The Tenets of EoP

(( Intro Text Will Go Here ))

"What is the EoP setting?"
An excerpt from The World, by various authors. Listed excerpt written by Aloysius Bachmeier:

''Some say it it was cataclysm. The end of the world. They are right, in some vague sense; it was the end of the world, as they knew it. However, the more optimistic like myself, or perhaps the more foolish, I could never tell, would say it was rather... perhaps not an improvement, but a new beginning as opposed to the end. A world believed to have been baptized by fire, truly baptized by fire. The second world war having had more of an impact than anyone could have anticipated, to have brought even the heavens themselves crashing down in unholy retribution. Heaven falling down to become hell on earth.

Perhaps I should explain... After all, not many are truly familiar with the specifics of "The Collapse" - an apt name, if not a bit simple. Most just have gone on to accept that gods were walking among humans, most of the world was now wastelands packed with golems and magical beasts, and magic had become much less of a fairytale, and more of a resource unlike any humanity has seen before; spirit. However, even more have been born into this world, knowing no other. Unfamiliar with the peace that existed before the event, but perhaps not of the hardships that immediately followed. Ah, ignorance...

We'll start with the ones who pressed the "Apocalypse" button in the first place; Ye Olde Celestial Bureaucracy. A collection of gods and other celestial beings that ruled over the world from behind the stage. Said gods now walk among us, now. Leaders, warriors, farmers like myself. They all have their places. They all have their reasons. Some wish to make right in the midst of their blunder, some just wish to make the best of what is left, others even hide in exile, while a few have even gone mad. All wish better to not speak of the event, but I have found one, who I shall not name, who was kind enough to pass on the history, so that the same mistake would not happen again.

The Celestial Bureaucracy, before the war, was faced with an issue. That issue was the world itself, most notably humanity. The creatures they came to rely on for their continued power were now becoming self-sufficient, and their numbers larger by the century. One might think this growth a benefit, to those who rely on their faith and belief, but rather they became more and more distant from the gods, not feeling as though they were needed anymore. The gods considered how best to solve this, but before they could decide on a solution, two wars, unlike any other, broke out.

The World Wars. While one world war might have been fine for even a weakened pantheon, in charge of the cycle of life and death, another one so soon after the first quickly ended in the bureaucracy being overwhelmed by the spirits of the dead and the damned. Their powers waning, they had no way to cope without having their excess spill out into the world, no doubt causing a breakout of vengeful and evil spirits, so they came to the conclusion to kill two birds with one event; an event that would no doubt have the people looking to the heavens.

A storm.

A storm unlike any other, to match the war unlike any other. Storms have always been seen as acts of anger by the gods, and this would be no other. A magical, mystical storm no doubt making the people beg for mercy from the gods, while also making use of the influx of spiritual energy that was flooding the heavens.

It worked. Horribly, horribly well.

The gods had no idea the scale of the power they were dealing with. They have not worked with this sheer scale of living, breathing, spiritual power. They underestimated it, steering the power towards a center point in the hope to try to compress them to a point they could inject as a storm into the world… but the spiritual energy, living as it was, followed after itself in the swirling, chaotic storm that the gods have set out for it. Thus, it continued, swirling and growing at a rate the gods quickly lost control of. A storm they wanted, but not one to ravage the earth.

Thus, this new storm, fed more and more by the spirits flooding heaven, quickly became something disastrous. It wasn’t enough that it swallowed up the souls, growing larger, but even the heavens themselves began to fall apart to feed the storm even further. The energy of the heavens themselves only feeding the spiritual energy, until it became an unstoppable, vicious cycle that tore the heavens asunder.

Not even the heavens could handle such a beast, and as the gods fled from the heavens, heaven tore itself open - releasing the vile storm onto both the earth, and the even hell itself. The gods effectively banished themselves from their own domain, leaving them with nothing to do but exist on the earth and try to preserve what bits of civilization they could as the world was torn asunder and turned into what you see today.

And the rest? History.''

