On further reflection, this is probably correct. The clear implication is that the, ah, weapon is a blunt instrument with a form factor very similar to a sword, yes. The word 'bokken' is used repeatedly, probably because it is familiar as a word for a blunt wooden training sword with the same form factor as traditional Japanese swords.
...
For reasons I will explain by PM if anyone is curious, I am not going to reply to more than three things said in Spart117MC's specific post at a time. This is not meant to ignore any particular thing Spart117MC said, and I hope to get around to responding to everything eventually.
No but if the Senshi lay out at the start, you the Amazons are not allowed to do so and so, and then some Amazon does it, it's completely within their rights to beat the sense into them.
Hopefully. On the other hand, lack of cultural familiarity may make this difficult, unless the "not allowed" things are extremely vague topics such as "no embarrassing us." Also, having to beat up every Amazon who causes a problem could get time-consuming, and may force us to make difficult adjudications as to which 'offenses' justify a beating and which do not.
Among other things, because while Sailor Moon is all about delivering punitive beatings in the name of the Moon, she usually reserves them for monsters trying to drain people's life force and destroy the Earth, not for some random superpowered Chinese villager who picked up a vending machine and broke it over her knee to access the contents because she didn't realize that it was private property.
The warship is a metaphor. That it's an object doesn't matter. That is not the point. The point is a massive chunk of firepower just defected on it's own. The point is that there was a mutiny that threatens the security of the nation. The point is that an irreplaceable resource that cannot be manufactured in anything short of years that is critical to a present crisis, has picked itself up and left.
But fine, let's change the metaphor, since the object thing is throwing you. The Amazons are nuclear scientists that know how to make nuclear weapons. Does that help to clarify the point I am attempting to make for you?
I think that a mass defection of nuclear scientists would be unlikely to lead to war, even as it is likely to lead to international incidents short of war.
Of course, this is in part because all prudent nations with a nuclear program have the sense not to threaten to murder their entire cadre of nuclear scientists and accusing them of being in league with the enemy. Because doing that kind of thing is exactly how you goad your nuclear scientists into defecting, exactly as we are now seeing with the Amazons.
Assuming that the PRC's leadership has not had their brains eaten by stupidity-demons recently, it stands to reason that the PRC has at best mixed feelings about keeping the Amazons around. Either they genuinely believe that the Amazons are complicit in the Dark Kingdom's activities, or they believe that the Amazons are in some other way problematic, or they are engaged in some kind of internal faction fighting that makes it politically convenient for one or another part of the PRC government to behave as though they believe one of those things. In any of those cases, the Amazons simply are not viewed in a simple, uncomplicated way as vital defense assets who must be kept within China at all costs. If they were, we wouldn't be having this conversation, because the PRC would have been making at least rudimentary efforts to keep the Amazons happy and treat them with respect. Assuming Cologne speaks accurately on the Amazons' behalf, then, the PRC must be less than fully enthusiastic about having them remain in China.
If the consensus position of the PRC were that the presence of the Amazons in China was vital to China's survival as a state, or to the stability of the PRC as a government, we would not be in this situation. China would not simultaneously regard the Amazons as so essential that their defection is worth risking armageddon for, and as so expendable or undesirable that it is in any way sensible policy to harass them until their leadership considers defection en masse as the only chance her people have to survive.
You're saying this about the PRC in 1992? The PRC three years removed from the events of Tiananmen Square? The PRC that in two years is going to start firing missiles into Taiwanese waters because the United States let the ROC president visit his alma mater?
Why yes, yes I do. However, this is complicated, and I think that to adequately explain what I'm getting at would involve many hundreds and hundreds of words of political discourse.
My underlying point is that, all self-righteousness aside, governments do value a reputation for not actually invading anyone over stupid things or in pursuit of goals that cannot feasibly be remedied by any means. Even apart from the enormous dangers of a nuclear war, a reputation for invading neighbors outright results in all one's other neighbors becoming quite paranoid and resolving to see to their defensive arrangements, resulting in a lot of trouble on all the other borders. Russia is seeing this now with Ukraine; all their other neighbors are now galvanized to take action to protect themselves because Russia cannot be trusted to leave the neighbors alone.
