Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Some bizarre circumstances have occurred very recently within Gensokyo, the likes of which one can reasonably posit as the Dragon of the Infinite Expanse becoming bored one day, and deciding to screw around—the notion of which raises some serious implications, both minor and major, if ever the dreaded words arranged in the fashion penned within this Chronicle were to be spoken aloud, regardless of who uttered them. Much the same can be said of Yukari Yakumo, even though she has adamantly posited that she neither had a hand in this, nor was responsible for anything the Dragon of the Infinite Expanse has decided to wrest on all of our shoulders—the most she has done was help solve incidents which have spawned from those responsible, as they were a genuine threat to Gensokyo and possibly the Outside World if left unchecked. However, one also cannot ignore such implications, especially regarding Yukari's genuine innocence pertaining to this matter—largely, because Gensokyo has experienced a flux of newcomers, who themselves have more or less said the same thing about their creator deity, though their creator had to get express approval from the Dragon first before she could plop them here. Thus, for reasons that natives are assuming boil down to 'because it can be done,' I have found myself having to pen a wholly separate, secondary Chronicle just to keep track of who arrives, what they are capable of, and so forth—a necessity, sadly, because these arrivals have some very strange mannerisms that, if kept unchecked, could well upend Gensokyo's entire social structure.

For this same reason, I have been, more or less, approached by these individuals of varying degrees of sanity, and I have interviewed them accordingly. In the wake of the Haniwa Invasion, and especially in the wake of another two incidents the year prior that I have witnessed, I shall be taking note of the arrivals as they come, their identities, particularities, et cetera. (1) With what all this shall naturally entail, I shall only touch upon certain issues in great length, and others, not so much, as even tengu society had deemed such issues as 'unfit for newsprint,' which is something of a serious crime that I do not wish to get torn to pieces over. Given the nature of the details described as 'unfit for newsprint,' I shall instead use short, succinct descriptors of a vague nature in order to describe them… as those boasting said issues have refused, quite adamantly, to go into great detail themselves, insisting that I use the same descriptors they had given.

Thus, this Chronicle shall be dubbed 'The Chronicles of Beyond,' due to the nature of the most recent batch of visitors stating that they have come from such. For simplicity's sake, many of the individuals this Chronicle will cover will be classified as surface youkai and deities, due to the very bizarre, irregular circumstances surrounding them and the area of existence they hail from, which I am told has ceased to exist (2) in something of a great oxymoron. Their words, not mine.

It is, with something of an unprecedented trend within these Chronicles, that I have been requested to… exercise my inner poet, for reasons I cannot transcribe, but have decided to entertain nonetheless. Perhaps a bit of creativity could aid me, in my subsequent reincarnations, however far off that may be.

Interestingly enough, these arrivals, many that there are, do not boast last names—save for three known exceptions, as a result of unfortunate circumstances that seem to have followed them here, from whatever planet they had aborted from. As such, this Chronicle may be further updated accordingly, depending on when these unfortunate lunatics of another world decide to address the issue. Thus, they shall be referred to, almost exclusively, by first name and whatever title they have accrued here, unless otherwise noted. In addition, deities will have their areas of expertise listed, as well as species, for the very few oddballs that happen to fall under that category and the category of youkai simultaneously.

We shall start with the first arrivals, who, unfortunately, wound up partaking in the rather particular Crimson Light Incident as soon as they had arrived. Or, in the case of the architect herself, started it because she had unresolved anger issues and needed a larger than life concussion to get through her surprisingly dense, metal head.

Yes. I wrote that. For good reason. And I cannot believe I had to do so. Word of warning: it is ill-advised to try to deliver a concussion to these crazies using your mere fists even if otherwise specified, unless you yourself have the strength, the fortitude, and the suicidal bravado required to do so. Otherwise, you might just break your hand with the attempt, if they do not do so for you afterwards. (3) I shall start this Chronicle by detailing the primary deities of the Altered Pantheon, then their religious heads, then their minor goddesses and other affiliates, and shall update accordingly whenever the creator deity of those hailing from Beyond decides to stop screwing around and bless all of Gensokyo with more of her own antics, which seems to constitute sending proxies over to do so in her stead.

Divinity Sora, the Weapon of Impeccable Talent

Domains: war, stars, soldiers, protection, freedom

Perfection dances in the open, as swift as wind, as untamed as a raging storm
Blond beauty, grace, the sound of thunder, heralding war—moving as a perfect form
Fight this weapon if you dare, her gaze lacking care, her prowess in combat beyond compare
Her specs are extraordinary, her skill unmatched, living perfection with a gaze laden bare

You'll notice, I had just described a deity as a weapon. Why, you may ask? This was how the deity had described herself, when I had interviewed her. Her former home was ravaged by war, such that anyone the two major factions could enlist, willingly or forcibly, wound up in a state she had referred to as being altered—metal implants, empowered with divine and youkai blood, placed into the flesh of mortals, to boost durability, combat ability, and whatever else the top brass felt like adding in… for the equivalent exchange of a sizeable portion of the humanity of those who had these 'upgrades' grafted into them, thereby turning them into youkai and divines by proxy. All this, under the pretense of 'destroy the enemy' and other such terms that, frankly, the deity herself stated she didn't understand at the time either, and wanted no part of—yet received anyway. A few reconnaissance missions, which saw her experience combat, further fostered her doubt in the cause… and let's just say, after meeting a surprisingly sane man in all of that, she decided to throw hands everywhere to get the fighting to stop.

