Application for somarium

[eternallybored]

[Player name] Jade
[Age] 21
[Personal Journal] drinksteapots
[Other characters currently played] Naomi Kimishima / Trauma Center / healinguilt

[Character name] Kaguya Houraisan
[Age] Appears 16ish. Apparently hundred of millions of years old, according to ZUN (the creator).
[Canon] Touhou Project: Imperishable Night
[Point in time taken from canon] Post Shoot-the-Bullet

[Background]
Wiki Link, but since Kaguya is... very ancient, lemme explain some of that stuff more:
+ Kaguya is a "Lunarian". Like the name implies, she's native to the moon. From the day she was born she lived in peace and luxury as one of the princesses of the moon. As she grew Kaguya became admired for her beauty and intellect even among the Lunar people there, becoming respected and loved as a princess. However, what was most remarkable was her ability manipulate eternity and the instantaneous. This drew in the interest of Eirin Yakagarako, the so called "Sage of the Moon". Eirin was a brilliant pharmacist and tutor to other moon princesses, so that she became an attendant to Kaguya was not thought of as anything peculiar.

+ Because she was treated with such respect and honor, she grew selfish and confident. (No, it doesn't help that the moon people are all more-or-less holier-than-thou assholes anyway.) Kaguya went to Eirin and ordered that she make the elixir, not knowing the full repercussions of the request. Using her own knowledge and Kaguya's ability to manipulate eternity and the instantaneous, Eirin was able to create the Hourai Elixir, the elixir of "true immortality". The first sip prevents a person from growing up or aging. The second taste prevents them from becoming ill. The third taste makes one completely immortal to the truest sense.

+ As Alice mentioned during the events of Imperishable Night, what "True Immorality" entailed was that it makes the soul "invincible". The mystery behind the Elixir was expanded upon in Yukari and Reimu's scenario of Imperishable Night: the Hourai Elixir itself wasn't a power that keeps one immortal in the traditional sense, but it makes "one an existence completely independent of even the concept of reality, thus making one not subject to the bounds of life, death, or even manipulation". Of course, pain of injuries could still be felt.

+ As it were, Eirin described that drinking the Elixir gave the drinker the same taint as humans, which allowed for many other questions. Why would being True Immortal make one as tainted as humans, why did even the enigmatic Lunarians shun this kind of immortality, when most (if not all) of them were all incredibly long lived themselves? In the Lunarian society where everything was said to be pure and untainted, having this brand of immorality is a crime worthy of death.

+They attempted to execute Kaguya using any means they can; as one could imagine, this meant utilizing all sorts of high magic and reality-breaking powers. There are many ways to die, and during this period of time she had been suspected to all of them. All of their attempts were to no avail. Eventually they decided to banish her from the moon.

+ Kaguya arrived on Earth in a glowing bamboo shoot. An old bamboo-cutter and his wife finds the exiled princes and decides to take her in and care for her. As she was cared for by the bamboo-cutter, it is noted that at first her being cared for was not just his kindness. Every morning piles of gold were left outside his house as an incentive for him and his family to care for her. Over time, however, the gold did not matter to this bamboo-cutter as he grew to love her as his own daughter. Slowly, the princess began to heal what she had suffered through.

+ Word of Kaguya's ethereal beauty spread throughout the world. Many men sought out the bamboo-cutter's home to ask her hand in marriage. To decide which suitor would be chosen, she requested five impossible tasks of them. To be selected for marriage, they would need to present to her Buddha's stone begging bowl from India, a jeweled branch from the mountain of Hourai, the hide of a fire rat from China, the five-colored jewel from a dragon's head, and a cowrie shell laid by a swallow (like an egg). All of these suitors failed, either giving up or dying in their quests.

+ The Emperor even hears of her beauty and requests that she be made part of his court. She refuses him, but he organizes a hunting trip next to where she lives. During this trip he slips into the bamboo-cutter's home to see her, instantly falling in love. Kaguya refuses again, and the Emperor does graciously leave. For one reason or other, Kaguya decides to continue communication with the Emperor. Over the years, they continuously exchange letters even though Kaguya refused his request for marriage. It was quite obviously a one-sided relationship.

+ Time passed. The bamboo-cutter aged rapidly. Kaguya offered the elixir- which she apparently had an extra amount all this time- to him, but he declined. He told her he had a full life with a daughter like her, and that he did not wish for immortality. Alone now, Kaguya had nothing much else to do but turn to her friend the Emperor. He, too, had become an old man. Surprisingly enough, she offered the elixir to him. He refused, saying to her that an immortal life without Kaguya was not worth living. Kaguya instructed him to have his men destroy the remaining elixir on Mt. Fuji.