Why yes, yes I do. However, this is complicated, and I think that to adequately explain what I'm getting at would involve many hundreds and hundreds of words of political discourse.
My underlying point is that, all self-righteousness aside, governments do value a reputation for not actually invading anyone over stupid things or in pursuit of goals that cannot feasibly be remedied by any means. Even apart from the enormous dangers of a nuclear war, a reputation for invading neighbors outright results in all one's other neighbors becoming quite paranoid and resolving to see to their defensive arrangements, resulting in a lot of trouble on all the other borders. Russia is seeing this now with Ukraine; all their other neighbors are now galvanized to take action to protect themselves because Russia cannot be trusted to leave the neighbors alone.
China has built up a lot of goodwill and soft power over the course of the cold war. they have been sponsoring proxy wars against so called imperialism, positioned itself as a non aligned power against both the soviets and the us and has been in a diplomatic offensive to make sure taiwan is not considered a nation at all. A Invasion would wipe out all that worldwide soft power they carefully built up over the years, and unlike ukraine the us has been willing to defend it for years now Even in the Taiwan Strait Crisis the missiles that were launched had no warheads cause the chinese didnt want to start a war. China even in real life had no intention of starting a war
I am gonna finally lay to rest the insanity of trying to attack taiwan
Compare this to the US fleet over the Cold War the us in 1993 is currently in the drawdown phase because the soviet union just collapsed But it still has enough ocean going blue water ships to absolutely wreck the chinese. in a
in addition taiwan is a defenders paradise. It has two monsoon seasons, meaning that there are only two months where the seas are calm enough for an invasion. In addtion eastern taiwan is comprised entirely of cliffs, making amphibious assaults impossible there. Meaning that it is very predictable where and when the chinese are going to land. You could leave only a token garrison in the east and it would be fine. The Size of the invasion would make dday look like childs play. Taiwan also has the capablity to shelter its airforce and army in the mountains. Meaning they can switzerland style last stand or conduct guerrilla operations there if necessary. Those Guerrillas will mean that china will have to occupy a angry populace with a large garrison for a long long time.
The Council Room
The Star Palace
In stationary position over Soleggiata
Soleggiata System Regnumagia Galaxy
Approximately 2.576 Million Lightyears from Earth
On the first day of every month, the twelve Supreme Guardian Nymphs gather at the Star Palace in order to discuss the events of the previous month, the affairs of the many worlds of the galaxy that they are watching over, their plans for the coming month, as well as any other issues and topics that one of the Guardians of Regnumagia believes that the others would be best informed of.
Today is the first of Nonon, which means that this meeting is the one closest to the beginning of the school year across the Solyarn Alliance, and in addition to the many other responsibilities that the Guardians have, the guardians each carry a position on the Board of Trustees for one of the three Grand Institutes on the Alliance's capital world.
Because of their positions in these schools, this particular meeting each year has long since become the meeting where the Guardians discuss the upcoming school year, and what it might bring. Any particular students that have managed to attract the attention of the ancient gods, or any changes that they have been workshopping to the requirements for admission or graduation.
And that discussion about graduation requirements is exactly what causes Virgo to leap to her feet, slamming her hands down on the center table. "Absolutely not." The winged guardian of Eraklyon growls out, glaring across the table.
"Capricorn, that suggestion is far and beyond the pale." Aries says, shaking her head "Forcing the Enchantix form to be a graduation requirement for Alfea is completely unreasonable."
The horned guardian of Linphea, glances over to Virgo. "There's no need to shout, however." She says, before turning back to Capricorn. "The problem is that of the Fairies that have graduated from the College in the last two hundred years, less than five percent have managed to achieve the Enchantix form over the entire course of their lives."
"I know that." Capricorn says, crossing her arms. Leaning back, the other horned nymph huffs. "And that is exactly why I want to introduce it into the curriculum."
"Each year the graduates seem to be getting weaker and weaker. Less and less ready to defend the realms in case something happens."
A beat of silence.