Which, impressively, worked. She was surprised it did, too. It took her grappling with all of the other altereds partaking within that insanity in single combat, and stopping a literal apocalypse, but it worked. And a ten-thousand year coma, for her to heal from almost dying, had ensued right after. For the record, this deity does, in fact, have her own weapons, and she did not take on the apocalypse bare-handed—the weapons have, by now, become tsukumogami, shortly after her own arrival. They shall also be noted accordingly, as they have their own names and powers and such.

Regardless, we shall turn our attention back to this long-maned deity, who, contrary to expectations, keeps her golden locks well groomed and without braids. She could wear braided hair as a war deity, but would rather prefer twin pigtails as opposed to smaller, more numerous braids that could be attributed to other, older native deities on this world, who have since come and gone. As a deity from Beyond, Sora's mindset is… strange. Rather than want to constantly wage war, or build an expansionist empire with Gensokyo as her starting point, she'd rather stop the whole concept altogether—something which, I had pointed out to her, would be antithetical to her own existence.

She did acknowledge such, however, she also replied that the types of wars she had wanted to cease were those like what she had partaken in, with stolen powers of the divine and youkai and everything in between, on top of war crimes that shall not be discussed nor described here. That part, I could not help but agree with—especially in light of all of the other irregularities she had told me about, that had occurred within that war, which will be referred to henceforth as The War of Extermination, which then spiraled into another, more cataclysmic event she referred to as the Penultimate Ragnarok. Needless to say, both events were started by one supremely angry human, who had altered himself before Divinity Sora was even born, because he wanted all of that power for himself, to one day confront the Sweet Creator, Sora's creator deity. Thus, he had slain innumerable youkai and gods, did other unsavory deeds in between, in a time period lasting a thousand years, building his power and requiring the rest of the world to stop him, or simply bail from the planet.

By the way, said individual did not succeed, thank the heavens—and I shudder to think of what would have happened if his fantastically insane ploy actually played out to the conclusion he intended to make happen. He shall be covered in a little more detail shortly, due to… certain individuals he's heavily involved with.

As for Sora's demeanor, at least… outside of combat (and in her eyes, spell card duels constitute such, given it is more or less ritualistic fighting and preening rolled into one), she's fairly placid and easygoing no matter what she does—coasting through life, and her divine duties, with the same grace and lack of concern as a dandelion seed, dancing in the wind. Unusually, her alterations play scarcely any role within her daily activities, as though she has the ability to shut them down until needed. For instance, in writing this very article about her, I had discovered something that few mortals would miss from a mere, cursory first glance in her direction: she's startlingly attentive, taking heed of where she is, whose abode she walks into, and how those individuals live—as if longing for something she can no longer have. Furthermore, she scarcely, if at all, demonstrated her prowess to me, as I had interviewed her… and when I asked her why, she said she was scared that she could cause too much collateral damage. Thus… I had to take an unorthodox approach, and take her outside of the Human Village and all the way to Yuuka to see a demonstration of said prowess.

Yes. Yuuka. That Yuuka. Truth be told, I am not sure who I am more terrified of, between her and Sora.

In addition, unlike most war deities, she does not have an inherent bloodlust, nor the desire to permanently kill or maim her opponents, if she can get away with it. Unlike deities such as Kanako, she is always cordial, no matter who she speaks with—even in combat, without exception. Even Yuuka's talk of genocide and dismemberment failed to get her to raise her voice, at least, in a threatening tone. She follows both the one cardinal rule amongst humans, and amongst deities—politeness is key, otherwise it could be your undoing. Her expression did not change during that demonstration of her prowess, either; it seemed as if instinct took over, further fueled by her alterations, and she just… well, let's just say, Yuuka probably won't be tangling with her again for a while.

Sora, however, has… had difficulty explaining her particular power, in rudimentary terms. Instead, she has dubbed it "extraordinary specs," so I was forced to seek one of her fellows for a more technical explanation. Simply put, she was altered, ground-up, to slaughter her foes indiscriminately, perfect in skill, scope, and mind—living, breathing perfection, actualized into combat form. However, she was dragged into receiving said 'blessing,' without consent, and tried to avoid slaughtering where she could do so. Thus, I can sufficiently say that, when all other options have been exhausted, she will end you, though she will carry the guilt of doing so until the end of her days. Otherwise, she will use her gift of Living Perfection for other, more mundane ends, if left dormant otherwise—partly because the power was never her own to begin with, but rather, borrowed from someone else, who parted with it willingly. Partly because, in her eyes, using it too much would result in… unfortunate, unintended consequences, which she wound up learning the hard way, I'm told.

