"Taoist Politician"
Toyosatomimi no Miko
Species: Saint/Hermit (former human)
Ability: Ability to listen to up to 10 conversations at once
Sprites courtesy of Blade/DarkArt

Story: The true identity of Prince Shoutoku, a Buddhist politician who served as regent under Japanese Empress Suiko during the 6th & 7th centuries. While she was a public advocate of Buddhism during her time, she had practiced Taoism in secret in order to attain immortality and become a celestial; she eventually achieved this during an experimental procedure that sealed her in the Hall of Dreams' Great Mausoleum, which eventually made its way into Gensokyo once her legend began to fade from memory. She considers herself an advocate of humans and has even considered becoming an administrator of the Human Village, an act that many youkai in Gensokyo consider to be the greatest threat to Gensokyo's balance of power. She shelved the idea for a while, that is, until the recent incident with the appearance of the mysterious black fragments all over Gensokyo; could the power behind these fragments be enough to establish humans as a force to be respected in Gensokyo, as well as the key to finally becoming a celestial? The opportunity to attract more human followers in her religious rivalry with Byakuren and Reimu was too good to pass up.

Development: Miko was someone who I've always wanted to work on, and in fact was the original inspiration behind the Type-β Alignment in Incident Zero. Miko's development progress has dated back to at least 2019. I was originally going to use the same sprites Etoile used, but I've shelved her several times mostly due to inconsistencies in most of her sprites, and ended up working on other projects in the meantime, namely Sumireko and Nitori. Codewise, she's about 50-60% complete, but the inconsistencies in the sprites started to catch up with her until I decided to contact Blade/DarkArt to redo her sprites from scratch, basing them off of her sprites in 13.5, 14.5, and 15.5.

Screenshots:
TBA

Moves:

Specials:

• Wishful Soul of Desire - // (Air OK)
  Miko's charged B projectile from AoCF, originally one of her Specials in Hopeless Masquerade. A mid-range projectile that begins to chase the opponent once they get close to it. Button press determines the initial angle of the projectile.
  
• Cipangu the Golden Sword - // (Air OK)
  Miko's 4c from AoCF. Unlike the source game, this attack counts as a melee attack now, and takes heavy inspiration from its directional counterparts from Hopeless Masquerade, thrusting the swords in different directions based on button press. Can serve as an anti-air, or cause groundbounce or wallbounce, depending on the version used.
  
• Lasers of Seventeen Articles - //
  Miko's 6c from AoCF, which performs a sword slash before firing beams of energy from the gap created by the slash. The slash counts as melee, while the lasers count as projectiles. Button press determines the startup, damage, and width of the laser spread.
  
• Benign Rain From the Shining One - //
  Miko's 2c from AoCF, summoning several swords above her that fire at a downward angle. Button press determines the angle of the swords, which indirectly affects the distance travelled.
  
• Influence of the East - , //
  Miko's 8c from AoCF, sets up a stationary ring projectile that differs in size depending on the button press, but has a blind spot on the inside of the ring that the opponent can safely stay inside of. Miko can move while the ring is active, but disappears if she is hit.
  
• Shukuchi Cape - or
  Miko's 5c Teleport. Miko will teleport a fixed distance forward or backward, depending on the direction motion used.
  

Unique Skill:

• Tenfold Listening
  Originally one of Miko's Specials from Hopeless Masquerade, it has been repurposed into a Power Charge mechanic, allowing Miko to use her Spellcards sooner. Can't be used if Spell Trance or Spell Overdrive are active, though.
  

Spellcards:

• TBA
  

Last Word:

• TBA