Gensoukyou:Human Village

History
The Human Village at its birth couldn't even be called a settlement – it was merely a camp where Youkai Exterminators gathered to rest and plan how they would try to rid the region of the youkai threat. Gensoukyou was after all, a land that drove away settlers, for it was the home of Youkai, not the home of man. Only the foolhardy youkai exterminators stood their ground firmly against the supernatural threat.

Youkai Exterminators though weren't the only ones sent to Gensoukyou – not all who came sought the fame of slaying youkai. Some were just normal humans that were not welcome anywhere else, either because they had committed some crime, or because they themselves were the crime; the system had rejected them.

In this light, Gensoukyou can be somewhat compared to a “dump” for unwanted individuals.

The youkai exterminators and rejects of society eventually were trapped into the Great Hakurei Barrier when Gensoukyou was created. Numbering around three hundred at that time, the number has grown to an astounding 1800 by the present.

While it can seem surprising to any observer, the fact that the human population has thrived so much despite an overwhelming amount of youkai around cannot be denied. There are many reasons that come together to explain the unusual developments, but the two most notable ones are that: first, not all youkai are carnivorous man-eating beasts. In fact, most youkai can simply subsist on food that they find in nature – only about 2% of the current youkai population (estimated to be over 3000) is thought to be pure human-eaters. Secondly but not least, a contract was established so that the Human Village and its immediate surroundings were made danger-free from youkai. Any youkai that would try to assault the human village would come to face the wrath of the older youkai, those that had are powerful/have existed long enough to project a certain figure of authority.

Yuuka Kazami, Ran Yakumo, and the Eientei inhabitants are some of those ready to protect the Human Village should it come under attack.

Place Description
Its architecture hasn't advanced that much – most buildings date from the early 1800s to the old Asuka-era designs. The newer buildings do have a certain “outside world” flair to them though, probably coming from the few “imports” that survived and made their way to the village.

The Human Village itself is quite large broken into multiple areas:


 * Town Center: Where most administrative buildings are, including the Town Hall and Keine's school. A lot of hawkers come to sell there wares here, which makes sense, since it's the Vilage's Central hub. Reisen tends to set up shop in this area whenever she sells medicine. Some special night-time hawkers exist, catering especially to youkai needs.


 * Food Square: Restaurants and all kinds of taverns and food stalls are built in this area. A very popular place for villagers to hang out. Some youkai even join the fray here, although as expected, most of them are late-night customers.


 * Artisan's District: Wood-workers, Smiths and various other craftsmen live and do their daily sales here. Some sort of "industrial district" if we were to use modern terms.


 * Residential Area: The area where nobles/high-ranking individuals live. Easily differentiated from the other sectors since the streets here tend to be a lot more emptier; that, and the houses are much larger/fancier than the average one you'd find in the Human Village.


 * Commonplace District: Where most of the average villagers live. Here reside mostly agriculturists and farmers: in other words, those that keep the village fed.


 * Militia Barracks: The barracks where Youkai Hunters and humans that pledged to defend the village train. Doubles as headquarters and armory.

The entire Village is surrounded by tall stone walls. They used to be wooden until recently, when out of concern that wood could easily be burnt down, the council decided to reinforce them in both durability and height. The inhabitants by the way love melding greenery with the Village -- there's grass and trees that have been planted a bit everywhere so that people who take a stroll through the village can feel a nice, natural air in the atmosphere as they go about.

Trivia

 * - Most people refer to the settlement simply by "the village". It is after all the only place in Gensoukyou where humans congregate. Chances of being misunderstood when one simply uses "village" rather than precising "human village" are...next to none.


 * - While it is called the Human Village, there's actually a bunch of human-friendly, or at least, neutral youkai that live in the midst of it. There's also a few notable human hybrids, the most famous one being Keine Kamishirasawa -- granted, she hides her true nature as a half-human half-youkai from others.


 * - The land surrounding the village is mostly made up agricultural land; understandable, since one would not want to forage too far away from home, lest they wander into a stray youkai's mouth...