"I've just got a bad feeling." Capricorn admits, glancing away from the others. "Something is changing, and unless we start to get ready for it, we won't be ready. The last time that I felt like this…"
That brings silence to the entire table. Sixteen years ago, Capricorn had a similar feeling. A sense that something was happening, something was changing. At the time, the feeling seemed to be related to the attack on Magix by the Guardian's ancient enemy, Darknest…
In the aftermath of the battle however, the Guardians discovered that the Kingdom of Sparks… and the entire planet of Domino had been wiped clean of life, transformed into a barren wasteland of ice and snow. That was the day that the guardians failed in their most sacred duty - The protection of Regnumagia's Galaxy Cauldron, a power known to the rest of the Galaxy as the Sacred Flame.
For a time, the Guardians worried that the Flame had been extinguished, that their galaxy was doomed, and that no new star seeds… That is, no new Souls could be born.
That however is quite provably false, which means that the Sacred Dragon Flame lives on. Somewhere. Still, just the mention of Capricorn having a feeling of change is disquieting. Something is about to happen, and something is about to change. What exactly, none of the Guardians know for certain.
"I could be convinced to toughen up the graduation requirements." Taurus says, the last of the Guardians acting as a Trustee for the Alfea College for Fairies says, rubbing her chin.
"However… I agree with the others. Trying to introduce Enchantix to the graduation requirements immediately will simply mean that there are no new graduates from the college until something goes disastrously wrong. And when it does there would be no guardians to stand against it."
That point takes a bit of the wind from Capricorn's sails, the other nymph going quiet as she thinks about what it would mean to essentially cut off all graduates from one of the three schools that exist to provide protectors to the worlds of their galaxy.
The Specialists of Red Fountain, and the Free Witches of Cloud Tower should theoretically be able to continue keeping the peace, but each of the branches of the defensive forces have in times of strife relied on both of the others for support and the ability to handle particular issues that the others simply lack the means to handle.
"Speaking of Red Fountain, and more the schools in general… This incoming class is something interesting, isn't it?" Gemini says with a twinned over laugh. The dual bodied nymph of Oppositus both leans forwards, cupping her chin across her intertwined fingers as her other body leans back, kicking legs up on the table.
"We've how many royals coming in this year, spread across the three schools?"
"Close to two dozen by my count." Pisces says with a huff. "Unfortunately, despite the offer Tressa hasn't accepted the offer to study at the College." None of the Guardians are supposed to have a planet that they care for more than the others, as Grand Guardians they are overseers of the Galaxy as a whole, but here in the Star Palace each of the Nymphs allow themselves to be a little more honest.
And it is of little surprise to the other Nymphs that Pisces wishes that the merfolk of Andros interacted with the rest of the galaxy more than they do.
Aries jolts up, a grin crossing her face. "That reminds me, did you hear that there is a fairy coming from Saman to join the college."
There is a short moment where both of Gemini's bodies glance towards one another. "I might be stepping on a few toes." One body says.
"But I asked Faragonda to see about putting young Fafa in the same part of the Dorms as Zennith's young princess. Both worlds are quite technologically developed, but Saman has been rather… recalcitrant to forming any political bindings with the other worlds, given their own particular situation."
Scorpio pulls nervously at the front lock of her hair. "Hmmm… There's also the young princess of Dyamond arriving at Cloud Tower. I feel that she is going to require a careful hand. Revenge is a useless endeavor."
"I only hope that the Headmaster of Cloud Tower can guide her away from a heedless search for power."
The Guardian Nymphs are ancient, and they have learned a great many things across the eons that they have lived, but one of the most important is the fact that it is their role to protect the galaxy as a whole from threats not within, but without. And in the end, the Shaman who attacked Dyamond was from the Regnumagia Galaxy, so it is not the place of the Nymphs to interfere. Even when she turned the world to ice and frost, transforming the citizens there into strange creatures she calls Daimons.
The only reason that the Guardians would have to interfere would be if that Shaman of Dyamond decides to expand her reach and extend out into the rest of the galaxy. It has been years since that happened, and so far the Shaman has been willing to stay on her own world, ruling over her strange subjects.
There is another moment of silence as the Guardian Nymphs worry for the young Princess and her future before Leo coughs, drawing attention to herself.
"Not to turn our attention away from the schools, but I was wondering how the efforts on Gardenia are going?"
