By this point, I'm satisfied I more or less understand the state of Britannia's weapons laws. By now, I'm just fishing for excuses for some of the non-combatants being trained and armed.
Particularly Shirley. If Billy versus SNAKEMAN is anything to go by, in canon she died on suspect grounds. The higher end of what I'm thinking of is weapons training, being prepared for death, and a pistol in her room. Lower end is just dying well.
It's available, if she's interested and willing to cough up the cash. But in a society with a fairly low crime rate like most of the first world, not everyone has the interest. Even if you're perfectly free to carry a weapon around wherever you go, not everyone thinks it's necessary or fun to take advantage of it. I would consider it wise, but then, I spend half my week learning how to use a sword, so I'm not exactly a representative sample.
I assumed but may have neglected to explicitly state that I was working off Britannia owning all the North American colonies. Yes, I forgot about south and central american gold, but one cannot eat gold. I was more concerned about Craftsmen and arable land under cultivation. I figure that Britannia could not simply buy or hire enough of these from Europe under the cognate of The Terror, no matter the gold. If the colonies had the population density that this wouldn't be a problem, I imagine that they also had the population to support another round of the Revolution.
I still figure they did the whole partial downsize and settle onto land thing, but that is just my pet theory for my own WSoD, when I haven't been reading enough PI AARs.
Arable land is highly accessible. The Americas consistently had better food sources than Europe around the colonization period (the locals were consistently taller and prettier than the explorers - according to the explorers - because they actually had enough to eat, and Mesoamerica had some incredible plants that they bred from almost nothing: see, tomato, corn). So food supplies are not only okay, but better than.
Craftsmen would have been harder. Which is a good part of the reasoning behind the Numbers/Honourary system. Don't just conquer them, integrate them, make 'em feel Britannian, proud to be Britannian, and part of your efforts as you go on to the next region.
Britannia didn't have total control of the continent at the time of the transfer, nor were they the sole European presence. But they were the dominant European presence (mostly in USA/Canada), and since the Americas were their only holdings, they quickly strove to first achieve total European control, and then full control in general. The handling of other European colonies varied - some needed to be conquered, some were willing to sign over on the basis of 'at least they're fucking civilized'.
It could be both. Just because she is functional, mostly, does not make her sane.
She lives in a Tokusatsu world, with Mecha and, OOC, CLAMP was involved. And that is before Nasu is mixed in.
Yeah, the world's crazy and she's a 'suitable' part of it.
The political worldbuilding in Geass does not strike me as being as absurd as I find most Gundam, so either Sunrise was slacking off or your canon is a strong enough influence on me that it is leaking over into my watching experience.
Heh. Good to hear.
I'll admit that my view on the war between America and Japan is probably just as offensive from the viewpoint of many Japanese nationals.
If you mean in WW2, then possibly. But being offended doesn't really make 'em right. There were atrocities, racism, and general inhumanities on both sides, but Japan seems to have managed a fair lead on being worse to their 'Co-Prosperity Sphere'. (And opened the matter up, to start with, which is worth at least a few points)
Now that I think about it, isn't this pretty much the tack you are taking with most of the adaptation?
How so?
If you mean the general 'low military quality of the resistance pre-Zero', then yeah. They really aren't that good. I don't know whether it was intended, but it generally fits, and it allows me to note the 'horrendously unwise' things they do without having to pretend it's competence.
(They really did learn their tradecraft from spy movies. Where else would they find instruction without pre-invasion or foreign contacts?)
I dunno if it was CLAMP or Sunrise that was watching too much Tokusatsu when they put the show together, or both.
It's worth noting that Lelouch is, canonically, a fan of the genre. (In one of the side materials - the one touching on Britannia's history, in fact - Suzaku commented that Lelouch used to watch that kind of show avidly)
He's less of a lone ranger this time around.
I had to say it.
You know, I think Nero would have been a patrician. If the Roman laws for Prostitutes and blonde wigs are anything to go by, I'd imagine the patricians would tend towards dark hair.
Nero, in the Nasuverse.
Maybe she wore a dark wig for her station, though. She certainly crossdressed to fit in to begin with.
More seriously, he hasn't really had the opportunity to change nationality.
