Libulan

## General Information

Libulan is the creator of the sanctuary of Kaminan and the goddess of the moon in the mythology of Kaminan and Kabagatan. She usually remains secluded in her center island in Kaminan, though she would sometimes visit other Sanctuaries, such as Gensokyo.

### ☯**Personality**

Libulan is calm, and is very difficult to surprise or unbalance. And even when surprised or angry she isn’t one to yell or even as much as raise her voice. She carries herself in a graceful and dignified manner, with her body moving soft, flowing motions that make it seem as though she was dancing.

She is calm and thinks things through, often taking her time before reacting to anything. Often she would sip tea or nod politely while others engage in heated discussion around her. Her words and actions are more strongly dictated by logic rather than emotion. This can make her seem cold and impersonal to some, even if she really isn’t so.

She was not always so. If one were to read the Kaminan folks’ creation myth, one would see that she was rash and emotional in her interactions with her brother Liadlaw prior to her punishment.

She was also quite strong-willed then, and that hasn’t changed even after her punishment. She isn’t easily cowed, and can be quite forward in asking for things she wants, though she isn’t so forceful as to make her requests seem like demands. She is persistent and patient, and when denied something she desires can be more than willing to try and keep on trying for months, or even years, amusing herself in the meantime.

She keeps an air of mystique around her by refusing to divulge anything about her except those that she herself had decided upon beforehand to share. No-one knows what her past was for certain, for example, as she would refuse to tell anyone no matter how persistent they were on the matter.

She is also quite playful, though she rarely -if ever- breaks her atmosphere of calm and grace while expressing her playfulness. She usually does so by freely playing with innuendo, playing mind-games such as riddles, chess, and witty poetry.

She has a fondness for rice crackers.

### ☯**Appearance**

Libulan is tall and slender, with pale white, almost silvery skin, grey eyes, and long white hair that flows down to her waist. She wears a loose and wide-sleeved robe of white silk  above a form-fitting dress styled after the Japanese kimono. An indigo obi holds this second dress in place. She is especially fond of silver jewelry and would adorn herself with various trinkets made from this  precious metal. She goes barefoot most of the time, only occasionally wearing slippers.

## Stats

 Faith
 Movement
 Physical

## Backstory

It is difficult to say for certain what Libulan’s past was like. When asked, she would either politely refuse to answer, or tell the person asking her to try to pry apart the truth from the distortions and fabrications in her people’s story of creation.

What can be gathered from the story of creation was that she was the daughter of the deities Lidagat and Lihangin, who once ruled sovereign over the sea and the air. When her parents died, she and her three siblings were cared for by their grandfathers Mahanaw and Makaptan.

She married her brother Likalibutan and had two children, Alun and Bagyu, though it is unknown whether this marriage was before or after the death of her parents. She eventually became a widow when her brother and husband decided to assault their grandfather’s heavenly palace and was turned into the land.

She had a soft spot for the people whom her grandfather had created to live on the Earth, and convinced her brother Liadlaw to bless the world under the heavens with his light, and after that, coupled with and married her brother so that she can give her own light while her brother sleeps.

By doing so, however, she angered her grandfather Makaptan, who was furious at them having coupled before asking for his blessing. He recognised their marriage, but cursed Liadlaw that his light would burn mortals, and Libulan to have no warmth in her own.

They had five children: Amihan, Sidlak, Sadpa, Habagat, and Hampak.

At some point, Libulan became furious at Liadlaw for refusing to stop his worshippers from decimating her own.  She nullified her marriage with Liadlaw, and with the help of her seven children and quite likely some other deities from their pantheon not mentioned in the myths of the natives, created Kaminan as a refuge for her followers.

It’s hard to definitely say how accurate the legends are, such as whether her first husband really did become the earth, or whether her parents actually died or even existed in the first place. Some people believe that she, Liadlaw, Likalibutan and Lisuga were created by Makaptan and Mahanaw from the treasures they found under the sea, and others believe that they actually came into existence from nothingness. Yet others say that the stars aren’t the remains of her sister Lisuga but are actually celestial maidens, her children.

In any case, there is likewise little to go on about her after the creation of Kaminan, as she usually kept to herself in the centre island. She was known to occasionally take mortal consorts, favouring particularly strong-willed men; those with weak will were said to return to their hometown in a state of madness, which slowly faded with time.

## Relationships

### ☯Hêlonalevan ni Tuuyêluk / Helai

Helai serves Libulan as one of her many priests, but their relationship goes beyond that of a mere servant to master. Libulan whisked Helai as a youth out of his hometown and into her island because his powers of necromancy had attracted undesirable attention towards him. Libulan found herself amused by his cheerful and eager personality, and the two of them eventually grew close.

However, while they are close enough to be intimate with each other they maintain distance between themselves, never quite bringing their relationship beyond a very close friendship and goddess to priest. Helai happens to be Libulan’s first consort not to be a mortal human.

They are on a first-name basis when in private.

### ☯Liadlaw

The sun god Liadlaw is Libulan’s brother and former husband- or estranged husband, depending on who you ask. While Libulan considers their relationship null and void, and thus him as an ex-spouse, Liadlaw thinks of their relationship as untouched and of him as his runaway wife.

Despite this, Liadlaw hasn’t made any moves in over a thousand years to ‘reclaim’ her, and doesn’t seem to be interested in doing so anytime soon either. Indeed, he seems content with letting her be.

A rumour amongst the celestial maidens is that Liadlaw and the way his relationship with Libulan is unresolved is the reason why Libulan never took any consort of hers -their fathers- too close to her heart, nor marry with them. Though that they (save Helai) were all mortal may play a part as well.

