Ah. You could spin it either way, really i.e. she does the wish to better protect (and Mako seems like she's got some self interest there). But anyway.
Also not sure I agree on that typo correction. I could see it being correct your way but I think it still makes sense my way.
It doesn't make sense as is: maybe "It's helped you work out some of the issues with timing of teleporting in and raising the barrier on, and waiting to teleport out after the barrier is dropped."?
Like, I'm not sure what the 'on' is actually doing there, but it makes more sense like that (either that or 'turning the barrier on, and waiting etc?). "Raising the barrier and on" just doesn't make any sense to me.
No, because if we gain 8 more people, then that means that 8 vet months are freed up from other work, and I can spend them all on hunting in a one week period = 8 * 4 = 32 additional vets hunting for 1 week = 8 effective vet months hunting.
The other way to look at it is that an additional vet available to do work that means we can shift vets around, for example put additional vets on paperwork so that paperwork gets done a week early and then the vets who were doing paperwork are now available for hunting that week in Tokyo.
It's because you always made meguca months fungible unless it required a specific meguca, so thought that would be okay.
Although I admit this does assume that the new vets joined up at the start of the month. Which is why I asked if it was a safe assumption or not. If they only showed up half way through the month then they are effectively 4 additional vet months.
I see. I suppose this is a fair way of doing things then.
Though I'm only going to spot you 4 meguca-months for them, they didn't all come as a group but rather trickled in, so average half the month seems fair. Especially since instant integration of this sort is kind of iffy anyways. I mean meguca months are semi-fungible in your own group, but external groups have needed retraining. Many of your activities wouldn't be things they've done before.
It's helped you work out some of the issues with timing of teleporting in and raising the barrier and on waiting to teleport out after the barrier is dropped.
It doesn't make sense as is: maybe "It's helped you work out some of the issues with timing of teleporting in and raising the barrier on, and waiting to teleport out after the barrier is dropped."?
Like, I'm not sure what the 'on' is actually doing there, but it makes more sense like that (either that or 'turning the barrier on, and waiting etc?). "Raising the barrier and on" just doesn't make any sense to me.
So the idea is that the issues of timing around when you teleport.
This includes two separate parts. Teleporting in and raising the barrier after the teleport is complete. Second: lowering the barrier and teleporting out after it is down.
In this sentence I broke it down into issues (with) ... (and on). Two separate issues.
So the idea is that the issues of timing around when you teleport.
This includes two separate parts. Teleporting in and raising the barrier after the teleport is complete. Second: lowering the barrier and teleporting out after it is down.
In this sentence I broke it down into issues (with) ... (and on). Two separate issues.
No problem. Incidentally I've just gone through and done the other Prefectures of Tokyo. I went with HC getting Ibaraki, Nagoya getting Gunma+Tochigi+Saitama, and Chiba being left to the independents because it's easier to map then trying to split Tochigi in half, population wise, going off a map.
Speaking of which the map really makes it clear how we made out like bandits. Compare just how massive the area Nagoya is getting to SIMP's and then consider we are getting 1,130 Territory out of it compared to their 561. Running the numbers gives SIMP's Tokyo Expansion an average Territory size of about four square kilometers compared to Nagoya's 29.5 square kilometer.
Hm. I wonder what the Territory sizes are for all the individual Prefectures:
Tokyo - 675 territory @ 1,843km^2 = 2.7km^2
Kanagawa - 455 territory @ 2,598km^2 = 5.7km^2
Saitama - 362 territory @ 3,820km^2 = 10.6km^2
Chiba - 310 territory @ 5,593km^2 = 18.0km^2
Ibaraki - 148 territory @ 6,404km^2 = 43.3km^2
Tochigi - 100 territory @ 6,410km^2 = 64.1km^2
Gunma - 99 territory @ 6,380km^2 = 64.4km^2
Of course these numbers are rather deceptive since most the territory would be concentrated in dense cities rather then evenly spread out across the total area. Still it makes it clear that the SIMP's total area hasn't increased much relative to the increase in our maximum population (1,351km^2 to 3,194km^2 for ~2.4x the area) while everyone else has received these massive areas they need to defend.
Sounds pretty decent (as have the others) - more curiosity, where are you getting the numbers from (i.e. is that our hunting rate or something more general?)
so theoretically you could get 1 girl per 20k people. Obviously in practice this isn't stable since she'd basically be living month to month and couldn't afford any excess magic use but it gives you the general idea.
Oh and something I stumbled across while looking for this quote:
Things have been all sunshine and roses for you, but you're still on an ultimately tiny scale. 28 Meguca out of ~5,000 in Japan alone, and a couple hundred thousand globally.
With our current Territory plus that of Kanagawa and Tokyo we'd be sitting on 1,212 GCUs of territory. So once we get to full capacity SIMP will account for approximately one fifth of all Magical Girls in Japan. One Fifth!
I was going to keep track of how much we withdraw vs. our limit, so something like 300k/500k, but decided against it. I apparently didn't fully delete that bit when I changed my mind.
Since it's looking fairly complete(ish), aside from needing to adjust the amount of Meguca Months as per inverted_helix's comment on only getting half due to them coming in at a trickle, I'm going to vote:
Interesting looking at the Osaka-area sections. If those were divvied up by prefecture, their populations would be a bit different than I'd been estimating, which was mostly based on the populations of just the cities of Osaka and Kyoto.