This power, however, has some hard limitations—anything she has to learn manually, if it is not somehow combat-oriented in any fashion, she is forced to take her time with, lest she wind up with… shoddy products. From building, to cooking, or even something as simple as a rudimentary stick figure drawing—no matter what it is, if she has not encountered it before, she must learn it from the ground up. This limitation, however, has been mitigated somewhat: due to living for an inordinately long time prior to her first death on whatever section of reality she came from, she has had that time to learn many of the aforementioned tasks, and hone them somewhat. Even if she languished in Oblivion for gods only know how long, and thus forced those skills to attain a sheen of rust, she still retained the knowledge to use them upon resurrection, even if the knowledge itself does need to have its metaphorical dust knocked away. This, in turn, would mark her as a fast learner—certainly a favorite, for schoolmarms with a penchant to perform deadly headbutts.

Furthermore, while she has difficulty expressing herself facially, this is not because of any mental inability to do so. Rather, it is a force of habit, hammered into her by a military that no longer exists, save for the remnants which have arrived here, and her new divine duties, which mandate that she behave a certain way within eyesight of her followers and fellow divines. Thus, she is more prone to speaking with actions and not words, which apparently, put her at odds with the Hakurei before that misunderstanding had been properly addressed. It is fortunate the spell card rules were in favor of the Hakurei; from what I am told, Sora… may have been deliberately kept ignorant of some things, and almost came close to committing accidental murder. Her Divine Sigil, inscribed upon her religious texts known as the Liberation From Fate, is a green bird, framed by a ring of viridian, carrying a sword with its talons, and a shield in its beak. This Sigil will also manifest when used by her primary enforcers, two of whom are the aforementioned tsukumogami who shall be covered in a later section of this Chronicle.

Fight this deity, in either a spell card duel, or a duel to the death—at your own peril. Though I would not recommend a duel to the death, and Sora wouldn't, either. Even if you are suicidal. Even if you are strung up on stamina boosters, lent to you by certain trickster rabbits and pilfered from the shelves of a certain doctor without permission nor prescription. And when Sora's viridian eyes narrow, that would be your cue to vacate the premises. Immediately. She is relentless, she will not stop until she has you strung up by your ankles, and her lectures are painful and to the point. In some regards, they are worse than the Yamaxanadu's lectures.

Threat level: severe, when roused. Nonexistent otherwise. Human friendliness level: very good. You'd do well to stay in her good graces.

Divinity Suguri, the Star Faster Than Light, the Wisdom of Forty-Six Billion Years

Domains: war, stars, life, guardians, vigilance

A living silver bullet, a star, of impossible and dauntless speed
Friendly until enraged, ire crosses her face, you'd best take heed
Ever-vigilant, protective, for her duties she does not once ignore
A sharp reminder, a fierce retort, with one strike comes several more

Yes. Another war deity. That seems to be the running theme of the Altered Pantheon. This silver-haired one is stranger than most; living for an impossibly long time, as indicated by her second, lesser-known title, offing herself because she was alone after finding herself the last survivor of her world, and granted a new lease in Gensokyo. Unlike Sora, Suguri is far more assertive with words, expressions, and other such nuances that society at large needs to function, no matter whose society it happens to be that she winds up interacting with. And unlike most ancients, she does not speak in an antiquated way, or a flowery language, or in half-truths and mystical prophecies that require some convoluted fate, person, and object gained in that order to avert an ancient evil or something. Or even someone with a different perception of all three things listed in order to actualize said prophecy, for that matter.

Rather… she is blunt, even when she is formal. Woefully blunt. If any shred of subtext were to approach her, slap her on her buttocks, and say some pretty horrible things about her father, she would not know it had done so, as if she deliberately chose to ignore the entire notion altogether—perhaps, as a consequence of her age. If she has something on her mind, and does not have time to mince words or go into detailed explanations, she'll give you the cliff notes version… by ramming it into your face with as much urgency as whatever situation happens to require it. And maybe her fist, depending on how riled up she is.

I would not recommend taking Suguri's fist in your face, just as an aside. She might not hit as hard as Sora does, but her fist would still hurt either way, especially if she decides to take the youkai's approach and just dive bomb you from the sky, or if she decides to strike you, repeatedly, faster than you can blink. Also, if you should find yourself in such an unenviable position, you have probably done something to warrant that particular divine retribution, even if Suguri is seemingly slower to truly anger than Sora is. And unlike many divines native to this planet, her eyes contain the expected divinity… yet are not the expected color. Rather, they are a youkai blood-crimson, yet retain a human's proportions in relation to the iris, the sclera, and the pupil, and so would not particularly stand out within Gensokyo's border even if you should know what to look for. According to her, her eyes were once a clear, sky blue, yet over time aged into the current red through phenomena she does not fully understand and has willfully chosen to not delve into, as at the time she noticed the change, she had a few more immediate things to contend with on her particular plate.

Fortunately, she has also confirmed that the change in eye color would not translate to blindness in her future. So at the very least, she can still see, even if someone were to pluck her eyes out. She has demonstrated this to me, unfortunately, and I got to watch the tableau of her regrowing her oculars. This regeneration, in itself, is actually part and parcel of her augmentations, further strengthened by an impossibly-long lifetime, such that there were few weapons capable of permanently ending her, and even then, only one lived more or less long enough to die alongside her in a mutual suicide.

Yes. It had gotten that bad. We shall not divulge further into that, please and thank you. As an aside, said blade involved in that mutual annihilation has also become a tsukumogami, and shall be covered in the same section as Sora's tsukumogami.