+ Except, unbeknownst to Kaguya, a girl named Mokou followed this party to the summit of the volcano. Mokou was the daughter of one of the men who had fallen for Kaguya. Bearing a grudge against Kaguya for ruining her family, Mokou has sworn revenge. She had followed the Emperor's soldiers to the summit to find out just what they were doing. Only the commander of this party knew that what they were set out to destroy was the elixir. A goddess appears to both Mokou and the soldiers; it is revealed to all that the substance they were set to destroy was the drink of immortality. Overnight a feud begins (implied to be started by the goddess), and only the commander and Mokou are left alive. The goddess tells the two to destroy the elixir on a different mountain. On their journey there, Mokou kills the commander and takes the elixir for herself, becoming immortal as well. Her hatred for Kaguya continues to burn. The two often engage in murderous acts against each other. They are the epitome of eternal rivals.

+ At one point Kaguya knew that emissaries from the moon would come to her, but she would not know why until they actually arrived. On the 15th of August, the emissaries from the moon did arrive- led by Eirin Yagokoro, no less. It seemed that she had been forgiven of her crime. However, both Kaguya and Eirin knew that she would still be tainted and thus not live her life as before. So, the two turned their backs on the moon, murdered the emissaries, and went into hiding.

+ The Emperor and his dynasty died and could no longer offer Kaguya free protection. Eirin realized that Kaguya was no longer as safe as she once was. The elixir was offered as a bribe to various humans to allow them to live in peace and to not give their location away. That being said, it turned out that all those who did accept the elixir were murdered before they could drink it. The perpetrator is implied to be Eirin. Eventually, the two became more and more ostracized from the world.

+ Of course, legend of Kaguya's beauty and promise of immortality continued to enchant others. Suitors would still come to seek her hand in marriage. Kaguya cared little for them, and more often than not mistreated their honest efforts with cruelty. Of this, too, she eventually became bored.

+ Eirin realized that Kaguya living a life like this wouldn't be good for the princess's sanity and well-being. Using Kaguya's power over eternity once again, Eirin constructed Eientei, the House of Eternity, in a remote location in a bamboo forest. Eientei was much, much larger on the inside, with corridors that extends impossibly to the sky. There they live in exile for a millennium, presumably moving Eientei itself to Gensokyo during this time. The bamboo forest began to attract all sorts of powerful youkai at this time, so those beings offered additional protection.

+ The rabbit Tewi encountered them and becomes part of their group. The rabbit Reisen, another escapee from the Moon, also found them and became part of their lives. Both Reisen and Tewi were used as a go-between Eientei and the rest of Gensokyo, but for the most part Kaguya and Eirin remained largely unknown to anyone.

+ The residents of Eientei receive word that more those from the moon will come again to fetch back those from the moon. The events of Imperishable Night occur. In order to sever the link between the earth and the moon, Kaguya replaced the real moon with a fake moon. The protagonists realized something was amiss, and a world-wide time spell to stop the night from continuing was cast until they could find the real moon. The protagonists investigated, found Kaguya to be the culprit, and succeeded in stopping her in keeping the moon hidden.

+ Kaguya remained in Eientei, but now with a new found interest in not remaining so reclusive. She removed the spell of eternity over Eientei, and every month on the full moon opened the doors of Eientei to a full moon viewing.

[Personality]
~ As a princess Kaguya can be very strong-willed and pompous. She can be demanding, bossy, and selfish. She refuses to work. To a degree these personality traits are less pronounced as they were thousands of year ago. That being said, she does somewhat carry herself as the revered princess she is. This affective personality comes so naturally to her that she hardly has to concentrate to make herself appear regal and graceful.

~ Kaguya is and will remain polite to mostly anyone (as long as you are not Mokou)... in a royal way. This is a largely superficial characteristic which she naturally keeps in check. The reason for this is that she is largely desensitized to many different events and deeds. She has heard it all before, she has seen it all before.

~ In canon, it is explained that Kaguya has done some mellowing out over the years. She may appear rather "take a chill pill, bro" or "don't worry, whatever bad's happening will pass", but in reality she's just very, very indifferent to what's happening around her. This could be due to the fact that Kaguya is ten times more docile and pleasant to speak to when she is tired-- and she is often tired. Tired of what now? Existence, time, immortality. Those kinds of things.

~ For the most part, Kaguya prefers to keep a rather naive and polite personality around others. She will project herself as lazy or weak if need be.

~ More often than not she may appear lazy and bored. This is not "just a superficial" trait. She really is lazy and bored; it is what dictates almost every action of hers. This often leads to others seeing her as air-headed at times.

~ There is little to nothing that surprises her- which is why she does like Gensokyo for all of its unpredictable events. Although she may be largely kept indoors, post-canon she holds a fascination for the world. Post-canon she has expressed an interest in being out and about more, but for now she remains in Eientei. She is only connected to the world through Reisen, Tewi, and perhaps other youkai.