The blue haired Nymph has always been the one to have her eyes furthest out, thinking and planning for decades ahead of her, even when she was younger.
Scorpio shakes her head, nervously tugging at her forelock again. "Not well… We've managed to reintroduce a few smaller species back onto the planet… but for the most part any species that requires a large amount of magic to thrive quickly die out."
Aries rubs at an eye, thinking hard."There's almost no magic in an entire parsec, almost perfectly centered on Gardenia's sun. More than just no magic, it's almost like the magic is being… Undone somehow."
"It could have something do with the lack of belief in the local population." One of Gemini's bodies says, while the other body shakes her head. "But I think that there might be another explanation. Whatever the cause… I think that we may need to investigate. It isn't healthy for a planet to be so bereft of magic the way that Gardenia is."
Capricorn is quiet as the other discuss the magicless planet, before she shakes her head. "No. Or rather. Not yet. There is something that must happen, and we should not interfere. Once that happens, then we should have a path forwards towards undoing the curse on that planet."
"Curse?" Leo asks, blinking in surprise. "What makes you say that?"
"I… Don't know."
Leo growls, rolling her eyes. For the Nymph most likely to plan ahead, the fact that it is not her that has the power to see the future is annoying. And for it to be on Capricorn, the Nymph most likely to jump ahead without thinking, and to throw together plans with no thought about what kind of results may accidentally come from them. Absolutely infuriating. With the discussion turning away from the schools on Magix and towards other topics, the focus of the meeting is shattered, and little by little the importance of the discussions starts to fade as the twelve guardians turn to gossip and fashion, wondering which political marriages might come soon, and eventually the Twelve Supreme Guardian Nymphs, the ones otherwise known as the Star Princesses start to leave, one by one.
Until Capricorn is the last. She turns her eyes to the sky, gazing through the darkness of space to another galaxy, far, far away. "I wonder if they've lost their Galaxy Cauldron? If not… What would their Cauldron say to ours?" Slowly, the prophet of the Nymphs shakes her head, turning to go about her ancient life the same way that she has for so many, many years. Stepping out of the Star Palace, the lights finally go dark…
Except for a single blinking light, attached to a small disk on the underside of the table, a pale gray and marked with the letter N and a blinking purple dot, set almost to look like the word 'No'.
After a few moments of silence, the recording device recognizes that there is nothing of interest, and shuts off. The words of the Nymphs having been recorded for another to listen to.
Hopefully. On the other hand, lack of cultural familiarity may make this difficult, unless the "not allowed" things are extremely vague topics such as "no embarrassing us." Also, having to beat up every Amazon who causes a problem could get time-consuming, and may force us to make difficult adjudications as to which 'offenses' justify a beating and which do not.
I think that a mass defection of nuclear scientists would be unlikely to lead to war, even as it is likely to lead to international incidents short of war.
Gosh golly, I wonder what such a tense situation could do to two nations that already have relations that threaten to break down into war. Could it be such a situation that brings other nations to the brink of war take two that are already at that point to actual war?
If the consensus position of the PRC were that the presence of the Amazons in China was vital to China's survival as a state, or to the stability of the PRC as a government, we would not be in this situation. China would not simultaneously regard the Amazons as so essential that their defection is worth risking armageddon for, and as so expendable or undesirable that it is in any way sensible policy to harass them until their leadership considers defection en masse as the only chance her people have to survive.
You know, all of your assumptions about how the PRC is dealing with the Amazons and how that translates to the PRC's feelings about the Amazons assumes one critical detail. It assumes the PRC knows that the Amazons can leave without being stopped by the PRC.
That is a huge fucking assumption to make. The PRC threatened to bomb the Amazon village by showing photo images of the village. That doesn't say to me that the PRC doesn't care about the Amazons, that says to me that the PRC thinks they've checkmated the Amazons.
You say the PRC's belligerence is a sign that they must not care for the Amazons, that they've got alternatives to them, and that they're not really that important in the grand scheme of things. That only holds true if the PRC believes the Amazons will just pack up and leave if they're pushed to a point.
You know what I think is happening? I think the PRC is just taking a page out of the Tiananmen handbook. The Amazons started giving them lip so the PRC did what worked three years ago, used the threat of violence. It's not that they don't care about the Amazons or that they're not useful, it's that the threat of violence works.