As far as other particulars go, Suguri's lineage… is very strange. She knows she has had grandparents before birth at one point—key word being 'had.' Apparently, her father's family tree… or what remains of it had been chopped down, leaving him with no ancestral history to trace or speak of and himself as the sole survivor. Her mother died in childbirth, and as far as either of them know, her ancestral history had also been lost to time. For reasons I cannot grasp, and reasons requiring a far more convoluted explanation than even I can provide within these texts, father and daughter are content to just let sleeping dogs lie. The short of the matter is… during the war that lead to the Penultimate Ragnarok, bloodlines ceased mattering, and surnames were cast aside to cut soldiers and descendants of soldiers away from any attachments to family that could have threatened that status quo (not that it prevented some of them from getting married anyway.) Trying to dig up that family history that had been robbed from them is, at this point, entirely moot—a bigger headache than is worth the effort spent.

In addition, Suguri has a particular gift within her augments, though that gift only shows itself should she decide to use it, due to how easily abused it can be, as well as the sheer jealousy that would cause Aya to relentlessly hackle her otherwise. Simply put, she wields the Gift of Acceleration, which theoretically allows her to cross all of Gensokyo in not only a single bound, but would also allow her to hit every major province in doing so and without getting winded, all within the span of roughly a second were she to go fast enough. Such a strain would cause an ordinary body to implode on itself, so she has altered lungs and bones able to withstand the force of this power; however, due to it still putting enough strain on her that her augments will start to drastically overheat with every successive use of this power, she only uses it when absolutely needed—especially if a situation calls for her to use this power enough times within a span of hours, or even minutes, and then bring on that strain. As an additional aside, this strain exists within all of the other Altereds whenever they start to overuse their abilities, both divine and not, and can also be triggered by managing to hit them repeatedly. Once overheated, they begin to radiate an aura that shreds and regenerates clothes and wounds, as strain and healing war for dominance, though over time damage will accrue faster than they can heal.

Good luck getting any of the Altereds into this state though, and good luck surviving it if you should manage the feat—and I mean that with utmost, unabashed sincerity. They become a lot more hectic, unpredictable, and frenzied, precisely because of the accumulated strain—it is survival instinct by that point, in its purest form. This particular state has been coined as Three-Hundred Percent Heat, and as it implies, can cause certain augments to go haywire if they should be struck by enough successive blows in combat. However, a few of the Altereds can willingly trigger this state, though given that I can count the entire pantheon and their head worshippers on both hands and perhaps my toes, I will need to research this further before I can come to any definitive conclusions.

Suguri's Sigil is also fairly strange—a rainbow ring of light, framing a planet like an aurora, the cracks forming on that world widening and then healing again as a shooting star circles around it endlessly. This Sigil is also depicted in her religious texts, dubbed the Adherence to Life's Sanctity. However, her meaning on the sanctity part of the equation also includes youkai and deities, as most other youkai and deities of her section of reality had been ruthlessly slain, which is why her particular pantheon has included them in their ranks. Said take on sanctity also, contrary to what is commonly believed and adhered to within Gensokyo, applies to criminals as well—provided they are able to repent, no matter how horrid their crimes. And the repentance must be genuine, as is their willingness to change for the better, and being actually able to act on that change. Those who aren't… well, Suguri can see through the deception, and let's just say the end result won't be pretty when she catches on—and she'll catch on very quickly, due to accruing a chunk of time in age roughly proportional to that of the Lunarians. Thus, her body count is very few in numbers, despite her being a war deity… but the individuals she has slain are notable in notoriety.

Threat level: severe, when roused, though she is slow to truly anger. Nonexistent otherwise. Human friendliness level: very good. Exercise caution.

Divinity Reika Hoshino/Star Breaker, the Wolf Who Shatters the Stars

Domains: war, stars, duality, fire, destruction, extinction

Monstrous paws tread the ground, towns go in flames, the shadow never breaking perfect stride
From a world far, far beyond, razed, torn, battered, worn; she hails from an era of unending strife
Senses tainted by war, eyes clouded with a hateful prism, a nose too used to unfortunate scents
Beneath black, burning fur lies hardened bone, toned muscle, metal armor, with far too few dents

And now… what many outside of the Altereds' religion would constitute as the problem child of the lot. Said problem child status, however, is not her fault—rather, circumstance had dealt her a truly horrid hand, with which she had been forced to make do. As with Suguri, Reika (who shall be referred to henceforth by birth name within this section, though she will answer to her secondary, self-given name as well) has also lost her family history. Interestingly, she had confirmed she was born to wolf deities, who… kept her ignorant of things, thus depriving her of a heritage she had been unable to truly inherit. In fact, they didn't even want her to take on the clan name of Hoshino, but had to acquiesce, as their numbers were dwindling at a too-rapid rate, and someone had to take the reins eventually—all because they saw, before she did, that her fur was as black as the foretold end of times.

