Going on technicalities, she wouldn't be a naga, because nagas don't have humanoid torsos or arms. She's a lamia. But admittedly this is a topic that I don't think has really been made official one way or another due to a lack of need to differentiate between different arrangements of snake-person in the real world.
Just change the wording I guess. This is totally something we(as in Naru) should try and do though.
Also, I think I know where Usagi get's her tall people quirks from if this is someone Sere(nity) was friends with.
Hmm that "and for some reason also hope" makes me think some context is in order.
You have to understand that the myth of Pandora is born of some of the most edgy philosophy and religious doctrine the Greeks could muster. Stuff like love is a curse that drives men mad and Venus and her agents on earth (beautiful women) are pretty much the devil.
So that being said you need to understand that when they included hope in that mixture it didn't mean to sperate it in the whole "all the worlds evils and a single ray of hope" as a mercy. They were separating it because they viewed hope to be the worst punishment the gods inflicted on humanity. By giving men hope they lure mankind to repeatedly commit hubris by thinking that the world could be better then what the gods made it. Leading them to constantly suffer as they fail to succeed where even the immortal gods failed. So in edgy Greek philosophy fashion it also counted as a curse.
Going on technicalities, she wouldn't be a naga, because nagas don't have humanoid torsos or arms. She's a lamia. But admittedly this is a topic that I don't think has really been made official one way or another due to a lack of need to differentiate between different arrangements of snake-person in the real world.
There is some possibility that the amount of snakedness is something that can... cough... scale up or down, from fully unsquamous to flagrantly snaked. After all, she apparently starts the transformation teeth first... and my fucking god is that a lot of teeth.
So lamia and naga might be the same thing. Merely differentiated by how strictly the entity in question is adhering to Rule 34 of the Evil Overlord's List.
Y'know, looking at the turn results suggests that Makoto will be doing Operation Slumber Party with the repaired Thunder Bracelets. Which means even if youma escape with intel on the Senshi, they'll still be underestimating her power massively.
Given how OP the Thunder Bracelets are, it may take more than one round of successes to get them working properly. Originally there were supposed to be three malfunction states Luna needed to investigate, as I recall, and it was implied that each of them would be an action in its own right.
As in, is she fundamentally friendly or hostile to humanity? Benevolent or malevolent? If she is somehow responsible for unleashing great evils, was she tricked, was she bewitched, did she act out of temporary malice and repent or lasting malice?
If she is somehow responsible for unleashing great evils, was she tricked, was she bewitched, did she act out of temporary malice and repent or lasting malice?
...What if she was somehow responsible for the Fall of the Silver Millennium? Like, she may not have been part of the actual slaughter, but she was somehow involved in getting Queen Beryl's forces up to the Moon, not understanding what the full consequences would be?
Oh, did you mean Khorne's? I don't know, seems like it would clash with the aesthetic, you know? And all the quintillions of dead and the moral issues, blah blah blah.
Oh, did you mean Khorne's? I don't know, seems like it would clash with the aesthetic, you know? And all the quintillions of dead and the moral issues, blah blah blah.
Nah, i meant the one i think you mean.
I mean it's not like emps is going to need it once chaos is dead.
Some work may need to be done for him to not go psychic black hole in the process?
Admittedly, manga-wise at least, if you purify all of Chaos you accelerate the heat death of the universe to the point the stars currently in existence are the only ones you will ever have, if I remember right.
Admittedly, manga-wise at least, if you purify all of Chaos you accelerate the heat death of the universe to the point the stars currently in existence are the only ones you will ever have, if I remember right.
I thought I remember Chaos binding itself at the hip to the Cauldron on a fundamental level. Its been years since I read it but that part seemed fairly solid to me.
I kinda believe in the Silver Crystal as the omnipotent McGuffin of the Sailor Moon Universe, limited only by how much of its unlimited power (and how skillfully) its wielder can channel.
Hopefully we will have training sessions for Usagi to use it better.
A more reliable overview of manga is needed to convince me otherwise.
Right. According to the wiki it's not that killing Chaos will accelerate Heat death, but that Chaos is (apparently) "one who never became a star", which reads to me as a glitch of sorts in how Galaxy Cauldron works... And he can eventually be reborn even after being dissolved in the Galaxy Cauldron, unless said Galaxy Cauldron is destroyed.
[X][Question] Is there any unfinished business that you would like us to deal with?
[X][Question] What race are you? Your reincarnation is human.
[X][Question] Your reincarnation feels a great hunger for magic, can you enlighten us on why that is and what it means?
[X][Question]What was your relationship with Serenity, Endymion and the Senshi?
[X][Question]There's a Greek legend about Pandora, the woman that opened a box containing countless evils (and, for some reason, also hope). Are you THAT Pandora? What's the true story about that?
"We... don't actually know." She admits. "We know at minimum it's two thousand years, but we are nearly certain that it's been several times that. Long enough that there is no historical records of the Earth Kingdom left."
