December 10 2002 at 9:31 PM No score for this post
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And I want to conquer the world,
Give all the idiots a brand new religion,
Put an end to poverty, uncleanliness and toil,
Promote equality in all of my decisions
I want to conquer the world,
Expose the culprits and feed them to the children,
I'll do away with air pollution and then all save the whales,
We'll have peace on earth and global communion.
I want to conquer the world!
So: We have a formidable organization called Across, working to unify the galaxy under trustworthy rule and turn it into an ultimate utopia.
Why not let them?
I had only been intending to include the Sailor Senshi as agents of the WWWA Wierd Shit Division, but doesn't Crystal Tokyo sound like the sort of place that Il Pallazzo would actually -approve- of?
Besides, it would give us something to do in Act V.
blessed be.
-n
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>People have different opinions on what an utipia should be like, and even on such basics as what is good.<
Known in the trade as conflict. Which can be useful, if creating a story, no?
>Besides power corrupt and there are not many good people that could rule a galaxy and remain good.<
Certainly true - look at Lionstone, or the Commitee for Public Safety. On the other hand, part of the basic character of Usagi Tsukino is incorruptibility - she's -good- -people-, decent and caring in a way that no natural circumstance (or most unnatural) could touch or change. The sleeping, the eating, the gossip, those are just the outside, the shell of her personality. The core is, as was said of Ghandi, a Great Soul.
Blessed be.
-n
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>I had only been intending to include the Sailor
>Senshi as agents of the WWWA Wierd Shit Division, but
>doesn't Crystal Tokyo sound like the sort of place
>that Il Pallazzo would actually -approve- of?
The image of the Senshi as junior ACROSS agents under the command of Excel and Hyatt amuses me to no end.
I like this plan! I'm excited to be a part of it! Let's do it!
--Mr. F, slave to the Military-Industrial Complex[tm]
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>The image of the Senshi as junior ACROSS agents under the
> command of Excel and Hyatt amuses me to no end.
Especially since, as far as I can tell, Usagi at her worst is by far more competent than Excel, and Hyatt spends most of her time -dead-... The two factors of which would mean that things'd actually end up as the tail wagging the dog. So to speak.
>I like this plan! I'm excited to be a part of it! Let's do it!
Other opinions?
Blessed be.
-n
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Hmm, where were you planning to send Usagi to wrong rights and generally make a fool of herself?
No objections to seeing her around but I don't think she'd have much luck spreading peace and love in the Cameron Sector for example.
drakensis
Of each thing ask what is it primary motivation, what is it nature, and most importantly, what sort of damage will it cause if thrown at a Visigoth with great force. -- From the unrecorded Meditations of Marcus Aurelius.
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>Hmm, where were you planning to send Usagi to wrong
>rights and generally make a fool of herself?
ACROSS is a galaxy spanning organization, even if most of it's cells don't know it. I see the Senshi, like YN-1888, ending up all over the map.
>No objections to seeing her around but I don't think
>she'd have much luck spreading peace and love in the
>Cameron Sector for example.
My thoughts on the -origins- of the Sailor Moon gang would have them being, as per canon, reincarnations, with the interesting angle that what -were- magic powers, instead end up as -psionics- in their current lives - thus, Rei Hino is, like UF's Juniper, pyrokinetic (starting and controlling fires), Makoto Kino is both a low level physical adept (that first possibly a natural factor of her genetics in -this- life, rather than anything to do with Jupiter per se) and an electrokinetic (controlling electricity), Ami Mizuno is cryokinetic (take a flying guess), and so on and so forth.
The questions here are, how do we handle Minako and Hotaru's powers? Setsuna, while obviously no longer having anything to do with Time, can be considered as a teleporter and telekinetic, and Usagi is pretty defintely both anodyne and telekinetic, but how the -hell- do you model the Saturn Power in esp?
Wait, hmm, don't Taiidani espers sometimes act like that? But the cultural reaction to the Senshi would be out of step with Taiidani attitudes towards such obvious espers...
Hmm. The Spiral Senshi were born in different places? How would that hap - ...
Might the Moon Kingdom have something to do with the Template phenomenon?
Blessed be.
-n
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>The questions here are, how do we handle Minako and
>Hotaru's powers? Setsuna, while obviously no longer
>having anything to do with Time, can be considered as
>a teleporter and telekinetic, and Usagi is pretty
>defintely both anodyne and telekinetic, but how the -
>hell- do you model the Saturn Power in esp?
Lessee... Minako is a high-powered offensive telepath - visually impressive but honestly really basic in technique. Hotaru.. Hotaru's power is a step or two short of raw, unfiltered hyperbeinghood, capable of pretty much destroying or creating anything (in the skien the Spiral calls acceible reality, anyway) in the same way as the Crystal works. The Saturn Power in general could be more destructive simply because Hotaru grows up as a rogue Taiidani psi.
