Difference between revisions of "Grief Seed Territory"

Revision as of 10:08, 2 April 2018

Battle Fantasia Witch-Hunting Territory System

This system exists to help Battle Fantasia’s Puella Magi track their claims on Witch-hunting territory in Tokyo, and anyone interested in scenes involving Witches will find it a useful reference sheet. These are guidelines for more dramatic storytelling; absolutely none of this terminology should be formalized in-character. The concept of ‘territory’ extends only to the hunting of Grief Seeds, currency of all Puella Magi, and implies no ownership of the area itself. As long as there isn’t a Grief Seed at stake, a Puella Magi has no special claim on her territory.

Overview

This is an effort to define Puella Magi territories within the framework of the Battle Fantasia In-Character Grid of rooms. A territory's descriptive block reads as follows:

Example Grid Room
-Subrooms (if applicable)

• Base Condition:
• Current Condition:
• Hunter:
• Typical Victims:
• Cultivated Requirements:
• Abundant Requirements:
• Normal Requirements:
• Scarce Requirements:

Bolded rooms are potential territories, with their sub-rooms essentially battlegrounds of interest within them. A territory’s hunter is the Puella Magi who, by right and responsibility of battle, considers herself the owner of all Grief Seeds within that territory. That is, however, the entirety of her claim: other Puella Magi are free to enter her territory for other purposes, such as fighting a different class of monster. A Puella Magi without any territory is called a scavenger.

The Condition of each territory describe the requirements for a Puella Magi to harvest a certain quantity of Grief Seeds. This gives the hunter of a given territory some insight into how frugal they need to be with magic in their roleplay. Some territories are richer than others; territories have an inherent potential based on their contents (their base condition), and a present condition based on how their hunter (or other circumstance) has altered them (their current condition). A wise Puella Magi will not claim territory beyond her abilities, or it may soon be overrun with Witches or rivals.

Territories under a hunter’s management can be Cultivated, Abundant, Normal or Scarce. Overrun and Critical conditions occur when a territory has gone out of control.

Typical Victims describe the sorts of people usually eaten by Witches in this territory, while the "requirements" for territory Conditions are not strict definitions, but inspirational examples. As for any aspect of the game, player activity determines the actual state of a given location.

Scavengers: A Puella Magi without any territory is a scavenger, and they are always roughly one Grief Seed from death. Every Grief Seed they gather is being poached from someone else’s territory, and comes with the risk of a second, possibly deadlier fight with the owner after a Witch has been defeated! While there are a few locations considered open territory, every Witch that spawns there is likely to have multiple contenders for the Grief Seed as well. A Puella Magi who uses her magic for any purpose other than collecting Grief Seeds (or better, conquering territory of her own) is heroic, but suicidal. Some organizations or individuals may provide a grief seed to a scavenger in need, but it is rare that such gifts are given freely and selflessly. Some unfortunate Puella Magi begin their careers as scavengers, but Kyubey tends to guide nascent hunters to newly available territory. He has a balance to maintain, after all.

Scarce Territory

A Puella Magi whose territory is scarce has barely enough magic to take care of it by herself, and must consider every other use of her magic to have potentially disastrous consequences. While she may have friends who can help her make up the difference by assisting her hunts, sooner or later she is likely to be caught alone, and is particularly vulnerable to poaching by the desperate or greedy. Given its extremely scarce Witch population, the inhabitants of a scarce territory are more likely to be healthy, happy, and prosperous, or at least not as likely to be preyed upon when they have a bad day. This supernatural tranquility is pleasing to most other mahou shoujo, who have no idea of the risks being taken to maintain it. A Puella Magi may allow her scarce territory to become overrun long enough to develop into a normal or even abundant territory. This also encourages magical conservation. The inherent risk to this is that it may attract other Puella Magi, who either seek to steal the territory from a weakened rival or to claim a territory that seems to be abandoned.

Normal Territory

A Puella Magi with normal territory has enough magic to continue to hunt Witches and maybe some Familiars in her territory, drive off poachers, and have enough left over to interfere in other matters -- but perhaps not as many as she’d like. She’s not quite living Grief Seed-to-Grief Seed, but she’s just one or two lost fights away. Magic conservation is a large part of her decisionmaking. A Witch population in any territory will prey on humans at a rate proportional to their numbers. In uncultivated territory, Witch activity is fairly evenly spread. A labyrinth in a prime spot will grow more quickly, but a Witch in an area less frequented by humans may live longer without being detected. Most of Tokyo is normal territory, its hunters doing its best to balance their own survival with the happiness of their family, friends, and communities; hope and despair hang in the balance, and normal life goes on with its share of triumph and tragedy.