Edge of Perspective's setting can be summed up in a rather simple way. If Fallout is based around a post-nuclear apocalypse setting, then the world in EoP is a post-magical apocalypse setting.

This is different from our previous setting, where the outside world was just the normal world as we know it... and was called the "Outside World" by the Touhou perspective, in that while there is nothing stopping you from living in the "normal world", such as some of what would be the Central U.S. ( so yes, you could be a highschooler if you really want ), but it can also be taken anyway from 80s/Futuristic cyberpunk, steampunk, mythical, psuedo medieval, dragon riders, FUCKING MAGIC-POWERED AIRSHIP PIRATES, really whatever you want, as the world has become so distant and fragmented, with ambient magic and dangerous landscapes between civilizations keeping people divided and needing to adapt in different ways, so virtually any setting, including Touhou and Kancolle, could be worked in.

However, if you want a character from a certain setting, but have no-one to play with you in that particular setting, there's nothing stopping your character from hopping on an airship, or even just going on an adventure, or maybe having some teleporter go fucky and teleport you to Somewheresville, and exploring an entirely new change of scenery, fighting monsters, meeting new characters, clashing personalities or world views, or just fighting monsters and golems from as small as goblins or as large as entire mountains. You could find mystical artifacts, or play a character that can create its own. Play your own character, or even play one of the many gods who were forced down to earth from a ruined heaven, or just play one of the characters from Kancolle or Touhou.

The sky's the limit, with this new setting! Just be sure you don't hit your head~

Dryhavich's (very) Quick and Dirty Guide to Making a Character from a Mythological Story Work
So, you've heard of a character or type of being from some sort of mythological story, get enamored with the concept, and want to start playing them, right? Is there an interesting Oni that you've thought of, or maybe a Fae of Irish lore? Cool, we love such ideas! But nevertheless, slow down there, tiger, for you can't just rush into such things. Here at EoP, we don't simply think of an idea and then half-ass a character out of the blue without considering a number of things.

"But Dry, can't you just take a random god and make them your own? Thor and Othinn were so cool in the Avengers movies! What's wrong with making that half-elf half-hobbit that I have always dreamed of making, and what about my reality-breaking mage? I really want to use their powers to cause shenanigans!!!"

Easy, easy! We'll get to that. First, let me clear up one thing: it is not especially difficult to create a supernatural character in EoP's setting, no matter how intimidating we may appear. If it was difficult, we wouldn't have so many character ideas being thrown around in the mumbles. In any case, sit back, relax, enjoy that peaty whiskey or that fine baiju, and take a gander at this little guide. I promise that it won't give you rabies or force you to file a restraining order!

So, what is the first step in creating a supernatural character in EoP's setting? Well, that would be doing at least a bit of research on the stories relating to the being. While taking the name of a giant from a mainstream Japanese game or American movie just because it is an interesting name may sound quick, simple, and inspirational, but there is usually a far greater story behind that giant and any other being you may come across. For instance, take a character such as Othinn, the father of the gods of the Norse pantheon. Snorri Sturluson and anonymous rune-carvers before him sang of the deeds of Othinn and his followers, and such poems can be accessed for free online. You need only ask me or any of our other mythological scholars if you want to learn more. Reading every single poem, story, or what-have-you about a god or other being is certainly not necessary, but you should at least be familiar with their abilities and basic histories. However, when doing research of your own, you should take into account if there are multiple sources for you to use. If there are a multitude of sources that say different things about your character concept, be creative and use your best judgement to coalesce those ideas into a character. Personally, I obtain great enjoyment from the process of even reading a little bit about supernatural beings, because humanity comes up with some truly strange ideas. Above all, avoid using mainstream media's take on the concept of a historically-attested being. There are exceptions to this, though more often than not, these media centers do little or no research on the supernatural characters they want to portray, and hash them into their setting with little reason. Several cartoons, movies, and even books fall prey to this tendency, which we want to steer clear of on EoP. Keep this rule in mind: PRIMARY SOURCES ARE KEY. (Honestly, that's a rule that you should swear by not just for making RP characters, but also in academia) Oh, and if at all possible, learn about how the culture viewed this figure in their own beliefs. Examine the clothes, habits, and art of the culture associated with the being, too! That will mostly prevent you from bullshitting about how a certain character looks and acts, and will also provide you with ideas about what sort of belongings they may have. If you learn about how a certain god was venerated, or even go as far as to enact the ceremonies yourself, you may even come up with interesting personal notions about the beings! Use that creative brain of yours.