Hmm.. a thought: The level of power invoked by the Crystal suggests heavy leyline connections, possibly even the ULL. Might there be a Tar-Aiym trademark carved on one facet?
---
Mr. Fnord, Map Boy and Chief Vorlonologist
GSV _Suppressed Transmission_
http://fnord.sandwich.net/
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>Lessee... Minako is a high-powered offensive telepath -
>visually impressive but honestly really basic in
>technique. Hotaru... Hotaru's power is a step or two short
>of raw, unfiltered hyperbeinghood, capable of pretty much
>destroying or creating anything (in the skien the Spiral
>calls acceible reality, anyway) in the same way as the
>Crystal works. The Saturn Power in general could be more
>destructive simply because Hotaru grows up as a rogue
>Taiidani psi.
I dunno. I mean, IIRC, we see Minako produce actual, -physical- effects, not least the Chain Thingie.
I'll probably end up toning Saturn down a little, but Death Ribbon Revolution sounds like a psistorm to me.
My theories about the nature of Senshi and their powers are based on relatively little data, so bear with me and feel free to point out pieces of canon that I don't have / have missed.
A Planet (note the capital letter) gathers mana/energy/whatever out of the universe around it - or, perhaps, say rather that mana is subject to gravity, and collects at the bottom of gravity wells, like planets and such.
The magic that originally created the Senshi worked by taking some volunteer and -merging- her (or his, since to my mind the fact that all the Senshi we see in SM are female is for dramatic reasons... or possibly a product of the Silver Millenium being a matriarchal society) personal mana well/hyper field/whatever with that of the planet in question... So, for magical purposes, Minako -is- the planet Venus.
Saturn is more powerful than Jupiter because Jupiter has several large moons drawing off power before it can collect. There is no Sailor Sun because -that- level of gravity produces mana intensities too high to work with for more than a couple seconds without... dire consequences. There are is no Sailor Ganymede/Callisto/Europa/Io because of Silver Millenium politics. There -is- a Sailor Dirt - his name is Mamoru.
The transformation effect is at least partially an artifact of the way the reincarnation worked. The fukus act as a sort of, hmm, trigger to bring back the neccessary memories to access their power - there's no theoretical reason why the Senshi couldn't use their attacks in normal mode, but they don't know how unless they're 'thinking fuku'.
The other part of it is that the fukus are a sort of magical version of an elite power armor - they boost damage resistance, strength, senses, that sort of thing. They were originally designed to look like more ornate versions of the standard Silver Millenium military uniform. The reason that the fukus look like they do -now- is because the Senshi (excluding Setsuna, who may have altered her uniform to allow them to recognize her as 'kin') are, in canon, Japanese schoolgirls, whose subconcious minds interpret the definition of 'more ornate version of ordinary uniform' rather, ah, oddly, and the fukus are designed to interact in an artificially intelligent manner with their users' minds.
Magical artificial intelligence may therefore be assumed to be not noticabely superior to the cybernetic kind.
'Sailor Moon' then, wasn't a Senshi in the Millenium, because the mana pool of Earth's Moon is, well, puny, which in turn means that unless the holder of the office of Senshi of the Moon had a -fuckload- of -personal- magic power (Archmage level or better), she'd be majorly outclassed by even Mercury.
But the ruling line of the Moon Kingdom was notorious for producing -really- powerful mages - most of the Serenities had at least the -potential- for Archmage level magic.
But, because nobody at the time thought that a Senshi could still use personal talents after being invested in her office, investing a Serenity as Sailor Moon never occurred to anyone until the very end.
The Ginzuishou is a power amplifier, a -big- one, big enough to let a low level mage create things that an Archmage would have to work at. Unfortunately, it doesn't really have any safety features, and if you're not -very- careful about how you ask it to do things, it's quite capable of needing more power than you can safely give it... and -taking- that power anyway.
The reason Usagi gets away with waving it around like she does, when even her mother, a trained and experience mage, was leery of the thing, is that the nature of a Senshi (even a pipsqueak one like Sailor Moon) gives them pretty much unlimited power reserves(as distinct from potentials).
Hm. Clarify - the practical power difference between a Senshi and an Archmage is that a Senshi can sustain peak activity for as long as her body holds out, and an Archmage would drain himself dry within an hour, at the outside. A Senshi's peak activity level is determined by either their natural potential, outside of what makes them a Senshi, or a (very low) percentage of their total power base - whichever is larger. Because that power base is so large, that tiny percentage almost always works out to be more than a given Senshi's natural potential.
Except for Usagi.
Blah. Where'd -that- come from?
>Hmm.. a thought: The level of power invoked by the
>Crystal suggests heavy leyline connections, possibly even
>the ULL. Might there be a Tar-Aiym trademark carved on
>one facet?