That and he's a prince of it. Even if he can change the label, it isn't going to change where he's from, or what he feels about that background.
Seems a maturing experience.
The Holy Grail War tends to be that, doesn't it?
Britannia rule the waves.
Britons never, never, never shall be slaves.
Which they actually managed in this timeline!
Gil: Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of myself...
... I could actually see him singing that.
And was the holy Lamb of God,
On Englands pleasant pastures seen!
He was actually offered the job as Founding King of Britannia. The Temptation in the desert didn't get recorded quite exactly.
Nasty thought those.
Though as noted in the Wise Up, the First didn't plot out her life. Her life was fucked up by the same things that fucked his life up, and what little involvement he managed was (generally) positive.
An EMIYA Archer just isn't Archer without the tangy zip of a secret agenda hidden from his Master.
It just doesn't fit otherwise, does it?
That might be a problem, wasn't it Takara?
Yeah. Kallen's not exactly in a mood to be considering 'there was no humanly possible way to predict that outcome', and hasn't consciously cranked around to realizing it was up there to save lives. Honestly, if Takara realized the causal link, she'd be very distressed herself.
There is a case for enforcing enough law on the ghetto to require everybody to keep ID on them.
Quite feasibly, but it looks like Britannia mostly doesn't go in. Clovis's policy in administration was 'speed integration as far as possible', and leaving the ghettoes shitholes was one good way to make people inclined towards Honourary status and appreciating the difference between 'Japan' (the ghettoes) and 'Area 11' (the Britannian settlements). It also leaves a high breeding ground towards rebellion, which Clovis's administration kept muted to a dull roar through Refrain, and just killing any rebels that did manage to pop up.
In terms of 'unpleasantness for the populace', it's easily the worst policy (short of actively massacring them), but it is very fast for getting the region running economically, and Clovis was... not exactly gently-inclined towards the Japanese people, after the reported murder of his favourite brother and sister.
It's noted in-series that this left all the breeding grounds for rebellion more or less untouched, but the rebellion was basically manageable, just perennially violent. Honestly, the Japanese suffered far more from the rebellions and their suppressions than the Britannians did, until Lelouch took the helm - pretty much precisely as Clovis was inclined towards. And the use of drugs allowed a lot of the people most dissatisfied with Britannia to be routed into a drug-fueled stupor (and funneling their meager economic assets back into Britannia) rather than filling out the ranks of a rebellion.
Cornelia was generally changing the policy (it was noted that if she ever found out about the Refrain plot, she'd throw a fit) when she came in, but such things take time, and the policy change created general vulnerabilities in Britannia's social control over Japan... right at the moment Zero was rising. They'd have been covered over once the policy change took hold, but when you've got, for instance, a general shithole uncontrolled ghetto, and no drug line to keep the places placid, right as a charismatic rebel leader is rising... Cornelia seemed to be aiming for 'pacify the damn place, then work more slowly and sustainably towards full integration', though she spent like half her career as Governor-General finding about some new craziness Clovis had pulled and wrangling it around to her own vision. The records are a bloody mess, Clovis did not leave plans in place to explain what was going on to a successor.
This seems significant.
Not deeply significant, but Suzaku's been doing some work towards keeping the ghettoes running and helping the Japanese that way (not just by serving Britannia - though a significant chunk of his paycheck heads into the ghettoes, because he's not doing much with it). On his off time he meets with community figures, tries to resolve incidents where he finds them... He's vaguely aware of Risei being slightly magically active, but he tends to meet the Kotomines because they're community leaders in the Tokyo ghetto - so he can throw them a heads up on some aspects of what's going on in the settlement, keep a pulse on what's going on in the ghetto himself, and contribute help where he can.
Well, that raises some questions seeming as how Archer also ended up in Red and Black.
It's not hereditary, it just looks awesome.
A new tale of Finland is to be born,
it grows, it rushes, it wins.
I see someone's caught the hints regarding Takara's mother.
I forget if you've specified Merlin's parentage, but this might be fairly funny if Lancer is Apple, and we are talking about the granddaughter of the entity, not the entity itself.
