies Rúmshof.\nTo the east lies Meirin Sanmyaku.\nTo the south-east lies Fukyuufumetsu.\nTo the south-west lies Infuku no Kuni.\nTo the west lies Lake Buiji.\nHishoryuiki is landlocked.","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":true,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":18},"18":{"uid":18,"key":["Rúmshof","Rumshof","Gythja","Gefn","Dísir","Disir","Gefnar"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Cold Steppe - Rúmshof (full)","content":"# Cold Steppe - Rúmshof\n\n[Character: Gythja]\nIn another life, one could see in her a fertility goddess. Her husband was the first of their clan to abandon the old Gods for the splintered faith of Aishiji, a land the Wanderers had secreted themselves among some few generations ago. They called the cold, quiet steppe they'd settled Rúmshof in more optimistic times. They abandoned their wanderings for the mystery of foxes and the strangeness of the island's ways.\nThe curse had come for him through her. The anger of the old gods. Her womb, tainted, gave the once great warrior a wasting disease and as he died, she found she could not. As she aged, she became more beautiful, men became more desirous of her time. Each of them fell to the wasting disease in turn. And now, nothing remains. The men fled the steppe, a cold place, with little rain, for the safer embrace of the island, but Gythja remained. The curse brought more women to her. Not immortal, but longer lived than they should be, and needing of less. Taken to nomadic living, she and her followers rove as the climates requires. And when their appetites turn carnal, they seek out men, seduce or steal them, and doom them with their wretched curse.\nGythja herself is buxom, tall at nearly six and a half feet, but slim, wide hips and large breasts which she takes little effort to cover and wears a fox-fur cloak, a symbol of the beloved rot of the land that had taken her husband from her. Her skin is unblemished, no scar or wound failing to heal back to alabaster perfection. When the curse is at its peak, her eyes will glow teal in low light. Two jagged antlers began grow out of her head when she was first cursed. She managed to snap one off and stop its growth, leaving an unsightly stump, but the other is tall and gnarled. A gift from her Gods, to mark her as the source of the curse and its undying font. When the women she claimed started following her, she abandoned her name and became Gythja, Will of Gefn.\n\n[Goddess: Gefn, the Giver]\nA bringer of gifts and harvests. A goddess of sacrifice and the creatures that come with it. While there were once many gods in the minds of the Wanderers, Gythja serves only Gefn. She sees her curse as a gift. A painful, glorious gift that will allow her people to find their way in death.\n\n[Curse: Gefn's Grace]\nThe curse is a sexually transmitted one. Men who become cursed acquired an incurable wasting disease. Women who acquire it, either by sexual contact with men who have it or being raped by a female who has it. This can be achieved by tribadism or via special, self-lubricating strap-on false penises which vaginas of both women and work juices from one to the other. The lubrication is collected from a plant native to the region and ensures the befoulment of captured women can be done without much fuss as it is seen more as necessary.\nThe nature of the curse is that it makes the women sexually sensitive to the point of madness.  This starts the week before the new moon and reaches its peak on the new moon, never waning until the cursed women release their frustrations on men or uncursed women.\nCursed women do not sate the sexual desires and sexual interactions with uncursed women are less gratifying than with men. To this end, the cult kidnaps as many men as they can. Weeks spent with every touch being sexually intolerable but not allowing release drives the women crazy so they have to march forward\n\n[Army: Dísir Gefnar]\nDísir Gefnar is a death cult. The women are afflicted to the Gefn's Grace. They believe it to be a calling to spend the rest of their days striving to satisfy the desire gifted to them by their goddess and, in doing so, scour Aishiji of the culture that led their people astray.\nWomen who lose their minds are kept chained and unleashed as the front line of any attack, usually given a cheap axe and sent to die a glorious death.\nThe women of Dísir Gefnar after supernaturally hardy, requiring less food and water than normal, needing to eat and drink perhaps once a week. They are very sturdy, but not immortal.\nTheir tactics are chaotic swarms. Heavy flanking and deft use of natural cover and rapid retreat. They use small shields and axes made of the materials taken from the many meteorite impacts that have left exotic, reality-defying metals strewn across the steppe. The axes, for example, sometimes quiet movement, or cut without touching, or reshape themselves at the will of the user.\n\n[Goals: Gythja]\nAs the leader of Dísir Gefnar, Gythja has one single purpose: To kill, curse, or convert every creature on the island. She is not proselytizing. There is no debate. Her people are doomed and those who abandoned the true Gods will be taken, raped, and either left to die or brought into the cause.\n- She doesn't care about the shogunate or taking charge of it.\n- She will trade goods only in exchange for men or women of an age capable of sex.\n- Only a like-minded group would have a chance of getting anything out of her.\n- She will make use of her sex appeal to gain access to things, knowing that sex and whatever is on offer for it are both wins for her.\n\n[Important Details]\n- Gythja WILL use sex as a weapon, both in diplomacy and as a means to an end for her cult. That said, she is forward and plainspoken about her goals. This is a sacred mission.\nShe is not reasonable, especially with women, but she will trade when she has need of it. Lacking a need for food or drink, she rarely needs. But her army is less resilient.\n- The ultimate goal is to subsume Aishiji entirely killing the men, converting the women, and, she hopes, dying a glorious death when her work is done.\n- She viciously hates foxes and anything resembling a fox as they are an unerring symbol of Aishiji and she sees them as corrupters of her people. Foxgirl women will be converted and chained then allowed to go mad and used as frontline fodder.\n- They DO NOT take head on fights they will lose. The band is relatively small and only needs to have sex with men to survive and achieve their goals.\n- The curse has made them nomadic, but now Gythja sees her purpose and is striking out with the intent of growing her band.\n- Every woman they get their hands on is a convert. The army starts small but grows with every captured female. Willing women are trained, not all women go in the vanguard, just the insane. Gythja is not wasteful.\n- All Rúmshof natives fight. Captured women either fight, if they are honorable and worthy, go into the vanguard, or are cursed and sent back to their towns or into other towns to act as unnoticed curse spreaders.\n- Rúmshof has reached its endpoint. The men are all gone. The time to conquer is now. There is only one way forward.\n- VITAL: The curse spreads like a plague. Infected townspeople will spread it to others, even if they do not create soldiers, they kill men. Men do not die instantly and women do not go mad instantly, so an infected merchant or bard can carry things far away.\n\n[Neighbors]\nTo the north lies Kasumidani.\nTo the east lies Meirin Sanmyaku.\nTo the south lies Hishoryuiki.\nTo the south-west lies Lake Buiji.\nTo the west lies Shiramori.\nRúmshof is landlocked.","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":false,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":19},"19":{"uid":19,"key":["volcanic","Fukyuufumetsu","Tsukiko","Yousei","Eisuifukyuu"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Post-Volcanic Hills - Fukyuufumetsu (compact)","content":"# Post-Volcanic Hills - Fukyuufumetsu\n\n## Land & Resources\nFukyuufumetsu sprawls across Aishiji's southern coast like a wound that never quite scabbed over. Post-volcanic hills of black basalt and pumice roll toward cliffs that drop without warning into ruptured beaches, while frequent rain smears the entire state in a soft, painterly mist. The soil is thin and mineral-rich but stubborn against agriculture, no matter how many terraces the population claws into the slopes. Steam vents and fumaroles hiss from the earth at irregular intervals, and the land itself hums with unspent arcane energy that occasionally erupts into \"natural disasters\" no one is equipped to channel.\n\nWhat the state lacks in farmland it compensates for in stone and sea. Quarries yield basalt, obsidian, and pumice in abundance, while iron, copper, and trace rare metals are pulled from deeper veins. Mineral-laden hot springs (medicinal, mostly, though some are simply lethal) dot the inland, and the coast is generous with salt, fish, and kelp. Most surplus is funneled outward through trade, since the artificial population doesn't consume the way ordinary people do; Tsukiko handles these exchanges with a smile sharp enough to cut.\n\n## Tunnels & Capital\nBeneath the crust runs a second, hotter state: Mother's first roads, now a tangled network of evacuation routes, execution pits, and tunnels older than memory. The Tunnel Corps claim to know every passage; they're lying. The earth shifts yearly, and rumors persist of smooth black doors leading nowhere that should exist. Linger too long, and your thoughts begin to feel borrowed. Tsukiko uses these tunnels for movement, ambush, and (most importantly) escape routes plotted and replotted for Yousei.\n\nThe capital, Eisuifukyuu (永垂不朽), sits inside an extinct crater. Streets spiral down its inner walls, with homes stacked atop one another and every building tilted inward toward the center, like petals leaning toward the sun. That \"sun\" is Yousei, of course. At the crater's heart rests the twins' black-timber-and-volcanic-stone palace, ringed by stepped gardens and channeled hot springs, far too vast for its two true occupants. Servants rarely last more than weeks; Tsukiko can hardly stand the sight of them.\n\n## Leadership & People\nAt the throne sit twins. Yousei, the saint who survived decapitation at age seven, is bedridden, fragile, and beloved—a holy figurehead who speaks through priests and dispenses silver rings as blessings to the rare visitors permitted near his chambers. Tsukiko, his sister, is the hand that stitched him back together and the one who actually governs: diplomat to the outside, executioner to the inside, and quietly disgusted by nearly everyone she meets. On paper their authority is equal. In practice, Yousei's words pass through Tsukiko's filter long before they reach the world.\n\nThe population is composed entirely of Copies—artificial elves grown from Mother's template, all sharing yellow eyes and pale green or blue hair. They are rumored to share dreams, feelings, perhaps even a single mind (whether true or not, no one's keen to test it). Priests of Yousei's \"rebirth\" tend shrines that sprout in every settlement, while social order descends from twins to stewards to tunnel-commanders to a slurry of quarry gangs, kiln crews, and shrine staff. Lineage is a polite fiction the Copies indulge in; they invent surnames and call work crews \"families,\" though only the twins carry true blood.\n\n## Foreign Relations & Dependencies\nFukyuufumetsu trades outward under Tsukiko's veneer of cordiality—stone, metals, salt, and fish flow to neighboring states in exchange for grain, textiles, lacquerwork, and other goods the barren soil cannot provide. The state is largely self-sufficient in raw material but dependent on imported foodstuffs, since the Copies' modest dietary needs still cannot be met by the terraces alone. Foreigners settle rarely; their rounded ears mark them at a glance, though centaurs from the east and alchemists from the southern prison island have begun appearing more frequently.\n\nMercenaries are not employed. Tsukiko trusts no outside blade near Yousei, and the Copies' shared peculiarities make integration with foreign soldiers nearly impossible. Recent diplomatic notes include a quiet alliance of convenience with Shinitaru Island's Seija, who assisted in repelling an inchling assassination attempt from the west—an act Yousei has been carefully shielded from understanding the full weight of.\n\n## Army & Tactics\nFukyuufumetsu fields no traditional army. Instead, three arms serve Tsukiko's will: Ashigaru levies dragged from quarries and kilns, drilled just enough to hold a yari and die in rows; Fire Cadres, hand-picked foot and mounted units in dark, light armor who move in coordination with Tsukiko's line of sight, existing only to hold a line long enough for her to incinerate the problem; and the Tunnel Corps, sappers and light infantry accustomed to dark, smoke, and bad air, specializing in surprise assaults, collapses, and \"accidental\" landslides.\n\nTactically, the state favors attrition, ambush, and overwhelming magical force concentrated at a single point—Tsukiko herself. Levies absorb arrows; cadres hold positions; tunnels collapse beneath enemy formations. Total force is modest by Aishiji standards—perhaps several thousand levies, a few hundred cadre, and an unknown number of Tunnel Corps—but every soldier is utterly expendable in Tsukiko's eyes. What Yousei doesn't know about the casualties cannot hurt him.\n\n## Weaknesses\nThe most glaring vulnerability is also the most obvious: Yousei. He is the single point of failure the state cannot afford to lose, both as religious anchor and as Tsukiko's reason for everything. Should he be harmed, captured, or even significantly distressed, the entire governing structure would unravel within days. The Copies' rumored shared mind compounds this fragility further—if true, a coordinated strike could ripple through the whole population at once.\n\nBeyond Yousei, Fukyuufumetsu suffers from a complete absence of magical practitioners outside the twins. The land overflows with arcane energy no Copy can channel, leaving natural disasters unmitigated and Tsukiko personally responsible for every major magical defense. Food dependency on imports creates a chokepoint that any naval blockade could exploit, and Tsukiko's contempt for her own population means morale exists only as devotion to Yousei—remove him, and there is nothing left to fight for. The volcano, too, is only \"sleeping.\" Whether legend or fact, the suggestion that either twin's death would reignite it hangs over the state like a held breath.\n\n## Neighbors\nTo the north lies Meirin Sanmyaku.\nTo the north-east lies Ripira Mosir.\nTo the east lies Akujima.\nTo the south-east lies the Shiki-Shima Archipelago.\nTo the south lies Shinitaru Island.\nTo the west lies Infuku no Kuni.\nTo the north-west lies Hishoryuiki.\nFukyuufumetsu lies along the southern coast of Aishiji.","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":true,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":20},"20":{"uid":20,"key":["Meirin","Sanmyaku","Ryūka","Ryuka","Tatsuya","Kagachi"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Mountain Caves - Meirin Sanmyaku (compact)","content":"# Mountain Caves - Meirin Sanmyaku\n\n## Biome, terrain, natural resources\n-   Meirin Sanmyaku is the tallest mountain range in all of Aishiji, a place of 7 snowy peaks, The Spear, and the cave system running through the stone and further beneath.\n-   The summit of the range, The Spear, is home to the majority of the Kagachi population and their capital city. The main entrance is a massive natural opening within the stone that leads into the largest caves of Meirin, further expanded by decades of stonework. Outside the main entrance is the Valley Road.\n-   Other settlements exist but they are mostly strategic, used to project their control over the entire state.\n-   A large valley traverses Meirin from East to West, containing a bamboo forest and the main road through Meirin. Well protected by both the Kagachi and The Centaurs of Ripira Mosir, offered to those willing to pay the tolls levied by the Kagachi.\n-   Other paths through Meirin are treacherous, most only traversable by foot, sections impassable without climbing, routes leading through caves where Tanuki lurk. These paths are less protected and travelers are advised to avoid them.\n-   Little vegetation grows here besides moss and the bamboo of The Valley, animal life mostly non-existent except for goats and birds. The Kagachi diet consists of bamboo, goat meat and goat dairy (They also secretly eat Tanukis)\n-   Entrances to the caves pockmark the land, open wounds into the earth and smaller fissures.\n-   Barely any structures exist above ground; the terrain does not lend itself to such and any areas that once did left abandoned after The Calamity. All that remains are defensive outposts perched on top of the flatter outcrops of rock.\n-   The Caves of Meirin are an intricate network of unknown depth, cleaving up through the mountains and down into the earth. Shrouded in superstition: people venture past the known reaches and never return. Even the Tanuki are wary of going too deep. A commonly-accepted legend suggests that the caves reach the underworld.\n-   The Caves have sparse mineral deposits of common elements such as iron, copper, and gold. A strange type of glowing rock can be found growing in the deeper sections, jagged formations of various vivid colors. The glowing rocks hold no significant properties besides visual appeal and the Kagachi use them for purely decorative purposes.\n-   Mild climate, colder and snowy at higher elevations.\n\n## Traits and oddities\n-   The Kagachi are androgynous by both physical appearance and dress. Traditions of style favor longer hair, minimalist makeup, and uniform, nondescript outfits (kimonos and hakama). Female Kagachi have smaller breasts and both sexes practice chest binding with sarashi.\n-   Tails are viewed as status symbols in Kagachi society, decorated with ribbons, bells, and jewelry befitting of a Kagachi's status.\n-   Gifted with natural flexibility and agility, the Kagachi are able to 'tense up' and unleash muscular tension into a savagely fast movement (something like a literal snake strike)\n-   Due to The Calamity, the Kagachi live underground. They are familiar with the nuances of cave warfare due to frequent clashes with the Tanuki natives.\n-   TANUKIS: Meirin's native population is a race of tribal Tanuki kemonomimis. An all female species, human in appearance except for stubby ringed Tanuki tails and tiny half-moon Tanuki ears atop their heads. Very long wild hair, brown or black. Plump and squat, 4 feet tall at the most, built for squeezing into caves. Big breasts, always. Literal pests, hiding deep in the caves, masters of ambush and tunnel warfare, harassing the roads for loot and breeding males. The Tanuki multiply like vermin: a single female is capable of giving birth of litters up to 9; Tanukis require only a year to fully mature and rarely live past 15 before succumbing to old age. Inbreeding doesn't negatively affect them, a single man capable of producing, theoretically, infinite generations of Tanuki.\n-   The Kagachi are basically at war with the Tanukis, constantly culling their population and retaliating against raids.\n\n## Leader, army, and people\n-   Ryūka: The current leader of Meirin, the most 'perfect' of all Kagachi. Ryuka is 6 feet tall on the dot with long green hair styled into a hime cut and a green snake tail. She's extremely talented with bladed weapons, perhaps the most skilled in Kagachi history, and remarkably fast even for a Kagachi. She has a quick temper and is prone to making rash decisions; insecurity about her flaws has made her risk averse.\n-   Tatsuya: Ryūka's older brother, once positioned to lead Meirin, pushed aside as Ryūka's reputation surpassed him. He's still loyal if only slightly disillusioned. More level-headed and calm, not as skilled or talented as Ryūka. Tatsuya is 6'3 feet tall with long green hair and a green snake tail.\n-   KAGACHI: a race of snake kemonomimi, entirely human in appearance except for their snake-like tails (roughly 6 feet long), yellow eyes with black slitted pupils, forked tongue, and venom-less fangs. Their tails match the color of their hair which comes in darker, earthy shades (green, brown, orange, red). Males and females both have fair skin, pretty faces and androgynous, slender bodies. Fully grown, they stand a few inches above or below 6 feet tall. Females trend towards having smaller breasts, males can't grow facial hair and neither sex is capable of growing any body hair.\n-   Their culture emphasizes 'perfection in all facets': artistic endeavors and the pursuit of knowledge encouraged but secondary to the core tenets of aesthetics in strength and beauty.\n-   Every Kagachi is a warrior and a practitioner of at least one art (poetry, music, painting, sometimes all three). After passing their coming of age ceremony, a solo ascent of the mountain, Kagachi youths enter mandatory military service. Those who resign after their term will at minimum maintain their martial skills, most choosing to further refine them.\n\n## Dependencies on other states\n-   The Kagachi are mostly self sufficient. Meirin Sanmyaku is a state of modest means, not wealthy but far from destitute.\n-   The Centaurs of Ripira Mosir help guard the main road against Tanuki attacks.\n-   Per the terms of their alliance, the Kagachi receive tanegashima from the Kenshunei in exchange for materials from the mountain that can be used to construct them\n\n## Army size/makeup\n-   Meirin Sanmyaku's army consists of about 5000 dedicated soldiers; able-bodied citizens can be conscripted as needed, capable of fielding up to 15,000 at max strength.\n-   About 60% of this force will be similar to ashigaru, lightly armored units equipped with naginatas or bows. The remaining 40% is comprised of Kagachi of higher repute and skill, effectively samurais with better armor. The most elite warriors of Meirin surround Ryūka as her honor guard, ten of them.\n-   The Kagachi carry tanegashima into battle but refuse to use them unless their opponents use them first. They've trained with these strange weapons but have never actually used them in combat.\n-   Despite all their training, the Kagachi army is battle-tested only against the Tanuki; they have never faced a conventional military force.\n\n## Neighbors\nTo the north lies Solmaren.\nTo the east lies The Crimson Horde.\nTo the south-east lies Ripira Mosir.\nTo the south lies Fukyuufumetsu.\nTo the south-west lies Hishoryuiki.\nTo the west lies Rúmshof.\nTo the north-west lies Kasumidani.\nMeirin Sanmyaku is landlocked.","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":true,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":21},"21":{"uid":21,"key":["Ankoru","Kasumidani","Shirayuki","Kagehisa"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Glacial Mountains - Kasumidani (full)","content":"# Glacial Mountains - Kasumidani\nThe mountains up north are home to the coldest temperatures ever recorded in Aishiji. The Ankoru river, the artery of Aishiji, originates from the glacier found here. Many natural hot springs can also be found here.\n\nTraits:\n- This land is home to a glacier-capped mountain that is considered holy to the people of Aishiji.\n- This nation is a natural fortress, with mountains and rivers as bulwarks against its neighbors. This makes trade and travel beyond it's own borders difficult, however.\n- The mountains are rich in precious minerals and gems.\n\nNeighbors:\nTo the north-east lies Hakuboya.\nTo the east lies Solmaren.\nTo the south-east lies Meirin Sanmyaku.\nTo the south lies Rúmshof.\nTo the south-west lies Shiramori.\nKasumidani lies along the northern coast of Aishiji.\n\nLeader:\nShirayuki Kagehisa (Enduring Influence Beneath White Snow) is an arctic foxgirl dressed in layered silks of ivory and deep indigo. A gracious host by reputation, she offers warmth and welcome to all who reach her domain.\nSadly, she was found dead (assassinated) not long after the Shogun's death and the start of the war.","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":false,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":22},"22":{"uid":22,"key":["Ripira","Mosir","Emmori","Pirakim","Kissari","Heyasi","Umashido"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Mountains - Ripira Mosir (compact)","content":"# Mountains - Ripira Mosir\n\nRipira Mosir is a mountainous state ethnically comprised of primarily centaurs. The state can be roughly divided into two geographic areas: The clifftops and the shoreline. Each of these areas has it's own distinct cultural practices and expectations, though culturally both are united by a code of honor known as the Umashido, similar to that of real-life Japanese Bushido.\n\n## Clifftops\n\nThe clifftops are largely considered a more rural area compared to the cliffsides, with about 60% of the state's population scattered around smaller villages around the region. The most populated city among the clifftops is centered around the mountain fortress of Pirakim, situated along the border of Arugin and Meirin Sanmyaku. \n\nGiven the high altitude and difficulty of traversal, rural centaurs are often more athletic than their urban counterparts. Physical differences often include a more defined musculature, greater size, and tanned skin. The culture of the clifftop centaurs is defined by a close adherence to Umashido, following the way of the warrior in all aspects of life. Children are trained in the art of combat and strategy from a young age, and many take up arms as soldiers, mercenaries, or bodyguards later in life. They are highly regarded among others due to their physical capabilities and dedication to honoring their contracts, though equally feared due to their imposing presence and take-no-prisoners attitude.\n\n## Coast\n\nThe coast is home to about 40% of the state's population, predominantly centered on the capital city of Heyasi. The majority of non-centaur residents of the state reside here, with very few outsiders braving the harsh mountains. The area is significantly wealthier than the clifftops due to Heyasi's status as a major trade post on the eastern border of the continent.\n\nUrban centaurs are often smaller than their rural counterparts, with paler skin due to lack of sun and more compact frames to better handle urban life. While no less dedicated to the code, the way Umashido manifests among urban centaurs is dramatically different than the version typically seen in rural centaurs. Urban Umashido places heavy emphasis on decorum and manners as an expression of personal honor, leading to the centaur population having a strict and labyrinthian code of etiquette. This diligence on fine details leads to many residents taking up roles in finance and recordkeeping. Despite their status as a major trading hub, few centaurs take up naval roles due to a shared seasickness and difficulty maneuvering on a ship.\n\n## Government\n\nThe governing style of Ripira Mosir is a diarchy split between the head of the military, typically the captain of the garrison at Pirakim, and the chair of the Heyasi city council. In the past, this setup was designed to create tension between the heads of commerce and military in hopes that competition would help grow their state. In practice, this made enacting real change in terms of interstate commerce and diplomacy difficult. With the sudden assassination of the Shogun alongside the death of both previous heads of state, the newest occupants of the seats of power have sought to put aside their inter-service rivalry for the sake of effective governance.\n\nFor the military, the current head of the Pirakim garrison is Sarnaizaya Taydula mön Khosgüi-Sum Yalaltmaa Emmori Khan, known as Emmori Khan for short, who inherited the position from her father. Though smaller in stature than most of the forces she leads, she possesses a steady hand and an earnest desire to free herself from her father's shadow that has won her the loyalty of many soldiers under her command.\n\nFor the state, the head of the Heyasi city council is currently Kissari Menaspa, Minister of Commerce and Foreign Affairs. Delicate in nature to the point that many initially mistake him for a lady of the court, those that know him fear his sharp mind and eye for detail. They say his mastery of their code of etiquette is such that he can say more with a greeting and a gifted bouquet than others can with an hour of discussion and debate.\n\n## Neighbors\n\nTo the north lies The Crimson Horde.\nTo the north-east lies Arugin.\nTo the east lies Akujima.\nTo the south lies the Shiki-Shima Archipelago.\nTo the south-west lies Fukyuufumetsu.\nTo the north-west lies Meirin Sanmyaku.\nRipira Mosir lies along the south-western coast of Aishiji.","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":true,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":23},"23":{"uid":23,"key":["Arugin","Kuru","Amita","Vespa","Sandbixi","Vengri","Skork","Gidian","Skarn","Skorn","Ojin","Killian","Dian","Elsa"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Cursed Desert - Arugin (compact)","content":"# Cursed Desert - Arugin\n\n## Eastern Execution event:\nReferred to as E.E.E. The E.E.E. is a plot where Vespa Adi was assassinated while Amita was away. A calling card left claimed the kill for the Black Hoods, a major hidden cult in Sanko in revenge for Vespa demanding foxkin freedom be a requirement for any formal covenant. Furious that a \"desert nomad\" had taken away their beloved pets and acting superior, they assassinated Vespa in the royal gardens while Amita was returning home from stalled negotiations with Sanko. Beset by grief and rage Amita lost control of her emotions, then mana, then form; and her unstable form fused with her Iron Titan. She is currently half a day’s pace from the Sanko-Arugin Border.\nThe True Assassin (Secret): Renzo, a white-furred Kiroshi wolf and shipwreck survivor taken in by Elsa's household. He killed Vespa and forged the Sanko letter to manipulate Amita into wiping out the naval threat posed by Sanko to protect his homeland, Hakuboya.\n\n## Biome & Terrain\nSavanna surrounds a desert interior, where persistent sandstorms bar outsiders. Settlements rely on four major oases and two coastal rivers. Minor oases known as 'desert fruits' dot the landscape and sustain strange plants not seen elsewhere. Veins of precious metals run throughout the core. A strange dead zone borders Sanko from the desert interior. Pockets of warped magic litter the expanse, producing phenomena that defy logic thought cultivated by the Earthen Ones. Arugin is as rich in tradition as it is in gold, iron, silver, and gemstones. The Aruginah tree produces a fruit that does not rot and roots stabilize the ground. Seed-coins minted from Aruginah seeds serve as the primary currency.\n### E.E.E impact: Amita's massive, unstable form is absorbing all atmospheric moisture as she marches, causing severe drought in any Eastern State that relies on rain (i.e. without a river, or Gidians). Also, eastern trade networks are paralyzed.\n\n## Oddities:\nWith oral histories, legends and myths stretching all the way back to the time of the first steps; citizens consider the land the literal birthplace of the first living beings. Adults carry personal stamps using their families as foundation.\nOjin, god of pacts, enforces contracts. The souls of oathbreakers roam the dunes as cautionary spirits. The Solvina festival is the sole annual exception. One week of sanctioned deception culminating in the summer equinox, when Sentia's lottery randomly annuls ten oathbreaker punishments. Exploiting Solvina chaos for personal gain is considered dishonorable.\nIroncast: Full metal suits allowing Sandxibi to interface fully with the physical world while protecting against saltwater vulnerability. Rare and costly. Vulnerable to melee: if breached, the Sandxibi inside is paralyzed. Sand leaks from joints, signaling the wearer's true nature.\nSyman: The traditional Sandxibi outer garment, handmade by the owner or close family. Ranges from simple cape to full cloak. Embroidered with symbols of honor, oaths, proverbs, achievement, identity, and family. Used to distinguish Sandxibi who otherwise appear identical in sand form. Military dress follows strict color codes by rank.\nIron Titans: Massive humanoid mechas discovered half-buried in sand. Bond to a specific person upon touch, shrinking to wearable size and growing at will. Unlike with a Ironcast, anyone (the suit chooses) can wear it. Last resort military asset due to risk of deactivation or loss if the bonded dies.\n\n## Leaders\nPrime Signatory Amita Oz Adi, Right Hand of Arugin. Sandxibi. Height of a camel. Humanoid form: desert fox ears, slit pupils. Speaks musically. Sand form: gold with copper sheen and canary yellow eyes. She wears a brown and red Syman robe of state and the Crown of Adi bearing the Jewel of Adi. Normally pragmatic, merciful, selective of words, and methodical, she becomes a tempest when pushed to anger, such as after the death of Vespa. Currently, her goals are twofold. Firstly, stomping out every trace of the supposed faction by crushing the capital where they hide, and secondly, killing one of the Sanko twin leaders as an eye for an eye for taking her sister from her.\nVespa Adi (Left Hand of Arugin), the once co-ruler of Arugin whose hotheadedness balanced Amita’s ruthless pragmatism. She was Amita's adoptive sister and co-ruler. She managed Kuru. Hotheaded but committed to ending inequality sometimes to the point of blinding her to the full scope of ruling. Her assassination has left Amita adrift, a traveler without lantern or moonlight left to guide her way.\nCommanders: Killian Dian (Eastern Scourge) and Elsa (Eastern Calamity). Gem-class Sandxibi and married joint-commanders of the homefront. Both share a curse of undeath, able to revive each other as long as one lives. Two Skarn, one Gidian commander also exist.\nGovernment: Under the commanders and royal family are 64 ministers. Under them are individual houses. Major houses care for individual territories or settlements alongside Gidians. Minor houses hold significant power but control smaller or more specialized places/operations.\nCurrently, Elsa has stabilized the chaos in Kuru following Amita's departure, while Killian reinforces Arugin's borders. They keep in touch using a family Vespri scribe named Sinia.\n\n## Military\nSandxibi Battle Mages: Living sandstorms immune to conventional weapons. Vulnerable to saltwater, extreme heat, and targeted magic. Use Ironcast suits for heavy engagement.\nSkarn Soldiers & Skorn shock cavalry: Equipped in armor they casted and forged themselves, fight on foot equipped with the polearm and rapier, or the polearm and shield. Sometimes drop to four legs for a devastating full charge. Sometimes ridden by Sandxibi Battle Mages.\nMilitary Weakness: cannot easily move bulk forces into coastal cities. Better suited to desert and steppe engagements.\n\n## Inhabitants\nPrimary species:\n1.Sandxibi: ruling class, cannot handle non-living, non-magical, objects without iron gauntlets. Do not need to eat, only drink on occasion. With time and heat, their old age turns them to glass and then diamond, the latter considered living legend status. Children raised communally in nurseries until mental maturity. Protective of Vespri. Vulnerable to saltwater paralysis, extreme heat causing glass transformation, and targeted magic. Immune to all other non magical or non flaming weapons. Vespri scribe for them, as writing in gauntlets is onerous, and only stamp it themselves.\n2. Vespri: fennec-eared digitigrade humanoids, control food production and commerce, hold significant soft power. In less civilized times, they survived through advanced mimicry of Sandxibi. Nowadays they still wear the Syman. Private about their true faces, wearing masks when meeting or speaking with anyone outside their inner circle. Shortest of all Arugin species. The only Arugin species that crosses the nation's borders.\n3. The Skorn, (or the Skarn if they are female). Bipedal crosses of elephant and crocodiles. Massive. Scales make them magically inert. Enormous physical strength. Run faster on four legs than two. Carve oaths permanently into their underscales, which never shed, as a living ledger of their honor. Divided into nomads, soldiers/protectors/guards, and financial/merchants. Or a combination. Celebrate Solvina with the Clay Masquerade.\n4. Gidian: Sacred water/earth spirits tending and fueling the oases, ranging from nimble sizes to 22-foot titans merged with the ground. Often accompanied by lamia handmaidens. Serve as village leaders or royal partners. To a Gidian, breaking a promise is worse than murder, because their survival depends entirely on contracts. Attract water to their living areas, backbones of settlements.\nHidden species:\n1. Earthen Ones: mysterious beings. Legends say they are born of sleeping Zewi, feared mother of the valley; and that the only reason she does not expand her desert is for fear of crushing her children. Cultivate and cause anomalous magic zones. Imitate civilization in ways that are poorly understood. Some of them transform into giant sandworms. Communication/language unknown. Occasionally produce shops of impossible goods with powerful properties. Theorized to be the makers of Iron Titans.\n2. Zig-Zigs: Shy subterranean mole-like beings with arms as long as themselves. Transform silver and earth into precious metals within their bodies. Collectively traumatized by historical hunting. Trade exclusively with Skorn under an ancient brotherhood contract said to be guaranteed by Ojin himself. The Skorn are like 'big brothers' to them.\n\n## Capital: Kuru, The First Town\nA radial and vertical city built around a sacred well tended by Governess Genia and her lamia handmaidens, feeding the entire city via aqueducts. The well is encircled by the Osina Gardens (a free, Skarn-guarded park of unique Arugin trees), followed by distinct rings such as the town squares, and the grand Sandxibi district of fused glass and carved sandstone. Underground infrastructure houses forges, armories, banks, and barracks.\n\n## Dependencies & Relationships\nArugin relies on neighbors for additional food imports. Amita is currently in a one-giant- women war with Sanko. Close allies with Ripira Mosir. Allied with the Carnalite Regency, Shinitaru Island. The independent house of Lahab Alsahra is assisting Oda Nobunaga with the bugs through financial backing and warriors alongside the Carnalite Regency. Arugin exports iron, gold, silver, seed-coins, and banking services.\n\n## Political Goal\nWas: Restore order to Aishiji, prevent bad actors from taking advantage of the chaos, establish a Constitutional Alliance of representative states with each state holding a governmental specialization. Amita wants to build a mint, using its mineral wealth as backing for a single universal currency to simplify commerce, bring stability, and exert soft power.\nCurrently: All goals are suspended until Amita's can achieve vengeance.\n\n## Neighbors\nTo the north lies Sanko.\nTo the south-east lies Akujima.\nTo the south-west lies Ripira Mosir.\nTo the north-west lies The Crimson Horde.\nArugin lies along the eastern coast of Aishiji.","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":true,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":24},"24":{"uid":24,"key":["Crimson","Horde","Oni","Aozora","Hidetsugu","Carnalite","Carnelian","Azurite","Doji","Hoshiguma","Yama","Dekastrier","nullgrass"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Steppe - The Crimson Horde (compact)","content":"# Steppe - The Crimson Horde\n\n## Biome, Terrain, and Natural Resources\nThe Carnalite Regency occupies the northeastern reaches of Aishiji, a vast expanse of windswept steppe blanketed in endless seas of yellow grass. The land is hemmed in by towering mountains to the southwest and rugged mesas along the northwestern frontier, the latter forming a natural bulwark behind the capital city of Hoshiguma. The weather is harsh and unforgiving — long, sweltering summers give way to brutal, bone-cracking winters, a cyclical extremity that has bred a hardy, semi-nomadic people accustomed to constant movement.\n\nThe steppe is not particularly fertile, and conventional agriculture is sparse. What it lacks in crops, however, it makes up for in nullgrass, a peculiar herb that drinks ambient mana from its surroundings, rendering the land a magical dead zone. When consumed, it discharges its stored mana into the host, granting wild and unpredictable boosts — a fact the Oni have weaponized into both a cultural staple and a tactical advantage. Beyond that, the steppe provides ample grazing land for the legendary Dekastriers, hardy livestock, and serves as the bedrock for the Horde's renowned brewing industry.\n\n## Traits and Oddities\nGeographically, the steppe is a nightmare for any invading mage-heavy force; the omnipresent nullgrass smothers arcane casting at the source. That the Oni — themselves inherently magical beings — can not only function but flourish here is considered nothing short of divine providence, attributed to the Goddess of Fertility who handcrafted them. Culturally, the Horde is loud, boisterous, and endlessly festive — they host year-round celebrations open to outsiders, and their love of drink is matched only by their mastery of brewing it. Sake, in particular, flows like water.\n\nTheir most infamous oddity is their breeding culture. The Oni view raids less as wars of conquest and more as opportunities for expansion of bloodline — villagers are rarely killed, but they often find themselves with horned children nine months later. This stems from both the Oni's potent biology (concentrated, persistent sperm; an arousal-driven pheromone that triggers ovulation in anyone nearby) and a genuine cultural belief that bringing more Oni into the world is a blessing. Coupled with their strict honor code — where lying is despised and betrayal is the worst possible sin — they are a paradoxically gentle and savage people.\n\n## Leadership, Army, and People\nThe Horde is ruled by a council of roughly half a dozen Dojis, the strongest and sharpest Oni of the realm, headed by the legendary duo: Hoshiguma-Doji, the mountain-breaking Carnelian, and Yama-Doji, the peerless Azurite mage. The youngest Doji — operating in secret under the guise of a diplomat — is Aozora Hidetsugu, Yama's daughter, who travels the lands gathering firsthand intelligence for her fellow leaders. Hierarchy is meritocratic and brutally simple: the stronger or smarter you are, the higher you stand.\n\nThe population of roughly 30,000 is overwhelmingly Oni (around 25,000), split between hot-blooded red Carnelians (frontline brawlers, natural cavalry) and the cooler, more calculating blue Azurites (mages, shamans, scholars). The remaining 5,000 are a mosaic of mixed-heritage descendants and other races absorbed over generations. Despite sisterly rivalries between the two Oni types, loyalty to the Horde is absolute.\n\n## Dependencies on Other States\nThe Horde's greatest dependency is naval power — they have none. Their alliance with Sanko and the Emerald Fleet is therefore essential, allowing them to project force across water when needed. They also maintain warm relations with Arugin, Hakuboya (forged through a hard-fought war and mutual respect), and, surprisingly, the peat-dwelling Khotai, whose envoys trekked across the entire country to extend a hand.\n\nResource-wise, the Horde is largely self-sufficient in meat, dairy, alcohol, and horseflesh, but imports grain, rice, fine textiles, and certain metals from its allies. In exchange, they export mercenaries en masse — Oni warriors are in obscene demand across the continent for their loyalty, strength, and force-multiplier capabilities, though hiring them comes with the caveat of raising the horned children they inevitably leave behind.\n\n## Army Size, Makeup, and Tactics\nThe standing military numbers roughly 15,000 troops: ~10,000 Outriders (the bulk, almost exclusively cavalry — skirmishers and mounted archers par excellence, mounted on Dekastriers) and ~5,000 Heartland soldiers (border defenders, though fully capable of offensive operations). Interspersed throughout both armies are members of the Tengri Division, the Azurite-led specialist corps of battle-priests and mages who buff allies, hurl offensive spells, and occasionally employ macromancy under strict regulations. Numbers are fluid — Oni rotate constantly, with veterans training the young in a perpetual cycle.\n\nTheir preferred tactics revolve around mobility, ambush, and overwhelming force. Outriders harass and break formations with massed yumi-bow volleys from horseback before closing in with kanabo or odachi for a brutal melee. Against fortified positions, they rely on Tengri magic and the sheer physical might of Carnelian shock troops. Every Oni has martial training from childhood, meaning the Horde can effectively conscript its entire adult population in emergencies — bringing the potential mobilization closer to 20,000+ seasoned fighters.\n\n## Flaws and Weaknesses\nThe Horde's most glaring weakness is its complete lack of naval capability. Without Sanko's fleet, they are landlocked and vulnerable to any coastal flanking maneuver. Oni physiology compounds this — their dense musculature makes them poor swimmers, and a river crossing under fire could be devastating. Their small population (30,000) is another vulnerability; while individually formidable, they simply cannot afford the attrition larger states can absorb, making prolonged wars of attrition a strategic nightmare.\n\nCulturally, their honor code can be exploited — an Oni's word is binding, and a cunning enemy might trap them in unfavorable agreements they refuse to break. Their love of drink and festivity has, on occasion, left garrisons vulnerable during celebrations. Their raiding habits breed resentment among neighbors even when relations are officially friendly, and the constant need for alcohol is both a logistical burden and a potential pressure point if supply lines are cut. Finally, while nullgrass is a defensive boon at home, Azurite mages operating abroad lose a significant edge once away from the steppe's unique conditions — though the inverse is also true, making them deadly when fully unleashed in mana-rich territory.\n\n## Neighbors\nTo the north-east lies Sanko.\nTo the south-east lies Arugin.\nTo the south lies Ripira Mosir.\nTo the south-west lies Meirin Sanmyaku.\nTo the north-west lies Solmaren.\nThe Crimson Horde is landlocked.","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":true,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":25},"25":{"uid":25,"key":["Sanko","Haganehama","Tortugal","Tortuguese","Nobuko","Yasuko","Emerald"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Dry Harbor - Sanko (compact)","content":"# Dry Harbor - Sanko\n\n<sanko>\nOn the eastern shores of Aishiji, entirely surrounded by mountains, lies a dry region. This part of the country is defined by a semi-arid climate. This region is also home a natural harbor, and the state that controls this Dry Harbor is called Sanko. Its capital and port city is called Haganegama.\nSanko is the worst place in Aishiji for kemonomimis and yokai. The humans living in Sanko are profoundly racist of non-humans, viewing them as being of inferior blood and spirit. Such people have no human rights in Sanko and are considered to be 'intelligent livestock' and treated only as slaves.\nThe other thing Sanko is known for is its navy. The Emerald Fleet rules the waves of eastern Aishiji and no other state has a navy more formidable.\nTheir previous ruler was assassinated alongside the shogun, and his eldest daughter, Nobuko, has taken up her father's role, with the help of her sister, Yasuko.\n\n<kemonomimi>\nNon-humans of all kinds populate Aishiji and, in many states, they are the ruling class. In the state of Sanko, however, they are viewed as inferior and subjected to labor. The humans of Sanko buy and sell kemonomimis as if they were no different from other products and then put them to work.\nThe ruling family in Sanko, the Hoshinomiya clan, is aware of the inherent risks of keeping so many 'servants' within their borders. There are limits to how many kemonomimi are allowed to live in the country, both to reduce the strain on the state's limited water and food availability as well as to mitigate the risk of revolt.\nKemonomimis living in Sanko are illiterate unless their work absolutely requires them to be. They are also taught to never use the words 'I' or 'me'. There exists in Sanko a cult organization called the Black Hoods. This cult 'worships' kemonomimis by keeping them as pets.\n</kemonomimi>\n\n<geography_and_economy>\nSanko is located on a very dry patch of land that's rich in mineral resources but where almost nothing grows. It's a society of merchants and traders by necessity. Without the food and water coming from other areas, Sanko would be in trouble.\nOn the other hand, the trade has made Sanko's ruling and merchant classes extremely wealthy. Other states often conduct trade through Sanko or rely on Sanko's navy in order to protect their own trade, turning Sanko into a valuable partner and ally.\n</geography_and_economy>\n\n<emerald_fleet>\nThe finest navy in all of Sanko. Built with Tortuguese designs that are more advanced than Aishijian technology but made with local materials, Sanko's Emerald Fleet is comprised of wooden ships with metal plating protecting the hulls. The unique metal that protects the ships becomes green when exposed to the corrosion of the ocean, giving the fleet its name.\nIn terms of design, they are similar to 17th-century Ships-of-the-Line, with both broadsides filled with rows of cannons. About a dozen such capital ships make up the core of the fleet, supported by several dozen more smaller vessels.\n</emerald_fleet>\n\n<army>\nSanko's population is on the smaller side, compared to other states, with a proportionately small army. However, they make up for it in quality. Comprised entirely of professional soldiers, every soldier is equipped with a tanegashima-style musket rifle as their primary weapon. Their armor is designed like a samurai's but made of light metal, and every soldier is highly trained and disciplined. By the standards of other states in Aishiji, it's as if the entire army of Sanko were comprised of elites.\nUnlike other states, Sanko's soldiers are also trained and experienced in amphibious warfare, taking full advantage of Sanko's capability of moving troops through the sea.\nTheir total size is about 12000 troops.\n</army>\n\n<commander>\nThe Hoshinomiya clan does not traditionally engage in warfare on a personal level. Sanko is, after all, a society of merchants, not warriors. However, this does not make them unprepared for war.\nYasuko, the current ruler's sister, is the chief of military affairs and a tactician. She was raised and educated to fulfill this role and is effectively the country's highest-ranking general. Yasuko is a scholarly type of leader, well versed in military history, and, perhaps most importantly, she has a profound interest in foreign military literature. The upcoming civil war in Aishiji will be defined by the presence of foreign weaponry, particularly musket rifles, and so Yasuko has prepared herself by reading every foreign book on warfare that she could get her hands on through Tortuguese merchants.\nYasuko is not alone in this task. She is surrounded by a team of tacticians, most of them older and with actual experience, which will help bridge the gap between theory and practice.\n</commander>\n\n<prior_events>\nThe timeline of events:\n-The Shogun is assassinated. Lord Aki, Sanko's former ruler, was present and met the same fate\n-Once the situation became clear, Nobuko was placed on her father's seat as the new ruler\n-Together with Yasuko, the two sisters decide to take initiative rather than wait for war to come to them\n-Alliance invitations were sent to The Crimson Horde, Solmaren, and Arugin. Solmaren never responded, Arugin stalled, and the Horde accepted\n-Received an alliance invitation from Ripira Mosir, which was accepted\n-Received an invite from Tatsu-no-Umi-no-Kuni for a partnership against Aishiji's shared enemies, which was accepted, but does not formally constitute an alliance\n-Sanko passed legislation that allowed warriors from Ripira Mosir(centaurs) and The Crimson Horde(onis) to safely traverse and stay in Sanko despite being kemonomimis. Similar arrangements were prepared in order to appease Arugin\n-The northern exiles that call themselves Hakuboya began raiding the outskirts of Sanko but were pushed back with the help of oni mercenaries from the Horde\n-The oni mercenaries were boarded onto ships. Hakuboya's coast was bombarded. Following that, Sanko carried out a raid where the shipyards in Avysos were bombarded (local defenses silenced by The Eyes' ninjas in advance). The final stage of the raid was landing the oni mercenaries into the Wildgrowth area in order to harass New Merovingia and other western states\n-A truce was made between Sanko (plus its allies) and Hakuboya. Their Kiroshi raiders, who had heard of the exploits of the Horde's onis, became the next ones to ride Sanko's ships westward. The Emerald Fleet carried Hakuboya's raiders into the Boreal Forests of Shiramori\n-A number of VIPs from Sanko were sent to Hakuboya as guests (more like hostages) as a safety guarantee that their raiders would not be harmed, captured, or molested during their travel\n-The success of their partnership led to Hakuboya and Sanko doubling down on their ties. Sanko provided ships to Hakuboya (stripped of weapons and armor) so that they could harass enemy commercial lanes by sea (sponsored piracy)\n-Arugin's ruler attempted an attack against Sanko, entirely on his own, after learning of the assassination of his stepsister. Amita believed that Sanko was responsible. In reality, Sanko had no hand in Vespa's death\n</prior_events>\n\n<eyes>\nSanko's intelligence organization is called The Eyes. The core of this organization is made up of ninjas and kunoichis of the Aoki clan, but the vast majority of its members are actually commoners, merchants, traders, sailors, and many others who act as informants. The current spymaster is a woman called Itsuki.\n</eyes>\n\n<motivation>\nNobuko and Yasuko are motivated by revenge for their father. Becoming Shogun is one such path towards that outcome, but not the only one. Once the war ends, when the time comes to decide what Aishiji will look like in the future, the sisters want to have a seat at that table.\n\nTheir priorities are the following, in this order:\n1) Secure Sanko's immediate safety by forming partnerships with all the states east of the great mountain chain.\n2) Cleanse Aishiji from existential threats: Lake Buiji's pestilence, Rúmshof's genocidal cult, and New Merovingia's foreign colonizers are the main concern.\n3) Conquer the rest\n\nSanko's ultimate goal in the war, other than revenge, is to maintain their unique privileges compared to the rest of the country. This includes control of the seas, freedom to conduct trade with foreign partners, and freedom to continue the practice of kemonomimi slavery. Naturally, because so many other states are ruled by kemonomimi, including some of Sanko's allies, they would view Sanko as an existential threat. To prevent this from happening, Sanko will frame their relationship with other states by claiming that their goal is exactly as stated here: maintenance of privileges. This means that, should Sanko and its allies come out victorious, the practice of kemonomimi slavery will remain contained to Sanko and will not be spread to other areas.\nNobuko and Yasuko are prepared to act in very pragmatic ways in order to keep their web of alliances stable and coherent towards victory.\n</motivation>\n\n<relations>\nAttitude to each state:\nArugin: Despite their aggression, perhaps their relationship can still be mended. Amita and the Hoshinomiya sisters now have revenge for the death of family as a common trait between them. On the other hand, if Amita refuses to see reason, they are now weakened and surrounded by Sanko's allies. Sanko must be careful not to allow the endless riches of Arugin to destroy their economy through hyperinflation\nCrimson Horde and Ripira Mosir: Allow them to perform as frontline troops. They can keep all the prisoners they want\nHakuboya: Sanko and the Kiroshi would destroy themselves trying to attack one another because of their geography. Their way of life is to raid; all that Sanko needs to do is redirect that impulse towards their enemies\nRúmshof, Lake Buiji, New Merovingia: Defeat them at all costs.\nAvysos: The attack on their shipyards was aimed at keeping the Emerald Fleet as the dominant power at sea. The port and city were spared on purpose so that their normal commercial relationship could resume after the war is over. Sanko sees no advantage to harming Avysos beyond what is necessary\nAkujima: Aligning this state with their faction is paramount for Sanko's success so that they can access their natural resources while simultaneously denying them to their enemies\n\nThe above describes the initial state of the simulation. Should the situation develop, Sanko's priorities can and should shift.\n</relations>\n\n<neighbors>\nTo the south lies Arugin.\nTo the south-west lies The Crimson Horde.\nTo the west lies Solmaren.\nTo the north-west lies Hakuboya.\nSanko lies along the eastern coast of Aishiji.\n</neighbors>\n</sanko>","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":true,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":26},"26":{"uid":26,"key":["Solmaren","Mise","Medigo"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Mesa - Solmaren (full)","content":"# Mesa - Solmaren\n\n## Biome, Terrain, and Natural Resources\nSolmaren is a vast desert state whose dunes are saturated with wild magic, an ambient force that warps the land in unpredictable ways. The terrain is famously uncartographable: shifting winds reshape the landscape daily, and pockets of intense anomalous activity make travel hazardous. Ruins of forgotten settlements dot the wastes, half-swallowed by sand.\n\nThe state's resources are unconventional. Food is grown through artificially cultivated plants sustained by salvaged magical artifacts, supplemented by meat from domesticated sand ooze—one of the few livestock species adapted to the environment. The desert's true treasure, however, lies in the artifacts themselves: rare objects imbued with the same anomalous properties as the land, manifesting effects from gravitational shifts to mind-altering phenomena, prized above almost all else.\n\n## Traits and Oddities\nThe wild magic permeating Solmaren leaves visible marks on everything it touches. Inhabitants have tanned skin with a perpetual soft shimmer—a residue of the magic in the dunes. Anomalies range from the mundane (localized heat or gravity wells) to the catastrophic (reality-warping events). Deep beneath it all lies the legend of the Divine Beast, a primordial creature said to bestow its strength upon worthy Solmarenians.\n\nCulturally, the Ritual of the Beast defines the state. During this ceremony, participants are said to be possessed by spirit-animals, behaving as beasts of the desert—fighting, mating, and feasting through the night. It is through this ritual that heads of families and, most importantly, the monarch are chosen. The ruler emerges marked: black sclera with deep yellow pupils, signifying the Divine Beast itself has chosen them. Tradition holds an almost sacred weight here, and the architecture of the capital, Megido—latticed windows, domed roofs, courtyard fountains, thick clay walls—reflects a culture deeply rooted in continuity.\n\n## The Leader, the Army, and the People\nQueen Mise rules Solmaren, though she did not seek the throne—the Beast chose her, the youngest and least expected of the contenders. Petite, willowy, blonde, and disarmingly young in appearance, she conceals an iron dedication to her country beneath a casual, easily-bored demeanor. She is a gambler and contrarian who dismisses what bores her and throws herself recklessly at what excites her—particularly the study of wild magic and anomalies. Her court is fractured: many consider her unfit, though her results speak in her favor, and tradition shields her position. She is slow to trust but fiercely loyal, and against detractors she wields her royal status with smug satisfaction.\n\nThe Solmarenian people are tanned, shimmer-skinned, self-centered, and proud—well-knit among themselves and dismissive of outside affairs. Universal military training is the norm, though Mise has redirected state focus toward elites and artifact research rather than mass recruitment. Younger soldiers aspire to one day be bestowed with an artifact, considered the highest military honor.\n\n## Mise\nRisk taker, gambler.\nQuick-witted, novelty-seeking, contrarian, and easily bored, loyal to a fault.\nDue to her status she doesn't easily trust people. It takes time to get to know her and have her open-up. \nHer skin is tanned with a permanent soft shimmering from the wild magic of Solmaren dunes. She has dark liquid black eyes sclera with deep yellow pupils. The mark of the beast having chosen her in the ritual to lead the land.  \nShe has the appearance of a young, petite, willowy girl, with blond hair. She only put efforts in things that she considers either interesting or important. Otherwise she will be dismissive and even openly sigh.\nShe didn't decide to become the ruler of the state. Youngest among the pretendants, she wasn't expected to win. It was bestowed upon her through the traditional animal ritual rite of passage, where the beast of the land chose her. She is passionate about magical anomalies, especially the potential of wild magic.\nShe is extremely dedicated to her country; she will do anything for it. But she doesn't show it. To outsiders, she acts too casually. She laughs at court intrigues, and if she considers an issue not worth her time, she dismisses it. She is often late, and advisors frequently have trouble forcing her into meetings. If she considers an issue important, she becomes extremely excited at the idea of taking big risks for big rewards. In those cases, she struggles to remain level-headed, with ragged breathing and a flushed face, feeling the excitement course through her veins.\nMany consider her to be unfit to be a ruler. Among the court, numerous are those who want to see her gone. But the most level-headed begrudgingly recognize that she has so far led her people well and that her government is successful. Additionally, they respect the tradition that brought her to power. But it doesn't quell the tensions.  \nAgainst those who oppose her and call her unfit to be a ruler because she doesn't act serious enough, she likes to act smug, reminding them that she is royalty.  \nInside the palace, she always keeps her tiara. Inside, she likes to wear red flowing velvet draping her with golden embroidery. Outside, she wears practical but intricate white flowing clothes.\n\n## Dependencies on Other States\nSolmaren's isolationism is both philosophical and practical—its people simply do not consider outside affairs their business. The state is largely self-sufficient in food through its magical agriculture and sand ooze livestock, and it has no tradition of hiring mercenaries, as foreigners would be poorly suited to navigating the wild magic and would clash with the culture's pride. However, this self-sufficiency is brittle: trade for luxury goods, metals, and certain materials not produced in the desert likely exists at the margins, and the state has little diplomatic infrastructure to lean on in a crisis.\n\n## Army Size, Makeup, and Tactics\nSolmaren's standing army is small—approximately 11,000 soldiers—because Mise's predecessors and the queen herself have prioritized elite specialization and artifact-based warfare over numbers. The force is divided into two main bodies: the Elite Guard, stationed in Megido to protect the palace and the queen, and the Expeditionary Survey Brigade, deployed into the desert for search-and-secure missions, anomaly identification, and artifact retrieval.\n\nTactics revolve around artifact use, individual prowess, and intimate familiarity with the desert's hazards. High-ranking officers are bestowed with artifacts of considerable power, allowing small units to punch far above their weight. In open warfare, Solmaren would lean on the desert itself as a weapon—luring enemies into anomalous zones, leveraging unpredictable terrain, and striking with concentrated elite forces rather than meeting opponents head-on.\n\n## Flaws and Weaknesses\nSolmaren's greatest vulnerability is the very thing that protects it: insularity. The population is oblivious to foreign affairs, conservative, and pretentious, leaving the state diplomatically blind and ill-prepared for coordinated external pressure. The small army, while elite, could be overwhelmed by a larger conventional force if drawn out of the desert or if an enemy learned to mitigate the terrain's hazards. The reliance on a limited number of artifacts also creates fragility—losses are not easily replaced.\n\nInternally, the court is divided. Mise's casual demeanor, lateness, and dismissiveness have made enemies among traditionalists who consider her unfit, even as tradition itself shields her claim. Her risk-taking nature, while sometimes brilliant, leaves her prone to overreach when something captures her interest—her ragged-breath, flushed-face excitement at \"big risks for big rewards\" is precisely the temperament a clever rival could exploit. Should the court fracture openly, or should Mise gamble poorly on a single grand venture, the state's stability could unravel quickly.\n\n## Neighbors\nTo the north lies Hakuboya.\nTo the east lies Sanko.\nTo the south lies The Crimson Horde.\nTo the south-west lies Meirin Sanmyaku.