That day, however, would never come to pass. Her parents were slain, alongside any other survivors of her family, and she herself was… subject to fates worse than death. Her torment only worsened, when her captors gleaned she could transcribe the dreaded Apocalypse Clocks, and decided to abuse this ability against her wishes. The end result… led to the Penultimate Ragnarok, and Reika herself regressing to a truly primeval level of unsocialized and non-sapient by the time she was slain. Even then, until her section of reality actually ended, the Apocalypse Clock's song still drove her into further and further insanity even in death, such that she embraced her role as herald of the end times, resolving to take that role to its logical conclusion on whatever other plane of existence she wound up being kicked to. Needless to say, she had to have a fair bit of a thrashing upon setting foot in Gensokyo to regain her mind.

Which is a far more difficult task than can be assumed of a deity kept uneducated. She's an apocalypse wolf—and one who cannot die, until the universe is fated to die with her, or so I was told. Furthermore, her immense alterations ensure that she will be far tougher to take down than, say, a simple fairy, or gods forbid, Yuuka Kazami. She hits fast, she hits hard, and she can and will incinerate you if you so much as glance at her sideways. However, since she had regained her sense of self, she is slower to anger than she was before—not by much, but the difference is noticeable. Unless an Apocalypse Clock has surfaced, in which case, she will do anything and everything in her power to stop it—and it is fortunate she is able to transcribe them, since one had appeared in Gensokyo during the Haniwa Invasion, and she was actually able to determine the root cause and deal with it accordingly.

This ability is why she's considered amongst the upper echelons of her pantheon, even if she does not handle the reins of leadership that much, having seen the worst it had to offer when grossly mishandled by other people. Due to literal billions, perhaps trillions, of years spent in death listening to that ticking song and being helpless to stop it, she has developed an increased resistance to the madness-inducing effects the Apocalypse Clocks have on all destruction deities, which is still fortunate for everyone at large—I would rather not see what a maddened Reika would be like, and I have heard such a sight is as unpleasant as the mental image warrants. However, this ability has a hard limitation: she cannot alter it in any other fashion, than doing what it tells her to. In doing what it tells her, it speeds up, perhaps by minutes or years or such, depending on what it wants her to slay and destroy. Furthermore, only she and one other member of her pantheon are able to detect its presence, and once she has spotted it, it shows itself wholly—and can then drive other deities insane, through them merely glimpsing it. For this reason, if one is ever heard by her ears… I would advise those accompanying her to clear the premises immediately. She tends to cause collateral damage, when trying to halt the thing. I'm still having to sweep clay shards out of my yard, because of the Haniwa Invasion and all that entailed with her active participation in stopping it.

As far as demeanor goes, she is also blunt—as far as speaking goes. She also has very little in the way of mental filters, and so she is prone to saying rather unfortunate things at inopportune times, though she is learning to choose her words more carefully, even if she is rather overt with her emotions beyond mere actions and screaming her lungs out. A helpful clue to gauge her current mood is to look at her eyes; due to them being altered, her irises have the ability to change color in accordance to what she is feeling. Another helpful tip: rainbow is her default. Thus, it can be safely assumed that the primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) are strong base emotions of fear, rage, and delight, and mixtures of them denote she is feeling two emotions simultaneously. I'm told this is part and parcel of a shattered psyche that is slowly being rebuilt piece by agonizing piece, and I remain somewhat hopeful that she stays sane. Another clue would be to watch her burning, smoking hair—if the fires are concentrated to the ends of her hair, and remain as pastel blue as her scalp, she's in her default. Red, and reaching that scalp, you might be in trouble.

She's not one for conversing, however, due to her rather imposing presence. Other youkai have reported trying to kill her, only for her to backhand them and move on with her day as though nothing untoward had occurred, which had the side-effect of adding to her notoriety. Not that she minds that notoriety—it helps her avoid people, awkward conversations, and society at large, and she likes it that way. And when deciding to avoid conversing if she is unable to leave a room for whatever reason, she will keep her jaws shut, and herself in a corner to avoid socializing, as if the notion is simply too complex for her to spend much effort on, save for the very few individuals she trusts enough to speak with at length. Thus, thanks to a combination of no social skills, monstrous power, a truly tortured existence, a severe mistrust of just about everybody else on the entire plane of existence we share, and a less than base understanding of nuance, she does not have much in the way of what would constitute friendships, let alone an active love life.

And don't ask about that lack of love life. Ever. It reminds her too much of her late captors, and all of the horrible things they had done to her. The only reason I am still alive at this juncture in time is because I told her I had to make these Chronicles to update Gensokyo accordingly, and that I promised I would not divulge in those sordid details. As it stands, I would like to uphold that end of the bargain, in exchange for subsequent reincarnations not wrought and fraught with agony.

As with the other Sigils of her pantheon, Reika's is also fairly non-standard. It depicts an eight-armed star, split into the arms, small orbs, and a central main orb, all on fire and showing horrible acts that take place during war, and the lengths people, youkai, and deities will go to to gain an edge on their enemies—and with no nobility intact, as if they had regressed back into non-sapience and savagery. However, to see those horrible acts, you would have to peer closely into the flames, which would potentially mean being then subjected to sights and sounds that would break most mortal minds—and that's if you manage to not annoy Reika in doing so first. Said Sigil is also depicted on her religious texts, conjoined with the Sigil of one of her fellows. The texts in question are called the Cyclical Eternity of War and Rebirth. Due to a lack of education, she had to go to the other members of her pantheon, and have them go through several drafts before they could agree on something. Interestingly enough, the texts also bear the Sigil of a biological half-brother she had not known about in her previous life, and who isn't much of a talker.