Well, Merlin is half-demon, yes. As far as anyone knows, he has no relationship to Satan, but things in that sector are pretty vague, in general. (The magi community really has no fuckin' clue whether God exists, let alone Satan. Everyone's still gotta take it on faith if at all)
Actually, Lancer is the closest being to such - she's the one who tempted Jesus in the desert. She was looking for a proper King for Britannia, though in the end, he turned it down and Eowyn had to take up the role. (You may recall Lancer noting that Lelouch shook off her lust power faster than anyone but 'Yesh'. It wasn't the most hostile interaction. It involved 'dammit, eat, you idiot, you're going to starve like that' and the like, in the end they agreed to disagree and parted ways)
There are reasons for an empire to not station occupying troops in their nation of origin. If for nothing else than connections to the locals makes it easier to defraud the military by corruption with the locals. I remember that the Romans liked to switch things up that way.
That said, if Britannia is playing up the differences between the regions, they might gain a similar effect from Hokkaido troops in Kyoto, Kanto troops in the southern islands, and Okinawa troops in the north of the main island, and that sort of thing. Segment the entertainment channels between the regions, and play them off each other. City versus country, Tokyo versus outlying regions, more occupied versus less occupied, suggest that Kyoto and Tokyo be blamed for the failings of the last emperor, blaming Genbu's area of Origin for Genbu's surrender...
That could actually be fairly viable, though Britannia's policy is more inclined to making people willing to serve. They generally keep them (and their families) reasonably close to home, and use the general rhetoric of 'you're protecting your homes and families, you're just doing so under new management'. 90% of the time, Honouraries are used for exactly that - primarily to reinforce the Britannians against invasion from the EU and China (which is considered possible enough to take a lot of measures to keep that defensive force as large as feasible). Honouraries seeing use in suppression/occupation operations are actually fairly rare. It's only really happened in two cases in the series (one being the first episode, with Clovis in 'extreme emergency' mode and scrabbling up whatever troops he can, and the other being the general service of Suzaku).
There's still the potential of corruption, of course, but not really any higher than any military force that's garrisoning near their home region (honestly, a bit lower, because they know they're on probation and have to perform better than a pure Britannian to earn a passing grade). In occupation operations, the probabilities rise quite a bit, which is a fair part of why they're not used in such except for emergency cases (as well as the large hit on morale - and thus troop effectiveness - that's involved in 'fighting your own').
Good or Gold?
Either is appropriate, though 'gold' was used intentionally. (Ie, golden, a perfect option)
Wasn't it a charging station? Gas station implies either translation, or that Gasoline's energy density was enough better than alternatives prior to Sakuradite based batteries have an effect on the language.
Mostly it implies that I let an Earth-ism slip in. Thanks for the catch, corrected.
Maybe Britannia is doing something wrong?
Partially. It's regional. Britannia's knights specialize in high-mobility tactics, but knightmares bog down horrifically in the sand. Meanwhile, the MEF developed sand panels (aka, hovercraft) and are capable of using high-mobility tactics in that terrain, while Britannia has one of its main arms limited in use. Outside desert terrain, Britannia's knightmares are still entirely serviceable, but that's part of why the MEF stationed their last bastion in the Rub' al Khali (the world's largest sand desert) to begin with.
They were still managing, because their tank and infantry arms are solid and Cornelia is very good, but they were at a rather severe disadvantage in this invasion. By the time of this battle, they codeveloped knightmare-viable sand panels with the MEF resistance members who helped their invasion/liberation along.
The final battle at Wabar was a pure curbstomp - they were able to use their knightmares to flit around the battlefield as they were born to do, and the MEFAF was caught completely by surprise. (The proliferation of the sand panels was unknown, the Zhayedan who'd developed those methods of tangling with the MEFAF and use of sand panels were being phased to second-line duty since Cornelia doesn't like making the conquered die for the conquerors, and Cornelia's own personal guard was supposedly stationed in Syria. The MEFAF thought they were launching a high-mobility assault on a thinner-than-it-should-be siege line, and got ambushed by faster, lighter knightmares and cut to pieces outside their fortifications. It was damn good opsec.)
I've been having some trouble coming up with a song for this likely Master. 'We Three Kings' on the one had, and the Elvis Great Balls of Fire song on the other.
Either is fairly appropriate.
