How might Nerima change?

[Heaven's Deamon]

A few others I can think of are things like Stamina (ability to fight for sustained periods), accuracy (how good they are at aiming their attacks) Skill (how well their movements and attacks "mesh" with each other, ar ethey smooth flow or a jerky mess) And more "inttelectual" ones like Antticipation (how good they are at figuring out what an opponent will do next) or Instinct (doing things without thinking about it, like ducking an attack without actually registering it until after you ducked it and the like) that he and the others could be rated in.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Sounds interesting: can you give me your "scores" (or "marks", whichever's more correct) for the completed (or mostly completed) characters?

[Heaven's Deamon]

I'll need to go back over the topic to refresh my memory, so it might take a day or two.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Okay, I got a PM from Jupiah at last. For a number of reasons that basically boil down to partially he felt he was doing all of the work, but primarily that his life has just become too complicated, he's had to drop out of this project. He may drop by from time to time, but he won't be a regular any more.

Seeing as how a group tends to... what's the word I'm looking for? I'll go with focus... ideas better, I took the liberty of extending an invitation to a long-time writing partner of mine. He should be joining us once admin approves his registration to the forums. I hope you don't mind, Heaven's Daemon.

When he joins us, I was thinking that I'd bring up the details for all of the 'discussed, but not profiled' characters -Lifen, Maramaru and Sakuya- so we can go over them and perhaps see what else we can/need to come up with for them. Sound okay to you?

[Heaven's Deamon]

Sounds good. And I agree, a group can really help to bring ideas together since each member would have their own perspective and could notice or think of things that the others might miss.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Alright then, I figure I might as well start detailing the three incomplete characters.

First up, we have Lifen. We were originally going to give her a "stupid" name ala how Taro wanted to be called "Awesome Taro" in the manga (he never says what he wants to be called in the anime), but communication kind of... broke down. Anyway, in terms of physical appearance & personality, Jupiah came up with this suggestion:

A hyper, athletic tomboy, with short spikey blond hair and blue eyes. She's arrogant, conceited, short-tempered, agressive and talks down to those around her. She thinks of herself as cool and mature, and heaven help anyone who disagrees. However, she can be actually be fairly nice to those who don't insult her or challenge her authority. Sort of like Asuka Soryu Langely, except even more arrogant, not quite as violent and much more mentally stable.

My own comments was that, from the start, I envisaged her a dominant/domineering type personality. She dislikes Yemon and makes no bones about it, a rivalry that started early in their lives. One vague idea was that part of the rivalry stems from the fact he's a natural leader, while she has to bully and browbeat others into obedience. Despite this dislike, Lifen is also conflicted as, deep down, a part of herself that she denies has a crush on Ranma's firstborn.

We decided eventually that Taro decided to "improve" his daughter shortly after her birth by giving her a Jusenkyo curse- and not just any curse, but a very powerful one. He ended up hooking up with a wizard, who promised to make him a unique batch of water for his daughter. He did so... but he cheated Taro (either deliberately or for some other reason, we never decided); rather than simply being naturally powerful like Taro, Lifen has to actually train her curse-form to acquire it's powers. We contemplated making the wizard into something of Taro's nemesis; Taro is always trying to get revenge, but he always manages to evade trouble, often slipping Taro a dodgy magic item or spell in the process.

Lifen's exact curse is as yet undecided: it was when we were trying to figure out what it could be that Jupiah vanished. Seeing as how I have a preordered copy of the 3 main books for D&D 4th edition, including the Monster Manual, does anyone object to my offer to examine the MM and see if there's a suitable form there?

Jupiah suggested some things for Taro's wife, which I'll repeat below along with my own responses, but I think we'll need to figure out just how Taro met Ranma & the Chinese Amazons and how he ended up getting mixed up with them; Ranma left before Happosai woke up, so while Taro might have a fight with Ranma & Shampoo before going to Nerima, he's got no real need to challenge them to a rematch after he fights Happosai. Jupiah suggested that Happosai might send him to take on Ranma as "revenge" for Cologne taking him, but how would Happosai find out about Ranma in the first place?

I would write him as actually living in Joketsuzoku with an Amazon wife; he "defeated" her on accident during a match with Ranma. Shampoo certainly considered an accidental KO from a sneak attack to count, so I'm assuming other Amazons might as well. And Taro is a really good fighter, a trait that Amazon women seem to prize above all others. Shampoo, at least, is willing to overlook all of Ranma's bad qualities because he's good at fighting, so I'll say that this woman did the same for Taro. She's just as power-hungry as Taro is, and helps him plot his schemes of vengeance and power, which often sound good but never actually work. Basically, they're they crazy neighbors that wake people up at night with maniacal laughter, and Ranma and Shampoo tell their kids to avoid.

