The Kappa were one of the more prominent species on the mountain, shared along with the Tengu Clans. Despite living in a ravine near the base of the Mountain, they often traveled up to the Mountain to assist Lady Kanako in her latest projects to revolutionize Gensokyo.
The Golden Rice was Kanako's next attempt to revolutionize Gensokyo, but it wasn't all her idea alone. It started with one of the Kappa down in the ravine - Nitori Kawashiro. Nitori had been analyzing the rice since it had appeared, and after several hours of research, she made a successful analysis on the composition of the Golden Rice.
The Golden Rice, when broken down to its basic constructs, revealed that it possessed the metals and compounds suitable for what The Kappa and Lady Kanako desired most - a new energy source which could spark the technological revolution that they believed Gensokyo should have. However, further studies showed that only a small fragment of the grain contained such substances, roughly 1/1024th as Nitori theorized.
Nitori hurried up the mountain to report her findings to the Moriya Shrine Goddess. Kanako was delighted to hear that their shared dream of a new source of energy could finally become a reality. The fact that the potential only existed in such a small fragment wasn't so pleasing to hear. For this, she told Nitori to gather the Youkai of the Mountain, to spread the word of the "New Age of Enlightenment", and to have them report to Moriya Shrine so their findings could be announced.
Of the mountain inhabitants, mostly only the Tengu and Kappa showed up. The other youkai were either not really interested, or couldn't attend for some reason or another. As was originally planned, Nitori had revealed her latest, and potentially greatest discovery, and all the possible benefits in utilizing this. Concepts that they had dreamed of could finally come to fruition.
As Nitori was about to wrap up her discussion with a conclusion, Kanako interrupted the Kappa and began discussing what everyone else was thinking.
"While this new source of energy is lovely and all, the question remains. How do we go about getting a hold of enough of it for it to actually be useful?" The crowd murmured amongst themselves in agreement, "Sure, these plants are quickly cropping up everywhere, but think about it. Humans have likely discovered these crops already, and have learned of their value. Do you honestly think they will just hand over the rice?" the youkai in the crowd stood silently to listen to their goddess speak. "Youkai and Humans may coexist peacefully, but when something like this crops up, then they'll want to horde it all for themselves and share with nobody." The youkai knew that Kanako was correct. Humans did have a tendency to be selfish and greedy.
An unidentifiable voice piped up from the middle of the crowds: "But aren't we doing the same thing then? Taking the rice all for ourselves and sharing it with nobody else?" The youkai around the voice nodded and started commenting about how that voice was correct.
Kanako had expected someone to say that, and in turn replied "Our intentions are to take the rice so that we can utilize it for the benefit of Gensokyo. We wouldn't be taking it to horde it all for ourselves - we want to see Gensokyo prosper, and with all of your help, we can make this dream a reality."
From the side Nitori chimed in with a question: "How do you suggest we go about obtaining the rice then? If the humans won't share it, then our advancements stops here". She had a fraught look on her face when she was speaking - she didn't want all her efforts of discovering this to go up in a poof of smoke.
"It's... an unavoidable means, but if we want to help Gensokyo, we must fight Gensokyo, using any means necessary." The crowd was shocked. Fight Gensokyo? Wage conflict against their own realm. Surely it was madness and insanity! Yelling could be heard coming from the crowd, sounds of disapproval and confusion. "Ahem, If I may please continue," Kanako said, and the crowd's commotion slowly began to return to silence, "If we are to truly achieve these dreams of a new age, we need to fight for it! You can't just bring about change idly; you need to show everyone that you are determined to make it happen no matter what it takes! Change isn't brought about by silence; it's brought about by voices in the crowd, standing out, standing up to the system, and challenging it! To make this era of prosperity come to pass, we must join together, and fight for what we believe is right!"
"Now, if you believe in the wisdom of your goddesses, and believe in the future we have planned for all of Gensokyo, who's willing to join our cause for revolution!?" Kanako yelled out to the crowd amassed outside her shrine. The entire crowd of Youkai roared with great pride, and planned to fight not just for the new age, but for the goddess they worshiped and believed in.
