woodswitch | Locations

The city of Koriko spans the entire island, with sights as variable as one could imagine from that size description. As a resort city, the buildings run the whole gamut from restaurants and tourist shops and gardens, with its crown jewels being the hotel, the gambling hall, and the bathhouse. The greater majority of the buildings here are Eastern in design, leaning traditionally Japanese to reflect the city’s age, but there are a few small shops away from the hustle and bustle and in the spaces inbetween that reflect Western sensibilities in the name of exoticism.

Koriko is, primarily, a self-sufficient city. On the outskirts of the main parts of the island, closer to the beaches, one can find carefully cultivated farmland and gardens, and a much less well-tamed forest.

✤The Bathhouse

For its size, the baths, one of Koriko’s primary attractions, are surprisingly simple and standard in terms of construction. Those that know it would recognize it as a slightly antiquated play on the sentō-style bathhouse: There are two entrances, divided by sex, from which one walks through a section of shoe lockers into a dressing room, decorated with mirrors and flanked by a small garden, complete with pond. Concessions may be bought from attendants here before entering the bathing area; a popular treat is ice cream.

Separated by a sliding door from the dressing room is the bathing area, dotted with washing stations and fitted with a supply of stools and buckets for the faucets -- one for hot water, one for cold. The bathtubs themselves are located at the end of the room, with varying temperatures. Naturally, behind the bathing area is a boiler room to heat the water. Divided by sex with a wall barely shorter than the ceiling, peeking in the baths is somewhat difficult, but there is a small hole. It’s for passing soap.

Many of the walls are covered in rather risqué murals anyway, so maybe you don’t need to peek…?

✤ Employee's Quarters

Located in the very back of the bathhouse, the employee’s quarters are a series of large, vertically-aligned “rooms,” akin to flats. Each floor is fitted with metal plates where their names are inscribed, but there doesn't seem to be any apparent connection between them. Individual rooms by default contain six futons each, and are not separated by sex or species - but we’d remind anyone who would get intimate that you’re all already on top of each other. Along the walls are a closet for storing your futons during the day, and small storage containers for your belongings. There are enough for you to use more than one, but they don’t come with locks naturally. Maybe you could ask for one?

Each room is fitted with two bathtubs and a showering space, as well as a pair of toilets. Employee quarters all have a generous balcony that overlooks the city behind and to the sides of the bathhouse, along with the ocean. In the center, surrounded by the quarters, is an employee lounge. It is sparsely decorated, although the Witch doesn't care what the employees do to it, and contains a large, old-fashioned radio that broadcasts different audio dramas of all genres as well as music from different time periods and cultures. A cabinet of various board games, dice and cards have also been very, very generously (in the Witch's opinion) supplied for downtime.

On the first floor, separate from the living quarters and connected to an employee only kitchen, there are a series of dining quarters that resemble the living quarters almost exactly -- the only difference is that the futons are perpetually placed away in the closets, replaced with small dining tables and cushions. Because most shifts are night shifts, breakfast is served late, around 10AM, with all employee food being made by lesser spirits who are basically mindless and rather sloppy. Well, food is food? Lunch and Dinner are served at 2PM and 7PM respectively. The spirits will make small snacks upon request throughout the day.

It is rumoured the employee quarters are haunted by a strange animal’s ghost, though it is benevolent and usually will only appear to make gentle sounds at those having nightmares.

Note: since the arrival of some larger debtors, the doors in the employee's quarters and bathhouse proper have been changed to be at least fifteen feet high. They are no heavier or difficult to open than before. Doors outside the bathhouse may or may not also be size-accomadating.

✤ The Gambling Hall

A sprawling casino rivaled only by its connected hotel, the gambling hall is amongst the foremost examples of the witch’s attempts to blend cultures to enhance her island’s tourist appeal. While the outside maintains a traditional appearance, the interior is distinctly modern and Western in design, with bright lights and garish architecture that wouldn’t be out of place in a human world casino. For the patrons’ enjoyment, the gambling hall is fitted with 3400 slot machines and 800 miscellaneous gambling tables, separated across four themed areas: Azure Dragon, Vermillion Bird, White Tiger, and Black Turtle. Areas are separated by a series of canals, which one may cross via either bridge or gondola.

The gambling hall also provides various restaurants akin to the ones found throughout the city, and most notably an indoor arena, seating capacity approximately 15000. Events hosted within the arena typically involve some sort of sport or live music concert, but things changing to bloodier play for the amusement of patrons isn’t unheard of.

All of these things, of course, require a certain finesse only a debtor can provide.

✤ The Hotel

The hotel is one of the biggest structures on the island, a spiraling building that climbs high above the city for an incredible view from almost any floor. Since any spirit that can afford to stay there has a certain amount of wealth, all rooms are spacious and often tailored in advance - or sometimes on the spot - to that particular spirit’s needs. The hotel staff is on constant call, night or day, rain or shine, to tend to a spirit’s any ~~stupid~~ wish at any time. Working at the hotel is thus considered one of the most gruelling jobs, but it is said the guests tip well.

