The Touhou Original Character Compendium

Well, since according to time they've been finalized(I think >.>), you could vote now.

After all, we need someone to vote. Though I'll prolly just vote for someone else if we get absolutely no voters.

I'll vote for Kagamichi.

Since we're on a new page:

• Kagamichi Glace – Youkai of Reflection
• Elrich Briton – Former Vampire Cop and Potential Suitor to Remi
• Sen Nakano – Slew a Thousand Youkai and it’s Not Enough
• Nozomi Tsurumi – Youkai of Unfulfilled Wishes
• Jol'Bihro – Ancient Alien Shaman and Former Incident Solver

I vote for Kagamichi Glace too. Mirror youkai sounds interesting.

Forever liveblogging the Avengers

My vote goes to Nozomi.

Yes, anyone can vote, and change their vote at will, during the entire time until the 3 day limit is up. If another entry pops up that you like more, just change your vote! Even if you entered something to the polls, you can vote for someone else's entry, at the cost of a vote for your own.

Kagamichi currently leads the polls at 3 votes, with Nozomi at 2. Everyone else only has their creator's vote right now.

I make video games! Or plan to, anyway.

Hey, Xion, if your character doesn't win the ballot, can we submit them again to the next one?

No, this isn't because I'm probably going to lose....

"Who wants to hear about good stuff when the bottom of the abyss of human failure that you know doesn't exist is so much greater?"-Wraith

Of course! If your toon doesn't get voted in, feel free to try again next poll! I'd be a lot more panicked about Jol'Bihro not getting votes if it weren't for that!

I make video games! Or plan to, anyway.

What happens if there's a tie, anyway?

Also toon?

edited 23rd Aug '10 6:57:03 PM by RukiMotomiya

A "toon" is a character in a visual medium that doesn't have actors.

In the event of a tie, I will select an order for the tying parties. We will discuss the first one on the list first, and when that discussion is done, instead of going to the polls, we will automatically move to the next one on the list. Once the list is gone through, polls will begin again.

Also, I use the terms "toon" and "character" interchangably, with both meaning the same thing. It's better than "A Touhou".

edited 23rd Aug '10 7:05:57 PM by XionGaTaosenai

I make video games! Or plan to, anyway.

I like this tie system. In fact, I like it a lot.

Well that's neat. I was going to vote for Nozomi anyway. ^^

Alright, at 3 votes each, we have a tie between Nozomi and Kagamichi. I'm going to roll a six-sided die. Odd nuber = Nozomi, Even Number = Kagamichi.

[rolls die]

I got a 6. Kagamichi it is! Ruki Motomiya, we await your write-up!

Once we're done with Kagamichi, we'll go straight to Nozomi instead of doing another poll. The next poll will come after Nozomi.

I make video games! Or plan to, anyway.

Some random stuff that went through my head earlier...

1. I'm guessing this was going to happen, but a list of links to the start of each OC's discussion should be done on the first post. Like the Touhou Alt Interp thread did, for easy organizing. Putting it before or after Amber is your choice.

2. I think that the "3 sentences" should be expanded to four or five. I really think that some entries(Sen and Elrich mostly) suffered from not really having a lot of room to explain stuff. It seems like this would work out nicely(It would probably work out as 2 sentences of personality/back story, 2 of powers, 1 of misc, as opposed to a more 1/1/1 now).

3. More a question, not a suggestion. Kagamichi has a backstory, but it involves two established OCs(Mitori and Sasha, to be precise). Should I include the backstory/plot in my write-up or omit it?

On the contrary, I think the three sentences limit is a good thing. It's enough to convey the essence of a character idea (especially with run-on sentences ), while forcing you to distill the description until you're left with what's really important.

And as for the write-up itself, I'd say put in as much detail as you think is relevant.

This "faculty lot" you speak of sounds like a place of great power...

Alrighty then. Sounds fine to me.

I'm writing it up right now and will attempt to have it up before an hour from now. Or around then, anyway.

How do you link to a specific post?

Regardless, I think I'll create a list of links on the Original post once we're up to 3-5 toons.

I make video games! Or plan to, anyway.

Click on the date above the post.

Title: The Forbidden Mirror on the Wall

Name: Kagamichi Glace

Name Etomolgy: I dunno if this is right. But, IIRC, Kagami = Mirror. In addition, Glace has a meaning behind it, as a French word meaning "made or finished so as to have a smooth glossy surface", such as glass.

• Theme Song: The Glass House on Eternity's Edge
• Stage Music: None. Fighting Game character.
• Pre-Boss Music: The Hanging Mirror's Soliloquise

Kagamichi Glace, a Ungaikyo, or Tsukugomi of Mirrors, of 600 years of age. She holds power over reflections, the manipulation of them and limited power over that which reflects.

She'd be the Final Stage boss of a Touhou Fighting game, although she's probably closer in power to a Stage 4 boss(I'm thinking Satori-level).

