[Fanfic, RFC] Dear, Sweet Kami-sama, Why Do You Hate Me So?

[robkelk]

Argh. Be nice if I actually had a chance to watch that series. Better look at Rite Stuff.

"Rite Stuff - for all your worship needs."

Have some Right Stuf links - the http://www.rightstuf.com/cgi-bin/catalo ... 3843/4/0/0]OAVs and the http://www.rightstuf.com/cgi-bin/catalo ... 0121/4/0/0]movie are still completely available, while the http://www.rightstuf.com/cgi-bin/catalo ... 7927/4/0/0]TV series is available in a "strip-pack" (i.e. no extras at all).

(Gotta remember to pick up one of those movie boxes for myself; I don't have those pencilboards yet.)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Guilherme Loureiro]

Bob Schroeck wrote:

---

(Mm. Note that clumsy!Sakura is TV continuity, best as I can determine. OVA!Sakura doesn't exhibit any dojikko tendencies that I can recall. Also,
it's situational klutziness. Only non-combat.)

She's clumsy on the game too. There's a scene in the first Sakura Wars about that, IIRC. You're right about it being non-combat only.

[Black Aeronaut]

Thanks for the links, Rob! It's a huge help since my connection out here is dial-up slow.

*Eyes different conitnuities carefully* Hrm... It looks like the one I'd go for more than anything else would be the OAV continuuity. I might throw some
other stuff in for flavor/garnish.

What all is known about the games? I looked at the main Wikipedia artical, but it wasn't terribly helpful except to clarify the existence of a Paris and
New York troupe in addition to the one in Tokyo.

I'm kind of debating on whether or not the Kohbu would have been used by the Japanese in WWII. I have this fanciful vision of the Imperial Flower Troupe
suddenly disappearing along with all things Kohbu at Kanzaki Heavy Industries, only to reappear after the war to help rebuild Japan.

The idea that the Kohbu were built in that time period would actually fit well - they now have Armslaves, after all. Sosuke would have much to learn from
Sakura in utilizing the ARX-7's capabilities to the fullest.

[Evil Midnight Lurker]

Well, Armslaves are only supposed to exist because of the Whispered event, so in strict continuity it shouldn't be possible to access that technology
before the Eighties.

But if the big bang happened much earlier...? Maybe.

--Sam

"We had a facial hair gap!"

[Black Aeronaut]

Pretty much what I was getting at. Of course, they had no idea at the time, so all you have is a few random people doing grandiose steam punk that nobody else
can really figure out. Some of it helps drive the engines of progress a bit faster than in the 'standard' timeline, but for the most part no one can
figure out that strange technology that these random kooks cook up. Then we can say that in the '80s they finally figured out what was going on.

Hrm... Maybe I should tie-in Steam Boy to their history. Make a strange and interesting sort of sense if the Darkwood family crossed with the Steam family and
that's where they get their engineering genius from.

[Evil Midnight Lurker]

And the next question to ask is, if it wasn't the Russians messing about in the Eighties, what was the Whispered catalyst in this timeline?

(juggles historical data) Something to do with Tunguska, maybe?

...and the next next question is, what's the source of the whispers. Future knowledge and all. And given the
other elements of the timeline, I think I can explain in two words:

It's Crystal Tokyo. And Sailor Pluto is either in charge of the whole thing, or pissed.

--Sam

"Elf finger magic. I hate that."

[Valles]

Here's a thought for Sakura's backstory if you use her - the relationship between Japan and the US - or the rest of the world, for that matter - seems
to be a lot closer than was historically the case in the 1920s. The Koubu seem to've been something that the Japanese came up with and then shared the
technology across the world through some kind of alliance system that never gets looked at closely. Reni, who's German, was involved with the initial,
pre-ST1, tech development and field-testing group, in a period where Germany should be groaning under the Treaty of Versailles.

WW2 may not be a foregone conclusion, and even if it is, may not look anything like ours.
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[Black Aeronaut]

I'd vote pissed. There's no way she'd be meddling in something like that - it does little to benefit the next incarnation of the Empire.