The giant woman brings a hand up to her mouth, humming as she listens to the answer. Then, she blinks, glancing down at her hand. "Oh! Isn't this a tasty bit of ma- Wait a moment, I know this spell." Fingers that ends in slightest of claws reach down, trailing across her arm. Somehow, the very magic that makes up the transformation catches on the woman's claws, the arm going thin and indistinct as a gossamer trail of light pulls taut as the woman pulls her claw back. "Oh, fascinating. Ha! Of course, Selene... you sly, sly woman. I'd wondered how Sere managed to get down to the Earth from the moon." Slowly, the woman returns her claws to her arm, allowing the magic transformation that makes her up to return to how it was, her arm and form returning to normal. "Hmm... Well, this being the case, you must have awoken me for a reason. So what is it?"
Ami is quiet for a moment, before she chuckles a little embarrassedly. "So... We do have someone who had questions for you. There's just one problem."
"Oh? Where is this person?" The giant snake woman asks, before Makoto simply points at her.
"She transformed into you." Makoto says simply, and the woman pauses for a moment, before laughing.
"Yes, I can see how that might be a problem. Very well, you will simply have to ask questions in her place, and hope that you want to know the same things that she wanted to know." Then the giant blinks, "Oh, and of course, you don't remember who I am, since you do not remember who you are. You may call me Πανδώρα. It was my favorite of the names the mortals gave me after the fall."
Makoto blinks when she hears that. That... Pandora. Even Makoto who wasn't super interested in mythology had heard the story of Pandora. Admittedly that was probably because Pandora was a character who had appeared in the American Comics that she liked to collect and read, but that doesn't change the fact that Makoto recognized the name.
...And thinking about her comics, Makoto knows the first of the questions that needs to be asked. "Do you... have any unfinished business?" Makoto asks, drawing a confused blink from both the Senshi and the giant serpent. "Like, anything that you'd like us to deal with?"
Pandóra is quiet for a moment, before she chuckles, long and low, all the while shaking her head. "Why do you ask?" Pandóra asks quietly, looking down at Makoto. "I may be the past lift of your friend, but I am for all intents and purposes a stranger to you."
"That doesn't matter to me." Makoto says simply, "You are a person, you may be dead and a ghost, but that doesn't change the fact that you lived, but every ghost deserves to go to their rest with their heads held high and no regrets."
"I'm not even a ghost." Pandóra says, shaking her head. "There is no carrot for you, nor stick that I can use to try and convince you to do anything for me."
"No need for those." Makoto says firmly, yet warmly, a smile on her face. "I'm doing this for you because I would do this for anyone, and everyone."
Pandóra huffs, a smile on her face. "You... you amuse me. But no. There is nothing that you can do for me." The woman takes a deep breath before sighing, "The one thing that I want... you cannot give."
"You won't know unless you give us the chance to try." Ami offers, and that just draws a sad laugh from the giant serpent.
She shakes her head once more. "I can feel it in the soil," The giant non-human says, placing a hand against the ground, "I can taste it in the wind. My Legacy is all but gone. My children scattered to the four winds and reduced to such they are dying out. The only one who could potentially give what I ask is my reincarnation, and I will not put the weight of an entire people on a single person's shoulders. No. I cannot ask anyone to try and stand against the world, to bring back what has been lost. I am but a memory, and it seems my children and my children's children are on their way to the same end."
"And if we save them?" Makoto asks, a question that simply draws a snort from Pandóra.
"The threat that they face is not one that they can be saved from. They die out because there are less and less of them each passing year. I can feel it. Even now, in the time that we've spoken, three of my Legacy have perished." Ami goes a little pale at hearing that, and Pandóra pushes on. "So thank you, but no. I will not ask my next life to carry my burdens. She should be her own person. Free of the pain and suffering that I felt."
"Speaking of Naru, and her being her own person." Ami offers up, not quite willing to look Pandóra in the face after what she just heard. "Naru is a human and you are... well, What race are you?" She asks, and that just draws a deep, hearty laugh from the woman.
"What race am I?" She repeats. "To be honest, I don't rightfully know. Not even sure if such a term could apply to me." That was not an answer that either girl expected, and they are both quite confused by the statement. "In the ages since the Fall, my children have had dozens of different names, each of their lineages being given their own names. Lamias and Nagas, Vampires and Rusalka, Yakshas and Genius Loci. Youkai and Devil. If a life is not of the House of Man, the Den of Beasts, or the Courts of Fae, then they are my children. Demons and Monsters, all the things that go bump in the night. Those are my children. So... I guess is there is any race that you could assign to me, it would be Lolth.." Then the woman chuckles, shaking her head. "And my next life may look human, but I doubt that she is truly human. Otherwise, I doubt that you would have come to speak with me."
Makoto and Ami glance between each other, the former nodding at the latter. "Naru has been... struggling for the last couple of weeks." Makoto starts to explain, "She's been getting hungrier and hungrier, and nothing seems to help."