"Before we conclude this rally, I'd like to make one request." Kanako started, and the crowds silenced themselves once again. Kanako walked over to where Nitori was standing, placed a hand on her shoulder, and said "I'd like to instate Nitori Kawashiro, the kappa who discovered this breakthrough, to be in charge of seeing this vision through to the end."
Nitori was taken aback by this; her face turned the brightest shades of red from embarrassment "W-wait, you want me to take charge?"
Kanako nodded "That's right. This is your discovery; you deserve to be the one to guide us to our bright and shining new future, as our Messiah of the Technological Era! Will you take up this position, as given to you by your goddess?" Nitori was hesitant to answer at first, no mistake about that, but broke her silence after a few minutes of deliberating it.
"Yes... Yes I will. I will lead this revolution, and see it through to the very end! I will guide our followers to the envisioned future!" The Youkai erupted into a round of applause as they welcomed their new leader "In the name of the Youkai Mountain Battalion, I swear I will make our dreams a reality!"
After a good few minutes of monstrous applause and cheering, Kanako cleared her throat to get their attention "And there you have it, my followers. This concludes our announcement for the evening. As the first act of the Youkai Mountain Battalion’s goddess, I suggest we keep close eyes on the various villages for the next few weeks. Scout them out, and when the time comes, we shall discuss our first plans of attack. You all are dismissed."
A few hours after everyone left the shrine, and Kanako was back inside discussing future plans with Sanae, a familiar entity with a hat that had eyes came through the front doors of the shrine.
"Delivering speeches like that and forming huge armies in just a few hours? Sounds just like the Kanako I used to know!" The figure bounced their way over to the two nearby and plopped herself down beside them.
"So you overheard the speech then, Suwako?" Kanako asked, giving the other goddess a very pointed glance.
"How could I not!" Suwako exclaimed "I could hear it and the crowds all the way from down in the Tengu Village!" She giggled, and then gave Kanako an inquiring look. "But collecting the Golden rice isn't your primary objective, is it?" Kanako sat there, keeping her gaze upon the curse goddess without changing expressions. "No no, I know you. You're doing this to gather the faith of the people outside the mountain by force!"
Kanako heaved a deep sign "Desperate times, my dear friend. The faith of the youkai on this mountain alone isn't enough to sustain us both. If we want to continue surviving, we need to collect faith from the other inhabitants. While I would love to modernize Gensokyo, I think our continued existence is just a bit more pressing for the time being."
"Yeah, I know. Just don't expect me to get involved in this silly conflict of yours! I'm going to go hibernate in a burrow somewhere as I watch our shrine get reduced to rubble" Kanako was about to retort, but Suwako was already on her way out the door. "Oh!" Suwako said, and turned around to face Kanako. "One more thing I forgot to mention. Lady Tenma also overheard your speech, and she refuses to allow any of the Tengu Armies to participate in this Youkai Mountain Brigade you've formed. She will however allow any of her other subjects foolish enough to lay down their lives for it to participate, and while they won't directly help you, she said she'd happily guard the mountain while you're gone!" Suwako then hoped her away out of the shrine and to locations unknown.
And so, that was that. This is how the War of the Rice began - With a vicious cry for change and revolution. With all of the factions taking their places, the war which held the fate of Gensokyo was about to begin.