That said... I don't think that it would be any of the usual Big Bads from the Senshi-verse. Doubt it would be someone from Lum's corner, though they
may be a symptom. Dai-Youko (Youko's father) and the Inukami might know something. MITHRIL might actually know a bit more while AMALGAM could be a
puppet...

Holy shit. EML, I do believe you just inspired the REAL plot behind all this!

[Evil Midnight Lurker]

It's not for nothing that I'm known as the Muse of Deep Left Field.

--Sam

"Oo -- evil thought!"

[ECSNorway]

Valles wrote:

---

Here's a thought for Sakura's backstory if you use her - the relationship between Japan and the US - or the rest of the world, for that matter -
seems to be a lot closer than was historically the case in the 1920s. The Koubu seem to've been something that the Japanese came up with and then shared
the technology across the world through some kind of alliance system that never gets looked at closely. Reni, who's German, was involved with the
initial, pre-ST1, tech development and field-testing group, in a period where Germany should be groaning under the Treaty of Versailles.




WW2 may not be a foregone conclusion, and even if it is, may not look anything like ours.

There was mention at one point -- I think in OAV 1 -- that this was the second time the demon invasion had happened, they knew it was coming, and
the Kohbu program was part of a deliberate worldwide research effort to get ready for it.

Sounds to me like this would replace WW1, with the Sakura Taisen invasions replacing WW2... things might well move on quite interestingly from there.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[ordnance11]

Bob Schroeck wrote:

---

(Mm. Note that clumsy!Sakura is TV continuity, best as I can determine. OVA!Sakura doesn't exhibit any dojikko tendencies that I can recall. Also,
it's situational klutziness. Only non-combat.)

In the manga, she is a klutz in non-combat situations. She brought down the house (stage rather) on her first stage performance.literally! In fact, there are
theater goers who go specifically to see her trip.
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[Evil Midnight Lurker]

ECSNorway wrote:

---

Valles wrote:

---

Here's a thought for Sakura's backstory if you use her - the relationship between Japan and the US - or the rest of the world, for that matter -
seems to be a lot closer than was historically the case in the 1920s. The Koubu seem to've been something that the Japanese came up with and then
shared the technology across the world through some kind of alliance system that never gets looked at closely. Reni, who's German, was involved with
the initial, pre-ST1, tech development and field-testing group, in a period where Germany should be groaning under the Treaty of Versailles.




WW2 may not be a foregone conclusion, and even if it is, may not look anything like ours.

There was mention at one point -- I think in OAV 1 -- that this was the second time the demon invasion had happened, they knew it was coming,
and the Kohbu program was part of a deliberate worldwide research effort to get ready for it.




Sounds to me like this would replace WW1, with the Sakura Taisen invasions replacing WW2... things might well move on quite interestingly from there.

...We're going to have to recreate Teikoku Kagekidan 1940 just to serve as a prequel to this fic, aren't we?
o.O;

--Sam

"...Then he threw a chimney at us!"

[Black Aeronaut]

Eh, I'll worry about prequels later. For now, I'd just as much like to get the basic history hammered out.
Somehow, I can still see the Third Reich rising and causing trouble for everyone. Civil War in Germany? Maybe a military coup? Whatever - I still think that it's viable. This means that we'll get to see the Thule ocult. Hellboy, anyone?
Puts the idea in my head of Zeke, a few story arcs down the road, going freelance with his Technomage skills, but closely affiliated with MITHRIL and the BPRD. Perhaps even a liason between the two, where the uber-science and the supernatural meet.
If we want to mix things up even more we can throw Full Metal Alchemist into the mix as well.  After all, Galbadia = Germany.
Thoughts of somehow throwing Rocket Girls into this mess and it would actually be pretty easy to pull off. As one of MITHRIL's brand new Field Technologists, Zeke needs to be able to go wherever he is needed to quickly discern the operation of captured over-technology. It would not be surprising to me if such was captured in orbit.
MITHRIL might be getting more chummy with the USN, but the US Government as a whole is still a bit standoff-ish about them so they can't depend on NASA for any orbital support.  So, they turn to the only trully private space agency - the Solomon Space Agency.  Of course, they quickly run into the size problem.
Zeke is smallish - he barely qualifies as 'average size' for his age bracket and he's nothing but lean meat. He may be a bit heavy, but I think that he'd be able to be lifted as a mission specialist on the SSA's Mangostein orbiter. Yukari, the usual pilot, catches a summer cold so it falls to Matsuri to fly this mission. And then you can add another paramour to the mix.
Why would Matsuri want Zeke? Well, for one thing they find that he can handle himself very well in the jungle, making it back at a time that is only second to when Matsuri help Yukari. He's also capable of tuning himself into the spirits, which appeals to her upbringing greatly. And then there's the fact that for being a schmuck at times, he's a genuine good man. Oh, and the fact that he's got all those other girls hanging around him doesn't bother her one bit - she even suggests that he move to the Solomons so he can legally marry them all.