Osaka Junta - Osaka, Nara, Wakayama prefectures. Total territory of 560.
Heaven's Chosen - Kyoto and Shiga prefectures. Total territory of 200.
Republic of Japan - Hyogo prefecture. Territory of 280.
Of course that won't be completely accurate, because the border between the three is contested, and is likely in the city portion of Osaka and Nara. I'd probably drop the Junta territory down to 500 and have another 60 territory in the middle that no one really claims.
In any case, I had been under the impression before that the Republic of Japan was the smallest group of the area, so maybe more of the contested territory is leaning towards HC, or maybe the Republic doesn't have quite the full prefecture population in hand over there. Or maybe the prefectures just aren't really good borders to estimate with.
Also interesting is that, while HC was described as being boxed in, there's a bit of possible expansion area to their north, maybe. However the Junta is definitely boxed in at this point. They may have the highest population, but they're hemmed in on three sides by Nagoya, HC, and the Republic, with nowhere left to expand to.
Also interesting is that, while HC was described as being boxed in, there's a bit of possible expansion area to their north, maybe. However the Junta is definitely boxed in at this point. They may have the highest population, but they're hemmed in on three sides by Nagoya, HC, and the Republic, with nowhere left to expand to.
Well the Junta could, theoretically, expand into Shikoku. It's only a two hour ferry ride, $18.87 per ticket, from Wakayama, which is deep within their territory, and we don't know of any groups active there, although just because we don't know doesn't mean they aren't there.
As for HC; well while there is plenty of land they could expand into I'm not seeing any major population centers. All the nearby cities are only one or two GCUs in size. The closest major city I can find is Fukui which generates 13 GCU but that's 60km from the border of HC's current territory and 120km away from the center. Which is pretty significant considering her territory is only about 40km in radius. So I suppose she's boxed in in the sense there is nowhere she can really expand to without going massively out of range. Especially considering there are likely already several girls in Fukui.
Assignments for the 8 Vets that just joined:
(May be treated as a vet that joined being put on the combat team so that another experienced vet can be traded out for other jobs)
32 additional vets available for the 1/4 time hunt in Tokyo under protection. (32/4 = 8).
Should result in 31.68 additional cubes. (Or half that if we only get half time from the vets that joined).
*Moka. A little of both, yeah. My idea is that she at least knew Ichigo wouldn't be opposed to it, though I'm undecided whether it was more explicit than that. Ichigo would have made pretty much the same wish at that point actually. And this way Moka takes on the responsibility of combat even if the "risk" is the same regardless of who's piloting. Plus she's her own person as well as a protector and wanted to look like herself when she's on the outside.
[X] Plan Adjustments to Tokyo Clearing
- No problem with this.
[X] Plan Recruitment v2
- Making corrections and adjustments based on more limited meguca availability.
Accept Miho joining the Serenes.
1: Getting to know the Serene way (try to pair her with Seto for some of the time)
2: During the last week of planned hunting in Tokyo under protection of the interdiction device have Miho join us in the massive hunt. (Add 1 Elite to the hunt = .25 after 1/4 time adjustment = ~1.4 additional cubes?)
Accept the other 8 vets joining the Serenes (approximately half time, so 4.0 meguca months' worth)
8 additional vets available for the 1/4 time hunt in Tokyo under protection. (2.0 meguca)
1.0 freed up from units fighting in the Tokyo group (rotation). Have her contact and attempt recruiting of the vet in rural area 3.
1.0 freed up from units fighting in the Tokyo group (rotation). Tandem training for 4 healers.
Assignments for the 9 Vets that will only fight for Tokyo:
Join the Support Team to fight youma
Attempt to socialize them with the Serenes during the wait times
- Include attempts at teaching them tandem casting
- Make sure to have someone talk to the translator about the opportunities to work a steady job
Also have them join in the hunt in Tokyo under protection of the interdiction artifact: Expected harvest is 8.9 cubes, let them each keep 2 cubes from the harvest (effectively -9.1 cubes).
Invite them to join us again next month.
Used the 2.0 not available for hunting for recruiting the rural girl and tandem training 4 healers. (Only 8 more girls to have everyone possible be tandem trained. Hoping we can then have that as a natural part of our training upkeep.)
[X] Plan Counter Proposal Magick Corp v2
- Rewriting some bits.
Respond to Magick Corp's proposal with interest in the idea. However, there are a few concerns.
First of all, we do not want to have a perverse incentive to skimp on the amount of resources spent on our magical girls. Instead we suggest that the equity payment be made based on the amount of money transferred from our business over to our magical girl organization. Basically our gross income for the magical girl organization (after all business related expenses/mortgages are deducted). (NB: $37,500 this last turn) Given that we spend 70%-75% of our total income on member benefits, this would translate her 5% per million offer to about 3.5%.
Second, the exact costs the Serene will be facing in the near future are unclear, with current numbers merely being estimates based upon detailed scenario analysis. Therefore a fixed investment of X million is undesirable for both the Serene, paying a higher dividend then required, and Magick Corporation, incurring significantly more risk then necessary. Instead it is suggested a line of credit is established with an agreed upon limit, that will be available until an agreed upon time (such as three months after the youma and Beholder threats are eliminated), at which point the total withdrawn will be used to calculate the percentage of revenue shared.