Abundant Territory

A Puella Magi whose territory is abundant has enough surplus Grief Seeds to be able to often, though not always, be able to interfere in other matters with minimal concern. She also has an easier time tending her own territory, as she can, and likely does, allocate a large portion of her magic to safely defeating Witches and would-be poachers. A territory with Abundant as its base condition is truly prime hunting territory, as it requires minimal maintenance for maximum reward. Witches in abundant numbers will more readily spread out to surrounding territories, and over time may increase their Witch populations enough to prompt a change in category. Rates of suicide, depression, homicide, and other human symptoms of a Witch infestation are particularly high in abundant territories, though their natural distribution means that humans may or may not become aware that something unusual is happening. The high rates of these sufferings may also attract the attention of non-Puella Mahou Shoujo with an interest in defending innocents. Puella Magi will always be aware of a nearby abundant territory, as their soul gems react to the presence of Witches.

Cultivated Territory

A Puella Magi who keeps her territory cultivated enjoys an extraordinary amount of extra magic, and the latitude to use it as she wishes. While she cannot be completely free in her actions and interferences, as Grief Seeds are always a consideration, she has a huge advantage in terms of raw available power compared to her less-fortunate peers. Witches do not flourish in such numbers without the presence of a third party nurturing or protecting them. This inflated Witch activity (and the proportionate increase in the suffering of humans within the territory) is sure to be noticed by those with an interest in such things. Suicides, murders, and insanity are significantly heightened, but tend to be concentrated within specific hot spots. In cultivated territory, the growth of Witches is planned instead of a more naturally random dispersal, and tends to concentrate on areas ideal to a Witch’s development. Humans may come to believe that some of these locations are haunted or cursed, and the extent of their suffering may attract some degree of media attention. Unlike Abundant territory, cultivated witches push out to surrounding territory at an extremely slow rate, as their numbers and locations are closely monitored by whomever is fostering them.

Colonization

It is possible for the hunter of a cultivated territory to “colonize” another territory to temporarily boost the Witch population. Colonizing consists of “planting” one or a number of unhatched grief seeds or immature familiars at an ideal location for a Witch’s growth, similarly to the common practice within a cultivated territory. This may be done to bolster newly acquired territory, to aid another desperate Puella Magi, or, more sinisterly, to attempt to give a rookie Puella Magi more trouble than she can handle. This practice is limited to individuals with the knowledge, experience, and resources necessary to carry it out, which is why it is considered a privilege of hunters of cultivated territories.

Overrun Territory

In the event that a Puella Magi is unable or unwilling to keep up with slaying the Witches of her territory, the territory can become overrun. Overrun territory will slowly change in classification. Scarce territory becomes normal, normal becomes abundant, and abundant becomes critical. If a cultivated territory becomes overrun, it will become critical more quickly than an overrun territory normally requires to change categories. Puella Magi in surrounding areas are quick to learn of an overrun territory, substantially increasing the odds that others will arrive to assist or attack the caretaker. It is possible for a Puella Magi or a malicious force to choose to allow her territory to become overrun.

Critical Territory

A critical territory is a unique and catastrophic circumstance. A territory can only become critical when an Abundant or Cultivated territory becomes overrun long enough to change categories. Similar to an algae bloom, a critical territory suffers from an unsustainably high population of Witches. As their numbers increase, Witches will consume more and more of their human prey, and will begin to push out into surrounding territories at a very high rate. If left unchecked, the potential threat of a critical territory is inestimable. The existence of a critical territory is an emergency that may attract Magical Girls from as far as the news may reach. Many will be Puella Magi seeking to join a feeding frenzy and glut themselves on grief seeds, and there is a substantial risk of rival and unfamiliar magi turning on one another when the threat of rampant Witches is contained.

Territory Control

A player character Puella Magi will generally begin with two territories. Though different territories are more Witch-ridden than others, two territories strikes the right balance between having enough Witches to harvest, and having too much ground to protect from other Puella Magi. It’s the most comfortable size for a hunting ground, though this lifestyle is still dangerous enough to kill off most Puella Magi in short order.

