A Complete Reinterpretation of Gensokyo.

[Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle]

EXCERPT IS HERE:

http://sagnessagiel.webs.com/

(11/22/10: EXCERPT COMPLETE. With music it's so much better. Now it's time to begin writing the story from the beginning.)

If you have no idea what I am, or what I am doing, this post will explain most of that.

http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,7615.0.html

Otherwise, I am releasing this part of the story out of the blue. Since I was at a loss at what to write, I decided to type out whatever I had in mind at the time.

Reader's notes:

The black/Gray text is Matthias (pronounced MUT-DIAS), the red text is Reimu, the blue text Marisa, and the green, Tanaka, who is an character of my own creation, who is a farmer in Gensokyo.

For clarification, they are all speaking in Standard Human Dialect, a Gensokyo sprachbund based on Japanese, with a lot of loanwords from an Indic language and Hokkien, and a grammatical structure that strongly prefers Subject-Verb-Object, rather than the Subject-Object-Verb endemic to Modern Japanese. Also, as stated in Perfect Memento in Strict Sense, the people do not use Kana or Kanji/Chinese characters to write. So, in my interpretation, they use a abugida which I am still developing.

More info here:

http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,7612.0.html

Therefore, a lot of things may not make sense. First, I don't like to write names, and I never even call my friends by their names most of the time.

Second, there are some puns, and things in (parentheses). The puns don't make sense in English. The guy asks, "Have you eaten", which is a Hokkien greeting. The words in parentheses are predicted loanwords that Gensokyo people use, which I have not thought up yet.

RATIONALE

I wanted to rewrite Gensokyo from another perspective. I saw that no one had ever tried to do it before, so I felt like doing it. It is because Gensokyo is a fully realized fictional world, even while it totally lacks description or pictures of any sort.

But, it is literally a framework, with only a few facts and and very little explanation for things. The majority of Gensokyo is left to the reader as a variable, where they put their ideas to work. This site may make more sense.

While others would only show a little peek into their ideas and let it slip back into uncertainty, I felt like filling in as many of those plot holes as possible. I thought up a history for youkai, a preliminary written script, and a story that would be able to explore various aspects of the world of Gensokyo, and fill it in with ideas I had myself.

I wrote this excerpt as I feel that it can show what I had in mind in the best way. Also, I needed something to start out with.

My story contains an ensemble cast, inspired by "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World", that gives each character equal importance and screen time. This is quite fitting, as it would be impossible for one person to totally explore all aspects of Gensokyo.

Another major aspect is symbolism. Every one of the 10 characters (which are American special forces, sent to fight somewhere) represents a piece of my personality at some time or another. Some of their back stories are literally my past. Gensokyo is presented as a place that holds something that they have lost, each of which is different for each character. This was strongly inspired by CLANNAD, one of the few animes which accept imperfection, as opposed to the moeblobs today.

The final aspect is a wish to write something that returns people back to the days when anime was really, really awesome, and sharply contrasts with the "cleanliness" (well, in some ways) of today's anime. I really liked Akira, Inuyasha, and Studio Ghibli's various movies, and after watching those, I just can't help but feel that something important disappeared from the commericalized, samey stuff that exemplifies the modern styles.

I am writing my this story with two ideals in mind.

1) That fanfiction exists to fill in the blanks of official writings.

2) That music is half the story.

And music is something important that is missing from most fanfictions. At worst, it will distract from a bad plot. At best, it can add to the atmosphere, and add something special to the story. I think that is what ZUN had in mind when he released music with his printed works. I am currently testing it in this excerpt, so tell me about how you like it.

[capt. h]

I like the idea, except I'm annoyed that you say no one has tried to reinterpret Gensokyo and fill in the plot holes from another perspective when that's exactly what I think I'm doing here, in my Autobiographies of Interesting Characters story:

http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,7685.0.html

Although I admit, like you have said I like most other fanfic writers will openly avoid quite a few uncertainties and leave them uncertain.

Having glanced at the story, I now see that when you say "another perspective", you mean specifically from the point of view of an outsider, which is actually a fairly used theme in fanwork. In fact, I would direct you to http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/FanficRecs/TOUHOU, the fanfic recommendations page on tvtropes. Of special note is the touhou-project link, which is entirely choose your own adventure, first person outsider stories. However, Gensokyo logic and plot holes vary greatly from story to story, and people rarely tackle all the holes. When I started this post, I was a little to annoyed because it sounded like you were referring to a story a lot like mine as having not ever been tried, when after flipping through yours I see we were thinking of different things.

Now there are a number of stories that have a first person, exploratory context of Gensokyo, but I really like anyone who tries to correct Gensokyo logic. And your story is a completely different format than mine. The only danger in filling in the gaps is that you have to remember to leave some things to the imagination. There would be no function of fanfics if all the blanks were filled after all (according to the function you gave fanfics), and the imagination is where the world is real. On the other hand, a complete full world has ever-increasing complexity; the deeper you get into the history, the more there is to learn. That's my take on the issue.

I need to do a full reading when I have time. I used control-f to look for the word "fate" in your story, since Remilia has manipulation over fate, and the searcher came up empty. I like the idea, and once I'm in front of  a computer with speakers I'll read the whole chapter. Histories are always fascinating, a fertile ground for the imagination.

Filling in the plot holes from the point of view of an outsider sounds like fun. Good luck.

[Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle]

I like the idea, except I'm annoyed that you say no one has tried to reinterpret Gensokyo and fill in the plot holes from another perspective when that's exactly what I think I'm doing here, in my Autobiographies of Interesting Characters story:

Although you are very correct , and your stories are quite good, that is not what I had in mind. I should reword what I said. Most people think only about the characters, so I don't feel like going into already trodden territory. There is a hidden mechanism to Gensokyo that is never mentioned, but that I can feel is there. I wanted to think up that mechanism.

And that is the metaphysical frame. It consists of 3 shields(or lives), an engine (originally made of steel, now made of hardened energy), and a mechanism to start up spell cards. Think of a cell.

The spell cards themselves have algorithms built in that fire bullets in complex mathematical fractals, and can also do mundane, but logic-based preprogrammed tasks. These can be compared with programs, and is basically something that quickly redraws transmutation circles to fit the situation. The transmutation circle directs and shapes energy to conduct tasks.

Of course, I'm not going to be THAT direct in the story. Most of the time, I will only hint to it when describing what is happening in battles.

I need to do a full reading when I have time. I used control-f to look for the word "fate" in your story, since Remilia has manipulation over fate, and the searcher came up empty. I like the idea, and once I'm in front of  a computer with speakers I'll read the whole chapter. Histories are always fascinating, a fertile ground for the imagination.

Filling in the plot holes from the point of view of an outsider sounds like fun. Good luck.

Well, that just blew my mind. Read my story first before commenting on it.

And don't skim. The most important parts of this excerpt is in the details. If you don't stop, you won't understand.

Oh yes, this story shows no history. Reimu made up everything she said at the end, symbolizing what I like to do myself, find explanations for things, even while they may not be true. That also made my story-writing skills quite good.

EDIT: Something was missing from my post. Somehow, it didn't get a piece of what I wrote. These characters are fully armed special forces. That doesn't make them more powerful than anything in Gensokyo, but one 5.56x45 bullet can destroy all 3 shields of the metaphysical frame (lives), which is a battle ender. However, the converse is correct, so their power is canceled out, at least until they also get a metaphysical frame.

But my story is not about fighting. They aren't going to fight against the people of Gensokyo. My story is about what these characters went through (which is mostly my experiences) and how Gensokyo allows them to do something they weren't able to do in the real world. So, I haven't finished the real story, but I am going to soon.

[Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle]

This is some companion information to the upcoming story that will be posted in this thread. Article not related to Touhou per se, but forms the epilogue to that story.

(Found on the bulletin. The original was written in an unknown script, but has a translation beside it, so someone obviously felt that this was of utmost importance to the affairs of the village. We have no idea who posted it, nor what the information means for us. We have transcribed it to the best of our ability, so that someone will realize it's importance.)
 
INDIAN AIR FORCE SUPPLY AIRCRAFT SPOTTED ABOVE NAGANO PREFECTURE, JAPAN 5 YEARS AFTER CESSATION OF CONFLICT IN TIBET

Arguably of the strangest events of the 21st century, 3 Indian Air Force Ilyushin IL-214s and 1 IL-76 tactical airlifters carrying ammunition and supplies to Tibetian rebels (which were already disbanded) has somehow appeared over Matsumoto City in Japan, each separated at about 2 week intervals. While the event is unexplainable in itself, the conflicting testimonies of the Indian government and the pilots themselves have been mind boggling to investigators.

After their forced landing and detainment at Shinshu-Matsumoto Airport, they were questioned by Japanese officials with the help of an English translator. The 2nd Sino-Indian war ended five years ago with an outright Indian/Bangledeshi victory and the creation of the UN Transitional Authority of Uighuristan and Tibet. However, all 20 crewmembers of the 4 planes have never heard about these events. Additionally, all of them claim that they left from Sikkim to send supplies to Tibetian rebels and Indian soldiers only 3 hours from when they were apprehended.

Notwithstanding that a flight from Kathmandu to Tokyo is about 6 1/2 hours, the Indian government claims that they have never approved such an action anytime this week. Also, the fastest route to Japan from there goes through China, which has not spotted any military aircraft from India in the past month.

Security inspectors checked the plane's contents, and found shocking information. Classified tactical maps showing positions at the Battle of Shigatse, suggest that the pilot's testimony was true. The inspectors also opened the crates and found obselete weaponry and ammuntion, but were the primary weapons of the Indian Army at the time. Additionally, tests conducted on 15 samples of military rations datemarked to five years in the past show that they were no more than 2 years old. But the kicker was the unfinished milk that one of the co-pilots was drinking during questioning, which had an expiry date consistent with the date that he left. The milk was perfectly fresh, even though the datemark showed that it was five years old.

Officials from the Indian government revealed that the tail numbers of these planes are the same as 4 that simply disappeared from radar during the Battle of Shigatse. At that time, the incident was assumed to be caused by radar jamming, but the planes never returned, forcing command to assume that they were shot down or apprehended by Chinese interceptors.

We asked a investigator at the scene to tell us what he thought of the incident, and he told us this:

"With the evidence we have been presented, there are only 3 possible reasons for this event.

1) That the pilots are lying and it was a perfectly orchestrated practical joke by the Indian Air Force. (Unlikely, due to the inflammatory classified data that was revealed.)

2) That the tests on the rations were done incorrectly and the milk carton was mislabeled. (That doesn't solve the problem of how such slow aircraft got to Japan in only 3 hours.)

3) That the aircraft went in a time warp while they were at Tibet and exited at Japan. (Obviously implausible.)

As you see, this event is one big dilemma that might not be solved for years to come."

The investigation is continuing and we will continue to provide up-to-date information about this event of the century.

Vasily Fedoseev

Pravda.ru