Third, since the risk changes quite a bit depending on how far we have gotten in clearing Tokyo, and since we won't need much of the monies until later, we would like to suggest there be a staggered line of credit with different rates depending on the achievement of certain milestones. We would suggest that the first line of credit immediately available be for only $500,000, and because of the reduced amount we ask the equity purchase to be reduced to 3% per 1 million (or 1.5% if we borrow the entire $500,000). Once the Beholder oni is dead, an additional 2 million line of credit would become available, at the reduced rate of 2% equity per 1 million borrowed. Once all the youma have been cleared from Tokyo, a total line of credit of 4 million will become available, and any credit taken out at this point would purchase 1% of equity per 1 million borrowed. With the line of credit to close 3 months following the clearing of all youma.
Fourth, while we think this to be a very profitable arrangement for both sides, we think it wise to include some method of peaceably dissolving the arrangement. Perhaps a buy back option, where, in addition to repaying the initial line of credit, we would also pay some premium to represent the new value of the equity. We are open to details on how Magick Corp thinks it would be the most equitable to arrange this option.
And, as an aside from the monetary details, there is the ongoing issue of the refugees leaving the Tokyo area. This is problematic from many perspectives. Obviously we are doing what we can to take care of those who come to us; that is, after all, part of why we're asking the Magick Company for aid. Our previous discussions with the MC indicated that they hadn't had to deal with any refugees yet, but also that their ability to handle new refugees was rather limited.
While we are doing our best to limit such things, if they find themselves overwhelmed with refugees heading in their direction, they can send those they cannot care for themselves back towards us, and we will do our best to support their grief cube needs while we continue to clear out Tokyo. Alternatively, we may be able to secure areas that would allow them to hunt some of the Tokyo region relatively safely, until the youmas are cleared out.
Regardless, we look forward to continued good relations in the future, as we each build on our respective strengths.
Did a bunch of rewriting just to clean up the text. Had to completely redo the refugee segment because of various objections. The overall intent is similar.
Omake: A Message
Brown eyes opened, sharp even on the edge of sleep, and swept across the room, taking in the shadows softly cast from the dim glow of the nightlight. There was a soft whir of a fan running somewhere up above, funneling air to a ventilation shaft. Reaching out with her senses, there was no indication of demon miasma, nor other magical signatures. Miho let out a soft sigh, eyes drifting closed briefly before she heaved herself up out of the bedding that was laid out on the floor.
She reached over and picked up a small plastic lantern, turning the knob with a click that lit up the room much more brightly. Not that there was much to see. Barren brown walls, unadorned by any decoration except a crinkled movie poster showing a giant, white cartoonish character wearing a red scarf and a blue sailor collar, overshadowing four people at the bottom in white stencil. In the middle was the word, "Ghostbusters".
Her eyes flickered past that, then came to rest on a cardboard box in the corner. She walked across the floor and opened the box, rifling through the small handful of objects at the bottom, to pull out a few pre-packaged food items — a rice ball, a fruit cup, a boxed drink of strawberry milk — before returning to her sleeping mat. The room remained silent as she ate, with the soft hum of the lantern and the distant whir of the fans the only noises outside of wrappers being opened and food being chewed.
Despite her living circumstances, she looked surprisingly clean, unblemished by the dirt and soil around her. Her straight brown hair fell down past her shoulders, though as she finished eating, she used a couple hair ties to bundle it up into a pair of pigtails, making her seem younger and more childish. A deep breath, and she forced a smile across her face, only the contrast marking just how melancholy and dispirited she had seemed before.
Standing up, she pulled on a pair of boots, and then grabbed a long coat from atop another box — revealing a small art pad — and swung it around her shoulders. She brushed it out to be sure it was all settled correctly, before briefly flickering to a more adult form and checking yet again.
Satisfied, she returned to her younger appearance, and gave a half salute to the poster on the far wall, before walking straight at another wall that suddenly fell back into a staircase. As the light of the world above finally filtered down, she paused and quickly went back to turn the lantern off. With that, she firmed up into a more confident stance, and began her walk upwards. Moments later, the wall sealed back up, leaving the room once again lit only by the nightlight.
~~~
Miho shaded her eyes in the mid-morning light, as she stepped through the rusted gate marking the boundary to the property of a house that had clearly seen better days, its once-white facade now yellowed and peeling. The frame of a small metal fan glinted from where it was jammed into a divot in the ground, extension cord running off through the weeds. A dirty blue-and-white ball could be seen caught in the limbs of a small tree that rose above the wall's confines.
As she walked down the street, she thumbed through the pile of papers that she'd pulled out of the mail slot, slipping a couple grocery advertisements into a jacket pocket while the rest of the bundle was rolled up to be inserted into the trash deposit area with the rest of the recyclables.
This late in the morning, all the children of the neighborhood had already left for school, and most adults had left for their jobs. The street was quiet, and the clear skies made it seem rather relaxing. One might never guess that this was a city on the verge of collapse, ready to die due to the effects of the demons draining the life out of its inhabitants.
