An Idea I've been toying around with

[stratagemini]

Okay. You all know that I generally haven't actually continued anything I've posted on this board. This idea is a bit different.
It all came together a few months ago when I started to consider the Mythos behind Sailor Moon.
As you all know most of the powers and abilities of the Senshi are related not to Roman Myth, but to Chinese Alchemy, Things like Venus having power over metal (venus love me chain), and Jupiter having power over wood (Jupiter Oak Evolution). Unfortunately it's really not clear cut as all that. There's a lot of bleed over from Roman Mythology. all the names from Endymion to Helios are Roman myth, but then you get things like the Shitennou of Beryl.
My idea, to put it simply was to Rewrite the series using purely Roman Mythology. Of course that's not an interesting enough Concept by itself, so I had another concept tooling around in my head. An Idea that steals blatantly from CarrotGlace's Insertion: Reflux and makes the fic into a Fukufic at the same time. Put Ranma into Ami's head.
Of course Then fate ran a railroad train through my idea. I saw the Sailor Moon Live Action series. A lot of the ideas and characterizations really appealed to me, so I decided to use that for my base and mix in a lot of teh Manga and base the later non-beryl arcs off of that.
In the end the Idea has come out something like so:
Ranma is shoved into Ami's head when she becomes Sailor Mercury. Ranma has no knowledge of the series, and is still afflicted with the Cat Fist. The first causes conflict between Ranma and Ami. The Second Isolates Ami from most of the other Senshi since Ranma can't deal with Luna without going into the Cat Fist. This causes the Inner Senshi to think of Mercury more like Pluto is thought of in Fanon, aloof, hard to reach, and only around when you really need it.
So what is Ami doing if she's not with the inner Senshi? She's meditating and training with Ranma, whether she wants to or not. She's getting more in touch with her powers and how she can use them. Of course, in the course of this she'll discover certain things, like the "Harp" used in her Mercury Aqua Rhapsody is actually a Lyre, and she'll look up the Roman myths on Mercury and so on. Eventually Mercury visits her while she's meditating, and thus resulting in a series of quests for Ami to prove herself of the powers from being Mercury's avatar on earth (what the Senshi really are).
Meanwhile the Senshi drift apart from Ami, and without her to help them they have to become stronger on their own. certain things will be different, instead of Ami becoming one of Beryl's Minions it will be a different Senshi, and teh specific problems that Usagi has with her Princess Serenity Persona will factor in a lot in the later arcs that the Live action didn't cover. I'm probably also abolishing Sailor Luna (Haven't decided yet) but I need to keep ChibiUsa, though she's not going actually be a Senshi.
Anyway. any feedback on the idea would be helpful to my indepth outline I've been writing.

[lwf58]

I can see three holes right off the bat.
1. How and why would Ranma end up in Ami's head? You haven't explained the mechanism for that.
2. If Ranma is a separate personality, how would his lack of knowledge put him in conflict with Ami?
3. If Ranma is a separate personality who's along for the ride, his fear of cats would not have any direct affect on Ami; he'd be afraid, but she wouldn't.
Plus, you're perpetuating a fanon myth. Ranma does not go into the nekoken just by being around a cat or two. He has to be trapped into prolonged, close exposure with no way out for it to happen. Usually, he tries to tough it out and pretend he's not afraid, even though he's sweating bullets and trembling like a leaf in a gale.

[stratagemini]

