Greetings again after a *long* posting absence (at least to the FFML),
Well; this is something of a test to see whether a couple of my old
ideas are worth my trying. A little over two years ago I posted this to the
list:
----------Forwarded Message----------
From: Mail/News Gateway <tdrn-ffml@magister.apana.org.au>
Subject: [FFML] [SM] Another 3 FF ideas for anyone who wants them
Message-ID: <tdrn-ffml.08-Sep-98.MM00A.3653@magister.apana.org.au>
Date: Tue, 08 Sep 1998 00:31:56 GMT
Well I'm not sure whether these three SM alternates can be used by
anyone but I found myself wondering on them last night and since I won't have
time to have a crack at them I thought someone else might be inspired. I was
just pondering on how a single change of circumstances might have made a huge
difference to Usagi's initial Sailor Moon persona and what happened
immediately afterwards. BTW, personally I like the third most and think it
has most potential; and the first least.
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1) Fairly dark.
Something went wrong at the moment Queen Serenity sent the souls of
her daughter and the Senshi into the future; perhaps because of the seven
shadows already being imprisoned within the Ginzuishou with the result that a
little of Metallia's evil was leached into the Senshi guises. The changes are
subtle (no evil as such) - basically in Senshi form they lose *all* restraint
although their morality doesn't change with the result that they become as
vicious as any Youma towards any evil and Beryl finds herself having to deal
with Senshi who revel in the destruction they cause her forces. The first
indication of this would be Naru's seeing Sailor Moon take some considerable
time and pleasure in tormenting (and gloating over) the first Youma (the one
that attacked her mother etc.) before killing her with the result that her
initial impression of the Senshi would be *very* different, as would that of
the general public as more saw just how brutal they could be to the enemy.
They would still be considered the `good' but would they be considered heroes?
Also, how would the Senshi themselves cope with guises that personified
warriors *without* restraint but which they knew they needed to protect
humanity?
2) Again, fairly dark.
At the moment of her imprisonment (sensing what Serenity intended for
her daughter and the princess's court), Beryl/Metallia placed a curse upon the
young Serenity and her Senshi, that should they be reincarnated in some far
future their lives shall be filled with nothing but pain and regret. Able to
subdue but not completely remove the curse, Serenity is only able to limit it
to their lives before their first transformation into Senshi; small
consolation she believes.
Tsukino Usagi, 14-years old and street-wise, lives in the orphanage in
which Mamoru also grew up and loathes the stifling confines and cruelty of the
world around her. Her only real friends in the world are two others in the
home, the two older girls with whom she tries to spend every moment she can
and whom alone she trusts in the world; Haruka and Michiru. Together they
form one of the two most notoriously independent and troublesome little
groups, the other consisting of their main rivals and special antagonists,
Minako, Rei and Makoto. The two groups have been traditional enemies ever
since they drew together as very young children in their first year in the
orphanage; and of course both groups (as do most others in the home) ignore
shy, cool Ami and her constant companion, the cold, aloof and very unnerving
Hotaru and treat both with contempt. The younger girls still attend Juuban in
this reality and to keep them at least partially in character Rei is being
trained at a Shinto shrine by a friend of her deceased grandfather who made
the request of him; Ami is still book-bound; Makoto still loves cooking etc.,
but it would be a much darker universe and altered by the initial long
hostilities and the outers being present from the start since it is under
these circumstances that Usagi finds Luna and Minako Artemis and the tale
begins. Also, all nine girls are used to nothing but hardship in their lives,
something that ceases to be a problem (at least so far as the curse is
concerned) only after each's initial transformation.
3) Potentially very dark.
The tiny baby was lost, helpless and very beautiful; and she could
bear no children of her own. Furthermore, Pluto insisted that although the
infant was not of the royal line she would fulfill the prophecy as the
greatest and most compassionate ruler ever to wield the Ginzuishou. For this
reason, the barren Queen Serenity took the child as her own, naming her
Serenity and granting her with the crystal's help, her own heritage as the
rightful successor to its power. Of all, only Pluto and her two most trusted
advisers (Luna and Artemis) knew the truth. Things progressed as expected and
the Silver Millennium fell, Beryl being banished with Metallia and her forces
to the Dark Kingdom; but alone in exile Beryl still pondered on occasion the
fate of the one thing she had ever truly loved and the source of her first and
greatest shame, the daughter stolen from her by the cursed Senshi of time, the
daughter given her of rape by her own half-brother (the son of her father by
the first wife who had died in child-birth) when she was barely fifteen and so
resulting in her banishment from her ancestral home in her father's grief on
the pretext of the shame she had brought upon the family name but in truth for
the loss of the infant he had begun to love far more than his own daughter.
So through Pluto's actions was kindled Beryl's first great hatred and thus her
fall into evil and the death of the Millennium; and Pluto intended it
(although I assume not for any evil purpose).
In our time, Tsukino Usagi has become Sailor Moon and fights the
forces with which Beryl hopes to conquer Earth; but the queen of the Dark
Kingdom dreams ever more of her lost child and the warmth and kindness of
which she once was capable while Metallia becomes ever more uneasy, sensing
the subtle changes within her puppet-ruler; and Usagi's dreams are themselves
ever more troubled. What would happen were Usagi really Beryl's daughter and
Beryl learned that and that she still lived before the end? Heaven knows, but
surely Nephrite hasn't soul claim to possible redemption and IMO it would be a
fascinating twist, particularly since I've seen nothing close to it in fanfic
so far?
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Well that's it. Do with any of it what you will.
Bye for now,
Craig
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At the time I thought I'd be continuing Dark Chronicles and so
wouldn't have time to do anything with these, but three years on I've come to
the conclusion that DC is dead without a complete rewrite of at the least ch.
1. While that's at last likely to happen, my first priority is _Thy Will be
Done_, a very dark companion story to Mark Latus's _Thy Kingdom Come_ and set
during the Overlord's occupation of Earth-Beta (for those of you who haven't
taken a look at his Dark Kingdom Renegades tales and the Sailor Moon Expanded
universe in general I could not possibly recommend doing so more highly).
While I intend to continue the development in TWBD of some original characters
whom first appeared in DC, I'd like to do something with at least one of the
above purely-SM ideas when I'm not working on TWBD. So basically, which of
the above has the most potential? IMO it's probably a choice between 2 (the
curse - growing up in the orphanage etc.) and 3 (Usagi being Beryl's
daughter), although 2 might now be a bit close to Sukeban Senshi (which hadn't
been posted when I posted the ideas) and I've the vague idea that 3 might also
have been done by someone since then? I imagine 1 and 2 being episodic and
3... Gawd knows ^_^ as it's less defined, and 2 being easiest to pull off.
Anyway, I'm interested in any suggestions and of course if anyone wants them
themselves feel free so long as I get at least a `thanks for letting me pinch
'em' ^_^ somewhere in the header.
Cheerio and happy new century (for 2001 that is :) ),
Craig