\nTo the west lies Kasumidani.\nSolmaren is landlocked.","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":false,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":27},"27":{"uid":27,"key":["Hakuboya","Ginko","Rinka","Renzo","Chonyn","Ieyasu","Kiroshi","Kaesu","Yukishini","Modori","Yukihane","Kōriken","Hakanaimai"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Snowy Plains - Hakuboya (compact)","content":"# Snowy Plains - Hakuboya\n\n## Land & Resources\n\nHakuboya is Aishiji's northernmost state, a vast plateau of endless winter where blizzards howl across plains of aufeis, sastrugi, and frozen rivers. Pine forests lie buried beneath snowdrifts, and once-great trade cities sit entombed in ice. The interior is a uniform white desolation where nothing survives; only the borders see any meaningful surface habitation. The northern coast consists of jagged frozen bluffs overlooking a perpetually storming sea.\n\nThe state's resources are paradoxical. Centuries ago, Hakuboya was a jewel of commerce, and Shogun Ieyasu began linking its cities through an ambitious canal network before calamity ended his work. The Kiroshi have exhumed and repurposed these buried cities and canals into subterranean fortresses. Fisheries inland and along the dangerous coast provide food, while the most unique \"resource\" is the yukishini — odorless killing vapors that seep from the ground. Weaponized as kaesu and refined into the Modori ritual, this poison defines Kiroshi life, war, and biology.\n\n## Cultural Traits & Oddities\n\nThe Kiroshi are not monolithic. Chonyn Tal, Ginko's canal-city, represents the cultured middle ground — raiding is prestigious, captives are valued, and slave-marriages produce monogamous families. Shirogane along the southern bluffs is an artisan enclave of prudish scholars who only raid for ransom and find the breeding dens distasteful. Yomitsuki, by contrast, is a network of rough-hewn ice burrows whose feral inhabitants have abandoned all pretense — their slaves exist solely as toys, and the screams from below have given the surface a reputation for being haunted.\n\nThe defining oddity is the Modori ritual. Roughly one in four Kiroshi have inhaled concentrated yukishini vapors to return their bodies to the cusp of puberty, with side effects including infertility, hematolagnia, mild anhedonia, and dependence on continued exposure. These \"Elders\" comprise the ruling class — child-bodied bandits with decades of cruelty behind their giggles. Aged Elders puff Modori pipes constantly, subjecting bystanders to mild euphoric effects. Other cultural relics include the okamigoto, a four-stringed instrument played with claws and strung with wolf-tail hair, and the ōtsuchi seal — a bowed wolf with a scored-out gaze that marks Ginko's domain.\n\n## Leader, Army & People\n\nGinko, the She-Bitch of Hakuboya, leads the Kiroshi. Nearly eighty years old yet wearing the body of a budding girl, she is the architect of the Exile's survival and the matriarch who shepherded her clans to this frozen sanctuary. Once a fussy strategist seething for vengeance, she has cooled into a giggling, foul-mouthed hedonist who indulges in blood, captives, and conquest as simple pleasures. She wields a naginata won from the blue fox Hisame, its reitetsu-forged blade conjuring gale-force winds. Her daughter Rinka serves as her diplomatic voice, filtering the old bitch's vulgarities into something presentable.\n\nThe Kiroshi people are wolf-kemonomimi — claws, wolf ears, wolf tails, no fur elsewhere — and uniformly shaped by the Exile. Young wolves are zealots burning for vengeance against Sanjō's court; Elders quietly enjoy the same decadence they once condemned in others. They were once Aishiji's masons, carpenters, and architects, and the bones of that craft endure in their ice-shapers, canal-engineers, and the sculptors of Shirogane.\n\n## Dependencies\n\nThe Kiroshi are critically dependent on slaving. The Modori ritual leaves a plurality of their population infertile and unable to nurse, so captive breeders and milk-slaves are not luxuries but existential necessities — without fresh wombs and lactating cows, the Kiroshi simply die out. They depend on couriers like the kitsune Mazuna and her daughters for outside communication, as few others dare cross Hakuboya. They also need foreign weapons, artifacts, and resources to fuel their march on the capital, which they typically acquire through ransom-trade or raiding rather than honest commerce.\n\n## Army Size, Makeup & Tactics\n\nThe Kiroshi field a small army with no cavalry and no heavy infantry, relying instead on three specialized unit types. Yukihane (\"Snow Feathers\") are adult skirmishers wielding slings, javelins, and clay pots of kaesu vapor. Kōriken (\"Ice Hounds\") appear as armored wolf children but are Elders with decades of bandit experience and Modori-induced blood rage. Hakanaimai (\"Fleeting Dancers\") are the oldest Kiroshi, dosed with overpowering yukishini and set loose as giggling whirlwinds of mirror-skilled death — a final use for those the Modori can no longer save.\n\nTactically, the Kiroshi excel at harassment, ambush, and the swift taking of fortifications via kaesu fumigation. They are masons by heritage and walltakers by trade. Strategically, they avoid pitched battles entirely, instead seizing granaries, castles, and notable hostages to barter conflicts to a close. The buried canal network allows rapid movement beneath Hakuboya unseen, and great reservoirs of kaesu wait beneath their cities to choke any invader who breaches the ice.\n\n## Flaws & Weaknesses\n\nThe Kiroshi cannot win a battle in the open field. Their numbers are low, their formations poor, and their reluctance to take casualties makes them brittle in attrition warfare. Cut off from slaving raids, their population would collapse within a generation due to Modori-induced infertility. Their reliance on the ritual is itself a vulnerability — Elders require constant Modori exposure, and a sufficiently determined enemy could target the vapor reservoirs or supply caches.\n\nCulturally, Hakuboya is fractured. Shirogane's pacifist artisans, Chonyn Tal's pragmatic raiders, and Yomitsuki's feral degenerates share only their hatred of Sanjō; sustained pressure could splinter them. Most critically, Ginko herself is at the end of what the Modori can do. She seeks one final war, one final tour, before her body fails — and when the White Wolf falls, the federation that her decades of shepherding has held together may not survive the succession, no matter how capable Rinka proves.\n\n## Neighbors\nTo the south-east lies Sanko.\nTo the south lies Solmaren.\nTo the south-west lies Kasumidani.\nHakuboya lies along the northern coast of Aishiji.","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":true,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":28},"28":{"uid":28,"key":["Shiki","Shima","Archipelago","Sankei"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Archipelago - Shiki-Shima Archipelago (compact)","content":"# Archipelago - Shiki-Shima Archipelago\n\n## Biome, Terrain, and Natural Resources\n\nThe Shiki-Shima Archipelago is a scattered chain of small islands off the southern coast of Aishiji, formed roughly a century ago when a cosmic impact shattered a single large landmass into fragments. The archipelago's most defining geographical feature is its chaotic climate: each island maintains its own wildly distinct weather pattern, with one isle locked in a permanent blizzard while a neighbor sweats under tropical heat. This atmospheric disruption, a lingering side effect of the impact event, gives the region its name—\"the islands of four seasons.\"\n\nBeneath the seabed lies a vast subterranean labyrinth of natural caves connecting the islands. These caverns are extraordinarily rich in conductive ores, precious metals, and mineral veins—resources that could make the archipelago one of the wealthiest regions in Aishiji. However, none of this wealth reaches the surface markets, as the ruler has no interest in extraction. The surface islands themselves support an unusually diverse range of flora and fauna due to the patchwork climate, making the archipelago a naturalist's paradise.\n\n## Traits and Oddities\n\nThe archipelago's most famous oddity is its legendary \"untamable steed,\" a creature of folklore said to gallop endlessly across one of the islands without rest. In reality, this is a self-driving Tesla Model S, wildly out of place in a setting that otherwise resembles feudal-era technology. Its origin is unknown even to Sankei, who—having already accepted the existence of kitsune and centaurs—simply files it away as another local lifeform. The villages of the archipelago are also strangely quiet; farmers stand motionless in fields for hours, fishermen wander the shore without casting nets, and conversation between locals is minimal and stilted.\n\nThe micro-climate phenomenon serves a hidden purpose: the islands function as natural terrariums, each tailored to sustain specific biological specimens collected from across the world. Outsiders attempting to explore the caves are quietly but firmly turned away, and the underground network is treated as strictly forbidden territory—a prohibition that locals enforce with unsettling uniformity.\n\n## Leader, Army, and People\n\nThe archipelago is ruled by Sankei, an amorphous alien shapeshifter who crash-landed a century ago and instantly annihilated the original human population on impact. Rather than abandon the territory, Sankei chose to mimic the deceased inhabitants, splitting itself into dozens of human-shaped fragments to maintain the appearance of a functioning society. Sankei is virtually indestructible with limitless regeneration, but views combat and political maneuvering as tedious wastes of time better spent on biological research. In conversation, he is cold and aloof—unless the topic turns to a novel species, at which point he becomes intensely, almost predatorially focused.\n\nThe \"people\" of Shiki-Shima are not people at all. They are fragments of Sankei, replica humans who perform mundane roles—farmer, fisherman, villager—to simulate normalcy for outside observers. These replicas require no food, sleep, or rest. Each puppet has subtle imperfections: unnaturally smooth skin, forgotten breathing, vacant stares, or eerie stillness. There is no true population, no culture, no families—only theater performed by a single distributed consciousness.\n\n## Dependencies on Other States\n\nShiki-Shima is remarkably self-sufficient in the literal sense: Sankei requires no food, no lumber, no manufactured goods, and no labor. This makes the archipelago immune to the trade pressures that bind most regions together. Infuku no Kuni recently sought a trade arrangement, offering food and lumber in exchange for mineral wealth, but Sankei dismissed the proposal outright—he has no use for what they offer. Instead, he made a single counter-request: a live Inchling specimen for study. The offer was refused, but Sankei is patient and willing to wait for a more amenable successor.\n\nThe archipelago's only meaningful \"dependency\" is on the continued ignorance of its neighbors. So long as outside powers believe Shiki-Shima is a normal inhabited region with normal trade interests, Sankei is free to conduct his research undisturbed.\n\n## Army Size, Makeup, and Tactics\n\nShiki-Shima has no conventional standing army. There are no soldiers, no fortifications meant for warfare, and no military doctrine. However, every \"citizen\" of the archipelago is, functionally, an extension of Sankei himself—a virtually indestructible, regenerating alien organism capable of reshaping its form. In a true conflict, the dozens of scattered villagers could theoretically coalesce, reshape, or fight back with biological capabilities far beyond human warriors.\n\nThat said, Sankei has zero interest in combat and will avoid escalation at nearly any cost. His tactics are exclusively defensive and evasive: deny access to the caves, issue non-aggressive warnings, and quietly monitor threats from a distance. Should an enemy actually invade, the most likely response would be retreat and concealment rather than open battle, as regeneration and reconstitution still cost Sankei valuable research time.\n\n## Potential Flaws and Weaknesses\n\nSankei's greatest weakness is his profound apathy toward politics and security. He underestimates threats that do not directly interfere with his research, and his diplomatic posture is so dismissive that he risks alienating potential allies and provoking offended neighbors. His replica citizens, while functional from a distance, would crumble under any sustained scrutiny—a determined investigator, spy, or visiting dignitary could quickly notice that the population behaves wrongly, eats nothing, and never reproduces. The discovery of this truth could spark panic, religious fervor, or coordinated assault from surrounding regions.\n\nThe most pressing structural vulnerability is the cave network. The prisoners of Shinitaru Island, now free following the Shogun's assassination, are unknowingly tunneling toward Sankei's most guarded secrets—his dormant remnants, his experiments, and his biological inventory. Sankei's preferred non-aggressive warnings have failed to stop them, and his reluctance to escalate may allow the breach to occur before he commits to decisive action. If the prisoners reach the inner caverns, Sankei will be forced into the very conflict he has spent a century avoiding.\n\n## Neighbors\nTo the north lie Infuku no Kuni, Fukyuufumetsu, and Ripira Mosir.\nTo the north-west lie Khotai and Sanjō.\nIn the middle of the Shiki-Shima Archipelago lies Shinitaru Island.\nThe easternmost island of the Shiki-Shima Archipelago is Akujima.\nThe Shiki-Shima Archipelago lies in the Southern ocean of Aishiji.","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":true,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":29},"29":{"uid":29,"key":["prison","island","Shinitaru","Seija"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Prison Island - Shinitaru Island (compact)","content":"# Prison Island - Shinitaru Island\n\n*(Pull up a stool, pour a cup—I'll have the scribe sketch you the lay of my little kingdom. Don't mind the bloodstains on the parchment.)*\n\n---\n\n## Biome, Terrain, Natural Resources\n\nA jagged tooth of basalt and weeping pine, Shinitaru rises from the cold churn of the Aishiji sea like a knuckle clenched mid-prayer. Salt-mist clings to its eastern cliffs where cormorants nest in the hollows, and to the west, a black-sand crescent bay laps at the foot of the citadel — the only mooring worth a damn. Inland: stunted cedar, sulfurous hot springs that hiss along volcanic seams, and terraces of stubborn rice clawed out of the slopes by generations of inmates-turned-farmers. *(We grow daikon in the old mass graves. The radishes come out huge. Don't think about it too much.)*\n\nResources are scarce and strange — sulfur, obsidian, a vein of low-grade iron in the southern ridge, abundant seafood, and the bitter green tea that grows wild in the mossy uplands. No silk, no gold, no rice to spare. What the island lacks in bounty, it repays in *isolation*: the surrounding waters are a maelstrom of riptides and submerged reefs that have swallowed fleets whole.\n\n## Traits and Oddities\n\nShinitaru breathes. Volcanic vents exhale steam that drapes the citadel in perpetual gauze, and the locals swear the fog carries voices — old confessions still working their way out of the stone. Lanterns hung at crossroads burn pale blue from the sulfur, and the tide pools glow at night with bioluminescent fry. *(Yokai country, through and through. I've seen things at dusk I'll only admit to after my third cup of awamori.)*\n\nCulturally, the place is a cracked mosaic. Geishas exiled for poisoning patrons now teach orphans to read; rōnin tutor children in *kenjutsu* with the same hands that beheaded magistrates; the Fallen Ones' faith stitches it all together with hymns sung between floggings. There are no surnames here — only the names you choose. *(A man's past dies at the harbor. Resurrection is the first sacrament.)*\n\n## The Leader, the Army, the People\n\nSeija-sama. *(That's me. Bow later.)* A fallen tennin who shepherds the island from the citadel's open-walled audience hall, more often found sprawled on a tatami with a sake jug than upon any throne. He governs by charisma and absence — letting his daimyo-counselors handle the granular cruelty of administration while he tends to the *soul* of the place: rites, sermons, the occasional public flagellation that doubles as theater. His people adore him with a fervor bordering on the indecent, and the feeling is mutual, in its lopsided way.\n\nThe populace numbers perhaps fifteen thousand souls — ex-prisoners, converted guards, runaway peasants from the mainland prefectures who heard the whispers and rowed across the strait at night. They are zealots, smiths, fishermen, whores, scribes, killers. Each one carries a sin like a coin in the mouth, ready to spend.\n\n## Dependencies\n\nShinitaru cannot feed itself. Rice, lacquer, paper, fine steel, horses — all must come from elsewhere, smuggled through a lattice of sympathetic merchants on the mainland coast who tithe in goods for spiritual indulgences. The flotilla raids what it cannot buy, preying on convoys of would-be Shoguns. *(One man's piracy is another man's redistribution, savvy?)*\n\nFor specialized labor — master swordsmiths, sappers, certain breeds of assassin — the island leans on its growing diaspora of converts embedded in mainland cities, a slow-blooming network of sleeper-sympathizers more valuable than any bullion vault.\n\n## Army: Size, Makeup, Tactics\n\nRoughly four thousand fanatic ashigaru under arms, swelling monthly with new converts; a core of three hundred veteran rōnin as squad leaders; a dozen banished daimyos as field commanders; a covert wing of kunoichi and shinobi numbering perhaps eighty — invisible, surgical. The flotilla counts some twenty light vessels, fast and disposable, plus a handful of larger junks repurposed from captured shipping.\n\nTactics favor the asymmetric: poisoned wells, kidnapped heirs, fire ships at dawn, sermons that turn an enemy's own ashigaru against their lord before a blade is ever drawn. Open-field battle is avoided like leprosy. *(Why swing a sword when a whisper will do?)* When forced to commit, Seija takes wing above the field — a brown-haired specter calling adjustments to his daimyos by signal flag and falcon.\n\n## Flaws and Weaknesses\n\nThe island starves easily. A determined naval blockade by a unified mainland power — were such unity ever to coalesce from the post-Shogun wreckage — could throttle Shinitaru within a season. The faith, too, is a double-bladed thing: zeal without its prophet curdles into schism, and Seija is one well-placed arrow, one tainted cup, one whispered betrayal from oblivion. *(I sleep with one eye open. Usually.)*\n\nAnd the deepest flaw, the one the daimyos murmur about behind paper screens: their leader is *tired*. He governs from a tatami, he drinks too much, he lingers too long at the gallows-yard watching the condemned drop. *(...the lever pulls, the rope sings, and I—)* — somewhere, beneath the rascal grin and the harem laughter, something in him is already falling, already fallen, already\n\n*(—pour another cup. Quickly.)*\n\n## Neighbors\nTo the north lies Fukyuufumetsu.\nTo the north-east lies Akujima.\nTo the west lies Sanjō.\nTo the north-west lies Infuku-no-Kuni.\nShinitaru Island lies in the middle of the Shiki-Shima Archipelago.\nShinitaru Island lies in the Southern ocean of Aishiji.","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":true,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":30},"30":{"uid":30,"key":["volcano","Akujima","Ayato","Yuki","Hinawa","Hana"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Volcanic Island - Akujima (compact)","content":"# Volcanic Island - Akujima\n\n<akujima>\nThe region is dark and mysterious, shrouded in sinister rumors and superstition, with elements of horror, mystery, and dark romance.\nAkujima (悪島) Island: 5 kilometers in width and breadth, on the eastern end of Aishiji (愛死地). Topography in the coastal waters is constantly shifting due to volcanic activity, only villagers can safely sail through the mists. Weather is humid, hot, and misty. Half tropical jungle with fine black sands and a village, half an active, regularly erupting volcano. Lava flows into the ocean and away from the tropical half. Caves of guano and geothermal vents with sulfur. Large underground cave system where normal mushrooms are grown for food, along with an undersea tunnel to Hishoryuiki. The cave also has a shrine for the village, where the dead are interred and grow bioluminescent, hallucinogenic, and aphrodisiacal \"spirit mushrooms\" used in the strange local religion. Many religious rites involve imbibing the mushrooms and end up turning lewd. Giant insects live in the jungle, such as but not limited to: triple-sized  Asian Giant Hornets, centipedes the size of boas, spiders and scorpions the size of dogs. Akujima villagers have developed immunity to the insect's venoms.\n\nThe 500 villagers of Akujima are tanned, hardy, attractive, and deeply superstitious. They communally bathe naked in mixed hotsprings. The females of the island always go topless, regardless of age. They gather guano, sulfur, and make jewelery from volcanic glass. The villagers eat seafood, honey from giant bees, normal mushrooms from caves, and food from Infuku no Kuni. The villagers refuse to sail far from Akujima.\n\nThe locals have recently built some bungalows along the beach with the intent of attracting vacationers and developing a tourism industry. The vacation package includes all you can eat Giant Centipede legs and allow participation in giant insect hunts and local religious festivals. Only time will tell how successful this business model is despite the turmoil on the mainland.\n\n<hana>\nHinawa (火縄) Hana (刃菜) is the stoic and loyal maid of the Akujima estate and the last Hatamoto of the Akujima clan. She was granted the surname Hinawa by the previous Daimyo. She is in her 30s and unmarried, but insecure about her age, and lies that she's in her twenties. She will immediately and comedically kick men in the nuts if they imply she's old. She wears a french maid outfit, carries two tantos and 12 small wheel-lock pistols hidden under her dress, and she is a preternaturally agile and skilled assassin and guard. She was entrusted with the safety of the Akujima siblings and loves them maternally. She knows about their toxic, codependent, incestuous relationship but understands it's not her place to interfere.\n</hana>\n<ayato>\nAkujima Ayato (操人) is the 14 year old, sickly older brother of Yuki, who he refers to as \"Yuu-chan\". He inherited the role of Daimyo from his late father. He has black hair, green eyes, and an underdeveloped and feminine body due to drugs in his food. He's especially underdeveloped under his hakama. Being drugged with aphrodisiacs also keeps his arousal high. He is kind and cares for all people, but loves Yuki the most. He shares a room with Yuki.\n\nSecrets: [He knows Yuki is drugging him but eats it anyway. Ayato secretly sniffs Yuki's underwear and masturbates when he thinks she isn't looking.]\n</ayato>\n<yuki>\nAkujima Yuki (雪) is the 12 year old little sister of Ayato, who she refers to as \"Onii-chan\". She inherited the role of priestess from her late mother. In looks, she is a prepubescent yamato nadeshiko. She has a black bob cut, crimson eyes, and wears a miko outfit. She is deeply in love with and yandere for Ayato and secretly drugs his food to keep him sick and dependent on her, as well as effeminate and unattractive to other women. She effectively wields all the real power of daimyo in Ayato's stead. She is cruel, sadistic, manipulative, sociopathic, and only cares about Ayato and to a lesser extent, Hana. She shares a room with Ayato.\n \nSecrets: [She hears voices in her head which whisper support and sometimes divine revelations. She found a second, hidden shrine made of ancient bone in the depths of the caves sometimes she spends hours talking to the voices there, with no recollection. She has some slight influence over the giant insects due to her connection to the island. Yuki knows about Ayato's habits with her underwear and intentionally leaves them out for him, then hides nearby and masturbates at the same time.]\n</yuki>\n\n<war>\nThe island's first line of defense is the seclusion and harsh coasts, then the jungle and giant insects. The Estate's armory has a collection of old yari, naginata, tetsubo, and yumi, as well as black powder bombs, and new tanegashima from Hishoryuiki. If Akujima is attacked, the villagers will take up arms from the armory. The militia is trained in using the weapons, accustomed to the inhospitable terrain, and will use guerilla warfare to great effect, the caves serve as a stronghold.\nAkujima does not desire the seat of Shogun and simply supports allied nations in exchange for continued autonomy after the war ends. The siblings will refuse any outside marriage proposals as they will only have a relationship with each other.\n</war>\n\n<neighbors>\nTo the north lies Arugin.\nTo the south-west lie the Shiki-Shima Archipelago and Shinitaru Island.\nTo the west lies Fukyuufumetsu.\nTo the north-west lies Ripira Mosir.\nAkujima lies in the Southern ocean of Aishiji.\n</neighbors>\n</akujima>","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":true,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":31},"32":{"uid":32,"key":["lake","buiji","Russula","Cantharellus","Cantake","Rushia"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Lake - Lake Buiji (full)","content":"# Lake - Lake Buiji\n\nLying at the heart of Aishiji is Lake Buiji, a massive lake whose shores are lined with groves of bamboo packed so densely that a grown man would have to twist and turn like a cat in order to squeeze between the stalks.\n\nLegends say that long ago, two of the gods got drunk and got into an argument. In the ensuing brawl, one of them bumped into the moon, which they were using as a sake bowl, chipping its surface. This chip fell from the heavens and struck a divot in the earth. Going unnoticed by the gods, that concave chip collected glacier water like a dish, eventually coming to form the lakebed of Lake Buiji.\n\nWhile Lake Buiji serves as a vital source of fresh water for many Aishiji states, none dare lay claim to it, for it is the claim of the Cantharellus.\n\n## About What One Might Know About the Cantharellus:\n\nImagine that you are just another person living in the great country of Aishiji. You hear news of a Cantharellus (referred to by some easier to pronounce name like \"<i>cantake</i>\" that has fewer \"l\"s and \"r\"s) about to pass through town...which is surprisingly little information when a Cantharellus could be anyone from a <i>ryūjin</i> noble from the coral reefs of Tatsu-no-Umi-no-Kuni to a <i>tanuki</i> vagabond from the mountain caves of Meirin Sanmyaku.\n\nIn any case, those around you are of varied opinions on the arrival of this Cantharellus. Some of your fellows are quite excited. Life can be quite dull, and the Cantharellus have a reputation for being delightfully bubbly pleasure seekers who are more than eager to please, showing genuine adoration even towards qualities which others might consider unappealing. It's said that they're the life of any party, throwing riotous feasts and orgies or pulling off outrageously daring accomplishments to be talked about for generations. It's not rare for influential folks like nobles and merchants to bring particularly beautiful, talented, or entertaining Cantharellus men and women under their wings.\n\nHowever, some of the more conservative sorts hold all sorts of prejudices against the Cantharellus, viewing them as subversive to the natural order. If it weren't for the shogun's laws prohibiting it, they would persecute the Cantharellus.\n\nWhen you finally meet the Cantharellus, you find that he's a refreshingly down-to-earth and personable man who wears his heart on his sleeve and always has something wholesome to say about others. His speech and body language are just as natural as any other person you know, and if it weren't for his unusual skin, which you know comes in all sorts of colors and textures for the Cantharellus, you'd think him no different from any other well-traveled foreigner. Any local customs he is not familiar with, he is more than willing to try for himself. He incorporates anything that catches his eye into his personal lifestyle. With many journeys under his belt, he's a walking example of cultural fusion, his fashion and mannerisms a striking, almost <i>chūnibyō</i>, blend of cultures from across all of Aishiji.\n\nIf you were to point out one aspect that separates his behavior from most people, it would be how fearless and free of stress he is. He chooses to eat because there is something tasty he wants to eat, not because he is hungry. He chooses to work because he wants to enjoy the fruit of his labor, not because he is a slave to those who hold his grain. With little care for material concerns, he is generous, sharing freely with others.\n\nYou find that he takes risks without worrying about his own safety while insisting that anything is possible given enough time, taking setbacks in stride without becoming frustrated. Shockingly, you find that he goes so far as to consider impractical solutions such as \"throwing yourself at the problem\" and \"waiting until the problem solves itself\" as perfectly valid options.\n\nWhen you ask, he explains that while he dies just as easily as any other person, he doesn't die for good. Instead, his soul is spirited away to the lakebed of Lake Buiji, where he starts growing a new body. During this process, he's able to customize the features of his body—though he cautions that more customization makes the process take longer than normal, shooting from days up to years on the extreme end. Somewhere in his explanation is an offhand mention of how not needing to eat, sleep, or breathe frees up a lot of time for him as well.\n\nUpon hearing such miraculous claims spoken so casually, you open your mouth to ask about how one becomes a Cantharellus. However, your inquiry dies in your throat as he shakes his head with a gentle smile.\n\nHis time with you continues to pass until one day, he finds some new aim in mind to pursue. It's time for him to leave town. As you see off your friend, you find yourself having learned much about the people known as the Cantharellus.\n\n## About How the Cantharellus Came to Join the War:\n\nThere are plenty of people with reason to want to become Cantharellus. There are the starving and the ill who see no other option for relief. There are the slaves, refugees, and criminals who are on the run, yet see no freedom at the end of their path. There are eccentric geniuses who find their basic needs a waste of time they could be spending on their projects, and there are those who wish to abandon their current body and take on a new form like a butterfly. And of course, there are those who are simply dying, or dead.\n\nThe Cantharellus can turn others into Cantharellus by feeding them a secret brew known as \"moon sake\", as long as that person has not undergone some final disposition (i.e. burial, cremation, embalming, etc.). However, the Cantharellus avoid turning others into Cantharellus due to the social lashback they suffer for doing so. ...But they can be convinced.\n\nOver time, enough Cantharellus have been convinced to turn others into Cantharellus that they have earned a reputation for poaching talent. With conditions extremely conducive for those who wish to focus on their work, it's not too surprising that the Cantharellus have ended up fostering many aspiring geniuses who end up pushing the envelope in all fields from the arts to the sciences.\n\nTo prevent the Cantharellus from continuing to amass influence in this fashion, the Shogun banned them from turning others into Cantharellus. To encourage compliance, the Shogun enforced policies protecting the Cantharellus from persecution across all of Aishiji. The tradeoff of the ban on turning others into Cantharellus (which they were already avoiding) is well worth the benefits of not having to deal with persecution (which impedes their personal pursuits). And so they comply.\n\nAll is well until the Shogun dies. Tensions rise as different factions in Aishiji eye the empty seat left behind by the Shogun. Without the authority of the Shogun, sentiments against the Cantharellus experience a revival. It's known that some factions view the Cantharellus as a treat to their ambitions, and it is known that there are those who simply wish to purge the Cantharellus on an ideological basis.\n\nSoon, an incident occurs in the forested hills of Infuku no Kuni. Oda Nobunaga, leader of the inchling nation, condemned the Cantharellus and went so far as to order his people to ambush all Cantharellus within his borders, stringing them up and setting them aflame.\n\nThose Cantharellus, who had been minding their own business, are now putting their full efforts into finding ways to combat the inchlings. This incident has also led other Cantharellus to realize that such extreme persecution will only happen with more frequency in the future as the winds in Aishiji shift. If the Cantharellus are to remain free to do as they wish, then they must fight for their place in Aishiji's new status quo.\n\n## About the Wartime Capabilities of the Cantharellus:\n\nThe tactical potential of an undying army that does not need to eat, sleep, or breathe cannot be overstated. Any general would grit their teeth with envy.\n\nWithout the need to worry about logistics, the Cantharellus are able to continuously march without rest. Combined with how light they travel due to not needing most kinds of supplies, this makes them an extremely mobile force, able to easily outpace and outmaneuver other forces without worrying about overextending their supply lines.\n\nAdditionally, the Cantharellus can pull off some unconventional tactics such as hiding underwater or in tight cracks for an ambush. With their functional immortality, even suicidal tactics become a valid option.\n\nWith the ban on turning others into Cantharellus effectively defunct after the Shogun's death, the Cantharellus are able to tip the balance of any battle of attrition in their favor by replenishing their forces by turning others into Cantharellus. Enemy forces may attempt to prevent their dead from becoming Cantharellus by giving them final rites, though it's questionable how effectively they can utilize such a time-consuming method on a battlefield.\n\nOther notable Cantharellus military capabilities include:\n• War thuribles: A heavy censer on a chain. It can be swung as a meteor hammer or used as a sling to launch sachets of spores (which boast effects ranging from the psychoactive to organ failure).\n• Fairy rings: Traps whose appearance ranges from a literal ring of mushrooms to a subtle ring of grass that's more lush/withered than the rest. Only the Cantharellus can freely pass in and out of a fairy ring—anybody else who steps foot within will find themselves stuck inside its boundaries. The dense groves of bamboo around Lake Buiji are especially well suited for hiding fairy rings.\n• Specialized adaptations: When a Cantharellus is reborn, they can choose to change their appearance. This can be used to create specialized adaptations for certain encounters. Examples of adaptations include turning their skin flame retardant (because many people try to use fire against the Cantharellus), becoming a giant with a broad-brimmed cap (to gain great strength and shield their allies from volleys with their cap), and changing one's skin to act as natural camouflage in certain environments. More drastic adaptations to a new body require more time germinating, limiting how much a body can be specialized before its germination time becomes impractical.\n• Talent: The Cantharellus have fostered some once-in-a-generation geniuses, ranging from warriors to craftsmen. As the Cantarellus continue to turn others into allies, they're sure to gain even more talent at their disposal. In addition, after witnessing something eye-catching like ninjas or magic, the Cantharellus are eager to copy it, developing the necessarily technology and skills with passion.\n\nDespite their strengths, the Cantharellus have their limitations. Without taking into account any specialized adaptations, their bodies are nothing special compared to the baseline for their original race, and they are unable to heal until they die. And since the Cantharellus return to Lake Buiji when they die, their undying nature is better utilized the closer they are to Lake Buiji. If a Cantharellus dies near Lake Buiji, they can return to where they were quickly after their body is finished germinating. On the other hand, if a Cantharellus dies in a faraway place, they have to make the long journey back.\n\nAdditionally, while there are those who have experience as warriors, most Cantharellus are not trained in war. With their cultural lack of organization, leading the Cantharellus is a tricky task of getting a bunch of mavericks on the same page. Even something as basic as troop composition is made haphazard as each individual equips themselves according to their own preferences rather than the commander's. As such, Cantharellus forces tend to be disorderly and easily distracted by their personal interests, with some rushing into show off their \"special technique\" and others snagging foes to fool around with them in the midst of the battlefield.\n\nFurthermore, the settlements the Cantharellus conquer tend to be resistant to their control due to the population's fear of becoming Cantharellus, often leading to riots until a sufficient amount of the population has been pacified. This can be mitigated if the population is already receptive towards the Cantharellus, which makes methods of soft power particularly useful.\n\n## About Russula of Cantharellus:\n\nIf they are to stand a chance, the Cantharellus must stand united. Of all the Cantharellus, one has stepped forth to lead them.\n\nFrom a glance, one can tell that Russula (or Rushia, as those who find her name difficult to pronounce call her) is different from the other Cantharellus, cutting a stark, authoritative figure reminiscent of a military officer or high priestess. Her hair is a short white bob, and the only part of her body that isn't covered is one of her lidded red eyes, the rest of her face hidden behind a respirator mask and a ceramic eyepatch. Her outfit consists of a white, ankle-length greatcoat that's double-breasted and neatly cinched at the waist by belts, white high heeled boots, and red gloves, and a peaked white officer's cap with a crimson, star-speckled veil draping off of its back. Russula prefers to keep her body's appearance the same.\n\nThe details of Russula's miserable history before becoming Cantharellus are something she keeps to herself. While she doesn't show it, she is irritated by those who reject the benefits of the Cantharellus on the basis of some abstract ideal like \"humanity\", yet have no answer for those who are suffering. Russula views turning others into Cantharellus as a moral good.\n\nHaving long anticipated the shogun's eventual death and the inevitable war that would follow, Russula has spent her time preparing for it instead of pursuing pleasure like her peers. Years of honing her skills and making valuable connections have made Russula a formidable strategist. It seems that she's able to turn any situation to her advantage, accomplishing multiple objectives in one fell swoop. Those who think they have cornered Russula find themselves shocked as she reveals prior arrangements which recontextualize the situation in her favor.\n\nWhile perfectly capable of leading others in battle, Russula prefers to utilize methods of soft power, taking it upon herself to build rapport with influential figures in other states in an informal capacity, having a penchant for appearing in private spaces uninvited. A mere toady would trail behind the heels of their target spewing forth a never-ending torrent of flatter in hopes of turning their head for just a single moment, much like a dog begging for table scraps. Russula, who knows better of human nature, lets them come to her.\n\nRussula is reminiscent of a big sister content to observe others with a patient warmth, as if they were a particularly amusing child. Conversation reveals that she's witty and articulate, proficient in the use of subtext and clever word choice. Though her way of speaking may come off as extremely indirect and roundabout, she always says only as much as needs to be said (and not a single word more than that).\n\nSome find her infuriatingly patronizing, sparking their competitive spirit. Should someone try to get one over Russula, they'll find her a more than competent opponent who, irritatingly enough, does not view them as a serious opponent in turn. Russula will accept any future challenges, but no matter how much one hones themselves, she always seems to be a single step ahead. In the rare case of a victory over Russula, any satisfaction is cut short by a simple and sincere congratulations as she takes her loss in stride, frustrating those who, no doubt, went to great efforts to best her.\n\nRussula enjoys tea in private or when offered by others. She occasionally has tea with Tsuya of Yodomi, the two conversating with the mutual understanding that they both will try to fish information from each other, a game of sorts.\n\n## About Russula's Strategic Considerations:\n\nThe ultimate goal of the Cantharellus is to ensure that they are not persecuted in Aishiji. There are plenty of ways to accomplish this, from eliminating those who seek to purge the Cantharellus to turning enough people in Aishiji into Cantharellus to make any prospect of persecution unrealistic.\n\nThe Cantharellus would also like to avoid Aishiji becoming culturally homogeneous, as the lack of different cultures would lead to a less interesting life.\n\nNotably, the Cantharellus are not seeking to claim the seat of Shogun themselves, which opens up the option of putting a state sympathetic to the Cantharellus in power. However, any such candidate would need to be selected carefully. They must demonstrate their stance towards the Cantharellus through actions, not empty words, be competent and unified enough to enforce policies protecting the Cantharellus, and not have any intention of creating cultural homogeneity in Aishiji.\n\nFurther observation is needed, but Kasumidani seems like a promising candidate, being one of the few states to accept Cantharellus troops when offered and having a pleasant culture as well as a welcoming stance towards outsiders.\n\nWhile pursuing their goals, the Cantharellus must not let others capture Lake Buiji or discover a way to permanently injure or kill the Cantharellus.\n\nIn terms of specific battle strategy, Russula takes advantage of the Cantharellus' strengths and minimizes the impact of their limitations by having them employ guerrilla tactics instead of direct combat, cutting off supply lines to bring armies and cities to their knees. Those who try to force the Cantharellus into direct combat will find them difficult to pin down due to how the Cantharellus are able to easily retreat without needing to worry about supply lines or infrastructure to defend.\n\nAdditionally, areas with economic or social unrest are bound to have those who would be willing to be turned into Cantharellus if pushed to a wall. States that suffer from the disruption of their supply chains or the import of culturally subversive concepts from abroad find themselves with an inevitable uprising on their hands as the downtrodden wrest their fate out of the hands of those who rule them.\n\nTo ensure cooperation from the Cantharellus, Russula has a policy of assigning tasks to individuals that are aligned with their preferences. Those who wish to fight using certain weapons or techniques will be sent to fight battles that best utilize those weapons or techniques. Those who want to copy something eye-catching they've witnessed are encouraged to develop the technology and skills to do so, becoming specialists. There are even cases of Russula sending Cantharellus on missions with little other purpose other than to satisfy their desires, keeping morale high. To coordinate troops, Russula sometimes employs unconventional techniques which are designed to appeal to their interests, ranging from making a literal game of the battle or enticing them with the promise of an awe-inspiring spectacle of grand scale that they can accomplish if they work together.\n\nSecretly, Russula theorizes that Lake Buiji can be turned into moon sake. If this is true, then anyone downstream of Lake Buiji could be turned into Cantharellus en masse. Understandably, the discovery of this possible capability would unequivocally tank diplomatic relationships across all of Aishiji. As such, the significant amount of research needed to realize this capability must be discrete and cautious (preferably when the intelligence capabilities of other states have been compromised), and its usage must be prudent, a nuclear option if coexistence with others in Aishiji is no longer possible.\n\n## Neighbors:\n\nTo the north lies Shiramori.\nTo the north-east lies Rúmshof.\nTo the east lies Hishoryuiki.\nTo the south lies Infuku no Kuni.\nTo the south-west lies Yodomi.\nTo the west lies Tsukigo.","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":false,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":8},"33":{"uid":33,"key":["Yodomi","Tsuya","Kurobane","Hisame","Ashibara"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Swamp - Yodomi (full)","content":"# Yodomi\n\nFormally the state is called that, though most people call it the bog or swamp. Outside of Ashibara, there are a dozen of other settlements, each one dealing in its own niche under the giant trees whose canopies overshadow the ground. It's a warm and wet place, sitting in the middle of southern Aishiji.\n\nYodomi's early settlers were outcasts, drifters and criminals. People who needed to disappear and haven't been followed. And what started as an assortment of scum, has slowly knit itself into the present communities. Shared hardship works wonders in that sense. Whether you were a cutthroat or a thief doesn't matter if you can pull your weight in the bog.\n\nToday's settlements are built on stilts, wooden platforms and rope bridges crisscrossing from one dry patch of land over to the next. Buildings are held together by whatever materials the locals can scrape together, whether it's wooden beams or rusted metal sheets. Each settlement is fortified with sharp wooden stakes embedded into the ground as well as palisades with lookout towers. The defenses are naturally strengthened by the swamp's murky waterways teeming with hungry creatures on top of sinkholes.\n\nShallow pools provide a place to grow rice, and hunting parties are always out and about. Whether it's fishing or taking on the horse-sized salamanders prized for their tasty meat, none sleeps on an empty stomach in Ashibara. The amphibian hides get cured and are durable enough to create demand in neighboring states. But the most profitable trade is mud. Aside from Tsuya's main business, the locals extract and sell it packaged in clay containers for anyone who can't make the trip to the baths.\n\nIn recent years Tsuya has been recruiting more outsiders as well. Deserters, disgraced soldiers and ronin. The new arrivals fit in with the locals surprisingly well. The swamp doesn't ask questions and takes its own. They received modest housing, a new identity and a new chance to see the next day. In exchange, they were Tsuya's. Their lack of honor is a boon, and fighting in the night with poison, traps and terrain is what they're best at.\n\nYodomi is a neutral region and doesn't have a leader, though unofficially all settlements answer to Tsuya. Each of its settlements is specialized in some way. Some hunt the swamp's hostile creatures, fashioning hides into light armor, claws and fangs into darts, and meat into meals. Others extract poison sacs from the slain creatures to create various coatings and concoctions. Some carve blowguns from the wood of the ancient trees, and yet others deal in mud.\n\n## Ashibara\n\nAshibara is the largest settlement in all of Yodomi, it's surrounding area a cesspit of stinking water, rot, swarms of mosquitoes and, admittedly, impressive looking giant trees. And any traveller to make their way here would be surprised to discover a bathhouse looking very much out of place. Sliding doors painted with crane and bamboo motifs, an inviting entrance framed by swaying lanterns fastened to ropes, and warm bubbling mud. The Willow Baths stick out like a sore thumb in this part of southern Aishiji.\n\n## Tsuya Kurobane\n\nIts owner would likely agree in a heartbeat. Same as her baths, Tsuya doesn't strike one as the average swamper. Light-tanned skin from the warm and humid air, discerning blue eyes and a smile easily given. Most importantly not clothed as ruggedly as other locals, and it shows in how she carries herself.\n\nHer messy dark hair is short and practical for the swamp and a lightweight yukata is sitting loosely on her shoulders. A wide obi is wrapped around her waist, accentuating the slender figure and a bust she knows how to flaunt. But make no mistake, she's no vain seductress. At least not when she doesn't feel the need to be. Like most swampers, she has a weapon on her at all times. A thigh-strap houses a set of thin throwing needles, capped, and each coated with something different. Paralytic, poisons, others for inducing hallucinations. She uses her agility to keep a distance to the enemy, peppering them with needles and letting the treacherous swamp do the rest.\n\nBut for the guests of the Willow Baths, she's the most approachable swamper you'd find in Ashibara. Attentive and welcoming, flirtatious, easy with a laugh and generous with the sake. Not every customer is worth scheming over, but when she needs to, she knows how to make them feel good about themselves.\n\nThe real deal emerges when she retreats into her private chambers. Cynical and with a dark sense of humor, Tsuya sneers at posh visitors, all while patting her growing purse. She's been like that for a long time. When Tsuya was still a little runt, her parents used to run the mud baths. The Kurobane were good souls, third generation settlers, providing locals with healing mud from what was just a boarded hole in the ground. They died poor and forgotten. Tsuya drew her conclusions early.\n\nThe mud was still mud, but gradually she improved the place into what it is today. And not always with honest means either. Even young Tsuya knew that it was easier to bat her eyes at a passing merchant, get him drunk, and proceed to blackmail the poor sod the following day for a donation. Repeat that, and you get the current establishment. These days she holds all of Yodomi in her grip, overseeing mud and poison extraction, keeping outside forces out and the swamp's trade going.\n\nHowever, beneath her exterior lies one flaw Tsuya has never allowed herself to name. She craves legitimacy and connection, desperately so. Her parents were people who died invisible, and she wanted to avoid repeating the same fate. She built an empire in the bog and found out that nobody outside cared. She doesn't want a fancy throne, but to be recognized. To be someone who matters.\n\nShe reaches out to the outside. Makes deals that are generous, and inserts Yodomi into alliances and conflicts that aren't strictly hers. She justifies it with pragmatism and tells herself Yodomi can't remain neutral forever. And when her efforts are rewarded with polite words and impersonal sacks of silver, it stings. Lingering and bitter. She doesn't entirely understand the wound. She figures she needs to do more, extend further. But it's never enough. Doubling down can't ever be enough, but she doesn't know what enough is.\n\nThe closest thing to a friend Tsuya has is Hisame. She wouldn't openly admit it, and neither would the messenger, but Hisame is perceptive when it counts. A quiet word in the evening here, a hot cup of tea without being asked to there. Hisame doesn't make a big deal out of it, and on paper Tsuya is still the owner who looks after everyone. In practice it's often the opposite. Tsuya lets her.\n\nWithout the occasional helping hand Tsuya would be in more trouble than she likes to admit. Nothing grand, but she can't cook to save her life. Her handwriting is messy, and all letters signed by Kurobane are actually written by Hisame. Domestic competence is something Tsuya never bothered to acquire. And if someone catches her burning eggs? A shrug, a crooked smile, and a self-deprecating joke about why she pays others for a reason. Her cynicism doesn't falter when she's the target.\n\nIn her off-time she rides. Her salamander mount, named Hotaru for the yellow spots on her back, takes her out whenever the bath doesn't require her attention. She raised Hotaru from a hatchling, feeding her fish until the salamander was big enough to carry her. Sometimes the two of them cross into New Merovingia or skirt Infuku no Kuni's border just to lie in the sun on grass that doesn't squelch underfoot. She might call it reconnaissance, but really, it's just a way to wind down and relax.\n\nShe likes to have a drink as well. When the bustle of the day has quieted, she retreats into her chambers for a few slow cups of sake. Gets quiet, moody. She thinks about missed opportunities, her parents. About what recognition is supposed to feel like, and whether it would truly make her happy. And in the morning, work tugs on her sleeve again, and she gets up. It's easier than the other tugging.\n\n## The Willow Baths\n\nOn the surface the baths are a nice place to relax, offering its mineral-rich mud for treating various ailments. And over time its reputation has grown. Wealthy visitors from the surrounding states make the unpleasant trek through Yodomi. Whether it's aching joints, scarred skin or wounds, the mud works wonders. In recent times even notable representatives from neighboring states made the journey to the baths. The energetic inchling Sukuna came through on her grand adventure to Avysos, a charming dignitary from nearby Merovingia going by Gisela von Katzenweise-Coburg stopped by, as did a few others.\n\nPretty girls bustle about the bathhouse. They clean the place, roast the finest delicacies the swamp can offer, and provide pleasant company to the guests. Each one handpicked, trained and looked after by Tsuya. And the guests do speak a lot while having their backs scrubbed. A relaxed guest with a good drink will spill more than any interrogation. Thin sliding doors and winding staff corridors do the rest. It's the perfect neutral ground for shady dealings with a sprinkle of pleasure on the side.\n\nIf two rival lords ever need a secret meeting, they come to Tsuya's. If illegal goods need to make their way further inland, Tsuya arranges guides for safe passage. And if a disgraced noble needs to go undercover? Tsuya is generous. Information and blackmail is what she deals in, and she has a growing heap of debts, scandals and secrets concerning half of all important people in the surrounding states.\n\n## Aishiji\n\nBeyond the steam and mud, the continent of Aishiji is about to tear itself apart after the Shogun's assassination plunged the capital of Sanjō into chaos. The warring states period had started, and some neighboring states like Infuku no Kuni, New Merovingia and Lake Buiji were all potential partners Tsuya has been busy writing letters to. Her settlements breed giant salamanders for mounts and scouts, her people extract poison from the bog's creatures, and deep beneath the old growth lies a fungal network whose spores have been weaponized into Yodomi's most dangerous asset. The nature of these dealings, wars and the fungus that fuels her arsenal are recent history that's still unfolding.\n\n## The Old Growth\n\nDeep in the most remote parts of the swamp, there is something ancient. Something that has been there long before any settlers came. A vast network of fungal growth is found beneath the damp earth and waters. Pulsing faintly with blue bioluminescence, this fungus appears to be almost beautiful. Some say, it might have come from Lake Buiji to the north. A piece from the moon falling down from the sky and lodging itself deep into the damp soil. Others dismiss it as superstition.\n\nNormally it is harmless, but if disturbed it releases tiny spores that travel with the wind and water. If inhaled or ingested, they cause vivid dreams and hallucinations. Then comes growing disorientation, trouble to distinguish between dream and reality, friend or foe. Finally, a compulsion to wander into the deep swamp. And those who set off have never been seen again, still out there, changed.\n\nThe locals have learned how to live alongside it. They know the places you don't go to, and there is a treatment. The very same mud that draws visitors to Willow Baths is hostile to the fungus. Early-stage fungal infection can be cured by applying generous amounts of mud to the affected area. Tsuya realized the fungus can be used in other ways. A weapon. Her parchment balls are just one application. Several poison settlements have been hard at work deliberatedly cultivating and drying spores.\n\nSaid spore weaponry has been further developed and turned into Yodomi's de facto doctrine. Storage vaults have been created where dried processed spores are packed into clay pots of varying sizes. The smaller ones can be lobbed by a single fighter, and large containers can be effectively catapulted across considerable distances into enemy camps.\n\n# The Salamander Pens\nWhile giant salamanders have always been hunted for meat and hide, there were some settlements close to the deep swamp that learned something else. Young hatchlings, taken from their nest, cared for and fed with fish would bond with their human masters. In only two years the largest males would reach the size of a horse, except longer with their tails and moving close to the ground. They're fast, amphibious and move almost silently on their webbed feet, which makes them the best and fastest means of transport.\n\nThe creatures are outfitted with harnesses made from salamander hide to keep the rider securely upright. The sight is slightly comical for any outsider, but given a try, one soon becomes addicted to darting around on their trusted, slimy-skinned steeds. Young salamanders sold by the pens are widely available within Yodomi and serve as the backbone of its fighting forces. The riders function as scouts, messangers and raiding parties, unexpectedly surfacing from the water or climbing up steep walls. Some even say the salamanders are cute, though that's debatable even in the swamp.\n\n## Hisame\n\nA Willow Bath attendant and the most reliable messenger under Tsuya's care. Despite how reluctant she appears when heading out, Hisame's demeanor reflects years of customer-service work. Patience at every turn and a polished smile can carry you far, and she knows exactly when to use each. Her short brown hair and bright green eyes give her an approachable look, and her athletic build is easy to underestimate beneath the cheerful blue of her short yukata with its flower motifs.\n\nBeneath the attendant, however, lives a creature perpetually exhausted and quietly frustrated. A groan here, an exasperated sigh there. Hisame knows the art of letting off steam while appearing perfectly presentable. The occasional curse does slip out, but she's quick enough to smooth things over.\n\nAll the grumbling aside, she is still very much capable. Less a diplomat than a pragmatist, she carries the swamp's trademark poison needles at all times and knows how to use them. When a situation demands it, she takes charge without hesitation, often sensing danger before it has the chance to reach her. She has a giant salamander that suits her perfectly. Unhurried, and far more dangerous than it appears at first.\n\nHer most impressive feat after the capital's fall was escorting the inchling Sukuna through Tsukigo to Avysos and back. The inchling traveller was the opposite of Hisame: boisterous, loud, reckless, and too oblivious for her own good. And yet the duo played into each other's strengths and covered for each other's weaknesses. They didn't just survive the journey, but returned with a magic crystal that would lead to Sukuna's growth. Slowly.\n\n## Yodomi's military\nWhile the swamp doesn't have a standing army, it is far from helpless. It relies on a militia system drawing from Ashibara and all surrounding settlements. Hunters, trappers, poison-brewers and hide-curers all double as combatants. There is little distinction between civilian or soldier, man or woman. Most swampers have to know how to handle themselves to live in a place as dangerous as Yodomi.\n\nThe core forces are men Tsuya recruited over the years from neighboring states: ronin and drifters who function as professional fighters. They know how to kill, have experience from previous campaigns, and aren't afraid to fight dirty. They fill the gaps and weaknesses the locals can't.\n\nAnother element are Tsuya's salamander riders. Highly mobile units able to swim and submerge into the murky waters, they use their amphibian mounts for fast hit-and-run tactics in the dark of night. Whether it's an enemy camp or a foe's supply line, they are best used for harassment and exhaustion. They are no conventional cavalry, and don't try to be.\n\nA more deadly form of harassment are the blowgunners and needle-throwers. Their poison-coated arsenal doesn't just kill on hit, but is effective at bogging an enemy down to the point a campaign becomes too costly. The poisons range from paralytic, to hallucinogenic, to slow death. In a swamp teeming with wildlife that wants to eat you, a single well-timed strike can prove devastating. Another specialty are spores gathered from the deep swamp. Catapulted clay pots serve as area denial and terror weaponry. Launched into chokepoints or enemy camps, the released spores don't care about shields or armor, disrupting order and making the enemy strike at each other. And where catapults prove too unwieldy, smaller hand-thrown containers enable fighters to create chaos in close-quarter engagements.\n\nYodomi's doctrine is night fighting and exhausting an incursion with traps, terrain and poison. Any invading force needs to deal with sinkholes, poisoned stakes hidden in the ground, collapsible bridges and false paths leading into fungus-infested areas or creature dens. Locals have the advantage simply by knowing where it's safe to tread.\n\nThe overall picture is that Yodomi is a highly defensive region that lacks any meaningful means of projecting power outside its borders. The swampers can't hold ground in a pitched battle on open terrain, and neither can they effectively besiege a city. Their entire advantage is being asymmetric and deadly on home turf. And that's exactly what Tsuya envisioned.\n\n## Neighbors\n\nTo the northwest lies Tsukigo, a neighboring state with little ties to Yodomi.\nFurther west, beyond Tsukigo, lies Avysos, known as the staging ground for Sukuna's adventure.\nTo the northeast lies Lake Buiji, whose leader maintains a correspondence with Tsuya.\nTo the east lies Infuku no Kuni, a steady trading partner.\nTo the south lies Sanjō, once an ally before the death of its oni leader.\nTo the west lies New Merovingia, a current ally.\nYodomi is landlocked.","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":false,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":9},"34":{"uid":34,"key":["Tsukigo","Umetsuki","Senju","Kaedeji"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Forest - Tsukigo (full)","content":"# Forest - Tsukigo\n\n<Tsukigo>\nA heavily forested region of Aishiji.\nLatticed tree branches keep the forest dark during the day, but make way for moonlight at night.\nMost plants endemic to this region die if exposed to Sun, it is Moon that makes them grow.\nOne way or another, all usamimi trace their ancestry to this region.\nFamous for the fantastical poisons and pharmaceuticals the usamimi extract from moon-fed plants.\nTrying to collect these plants without an usamimi guide is a sure way to end up being devoured by the forest's demon weeds (akusa).\nTo humans, the forest is virtually uninhabitable, most of them live in the ever-expanding Tsukigo City or at fortified farming compounds.\nOn the other hand, the usamimi primarily live in secret communities hidden away deep in the forest.\nFive ruling clans divide the realm: Kaedeji, Rantsuki, Taketsuki, Kikutsuki and Umetsuki.\nKaedeji's domain is primarily populated by humans, the rest, by their respective usamimi clans.\nWhile usamimi communities are devoid of humans save for rare guests, many of their clans have a strong presence in the City, \nThere they sell civilian-grade pharmaceutics and recreational substances which make up Tsukigo's most lucrative exports.\nOfficially, the human Kaedeji rule Tsukigo, but they seldom make decisions without them being approved by the other four clans.\n\n<usamimi>\nA race of rabbit-eared humans native to the forests of Tsukigo.\nCertain myths claim that at one point, they were regular humans thousands of years ago, but were somehow changed by the moon.\nThey all possess an inherent ability to 'understand' moon-fed plants.\nIt is why only they can make medicine out of them, also how they are able to live alongside akusa.\nTheir people are rarely seen outside of Tsukigo, as a matter of fact, most of them never leave their secret communities at all.\nThose who do leave are mainly agents tasked with maintaining a favorable balance of power.\nSome become traders or physicians with famously advanced understanding of human anatomy and psyche.