[Evil Midnight Lurker]

I don't remember any country named Galbadia in FMA. Is it from the first anime series?

ETA: Galbadia is from Final Fantasy 8. You're thinking of Amestris.

--Sam

"WANNABES! All of you, spitpolishing your prosthetic limbs, und whitewashing your liverspots for this wretched back-patting, smarty-party! The true mad
scientist does not make public appearances! He does not wear the 'hello my name is" badge. He STRIKES from below like a viper! Or on high like a
PENNY, dropped from the tallest building aroundt! He has only ze one purpose: do bad things, to good people, MIT SCIENCE!!!!"

[Black Aeronaut]

Sheesh, this is what I get for not verifying my trivia right away. (-.-

Well, now that we're in port and the fiber optics are connected...

What I was actully thinking of was Hitler's visions of the Berlin-that-was-never-to-be, Germania. It was a hideously grandiose plan to reconstruct Berlin
as Hitler felt it should be.

[Necratoid]

Okay... ignoring my lack of specific expertise in Sakura Wars... The Nazi exists in one form or another before WWI, the economic mess left by WWI was the
spring board for Hilter to move the national socialists along to power. Now, if WWI was again a demon invasion.... as apposed to an empire war that started
off after the ruler of Germany flipped out when his good friend, the archduke in charge of Austria gets shot... change that to him getting eaten by demons and
you have a major war against demons instead of countries. Problem is that when you kill them their blood evaporates into a ground clinging toxic gas...
meaning the idea of trench warfare is pretty much self defeating, for your troops. Lacking the Whispered equivalent to make them a magical girl team in
battlemechs (possibly they got killed), the Germans take the base tech and their engineers go at it. Enter the speed effective half platemail, half power
environmental suit armor. Produced in mass quantities it was the most effective thing in Europe to deal with the demons... only it took a few months to adapt
and the invasion wasn't quickly localized so the Germans (and everyone else that the Germans equipped) eventually fought it off. Gemany did however borrow
far too much to finance the thing and with a lack of demonic invasions going on the bills came in. Many countries helped by buying up the suits and the tech
behind them.... but the banks couldn't afford to not get paid back, it became us or them, either the bank or Germany was going down.

So the Germans were bankrupting quickly. A new word, billion/bimillion, was created describe just how much the Germans owed. Germany came up with a viable
plan. Remember that rampaging the demonic invasion... the one they had ot get American troops to fill out the army at the end of? Remember all those people
that got killed and all that land that got poisoned? If they could fix it they'd have a profitable commodity to sell. So German (and other countries went
after the land closest to them), starts spamming companies that clean up the landscape... Leaving the governments with lots of resalable land and lots of rich
influential companies that then get into politics. One of which is the fringe groups (that is very good at industry) running a major company that would have
been an anti-Jew political party of genocidal crazies, in another time line. Those that would have been the national socialist party.

So then we have all this land for sale... better market it... only all the artists have been training to make portraits and no one is actually trained for
unpopulated vistas... so they hire those who failed or were not allowed into art schools, those unfashionable landscape specialists. They find one in
particular that is very good at avoiding drawing in people those landscapes as specific people are known to make the land sell to only those who like the looks
of those people. Eventually he becomes the charismatic Adolf becomes head of marketing.... who right a book on the evils of demons and those who stick their
heads in the sand and pretend WWI never actually happened. He was going to go after the Jewish bankers... but his editor pointed out his company wouldn't
exist without them... so he went after the old order instead.