A more ambitious Puella Magi may expand their control to three territories. This requires considerable in-character effort, and is about as much ground as a single Puella Magi can reasonably exert influence over. The most common reason for holding three territories is greed; though it takes more Grief Seeds to hunt that much ground, the Puella Magi will have a more stable supply, and in the event that she loses ground to a rival, she will still have a comfortable two territories left. Another reason is the desire to protect a larger area, particularly if one’s rivals are mistreating their territories and no longer seem trustworthy. Those with three territories, however, always have a target painted on their back, and will reliably attract rivals.

Holding just one territory is a miserable life. Witches do not rise up at a reliable rate, so without a larger hunting ground, a Puella Magi is at the whim of chance, and may die of famine rather than violence. Worse, if a rival conquers that single territory, the Puella Magi will be forced to become a Scavenger. Still, this marginal existence is preferable, for many Puella Magi, because it involves less combat, both against Witches and fellow hunters. They may always be short on Grief Seeds, but they can live a more normal life.

Puella Magi who choose to hunt their territories to Scarce give up much of the advantage a given territory size might grant. Because of the herculean effort involved in such thorough hunting over three territories, their Grief Seed supply gains no benefit at all from the extra territory. With only a single territory, these Puella Magi can at least avoid exhausting themselves, but their supply of Grief Seeds will be almost as poor as a Scavenger’s as they pick their tiny territory dry. Two territories is the wisest size of hunting ground for those Puella Magi who prefer this unwise route.

Supercharged Henshin Mode: Overburn

Puella Magi are extremely resource-limited, but some are more limited than others. Through successful cultivation of Grief Seeds, a Puella Magi can attain more than she needs to sustain herself, and wind up with surplus magic available -- power that can be used, sparingly, to occasionally give her a devastating boost without leaving her without anything at all. This ability is, strictly speaking, based on an abundant possession of Grief Seeds, rather than a reflection of the personality or powers of any particular Puella Magi.

The Overburn Supercharged Henshin Mode represents the use of the supercharged mechanic to represent resource use and conservation. To have such a mode demands that a character have exceptional resources. To use such a mode involves the utilization of these resources; the once-per-round mana surcharge is a very direct way to simulate a girl burning through more magic, faster, for better results. If she runs out of mana completely, she can no longer justify committing resources -- eg, Grief Seeds -- to the battle, and must withdraw.

There are three ways to qualify for an Overburn mode: 1) Cultivate one or more territories. A Puella Magi who is actively and deliberately helping Familiars eat human beings, in order to become Witches which she can harvest for extra Grief Seeds, can then reap the reward of a powerful combat advantage. It’s one she’ll likely need to defend herself from girls who object to her practices. 2) Hunt the Central Yamanote Territory, maintaining it at any condition better than Scarce. The highest-density part of all of Tokyo, it is the richest territory capable of being held by a single Puella Magi, replete with Witch activity and therefore Grief Seeds. In practice, the Hunter of Central Yamanote winds up utilizing this advantage often in a perpetual game of Queen of the Hill; the hottest property in Tokyo attracts a steady stream of Puella Magi who want it for themselves. 3) Steal, Take, or Receive a stash of Grief Seeds. Since an Overburn mode is based on resources rather than an innate ability, it is possible for any person, or even almost any animal to make off with a Puella Magi’s supply. Whether through combat or subterfuge, if a Puella Magi’s Grief Seeds are taken, then she will temporarily lose the ability to activate an Overburn. If her supply chain is steady and uninterrupted, then she will soon regain it. The new possessor is free to do whatever she or he wishes with the Grief Seeds, such as studying them, attempting to sell them, giving them away, or planting them somewhere. If she is a Puella Magi, then she will be able to activate an Overburn state until exhausting her excess supply -- which she will need to do before her stolen Grief Seeds hatch back into Witches! A daring Puella Magi may even attempt to rob an Incubator like Kyuubey, but since the Seeds that an Incubator ingests are beyond recovery, this would inevitably end in failure. A Puella Magi being supplied other girls’ Grief Seeds through an organization investing in her -- such as Dark Fall or Ends of the World -- might also be able to achieve Overburn.