One of the most famous features is the spa, often said to be just as good as the bathhouse, though only hotel guests may make use of it. Another interesting feature of the hotel is the ability for spirits to request worshippers and a personal shrine. Considering the patrons, this isn’t such an unusual request, but workers may suddenly find themselves needing to learn the proper rituals.

✤ Hot Springs

Near the hotel are an alternative to the luxurious spas and the famous man(spirit?)made bathhouse: A series of gorgeous, soothing natural springs. They are well-maintained and operated by both hotel and bathhouse employees. These hot springs offer a more natural solution to a relaxing dip while still providing privacy and service with a smile.

Extra minerals are added to the water and it is said the Witch herself has enchanted the waters to be the perfect temperature for anyone who gets in, taking care of any skin problems and refreshing their energy.

Perhaps they aren't entirely natural, but they're really close.

✤ Restaurants

Spread out all over the busier parts of the city are a number of restaurants. From common ramen stands to tea shops to dessert houses to popular teppanyaki-style grills (for an entertaining meal), a patron's choices for food sport just as much variety as the island itself. Most of the cuisine comes from East Asia, though they’ve worked hard to keep up on the latest trends to satisfy customers always demanding more.

Of course this isn’t the limit, and recently spirits have started to enjoy Western style foods from all over Northern and Southern America and Europe as well. These restaurants operate as a specialty service, a slice of a different culture which can also be comforting to spirits from the related areas. Often, they are run by local spirits and employees dress more in the style of the region the food is from.

There are also, strangely, a couple of fast food joints. A Pizza Hut and Taco Bell occupy the same building, as well as a combination KFC and Mcdonald’s. Apparently the spirits find them fascinating.

Naturally, most of them serve alcohol.

✤ Open Air Market

By far, one of the most popular attractions in the city is the Open Air Market. Several bands set up and play music from one end of the street to the other and the bright lights and loud shouts of vendors just add to the upbeat, energetic atmosphere. In fact, it might feel a bit like a carnival or endless festival.

Stalls are packed along either side of the street, offering snack foods, desserts, drinks, finger food and generally anything unhealthy but delicious. While food makes up the majority of the market, there are also plenty of stalls selling talismans, potions, scrolls, charms, amulets, special offerings and more. Anything spirits might want to use, they sell, as specialties of their family line or of Koriko.

These stalls also sell clothing of all sorts at discounted prices and goods from the human world as well, from simple battery-operated fans to electronics to jewellery, though how many of them are legit and how many are bootleg is hard to tell. Still, the market is the best chance a human worker has to buy a little piece of home, if a spirit doesn’t snap it up first.

The market is entirely spirit-run, though outsiders may set-up their own stall if they have wares they will to sell along side the spirits.

✤ Theatre

The theatre is a massive establishment host to a number of plays, both modern and classic, as well as musicals and even operas. The ground floor has the most basic seating, with some of it being standing room only or just flat, wooden benches, while the upper levels have cushioned, separate seating. There are also private booths that have servers to bring the spirits drinks and food to go with their show. Because the genre and type of play varies every night, part of the fun is the surprise of what might be showing.

In addition, a single screen movie theater was recently added by popular demand from some rather noisy spirits looking for a more modernized evening. Unfortunately, spirits seem to have no taste at all and consider films like The Room, Hobgoblins and Manos: The Hands of Fate to be the only movies worth showing. There is at least a snack bar, not that it will dull the pain.

✤ Museum

A museum might seem like a strange choice, but spirits demand, spirits get. The winding building curves around towards the forest, settled in a less bustling area of the city. Much of the museum’s space is dedicated to art of all types: paintings, sculptures, pottery, photography and more. Rather than being divided up by type, the areas are divided by region of the world and time period.

Still, more of the museum serves again to the interests of spirits who wish to learn about the human world in a more educational manner. Medical and scientific areas show timelines and artifacts of advancement and some sections go back much further than any archaeologist could dream. Historical events are also shown and like any good museum, most of the exhibits have flair and a running theme to draw the observers into the right frame of mind.

Workers find the museum one of the most relaxing stations, as most of the spirits who visit are more interested in quiet observation than demands and entertainment.

The library is also part of the museum, considered an extension as far as spirits are concerned. It comes in at around four stories high, and features cushions spread out on its floors for leisurely reads. More than a few spirits have taken up a permanent residence here to guard the books more closely. Though most books are old - aren’t some of those from Alexandria’s destroyed library? - more recent books can also be found, in case you really want to read 50 Shades of Gray.

Recently, computers have been installed in the library for the purposes of cataloging the inventory housed there as well as the museum. They aren't particularly powerful machines, but they are capable of playing solitaire and minesweeper for those of you who might want to sneak on and play some video games.