Before the start of the game, and before or just after Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, she dueled Mitori, for an unknown reason(Read: Since I only made this a week or two ago, I haven't come up with one >.> Halp), and lost in a duel of Spellcards. However, she foolishly led her pride overtake her and refused to follow the rules, continuing to assail Mitori after the duel had ended. She was quickly defeated and, for the disrespect and transgression of the Spellcard rules that she showed, Mitori forbade her from existance. And so, for a time, Kagamichi stepped back from existance, observing the world through the mirrors this forbidden decree had trapped her in.

And so, as time passed, she learned to make due with her ethereal existance, biding her time and thinking of some way to regain a ticket to existance. Try as she could, people could not hear her, nor could they see her except capturing a glimpse from the corner of their eyes.

This continued on until, one day, she happened to talk within earshot of Sasha Sashiromiya, the girl who could manipulate shadows, and who could hear the words from Kagamichi's mere shadow of existance. Kagamichi convinced the woman to help her regain her form, via defeating of Mitori, and how they can use their powers together to do it. Sasha doesn't ask for anything in return and is content to settle for Kagamichi being simply "indebted" to her, something she could redeem later if needed.

Sasha, after all, has powers over shadows. However, there are only so many shadows, and it takes a lot of power. Of course, mirrors can reflect, and change the path of shadows. Therefor, by combining their powers, they could make many manipulated shadows for the energy of one.

This is how they congregated rumors of an incident, of the imminent unsealing of a powerful and forbidden youkai. And who would unprohibit such a beast, but Mitori, the youkai of such manners? This is what they spread, manipulating people with their own people of shadows and creatures of shadow. Through this, they hoped to either draw out Mitori from the underground themselves, or for one to go investigating, so that they could follow those incident resolvers and find her that way. Eventully, it worked: Nitori went down to investigate the rumors about Mitori and, though they did not follow her, she drew out Mitori to come with her to the surface and help Nitori solve the true incident causers.

On the surface, Sasha engaged Mitori in a quick duel, setting herself up as the incident causer, and quickly beat her down. Nitori, stepping in to face her, defeats Sasha. However, since Mitori lost to Sasha, she abides to Sasha's conditions and unprohibits Kagamichi, as per Spellcard rules(Used to settle disputes and stuff. So, since Sasha won, I figure something like this happens. I need help with this part of the backstory too >_>). After a little leisuring and admiring the joys of having a body again(Insert Pre-Boss Music Here), Nitori is all "Trolltori, here to face you!". Thus, the Final Boss battle(Insert Theme Music Here) begins...and in a none-to-short manner, Kagamichi is disposed of by Nitori. But Nitori basically doesn't care about getting her forbidden, so she basically let's Kagamichi off. Well, off after she promises to dispel all those nasty rumors, of course.

AND THEN THEY ALL LAUGHED AND HAD A GOOD TIME.

...Or something.

Honestly, the backstory needs work, but it was only half-finished when I submitted(I didn't expect to WIN! I'll try to be more prepared next entry!). Some points, if you guys wanna backstory, I'd love to hear...

Like, what kind of forbidden youkai? I'm not that well-versed in types of youkai, so I left this vague in my head, but some kind of powerful youkai comes to mind. By any chance, does anyone know about more types of youkai? Very limited knowledge of this saddens me, 'cause I like using things I know little of.

Also, a better reason for Mitori to unprohibit Kagamichi, because it sounds off somehow in my head.

And also, of course, what Mitori and Kagamichi were fighting over in the first place.

Let's see, as for a physical description...

She's quite a flat chested girl, who wears a long, flowing one-piece white dress. The dress is semi-seethrough, inspired by thoughts of a two-way mirror, and she doesn't wear anything underneath. Well, okay, maybe she wears panties. I dunno, I originally imagined nothing underneath. She also doesn't wear shoes.

Her hair is very long and a light blue. In addition, a very large number of small, clear hairclips cover her hair in seemingly random places. While these look like normal hairclips in darkness, they refract light where there is light, which makes it look like there are many pieces of shattered glass in her hair.

She carries a specific mirror with her at all times and, much like Kogasa's umbrella, it is part of her being. It is quite long, oval-shaped in nature, with a very plain, silver frame.

Her eyes are a simple shade of brown.

Since she handles glass and breaks it with a minor frequency, she occasionally has cuts from it.

As for personality...

A somewhat arrogant person. She considers herself above others and isn't afraid to show it. However, she isn't concerned much about her or other's physical appearances, although she likes to believe she takes great care of her own. She tries to hold herself up to the same unrealistic standards she holds those around her to.

She considers herself to have a small code of honor and to honor all deals she makes to people. In practice, she genuinely goes through with this, but not as much as she likes to believe she does. The incident with Mitori is one example where she did not hold up her word(to honor the Spellcard rules). Trustworthy, but not infalliable and not nessecarily honest.

Because of this, she takes her indebtment to Sasha quite seriously.

