So, an idea that hit me while Revisting Sailor Moon R and the Ayakashi Sisters sub-arc. The servants that they use to do their bidding.. Are referred to by them as 'Droids'... and when 'destroyed' they turn to a pile of clear, glassy-looking sand and an inert gemstone.
To me, this looks like a silica-based nanomachine colony with a crystalline central processing unit. And possibly something that can be salvaged and repurposed.
This leads into a bit of world building that I only covered in brief in the last incarnation of this story.
One of the things I wanted in this story was Persocoms from CLAMP's Chobits. However, rather than the full-scale models being commonplace, the smaller ones will be de rigeur, and for a very special reason: I also intend to bring in CLAMP's Angelic Layer. In this way, the Angels will be the smaller-sized Persocoms... only specialized for arena battles.
Now, I do clearly recall Necratoid and others arguing that this would upset awe-level of Leonard Testarossa's human-scale and AI-driven armslaves... But I hold by my argument that the impressive feat of those is not the AI being such a small package, but the fact that AMALGAM was able to also make the reactor, stealth systems, and Lambda Driver small enough to fit in there as well, and STILL move at superhuman speeds!
As for the Chobits/Angelic Layer characters...
Misaki will be a First Year student at Juuban Municipal High School and a class rep in one of the other classes. She will be the still-reigning champion of Angelic Layer (this, along with her earnest and hard working attitude is what earns her the Class Rep spot.) Her Angel, Hikaru, will be ladylike and demur, though subtly sassy and playful.
Kotaro and Tamaya will be, as ever, Misaki's classmates and co-founders of the Misaki and Hikaru fan club. Additionally, though, they'll have the dubious reputation of being that couple that, by all rights, ought to be married already. Rumors abound of their being sexually active, but strictly when neither of the two are in earshot.
Hatoko will become Chibiusa's close friend and classmate at Juuban Elementary school. She still uses her Angel, Suzuka, who will play the role of the ever dutiful kunoichi in service to her Lady. It will be thanks to Hatoko and Suzuka that Chibiusa (and later, Hotaru as well) pick up on Angelic Layer.
Ohjiro will be dating Miskai, even though he is a freshman at Tokyo University. (Of course, this pales in comparison to the gap between Mamorou and Usagi.) He'll have retired from Angelic Layer for the most part to focus more on Miskai as well as his studies, but he'll be more than happy to set time aside to share some pearls of wisdom with the newcomers to the game.
Shoko will still be a reporter in the field, albeit a top-level investigative reporter. She gets stuck to the new rash of Monster Attacks and quickly slips down the rabbit hole. Zeke and Teletha will eventually work out a contract of exclusivity with her to help keep the Paparazzi and others off their backs and also provide rumor control. (Potential love interest with a Paparazzi photographer?)
Ichiro and Shoko and a nuerologist and a robotocist, respectively. Together, they created Angelic Layer and Persocoms... But lately the two have gone missing and no one knows what's become of them. Although Teletha doesn't have to wonder much when Mithril's intelligence division delivers disturbing news about new high-end Persocoms that seem to fill the roles of bodyguards, sexaroids, and assassins.
The plot to rescue the couple will come after the FMP-Anime plot has run its course - it will be a means of striking back at Amalgam in hopes of reducing their capability - and only after 'Chi' shows up.
Chi herself is going to be somewhat different. To draw comparisons, if the other Amalgam-made persocoms are like 33-s Bumas, then Chi is more like Largo - literally built to bring about a revolution in every way. The simple matter of fact is that Chi will be a biomechanical von Nueman machine in that she even mimics the human reproductive system - her system will take a genetic sample, extrapolate it, and then use it to create a modified version of herself, grown within her own artificial womb. Additionally, she's fully combat capable and equipped with her own Lambda Driver.
The trick is, however, she doesn't even realize any of this - like in the anime, Chi's sister ('Freya' I believe her name was) is hiding in her head, keeping Chi's capabilities limited until they are needed. Although around Zeke, things like this tend to get blown wide open and a certain tiny mad scientist is gonna have fun with this. (It's canonical in Tenchi Muyo that Washu loves seeing 'primitive technology' in action - she gleefully watched Tenchi's Father painstakingly assemble and configure a PC for Tenchi to use for several hours. That said, she is gonna die of a nerd-gasm and go to geek-heaven over Chi.)
And everyone will collectively shit platinum bricks when Chi's reproductive capabilities come to light. Machines that reproduce as she does are taboo in the galactic community, and with good reason. But, Chi is as close to a living being as they come - Washu even confirms that she has a soul - and therefore has all the rights and privileges as such. She cannot be killed without committing a capitol offense and having been judged through due process, nor can her right to reproduce be denied. The cat is most assuredly out of the bag on this one.
