Crimsonitism – Vladrouge Scarlet’s Philosophy

WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Touhou Kourinden ~ Mythos of Phantasmagoria. We don’t recommend reading this until you’ve finished the main campaign.

Every villainous organization in almost every book you’ve read, film you’ve seen, or game you’ve played has an ideology or philosophy – one that defines the group’s core mission and customs. Ever wanted to know where the term “Crimsonites” in the Drillimation Danmaku Universe originated? When Vladrouge Scarlet from Touhou Kourinden ~ Mythos of Phantasmagoria was trying to realize something for his organization the Gensokyo Socialite Order, he came up with the name Crimsonitism, with its full formal name being Vladrouge Scarlet Thought.

He came up with the name while trying to realize a revolution on the Gensokyo Continent in the years before the Federal Kingdom of Gensokyo was established. The Order would lead a revolutionary vanguard under a united front of progressive forces. For the duration of the Order’s existence, this was the Order’s official philosophy. The term “Crimsonites” was coined by supporters of Vladrouge.

If you’ve played through Mythos of Phantasmagoria, you may have encountered and fought five bosses at the end of the game’s main campaign – the Elite Four and the Scarlet Devil Vladrouge himself. They are the five most powerful figures of the Order, representing its top leadership. The Scarlet Devil is the head of the Order, and succession is passed hereditary. The heir apparent is the topmost member of the Elite Four, while the other three are elected or appointed by either one. They also elect eight “admins” that the Scarlet Devil and Elite Four consider to be the most powerful members of the Order.

Succession for new members goes as follows, if a member is removed either due to death or resignation:

If the Scarlet Devil dies or resigns, the heir apparent becomes the Scarlet Devil, and they are responsible to appointing any member who is a descendant of the founder to be the topmost Elite Four member.
If an Elite Four member dies or resigns, the Scarlet Devil may choose to promote any admin into an Elite Four member.
If an admin dies or resigns, the Scarlet Devil may choose any high-ranking boss grunt to become an admin.

When the Order was established by a teenage Vladrouge in 1665, who was 15 at the time, he wanted to bring his influence to a whole new level. He declared his then-new philosophy and teachings, called Crimsonitism, as an unchallenged guiding principle. This means no one can challenge his concepts. At that time, he unveiled the first Elite Four. One of them included a girl named Camille Kilburne, who would later go onto become his future wife and the eventual mother of Remilia and Flandre Scarlet. Camille and Flandre would go onto hold some of the most powerful positions in the Order.

One way that Vladrouge kept a tight grip on the Order was promoting those who were deeply loyal to him, regardless of their age or experience. Initially, Camille was the top Elite Four member until she gave birth to Remilia. Remilia and Flandre were informally given the title “Scarlet Princess” by their mother. Additionally, residents of the Scarlet Devil Mansion ended up becoming elite members including the Elite Four and lower administrative positions. For example, Sakuya Izayoi was appointed to the Elite Four.

For the duration of Vladrouge’s rule, he never succeeded in giving up his power. His hostility toward youkai-borns resulted in himself, the Elite Four, the eight admins, and the lower Crimsonite grunts killing an estimated 400-800 youkai-borns a year. It really culminated when Vladrouge learned of a prophecy about a newborn girl named Marisa Kirisame having the ability to defeat him, and ended up murdering Mima – the mother of Kirisame. That murder resulted in the final attempt consolidate his power and force loyalty to Crimsonitism. His aim was to make himself and his ideas eternal.

Any person who did not fall in line with Crimsonitism or tried to challenge its ideas risked getting intimidated, harassed, tortured, and most commonly executed. This was the case for Mima. Non-adherents would be humiliated by either the Scarlet Devil, the Elite Four, the admins, or a youth group obsessed with enforcing his philosophy called Crimsonite Grunts. Even those close to him weren’t safe from his purges. Many high-ranking officials of the Order ended up defecting and escaping from the Order. The following individuals were forced to flee the Scarlet Devil Mansion as a direct result of being purged or quitting altogether:

Sakuya Izayoi, the head maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, was the first. She would get denounced by Vladrouge as a traitor. She ended up getting replaced by Edmund Winder, who was a few years older than Flandre and ended up becoming the future husband of Flandre and the father of another member of the Scarlet family by the name of Anders Drake Scarlet.
Remilia Scarlet, his eldest daughter, also fled with Sakuya as she was deeply loyal to her. She ended up getting replaced by Mikhael Gose.
He also denounced Patchouli Knowledge, an admin of the Order who ended up joining Rinnosuke Morichika and Marisa Kirisame, alongside Alice Margatroid, in the plot to defeat Vladrouge.
The gatekeeper of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Hong Meiling, who was also an admin, also joined the upper three.

When those four fled, they ended up moving to the countryside in a small village by the name of Yumemura, which is west of the town of Akuron in the game. This lasted until Vladrouge was killed by Rinnosuke Morichika and Marisa Kirisame, who were tasked with avenging Mima’s death from Master Kirisame, who was Marisa’s father. His successor was Flandre Scarlet, and just before Vladrouge died, started making a promise to defeat Marisa Kirisame’s eventual Federal Kingdom of Gensokyo. Many other Crimsonite grunts followed Flandre’s support.

The story of Flandre’s leadership of the Order will be told in the sequel to Mythos of Phantasmagoria. This ideology has also been practiced by SPASDOT in the Chuhou Joutai trilogy.