A more relevant question, is this the kind of series in which the plot happens at school sometimes? Because if Rose is going to recruit Pretty Cures from this school then that is a good chance for Rei to make friends with her schoolmates.
Not really, 3/4 main cures are from the same school but it is not a catholic school.
This is the season of pretty cure to blame for the global teams.
More likely to send the cures to Hawaii than school.
Also, this appears to be an OC HC fairy, not one of the ones from the show, so Rei/whomever would be a separate mini-team from the main characters in the show.
Unfortunately, "a wizard did it" isn't a reasonable answer in a setting where magic is treated as another branch of science. The question becomes "how did the wizard do it", because plausibly that question has a "legitimate" in-setting answer, even if narrarively that answer is just a lot of magi-techno-babble.
Well yes, but at that point you've moved one question to another question. Originally the question was "how could advanced magical energy storage devices plausibly hope to supplant fossil fuels?" Now the question is "how do we use magic to charge up a battery and then extract the battery charge in some more useful form?"
The history of machine technology can be seen as a succession of devices for turning forms of energy that are not very useful in and of themselves into more useful forms of energy powering a device to do specifically what we want.
The waterwheel, for instance, turns a flow of running water (useful for some purposes but not many) into motion that can power a continuous rotating motion (useful for others), and with a bit of mechanical cleverness into a rocking, grinding, thumping, or otherwise forceful repetitive motion (useful for still others).
As a sort of side note, among the big "killer apps" here that made the industrial revolution possible, we have examples of technologies like the gas piston (cloud of rapidly expanding vapor into linear motion), the turbine (stream of extremely energetic vapor into rotary motion), the dynamo and alternator (rotary mechanical motion into electricity), and the electric motor (electricity back into rotary motion, enabling much less lossy transfer of energy from point to point when combined with previous).
Now, it's obviously sheer speculation for us to discuss details of how the introduction of magic into technology could extend this process. But given who's in this crossover, and given that some of the shenanigans we see various magical girl villain groups carry out, it's hard to categorically rule out possibilities.
It's entirely plausible that there are ways to sustainably generate seemingly free energy. Energy from some unobjectionable source we do not normally think of as a literal energy source in real life. Perhaps there is a way to generate magical energy from tedium, from clever static arrangements of rocks, from the sheer broforce of a bunch of enthusiastic bodybuilders, or some other such thing. Perhaps, on a sufficient scale, we can generate power by the gigawatt in this way. Perhaps a combination of such energy sources could sustain a civilization, even.
There may even be exploitable loops that (if suitably maintained) permit 'perpetual motion machines:' systems that generate more raw mechanical energy than is required to keep them running, without consuming net external inputs.
The law of conservation of energy, at least as measured in joules, seems a lot more negotiable in the context of this crossover setting than it does in the reality we live in.
...
We may not have those solutions immediately to hand, and it is in theory possible that there is no such method. But the existence of highly sophisticated magitech civilizations in the setting suggests that a lot, a lot of engineering problems are solvable. Importantly, there is ample precedent for fossil fuels being supplanted as a power source. Neither the Silver Millennium nor the TSAB appears to be relying heavily on oil and coal and natural gas.
So it's certainly important, interesting, and promising if we find ourselves looking at what may be a key piece of the technological "puzzle." We're hoping to solve the puzzle in a way that enables virtuous cycles of easy magical 'mana' energy generation, plus the ability to turn 'mana' into more physical kinds of energy. A good mana battery is a big part of that, so... dunno, no reason to pooh-pooh it, is I guess all I'm saying.
Most fossil fuel power plants (e.g.: coal), as well as nuclear plants, operate in a two step process:
Burn (or "burn") fuel to boil water into steam
Use steam to do stuff that makes electricity
As it turns out, you can do step 1 with sunlight and mirrors... if you're willing to build it in a sunny desert, use the electricity there, and only get power during daylight hours.
This has issues IRL because doing all your power-intensive stuff in a scorching desert in the middle of the day is an expensive and ecologically damaging pain in the butt.
But if you have rechargeable man-portable super-batteries that store kilograms of energy, then it becomes much less of an issue, because you can just charge the batteries in Arizona and carry them to wherever and whenever you need to go with little fuss.
Well, according to this page, the Aino used in Minako's last name is used by approximately 40 households in Japan. (The third one listed that uses the kanji 愛 that means Love for Ai, and the kanji 野 that means Field for no (which is also used to mean "of" so Minako is "of Love" and is the same -no as in Tsukino, Mizuno etc).
Megumi Aino also uses the kanji 愛 that means Love as the Ai in her last name, but instead uses 乃 for the -no which also means "of" so she is Megumi "of Love" just as Minako is "of Love" but 乃 is a chinese kanji that can be legally registered in Japan. (Although apparently 乃 is more commonly used in Japanese surnames to mean "from" in names like Nomura, or Hoshino) However, there is no record of a 愛乃 household in Japan. Basically Aino is never written as 愛乃 in Japan, it's always written using 野 for the -no. (Though there are different kanji used for the Ai-).