The mechanism for 1 isn't actually that important. Yes it's a deus Ex Machina, but that's acceptable in fiction as the cause of a story, it's only unacceptable as the solution. To be honest I was going to have Mercury use some of his power to put Ranma there after he realizes that something needs to change if he's to regain enough power to exert a noticeable amount of influence on the mortal realm (which also explains the timing of the event happening right when Ami transforms for the first time). The amount of power that the roman gods can exert on the mortal realm depends on how skilled their avatars are with their powers, so that's the motive Mercury had. Of course, I have to reveal that slowly over the course of the first arc.
Ranma is a separate personality, woth partial control over the body. The reason he's in conflict with Ami is simple, he's still Ranma, and he has a very different idea of how to prepare for a fight than Ami. While Ami wants to excel in her studies and become a doctor Ranma thinks that meditation, getting in shape, and martial arts are essential to Ami now that she's been conscripted to fight. Since Ami would rather use that time studying and acting like a normal girl this is a source of conflict. It's exactly because Ranma doesn't know that Ami can handle what's coming as is that gives him this attitude and puts him in conflict. There are a few other points of conflict too with Ami believing that Ranma wants to use her power to possess her body and kick Ami out, while Ranma really just wants to use the power to try and go home.
As I said, Ranma is a separate personality along for the ride, but he does have some measure of control over Ami's body, and much less control over his emotions in such a state, he'd be doing the psychic equivalent of panicking whether he wants to admit it or not, and some of that would spill over to Ami. If it's only the involuntary responses like adrenaline it would be enough to make Ami nervous around cats, and cause her to ask for an explanation from Ranma. Once she has that explanation she wouldn't want to risk finding out if Neko-Ranma was powerful enough to overwhelm her control of her body. especially since she doesn't have a curse to trigger to snap him out of it. Alternatively, Ami is rather compassionate, and even more so in the Live Action, even to her enemies. She's not very likely to subject Ranma to something he's mortally afraid of.
Even if Ranma doesn't go into the Neko-Ken just by seeing Luna (which I already knew, I'm counting on it in fact for several scenes where Ranma tries to tough it out in order to give her some information) he still is petrified. That's sort of hard to hide from someone sharing your head. And Luna isn't a normal cat either, She can talk, which makes her strange and unknown, she's obviously more powerful than a normal cat, so she's probably just below that Tiger in the manga as far as a threat where Ranma is concerned. After all people are naturally afraid of the unknown and bizarre, and while Ranma may be a bit less so, he's not more likely to want to be around a strange talking cat. He's less likely.

[Ordieth117]

While I love the concept of Ranma in Ami's head (reminds me of Fire's NGE/Ranma fic), him driving her away from the other senshi bugs me a lot. Ranma is a very social person. He may not play well on a team, but he loves being around people enough that he would want to be part of a team.
Ami is a bit of a social recluse, but she's as needy as Ranma in her own way. They'd fight through hell and high water (IMO) to be around friends like Usagi.

[stratagemini]