However, such things do change if you intend to make a character that is somewhat inspired by mythology, but is technically your own. Here's the general gist of that without sounding too complicated:

Consider if your new god or supernatural being is really a plausible character concept. Rod forbid if you want to make a character that is "half-x and half-y," make sure that you have a damn good explanation for why that happened. Don't just classify your character as a "Pseudo-Ghost"/God with no reasonable explanation.

Making an original character inspired by a conglomeration of existing mythological stories can be quite fun! Garmē Āutrās is an example of one of my dabblings into such things, being an original god based on interpretations of a number of beings in Finnic and Slavic mythology - all swaddled into a Baltic package. The rule I go by when attempting this is trying to make a number of different stories fit together smoothly. The aforementioned rules about research also apply in such a scenario.

After you have done a decent amount of preliminary research on your concept, or have asked one of us for information about said concept, now comes the time to figure out if you can really play the character. Ask yourself this: "Okay... so I have made a supernatural character with a significantly powerful ability. Can both I and other people trust myself to not abuse this character's powers to break things without much warning or motivation?" This has likely already been stated in the section about necessary power scaling, but I will repeat the clause "with great power comes great responsibility." No matter how interesting the mythological concept you have come up with is, using the character's powers to strong-arm everything in RP is not how to do things. Do as the character would do - if they are an old, wise, yet still absurdly powerful mage, your research should tell you to think twice before making huge actions. In general, older mythological beings do not throw their power around.

This will surely be added to if I or anyone else feels that I have left anything out.

Orichalcum
Orichalcum (or, well, the way we interpret it at EoP) is an alchemically-bonded alloy of bronze and gold. The two metals are linked at a nanomolecular scale such that the malleable gold allows the hard bronze to "meld" into a target within picoseconds, and then the carbides and other ceramics formed by the locally reactive (and magically-attuned) nanostructures simply eat away at the material being struck. In this way, objects such as boulders or ordinary steel may be "cut" through with relative ease. It is ridiculously impractical to produce such a material via non-magical means in this day and age, since to produce the reactive nanostructures, a smith would require precise individual control over a large body of material.

Orichalcum can be written as "Aurichalcum", which translates to "Gold-Copper." However, the original translates to something like "mountain copper" in Greek, perhaps alluding to its godly use. In fact, Orichalcum (Auksowarrin) is what the tools of the deities of the Balto-Slavic pantheon are made of. But, why would certain gods use such an alloy of Bronze and Gold when they have ready access to a potentially harder alloy of steel and gold? Well, by the traditions of Northeastern Europe, iron is inherently something that can inspire much evil and faction among mankind, so the gods would seem hypocritical to use tools of iron. Furthermore, the usefulness of materials that are harder than others gets quite played down in a scenario where locally reactive materials form small, malleable shapes that eat through materials in nearly an instant.

Adamant
Much like orichalcum, adamant is an alchemically-bonded alloy, but this time of steel and gold. It can be made harder than the latter material, though the limited usefulness of such a property has already been stated. However, with the introduction of the element carbon into the matrix, capable of forming harder ceramics than orichalcum, which may be able to eat away material faster. Generally, it has more resistance to heat, as well, through the replacement of bronze with steel. This comes at the price of being able to cut a less versatile assortment of objects through somewhat decreased ductility. Adamant is far more common an alloy than orichalcum in EoP's setting, and is what the blades of numerous mythological weapons are made of.