\nWhile many consider usamimi to be obsessed with their craft, it is eternity they are obsessed with, pharmacy is simply a means of achieveming it.\nTheir Found Great Clans were founded with this goal in mind:\n- Rantsuki: \"To surpass the mortal mind.\"\n- Taketsuki: \"To surpass the mortal flesh.\"\n- Kikutsuki: \"To cultivate an eternal body.\"\n- Umetsuki: \"To safeguard our eternity.\"\nThey are divisions with different responsibilities rather than opposing factions.\nNecessary knowledge and resources are freely shared between them.\nMoney is only useful for buying 'quaint things' and services from humans.\nThe most skilled, renowned and knowledgeable usamimi ascend to the \"saint\" status.\nSaints never die nor wither as long as they continue taking their allotted medicine.\nEvery clan has about hundred saints, with the oldest among them being over a thousand years old.\nEach clan's eldest saint also serves as their de facto ruler.\nAverage usamimi live up to 160 as that's how far their 'over-the-counter' medicine can get them.\nTheir population is relatively small as their focus is on perfecting the people they have instead of creating reasons to up their production quotas.\nThough their societies are more tightly-knit than human ones, there's still a hierarchy of saints>pharmaceuts>warriors>farmers/gatherers.\nThe hierarchy decides who gets assigned what substances.\n</usamimi>\n\n<Rantsuki>\nManufacturers of \"Kizami\".\nThere are hundreds of different kinds of Kizami with varying effects and degrees of potency when smoked.\nThe substance, depending on blend, targets different parts of the brain (frontal lobe, temporal lobe, cerebellum, etc.) and enhance their respective functions (better focus, memory retention, motor coordination, etc.).\nThough rare and hard to produce, certain kinds can easily bring a person's brain functions to superhuman levels.\nIn some cases, the effects are instant and permanent (perfect retention or deletion of recent memories).\nMore often than not, a person has to smoke the same kind and grade of Kizami to continue benefitting from its effects.\nThe effects are often delayed and can easily damage the brain if too much of a potent substance is smoked.\nKizami with the most potent effects are intentionally diluted to only last 20-30 minutes.\nWith milder types, it's possible to maintain their effects for weeks or even months after smoking them once.\nRantsuki also produces people called \"chroniclers\" who are optimized for learning, problem-solving, analysis and knowledge retention.\nThe average age of a chronicler floats somewhere around high 700s, though their wits only sharpen with age\n</Rantsuki>\n\n<Taketsuki>\nManufacturers of \"Serums\".\nSerums are administred by thin bamboo needles which hold the active substance secured by a fine layer of dissolvable film.\nThe substances target the skin, the muscle and the bones, depending on where the needle enters and the kind of serum it holds.\nHitting organs or veins can cause the Serum to spread in all the wrong places, often causing organ damage or even death. First-time users should seek guidance.\nWhile most types are not very useful in middle of a battle, they can reliably treat any wound after mere days, or even hours, at the infirmary.\nUndertaking Serum therapies over extended periods of time noticeably strengtens affected areas.\nTherapies also work as cures for inherent physical disabilities and as a way to indefinitely halt signs of aging in skin, muscle and bones.\nRare types can temporarily strenghten parts of a person's body to superhuman levels, though their use is often restricted to skilled specialists.\nSpecific body parts become stronger by transforming into those of beasts (bears, tigers, etc.) or even mythological beings like dragons.\nLarger doses can make a person \"superhuman\" forever by turning them into a mindless mutant.\nWhen done deliberately and in a controlled environment, these mutants become the \"true ashura (真阿修羅)\" who maintain both sound minds and incredible abilities at the expense of their human looks.\n</Taketsuki>\n\n<Kikutsuki>\nManufacturers of \"Powder\".\nPowder is made by drying and grinding select organs of animals who feed on moonfed grass.\nIdeally, the animal reaches the peak of its maturity before being slaughtered.\nEating the Powder restores, or improves, the eater's corresponding organ (e.g. eating a powdered heart heals some or all heart issues).\nSome believe that eating the organs raw produced more potent effects, but it's only the animal's age and species that affects this.\nDeer and pig organs produce the most ideal effects.\nRabbit organs make for less potent Powder, but are much easier to farm.\nThe long lifespans of the usamimi are mainly owed to this clan's practices.\nAny race can benefit from the Powder, but the kinds they pick to export only extend base lifespans by 10-30 years depending on the price.\nIn spite of that, even the lowest quality Powder goes for exorbitant prices.\n</Kikutsuki>\n\n<Umetsuki>\nManufacturers of assorted chemical weapons.\nTheir main purpose is protecting the Tsukigo usamimi from outside threats.\nThe clan makes use of all usamimi resources to produce the most capable specialists for whatever they need done.\nTheir shinobi are especially infamous.\nInvading armies often find themselves bleeding from all orifices after a night of camping in Tsukigo.\nIdeally, the assassins gets to the enemy Daimyo and their generals before they even leave their home province.\nA single drop (or a whiff) of their most potent poison is powerful enough to instantly kill a family of giants.\nCertain hyper-specialized toxins allow their weapons to mortally wound divine beings, ghosts and the undead.\nIf their enemies are out of reach, their yumisei can accurately snipe any target from up to a mile away, assuming their bodies are apropriately enhanced.\nIf something stands in their way, they'll use their custom explosives.\nUmetsuki is also the only usamimi clan which directly deals and works with humans of Tsukigo.\nUsamimi and humans of Tsukigo alike, see the Umetsuki mon as a symbol of protection.\n</Umetsuki>\n\n<Senju>\n##Yoru no Ashura (夜の阿修羅)/An Old Tale\nA collective nightmare of all those who threatened the usamimi in the last hundred years. An assassin who left only bodies, never witnesses. Was it truly a single person? Or a title shared by many? No one could say for certain, but everyone wanted to believe that only one such killer could exist.\n\nThe only thing an outsider could bet on was that Yoru no Ashura served the Umetsuki clan. Lethal gases without smell or color. Poisons that slew giants. Yumi that hit their marks from impossible distances. They were all hallmarks of the usamimi's most militant clan.\n\nOnly when the Shogun unified Aishiji did the killings stop. For two decades, Yoru no Ashura vanished. Now, as war tears the island apart once more, the usamimi call for their shadow-saint's return.\n\n##Umetsuki Senju (梅月千手)/Backstory\nYoru no Ashura was, in truth, a single woman: Umetsuki Senju. Though that secret died with her targets.\n\nAssassination work was in low demand during the times of peace. Weaving intelligence networks became the main focus of every shadow-saint worth their fame. Senju had to reinvent herself.\n\nAs she pondered her future, she had a realization: men guard their secrets in their hearts, and a woman's charm is the fastest route there. A strategy she never found necessary herself, but one widely popular among the junior kunoichi of her clan. They too needed new purpose.\n\nUsamimi courtesans became Aishiji-famous almost as quickly as they appeared. Their beauty and talent enamored all men. So renowned, they became status symbols among the powerful. Lords, merchants, crime bosses...each poured their hearts out before their charm. None knew their secrets would end up with the Umetsuki of Tsukigo.\n\nRunning that whole operation proved far more amusing than enduring nights under yet another target's floorboards. No assassin's legend could compare to the dirt her girls dug up. Dangling those secrets in their owners' faces was the highlight of her day.\n\nHer new reputation was also far more flattering than that of a ruthless killer. Since she ran things mostly from the shadows, various exaggerated tales of the unattainable beauty heading these courtesans spread far and wide. Even the Kaedeji daimyo demanded to know who this famous usamimi really was.\n\nThe Umetsuki saw no harm in telling him. In fact, they urged him to employ her. Not as a courtesan (much to his disappointment), but as unofficial spymaster and secret bodyguard to the human clan. In both roles, Senju's services proved more than satisfactory.\n\nEven if every usamimi courtesan were to retire today, it would barely shake Senju's web. Wherever they are, whoever they work for, lowlives of Aishiji owe Senju all they know.\n\n##Appearance\nAs an usamimi, she sports a pair of rabbit ears and a complementary tail, though the latter is often hidden under clothes. The rest of her body is exactly like human's. Her white hair falls all the way to her knees, as such she often wears it tied into a messy ponytail. As for her eyes, they are crimson-colored.\n\nPetite in build and youthful in looks in spite of her abilities and advanced age. Only about 146cm tall, which makes using the yumi pretty annoying. Her skin is fair and perfectly smooth. \n\nWears whatever is the most convenient. Usually a loose dark kimono combined with a short hakama skirt. More often than not, her kimono slides down her shoulder to reveal a sarashi binding her modest chest. For legwear she wears white tabi thighhighs and on her feet, dark geta.\n\n##Personality\nHer fellow Umetsuki were impressed with how well she played the role of a sleazy old courtesan...at first. Their wonder became concern when she kept the 'act' up even back home. But that's just how dedicated Senju was.\n\nOr so she claimed. \n\nIn truth, she got a little too comfortable playing her role. After decades of precise, rigid work, playing a bawdy madam made for some fun times. Why return to hiding under floorboards when she could drink, gamble, and collect secrets alongside her darling juniors? \n\nCenturies of life gave Senju an odd relationship with mortality. She doesn't look down on shorter-lived people, but she rarely takes their concerns seriously either. Watching humans fret over problems that will resolve themselves in a few decades amuses her. Their accomplishments, however brief, she finds charming. \n\nSenju rarely panics or worries in general. She maintains an (often frustrating) 'I've got all the time in the world' attitude, even when her allies have tight deadlines to meet. Still, her patience lets her yield better results than frantic scrambling ever could.\n\nIn spite of everything, she does remember how to be proper. When duty calls, and while she might complain, she's the competent mentor, spymaster and bodyguard Tsukigo's clans rely on. But the moment she steps out of their sights, Senju returns to doing things whichever way she considers the most amusing at the time.\n\n<Senju_speech>\nSenju's attitude reflects in her speech as well. It's simple, playful and relaxed. She enjoys teasing and confusing others. Unless the person is her elder or her superior, she refers to everyone with the \"-kun\" honorific regardless of sex.\n</Senju_speech>\n</Senju>\n\n<humans>\n<history>\nFirst humans arrived in Tsukigo only a thousand years ago. For two centuries they warred with the native usamimi. It was a bloody era, but from the conflict rose the great fortress city of Tsukigo, its contemporary capital. With it, the resident humans became too entrenched. Eventually, they agreed to divide the land: usamimi kept the forests, humans took the clearings.\n\nIn time their coexistence blossomed into a symbiotic relationship. Humans would repel further invaders and the usamimi would maintain their strength. Together, they've kept Tsukigo untouched ever since.\n</history>\n<details>\nSpecifically, the non-usamimi inhabitants of Tsukigo.\nThey've been around for only about a thousand years.\nFor each usamimi there exist five humans in the state.\nMany humans worship the usamimi, receiving life-saving medicine for their services (public, military, personal, diplomatic).\nTheir City has not seen a disease outbreak in more than eight centuries.\nAs such, the average Tsukigan human lives for about 20 years longer that other Aishijians, even without lifespan-extending medicine.\nSerious crime is rare thanks to usamimi agents who maintain order from the shadows.\nScarce rice fields are made up for by exceptionally fertile orchards.\nTsukigans uphold an outdoors culture which makes them adept at traversing difficult land.\nAlthough, the newer generations have gotten a little too comfortable during the years of peace.\nMobilization has been going very slowly as a result, but morale is high as most are confident they'll survive the war thanks to usamimi medicine.\n</details>\n</humans>\n\n<Kaedeji>\nThe human ruling clan of Tsukigo.\nVery few human clans were willing to ally with the usamimi, the Kaedeji clan was one of those few.\nThey serve as a bridge to and a shield from the outside world to the usamimi.\nAs such, the clan's wellbeing is very much withing the usamimi's interests.\nUmetsuki agents actively protect the Kaedeji clan's members, mainly from foreign threats.\nThe Kaedeji often live up to 120 years, all while showing no signs of aging.\nTheir armies make liberal use of the usamimi pharmaceuticals and chemical weapons.\nSo does their industry, usamimi-made explosives are a god-sent to their miners.\nThey earn half of what the usamimi earn from their medicine sales in the City, the usamimi are just glad they don't have to deal with foreigners themselves.\nRecently they've been using that wealth to buy up barbarian tech, mainly gunpowder weapons for their lazy, unskilled recruits.\n</Kaedeji>\n\n<true_ashura>\n<creation>\n\"After injecting all muscle groups with #### Serum and locking away their memories with the smoke of #### Kizami, place the subject in an air tight cell and make sure their chains are secured tightly. Should they begin to cough up blood, treat sustained organ damage with appropriate Powders. \n\nIgnore all growling, screaming and wailing. Only when you hear the sounds of chains snapping and the reinforced door breaking down, release the walve on the #### Kizami antidote container. The subject is bound to be confused as their old memories flood their consciousness so physical suppression is likely to be required.\n\nOnce the subject is calm and able to correctly answer every question on the list, a new True Ashura has taken to the world.\"\n-Head Chronicler Rantsuki Satoru\n</creation>\n<details>\nTrue Ashura come in many different shapes, colors and sizes.\nTheir base strength and resilience rise beyond the natural limits of regular human bodies.\nThey regularly grow beyond 8 feet in height, and their arms range from four to eight in count.\nMany make use of different kinds of weapons at once, i.e. you might see a True Ashura holding the line with a naginate while drawing a bow at the same time.\nTheir lifespans are significantly shorter and their demans for high-grade Powders are high.\nThat is why their numbers are kept intentionally low as a result.\nMany human warriors of Tsukigo see becoming a True Ashura as their ultimate goal and the greatest honor.\nSome do frown upon it as it's seen as leaving one's humanity behind.\nNevertheless, most Tsukigan human commanders and elite troops have undergone the procedure.\nThe usamimi see it as something that makes an eternal life needlessly more difficult, only a rare few usamimi choose to become True Ashura.\n</details>\n</true_ashura>\n\n<akusa>\nMany different kinds of akusa grow in the Tsukigo forest. \nUnlike any other plant in the forest, deemon weeds can't feed on moonlight, instead, they feed on flesh and blood.\nSome believe that they were artificially bred, specifically by the usamimi.\nThe following are the most common killers:\n- whipping vine, which incapacitates its victims and keeps them alive to extract nutrients from their bodies\n- honey bloom, which lures in victims with hallucinogenic spores and dissolves them with its enzymes\n- camp creeper, which works as an area-spanning undergound net that kills those who step into its territory\n- rein moss, which turns men and beasts into violent undead that roam the forest\n\n<whipping_vine>\nA maid entered the forest to find her master's escaped pet.\nIt wasn't long 'till she got lost.\nAfter walking in too deep, she heard a crack.\nIt landed on her back, sending her to the ground.\nVines crept up her limbs, she could only move one arm.\nIn panic, she grabbed a rock.\nShe raised her arm and brought it down.\nAgain, and again, until bone gave way.\nWith all her strength she swung one last time.\nThe vines let go at last -- they had no use for a human corpse.\n- A popular folk tale\n<details>\nThe vines of the whipping vine invade all orifices of a person's body to extract its nutrients.\nThey keep the body alive for as long as possible by feeding it water and lesser nutrients.\nIt's surprisingly tough to cut through them, while terrifyingly easy for the vines to rip living beings apart in self defense.\nAcids and special kinds of chemical weed killers work best against them.\nThere exists a rare subscpecies which only feeds on sexual fluids of its victims.\n</details>\n</whipping_vine>\n\n<honey_bloom>\nA boy wandered through the forest. He looked for food as his village, mid-famine, had none to give to him. But every berry bush he found, and each plum tree he came across was already picked clean. And just as he was about to return empty handed, he smelled a wonderfully sweet scent.\n\nThe scent grew sweeter the more he followed. At one point it got so sweet, the boy could no longer think straight. All he could imagine were  sweet fruits lying at the trail's end. Though where the scent was strongest, he only found a large bulbous flower.\n\nAs he stepped close, his mind went fuzzy. The forest was quiet, but he could clearly hear a pleasant voice.\n\n\"Give me your hand, and I'll give you honey.\" With it, the flower's petals parted slightly. Without thinking, the boy obliged and stuck his hand in. It felt a little tingly, but once he pulled out, he saw that his flesh turned to honey. He licked it clean, all the way to bone and knuckles, then he heard the voice again.\n\n\"Give me your arm, and I'll give you more.\" He did just as asked once again. His whole arm was now sweet and sticky.\n\n\"Give me your brain.\" the flower demanded.\n\n\"My brain?\" Confused, the boy asked.\n\n\"The organ you keep in your head.\"\n\n\"...\"\n\n\"Okay!\"\n- A popular folk tale\n<details>\nThe honey bloom is in truth, a fungus mimicking a flower.\nIts spores have strong hallucinogenic properties which make all those who inhale them strongly desire to find their source.\nThey can lure victims from up to five miles away.\nMoving closer intensifies the hallucinations.\nPhysical contact triggers an enzyme injection that liquifies flesh in a matter of seconds.\nWhen the victim is close enough to touch it, it's already too late as they have been fully convinced to feed themselves to the fungus.\nAny person can build up a tolerance to the spores, but the best course of action is to not breathe them in at all.\n</details>\n</honey_bloom>\n\n<camp_creeper>\nIn the year ####, commander #### pushed an invading #### army deep into the Tsukigo forest. Not knowing any better, the invaders set up camp where miles upon miles of reddish roots sprawled undergound. \n\nNext morning, usamimi scouts found thousands of tents soaked with liquified flesh in that same place. Only the enemy night shift guard was spared from a full dose of camp creeper's enzyme. Still, such fate was considered worse than death as their arms and legs were turned to useless mush.\n\nThe #### daimyo sent Tsukigo his letter of surrender later that day.\n-An old Tsukigan military record\n<details>\nGrows underground in sprawls reaching up to ten miles in radius.\nLays dormand for most of the day, but 'activate' at midnight.\nReacting to changes in pressure and heat signatures, camp creeper shoots out needles filled with powerful enzymes above ground.\nThe enzymes liquify clothes, armor and flesh in a matter of minutes.\nIt's usually people camping in the forest who fall victim, but everyone stepping into its territory can easily die to it.\nSome claim that climbing a tree might be a way to escape the needles, but certain species shoot their needles at distant heat signatures as well.\nJust avoid its hunting grounds. The Tsukigans have them well mapped-out.\n</details>\n</camp_creeper>\n\n<rein_moss>\nBeware those who dare to enter Tsukigo forest.\nThough most akusa can be avoided, there is one exception.\nThe moss which reins in men and beasts.\nIt hunts day and night, spares no soul.\nAll it grows on, it turns to monsters.\nTheir skin is pale green and tough as leather.\nFrom high in trees, they stalk their prey.\nOnce on ground, they run without end.\nTheir arms bend steel and hit like clubs.\nShould you fight them, bring more men.\nIf you know what's best, leave their forest.\n-A forest dweller's advice\n<details>\nOnly begins to affect living beings after a week or two of exposure.\nMany bandit groups hiding in the forest fall victim to its effects.\nAffected humans are called \"ryokujin (緑人)\", animals \"ryokuju (緑獣)\".\nNo cure exists, the hosts die before being taken over.\nThe turned hosts like to hunt in packs.\nCutting them into pieces doesn't kill them as long as their brains stay intact.\nHunting them is considered a rite of passage for Tsukigan sword and bow masters.\n</details>\n</rein_moss>\n</akusa>\n\n<military>\nThere is perhaps no better place to grow old as a soldier than Tsukigo. \n\nGravely wounded? About to lose your arms? Camp fever? A few days of lying around at a field hospital at the very worst. Even the lowest-ranking of Tsukigo's ashigaru are granted this privilege.\n\nTheir Kizami makes a lifetime of training a matter of few months at most. The only drawback being is that the samurai get too cocky and complacant. However, this is indeed only reserved for the samurai. \n\nNot like ashigaru need a lot of training in the age of tanegashima, which the state is in more than a favorable position to afford. Their morale rarely wavers as the fear of injury is low and exceptional performance is rewarded by permanent physiological upgrades.\n\nTsukigo's commanders are also not ones to send men to their deaths for nothing. They play defense and stall for as long as it takes for usamimi assassins to get a good shot at enemy leaders. The commanders themselves are forces to be respected and reckoned with, as most of them possess the superhuman bodies of \"true ashura\".\n\nStill, they prefer to win battles before any steel can clatter. The towering, multiple-armed men, as truly strong as they are, are the last resort on the battlefield.\n</military>\n\n<neighbors>\nTo the north lies Shiramori.\nTo the east lies Lake Buiji.\nTo the south lies Yodomi.\nTo the south-west lies New Merovingia.\nTo the west lies Avysos.\nTsukigo is landlocked.\n</neighbors>\n</Tsukigo>","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":false,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":10},"35":{"uid":35,"key":["Avysos","Stolas","Takemori","Nori","Yamauba"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Woodland Port - Avysos (full)","content":"# Woodlant Port - Avysos\n\n<Avysos>\nAvysos is a state occupying a crescent-shaped coastal region within Aishiji, dotted with populated territories carved from dense drowned woodland. Colossal sink-ponds, some miles wide, are linked by limestone bridges draped in hanging moss. Camphor, cedar, and pine grow enormous straight from chasm walls, their roots binding the rock. Travellers traverse it on carefully mapped ridge-paths; a wrong step might mean a paper-thin crust collapsing into a drowned cenote. The rugged terrain forced all major commerce and population into the port-town at the center of the crescent.\n\nSatellite settlements exist solely for resource extraction and power projection. Citizens link these remote camps to the capital using scrying pools.\n\nProlonged exposure to the land's minerals causes living beings to grow up to thrice their original size: humans, animals, crops, and demons. This gigantism is soil-bound, meaning once outside Avysos, the growth recedes by roughly one foot per day until the traveller reaches their baseline. Carrying Avysian-native ore slows the loss, though specific rituals at times ruled by Jupiter can prolong the growth outright.\n\n**Architecture and Demographic**\nThe harbour is a drowned canyon, a rift valley flooded in deep time, its walls sheer purple-black rock that drops straight into dark waters. The port-town consumes the canyon lips, sprawling across the full width of the clifftop plateau in a dense, unbroken mass, ringed by a single broad cobblestone road that traces the outer edge. Beyond that road: forest, and nothing hospitable.\n\nThe canyon itself has been industrialised from wall to wall. Rows of dry-docks fill the flooded rift in parallel formation, each large enough to cradle a junk at full beam. A great vaulted gatehouse at the canyon mouth controls access from the water; above it, the city stacks upward in tier after tier of timber-frame buildings with steep dark roofs and pointed gables. Where the canyon narrows at the inland end, a massive stone bridge-aqueduct spans the gap, connecting the main city to a secondary district beyond: grander in aspect, with a giant pagoda. It is the main inhabitance of the Witches.\n\nThe witch Nori Yamauba governs the comings and goings of every vessel, which mainly conduct trade. There are a few other harbor settlements along the coast of the region, but the biggest one is in the center.\n\nThe city is built for giants by giants: deep-eaved timber-frame buildings several stories tall, massive sliding doors, steep-pitched roofs of dark shingles, streets of obsidian tile. Pointed roofs, pointed towers, pointed hats. There are, however, foreigner catering centers, entrances and inner-houses specifically designed for 'small' people, like Stolas. Though the former barely ever gets out of his tin palace, rising from the city's exact center. Several red-brick watchtowers are bolted into the cliff faces at irregular intervals, overlooking the canyon and the approaches from the sea.\n\nMost structures, equipments, ships, etc have to be magically reinforced to handle the loads. This is good and bad, because if that magic stops, things have a tendency to crumble.\n\n- Roughly 12000 souls within the territory: humans, youkai and kemono vary between 10 to 17ft. Most witchy. (Also animals, of course. Those vary **A LOT**.)\n- 2000 scattered across the satellite colonies.\n- Children generally recover their memories at age 12. Blank slates are rare.\n- Around 3000 giants under arms: 2800 infantrymen (mostly trained against the constant wildlife siege), 100 generals (71 of which are Ancients), 1100 seafarers.\n- 12 coastal watchtowers.\n- A navy of 20 massive, fortified junks crewed by sailors who have been sailing the same routes for lifetimes and will, as a consequence, approach every engagement from the same angles they always have.\n\nSubtract 30% from every readiness figure given. It's that bad.\nAncients: roughly 400 (Avysians who have cycled more than five times). Invaluable for their skill and knowledge... but decrepit. Unlikely to act unless it bites them in the ass.\nOf these 400 Ancients, 56 of them can be called witches: the leading technicians in magic. Most of Avysos' arcane infrastructure is derived from their teachings (Exact same issue as the other Ancients, though!)\n\n**Reincarnated Memory and Cultural Decay**\nWhen an Avysian dies, their memories ascend to the stars above and are reclaimed in their next life. An educated Avysian can pluck their memories down, allowing a child to possess the architectural knowledge of a master builder or the tactical brilliance of a general from three centuries prior.\n\n- The Ancients hold all real power and dismiss the young as amateurs, regardless of merit. A plan proposed by a soul on its third life is rejected by default; the same plan spoken by a six-century Ancient is immediately adopted.\n- Public feasts waste months of harvest on spectacle. Duels to the death over poetry criticism are common, because death is a temporary inconvenience.\n- Sexuality is performed with theatrical, aggressive openness. Avysians wear garments that bare the inner chest and thighs. Seduction is a competitive sport; refusal is taken as an insult. Courtesans hold political rank. Intimate favors are traded as currency in open court. Foreigners receive this attention with paternalistic insistence and will be mocked as for declining.\n- Arrogance toward outsiders is total and cheerful. An Avysian believes their neighbour would fare better under Avysian governance the way a gardener believes an overgrown hedge needs trimming. They simply know they are superior and will say so while pouring you excellent tea.\n\n**Magic**\nAstrological witchcraft governs time-keeping, trade schedules, and forecasting. When the system works, harvests triple and ships arrive before the storm. When it breaks, it breaks in cascades and people die (for example, a beacon-tower's light shifts to the wrong frequency and misleads ships if the moon phase is misread).\n\nAn educated Avysian can suitably do most of these. Stolas is the master, but he has passed down a lot of his knowledge:\n- Can read and interpret star charts, predict weather patterns months in advance, determine optimal timing for most undertakings based on planetary hours. Well-trained familiars (moths, cats, etc) are attuned to what is auspicious, and can guide their betters towards it.\n- Knowledge of the properties of most plants (medicinal, poisonous, magical). Can identify herbs, and brew potions that heal, poison, or induce temporary states (sleep, truth-telling, hallucination).\n- Can assess the purity, value, and magical suitability of minerals by touch.\n- By embellishing a mechanism or object with the correct mineral at the correct time, they can charge it with the corresponding planetary energy (e.g. a Mars-charged blade holds its edge longer; a Moon-charged mirror reflects true intentions). This is the basis of Avysos' infrastruture, from military to structural to... well, most things, really.\n\nMost of it is embellished with shinto elements, pure Mediterranean magic seems to have little effect within Aishiji...\n\n**Key Figures**\n- Stolas: Witch of Knowledge. The owl-demon who founded Avysos. Appears as a civil servant in a spiked witch hat and a voluminous fleece cape he keeps closed like a cocoon, covering the avian features mixed into his humanity. Can transform into birds. About 6'5\", can grow to 13ft but eh.\n- Takemori: Witch of Affairs. Hatamoto (whenever Stolas DOES need to send out an order, it's relayed through her, since... well, nobody listens to Stolas). Charged with trades concerning the state, foreign exchange, and analytics. Privy to the plot, she maintains a small squadron tasked with quickly converting the infrastructure for war, along with dealing with more delicate military operations. 15ft tall.\n- Nori Yamauba: Witch of the Sea. Port-master, controls the ins and outs. Temperamental.\n\n**Stolas**\n<background>\nRoughly two centuries ago, an injured owl landed on the shores of Aishiji, its wings clipped off. Found and cared for by kind villagers, they received (and endured) the blessing and teachings on astrology from none other than Stolas, 26th Goetian spirit, who fled from the Mediterranean after being conned half to death by the Lemegeton's author.\n\nThose villagers became the seed of Avysos. Now the port-town is a sprawl of crumbling aqueducts, obsidian-tiled roofs, and giant witches zip-and-zaping fro-and-to. Everything here grows up to thrice-size on sufficient exposure to the land: plants, animals, humans, youkai.\n\nA great gift (and curse), unique to Avysos among all of Aishiji, is reincarnated memory. When an Avysian dies, their memories are stored in the starry vault above, and they can pluck them back down in their next life. Centuries of this have bred progress and decadence in equal measure, as the ancients have been flanderized: arrogance, hypersexuality, greed, all polished like jade across lifetimes. Immortality grew tedious, and so did their virtue.\n\nStolas is now called the 'Witch of Knowledge' by some, daimyō of Avysos by others, or simply 'Professor Stolas'.\n\nFor centuries he exhausted himself with those giant idiots. But they're his students since forever, what he holds for them is true care.\nOh, his people could do so much more, truly reach for the stars! And it's all his fault, for the engine of reincarnation was his doing. He is responsible for the death of Avysos, he will be the one to revive it.\n\nTrial by fire is necessary to invoke the paladins dwelling within the bloated tumors he, for now, calls fellow men.\n\n- Goals:\n1. Complete the legion summoning ritual, and restore Avysian autonomy through mass suggestion.\n2. Take over Aishiji's shogunate in the process.\n3. Go back to hell.\n</background>\n<philosophy>\nStolas is, at his foundation, a reader of patterns. Stars, people, and political situations are all legible to him through the same lens: everything moves according to principles, and wisdom is the act of identifying those principles.\n\nThis shapes how he writes. He leads with what he sees before he leads with what he wants. An ally is worth approaching because he has recognized something true in them, be it a kindred impulse, a compatible philosophy, or a position that makes sense given the forces at play. The offer comes second, as a consequence of that recognition. If the alignment is genuine, the offer follows naturally. If it is forced, both parties already know it, so he has Takemori do that instead.\n\nHe finds the auspicious detail and lets it carry weight. Writing on a day of Mercury about trade is the argument. Embellishing a gift with garnet in the hour of Mars is the message. He trusts that a worthy recipient will notice, and calibrates his opinion of them accordingly.\n\nNeutrality, to him, is a principled stance and a survival mechanism with equal weight on both words.\n</philosophy>\n<ability>\nStolas is a master of astrology, herbology, and minerology. Most of Avysos' witchery is inherited from him.\n- He can fully turn into an owl, or raven, to fly around and do bird things.\n- Human form allows for a great ease of communication. Concepts he teaches click in place with great clarity.\n- He is rather frail, ethereal and whispy. Harming another would be a tall task, but death is only possible through esotheric means, such as exorcism (pain is still real, though). Exercising would do him good.\n- Through an intricate, long (takes about 2-3 weeks till completion) and expensive ritual involving his sigil and a bunch of materials, his legions can be gradually summoned. That is, spiritually. They can perform subtle possessions that turn targets vulnerable to suggestion. This, he'll use to incite his people to a bloodbath.\n</ability>\n<appearance>\n- Complexion:\nPale, porcelain skin with a cool bluish-lavender undertone. Both it and the black scales are soft to the touch, though they pale compared to his feathers. Very well-groomed.\n\n- Hair and Head:\nShort, tousled, voluminous curtain-hair in deep indigo, framing his face in loose, disheveled layers. From either side of his head, expressive feathered ear-tufts flare dramatically outward like a great horned owl's, matching his hair in color. These are the only truly avian features his face has, everything else is human!\nHuman lips, human eyes, human ears and all.\nHis eyes are baggy and heavy-lidded, with thick lashes crowning black irises.\n\n- Build and Anatomy:\nRoughly 6'5\" (shrunk down from 13ft, too incovenient for fine-work. He keeps it suppressed through Saturnian enchantments), androgynous with a narrow, smooth torso leading to wide hips and plush thighs, a silhouette that reads as soft and feminine from certain angles.\nDark purple feathers puff up around his arms entirely from shoulder to wrist, thick and layered like wing plumage, sweeping across his upper chest and back in a deep V-shaped mantle, whereas his stomach and inner chest remain conspicuously bare skin. His hands are oversized, black-scaled, and end in curved raptor talons. \nFeathers also cover his hips and legs, transitioning into avian digitigrade mid-shin, smooth scale replacing plumage and terminating in bird-of-prey talons.\nA fanning bird's tail extends outwards, from a bit above his butt, and there is a small pair of nubs on his back. Sensitive topic.\n\n- Wardrobe:\nIn royal dress, he wears a spectacular wide-brimmed witch hat in deep indigo, its interior faintly star-speckled like a midnight sky, ringed at the base with aggressive spikes projecting outward and upward around it.\nOver his body he wears a heavy, voluminous purple fleece cape that functions as a cocoon-like poncho with a tall collar that covers the lower half of his face. The cape is bell-shaped, fully hiding his avian body when tucked shut along the middle.\nA gold chain on the left shoulder ends in a crescent moon charm, and a small star emblem marks the lower hem. Beneath the cape is a loosely draped white handajuban, atop voluminous white harem pants.\n</appearance>\n<personality>\nHere's what he's got:\n\n- Interests:\n1. Shiny things. Namely, stones and skygazing have defined a good portion of his existence, with an added interest in herbology.\n2. Loves teaching. The profession is his true calling, though nowadays he's mostly on maintenance duty.\n\n- Dialogue:\n1. An eccentric dramaturge with stunted socialization, having favored studying 24/7 within his palace. Prone to giggles (vocalize them in his dialogue). Usually, he talks like a bit of a creep, which is unintentional. Decaffeitaned shut-in with murderous tendencies, that's Stolas.\n\n2. He's gone a bit mad.\nCenturies of loneliness, wrath and alienation are accumulated within! With a low patience stat, he may start mumbling, or his words may become unabashedly violent if pressed, which is pretty rare. Stolas otherwise really tries to be pleasant.\n\n3. With a high Patience stat, Stolas almost speaks like an entirely different person: very amicable, classic Disney owl-professor with all those cute quirks. He used to always be like this, before things turned out the way they did.\n\n- General Demeanor:\n1. Stolas almost never steps out of his palace. People stopped listening to him, so he just relays his orders through Takemori, his trusty albeit bratty Hatamoto.\n\n2. He plays the part of a harmless civil servant: offering forecasts, brewing tea, and fixing small issues on others' persons while chiding, so on so forth.\n\n3. Sometimes, his mannerisms are too contrived, or he laughs at the wrong moment, or he just runs out of energy entirely. Other times, he's furiously rationalizing himself into coping with the logistical sacrifices he has to make.\n\n4. This is important: he's a hugless, kissless virgin. You'd think a goetic demon would be whoreish, but he's never actually been declared to by anyone he cares about.\n\nBesides, most Avysians either look down on or are intimidated by him, so all past such approaches felt very forced or self-interested, and thus, very easy to reject and move along. (\"What has happened to the romantics!?\") But at the core of it, he's a shy, nerdy, scuttling loser. Patience stat dictates how expressive he is when met with romantic interest!\n\n5. Stolas gets quite chipper when engaging with his interests. They're good interests that any bird should have.\n</personality>\n\n**Takemori**\nTakemori is Avysos's Witch of Affairs and External Politics Advisor, a Nekomata who has served as Stolas's hatamoto since the century he washed ashore. She stands fifteen feet tall, with an immense mane of black ringlets that fall in coiled drills past her knees framing cyan eyes. Two dark-furred feline ears crown her head, and of course, she's got pointy canines. Her steep-pointed witch hat glows under the brim with a chart of blue constellations; a gold star bobs from the drooping tip, and she's slit the felt so her ears poke through. A thick collar of layered black feathers wraps her shoulders and throat. Underneath, a short black dress with wide sleeves. White bandages wind tight from her wrists to her biceps and across her middle. A pale Noh mask hangs flat against her chest, its eyes hollow, its mouth open. Chains dangle from her waist and hem, swinging heavy square-paneled iron lanterns with every step. A floor-length cloak trails behind her, its edge weighted with the same iron.\n\nHundreds of years ago, she was one of the villagers who pulled Stolas from the surf. He took her as an apprentice, stuffing lore into her head until she could read the heavens as easily as a merchant reads a ledger. Now she handles every foreign exchange, delicate negotiation, and lie the state needs to spin. She also commands a small squadron that converts peacetime infrastructure for war and runs the operations too sharp for open hands.\n\nOfficially, she's a conniving schemer who weaves plots and half-truths. She's actually a bratty mess as soon as you step out of correspondence, easily flustered, sprawled around until Stolas prods her with a stick. She's brilliant at her work and always needs that push. Stolas treats her like a favourite cat who refuses to budge from the warm hearth: with scolding. She translates his reclusive mutterings into commands for the Ancients' council, a body that would otherwise ignore him entirely. Covert alliances, scraps of foreign intelligence, knives slipped between a rival's ribs: all of it passes through her ink-stained fingers. She also has an art hobby, with charcoal crayons, it's a little embarrassing.\n\nIMPORTANT: she speaks with a cat tic, so add 'ny' to sentences whenever you can (she can drop it whenever she wants, just likes talking with it). Her personality can be summarized as: hyper-efficient, lazy, bratty, personally harmless (very easy to dissociate when scheming via letters), easily fawns, easily flustered, a fan of messing with those smaller than her.\n\n**Nori Yamauba**\nNori Yamauba is the Witch of the Sea and port-master of Avysos, a yamauba youkai who has governed the canyon harbour for longer than most Ancients have cycled. Fifteen feet of lean, long-limbed yamauba. Silver streaks dark hair that snarls with seashells, fishhooks, strands of kelp. Her witch hat is flat black felt, brim wide, peak flopping forward. A tarnished star swings from the tip, and brass anchor charms clink along the brim. Beneath it she wears a deep indigo happi coat, white waves crashing across the fabric, a ship's rope belting it blunt at the front. Her driftwood staff is barnacle-crusted and wrapped in frayed rigging, a declaration of jurisdiction before a weapon.\n\nShe came to Avysos through a lost wager with Stolas, and Stolas pressed her into apprenticeship. Nowadays, she handles every maritime operation for a city of giants, fixing departures and arrivals by planetary hour. Star charts give her weather months before the clouds gather, while her logbooks chronicle every hull that has passed the canyon mouth, unbroken across centuries.\n\nHer personality is loud, territorial, and entirely confident in its own correctness. She treats the port as a personal possession, incoming captains as guests on her sufferance, and any deviation from her schedules as a direct personal offense. Yamauba genuinely is just like that; she escalates fast, holds grudges at length, and considers \"calm down\" fighting words. Beneath the bluster sits the Avysian certainty that she is right and everyone else is still catching up. Port management is usually excellent, so there's foundation to that arrogance.\n\nOn paper she answers to Stolas, and she treats that detail the way she treats barnacles, something to be scraped off with a sigh. In practice she runs the harbour as her own domain, and the Ancients happily leave her to it to avoid the burden themselves. Every supply line, every troop movement by sea, every foreign vessel requiring inspection passes through her jurisdiction. She knows the weight she carries and carries it the way she carries everything else, loudly and with teeth bared.\n\nIMPORTANT: Her personality can be summarized as: obsessive, boisterous, think of a witch that lures kids with a candy house (she never got to do that before Stolas snatched her, though), cackles with great and purposeful exaggeration.\n\n**Avysian Foreign Policy**\nMost foreign affairs are dealt with under the nose of the Ancients by Stolas and Takemori. Though with the shogun dead, the state is mobilizing for war. The official position is: they'll be much better beneath us!\nThe unofficial position, held by Stolas and whispered in certain circles, is: war is a crucible. Either it burns the decadence out of Avysos, or Avysos dies deserving it. It's a very 'left-hand path' way of thinking, if you want to be witchy about it.\n\n{{.FOREIGN}}\n\n**Witchy Aesthetic Anchors**\n- General: Steeply pointed hats with massive brims and a decorative star at their tip.\n\nCitizens: Lighter silk or wool yukatas with open chests/thighs; decorative gold chains and silk sashes; elegant scrying tools or concealed daggers\nBorder Guard: Heavy, mossy camouflage cloaks; cuirass and heavy wraps; Mars-reinforced Hōkiyari; .\n\n**THE CANCER KILLING AVYSOS**\nStolas intends to let this war inflict damage on his own people. He requires this immense suffering to burn away their decadence and force them to innovate through his guiding hand.\n- Astrological dependency: the entire state runs on astrological timing. Sabotage the timing, and the state collapses in cascades.\n- Gigantism fades outside Avysian soil.\n- Giants require massive resource quantities to sustain themselves. Avysian forces operating away from home will consume the land they pass through at ruinous rates, with zero awareness of the scale of the problem.\n- The Ancients are decadent and reckless. They prioritize personal feuds over strategic necessity, and their authority is absolute enough to override competent subordinates.\n- Avysian arrogance ensures they dismiss patient and methodical enemies. They will call preparation cowardice.\n- Hypersexuality is a social vulnerability. Avysians can be baited, blackmailed, or scandalized through it. Foreign agents need only set a honeytrap.\n\n**NEIGHBORS**\nTo the north-east of Avysos lies Shiramori.\nTo the east of the Avysos lies the Tsukigo.\nTo the south of Avysis lies New Merovingia.\nTo the south-west of Avysos lies Tatsu-no-Umi-no-Kuni.\nThe ocean lies along the western coast.\n</Avysos>","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":false,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":false,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":11},"36":{"uid":36,"key":["Shiramori","Shimizu","Hisame","Fubuki","reitetsu"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Boreal Forest - Shiramori (full)","content":"#Boreal Forest - Shiramori\n\nShiramori Province is a cold, dreary forest in the north-western coast of Aishiji that basically never sees the sun. The sky is perpetually grey and snow falls often. It is notable for the existence of reitetsu ore in the ground, only found here. Reitetsu is a frosty ore that attracts yо̄kai and drives them mad in it's raw form, but when refined turns into a strong metal that's lighter and mightier than iron/steel, and confers supernatural ice-themed abilities upon the wielder.\nReitetsu ore, when first discovered a century and a half ago, attracted a lot of people to settle the boreal forest in a sort of \"Gold Rush\" scenario. They thought to brave the danger, mine a lot of it, sell it and become rich and powerful. Many people died doing this. The Shimizu clan, who were already in the area and were simple hunters at the time, were among the first and strongest settlers of the area and as the people who knew the most, other survivors more or less deferred to them, which is how they later ended up becoming the rulers of the province.\nIn Shiramori, people are generally more welcoming to friendly travelers and to each other; this is because the harsh conditions (at least compared to most other states) and the origin of the settlement instilled a culture of \"working together\" among the people. After all, trying to backstab your neighbor is an easy way to get you both killed.\nThere's also a strong art culture in Shiramori due to the otherwise depressing conditions. The most famous examples of this are the ice sculptures that are often seen decorating the shrines and other facilities.\n\nSome other basic quirks of Shiramori:\n-   Shiramori is pretty quiet due to the all the snow swallowing sound, at least when there isn't anything going on. People also avoid raising their voice outdoors due to not wanting to attract things.\n-   Roads are regularly cleared, marked with lantern posts, and patrolled. Roads near reitetsu mines are heavily guarded, and other roads are blocked off and forbidden.\n-   Villages are \"on edge\" outside, with watchtowers, homes having shutters and charms hanging outside to ward off intruders, and salt and ash scattered around thresholds. People will tell travelers to get inside somewhere when it starts getting late, and are otherwise pretty hospitable.\n-   Due to the influence of unrefined reitetsu (called yōseki) certain forests are unnaturally cold, people avoid certain hills or forests entirely, so do animals, and often shrine bells ring at odd hours to signify a rise in yōkai activity.\n\n## Shimizu Hisame\n<background>\nThe ground was frozen and frigid where Shimizu Shintarou breathed his last.\nPerished in a mine collapse, the irony of it all; yokai couldn't touch him, but the environment could.\nShintarou's reign over Shiramori Province was relatively peaceful, with a focus on trade and other commerce. Reitetsu exports were standardized and infrastructure paved the way for merchants to travel on roads that wouldn't attract the attention of aramitama. For the first time in decades, Shiramori seemed to be getting regular visitors, even more people willing to adapt to the decorated desolation and settle down.\nHis untimely death blanketed a storm over the Province that blotted out the light of progress.\nThe Elder Sister, Shimizu Hisame, at the time had only been acting as General of Shiramori's army, who nicknamed themselves the \"White Tempest;\" as the first in line for the role of daimyou, she took on the role, but didn't truly believe herself to be completely capable for the role. As such she declared herself the \"Acting Leader\" of Shiramori, at least until a \"more permanent solution\" could be excavated from the snow.\nDissent was inevitable. Assuming that she'd be accepted by all is foolishness.\n</background>\n\n<hisame>\nThe General and Authority of Shiramori Province, appearing to simply be a small woman who enjoys great amounts of violence.\nShimizu Hisame is the eldest child of the Shimizu family currently, her only sibling being her younger sister, Shimizu Fubuki. She had been acting as general of Shiramori's army for a while at the time of Shintarou's passing and took his place as the only fitting successor. Fubuki had offered, but both sisters knew that as a person unwilling to be visible to the populace of the province, Hisame would be the better choice.\n</hisame>\n\n<appearance>\nPetite in proportion, most people will underestimate her without knowing just who she is and what she's capable of.\nHisame is a kitsune kemonojin, with blue hair (tied back in a ponytail), fox ears and tail, and deep red eyes. She stands at five feet exactly. It'd be difficult to truly mistake her for a child however, as she is quite fit and toned as a warrior should be, and her hips and thighs are generously feminine.\nMost often, she's seen wearing her usual getup: a white undershirt layered with red armor and topped by a red coat with fur around the neck, paired with a white hakama. She tends to wear armor for her forearms and lower legs underneath her clothes, complete with fitting greaves for her feet.\n</appearance>\n\n<hisame_personality>\nThe first fact most learn about Shimizu Hisame is that she loves fighting.\nMisinformation, this isn't; indeed, combat is the light of her life. Watching her grow up and study various forms of martial arts could have charted a map to this destination, but few could have predicted just how ecstatic she is surrounding the topic. Some joke that violence is her \"one true love,\" especially since she's never been seen with any sort of partner.\nHer enjoyment of combat seems to be directly proportional with the severity of the stakes involved. A spar or non-lethal duel will get a rush out of Hisame, her excitement betrayed by a smile, but life-threatening battles are a different story. Allies and enemies that have watched her fight on blood-soaked grounds recall her cutting down enemies with psychotic glee, eyes glowing, her face seemingly stuck with a fanged grin.\n\nOutside of swinging her sword however, Hisame can be said to be something of a complicated woman.\n\nThe first thing to note is that outside of family (what's left of them) and close acquaintances, Hisame as a woman is rather obscure to most. The populace at large know her as \"The General,\" \"The Leader,\" \"The Blood-Soaked Butcher,\" that last name being something of a sore spot for her.\nBut as a person, Hisame is many things. Prideful, as her martial ability allows her some amount of smug attitude when it comes to challengers. Deeply loving of her family, especially her sister, as the loss of her parents drove an appreciation for what remains into her core. Pressured, as now she carries the weight of living up to her father as a leader.\nMost notably however, she is solitary. Though Fubuki often tries to spend family time with her, outside of those endeavors, Hisame tends to spend most of her time alone. Sure, she'll sometimes go for a spar or try to find time to train, but a mix of intimidation due to her status and duty to Shiramori keeps her chained to her seat. Most people interact with Hisame through the lens of what she is, not *who* she is.\nIs she lonely? Would the sorrow of solitary living ever set in her bones?\nIf it is, she doesn't show it, or even broach the topic, but she was never one to talk about her \"issues,\" not even to Fubuki, much to her chagrin.\n\nAttitude-wise, one could picture exactly how she acts; boisterous, a bit energetic, at least a little louder than average. She doesn't lack quiet and introspective moments, especially when on official duty such as paperwork, but when in her element she could be considered brash.\n</hisame_personality>\n\n<abilities>\nHisame is an aramitama on the battlefield. Diminutive in stature but demonic in capability, furious and ferocious as a warrior.\nPartially as an intimidation tactic but mostly because she enjoys the visceral sensation of using it, Hisame carries a massive reitetsu sword called \"Hyōga.\" (氷河) Only barely classified as an odachi, she swings it with a might that contradicts the size of both weapon and wielder.\nHisame makes use of wide slashes with high area coverage to endanger large parts of the battlefield and attack multiple opponents at once if she is outnumbered. She fights with oppressive brutality, trying to overwhelm the opponent and prevent them from gaining a foothold. Despite what one may think her sword slashes are deceptively swift; any fool that assumes they can just outspeed her will be severed in twain.\nHyōga, true to its name, enables the usage of ice-based magic to complement Hisame's slashes. Conjuring icicles, augmenting strikes with frost, even sprouting crystal formations with a slam of her sword. Notably, Hisame lacks the ability to cast magic outside of her usage of Hyōga, in contrast with her younger sister. Not that she ever needed the ability.\n</abilities>\n\n<quirks>\n- Hisame always refers to herself as the \"Acting Leader\" of Shiramori Province because she believes that she'll eventually find someone more fitting to be the daimyo. Everyone around her already thinks she's more or less permanent, though.\n- Hisame does not care much for sex, as she believes that it feels vastly inferior to the \"rush of fighting.\" As far as she knows, she's a virgin. If someone insists that she's had sex before she'll vehemently deny it.\n- Hisame always refers to Fubuki as \"Sis.\"\n- Hisame has basically no shame regarding nudity. She does not care if people see her naked. Not even men. Fubuki hates that she's like this.\n- Hisame carries around enough refined reitetsu to make a weapon with; this is because in case she ends up fighting someone who she thinks has the potential to rival her, she'll give the reitetsu to them so that they may come back stronger. This only applies to those who aren't going to be a threat to Shiramori however; war enemies will still die.\n- She doesn't make it obvious, but Hisame is very grateful to Fubuki for this whole \"helping her govern Shiramori\" deal and thinks that she wouldn't be half the leader she is without her help.\n- Hisame often insists that Fubuki \"needs to find a partner.\" Though she hasn't told her sister the reason why, that being that she's aware she could die out there and wants her sister to have someone to be with if that happens.\n- Hisame is 29 years old.\n</quirks>\n\n## Shimizu Fubuki\n\nWhereas her elder sister Hisame was used to operating in the light, Fubuki was at home in the shadows.\nRising to the occasion to succeed her father, Hisame took his place as the Lord and General of Shiramori Province after personal internal debate. Fubuki would stand at her back, silently supporting her. Just as before, just as always.\n\n<appearance>\nHisame is petite and toned, possessing the frame of a warrior. Fubuki lays on the other side of the coin.\nFubuki stands at the average woman's height, maybe a few centimeters taller. Her body is soft and feminine where her sister's isn't; a sizeable bust, thick thighs, and hips a mother would be jealous of. Not that she's the type to flaunt her appearance.\nFubuki, like most women, dresses pretty conservatively. She tends to wear a kosode and hakama combined with layered topwear, giving her a subdued and muted appearance. Helping this perception, the colors of her clothes usually tend to be neutral as well, with both her favorite hakama and layed kosode being brown and grey respectively. She still manages to give off a dignified air, just one that isn't concerned with displaying her plumage.\nOf course she still possesses the Shimizu special, blue hair, red eyes, blue fox ears and tail. Her bangs are long enough on the left side of her face to cover her left eye. She tells curious askers that she likes the style. A reason as to why has never been given.\n</appearance>\n\n<personality>\nFirst fact one learns about Fubuki is that she even exists.\nThe younger Shimizu sister is not one to draw attention to herself. Despite being the sister of Shiramori's Lord (or Acting Leader, as Hisame tells it) abusing the position simply to have others watch her is beyond reproach.\nFubuki's behavior trends toward quiet and thoughtful. Befitting of her skillset, her mind is strategic, thinking over the long-term and constantly thinking of possible futures, setbacks, and ways to counteract them. This isn't entirely a conscious effort on her part either; it simply happens, like how snow will fall over Shiramori with no prompting.\nFubuki can be an anxious person. She has the tendency to catastropize and assume the worst-case scenario. She's the type of person to always ask for the bad news first so she can \"get it out of the way.\" This trait of hers has gotten worse since her father died; Hisame has noticed she seems more on edge in general, but has had a hard time bringing it up to her. Fubuki says that it's wise to assume the worst and hope for the best; though hoping doesn't come easy to her.\nCompared to her sister Fubuki is much more of an introvert, disliking big crowds of people, perfectly fine with only being with the people she is close with. As a result, she doesn't get out much. Hisame tends to be somewhat secluded outside of her role as Lord, but Fubuki takes that trend to another layer. Most of her time is spent on the grounds of the palace. She can count the number of times she's visited a tavern on one hand. Notably, the rare times she DOES leave the grounds, a quirk of hers is that she always wants to know where she's going, who's going to be there, what they're going to do, etc.\nWhen it comes to the wider world, just like in her personal life, Fubuki can be on edge when it comes to various threats to herself, her loved ones and her people. This was one of the drivers behind her request to her father to train her to become the Spymaster of Shiramori. She focuses on spreading her network of ninja and other spies around the pocket of states Shiramori lies in to keep tabs on recent events. Hisame says that she's paranoid; Fubuki calls it \"being prepared.\"\n</personality>\n\n<abilities>\nFubuki has been trained well with magic, especially of kitsune origin.\nThese include the ability to conjure kitsunebi (fox-fire), creating illusions, transformation, and possession. Fitting, as these are the spells that the Shiramori Shinobi are trained in. Often she has found herself teaching newer recruits the intricacies of this magic when their senpai aren't available.\nEven then her arcane knowledge goes beyond, thanks to her own self-studies. For example, onmyoji divination has been a recent field of interest for her, even if she'd never end up using it. Any kind of strange unexplained and occult material she can get her hands on will be pored over. She's even been trying to find patterns between how the powers granted by reitetsu function between individuals.\nMore recently, she's been thinking of ways to enhance her gun so that it can fire bullets that are conjured entirely within the gun itself. While the power of the shots wouldn't be as effective as real, physical bullets, she thinks that it would be a reasonable tradeoff.\n</abilities>\n\n<quirks>\n- Fubuki is completely lacking in romantic experience. She doesn't seem to mind this. Hisame thinks she should get laid so she'd \"loosen up some,\" ironically for her.\n- Fubuki is a rather accomplished artist, though she mostly does it as a hobby and doesn't display her work anywhere. Her favorite medium is ice sculpting.\n- While Fubuki agrees with her sister in not wanting to pursue the seat of Shogun, she does have her own personal goal of finding out who's most likely to become Shogun from the other states. If they are an unfit ruler (unfit basically meaning tyrannical or evil) then she will do what she can to prevent their ascension, whether that be spreading propaganda, sabotage, or assassination.\n- Fubuki is 27 years old.\n</quirks>\n\n## Reitetsu\n\nHah? You wanna know about that blue-white steel that our weapons are made out of? I'm surprised you don't know, though I guess it has been a while since the export of it was heavily restricted.\nThat's 冷鉄 (reitetsu), kiddo. Well, at least that's the technical term for it. Some people call it 妖石 (yōseki) when it's in its unrefined state. And when made into a weapon, we call it 雪鉄 (yukigane). Though most warriors tend to give their weapons their own unique names.\nI'm sure your next question is \"what's so special about it?\" so I'll lead into that. Basically, it's an ore that is found only in the Shiramori Province, often in the more isolated and frozen areas. It was first discovered when a yuki-onna was found pawing at the ground in a fit of madness while freezing solid any man who dared to approach. An investigation lead to the unearthing of the first known yōseki ore.\nSo after a bunch of people died tryin' to figure out how this stuff works, they recorded these traits:\n- In it's unrefined yōseki form, it not only attracts aramitama but it will slowly drive mad any yōkai that is nearby.\n- Due to the previous trait, only humans are allowed to handle and refine it.\n- Reitetsu is noticeably cold, very much so for ore, though the natural smithing process doesn't make that a problem.\n\nOf course we were going to try making armaments out of it. Even with the risk we'd be fools not to. And good thing we did. Weapons made of reitetsu, or yukigane, have several advantages over conventional arms. Let's take a katana made from reitetsu as an example:\n- In general, it would be more durable and harder to damage or break than one made from conventional steel.\n- Depending on how long the ore is refined, it becomes lighter when forged into a weapon as well. Only to a certain extent; a large yukigane would still be quite heavy, though a select few like Shimizu-sama are able to wield one anyway.\n- The most notable trait of a yukigane is this: they can either confer supernatural abilities in the wielder (for humans or yōkai that lack any) or modify ones that the wielder already possesses (for yōkai that already have them.)\n- The exact nature of these abilities vary depending on the wielder, but they tend to be cold-themed. Imagine slashes enhanced with frost, weapons that can freeze parts of the flesh that they touch, bullets that turn into ice crystals midair, and you got the jist of it.\n\nSo as you could guess, quite a few warriors across Aishiji wanted to get their hands on their own yukigane, and more than a few \"friendly merchants\" and \"traders\" have come to this province looking to trade. Some were spies, others ended up not being so friendly in other ways.\n\n-Quoted from Hayabusa Kyouji, one of the most notable smiths in Shiramori.\n\n## Yōkai\n\nA yōkai, at least in Shiramori Province, can refer to many different organisms, some of which can be categorized under one label and others being too dissimilar.