Inter-VersaLoli
Delusional Aspiring Writer
- Location
- Singapore
Am I the only one who's seriously annoyed by the common characterisation of PT Boats (and probably other boats of comparable size) as non-sapient dogs? To me that just breaks the theme of anthropomorphic ships (anthropomorphism = the adding of human traits and characteristics unto a non-human thing/being), and it also misses many possibilities for unique characterisations.
I mean, I know the blue-water navy played a part in the Vietnam war, but it was rather distant from the main action, as far as I understand it. The ones I'm more interested in is the brown-water navy, who actually fought directly against the VC in the jungles themselves, supporting infantry and amphibious assaults, throwing around napalm, and all that other stuff.
If they returned as girls proper instead of animals, I could see quite a bit of friction and culture clash between them and the blue-water, WWII girls. Vietnam, after all, was a radically different conflict than the "Good War", after all.
The way I envision it, these riverine girls will start appearing right around the time that several Abyssals get it in their heads to start hiding out in the small, easily-defensible corners of river deltas and basins like the Mekong, Yellow, Yangtze, Ganges, Mississippi, etc.
Your standard ocean-going shipgals get sent to root the buggers out, but they fail miserably, for the same reason that you don't just sail battleships into rivers. Or use them in COIN operations.
Now, given that a Shipgirl is actually quite a different unit from ships-that-we'd-recognise-as-ships (a.k.a. hulls), you could justify it by making Sparkly Shipgirl Bullshit prevent or heavily impede the passage of your garden-variety sea-going Shipgirl in shallow-water conditions, due to it being "wrong" and them being "not designed for such conditions" (despite the fact that these girls seem to displace less water than a canoe when using their rigging).
But whether it makes sense or not, these small bands of Abyssal guerillas have forced humankind to send in their mundane river-craft up the rivers to deal with them. And you all know how well normal craft tends to do against Abyssals. <makes a throat-slitting motion>
So, finding themselves with their backs to the wall, humanity desperately calling back any riverine ship to help. And what the USN got, in particular: A bunch of foul-mouthed, Jimi Hendrix-blaring, insubordinate, boonie-and-jungle-jacket-wearing lolis that seem even smaller than the very smallest of destroyers.
(Yes, I'm just piling on the Viet-vet stereotypes here, but there'll be time for more nuanced characterisation later)
Or maybe they just summon themselves, saving a hapless cargo ship or attack craft from a sudden ambush. The point is, their here and they're ready to kick Abyssal ass.
As for what distinguishes them visually from the other ship types, that's something I'm still unsure about. I don't think it'll be a good idea to make them even younger than the already damn young-looking loli-stroyers.
So, thoughts?
I mean, I know the blue-water navy played a part in the Vietnam war, but it was rather distant from the main action, as far as I understand it. The ones I'm more interested in is the brown-water navy, who actually fought directly against the VC in the jungles themselves, supporting infantry and amphibious assaults, throwing around napalm, and all that other stuff.
If they returned as girls proper instead of animals, I could see quite a bit of friction and culture clash between them and the blue-water, WWII girls. Vietnam, after all, was a radically different conflict than the "Good War", after all.
The way I envision it, these riverine girls will start appearing right around the time that several Abyssals get it in their heads to start hiding out in the small, easily-defensible corners of river deltas and basins like the Mekong, Yellow, Yangtze, Ganges, Mississippi, etc.
Your standard ocean-going shipgals get sent to root the buggers out, but they fail miserably, for the same reason that you don't just sail battleships into rivers. Or use them in COIN operations.
Now, given that a Shipgirl is actually quite a different unit from ships-that-we'd-recognise-as-ships (a.k.a. hulls), you could justify it by making Sparkly Shipgirl Bullshit prevent or heavily impede the passage of your garden-variety sea-going Shipgirl in shallow-water conditions, due to it being "wrong" and them being "not designed for such conditions" (despite the fact that these girls seem to displace less water than a canoe when using their rigging).
But whether it makes sense or not, these small bands of Abyssal guerillas have forced humankind to send in their mundane river-craft up the rivers to deal with them. And you all know how well normal craft tends to do against Abyssals. <makes a throat-slitting motion>
So, finding themselves with their backs to the wall, humanity desperately calling back any riverine ship to help. And what the USN got, in particular: A bunch of foul-mouthed, Jimi Hendrix-blaring, insubordinate, boonie-and-jungle-jacket-wearing lolis that seem even smaller than the very smallest of destroyers.
(Yes, I'm just piling on the Viet-vet stereotypes here, but there'll be time for more nuanced characterisation later)
Or maybe they just summon themselves, saving a hapless cargo ship or attack craft from a sudden ambush. The point is, their here and they're ready to kick Abyssal ass.
As for what distinguishes them visually from the other ship types, that's something I'm still unsure about. I don't think it'll be a good idea to make them even younger than the already damn young-looking loli-stroyers.
So, thoughts?
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