I must admit that another reason I favor the "wanted ads" idea, is the prospect of writing a humorous scene where Nel assembles the (currently-available) team and explains having received this paradoxical flyer with mysterious interdimensional properties that even the Shades (who again, are themselves pan-dimensional in nature, not entirely within reality as we know it) are stumped by... And then someone, most likely Masami, asks them if they have actually read what is written on it.
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I think the next step should be taking some time for everyone to get caught up on everyone else's stories that we will be working with, along with writing the aforementioned audition/introduction snippets. While we have had a great deal of discussion in here, enough to hopefully get a good grasp of the broad strokes of one-another's stories, I would still prefer to read them directly to get a firmer feel for the style and characterizations. (And the snippets can be a good way to also showcase elements important to the crossover but that have not yet appeared in the main stories, as I am considering doing with Reiko.)
However, rather than letting the thread fall into silence while this is happening, to both keep up interest and make sure everyone is on the same page, perhaps we could make something of a loose book club of it?
Oh, I like it when the mascots/patrons of the magical girl freak out due to magic that they can't explain.
I will freely admit that part of the idea for Mathurine was inspired by the Toymaker from the latest Doctor Who episode, especially the "Spice up your life!" Scene. So if you think a wanted ad is going to freak out the Shades, I expect their reaction to Mathurine is going to be even more drastic, especially if she evolves to be the Big Bad in a future sequel.
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Doing a loose book club thing to allow us to catch up with the stories that will be part of the crossover sounds like a good idea too! I know I have a lot to catch up on myself.
Here is a prospective list of the illusion-world characters and what fairytale roles they would have.
Crossover:
Nanase - Lady-In-Waiting
Ayaka - Usurper
Fool Bloom:
Koyomi - Court Sorceress
Miyako - Sorceress' Apprentice
Yumemi - Evil Stepmother
Hibiki - Dark Prince
Phantom Ascension:
Kikuko - Dressmaker/Ghost
Midori - "Pied Piper" Abducting Fairy
Hotaru - Wandering Good Witch
A Magical Anomaly:
Fillia - Wise Mentor
Something Wicked:
Zaiyu - Damsel Princess
Sasori - Loyal Knight
Kyoko - Evil Witch
Rose - Diva?
A Little Vice:
Invidia - Role-Stealer/Changeling or Cinderella
Avaritia - Big Bad Wolf or Fairy Godmother
Gula - Knight?
如願以償:
Hayate - Castle Guard
I feel I am missing characters, but this is what I could easily find or remember without hunting too deep. Please let me know what else to include or any corrections I may need to make.
Thanks for the list! Having the characters divided by story is very helpful. Now all that is needed is add the story writers to each section, a link to the stories themselves, and links to character art if any, and we are good to go! I'll get round to do this myself once I am back at my desk at home at the end of this week.
I guess the only other characters to add in the crossover section is Mathurine as Jester, and Gloriana as the Royal Princess.
Thinking about it, I wonder if Usurper is a suitable role for Ayaka, since technically speaking she is not trying to usurp Gloriana's throne or Nanase's role as Conductor. Given that Ayaka uses Nanase to escape her home responsibilities, and that she is hunting down Nanase, perhaps a more appropriate role is the "Huntress"?
I may have to make a BGM compilation post later on. But in the meantime, I finally wanted to get around to that 'things to save for the sequel' list I said I'd make. Let me know if I've missed anything in the discussion:
- Magical Girl Parallel Inversion, The Core of One's Being, Ice Cream Ladies, and Fruit of the Shadowflower as possible new crossovers
- Detailing the other Magical Girls in Ayaka's world
- The newt-fused Nanase becoming a MG or at least MG mascot herself
- More background on Huli (possibly more focus on Ayaka's scientist father?)
- Going into the pre-Nanase Conductors the Val sans Retour had before it blew up, and the forms Gloriana took for them
- More intertwining of the crossed-over worlds, e.g., how the Estil, Shades, and Pathragadans interacted back in the day
- More delving into the exact nature of the God of Fantasy and Reality
Given the first story hasn't started yet, obviously this list isn't set in stone.
Thy-Robocop also suggested this as a plot for a possible sequel:
I do have a problem with it though, in that it sounds a little too 'the same, but more'. But obviously we should focus on said original for now
I'm curious where you got the Ice Cream Ladies bit from? Ice Cream Ladies was a follow-up to the Maho Social project that I tried (and again failed) to run (my track record ain't looking good so far…), but I think a lot of the discussion we did for that was done outside of the forum, so I wonder where you came across the term?
But anyway, Charlene and Lucia are the spiritual successors of my Ice Cream Ladies idea, so once I've actually published their main story (outside of the story I plan for the brief crossover to this project) them I would definitely be happy for them to join too.
For Nanase and the familiar. Instead of the familiar being barely sentient, it could just decide to pass on the power to her and then fade away. I think it would be affirming for her to be specifically trusted and chosen as someone's successor.
For fairy tale inspiration. How about a bit of The Ice Queen? The mirror that only shows life's ugliness, and is the cause of Kai going away with the Queen and isolating himself. The mirror could a portal to the wasteland hidden away into the depths of the castle, in an area where the bleed over is stronger as you go deeper. Hmm, I kinda like the idea of the transition being gradual, so maybe instead have and intermediary are filled with mirrors?
And mirrors in the kingdom could sometimes show weird things, the cracks in the fantasy or things that would drive people away from reality.
Huh, I'm accidentally recreating some elements from Omori. The mirrors usually show the party happy but sometimes shows them scary and distorted. The mental world is divided into the pleasant fantasy Headspace, the blank White Space, and the nightmarish Black Space, that holds the traumatic events.
Those sounds like good ideas, but does raise the question on what Nanase herself will be doing in the story, and what role she fulfills as Lady in Waiting. Which does also raise the question as to what she was doing when she was playing the game with Risa.
I guess I was still stuck with the concept of Nanase being the real magical girl and Ayaka the doppelgänger, where Nanase was suffering as a magical girl, so she built herself a safer fantasy for her to live in, and Gloriana is taking care of her. With Nanase now being the doppelgänger, and with her being the copy of a haughty Ayaka, her personality and motivations for the story will likely change as well, and she may be taking a more active role than what a "Lady In Waiting" role would suggest.
I'd still think that she'd still be deferring to Gloriana as Risa was the more extroverted risk-taker of the two, and the one to bring her out of her shell, so Lady in Waiting would still be the role she gets, but it would be a much more active role in the game. Perhaps Risa was a Knight in the game, and when Gloriana took on her aspect, she became a Warrior Princess archetype, caught between the responsibilities of ruling the land and her lust for adventure. Meanwhile, as a nod to Ayaka's ability to create constructs to fight for her, perhaps Nanase was a summoner in the game (elemental? Perhaps Ice Constructs to match the Ice Queen archetype you suggest), and maintains that role as the Conductor. What do you think?
Thank goodness I haven't started on the fairy tale snippet yet, otherwise I'd have to rewrite it again…