Now the would-have-been Nazis are known as a fringe group as they actually thing that the demons were supernatural and not space aliens like is considered
normal. This means they spend lots of money on trips and research to find mystic stuff. Which means they are literally the only group that is bothering to
ward or magically attempt to purify all that demon goo they removed from the lands. Everyone else is just putting it in multi-sealed, sometimes lead lined
vats, usually built underground. The pseudo-Nazis repeated attempts warn them of the bad idea of leaving ginormous vats untreated, unholy goo laying around
goes unheeded as stupid and superstitious in these 'enlightened times'. They point out that scientists have determined that their math says the goo
will decay on its own in 50 years or so. They never actually publish the math.

Most of the mystical community left Europe by now, America excepted the idea that those where actually unholy things... so did Japan (where the first known
portal was) and large parts of the less industrialized countries... the islands in the Mediterranean Sea and the British isles were actually considered
defensible and wardable. Most of the rest were old and not moving or joined up with the only group that actually believed this stuff existed, The
pseudo-Nazis. This meant that outside that one company Europe was largely caught flat footed when those vats start rupturing and unholy things poured out in
the early 1930s. As the only group, outside random armor foot solders who adorned their personal armor suit's with religious or mystic symbols (those that
actually fought the last invasion were believers in them being demons and managed to pass that on to some of the new generation), was those fringe freaks in
that company. So the years go on and this Germany super-company starts taking over random countries as the guys with the large scale effective army...
Marketing head and spokesman Hitler spends time in each of his dramatic speeches to point out he called this ahead of time and promote his next book on
reconstruction.

As most 'enlightened countries' aren't prepared for these invasions, social order breaks down. Random dictators and fascist government start
springing up all over the place... led by those who promoted the idea of a section invasion. Eventually the British get involved as the flying demons start
raiding them... though all those nongovernmental preparations for a demonic invasion were actually proved warranted. American forces are called in come the
late '30s for their air power, which didn't really take off outside of Britain in Europe as more that surveillance. Biplane vs. demons was a losing
idea in precedent. Things are getting down to cleanup operations as the decades come to a close... then communist Russia randomly invades Europe and draws
troops away from the nearly cleared out dump sights. The Russians have armored suits and walking weapon platforms... in relatively low quality and without the
mystic abilities... however there are many, many of them. The anti-demon armor suits and other forces are not really geared towards fighting more conventional
forces. Plus who would be stupid enough to attack them at that time?

It takes time to make enough conventional ammo and distribute it to fight them off and then that issue with those original demon portals randomly reopening
around '42-'43 and the Russians take half of Europe while the Allies are actually doing something useful for the species. Once again Germany, Russia
was not helpful taking over half the country, nearly bankrupts itself and we get roughly 1945-6 Europe and roughly the Cold war enviroment.

Probably should have some dumps or portals in Northern Africa and the Middle East just to keep thing closer to normal. Though the Middle East should be more
vindictive to Europe than towards America. Not that love they the US, they just remember the Europeans sold them on the idea of the profit from the dump
sights or just built them there without local say in the matter.

Meanwhile the Japanese have a Coup and invade everything in sight.... The Americans are not amused to be attacked by the 'surprise' (due to poor
translation speed) attack on Pearl Harbor. Add in America with weird where boat-Armslave centaur like landing craft and walking tanks, instead of thread tanks
doing the island hopping war as more or less normal... Then the portal reopens, earily '44ish (the site was warded, but those maintaining the wards left),
then maybe have half the military high command get eaten in the first demon wave. As their only source of Mecha ditched them as crazies early on, the Emporer
(probably remembering what those mecha were designed for and that that nobel group left at the start of this empire war) surrenders after the proto-Armslaves
take over a few major cities rather than then getting hit with a bomb that did so much damage they needed a new word to descrbe what happened to them. Though
the Emporer decides that dealing with the demons actually needs the mystic mecha team and that the surrender is conditional on them dealing with that..

That is my rough scenario on how this could happen.