Miho herself could feel the effects, numbed though she was to the feeling after nearly a year of enduring it. She kept her cheery demeanor locked in place through force of habit, despite cracks beginning to show in the facade. The people she was likely to meet would be too depressed to see through the false mask. The only real worries were—
Miho's gaze snapped to the right as she passed a corner, the distinct signature of a magical girl ringing bright and clear. Miho's hand instinctively stretched out, gathering the strength of the stone around it as she focused on a figure in the distance. At least, that's where she was looking with her eyes; her magical senses were keyed up and searching out behind, around, and below her, trying to pinpoint where the ambush would come from, or at least be sure of the ground she would be using as a path for escape.
Meanwhile, the girl in front of her remained still, leaning against the trunk of a cherry tree that was just beginning to blossom. The slight glint of a polearm's blade showed her to be armed and ready, but she made no aggressive moves while Miho examined her. Long minutes passed before Miho finally sent a telepathic message: "What do you want?"
"Well, I'm not interested in a fight," came the reply — calm and delicate, but wary. "Just passing a message along."
"Oh really?" Miho answered back, sarcastically. "What's the glaive for, then?"
"You're not the easiest person to get ahold of, you know," the other girl rejoined with mild annoyance, ignoring the probing question. "I've been waiting out here for three days."
"Terribly sorry for the inconvenience," Miho shot back, not sounding sorry at all.
A breeze ruffled the trees, allowing a dappling of sunlight to highlight the green tones of the dress the other girl wore. "*Anyway*," the girl sent, clearly trying to get the conversation back on track, "Kia just wanted to wish you good luck when you go off to fight the youma."
Miho's eyes narrowed dangerously at that, while the sidewalk's cement rapidly rose up over her boots. "Oh, did she, now? Cheering for my death?"
"Not at all," came the quick reply, trying to head off the threat. "You've heard about the Serenissima's big move this month, right?"
"Of course," Miho replied testily.
"And last month they stayed out entirely, because the month *before* went pretty badly for them."
"I'd heard they'd done fairly well the first month. Enough for people to start running," Miho said, contempt clear in her tone.
"Well, you're not exactly in a position to get the latest rumors, are you?" the girl commented. "Point is, something bad happened, and they tried to cover it up with some pretext about 'better preparedness' or some such."
"Couldn't have been all that bad, if they're coming back."
"Or they're coming back *despite* how bad it was." When Miho didn't respond to that, the other girl continued, "And Kia figured there were pretty good chances that you'd try to help them out."
"And why would she think that?"
"Because that's the sort of person you are." At that, the unnamed girl straightened up, dismissed her weapon, and turned to walk down the street away from Miho.
"And why isn't she here to say that herself?" Miho shouted after her, no longer using telepathy.
"Because she wouldn't be able to keep her foot out of her mouth when talking with you." Miho could practically hear the girl's eyeballs rolling from that tone of exasperated fondness.
~~~
The door opened, and the girl with green hair entered their current hideout, only to pull up short as she almost ran into a rather angry-looking face.
"Where've you been?" Kia asked. "You've been disappearing all week!"
"Just out for a stroll. Ran into Miho, and had a little talk with her." Hitomi pushed past her to set her coat down across the back of a chair.
Kia's eyes shot open at that. "What the hell? How—? She would have torn you apart!"
"If we'd fought, certainly," Hitomi answered, pulling out cups and tea from the cabinet. "We did manage to avoid that, though, so no need to worry."
"Damn!" Kia collapsed back down on the couch. "Seriously, don't do shit like that," she admonished, running her hand through her hair. "You'll give me a heart attack. What'd you talk to her about, anyway?"
"Well, you'd mentioned her last week when we were talking about the latest push the Serenissima were making this month. Turns out, she might be joining them."
"That little hermit? No way! She never leaves that hole in the ground."
"Maybe. But as you said, she'd much rather protect her little 'hole in the ground' than run away. And if the rumors of the Serenissima are correct, it's not surprising that someone like Miho would be willing to work with them."
Kia snorted. "I'm surprised she was paying attention enough to find out. Damn. Bad enough those Imps are trying to get all the credit; now they've got girls joining up with their cause!"
"That's hardly new," Hitomi said, as she poured out drinks. "A lot of magical girls have been joining them recently."
"Pfeh. Just the newbies, is all," Kia said as she accepted a steaming cup of tea. "They don't count."
"All the same," Hitomi said as she sat down beside the other girl, "we should consider what the others here in the city are likely to do in the coming months. It's important to have a solid grasp of their motivations."
"Yeah, whatever."
So, Miho, and more of Kia and Hitomi.
NB: Taking Miho's design from Miho of Fancy Lala.
Miho seems the type to hunker down and dig in, defending her home to her last breath. She hates cowards. Her favorite movie is Ghostbusters, both for the parallels with her magical girl life, and the heroes fighting against impossible odds. She'd probably get along well with Sayaka. Her hobby is drawing.
Of course, she's also incredibly isolated, so doesn't hear all the latest gossip and rumors. Hitomi gave her the nudge that would take advantage of both aspects to get Miho to be willing to consider joining up with the Serenes.
Kia could be described as someone who's an excellent judge of character, with horrible people skills. Most particularly, she fought against many of the other elites during the great Tokyo wars, and has an instinctive grasp on what makes a lot of them tick. However she doesn't see how to apply that knowledge in the game of politics.