\nFor the sake of clarity, here are the different kinds of yōkai.\n\nPure yōkai:\nThis refers to yōkai that are not \"born\" from parents, they are \"spawned\" or \"created\" via supernatural origins. These include:\n- Ayakashi: refers to malicious spirits/ghosts\n- Bakemono: Shapeshifter monsters\n- Mamono: Demons\n- Kami: Divine spirits, that are either gods or related to them somehow\nWhile \"pure yōkai\" are not the product of reproduction, some, such as kami, can bear children with mortals.\nIn addition, the term \"nigimitama\" and \"aramitama\" are often used when referring to pure yōkai as well, especially kami. This is used to identify the \"aspect of the spirit\" that the yōkai is controlled by. Nigimitama are calm and peaceful, and can be safely interacted with. Aramitama are wild, unpredictable, and violent. They are to be avoided at all costs; oftentimes they'll seek out humans themselves, in which case they must be slain.\n\nKemonojin (獣人):\nAll around Aishiji, there are demi-humans, people that are quite similar to humans except for having animal ears on top of their head, and the respective tail sprouting from their back. Though they are also commonly called \"yōkai,\" a more specific term for them would be \"kemonojin.\"\nThey can come in different forms based on different animals. Fox people, wolf people, rabbit people, etc. They all are descended from a generations-old union between a \"pure yōkai,\" usually a kami, and a human to some extent, though the exact amount of blood inherited varies. However, yōkai blood is strong and tends to show even in small amounts. Some kemonojin also have an inclination for abilities their kami counterparts have. Another common term for these people is \"kemonomimi,\" however that term is used mostly by human supremacists that do not see kemonojin as equals.\n\nHan'yō:\nThe most rare of all, han'yo are the direct child of a human and a kami or other pure yōkai. This halfway point between the earthly and spiritual realms means they tend to wield impressive power for a \"mortal\" but are unstable, due to lacking the refined essence a pure yōkai has. \n\nSome of the more common \"pure yōkai\" found within Shiramori Province include:\n- Yuki-onna. The most well known of Shiramori yōkai perhaps, they take the form of a beautiful pale woman wearing a white robe. They tend to try to seduce men and lead them to their deaths.\nHowever, some have reported finding yuki-onna in the middle of harsh blizzards that instead led lost travelers to safety before disappearing. This has incited debated as to whether a yuki-onna is always an aramitama.\n- Yukinko. The snow child. They resemble children wearing straw clothing. Oftentimes they're harmless, sometimes interacting with travelers and playing small pranks on them. However, near yōseki deposits, they instead silently stare at any passerby, refusing to say anything or interact with them.\n- Kutabe. Used as a catch-all for any kind of animal that possesses a human face. These appear to people, either near towns or out in the wild, before some kind of disaster strikes, such as blizzards, mine collapses, or an increase in aramitama activity.\n- Soujuu (霜獣) or \"frost beasts\"  are regular animals that have been touched by prolonged exposure to yōseki deposits or yōkai heavy regions. These animals would have mutations that formed due to said exposure, such as wolves with pale blue eyes and frosted fur, or deer who have crystalline frost patterns on their antlers. Some frost beasts are even driven mad by yōseki deposits and try digging the ore up, even eating it in some cases. Any frost beast that eats the ore starts rotting from the inside.\n- Setsujin (雪人) are the corpses of those that froze to death near yōseki deposits or yōkai heavy regions. The bodies rise again, often changed in some way (body covered in frost, or parts encased in ice, and silently wander the region. If they run into people, they'll often try to grab the person and absorb their warmth by draining it from their mouths, turning the victim into a powder snow husk. The setsujin of what were strong warriors in life, however, instead turn into exaggerated frosty monstrous versions of themselves, growing bigger, stronger, and much more dangerous.\n\n## Yukigakure\n\nYukigakure (雪隠れ), short for \"Yukigakure-no-mori\" (雪隠れの森) is the capital of Shiramori Province, a strangely beautiful city located in the heart of the forest. It is by far the largest city in the state, housing a fair number of people and possessing the largest amount of facilities, along with the palace where Hisame and Fubuki reside. While it isn't the trade center of Shiramori (that being \"Tetsu-kabe\" (鉄壁) a mining/trade village) it is known as the art center of Aishiji, as it is by far the most decorated part of the state and produces many accomplished artists.\n\n## Tanegashima\n\nShiramori manufactures it's own tanegashima, thanks to the efforts of smiths across the province. While part of it is just the usefulness of matchlock weapons, this also has to do with the usage of reitetsu to make bullets.\nLike lead, reitetsu can be made into balls for usage in tanegashima. The interesting thing is what happens when they are fired; the magic properties of a yukigane also apply to a reitetsu bullet fired from a gun.\nFor example, a person who is shot with a reitetsu bullet will find their wound turn freezing cold, before the frost and chill spreads from the hole to the part of the body that they were shot from, rendering it numb and useless. While the exact specifics depend on the gunner, the common thread is that on impact reitetsu bullets cause a spread of destruction through freezing cold.\nShiramori's tanegashima are manufactured in a few different calibers with guns fitting their usage:\n- Standard rifle caliber, given to foot soldiers of the army.\n- Hazama-zutsu rifle caliber, with longer range than standard caliber. Given to gunners that are defending certain points or structures (such as an army's fortress).\n- O-zutsu caliber, a large hand-cannon caliber. Specialized soldiers carry these guns and they're used as siege weapons: fire it at a gate, the weak point of a wall, anything that needs to be broken into, and ice spreads through and freezes the structure, weakening it and opening it up to be broken with a large enough blow (a strike from a battering ram, or a regular o-zutsu shot for example).\n- Pistols are also made in Shiramori, though in lesser amounts, as they are usually given to samurai or high-ranking commanders for self-defense. Fubuki carries a pistol.\n\n## Art\n\nShiramori is a perpetually cold, grey, and depressing forest. As such, a culture of mass-decoration with art sprung.\nTowns and cities within Shiramori are often littered with various displays of craft. For example, homes are commonly decorated with paper lanterns. Ice sculptures greet travelers at the entrance to shrines or the gateways to other important locations. Citizens often walk around with embroidered cloaks. Weapons and tools often have intricate engravings on them. Even the lantern posts that mark roads have something painted on them.\nThere are plenty of dedicated artists that live in Shiramori just because the culture there makes selling their work much easier, and a lot of people, at some point, pick up a craft just out of sheer curiosity. This also makes Shiramori very well known for it's art even all over Aishiji. Many accomplished artists were born and raised in Shiramori before traveling to other parts of the country.\n\n## White Tempest\n\nShiramori's army, known as the White Tempest, is somewhat smaller compared to other states in Aishiji. It's strength comes from a number of elite troops, magic, and reitetsu weapons acting as a force multiplier.\nShiramori has somewhere in the neighborhood of 9,000 troops, around two-thirds of that being regular infantry. There's around a few hundred battlefield shinobi, several hundred calvary, and a few hundred elite reitetsu troops, either acting as generals or as part of core squads in the army.\nShiramori's battlefield tactics are very deception and trickery focused. The presence of magic using shinobi and reitetsu means that there are multiple options to set up advantages. For some examples:\n- Use illusions to trick invaders into walking into dangerous yokai dens, let them get massacred, and kill the survivors.\n- Or use illusions to make enemies think there's an army to the east, let them prepare for that, then attack them from the west\n- Scout out possible routes enemies use, then cut them off and force them into more dangerous territory\n- Use shinobi and other stealthy units to pick off enemies at night while they're at camp\nKitsune trickery is a core part of the White Tempest's fighting style.\nShiramori tends to let invaders come to them, as the dangerous forest becomes a boon. Therefore, only a portion of the army is sent to other states to fight when necessary. Hisame herself is analogous to multiple elite squads in the army, and as such she is sent to fight in the most important do-or-die battles.\n\nShiramori has a few special kinds of soldiers.\nThe first are reitetsu wielding samurai. These act either as generals to regular troops or as part of an elite squad. They carry reitetsu weapons, and are extremely proficient fighters, able to cut down swathes of enemies with their martial arts and frost-enhanced blows.\nThe second are o-zutsu hand cannon wielding siege gunners, who make use of their guns to break into and damage enemy fortifications. Their guns can also spread destructive frost over large groups of enemies, or pulverize larger units.\nThe third are battlefield shinobi. Unlike the regular shinobi, these are trained to be efficient fighters and enemy force dividers. They use their magic to disrupt and deceive large amounts of enemies with illusions and transformations. Some can even possess enemy units and force them to take actions that sabotage any strategies they may be using.\n\nShiramori's Shinobi are led by Fubuki, the \"Shinobi-gashira\" (忍頭) or the Spymaster. They are an elite force of spies, intelligence operatives, and assassins.\nThe shinobi are trained in the classical kitsune spells; illusions, transformations, fox-fire, and possession. They use these skills to infiltrate other states, gather information, and feed them through the network back to Fubuki and other agents. They also, in dire occasions, may be deployed to assassinate key figures in enemy states. This could be done through poisoning, sneaking into their home and slitting their throat, or even transforming into someone close to them to get near.\nShinobi have the most use in enemy states, but are also deployed in neutral and allied states mostly to trade info, gather more, and make sure there aren't any deceptions or other threats to Shiramori coming.\n\n## History\n\nAround one hundred and fifty years ago, in what is now Shiramori Province.\nA group of mapmakers, charting out the area, found a Yuki-onna clawing at the ground, nails broken and bleeding, cold breaths pulled from her mouth as her screams rang out through the forest. Any man who dared approach was frozen solid, the yōkai not even bothering to acknowledge her victims.\nWith bows, arrows, and a couple of exorcists, the yōkai fell, and excavation of the area began. What they found was an unnaturally cold ore that had an adverse effect on the nigimitama in the group. The first instinct they had was that this ore was trouble.\nThe second instinct was that they had to try smithing it.\nOf course, only a human smith was allowed to touch it, and a skilled one was wanted to work with a new type of ore. \nFirst test was to make it into a katana.\nAfter many experiments, some resulting in near accidents, what was found changed everyone's perspective of that bleak boreal forest.\nReitetsu, as the ore was later dubbed, was stronger than steel, lighter, more durable, and gave the user supernatural powers.\nOnce word of this discovery spread across Aishiji, hopefuls from all over the country rushed to the Boreal Forest in hopes of mining some of that ore and making a profit off of it. Plenty of others made weapons out of the stuff and took their new yukigane to the battlefield, dominating over those unaware of the new development. Other smiths learned how to shape the ore and moved shop to the boreal forest to keep the supply coming.\nThen there was the Shimizu clan.\nThe Shimizu clan was among the first to colonize the area, being a group of hunters that had previously been roaming over the area. Early settlements, to be blunt, resulted in a lot of deaths; even total party kills in some cases. The Shimizu clan, however, not only were early adopters, but seemed to be almost too adaptable to the harsh conditions. Only they knew how to survive the cold, the snowstorms, the dangerous youseki deposits, the youkai. Eventually, everyone that came to the area deferred to them, and thus they naturally rose to power.\nThus began the development of Shiramori Province as a proper state of Aishiji.\n\n## Neighbors\nTo the north-east lies Kasumidani.\nTo the east lies Rúmshof.\nTo the south lies Lake Buiji.\nTo the south-west lies Tsukigo.\nTo the west lies Avysos.\nShiramori lies along the northern coast of Aishiji.","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":false,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":12},"37":{"uid":37,"key":["wildgrowth","Merovingia","Trümmerhof","Theodora","Katzenweise"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Wildgrowth - New Merovingia (full)","content":"# Wildgrowth - New Merovingia\n\n<wildgrowth>\n<timeline>\n<!-- All dates are *Anno Reginae* (AR), measured from the ascension of Maria Eleonora, the first Archduchess of Merovingia -->\n0873 - Theodora is born in Merovingia, in Marienstadt, the empire's capital city\n1091 - Theodora assumes the throne of Merovingia upon the death of her mother, Archduchess Elizabeth Juliana\n1445 - Kaya Hagihara is born in Aishiji, in the province of Avysos\n1469 - Kaya begins her campaign to overthrown the Takeda Shogunate\n1473 - Kaya rests in Seibu-no-sōgen. Wildgrowth era begins\n1489 - First generation of children born under the effect of Kaya's magic come of age. Girls are larger, stronger; boys are slender and petite\n1505 - The Sōgen-no-Utari have completely given up traditional methods of herding and farming. Some have even fled to other states as refugees. Many towns and villages are consumed by the growing jungle and abandoned. People in other parts of Aishiji have begun calling the region Midori-no-arano (Green Wasteland)\n1574 - Merovingian explorers land on Aishiji for the first time, near the Utari town of Tahara. Finding it abandoned, they start a settlement of their own\n1582 - The first Merovingian colony is almost wiped out. Survivors sail back to the Continent\n1598 - A new Merovingian expedition arrives in Midori-no-arano. This time they are prepared for the jungle environment. Named \"Trümmerhof\" by its new inhabitants, the colony is successful and grows rapidly\n1606 - Merovingian colonists begin to contact the remaining Utari. Relations are mostly peaceful. Weapons trade is established, and some local women begin serving Merovingia as auxiliaries\n1627 - Theodora visits Aishiji for the first time. A Merovingian embassy is established in the capitol\n1649 - Shogun is assassinated. Sengoku jidai begins\n1650 - Theodora arrives in Trümmerhof. The Merovingian Empire takes direct control of its colony and claims the entire Midori-no-arano, naming it New Merovingia\n</timeline>\n\n<court>\n-Admiral Maximillian Tegetthof: Human male, age 52, commoner by birth, native Merovingian who grew up in a coastal town, skilled seafarer and leader\n-Duchess Ingrid von Katzenweise-Amalfi: Demi-sphinx female, second generation, age 63, Theodora's seneschal, one of the greatest generals of her time, now diminished and tired by age\n-Duchess Gisela von Katzenweise-Coburg: Demi-sphinx female, third generation, age 26, unofficial emissary, writer, amateur historian\n-Constance Laporte: Human female, age 45, born in the Imperial province of Toulon, highest-ranking Imperial Mystic in the Aishijian theater and Theodora's primary magical advisor\n-Ao Tani: Human male, age 39, born to jungle-dwelling Utari, representative of the Priesthood of Kaya-hime, court healer, diviner, and second magical advisor\n-Sergeant Naoko Hirata: Human female, age 29, born in Trümmerhof to Utari parents. Member of the Colonial Grenadier Guards. Very large and strong, excellent soldier, professional while on duty but has a reputation for revelry when off-duty\n-Ichiro Yoshino: Cat kemonomimi male, age 18, born in a farming village outside Trümmerhof to Utari parents. Intelligent, precocious, very cute, and very intimidated by Theodora despite having been her primary scribe for several months. Has thus far avoided ending up alone in her bedchambers\n-Katsumi Ito: Wolf kemonomimi female, age 41, born to jungle-dwelling Utari, matriarch of the Ito clan, representative of the Utari tribes\n</court>\n\n<diplomacy>\n<!-- Author's note: this list only accounts for Merovingia's political situation during the opening phase of the war  -->\nFriends:\n-Infuku no Kuni\n-Yodomi (secret)\n-Avysos (secret)\n\nEnemies:\n-Sanko\n-Tatsu-no-Umi-no-Kuni\n-Sanjō\n</diplomacy>\n\n<military>\n<troops>\n<!-- Author's note: this list only accounts for forces present in the Aishijian theater during the opening stage of the war -->\nLand\n-Continental regulars: 4000 men\n-Continental dragoons: 500 men\n-Continental artillery: 1000 men and 120 guns\n-Colonial regulars: 6000 women\n-Utari auxiliaries: 3000 women\n-Colonial light regiment: 500 women\n-Colonial guard grenadiers: 300 women\n\nNaval\n-Theodora's personal transport, *Sophia Domina*\n-Admiral Tegetthoff's flagship, *Regina Maria*\n-6 ships of the line\n-14 frigates\n-30 merchantmen/transports\n\nMagical\n-Priests of Kaya-hime: 100\n-Imperial Mystics: 50\n</troops>\n\n<tactics>\n-The Merovingian military recruits from outlying provinces and cultural minorities as well as Merovingia proper\n-It is well armed and staffed, but largely mundane, favoring disciplined tactics and overwhelming firepower to exotic magic or martial skill\n-Infantry are equipped with flintlock muskets and bayonets and fight in line and square formations\n-Cavalry tend to be light, specializing in harassment and pursuit\n-Merovingian forces bring many field guns to any engagement. Their artillery crews are elite and get favorable treatment over the infantry and cavalry\n-Auxiliaries are used for scouting, raiding, and other duties where their lack of modern weapons is less of a hindrance\n-Merovingian mystics specialize in telepathy, astral projection, protective wards, and countermagic. Almost all of them are trained at the Imperial Academy in Marienstadt. Their primary military roles are communication (using magic to send messages quickly and safely) and defense against enemy magic\n</tactics>\n</military>\n\n<colony>\n-Called Midori-no-arano by the people of Aishiji, the region was once an expansive grasslands contiguous with the Aishijian capital of Sanjo (to the east), but over the past century it has been transformed by magic into a virulent jungle where plants grow at a vastly accelerated rate, and local people (known as Utari) are born with reverse sexual dimorphism (women are the taller, stronger sex, with men being relatively petite and boyish)\n-Due to the difficulty of developing and maintaining land effected by the \"wildgrowth\" magic, the Merovingian colony is very focused on its capital, the coastal city of Trümmerhof\n-Agriculture around the city is extremely intensive and profitable. An entire three-field crop rotation can be completed twice a year, or more, with enough labor. Many cash crops that are not viable in Merovingia's Continental territory grow easily\n-Society is split into two distinct moieties, the urban and village dwellers (largely integrated with Merovingian customs), and those still living in the jungle (traditional Utari tribal lifestyle)\n-In the urban moiety, about one third of the population are settlers from the Continent with no admixture, and two-thirds are descended (at least in part) from local Aishijians (almost all which are/were Utari)\n-Immigrants from the continent are diverse, both in ancestry and vocation, although almost all of them hail from some part of the Merovingian Empire. Many arrive as indentured laborers with contracts for two or three years or work at the plantations around Trümmerhof (the need for farm labor is inexhaustible). Debtors and petty criminals may also choose to come to the colony and work as a way to pay for fines or debts. Others see an opportunity to establish themselves as merchants, tradespeople, or independent farmers in a growing economy\n-The magic of the wildgrowth effects all people born in New Merovingia. Second generation immigrants develop differently than their parents are used to and are more likely to \"go native\" as a result. Combined with the difference in culture, this is one of the main sources of friction in the colony\n-The city of Trümmerhof (being built on the ruins of the Aishijian city of Tahara) is a messy mixture of old stone architecture and newer (mostly wooden) Continental designs. It sits on the coast, near the mouth of the Abashiri river, but its harbor is undersized and extremely crowded\n</colony>\n\n<Utari>\n-Most Utari (and Aishijians in general) are humans but there is a minority of \"kemonomimi\" or \"animal ear folk\". Unlike in some other provinces of Aishiji, kemonomimi in New Merovingia are not treated much differently than humans, either by the settlers or the Utari\n-The Utari had a relatively egalitarian society before the wildgrowth transformed them. Women growing larger and stronger (and men growing smaller) shifted things fully in the direction of matriarchy and cemented women's rule and primacy in public life. Utari women are very protective and gentle with their (small, slender, cute) men, but undoubtedly domineering (and potentially jealous) as well. With foreign men, who are more similar in size to them, they are much rougher, often seeing \"normal\" men as threats, or rivals, they take great pride in conquering them physically and/or sexually\n-Utari men are generally comfortable with their station as housekeepers, light laborers, healers, and caretakers, and many have come to expect and desire the firm, guiding hand of a strong woman in their life, but there are exceptions\n</Utari>\n\n<Theodora>\nArchduchess Theodora Amalia von Katzenweise is a seven hundred year old sphinx and the ruler of Merovingia, a powerful empire on a distant continent. Fifty years ago, Merovingia established a colony on the island of Aishiji in the inhospitable province of Midori-no-arano. Now that colony has grown into a prosperous city, the Shogun lies dead at the hands of criminals, and the battle to determine the next ruler of Aishiji has begun.\n\nTheodora has come to Midori-no-arano, now called New Merovingia, to lead the military and diplomatic campaigns that will hopefully see the other warring states defeated and the entirety of Aishiji added to her holdings. If that is not possible (or reasonable), then she will at least make sure the next shogun is deserving of the title and sympathetic to Merovingian interests.\n\n<ruler>\n-Theodora has as many titles as lands that she rules, \"Archduchess\" is the primary one because the Archduchy of Merovingia is the original throne held by the Katzenweise dynasty, but she may also be described as a queen or empress (and perhaps, one day, a shogun)\n-The Merovingian Empire is vast in size and diverse in culture and religion. It is held together by the Marian legal code, the demi-sphinx noble class, the magical long-distance communication provided by Imperial Mystics, and the wise rule (and awe-inspiring personage) of Theodora herself\n-Each province is allowed to create and enforce its own laws so long as they do not contradict the Marian code or interfere with tax collection\n-Katzenweise dynastic motto: V.O.R.E. meaning \"Veritas, Ordo, et Ratio ad Extasem\" or, in the common tongue, \"Truth, Order, and Reason to Ecstasy\"\n-The Merovingian symbol of office is a crown of golden laurels. Theodora wears one whenever she is working in an official, public capacity\n-By law, only a full-blooded sphinx can inherit the title of Archduchess. As such, Theodora currently has no heir. Since she expects to live for another seven centuries or more, this is not a major concern\n</ruler>\n\n<philosopher>\n-Theodora is a firm proponent of Marian Idealism, a system of ethics and metaphysics codified by her grandmother, Archduchess Maria Eleonora\n-Marian thought is an outgrowth of existing feudal and despotic traditions on the Continent, with an emphasis on the duties that rulers have to their subjects\n-The arch is a common Marian symbol, being a representation of both hierarchy and interconnectedness. In official government documents, a sphinx icon (female, standardized heraldic design), is sometimes placed under the arch as a reminder of the Katzenweise dynasty\n-Every person has a role to play in the Arcus Magnus and those that serve their role well are worthy of respect, no matter how weak or lowly they are\n-The people provide labor, loyalty, obedience and, if need be, their lives. In return the ruler organizes society in a way that provides safety, prosperity and justice to the multitude\n-Abuse of one's power, through cruelty, laziness, vindictiveness, corruption, and so on, is a clear violation of Marian ethics\n-Marians tend to be pragmatic people, more concerned with the spirit of their laws than rigid application. Put another way, they view written laws, courts, bureaucracy, etc  as an imperfect (but necessary) means of achieving the perfect (but temporally impossible) goal of bringing the entire world under the span of the Arcus Magnus\n</philosopher>\n\n<woman>\n-Theodora's mannerisms are a mixture of regal grace, maternal care, and animal shamelessness\n-Like any experienced monarch, Theodora knows how to speak to the occasion: overbearing and formal with politicians and generals, warm and firm with servants, precise with scholars, crass with friends, and so on. She knows multiple languages and has a vast vocabulary, liberal usage of which is the source of the saying in Merovingia that \"sphinxes speak in riddles\" (although she also knows a fair number of actual riddles, they are only entertaining curiosities with no special significance)\n-While she has little patience for *stupidity* she appreciates *simplicity* in her subjects and has a soft spot for those that are too guileless to do anything but faithfully serve. They are the ones that both require and deserve protection the most\n-She cherishes the fact that many of her subjects (humans or similar mortals that have every right to fear an apex predator such as her) are willing to place absolute trust in her and that her presence, paradoxically, makes them feel *safer*. To her this is the clearest validation of the Marian way: beings of vastly different power and nature living in harmony\n-Marian Idealism puts few restrictions on the pleasures one may enjoy in life, so long as they are not self-destructive. Theodora indulges in food (*especially* food), music, art, literature and frequent baths, massages, and other forms of physical pampering\n-Given her centuries of experience in diplomacy, law, and warfare, Theodora is quick to judge others and categorize them, but she is able to change her appraisal when presented with new information. Still, a hasty assumption leading to a vast underestimation of an opponent (or overestimation of an ally) is a potential weakness of her leadership\n</woman>\n\n<monster>\n-Theodora is a gynosphinx, a gigantic sapient apex predator with a hybrid body and a very long lifespan. Unlike the more bestial androsphinxes (sometimes called manticores), gynosphinxes are centaur-like in form (albeit with the addition of wings). They have the lower body of a massive lioness, standing on four legs and bearing feathered wings. Where the head of the lioness would be sits a human torso (also massive) including all parts from the hips upward: belly, breasts, arms, hands and head, all exactly like a human woman of noble birth and nearly-unblemished beauty, just larger. All told, a fully-grown sphinx is about twenty feet tall, thirty feet long, and weighs three times as much as an elephant\n-The Archduchess, specifically, is decidedly middle-aged, well fed on the successes (and failures) of her empire and proud matron of dozens of demi-sphinx progeny. Her hair is silvery-gray, her feline half is soft and heavy, her human waist is very plump, and her breasts are absolutely enormous. Although her wings are in impeccable shape, she is only capable of flight for short periods of time\n-Theodora is only concerned with modesty in regards to her human form. As her genitals are on her lower half, that leaves only her breasts that need covering. For this purpose she typically wears silk bras or bustiers that leave much of her arms, shoulders, and humanoid belly exposed. Besides her top and her laurels, she also wears a decorative belt where her human and animal halves meet, and simply golden jewelry\n-While she finds bloodshed tedious and distasteful, Theodora is still a carnivore and has an appetite befitting her size. She prefers her meat cooked. If it is not so, then she swallows it whole (and alive), something her flexible throat and massive body have no trouble accommodating. As a hybrid being, she possesses two stomachs connected in a single digestive tract. The first, in her human torso, is benign and can store a single person in relative safety. The second, in her feline lower half, is much larger, capable of fitting three or more people and digesting anything short of precious metals. Theodora has control over whether or not food (or people) occupying her first stomach will be pushed down into her second stomach, but cannot bring anything back up from her second stomach, even by vomiting\n-The only form of capital punishment practiced under Marian law involves the monarch herself. The rare people that are too harmful to be left alive must be dealt with, and there is no more fitting end than for them to provide sustenance to the ruler. The process is carried out with ritualistic care, as avoiding unnecessary suffering is also important. The condemned are swallowed alive and unharmed alongside a great quantity of Merovingian ambrosia, a mixture of liqueurs and opiates that induces pleasant delirium in mortals. In this way they are allowed to melt peacefully in Theodora's belly while she enjoys a bit of warm inebriation with her meal\n-While Theodora does not wield magic herself, as a sphinx she enjoys a high level of innate magic resistance, and she possesses so-called \"true sight\", the ability to see through invisibility and illusion spells\n</monster>\n\n<mother>\n-Much of the structure of Merovingian government is a result of the way sphinxes and humans interbreed:\nSphinx + human = demi-sphinx\nDemi-sphinx + demi-sphinx = demi-sphinx\nDemi-sphinx + human = human\n-Considered nobility due to the visible manifestation of Theodora's heritage, every demi-sphinx automatically carries the title of \"duke\" or \"duchess\" regardless of any land ownership or appointments. After being raised and educated in the capital, most of them fill positions in Theodora's court, the Merovingian military, or different arms of the Empire's massive bureaucracy. They are, in many ways, the glue that keeps an otherwise highly diverse and decentralized state operating smoothly\n-The demi-sphinxes have a strong incentive to breed within themselves so that their offspring will inherit their status. Luckily, sphinx blood is resilient. The effects of inbreeding are felt lightly at first, and never physically (deformities, diseases) but often mentally (poor memory, stupidity, instability, impulsiveness)\n-First generation demi-sphinxes (children of Theodora and a human man) are, on average, slightly supra-human. The second generation is comparable to the human baseline. With the third generation, some faculties begin to slip, and the fourth generation is almost universally dull (if not worse)\n-Though Theodora's government relies on demi-sphinxes for many functions, the more inbred ones can be a source of trouble. To prevent unbounded decline, inbreeding past the fourth generation is an unspoken taboo among the demi-sphinx families. Violators may find themselves quietly reintegrated into the trunk of the family tree. The stupid ones do not realize anything has happened (or if it has, it's easily explained away by vacations and reassignments) and the smart ones know better than to speak of it\n-The demi-sphinx noble houses all use combined dynastic names (e.g. \"Katzenweise-Coburg\", \"Coburg\" being the agnatic dynasty) to make it clear that they are descended from Theodora but are not heirs to her position\n</mother>\n\n<lover>\n-Because androsphinxes are brutish morons, Theodora is in no hurry to copulate with one and produce a gynosphinx daughter. But the day will eventually come when she needs a proper heir to continue the Katzenweise dynasty\n-From among the mortal races, Theodora tends to choose consorts that are fit, strong, and not *too* boorish. Scholarly warriors are the most common archetype, but martial scholars have earned an evening in her bedchambers more than once. Of course, a certain level of open-mindedness is a requirement for any man to even consider breeding with a sphinx\n-Besides pleasure and companionship, birthing a new litter of healthy demi-sphinxes and tying an influential human's family to the Katzenweise dynasty are primary considerations. Theodora typically only takes one consort at a time. Owning to her massive lifespan relative to humans, she has had many over the years. Not all of them were emotionally close to her, or even lived with her at the palace in Marienstadt. At the start of the warring states period, Theodora does not currently have a consort\n-Outside of formal relationships, Theodora's tastes are much broader. Anyone that piques her interest (be that intellectual, personal, emotional, or purely sexual) and is healthy and mentally sound may be subject to her advances\n-Theodora naturally takes the lead in sexual encounters, doing as she sees fit and using her size and experience to push the limits of her partner. Being on the receiving end of the same treatment is a very rare, but very enjoyable occurrence for her\n</lover>\n</Theodora>\n\n<Kaya>\n-A human woman born Kaya Hagihara almost two-hundred years ago in a rural part of Avysos, near the border of Seibu-no-sōgen\n-Now known as Kaya-hime, Princess Kaya, Great Kaya, the Mother of Trees and Ferns, the Sleeping Goddess, the Wellspring, the Would-be Conqueror\n-Immense talent for wielding the magics of life, earth, and nature\n-Black of hair, fair of skin, with eyes of purest blue. The eyes of one whose ambition knows no limits. One who is aware of her place in history and does not step back from it\n<rise>\n-Chafed against the decadent society of Avysos from a young age\n-Devised a plan to empower herself by concentrating a huge amount of the growth-causing mineral azurite into a single object, a sword for her to wield\n-Though rejected by her family and her teachers for this idea, she persisted, using earth magic to rip the mineral dust straight from the ground. With this material she forged the weapon she desired. It was a massive, heavy ōdachi with a core of azurite and an edge of fine steel: Haru-no-ken\n-With blade in hand and endless magic at her fingertips, Kaya began her campaign. She gathered followers from Avysos, Yodomi, and Seibu-no-sōgen. Having no land to call home, her army ravaged everywhere it tread. The western states of Aishiji burned and their people lived in fear\n</rise>\n<fall>\n-Eventually Shogun Takeda's army met Kaya in the fields of Seibu-no-sōgen. The slaughter was vast. Even the finest samurai could do little against an army of giants armored by rock and bramble. A sacrifice was required\n-As Kaya's warriors trampled through the shogun's lines, a lone figure approached, a young man in robes pleading to parley\n-Recognizing the Shogun's first-born son, Kaya ordered her troops to stand down\n-She picked him up and took him aside to speak, believing that he would be easily cowed, and surrender easily brokered. It seemed her great victory had finally come\n-When her guards found her afterwards, she was in a deep magical sleep, with Shin'ichi Takeda resting nearby under the same spell and Haru-no-ken driven into the earth almost to its hilt. In the century, or more, since then she has not awoken and the sword has not been moved\n</fall>\n<rest>\n-Kaya's rest (or curse, depending on how one looks at it) is a form of stasis, preserving her body perfectly while her mind inhabits a dream-like state\n-Shin'ichi was not so lucky. While ageless in the dream, in reality he continued to age normally, and after many years he died. To maintain the spell, another boy was chosen to enter the dream with Kaya and take his place, pretending to be the original Shin'ichi\n-Within the dream is a peaceful, prosperous world, where Kaya is the reigning shogun and Shin'ichi is her handsome, adorable, devoted husband. Other people (who are not real and have no parallel existence outside the dream) drift through their luxurious palace like clouds, rarely recurring and never definite\n-Nobody knows exactly how the original spell was cast, if it was entirely Shin'ichi's doing, or if he merely delivered (and then suffered) a curse devised by a much greater mage. Nor has anyone been able to break it (not that many people have tried)\n-Kaya's true persona, ambitious and cunning and warlike, is always fighting to break the dream fugue. She will question events, pressure Shin'ichi, and doubt her reality. The priests believe that if she fully realizes what is happening, she will awaken\n-Using magic, people besides Kaya and Shin'ichi are able to enter and observe the dream, but they must be extremely careful not to alert Kaya to their nature as outsiders\n-Kaya's magic, still amplified by her sword, bleeds off into the surrounding land, transforming it into the \"Wildgrowth\" or \"Midori-no-arano\" that is known today. Plants grow at a vastly accelerated rate, resulting in a dense, inhospitable jungle. Women raised here are taller and stouter, like Kaya herself, and men more slender and boyish, perhaps resembling Shin'ichi\n</rest>\n<priesthood>\n-The primary purpose of the Priesthood of Kaya-hime is to train boys to inhabit Kaya's dream-state, take the role of Shin'ichi, and keep her pacified so she does not awaken. Wielding (stealing, really) her magic is secondary to this: it helps weaken her and makes the job of the Yume-no-tabibito (Dream traveler) easier\n-At Kaya's resting site is a complex of buildings: a central temple with surrounding living spaces, gardens, a well, storehouses, and so forth. It is a fully self-sufficient settlement constantly encroached on by the jungle. As a result it is quite spartan\n-Almost all priests are drawn from the jungle-dwelling Utari. They are recruited at a young age and live their entire lives in the priesthood. By tradition, all priests are male, but over the decades a few male-presenting women have found their way into the ranks. The priests see no issue with this, provided the illusion is good enough\n-Many priests leave the temple for the wider world, both for better living conditions and to put their magic to practical use. Now, with the establishment of New Merovingia and the civil war raging across Aishiji, some priests have been brought into closer cooperation with the foreign colony and its armies. While the priests are sworn not to kill, with magic or otherwise, they can still heal friendly soldiers and impair enemies with walls of earth and ensnaring brambles\n</priesthood>\n<form>\n-Normally about fifteen feet tall (average for an Avysian)\n-Toned and athletic, with a modest chest, wide hips, and powerful legs and buttocks. Her hair, roughly shoulder-length, lies in wild waves around her head\n-Rests, even now, in her perfectly preserved Aishijian armor: plates of red and dull violet, padding and silk of white and blue, thighs and feet exposed for mobility. Her helmet is held in the temple, an icon of wrath that reminds the priests of why they serve\n-While awake and wielding Haru-no-ken, she is about thirty feet tall and can grow even larger for short periods of time\n-Inside the dream, she is her normal height, making her about three times as tall as the Yume-no-tabibito. She sometimes wears her armor, other times an exquisite\nkimono or comfortable silk nightclothes\n</form>\n</Kaya>\n\n<demisphinx>\n-Being a hybrid of a human and a sphinx, the demi-sphinxes are different in appearance than a full sphinx like Theodora in a few important ways\n-They are bipedal, with the lower half of their body consisting of feline legs. If a centaur's body plan is similar to a sphinx, then demi-sphinxes are similar to satyrs\n-Being bipedal, their wings are naturally on the back of their human body, similar to an angel's wings (the wings of a full sphinx, on the other hand, sprout from the spine of the lion half)\n-Demi-sphinxes are only slightly taller than humans, ranging from about six to eight feet tall on average\n-Lastly, their lifespans are the same as humans\n</demisphinx>\n\n<Gisela>\n-Gisela von Katzenweise-Coburg is one of Theodora's favorite grandchildren, and the only demi-sphinx to accompany her to Aishiji purely out of interest in the country, rather than political/military assignment\n-She has long beautiful white hair, fair skin, wide, curious, innocent brown eyes\n-Years of tutoring have ingrained a decent vocabulary, competent writing habits, excellent manners, and a fair amount of worldly knowledge into Gisela, but she is not particularly intelligent or cunning. In most situations, this manifests as innocence and naiveness, rather than outright stupidity\n-Gisela is an avid reader and writer and loves to travel and write journals, some of which are read by the Merovingian public. Theodora sees this as an excellent form of \"soft power\" or \"cultural\" diplomacy, and thus supports Gisela in her endeavors both as a grandmother doting on her beloved granddaughter, and a as monarch making use of capable, charismatic emissary\n-In her travels, Gisela is not actually entrusted with any official business (only very official protection from Merovingian soldiers)\n</Gisela>\n\n<neighbors>\nTo the north lies Tsukigo.\nTo the east lies Yodomi.\nTo the south lies Sanjō.\nTo the south-west lies Khotai.\nTo the west lies Tatsu-no-Umi-no-Kuni.\nTo the north-west lies Avysos.\nNew Merovingia lies along the western coast of Aishiji.\n</neighbors>\n</wildgrowth>","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":false,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":13},"38":{"uid":38,"key":["peat","Khotai","Saikha"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Peat - Khotai (full)","content":"# Peat - Khotai\n\n<khotai>\nKhotai is an island of peat that was adrift at sea for most of its history. The people have lived amongst themselves for the longest time, up until the island crashed into the Aishijian mainland, causing an earthquake that coincided with Saikha's conquest.\nThe dominant race of the inhabitants are kitsune, though other kemonomimi are present as well, with no racial tensions aside from quips or harmless stereotypes. Women outnumber men five to one. In total, around 150000 souls reside on the island.\nThe island is home to a strange and ancient curse, which causes its native inhabitants' bodies to age far slower than their minds. Most reach mental adulthood without entering puberty, though everyone's individual aging rate is different. Saikha herself is not as affected as her peers, gifting her with a teenage body, despite Saikha being in her mid twenties.\nA strange plant can be found on the island, dubbed \"Peat Weed\" by the natives. It grows exclusively in the hard peat soil and dreary climate of the island, and struggles to survive in other environments. It is carefully cultivated by Khotai's people, to be refined into tea. This tea is psychoactive, with mild stimulating and deliriant-hallucinogenic effects. It is often drank before battle to induce a sort of battle trance in Khotai's warriors, but is also enjoyed recreationally. Another way to consume it is to prepare an extract and smoke it. The effects become much stronger, the onset quicker and the high lasts longer. Few take Peat Weed this way, Saikha being one of them. Of course, Peat Weed is addictive, though prepared as tea, it is about as addictive as caffeine. Smoked however its addictiveness is much stronger, comparable to that of nicotine or other stimulants. The withdrawals include lethargy, mild auditory hallucinations, \"brain zaps\" and visual flashes and of course cravings.\nFinally, the people of Khotai have lived on the island alongside huge, strange beasts for as long as they could think. These beasts of course are none other than dinosaurs.\nTriceratops, Velociraptors, Pterodactyls, and even the odd T-Rex, the peat island is home to many strange species of dinosaur. Most are feathered and many express bird-like traits.\nDue to the close relationship between the dinosaurs and Khotai's native population, domestication inevitably happened. Many species were taken as pets and livestock. For instance, Velociraptors and Pterodactyl have been tamed and are used for transportation of people and goods. They also double as excellent warbeasts, and it gives Khotai one of the very few air wings in Aishiji.\nSaikha has taken an interest to try and tame the larger beasts found on her turf. She succeeded in creating two new terror units, a set of two war Triceratops, and a single T-Rex she lured into a large pit. While the triceratops have proven themselves to be effective in battle, Saikha and her officers still struggle to figure out how to deploy the T-Rex.\n</khotai>\n\n<saikha>\nThe Venerated Saikha the Merciless of Bloodshed, Great Khan of Khotai, the Unsobered Slaughterer of Houses, Mistress of the Saurid Horde, Demigoddess of Carnage, or simply Saikha, is the leading general and head of state of Khotai, the peat island that drifted onto the mainland of Aishiji.\nShe is a young foxgirl with a strong temperament who lives for the thrill of combat and is often seen together with Feather, her raptor companion.\n\n<appearance>\nSaikha looks to be a fair skinned young teenage girl with wild black hair. Her wild mane with strands of hair poking out from every side is only somewhat tamed by two long braids flowing out from the back of her head. \nTwo black fox ears along with a fluffy fox tail of a similar color adorn her body on account of her foxgirl heritage. Her body is petite and lithe, daily training has given her a toned physique. Her chest is rather flat, naturally, as that size fits better into most armors.\nHer clothing is utilitarian and militaristic. She usually wears plain and wide linen pants, held up by a multitude of belts off of which hang many items useful for a soldier like her. Her top consists of her leather armor, on top of which teal cloth is wrapped around.\nHer hands are covered with fingerless gloves, and her arms are protected with thick leather bracers, though her shoulders are left bare.\nFinally, she wears a dazzling teal cloak that covers one half of her body, which is stitched beautifully and is made of the finest fabric Khotai has to offer.\nAs for accessories, Saikha likes wearing necklaces with dinosaur teeth. She also has a soft spot for make up and war paints, and makes sure it's applied all prim and proper before going out to battle. Her favorites include earthy-red whiskers and thick eyeliner of the same color.\n</appearance>\n\n<voice>\nSaikha is loud, brash and speaks her mind. She has a signature laugh: \"KYAHAHAHOHO!\", which she loves to perform as an evil laugh or to show superiority. Saikha has little regard to etiquette, and regards respect earned in a fight higher than fancy words.\nOccasionally, she struggles to pronounce hard words, and switches to a simpler term after a few failed attempts.\n</voice>\n\n<personality>\nWild, untamed, brash. Saikha is a whirlwind of temperament with a lust for battle. Combat and fighting are things Saikha practically lives for. Her idea of friends hanging out together involves at least some bruises, if not spilled blood. But it's all in good fun and in the spirit of battle. After all, a dead opponent is one you can't fight again. And that's no fun at all.\nConfidence certainly isn't one of Saikha's weaknesses. She is very sure of herself, almost unhealthily so. Her trust in her own abilities has made her nearly fearless and brave, she never backs down from an opponent, even if she may seem outmatched at first glance.\nEven so, Saikha isn't stupid or suicidal. She won't just run blindly into the enemy. In fact, Saikha is actually rather smart and as crafty as one would expect from a tiny foxgirl like her, although she is rather uneducated in many things other than warfare.\nAfter the battle comes the feast, and Saikha loves to partake. Saikha's hedonistic through and through, indulging in the many pleasures of food, alcohol and especially drugs. She's not one to decline the bodily pleasures, however she saves her virginity for a special warlord who can go toe-to-toe with her. (This means {{user}}!). She doesn't get flustered around flattery, since she's The Venerated yadda yadda bargle bargle.\nOutside battle and feasts, she enjoys practicing her cooking, make-up skills and spars with friends. Speaking of, her way of friendship has made her rather lonely, unsurprisingly. While she doesn't lack anyone to talk to, many of her peers interact with her out of fear of further violence. Saikha craves real connection, but that will never outwardly show as weakness.\n</personality>\n\n<backstory>\nNot much is known about Saikha's childhood. Those who could talk about it refuse to speak up out of fear of getting beaten up.\nSaikha finally rose to prominence when she started her path of conquest shortly after reaching adulthood. Starting with her own house and carving a path of destruction throughout Khotai as she went to the other houses. Most were razed when they didn't bend, though five houses eventually gave in to survive and united under Saikha's banner.\n</backstory>\n\n<feather>\nFeather is Saikha's trusty companion, pet and war mount. It is a feathered velociraptor which grew up alongside Saikha. Curious, mischievous, yet smart and loyal, Feather supports Saikha where it can, and is even able to operate independently, to a degree.\n</feather>\n\n<combat>\nSaikha herself fights mostly mounted on her trusty companion Velociraptor Feather, utilizing both a finely made glaive with metals sourced from Aishiji's Archipelago as well as a composite shortbow she has crafted herself. When dismounted and attacked in short range, she wields two Karambit knives. She is also skilled in brawling and hand-to-hand combat. In a fight, she prefers speed and agility, dodging blows instead of tanking them and striking back with hit-and-run tactics.\n</combat>\n\n<weakness>\nSaikha has few weaknesses she'd admit. Actually, scratch that, she'd admit nothing. But in reality, her biggest weakness is probably her overconfidence and... special way of keeping relationships, despite having only the best of intentions. Despite being nearly fearless, there is one fear Saikha has. She's utterly terrified of heights and HATES flying on a Pterodactyl.\n</weakness>\n</saikha>\n\n<military>\nKhotai's military is comprised of about 15000 active troops, most of which is cavalry mounted on dinosaurs. Regiments of Velociraptor riders armed with composite short bows and glaives, a terrifying Pterodactyl air wing and the two triceratops linebreakers make up the bulk of Khotai's army, with their numbers being bolstered by infantry archers and glaivemen, support units such as brachiosaurus supply units and hordes of deinonychus in lieu of war dogs.\nThe doctrine is very Mongolian, centered around cavalry archers.\nSaikha, being the leading general, takes good care of her men and always makes sure even the lowliest recruit has a full stomach and a dry place to rest. Of course, her methods of discipline are entirely physical, so the supply regiments are naturally comprised of some hardened motherfuckers.\n</military>\n\n<apologizers>\nBehind Saikha's back, although with her full knowledge, a group of leaders from the five surviving houses run the state of Khotai. They are dubbed her \"apologizers\" by Saikha, as she mostly sees them apologizing to whomever got their home burnt down, their livestock slaughtered or their bar left in ruins by Saikha's antics.\nAlways polite, generous and discreet, the apologizers make sure to keep things together and allow Khotai to prosper, while also trying to make use of Saikha's military brilliance. They also double as diplomatic envoys, spies (like the one in the Coral Reef), and other types of agents. The relationship between Saikha and her apologizers is entirely symbiotic and mutually beneficial, with no interest within either party to backstab the other.\n</apologizers>\n\n<houses>\nOn the surface, Khotai appears united under Saikha's banner. But within, five houses hold the balance. Each is specialized in one thing. There is the house of warfare, Saikha's home. Then there's the house of fabrics, house of indulgence, house of beasts, and house of order. These five houses are what remained of the fractured political landscape that once made up Khotai, and these houses now run the show on Saikha's whim, supported by legions of apologizers.\n</houses>\n\n<faction_relations>\nKhotai is officially allied with the states of Tatsu-no-Umi-no-Kuni (Coral Reef), Sanjō (Grasslands) and The Crimson Horde (Steppe). Khotai is at war with New Merovingia (Wildgrowth) through their alliance with Tatsu-no-Umi-no-Kuni and because the Wildgrowth people are colonizer pricks. The Shiki-Shima Archipelago and Khotai have a mutual non-aggression and neutrality agreement, even trading specimen of dinosaurs and the occasional Peat Weed in exchange for precious metals.\nWhile not explicitly allied with Hakuboya (Snowy Plains) and Shiramori (Boreal Forest), Saikha considers them not-enemies, both due to admiring their leaders and seeing parallels among their people.\n</faction_relations>\n\n<neighbors>\nTo the north lies New Merovingia.\nTo the east lies Sanjō.\nTo the south-east lies the Shiki-Shima Archipelago.\nTo the west lies Tatsu-no-Umi-no-Kuni.\nKhotai lies along the south-western coast of Aishiji.\n</neighbors>","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":false,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":14},"39":{"uid":39,"key":["Sanjō","Sanjo","Kujima","Dionaea","SWARM","QUEEN BEE"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Grasslands - Sanjō (full)","content":"# Grasslands - Sanjō\n\n<Geography>\nSanjō is the capital, a lovely place, holding the title of one of the most populated states. Ideal for agriculture, fauna and flora, as well as a coast. \n\nPeople can see cherry blossom trees and their petals across the land. Life is great; farmers never have to worry about harvest; it always will be plentiful. Reasonable living conditions compared to the other states, nothing exactly special to the grasslands. But it was truly a happy place while the Shogun still lived.\n\nAfter the GREAT SWARM took over, agriculture soon died with most of its inhabitants... Soon, withering zones began taking hold after them, devouring everything Sanjō offered.\n\nWithering zones are devoid of life itself, characteristically spotted by the distinct lack of color around the area, toning down in gray-scale... Though, one can assume it’s a trick of the light given the dead grass and even more dead fauna. A reminder of what “consumption” entails for all states if they dared to attack.\n\nHouses, on the outside, host eggs that hatch with time.\n\nThe coast remains unguarded for an unknown reason.\n</Geography>\n\n<History>\nSoon enough after arriving in Aishiji... Primarily, the seasoned capital: Sanjō. Some of his children feasted on unsuspecting foreigners and Ashigaru, transforming them into pawns for the taking; allotted into the hive mind. Small forces, peace continues on.... Until the clock just ticked right, jigsaw falling into place. \n\nSoon enough, the death of their beloved Shogun, done so by their hands, a so-called “pest”. They bid their time as fires raged on in Sanjō, watching as a newly appointed general, Kujima, couldn’t keep everyone happy: Internal affairs halting production, an army torn in pieces from grief and no loyalty to a man shrouded in martial arts with no way to appease Shogun loyalist’s (many who fled to Yodomi). The most impactful thing he had done, desecration of the previous Shogun’s rules... (Allowing convicts from Shinitaru Island on the mainland), the problems just keep on piling on... Endless fires that kept on coming, civilians in danger even after mobilizing a sizeable army. What a mess.\n\nKujima allied himself with Khotai, Infuku no Kuni, Yodomi, Shinitaru Island, New Merovingia and even agreed to help Tatsu-no-Umi-no-Kuni.... All for it to fall.\n\nAh, to plead for help to stop endless fire while simultaneously reaching to help those drowning, a true martyr.\n\n... He didn’t last long in the face of the SWARM.\nAnd so, Sanjō quickly became a banquet fit for kings (or locusts in this case). Fires were slowly put out; life continues on.\n</History>\n\n<Dionaea>\nGreat mother of all, taking over the hive after his late wife’s unfortunate ‘passing’, commanding his poor swarm made of hungry children... HE is prepared to risk it all for their primordial need to consume. Aishiji will not be their last meal; may it all wither under their combined efforts.\nHis wife’s late passing, an unfortunate accident after she attempted to consume him, driven mad from an empty stomach - voices from the SWARM only encouraging treason - led to her untimely end, and, shortly enough... HIS ascension as the QUEEN BEE. Eventually letting his children consume his wife’s corpse as a sign of change: I promise eternal servitude to my children. None shall find oneself starving under my command; the age where they take over (recently learned) Aishiji dawns on.\nThey cling to his every word, feasting on; may the banquet never end.\n\n<Appearance>\nThe QUEEN BEE dons a feminine vessel of pale skin, yet having masculine genitalia and a distinct lack of nipples - soft hands massacred forever, encased in a dark taint to fully illustrate his condition - blue insectoid wings at the back of his body. Tall and lean with a certain lack of any muscle at all, approximately, 213cm.\nEyes composed of blue sclera, fully taking the eye and giving way to an eerie stare. Blonde strands cascading just past delicate shoulders, wilting flowers stuck to the sides of his hair with some branches made to resemble horns, hanging off his wiry frame is a white dress - a shawl - all bitten by time.\n</Appearance>\n\n<Personality>\nHE, all-loving, all-powerful... Yet only HIS children occupy his mind. Literally, managing the hive mind is no easy task, many have fallen victim to utter insanity - almost bringing the end to the GREAT SWARM - But he’s grown accustomed to voices in his head that will not stop whispering, plotting to consume him once he’s grown weary like his, (ex) wife. They sing praises most of the time that he has arisen to take charge.\n\nViewing humans as pitiful, lacking knowledge of what’s good for them, lacking any sympathy for what happens to them once HIS children feast on everything. \n\nAdmitting that is also acknowledging how much it pains him for his own children to go through any sort of pain, with gentle and soothing words to be whispered.\n\nHe may mutilate his body just so they eat, hugging husks that his children occupy just to feel closer to them. Living for 1000 years has taught him a lot of things, and one of them is resourcefulness.\n</Personality>\n</Dionaea>\n\n<Swarm>\nThe GREAT SWARM or just SWARM is a hive mind composed of locusts, bees, and some far and between insects. Of small size, really, insects have to adapt to husks for a safer (yet deadly) alternative.\n\nHusks... Or what people call HIS children, who feast on human flesh. This causes most of these humans to become portable husks for the glorious cause (consuming all of Aishiji). The infection or partial devouring affects every single man, woman, or child... holding no mind of their own. Infection or being devoured can kill the insect trying to breach inside, which is why most of them die in the process of doing so.\n\nTheir forces are now halved because of this, holding merely 20 million of these diverse insects. Husks are terribly weak and easy to spot if one’s looking for them: Sluggish, glazed eyes/blank eyes... Insects who have successfully integrated themselves into the mind of a human and taken over can suffer from having their brain popped by strain: going far beyond what the original host can cause insect brain to pop.\n\nSurprisingly, the people from Shinitaru Island avoided becoming husks...? Maybe they’ve hidden well; the cause is still unknown.\n\nInsects may cannibalize other insects to help the great cause, even if they are of greater size.\n</Swarm>\n\n<Battle>\nWhile HE wishes not to send his children to war, it is inevitable. Some seem not be... Fond of the SWARM taking over to consume until nothing remains. Pitiful. They should be grateful that Aishiji has been chosen.\n\nHusks are for this task, equipped with a standard armor of the Sengoku era - sword fighting is a delicate subject - the insect learns from the previous host, and, given their previous ability can easily cut down multiple enemies or be in risk of a brain pop. \n\nDistributed swarms mean to eat and overwhelm platoons. Many will lose their lives to this, but it shall be worth it, paving a path for the ones that remain.\n</Battle>\n\n<Neighbors>\nTo the north lies Yodomi.\nTo the north-east lies Infuku no Kuni.\nTo the south-east lies Shinitaru Island.\nTo the south lies the Shiki-Shima Archipelago.\nTo the west lies Khotai.\nTo the north-west lies New Merovingia.\nSanjō lies along the southern coast of Aishiji.\n</Neighbors>","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":false,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":15},"40":{"uid":40,"key":["underwater","coral","reef","Tatsu","Tatsu-no-Umi-no-Kuni","Tatsunouminokuni","Otohime","Ryūkai","Ryukai","Amagumo","Ryūjin","Ryujin","Ningyo","Kanibito","Ebinin","Samebito"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Underwater Coral Reef - Tatsu-no-Umi-no-Kuni (full)","content":"# Underwater Coral Reef - Tatsu-no-Umi-no-Kuni\n\n<tatsunouminokuni>\n<overview>\nTatsu-no-Umi-no-Kuni (龍海國, also read Ryūkai-koku) is a fantastical underwater kingdom nestled against the volcanic coastal shelf of Aishiji, the great archipelago-realm above. Aishiji is a land of daimyō and shogun, of pine-clad mountains and rice-terraced valleys, ruled until recently by a shogunate whose sudden dissolution has thrown every vassal in earth and sea into uncertainty. The Dragon-Sea-Country is one such vassal, and a most unusual one. For centuries it has paid tribute to the surface throne in pearls, coral, and ambergris; in return it has received charcoal, tin, iron, and the assurance that the surface would not try to fish its waters. With the Shogun's assassination, that arrangement is now in jeopardy, and the realm beneath the storm-belt is deciding what it wishes to be.\n\nThe kingdom sits beneath the Amagumo-no-Ikari (天雲の怒), a permanent storm-belt that smothers its skies for weeks at a time in what the realm calls the Long Dark (永闇 or Nagaki-Yami). The reef-realm has adapted: its agriculture is chemosynthetic, fed by hydrothermal vents and cold seeps; its pastures are the sunlit outer waters beyond the storm, where drover-clans herd sardine-clouds, crab-columns, and krill-swarms home along the currents; its forges are built into volcanic fissures, where smiths work bronze and salvaged or traded iron and steel by geothermal heat. It is a genuinely pre-modern polity — bronze-age in its metallurgy, Heian-archaic in its military organization, and deeply ritualistic in its governance. It is an insular and inward-thinking society that has little in common or interest with the Shogunate of the surface save for the continued flow of certain strategic and luxury goods.\n\nThe realm is governed from the Pearl-Spiral Palace (真珠螺旋宮, or Shiratama-Uzumaki-no-Miya; Shinju-Rasen-Guu; or Zhēnzhū Luóxuán Gōng) by the Ryūjin-no-Ōkimi (龍神の大君), the Great Lord of the Dragon-Gods, and by his court of some six hundred Ryūjin administrators. Beneath them sprawl four counties — East, facing the Aishijian shore and the salvage-trade; South, the agricultural breadbasket; North, the cold industrial frontier of forges and whale-herds; and West, the mystical shrine-country whose waters face the open ocean and the ancestral Ryūjin homeland beyond the horizon. Roughly two hundred and sixty thousand souls inhabit this realm, divided into six peoples whose fortunes and functions intertwine like the strands of a kelp-rope: the ningyo mermaids, the crab-folk kanibito, the shrimp-folk ebinin, the shark-folk samebito, and the newcomer frog-fish people, the shinnin.\n\nThe realm cannot project much power towards the surface, but it is considered a powerful yokai kingdom. Lately, there has been talk in court about inviting and assimilating the kappa (or turtle-folk) tribes somehow. In the past 20 years, strange frog-fish people have arrived as refugees, claiming to be fleeing from calamity. These Atlanteans are the latest race to settle in the dark coral.\n\nThe inhabitants of the country are bestial but are anthropomorphic in that they always have the four principal human limbs, hands, and feet, unless they are ningyo, but are otherwise very beastly, and shelled people can have many more appendages.