An Overburn mode operates on the same rules as any Supercharged Henshin Mode. It is built one Henshin Rank above a Puella Magi’s Master Rank, and each round a Puella Magi incurs a mana surcharge in order to ‘pay’ for the boost in power. It is acceptable to enter and leave Overburn over the course of a fight, but not to swap back and forth constantly. It is also poor OOC etiquette to only enter Overburn in the round one uses her Finisher; entering it at least one round prior (such that the once-per-round mana surcharge has a chance to matter) is the minimum.

Important Note: Although it is possible to use this excess magic in subtle ways, Overburning Magi are typically more conspicuous than their peers, which tends to make them targets of rival Puella Magi and other potential enemies.

Territory Listings

‘Central’ territories are not mechanically different from other territories. For instance, Central Yamanote does not contain Shinjuku Capital Ward. The central territories are simply areas that include the wards, towns, and terrain that do not have a room of their own. It was already said, but bears repeating: Please note that listed “Requirements” for territory Conditions are not strict definitions, but inspirational examples. Player activity determines the actual situation at a given location.

Shitamachi Low City

Central Shitamachi
-Convenience Store
-Dark Burger
-Game Center Crown
-Juuban Public School

• Base Condition: Normal
• Current Condition: Abundant
• Hunter: Homura Akemi
• Typical Victims: Juuban students, depressed mothers, independent shopkeepers in the struggling economy
• Cultivated Requirements: Seed the Juuban school district, and somehow prevent magical girls from killing off all the familiars. The police will be on high alert for student disappearances.
• Abundant Requirements: Don’t hunt familiars around Game Center Crown. Juuban teachers will tell their students to watch out for danger.
• Normal Requirements: Sometimes a late night Dark Burger run will lead to tragedy, but anyone who went out for fast food alone like that might have had it coming. For the most part, central Shitamachi is vibrant and joyful.
• Scarce Requirements: Fail to claim grief seeds from non-Puella Magi at Juuban; exhaust yourself hunting familiars even down all the little alleys; the Shitamachi community dynamic has never been healthier or more flourishing with you as the secret caretaker.

Tokyo Bay
-Verone Aquarium
-Uminari Seaside Park

• Base Condition: Normal
• Current Condition: Normal
• Hunter: Kimiko Akane
• Typical Victims: Dockworkers, Aquarium custodians, Uminari Seaside Parkgoers, including landscapers and lost children
• Cultivated Requirements: Seed Uminari Seaside Park; parents start steering their children clear of King Penguin because of rumors that the playground is cursed.
• Abundant Requirements: Don’t hunt familiars at Verone Aquarium. Disappearances lead to rumors of a ghost shark.
• Normal Requirements: If the occasional dockworker going through a divorce doesn’t come home one night, it’s not out of the ordinary. The Bay is a dangerous place to work!
• Scarce Requirements: Happy crowds flood the seaside park, which attracts visitors from all over with its rumored tranquility and laughter. The hunter is spending late nights stalking the docks.

Asakusa Traditional District
-Taiyou Ramen Stand

• Base Condition: Normal
• Current Condition: Normal
• Hunter: Undefined Puella Magi
• Typical Victims: Shrine visitors, street marketeers, food stall proprietors and the occasional priest
• Cultivated Requirements: Seed the most popular temples, stand back and watch as no amount of priestly cleansing can remove these curses.
• Abundant Requirements: Don’t hunt familiars at the best street market. Police presence increases, but the disappearances go on, hurting attendance.
• Normal Requirements: Once in a while, a rickshaw drive ends in tragedy for a tourist, but all in all business is its usual bustle in Asakusa.
• Scarce Requirements: The hunter works harder than the mikos keeping the shrines clean of trouble, but their work speaks for itself -- the Traditional District is thriving.

Keiyou Industrial District

• Base Condition: Normal
• Current Condition: Abundant
• Hunter: Homura Akemi
• Typical Victims: Factory workers, construction drivers, chemical waste inspectors, warehouse laborers.
• Cultivated Requirements: Seed the power plants. The occasional outages caused by a missing worker will increase desperation, and the number of easily preyed-upon people.
• Abundant Requirements: Don’t hunt familiars in the warehouses. Ironically this will improve the local economy, as lone security guards are constantly replaced -- continuous rotating job creation!
• Normal Requirements: Working in the Industrial District is hazardous almost by definition; the occasional accident is hardly a blip on the radar.
• Scarce Requirements: Working harder than any factory worker, the hunter makes the Industrial District feel almost safe. The good cheer of its thousands of employees spills into their home lives all over Shitamachi.