[paladindythe]

I'm beginning to be concerned about this spiraling out of control during the planning phase. Some of these ideas
are going to work out, and some aren't. How about picking out some guiding themes--the story you want to tell, as opposed to the cool idea. It'll help
you figure out what pieces to put in and whatnot.

Cameo appearances, and small references are one thing, but this is looking like writing version of 'feature-itis'.

Edit: I guess I'm not seeing what you have envisioned. *shrug* I guess I'll wait till you have more scenes (and eventually, chapters) to see how
this will all fit together. What you've been doing is rather like a design process called iteration--an interesting way to go about this.

Well, if I come off as harsh, please forgive me. I'm interesting in seeing the result of all this hard work eagerly.

[robkelk]

I have to agree with paladindythe. Your cast list and proto-plot are already pretty hefty.

From here on in, whenever you come up with a Cool Idea, ask yourself "Does this add anything to the story that can't be done with what I've already got?" If it does, then put it in. Otherwise, put the idea in a folder marked "cool ideas" and forget about it for now. (That way, when D,SKS,WDYHMS? is finished, you have something for your next fic...)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Black Aeronaut]

I know, I know. Believe me, I was thinking about it the other night.

Things are kinda hectic here on my end, so it behoves me to get the ideas out into the open whenever I get the opportunity to do so. The 'Battle Rythm'
our CO has us on is pretty intense, that and the higher-ups in 7th Fleet are trying their best to squeeze as much underway time out of us as possible before we
start our three-month long drydock period.

At that point, hopefully I should get the chance to sit down, look at all the mess, and start sorting things out.

[Drenivian]

Well, in my opinion, if you ignore what you've been thinking with Sakura Taisen, it all still falls into place lovely.
*********************
In the epic rage of furious thunder
legends create their tales
when the twilight calls and the dark lord falls
our glory will prevail

[Epsilon]

The hardest part of any story is not deciding what to add, but what to subtract. I know from hard experience that it really, really is a
better idea to err on the side of "remove" here. When I first started Hybrid Theory I was just throwing bits in for fun, but later on this grew (and
BOY did it ever grow) to a major problem for plotting purposes. Later on, I learned a valuable lesson:

Only introduce a new character/plot element if you absolutely can not resolve your current story without doing so. This si epsecially true when considering
crossovers. The problem with a crossover is that you can't just introduce a single character form another story. Once you introduce say, Fate from Nanoha
you don't just get her you also drag in every character connected to her as well!

So my advice is to start as small as possible. Of course, if the premise is a multi-corssover on its face that limits your ability to minimize. Still its best
to be very thorough with one series before looking for new series to add, each one exponentially increases your workload!

-------------------

Epsilon

[Black Aeronaut]

Epsilon wrote:

---

Only introduce a new character/plot element if you absolutely can not resolve your current story without doing so. This si epsecially true when considering
crossovers. The problem with a crossover is that you can't just introduce a single character form another story. Once you introduce say, Fate from Nanoha
you don't just get her you also drag in every character connected to her as well!




So my advice is to start as small as possible. Of course, if the premise is a multi-corssover on its face that limits your ability to minimize. Still its
best to be very thorough with one series before looking for new series to add, each one exponentially increases your workload!

Thanks, Epsilon. It's pretty sound advice and is more or less what I've had in mind.

I think part of what I've failed to emphasize thus far is how I'm going to take my time with this. For example, by the time Sosuke enters the picture,
Zeke and the Senshi are in the know about each other and actively help each other out when possible. Yep, it will take a bit of time to get to that point - I
want to properly develop the characters after all.

Something else I need to do is study some of my favorite authors such as Diane Duane and Stefen 'Twoflowers' Gagne.

Anyhow, I'll see about where I should cut the fat, though I suspect that Sakura is here to stay.

I only ask that you guys bear with me on this project. As I've mentioned before, things will probably pick up for me after we hit dry docks.

[robkelk]

Do you know who Lindy Harlaown's seiyuu is? Go on, http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclo ... php?id=503]guess...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Black Aeronaut]

*SNRT* Stuff like this is going to make for great sub-plot/side-story material.