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Ōsanshōuo Island (オオサンショウウオ/大山椒魚島)

Ōsanshōuo Island (オオサンショウウオ/大山椒魚島)

INTRODUCTION

Ōsanshōuo Island, also referred to as Monster Island (don’t worry, it’s just a name, it’s actually a peninsula), is surrounded by mythology and legend. Located on an off shore island east of Nagasaki, contains numerous resources with ample area for commercial development and relaxed residential living …if you can look beyond the ancient myth. It is said to be “troublesome” to settle, with strange unfortunate events challenging anyone wanting to live or work there. Ōsanshōuo contains a secret, explore the peninsula for clues and hidden messages.

GAME MECHANICS

Outside connections:
- 4 highway
- 2 railway
- 4 shipping
- 2 plane
- 1 outside connection of unknown origin

Two of the highway connections are hidden in the tunnels to the south, these are to create some traffic volume for the early game and provide additional outside connections if you want them, you can always delete them if you don’t. All the intersections are hand drawn and seem to keep the traffic flowing well. Stream, lake and river flows leading into the start square are not very realistic, but are done that way to provide good game starting conditions.

Not listed as requirement, you’ll also want no radioactive or other mod that can prevent drowned trees dying in the swamps. I found a couple of custom trees and the swamp grass prop glitch out from a distance, not much I can do about it, but looks ok up close. I’ve done some night detailing, so would suggest have day/night mode going or using eyecandy mod.

Thanks to Raffa for their awesome theme and all the other creators that so greatly add enjoyment to this game. I used realistic v1.2 LUT when taking the screenshots.


BACKGROUND/MYTHOLOGY

Known as Ōsanshōuo (オオサンショウウオ/大山椒魚), literally meaning "giant pepper fish", the Japanese giant salamander is endemic to Japan. Ōsanshōuo are widespread across rivers in southwestern Japan and can grow to be 160cm long and weigh 25 kg. Their brown and black mottled skin provides camouflage against the bottoms of streams and rivers. They have very small eyes with no eyelids and poor eye sight. Their mouths run across the width of their heads, and can open to the width of their bodies.

The well-known Japanese mythological creature known as the kappa may be inspired by the Ōsanshōuo. Kappa (河童 , river-child), also known as kawatarō (川太郎 , "river-boy"), komahiki (駒引 , horse-puller), kawatora (川虎 , river-tiger) or suiko (水虎 , water-tiger) is an amphibious yōkai demon or imp found in traditional Japanese folklore. They are typically depicted as green, human-like beings with webbed hands and feet and a turtle-like carapace on their backs. The kappa are known to favor cucumbers and love to engage in sumo wrestling.
Kappa are usually seen as mischievous troublemakers or trickster figures. Their actions range from the comparatively minor, such as looking up women's kimonos, to the outright malevolent, such as drowning people and animals, kidnapping children, raping women and at times eating human flesh. Though sometimes menacing, it may also behave amicably towards humans. As water monsters, kappa have been blamed for drownings, and are often said to try to lure people into water and pull them in with their great skill at wrestling. They are sometimes said to take their victims for the purpose of drinking their blood, eating their livers, or gaining power by taking their shirikodama (尻子玉), a mythical ball said to contain the soul, which is located inside the anus. Kappa are also said to victimize animals, especially horses and cows. The motif of the kappa trying to drown a horse is found all over Japan. Kappa have been used to warn children of the dangers lurking in rivers and lakes, as kappa have been often said to try to lure people to water and pull them in. Even today, signs warning about kappa appear by bodies of water in some Japanese towns and villages.
It was believed that there were a few means of escape if one was confronted with a kappa. Kappa are obsessed with politeness, so if a person makes a deep bow, it will return the gesture. This results in the kappa spilling the water held in the "dish" (sara) on its head, rendering it unable to leave the bowing position until the plate is refilled with water from the river in which it lives. If a person refills it, the kappa will serve that person for all eternity. A similar weakness of the kappa involves its arms, which can easily be pulled from its body. If an arm is detached, the kappa will perform favors or share knowledge in exchange for its return. Kappa have also been driven away by their aversion to iron, sesame, or ginger.

Network Extensions 2 and March 2023 update
I haven't done any updates to this map since initial publishing, nor have I tested post March 2023 CS update. I don't intend on doing any further updates, but if you subscribe to this map and it works for you, or it doesn't, or you get it to work with some fixes, I'd appreciate it if you dropped a comment below.

Note this requires NE2, which is now obsolete. Thanks to BonBonB who provided the following links to substitute the missing mod:

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2555133659 https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2555138288 https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2583482914 https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2583505058 https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2584930973

or here is the link to full collection of NE2 replacements by cylis:
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2585558081