I'm actually writing this fic, whcih is a surprise to me since I typically nevre go any farther on my Ideas. i'm about halfway through teh first chapter currently and have run into a bit of trouble on the first fight scene (I haven't had time to work it out visually in my head so that I can commit it to paper).
I'm taking in Ordieth117's comments into my outline. It is true that Ami is a bit of a social recluse that doesn't make friends easily, and that she does want friends very badly. Ranma makes both friends and enemies incredibly easily and takes that ability for granted. Ami will try to be friends with Usagi, It won't really work too well because of the cats, but she will make an effort.
I'm slowly bringing in a bit more of the Anime and teh Manga into this PGSM based universe. I need to for a couple of reasons, Mostly to flesh out the characters and pasts of Rei and Makoto, but the Manga and Anime have a much larger supporting cast that I can bring to bear in roles in my fic. People for Ami to meet, a buddhist Monk that Makoto trained under, Rei's entire ridiculously complicated family life, A big sister Figure/police superintendent-general for Minako so that I can bring more emotion to bear regarding her brain tumor (And create a much better backstory for Sailor V than what they give me in PGSM), the whole Sailor V Mythos that I'm tying in more deeply into PGSM canon as well.
The biggest thing is the inclusion of Gurio Umino and Ryo Uwara. Both of whom don't appear in PGSM. If Ami can't talk to Luna I need a way for her to get certain information that would interest her. Umino serves that purpose and also can supply different rumours that teh other Senshi wouldn't know about thus allowing Ami to grow on her own more. Umino is also fairly intellegent, the sort of person that would become a friend of Ami's on his own.
Ryo Uwara I'm taking in a modification from his Anime Apearance, since tehre are no "Rainbow crystals" there are also no 7 great Youma. Ryo is still precognitive, which allows him to find out Ami's secret, and also gives him reason to approach her. I'm painting Ryo as a student of Mythology, because the future holds less secrets for him than others he has turned to teh mysteries of the past. Ryo as a mythology student not only will serve as a friend of Ami and someone she can do research with, but will also allow me to explore the roman mythology based mythos that I'm basing this story on.
I'm liberally changing bits and pieces of Rei's backstory (Stealing from the casablanca memories side story to the Manga) adding in kaidou to flesh out more of Rei's sense of lonliness and give more reasons behind her fear of abandonment.
I'm really fleshing out Makoto's backstory, showing masters she trained under, eliminating the tiny plothole of her living alone with no supervision whatsoever in an apartment taht she doesn't seem to work to pay for by giving her a rich uncle who looks in on her every so often.
Usagi's father will be making an appearance or two despite not being in PGSM, and I'm fleshing out ami's family too, though it took me a while I finally found out what happened to gher father, he's a painter who one day never came home. he still sends her a card every year on her birthday but otherwise there's no contact.
Most of my work so far in planning has been trying to find the reasons behind why the senshi are who they are, however I'll soon need to take a deep look at who the senshi will be in the future due to the changes I've made. The Black Moon arc introduces Pluto, first of the outer senshi (and I'm taking her Manga characterization as almost a frightened child and not fanon of her as the master manipulator), but it will also show what changes my revised story and backstory/mythos will have on teh future. Due to the way PGSM handles the Silver Crystal it's going to be very very different. And none of this Sailor ChibiMoon stuff either. ChibiUsagi is a princess, and has the ability to use the crystal, no more than that.
The Crystal Mechanics are going to play a large part as well in the story, and teh Senshi and Moon will not be recieving any powered up transformations (with the exception of when Moon uses the Grail, her power will be increased, but she won't have a new transformation either). I'm using as part of teh Mythos the fact that the Senshi were ceremonial in their last life and that's why they were defeated so quickly. The Silver Millenium Empire was in a state of decline and decadence similar to that of teh Roman when it fell. Therefore teh Senshi will have all teh power that they'll ever be getting in the first part of teh series, the key to their gaining strength will be learning how to access taht power better and learning how to use it more skillfully.
It should be a fun ride. I can barely wait to bring Cyborg Hotaru into the ring.

[FOG3]

More like France and England after WW1.
"The Bombers are Invulnerable, we must disarm ourselves! Germany is an aggressor state! I know let's play complacent pacifist towards them, and delude ourselves into thinking Hitler will keep his word on good will alone. There is no way the Germans can break our line, we must send all our mobile forces North to head them off, because they surely will try the same plan they did in WW1 all evidence to the contrary."
WW1 and WW2 had plenty of stupidity by both sides, but France really screwed up. Complacency is lethal, and that's a perfect example of it. They had the better tanks and were operating on their home soil, Blitzkrieg was theorized way earlier by the British and practically what the Germans did had been shown to be a possibility in exercizes.
The Roman Empire didn't fall, they pulled back because their Europe holdings wasn't worth holding onto. Europe simply wasn't worth the effort of having to fend off the Germanics and Vikings at that time. The Byzantine Empire covered their richer areas and that held out until the Muslims Horde took it out, albiet buying Europe the time it needed in the process.
More relating to the actual story, perhaps you should also include Shinozaki, Makoto's dependable male friend who's not her boyfriend. He's from the R season, Ail and Ann portion, Episode 49.