Akihabara Electric Town
-Pino Karaoke Lounge

• Base Condition: Normal
• Current Condition: Normal
• Hunter: Kimiko Akane
• Typical Victims: Anime nerds, computer nerds, engineering nerds, themed cafe employees.
• Cultivated Requirements: Plant seeds on the best “off-strip,” where people with just a little less money and a little more desperation go to shop. Rumor will have it that it’s cursed, but these dumb anime fans will flock there in droves to check it out, glasses gleaming.
• Abundant Requirements: Don’t hunt familiars outside of the maid cafes. Those guys have it coming anyway.
• Normal Requirements: The occasional otaku going missing is mourned as a tragedy by Society, but Electric Town continues as usual.
• Scarce Requirements: There’s little enough time to watch anime or play on the computer when the hunter is working this hard, but Akihabara has never been a more fun place to be. With all the cosplay going on, you can walk down the street transformed and nobody suspects a thing.

Ueno Museum District
-Searrs Symphony Hall
-Museum of Western Art

• Base Condition: Normal
• Current Condition: Abundant
• Hunter: Sayaka Miki
• Typical Victims: Parkgoers, zoogoers, museumgooers, concertgoers (and, conversely, depressed artists, overworked curators, and hypercompetitive musicians).
• Cultivated Requirements: Seed Searrs Symphony Hall and watch the ghost stories begin. Beware the Phantom of the Opera...
• Abundant Requirements: Don’t hunt familiars in the museums. Art theft increases whenever a security guard goes missing, but the glamorous press coverage about same draws more tourists all the time.
• Normal Requirements: It’s relatively safe to walk through the park at night, but every once in a while, it isn’t.
• Scarce Requirements: Ueno is an overflowing cornucopia of culture; it couldn’t be a more pleasant place to be.

Yamanote High City

Central Yamanote
-Easter Department Store
-Hikawa Shrine
-Mitakihara General Hospital
-Linden Baum Diner
-Tokyo Tower

• Base Condition: Abundant
• Current Condition: Scarce
• Hunter: Sayaka Miki
• Typical Victims: Hospital patients (and sometimes visitors and employees), Tokyo Tower tourists, overworked salarymen
• Cultivated Requirements: Herd familiars towards Easter Department Store. Someone in those crowds is easy pickings, and they won’t be missed.
• Abundant Requirements: Don’t hunt familiars in Mitakihara General Hospital.
• Normal Requirements: Someone occasionally goes missing after a late night eating parfait at Linden Baum, but no more than is typical for the crime rates in this hugely urban area.
• Scarce Requirements: Grades cannot but suffer based on the sheer number of hours it takes you to hunt down as many familiars as possible, and given the size and population density of the territory, you suspect at least a few are being missed.

Southern Cross Island
-Ohtori Academy
-Southern Cross Town (not currently on-grid, relevant in that the island is more than just the school)

• Base Condition: Abundant
• Current Condition: Cultivated
• Hunter: None; Southern Cross Island is uniquely considered open season for everyone. It is ICly considered to be permanently overrun; no single Puella Magi can keep up with the Witch population, and no Puella Magi consortium has ever lasted long enough to claim it permanently as their own, a move likely to antagonize the rest of Tokyo’s Puella Magi population.
• Typical Victims: The ostracized, undervalued and undeserving. People call it a tragedy of today's high-pressure society, the student suicide rate. They have no idea.
• Cultivated Requirements: ???
• Abundant Requirements: ???
• Normal Requirements: ???
• Scarce Requirements: ???