As far as her sparse relations go… she is building something of a rapport with her half-brother, with whom she surprisingly connects. I suspect those two may well be partners in crime soon. She has also gained an odd kinship with the Youkai of the Stars, also called the Branded Goddesses by youkai who do not practice the faith the Altered Pantheon advocates, and said Branded Goddesses will be addressed in a future section of these Chronicles when I can gather more details about their habits. Reika also has a small child, over whom she is fiercely protective, and with whom she trusts with almost no one, as far as babysitters go—with one exception, that being Suguri's father, who had tried to stop her torment in vain, yet lived that attempt and the Penultimate Ragnarok to tell the tale. Otherwise, she leaves said small child in the care of the religious heads of her pantheon, and with the other deities if they are available. Otherwise, as far as relations go, she keeps herself at arm's length, content to observe how everyone functions for now. That said, she did let me pet her child, who behaves like an excitable puppy, and to turn the invitation down would upset the child, I was told.

Threat level: literally apocalyptic when sufficiently roused. Very bad in her default, standard state of simply existing when left alone. Human friendliness level: nonexistent, due to lack of socialization, but varies depending on who she interacts with—those who commit crimes against children will be horribly maimed on sight. Approach with extreme caution if you must, leave her alone otherwise. Unless you possess the testes of tungsten currently held by Suguri's father, in which case, chat her up all you want—good luck wrenching those testes of tungsten from the hands of Suguri's father either way. Should an Apocalypse Clock manifest in Gensokyo, it is critical that all who hear her speak of it heed her warnings. (4)(4.1)(4.2)

Divinity Hime, the Binding Chains From Beyond

Domains: protection, stars, sealing, relationships, obligations, love

Chains rattling in the air, seeking prey and flesh, avenging a most foul missive
You cannot run from auroral wings; you'd do best to be cowed, made submissive
Red eyes track you, hungering, calculating, and she's judging sins and distance
A cruel smirk forms as chains hit their mark, your demise looms—such a pittance

And now, the second to last member of the higher echelons of the Altered Pantheon—one who, interestingly enough, is one of only three members to not have their alterations powered by stolen youkai and divine powers, the other two being Suguri and Reika's aforementioned brother. Thus, her apotheosis came about rather naturally, as the process of being altered simply turned her into a divine on the spot. Hime is… fairly mundane, compared to the rest of the gaggle she associates with—pleasant to be around, a generous host for guests mortal and youkai alike, and all around as polite and bright as the occupation her namesake embodies—that is to say, all the good aspects of royalty, nobility, and those sporting names relating to those classes of society all rolled together into a surprisingly level-headed individual.

In simplistic terms regarding her domains, she's less of a war goddess and more of a 'will fight for those she stands by' goddess. Essentially, the big sister of the other members of the Altered Pantheon, save for Suguri, who is more or less her wife. (I say more or less, because they never tied the knot from a legal standpoint back from where they hailed from with paperwork and everything, not that such documents matter at this rate. They are legally recognized as such in the border anyway.) And as everyone in Gensokyo knows, it is ill-advised to anger one's big sister—particularly if they should outrank everyone else they are associated with.

Yes, this also applies to Reika. Sometimes this requires Reika to be restrained by Hime's hand until she has calmed down enough to not commit manslaughter. Make of that information what you will.

That said, as the established big sister of the bunch, Hime is also a touch embarrassing sometimes—in the ways that only a big sister can manage, not that the rest of her pantheon seem to mind. Hair-braidings, manicures… she's a bit prone to prettying up herself and her gaggle, though only if they ask for it and are feeling bold enough to show off their more feminine sides. However, she will also lend a listening ear for those who are ailing, having nightmares, bouts of sickness, and what have you, acting as the mediator for them, much like how the Hakurei act as such for Gensokyo as a whole. And speaking of, Hime and Reimu have built something of a rapport, willing to set aside differences and religions to see to it that Gensokyo continues to exist, which is something I can actually respect. Many other deities these days would try to take it over somehow, which… puts them at something of a disadvantage at the end of the day.

For that same reason, the religious worshippers Hime and her gaggle have accrued have also largely hailed from Beyond, coming with them once they had set up shop and addressed the last few misunderstandings everybody else held about them at the time, to avoid contesting for the few bits of faith they can grab from Gensokyo itself. Which worked in their favor, as they had already cultivated a following back when their sector of existence was still present and accounted for, even if their creator deity had to cherry pick which ones were allowed to come with them per their request. Too many perverts and those seeking to misuse their divine favors and blessings, I'm told. And it's particularly bad, when your primary weapon is chains.

Implications regarding certain fetishes aside, Hime's domains are further unorthodox, in that they represent things we are all bound by—for instance, those we call friends and lovers and family are all things we are tied to, at least until those relations are severed, if that day ever comes to pass for whatever reason. Love, fickle as it is, is another such binding, as old as the first tale of the star-crossed lovers, as old as time itself. And yet, bloodlines and ties to such do not matter—her family and pantheon are strictly of her own choice. Thus, it is only reasonable that her powers manifest as their logical conclusion, being chains binding everyone together, a la scarlet thread.