### ☯Celestial Maidens (Kaminan)

The Celestial Maidens are Libulan’s children with her many consorts. She lets them be, and they seem content to frolic about her island. Helai believes that he might have fathered at least one celestial maiden, and given how long he and the goddess have been intimate with each other, it certainly is possible. One can’t be truly certain, however.

### ☯Lunarians

It's unknown what Libulan's relationship with the Lunarians is, but as a goddess of the moon she is likely aware of them, and they of her.

## Abilities

### ☯Moonlight

#### ☯☯Beacon of the Night

Libulan is almost always found glowing in a soft, pale light. The few times when she isn’t is when she is consciously suppressing the glow. This supernatural light is, for all intents and purposes, indistinguishable from the light of the true moon.

#### ☯☯Effects

Because of this light, any youkai in Libulan’s presence would feel invigorated and full. The sensation can be comparable to that one might feel after drinking a good cup of coffee.

Humans, on the other hand, would be slowly brought to a state of euphoric madness. This madness usually manifests as a sensation much like that of drunkenness, with the affected persons losing their inhibitions, and occasionally falling into a state of paranoia. This madness sets in quicker the weaker one’s will is. Incidentally, those with enough willpower can resist the effects of moonlight well enough that they can stay with Libulan for extended amounts of time without any significant ill effect.

Werereasts such as Lycanthropes will be forced to transform into their bestial forms in her presence, with distance and time together determining how far and how fast their transformation proceeds.

Leaving her presence will make the effects of her moonlight fade away. Youkai will not feel anything in particular, aside from excess vigour naturally leaving their bodies.

Humans would feel their mind slowly start to clear. This can be compared to what drunks go through as they  slowly become sober. The amount of time it takes for a human to be freed of madness depends on how long they have been in Libulan’s presence, and how powerful their will is.

Lycanthropes will  also eventually revert from their transformed state when they are no longer near her.

#### ☯☯Cold Light

Unlike warm, nourishing sunlight, moonlight, such as that which surrounds Libulan, is cold, without warmth. Furthermore, sunlight grows feeble around her. It is thus noticeably colder around her at daytime.

#### ☯☯Manipulation

While the glow about her is usually steady and faint, Libulan can at will either empower it to the extent that she would become as one big nova of light, or weaken it to the point where the glow would be all but nonexistent. The effects of her change depending on how intensely she glows, and at higher intensities it would be possible for her to affect even particularly strong-willed humans.

She can also turn moonlight ‘solid’, if she wills it. She had used this power in the past to create a bridge of light for her priest Helai to walk on, and to create utensils out of thin-air. It is even rumoured that her clothes are made of spun moonlight rather than cotton-- while it’s uncertain whether or not they actually are, their otherworldly lightness certainly lends credence to that theory.

Solid moonlight is weak unless it has been gathered beforehand into something similar to a laser in intensity. One would feel only a faint prickling sensation if they were to stand in front of Libulan while she is turning the light around her into solid moonlight, unless she were to gather it into a sword and stab the onlooker with it. Gathering light to form projectiles solid enough to do harm isn’t instantaneous, so one should have time to react and dodge.

Solid moonlight, for some reason, doesn’t have the supernatural abilities of the light that naturally radiates from Libulan.

### ☯Tides

Water is drawn by her presence as it is by the moon. She thus then forms a localised high tide around her that adds on to the actual tide. If it is low tide in the place she manifests in, then the water rises as though it were a neap tide. Likewise, if it were a high tide then the water would rise as though it were a spring tide, and if it were a spring tide, the tide would be even higher than a normal spring tide.

Only sufficiently large bodies of water would show this effect though; small reservoirs of water such as water jugs and teacups would show lso little effect as to be negligible.

### ☯Divine Abilities

Libulan has the powers described above because of her aspect as a deity of the moon. In addition to that she also has the abilities typical of her kind. She has supernatural strength and toughness, and can split her soul and inhabit multiple bodies at the same time.

All instances of her draw power from one pool of energy, and so while she can technically create a body for herself as many times as she wishes, the more of her there is around, the faster she drains her reserves. She can manifest anywhere and anytime she wants, but it is considerably faster and less taxing for her to manifest through an artifact or priest dedicated to her.

She can also inhabit inanimate objects or the bodies of others if she chooses, or become a disembodied spirit if she wishes. However, she only has a very limited awareness of what is going on around her when she is without a body, unless she is being actively called upon.

## Spell Cards and Danmaku

The sphere moves about as fast as Libulan herself flies. It generally stays close to her and, when it strays far from her (such as from Libulan making it move away), it would always return to her side at a steady pace.
Libulan can continue attacking normally while the spell card is active. Any danmaku of hers that strikes the sphere explode into a shower of smaller danmaku. The sphere isn’t damaged by hits from her own danmaku.
 Peaceful Night - Lunar Rain
Pillars of light would then rain down from the sky. Upon striking the ground or any other solid object, the light would turn into a cloud of star danmaku that then rise up into the sky.
Libulan cannot attack normally while this spell is active, but she can direct the spell and determine who, where, or what the earthbound lasers will target.
 Last Word - Vengeance for an Unforgivable Slight
Twin beams of light would shoot out of Libulan’s hands, and every time this beam touches the outer boundary of the sphere, it would reflect and split into two more beams, each as large as the original. This continues indefinitely until the spell ends, creating a tricky maze for one to weave through. Libulan herself can continue moving around after she had released the initial lasers, and fire star danmaku at her opponents.
The sphere slowly shrinks with time, and the rebounding lasers would start moving faster and faster. Any attacks directed at Libulan would bounce off her aura; she is thus invulnerable while the spell is active. The spell ends after some time.