[Screwball]

PostPosted: Thu Feb 08, 2007 11:14 pm Post subject:
More like France and England after WW1.
"The Bombers are Invulnerable, we must disarm ourselves! Germany is an aggressor state! I know let's play complacent pacifist towards them, and delude ourselves into thinking Hitler will keep his word on good will alone. There is no way the Germans can break our line, we must send all our mobile forces North to head them off, because they surely will try the same plan they did in WW1 all evidence to the contrary."
WW1 and WW2 had plenty of stupidity by both sides, but France really screwed up. Complacency is lethal, and that's a perfect example of it. They had the better tanks and were operating on their home soil, Blitzkrieg was theorized way earlier by the British and practically what the Germans did had been shown to be a possibility in exercizes.

To be fair, at the time there was no reason to believe that appeasement wouldn't work until Hitler annexed Bohemia and Moravia. Up until that point, he had a goal that a lot of people actually viewed as reasonable. No one knew just how insane he actually was. Hindisght, as they say, is 20/20.
Also, arguably, Britain and France needed the time that appeasement bought them to rearm, since almost everyone made a concerted effort to disarm as much as possible in the 20s and early 30s, up until Hitler started rearmament.
Ironically, the lessons learned from WW1, ie, that the defensive was the superior position, was what lead to the loss of the Battle of France. If the Allies had followed their battleplans from WW1, they would have won handily, even with their tactical inferiority. Hitler had stripped the boarder with France bare for the Polish invasion.
The reason the Allies advanced into Belgium was because they thought that was the only avenue for invasion. The Maginot Line would have stopped any German attack cold. It's true even today that enough firepower can inactivate maneuver warfare. and it was much easier to do back then. The Ardennes were considered impassible to tanks, which was why they were so lightly guarded. The Germans won so easily because Manstein managed something that they thought impossible, and so were not in a position to stop, not because they underestimated Blitzkrieg. The Germans would have won even if they'd been using exactly the same tactical doctrines as the Allies. The victory was strategic, not tactical.

The Roman Empire didn't fall, they pulled back because their Europe holdings wasn't worth holding onto. Europe simply wasn't worth the effort of having to fend off the Germanics and Vikings at that time. The Byzantine Empire covered their richer areas and that held out until the Muslims Horde took it out, albiet buying Europe the time it needed in the process.

They didn't intend to give up all that they ended up loosing. They intended to keep Italy,for example, and Iberia and North Africa too, IIRC. The only reason the outlying provinces became unprofitable was because of the gradual economic collapse of the Roman Empire, due in large part to widespread corruption, ossified, outdated organisation, and complacency, which were pretty much the exact same reasons the Eastern Roman Empire began loosing ground to the Muslims hundreds of years later. Just goes to show that people never learn...
Anyway, the fic idea looks really interesting, Strat. I've always liked fics where Mercury takes a role other than that of a fire control officer. Are the other Senshi going to get in touch with their Roman roots, or stay like they are in the anime/manga?
If you need a pre-reader, I'd be happy to help out, now that my exams are over. Just drop me a PM.

[stratagemini]