(Also, Minako means beauty while Megumi probably means grace, so they are Beauty of Love and Grace of Love respectively).
This leads me to suspect that Megumi comes from a branch of the same Aino family as Minako, that was disowned and/or completely broke from their family and so changed their surname. (Here is a Q and A and a news report on changing your surname in Japan which leads me to believe it is only done if some kind of major familial break occurs, it appears to have the legal effect of breaking inheritance lines).
Do we actually have any details about their 'prime directive'? I'm not saying it's a sure thing we can get around it, but we've probably got some room to negotiate. The legal/bureaucratic side of things is indeed a potential hurdle, but there's no reason to assume it's insurmountable.
Only that they do not open diplomatic contact at all with planets that don't have some kind of open and significant magical tradition.
They do recruit mages from such worlds and confiscate magical artifacts, but I believe the rationale was that accelerating a world's magical advancement is likely to lead to them poking at dangerous reality undermining magic if they skipped the low energy learning steps first
They do recruit mages from such worlds and confiscate magical artifacts, but I believe the rationale was that accelerating a world's magical advancement is likely to lead to them poking at dangerous reality undermining magic if they skipped the low energy learning steps first
And the removing magical artifacts without really pulling in locals that don't have a well established magical tradition makes sense. Because a lot of the time said artifacts tend to be unstable, dangerous and/or ancient magical super weapons. Ergo said items need trained specialists to deactivate and/or safely contain so they can be hauled away from everything important for safe disposal. Well meaning if ignorant locals jabbing at the artifact can lead to results ranging from injuries to deaths to having to explain why the planet is now missing one of or more of its continents.
Well, according to this page, the Aino used in Minako's last name is used by approximately 40 households in Japan. (The third one listed that uses the kanji 愛 that means Love for Ai, and the kanji 野 that means Field for no (which is also used to mean "of" so Minako is "of Love" and is the same -no as in Tsukino, Mizuno etc).
Megumi Aino also uses the kanji 愛 that means Love as the Ai in her last name, but instead uses 乃 for the -no which also means "of" so she is Megumi "of Love" just as Minako is "of Love" but 乃 is a chinese kanji that can be legally registered in Japan. (Although apparently 乃 is more commonly used in Japanese surnames to mean "from" in names like Nomura, or Hoshino) However, there is no record of a 愛乃 household in Japan. Basically Aino is never written as 愛乃 in Japan, it's always written using 野 for the -no. (Though there are different kanji used for the Ai-).
(Also, Minako means beauty while Megumi probably means grace, so they are Beauty of Love and Grace of Love respectively).
This leads me to suspect that Megumi comes from a branch of the same Aino family as Minako, that was disowned and/or completely broke from their family and so changed their surname. (Here is a Q and A and a news report on changing your surname in Japan which leads me to believe it is only done if some kind of major familial break occurs, it appears to have the legal effect of breaking inheritance lines).
Plausible enough, and "forty households" is an uncertain number of individuals, but few enough that a reasonably close family relationship is possible.
On the other hand, they could be fourth cousins who've never heard of each other and still be "related" in that sense.
And the removing magical artifacts without really pulling in locals that don't have a well established magical tradition makes sense. Because a lot of the time said artifacts tend to be unstable, dangerous and/or ancient magical super weapons. Ergo said items need trained specialists to deactivate and/or safely contain so they can be hauled away from everything important for safe disposal. Well meaning if ignorant locals jabbing at the artifact can lead to results ranging from injuries to deaths to having to explain why the planet is now missing one of or more of its continents.
The way I figure it, Earth's kind of unusual by TSAB standards in having a dis-unified, heavily Masqueraded, magical civilization scattered all over the place. Definitely going to be interesting seeing how they react. I doubt their reaction will be simple, either simply aggressive and possessive or simply pure benevolence. It's fairly likely that different TSAB factions will want to deal with us differently.
The way I figure it, Earth's kind of unusual by TSAB standards in having a dis-unified, heavily Masqueraded, magical civilization scattered all over the place. Definitely going to be interesting seeing how they react. I doubt their reaction will be simple, either simply aggressive and possessive or simply pure benevolence. It's fairly likely that different TSAB factions will want to deal with us differently.
More like the remnants/survivors of multiple magical civilizations all having earth as a focal point. You have the reincarnations of the SM, the cryo-preserved group on Mercury, the fairy realms that sponsor the Pretty Cures, the 'modern' mages like the Ministry (and no doubt other groups), the Youkai factions, the other magical groups on other continents, and the list no doubt goes on.
I can see Earth being something of a headache for the TSAB in the long run.
I'm guessing that the bunker itself may be perfectly habitable, but the question is how comfortable is thar habitation, and for how many? How intact are their labs? Hydroponics? Non-cryogenic living quarters?
...Had this weird snippet pop into my head. It's probably apocrypha, but I'll type it anyway.