Perhaps you could take it even farther. The Amazon he married was a childhood rival of Shampoo, and combined with Taro's hatred of Ranma, they've pretty much declared an unofficial bloodfeud against them.

I do like the idea Taro's relationship is still going, at least partially because his wife is as power-hungry and crazy as he is. Perhaps something of a joke is other villagers/Byankala natives commenting how surprising it is that they love each other so much- sort of a "match made in hell", if you'll pardon the term.

I'm glad you like my idea of making her parents power-crazed wanna-be super-villians SpaceKnight. You could have all kinds of fun abusing stereotypical "villain" behavior like plotting crazy schemes, maniacal laughter and giving them a habit of giving loud speeches explaining all if their ill-conceived plans. It's not even much of a change to Taro's character; in the manga he once proclaimed that he would take over the world with the power granted to him by massage beads! And of course, you could make fun of the fact that despite their grand ambitions, they're still pretty much your typical, albeit crazy, domestic family, and of how their daughter is embarrassed by their immature antics. That "match made in hell" line sums them up perfectly.

I think that's all of relevance for Lifen...

[Heaven's Deamon]

Now that I think about it, the "Taro's wife is a long time rival of Shampoo" thing could itself be used to get him back. if she saw how strong Taro was, and thought that with her "brains" directing his brawn (with an arrogant estimate of her own intelligence) they would be able to take on Ranma and Shampoo, she tries to fight him there, gets KOed, then follows him on his Happosai hunt. They eventually return after some time and have Lifen......

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Hmm... not bad, not bad at all. We still need to figure out how the Chinese Amazons heard of him in the first place... perhaps the Guide complained to them about being attacked, describing Taro as the robber, and some of them were sent out to stop him? There's various ways Taro's wife (we'll probably need to detail her as well) could have found out about Taro, but I think you can see them already. Hmm... perhaps she went with him to Japan, either before or after losing her "marriage match" to him, and she tried to help him win his name back, but finally she realised they didn't stand a chance against Happosai and actually Xi Fa Xian Gao'd him herself so that they could go home to China?

[Gideon020]

Hey there Chaos, nice of you to invite me. Right then, I suppose I should intro myself. I am Gideon020, its a pleasure to meet you all and I look forward to working with you to make this idea not only work but look good doing so. So then, what do you need me to form an opinion on? I've read most of this topic but I have the feeling you might want thoughts on something specific.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Well, at this particular early stage, we could use your input and commentary on the various characters we've come up, particularly Lifen, Marumaru and Sakuya, as we don't yet feel that these three are complete. Once they're done, we're going to start/resume building Ukyo & Mousse's son, and your input there is also appreciated/required.

[Gideon020]

Hmm, I think that someone like Lifen who usually bullies people into doing what she wants should have a rather inconspicuous curse that at the same time can be trained into something more powerful and when you mentioned the D&D Monster Manual I had a rather neat idea Chaos, why not give her the Eyes of a Beholder as a curse? That would certainly make her somewhat feared since she can project a blast of magic (random initially such as a petrification blast then suddenly she fires a beam of Serious Wounding before suddenly switching to an anti-magic field) with only having inhuman eyes as the major drawback while needing training to gain full control over her eyes.

I can't seem to pick up what seems to be missing from Marumaru or Sakuya though...

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Like I said, I think it might be best if we wait for me to get the 4e Monster Manual before we decide on a curse for Lifen. Part of the original "gimmic" for her though was that her form is just as monstrous as Taro's, and that her dislike of it is one of the elements that makes their relationship so strained (her embarrasingly tacky name and their "wigged out supervillain" behaviour being the others).

For Lifen, there are two elements remaining that we need to work out (besides her curse) before we can call her complete; just how her folks got together, details on her mother, and Lifen's fighting style while in human form.

Once we've got that done, I'll "compile" the data on Marumaru Kuno and Sakuya Gosunkugi (I got the name order reversed; her dad's given name is Hikaru, but he's generally referred to by his family name of Gosunkugi- like how Tatewaki is usually just referred to as Kuno) so we can give them a more detailed examination. That suit everyone?

[Heaven's Deamon]

Sounds fine to me.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Okay then, let's start with Lifen's family, shall we? Now, the first major problem is Taro himself: We know that he attacked the Jusenkyo Guide in order to retrieve the guestbook and find out just who was his midwife. That part probably wouldn't change. Now, here's the first question: should he have met Ranma & Shampoo (and, eventually, his future wife) before or after he went to Japan to search for Happosai?

[Heaven's Deamon]

I'd say before. I recall a comment that he was apparently starting with the most recent visitors and going back. Shampoo would be one of the more recent ones, with Ranma being shortly behind her on his list, so he would have reason to visit the village to find Shampoo, or where she might be. With her present, he gets into a fight which allows for meeting his future bride.