I Haven't really decided yet to be honest. The roman Pantheon is going to play a pivotal part in the later arcs, but will the other Senshi get in touch with their roots? That's a question I've been struggling with.
The Roman Roots will however be involved with the Senshi. I have some backstory in place so that the different Gods represented by the Senshi do end up visiting the mortal realm and decide to test their various avatars, whether said avatars (The Senshi) know it or Not.
The whole idea behind Ranma in Ami's head the backstory behind it anyway is that Genma at some point sold his "Last Born Child" to Mercury for inspiration to create the Umisen and Yamasen ken. Genma didn't realize what the ritual he was doing was and thought it was a martial arts technique at the time. Ranma was taken from his reality the night Genma Died, his consciousness copied and placed into Ami's head. Which explains why Ranma's a few years older than Phoenix Mountain when he comes into Ami's mind and a slight bit more mature (not that much though).
I have a lot of reasons for Mercury to do this, but in the backstory he's allowed one test of his Avatar, and if the avatar passes he's allowed to approach them first to communicate with them, otherwise the Avatar has to seek him out. Mercury bends a couple rules to copy Ranma into Ami as his challenge, the challenge being Ami has to verbally accept Ranma. Of course this isn't really so much a test as a hidden powerup given in the form of a test to subvert the rules (entirely in character for said god). Mercury takes advantage of the first time Ami taps into his power to do the transfer. Mercury has a reason to do this too, as his avatar gains in skill he's allowed more influence in the Mortal realm, and the Mana pools on the planet Mercury that were shattered by the end of The Silver Millenium slowly begin to reform allowing habitation again as Ami regains power.
Jupiter has done some spying on Makoto in the form of her old Sempai (Jupiter has a history of shapeshifting to spy on women in mythology). Haven't determined exactly what test he'd be giving Jupiter, but it will relate to that incident and Jupiter fails it. She'll have to approach Jupiter later on and it wn't be easy.
Rei's test was to show herself a competent soldier and what's more a leader of soldiers. She also failed, but she has a chance to prove herself a proper leader, and when she does She'll be in touch with Mars. She does get some more control over her power after Minako tries to teach her how to be a leader of soldiers (in PGSM Canon this happens) but Rei isn't really a warrior even at he end of the Beryl Arc, and until she is she hasn't passed Mars' test.
Minako passed her test. Unfortunately her brain tumour got in the way and Venus decided to give it up for a loss since Minako would be dying soon. Venus probably won't approach Minako until after she's ressurected. Which is coincidentally after the Beryl arc is over. Minako knows some things, vague memories from before she was reincarnated, like teh idea that mars is supposed to be a competent leader of soldiers (which is why she helps Rei) but since Venus hasn't visited her she doesn't know any of the background information that Ami is learning.
Moon isn't actually a senshi. She IS the goddess Selene. She just doesn't remember properly. It ties in with the myths of Selene and Endymion. The Princess Sailor Moon persona that causes so much trouble in PGSM is actually Selene trying to reassert herself over her mortal incarnation, teh reason why The Senshi don't have the problem is that they were Avatars not gods. It also explains why the Moon is the center of the Silver imperium when the other gods are much more powerful. Princess Serenity was a full fledged god, the others were mere avatars. Part of the key action in later arcs is usagi coming to terms with this. Thsi will also explain why ChibiUsa isn't a Senshi. She's a demigoddess, her powers are the ability to use magic (she's not really trained in it though) and the ability to use the silver crystal.
As to whether the Senshi are similar to their Anime/manga counterparts. No. They aren't. If anything they're similar to their PGSM counterparts, only a lot more serious as time goes on.rei has a messed up family situation and that's not something you just shrug off even if Usagi is your friend. Makoto has been living alone for a couple years now, and even if that means she's a bit unrestrained in some areas it also means she's been forced to rely on only herself for teh most part. Minako has a terminal illness and is every bit as serious as you'd expect that condition to make her. And Usagi may start off somewhat normal, but she'll be getting problems too when she realizes that she has a homicidal other personality in her head trying to take over.
As for the Outer Senshi, well theyve always been a bit serious, but I'm still working on a backstory to make that seriousness make sense. Hotaru as a cyborg has come a lot closer to death than any other senshi. Being possessed by Mistress 9 didn't help that out either.
Which brings me to another point. I'm replacing Mistress 9 and Pharoah 90 with different enemies. The titans. or possibly some other mythological enemy. Pharoah 90 was the worst explained Arc in teh entire Manga, and although I love it to death I really can't think of a decent reason to keep it as is. The enemies are subpar as far as character design go and they really have no motive.
Haruka is getting Homophobic parents who are really society conscious, forcing her to dress as a man if she wants to date women. Michiru is getting neglectful adoptive parents who only use her as a display piece to show how open minded they are and how great they are as parents.
Setsuna is going to be a lot more innocent because she's Manga Setsuna. not a lot of life experience and reincarnated FROM the future INTO the past. I've also been considering throwing a persephone clause into her way. making her spend 6 months per year at the gates. The gates are also to the underworld in addition to being the Gates of Time. Pluto will definitely be aware.