See above.
Even without that, given that the ULL was made by the Xunca, who had tech -better- than current Vorlon stuff, and is -still- physically in the gigatons... doubtful. On the other hand, the idea that it might be a remote terminal for the Krang is slightly more believable.
Blessed be.
-n
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>I dunno. I mean, IIRC, we see Minako produce actual, -
>physical- effects, not least the Chain Thingie.
Been a while since I've seen the canon material, still IIRC for the most part Minako had flashy visual attacks, right? Call it a psiwhip, or maybe a variation on Jurai psi-combat techniques (which might be a clue as to origin..)
>Magical artificial intelligence may therefore be
>assumed to be not noticabely superior to the
>cybernetic kind.
Well, AI is only as good as the people who set the programming parameters, and since most of the Spiral has had a fair amount of paranoia over the idea of computers that are smarter than them, it's not too surprising that a mana-based civilization like the Silver Millennium would feel the same about magic AI. Some memes never die and all that.
>Even without that, given that the ULL was made by the
>Xunca, who had tech -better- than current Vorlon
>stuff, and is -still- physically in the gigatons...
>doubtful. On the other hand, the idea that it might
>be a remote terminal for the Krang is slightly more
>believable.
Fair enough point. I was figuring that the Ginzuishou wasn't the Krang itself but maybe the primary active element for it - the house-sized or whatever thing most people would look at and say "hey, that's a Krang, isn't it?" was basically a Tar-Aiym control/aux power system, but the Crystal was what did the hard work.
---
Mr. Fnord, Map Boy and Chief Vorlonologist
GSV _Suppressed Transmission_
http://fnord.sandwich.net/
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>>I dunno. I mean, IIRC, we see Minako produce actual, -
>>physical- effects, not least the Chain Thingie.
>Been a while since I've seen the canon material, still
>IIRC for the most part Minako had flashy visual
>attacks, right? Call it a psiwhip, or maybe a variation
> on Jurai psi-combat techniques (which might be a clue
>as to origin..)
Hmm. So, that's Minako from Jurai, somewhere, Hotaru from the Taiidani... Hmmm. Let's see... For some reason, Michiru strikes me as an Andermani noblewoman, which means that Haruka would have to be either an Andermani or (if we wanted to give them a hard time getting together) a Silesian.
Ooh. Rei as a Havenite expatriate? No, that doesn't suit her, but it -would- fit with Makoto, I think. Say rather that Rei's from the Combine.
Usagi is Humanx-venusian, and, just for funsies, let's have Ami -claim- to be an immigrant to the Commonwealth from the Midgard Federation (she's never been there in her life, but -is- from the general area).
That just leaves Setsuna, who is from, well, wherever the Moon Kingdom was, and probably old enough by this point to make Washu look like a spring chicken.
>>Magical artificial intelligence may therefore be
>>assumed to be not noticabely superior to the
>>cybernetic kind.
>Well, AI is only as good as the people who set the
>programming parameters, and since most of the Spiral
>has had a fair amount of paranoia over the idea of
>computers that are smarter than them, it's not too
>surprising that a mana-based civilization like the
>Silver Millennium would feel the same about magic AI.
>Some memes never die and all that.
That's entirely correct, I was just being flippant.
>>Even without that, given that the ULL was made by the
>>Xunca, who had tech -better- than current Vorlon
>>stuff, and is -still- physically in the gigatons...
>>doubtful. On the other hand, the idea that it might
>>be a remote terminal for the Krang is slightly more
>>believable.
>Fair enough point. I was figuring that the Ginzuishou
>wasn't the Krang itself but maybe the primary active
>element for it - the house-sized or whatever thing most
> people would look at and say "hey, that's a Krang,
>isn't it?" was basically a Tar-Aiym control/aux power
>system, but the Crystal was what did the hard work.
So, the Ginzuisho is the GoldenEye controller crystal?
Neat concept, but it wouldn't explain its nasty habit of eating souls.
Blessed be.
-n
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For the former ... physical adept of some sort, a bit stronger in that aspect that Makoto. Add a little bit of TK, with a penchant for inducing high frequency vibration maybe? (likes swords? She can make any blade she wields act like a vibroblade - just that the material would shatter after too much of that sort of abuse?)
The latter? I see her as a limited Precog and Empath, as well as ... hmm, would there be something like aquakinetics? I was thinking along the lines of Jibril in Angel Sanctuary or maybe like that girl from Kamikaze (Lady of Water or something like that).
What about the Talismans? Amplifiers of various power aspects?
-Griever
'10 hours of blissful sleep can work wonders for your self-esteem'
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>For the former ... physical adept of some sort, a bit
>stronger in that aspect that Makoto. Add a little bit
>of TK, with a penchant for inducing high frequency
>vibration maybe? (likes swords? She can make any blade
>she wields act like a vibroblade - just that the
>material would shatter after too much of that sort of
>abuse?)