Mercury Academy Traditions
Part 4: The Cryogenic Pod Expansion Thesis
The graduate program of Mercury Academy helps prepare its students to be the best and brightest of their generation, with their theses covering all manner of subjects. However, every few years, some professor will challenge a particularly bright group of students to consider a challenge of ever increasing difficulty: designing a new addition (or an appropriate retrofit) of the Cryogenic Pod system kept on campus. To those brave souls who rise to the occasion, there are several key aspects that are usually emphasized.
Utility: While some allotements and allowances for maintaining the system are expanded over time, space and energy are always at a premium. Any new additions need to properly earn their place amongst the already approved modules, standing out for either survival needs, research purposes, or morale. Niche uses and interests are discouraged; there's no telling who would end up having to use these pods in an emergency, so it must be deemed useful for both the highest professors in their field and some poor tourist who came for a visit on the worst day ever.
Compatibility with prior systems: If a new energy-intensive entertainment module could cause the air filtration system to fail, then you have doomed the supposed survivors to a slow, painful death by suffocation. The students must carefully review the notes and schematics provided for the previously installed modules to ensure that the system will work in harmony with the work of graduate students of the past (and potentially modify their own designs to help facilitate the modules that will be installed in the future).
Sustainability: The new modules are theoretically supposed to withstand drastic environmental forces, remain in storage for several millenia, and provide for the awakened users for up to a year before being "rescued" by the rebuilding Silver Millennium. As such, the proposed additions ususally require running some of the more extreme simulation conditions in the lab in order to ensure that the supposed survivors will actually be able to make use of the modules after the crisis has ended.
...Of course, over time an urban legend has formed regarding the supposed "Phantom Commitee Member". Graduate students are usually well aware of the faculty members who will be reviewing their theses, with frequent updates throughout the semester to ensure that the work is on track. However, every once in a while, a faculty member will state that a student's work is all but complete, and then the next day contact the student with an additional note regarding a factor of safety or edge condition that the student should account for before the thesis is submitted. These "surprise comments" are always relevant to the professor's field, but sometimes seem to be a bit... off from the professor's usual outlook and concerns (i.e. a professor who is a supporter of advanced encrypted interstellar communications suddenly asking students to consider if the Moon Palace was somehow reduced to being unable to receive anything more complicated than radio waves). These incidents have led gossiping students to speculate that there is some additional anonymous reviewer of their work feeding suggestions to their professors, but there has been no substantial proof of this.
In the end, a new hallmark of magical technology is added to the Cryogenic Pod system. Nowadays, the facility is usually shown off to visitors as a sort of gallery of the excellence and ingenuity of its students, which remains far more relevant than whatever politics or fearmongering lead to the mandate to install the original Cryogenic Pods so long ago. Still, the students and faculty are drilled a few times a year regarding where to find and activate the Pods in case of an emergency.
...Of course, over time an urban legend has formed regarding the supposed "Phantom Commitee Member". Graduate students are usually well aware of the faculty members who will be reviewing their theses, with frequent updates throughout the semester to ensure that the work is on track. However, every once in a while, a faculty member will state that a student's work is all but complete, and then the next day contact the student with an additional note regarding a factor of safety or edge condition that the student should account for before the thesis is submitted. These "surprise comments" are always relevant to the professor's field, but sometimes seem to be a bit... off from the professor's usual outlook and concerns (i.e. a professor who is a supporter of advanced encrypted interstellar communications suddenly asking students to consider if the Moon Palace was somehow reduced to being unable to receive anything more complicated than radio waves). These incidents have led gossiping students to speculate that there is some additional anonymous reviewer of their work feeding suggestions to their professors, but there has been no substantial proof of this.
Kore built Stonehenge for shits and giggles. It has no magical meaning hiding in its frame, but etched into the stone you can see what Mercury would recognize as the Silver Millennium equivalent of the Dewey Decimal system—the stones represent books in Queen Serenity's suite that would be helpful for the reborn Princess' rise to galactic rule.
Honestly, it's become a running joke between Kores that she forgot to check which island nation the Princess was being reborn in before building the thing.
Kore built Stonehenge for shits and giggles. It has no magical meaning hiding in its frame, but etched into the stone you can see what Mercury would recognize as the Silver Millennium equivalent of the Dewey Decimal system—the stones represent books in Queen Serenity's suite that would be helpful for the reborn Princess' rise to galactic rule.
Honestly, it's become a running joke between Kores that she forgot to check which island nation the Princess was being reborn in before building the thing.
The Moai, on the other hand, are very magical. It's just that no one is ever around Easter Island when the trigger conditions kick in and the entire island starts singing Queen Selene's favorite show tunes. Mostly because Kore could never figure out how to get them to sing On Tune.
My current top guess would be that they might be Silver Millenium survivors who let their immortality go to their heads, and are sitting on a cache of still functional SM technology.
My current top guess would be that they might be Silver Millenium survivors who let their immortality go to their heads, and are sitting on a cache of still functional SM technology.