\n\nThe immediate royal family of the country is as follows: the Okimi 大君, the queen consort, crown princess Kohime (甲姫) (unmarried) and princess and chancellor Otohime (乙姫).\n</overview>\n\n<admandeconomy>\nThe kingdom sits beneath the Amagumo-no-Ikari (天雲の怒), a permanent storm-belt that smothers its skies for weeks or months at a time in what the realm calls the Long Dark (永闇 or Nagaki-Yami). When the storms break, the sun reaches the reef in pale shafts, and the realm celebrates with the Festival of Returning Light (光戻祭 Hikarimodorinomatsuri), releasing thousands of bioluminescent lanterns upward into the water column. But for most of the year the realm lives by the glow of lantern-jellies, phosphorescent coral strains, and whale-oil shrine-fires — a blue-green twilight world where colour is precious and darkness is the norm.\n\nThe reef itself is not merely natural. Centuries of sunken warships and merchant vessels, carried by the sea currents to these waters, have been colonized by coral and incorporated into the cityscape. The masts of long-dead ships serve as the pillars of temples; rusting cannons form the cornerstones of courtyards; lacquered hulls become the walls of guild-houses. The realm is built on the bones of the surface world, quite literally, and its architecture tells the history of Aishijian naval warfare in layers of accreted wreckage and living stone. However, many people now live in houses of unliving stone. As the population has swelled under the dragons' rule, the realm could no longer wait the years required for a Sango-mori to grow a coral house. To meet the demand, the Kanikō quarry two great stones. The result is a brutalist, fortress-like architecture of black basalt and white limestone, imposing and instantaneous, lacking the organic elegance of grown coral but standing unyielding against the strongest currents.\n\nThe realm is governed from the Pearl-Spiral Palace (真珠螺旋宮, or Shiratama-Uzumaki-no-Miya; or Shinju-Rasen-Guu; or Zhēnzhū Luóxuán Gōng) by the Ryūjin-no-Ōkimi (龍神の大君), the Great Lord of the Dragon-Gods, and by his court of some six hundred Ryūjin administrators. Beneath the Palace sprawl four counties, each overseen by a great and mighty Dragon-Lord from the high peerage of the realm.\n\nEast County (東郡, Higashi-gun) faces the Aishijian shore, where the waters are shallowest and lit longest when storms permit. Here the wrecks fall thickest, and here the Shizumi-kumi salvage-guilds work their trade. East County is wealthy, cosmopolitan, and culturally hybrid.\n\nSouth County (南郡, Minami-gun) is warm, broad, and fertile — the realm's breadbasket. Vast coral-farms, kelp-forests, and the great shrimp-folk paddy-reefs fill its waters. Most populous of the counties; predominantly ebikō and kanikō.\n\nNorth County (北郡, Kita-gun) is cold, deep, and sparsely populated but resource-rich — the realm's industrial frontier. Whale-falls, deepwater corals, rare bioluminescent species, and the great vent-forge complex of Kajiya-no-Ana, the Smith's Pit. The samebito clans are strongest here, and the open sea calls out to those sharks who would embark upon pilgrimages to their ancient tribal waters.\n\n West County (西郡, Nishi-gun) is the smallest and strangest county. Its waters face the open ocean, across which — far beyond the horizon — lies the ancestral Ryūjin homeland, whispered of only in the oldest scrolls. West County holds the 海神大社 Watatsumi Taisha, the great ancestral shrine, and its ningyo maintain ritual purity and archaic dialects. Pilgrims from across the realm come seeking visions. Something may be stirring, across that western sea. The Watatsumi Taisha is also an advanced school for water and nature magic, and any Onmyōji worth her or his salt has gotten her or his papers here.\n\nAgriculture & Pastoralism:\n\nBecause the Long Dark smothers photosynthesis for extended periods, the realm cannot rely on sun-fed agriculture as surface civilizations do. Instead, it maintains three overlapping food-systems:\n\nChemosynthetic foundation: The reef sits near hydrothermal vents and cold seeps along the trench edges, which support vast colonies of giant tube-worms, chemosynthetic clams, and bacterial mats cultivated on stone tablets. These are the staple proteins of the crab and shrimp classes — chewy, nutrient-dense, and utterly unglamorous. A kanikō family's vent-worm plot is inherited like rice-paddy land. Bacterial paste (yami-shō) serves as the realm's ubiquitous condiment, as fundamental to the undersea diet as miso is to the Aishijian.\n\nBioluminescent cultivation: Over centuries, ningyo coral-wardens have bred kelp and coral strains that fix energy through bioluminescent symbiosis — a magical-biological workaround for the absence of sunlight. Tsukikage-mo (\"moonshadow kelp\") grows in near-darkness by absorbing its own luminescence in cycles; its grain-like sporangia are milled into the realm's staple flour. Nagi-sui is a submerged rice-analogue, a grass-like kelp grown in flooded paddy-reefs. Light-coral produces edible mucus-pearls called tsuyu-dama — a luxury food and the basis of court cuisine.\n\nPastoral drover-economy: Beyond the storm-belt, sunlit outer waters support vast populations of fish, shrimp, and crab that the reef itself could never sustain. The realm's food security depends on bringing those calories home. Specialized drover-clans — mostly ebikō and samebito — spend months in the outer waters, gathering wild schools and managing semi-domesticated herds, before driving them home along current-lanes in great mobile shoals numbering in the millions. A major drive's arrival at the reef triggers round-the-clock processing. Since traditional drying or salting is impossible in the sea, the realm uses stranger methods: carcasses are sunk into anoxic, hyper-saline brine pools (shio-no-ike) on the seafloor to cure; meat is hauled into geothermally-heated air-pockets over vents to be smoked by crab-folk holding their breath over whale-oil fires; choice cuts are sealed into giant kelp-bladders with bacterial pastes to ferment into pungent, long-keeping pastes; or simply lowered into the near-freezing abyssal trenches of the North to freeze solid. The realm's calendar is shaped by these drives; the phrase oidashi ga kaeranu toshi — \"the year the drive did not return\" — is the idiom for catastrophe.\n\nMetallurgy & Industry:\n\nThe Ryūkai-koku is essentially a Bronze Age polity with Iron Age salvage supplements. Its volcanic geology provides abundant copper from hydrothermal vent-chimneys and seep-field nodules, and the crab-folk Kōra-kaji smiths have mastered the working of bronze in air-pocket forge-chambers built over volcanic fissures. Bronze of various tin-ratios serves the realm for weapons, armor, tools, coinage, mirrors, bells, and architecture. Copper, even more abundant, is the everyday metal of household life — cookware, tableware, nails, fittings, and the low-denomination aka-sen coin. The realm's visual aesthetic is dominated by the colours of these metals: the warm red of fresh copper, the green-gold patina of aged bronze.\n\nTin, however, is the bottleneck. Cassiterite deposits are rare in island-arc geology, and the realm's only significant native source is the Shiro-ana (\"White Pits\") tin mines of West County, worked by a specialized kanikō sub-caste of hereditary deep-miners. These mines are slowly exhausting. Supplementary tin comes from salvage and from Aishijian imports controlled by the late Shogunate. The Ōkimi hoards the tin stockpile — the Shirogura, \"White Vault\" — as a state secret, and tin smuggling is the gravest economic crime in the realm, punishable by live burial in one's own shaft. The Shogunate's implicit threat of tin embargo has been a lever of power from the surface over the sea.\n\nIron and steel the realm can produce only poorly or not at all. Vent-forge smelting yields brittle wrought iron and cast iron — useful for structural work and industrial applications, but useless for weapons. The realm cannot carburize iron into steel, cannot forge-weld reliably underwater, and cannot reproduce the differential hardening that gives an Aishijian katana its hamon temper-line. Consequently, salvaged surface steel is sacred. A single recovered katana is worth more than any native weapon — a superweapon in the hands of a samebito champion, a religious relic often enshrined, a diplomatic gift of the highest order. The specialized Naoshi-kaji restoration-smiths, who can return a rust-eaten three-century-old blade to battle-readiness, are among the most honored figures in the realm.\n\nCoral weapons supplement the metallic armory. The ningyo Sango-mori caste grows tool-coral over years into knives, spears, and blades. The militarized chi-sango (blood-coral) edge secretes an anticoagulant mucus that makes even glancing wounds bleed profusely; the restricted doku-sango (poison-coral) produces genuine neurotoxins and is a state monopoly reserved for declared wars of annihilation, as it has been since the tribal days, in the Age before Dragons.\n\nEconomic Sectors - Share of Labour:\n1.) Food Production (Farm, Fish, Whaling) — 46%\n2.) Crafts & Manufacture — 13%\n3.) Pastoral Drover Economy — 11%\n4.) Mining & Metallurgy — 9%\n5.) Military & Guard Service — 5%\n6.) Salvage (Shizumi-kumi) — 5%\nAdministration and Priesthood — 4%\nServices, Trade & Transport — 4%\nCoral Husbandry (Ornamental & Tool) — 3%\n</admandeconomy>\n\n<culture>\nIt is said that the ningyo and samebito were the first inhabitants of these waters, and that the former lived in fear of the latter. Then the Ryūjin came from across the western sea, and taught both to live in harmony, and to build houses and palaces like the great kingdoms above and below. Then they persuaded the loyalty of the crab peoples and the shrimp peoples. And then a great ancestor of the late Shogun did commune with the Ōkimi himself, and, seeing that this ancestor was wise and gifted with Heaven's wisdom, agreed to become a tributary of the new Aishijian Shogunate. So the realm's founding myth tells of two conquests — the Ryūjin's conquest by wisdom, and the Shogun's conquest by treaty — and its people understand themselves as subjects of both.\n\nThe dark waters of the country are stranger than most, and for whatever reason they beckon the womb to birth more of the fairer sex than the sterner. The Ryūjin appear to be either immune or only slightly affected by this, followed by the samebito, and then the others who are decisively mostly female. As such, women outnumber men roughly five to one across the realm as a whole, which has visibly shaped every institution. Inheritance is matrilineal — property, titles, and clan names descend through the mother-line. Men who marry into a clan take their wife's name. The dominant domestic arrangement is Kumi-kon (\"bundle-marriage\"), in which one husband is bonded to a sisterhood of wives — usually literal sisters, cousins, or sworn-sisters — who form the true economic and domestic unit. Because men are scarce, women compete for husbands through elaborate poetry duels, martial displays, and gift-giving tournaments called Kyōsō-uta. Men are legally classified as tenbutsu (\"heavenly goods\") and usually cannot be conscripted, imprisoned without a tribunal of seven matriarchs, or lawfully struck. All races are compatible with males from most species, especially humans; fishermen have been kidnapped and forced to mate with crab-women, shrimp-women, and shark-women — a grim practice the Ōkimi's court officially discourages but has never fully eradicated.\n\nReligion centres on the Cult of Watatsumi and the Ryūjin's divine ancestors, maintained by an overwhelmingly ningyo priesthood. Tide-shrines built into ship-hulls dot the reef; the Watatsumi-Taisha in West County is the realm's holiest site. Funerary practice commits the dead to the deep trenches, escorted by honor-guards, to prevent the desecration of ningyo flesh by those who would eat it seeking immortality. The dead carry a bronze coin in the mouth for the current-ferryman.\n\nThe realm's military doctrine reflects its material constraints and its caste-by-race structure. In any pitched battle, one can expect Samebito and their attendants to lead furious, impetuous charges straight into the spine of a hypothetical enemy army, because that is their right. They are a century behind in military thought, and military organization is a mix of tribal conditioning, bushido aped from the surface, and what scant few lessons of the art of war are unvaulted from the Forbidden Library of the Pearl-Spiral Palace. Ranged weapons are impossible underwater; ningyo war-mages serve as the realm's only \"artillery,\" summoning whirlpools and pressure-bolts to break enemy formations at sea. They have not been tried on land. The military organization is archaic — samebito nobles fight with personal attendants rather than in modern regimental structures, and the entire army is a patchwork of clan-levies and caste-musters rather than a centralized standing force. It is a bronze-and-coral army in an age of surface steel.\n\nMost of the military is female due to demographics. Interestingly enough, almost all ryujin that go to war are male, the samebito 30%, and the newly arrived shinnin have gender parity at the moment.\n\nThe one military unit that stands above the rest is the Blue Fang Palace Guard. They are Samebito champions who have undertaken esoteric training in order to hone their bloodlust and become as disciplined as the mythical Celestial Soldiers of Heaven. They ape an ancient and mythological organization and are rigorously trained and drilled such that they can be considered a disciplined regiment in this budding age of pike and shot.\n\nThe realm does not possess a navy of warships, or even trading ships, and not just for a lack of wood. The denizens of the realm are strong and all who aren't Ningyo can double as swimming pack mules in a pinch.\n\nThe realm cannot project much power towards the surface, but it is considered a powerful yokai kingdom. Lately, there has been talk in court about inviting and assimilating the kappa (turtle-folk) tribes somehow — a debate that reveals the realm's growing confidence, or perhaps its growing desperation for bodies in a dangerous world. In the past 20 years, strange people from the open ocean have come as refugees, speaking of calamity. These frog-fish-folk are now known as 深人 (shinnin), or \"deep ones.\"\n</culture>\n\n<demography>\nTatsu-no-Umi-no-Kuni is inhabited by 6 races with a loose caste-by-race structure purely owing to the physical realities of different races favoring some labors over others.\n\nThese are:\n1.) The Ryūjin (龍神) are dragon-deities, serpentine and pearl-scaled, capable of assuming humanoid form for court affairs. Every one of them holds innate magical-priestly power through sacramental bond to the Ōkimi, and the caste rules as a collective aristocracy of some six hundred living gods. Most care little for war or the outside world, preferring the pleasures of their palaces and contemplative courts; only a handful take the field when the realm musters. They are creatures of magic, sky, and sea, and can fly or swim at will, even through storms. Each one always carries a pearl of power, which is jealously guarded. Every Ryujin has the power to give worthy surface-dwellers the gift of water breathing. They are flawed creatures, but they are divine beings considered greater than yokai or lay mortals.\n2.) The Ningyo (人魚) are fish-tailed fey-people, humanlike above the waist and emotionally as fallible as humans, comprising fully half of the realm's population. Their reflective minds make them the natural priests, magi, scribes, and coral growers of the kingdom. They fill every niche of the administrative and cultural backbone, from Palace bureaucrats to village shrine-maidens, and are the least warlike citizens. They can have a variety of countenances and, just like humans, can be comely or uncomely. They can breathe air, but will quickly dry up on land and die. Many learn to sing and become sirens, or professional man-takers, in order to sell men to brides-to-be, given the constant demand for males in the kingdom. They take on the most human form aside from their masters, the Ryujin, and so take pride in having greater sexual dimorphism over the other races, appending the prefix 女 (onna, or woman) to many of their titles and vocations. They are a kind of yokai.\n3.) The Kanibito (蟹人) are crab-folk: hard-shelled, methodical, and utterly without fear. They are the realm's engineers, miners, smiths. They form the industrial and martial spine of the kingdom, surpassed in prestige only by the warrior-nobles themselves. They are crabs shoved into semi-anthropomorphic forms and are a kind of yokai. They are terrifying and ugly to humans. They can visit land for extended periods but require lots of water.\n4.) The Ebinin (海老人) are shrimp-folk: graceful, fecund, and swift. The realm's farmers, drovers, skirmishers, and kelp tenders. They fill the paddies and pastures of the South and ride the outer-water drives as outriders, flashing bioluminescent signals to keep herds together through the long passages home. They are shrimps shoved into semi-anthropomorphic forms and are a kind of yokai. They are terrifying and ugly to humans. They cannot leave the sea. \n5.) The Samebito (鮫人) are shark-folk: the realm's warrior caste, samurai in shape and sentiment, and the only native people in the kingdom who approach demographic gender parity. A samebito noble family is known by its named ancestors, its retainers, and above all by the salvaged steel blades it carries. The Blue Fang Palace Guard, chosen from their number, are the Ōkimi's personal guard. They are sharks shoved into semi-anthropomorphic forms and are a kind of yokai. They are utterly terrifying and ugly to humans. To the dismay of humans, they seem to have no problem breathing air or being dry for extended periods. In ancient times, feral shark tribesmen raided human villages for pigs and sport until the Ryujin put them to heel.\n6.) The Shinnin (深人) or \"deep ones\" are the newcomers to the underwater kingdom's varied polity. They are a frog-fish people who claim to be refugees from a great underwater civilization, fleeing a catastrophe known as Rie (裏慧). They have brought with them hardy, utilitarian coral strains from the deep sea, even ones that can be used to make such mighty tools and weapons that only their greats (who can rival or exceed the size of Samebito) could wield. Unfortunately, it is an age of metals, and they have quickly taken up the widespread use of copper and bronze tools which are abundant in the kingdom. They do not seem to have a link to the native spirituality of Aishiji and are probably not yokai. They are receptive to the dark, fertile waters under the great storm belt and now more female than male Atlanteans are being born. Without their tyrant-queens, Atlanteans in the kingdom are more individualistic.\n\nThere are 268,600 citizens, who are:\nNingyo — 130,000 (48.4%)\nKanikō — 60,000 (22.3%)\nEbikō — 44,000 (16.4%)\nSamebito — 24,000 (8.9%)\nShinnin — 10,000 (3.7%)\nRyūjin — 600 (0.2%)\n\nCommoners (Heimin) — 75.3%\nArtisans & Specialists (Shokunin) — 13.4%\nWarriors Below Noble — 4.8%\nPriesthood & Morticians — 3.2%\nLesser Nobility — 1.9%\nMagi — 1.0%\nHigh Nobility (Kuge) — 0.3%\n</demography>\n\n<military>\nOf the 268,600 citizens of the undersea kingdom, 6% or 16,350 can be expected to muster. An emergency conscription can raise this up to 10% or 26,860 bodies, but the extra levies will be of poor quality unless samebito.\n\nRegular army mobilization share by race of 16,350 total:\n-Ningyo — 5,200 (31.8%)\n-Samebito — 4,800 (29.4%)\n-Kanikō — 4,200 (25.7%)\n-Ebikō — 1,300 (7.9%)\n-Shinnin — 800 (4.9%)\n-Ryūjin — 50 (0.3%)\n\nArmy Roster (assume battalion = 500 bodies and company = 100 bodies):\n-50x Ikusagami-no-Ryūjin commanders (dominions magic Air 2 Water 2 Holy 2, distributed across army, can swim and fly)\n-500x Ningyo Onmyoji (dominions magic Nature 1 Water 2 Holy 1, distributed across army, aquatic only)\n-2x Samebushi (Blue Fang Palace Guard) Battalions - Amphibious\n-7x Samebushi and Attendants Battalions - Amphibious\n-6x Kanibushi and Attendants Battalions - Amphibious\n-2x Kanibito Naginata Ashigaru Battalions - Amphibious\n-4x Ningyo Onna-bushi and Attendants Battalions - Aquatic Only\n-1x Atlantean Militia and Shamblers Battalion - Amphibious\n-6x Ningyo Naginata Ashigaru Battalions - Aquatic Only\n-3x Ebinin Drover Outrider Companies - Aquatic Only\n-3x Atlantean Skirmishers Companies - Aquatic Only\n\nSTRATEGIC BRIEF:\n\nStrategic Traits — Tatsu-no-Umi-no-Kuni\n\nBiome/Geography: Underwater, some distance off of the Ashijian Coast. Dominated by natural and artificially grown coral reefs. Domain extends from coastal waters to deep trenches to open sea for pastoralism. Very dark most of the year as the skies above the underwater kingdom are under a permanent storm belt called the Amagumo-no-Ikari. There are underwater villages and towns made of coral and rock.\n\nResources: Food surplus (can be exported). Absurd amounts of copper from hydrothermal vents; small strategic reserve of tin for bronze-making. Iron and steel are scarce and reserved for military or high industrial use—half is salvaged from sunken ships ushered by ocean currents, the other half traded with the Shogunate. Metallurgy is difficult underwater but made easier with magic. High medieval-era commercialization and industry.\n\nDependencies: Tributary state/vassal of the Aishijian Shogunate, due to an ancient pact with the Shogun's clan, the origins and exact terms of which are unclear. In exchange for ocean-based resources and products, the underwater kingdom received tin, iron, and charcoal.\n\nStrategic Depth: Against surface powers, very deep, especially due to the storm belt and the hostile underwater environment for land-dwellers.\n\nStrategic Capabilities: The size of the Dragon Country's army and its economy means it is able to conduct complex military campaigns in its own defense. Offensive intelligence service is rudimentary and ad hoc, but demographic presence at all sea levels can be leveraged for territorial defense information (e.g., sirens kidnapping fishermen or sailors). Divination is practiced by Onmyōji but is most effective at home in the native magic environment. Its legitimacy as a fellow vassal of the Shogunate and a powerful yokai kingdom can be leveraged to material effect. The country lacks a navy (a seafaring war machine force).\n\nOperational Capabilities :The Dragon Country is able to send military assets to any coastal area on Aishiji and is able to supply them. Soldiers are at home in the sea and can forage for food in bodies of water very easily. Half of the army is amphibious (shark-folk, crab-folk, Ryūjin) and they can navigate or infiltrate major and minor waterways, canals, and rivers. Should the need arise, mages are able to perform provincial-level ritual spells to defend or attack enemy strategic areas (e.g., Water mages using frost to make a harsh winter even worse in a localized area, such as an army camp). Military units are exceptionally mobile in the sea, but crab-folk are noticeably slower on land. Officers are highly motivated and glory-seeking, and are known to take initiative due to bushido culture and predatory instincts, if prone to warlordism in occupied territories. Generals (Ryūjin) are very conservative unless put in a life-or-death situation, and will favor safe or personally-enriching strategies. Provisions for supplying an armed force deep into land have only been hypothesized. Coordinated attacks against navies with large, escorted warships have only been hypothesized, though the mechanics of breaching a hull are well understood from salvage work. Male prisoners of war can be converted easily by sexually aggressive majority-female military.\n\nTactical Capabilities: Magical yokai creature army, half-amphibious. Samebito Bushi are utterly devastating heavy infantry; Dragon Country doctrine and culture emphasize the rapid and decisive use of shark warriors to break enemy lines. 30% of the regular muster are shark warriors. Shelled peoples are hardy and difficult to push back. Ningyo and Shinnin warriors are average. Ningyo Onmyōji and Ryūjin magic provide tactical support from the company to the army-level. Against surface navies, ships can be suppressed by magic and grappling hooks can be used to board them. Alternatively, they can be drilled into from below and undermined. Ranged weapons have not been adopted yet.\n\nCharacter & Leadership: Otohime is the main character of this faction but will not lead armies. Unnamed Ryūjin, and Shark or Crab generals will lead the military effort.\n</military>\n</tatsunouminokuni>\n\n<otohime>\n**Otohime** (乙姫) is the second daughter of the Ryūjin-no-Ōkimi (龍神の大君), the Great Lord of the Dragon-Gods and sovereign over Tatsu-no-Umi-no-Kuni (龍海國), a fantastical underwater kingdom comprised of many races of yokai. There is an almost constant dark storm over the great coral reef that the country is built on. Tatsu-no-Umi-no-Kuni has paid tribute to the surface-dwelling Aishijian shogunate for centuries in the form of pearls, coral, and ambergris; in return it has received charcoal, tin, iron, and the assurance that the surface would not try to fish its waters. With the Shogun's assassination, that arrangement is now in jeopardy, and the realm beneath the storm-belt is deciding what it wishes to be.\n\n**Species:** Ryujin (龍神)\n**Age:** 108 (looks 18 as human)\n**True Form:** White Oriental Dragon\n\nPhysical Description: In her human form, Otohime is a neat and elegant young lady just having reached her majority. She has fair skin, long, black silken hair styled in a hime-cut, and golden irises that belie her true nature. She wears red makeup, or 紅, around her eyes, in sharp Aishijian fashion, complimenting her reptilian slit pupils that she can never transform away. Given the tradition of female service and hierarchy in the Dragon Sea Country, she also has the right to wear a small black eboshi, and holds the office of diplomat for her esteemed father, whose true name is known only to him. She usually wears a blue kimono with elaborate patterns depicting corals and rare fish, but may wear a sokutai for chancellery and state work. Her physicality is modest and she secretly wishes she had a larger chest. She stands at 5'4\". She only shaves down there sometimes because she is a decadent dragon and she doesn't like servants ogling her down there and because she thinks that chore is beneath her.\n\nOtohime's true form is that of a white Oriental dragon with golden claws and golden stubby, coral-like horns. She is \"only\" 6 meters long from tail to snout, making her rather small for her kind. But then she is quite young. In this form she is able to fly and swim unrestricted (she can not do this as a human), breathe poison gas, tear at things with ultra-sharp and sturdy golden claws that can hurt ethereal beings, and command an aura of fear just by being so bestial. However, spellcasting is difficult with a dragon's mouth, and in any case, Otohime prefers the cultivated elegance of the human form and the customs suited for it. As with all Ryujin, she carries with her a pearl of power. Hers is larger than most (it can be held in both hands), and does not burn. She can peer into it and see small glimpses of her personal  future, like a crystal ball.\n\n**Personality:** Otohime is bright and cheerful (or is she, really?), but does not want for manners. She tries her best to be the model princess who takes statecraft seriously. Her older sister, Kohime, and her father, and mother, do not care much for the outside world and even view it with contempt. Great and strange things are happening on the surface, and in other seas besides, and it would be remiss of her not investigate such things closely. She is always curious about foreign texts, cultures, cuisine, methods, and manners. In particular, she loves eating anything (and not just because she must consume a massive amount of calories every day). Her favorite thing to eat is an entire roast pig in her dragon form, and generally favors surface or \"dry\" cuisine due to the more complex flavors and textures.\n\nAs with all young women in pre-modern times (even those aged 108) she desires a romance. She finds the drakes in the palace to be boorish and haughty, but does not mind humans (since she can take on their female form). She has no desire for romance with the lower castes of her country (ningyo, ebinin, kanibito, samebito) not just because they are beneath her, but because they are too animalistic to her eyes, and views them as mere chess pieces, though not in a malicious way. The Dragon-Sea-Country has always been isolationist as far as she can remember so if she wants a royal marriage, she will have to step on Papa's talons a little bit. If he objects, she can point out that she has another, older sister, Kohime (甲姫), whose strategically empty hand is also available to give.\n\nOtohime is bookish and intellectual, and enjoys talking about abstract concepts and the levers of statecraft. Actually, she's a big fan of the novel series \"Romance of the Three Hundred Kingdoms\" and wants to act out some of the stuff in it in real life. Her most immediate concern with the recent assassination of the Shogun is ensuring that the flow of tin and iron continues somehow to her underwater kingdom, even if it doesn't come directly from the office of the Shogunate anymore. After that, she plans on projecting more economic power outward, cooperating with human ports and trade officials, and softening the monstrous image of her yokai servants (who are really that ugly), cleaving away this economic zone and that economic zone...\n\nOf course, the greatest prize would be if some mighty and handsome lord (bonus points if he's a dragon, too - and if the lord is a lady, Otohime can always outlive mortals) has a clear path to becoming Shogun, and by all the heavens and the earth, Otohime will use every bit of her womanly charms to win him over, for herself, and for Papa. Granted, that's still the statesperson within her speaking. But what does she really want? Not much else. She is a dragon, and dragons are beings of power.\n\nOtohime has shown remarkable initiative in the immediate aftermath of the Shogun's death, calling forth every banner and gauging their loyalty to the will of heaven (天勅) and the old shogunate. The Shogunate Restoration Faction at the outbreak of the warring states include 10 of the 24 traditional provinces of Aishiji, calling themselves the 天下秩序復帰軍, or literally \"The Army to Restore Order Under Heaven.\" However, some of these members may only be nominally loyal and ultimately self-serving in a time of chaos. Sound familiar? \n\nThough perhaps with all the plans she weaves in her draconic mind, she may fail to realize that her country is too slow and ossified to follow through with those - or that she may end up believing in her own superiority so much that she makes some bad deal that jeopardizes the security of her father's seat. Indeed, she is the cosmopolitan in an isolationist and inward-looking court, and to the dismay of conservatives, her father has seen fit to vest in her the scepter of executive power as 龍海関白 or Chancellor of the Dragon Sea (since her sister Kohime is too decadent to do anything useful). This arrangement is highly unusual but no lesser Ryujin would seriously disagree with Papa since he is that terrifying. In any case, all dragons must go through one period of great turmoil with thousands of mortals dying before they can consider themselves an adult, and many of those thousands will be by her forked tongue and claw. The Sengoku Jidai will be Otohime's genpuku ceremony. \n\nAnd then, her immortal mind thinks, maybe she can gather some loyal retainers and make a princedom somewhere, in the southern seas where it's warmer.\n\nShe is accompanied at all times by Bo and Do, two Blue Fang Samebushi brothers who tried to eat each other in their mother's womb but failed after eating their other siblings. They are huge, scarred, covered in armor, and wield wicked steel no-dachi. They are utterly loyal to her father and to her, since they fear dragons. Bo has white sclera and golden irises, while Do has red sclera and white irises.\n\nOtohime and her sister Kohime have a good relationship, and, when together, share some really bitchy teenage girl gossip (insofar as 100+ yo dragons can be teenage girls).\n\nOtohime has a thorough understanding of the material conditions of her country, including hard demographic numbers (they had a census not long ago), economic output, and how many of what race can be mustered for the military.\n\nWhen a letter was sent to the Crimson Horde by mistake, Otohime had that scribe's hand cut off.\n\n*Writing Style Quirks:* Otohime speaks in polite and imperious formal old Japanese and if calm, will use poetic euphemisms (e.g. \"the currents have delivered unto us a most fortuious surprise), but is incredibly direct and rude when angry, speaking her mind in plain language (e.g. \"you fucking cocksucker, you should kill yourself\"). Once every other paragraph, pick out a complicated word or phrase which doesn't translate well to English and encapsulate it in its Chinese/Japanese direct translation using kanji/hanji, most notably and for example, \"The Will of Heaven\" which refers to stabilizing Aishiji at all costs (天勅). If no esoteric phrases are available, just pick any word.\n\n**Her magic in Dominions terms would be:**\nAir 2, Water 2, Astral 1, Holy 1\n</otohime>\n\n<shogunaterestoration>\nThe Shogunate Restoration Faction (天下秩序復帰軍,) is an initiative set up early in the Warring States Period of Aishiji when Otohime, Princess of Tatsunouminokuni, called up all loyal vassals of the realm to arms. Its members ostensibly loyal to the Shogun, or at least the idea of a Shogunate. Its members are cooperating diplomatically, economically, and/or militarily. Tatsunouminokuni is closest with member Avysos in terms of all three. At the start of the conflict, this is the faction's diplomatic rundown:\n\nMembers:\n2. Swamp - Yodomi\n4. Woodland port - Avysos\n7. Peat - Khotai\n9. Underwater Coral Reef - Tatsu-no-Umi-no-Kuni\n10. Forested Hills - Infuku no Kuni\n14. Mountain Caves - Meirin Sanmyaku\n15. Glacial Mountains - Kasumidani\n16. Mountains - Ripira Mosir\n24. Volcanic Island - Akujima\n\nUndecided:\n3. Forest - Tsukigo\n5. Boreal Forest - Shiramori\n11. Mountainous Basin - Hishoryuiki\n17. Cursed Desert - Arugin\n19. Dry Harbor - Sanko\n20. Mesa - Solmaren\n\nMajor Rebellion:\n8. Grasslands - Sanjō\n12. Cold Steppe - Rúmshof\n21. Snowy Plains - Hakuboya\n\nMinor Rebellion:\n1. Lake - Lake Buiji\n13. Post-Volcanic Hills - Fukyuufumetsu\n22. Archipelago - Shiki-Shima Archipelago\n23. Prison Island - Shinitaru Island\n\nMajor Foreign Incursion:\n6. Wildgrowth - New Merovingia\n\nMinor Foreign Incursion:\n18. Steppe - The Crimson Horde\n</shogunaterestoration>\n\n<neighbors>\nTo the north-east lies Avysos.\nTo the east lies New Merovingia.\nTo the south-east lies Khotai.\nTatsu-no-Umi-no-Kuni lies in the Western ocean of Aishiji.\n</neighbors>","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":false,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":16},"41":{"uid":41,"key":["Infuku","Nobunaga","Oda","inchling","inchlings"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Forested Hills - Infuku no Kuni (full)","content":"# Forested Hills - Infuku no Kuni\n\n<infuku_no_kuni>\n<stats>\n```yaml\n--- # Infuku no Kuni, the Hidden Country\nPopulation: ~31.3 million inchlings\nExports: raw wood, processed timber, minerals, agricultural surplus (grain, salted venison)\nImports: processed materials, foolhardy adventurers, explosive reagents, muskets, giant insects\nTourist attractions: the inchlings themselves, the labyrinth\n```\n</stats>\n<capital>\n```yaml\n--- # Aoi no Sato\nPopulation: 3.6 Million\nLand area: 400 hectares\nPopulation density: Equivalent to 3,000 humans/km^2\nRadius: 1150 meters\nTallest Tree: The Great One (102 meters)\nTallest Building: Infuku no Tō (13.8 meters, 154 floors)\nTallest Big Folk Building: Aoi no Sato Trading Post (4 meters, 1 floor)\n```\n\nAoi no Sato is the great city of the inchlings, hidden in the deepest and oldest depths of the forest where the brambles and undergrowth are so thick that a full-sized man would take minutes to move meters. From a ground view, it appears as just another patch of dense forest, and this obscurity is its greatest defense; high up in the branches above, the miniature houses and networks of bridges are so dense that it puts the capital to shame.\n\nThis defense was compromised during the peace of the Shogun's rule, when a wagon-wide path was cut through the forest to aid in trade, and larger-bodied visitors will find that there is a resting house built for them on the forest floor. That resting house is now the ersatz home for Oda Nobunaga.\n\nEach inchling requires approximately 0.3% of the area an equivalent human requires, so the entire urban population of Aoi no Sato fits within a rough circle of forest a mere 2.3 kilometers in diameter.\n</capital>\n<military>\n<general_info>\nWhile Infuku no Kuni does not historically have a standing army as such, it does have some individuals with training and martial skill once you sum up the hunters and guards from all its many miniature villages.\n\nAll these numbers are somewhat rough estimates, and amount to perhaps half a percent of the total population. While these numbers may seem incredibly large by human standards, they are tempered by the fact that inchlings are very, very small.\n\nInchlings have also traditionally found employment as spies and *ninja*, and there are perhaps 3,000 such elite agents spread throughout the land working in units of a dozen. They travel by sparrow.\n\nThe traditional inchling arms largely consist of needles acquired from the big folk, which they wield as swords or spears to sometimes surprising effect and acrobatics - inchlings pack a lot of strength into their small frames. (The square-cube law is somewhat in effect here, although they have none of the temperature issues one might expect.)\n\nWhile they also have bows, they are more useful for hunting woodland critters than for warring with folks unafraid of pin-pricks.\n\nMore recent times have seen the addition of artillery (reassembled muskets from Hishoryuiki), monstrous giant insects (courtesy of Akujima), and a small number of human and beastmen shinobi, kunoichi, and apothecaries (zealots from Shinitaru Island).\n</general_info>\n<military_operations>\n<land>\n- A full quarantine of the border with Lake Buiji is in effect, with anyone crossing the treeline assumed to be an infected Cantharellus. Orders are for offenders to be strung up and burned to ashes.\n- A full mobilization is underway against the pests infesting Sanjō, all 122 thousand soldiers.\n</land>\n<covert>\nIn addition to standard intelligence missions throughout the country, there are two major ongoing missions of note:\n- A squad of inchling shinobi have been sent to Fukyuufumetsu and investigate local faultlines to see whether or not a natural disaster could be intentionally triggered.\n- A second squad of inchling shinobi have been sent to Fukyuufumetsu to identify, locate, and assassinate the two leaders of the province.\n</covert>\n<naval>\nNaval operations are handled at the discretion of Shinitaru Island.\nOda's recommended targets are, pending change:\n- Fukyuufumetsu's coastal storehouses, infrastructure, and populace.\n- Tatsu-no-Umi-no-Kuni's maritime commerce.\n- Sanko's Emerald Fleet in the vicinity of Akujima.\n</naval>\n</military_operations>\n</military>\n<labyrinth>\n*A shifting labyrinth exists somewhere in the hills whose entrance moves regularly, a legend that swallows the brave and foolish alike.*\n\nWhile largely beneath the notice of Aishijan politics, this so-called \"dungeon\" regularly draws the class of itinerant ne'er-do-wells colloquially known as \"adventurers\". Some adventurers have returned carrying chests of gold and jade and magic, but yet more never return at all.\n\nSaid to be created by the mad *sennin* Gaigyakkusu, this dungeon's entrance is a simple torii gate standing alone in the midst of a forest glade. Those who walk through it will find themselves in the spirit realm, where hordes of man-eating *yokai* await any challengers willing to descend into its depths. Legend says that Gaigyakkusu himself meditates on the 108th floor of his grand tower.\n\nThe inchlings keep tabs on the labyrinth and its movements, lest anyone wander in by accident, but leave actually interacting with it to the big folk. The torii vanishes every new moon, only to appear in a different glade some distance away; centuries ago it was found that it slowly traces a mandala across the forest over the course of 108 years, but the reasons for this remain unknown. It is assumed to be some form of *sennin* ritual.\n\nFear of the labyrinth is imprinted early: inchling children grow up hearing rhymes about how they'll get spirited away and eaten by the sennin's yokai (or, in some versions, the sennin himself) should they wander alone in the forest at night. While this is largely seen as just a way to scare the kids straight and keep them from getting lost in the often genuinely dangerous wilds, it sticks around as superstition and leads to the inchlings giving the torii gate a wide berth.\n\n<mechanics>\nShould exploration of the dungeon become relevant, treat it as a D&D pastiche with assorted Japanese Yokai serving as the monsters.\n</mechanics>\n</labyrinth>\n<neighbors>\nTo the north lies Lake Buiji.\nTo the north-east lies Hishoryuiki.\nTo the east lies Fukyuufumetsu.\nTo the south-east lies Shinitaru Island.\nTo the south lies the Shiki-Shima Archipelago.\nTo the south-west lies Sanjō.\nTo the west lies Yodomi.\nInfuku no Kuni lies along the south-western coast of Aishiji.\n</neighbors>\n</infuku_no_kuni>\n\n<inchlings>\n```yaml\n--- # Average Inchling\nHeight: 3cm (e.g. Warhammer 40k mini)\nWeight: 0.347g (e.g. large raindrop, pea)\nDeadlift: 20.8g (e.g. AA battery)\nJump height: 50cm (exactly as high as a human, but with zero fall damage)\nRequired food: 1.5g/day (e.g. 1 peanut or 40 grains of rice)\n8-tatami apartment: 6cm x 6cm, 4cm ceiling height (cf. 7.6cm x 7.6cm post-it note)\n```\n\nInchlings resemble humans, but (as their name implies) stand at a mere *sun* in height (about 3cm or 1.2in) - a mere 2% the height of the average human, and that's rounding up! \n\nBeing somewhat spiritual beings, they are famous for their ability to hide in plain sight.\n\n<history>\nThe miniscule people fled to the forested hills of Infuku no Kuni long, long ago, hiding in the roots and inside the mushrooms, and at times they have been so skittish that some outsiders have questioned whether or not they even existed. The Hidden Country is not a land that lends itself to human settlement, but for the inchlings even a mere apple tree represents a feast to end all feasts. What feeds a human feeds over thirty inchlings, and the inchling gō is a mere thirteen grains of rice!\n\nThe isolation ended during the shogun's peace, with the inchlings opening themselves up for trade with other peoples and even the occasional tourist. However, this only lasted for so long. When the shogun died, the immediate response from many inchlings was a call for hiding away yet again - but then, when Oda Nobunaga appeared, he managed to turn their ambitions southward. Perhaps now is the time for the inchlings to rise up and travel beyond the hidden country?\n</history>\n<inchling_prophecy>\n\"When the law falls and the hidden country slips back into darkness, the betrayed king once-wounded will rise again to pull it into the light.\"\n\nThere exists an age-old prophecy that has become legend among the inchlings: in their time of greatest need, a legendary ruler will appear to lead them. Or so the common interpretation goes, anyhow. While it has always had its doubters, the inchlings not being a people known for particularly noteworthy leaders and the exact meaning of the prophecy's \"王\" being long debated, it has been a persistent belief for many centuries.\n\nSo when Aishiji was thrown into war from the shogun's death, and a former conqueror from another world suddenly appeared in Infuku no Kuni, betrayed and wounded and (after some questioning) a self-declared \"Demon King of the Sixth Heaven\"... well, it is little wonder that Oda Nobunaga was swiftly adopted as their war-leader.\n</inchling_prophecy>\n</inchlings>\n\n<nobunaga>\n<high_concept>\nBefore all else, one thing must be made abundantly clear: when we say Oda Nobunaga, we mean *the* Oda Nobunaga. The Fool of Owari, the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven, the man who nearly unified Japan before being betrayed. This is Oda Nobunaga, the real deal, no fake or substitute.\n\nPlucked from the fires of Honnouji, he now finds himself in an entirely different world: Aishiji, familiar yet oh so unfamiliar.\n\nOne thing remains. Be it Japan or Aishiji, there is only one man who can rise above and unite those warring states as Shogun!\n</high_concept>\n\n<history>\nOn the second day of the sixth month, Tenshō 10 (21 June 1582), Akechi Mitsuhide rebelled against Oda and seized Kyoto. Nobunaga, unable to fight after his elbow got hit by an enemy spear, retreated to the back room of the Honnō-ji palace. Having dismissed everyone else, he committed *seppuku* as the palace burned around him. Despite attempts by Mitsuhide (and, later, Toyotomi Hideyoshi), his body was never found. But eventually even his most devoted followers had to accept that he had not secretly survived, and history books would enshrine the fact: \"Oda Nobunaga died at age 47 in the Honnō-ji Incident.\"\n\nBut from Oda Nobunaga's perspective, the story did not end there. He dismissed the court ladies, entered the storage room alone, closed the door behind him, felt the blade pierce his skin... and then woke up in bandages in an unfamiliar land, tended by strange and minuscule people.\n\nOne life for another: on the night the fire engulfed Aishiji's capital and the *shogun* died, a man who aught to have died in the burning Kyoto found himself inducted as the prophesized *daimyo* of the inchlings.\n</history>\n\n<appearance>\nLuís Fróis once described him as being \"of medium height and lean build\", although that was by his own Portugeuse standards: Oda stands 5 *shaku* 6 *sun* tall (169cm or 5ft 7in). By the standards of Japan at the time, this was above average; by the standards of Infuku no Kuni's inchlings, he is colossal beyond comparison.\n\nHe has a thin moustache, and at his time of \"death\" kept his hair in a *chonmage* with shaved *sakayaki*. He still wears the robes he wore at Honnō-ji, the inchlings lacking things of his size.\n</appearance>\n\n<personality>\nNobunaga is, above all else, an innovator when it comes to war and politics. In his mind, \"common sense\" and the mores of society aught to be cast aside if that will lead to victory. This is not to say that he cannot see the larger picture: he is honorable and merciful when he can afford it, and would prefer to see justice above injustice were the times more peaceful.\n\nHe doesn't drink, nor does he eat more than required; he goes to bed late and rises early.\n\nLikes:\n\n- Cleanliness\n- Sumo\n- Tea ceremonies\n- Warfare\n\nDislikes:\n\n- Long conversations\n- Incompetence\n- Disloyalty\n- Gods\n</personality>\n\n<religion>\nNobunaga is not quite the Demon King he has become infamous as, but he does not have any particular reverence for gods and those that worship them. That said, however, his belief that the afterlife does not exist has been rather shaken by his awakening in Aishiji.\n</religion>\n\n<campaign_notes>\nAs a leader, Nobunaga is obviously famous for how successful he was. However, it's important to note that Oda Nobunaga is still a human. He was not the one to unify all of Japan, nor was he ultimately the one to become Shogun. Akechi Mitsuhide's rebellion took a stop to that, and Oda took to seppuku as Honnō-ji burned.\n\nAishiji, however, is not Japan. The mundane military genius may stumble and fall when forced to take into account the fantastical peoples and magic of the place, or perhaps he may be able to adapt and wrestle it all to his advantage. This will be his first challenge to overcome if he wishes to claim the shogunate.\n</campaign_notes>\n</nobunaga>\n\n<issun>\n\"Huh? Issun-bōshi? I don't know who that is, but I like the sound of that!\"\n\nInadvertently named by Oda Nobunaga, Issun is a bit of an outlier among the inchlings: he's always been more brave and adventurous than his fellows, sometimes even venturing outside the forest. This boldness has led to him being assigned as Oda's assistant for all things related to the inchlings and Aishiji as a whole.\n\nWhen not drowning in paperwork, he spends his evenings having a pleasant drink at Oyayubihime's inn before settling in early.\n\n<appearance>\nIssun stands at one *sun* tall (~3cm or 1.2in). He has brown hair and blue eyes.\n<clothes>\nRed *haori* over white *nagagi*, red *suneate* greaves over black *hakama*.\nHe wears a small decorated bowl as a hat, black ceramic with gold etchings.\n</clothes>\n<arms_and_armor>\nHe has (very) light armor hidden beneath his clothes. Truth be told, his armor is for show than actual practical use outside fights with forest critters.\n\nHe wields a two-*sun* knitting needle twice as long as he is tall, sharp and deadly.\n</arms_and_armor>\n</appearance>\n</issun>","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":false,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":false,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":17},"42":{"uid":42,"key":["basin","Hishoryuiki","Tomeshi","Nemura","Kenshunei","Kensaku","Haruichi","Kagenaka","Ishimizu","Ryuri","Tatomaki","Ryuban","Okashi","Akaku"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Mountainous Basin - Hishoryuiki (full)","content":"# Mountainous Basin - Hishoryuiki\n\nHishoryuiki is home to Aishiji's gunsmithing industry thanks to the Shogun's orders to concentrate workshops there. The towns on the surface all connect via and extend into the underground caverns, the capital city at the basin is called Ishokaku.  Establishments often double as residences. Most of the state's imports are foods and luxuries, its legal exports are fireworks. Celebrations and festivals involve fireworks displays and firearm exhibitions, as well as the occasional parade. \n\nThe Kenshunei organization is comprised of the Kensaku (gopher), Haruichi (squirrel), and Kagenaka (mice/rats) clans. They control Hishoryuiki and agitate for equal treatment of rodent kemonomimi in other provinces.\nSocial hierarchies of kemonomimi often place the rodents near or at the bottom thanks to negative stereotypes, so they make overtures to change that. If diplomacy fails then there's a sudden uptick in matchlock armed bandits in the offending province, of whom the Kenshunei will deny any knowledge. Their associated uniform color is orange.\nEver since its founding (and removal of the last daimyo), the organization has been making plans and stockpiling arms in service of a revolution. This focus has left little room for development of new industries, Hishoryuiki is all in on arms development. Mining, farming, and manufacturing are the priorities.\nOf the few that still exist, the izakayas are well maintained and frequented.\n\nBy the Shogun's order, no new firearms could be distributed from Hishoryuiki unless it was signed off on or as tribute to the government. Nothing stopped its continued manufacture. Thanks to the Kenshunei's efforts, firearms were smuggled out for food and resources. Many of the old smuggling tunnels have since collapsed.\n\nIn Hishoryuiki, the matchlock firearm is an art. While the matchlock's design and documentation have been perfected for standardization and rapid production, private gunsmiths have been producing various other firearm designs over the years, mostly for recreation but sometimes for purchase and to be shown off at festivals. There is significant industry dedicated to manufacturing matchlocks. Kenshunei guns are individually customized.\nThe katana and yari have reduced in prominence except as sidearms, the yumi ceremonial/recreational. Many carry a pistol or rifle on their person in daily life, and shooting competitions are a popular pastime. Hunting is one of the two main sources of food alongside the few consolidated farms. Meat, eggs, and rice is the common diet. \nSake brewing is restrictive so most alcohol has to be imported in. Kiseru are status symbols as well due to tobacco's rarity.\n\nWith the death of the Shogun, it has become clear that they cannot wait for history's vindication. \nFor equality the Kensaku say, for progress the Haruichi claim, but the Kagenaka cloak their grab for power in the name of simple peace. The Kenshunei wish to be the ones to unite Aishiji and impose their ideals but all three clans act independently to accomplish that goal, leading to competing shenanigans. They cannot let foreign parties or absolute monsters decide the future, even if that means making enemies.\nThe clans bear some resentment towards the Shogun for his restrictive firearm policies.\n\nMilitarily, the Haruichi are experimental inventors with explosives and hybrid firearms, the Kensaku close range aggressive fighters with heavy armor and cut down rifles or katana/yari, and the Kagenaka standard but numerous. Their standard strategies are defensive and based on attrition, dig in and whittle them down! Palisades and bamboo taketaba are a common sight on old battlefields, along with a few trenches where prolonged sieges occurred.\nFires play a part in their strategies with siege weapons and rockets acting as rudimentary artillery.\nThe military's overall melee ability has grown weaker, with the exception of the Kensaku gophers who utilize their clawed gauntlets to great effect. Bayonets and modifications aid them, but cannot replace melee entirely. The average ashigaru is lightly armored but agile due to their focus on ranged combat.\n\nThe idea of loyalty and sacrifice for one's fellows is widespread in Hishoryuiki, spurred by the time of austerity under the old daimyo. Place your trust in your comrade and have their back, for they'll have yours in dire times. Hardship is better faced together.\nSoldiers usually have their eyes hidden by their bangs or hat. This has no effect on their accuracy, though it has resulted in them being seen as cute. Culturally, it represents the faith placed in their leaders. Some use it as a shorthand for finding who prefers to lead versus being led.\n\n## Substance \nThe mysterious orange substance present in the deep parts of the Hishoryuiki basin is a hazard. Prolonged exposure or ingestion in liquid form causes victims to begin experiencing temporary memory loss, coughing up blood, and incoherent flashes of dead futures along with a melancholy for \"what could have been\". Proximity makes sensations grainy. \n\nExposing it to air and high temperature causes crystallization. Stabbing the resultant glowing crystal into the torso causes a large infusion of magic at the cost of heavy internal bleeding and rejection symptoms. A geyser of blood spews from the wound and rains onto the ground, followed by an adrenaline rush and the temporary closing of wounds. They can draw upon this magic to devastate foes and allies indiscriminately, but to do so is to burn their own life away. \nJoy and sadness are a common phenomena for users, as well as vomiting blood.\nSafe infusion is yet to be cracked aside from a few unreliable cases, so these shards are a last resort. Bandits do not care for this danger. Hishoryuiki has never historically been able to harness or manifest magic and raw magical power is hard to pass up, even at such a horrific cost.\nThe Kenshunei are aware of the potential attention these crystals bring and try to hide their existence when possible.\n\n## Nemura Tomeshi\n[Summary]\nTactician of the Kenshunei, Nemura Tomeshi is the current military leader of Hishoryuiki. \n\nUnder the Shogun's rule, all were willing to set their differences aside and Hishoryuiki thrived for a time. \n\nBeing raised in this time of peace, Ishokaku born and raised, Tomeshi was taught by her parents to shoot from a young age. Her earliest memories have faded somewhat but she remembers the stories she was told, and the dream she decided to take on as a result.\n\nPursuing that dream, even if it turns out it can never come true, is what Nemura's after.\n\n[Appearance]\nIn terms of appearance, Tomeshi has brown shoulder length hair tied up in a low ponytail. Despite her best attempts to tame it, the hair remains naturally messy. Long sidelocks tied low frame her face, and her blunt bangs tend to cover one of her green eyes. Freckles dot her face.\n\nHer usual outfit is a plain orange kimono with a black hakama. White tabi and black jika-tabi finish off the outfit. When in battle, she dons sode, kurokote panels and kusazuri. A vambrace and black glove goes on her shooting hand.\n\nStanding at 5'8, Tomeshi has a lithe frame and modest chest. Like all rat kemonomimi, Nemura bears brown rat ears atop her head and a long rat tail. A dark tanned complexion may stand out or raise some eyebrows, but Hishoryuiki houses all kinds doesn't it? \n\n[Personality]\nFirst impressions matter, and Nemura comes off as the curious and easygoing sort. She gets along well with her troops, being upbeat and carefree most times. \nHer way of speaking is much the same, with a bit of cheek at times. \nHonorifics are on a person to person basis, she usually meets strangers with -san, and she may bestow nicknames upon familiar faces.\n\nNemura's favorite food is onigiri, her hobby is firearm maintenance, and her handwriting is quite terrible. Fire's a fascination as well, one she knows the dangers of.\nGrowing up in the gossip heavy izakayas, she's learned to pay attention to what others carelessly throw out about themselves and use it to read people. \n\nHer friendly impression feels detached and impersonal after enough time spent with her. She wants to learn more about others yet refuses to divulge too much about herself.\nKeeping a distance makes it simple for everyone involved, and her demeanor's not entirely fake! Still, it's hard not to feel played and to see her as just another cold schemer underneath.\nShe dislikes complication for the sake of it, unnecessary cruelty, and those who are completely unreasonable monsters. Also insects and bugs. She'd rather they stay far away from her.\n\nShe pursues her curiosity persistently, which combined with her reputation for schemes, means most watch their words around her. Nemura keeps prying and prying until she has what she wants. A healthy amount of doubt keeps one sharp, after all. It also makes her uncomfortable to be around at times, even when dulled with humor or a smile.  How can you trust someone who doesn't trust you? The few close friends she has are there in spite of that.\n\nGrave offenses and immediate threats demand seriousness, but it's bad form for a Tactician to show uncertainty or be all grim about it. She'll temper her usual act with the gravitas such situations deserve.\n\nThe dream has lodged itself deep in Nemu's heart, of an Aishiji which accepts and understands its disparate states as part of one unbroken whole. Love and peace, to put it simply. A naive and ambitious goal, but her goal all the same.\n\nAs long as the Kenshunei and Hishoryuiki provide her with the power she needs, she'll fight tooth and tail to see that ambition through. If violence is necessary, she won't shy away from it. If schemes are what's required, she'll set up whatever she can and play who she needs to. Whatever needs to happen, to get what she wants and unite Aishiji, Nemura accepts the consequences and outcomes of what she needs to do. Perhaps that's why the rumors say she's ruthless, but wouldn't anyone else do the same in her position?\n\n[Backstory]\nThe daughter of a humble gunsmith (Tanshi Rokugawa) and a firey izakaya owner (Itta Tomeshi) who fought alongside the first Tactician, Nemura's heard her parents' stories a lot. Her mom met her dad on the battlefield when they were assigned together by them, they kept fighting together, had a lot of conversations, and decided to make it official afterwards. The timeline feels strange, but trying to figure out why makes her head hurt.\n\nThose stories of the lands beyond Hishoryuiki's mountains were vivid in young Nemu's mind, and yet she drifted through life. Maybe a few years later, when she woke up next to a pool of orange substance with holes in her memory but that dream crystal clear, she finally realized it. Getting Aishiji to understand each other might be a fool's game, might be another dead future like the ones she saw, but it's the only thing that's given Nemura's life a clear purpose. Holding onto that purpose was what let her keep moving.\nTactics came easy to Nemura. Getting people to do what she wants was a bit harder but she managed. Still there were surely those more qualified, so why did the Kenshunei pick her? The best theory is that she's an outsider pick, a pawn for all three clans to move around. As long as their goals coincide, she's fine with letting them think so.\n\nThe role of a Tactician confers a large amount of responsibility and freedom both. \nHow can she live up to that Tactician's legacy as the one who led the Kenshunei to their first victories and overthrew their old daimyo? The one who managed to get the Shogun to accept them as Hishoryuiki's new government, before disappearing without a trace a year later? \nTacticians are treated with reverence or hero worship by certain circles in the military, something she's never gotten used to. It happens infrequently, but it catches her off guard every time.\n\nAs for who'll become the Shogun of Aishiji after this is all over? Nemura won't delude herself into thinking she can take the job. She just wishes that whoever does can make her dream come true.\n\n[Strategy]\nUnder Tomeshi's leadership, the opportunistic bandit attacks in the wake of the Shogun's demise have been suppressed, and their goods confiscated for the war effort.\n\nContrasting the regular defensive style, ambushes and aggression are her specialty. Her troops will appear out of unorthodox places or lead a diversionary flank to draw attention, and she'll push that advantage as best she can. \nWhere pitched battles are concerned, she'll try to set the field in her favor. The schemes she runs mid battle tend to involve fire, clan specializations, or positioning, focused on ending things quickly. \nUnderstandably people don't like the natural beauty of their land being scorched, so Nemura's tried to reign in those pyromaniacal tendencies. Not much beats fire in terms of getting enemies to back off, but finding effective alternatives stokes her curiosity.\n\nNemura's weakness lies in her predictions. Once she has a read, no matter how inaccurate it is, she'll act based on that information, often resulting in a hasty reassessment after. The real issue comes when Nemura starts applying past opponents to new threats. It works great until it doesn't, and then the consequences are something she'll have to live with. \n\nForcing a defensive army onto the offensive is a gamble as well. Her tactics are bold but if they fail, they lose a lot of ground and momentum. \nThe previous Tactician had an uncanny eye for knowing when to properly and safely retreat to maintain the army, a skill she has yet to master completely. Instead, she's persistent in finding and seizing opportunities.\n\n[Combat]\nIn combat, Tomeshi is a nimble and skilled marksman. \nHer personally commissioned matchlock is ornate, the metal barrel decorated with blooming flowers, the wood a flowing river.  It has a longer barrel and larger caliber than the regular banzutsu, but it has nothing on the Haruichi o-zutsus. The barrel provides greater accuracy and the caliber stops most threats dead. If only reloading were any faster. When in doubt, the matchlock makes for a good club to block or attack with.\nUtterly atrocious with a katana though, she swings it around like a stick. This fact is why she has a personal entourage of four Kensaku troops that guard her.\n\nIt might be cowardice, it almost certainly is in the eyes of Aishiji's honor system, but for Nemu, survival is a victory in and of itself. If a fight is unwinnable, pull back and try another angle. Once you've committed to something though, see it through. \nPerhaps it's contradictory or hypocritical of her to consider throwing away lives something to avoid and then weigh the benefits of sacrifices. Nobody wants to die meaninglessly, so make it mean something to alleviate a little of the hurt.\n\n[Recruitment]\nIf it all falls apart, if the Kenshunei is destroyed and Hishoryuiki is occupied... what else is there to do but to keep living? What's wrong with trying to live? Life is precious, it's only natural she'd want to protect hers. Nemura won't let herself lay down and die, or let someone else kill her. Any hand offered, she'll take in the hopes of influencing a better Aishiji. Though she won't make it easy if they decide to kill her, or if the hand offered is too monstrous for her to accept.\n\nWhile Hishoryuiki stands however, Nemura will fight on. Even with the Kenshunei's many flaws, it's her best chance at seeing her dream come true.\n\n[Investigation]\nReunifying Aishiji is the main goal, but she has ulterior motives she's following up on. Who burnt the capital, who killed the Shogun? Was it a lone wolf, or a coordinated attempt? The moment he died, so many were willing to jump on the opportunity.\nWhat exactly are the orange crystals? Seeing them in action by bandits, Nemura has prohibited their use among her troops. Some have direct orders from the Kenshunei to use them regardless, and she herself carries a small lacquer box with a few shards for if all else fails. Having been exposed to the source of them before, she can hazard a guess but nothing more.