Hitomi, on the other hand, can recognize the insights Kia has about people, and occasionally puts them to use. It's not altruistic. In a potential future with Tokyo cleared, and Kia trying to carve out a piece for herself, an independent Miho would undoubtedly cause a massive clash, given their respective personalities. However a Miho that is part of the Serenes is behind the political curtain, allowing for more reasonable interaction.
You know @Elder Haman, now that we have two Elites who are allergic to Serena's aura, I'm wondering if a good use of their time would be to pair them up with the interdiction artifact, and do a separate joint strike force with the Nagoya team in the area, at least while the youma are still in singletons? That way we save Serena for later in the month when the youma are paired up and the danger is higher, plus it lets them contribute (I don't think Miho will be happy just leaving everything to Serena and a bunch of vets).
You know @Elder Haman, now that we have two Elites who are allergic to Serena's aura, I'm wondering if a good use of their time would be to pair them up with the interdiction artifact, and do a separate joint strike force with the Nagoya team in the area, at least while the youma are still in singletons? That way we save Serena for later in the month when the youma are paired up and the danger is higher, plus it lets them contribute (I don't think Miho will be happy just leaving everything to Serena and a bunch of vets).
You know @Elder Haman, now that we have two Elites who are allergic to Serena's aura, I'm wondering if a good use of their time would be to pair them up with the interdiction artifact, and do a separate joint strike force with the Nagoya team in the area, at least while the youma are still in singletons? That way we save Serena for later in the month when the youma are paired up and the danger is higher, plus it lets them contribute (I don't think Miho will be happy just leaving everything to Serena and a bunch of vets).
1: Why would Nagoya team up with us? They can just attack a youma themselves. Not all youma are teleporters. Plus we've never worked together in such a close fashion before.
2: Miho is on Nagoya's blacklist, so a team up with Nagoya is even more problematic
3: Who is going to power the artifact?
4: What is Serena doing while we are using the artifact elsewhere?
1: Why would Nagoya team up with us? They can just attack a youma themselves. Not all youma are teleporters. Plus we've never worked together in such a close fashion before.
2: Miho is on Nagoya's blacklist, so a team up with Nagoya is even more problematic
3: Who is going to power the artifact?
4: What is Serena doing while we are using the artifact elsewhere?
1. It allows Nagoya to not bother chasing around teleporters trying to find one that doesn't teleport (since most of them do now).
2. Problematic, but Nagoya likely won't care how we deal with our own. Miho might cause a bit of verbal trouble, but Seto can likely keep her in check.
3. Seto and Miho, with training.
4. We would rent a second artifact.
5. Things for later, assuming we can't easily blow through all remaining Youma within two-odd months time.
Actually I was rather hoping to put them into the rotation for this month. Right now we're having problems with the youma detecting Serena and fleeing before the interdiction field goes up. The solution to that is to have Miho, the Sakura twins, (maybe) Seto (though she'll be at a disadvantage with the teleport field up), and the Nagoya Elite delegation do an attack run or two instead of only relying on Serena. That way we can make up for the runs that we've missed so far this month without forcing Serena to step up her schedule.
Obviously we'd only do this until the youma started to pair up again, but it's a way for Miho to immediately feel useful, rather than telling her: "Whelp, you can't handle the Aura, so you're useless; here's a make-work job to do in the Village instead, and maybe we can have you do a little safe hunting at the end of the month." We've only had two attack runs so far, so it's barely the end of the first week; we've got time for her to make an actual difference too.
Actually I was rather hoping to put them into the rotation for this month. Right now we're having problems with the youma detecting Serena and fleeing before the interdiction field goes up. The solution to that is to have Miho, the Sakura twins, (maybe) Seto (though she'll be at a disadvantage with the teleport field up), and the Nagoya Elite delegation do an attack run or two instead of only relying on Serena. That way we can make up for the runs that we've missed so far this month without forcing Serena to step up her schedule.
Obviously we'd only do this until the youma started to pair up again, but it's a way for Miho to immediately feel useful, rather than telling her: "Whelp, you can't handle the Aura, so you're useless; here's a make-work job to do in the Village instead, and maybe we can have you do a little safe hunting at the end of the month." We've only had two attack runs so far, so it's barely the end of the first week; we've got time for her to make an actual difference too.
Pretty sure that nobody is qualified to power the artifact right now, which is why we're running it off of a battery and limiting ourselves to lure attacks.
Tamano Reki
An expy from Haibane Renmei. Her surname is taken from Hinagiku in Wedding Peach. It works because they're both angels! ...Of very different sorts.
Background: Experienced a lot of childhood trauma, which I haven't fully worked out. The important thing is that she can't remember most of what happened to her, and eventually ended up in an orphanage (or foster institution if that's the right word?).
Wish: To "fly away" from both her outward and internal problems.
Powers: She has full sized wings and a...column of light that's either a not very aim-able beam attack (and her only weapon), or a boost for getting height quickly. Or both? This is the "external escape" part of her wish. As for the internal part...