Because of her arrogant personality, she doesn't have very many friends, and her social skills are quite lacking, even for a youkai.

Spellcards:

• Mirror Sign 'That Which Glitters': Kagamichi spins her mirror in front of her. Any projectile attack that hits her during this time will instead heal her. After a bit, she fires off an attack based on the number of projectiles absorbed: With none absorbed, it's merely a very simple, small bullet pattern. At higher levels, it's essentially a Wave-Motion Laser. She's completely vulnearable to physical attacks.
• Mirror Sign 'Battlefield Glace': Kagamichi swings her mirror forward, sending out a single, long and somewhat wide projectile. Once the projectil hits any side of the stage, it will reflect back and split into two, with one half being pushed up and one pushed down. These bullets, too, will divide when they hit the stage walls. This repeats for five divisions total, after which Kagamichi fires the bullet again after a second or so.
• Reflection Sign 'Alice in Mirrorland': Sucks the battlefield inside her mirror. The player character will be constantly damaged during this time. Kagamichi has a full health bar during this Spellcard and takes normal damage. Battle proceeds as normal until Kagamichi's health bar is depleted, whereupon she launches into her next Spellcard and the constant damage stops.

Misc:

• Her story was adapted from an old, proto-story I had in my head about Rin Satsuki. Originally, the backstory forbiding was to explain her dissappearance in Eo SD.
• Glace was accidental, I didn't find out it's meaning until after I submitted the post.
• Her theme song, "The Glass House on Eternity's Edge", was partially inspired by the name of a Star Trek episode, "The City on the Edge of Forever".
• Her title is meant to bring to mind "Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?", combined with her backstory as being "forbidden".
• Is it weird I like to imagine her and Remilia not liking each other? At least in part due to a similar age and vampires having no reflection.
• "That Which Glitters" comes from an old saying, "That which glitters is not gold", and a phrase I once heard on television, "That which glitters can also blind".

—-

In retrospect, Kagamichi has a LOT of problems, not the least of which is a mostly unplanned personality and a backstory I never bothered fleshing out! I never expected to do stuff with Touhou OCs, so I never bothered completing the idea.

As you can see, that led to problems in the write-up. The only thing I'm particularly pleased with is the physical look, specifically the hairclips. I like the idea of her hair looking as if covered in shattered glass...

I intentionally tried to not overdo descriptions on some elements to encourage discussion, but I still feel I might of gone overboard. I'm looking forward to hearing all of you make this character not suck as much as she ended up being in my head. =) I'm going to try to be more prepared in the future.

Oh, and I also like the Spellcards. I'd love to see more of those suggested. =)

Expect this to be edited a lot, as I mess with Spellcards, the notes, make sure all the coding is correct, ecetera...

Also, I can't draw, so physical descriptions here too.

And sorry for being late, RL and needing to cool off from it meant I couldn't possibly complete this earlier. I hope the wait was worth it.

edited 24th Aug '10 10:38:25 PM by RukiMotomiya

As something of a tweak (or should that be refinement) to her personality, you might say that a promise that she makes freely of her own accord is something she won't ever break (code of honor, and all), but if it's something imposed on her, she's less likely to follow through with it in favor of going with her own feelings.

Which leads me to an idea of how she got in trouble with Mitori in the first place. Perhaps Mitori laid down a kind of prohibition that sets Kagamichi off, so Kagamichi challenges her. Not wanting to be bound by "pesky, arbitrary rules" like the Spellcard System sets off the plot.

One question, though: What was she before being trapped in a mirror? Did she always have power over reflections, making her banishment some kind of Ironic Hell?

This "faculty lot" you speak of sounds like a place of great power...

Yeah, she always had power over mirrors. That was basically half-what I had in mind with the whole banishment thing.

The whole own accord thing makes sense too, I never even though about it like that. But I like where it heads, and it reconciles the kind of trouble I guess I had.

What Mitori prohibited was clearly tea. Truly, truly evil.

While I agree she'd work better as a fighting game character, I do like imagining her in a danmaku game. She could have certain spellcards that "reflect" your attacks by shooting off patterns of themed bullets based on the shot-type you're hitting her with (ie, stars if you're playing as Marisa, tags if you're Reimu, etc.) Can you imagine the frustration of newcomers when they discover that the secret to That One Boss was timing out her spells?

It's not weird at all that you imagine her and Remi not getting along. I mean, even if vampires didn't have an aversion to mirrors, they're still two arrogant, self-possessed characters.

Having power over "that which reflects" would make her a frustrating opponent for Youmu and Sakuya. Perhaps she would agree to leaving their weapons alone before fighting them, confident in her ability.

It might just be that I'm a little dense today, but I'm not sure I understand how that works. Care to elaborate?

This "faculty lot" you speak of sounds like a place of great power...

Knives and swords work just like mirrors. Their steel reflects the surroundings in light, like how you can see yourself in a kitchen knife.

Therefor, manipulation over that which reflects, and knives and swords reflect...