Oooh. That's a neat application.
>The latter? I see her as a limited Precog and Empath,
>as well as ... hmm, would there be something like
>aquakinetics? I was thinking along the lines of Jibril
>in Angel Sanctuary or maybe like that girl from
>Kamikaze (Lady of Water or something like that).
Considering that I made up cryo- and electro-kinesis, I don't see any reason why there shouldn't be.
>What about the Talismans? Amplifiers of various power
>aspects?
Something like that, anyway.
Blessed be.
-n
("What's the functional diffference between Unit-01 and the Ginzuisho?" "Concealability.")
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Electrokinesis is a real word Nathan. 8) And it means the power to control aspects of electricity by will.
I've never heard of Cryokinesis, but it sounds good. The water version is called Hydrokinesis. And personally I thin Ami would be a mix of cryo- and hydro-kinetic.
As for Minako's chain, in the SM fanfics of the Sailor Moon Expanded Project, her chain is described as the ability to create and manipuate Psychoplasm (aka Ectoplasm), she's later taught by another character who's an expert in the use of psychoplasm and learns to make all kinds of neat stuff out of it. Chains, whips, swords, throwing knives, sheilds, ect.
Don't forget to account for Hotaru's healing abilities as well as her destructive ones. (maybe Mistress Nine is secondary personality that takes vengence for pain (physical or emotional) inflicted on Hotaru.
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>Electrokinesis is a real word Nathan. 8) And it means
>the power to control aspects of electricity by will.
And here I thought I was just talking out my ass. Heh. That's even what I would've thought it meant.
>I've never heard of Cryokinesis, but it sounds good.
>The water version is called Hydrokinesis. And
>personally I think Ami would be a mix of cryo- and
>hydro-kinetic.
The reason I'd choose to put her emphasis in the cryo range is because we've already -got- a powerful hydrokinetic - Michiru - and I'd prefer to keep overlap between the Senshi to a minimum.
There's no question that she's got at least -some- hydro talent, though.
>As for Minako's chain, in the SM fanfics of the Sailor
>Moon Expanded Project, her chain is described as the
>ability to create and manipuate Psychoplasm (aka
>Ectoplasm), she's later taught by another character
>who's an expert in the use of psychoplasm and learns to
> make all kinds of neat stuff out of it. Chains, whips,
> swords, throwing knives, sheilds, ect.
Calcite, yes. I don't read SME avidly, but I am familiar with the basics.
For our Minako, well... Ectoplasm is a good explanation, but I'm not quite convinced.
>Don't forget to account for Hotaru's healing abilities
>as well as her destructive ones. (maybe Mistress Nine
>is secondary personality that takes vengence for pain
>(physical or emotional) inflicted on Hotaru.
Oh, certainly she's also an anodyne - I just doubt that that aspect of her power is very strong, given how much it seems to tire her.
Heh. I just realized that we'll have to kill her off and make a clone.
Blessed be.
-n
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Well based on Carrot Glace's 'Insertion', maybe she's capable of plasmakinesis. For those who haven't read that:
a) do so. Try not to drink while doing so as this will require obtaining a new keyboard.
b) the part in question, the central character(s) is briefing various gods on the Senshi's training and gets rather pointed with Urd about Minako believing her powers are based on love as opposed to plasma or lasers or something, I forget exactly.
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>Well based on Carrot Glace's 'Insertion', maybe she's
>capable of plasmakinesis. For those who haven't read
>that:
>a) do so. Try not to drink while doing so as this will
>require obtaining a new keyboard.
I have - or part of it. I got bored, so I stopped. My observation on Carrot has been that he comes up with a mediocre-to-decent concept, executes it a reasonably competent fashion (that is, not in Biles'/Bibat's/Perry's league, but much better than the ff.net crowd), and keeps going for god knows how long.
On the other hand, most of his concepts have been done by others, usually better - compare Insertion to Heart of Sugar. Yeah, at the speed I read, I could tramp through Insertion in not-prohibitively-long... but why -bother-, when I can read about Arbyfish and -Chibi-Usa- shouting "HUNKA HUNKA BURNING LOVE!"
>b) the part in question, the central character(s) is
>briefing various gods on the Senshi's training and gets
>rather pointed with Urd about Minako believing her powers
> are based on love as opposed to plasma or lasers or
>something, I forget exactly.
Plasma, unless my high school physics teacher had his head - ... Well, actually, he was a locally famous crackpot, but he did know physics... - is the fourth state of matter, the stuff you get when you heat up a gas until the electrons dissasociate from the nucleai and you have a highly charged and conductive explosive soup at umpty-bazillion degrees. 'Heat', I think, would be more Rei's turf.
Blessed be.
-n
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