My underlying point is that, all self-righteousness aside, governments do value a reputation for not actually invading anyone over stupid things or in pursuit of goals that cannot feasibly be remedied by any means. Even apart from the enormous dangers of a nuclear war, a reputation for invading neighbors outright results in all one's other neighbors becoming quite paranoid and resolving to see to their defensive arrangements, resulting in a lot of trouble on all the other borders. Russia is seeing this now with Ukraine; all their other neighbors are now galvanized to take action to protect themselves because Russia cannot be trusted to leave the neighbors alone.
You're kinda missing the issue here that Taiwan isn't considered by the PRC as another country. Taiwan isn't another country, according to both the ROC and PRC, it's China. That's like saying everyone around North Korea is going to get fearful of North Korean imperialism if they absorb the South through military conquest. No they won't, not for that reason anyways.
Why the hell do you think I bring up the possibility of a conventional war with Taiwan but laugh it off when people were saying China might declare war on Japan? The two China's aren't even the only ones that have this as their official policy regarding China. The specific relationship and history between the ROC and the PRC makes it far more likely for a war to break out.
As for using the Ukraine as an example, I would like to point to another invasion by Russia, far closer to 1992 and which went generally unremarked in the international space, that being the invasion of Georgia. Why yes, I remember how Russia suffered heavily politically and become completely ostracized because of their invasion of the state. It's not like everyone more or less ignored it. Oh wait.
Yeah, one thing to note is that if this is happening in another galaxy, it's not going to be relevant until after we're a couple more seasons in and well into the space stage.
I have very little idea of what is going on but parts sound like they are from the Percure!INSPACE season with some things also from Winx... Also things happening to Galaxy Cauldrons is very concerning.
Though given this is in another galaxy this is more a concern for the background until either a lot of time has past or they come to us.
To quote the tvtropes page, "imagine Harry Potter combined with Power Rangers all tied up in a magical girl show." And some folks in the Discord mentioned the setting is pretty space opera.
Winx is a magical girl setting where a girl from Earth goes to a school for fairies on another planet. There's sister schools for boy prince warriors and also witches on this same planet. Each fairy has a theme because they embody a concept important to their home planet and is generally a princess of their planet to boot. Very Sailor Senshi.
Music, Technology, The Sun, Dragon Flame, Waves, etc.
The Council Room
The Star Palace
In stationary position over Soleggiata
Soleggiata System Regnumagia( Andromeda) Galaxy
Approximately 2.576 Million Lightyears from Earth
Short answer - They are Princesses in another galaxy that are supposed to be doing roughly the same thing that Selene was doing for Earth. They went a very different way and created something different from the Pretty Cure transformation to try and handle problems in their galaxy.
This was something that has been plaguing my brain for a while, and it is not my best work, but it was mostly to establish that Winx is happening, just in the Andromeda Galaxy, and that the Precure from Star Twinkle exist.
It's an Italian magical girl series, and in it's own canon the planet I have here as Gardenia is just Earth. But there are several things about that series and it's setting that don't work with how I have the Milky Way set up.
Not the least of which being Galaxia.
So I shuffled it off into the same galaxy as Star Twinkle. The first... five seasons of Winx are worth watching... but it's quality kind of backslides after that.
For the most part it isn't something that you guys will have to worry about. It can handle itself for the most part.
Winx is a magical girl setting where a girl from Earth goes to a school for fairies on another planet. There's sister schools for boy prince warriors and also witches on this same planet. Each fairy has a theme because they embody a concept important to their home planet and is generally a princess of their planet to boot. Very Sailor Senshi.
Music, Technology, The Sun, Dragon Flame, Waves, etc.
Winx is a magical girl setting where a girl from Earth goes to a school for fairies on another planet. There's sister schools for boy prince warriors and also witches on this same planet. Each fairy has a theme because they embody a concept important to their home planet and is generally a princess of their planet to boot. Very Sailor Senshi.
Music, Technology, The Sun, Dragon Flame, Waves, etc.
About the powers being tied to their home plant,that's techinally not true. All the series says is that fairies gain their power from a concept and that can be elements or stuff more conceptual.