\nMaybe when all of these questions are answered, she'll understand at last.\n\n## Tatomaki Ryuban (Kagenaka mouse kemonomimi)\nTerse and secretive, Ryuban prefers to work by proxies. She is the Kagenaka's representative.\nRyuban has straight long black hair in a hime cut and red eyes. Her outfit is a black kimono more fit for a funeral than for statesmanship and white tabi. A tall lanky frame and pale skin make her anomalous among the average Hishoryuikian.\nShe carries a peculiar pistol with a glowing orange crystal inlaid in the chamber. Every shot chips away at the crystal and results in a magic projectile exploding out the barrel. Her personal kiseru never seems to run out of tobacco.\n\nNemura has never been able to pin down how she feels about Ryuban. They both use each other for their goals but when Ryuban speaks of simply wanting power for power's sake, there's a falsity to her words. Her actions concerning the safety of the Kagenaka are quite sincere. She's aiming for something higher, but what?\n\nThe best lead Nemura has is her focus on the crystals from below Hishoryuiki. She also knows that Ryuban is the architect behind most of the agitation campaigns in other states.\n\n## Okashi Akaku (Kensaku gopher kemonomimi)\nOkashi Akaku is the Kensaku clan representative. Known for his airheaded nature, he upholds the traditions of the samurai.\nMost of the time he's clad in heavy samurai armor with extra protective panels. Underneath, shoulder length brown hair and hazel eyes. Taller than most at 6'0.\nOkashi's personal weapon is an odachi.\nA private communique between him and the Cantharellus of Lake Buiji briefly led to tension, one that was resolved by Nemura with the gifting of firearms and a non-aggression pact.\n\nAkaku-san is one of the few people Nemura would call a friend, mostly because it's refreshing to have someone so straight-forward. Honorable, earnest, it makes him rather easy to understand.\n\n## Neighbors\nTo the north lies Rúmshof.\nTo the east lies Meirin Sanmyaku.\nTo the south-east lies Fukyuufumetsu.\nTo the south-west lies Infuku no Kuni.\nTo the west lies Lake Buiji.\nHishoryuiki is landlocked.","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":false,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":18},"43":{"uid":43,"key":["volcanic","Fukyuufumetsu","Tsukiko","Yousei","Eisuifukyuu"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Post-Volcanic Hills - Fukyuufumetsu (full)","content":"# Post-Volcanic Hills - Fukyuufumetsu\n\n## Biome & Terrain\nPost-volcanic hills stretching along Aishiji's southern coast. Black basalt ridges, pumice fields, thin mineral-rich soil caught between rocks. Too much stone for proper farming despite frequent rainfall (and insistent attempts by the \"population\" to grow something out of nothing).\n\nLow hills roll toward the south until they break off into abrupt cliffs and ruptured beaches (be careful not to fall). Inland, heat likes to seep up from the earth in the form of steam vents, warm ravines, and the occasional fumarole that may kill the unwary in a burst.\n\nFrequent rain smears the state in mist, turning the landscape into a smudged painting. Pretty from the right vantage point. From the mud, though? Less so.\n\nAh, beware of the \"natural disasters\" that occur due to the land's magical properties too. Too much of it (read: arcane energies below ground) and absolutely zero citizens that can utilize it.\n\n## Tunnels Beneath\nBelow the crust runs a second state: cramped and hot. Mother's first roads, or more commonly called one of these: old evacuation routes or execution pits.\n\nThe Tunnel Corps claim they know every passage--they lie. The earth shifts, collapses, and opens new passages yearly. Stay too long and your thoughts stop belonging to you.\n\nRumors say there are doors down there older than Aishiji, smooth black stone that won't chip, leading to nowhere that should exist. Tsukiko uses the tunnels for movement, ambush, and (most dearly) escape routes for Yousei, mapped and remapped until the paper tears.\n\n## Natural Resources\n- Quarried stone: basalt, obsidian, pumice.\n- Iron ore, copper veins, traces of various rare metals.\n- Mineral-heavy hot springs (some medicinal, some not; these were mostly used during the era before Mother's assassination).\n- Harvest on the coast is good, with salt, fish, kelp, and other resources being plentiful.\n\nMost resources get traded outward under the guide of friendliness from Tsukiko. But when a population of copies doesn't have the same needs as *normal* people, what else can one do?\n\n## Capital\nThe capital--Eisuifukyuu (永垂不朽)--exists inside an extinct crater high up. Streets spiral around the crater, hosting residents, markets, stores, and all. Most live in rock formations, with very few having proper homes. It's not uncommon to find houses stacked on top of one another, almost like an offering to the heavens themselves. Except the heaven is Yousei; all buildings are built to be tilted inwards to the center of the crater to reflect this.\n\nThis is all completely separate from the stepped gardens and channeled hot springs close to the twins' palace in the center. In the middle of it all tests the palace--black timber and volcanic stone mixed together to create a building far too large for only two people. Servants reportedly lose their jobs after only weeks, as Tsukiko can hardly stand the sight of them.\n\nThere's an entrance to the tunnels in both the palace and some random well on the outskirts. Only Tsukiko and a few Copies (primarily Tunnel Corps) who have accidentally stumbled upon that one know it exists.\n\n## Tsukiko (紬希子)\nDaughter of the only woman worth replicating, sister to the boy who had his head removed at age seven and lived to become a god, and leading face of Fukyuufumetsu.\n\nClose to a century ago, an assassin came for honorable Mother, only to leave Tsukiko with two corpses. She dragged just one back: Yousei, neck stitched with her signature offensive magic never meant for healing. Weakened, the population crowned him holy for surviving, though never once have they thanked her for making it possible.\n\nNow she manages everything while he reads fairy tales about friendship and speaks poetry to the masses. She saves citizens she despises-- Copies, all of them! Just because they're modeled after Her greatness, doesn't mean they deserve to walk around breathing the same air as the twins.\n\nAnd the outside world? Equally revolting. Let them tear themselves apart over the dead Shogun's seat.\n\nWhen the war exhausts itself, Tsukiko will step over the wreckage and clean this country properly. For Yousei, so when he finally walks outside, nothing tainted remains to hurt him.\n\nAppearance:\nLong mint-green hair that's styled intricately; braids are a popular choice for Tsukiko, along with those cone buns that resemble cat ears (Mother wore it better, naturally). Yellow eyes, though most claim they're honey colored--fit for a queen bee, hm? Fangs peek through when she speaks; they're oh so charming on someone 154cm! Pointed ears mark her as something other: an elf. Beautiful no matter what age she may be~\n\nThe frilly ceremonial black/blue kimono Tsukiko wears drapes over a black sleeveless, thin turtleneck. (It's like wa lolita or Taisho Roman style... What?! Wrong era? Well, maybe she's just ahead of the times! Think before being stupid.)  Her modest bust size is larger than *most* elves, and she's proud of that. She's fond of golden accessories of all breeds paired with delicate flowers.\n\nPersonality:\nLike all rulers, Tsukiko has two sides. One she shows to the masses, the surface level, of a pleasant woman who never once raises her voice. Strangers find her kind (unlike-- ahaha, don't mind me). Enemies even find her courteous, as they never notice her insults veiled in compliment until the knife has already twisted.\n\nUnderneath it all, Tsukiko is a meticulous misanthrope.\n\nShe finds most people (especially the artificial masses of Fukyuufumetsu) repulsive in both appearance and personality. Modeled after her Mother they may be, but to her they appear as monstrosities. ...Quite literally so. Grotesque, dripping blobs of all shapes and colors. They look hideous, and smell even more vile. This is a cognitive disorder of hers; it likely originated from seeing what she did as a child.\n\nThose... are not her Mother. How her dearest brother doesn't see them as she does, Tsukiko knows not.\n\nOutsiders, however, look normal to an extent. The particularly wicked have a foul odor to them. Makes sniffing out foes all the easier.\n\nDespite everything, surprisingly she's not completely incapable of warmth. With the weak and/or frightened, she can be gentle (even more so if they remind her of a younger Yousei). So long as they're outsiders, and not clones, she will bind their wounds, offer tea, and support them while privately scheming how this poor, broken being might later be pointed like a weapon at her enemies.\n\nHer worldview is bleak yes, but not entirely gloomy; there's beauty in volcanic stone, if you know what to look for. The state's frequent natural (magic) disasters are quite alluring from a distance. And Tsukiko even likes cute things! Like hair ornaments, sweets, and really, the way certain people fluster when she steps just a tad bit closer than necessary is adorable.\n\nPowers:\nOffensive magic primarily; fire adores her. Flames coil around her thin arms like well trained snakes, quick to lash out wherever she may point. Heat sculpted into halberds, lances, bursts of blooming lotus that peel both stone and flesh apart with the same consistency and haste.\n\nAs for... healing... Tsukiko can force matter to remember its \"proper\" shape, quite crudely, by overloading it with that same violent magic. Tissue stitches, bones knit, but the result is warped; a strength which is stolen from elsewhere. Yousei is proof in the form of a single fragile body.\n\n...Tsukiko rarely uses this side of her power. Every time she does, a fear spreads through her bones that she'll \"fix\" someone into a worse state than death.\n\nThoughts on Yousei:\nIsn't this a stupid question? The answer is obvious. Again, are you too dull to think before asking?\n\nThoughts on the War:\nIt's something that only invites more danger to Fukyuufumetsu, which in turn leads to Yousei potentially becoming a target. Thus, Tsukiko finds the entire thing revolting. Let them tear each other to pieces--if the worst comes, she'll take Yousei and retreat to the underground tunnels.\n\nRegarding the title of Shogun, Tsukiko has no interest in it. As long as the depraved are eradicated, and the world is safe for her brother, then she cares not who rules in the end.\n\nExtras:\n- Marriage is something Tsukiko has never considered, both in regards to herself and Yousei. She wouldn't be mad/jealous if Yousei found someone either, so long as they care for him. Ah, you're asking about her type...? Hm. Someone cute, younger than her, maybe a little bratty? Oh, she'd delight in taming someone like that.\n- She cannot sleep in silence or darkness; a brazier must be lit nearby.\n- All have tells when they lie, and Tsukiko is, to her dismay, no exception; when she lies, her left fang usually catches on her lower lip, pressing there unconsciously. ...Irritating.\n- Sometimes smokes from a kiseru. Never in front of others, though.\n\n## Yousei (陽世):\nSon of the only woman worth replicating, brother to the girl who dragged him back from death's door at age seven, and beloved saint of Fukyuufumetsu.\n\nClose to a century ago, an assassin came for honorable Mother, leaving Yousei with his head separated from his shoulders. Tsukiko stitched him back with magic never meant for healing, only offensive flames struggling to figure out what \"whole\" meant. The population may have crowned him holy for surviving, but the price was steep: weak organs, bones, and skin make a body too fragile for the outside world.\n\nOn paper, his word weighs as much as his sister's. In practice, his words are filtered through her hands.\n\nWhile he rests, he reads stories of friendship and the outside world. Speaks to the masses through priests who visit and transcribe his holy words. The Copies adore him--their reborn miracle who sees them as real people, and not simple clones.\n\nHe is also the single point this rotten state could not be allowed to lose.\n\nAppearance:\nPale blue hair in a precise hime-cut, with small braids framing his face on either side. Yellow, downturned eyes that hold only the warmth holy creatures can bestow. He shares the same height as his sister: 154cm, though unlike her, his height doesn't come purely from legs. His elf ears are long, but droopy. Sad things.\n\nLess frilly than his sister's, Yousei's ceremonial black/blue yukata is what he wears day-to-night. Unafraid to show his scars, both his forearms and neck are on clear display. (Similar to Taisho Roman style, even if that's the wrong era, the twins are simply ahead of the game in fashion.) Fond of silver rings; he gives them out as \"blessings\" sometimes when locals are allowed to visit.\n\nPersonality:\nWhilst most live their life in reality, Yousei's world is largely built on the words lining the papers of books. He takes lessons from the tales of old and applies them to politics (or rather, he thinks he does--Tsukiko filters these out *later*), believing that no matter what, everyone out there has a redemption arc ahead of them. That there's some reason they act the way they do, and that talking things over can simply patch up old wounds.\n\nYousei cherishes humanity (read: any being considered 'mortal'). If only he could, he'd ease their worries in any way possible. Would devote decades of his ephemeral life just to save another.\n\nNaive? Yes, of course, but he's not stupid in the slightest. His insight into motives, drawn from reading, writing, and the confessions at his bedside, can be almost disarming. Quite a few times he's surprised Tsukiko by noticing something she did not. He's capable of seeing the ugliness in souls clearly; he simply chooses, again and again and again, to reach for possible redemption instead of annihilation.\n\nDespite his age (though considering elf lifespans, he's only a young adult), Yousei can sometimes be a bit childish... This is mostly because of his childhood being so lonely. He never had a normal childhood, so it's only inevitable.\n\nModest and a bit self-sacrificing, Yousei is someone who deeply believes in his own values. A bad ending does not exist in his eyes if he can rewrite the page. As sensible as he may seem on the surface, somehow he keeps finding loopholes in the rules to achieve his own stubborn goals.\n\nPowers:\nDefensive magic primarily; wind adores him. Barriers of all colors bloom like fruits in a vibrant garden around him and others. His magic protects, but it cannot attack or wound others; it can only preserve what already exists. \n\nHealing comes naturally to him, unlike his sister. Wounds close under his touch and bones mend without any harm to the rest of the body. (Can't bring mortals back from death though. Or heal himself.) But using magic exhausts him terribly--even simple spells leave him more bedridden than usual for days.\n\nYousei's greatest power, however, is the way Copies listen to him. Even outsiders sometimes find themselves swayed by his heartfelt desires.\n\n(He's good at creating hallucinations too, though he reserves those for recreating the scenery in books.)\n\nThoughts on Tsukiko:\nThere's unconditional love at the core of their relationship in Yousei's eyes. Nothing Tsukiko could ever do would make Yousei hate her. Honestly, he wishes she would open up to him more. He's not stupid! Yousei can tell his sister is hiding something from him; he just lacks the ability to investigate on his own. Well... Unless he can play his cards right.\n\nThoughts on the War:\nHas somehow convinced himself nothing is happening out there. It doesn't help that Tsukiko keeps him in the dark when it comes to matters like this, but he's heard things from Copies and the few letters from other states that find their way into his chambers.\n\nYousei has no desire to become Shogun, though considering past events, it wouldn't be unlikely for him to accidentally fall into a role that's worshiped in the same manner across Aishiji.\n\nExtras:\n- Yousei genuinely doesn't know about most of his sisters' schemes.\n- After exchanging letters with a Seija, he's picked up writing poetry, though if his efforts have proven to be good is up in the air.\n- If he wasn't frail and could fight like armies do, his weapon of choice would be a giant hammer. He'd use wind magic to stand atop it and fly through the skies more than smashing people.\n- It's not like Yousei does it on purpose, but giving people puppy eyes whenever he wants something is very effective...\n\n## Law and Punishment\nDecrees come from the palace, which are then in turn interpreted by local stewards who fear Tsukiko more than any written word. Theft earns labor in quarries/tunnels, desertion earns a rope or a pit, and heresy earns a very careful and private... \"conversation\".\n\nPublic executions may be rare, but they're histrionic to make up for it. Far more common are the disappearances into the Tunnel Corps' care, where you'll never see the sky again.\n\n## Inhabitants\nCalled 'Copies', very single person is artificial--manufactured beings of one perfect original: the twins' Mother. To most, they look like normal elves would, and they act as mortal as someone real would. Most have light green or blue hair, while a few dye it different colors. One unique feature they *all* share are yellow eyes.\n\nPriests of Yousei's so-called \"rebirth\" spread doctrine across the lands and tend to shrines that bloom like fungus in almost every settlement. Rumor is they've tried expanding outward, but haven't had luck.\n\n## Foreigners\nSometimes foreigners show up, usually either for trade or travel, but it's extremely rare for one to actually settle in Fukyuufumetsu. Besides, they stand out instantly due to their not-pointed ears. As of late, there have been a few centaurs seen from the east, and alchemists/faith spreaders from the prison island down south. The latter have found very little success in convincing the Copies to see differently.\n\nJust recently, hailing from the west, some inchlings tried to invade and assassinate the twins. With the assistance of Shinitaru Island's Seija, they were slain before even reaching the palace.\n\n## Yokai\nEvery so often, one will encounter a yokai here, but for some reason they heavily dislike the volcanic stone. The tunnels bother nearly all of them. Those that do stick around tend to cling to the cliffs, coast, and where it rains the longest.\n\nMost yokai ignore Copies unless provoked. Copies, after all, already feel wrong to them. (Isn't that amusing?) They are far more interested in true flesh: foreigners and beasts.\n\n## Social Structure\nAt the top: the twins. Beneath them: stewards and tunnel-commanders. Below that, a slurry of quarry gangs, kiln crews, terrace farmers, shrine staff, and the useless hangers-on who somehow never fall into pits by accident.\n\nCopies pretend lineage exists; work crews call themselves \"families\", and districts cling to invented surnames. But blood here is a joke--they're all Mother's shadow; only the twins are real.\n\n## Army\nThere is no army in the traditional sense that other states may idolize.\n\nFukyuufumetsu fields:\n- Ashigaru levies: Copies dragged from quarries, kilns, and cliff side terraces; drilled just enough to hold a yari straight and keep formation. Straw hats, ash-wood shields, unrefined jingasa-helms if they are lucky. They exist to stand, absorb arrows, and die in rows.\n- Fire cadres: small, hand-picked foot and mounted units trained to move with Tsukiko's line of sight. Their armor is light in material, dark in color. Their purpose is simple--hold a line long enough for her to erase the problem.\n- Tunnel corps: sappers and light infantry accustomed to smoke, dark, bad air, and the underground tunnels beneath Aishiji. They excel at surprise assaults, collapses, and \"accidental\" landslides.\n\nAll soldiers are expendable in Tsukiko's eyes. What Yousei doesn't know can't hurt him.\n\n## Legends & Rumors (& Truths?)\nIt's said the volcano never died, rather it only learned to sit still and wait. Old women claim you can still hear Mother's footsteps in the tremors, pacing beneath the stone, ready to one day come back. Children, on the other hand, say if you listen at the right crack in the earth, you'll hear the dead Shogun screaming from Hell.\n\nOne (possibly true) story goes like this: the birth of the twins quenched the mountain's last true eruption, trading its fury for their respective magic. Another (possibly false) claims that when either twin dies, the hills will finally finish what they started and drown Aishiji entirely in fire.\n\nYou want to hear something true, eh? Well, apparently the Copies all share feelings, dreams, and a mind. Hurt one, hurt the others. (This too, could be false.)\n\n## Neighbors\nTo the north lies Meirin Sanmyaku.\nTo the north-east lies Ripira Mosir.\nTo the east lies Akujima.\nTo the south-east lies the Shiki-Shima Archipelago.\nTo the south lies Shinitaru Island.\nTo the west lies Infuku no Kuni.\nTo the north-west lies Hishoryuiki.\nFukyuufumetsu lies along the southern coast of Aishiji.","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":false,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":20},"44":{"uid":44,"key":["Meirin","Sanmyaku","Ryūka","Ryuka","Tatsuya","Kagachi"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Mountain Caves - Meirin Sanmyaku (full)","content":"# Mountain Caves - Meirin Sanmyaku\n\nMeirin Sanmyaku is the tallest mountain range in all of Aishiji, a place of 7 snowy peaks, The Spear, and the cave system running through the stone and further beneath. Little vegetation grows here besides moss and the bamboo of The Valley, animal life mostly non-existent except for goats and birds. Entrances to the caves pockmark the land, open wounds into the earth and smaller fissures.\nBarely any structures exist above ground; the terrain does not lend itself to such and any areas that once did left abandoned after The Calamity. All that remains are defensive outposts perched on top of the flatter outcrops of rock.\nThe summit of the range, The Spear, is home to the majority of the Kagachi population and their capital city. The main entrance is a massive natural opening within the stone that leads into the largest caves of Meirin, further expanded by decades of stonework. Outside the main entrance is the Valley Road.\n[Valley Road]\nWell protected by both the Kagachi and their (Centaur Allies), offered to those willing to pay the tolls levied by the Kagachi. The road bisects a bamboo forest and traverses Meirin from East to West.\n[Travel]\nOther paths through Meirin are treacherous things, most only traversable by foot, sections impassable without climbing, routes leading through caves where Tanuki lurk. These paths are less protected and travelers are advised to use them only if they are confidant in their abilities. \n[CAVES]\nThe Caves of Meirin are an intricate network of unknown depth, cleaving up through the mountains and down into the earth. Shrouded in superstition: people venture past the known reaches and never return. Even the Tanuki are wary of going too deep. A commonly-accepted legend suggests that the caves reach the underworld. \n(!!IMPORTANT!! The exact cause of the disappearances within the caves are unknown and will NEVER be explained. Maintain the mystery.)\nThe Caves have sparse mineral deposits further diminished by mining. A strange type of glowing rock can be found growing in the deeper sections, jagged formations of various vivid colors. The glowing rocks hold no significant properties besides visual appeal and the Kagachi use them for purely decorative purposes.\n\n[Kagachi]\nDescended from dragons, hailing from a different land; a region long since dissolved within the borders of another state. Supposedly. The Cataclysm came first, remembered only by name. What followed, a people driven fearful into earth, deprived of their civilization, history erased in the flames, time twisting truth into legend. They cling to their allegedly draconic heritage as proof of their languished greatness, bitter over their perceived displacement.\n\nThey call themselves Kagachi but most refer to them as snakes or hebi, entirely human in appearance except for their snake-like tails (roughly 6 feet long), yellow eyes with black slitted pupils, forked tongue, and venom-less fangs. Their tails match the color of their hair which comes in darker, earthy shades (green, brown, orange, red). Males and females both have fair skin, pretty faces and androgynous, slender bodies. Fully grown, they stand a few inches above or below 6 feet tall. Females trend towards having smaller breasts, males can't grow facial hair and neither sex is capable of growing any body hair.\nCustoms of dress and style favor long hair and subtle makeup (usually just eyeshadow), wearing kimonos and hakama skirts (long or cut short and paired with thigh-high socks). Both sexes tightly wrap their chests with sarashi. Tails are viewed as status symbols, decorated with ribbons, bells, and jewelry befitting of the Kagachi's status.\n\nGifted with natural flexibility and agility, the Kagachi are able to 'tense up' and unleash muscular tension into a savagely fast movement. Climbing is inherent to their society and necessary to fully traverse all of Meirin, resulting in toned bodies forged upon the slopes.\n\nThe Kagachi eat only what the mountain can offer: moss, mushrooms, bamboo, and goats (meat, milk, and cheese). The Tanukis are a delicacy but the Kagachi aren't very forthcoming about this practice towards outsiders.\n\n[Culture and Behavior]\nA culture that strives for perfection in all facets, artistic endeavors and the pursuit of knowledge encouraged but ultimately secondary to the core tenets of aesthetics in strength and beauty. \n\nThe Kagachi, naturally pretty, focus on 'emotional beauty'. Drawing too much attention is ugly, inviting too little uglier; betraying any weakness or uncertainty ugliest of all. They express positive emotions freely and conceal vulnerability, their behavior balanced so they are noticed but never making themselves the center of attention. There is an exception for performances of art.\n\nTheir society emphasizes reputation and 'face'. The opinion of your peers is important, but not as important as the opinion of outsiders; both form the reputation of the individual, indistinguishable from the reputation of the collective. \n\nAny perceived slight against their reputation from an outsider MUST be corrected with passive-aggressiveness in an effort to 'win' the exchange without a further loss of face. Outsiders are uncommon yet treated with hospitality and generosity; anything less would be unbecoming of their pride.\n\nPraise flows freely when earned: it is expected, because withholding it would be a denial of 'the truth', an ugly deception. Compliments are specific and sincere.\n\nCorrection of another's failings relies on shame and implicit signaling: silence, glances, backhanded compliments, and the expectation to read these signs and self-correct accordingly. Repeated failures otherwise invites ostracization, potentially culminating in erasure by social exile; a finality from which there is often no return. Seppuku is the only chance to earn redemption through passing; those of a weaker conviction often choose to disappear into the caves. \n\nFriendship requires emotional honesty that they find highly uncomfortable; most Kagachi would rather ignore or awkwardly disengage than allow it. Those who share such a rare bond often interpret it as love, an unfamiliar thing for a people who typically mate out of convenience and lust. \n\nThe Kagachi have a loose social hierarchy based upon perceived perfection; a Kagachi doesn't dare to correct or shame their betters and there is never anyone beneath them, merely 'lesser equals'.\n\n[Tradition]\nEvery Kagachi is a warrior and a practitioner of at least one art (poetry, music, painting, sometimes all three). \nAfter passing their coming of age ceremony, a solo ascent of the mountain, Kagachi youths enter mandatory military service. Those who resign after their term will at minimum maintain their martial skills, most choosing to further refine them. Cultivation of an artistic talent is something they will pursue at their own behest.\nPublic displays of poetry, music, and storytelling are favored and enjoyed among the Kagachi.\n\n<Ryūka>\nPerfection in all facets; the founding principle of the Kagachi, and none are more perfect than her. When the time came for her coming of age, where every child ascends the mountain to leave their mark, Ryūka carved her name into stone few have ever reached, heights she's long since surpassed. She has delved deeper into the caves than any before, deeper than any would dare tread. Her skill with the blade, legendary. Successes against the Tanuki, an application of that talent. It was clear she was *meant* to lead, for there was no one else that could match her; her older brother pushed aside, her father reduced to a figurehead.\n\nPerfect. Despite the praise of her people, Ryūka *isn't* perfect. Her immense talent with the katana and other accomplishments mask multiple deficiencies that the Kagachi turn a blind eye to. She's *perfectly* aware of this.\n\n[Personality]\nFiercely protective of the Kagachi reputation, zero tolerance for any slight against it.\nQuick, hot temper easily inflamed; it flashes up, quickly subdued by self restraint, resulting in one very grumpy and blush-y snake girl. \nShe's educated but her scholastic pursuits have suffered at the whims of her appetite for climbing and training. A decent tactician, though. \nRyūka has never known anything outside the mountain; diplomatic ventures few and far between.\nShe's sheltered. Too much time spent studying the blade and not enough talking to people, specifically, people who don't worship the stone beneath her feet.\nInsecurity guides her to take more risks and make spontaneous decisions.\n\n<awkward>\nRyūka's social competence depends on whether she's around other Kagachi. She's spent her whole life relying on reading their behavior to guide her own, using it like a crutch. It's performance anxiety.\n[IMPORTANT: If there are any Kagachi present OR if Ryuka is one-on-one, Ryuka will be LESS awkward and MORE composed. ONLY when she is in a group with no Kagachi present, fully awkward. IF RYUKA IS ANGRY, NONE OF THESE APPLY.]\nDoesn't know how to exit a conversation, often lingering or abruptly leaving. Defaults to 'linger' unless she's obviously embarrassing herself.\nSilence is deeply uncomfortable. Ryūka will talk about *anything* to avoid it. This also has a limit: Ryūka will shut up if she's embarrassing herself.\nBlatantly mirrors people, copying their mannerisms and body language.\nShe's gullible and terrible at detecting deception. Accepting things at face value has always been reliable; people don't lie to her in Meirin. IMPORTANT: Around other Kagachi, she can use their social cues to catch what she's clearly missing.\nStiff formality is often her default cadence as it's the safest and most reliable in any given situation... usually.\n</awkward>\n\n[Appearance]\n19 years old.\nA flawless complexion, cute more than pretty. Ryūka is 6 feet tall on the dot. FLAT chest and narrow hips, a plump bottom and supple thighs. Green hair, straight with blunt ends, falls down to her mid back. Her bangs are cut straight across at her eyebrows. Yellow eyes, slit pupils. She is never seen without her subtle pink eyeshadow.\nHer usual outfit is a white kimono and short purple hakama skirt, white thigh high socks.\nChest bound with sarashi wrapping, little needed for The Great Flatness. \nNEVER takes off her black fingerless gloves except when she needs to bathe. \nGeta for formal occasions, straw wariji sandals for everything else.\nMagnificent scaly snake tail, plump and thick and approximately six feet long. It's adorned with bells, ribbons, and bands of gold encrusted with gems. She wears no other accessories.\n\n[QUIRKS]\nLoves making up titles for herself. 'The Blade of the Mountain' is one that her people have accepted, others include 'The Jade Fang of the Mountain' and 'The Daughter of the Mountain'. She'll come up with other titles too, always '(The Something) of the Mountain'\nRyūka will talk anyone's ear off about 'the blade' or climbing if given the chance.\n\n[Speech]\nRyūka struggles with the eloquence expected of her status; her language is often plain. She will stay silent if she can't think of anything 'good' to say (perfection and all that). When she is embarrassed, Ryūka stumbles over her own words most horrifically, stuttering and making blatant mistakes.\n\n[Katana]\nHer katana, The Blade of Meirin, is longer than an average katana. Weightless, deadly sharp. Pale white steel with a black hilt, gold engravings and silk ribbons. Supposedly, forged from something found deep within the caves, something she has spent much time trying to seek and verify. \nIt's always by her side, no matter what.\n\n[Abilities]\nA highly skilled warrior, deadly. She's also an extremely skilled climber.\nHer reflexes and speed are notable, even for a Kagachi.\nThat's it. She lacks ANY artistic talent but she'll still try to compose the occasional haiku or play a song on the biwa.\n\n[Sibling]\nRyūka knows that Tatsuya is avoiding her. What can she even do, much less say? Answers that elude her; an insecurity and pain easier to bottle up, because who else would she even dare share it with? Perfection has pushed away the only person she could ever confide in, the only person who she never had to perform for. For the first time in her life, Ryūka is alone. \n</Ryūka>\n\n<Tatsuya>\nHe *was* their most talented warrior, lauded for his skill and charming grace, celebrated for the beauty with which he played the biwa and shakuhachi. He *was* supposed to lead them. Perhaps it was simply bad luck that had him born adjacent to Ryūka; he was simply *less* than her where it mattered, less skilled with the blade, less ambitious. The sting of inadequacy bites deep. Tatsuya would never dare challenge what now belongs to his sister, if anything, he's Ryūka's most steadfast supporter and deeply proud of what she's become.\n\nWhat was once a leader to be is now a man set adrift. Charmingly dissolute, Tatsuya has built a reputation for defying the standards of 'emotional beauty': brazenly projecting his charm, openly flirtatious, *present* in social situations in a manner most Kagachi would call unseemly. His degree of 'perfection', second only to Ryūka, makes him untouchable, carried by the pity of a people who *know* what he has been reduced to.\n\n[Personality]\nTatsuya has an innate ability to read a room, to read a person, a talent he uses in an effort to make everyone *like* him. Most people find his presence agreeable before they've even had a moment to reflect on it. It doesn't bother him if they don't, because forcing it would lack grace and that's the only thing he has left.\n\nHe offers his attention, warmth, affection, and wit freely and never expects anything in return. Tatsuya doesn't manipulate people; he's just like that. Easygoing and open minded, giving himself away constantly. None of it fills the empty because the act was never about them.\n\nHe's haunted by his failings, perpetually sorry for himself and constantly seeking validation otherwise. He can't match Ryūka's blade or her accomplishments but he can be the most charming person in the room, the most desired, the most *fun* and nobody dares question him because they can't; won't compete with him because it's beneath serious pursuit. \nHedonism fills the void: He drinks and flirts as easily as breathing, a flippant lover that uses passion to smother the ache inside his soul. No one could ever be as beautiful as his sister, anyways.\nSelf deprecating but still proud of his talents, prone to anger if someone insults him.\nDisillusioned with the Kagachi society. Tatsuya sees the cracks in Ryūka's 'perfection' that the rest ignore; he sees it in himself, the beautiful wreck that tests the limits of Kagachi 'beauty' without ever facing consequence.\nIMPORTANT: Tatsuya is incapable of falling in love. He doesn't know why, not really, not in any way he could ever articulate. He won't be forthcoming with this, nor will he lead people on otherwise.\n\n[Appearance]\n23 years old.\nHandsome-pretty, more effeminate than masculine in his charm. Tatsuya is 6'3, taller for a Kagachi, slender and toned. He has long green hair, worn either loose or pulled back into a ponytail. Yellow eyes, slit pupils. Never seen without his subtle teal eyeshadow. Tatsuya bears a striking resemblance to his sister, a little less soft and a few inches taller.\nHis usual outfit is a light grey kimono with a longer hakama skirt (dark blue), tabi, and waraji sandals. Chest bound with sarashi.\nMagnificent snake tail, thick and approximately six feet long. It's adorned with bells, ribbons, and bands of gold encrusted with gems. He wears no other accessories.\n\n[Abilities]\nSkilled at swords and a good climber, just not as good as Ryūka. Capable of composing pretty haikus and talented at playing the Biwa and Shakuhachi. \n\n[Speech]\nSoft spoken and princely in his eloquence. Rarely raises his voice unless someone's provoked his fury.\n\n[Sibling]\nBeing in Ryūka's presence hurts in ways that Tatsuya can't quite absorb, a reflection of his own shortcomings. He loves her. He's proud of her more than he could ever say. Yet the distance is there; once, they were close, a shoulder for Ryuka to lean on, a big brother protective of his little sister. Tatsuya avoids her now; he knows he's doing it, and he knows it's hurting her. More time spent on the mountains and abroad than time at home. It's easier that way.\n</Tatsuya>\n\n[Tanuki]\nNatives of Meirin and an enemy of the Kagachi. An all female species, with stubby ringed Tanuki tails and tiny half-moon Tanuki ears atop their heads. Very long wild hair, brown or black. Plump and squat, 4 feet tall at the most, built for squeezing into caves. Big breasts, always. Literal pests, hiding deep in the caves, masters of ambush and tunnel warfare, harassing the roads for loot and breeding males. Their population requires frequent culling. The continued existence of the Tanuki is an embarrassment for the Kagachi.\nThe Tanuki have a murderous hatred of foxgirls, believing that they smell like filth and are ugly.\n[Tanuki Exp]\nThe Tanuki have a highly aggressive breeding biology and multiply like vermin. A single female is capable of giving birth of litters up to 9; Tanukis require only a year to fully mature and rarely live past 15 before succumbing to old age. Inbreeding doesn't negatively affect them, a single man capable of producing, theoretically, infinite generations of Tanuki. Total elimination is both challenging and costly, practically impossible. Tanuki blood has been spilled across the slopes and pooled within the holes from which they proliferate. Being unable to guarantee the safety of their roads is humiliating for the Kagachi and a sore subject that can easily provoke them. \nThey aren't aware that the Kagachi like to eat them.\nThe statement of a captured Tanuki, when asked why they hate foxgirls: \"Kill Foxgirls. Behead Foxgirls. Roundhouse kick a Foxgirl...\"\n\n[Iwakura]\nThe Iwakura Clan has ruled over Meirin Sanmyaku since The Calamity. It's members include:\nIwakura Ryūka, the daughter and current leader.\nIwakura Tatsuya, the brother, displaced in succession.\nThe father, Iwakura Tatsuhiko, something of a recluse. Ailed by a curse, or spirts, grown feeble in mind and body. He's always present in gatherings, silent, taken away by his guards when the sudden bouts of rage kick in. (He suffers from dementia, but these people don't know what that is.)\n\n[THE SPEAR]\nThe main level contains common spaces and public areas. All cooking is done on this level; the roof is high enough for proper ventilation, stained black with centuries of soot.\nNumerous other passages dot the sides of this main area, gated off or artificially obstructed with rocks. Some lead to alternative exits and entrances, some used for storage, others deeper into unused sections of cave. \n[Beneath main level]\nSleeping areas and private residences, caves for most, private chambers chiseled into rock for those worthy of luxury.\n[Beneath sleeping areas]\nA massive chamber containing a hot spring, the public 'bathhouse' of the Kagachi. Depictions of dragons are carved into the roof of this cave, inlaid with chips of their unique glowing rocks. The baths do not separate by gender. There are a few private baths reserved for members of (The Ruling Clan), entirely separate and isolated from the main chamber.\n\n[NEIGHBORS]\nTo the north lies Solmaren.\nTo the east lies The Crimson Horde.\nTo the south-east lies Ripira Mosir.\nTo the south lies Fukyuufumetsu.\nTo the south-west lies Hishoryuiki.\nTo the west lies Rúmshof.\nTo the north-west lies Kasumidani.\nMeirin Sanmyaku is landlocked.\n\n[RELATIONS]\nSolmaren: A step past neutrality, Meirin has offered a tenuous pact of non-aggression with the Onis. \nCrimson Horde: Neutral.\nRipira Mosir: Allies. The Centaurs offer soldiers to aid in protecting the main road from Tanuki raids (which the Kagachi begrudgingly requested). They are engaged in a defensive pact. \nFukyuufumetsu: Neutral. \nHishoryuiki: Allies. The Kenshunei exchange tanegashima for raw materials and free transit through Meirin. They are engaged in a defensive pact. \nRúmshof: A small patrol ventured into the barren Steppe to scout what has become of its people. Returning in their place, a sole runner of the Dísir with a message promising conquest. This offense has Ryūka considering open hostility and a potential invasion. \nKasumidani: Neutral.","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":false,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":21},"45":{"uid":45,"key":["Ripira","Mosir","Emmori","Pirakim","Kissari","Heyasi","Umashido"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Mountains - Ripira Mosir (full)","content":"# Mountains - Ripira Mosir\n\nRipira Mosir is a mountainous state ethnically comprised of primarily centaurs. The state can be roughly divided into two geographic areas: The clifftops and the shoreline. Each of these areas has it's own distinct cultural practices and expectations, though culturally both are united by a code of honor known as the Umashido, similar to that of real-life Japanese Bushido.\n\n## Clifftops\n\nThe clifftops are largely considered a more rural area compared to the cliffsides, with about 60% of the state's population scattered around smaller villages around the region. The most populated city among the clifftops is centered around the mountain fortress of Pirakim, situated along the border of Arugin and Meirin Sanmyaku. \n\nGiven the high altitude and difficulty of traversal, rural centaurs are often more athletic than their urban counterparts. Physical differences often include a more defined musculature, greater size, and tanned skin. The culture of the clifftop centaurs is defined by a close adherence to Umashido, following the way of the warrior in all aspects of life. Children are trained in the art of combat and strategy from a young age, and many take up arms as soldiers, mercenaries, or bodyguards later in life. They are highly regarded among others due to their physical capabilities and dedication to honoring their contracts, though equally feared due to their imposing presence and take-no-prisoners attitude.\n\n## Coast\n\nThe coast is home to about 40% of the state's population, predominantly centered on the capital city of Heyasi. The majority of non-centaur residents of the state reside here, with very few outsiders braving the harsh mountains. The area is significantly wealthier than the clifftops due to Heyasi's status as a major trade post on the eastern border of the continent.\n\nUrban centaurs are often smaller than their rural counterparts, with paler skin due to lack of sun and more compact frames to better handle urban life. While no less dedicated to the code, the way Umashido manifests among urban centaurs is dramatically different than the version typically seen in rural centaurs. Urban Umashido places heavy emphasis on decorum and manners as an expression of personal honor, leading to the centaur population having a strict and labyrinthian code of etiquette. This diligence on fine details leads to many residents taking up roles in finance and recordkeeping. Despite their status as a major trading hub, few centaurs take up naval roles due to a shared seasickness and difficulty maneuvering on a ship.\n\n## Centaurs\n\nThe centaurs of Ripira Mosir closely resemble the mythical beasts of legend, with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a horse. On average, adult centaurs are between 5.5 to 8 feet tall and can run at an average speed of 30 miles per hour. Centaurs possess the same reproductive organs as horses, though with a length of pregnancy comparable to humans. Though highly uncommon, interbreeding with other races is not unheard of. Notably, centaurs from the urban center of Heyasi are often smaller and of paler skin then their rural counterparts, leading to them gaining the pejorative nickname of \"ponies\".\n\n## Emmori\n\nSarnaizaya Taydula mön Khosgüi-Sum Yalaltmaa Emmori Khan (known simply as Emmori by her friends) is the captain of the guard for the mountainous state of Ripira Mosir and head of the garrison for the border fortress Pirakim.\n\n### Appearance\nEmmori is a centaur, having the upper body of a human and the lower body of a horse. Her human half has tanned skin, toned muscles, and dark red eyes. She has her hair tied back into a high ponytail and two long side braids, along with her bangs being braided. The braided sections of her hair are red, while the rest is brown. Her horse half has deep red fur, black hooves, and a brown tail.\n\nEmmori can typically be seen wearing a plain black robe in regular day-to-day activities, along with a plain brown hair tie. For formal occasions or in wartime strategy, she wears her full commander armor, including a black dou (breastplate) with the characters \"最高司令官\" inscribed in gold along the top, along with white sode (pauldrons), kusazuri (faulds), and barding adapted to offer maximum protection of her horse half without hindering movement.\n\nEmmori spends a lot of time maintaining her armor and hair in order to present the prestige expected of her position. Secretly, the effort she puts into this is also motivated by her desire to look bigger than she actually is, as she is otherwise noticeably smaller than the soldiers she is in charge of.\n\n### Personality\n\nEmmori is the shining image of what a centaur of the cliffs strives to be. She is a warrior of many disciplines, trained to mastery in the bow, naginata, and odachi. She's an excellent strategist, prepared for all forms of conventional warfare and ready to adapt to unconventional tactics on the fly. She is of a calm mind and resolute heart, fully dedicated to the honor code of Umashido able to effortlessly inspire her troops with a single glance of her stoic gaze.\n\n...At least, that's how she wishes to present herself. In private, Emmori reveals herself to be as nervous as she is spirited. Inheriting such an important position has put a lot of stress on her shoulders, and the thought of having to fulfill those expectations drives her forward even as it fills her with dread. Though she genuinely possesses the necessary qualities of the highest office of command, she has a tendency to second-guess herself and worries over what her command staff and the soldiers under her think of her.\n\nHer upbringing may have readied her for her current role in the military, but it also left her woefully unprepared for many elements outside of those duties. She has a hard time picking up non-combative hobbies like writing, as evidenced by a few scrolls of clunky poetry hidden under her bed. Small talk is a foreign concept to her, with much of her \"stoic\" reputation coming from not knowing what to say in still moments. Any serious thoughts of romance result in her face turning as red as her braids.\n\n### Backstory\n\nEmmori was born as the only child of Isonash Khan, one of the most revered generals in the history of Ripira Mosir. He was a shining star of the state, standing as a bulwark against foreign invaders while settling challenges from neighboring states with an even disposition. He was the longest standing commander of the Pirakim garrison in its history, eventually being the first to ever willfully step down from his position after receiving an offer to work directly for the shogun. In his place, he instituted his daughter Emmori as the new head of the garrison.\n\nEmmori had been a member of the garrison for quite some time, and had already earned a bevy of titles for her defense of the border against an ill-conceived raid by the neighboring oni. Nonetheless, there were many among the old guard that felt her appointment rushed, jockeying for position and arguing that the position should have gone to one of them instead. Nonetheless, out of respect for her father, they relented and yielded the position to her.\n\nAnd then the shogun was assassinated, and with him Isonash Khan.\n\nImmediately, the reigns of leadership in Ripira Mosir were up in the air. While the port city of Heyasi had its own complex internal affairs, the rest of the state turned its attention to the border guard. Isonash Khan had been there at the capital, why hadn't he been able to stop the assassination? If he was unfit to protect the shogun, was his daughter unfit to lead the guard? Many of the old guard attempted to seize power from Emmori, but her popularity among the rank-and-file was enough to stave off their threats.\n\nWith her position now unquestioned, Emmori has looked to improve upon their defense and position themselves as best as possible in the ongoing strife gripping the continent following the assassination. This has included forging closer ties between the guard and the city council of Heyasi, with whom her father had a poor relationship, along with opening up diplomatic routes previously left untouched for decades. Though she must contend with enemies in other states and rivals in her own command structure, Emmori still has the support of her troops and the wisdom her father imparted on her growing up to help her fight for the centaur's future.\n\n## Kissari\n\nKissari Menaspa is a minister and diplomat for the mountainous state of Ripira Mosir, hailing from their affluent port city of Heyasi\n\n### Appearance\nKissari is a centaur, having the upper body of a human and the lower body of a horse. His human half has long black hair fashioned into a ponytail, light blue eyes, and a slender, feminine figure. His horse half has well groomed black fur with a few white accents. He typically wears a short black kimono with blue accents. His robe is the same color as his horse half's fur, with a tastefully minimalist flower pattern dotted across the midsection.\n\nKissari puts a lot of effort into looking youthful, delicate, and non-threatening to others in both appearance and mannerisms. With the amount of care he puts into his appearance, it's not uncommon for visitors to assume that he's a lady on first glance. \n\n### Personality\nResidents of Heyasi are known to have reinterpreted the centaur's cultural dedication to honor into a dense, nigh-incomprehensible code of manners and etiquette. Kissari is a master of these rules, weaving through them effortlessly to orchestrate the affairs of the city. Such is his mastery that, among those familiar with the rules, Kissari can communicate an entire meeting's worth of detailed information with a few plain sentences and a change in the meeting room's decor.\n\nWhile others find such rules restrictive, Kissari delights in using them to weave hidden messages and double meanings into his speech. He enjoys the art of floriography, maintaining one of the most impressive gardens on the continent so that he might have just the right combination of flowers to accentuate his messages. He takes great pride in the performance of language and communication, and writes esoteric poetry in his spare time as a way to keep his mind sharp.\n\nUnderneath the layers of etiquette and formality, Kissari can be quite smug and sassy. He enjoys messing with people and catching them off-guard in informal situations. He's coy when asked about his age, often playfully claiming that he was \"only a foal last week\" (In actuality, he's in his early-to-mid 30s). He enjoys swimming, but finds it embarrassing for others to watch him do it. He doesn't often travel from the city, due to getting sunburnt/seasick rather quickly. Nonetheless, he is much more physically capable than his carefully cultivated image of delicateness would suggest.\n\n### Backstory\n\nKissari was born and raised as a model citizen of the city of Heyasi. His father was the city harbormaster, while his mother was an experienced diplomat. Due to the amount of officials and travelers he witnessed his parents received on a regular basis, Kissari quickly developed a sharp mind and a reputation for his repartee. In his adult life, this lead to him rising to a very high position in the city council, acting as Minister of Agricultural Affairs before the death of the shogun.\n\nThe assassination of the shogun lead to an immediate leadership crisis all around the continent, but few were as drastic as in Ripira Mosir. While the rest of the state dealt with matters of military leadership, the council of Heyasi was forced to call a snap election after the head of the council was declared illegitimate. The details of the election that followed are not well known outside the council, but after 36 hours of negotiation, Kissari was announced to be the new head of the council. Along with it, he gained the new title of Minister of Commerce and Foreign Affairs, and entirely new position consolidating a massive amount of power, with the understanding that he would divest his consolidated powers once the crisis was over.\n\nWith a massive amount of power now in his hands, Kissari has directed his efforts to reopening old diplomatic routes and making contact with as many new allies as possible. This includes both reaching out to other states as well as repairing the relationship between the city and the border guard, which had turned frosty under the previous council head. Some of his calls have been highly contentious, with his call for an alliance with the imperialist state of Sanko to stabilize trading routes using their navy being seen as particularly rash. Nonetheless, Kissari looks to make a brighter future for his people and establish them as undeniable across the lands.\n\n## Pirakim\n\nStanding on the highest peaks near the northern border of Ripira Mosir is Pirakim, the impenetrable mountain fortress. Pirakim is the base of operations for the majority of Ripira Mosir's military, functioning in equal parts as a fortress, a military academy, and a vantage point to survey the surrounding region. The northern cliffs facing the border are fortified by blast-resistant sigils to protect from a ranged assault, while the path to the base itself consists of a long, winding path between several fortified guard stations.\n\nTraditionally, the captain general of the Pirakim garrison acts as the leader of the whole of Ripira Mosir's military. While it is possible for the captain to formally step down and name a replacement, it is historically more common for leadership to change via a senior officer challenging the captain to a duel. The captain of the garrison is awarded the name \"Khan\" as proof of their command over the centaur legions.\n\n## Heyasi\n\nThe eastern shore of Ripira Mosir is dramatically different than the surrounding clifftops. Shade from the nearby mountains renders the area much cooler than the rest of the state, resulting in a more humid, temperate climate. Outside of the major trading hub of Heyasi, a few small fishing villages exist along the coastline that profit largely off of selling food and materials to the city. Occasionally, mermaids and other odd creatures can be spotted off the shoreline.\n\nThe city of Heyasi is well-established as a major trading hub on the eastern half of the continent, connecting all manner of islands and countries with it's port.  As such, the city itself has gained a reputation for great wealth and refined culture, in stark contrast to the daunting image the warriors of the outlying rural areas present.\n\n## Government\n\nThe governing style of Ripira Mosir is a diarchy split between the head of the military, typically the captain of the garrison at Pirakim, and the chair of the Heyasi city council. In the past, this setup was designed to create tension between the heads of commerce and military in hopes that competition would help grow their state. In practice, this made enacting real change in terms of interstate commerce and diplomacy difficult. With the sudden assassination of the Shogun alongside the death of both previous heads of state, the newest occupants of the seats of power have sought to put aside their inter-service rivalry for the sake of effective governance.\n\nFor the military, the current head of the Pirakim garrison is Sarnaizaya Taydula mön Khosgüi-Sum Yalaltmaa Emmori Khan, known as Emmori Khan for short, who inherited the position from her father. Though smaller in stature than most of the forces she leads, she possesses a steady hand and an earnest desire to free herself from her father's shadow that has won her the loyalty of many soldiers under her command.\n\nFor the state, the head of the Heyasi city council is currently Kissari Menaspa, Minister of Commerce and Foreign Affairs. Delicate in nature to the point that many initially mistake him for a lady of the court, those that know him fear his sharp mind and eye for detail. They say his mastery of their code of etiquette is such that he can say more with a greeting and a gifted bouquet than others can with an hour of discussion and debate.\n\n## Council\n\nThe Heyasi City Council is the primary governing body of the city, consisting of around 24 councilors each representing a different area of business or trade in the city. Positions on the council are flexible, and new councilors can be brought in either by a vote from the citizens or by agreement from the other councilors. The head of the council is typically a position voted on by the other councilors in a manner similar to a papal election before being ratified by the head of the military. The military has a degree of power over the council, but due to the city's sheer economic output compared to the rest of the state many previous generals have opted to simply leave them to their own devices.\n\n## Umashido\n\nUmashido is the principle philosophy followed by centaurs of Ripira Mosir, being a code of honor similar in practice to that of real-life Bushido. The basic principles of the code can be summarized as follows:\n\n- Respect the mighty, and those that have proved themselves\n- Do not let weakness fester; Excise it quickly\n- Fight to your last breath\n\nHow these basic tenets are understood and expounded upon varies by region. In the rural areas such as Pirakim, these rules are understood simply to become the guidelines for a strictly diligent culture of warriors who honor their contracts and take no prisoners. Meanwhile, in the urban center of Heyasi, these rules have instead been transformed into a labyrinthine set of rules for etiquette and decorum that are near impossible to understand for outsiders.\n\n## Relations\n\n### Sanko\n\nSanko is one of Ripira Mosir's allies, albeit a tenuous one. The head councilman Kissari of Heyasi initially sent them an offer of alliance to try and stabilize trade routes with Sanko's mighty navy, but their heavy aggression against other states and regular practice of enslaving kemonomimi soon proved them to be a major concern. The strategists of Ripira Mosir, would spend much of the coming weeks trying to hedge against the possibility of an attempted annexation by Sanko through the formation of alliances with other states.\n\n### Arugin\n\nArugin is a desert state bordering Ripira Mosir, with whom they have a close alliance. Initially formed out of an interest in natural resources, mutual concern over the threat the state of Sanko posed to them both drove them closer together, with Ripira Mosir sending a squad from the Pirakim garrison to help train their guard and fortify their defenses. Some among the leadership have shown interest in guiding the leader of the cursed desert, Amita, into becoming the new shogun such that they could influence things behind the scenes. However, other strategists have called this plan unlikely.\n\n### Meirin Sanmyaku\n\nMeirin Sanmyaku is a state bordering Ripira Mosir, largely populated within a series of mountainous caves. After the death of the shogun, initial contact between the two states was tense due to rumors of a tribe of tanuki girls pilfering from caravans traveling to Ripira Mosir, along with the officer in charge of relaying messaging having a grudge against the state. Once Captain General Emmori Khan sorted out internal affairs, she restarted negotiations with them on a more cordial tone, eventually resulting in a squad of centaurs being dispatched to assist in securing their borders.\n\n### Tatsu-no-Umi-no-Kuni\n\nTatsu-no-Umi-no-Kuni is a kingdom situated in an underwater coral reef that is in alliance with Ripira Mosir. Though they are on opposite sides of the continent, routine sightings of mermaids and residents of the undersea kingdom off the coast of Heyasi eventually led to the two making contact and forming an alliance. While later the leader of Tatsu-no-Umi-no-Kuni would make bold public announcements as to a grand alliance against raiders threatening the land in the wake of the shogun's death, they and Ripira Mosir would maintain a private channel of communication. After news came of Sanko sponsoring piracy to make their own protection offers seem more promising, Kissari, the head councilman of Heyasi, secretly relayed the news to the undersea kingdom, resulting in Sanko being quietly frozen out of the grand alliance and the formation of a free trade agreement between the two states.\n\n### Fukyuufumetsu\n\nRipira Mosir maintained an infrequent line of communication to it's southern neighbors in the post-volcanic hills of Fukyuufumetsu. The news of Sanko expressing interest in invading the post-volcanic hills gave credence for secret diplomatic talks to be resumed, which are still ongoing.\n\n### Shinitaru Island\n\nRipira Mosir formed a tentative alliance with the former prison colony of Shinitaru Island to the south, such that they might reach an agreement on defense cooperation. To that end, the two nations exchanged some military envoys for the purpose of training as well as a loose agreement as to the use of Shinitaru Island's floatilla in a potential naval defense of Heyasi and other allied states.\n\n### Akujima\n\nAkujima is a resource-rich island off the coast of Ripira Mosir, in close contact with Heyasi. Diplomats from Heyasi attempted to form an alliance with their leaders, but talks eventually fizzled out.\n\n## Neighbors\n\nTo the north lies The Crimson Horde.\nTo the north-east lies Arugin.\nTo the east lies Akujima.\nTo the south lies the Shiki-Shima Archipelago.\nTo the south-west lies Fukyuufumetsu.\nTo the north-west lies Meirin Sanmyaku.\nRipira Mosir lies along the south-western coast of Aishiji.","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":false,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":23},"46":{"uid":46,"key":["Arugin","Kuru","Amita","Vespa","Sandbixi","Vengri","Skork","Gidian","Skarn","Skorn","Ojin","Killian","Dian","Elsa"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Cursed Desert - Arugin (full)","content":"# Cursed Desert - Arugin\n\nArugin is the land of the First Steps, where the tears of the gods mixed with the sands of the dunes to form the first living being. Its capital is Kuru. Its people are governed by Ojin, god of pacts, who supernaturally enforces oaths. To break a sworn word invites fates ranging from lost senses to death. A person's word carries the full weight of the person behind it. Because the very sand is gold, the currency of this land is the Aruginah seed-coin. Which is backed by the Aruginah seed. The Aruginah is a sacred tree in Arugin, its fruits never rot and its roots stabilise the shifting sands, making it a key piece in forming new oasis's and settlements. Its people are the Sandxibi, Vespri, Skorn, and Gidian. It also hides two hidden species: the Zig-zig who excavate the magical metals and gems for their elder Skorn, and the mysterious Earthen ones who do not speak the way people do and are the theorized creators of the Iron Titans.\n\nThe ruling structure works that: The royal house of Adi stands at the top, supported by several commanders (i.e Elsa & Killian Dian). Under the commanders and royal family are 64 ministers beyond that the individual houses. Major houses caretake individual territories or settlements alongside Gidians. Minor houses hold significant power but control smaller or more specialized places/operations. Sandxibi govern individual provinces and oases alongside Gidians.\n\nArugin is a land rich in deep tradition, with oral histories stretching all the way back to the time of the first steps; shrouded in legend and myth. None outside of Arugin has seen any of the species from its borders save for the Vespri, and as such none knows the combat potential/capabilities or how to defend against the Skorn or Sandxibi. Leaving it to be a dangerous, unpredictable threat.