She paints. She can use this as a type of scrying: she'll often paint a scene based on some "vague idea" she has, and then the painting itself will come alive and show more of what's going on, kind of like a slow dreamlike movie. @inverted_helix I was hoping Reki could be one of the clairvoyants we picked up, assuming it makes sense for her to be a vet.
When she does her "magic painting," a strange effect almost like a demon miasma starts to form around her, getting more pronounced the longer she uses this power. Her immediate surroundings begin to warp and fade away, replaced by objects and landscapes half hidden in the mist (it usually involves deserted train tracks and tall grass). And there's a sense that if you wandered around in that world long enough, you could find a dark forgotten secret. (This would certainly be the base of her Witch Barrier, pre Madokami.)
Hoshino Nadeshiko / Nagihiko.
This character is bigender--much like yours truly, and hence very fun to write! The two gender identities have separate names but are not separate personalities.
An expy from Shugo Chara. Her surname is taken from Utau, another character in the same series, and doubles as a slight Sailor Moon reference.
Background: From a family who takes their (feminine) Japanese Dance tradition Very Seriously. Any boys who study dance are expected to live as girls even outside of their lessons, to better understand the art. Playing this role was very important to Nagihiko--e.g., he was afraid to play basketball because people might see him jumping too high and suspect he wasn't really a girl. (My fellow feminists and trans folk: let's ignore the problems with that assumption, shall we? ) So when QB showed up...
Wish: To have such a good disguise as "Nadeshiko" that no one would ever suspect him. As to why QB approached a boy, Nagihiko thinks that either he got confused by Nagihiko's role as Nadeshiko ( he's extremely proud of his efforts if so) or, more likely, QB assumed Nade/hiko's gender identity was at least partly female. In fairness, he was right.
Powers: Nade/hiko can call on both forms, but changing takes energy and when transforming she automatically switches to female, so she stays Nadeshiko unless they have the cubes to spare. Her weapon is a decorative fan.
Nagihiko (Untransformed)
What I find highly amusing is, that is his actual transformation in Shugo Chara (yes it has magical boys do you see why I love it).
Momomiya Amu
An expy from Shugo Chara. Her surname comes from Ichigo in Tokyo Mew Mew, coincidentally also pink-haired and a main character.
Background: Friend and classmate of Nadeshiko, and recent transfer into the latter's school. She had a pretty normal life, with few problems. However she is painfully shy, which led to her being incorrectly worshiped pegged as a "cool and spicy" lone wolf.
Wish: To express her true self. Her true self comes in four flavors, representing each of her dreams: peppy jock, quiet artist, gentle cook, and charismatic idol.
Powers: Bit of a Jack of all trades, as long as said trade fits with what she considers her true self. She can cook, but not as well as a dedicated chef; she can draw, but not as well as someone who made an art related wish. These aspects are mainly supposed to help her get better on her own.
She has a base transformation, but it and her weapon alter depending on what aspect she's using. Her soul gem is a milky opal usually. But when she uses an aspect, her gem takes on a faint sheen of that aspect's corresponding color. The mark on her soul gem and fingernail looks like a four leaf clover at first glance, but each leaf is shaped like a different card suit. (This is literally just me trying to weld Amu's Shugo Chara powers into the setting in a way that I hope makes sense. A fun challenge to be sure! Same goes for all of them. I've tried to nerf her sufficiently, but I may also try to justify it by giving her pretty good potential.)
Base Transformation: this except white and less heavily themed. She can alter the details and colors depending on which aspect she's using. (Canon Amu had transformations for each of her other aspects, including a combination of all four that I was originally going to use as the base, but as much as I love her ridiculousness I decided those outfits were a little too silly for my purposes.)
Furukaze Ririka
An expy from Higurashi and Umineko. Her surname comes partially from her original surname--Furude--and partially from my attempts to make it sound sorta like how "Bernkastel" would be said in katakana.
Background: She's lived through an unspecified amount of Very Bad Shit. If plausible, I'd like to have her contract be in the late 80s. Anyway. Ririka is the sole survivor of her village, which was destroyed by...I want to say a dam accident or a virus outbreak (both of those would fit her expy source).
Wish: You know how QB's pitch is "There's almost no chance of you escaping this on your own, soooo...!"
Well she heard that and went "No matter how small, I want to find that chance and achieve it! I want the power of miracles!"
Powers: I'm a little worried about stepping on the other chanceguca's toes, but hopefully it's distinct enough. She can make miracles happen, either by setting up a chain of events that will lead to the desired effect, or outright brute forcing the result she wants (this takes more magic, obviously). She can do this as long as the probability of it happening is not zero (although after a certain amount of post decimal zeroes, as in "There's a .000000000001% chance I will wake up on the moon," her magic assumes "basically impossible"). The probability also has to be less than 50%; otherwise it's not a "miracle."
I'm thinking her weapon is a big ass kitchen knife. Because you know. Higurashi.
She's the sort of vet who probably could make Elite, but hasn't IC because power lets her coast along well enough and due to aforementioned Very Bad Shit she regards most things, including her powers, with boredom or apathy. She hasn't OOC because this is helix's playground and he gets to decide who makes Elite.
Takanashi Ichigo / Takanashi Moka
An expy from Rosario+Vampire. Both girls are Moka in the original, but that's confusing so I gave the pink-haired one a different name. Her surname comes from Dead Master in Black Rock Shooter. Ichigo is the "kotoriasobi" (little birds at play), while Moka is the "no hawks."