Shibuya Shopping Ward
-Jewelry OSA-P
-Fairy Drop Boutique

• Base Condition: Normal
• Current Condition: Scarce
• Hunter: Sayaka Miki
• Typical Victims: Stressed shoppers, struggling shopkeepers, Meiji Shrinegoers, sports fans, theater patrons and starving actors
• Cultivated Requirements: Seed the Meiji Shrine, and watch it no longer bring anything resembling a measure of peace to a fast-paced district.
• Abundant Requirements: Don’t hunt familiars on the main drag of Shibuya. Police presence skyrockets along with the disappearances, as any harm to Fashion Central’s well-being is a big deal, but there are so many insecure shoppers, so much easy prey.
• Normal Requirements: Once in a while, someone on their way home from the theater never makes it, or an athlete at Yoyogi National Gymnasium tragically disappears after failing the critical play, but such stories are not out of the ordinary for this busy district in Yamanote High City.
• Scarce Requirements: Hunt ‘til you drop leaves little time for shopping, but Shibuya blossoms with stories of people using retail therapy, natural beauty, hot-blooded sports and ancient theater traditions to bring light to their days.

Shinjuku Capital Ward
-Corporate Skyscraper
-Rorschach Bar

• Base Condition: Normal
• Current Condition: Cultivated
• Hunter: Sayaka Miki
• Typical Victims: Overworked government employees, frantic cloak-and-dagger corporate criminals, underappreciated custodians and late night partiers at the clubbing scene
• Cultivated Requirements: Seed a few skyscrapers, and watch CEOs discover that money can’t buy happiness after all.
• Abundant Requirements: Don’t hunt familiars in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building or at the Japanese Ministry of Defense. The bureaucrat “suicide” rate skyrockets; TV pundits speculate.
• Normal Requirements: It can be dangerous to stay out too late drinking in Shinjuku-ni-chome or the Golden Gai area, but when hasn’t that been true?
• Scarce Requirements: Miserable salarymen have no idea how easy they have it compared to the hunter, but Shinjuku marches onwards and upwards to glory. All of Tokyo celebrates this most central of district’s upswing in mood and productivity.

Tama Outer City

Central Tama
-World Tree Plaza
-Midori-ya Bakery
-Tomoeda Theme Park
-Highway

• Base Condition: Normal
• Current Condition: Abundant
• Hunter: Kyouko Sakura
• Typical Victims: Theme Park workers, World Tree tourists, farmers who get up earlier than everyone else, suburban dads commuting home extra late.
• Cultivated Requirements: Seed Tomoeda Theme Park. Children separated from their parents (and vice versa) are at extra risk in their distress, as are the park workers cleaning up in the wee hours.
• Abundant Requirements: Don’t hunt familiars around popular restaurants like Midori-ya Bakery. Sometimes a happy outing ends badly, and whoever runs away from the group is easy pickings.
• Normal Requirements: Although it’s comparably rural here, it’s still Tokyo. Crime happens, and sometimes someone doesn’t come home.
• Scarce Requirements: One of the hardest parts of patrolling central Tama is its sheer size; more time is spent running around than fighting, sometimes. However, the effort pays off -- the neighborhood has never felt safer or friendlier.

Chofu Suburban District
-Snow Rain Ice Rink
-Ajinomoto Stadium

• Base Condition: Normal
• Current Condition: Cultivated
• Hunter: Kyouko Sakura
• Typical Victims:
• Cultivated Requirements: Install a familiar in the Ajinomoto Stadium. Savory snacks will be plentiful as your witch to be feasts upon sports fans of all different stripes, to say nothing of the massed shoppers and hawkers in a sea of market stalls. In the happy event of a natural catastrophe, your familiar will enjoy open season on people taking shelter in the confusion of the storm. No matter how bad the rumors get, the stadium is too much of a mainstay for too many people to stay away.
• Abundant Requirements: Allow familiars to grow between the Jindai Botanical Garden and the adjacent Jindaiji Temple. The kami won’t be the only spirits mingling amid the nearly 1,400 year old holy site, and an invasive species will quietly undermine the meticulous construction of the garden’s attractions. Exorcisms may be called in, but they won’t accomplish much..and if the familiar finds one location inhospitable, its neighbor is never far.
• Normal Requirements: The suburbs are fairly quiet, as one might expect. Every once in awhile somebody may get hurt rough-housing, some kids may vandalize a few mailboxes, but such is life. Crime comes and goes, and nobody can ever be completely sure what happens inside any of the many houses.
• Scarce Requirements: Those corny stories about idyllic family life don’t seem so far-fetched anymore. The sun shines, the green grass is vivid, children are playing and people are smiling. There’s some intangible essence in the air, but nobody can deny it: life is good.