I have a vague recollection, maybe from a class. Weren't those the guys that only touched living things in order to kill them, or am I confusing them with a different group of mid eastern priests from ancient history? Or maybe I'm just confused in general.
Hm. I've not heard specifics about such a group, but, at the least, it's not the magi.
Grail War.
That does seem likely.
The guy in the grail, I presume.
I'm also getting a vibe of Clifford, the big red dog, and IIRC, Emily Elizabeth from her and her dog.
Heh. Nah. It naturally grows 'large enough to hunt bears'. Caucasian ovcharka (his name is Setanta, as roughly a three-layered joke). But yes, it's her familiar.
Mao comes to mind.
Indeed it is Mao. He's been, of course, on the trail of CC. Fuyuki was the last place said lead was, and he's currently trying to figure out where the fuck to go from there.
I like the justification here for some of Cornelia's seemingly obnoxious behavior.
It seemed the most likely cause. She's 'cold and sharp' in public, but whenever it's just her and Euphie, she goofs off and dotes on her just as much as you'd expect of an older sister.
Probably Euphie is already in contact with Archer.
Yeah. I'll be rewinding a bit to show that with Ch 6's opening. (I skipped it for this chapter because the chapter was fuckhueg already)
Time for more Paradox Interactive games can explain away WSoD issues.
Well, this is Vickie times, and not EU III, but if the EU were being played in EU, they would would have conquered Russia because of the danger of Britannia getting it via Personal Union.
They tried (see: Napoleon's campaign). General Winter is a badass, and a Russia that doesn't want to be invaded is really damn hard to invade. They managed it in the Eurasian War because of a PR victory - they toned down the generally racist tendencies and came in in support of a revolution (which they'd helped kick off to begin with) that was already splitting the populace.
Well, if they can do it inside of two years, then they must have already done the staff work. So it is less a matter of telling the future than it is telling secret information, or merely information that an informed person could work out.
That, and the information isn't directly tied to the paradox preventing Counter Force activity.
Those guys. I don't like those guys.
A rather common sentiment, I've found.
Not friendly, hah.
How do I put this? Due to various real life issues, mid-September or so I was thinking about a certain aspect of the Mongols.
To some extent, they might still be extant to a degree. I did a paper in school that partly touched on how the Mongols took over China and formed the Yuan, literally original, dynasty. But case I've just put together for that just now is dubious, and mainly based on some of the mysticism. More on this in the china comment.
The mongols greatly valued the institutions of the embassy and the ambassador. They did much to promote these, and I dunno if they managed to help build lasting support and respect for those institutions.
Anyway, I wonder how different the institutions of international diplomacy are in geass world compared to our own. If they have formal hostages, that is a big difference, I think. Passports, Visas, consulates, embassies and ambassadors? I figure australia would have diplomatic relations with everyone, and a person might be able to get from one power to another by way of there. Perhaps Takara, Isabelle, and Sorin came that way? Does the EU have relations with Britannia? Do they have a consulate in Area Eleven? Does Switzerstralia? Does Britannia allow any official foreign presence in Japan?
Embassies and ambassadors are approximately as they are in our timeline, with diplomatic immunity and such. Hostages are an older practice, and they're only really practiced on the national level by monarchies anymore (who would a democratic nation that can ostensibly have anyone in the hot seat four years from now send?). Same with diplomatic marriages. (One of the last hostage exchanges, prior to Lelouch and Nunnally, was the last Japanese Emperor handing himself over to China to end the Pacific War, and Genbu Kururugi tried to do the most recent diplomatic marriage with Nunnally)
The EU does have relations with Britannia, though they're generally rather frosty, and can get quite theatrical sometimes. (Think 'Soviet Union storming out of the UN debate on the Korean War out of protest' theatrical, and probably semifrequent 'accidental' violations of one anothers' airspace and fishing rights and such)
Most nations had embassies in Japan, though after the invasion, China, the EU, and the MEF were the only ones to maintain them (partially to attend to 'sakuradite share' issues, and partially as a sort of taunt). Australia doesn't maintain a Japan-specific embassy, but they do, as noted, have relations with all major powers and a lot of minor ones.