----------------------------------------------------------
The Youkai Mountain Battalion was formed right before the start of the War of the Rice - their formation is what led to the wars actual start. The faction is led by two people - local Kappa machinist, Nitori Kawashiro, dubbed the "Messiah of Technology", and the Goddess of Moriya Shrine, Kanako Yasaka. Kanako serves as the Higher Power, and only seldom issues direct orders to the army, whereas Nitori is the face of the army, and is the one that addresses the battalion publicly. Nitori aspires to use collect all the Golden Rice and harness its potential to ascend Gensokyo to a new era of enlightenment, whereas while Kanako wishes the same thing, she plans to use the war as a way to gain more followers and faith accumulated at the Moriya Shrine, otherwise she and Suwako will cease to exist. Nitori, being an expert machinist, along with Kanako's knowledge of warfare outside the border, gives them the upper hand in developing war machines for their army. As such they have the largest number of tanks and diversity among them. Their Corkscrew Transport is an APC unit that can carry its units across both land and water and bring them to their destination while protecting them inside it. Their Kaiser tank was developed in the later stages of the war, taking destroyed ADC Mammoth Tank husks, and retrofitting them to create a new type of heavy firepower machine. Another project of the retrofitting of old Mammoth Husks, their Seismic Drone is a remote controlled vehicle that can station itself at a target, and cause a seismic attack of catastrophic proportions that destroy it, and devastate a large number of things around it. Using their advanced knowledge of Stealth, they have created structures called Camo Generators that cloak anything within its wide radius, save for itself. They also possess Retribution Bombers, which are camouflaged units that can take to the skies and bombard a target without being seen. There's also unconfirmed sightings of a Giant Mecha unit being developed by Kappa Engineers.
Within the Youkai Mountain Battalion, there are a few Commanding Hero Units. They are as follows:
- Nitori Kawashiro, a unit that has a fully working KSS (Kappa Stealth System) and uses twin Rocket Launchers to assail her targets on both land and air.
- Mitori Kawashiro, Nitori Kawashiro's sister and resident lunatic. Using her natural powers, she can inflict a halt upon any unit, and cause most infantry she casts halt upon to have their heart fail.
- Sanae Kochiya, Using her abilities which tie into her gods, she brings back an ability known as the Frog Shot, which attacks a small number of infantry within its radius.
- Kanako Yasaka, a unit that uses her Onbashira to crush tanks, and for buildings she is able to call in a Tengu Air Raid to have them attack it.
The Youkai Mountain Battalion is composed of two sub-factions, the Moriya Shrine, and the Kappa Alliance. Each faction comes with their own unique benefits and disadvantages.
- Moriya Shrine: To commemorate their goddess, the Kappa developed a new type of Tank - the Onbashira Tank Destroyer. Commanding powerful long twin cannons, these tanks can rip through the armor of a Mammoth Tank in mere moments. However, they are useless against Infantry and buildings. From the Shrine comes a deadlier version of Kanako's normal attack - the Onbashira Festival. This causes numerous onbashira to descend from the sky and rain destruction down upon the target. Although Suwako isn't part of the war, she expressed no objections to turning the Lake into a giant energy conductor which, when fully charged, utilizes a new spell called the Orichal Veil, which can make most units and buildings invulnerable for a short period of time.
- Kappa Alliance: One day when Nitori was trying to gather ideas for new tanks for the army, she saw a certain goddess spinning gracefully across the sky in a rotational pattern. Inspired by this, Nitori created the Hina-891 Yakugami, derived from outside world models of an Apache Helicopter, which can fire missiles that are effective against tanks and buildings. They need a helipad to keep stable though, so one should always be present on the battlefield for a Yakugami. From their highly-advanced Command Center, Nitori studied her sister's abilities of stopping units and tanks, and looked into creating a weapon that did the same, but in a larger range - the result was the EM Pulse Generator, which shoots an electromagnetic pulse at a target and causes it to be disabled for a short period of time. Taking a page from the "Art of Usual Warfare", the Kappa constructed a Missile Silo which housed a LGM-118A Peacekeeper Missile, known to the Kappa as Mimi-Chan (Named after the missile that a certain magician keeps in her house)
While the Youkai Mountain Battalion is easily the most technologically advanced factions on the surface of Gensokyo (Second-most in the war, dwarfed by the Lunar Defense Corps), they still possess some great flaws in their master army. Their selection of possible infantry is limited to a simple Kappa trooper, armed with modified assault rifles that shoot Danmaku instead, Kappa Rocketeers, and Engineers. The development of aircraft was put on extremely low priority, where instead they focused all hands on the mass production of tanks to roll down the mountain. Any commander would be foolish not to build some form of Anti-Tank or general Anti-Ground defense system to counter the Mountain's oncoming machines.