✤ Beach

Due to Koriko’s status as an island, the beach takes up its fair share of space. There’s a whole wide ocean out there, after all. In normal circumstances, the sun shines down warmly, making it a popular spot for spirits for very much the same reason as humans and their human beaches. Along the edges closer to civilization, the sand is dotted with colorful little umbrellas and concession stands serving food and drink to either beat the heat or better enjoy it.

The water is clear and blue and full of fish, and from its shallows you can make out… train tracks?

✤ Docks

Constructed from aged wood, the piers on either side of the island stretch on for as far as the eye can see. Being a series of piers in the spirit world, no one is exactly certain how long they are, and questioning the witch only elicits a noncommittal shrug. From any point on them, however, one can catch a beautiful view of the horizon, particularly Koriko’s sunset and moonrise against the ocean -- but patrons are more frequently taken with the beach as a whole. Debtors who choose fishing jobs, however, will find themselves frequent visitors to this particular area. Whether they choose to go out together on a boat or fish alone from the docks is a personal choice.

We’d advise not to go too far out, though. At this point they could probably use some reinforcement.

In addition, the western side of the island sports a beautiful natural harbor, with more recent add-ons for the sake of mooring ships larger than the small fishing boats at the piers. Primarily, these are glass-bottom boats made to give tours either around the island or through its river systems.

✤ Gardens

Flowers soothe everyone, worker and spirit alike, so it’s no surprise they take up a massive portion of the island. Outdoors are rows upon rows of flowers of all types and colours, not limited to those in the human world -- some are long since extinct and others entirely mythical. In line with many botanical gardens, these flowers decorate the more standard walkways and ground between hedge mazes in much smaller amounts -- rather than being grown in that manner, these are cultivated by debtors in nearby greenhouses, similarly available for viewing. Even the ponds are lined with flowering trees.

The most popular way to travel, however, is through the tunnels -- pathways created with flowering vines, leading to Koriko's most sincere shrines: those built by spirits themselves or honest worshippers, many of them old but well-cared for.

These areas naturally attract butterflies, hummingbirds, bees, cranes and other wildlife. Deer can also often be found grazing and looking for an innocent worker to feed them; none of the animals found here have any fear of humans or spirits. It is said that sometimes workers will hide their currently turned animal friends in the gardens rather than the farms for their safety.

No outside food or drink is allowed, though light snacks and animal feed can be purchased from Eco-friendly stands.

✤ Farmlands

Very few patrons visit the farms; most of the people here are local spirits who live on the land or employees tending to it. Rows of long, rectangular barns form a seemingly endless line, all full of different livestock: cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys, sheep, goats and more. There are also large tanks for raising various fish and other marine life. Game like deer and rabbits are also raised here. While plenty of stray cats and dogs can be found in the city proper, most can be found here as working animals. Animals like horses are also kept and cared for here.

The farmlands, meanwhile, are just as vast. Rice paddies, orchards for fruits like apples and cherries, corn, potatoes, tea, coffee, strawberries, herbs, grapes, tobacco, bananas, coconuts, cotton- Well. You get the picture. If it grows, can be sold or used to feed and supply the island, it grows here. As such, even the witch knew it would be impossible to keep so many contracts in order and most workers are lowly spirits with barely any sentience to speak of.

The farm area, being so ridiculously and magical vast, is the only area with special transportation between different fields and barns in order to make work possible. Workers are given special talismans which teleport them with ease all over the farm. Of course, they only work in the farm area, but it saves years of walking.

✤ Train Station

Located in the dense center of Koriko, the train station is one of two clear ways to leave the city. The trains themselves travel underground for most of their journies, but following their routes will take you everywhere short of the forested areas. Western in design, the building sticks out like a sore thumb, but it’s filled with the same wonderful amenities a human would recognize from their own train stations: Benches that aren’t the most comfortable after an extended period of time, loiterers, and vending machines. The lattermost are more for the amusement of spirits than anything else.

Fortunately, in the spirit world and in Koriko, the trains are always on time.

✤ Forest

Compared to the gardens and farmland, the forest is expectedly uncultivated. The trees and grasses run wild here, with only a few wooden bridges amongst the green to serve as a reminder for its connection to civilization. A heavy fog falls constantly about the entire area. Ancient shrines and charms worn with age serve as a reminder of the past when Koriko was simply another place where spirits took refuge from the human world. Some spirits still call the forest home, so try not to anger them.

✤ Residential Area

Not a ways away from the forest, many spirits, tired with age, have chosen to settle down for a time in Koriko. Their houses vary in size and construction based on the spirits themselves, but all-in-all appear very sturdy and lived-in. They’re kind of cute, actually, but we don’t recommend trespassing for more than a one-off job.

Their age makes them powerful, after all.