On the topic of scarlet threads, Hime's power is a three-fold trifecta of forging, analyzing, and breaking bonds between people and what they are bound to, which she can use her power to manifest as scarlet and azure chains, the scarlet being strong ties and the azure being weak ties—the brighter the glow, or the darker the glow, the stronger or weaker the bond in question, and the healthier or poisonous and so forth. She can essentially make people fall in or out of love for her amusement, she can tell at a mere glance who is tied to who and what and how healthy that bond is, and she can even break people out of enslavement, especially if said person has a physical branding enchanted with magic to tie them to servitude. This is a highly useful, though easily misused ability, and she takes great pains to do her fair share of knowledge-hunting before she tries to use it.

Unless she sees a certain branding, arranged in her native language, constituting a few letters and then a few numbers, always arrayed in a cluster of seven. In which case, she will outright launch herself at whoever has that branding, seize the person sporting that mark with her own two hands, and break it by force. It's something of a sore topic for her, but let's just say that will be covered in the section detailing the Branded Goddesses accordingly. She herself was not marked by this branding due to embodying the concept, but it was still used against her either way. As an aside, merely speaking about the person who sealed her in question enrages Hime, if it should be done in a careless, casual manner. Said individual's name and titles are also taboo to speak, especially in conjunction with one another, but for the purposes of this Chronicle he will be briefed in the section regarding the Branded Goddesses as to why this is such. She had to break a hapless haniwa marked with this branding out of enslavement, and actualized her soul in the process—the haniwa in question is currently in her custody, and receiving food, shelter, and therapy for her ordeal.

Regardless, Hime is less prone to violence than one might think, even if she should be charging down the door of someone sporting a slave brand they should not be walking around with. Where Suguri fights hard to incapacitate, and Sora and Reika to kill if they can get away with it, Hime will at least put some attempt forward at avoiding unnecessary damage, as her preferred method of fighting is to wear you down until you cannot fight anymore, and then have a drink with you as soon as the battle has concluded. Thus, you can at least count on her to bandage anything more grievous than a dislodged tooth, if you have proven yourself incapable of mishandling her trust.

Hime, unusually for the higher echelons of her pantheon, sports wings—wings detached from her body, and thus framing her Sigil whenever it manifests. Said Sigil is composed of chains on its outer ring, her wings making their end-links, and wrapped within those chains are a rose surrounded by descending letters written in her native tongue, each word meaning things people are bound by. It is also embossed on her religious texts, the Timeless March of Interpreted, Unrequited Love that also serves as sort of an introductory blurb for those interested in converting to their faith. Without it, I probably wouldn't have had an easier time of making sense of their religion—and Hime agreed that this was a fair assessment for me to make, considering all of the other pantheons in Gensokyo are looking at her pantheon as though they are on a rampant alcohol binge.

Threat level: severe, when roused, though she's usually the slowest to anger out of the entire lot. Will become apoplectic should a certain someone whose name, titles, and face that have been made taboo in Gensokyo breaks free of his confinement and that person decides to wreak havoc—though she will likely be more focused on containing that person and whatever damage he may pull in the meantime. Human friendliness level: excellent. If you befriend her sincerely, she'll watch your back. Appeal to her, if you should find yourself in a misunderstanding with one of the other members of her gaggle, and she might spare your life.

Divinity Oretahebi Hoshino, the World-Serpent of a Shattered Reality

Domains: war, pollution, venom, stars, duality, destruction

Killed at birth, a hideous tomb made his dearth, a price he has paid yet does not understand
"He is not mine!" his mother's husband cries, and without name nor life he drifts in void-sand
Growth accelerated, divinity elevated, this snake-wolf twirls the hands of a clock most foul
Venom leaks from open maw, invectives making his throat raw, rising to a dreadful howl

And the last member of the higher echelons of the Altered Pantheon who, contrary to all established expectations regarding the rest of said pantheon, has most certifiably not been horribly, cybernetically enhanced in any capacity whatsoever. This is because, as the poem above describes, he was killed before he could be seized—a tender mercy, I would charitably call it, even if he might have constituted as an affair child. Despite all of this, as well as being aged up to his present age by the hand of his creator deity, his domains are natural—perhaps as a consequence of where, and when, he was born. As a result of the above, and the fact that he expels smog and venom upon speaking though, he is even more reclusive than his younger half-sister, to the extent that I had to obtain details about him from her, as he is even less socially inept than she is.

Allow me to put it succinctly: he has had little ability to observe and understand society at large, in part due to his death and that he was driven insane by the same Apocalypse Clock that also did his sister in. The world he was deposited in… had not been kind to him; not so much as a footnote in the history books to tell people he had existed at one point. This is to the extent that the other Altereds had no idea about him, until he had been forced to show himself. And indeed, he would rather blend into the shadows, than be out in the open—which, for an apocalypse serpent, is a fairly good reason to behave as such, if, say, the Lunarians decided they did not like him one day and came down briefly to end him all over again.