[Tovath]

Which brings me to another point. I'm replacing Mistress 9 and Pharoah 90 with different enemies. The titans. or possibly some other mythological enemy. Pharoah 90 was the worst explained Arc in teh entire Manga,

You could use Typhoeus instead of Pharoah 90 and his wife Echidna as Mistress 9. Echidna gave birth to some of the worst monsters so you would have the whole villain cast.
Also what about the other gods that don't have avatars. Jupiter has a history doing more then spying on women and Hera (can't remeber her Roman name) has a history of doing nasty things to those woman. She is not going to be happy about Makoto.

[stratagemini]

Actually I was going to replace Pharaoh 90 with the Titans. Have the Titans trying to break out of Tartarus, maybe have Ami have to free Prometheus from punishment. I haven't given it too much thought.
The Dead Moon circus has to be completely overhauled too. Helios and Elysian can stay, but Neherenia and her Black moon make very little sense. Hera already has a Senshi by the way. Sailor Juno, Ceres, Pallas Athena, and Vesta are all canon Senshi (at least in the Manga). The changes to the Black moon will probably be superficial, and it will probably be an internal conflict with the roman gods themselves, something to test the Senshi after the Titanomachy arc that replaces Pharaoh 90.
I'm really unsure what to do with the Dead Moon arc, all told. But I have a lot of time until I get to it. I might also throw in the arc from Sailor Moon: Another Story for the Super Famicom, but I haven't decided there either.
I'm open to ideas on both fronts. Most of my plotting is characterization based so it's not so much an outline as a general sequence of events and character profiles for different moments in time.

[Tovath]

Well Typhoeus is son of Earth Mother GAIA and TARTARUS. The Titans on the other hand right are the children of Gaia and Uranus, that should be interesting. Also if you wanted to add more Ranma charaters There is a sacred Amazonian shrine to Mars that is guarded by arrow shoting birds called Ornithes Areos

[Knight of L-sama]

Hera (can't remeber her Roman name) has a history of doing nasty things to those woman.

Juno was Hera's Roman name.

[Tovath]

The Dead Moon circus has to be completely overhauled too. Helios and Elysian can stay, but Neherenia and her Black moon make very little sense. Hera already has a Senshi by the way. Sailor Juno, Ceres, Pallas Athena, and Vesta are all canon Senshi (at least in the Manga).

What about Vulcan, the smith god? I don't belive he has a avatar and he is marryed to Venus so he will be interested in events.

[runnerz]

Actually I was going to replace Pharaoh 90 with the Titans. Have the Titans trying to break out of Tartarus, maybe have Ami have to free Prometheus from punishment. I haven't given it too much thought.
The Dead Moon circus has to be completely overhauled too. Helios and Elysian can stay, but Neherenia and her Black moon make very little sense. Hera already has a Senshi by the way. Sailor Juno, Ceres, Pallas Athena, and Vesta are all canon Senshi (at least in the Manga). The changes to the Black moon will probably be superficial, and it will probably be an internal conflict with the roman gods themselves, something to test the Senshi after the Titanomachy arc that replaces Pharaoh 90.
I'm really unsure what to do with the Dead Moon arc, all told. But I have a lot of time until I get to it. I might also throw in the arc from Sailor Moon: Another Story for the Super Famicom, but I haven't decided there either.
I'm open to ideas on both fronts. Most of my plotting is characterization based so it's not so much an outline as a general sequence of events and character profiles for different moments in time.

You could do that, but I'm still a little confused here. If you're going to pull out the video game, then make sure you have the outers well and introduced, and be careful with what you do with the game. There were quite a few plot holes in that game i.e. Death Reborn Revolution became a standard attack for Saturn rather than a doomsday move.

[Draconis Stelanaris]

I'll take that Question:

In the Manga the DRR is not a "Destroy the world" Attack. It sends ribbons of energy out and drains the target dealing a great deal of damage. The Nuke the world attack was refferenced as "Saturn droping her Glave".