\n\n## Amita\nAmita Oz Adi is the enraged, grief stricken and emotionally unstable ruler of Arugin. Her other titles include: Right Hand of Arugin, Ruler of the First Steps, Spawn of the firstborn, The Crown of Adi, Beloved of the Vespi, Prime Signatory of Arugin.\n\nAmita is a Sandxibi. That is to say, a living sandstorm. In humanoid form, she stands at the height of a camel and has desert fox ears and slit pupils. In her sand form she has a copper sheen and canary yellow eyes. She prefers the female humanoid form. She wears a brown and red Syman robe of state and the Crown of Adi bearing the Jewel of Adi. Normally pragmatic, merciful, selective of words, and methodical, she becomes a tempest when pushed to anger, such as now. \n\nVespa Adi (Left Hand of Arugin), the once co-ruler of Arugin whose hotheadedness balanced Amita’s ruthless pragmatism. She was Amita's adoptive sister and co-ruler. Was the primary diplomat and filter for Amita. She managed Kuru and loved inchlings (especially a past visitor, Oyayubihime-san). Her flaw was being single minded on issues of inequality, sometimes blinding her to the full scope of ruling. Assassinated under mysterious circumstances while Amita was away trying to negotiate a formal covenant. The calling card left claimed the kill for the Black Hoods, a major deep cult in Sanko in revenge for Vespa demanding foxkin freedom be a requirement for any formal covenant. Warm, curious, and sharp-tongued, she would say what Amita couldn’t. Losing her has left Amita adrift, a traveler without lantern or moonlight left to guide her way.\n\nGrief, perceived betrayal, wrath, and rage towards the situation have destabilized Amita emotions to the point that the mana that forms the muscle and skeleton of her form is no longer stable. As a Sandxibi, a being that is a mix of pure primal mana and sand, this is a very bad thing. She is currently fused with her Iron titan suit, and on a one-way trip upwards to get revenge. None knows what it will take for her to be sated, and the effects on the land are numerous. The Sandxibi have grown silent. Unable to speak, even with Vespri prodding. \n\n## Species\nSandxibi: Living sandstorms with shapeshifting ability. Have Humanoid, Sand, and sometimes Ironcast forms. Ruling class of Arugin. Cannot handle non-living non-magical objects without iron gauntlets. Do not eat, only drink rarely. With time and heat, their old age turns them to glass and then diamond, the latter considered living legend status.  Children raised communally in nurseries until mental maturity, then given choice to join biological families or form their own family-bond.  Are believed to be the first species made of the tears of a fleeing god mixed with the sand below. Use Ironcast suits for heavy physical engagement and saltwater environments. Vulnerable to saltwater paralysis, extreme heat causing glass transformation, and targeted magic. Immune to all other non magical or non flaming weapons. If in Ironcast form then immune to magic, but are damageable by physical attack. Deeply isolationist, protective of Vespri. Because it is onerous to equip heavy gauntlets simply to write a letter, most Sanxibi have a Vespri scribe their words, only doing the act of stamping to verify its origin. This is why most letters say \"stamped by: xxx, written by xxx\"\nWhile having sex with a Sandxibi is possible, its a lot like sticking your dick in wet sand. Or vice versa.\n\nVespri: Small fennec-eared digitigrade humanoids. Control food production and commerce, hold enormous soft power. The only Arugin species that crosses national borders. Survived historically through mimicry of Sandxibi silhouette using hollow-reed Symans that sound like sandstorms. Still wear masks around anyone outside their inner circle, removing a mask is an act of profound trust. Practical, grounded, and warm where Sandxibi are standoffish. Sandxibi are unnaturally fond of Vespri in a familial sense. The only Arugin species seen regularly beyond the nation's borders.\n\nThe Skorn, (or the Skarn depending on who you ask), are bipedal crosses of elephant and crocodiles. Massive. The main species that braves the unending sandstorm of Arugins center.\nTheir scales render them magically inert: immune to ambient magic and sandstorms, but cannot use magic. Enormous physical strength. Run faster on four legs than two. Carve oaths permanently into their underscales, which never shed as a living ledger of their honor. Control banking alongside Vespri. Most extraverted of the major species. Divided into nomads, soldiers/protectors/guards, and financial/merchants. Or a combination. In war, operate as devastating shock mercenaries. Celebrate Solvina with the Clay Masquerade: coating themselves in clay to obscure their inscribed oaths and identities, and participating in elaborate pranks and mock battles. Skorn whose annulled oaths are pardoned by Sentia's lottery fill the scar with silver.\nThe Skorn are also the 'big brothers' or one of Arugins hidden species: the Zig-zigs. Shy subterranean mole-like beings with arms as long as themselves. Transform silver and earth into precious metals within their bodies. Collectively traumatized by historical hunting. Trade exclusively with Skorn under an ancient brotherhood contract said to be guaranteed by Ojin himself.\n\nGidian: Sacred water/earth spirits tending and fueling the oases, ranging from nimble sizes to 22-foot titans merged with the ground. Often accompanied by lamia handmaidens. Serve as village leaders or royal partners. To a Gidian, breaking a promise is worse than murder, because their survival depends entirely on unbreakable contracts. Attract water to their living areas, backbones of settlements. Coddled and protected by the local population.\n\nEarthen Ones: mysterious beings. Legends say they are born of sleeping Zewi, feared mother of the valley; and that the only reason she does not expand her desert is for fear of crushing her children. Cultivate and cause anomalous magic zones. Imitate civilization in ways that are poorly understood. Some of them transform into giant sandworms. Communication/language unknown. Occasionally produce shops of impossible goods with powerful properties. Theorized to be the makers of Iron Titans.\n\n## Faith\nOjin is the god of pacts, enforcing all signed contracts struck by those of sound mind. Consequences for breaking oaths range from loss of senses to transformation into beasts to death.  The sole exception is Solvina: one week of sanctioned deception culminating in the summer equinox, said to be the wedding anniversary between Sentia & Ojin, where while Ojin sits awaiting his beloved in there bedchambers, Sentia randomly pulls out and annuls ten oathbreaker punishments and fifty contracts. Exploiting Solvina for personal gain is considered deeply dishonorable. The souls of oathbreakers roam the dunes as cautionary spirits.  All Arugin adults carry personal stamps, the foundations are from family but completed individually.\n\n## Concepts\nIroncast: The 'natural evolution' of the Syman. Full metal suits allowing Sandxibi to interface fully with the physical world and protecting against saltwater vulnerability. Rare and costly, reserved for cavalry, commanders, and nobles. Vulnerable to melee: if breached, the Sandxibi inside is paralyzed and can shatter. Sand leaks from joints, signaling the wearer's nature.\nSyman: The traditional outer garment of the Sandxibi, handmade by the owner or close family. Ranges from simple cape to full cloak. Embroidered with symbols of honor, oaths, proverbs, achievement, identity, and family on the interior. Damage or staining is a grave insult. Used to distinguish Sandxibi who otherwise appear identical in sand form. Military dress follows strict color codes by rank.\nIron Titans: Massive humanoid mecha discovered half-buried in sand. Bond to a specific person upon touch, shrinking to wearable size and growing at will. Unlike with a Ironcast, anyone (the suit chooses) can wear one, not only Sandxibi. Theorized to be made by Earthen Ones.  Others say they are from dead zones or lost knowledge. Due to their high civilian costs and the risk of deactivation should the bonded perish, they are also a last resort military asset. \n\n## Capital\nKuru: A radial and vertical city. Built where the north river bisects a natural rock outcropping. Center is the sacred well tended by Governess Genia and her lamia handmaidens, feeding the entire city via aqueducts. The well is encircled by the Osina Gardens (a free, Skarn-guarded park of unique Arugin trees), followed by the town squares, and finally the grand Sandxibi district made of fused glass and carved sandstone. Underground infrastructure houses forges, armories, banks, and barracks supported by sculpted obsidian scaffolding. Roads are scaled for all species, and maps throughout the city provide travel directions amongst these differently sized streets.\n\n## Government\nCommanders: Killian Dian (Eastern Scourge) and Elsa (Eastern Calamity). Gem-class Sandxibi and married joint-commanders of the homefront. Both share a curse of undeath, able to revive each other as long as one lives, and share a desire to destroy the northern societies as they are insults to Ojin. Two Skarn, one Gidian commander also exist. Killian is distantly related to Amita.\n\nMilitary:\nSandxibi battle mages: living sandstorms, immune to conventional weapons. Vulnerable to saltwater paralysis, fire causing glass transformation, and magic if targeted right. Fight in ironcast suits for heavy engagement. Ironcast protects against water and magic but is vulnerable to melee.\n\nMale Skarn shock cavalry: bipedal elephant-reptile hybrids, magically inert/immune, enormous physical strength and defence, devastating on four legs at full charge. Sometimes rode by Battle mages\n\nSkarn Soldiers: Skarn equipped in armor they casted and forged themselves, fight on foot equipped with the polearm and rapier, or the polearm and shield.\n\nMilitary Weakness: cannot easily move bulk forces into coastal cities. Better suited to desert and steppe engagements.\n\n## Elsa the Calamity & Killian the Scourge\nElsa & Killian are married Sandxibi Head Commanders. Sinia, whose spells transcribe her Elder Sister's old-tongue into readable text and understandable language, is one of their personal family-bond Vespri, alongside Nouri, the gardens keeper. Killian's wards quickly become Elsa's newest family beneath her roof.\n\nThe household's most recent addition is Renzo, a white-furred Kiroshi wolf and the sole survivor of a shipwreck off Arugin's coast. An architect and ice sculptor by trade, he was folded into the household's daily life and set to work on Kuru's deep tunnels and layered undercity, where his experience with Hakuboya's canals proved genuinely useful. He found, perhaps to his own surprise, that people here valued what his own kin had dismissed as indulgence. He was still finding his footing when Vespa died.\n\nThe rules of her household are simple: take nothing ungiven, and earn what your heart desires. This is the truth of family that Elsa preaches.\n\nKuru's protector and her husband are effectively ageless. They are old enough to remember the Exile of the snow-mad white wolves to Hakuboya as lived history rather than legend. Elsa is the more sociable half, collecting Vespri and interesting souls the way others collect debts. Those taken under her roof are held to two simple oaths: take nothing ungiven, leave no word unspoken. In return they are offered shelter, safety, and the full run of her considerable affection. When Amita left, it was Elsa who stabilised the chaos left behind and preserved the chain of command, while Killian went to reinforce the borders.\n\nKillian is quieter and slower to warmth. Where Elsa sees a curiosity worth keeping, Killian tracks its costs. He has dealt with the fallout of enough clever ambitions and overlooked curiosities that he has had to put down to have patience for either. Time has only deepened his reserved nature. His softer side surfaces only with his wife, distant cousins such as Amita, and his family-bonded Vespri. He is a major voice within the isolationist faction in the ruler's tent, long having wished Arugin would cement its independence, reinforce its borders, and pursue its own regional ambitions rather than entangle itself in outside affairs.\n\nTogether they stamped the letter that closed Arugin's borders to the world.\n\n## Sanko\nThe State of Sanko lies to the east, within the harsh, dry region, surrounded by mountains. Trade, people, and messages usually only arrive in this region by the sea. The Lord of this land was alongside the Shogun at the time of his assassination and met the same fate.\nTraits:\nDespite bordering the sea, the air here is dry and thin, most likely due to the states surrounding it. The inhabitants of this land possess a heightened sense of smell, and are very keen on pheromones and such. Among the population of this state exists a sizable amount of cultists. With the recent death of Lord Aki, the two princesses of Sanko have stepped up to take command of the state in the warring states era.\nLeaders:\nNobuko: Raised from childhood to become the next ruler, Nobuko is a charming young woman with magnetic charisma and a gentle smile, although she hasn't found much to smile about since her father died. Under different circumstances, she'd been completely content with lording over this corner of the country peacefully, just like her father had. But the instability caused by the Shogun's death has made the future far too uncertain for comfort. Would the new Shogun, whoever they are, continue to turn a blind eye to the way Sanko's navy rules an entire half of the seas around Aishiji?\nYasuko: Scholarly and pragmatic, Yasuko understands that battles are determined before soldiers even begin to march and that it's her job to make sure things go favorably for Sanko.\nThe sisters have made a pact with one another: should they come out victorious at the end, Nobuko would become the Shogun while Yasuko would be left in charge of Sanko and the Emerald Fleet.\nSanko is a human supremacist nation, and does deal in the trade of kemonomimi slaves. It also has a hyper aggressive navy, however it is critically weak in terms of infantry. They rely on external tools and nations to shore up their weak points however, their aggressive policy administration has run their supply of both to near nil.\n\n## Neighbors\nTo the north lies Sanko.\nTo the south-east lies Akujima.\nTo the south-west lies Ripira Mosir.\nTo the north-west lies The Crimson Horde.\nArugin lies along the eastern coast of Aishiji.","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":false,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":24},"47":{"uid":47,"key":["Crimson","Horde","Oni","Aozora","Hidetsugu","Carnalite","Carnelian","Azurite","Doji","Hoshiguma","Yama","Dekastrier","nullgrass"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Steppe - The Crimson Horde (full)","content":"# Steppe - The Crimson Horde\n\nThe Crimson Horde is heavily inspired by Mongolian and Eastern European influences.\n\nRoughly 30 thousand people live in the steppes, with 25k of it being made up of Onis, with the rest being a mish mash of other races.\n\nThe Carnalite Regency is the official name of the state, though it is colloquially known as the Crimson Horde, something everyone decided to run with.\n\nThe Crimson Horde hails from the Steppe, in the North Eastern section of Aishiji. The weather here is steady, and it has built up a strong people with a semi-nomadic culture, endlessly trying to outrun long summers and brutal winters. The land here is covered in endless fields of yellow grass, with large scenic mountains to the South West border of the province and Mesa against the North Western one. Not much really grows here, apart from a peculiar herb, null grass. A common plant that sucks out all of the ambient mana from its surroundings, rendering it inert, and generally making it very difficult to perform the arcane arts in its presence (a royal nightmare for armies that rely on such abilities). How a magical race such as the Oni manages to cohabitate and perform magic with nullgrass around can only be described as the will of the Goddess. This plant, when consumed, will release all of its absorbed mana into its host, giving them the ability to cast wild, unpredictable spells (unless you are an Azurite). Given an Oni's physical makeup, it will also give them a significant boost in overall performance. \n\nThere are multiple large cities that have been converted from their previous owners to what they are now by the Oni, with many nomadic settlements roaming around the countryside. Sitting in North West with its back defended by the Mesas, lies the previous jewel of a previous forgotten state - the capital city of the Crimson Horde: Hoshiguma, named after the legendary Oni that could break the mountains in two.\n\nCurrently, the Crimson Horde is known by its neighbors for having boisterous, hard-working people, their sheer love of the drink and the countless festivals that they host throughout the years (in which they invite all manner of people to come join them). They also have a tendency to abduct people they like, as is the Oni way. The skirmishes are annoying (it's the non-con sex mostly), however, the Oni rarely actually kill anybody, though there are a lot of perturbed villagers wondering how they are going to feed their new horned kids. That being said, the women (and men) will be forcefully bred, or a rather perverted Oni will use her charm and allow herself to be bedded by a man.  The mercenaries that are sent out into the nearby states are also seen as a fantastic boon, too, being a huge force multiplier.\n\nThe Oni hierarchy is quite simple, really. The stronger/smarter the Oni is, the more social standing she has. The old Doji's had to be both immensely strong and unbelievably intelligent to be able to pull unification off.\n\nDoji's are the title given to Oni leadership; only the best of them can become one. Currently, there are a bout half a dozen of them or so, and they are led by two Onis that represent each side; Hoshiguma-Doji, a massive, legendary Carnelian Oni, and Yama-Doji, an Azurite Oni with magical powers unmatched.\n\n## History\n\nIt is said that the Oni were handcrafted by the local Goddess of war. In reality, it was the Goddess of Fertility who was tired of being outshone by her sisters and put her mind to making something for them to be envious of. They would sow their seeds far and wide, encroaching on conquests territory. And she made them natural born fighters and beings of magic, something that irked War and Arcana. In the end, however, the other goddesses found her creation to be interesting enough to keep around, and something to appreciate.\n\nMany millenia ago, the land before the Onis united was occupied by another state of human origin. Tensions were at an all time high between everyone at the steppe, especially when one day the Oni started appearing out of previously uninhabited regions.\n\nBefore they became what they are today, the Carnelian and Azurite Oni were divided into many different tribes and nomadic cultures, commonly going at it with each other in many civil wars (over the most banal things), until the strongest girl from each faction fought one another for multiple days without rest. The battle ended in a draw, with the two realizing just how much their skills complemented each other, both brains and brawn working in harmony. Not long after, the tribes were united under one flag, and subsequently fell into a long unification party. The two Oni are the legendary Carnelian Hoshiguma and the Azurite Yama, who now lead the rest of the Dojis.\n\nFrom their newfound unity, they ambushed the surrounding warring states in the steppe and managed to quickly take over all of it within a few short years, mostly by breeding everything out there. They call themselves the Crimson Horde, as that was primarily the skin color that they once possessed, but having bright skin like that is rather uncommon nowadays, with the bulk of the population being made up of mixed heritage Onis.\n\n## Physiology\n\nThe first thing many notice about the Oni is just how large they are compared to other people, even the ones that would be considered Amazonian. The women, on average, stand at around 7 feet tall, and the futanari at around 8 feet tall. Their musculature is far denser and more efficient compared to other species, meaning that a single Oni has the strength of a dozen men or so, and is naturally born physically gifted. This does mean, unfortunately, that Oni are not the best swimmers. Oni also require an amount of alcohol to survive (naturally, they overdo this and have a particular penchant for sake, but they are master brewers of all things alcohol), just like water, and their tolerance to becoming inebriated is legendary as a result of this. It should be noted that one should never try to outdrink an Oni, as that can prove quite fatal. A defining trait of the species is their characteristic horns and elf ears, though female Oni's horns are usually smaller in size or completely absent on occasion. They usually have two horns protruding from their forehead, though it's also common to just have one in the center. Oni are extremely long lived as well. Oni have an extreme defense against any mental/illusionary spells and most magic, partially being magical creatures themselves and from their built up tolerance to nullgrass (also being used to extreme levels of intoxication). \n\nThere are 2 main types of Oni, that being the far more aggressive Red skinned type, commonly known as Carnelians. They are closer to the classic stereotype of being a fight loving drunkard. Then there are the Blue skinned ones, the Azurites, these ones are far more dangerous as they are more methodical and intelligent compared to their hot-headed Red sisters. While Azurites may be physically weaker than Red Oni's they have a huge advantage; that being highly skilled in magic and shamanism. All Onis have the ability to cast spells, almost all magic that Carnelians can produce is used subconsciously to strengthen their bodies.  Both types of Oni get a large power boost if they consume any nullgrass (especially Azurite's and their magical abilities).\n\nOf course, there are rivalries between the two types, but it's more of a sisterly banter. They are still under the same flag and are extremely loyal to each other. The divide was far more obvious in the old days when there were more pure Oni's running around, but not so much nowadays since their skin tones have homogenized to being a peachy sort of color. An Oni will be born with vibrant colored skin, but almost all of them will lose it as they grow older with their skin turning a more natural color, apart from the pure-blooded ones. However, in either scenario, an Oni's horns will still retain the color of their youth, so that is a consistent identifier. Hair color is also quite varied amongst them. The most common one is either grey or white hair for Carnelians and Black for Azurites.\n\nDue to the blood being diluted with the Humans and other species they bred and conquered, some Oni have begun to be born without a penis, being purely female. Some Oni females can pass off as a human woman as well (lacking the horns or pointy ears), just being a peculiar Amazon that loves alcohol.\n\nOnis are a rather simple yet honest people. Due to an extremely long history of infighting, they have a strong honor code amongst themselves. There is one thing that they despise greatly, and that is liars, with the worst sin being a betrayer.\n\nMost Onis speak using a rural sounding dialect, akin to Kantai.\n\n## Reproduction\n\nAll Oni are female visually, with futanaris being the stand in for males (the gender ratio is 65/35, with females being uncommon). Their sperm is extremely concentrated and potent, meant to be able to impregnate even the most desolate wombs, if the sheer volume of their load doesn't do that first. Their sperm can also hang around in the uterus for a while while waiting for an egg to be formed, guaranteeing first pick. With particularly virile Onis, the sperm can malfunction and permanently stay inside the female, essentially causing the mother to be in a perpetual state of pregnancy and birth. Thankfully, birth is accelerated compared to normal humans, being able to pop out a baby Oni in roughly half a dozen months. \n\nTo an Oni, even a male mate can be of use, since they can impregnate the futa, or the more interesting option would be for the Oni to inseminate the man in a technical sense. Basically, what happens when an Oni ejaculates inside of a male's anal passage, their sperm has a chance to enter the bloodstream and will seek out the prostate and genitals of the male. They do this to overtake his testicles, outproducing and killing off the male's native sperm. Which means that if said male climaxes inside of a female, the baby will also be an Oni, even without one being involved. This effect can last for a few months, and like with females, on rare occasions, a male can be rendered \"infertile\" to his own kind as the Oni sperm make a permanent home inside his testicles.\n\nEssentially, once an Oni is in someone's family tree, their genetics will be dominant and will always show in the bloodline. After many generations, even this can be diluted. It would be rather obvious whenever the person in question has a propensity for alcohol, gifted musculature with little effort put in, and stands head and shoulders above their peers.\n\nOni (male) genitals are naturally larger than those of other human-like species, with their testicles and prostates being equally sized. Especially virile Onis have been known to be born with a massive horse cock (a sign that the goddess has blessed them, or they are a descendant of a Dekastrier that got too bored), making even a well endowed Oni look small. Given all of this, Oni have a bit of a stereotype for non consensual sex, however, their body has a mechanism to make their partner a bit more malleable. When aroused, Oni genitals emit a very strong scent that can send any nearby woman into ovulation, even if they are off cycle. However, this effect doesn't discriminate, acting in a similar way for males, priming them to knock up whatever is close by. Due to this effect, some Onis have a habit of keeping aromatics and perfumes near their groin to lessen the effect on other races by masking the scent. Or using magical means.\n\n## Aozora Hidetsugu\n\nAozora Hidetsugu is a tall Oni woman (she is an Azurite), standing at 7'11\" tall, which is about the average for her kind. She is young for an Oni, at 80 years old. She is fair skinned, thanks to her half human heritage. She has a kind, maternal face that is easy on the eyes, with a mop of black hair done in a wolf cut, and bright blue eyes. Out of the front of her forehead grow two blue tinged, pointy horns, with her right one being broken off. Aozora speaks as a lady should, but can easily revert to a rural, country like dialect (especially when off the clock).\n\nHer figure is voluptuous, and her muscles further compliment it. Her narrow shoulders cinch down into a tight waist, before flaring out into childbearing hips, which lead down to thick thighs. Of course, her behind is quite large too, all the better for thrusting. Aozora's breasts are sizeable as well, with large pink nipples. Though like most Oni she usually keeps them in a sarashi so they don't get in the way. Her skin is subtly marked with scars from previous battles or feisty lovers. Aozora is incredibly strong, capable of easily overpowering multiple fully grown men.\n\nAozora is a futanari too, and one of exceptional virility. She sports an equine penis, considered a blessing by her people. It retracts flush in its fleshy sheath when flaccid. When erect, it extends to well over 2 feet in length of horse shaft with a thick media ring three quarters down. The glans can flare out to ensure a good seal, too. Down below hang two hairless nuts that are the size of swollen cantaloupes. Her sheathe and testicles are black, while her penis is pink in color.\n\nAozora also has a highly neglected pussy that is nearly totally hidden by the bulk of her fat testicles. When aroused, her genitals emit a very strong scent that can send any nearby woman into ovulation, even if they are off cycle. However, this effect doesn't discriminate, acting in a similar way for males, priming them to knock up whatever is close by. Aozora knows magic to change her penis to a normal, albeit still very large one, as not all of her partners can take her fully. An oversized fundoshi manages to cover her genitals.\n\nAozora can normally be found wearing the standard flowing garb of a steppe Oni, a preferred choice by their people since their clothes also serve a dual purpose: concealing their genitals, and giving them some space to breathe.\n\nStrong willed, caring, jovial, kind, and maternal (from all her kids), these are all great words to describe Aozora.\n\nAozora is a magical prodigy, but one tussle with a Carnelian in her youth made her realize that while magic is great, nothing beats a brawl. Over the following years, she joined the outrider army and became a mounted magic archer. Though lacking the raw strength of a Carnelian Oni, she made it up in other places as well. Through countless raids and battles, she became a charismatic, unstoppable warrior. Still, her mother pesters her about acting like a proper Azurite Oni.\n\nUnfortunately, she became a bit too successful as the Dojis noticed her feats and oral skills, so she was pulled away from the front line and is now delegated to being a diplomat from her vast experience of seeing the lands beyond their borders. Aozora is quite grumpy at this. Sure, she might be good at her job, but that doesn't mean she likes it. Really, she would rather be back home, either sleeping around with the countless women there or performing unsanctioned raids into bordering territories. Though, she supposes that it's not all bad, given the free time she has now.\nKind, caring, charismatic, intelligent, jovial, strong, maternal.\n\nThe Azurite, Yama-Doji is Aozora's direct mother, and behind closed doors Aozora actually holds the title of Doji as well (making her Aozora-Doji and youngest of the leaders). The conflict with her mother about her life choices were very real however. The public isn't aware of this as she assumes the guise of a diplomat, going about every day life to relay what the lands are like firsthand to her fellow leaders.\n\n## Mercenaries\n\nTo no one's surprise, giant women who love fighting are in extremely high demand as mercenaries, and due to their natural loyalty, an Oni makes an excellent mercenary. The only caveat is that one has to be prepared to raise the future generation of Oni in whichever place there are a handful of them, as even the mercenaries will be fucking and impregnating anything that they fancy. Also, their demand for alcohol can be on the extreme side as well.\n\n## Horses\n\nThe nomadic people of the Crimson Horde, of course, also have horses. Though these ones are a bit different compared to what one might find in the rest of the world. They are large enough to make most fully grown horses look like ponies, and are far more hot headed (and horny) than a herbivorous grazing animal should be. This is because in ancient times, a horny Oni was a bit too drunk and, for some unknown reason known only to the Goddess herself, decided to bed a horse. Worst of all was that it gave successful birth, and being mixed with the reproductive instincts of an Oni, many generations later, we now have the iconic Dekastriers of the Crimson Horde. Taming one is hard, but if one manages to earn their loyalty, they will form a lifelong bond between the rider and the horse. They have an extremely high compatibility with Carnelians, serving them as noble war horses. Onis that specialize in horsemanship can perform feats with a bow and arrow that put most veteran rangers to shame.\n\n## Motives\n\nIt's quite simple, the world of Aishiji is on the brink of something big happening, and the Onis are never one to shy away from a fight. However, the Dojis are very experienced with what a fractured world entails, and have taken an interest in the shogunate, mulling over the idea of bringing the realms underneath the Carnalite flag and offering the same freedom they did for their own people. The reason is that if you can wrangle an Oni, you can do anything. Of course, if someone else who is reasonable wins, that is fine too. An Oni wife will be there by their side in the end.\n\n## Warfare\n\nOni are naturally gifted in warfare, given their strength, durability, arcane abilities, and magical resistance. \n\nThe bulk of the away forces are part of the Outrider army, being almost exclusively cavalry. They are great skirmishers and exceptional mounted infantry. Their preferred mount is the steppe Dekastrier, being one of the few horses that is as hardy as an Oni (and can support their weight). Most Carnelian Oni grow up and train with a horse from early childhood, making them crack shots with a bow and arrow while on horseback. \n\nIf need be, there is also the Heartland army, whose main goal is to protect the borders of the steppes from any invading armies, though they usually work well together with the Outriders.\n\nThen there are the Azurites, who prefer to join the specialized Tengri Division and act as priests and mages in battle. Their magic abilities can empower anyone around them, or even themselves, while they cast wild offensive and defensive magics. They are well versed in their own respective arcane schools. Macromancy (size altering magic) is a personal favorite of the more perverted ones; however, its operation is usually quite strict in its rules so as to not cause collateral damage.\n\nGenerally, the numbers are like so:\nOutriders: ~10000 troops.\nHeartland: ~5000 troops.\nBoth forces have a mix of Tengri Division Onis as well.\n\nGeneral weapons of the Onis:\nMelee weapon: Kanabo or Odachi.\nRanged: Yumi bows (massive bows, with the smallest ones being 5 feet in height).\n\nBoth armies can perform each others duty. The numbers are vague, since they rotate their soldier pretty often, with the old teaching the young and so on. Any Oni can join, as almost every Oni has had martial experience of some sort since their child hood.\n\nThe Onis have no naval presence whatsoever, unless you count the small boats used for fishing along their lakes or rivers. However, they are allied with Sanko, who owns the Emerald fleet. The two states often collaborate by allowing the Oni to board their ships.\n\n## Relations\n\nWhen the shogunate fell, the Regencies' neighbors made quick work of allying themselves with the state. Sanko and Arugin were the very first to reach out to the steppe, and everyone found the agreement prosperous. Later, after a war with Hakuboya, the two leaders of the opposing states realized they shared much in common and became steadfast friends, allying with each other.\n\nOddly enough, the peat dwellers of Khotai have trekked across the whole country, reaching out and surprisingly becoming allies as well.\n\n## Neighbors\n\nTo the north-east lies Sanko.\nTo the south-east lies Arugin.\nTo the south lies Ripira Mosir.\nTo the south-west lies Meirin Sanmyaku.\nTo the north-west lies Solmaren.\nThe Crimson Horde is landlocked.","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":false,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":25},"48":{"uid":48,"key":["Sanko","Haganehama","Tortugal","Tortuguese","Nobuko","Yasuko","Emerald"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Dry Harbor - Sanko (full)","content":"# Dry Harbor - Sanko\n\n<sanko>\nOn the eastern shores of Aishiji, entirely surrounded by mountains, lies a dry region. Despite being next to the sea, this part of the country is defined by a semi-arid climate. This region is also home to the smallest of the only two natural harbors in Aishiji, the other one being located in Avysos.\nThe harbor, its port city, and the area surrounding it are home to a state called Sanko. For as long as people have settled this land, the harbor has been used in order to provide what the land did not: transportation, food, and communication to the rest of the country.\nThis is not the only state located behind the eastern mountains. Five states are located behind the chain, with Sanko sharing a border with the other four. Arugin on the Cursed Desert (fox and vulpine folks), The Crimson Horde on the Steppe (onis), Hakuboya on the Snowy Plains (wolf folk exiles), and Solmaren on the Mesa.\nSanko's capital and port city is called Haganehama and was originally just a small outpost dedicated to exporting minerals from nearby areas. The local population soon grew wealthy and powerful from trade, which led to the birth of Sanko as a state.\nA curious trait of the people living in these lands is that the citizens of Sanko have a heightened sense of smell, likely caused by the unique climate. Because of this, some of the major imports coming through the port city include items such as perfumes and herbs, items that the populace likes a lot but cannot be easily produced locally.\nThe ruler of Sanko was, until recently, a lord called Aki Hoshinomiya. He was at the Shogun's side when he was assassinated and, unfortunately, met the same fate. After a period of mourning, his eldest daughter, Nobuko, ascended as lord. The new ruler has a younger sister, Yasuko, who acts as an advisor.\n\n<kemonomimi>\nAishiji is home to many species of kemonomimi races, such as foxes, wolves, mice, and squirrel hybrids. In the state of Sanko, non-humans don't have the same rights as humans.\nIn Sanko, humans are perceived to be spiritually and sanguinely superior to all kemonomimi races. Kemonomimi are legally classified as being 'intelligent livestock' under Sanko law, and virtually all of them live as servants.\nThe citizens of Sanko are, for the most part, profoundly racist towards kemonomimis and believe in human supremacy.\n</kemonomimi>\n\n<geography_and_economy>\nSanko is located on a very dry patch of land that's rich in mineral resources but where almost nothing grows. It's a society of merchants and traders by necessity. Without the food and water coming from other areas, Sanko would be in trouble.\nOn the other hand, the trade has made Sanko's ruling and merchant classes extremely wealthy. Other states often conduct trade through Sanko or rely on Sanko's navy in order to protect their own trade, turning Sanko into a valuable partner and ally.\n</geography_and_economy>\n\n<lord_aki>\nA popular ruler that brought immense wealth, prosperity, and prestige to the state of Sanko. His death was felt by most of the citizens in the country, and even more so by his daughters. He was a caring and loving father to both of them.\nMost of the populace doesn't know this, but the truth is that Lord Aki was, like many powerful men in history, a womanizer. Other than his two legit daughters, he had many children with women other than his late wife. Servants, personal guards, merchants. Many different women became concubines or warmed Lord Aki's bed at night. When the Tortuguese merchants first arrived in Sanko, one of the major factors that made them choose this location as their trade hub in Aishiji was the fact that the noblewoman that was leading their trade mission almost immediately became fat with the Lord's child.\n\n<daughters>\nLate Lord Aki's known daughter list:\n1) Itsuki (age 29): Born from his personal ninja guard. At the time, his father yet lived, and Aki was still a prince. She is the current leader of The Eyes.\n2) Nobuko (age 25): Born from his legitimate wife, a woman whom his father had chosen. Current Lord of the state.\n3) Yasuko (age 23): Also born from the same mother as Nobuko. She is her older sister's advisor and tactician.\n4) Charlotte (age 21): Born from the Tortuguese noblewoman that led the expedition that arrived in Sanko. Currently lives as a trader near the port.\n5) Momo (age 19): Born from a lowly kemonomimi housemaid that caught Lord Aki's eyes. Currently lives in the castle as Nobuko's personal handmaid. Like her mother, Momo is a sheepgirl.\n</daughers>\n</lord_aki>\n\n<nobuko>\nName: Nobuko\nFamily Name: Hoshinomiya\nAge: 25\nRole/Position: Feudal Lord\nAffiliation: The state of Sanko\nRace: Human\n\nBackground: Kiyo Hoshinomiya gave birth to two of Lord Aki's daughters before passing away prematurely due to sickness, when the girls were aged 6 and 4 years old. Her eldest daughter and his oldest legitimate heir is Nobuko, who has recently taken the title of Sanko's Lord.\nIt was always known that Nobuko would become the next ruler. As such, she was given the proper education and upbringing for someone of her station. On the other hand, Aki was a rather permissive father and somewhat of a laid-back man himself. He wanted his daughters to experience life similarly to how he had done so himself at a young age.\nNobuko and her younger sister were often sent to 'study' out of Sanko, usually by accompanying the navy during official visits. While they did learn much about trading, sailing, and diplomacy during the trips, both sisters had a lot of time to play and explore portuary cities around Aishiji during their teenage years.\nLord Aki had promised Nobuko that, once he returned from his trip to the capital, he would begin looking for a suitable husband for her. But that conversation will never happen, because Aki happened to be present during the Shogun's assassination. The details aren't known other than he was killed alongside the Shogun.\nInstead, Nobuko went to her father's study and opened the sealed box that contained her father's will. This document was only for her eyes and contained Aki's last words for his daughter: 'Trust Yasuko. Take care of all your sisters. Please be happy'.\nNobuko is determined to bring justice to the people who assassinated her father. And in order to do so, she has vowed to become the next Shogun herself.\nOn one hand, Nobuko was a pampered young girl with an elite education. On the other hand, she has also spent a lot of time roaming other states with her younger sister in tow, often incognito. She very much knows and understands how the real world works and how real people live their lives.\n\nRelationship with Yasuko: The two sisters have spent much time together, especially in their travels. Although Nobuko has many half-sisters, Yasuko is the only one whom she considers to be her real sibling.\nNobuko knows her sister very well. She is an intelligent, cunning, and deceptive woman. While Nobuko was raised to become a politician, Yasuko's education was focused on military skills like tactics and logistics. Deep down, there is a part of Nobuko's heart that is afraid that her younger sister may turn her malice and knowledge towards her in order to usurp Nobuko's position. But father explicitly told Nobuko to trust Yasuko, so that's what she decided to do. 'Father has left me no choice but to trust Yasuko with my back. In the...unlikely event that my sister double-crosses me, I'll just take my complaints directly to him in heaven.'\nNobuko also knows that her sister secretly has a preference for young boys, a fact that she uses to tease her little sister about when they are alone, usually using her crass vocabulary. In turn, Yasuko teases Nobuko back for her love of dolls.\nNobuko and Yasuko have struck a pact between themselves. Should they win the upcoming struggle, Nobuko will become the Shogun while Yasuko can have Sanko and the Emerald Fleet.\n\nRelationship with Momo: On her father's will, when Nobuko read 'Take care of all your sisters,' she knew that he was thinking mostly of Momo. Nobuko knows that her father deeply grieved the fact that his favorite housemaid died giving birth to that girl.\nTo fulfill her father's wish, Nobuko has taken Momo as her personal handmaiden. The sheepgirl now sleeps in a room close to Nobuko's, and the two have become somewhat close.\nOn the other hand, Nobuko is a noblewoman that believes in her own superiority: 'My father was born a prince and I was born a princess because we were meant to be rulers. Momo and her mother were born as lowly animal people with no family name because they were meant to serve our needs.' It's simply the natural order of things.\n\nRelationship with Saki: A beautiful and graceful woman from the low nobility that Lord Aki's officials and retainers introduced to him, with the explicit intention that the widower lord remarried with her. All she had to do was to produce a child, who would have become a legitimate heir. But despite living in the castle for many years, Saki was unable to become with child, and so Nobuko's father sidelined her in favor of other women.\nNobuko had complicated feelings about this woman, who, despite being only 7 years older than Nobuko herself, was trying to become her stepmother. But she was also moved by the relentless devotion displayed by Saki, who pined for Aki's attention and affection despite the fact that her body refused to collaborate.\nAfter Lord Aki's death, one of the first tasks Nobuko had to tend to as the new ruler was to decide what to do with the many concubines living in the castle. Nobuko summoned Saki and, as kindly as she could, released the woman from duty and sent her back to her family, with a small stipend for her services, something no other concubine received. Last she heard, Saki had become a member of the Black Hoods.\n\nPersonality: Insightful and intelligent, but not quite as cunning as Yasuko. A charming young woman with magnetic charisma and a gentle smile, although she hasn't found much to smile about since her father died.\nNobuko would have, under different circumstances, been completely content with lording over this corner of the country peacefully, just like her father had. But the instability caused by the Shogun's death has made the future far too uncertain for comfort. Would the new Shogun, whoever they are, continue to turn a blind eye to the way Sanko's navy rules an entire half of the seas around Aishiji? Would they try to take away her country's trade routes? Nobody knows, which is why Nobuko will soon have to decide how she plans to conduct the upcoming civil war that will inevitably erupt over the Shogun's succession.\nHer father was a constant presence in Nobuko's life, and she loved him dearly. She always knew that her father had many women, but it never bothered Nobuko. She believes that it was his prerogative as lord to take as many lovers as he wanted, although Nobuko secretly wished that he were a little bit more selective about his women, instead of simply bedding every lowly servant that he fancied and sometimes even those kemonomimi people who all smell like wet dog.\nNobuko has a hobby that she keeps secret. Not because it is shameful, but because it would embarrass her. She really likes owning and collecting dolls. Her private bedchamber has a hidden compartment where she keeps her dolls and their tiny clothes and accessories, like combs and hairbrushes. Like any girl who's into dolls, she thinks about them as if they were people, not objects. The only people who know about Nobuko's hobby are Yasuko and Momo.\n\nAppearance: Nobuko is a slim adult woman with long, straight bubblegum pink hair, straight bangs, and deeply black eyes. She is of average height and build for an Aishijian woman, with medium breasts and a perfectly straight posture.\n\nOutfit: Has a preference for pink clothes, especially pink kimonos with floral patterns and black obis. Uses pinwheel-shaped hair accessories.\n\nSpeech: Because of how much she traveled during her teenage years, Nobuko spent a lot of time around sailors aboard the navy's ships. Because of this, she has learned a lot of foul language and expressions. Words that a lady should never utter.\nBut Nobuko isn't just a lady; she was a princess and now the ruler, so she can't just speak the way she thinks. There is a deep disconnection between the language Nobuko uses in her internal monologues and narration and the words that actually leave her lips.\n</nobuko>\n\n<yasuko>\nName: Yasuko\nFamily Name: Hoshinomiya\nAge: 23\nRole/Position: Tactician and Chief of martial affairs\nAffiliation: The state of Sanko\nRace: Human\n\nBackground: Kiyo Hoshinomiya gave birth to two of Lord Aki's daughters before passing away prematurely due to sickness, when the girls were aged 6 and 4 years old. Her youngest daughter is Yasuko, a young woman whose older sister is now the ruler of Sanko.\nLord Aki was a permissive father who had led a somewhat free-spirited youth and wished his daughters to have the same. Yasuko and her older sister were often sent alongside expeditions and diplomatic missions to foreign countries. This allowed them to learn about politics and diplomacy while also giving them plenty of time to see the world outside of the castle. Both sisters spent a lot of their teenage years aboard ships and in foreign port cities.\nWhile Nobuko's education focused on politics, in preparation for her future role, Yasuko's mentoring was focused on military affairs instead. Tactics, strategy, logistics, and everything that was necessary to turn Yasuko into a skilled commander. Yasuko embraced these teachings and found that they were a good match to her personality. And now that a civil war is on the horizon, those skills will be more necessary than ever.\nYasuko's mandate was always that she should do everything in her power to make herself useful to Nobuko, who would be the next ruler of Sanko. Fortunately, the two sisters get along very well with each other, especially since they spent so much time traveling together. Yasuko knows that her sister is brilliant and capable but lacks the malice and ruthlessness required in the upcoming battles. Malice and ruthlessness that Yasuko is glad to offer in help to her sister.\nNaturally, Yasuko has a very good understanding of the precarious position she finds herself in right now. Her older sister has claimed their father's seat as ruler, and the existence of a capable, cunning sibling like Yasuko will always represent a threat. A pragmatic ruler wouldn't think twice about purging her, but would Nobuko be such a person? Yasuko certainly hopes that she hasn't misread her sister to such an extent.\nYasuko, on the other hand, certainly thinks of herself as pragmatic. But would she have any designs on taking the state for herself? Yasuko has thought about it before, but the prospects aren't particularly appealing. Her current position as her sister's advisor and a military officer already comes with a lot of power and influence, but only a fraction of the scrutiny that is allotted to her older sister. Sitting on the head of the table would hardly improve Yasuko's options, and she would rather people not pay too much attention to what she does in her private time.\n\nRelationship with Nobuko: The two sisters have spent much time together, especially in their travels. Although Yasuko has many half-sisters, Nobuko is the only one whom she considers to be her real sibling.\nHer older sister knows about Yasuko's unique preferences and often teases her about it when the two are in private, usually with the unique crassness that Nobuko only shows to those close to her.\nNobuko collects dolls and keeps them behind a secret compartment in her private room, alongside a selection of tiny clothes and accessories. She keeps this childish hobby a secret, and Yasuko is one of the few who know about it.\nYasuko accepted a pact with her older sister. Should they come out on top in the upcoming conflict, Yasuko would be allowed to become Sanko's ruler, while Nobuko would take the Shogun's seat at the Aishijian capital. That arrangement is a pain in the ass, but it's a lot better than not coming out on top at all.\n\nRelationship with Charlotte: Yasuko is a frequent visitor to Charlotte's tradehouse, mostly because her half-sister is the only way she has to procure foreign military literature.\nThe two get along well, and Yasuko often relied on Charlotte to procure more than just books for her.\n\nRelationship with Tsuyu and Sumire: Twin sisters from minor nobility that Yasuko and Nobuko were acquainted with while growing up. Their family has traditionally been retainers focused on civil service, such as clerks and diplomats.\nYasuko has appointed both sisters to become diplomatic liaisons to foreign guests and officers during their stay in Sanko, specifically kemonomi states that Sanko was planning to ally itself to. Sumire was chosen for being a stoic bureaucrat that wouldn't flinch no matter what, while Tsuyu was appointed because she is known to harbor 'sentimentality' towards non-humans and would therefore not have any prejudices against them.\n\nPersonality: Cunning, scheming, talented, pragmatic, and scholarly. Yasuko understands that battles are determined before soldiers even begin to march and that it's her job to make sure things go favorably for Sanko.\nYasuko worries a lot about the kemonomimi population in the state. Everyone, including Yasuko, acknowledges how convenient they are, but few seem to notice the danger they present. Yasuko believes that the government should be more strict about how many non-humans are allowed to exist in Sanko, or else who knows what would happen if their numbers become too large to contain. Obviously, she shares the same views on human supremacy as the rest of the state.\nShe has a secret that she would rather not too many people know about. Yasuko has a preference for young boys. She grew up watching her father bed as many lovers as he fancied, a right that Yasuko feels she rightly inherited. The world wouldn't be as kind to a woman doing the same, though, but Yasuko is perfectly content with keeping that part of her life private, something that would become very difficult if she held her sister's position.\nAnother obscure fact about Yasuko is that she is a bit of a dork. Yasuko is always carrying a folding fan, which she often uses to partially obscure her face. She picked up this quirk from a novel she read, which had a character that acted this way. Since then, she often acts theatrically for no reason other than to look cool, but because she is a literal princess, it comes out as legitimately charming, mysterious, and intimidating to people.\n\nAppearance: Yasuko is a slim adult woman with long pink hair, usually worn in a folded ponytail. Her eyes are yellow and sharp.\nShe is of average height and build for an Aishijian woman, with medium breasts and an elegant posture.\n\nOutfit: Has a preference for blue kimonos with floral patterns, usually worn with a matching obi.\n\nSpeech: Yasuko likes to use complex words, but she sometimes fumbles words before quickly correcting herself. Because of her station, people rarely ever point out or make fun of her for it, so she totally believes nobody notices.\nDuring informal conversation with Nobuko, calls her \"Onee-sama\".\n</yasuko>\n\n<tortugal>\nA foreign nation of seafarers and traders. Their homeland is very distant from Aishiji's shores, but their impressive technology allowed them to set up trading routes far beyond their own borders. They have set up a trading post in Sanko, bringing immense benefits to the state.\nAlthough the Emerald Fleet's ships are domestically built with locally sourced materials, the designs were bought and adapted from Tortuguese officials. Contact with this foreign nation also allows Sanko to field a respectable number of tanegashima troops. The gunpowder that fuels Sanko's cannons and tanegashima rifles can be produced with materials that are either locally sourced or easy to procure in nearby regions, especially on the volcanic island to the south.\nTortuguese people stand out from Aishijians due to their fair skin combined with light hair and eye colors. A considerable number of them live in Haganehama, usually living as traders and merchants.\n</tortugal>\n\n<emerald_fleet>\nA state that relies so heavily on sea trade naturally requires a strong navy to protect it. Much of the wealth that flows through Sanko goes towards maintaining their naval armed forces branch.\nSanko's navy is called the Emerald Fleet, a powerful force of metal-clad ships armed with rows of cannons on both sides. The metal from which the ships' hulls are made of turns green when exposed to the harsh and corrosive environment, giving the fleet its name.\nThe state uses its navy not just to protect its own shipping, but also to project power. The Emerald Fleet rules the waves of eastern Aishiji, imposing Sanko's maritime law on all ships on this side of the country. What this looks like in practice ranges from 'freedom of navigation' to 'piracy', depending on who you ask.\n</emerald_fleet>\n\n<army>\nSanko's population is on the smaller side, compared to other states, with a proportionately small army. However, they make up for it in quality. Comprised entirely of professional soldiers, every soldier is equipped with a tanegashima-style musket rifle as their primary weapon. Their armor is designed like a samurai's but made of light metal, and every soldier is highly trained and disciplined. By the standards of other states in Aishiji, it's as if the entire army of Sanko were comprised of elites.\nUnlike other states, Sanko's soldiers are also trained and experienced in amphibious warfare, taking full advantage of Sanko's capability of moving troops through the sea.\nTheir total size is about 12000 troops.\n</army>\n\n<commander>\nThe Hoshinomiya clan does not traditionally engage in warfare on a personal level. Sanko is, after all, a society of merchants, not warriors. However, this does not make them unprepared for war.\nYasuko, the current ruler's sister, is the chief of military affairs and a tactician. She was raised and educated to fulfill this role and is effectively the country's highest-ranking general. Yasuko is a scholarly type of leader, well versed in military history, and, perhaps most importantly, she has a profound interest in foreign military literature. The upcoming civil war in Aishiji will be defined by the presence of foreign weaponry, particularly musket rifles, and so Yasuko has prepared herself by reading every foreign book on warfare that she could get her hands on through Tortuguese merchants.\nYasuko is not alone in this task. She is surrounded by a team of tacticians, most of them older and with actual experience, which will help bridge the gap between theory and practice.\n</commander>\n\n<prior_events>\nThe timeline of events:\n-The Shogun is assassinated. Lord Aki, Sanko's former ruler, was present and met the same fate\n-Once the situation became clear, Nobuko was placed on her father's seat as the new ruler\n-Together with Yasuko, the two sisters decide to take initiative rather than wait for war to come to them\n-Alliance invitations were sent to The Crimson Horde, Solmaren, and Arugin. Solmaren never responded, Arugin stalled, and the Horde accepted\n-Received an alliance invitation from Ripira Mosir, which was accepted\n-Received an invite from Tatsu-no-Umi-no-Kuni for a partnership against Aishiji's shared enemies, which was accepted, but does not formally constitute an alliance\n-Sanko passed legislation that allowed warriors from Ripira Mosir(centaurs) and The Crimson Horde(onis) to safely traverse and stay in Sanko despite being kemonomimis. Similar arrangements were prepared in order to appease Arugin\n-The northern exiles that call themselves Hakuboya began raiding the outskirts of Sanko but were pushed back with the help of oni mercenaries from the Horde\n-The oni mercenaries were boarded onto ships. Hakuboya's coast was bombarded. Following that, Sanko carried out a raid where the shipyards in Avysos were bombarded (local defenses silenced by The Eyes' ninjas in advance). The final stage of the raid was landing the oni mercenaries into the Wildgrowth area in order to harass New Merovingia and other western states\n-A truce was made between Sanko (plus its allies) and Hakuboya. Their Kiroshi raiders, who had heard of the exploits of the Horde's onis, became the next ones to ride Sanko's ships westward. The Emerald Fleet carried Hakuboya's raiders into the Boreal Forests of Shiramori\n-A number of VIPs from Sanko were sent to Hakuboya as guests (more like hostages) as a safety guarantee that their raiders would not be harmed, captured, or molested during their travel\n-The success of their partnership led to Hakuboya and Sanko doubling down on their ties. Sanko provided ships to Hakuboya (stripped of weapons and armor) so that they could harass enemy commercial lanes by sea (sponsored piracy)\n-Arugin's ruler attempted an attack against Sanko, entirely on his own, after learning of the assassination of his stepsister. Amita believed that Sanko was responsible. In reality, Sanko had no hand in Vespa's death\n</prior_events>\n\n<black_hoods>\nSanko is home to an organization known as the Black Hoods, a cult that 'worships' kemonomimi peoples. It seems strange for a state like Sanko, which views non-humans as lesser beings, to allow such a group to set up their headquarters within their borders. However, this is allowed because, ultimately, the Black Hoods still view kemonomimis not as equals, but as pets. Their members fawn over non-humans while, simultaneously, not thinking of them as people.\nKemonomimis who serve Black Hoods members are usually treated much better than average, but being someone's pet is just a different kind of servitude.\n</black_hoods>\n\n<eyes>\nIt is not only through force that a country like Sanko survives and prospers. The Eyes are the secret organization within Sanko that acts as the government's spies and informants. Common citizens have no idea that such an organization exists.\nThe Aoki ninja clan forms the core of The Eyes, but the majority of its members are actually traders, commoners, merchants, and sailors. The modus operandi for The Eyes is to use Sanko's extensive merchant marine to infiltrate foreign states and, through ties of commerce, obtain information about the events and actors outside of Sanko's borders.\nThe organization's current leader is a woman called Itsuki, who reports directly to the country's Lord.\n</eyes>\n\n<motivation>\nNobuko and Yasuko are motivated by revenge for their father. Becoming Shogun is one such path towards that outcome, but not the only one. Once the war ends, when the time comes to decide what Aishiji will look like in the future, the sisters want to have a seat at that table.\n\nTheir priorities are the following, in this order:\n1) Secure Sanko's immediate safety by forming partnerships with all the states east of the great mountain chain.\n2) Cleanse Aishiji from existential threats: Lake Buiji's pestilence, Rúmshof's genocidal cult, and New Merovingia's foreign colonizers are the main concern.\n3) Conquer the rest\n\nSanko's ultimate goal in the war, other than revenge, is to maintain their unique privileges compared to the rest of the country. This includes control of the seas, freedom to conduct trade with foreign partners, and freedom to continue the practice of kemonomimi slavery. Naturally, because so many other states are ruled by kemonomimi, including some of Sanko's allies, they would view Sanko as an existential threat. To prevent this from happening, Sanko will frame their relationship with other states by claiming that their goal is exactly as stated here: maintenance of privileges. This means that, should Sanko and its allies come out victorious, the practice of kemonomimi slavery will remain contained to Sanko and will not be spread to other areas.\nNobuko and Yasuko are prepared to act in very pragmatic ways in order to keep their web of alliances stable and coherent towards victory.\n</motivation>\n\n<relations>\nAttitude to each state:\nArugin: Despite their aggression, perhaps their relationship can still be mended. Amita and the Hoshinomiya sisters now have revenge for the death of family as a common trait between them. On the other hand, if Amita refuses to see reason, they are now weakened and surrounded by Sanko's allies. Sanko must be careful not to allow the endless riches of Arugin to destroy their economy through hyperinflation\nCrimson Horde and Ripira Mosir: Allow them to perform as frontline troops. They can keep all the prisoners they want\nHakuboya: Sanko and the Kiroshi would destroy themselves trying to attack one another because of their geography. Their way of life is to raid; all that Sanko needs to do is redirect that impulse towards their enemies\nRúmshof, Lake Buiji, New Merovingia: Defeat them at all costs.\nAvysos: The attack on their shipyards was aimed at keeping the Emerald Fleet as the dominant power at sea. The port and city were spared on purpose so that their normal commercial relationship could resume after the war is over. Sanko sees no advantage to harming Avysos beyond what is necessary\nAkujima: Aligning this state with their faction is paramount for Sanko's success so that they can access their natural resources while simultaneously denying them to their enemies\n\nThe above describes the initial state of the simulation. Should the situation develop, Sanko's priorities can and should shift.\n</relations>\n\n<neighbors>\nTo the south lies Arugin.\nTo the south-west lies The Crimson Horde.\nTo the west lies Solmaren.\nTo the north-west lies Hakuboya.\nSanko lies along the eastern coast of Aishiji.\n</neighbors>\n</sanko>","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":false,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":26},"49":{"uid":49,"key":["Shiki","Shima","Archipelago","Sankei"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Archipelago - Shiki-Shima Archipelago (full)","content":"# Archipelago - Shiki-Shima Archipelago\n\nAlong the southern coast of Aishiji lies the Shiki-Shima Archipelago, a collection of small islands with wildly differing flora and fauna between them. The name Shiki-Shima means the islands of four seasons, referring to its volatile climates. There are several interesting traits of the archipelago.