The Lunarians did it before, a thousand years ago, and could well do so again. Not even I would be foolish enough to fault Oretahebi for his paranoid caution. As a consequence, however, he had to spend time actualizing his physical body, as well as the ability to turn invisible at will and to shrink and grow in accordance to his desires at the moment—fairly mundane powers, when one then considers his ability to alter Apocalypse Clocks by grasping their hands and twirling them to force it to have a different end result, with the caveat that he cannot read the Clocks before or after his alterations to its whims. A dangerous ability, yes, but he could theoretically force it to end itself before it could potentially end anything else… with the additional caveat that it could simply land on a different result in the meantime.

It is still fortunate his sister can read the dreaded Clocks. Otherwise, we all might be conversing in the dreaded depths of Oblivion right now. In addition, he has also gained an increased resistance to their madness-inducing effects, on par with his sister's resistance.

As far as demeanor goes, he's content to let everyone else do most of the heavy lifting in terms of combat, as he had not had much time nor opportunity to train before all that had fallen upon him, and even with his domains giving him some leverage, he does not know the intricate steps of combat as well as his sister does. In addition, he is learning to manage his body with all that entails, and he is taking his time to examine himself thoroughly. To a non-follower, or perhaps someone so cynical as to abandon religious faith altogether, it looks as if he is preening rather obsessively, trying to walk a walk and talk a talk that he had avoided having to do until recently. This translates to some… awkward moments for him, in terms of hygiene, how his arms and paws function, and how to get around with his legs as stunted as they are. Yes, this serpent has legs. Stunted legs, but legs nonetheless, and ones that retain mobility and function despite their shorter stature compared to his arms. I am told his paw pads, and those of his sister's, referred to by their shared priestess as 'toe beans,' are sacred and that few can touch them. I have deigned fit to not ask why this is such, but I presume it has something to do with how they were grossly mistreated before arriving in Gensokyo. It might also have to do with their shared domain of destruction, and how they can vaporize anything they touch if they should so choose.

That being said, Oretahebi has learned how to communicate telepathically, nullifying the issue of poison erupting from his mouth every time he utters so much as a vowel. So at least he can use this ability to speak in a general fashion, until he learns to get his powers under control. However, he's less emotive than his sister is, so it can be difficult to get a read on him, if you're someone who doesn't pay attention to the words he happens to utter. While this implies he is without emotion, such is not the case—because if he weren't, a lack of restraint would only see him euthanized, or us euthanized in turn. He just keeps his emotions more guarded, which I refuse to fault him for, given his parents were the ones who betrayed him first because he came out with scales.

His Sigil will only manifest if he assumes the pose and formation of the dreaded ouroboros, tail in mouth and body forming a perfect circle with itself. This is a slightly more difficult feat to manage, because his tail is also effectively a natural blade with a uniquely jagged spade-like form, and he must be careful to not accidentally hurt himself with it. The Sigil will bear a smaller ouroboros as its outermost ring, which within will show off hideous destruction of land, sea, and sky during war—salted earth, burned forests, leveled mountains, all piled high with graveyards formed of weapons, artillery, bodies, and other such horrible sights that form as the secondary natural consequence of war. In addition, the land therein never heals, due to how polluted with death and despair the scenes his Sigil shows are—truly, a most depressing sight that I am fortunate to have not come to Gensokyo. That said, his presence, and the presence of his pantheon, is a worrying sign—we should do well to heed them, if the impossible happens and the Outside World learns of the border's existence and decides to declare war on Gensokyo.

When duty does not call this serpent to battle, he prefers to coil up in a corner and watch his compatriots go about their business—on his sister's shoulder, if he can get away with it. He does not handle the reins of leadership as well, though that leads me to believe he truly wouldn't know how to handle it with his rather profound levels of forced ignorance, and like his sister, only chimes in if absolutely necessary. And while he is fond of his niece, he doesn't engage with her much, which leads me to suspect that he may be paternally challenged—though his poisonous breath might also have something to do with it. As with Suguri and her father, Oretahebi has also given up on searching for lost family history, simply shrugging his shoulders noncommittally if pressed about it, unlike the native youkai who take pride in their familial histories and lineages. Despite this, he has claimed the clan name of Hoshino, but only because it ties him to his half-sister, and not to claim whatever family history existed before they were born.

For the record, they have thirty-odd siblings and still counting. All of them stillborn, and horribly crippled, and the only thing the pair of them know is that their creator deity is sorting it out at the moment. The pair suspect, though have yet to receive confirmation, that their folks were trying to build an army to stop the war through trying to imitate the rabbit youkai… but did not account for other factors that ultimately made the efforts worse than useless. No word on the parents yet, but they let that matter go, since the creator deity is likely taking those two and the potential affair partner up to task over their inexcusable child neglect and abuse. Should I receive further word, that end result, as well as any updates on their exorbitantly large number of brothers and sisters, will also become a footnote in the section of this Chronicle covering the few youngsters the Altereds had brought over with them. Preferably, when one of said youngsters is not chewing on my clothes.

Threat level: literally apocalyptic when roused sufficiently, especially if an Apocalypse Clock has manifested to harass his ears again. Severe when called into other battles when such Clocks have not willed themselves into existence. Otherwise, he's as slow to anger as Hime. Human friendliness level: decent, as long as he does not have to move his mouth to speak. Whatever you do, do not goad him—untrained, and unaltered as he is, he is still a world-serpent. Tread with caution.