~ She has a knack of annoying people she does not know with her presence even if she is not doing anything. This is possibly due to how entitled as a ~princess~ she may come off as.

~ Kaguya has been troubled enough by an immortal life. When the earth is gone, when the sun is gone, when the universe is gone, what happens then? It is the one unknown that Kaguya fears. She dreads being alone and of seeing all she has come to hold dear inevitably perish. While her own scars and blisters from helping her foster father cut bamboo have healed, memories of his death are eternal. This same thing will happen throughout her life: her body will repair, but she will always remember what has happened. Going along with this reason, this does give her much incentive to remain reclusive and to never become too attached. Of course if she finds someone interesting enough she will be inclined to interact with them more.

~ She hesitates to tell anyone of her immortality, as she knows that them wanting to acquire it can bring out the worst of people. What she won't hesitate to tell people is that she's a princess.

[Abilities]
+ Magic
+ Flight; mostly all Touhous have it. Kaguya doesn't really fly if she has to, though.
+ Strength; according to Marisa, she is able to lift the entire roof of Eientei with but a hand
+ Psychokinesis; as shown in her official portrait, when using items Kaguya doesn't even bother to psychically lift them with her hand, instead having them float beside her.
+ "True Immortality"; which, according to in-game discussions over it, puts her outside the reality of time and space.
+ Rapid healing. Hey, an indefinite amount of time experiencing different kinds of death proved useful in some respect: they only made the healing aspect of her stronger and more efficient. Parts of her body can be removed completely from existence and she'd still come back.
+ Danmaku & Spell Cards; Impresihable Night Spell Cards. Shoot the Bullet Spell Cards. Grimoire of Marisa list of Kaguya's spell cards.
+ Ability to manipulate eternity and the instantaneous; it's basically like a extra ~special~ time control thing. Up until the events of Imperishable Night, she has been shown to hold all of Eientei under eternity for over a thousand years. Under this control, things remain unchanging in the strictest sense (i.e. fragile things don't break). Time can stop in her presence, or just an object's time can stop. Her ability has also been shown to supersede those of others: in the "bad end" scenario of her game, as she is unaffected by the spell that created the imperishable night, she shatters the time-stopping enchantment. As for the instantaneous, it goes like this: if there is a chance, no matter how negligible, of something occurring within a given amount of time she can make make it occur that instant. How much effort this requires is limited to probability and time.

[Other important stuff]
Wiki article on the traditional Kaguya-hime story.
Wiki link on Eientei.
Wiki link on the Hourai Elixir.
And she'll have powers nerfed to any extent that would deem her acceptable, if accepted.

[Sample post]
[First Person]
Languages die. Cultures die. Ideas die. Countries die. [ She appears to think this aloud, looking upward and counting off her fingers. ] People die. Ah... that makes five. [ She lowers her hand. ] A shame that funerals are held only for people. [ ... Something new, something different. She knows what she can do to at least relieve a little boredom- ]

I propose that at the next death of an idea, we should hold a funeral. [ She smiles. From her tone this proposition is turning into more of a mandate. ] Do not fret; I shall pay for all of the accommodations. [ She taps her chin with a thin, pale finger. Looking totally serious about something. After a moment: ] ...I can also guarantee moon cakes.

[ Yes. Moon cakes. She gives a polite bow to the camera. ] That is all.

[Third Person]
"People cry after they are born." She rests her head on a hand, speaking lazily to herself. "I wonder what they do after they die."

At a moment's notice a life can be gutted, hung upside down, and left to rot with the rest of the world. Once that moment is over, the life has no way of regaining itself. The life moves on. The same thing can happen to Kaguya... except she will remember the event and pain, and she won't move on.

Long ago Kaguya had realized that freedom takes priority over life and death. Immediately after drinking the elixir, she had known that immortality takes that freedom away. Now it did not matter to her where she is, whether earth or moon. That she quite literally is in an eternal cage is an inescapable fact.

So, she has come to respect death for all that it is, or rather- the ability and choice to resign oneself to death. In contrast, she believes that those that pursue immortality ignorantly pursue a prison. By simply asking someone if they wished to be immortal, she knows exactly what kind of person they are.

A fool.

No, she will never know what happens after someone dies... for she, too, had been a fool all those years ago.

[Why do you want to play this character in Somarium?] Because having one character isn't enough and having two different characters allows for a wider range of CR!
[Which rule was your favorite and why?] No metagaming because it ensure characters won't know who Batman is just because a mun does.
[Where did you hear about Somarium?] First form D_M. Then I started to play here.
[Any questions?] Nope.