Thoughts?
To me, this looks like a silica-based nanomachine colony with a crystalline central processing unit. And possibly something that can be salvaged and repurposed.
This leads into a bit of world building that I only covered in brief in the last incarnation of this story.
One of the things I wanted in this story was Persocoms from CLAMP's Chobits. However, rather than the full-scale models being commonplace, the smaller ones will be de rigeur, and for a very special reason: I also intend to bring in CLAMP's Angelic Layer. In this way, the Angels will be the smaller-sized Persocoms... only specialized for arena battles.
Now, I do clearly recall Necratoid and others arguing that this would upset awe-level of Leonard Testarossa's human-scale and AI-driven armslaves... But I hold by my argument that the impressive feat of those is not the AI being such a small package, but the fact that AMALGAM was able to also make the reactor, stealth systems, and Lambda Driver small enough to fit in there as well, and STILL move at superhuman speeds!
As for the Chobits/Angelic Layer characters...
Misaki will be a First Year student at Juuban Municipal High School and a class rep in one of the other classes. She will be the still-reigning champion of Angelic Layer (this, along with her earnest and hard working attitude is what earns her the Class Rep spot.) Her Angel, Hikaru, will be ladylike and demur, though subtly sassy and playful.
Kotaro and Tamaya will be, as ever, Misaki's classmates and co-founders of the Misaki and Hikaru fan club. Additionally, though, they'll have the dubious reputation of being that couple that, by all rights, ought to be married already. Rumors abound of their being sexually active, but strictly when neither of the two are in earshot.
Hatoko will become Chibiusa's close friend and classmate at Juuban Elementary school. She still uses her Angel, Suzuka, who will play the role of the ever dutiful kunoichi in service to her Lady. It will be thanks to Hatoko and Suzuka that Chibiusa (and later, Hotaru as well) pick up on Angelic Layer.
Ohjiro will be dating Miskai, even though he is a freshman at Tokyo University. (Of course, this pales in comparison to the gap between Mamorou and Usagi.) He'll have retired from Angelic Layer for the most part to focus more on Miskai as well as his studies, but he'll be more than happy to set time aside to share some pearls of wisdom with the newcomers to the game.
Shoko will still be a reporter in the field, albeit a top-level investigative reporter. She gets stuck to the new rash of Monster Attacks and quickly slips down the rabbit hole. Zeke and Teletha will eventually work out a contract of exclusivity with her to help keep the Paparazzi and others off their backs and also provide rumor control. (Potential love interest with a Paparazzi photographer?)
Ichiro and Shoko and a nuerologist and a robotocist, respectively. Together, they created Angelic Layer and Persocoms... But lately the two have gone missing and no one knows what's become of them. Although Teletha doesn't have to wonder much when Mithril's intelligence division delivers disturbing news about new high-end Persocoms that seem to fill the roles of bodyguards, sexaroids, and assassins.
The plot to rescue the couple will come after the FMP-Anime plot has run its course - it will be a means of striking back at Amalgam in hopes of reducing their capability - and only after 'Chi' shows up.
Chi herself is going to be somewhat different. To draw comparisons, if the other Amalgam-made persocoms are like 33-s Bumas, then Chi is more like Largo - literally built to bring about a revolution in every way. The simple matter of fact is that Chi will be a biomechanical von Nueman machine in that she even mimics the human reproductive system - her system will take a genetic sample, extrapolate it, and then use it to create a modified version of herself, grown within her own artificial womb. Additionally, she's fully combat capable and equipped with her own Lambda Driver.
The trick is, however, she doesn't even realize any of this - like in the anime, Chi's sister ('Freya' I believe her name was) is hiding in her head, keeping Chi's capabilities limited until they are needed. Although around Zeke, things like this tend to get blown wide open and a certain tiny mad scientist is gonna have fun with this. (It's canonical in Tenchi Muyo that Washu loves seeing 'primitive technology' in action - she gleefully watched Tenchi's Father painstakingly assemble and configure a PC for Tenchi to use for several hours. That said, she is gonna die of a nerd-gasm and go to geek-heaven over Chi.)
And everyone will collectively shit platinum bricks when Chi's reproductive capabilities come to light. Machines that reproduce as she does are taboo in the galactic community, and with good reason. But, Chi is as close to a living being as they come - Washu even confirms that she has a soul - and therefore has all the rights and privileges as such. She cannot be killed without committing a capitol offense and having been judged through due process, nor can her right to reproduce be denied. The cat is most assuredly out of the bag on this one.
Thoughts?