Foreign presence is permitted, and even mildly armed (not enough to hold out a determined military incursion, but enough to prevent Benghazi-like problems). That said, it must be registered, and Sorin's a 'name' as mercenaries go, so his presence would be cause for concern if anyone found out.
In terms of entry, Australia isn't really the best route. Rather... it is, but because it's such a good route for sneaking things in, it's heavily watched, and any non-Australians who come in that way are given a few extra once-overs. If you're on the level, or if you can make yourself look on the level, it's more convenient to just come in directly from the EU - it's permitted, and an eye will be kept on you, but you're getting that anyway, and if you come in through Australia, you look like you have something to hide right from the outset, and blow time to do it.
Sorin and Isabelle took a slightly zany route - they went to the Britannian mainland, slapped up mindfuck spells to look like a Britannian businessman plus wife, and then popped into Japan (as 'Britannians', they minimize their attention from the Britannian security services - they're actually still looking for where his last identity disappeared to, on the mainland).
Takara, for her part, just flew in straight from Italy - she's young enough to avoid most attention, and 'half-Japanese EU citizen seeking her roots' is an easy, pre-made story that leaves her getting attention, but fairly cursory. Since she was known to be in Fuyuki during the 'incident', though, Britannian security has currently lost track of her and presumes her to be dead. More than most citizens of Fuyuki, she's considered a 'possible' agent provocateur, but it's still not a very high level of concern (given her age and seeming death), though it'll jump up a fair bit if they realize she's A: alive, and B: has jumped tracking.
There's also the hobo route - Sakhalin and hop a fishing boat.
Now this is apparently future history.
Indeed. It's not so much 'future history' that they're not able to dick with (I mean, Archer was allowed to show up at all in the canonical Fifth War). It's a much more specific paradox.
I've studied China a very small amount, enough to come up with a bunch of obnoxious questions about dynastic succession if I put in the effort. At the moment my main feeling is that the overall description seems very plausible. Yes, China has run through a bunch of iterations of Bureaucracy, but they have run into some very similar problems. Anyway, unless there are some very good reformers, I'm going to say 'fairly typical for late stage in a dynasty' and call it even.
I'm thinking it's most likely the Qing dynasty still running (extending about 50 years longer than our world). I'm not extensively familiar with Chinese history, but from what I can determine, the state of Europe didn't intervene heavily in China, so the butterfly took a while to travel that far. But the Qing dynasty fell, in significant part, because of the intervention of colonialist European powers. In particular, an alliance of colonialist European powers, including the UK and US. Britannia would be slightly less inclined to go along with the EU's program there, and would be entirely willing to prop up other nations in Eurasia to cockblock the EU's growth.
That said, as I noted, my familiarity with Chinese history is low, so it's best to handwave that one off.
I dunno, quite a few of the Chinese emperors have been effectively polygamous, and have put relatives in high positions, and still run into bunches of problems. I'm going to call this a handwave, and accept it.
108 wives polygamous? But yeah, mostly a handwave.
Maybe Archer can figure it out now?
Somewhat. Though the phrasing was 'seem likely to' - because it was a guess, it was able to slip through. Archer is taking note of the things he's being fed, and because of the 'whoo, you heard', he can tell that Zero is... somehow... connected to whatever it is that the First wants to tell him. So he knows 'keep an eye on it', for now.
I see much truth here in general.
Indeed.
Don't forget Antarctica.
No people, no evil.
a) Gundam folks would be good at making mecha pretty enough to forget everything else.
b) Slash-Hakens or however that is spelled are neat.
c) the landspinner or whatever the spur with wheels is makes my inner engineer recoil slightly less.
Interesting note, along my 'Britannia is totally Canada' mental track?
The landspinner is remarkably similar to Heavy Gear's secondary movement system (basically, tank treads integrated into the feet), and knightmares are around the same size as gears, with a similar 'back module' (in gears it's the engine, in knightmares, the cockpit).
Heavy Gear was developed by Dream Pod 9 - a Canadian company based in Montreal. (I've privately nicknamed the knightmare development group under the Ashford Foundation 'Dream Pod 9', obviously)
This modern druidism, or the original version which was human sacrificey enough that the Romans of the time couldn't coopt it?