Here, the term "adamant" here really has nothing to do with diamonds. Diamonds are far too brittle a material for use in blades. It entails "fortitude" or "untameability." That makes far more sense with regards to this material, since it, like orichalcum, is nigh impossible to stabilize with modern non-magical technology.

Overview
''“When my brother approached me a century ago, he seemed… distressed. Many might not have been able to tell, though. He was good at that, holding his emotions close to himself, likely to keep others from being concerned when he was. I knew my brother, though. I was right to be concerned, as he explained to me the Bureaucracy’s plans, and what they might mean for the world.

At first I was angry, that they could even be so foolish as to consider unleashing any sort of event onto the world that might disrupt the balance, but at the same time I knew I couldn’t. The balance necessary to keep the heavens in power, and the lively earth they have created just as lively, had for a long time been in decline. I couldn’t blame them for wanting to do something to make sure they did not lose the power they needed to keep the world running, or worst of all perish, as it would make the entirety of it all pointless anyway. I could not blame them, but I knew that I must act.

At my brother’s urgings, I took a swath of the land from Japan as my own… A place in the mountains, not far from a cursed forest - a place already free prying eyes from wary people. A place in which housed a single, human village and shrine, cut off from the rest of the world by the spirits and youkai also inhabiting the forest. These people had no threat of modernization, and so they remained reliant on their surrounding area. They remained fearful of the youkai their fear just as well nourished. It was a perfect setting, and I had to act.

I used whatever influence I had made on the youkai population of Japan to steer them towards this place, while at the same time making my peace with the local shrine maiden - the Hakurei bloodline. They worshipped an old, weakened god, one that used to provide them with the power necessary to protect the village, but as the power waned, they faced the threat of invasion. I promised them that I’d help in maintaining a balance that would both protect the village, as well as the youkai population. A deal they were hesitant to accept, but wise enough to not decline.

If they had declined, I wouldn’t know what I would have done. It was with the aid of the Hakurei family’s upkeep that the border remains standing, as each day it stands, I am without a piece of my very being. It’s ever so tiring, and I need my rest… I could have asked my brother to loan me the power necessary, but part of me was afraid to. He had already done so much, risking his standing with the bureaucracy just to warn me. Not to mention, part of me was too prideful to let him know of how weak I had become, or else he might shirk his duties to needlessly worry for me. I couldn’t have that.

With the shrine’s assistance, I created the barrier that enclosed the village and the surrounding area. The forests, a nearby lake, and even a section of the mountain upon which the tengu lived - a section they were so kind to allow me to have. I had finally made my sanctuary, a land now well populated by refugee youkai and gods alike. One that would grow to be the world it was today… even in the face of the collapse...”''

~Yukari Yakumo on the creation of Gensoukyou

Gensoukyou, the setting of touhou, was created by Yukari Yakumo following the warnings from her brother that the world was in danger. It was created with the false notion that it would serve as a place where humans and youkai could live in balance, to save the youkai from the modernisation of the outside world. This might have been true, were it not for another looming threat over the world.

The majority of Gensoukyou’s residents are blissfully unaware of the Collapse, or the now-ruined outside world, but some of the higher-level beings, including those governing over the sections of Heaven, Hell(s), and the Netherworld that the border also encompassed ( with a bit more fudging of information, in the beginning ), and people from outside the border, like the SDM and the Lunarians, are aware, but work with Yukari to make sure the rest of Gensoukyou’s denizens do not realize, usually in exchange for continued refuge.

In light of this, any events that occur outside of Gensoukyou’s borders, directly displayed in canon, will be ignored until otherwise tweaked to fit in. Unfortunately, this will likely mean that the events of ULiL will be completely irrelevant, while the events of LoLK will be tweaked to fit in ( the invasion of the moon likely being solved in a different way ).

Other than this, things will generally remain the same, however the border is a quite a bit worse for wear and is on the verge of collapse. Besides allowing more things to cross over on occassion, this might result in a plotline - so look forward to that.