Nishitama Park District
-Desolate Mansion
-Steamy Hot Springs

• Base Condition: Scarce
• Current Condition: Overrun
• Hunter: None! Currently open territory.
• Typical Victims: Hikers, joggers, campers, park rangers, and other outdoorspeople. Occasionally a resort-goer, be they visitor, worker, or owner.
• Cultivated Requirements: Cultivating Nishitama is a pain. There just aren’t enough people to be really sure what the most effective placement of Grief Seeds might be. But time and diligence, as well as a careful focus on the most popular campgrounds and resorts, will eventually pay off. Tourism drops sharply as Witches roam the woods.
• Abundant Requirements: What is a trip to the hot springs resort without a good ghost story? And each of them have plenty of unique, personal ones to offer, since Familiars aren’t being hunted there. At least people die clean, if not happy.
• Normal Requirements: There are always openings for new rangers, because the caretakers of the woods keep going missing. People wonder just what is wandering the forests, with the most outlandish suggestion being an explosion in the bear population. But then -- bodies are never found...
• Scarce Requirements: A rare example of a territory that is normally scarce, assuming typical Puella Magi activity, the low-density population of Nishitama makes it take quite a long time for familiars to find enough prey to become Witches themselves. On the upside, this glorious venue for parks and recreation has never been more pleasant. Parents feel safe letting their kids go hiking alone on the weekend.

Tama River
-Abandoned Church
-Haneda Airport

• Base Condition: Normal
• Current Condition: Cultivated
• Hunter: Kyouko Sakura
• Typical Victims: Athletes (adult and student), tourists (mostly local, some national, perhaps a few international), teenagers avoiding supervision, families getting away from the city, festival goers, thrill seekers, lovers of the great outdoors and those with wanderlust in their hearts.
• Cultivated Requirements: Become a festival fixture! Set up a booth or a food stand at festivals as a cover for the witch behind the curtain. Perhaps the haunted house will give the tourists something to really fear! Maybe the name “food stand” doesn’t refer to the takoyaki after all! There are enough festivals to keep a steady income of yen and grief seeds while impressing your elders with your “go-getter” attitude!
• Abundant Requirements: Allow familiars to prey upon the Haneda Airport at their leisure. With so many people coming and going a few folks aren’t going to be missed..and if any authorities get suspicious they’re unlikely to find what they cannot see. Surely Japan in the 21st century isn’t going to become an international punchline by closing down an airport because it may be haunted! It’s hardly your fault if a stray familiar finds its way on a plane to Kyuubey-knows-where.
• Normal Requirements: A quiet and peaceful region. If a few people go missing in the wilderness every once in awhile, is that really so odd? Accidents always happen near bodies of water. Sure the kids think the old church is haunted, but what kid wouldn’t?
• Scarce Requirements: Whatever stigma surrounded the ‘haunted’ church has worn off, and the site has become an increasingly popular hangout for kids misbehavin’. The Tama River is beautiful and serene, just as any visitor would hope for.

Infinity Institute

• Base Condition: Normal
• Current Condition: Abundant
• Hunter: Undefined Puella Magi
• Typical Victims: Students or teachers keeping unusual hours, deliverymen and janitors, research associates
• Cultivated Requirements: It’s a really big skyscraper, and Infinity’s esoteric clubs have meetings at all hours -- sooner or later someone’s alone at night. It’s a real struggle to ensure that Witches can flourish in a place where so many mages live and work, but a pall has been cast over the community above and beyond the efforts of the darker half of the faculty… a climate of fear that serves more than one purpose.
• Abundant Requirements: Allow familiars to prey on club rooms, council rooms, or any other parts of the school that really, really deserve it. It may not be divine punishment, but fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, Puella Magi gotta eat, and the eaten might as well be the people the school would be better off without anyway. Their passing will be noticed and mourned by the student body, which institutes a dorm curfew and other efforts at vigilance.
• Normal Requirements: Every so often an unlucky deliveryman or janitor disappears. It’s chalked up to the sheer weirdness of the Institute itself, which has more than enough money to cover things up, and more than one reason, as well. Students are often rescued by passing non-Puella Magi; still, every student body has its vulnerable souls, and they are occasionally at very real risk.
• Scarce Requirements: It’s easier than almost anywhere else to keep the Witch population down, and Infinity Institute has never been more full of excitement, enthusiasm, and energy -- that if the Witches Puella aren’t going to eat, the Witches 5 definitely will.

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