Well, not the New Age reconstructionist type, but if we assume the sacrifice happened (considering the only sources are the notoriously propagandistic Romans, it's hard to tell, though it's certainly possible), they would have figured out that the sacrifice (a method of divination) didn't work at some point.
This isn't Archer is it?
Ah, no. When the Command Seals popped up, they scrounged up an instructor for her in 'bare bone magecraft' to prepare her for the Holy Grail War - he was supposed to get a cut of the Grail, but he absolutely freaked when he realized he was instructing someone with a geass connection.
Archer has been providing some instruction since he was summoned, but his magical properties border on the Lovecraftian, so he's not exactly the best teacher.
Hmm. Russia is perhaps due to fall by the time Charles and Marianne try to pull that off. Which leaves seven of nine under Britannian rule.
After the invasion of the EU and the Ragnarok plan came together, it was eight of eight (Lelouch blew up the Kazakhstan elevator, and Britannia captured the Russian and African elevators, and had a fair opportunity at getting hold of the London elevator in the moments before they kicked it off, considering the war that was on).
Right now, it's six of nine - Hampshire, Caribbean, Antarctica, Kaminejima, Iran (newly), and Kazakhstan (territorially it's in the Chinese Federation, but it's directly under the administration of the Geass Directorate, and is the center of their headquarters).
I'm more inclined to think it a matter of similar revolutions having similar results, rather than merely being a matter of example or implementation. I remember reading as a youngster a book by a Crane Brinton called something like Anatomy of a Revolution.
Yeah - and since the only way the EU had seen to work was the French, they did it similarly.
They have to handle it a certain amount. Applying police to a population is the big method for hunting down organizations raising fighters from them, and operating fighters within them.
Indeed. Not as extensive as they should be (Clovis was, as noted, operating on more of a 'let them come, and beat their swords into plowshares' paradigm), but Cornelia's trying to get them up where they should be.
Fanaticism and skill are different things, and some Japanese patriots might be biding their time. Kids can be useful fanatics for sheer lack of experience, but that also tends to make them less useful. People sometimes use child soldiers because their life experience prevents them from recognizing losing situations, flawed propaganda, or from being able to get out and away.
Indeed. If it comes down to enthusiasm, Japan has it covered. Seriously, there's a crop of rebels damn near everywhere you look.
It's just that having managed training is clearly rarer.
Also, the First and Second pacific are two losses in a row, which might well be extremely demoralizing. One of the big things with the Emperor of Japan is the whole direct male descent going back umpteen years. (The joke is that they have a magic y chromosome.) That sort of loyalist might have given up when there was no son to succeed the old Tenno. Suppose one knew that Lelouch had survived, and wanted to set him up with a daughter or other close female relative, or some other such scheme.
Also, there are potential regional differences. Tokyo is deep in central government control, and heavily urban. It is actually fairly difficult to run a covert movement of that sort out of urban areas. (Despite what some communists claim about it being THE way to do such things.) Basically, there are too many people around to terrify and control into keeping the secret, and too many people moving around.
Villages out in the country apparently work much better. This might especially be the case if there are enough ninjas floating around between the wars to set up and hide a bunch of hidden villages.
It is certainly worth noting that the more proficient rebel groups we've seen are based out in rural areas, with private strongholds. For one thing, it allows them to train extensively without having to worry about the local populace too much. (On the topic, it's worth noting that the other rural group we saw, Samurai Blood, was equipped with very WW2ey gear and uniforms)
The urban groups (such as the Kouzuki group the Black Knights started as) are more of a 'social club that has a vague idea how to use military equipment'. The Kouzuki group is the best of the lot, and we've gone over their deficiencies often enough. The Yamato Alliance morale-cracked and lost a potentially winnable battle because of it.
The resistance groups are generally known to operate in the ghettoes, and every so often a recruiter/demagogue walks around with pretty words, but so far the 'listening' has been fairly low, since most of the groups are straight terrorists. The JLF has a stronger reputation, because they're an honest military, and don't gun for civilians. (The hoteljack was a loss of control over subordinate officers, not official policy, but it's fairly likely that that, outright, killed them)
From what I've seen in the first season, I have doubts that the Britannians killed really huge amounts of the population in the invasion and early stages of the occupation. I'm just not seeing the level of routine cruelty and slaughter for that.