Background: She was bullied very badly in school, and has DID. Moka is the protector personality.
Wish: Moka made the wish (to look like herself when she's on the outside), and consequently she's the personality that transforms and fights.
She made the wish knowing that Ichigo wasn't opposed to it, though I'm undecided whether explicit approval was given. At that point Ichigo would have made pretty much the same wish, anyway. And this way Moka takes on the responsibility of combat even if the "risk" is the same regardless of who's piloting.
Powers: Temporary conjuration of objects "from the inside" (basically, things she associates with herself as Moka). Her weapon is mainly just a swift kick and the power of Mysterious Aloof Girl.
The other part of her power is giving me problems, as I'm not sure if it makes sense or is op. But it does fit with her wish, so the current version is this: Moka has a personal bubble dimension, which represents where she "lives" when she's not piloting or watching Ichigo. This dimension may or may not include a black mansion and a red moon. *shifty eyes*
I...may be slightly nervous at the time of posting this. I'm gonna hit post anyway. ....Now.
Tamano Reki
An expy from Haibane Renmei. Her surname is taken from Hinagiku in Wedding Peach. It works because they're both angels! ...Of very different sorts.
Background: Experienced a lot of childhood trauma, which I haven't fully worked out. The important thing is that she can't remember most of what happened to her, and eventually ended up in an orphanage.
Wish: "To find out why." She's not entirely sure what this means herself, so she can't be more specific even if she wanted to.
Powers: She paints. She can use this as a type of scrying: she'll often paint a scene based on some "vague idea" she has, and then the painting itself will come alive and show more of what's going on, kind of like a slow dreamlike movie. @inverted_helix I was hoping Reki could be one of the clairvoyants we picked up, assuming it makes sense for her to be a vet.
When she does her "magic painting," a strange effect almost like a demon miasma starts to form around her, getting more pronounced the longer she uses this power. Her immediate surroundings begin to warp and fade away, replaced by objects and landscapes half hidden in the mist (it usually involves deserted train tracks and tall grass). And there's a sense that if you wandered around in that world long enough, you could find a dark forgotten secret. This is supposed to either be a deterrent to using her power too long, or just a cosmetic effect that other girls find unsettling.
Hoshino Nadeshiko / Nagihiko.
This character is bigender--much like yours truly, and hence very fun to write! The two gender identities have separate names but are not separate personalities.
An expy from Shugo Chara. Her surname is taken from Utau, another character in the same series, and doubles as a slight Sailor Moon reference.
Background: From a family who takes their (feminine) Japanese Dance tradition Very Seriously. Any boys who study dance are expected to live as girls even outside of their lessons, to better understand the art. Playing this role was very important to Nagihiko--e.g., he was afraid to play basketball because people might see him jumping too high and suspect he wasn't really a girl. (My fellow feminists and trans folk: let's ignore the problems with that assumption, shall we? ) So when QB showed up...
Wish: To have such a good disguise as "Nadeshiko" that no one would ever suspect him. As to why QB approached a boy, Nagihiko thinks that either QB "mistook" him for a girl (he's extremely proud of his efforts if so) or, more likely, QB assumed Nade/hiko's gender identity was at least partly female. In fairness, he was right.
Powers: Nade/hiko can call on both forms, but changing takes energy and when transforming she automatically switches to female, so she stays Nadeshiko unless they have the cubes to spare. Her weapon is a decorative fan.
Nagihiko (Untransformed)
What I find highly amusing is, that is his actual transformation in Shugo Chara (yes it has magical boys do you see why I love it).
Momomiya Amu
An expy from Shugo Chara. Her surname comes from Ichigo in Tokyo Mew Mew, coincidentally also pink-haired and a main character.
Background: Friend and classmate of Nadeshiko, and recent transfer into the latter's school. She had a pretty normal life, with few problems. However she is painfully shy, which led to her being incorrectly worshiped pegged as a "cool and spicy" lone wolf.
Wish: To express her true self. Her true self comes in four flavors, representing each of her dreams: peppy jock, quiet artist, gentle cook, and charismatic idol.
Powers: Bit of a Jack of all trades, as long as said trade fits with what she considers her true self. She can cook, but not as well as a dedicated chef; she can draw, but not as well as someone who made an art related wish. These aspects are mainly supposed to help her get better on her own.
She has a base transformation, but it and her weapon alter depending on what aspect she's using. Her soul gem is a milky opal usually. But when she uses an aspect, her gem takes on a faint sheen of that aspect's corresponding color. The mark on her soul gem and fingernail looks like a four leaf clover at first glance, but each leaf is shaped like a different card suit.
Base Transformation: this except white and less heavily themed. She can alter the details and colors depending on which aspect she's using. (Canon Amu had transformations for each of her other aspects, including a combination of all four that I was originally going to use as the base, but as much as I love her ridiculousness I decided those outfits were a little too silly for my purposes.)
Furukaze Ririka
An expy from Higurashi and Umineko. Her surname comes partially from her original surname--Furude--and partially from my attempts to make it sound sorta like how "Bernkastel" would be said in katakana.