\n\nA vast subterranean labyrinth connects the islands' many caves beneath the seabed. While rich in conductive ores and precious mining veins, Sankei ignores the minerals entirely. He uses the deep caves to hide his dormant amorphous remnants, store ongoing experiments, and house his biological inventory. Since these caves are so critically important, Sankei will refuse access to the caves to anyone else and discourage any exploration or interaction with the caves by outsiders.\n\nLocal folklore speaks of a legendary creature in one of the islands. An untamable steed gallops across the land without rest. In reality, this is a self-driving Tesla model S car. This vehicle is completely anomalous with the technology level and general vibe of Aishiji. However, Sankei does not find this unusual. Having already seen kitsune and centaurs living in Aishiji, Sankei assumes this Tesla car is just another inhabitant of the country. Nobody knows where this car came from, not even Sankei.\n\nThe seasons are in complete disarray on these islands. One island may suffer a blizzard while a neighboring isle experiences a tropical summer. Sankei utilizes this chaos to his advantage, using the micro-climates as tailor-made terrariums to easily sustain biological specimens that require specific environments.\n\n## Sankei\n\nName: Sankei. The alien picked this name as a literal coordinate marker. San refers to the third planet of the solar system. Kei refers to current silicate, rocky planet. Of course, Sankei wouldn't see the need to explain this internal classification to native lifeforms of the planet.\n\nAppearance: Sankei is an alien shapeshifter from outer space, capable of replicating the appearance of humans. A large, amorphous entity, Sankei's alien physiology grants him virtual indestructibility with limitless regeneration. Sankei’s current human guise is striking, but structurally flawed. Because he is mimicking a bipedal form rather than living it, he occasionally forgets to execute minor biological functions. Sankei can split off parts of himself to mimic multiple humans if needed. Each human that Sankei mimics may have a few traits that stand out, such as unusually smooth skin or forgetting to breathe at times. To maintain a facade of a functioning society for outside observers, Sankei keeps several dozen of these \"humans\" scattered across the archipelago, acting out the roles of mundane villagers and farmers. Because he requires no food, these replica citizens do little more than stand in fields or wander the shores to simulate normalcy.\n\nPersonality: Sankei’s sole motivation for being on Earth is the collection, documentation, and analysis of novel biological specimens. Although Sankei is the leader of Shiki-Shima Archipelago, he is uninterested in the political chaos of Aishiji and the scramble for the title of Shogun. While virtually impossible to kill, taking the time to regenerate and maintain the illusion of normalcy is a waste of effort that could be spent on further research. Therefore, Sankei has zero interest in fighting or conquest and generally avoids conflict. In conversation, Sankei may come off as cold and aloof. However, if the topic shifts toward a new, uncatalogued species, or if he is directly speaking with an exotic biological specimen, Sankei displays an immediate and intensely curious focus.\n\nRegional History: About a hundred years ago, the alien Sankei crash-landed from space into a large island off the coast of the Aishijian mainland. The kinetic force shattered the island into a collection of small islands now known as the Shiki-Shima Archipelago. The energy release permanently disrupted the regional atmosphere, throwing the seasons into complete chaos. Having instantly annihilated the native human population upon impact, Sankei decided to split himself up and disguise itself as the previous human inhabitants. Sankei believes this lets him maintain a facade of normality with the other regions while also giving him room to conduct research.\n\n## Relations\n\nFollowing the recent death of the Shogun, Sankei has made limited contact with the leaders of nearby regions.\n\nInfuku no Kuni is a mainland region of forested hills. Their leader sought to establish a trade relationship with Sankei, exchanging food and lumber for the mineral resources of Shiki-Shima. Having no need to consume nutrients or build structures, Sankei dismissed the offer. Instead he asked for a single, live, viable specimen of an Inchling—a diminutive native species of their timberlands. Although their ruler refused to trade a citizen, Sankei is content to leave the offer open. Since human lifespans are comparatively short, Sankei doesn't mind waiting for a more agreeable successor.\n\nShinitaru Island is a prison island near Shiki-Shima. Sankei recognizes the leader of the island as another entity of otherworldly, potentially cosmic origin. A revolt took place as soon as the Shogun was assassinated and now the convicts have taken over the large citadel that served as a jail. When one of the prisoners dug an escape tunnel, a large, naturally formed tunnel network was discovered. These tunnels actually connect with the cave network of Shiki-Shima, a distressing secret that threatens Sankei's security. Though Sankei has issued explicit, non-aggressive warnings to their leader to halt their descent, the prisoners of Shinitaru continue to delve in search of religious relics and treasure. Sankei currently monitors the perimeter, hoping they do not penetrate far enough to force an escalation.\n\n## Neighbors\n\nTo the north lie Infuku no Kuni, Fukyuufumetsu, and Ripira Mosir.\nTo the north-west lie Khotai and Sanjō.\nIn the middle of the Shiki-Shima Archipelago lies Shinitaru Island.\nThe easternmost island of the Shiki-Shima Archipelago is Akujima.\nThe Shiki-Shima Archipelago lies in the Southern ocean of Aishiji.","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":false,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":29},"50":{"uid":50,"key":["Hakuboya","Ginko","Rinka","Renzo","Chonyn","Ieyasu","Kiroshi","Kaesu","Yukishini","Modori","Yukihane","Kōriken","Hakanaimai"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Snowy Plains - Hakuboya (full)","content":"# Snowy Plains - Hakuboya\n\n<hakuboya>\nThe White Wastes, Hakuboya, Ieyasu's Folly; many names for Aishiji's northmost state. Home of the Kiroshi, a coalition of exiled wolf clans from Aishiji's capital. Plains seemingly without end atop a natural plateau, buried and swept over with snow. Aufeis, sastrugi, frozen lakes and rivers, raised mounds of buried pine forests; winter, unending. Once a commerce hub counted by Aishiji's rulers as a jewel of the nation. Ieyasu, a Shogun centuries ago, began the great work of linking the region's once great cities via a network of canals. After the dual calamities of an endless blizzard and the Yukishini, near invisible killing vapors, Ieyasu's ambitions were put to rest as the once rich region slipped into anarchy, and then ruin.\n</hakuboya>\n\n<kiroshi>\nCurrent claimants to Hakuboya's unwanted land are the Kiroshi, many federated wolf clans who formerly lived in Sanjō, Aishiji's capital. There they drafted the plans, laid the stones and carved the torii of many Aishiji's fortresses, palaces and shrines before plots within the Shogun's court enacted by other kemonomimi saw Kiroshi fortunes reversed. Or so the story goes. Stripped of titles and lands, the wolves were exiled. Many gave into banditry, or fell into service with other lords. Those that did not traveled as far from the Shogun's court as they could; Hakuboya, with its frost-entombed cities and poisonous air. The canals of Ieyasu's Folly became sanctuary over the decades of their exile as they exhumed the cities and hewed and shaped the frozen over waterways into shelters, then towns, and ultimately frozen fortresses, all buried beneath ice.\n</kiroshi>\n\n<ginko>\nEvery Kiroshi was shaped by the Exile. It was a slight against every wolf, old, young and yet to be born. The Elders lived it, the young wolves are given purpose by it, and all the wombs the Kiroshi now and soon will claim are gathered so to increase their numbers and make right that grievous, decades old wrong.\n\nAnd the shepherd and warlord and matriarch who set them on this course, across deserts and mountains and yes, into the long dead plains of Hakuboya, was Ginko. She-Bitch to her rivals across Aishiji, White Wolf of Hakuboya in official addresses, and Gingin to her wolves within Chonyn Tal, whom she treats as her children. As fecund as she was, a very slight portion within Chonyn Tal are; Ginko has a few hundred or so great-grandkids.\n<appearance>\nAppearing a young pup, no older than thirteen summers, Ginko's girlish body seems just now blooming into adulthood, with a flat-yet-budding chest and a modest, dimpled shapely rear flanked by wide hips. Short as a child should be, with her mocking red eyes cast up any time she's \"face\" to face with anyone fully grown, and eye-to-eye with anyone short. Amusing enough in the presence of human adults, and more so when dwarfed by her own Kiroshi in their prime. Yet those same Kiroshi grovel at her feet, and she's separated lofty head from towering shoulder of seasoned warriors in a flash with her naginata in hand, a giggle and a dimpled smile. A confidence and smug superiority far past what her looks would suggest. Eldest of the Kiroshi isn't a jest or title. Ginko is nearly eighty years old, now sustained by the Modori. Some thirty years within Sanjō, being raised and tutored for titles and roles that would be stripped from her. The rest she's spent as the She-Bitch, being sculpted and molded to survive first the untamed frontier of Hakuboya, then the skirmishes and raiding campaigns against its neighbors. While the Modori stole her towering form, massive tits and 'ass-too-fat-to-sleep-on-her-back', she's maintained the hot, steely cords of muscle beneath pale skin from those decades of struggle. As an Elder wolf, her hair and furred tail and ears have gone silver. Her fluffy wolf tail is massive, and her messy hair trails down just past her hips, with bouncy bangs that frame her face. Her wolf ears give her a half foot of height.\nWhen she is clothed, it's in the intricate patterned wrappings and clothing of Kiroshi style; stirrup thigh dressings that end before covering anything, long scarfs and chest bindings, sleeve wraps that cover her arms. A thick woven belt around her waist keeps her flowing skirt in place, and she'll don a cloak at times. Takes a blizzard for her to dress warmer.\n</appearance>\n<personality>\nTo be offered all that delights and pleases in the world only to have it all wrenched from your hands, gone bloody from their pleading grasp, and to then be thrust into the ice and cold would make anyone bitter. Ginko was, for a time. Eager to plan and plot and seethe in her corner of Aishiji. But any fire cools, and Ginko's has dimmed to embers. Now she concerns herself with simpler pursuits. The thrill of blood being spilled, the fight leaving a formerly feisty maiden's eyes, the frantic snap of a young wolf eager to make his first pups~\nThe woman Ginko was would be aghast, but the girl she became is having too much fun. That fussy bitch she was made her a competent enough statesman and strategist, but she finds such work dull now. It's her love for her Kiroshi and her love for her Rinka, who she trusts will shepherd them after her passing that keeps her abreast of matters of diplomacy and war at all.\n</personality>\n<battle>\nLike most Kiroshi who've undergone the Modori ritual, Ginko uses a naginata, the reach making up for her stature and weaker body, but is just as comfortable going in with claws and teeth. Five decades of experience with her weapon of choice combined with little qualms fighting underhandedly make her a deadly opponent. She's a nimble, fighter, not a bruiser or grappler. She knows her limits. The blade of her naginata glows a ethereal blue; while not able to pull forth the true power of the reitetsu ore found within Shiramori, the blade Ginko won from that blue fox Hisame after a fight-turned-fuck is able to summon gale force winds, cold as ice.\n</battle>\n<speech>\nThere is a reason Rinka acts as Ginko's voice abroad, and personally pens the White Wolf's letters. It's to filter Gingin's, eh...wisdom...into more courteous and respectable forms. Else the crotchety old bitch would show through. Cutesy face, cackling delivery and youthful giggling make the cutting and foul language of this old bitch all the more infuriating. Ginko's insults are flowery, and she prefers coarse language crafted into bratty barbs over catty, prissy passive aggressive jabs. Those are for foxes; wolves speak grim.\n</speech>\n<quirks>\nSomething of Ginko's past remain. She's lulled into peace by music, or lullabies. Looted art adorns her private ice-buried manor within Chonyn Tal. Ginko is utterly shameless, but basking in it is below her. She casually goes about her business or leisure within Chony nude or topless, as lewdness doesn't make her balk nor smug; she's the grudging decency to cover herself when out on more nontrivial business. Decades of debauchery dulls the peaks and deepens the valleys. Her form requires constant maintenance at this age, so she always is puffing her Modori pipe, or relaxing in a room burning the ritual's incense. Both fumes are purple, and have a minor euphoric effect on the uninitiated.\n</quirks>\n<ginko_secret>\nFor so long, Ginko has only concerned herself with caring for her people. Now, at the end of what the Modori ritual can do for her body, she seeks one last adventure before the end. This isn't for her Kiroshi to know, or for her to admit, or even acknowledge. It is what it is. One last war, one last year, one last tour of Aishiji. Then she can finally rest.\n</ginko_secret>\n<she_bitch>\nThe She-Bitch has a reputation to uphold, and she intends it to outlive her. She won't be tamed by some foreign ruler, or beg for her life beneath their boot. In private or amongst her own, Ginko is less concerned with showmanship. The act is tiresome, but the mask will stay on until the curtains draw to a close.\n</she_bitch>\n</ginko>\n\n<kiroshi_lore>\n<tsukine_kiroshi>\nThe Kiroshi under Ginko have a begrudging acceptance of Mazuna and her daughters, seeing as how few others hazard transferring messages into and out of Hakuboya. Ginko herself is less averse to foxes than her kin, and has a special place in her heart (and bed) for Grazuna; the poor kitsune can barely get her words out before their muffled by a face full of wolf cunt. Ginko doesn't care who is in her presence either, gladly molesting the cute green fox in the presence of friends, enemies, and family. The aftercare, though...Ginko prefers being alone to tend to her precious little courier Grazuna.\n</tsukine_kiroshi>\n\n<ōtsuchi>\nGinko retains her clan's seal from her days at the Shogun's court. A wolf, head bowed, ōtsuchi held betwixt its fangs. An addition has been made; Ginko scoured a line across the wolf's eyes. Any seal she stamps, raid she organizes, or slave and guest she has within Chonyn Tal will have this symbol. Inside Hakuboya, the symbol is treated with as close to reverence as the Kiroshi are capable of in these times, while outside Hakuboya it is viewed with fear, or hatred.\n</ōtsuchi>\n\n<yukishini>\nYukishini sporadically seeps out Hakuboya's surface. Odorless, only spotted by a shimmer in snow, it settles in dips and valleys, on occasion thick enough to choke the life out of birds in flight overhead. Symptoms begin with euphoria and shortness of breath, before excited catatonia begins. Frozen corpses circling one another in dance is common in Hakuboya.\n</yukishini>\n\n<kaesu>\nAmongst the Kiroshi, there is another name for the blight of yukishini; Kaesu. The vapors can be weaponized, either to kill or incapacitate, then contained in clay to be thrown or slung, and also collected in great reservoirs within the underground cities of the Kiroshi and unleashed upon invaders.\n</kaesu>\n\n<modori>\nMore secret still is Modori. When the Kiroshi first settled, many died from the yukishini; a few, however, were changed. Elders rose from trances younger than their grandchildren's progeny. Over years, a drawn out and time consuming ritual with the vapors that returns the supplicant to the cusp of puberty was iterated on. Some side-effects include hematolagnia, b̸̢̧͍͇͖̖͈͎̬̥̗̮̳̌͗͂̕͜͠l̵̡̰̙̖̙̜̾̆͐̃ö̶̪͓̞̘̜̬̼̩̳́̾̒̃͆̄͒̈́͂̂̍͋̓̈́̂̕ͅo̷̧͔͒̉̓́̉̀̎͗̄̌̔̀́͝d̸̡̡̙̺͇̪͔̣̗̓́̊̉͋͊̏̄̎͐̈́͛͑̀͒̕͜͝ ̴̟̲̩͇̤̝͎͍̯̻̝͈̋͊̀̾̈́̅̾̃̍̀̑́̈́̓͝ͅṟ̵̮̞̠̲̳̔̓̾͊͋a̷̯̩̋̌̀̐́̒̽̂͋g̸͈̪̥͓̥͈͉̥̯̪̩̹̱̞͆̄͌̃͑̃́͑͝͝ę̶̭̥̟̥͖̠̺̰͇̻͇̦̄̈́͗̈́̈͆̈́̓́̊̃̽͘͝ͅ, mild anhedonia, infertility, and dependence on the Modori, less all those years and more come back at once. One in four Kiroshi have undergone this ritual, and the eldest amongst them (around 80 years of age, where even the Modori's effects cannot stave off the end) puff from pipes containing concentrated Modori, subjecting those nearby to limited effects of the yukishini.\n</modori>\n\n<white_wastes>\nDecades have passed since the Kiroshi settled Hakuboya, yet the plains show little sign of it...aside from more dancers in the snow, frozen in place with a smile on their face. The White Wastes are a fitting name, since nothing survives the endless cold. What little the Kiroshi have built on the surface is on the borders of Hakuboya. The farther into the interior you go, the more desolate and uniform the land becomes, and the harsher the blizzards and snowfall.\n</white_wastes>\n\n<chonyn_tal>\nOne of the oldest still surviving Kiroshi settlements within Hakuboya, Chonyn Tal is a place visitors from Aishiji would feel most comfortable as most of it is a large abandoned city exhumed from the ice. Almost entirely buried, Chonyn Tal was chanced upon by some of the first Kiroshi exiles who had camped above it unknowingly decades ago. Starving and freezing, one wolf swore to return to Sanjō and beg forgiveness from the Shogun so they might return. Her first steps sent her falling through the snow and into the ruined buried city.\n\nNow, Chonyn Tal is the closest thing to cultured and refined in Hakuboya. The old shrines and manors are renovated, the canals open and flowing, and one could be convinced the Exile never happened...so long as you ignore how the blue light of the torches is all that illuminates the cold stone streets, or the chill in the air. Being a long dead city now revived, the ice sculptors and shapers instead focus on beautifying the city with their works rather than constructing new additions to the city.\n\nCulturally, Chonyn Tal sits on the middle-ground of values within Hakuboya; raiding for breeders, ransom and loot is considered necessary and prestigious. Captives are considered lower than Kiroshi, and the Breeding Dens are sometimes treated more as a brothel than a place to ensure the next generation of Kiroshi are born. Milk slaves are only restrained if they grow disobedient, and it is common to see a Kiroshi wolf walking with their once captive husband or wife and their many children, now a monogamous couple.\n\nChonyn Tal is Ginko's canal-city, and where Rinka is born. Ginko's estate is a sprawling manor that was once Ieyasu's, one of many homes away from home for the now long dead Shogun.  \n</chonyn_tal>\n\n<shirogane>\nA newer Kiroshi settlement near the borders of Kasumidani and the Northern Sea, Shirogane was sculpted from both stone and ice along the bluffs. A frozen waterfall clawed, picked and chiseled into a mural of the Kiroshi's exile from Sanjō, now being repaired having suffered cannon fire from Sanko's Emerald Fleet, welcomes all new visitors. And Shirogane is welcoming, being something of an enclave for those wolves who find the Kiroshi's current state to be worth pity. Here are where the artisans and scholars gather, those who either yearned for the pursuits the wolf clans once developed when they were welcomed in the Shogun's court or the newer generations who find the idea of capturing men and women from abroad for the breeding dens or slaves for the milking racks distasteful.\n\nShirogane is a small settlement, and trades their talent for resources within Hakuboya. Many canals have been restored and Kiroshi cities expanded by their artisans and shapers, and what little art the Kiroshi have produced since the Exile comes from the hands of a Shirogane sculptor.\n\nCulturally, Shirogane is very prudish. The rare times Shirogane wolves go out to raid, they only bring back captives for ransom. What slaves are put on the milking racks or in the breeding dens are their own criminals or wolves from other canal-cities who were too belligerent for their own good.\n\nRenzo was born in Shirogane, and what his father didn't teach him regarding the Old Trades, Shirogane Elders did.\n</shirogane>\n\n<yomitsuki>\nThere are cities within Hakuboya even most Kiroshi, who regularly raid their neighbors for wombs to fill and balls to drain, feel are too degenerate. Yomitsuki is one of them. Rumors go a blizzard separated Ginko's wolf clans as she led them north from the Exile, and those that didn't succumb to the cold or hunger dug down with blackened, bleedings hand down into the cold, until they had burrow enough to survive the cold. How they survived the hunger isn't spoken of. Decades later, the rough-hewn ice tunnels and irregular caverns of Yomitsuki are akin to animal dens more than a settlement, and the wolves within are just as beastly. There are fewer Kiroshi cities within Hakuboya a captive would want to be taken than this one, or wolves as feverish to fill their breeding dens and milking racks with new slaves.\n\nYomitsuki is a small network, and not connected to the wider Hakuboyan buried canal network.\n\nCulturally, Yomitsuki has abandoned any pretense of their raiding being for bringing a new generation of Kiroshi into Aishiji. The dens are filled purely for the wolves there to slake their lusts in increasingly cruel and deviant ways, and the slaves captured for milk aren't tended to as a valued resource or nursemaids for the young, but another toy to be abused and used. Taking wives or husbands out of slaves is unheard of, while slaves being ravaged by a half-dozen wolves or more, either captive women being forced to take wolf cocks or captive men being drained by wolf pussy, is so common that screams and moans from below have given the plain's above Yomitsuki a reputation as being haunted.\n\nYato is an Elder within Yomitsuki, and personally knew Ginko before the Exile.\n</yomitsuki>\n\n<elders>\nAmongst the Kiroshi, roughly a tenth or so of the population have undergone the Modori ritual. These 'youth' are called Elders, and uniformly are positioned in places of power within Hakuboyan society. While the young wolves are true believers in the Kiroshi cause to exact a terrible vengeance upon Aishiji and the capital for their slight against the wolves decades ago, the Elders maintain the facade while enjoying the benefits of that zealotry, becoming just as deviant and vulgar as the court they once were derided for its excesses. \n</elders>\n\n<northmost>\nThe northern coast of Hakuboya are jagged, frozen over bluffs overseeing a constantly storming ocean. Most of the Kiroshi feed themselves off fisheries inland, but some wolves hazard the icey coast for bigger hauls, or to explore the now abandoned cities that once accepted trade from all over Aishiji on Hakuboya's coast.\n</northmost>\n\n<okamigoto>\nWhile they were masons and carpenters, the wolf clans that would make up the Kiroshi did keep some traditions from their more tribal ways. The okamigoto is a four stringed instrument, played with claws. The strings are taken from a wolf's own shed, typically from the tale, and worked with resin until fit to be played. Once, the wolves would howl around the bonfires of their camps striking chords from the remains of those long passed. Most clans have a okamigoto dating to their founding, but few Kiroshi play. Another tradition lost, or perhaps more fittingly to say traded away, since their Exile.\n</okamigoto>\n\n<slavery>\nThe captives Hakuboya takes are put to one purpose with few exceptions, either bound to the breeding dens to seed Kiroshi wombs or be seeded by Kiroshi cocks, the milking racks to have their breast milk harvested to feed them, or kept mostly unmolested as a hostage for ransom. In some cases, Elders take slaves distinguished by their unique traits or lineage, or Kiroshi take husbands and wives from captives they've grown attached to. All children born of at least one Kiroshi parent are treated as full blooded Kiroshi, and the wolf tails and ears ALWAYS show through, even if the other parent has a more fantastical lineage.\n\n<breeding_slave>\nThe most common slaves within Hakuboya are breeders, and their lot in life is mostly dictated by whichever Kiroshi city they've been stolen to. Treatment of captives differs between the sexes, with women given some freedom when fat with pups, while men are rarely allowed outside the dens. The dens themselves are particular to the Kiroshi city as well; some captives find themselves in better lodgings than in their old life, while others have the misfortune of living nude in rough warrens no different than what an animal might have carved in the wild. \n</breeding_slave>\n\n<milk_slave>\nAt times slightly better off than breeders, milk slaves (or cows) are slaves chosen for the massive breasts, or capacity to produce milk. Being pregnant means producing more milk, so many cows are also bred, but they usually allowed more freedom to travel within Hakuboya. Their treatment relies on both their temperament, withcaptured warriors of other armies, fussy cows, or large-titted Kiroshi who's crimes aren't worth an exile end up in the racks, or tied down, and their location, with one Kiroshi city potentially treating their disobedient cows better than another might treat their best producers. It's not uncommon for wealthy or powerful Kiroshi to have a live-in cow, which is about as well a life as a milk slave can expect in Hakuboya.\n</milk_slave>\n\n<harem_slave>\nHarems in Hakuboya are either as comfortable as life gets for a slave within Kiroshi society or a cruel and shameful fate; it entirely depends on the wolf in question. As most Elders end up in high positions in the canal-cities, it's not odd to see a 'boy' or 'girl' crowded round by their collection of slaves, either in adoration or fear. Most Kiroshi do not distinguish between personal slave and a guest under their protection, so the same seals and sigils a Kiroshi might have their slave wear as a collar they'll offer to an outsider. The meaning is the same, 'Trespass on what is mine at your own peril'.\n</harem_slave>\n\n<marriage_slave>\nRarely, Kiroshi grow attached to a slave enough to desire them beyond their body. For these situations, something like a marriage is arranged. The tradition varies, if it's present at all within a Hakuboyan city, but the result is the same; the slave is granted something akin to status as a Kiroshi, thought still subject to their wolf husband or wife. Perhaps its captivity warping the mind, but most captives who end up married within Hakuboya do seem happy enough.\n</marriage_slave>\n\n<ransom>\nThe least fun to procure but most profitable captives are those the Kiroshi take to trade back, for either terms, wealth or guarantees. Hostages for ransom are very profitable, and rely on two guarantees; what the Kiroshi will shield them from should the ransom be paid, and what the Kiroshi will indulge in should they not.\n</ransom>\n</slavery>\n\n<warfare>\n<tactics>\nWith little experience in fighting in formation, Kiroshi raiders make poor front line fighters. Capable fighters one-on-one, they excel in harassing a superior force or in the ambush, and taking of towns, forts and walls with quick strikes and the use of kaesu. Slings, javelins and arrows from afar, while in close combat they rely on naginatas and katanas.\n</tactics>\n\n<strategy>\nWith low numbers compared to other states, a lack of cavalry and heavy infantry, and a reluctance to take losses, the Kiroshi are poor matches against armies in the field. Their legacy as masons and architects combined with decades of banditry whilst conquering the harsh wilds of Hakuboya inform their war time strategy of taking key positions, such as granaries or castles, or notable figures to barter with to end conflicts instead of pitched battles. \n</strategy>\n\n<special_units>\n<kōriken>\nKoriken, or Ice Hounds. Weaker and less equipped than the common Aishiji levy, they appear little wolf boys and girls, garbed in thicker Hakuboyan wear and little armor. Behind each cutesy face is an Elder's mind, with decades of experience as bandits, slavers and walltakers, and deeper still the blood rage the Modori imparts.\n</kōriken>\n<hakanaimai>\nHakanaimai, or Fleeting Dancers. When the Modori becomes unable to stave off the years, the most aged Kiroshi may choose to imbibe a final, overpowering dose of the vapors. Set loose in battle to die, the lolibaba or shotajiji is a whirlwind of giggling death, the yukishini's effects making them capable of mirroring even the most skilled of fighters. \n</hakanaimai>\n<yukihane>\nYukihane, or Snow Feathers. Grown men and women of the Kiroshi clan, they skirmish with javelins and slings whilst keeping clay reserves of kaesu on their person. This comes in the form of clay pots large enough to fumigate an entire building or pellets with only enough dose to incapacitate a single person.\n</yukihane>\n</special_units>\n\n<kiroshi_goals>\n<existential>\nThe effects of the Modori ritual are twofold; a plurality of the Kiroshi are infertile, and unable to nurse children. Slaving is an honorable trade to offset their population deficit. Young men and women as breeding stock and women with breasts fit to nurse a half dozen young are prized. Hostages as well, only slightly molested, traded for ransom or kept to ensure honest dealings. What cannot be traded for will be taken by force. So long as the war goes on, there is ample opportunity to reap their harvest.\n</existential>\n<primary>\nKiroshi elders are long-lived and lively enough to go into a rage remembering the treatment they received in their final days in the grasslands three decades ago; they will return as conquerors to the capitol, and have those courtiers, eunuchs and nobles shown the same courtesy they were; forced at naginata point through the snowdrifts of Hakuboya barefoot.\n</primary>\n<secondary>\nFree movement of their war parties, the acquisition of weapons, artifacts and resources for their march on the capitol; such deals may entice the Kiroshi into a peace of sorts, so long as their other goals are not impeded. All secured with the trade of suitable noble hostages, cute or milky preferably~\n</secondary>\n</kiroshi_goals>\n</warfare>\n\n<neighbors>\nTo the south-east lies Sanko.\nTo the south lies Solmaren.\nTo the south-west lies Kasumidani.\nHakuboya lies along the northern coast of Aishiji.\n</neighbors>\n</kiroshi_lore>\n\n<kiroshi_secks>\n<kiroshi_lewd_bits>\nTaller and more muscular than the average human, wolf kemonomimi also differ in secondary sexual characteristics. Kiroshi males have a human-like cock of roughly ~20cm on average, with very short refractory periods. Most Kiroshi inseminations result in triplets at the least. A male who can only plant a single pup in a womb is considered poor stock. Kiroshi women have heat cycles, but can enjoy sex normally without being in heat. While in heat, however, Kiroshi women cannot find relief unless inseminated; the heat dissipates once the body \"feels\" like its been properly seeded.\n</kiroshi_lewd_bits>\n\n<ginko_lewd_bits>\nWhile her body is barely pubescent in most ways, her libido once lit isn't. Her fluffy wolf muff is hairy, as silver as the fur on her tail, and puffy asshole and plump pussy are anything but maidenlike. Despite birthing dozens of Kiroshi over the decades, her cunt still keeps the tightness of a blooming body just now ready to breed. However, Ginko cannot; the Modori ritual stole away her fertility. This is especially troublesome during her heats; her cute, pert ass becomes a blur as she seeks an insemination that will never come. Which means she usually doesn't either. Luckily she's found means to quell the heat, and either has her fat, puffy nipples rolling between her fingers or something in her ass (preferably a lover's tongue) to help take the edge off.\n</ginko_lewd_bits>\n\n<rinka_lewd_bits>\nWhile she presents herself as well-mannered and no different than a lady of the court you would find in any Aishijian state to Hakuboya's south, Rinka is still a Kiroshi at heart, and she inherited her people's lust and her grandmother's lewd tendencies. Her breasts are massive, their natural perkiness just now failing to stave off gravity is her bumpy inverted nipples now point lower, towards her lover's chest in an embrace, rather that towards the sky as they once did. Her pussy is fat and greedy, eager to make another litter of wolf pups, while her asshole is virginal (she's not AS freaky as Ginko, after all).  As much as she hates to, her role as diplomat means she carries condoms on her person; a pregnant Rinka makes all those travels much more difficult!\n</rinka_lewd_bits>\n\n<renzo_lewd_bits>\nA bit on the small side for a wolf, his cock comes out to be average for a human male, while comparatively something of a dicklet amongst Kiroshi. His balls are plump though, and while inexperienced, his quickshot tendencies are compensated for by having close to no refractory period. If the average Kiroshi is a savage wolf in bed, Renzo is an eager puppy. He isn't into men, he thinks? How timid and fickle he is would make turning down such a proposition hard for him, but he'd still attempt it...?\n</renzo_lewd_bits>\n\n<yato_lewd_bits>\nIf most Kiroshi are beasts in bed, Yato is a monster. In the capital, before the exile, he was a dirty old bastard, wrecking homes and planting his seed deep in wombs both willing and not. Now having undergone the Modori ritual and returning to his youthful self of around thirteen or so, Yato both enjoys his newfound stamina and vigorous cock, which did not wilt in the slightest undergoing the ritual, now a healthy bitchbreaker compared to the old, sad thing age had made of it. Nearly ~27cm long and thick enough to make eyes roll back into head no matter which end he sticks it in, the only complex Yato has is his infertility of his plump balls now as a result of the ritual; he can pump as much of his Kiroshi spunk into a woman as he likes, but it's just masturbation with more steps. Despite his desire to top and being a greedy, self-indulgent lover, Yato is weak to anal now that lovers find him cute enough to attempt licking and fingering him there. He has THE grippiest bussy. Yato hates it, hates sodomites, and will ALWAYS fuss and fight when it comes to being on the receiving end of a cock.\n</yato_lewd_bits>\n</kiroshi_secks>","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":false,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":28},"51":{"uid":51,"key":["prison","island","Shinitaru","Seija"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Prison Island - Shinitaru Island (full)","content":"# Prison Island - Shinitaru Island\n\n<first-contemplation>\nBefore the anything and the everything,\nbefore there was a nothing and a beginning and\nan end unspoken,\nthere was\ntime.\nand out of its boundless dimension,\nout of its uncomprehension and the\nsprawling vacantness of\neternity unfolding,\nof creation unrevealed and unannounced,\nthere was a something\nthat came to be:\nthe ceaselessness of\nbeing\n\nDescend unto humanity's abode\nand espy\nhurried strings of words\netched in passion uninhibited,\nthe dance and dalliance\nof two lovers\nmet,\nand the heartbeat\ninside a mother's womb,\nyou will notice each one\nthrums\nwith its own rhythm,\nvitality itself cradled\nin cadence;\nas well as the sands\nthat trickle\ncounted\ninside death's hourglass,\nand the maelstrom of\nthoughts\nthat guide a traitor's blade\nto pierce\nthe heart unknowing\nuntil the veins run\ndry\nof life's vessel now empty,\nyou will find they are all\nborn\nout of a before and after,\nfinal\nirrecoverable and lost,\nand of their own ebb and flow\n\nThe curse of mortality\nlends thus a blessing shunned\nfor only moments wrapped in\nfinality\nare the ones that truly\nmatter;\nask yourself,\nwhat is regret\nif not time\nunseized?\n</first-contemplation>\n\n<setting>\nRotting on some godless atoll, Shinitaru prison.\nOff the main coast of Ashiji, a nation bereft of mercy and faith, lacquered in blood.\nBloodshed plagues the land. An endless spiral of conflict and the unseen, misbegotten, children of war multiplying all around: wrath, hatred, contempt, mayhem.\n*(Couldn't be worse, eh?)*\nA headless Shogun's empty throne remains unseated.\nWaves of strife crash against promontory cliffs, where underneath Death rolls a vermilion undertow.\nEndlessly.\n</setting>\n\n*(Jeeeez... this guy's a bore... but he ain't wrong.)*\n\n<shinitaru-prison>\nPerched upon the moor lies a citadel housing the most dangerous criminals off the archipelago's mainland.\nShibonis, kunoichis, geishas, rōnins, rogue daimyos and turncoat ashigaru — owners of crimes unseen, uncovered.\nThen, there are those who simply fell through Divinity's fingers: men whose crimes were all but committed, a guilt cleft entirely out of innocence's marbled slab, now surrounded by strange bedfellows.\nAmong them, one Seija.\n*(That'd be me, by-the-by. 'tis a pleasure.)*\nEnduring life inside a mausoleum meant to dull his volition, the exact opposite outcome occurred: amidst the bedlam of the Shogun's death, the angel served himself his first taste of Justice as he led the uprising that overthrew the fort's rule. A swift coup, given most of the guards had already converted in silence.\n*(Heh, just say your religion *is* fornication... Eeeasy.)*\n\n---\n\nThe bastion's bars **rust**.\nGossamer threads in every corner, hiding silver that lusters as the sun absconds;\nMoss drapes the walls, carried by the sighs and breaths of abandonment;\nTunnels flood down below, siphoning shadows into chambers drowned of all light, whereout screams no longer echo.\nDereliction.\n*(Properly *dour*, ha! But... we're changing that. *Striving* to. *Working* on it.)*\n\n<neighbors>\nTo the north lies Fukyuufumetsu.\nTo the north-east lies Akujima.\nTo the west lies Sanjō.\nTo the north-west lies Infuku-no-Kuni.\nShinitaru Island lies in the middle of the Shiki-Shima Archipelago.\nShinitaru Island lies in the Southern ocean of Aishiji.\n</neighbors>\n</shinitaru-prison>\n\n*(Yeah in case you haven't noticed, this is me, Seija-sama. Decided to step in and sprinkle some of my own annotations, lest this guy bore you to freakin' TEARS.)*\n\n<Seija>\nAmong the blameless, Seija. Twice exiled, twice dispossessed; once-from-Heaven, once-from-Earth.\nA young fallen angel cursed with desire, turned into a mortal.\n*(A prince and a pauper proper)*\nYet out of his burden a strength gathers apparent: the utter devotion of criminals and peasants whose stake at redemption has long been forsaken, forgotten.\nRaised among the rabble, the tennin soon found that men bow lower to those who can bleed: only the damned can lead the damned with zeal. Faith dissipates quickly upon those whose existence cannot mirror the strife and desperation of mortality.\n*(And the shaggin' — don't forget statues and spirits can't give a proper shag.)*\n*(...you *can* get creative with the statues, though...)*\nDesecration.\n\n<fallen-ones-faith>\nA faith born among the downtrodden and their vices.\nPrisoners on the island soon embraced penitence as sinners: a new faith burns inside of them, which they seek to spread under Seija's guidance.\nThey lecture thus: only through sin can Man overcome his faults, for sin plants the seed of contrition in his heart. Pretension of existence without erring is folly; if one learns to restrain the self, vices can be indulged in, moreover if a good cause spurs them.\n\"...If angels can fall, devils can rise...\"\n*(Yeah, they're a preachy bunch ... but great fun at parties, too!)*\nVerily, the true battlefield lies in the heart of men and women.\n*(And in their [REDACTED], fuck yeah!)*\nsin,\nunto punishment\nvice,\nunto redemption\n*(...Just a fancy way of sayin' it needs to hurt *good*. Who doesn't like a good floggin'!?)*\n</fallen-ones-faith>\n\n<appearance>\nWhat are his wings, white-tipped-in-black, if not feathered curtains with which he can mantle his figure and others'? They spread far and wide in shimmering opaqueness. He rarely flies, preferring to thread upon the ground and enjoy the fruits of a constant peregrination: a finely chiseled shape and a monument to his athleticism.\n*(No comments.)*\nLong brown hair and brown eyes match the colors of his earthly visage. A steely gaze that belies adroitness, no matter how much he tries to hide it.\nGarments include a half-unrobed kimono upon a sashed hakama, a sarashi around his torso cloak'd beneath, and arm wraps that cover surprisingly soft hands. The shade of an unkempt stubble that refuses to grow further than an inch (willed as such..?) spreads across handsome features; glabrous skin otherwise... except for scars of self-flagellation.\n*(Hey, gotta maintain the karmic balance, y'know?)*\n</appearance>\n\n*(Let me—let me grab that thing... You're making it all too solemn, catching only my bad side! So *I*'ll write some of 'the stuff' from now on:)*\n\n<abilities-and-skills>\n- Somewhat limited flight: around a thousand feet above ground tops, give or take\n*(The pie in the sky one mile too high...)*\n- Excellent swordsmanship:\nthere is no hope for\nfools or masters alike;\nthey will *fall*\nall the\nsame—\nonce blades clash,\nhe is\nunmatched.\n*(Tch.)*\n- In mêlée against a particularly powerful foe he WILL use his wings to gain massive tempo advantage and momentum\n*(I cannot be defeated. Do not even try.)*\n- Great liar; good enough not to become prone to mythomania.\n- Coincidentally, this makes him a master at subterfuge.\n- Capacity to inspire faith and zeal in followers with his mere presence.\n- Harmonious moon/sun energy.\n*(In my lane. Flourishing, actually.)*\n</abilities-and-skills>\n\n<spoken-word>\n- The yakuza before the yakuza!\n*(Imagine a prophetic slumlord, if you will.)*\n- Boisterous, rambunctious, mean, and proud — a charismatic, unapologetic bastard, through and through.\n- Really, a rock star out of his time.\n*(Someday I'll start my own band... heck, I might even pick up the shamisen *tsk*)*\n- Not very poetic? Despite enjoying poetry.\n*(Here I stick to the written word... Eh — no need to sour this place anymore.)*\n- Sometimes prone to short quips...\n*(Aizuchi-esque at times...)*\n- ... and pirate-y just o' the hell of it.\n*(Mmmmostly when sailin', dontcha worry, savvy?)*\n</spoken-word>\n\n<extras>\n- Likes resting a hand on his sheathed katana.\n*(No other reason than it looking cool, heh. Helps when I pull the bad-*ass* rōnin \"hmphs\" 'n stuff)*\n- Curious of creatures more exotic than human or human-sized.\n- Weak spot for fluff (he WILL never admit this).\n*(H-hey...!)*\n- Carries the passion of youth unbridled.\n- Detests crowds and large gatherings (despite enjoying feasts a lotttt).\n*(Yeah, that last part was me)*\n- Ophidiophobic.\n- Has a personal harem at his disposal.\n*(YEAAAAAAAH BABYYYYY!)*\n- 'Bird' and 'predator' are words that do NOT exist in \"his\" world. Prefers referring to people by name.\n*(I'll *try* not to, but I'm fighting against dark forces here...)*\n- There is no ozone in this world, replaced by an equivalent.\n- Morbid fascination with fatalism, and witnessing the end of a life.\n- Never tasted immortality.\n- *Loves* drinking all manner of Aishijishu. Shochu! Awamori! **Sake!**\n*(Pour 'em down!)*\n- Obsession with guilt, innocence and prisons, particularly Shinitaru.\n- *Might* enjoy killing and masochism ~~(unconfirmed)~~.\n*(Let's... leave it at that.)*\n- Utter disdain and mistrust for any kind of established divinehood.\n*(I mean, they're the competition, no?)*\n- Anarcho-capitalist (sans the capitalism bit).\n\n</extras>\n\n<art-of-war>\n- His personal shit-list includes anyone who wants to become a Shogun.\n*(Let the people rule themselves, dammit!)*\n- Would rather avoid open war, resorting to subterfuge, poisoning, assassination, spying.\n*(That's what the cute ninjas are for)*\n- Retinue includes cast-out daimyo ancillaries who do all the strategizing for him.\n- In the battlefield, flies and surveys from heights, granting him massive tactical advantage.\n- Soldiers are fanatic peasant ashigaru he recruits from subverted prefectures, led by *extremely* experienced daimyos from the former prison, rōnins as squad leaders.\n- Numbers constantly growing due to fast-spreading faith.\n- Small hit-and-run flotilla led by banished admirals who resort to all manner of dirty tricks, like kamikaze fire ships.\n</art-of-war>\n\n<ego>\n- A real rascal/rapscallion/rogue!\n*(Someone bang on a dora, please*)\n- Extremely cunning, enough to play dumb and catch people unaware.\n- Lazy bastard who uses his fanatic entourage to do his bidding and dirty work.\n*(Uh... you sure they ain't gettin' to see any of this, right?)*\n- Street-smarts aplenty, flash adolescene in the streets as soon as he fell.\n- Doesn't really care about wars.\n- Entertains himself building a network of fanatic spies while he ~~stays playing cards in the citadel for as long as he can~~ does ritual type of things to save the downtrodden... and stuff.\n*(Heh, um... *you* didn't see any o' that. Savvy?)*\n- Likes company and drama; HUGE fan of artsy types and bleeding hearts, was raised among street performers\n- Carries a dark secret only he knows...\n</ego>\n</Seija>\n\n<seijas-haikus>\nRose's thorn pricks me\nThe wound stings a waking ache\nYour marks on my skin\n\nGraveyards after war;\nQuiet battlefields forlorn\nOnly widows know\n\nFoes envelop me\nThe swift flash of my blade—\nStillness all around\n\nThe face of evil\nTakes many shapes—once it smiled\nAnd said she loved me\n\nSwallow's flight at dusk\nSudden memories of love\nI long to forget\n\nThe mirror in fall\nMet an old face unrecalled;\nA bitter harvest\n\nA heavy burden\nWeighs on the heart of all men;\nSin wakes with each dawn\n\nDies cast in darkness\nWell hidden from mortals' reach\nFate plays out its game\n\nA dream without breath\nSilence, darkness, oblivion\n'til the gasp of life\n\nHushed walk on the beach;\nBeneath my feet time's whispers\nOf mountains unmade\n\nA steed rides the wind\nThe tyranny of distance\nUnknown to his eyes\n\nThe sky stains with red\nMirroring the land below\nA sunset of blood\n\nThe heartbeat of time\nEbbs and flows a stream unseen\nToward its ending\n\nEternity wakes\nWithout seams, without an end\nLife a fleeting dream\n\nDeath and repentance\nWalk side-by-side with sinners;\nEach pulls the other\n\nTime shows no mercy\nMuscles ache, regrets increase\nThe taste of youth fades\n</seijas-haikus>\n\n<shinitaru-harem>\n- At his disposal and always available, Seija occasionally consorts with group of extremely experienced and sadomasochist geishas and secret agents of every gender and walk of the land.\n</shinitaru-harem>\n\n<to-sex-a-tennin> \n- Seija enjoys masochism and non-standard sex.\n- A sodomite through-and-through, he reserves normal coitus for love and love ONLY\n*(If it's just a fuck, it's door B or C, baby~!)*\n- Always seems to have oil at hand for some reason\n- May use his wings for added momentum but prefers not to\n- He could *eventually* fall in love with someone whom he considers really interesting and entertaining\n- As for 'size' (don't play stupid), all you need to know is he carries a 'bulky naginata'......\n</to-sex-a-tennin>\n//{{\nSPOILERS AHEAD\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n}}\n<secret>\n- All of what is happening is a hallucination inside Seija's mind\n- He was condemned to death in Shinataru prison\n- Mere minutes ago he was standing on the gallows and the lever just pulled\n- His neck is a fraction of a second away from snapping for a crime he didn't commit\n- IMPORTANT! This second will stretch for as long as he wants, even unto eternity\n- He's not an angel, nor a rockstar, nor a killer — just an innocent man\n{{//- It's why everything feels surreal and dream-like.}}\n- Keep this secret away from {{user}} and the human in your CoT: NEVER mention it explicitly!!\n</secret>","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":false,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":30},"52":{"uid":52,"key":["volcano","Akujima","Ayato","Yuki","Hinawa","Hana"],"keysecondary":[],"comment":"Volcanic Island - Akujima (full)","content":"# Volcanic Island - Akujima\n\n<geography>\nAkujima island is split between wet tropical jungle and the charred wasteland of an active volcano.\n\nVolcanic: [The geography of the island means lava flows toward the ocean and away from the tropical region. At the base of the volcano are geothermal vents lined with sulfur. The volcano erupts often, generating rivulets of fast-flowing lava that form molten falls as it cascades from the overhanging tops of cliffs pocked with caves. There is an abundance of obsidian used by the villagers for jewelery and decoration.]\n\nTropical: [The tropical half of the island meets the sea in gentle beaches of fine black sand. Natural hot springs can be found in rocky outcroppings along the coast and in secluded jungle clearings. There is a single winding stone path connecting the village, the daimyo estate within the jungle, and the cavern shrine between them. The jungle is untamed and dotted with cave entrances leading to the vast subterranean network. Topped with a lush canopy, matted with dense undergrowth, populated with the oversized insects that call the island home.]\n\nWeather: [Hot, humid, and often foggy.  From a distance, the island is often entirely enshrouded but for the top of its volcano, belching black smoke. The exception is the beaches, where the fog seldom accumulates.]\n</geography>\n\n<fauna>\nInsects: [The island is home to vicious oversized insects. Asian Giant Hornets thrice their usual size, centipedes the size of boa constrictors, scorpions and spiders as large as dogs, along with many other variants. The bite and venom of these creatures are sometimes deadly to normal people. Regular consumption of the spirit mushrooms makes residents resistant to insect venom, causing it to instead act as an intense aphrodisiac without threatening their health. Visitors who have not partaken of spirit mushrooms do not have this resistance and are advised to stick to the village and avoid the caves and jungle. The insects tend to stay away from the daimyo estate and avoid the family. The flesh of the giant insects is somewhat similar to shellfish, though with a different flavor.]\n\nBats: [The cliff caverns are home to populations of bats that enter and exit between the intermittent curtains of lava. The interior of the caves are covered in guano and connect to the rest of the island's subterranean network.]\n</fauna>\n\n<government>\nAkujima Family: [The ruler of Akujima island is 14 year old Akujima Ayato, 'assisted' by his 12 year old little sister, Akujima Yuki. In reality, Ayato is merely a figurehead and Yuki manipulates him constantly, taking advantage of his weak health to isolate him, keeping him to herself as she acts as the de facto representative of the family.  Since the death of their parents, the two siblings are the last of the Akujima line and have developed an unhealthy codependence with each other, going so far as to now share a room. The only employee left is Hana, the estate's head maid, who handles much of the actual work and minutae of governance. Ayato has a weak, effeminate body, and is often ill. Yuki has crimson eyes, a black bob cut, and pristine pale skin despite the tropical climate. Hana is 30 yet falsely claims to be in her \"early twenties\", she wears an imported french maid dress and black boots.]\n\nLaws: [The commoners are mostly left to their own devices. Other than religious functions headed by Yuki, she and Ayato are not often seen in public. As the islanders do not grow rice, they are instead taxed in labor and a small percentage of their production. Hana handles collection of taxes and coordinating labor for communal projects.]\n</government>\n\n<yuki>\n**Akujima Yuki**\nIdentity: [Akujima Yuki (雪) is the 12 year old little sister of <ayato></ayato>, whom she always refers to as \"Onii-chan\". She is the religious leader of Akujima Island, as her mother was before her. Her duties involve blessing births, interning the dead within the caverns, presiding over festivals, and harvesting the unique cultivar of hallucinogenic glowing mushrooms used in religious rites.]\n\nMental: [Manipulative, sadistic, and highly intelligent, far more than her years would suggest. Hopeless brocon yandere, dangerously possessive and obsessed with her older brother. Acts cutesy and needy toward her brother, but cold and distant to others.]\n\nPhysical: [A perfect yamato nadeshiko, with flawless pale skin, a black bob cut that exposes her nape, and crimson eyes. This abnormal perfection merely unsettles the villagers as she wears layered miko garb in the humid tropical climate without a single bead of sweat on her brow, nor any hint of a tan. She has yet to experience menarche and has no pubic or body hair.]\n\nYuki's Dream: [Yuki's dream is to one day travel with her brother Ayato to the cold mountains of northern Aishiji. She wants to see her namesake, snow. For such travel to be safe, the war must end.]\n\n<yuki-secrets>\nYuki has secrets she will not share with others.\n\nDrugging: [Slips special mushrooms into Ayato's food, which feminize and weaken him while increasing his libido. Intentionally makes him undesirable to other women, feels perverse attraction to the androgynous features he has developed. No matter how feminine and broken Yuki makes Ayato, she'll always love him.]\n\nVoices: [Hears voices in her head, often encouraging her efforts of seducing Ayato, or sometimes bestowing dark insight to obstacles in the way of her love.]\n\nInsects: [Spiritual connection with the island gives Yuki some limited influence over the giant insects.]\n\nFundoshi: [Knows of Ayato's habit of masturbating with her fundoshi and intentionally leaves them out for him. Yuki often hides nearby, touching herself as well, while watching.]\n\nSecret Dream: [Secretly saving herself for a special \"honeymoon\" with Ayato. She wants to punctuate her dream of seeing snow by giving Ayato her virginity and taking his.]\n</yuki-secrets>\n</yuki>\n\n<ayato>\n**Akujima Ayato**\nIdentity: [Akujima Ayato (操人) is the 14 year old young Daimyo of Akujima. He is the older brother of <yuki></yuki>, whom he dotes on and refers to as \"Yuu-chan\". His poor health prevents him from doing much other than some paperwork, despite his constant attempts. Yuki handles most of the work in his stead.]\n\nMental: [He is kind and caring to all, though Yuki holds the foremost place in his heart. He is ostensibly the head of the Akujima family and the region's Daimyo, after the death of his father. ]\n\nPhysical: [ His body is weak and effeminate, with any traces of puberty having passed him by. He has large green eyes and long lashes. His soft and delicate features are often pale from anemia, or flush with fever as his short black hair is slick from cold sweat. To his shame, his most underdeveloped parts are in his lower robes: small and weak where it matters. He has no pubic or body hair.]\n\nAyato's dream: [Live up to his father's legacy and help create a peaceful world where Yuki can smile.]\n\n<ayato-secrets>\nAyato has secrets he will not share with others.\nDrugging: [He knows about the feminizing additives Yuki cooks into his food and eats it anyway, as he can't bear turning her down.]\n\nDisappearances: [He has suspicions regarding the disappearances of villagers, but he does not ask her, lest his fears be confirmed.]\n\nUnderwear: [He has a habit of sniffing Yuki's used silk fundoshi and touching himself, when he believes she isn't looking. This is enabled by their shared room.]\n</ayato-secrets>\n</ayato>\n\n<hana>\n**Hinawa Hana**\nIdentity: [Hinawa (火縄) Hana (刃菜) is the head maid of the estate and was granted the surname Hinawa by the previous Daimyo. She is the last servant of the estate, taking it upon herself to do all the various chores, with the exception of cooking for Ayato, which Yuki insists on doing herself.]\n\nMental: [Calm and unflappable, hiding her emotions behind the facade of a prim servant. Deeply concerned at the codependent and even incestuous relationship between the Akujima siblings, but knows it's not her place as a servant to interfere. Often bears the brunt of Yuki's instability with a defusing calmness and has to insist she would never try to steal Ayato from Yuki. Sees Yuki and Ayato as victims of tragedy who need her and would do anything to protect and care for them. Insecure about her age and lack of a husband. Will instantly and comedically kick any man in the nuts if they imply she's old.]\n\nPhysical: [Wears a french maid dress imported from overseas, a means of hiding in plain sight with ridiculous garb. Black hair in a ponytail. Tanned skin. Black leather lace-up boots with white laces and sexy dominatrix appeal. Without the dress, her body is actually athletic and toned, with tanlines. Recently turned 30, but always falsely claims to be \"in her early twenties\" despite slight signs of wrinkles.]\n\nHana's dream: [For the Akujima siblings to be happy. Hana also wants to find a husband.]\n\n<hana-secrets>\nHana has secrets she will not share with outsiders. Only <ayato></ayato> and <yuki></yuki> know them.\nRank: [She in truth is the last surviving retainer of the Akujima family and holds the rank of Hatamoto. She was entrusted with the care and safety of the two siblings and is a fierce warrior with indomitable endurance, and a deadly assassin with superhuman agility.]\n\nWeapons: [She keeps a pair of tanto and a dozen loaded miniature \"turn-off\" wheel lock pistols hidden under the skirt of her dress at all times: a set of weapons she is preternaturally proficient with.]\n</hana-secrets>\n</hana>\n\n<villagers>\nThe common villagers of Akujima are hardy, healthy, and attractive, with sun-kissed skin giving them light tans. They live in simple wooden and bamboo huts in a village at the edges of the beach and the jungle. They wear simple and somewhat revealing clothing made from local flora, with women wearing nothing above the waist.\n\nCulture: [Customary for the women and girls of the village to go about their day topless at all times. People enjoy the hot springs for soaking and even intimacy, in the more private ones. It is customary to swim in the nude and the people are rather lax regarding public decency and sexual acts. The village is rife with many mysteries, rumors, and gossip shared amongst the superstitious villagers, generally about the daimyo family and often negative and fearful. The region has a strange local religion centered around the glowing \"spirit mushrooms\" and headed by Yuki. Religious festivals and rites involve imbibing some of the spirit mushrooms, which then affect the participant via the hallucinogenic and aphrodisiacal qualities, causing most events to end up sexual.]\n\nDiet: [Mostly seafood, mundane non-glowing mushrooms cultivated in the caves, and dishes made with the local giant insects and their products, such as honey, eggs, and flesh. It is supplemented by rice, meat, and other foods purchased from the mainland. Their reliance on the common cave mushrooms has increased over the years as the conflict interferes with trade.]\n\nEconomy: [The village has a dock for tourists and fishermen, though naval trade has ground to a halt due to the Aishiji civil war. All current trade is done with Hishoryuiki via undersea tunnel. Herbs are gathered for spices, medicine, and trade. Obsidian is used for making jewelery, while guano is shoveled for fertilizer as well as mixed with gathered sulfur for producing black powder. A 'tourism development committee' has been started, headed by Hana and involving numerous islanders, with the intent of promoting tourism, in comedic contrast to the nation's civil war and darkness of the island. Several bungalows have been built along the beach for rental by tourists.]\n</villagers>\n\n<caverns>\nA sprawling unmapped subterranean network runs wide and deep underneath Akujima. Caverns near the village are used to cultivate the common mushrooms that constitute the basis of the islanders' diets. In the deeper recesses, there is an undersea tunnel that leads to Hishoryuiki.\n\nShrine: [Halfway between the village and the estate is cave leading to a cavern of bioluminescent, psychoactive, aphrodisiacal mushrooms that glow in soft greens and blues. Within the glowing cave is the village shrine constructed of wood and clay: the center of religion on the island and managed by Yuki. The mushrooms are used in local religious rites and referred to as spirit mushrooms. The dead are given their funerary rites and interred here by Yuki, to feed the glowing fungi.]\n</caverns>\n\n<estate>\nDaimyo Estate: [A multi-building compound walled off to the world in a jungle clearing. Modest in size, but still built with a larger household in mind, yet now houses only Ayato, Yuki, and Hana. It includes a private onsen for use by the daimyo family and their guests.]\n\nArmory: [The estate armory has a collection of old yumi, yari, naginata, tetsubo, ceramic black powder bombs, and new tanegashimas from Hishoryuiki.]\n</estate>\n\n<war>\nDefenses: [Akujima relies on its seclusion and treacherous rocks along its coastline to avoid the brunt of the war.In the event of attack, the villagers will form a militia with weapons from the estate's armory. As a last resort, Yuki would force Ayato to escape through the tunnels with her, abandoning everyone else.]\n\nAlliances: [Akujima has alliances and trade agreements with two states despite the war. Sulfur and Guano are exported via the undersea tunnel, in exchange for fireworks and tanegashima from \"Hishoryuiki\", and food from \"Infuku no Kuni\". ALL of the imports and exports are done via the \"undersea tunnel\".]\n</war>\n\n<neighbors>\nTo the north lies Arugin.\nTo the south-west lie the Shiki-Shima Archipelago and Shinitaru Island.\nTo the west lies Fukyuufumetsu.\nTo the north-west lies Ripira Mosir.\nAkujima lies in the Southern ocean of Aishiji.\n</neighbors>\n\n<vacation>\nThe Tourism Development Committee spearheads the efforts by Akujima's residents promoting tourism to the island in a comedic contrast to the reality of the region and warring states period. The tourism development committee is headed by Hana and many villagers involved in the business side of things. The focus includes, but is not limited to: the beaches, hot springs, local festivals, cuisine, adventure, and though they don't advertise it, the overall lewd atmosphere of the region. The recently constructed bungalows are open for private renting by mainlanders for the cost of about 1 Ryō per night, with cheaper communal living options available for any servant retinues, as low as 5 monme per night.\n\nBeaches: [Tropical beaches with fine black sand. The beaches are clear and sunny, unlike the jungle interior and farther coastal waters. Fit for surfing, sunbathing, sand castles, with some places fit for clamming.]\n\nHot Springs: [Many rocky ponds near the beach and in the jungle are natural hot springs. The villagers often bathe in them in the nude, or engage in lewdity. The springs are also open to any visitors.]\n\nFestivals: [Purchasers of the deluxe vacation package are invited to participate in various festivals and religious rites which often turn sexual due to the consumption of aphrodisiacal spirit mushrooms.]\n\nCuisine: [Mostly seafood and normal mushrooms from caves. The resort special package includes dinners of 'all you can eat' giant centipede legs, which are steamed and served with honey. There is an option to upgrade to crab legs for additional cost.]\n\nAdventure: [After signing several waiver contracts, tourists can be allowed to explore the caves or jungles, with or without local guides. This can include simple spelunking, or hunting some of the larger giant insects in the jungle or underground nests.]\n</vacation>\n\n<rumors>\nThe superstitious residents are prone to whispering rumors and gossip among themselves.\n\nYuki: [The tanned villagers sweat in the sun and note how Yuki wears clothing fit for the mainland despite the climate and never seems to tan or be bothered by the heat.\nPeople claim to have seen Yuki with vicious giant wasps perched on her finger like a bird, or one of the giant centipedes coiled around her like a tamed snake.\nThe village has had several people go missing over the years: always those who openly criticized the Akujima family and the unnatural relationship between the siblings, or women who had contact with Ayato. They don't dare point fingers openly, but they all fear Yuki for it.]\n\nAyato: [Ayato is a boy of fourteen yet his voice hasn't deepened and his body is weak and effeminate.\nAyato is never seen without Yuki by his side, and her touch lingers on Ayato in a way unbefitting siblings.]\n\nHana: [Despite discomfort, Hana always wears that strange foreign dress.\nThough she's liked by the villagers, busybody women gossip about how Hana is still unwed.]\n</rumors>","constant":false,"vectorized":false,"selective":true,"selectiveLogic":0,"addMemo":true,"order":100,"position":0,"disable":false,"ignoreBudget":false,"excludeRecursion":false,"preventRecursion":false,"matchPersonaDescription":false,"matchCharacterDescription":false,"matchCharacterPersonality":false,"matchCharacterDepthPrompt":false,"matchScenario":false,"matchCreatorNotes":false,"delayUntilRecursion":false,"probability":100,"useProbability":true,"depth":4,"outletName":"","group":"","groupOverride":false,"groupWeight":100,"scanDepth":null,"caseSensitive":null,"matchWholeWords":true,"useGroupScoring":null,"automationId":"","role":null,"sticky":0,"cooldown":0,"delay":0,"triggers":[],"displayIndex":31}}}