Yeah. Massacres are rare. The discipline of the troops is such that they'll do it instantly if ordered, but it's not often done. Shinjuku in the first few episodes was pretty much outright Clovis having a psychotic break, and he tried to conceal it from the mainland. And Saitama as you noted below, was explicitly an attempt to mimic the conditions of Shinjuku to draw out Zero's theatrical side.
On the other hand, I have also doubts that they've put a sensible amount of effort into Eleven oriented education and police work.
(Note that how the education system that is set up can also be fairly important for securing a conquest.)
It seems likely that they haven't. Honestly, we know so little about the conditions in the ghettoes. We have a fairly detailed look at most levels of Britannian society, but the Japanese, we almost never see except when they're actively rebelling.
But considering there's shanty towns and battle rubble out there, to the point of people living in tents, it seems... fairly likely that policing and education aren't really what they should be down there.
Comment about the bit where Lelouch meets his father after his mother's death: Charles must be a big man to
scare a kid that way.
Interesting part is, Charles was probably happy to hear that. Lelouch is his favourite - Chuck is a big fat liar.
Arthur is a funny name for a cat, considering Aturia.
I remember there was a 'Magical Girl Nunnally' fic where he actually was King Arthur (and her animal advisor, naturally).
Episode fourteen or so makes me want to rethink some of what I've said about Shirley and guns. On the one hand, I rather tools be used properly and skillfully. On the other, some of those shots I am unsure about wishing properly lethal. On the gripping hand, that plotline is AU by now, IIRC.
Yeah. It was dependent on her father being in Narita. But, well, it was General Bartley Aspirius (the big round guy) that sent them out to Narita, and Lancer eviscerated him (they are seriously cutting down the C-list villains fast). Doctor Fennette got sent out to Kazakhstan instead.
The picture of young Kallen in the first ending is heartbreaking. Watching that ending for the first time, with the knowledge I had of the series... Ouch.
Yeah, seeing any of the cast happy as children, when you know where the series takes 'em...
I like that Lelouch is using non-mindcontrol methods in this fic.
It's rather fun to see how he can work with more 'conventional' methods, and different tools.
Lesse, you had a comment about how European knight fighting methods often integrated grappling techniques? I had some thoughts about having read about Samurai and ancient Greek grappling. Also, as far as unarmed combat goes, armor can block strikes and cause throws to vary. Grappling and joint techniques work around the skeleton and will still be useful on enemies with and without armor. One can only train against so many variations of armor, so if a wide variety is possible, train techniques that can be used without it mattering so much.
There is a vast amount of that, yes. The most complete sample of medieval martial methods (the Flos Duellatorum) has grappling as its basis and starting point. 90% of what they cover are various grappling methods - joint locks, throws, and the like. It says 'use strikes', but it didn't focus on them much.
Mind you, strikes can work against armour. Similar broad concept as a mace - it doesn't really lose much of its power by being slammed into armour. Though you'd want to be careful to A: punch properly, and B: ideally wear gloves, because you're slamming your hand into a steel plate here.
Silly thought about a way to fill in between the lines in Renya. Renya might be a direct male line descendent of the Japanese Imperial throne. Claire might end up the next Empress of Britannia. Supposing they end up paired together, perhaps Lelouch has a legitimate claim on the throne of Japan.
Heh. That was part of Kaguya's gambit - she's not royal, but she was the closest thing to it, in Japan.
As is the question, if Elevens are Japanese, what are Fifty-ones?
Currently, nonexistent. Eventually... aliens? Britannia only just finished pacifying Area 18 when Cornelia left to take over Japan. (Area 18 appears to equal 'the entire Middle East'. It's a little hard to tell exactly what the criteria are, to be considered an 'Area')
Milly's Guts spell reminds me of SRW.
That... might be exactly what she was trying to do. SRW is a Bandai property.
I've found threads saved for Art of Love; Art of Death through chapter four, and The Shadow on the Other Side of the Mirror through chapter four. Looks like the Nanoha/X-Com and the WWII Grail war got eaten entirely.
Mm. I'm going to have to restart more threads when the activity kicks up again. Thanks.
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