Background: She's lived through an unspecified amount of Very Bad Shit. If plausible, I'd like to have her contract be in the late 80s. Anyway. Ririka is the sole survivor of her village, which was destroyed by...I want to say a dam accident or a virus outbreak (both of those would fit her expy source).
Wish: To find the way out, no matter how difficult.
Powers: Revised to simply a teleporter. Her delusions of grandeur are entirely her own fault.
I'm thinking her weapon is a big ass kitchen knife. Because you know. Higurashi.
Takanashi Ichigo / Takanashi Moka
An expy from Rosario+Vampire. Both girls are Moka in the original, but that's confusing so I gave the pink-haired one a different name. Her surname comes from Dead Master in Black Rock Shooter. Ichigo is the "kotoriasobi" (little birds at play), while Moka is the "no hawks."
Background: She was bullied very badly in school, and has DID. Moka is the protector personality.
Wish: Moka made the wish (to look like herself when she's on the outside), and consequently she's the personality that transforms and fights.
She made the wish knowing that Ichigo wasn't opposed to it, though I'm undecided whether explicit approval was given. At that point Ichigo would have made pretty much the same wish, anyway. And this way Moka takes on the responsibility of combat even if the "risk" is the same regardless of who's piloting.
Powers: Temporary conjuration of objects "from the inside" (basically, things she associates with herself as Moka). Her weapon is mainly just a swift kick and the power of Mysterious Aloof Girl.
She also has something rather like Taya's "realm of stars," if I understand it correctly. In Moka's case this realm represents where she "lives" when she's not piloting or watching Ichigo. It may or may not include a black mansion and a red moon. *shifty eyes*
I've actually very intentionally kept things very low power for a magical girl universe in this quest. This is because I'm trying to craft a world with large numbers of them that still has resource constraints.
If you have tons of even moderate power level magical girls around resource constraints break down rather rapidly.
This is a case where I've designed the setting to fit the story I want to tell. (Which I must tell you is insanely hard for me because I world-build universes with no stories intended for them all the time. I have dreamt up a magical world with the equivalent of an oil crisis (if the oil was a sentient species slaughtered for power), and a soft-scifi world where a significant fraction of humanity has minor teleportation as a psychic ability but only a very rare few have strong enough ability to move something as large as a spaceship. But I have no idea for good stories in either of them.)
So I do ponder on power levels a lot in this quest to prevent giving you something crazy munchkinable. I don't just rule things out straight off without thinking.
Powers: I'm a little worried about stepping on the other chanceguca's toes, but hopefully it's distinct enough. She can make miracles happen, either by setting up a chain of events that will lead to the desired effect, or outright brute forcing the result she wants (this takes more magic, obviously). She can do this as long as the probability of it happening is not zero (although after a certain amount of post decimal zeroes, as in "There's a .000000000001% chance I will wake up on the moon," her magic assumes "basically impossible"). The probability also has to be less than 50%; otherwise it's not a "miracle."
This sort of thing is so outrageously strong that I could own Japan in like a week. Maybe a month if people were actively working against me. Inside a year I expect your rate of growth would slow down because there wouldn't be much left on the planet you didn't control.
Powers: Temporary conjuration of objects "from the inside" (basically, things she associates with herself as Moka). Her weapon is mainly just a swift kick and the power of Mysterious Aloof Girl.
The other part of her power is giving me problems, as I'm not sure if it makes sense or is op. But it does fit with her wish, so the current version is this: Moka has a personal bubble dimension, which represents where she "lives" when she's not piloting or watching Ichigo. This dimension may or may not include a black mansion and a red moon. *shifty eyes*
Temporary conjuration is no problem. The bubble dimension I'm not sure where you're getting at. I mean it sounds like it could be just a Virtual Reality she lives in (similar to Taya's interactive starchart). Unless you're trying to combine the conjuration with the pocket dimension to do something crazy like summon a moon.
Powers: Bit of a Jack of all trades, as long as said trade fits with what she considers her true self. She can cook, but not as well as a dedicated chef; she can draw, but not as well as someone who made an art related wish. These aspects are mainly supposed to help her get better on her own.
This doesn't seem too much of a problem to just put under miscellaneous either. It basically seems like the equivalent of being decent at everything, rather than supernaturally good at one thing.
Powers: Nade/hiko can call on both forms, but changing takes energy and when transforming she automatically switches to female, so she stays Nadeshiko unless they have the cubes to spare. Her weapon is a decorative fan.
Powers: She has full sized wings and a...column of light that's either a not very aim-able beam attack (and her only weapon), or a boost for getting height quickly. Or both? This is the "external escape" part of her wish. As for the internal part...
She paints. She can use this as a type of scrying: she'll often paint a scene based on some "vague idea" she has, and then the painting itself will come alive and show more of what's going on, kind of like a slow dreamlike movie. @inverted_helix I was hoping Reki could be one of the clairvoyants we picked up, assuming it makes sense for her to be a vet.
This one is also a bit too strong I think. Mostly because you're combining two powersets. Flight with weaponized thrust, and Clairvoyance are pretty clearly divided. Either one would be a decent power set, together they're a bit too much.
Though side note on Reki is that she looks far more adult than most magical girls in setting.
cities
(Eldar meaning "Elves" in Quenya/High Elven.)
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