"At least, nothing other than Magic," Ami adds. "Do you know why, and what that means?"
Pandóra brings a hand to her mouth, giggling behind her hand. It is a very surreal sound, as the demon woman is absolutely massive, and her laugh shakes the leaves on the trees. "Oh yes. I do indeed know why." She says. "She is like me. Your friend Naru is me after all. Tis my curse, and my blessing. As a Lolth, as I have decided to proclaim ourselves, I was both cursed and blessed. It started first as it has for my next life. The ability to consume magic, to draw on the energies of others, even if they do not wish it, to harvest their life's energy." The two Senshi glance towards each other when the woman mentions the very familiar terms, but the giant serpent woman is too busy recalling the past to notice.
"Yet, too was I blessed. The first to carry my blessing was but a simple wolf. It had died, hunted down by the people of my village. I gave it motion, and I gave it life. It had not been my attempt to give it thought or reason, but I done so nonetheless. Such was the very first Youkai of the world, and for my transgression of creating new life, I was banished from my home village."
The woman glances down at her clawed hands and her serpent's tail with a sort of wistful longing. "Back then, I still had legs. Did not yet have the scales or claws. "
"Are you saying that Naru will eventually look like you?" Ami asks, and with a sad chuckle Pandóra shakes her head.
"No, well, maybe?" Pandóra offers. "I did not know at the time, that with each life that I gave rise to, that I was changing myself. It was a vicious cycle that went on for years. I hungered for magic, and so I created children to go and gather it for me, but in doing so I changed a little more, which made me even hungrier, so I created more children to go and gather it. Rinse and repeat."
Makoto snaps her fingers, eyes lighting up. "Ah!" The Senshi of Thunder cheers "Her Hairclips!"
Both Pandóra and Ami glance over to Makoto, trying to understand what the girl is thinking. "Naru got that book on making Golems." Makoto says, "And we've all been a little confused about how her golems are smarter than the book says they should be."
Pandóra is quiet for a moment, before she slowly smiles. It is a soft thing, subtle and almost hidden, but there is a definite shine of pride in the look. "Her first new species." Pandóra says, "Maybe... Maybe it isn't out of reach." Then the woman shakes her head again. "What matters, is that you need to make sure that your friend is fed. Should she not, she will slowly weaken, until she reaches a point where she will act on instinct. Creating new life in order to gather magic for her. And with each new life, her body and form shall change a little more."
The two Senshi are quiet after hearing that for a moment, before Ami nods. "Okay, we're already doing what we can to make everything as easy for her as possible. But we'll be extra careful. Usagi's given her..." Ami trails off for a moment, "Usagi's given her an enchanted item that can brew magic tea." The giant woman snorts at the mention of magic tea. "It gives Naru plenty of magic and helps keep the worst of the hunger pains away, but now that I'm thinking about her - What... What was your relationship with Serenity, Endymion, and the other Senshi?"
Pandóra is quiet for a long moment, clearly mulling over how to explain things, before the woman opens her mouth. Then she pauses, glancing down at her own form for a moment. Quickly, the Lolth reaches up an arm, and takes a bit out of her own form. The magic of her form shudders and shifts just subtly, but it doesn't shatter. "Alright, so now that that time limit is taken care of." The demon says nonchalantly, "My history with the Princess of the Moon is... complicated." Makoto is still reeling from the fact that Pandóra just did something to her own transformation, but Ami is paying rapt attention to the demon. "For much of my young life... I hated the Princess of the Moon." She says bluntly.
"Then again... back in those days, I hated a great many people and things. For the longest time, I had only a single friend. He was a noble of some far off world, banished to the Earth for reasons that I never learned. He was called Cloch Ghlas, and he was the only person to show me... something close to kindness for the longest time." Pandóra glances away from the two Senshi, looking more than a little embarrassed. "Looking back on it, he clearly didn't like me. He tolerated me as part of the plans that he had. It was with his help that I created the first species of demon beyond those that were simply animals hunting for magic. He brought me a fox, and helped me to learn how to shape my creations to look human, to give them magic of their own, and enough intelligence to plan and scheme."
"It was Cloch Ghlas that taught me to hate the Moon Princess in particular. He spent days and weeks regaling me with tales of how the Moon Princess hired men and woman to hunt my children for sport. Of the cruelty of the moon, where they killed any who disagreed with them, and so many other things. The more I listened, the more I began to hate. The more that I began to seethe with rage and a desire to crush the Princess between my heels." As Pandóra says that, she rubs the heels of her palms together, as if she were crushing a bug between them. "It was with his help that I managed to create the perfect plan." There is something sad about the way that Pandóra says that, but at the same time, there is something happy about her words as well.
"I created an infiltrator, a Kitsune who would be shy and demure, soft spoken and kind, and far more capable of hiding her demonic traits than any other." Pandóra began to explain. "She would go to the moon, convince the Princess to come down to the Earth, where Cloch Ghlas and I would kill her. Wipe her out and 'save the Earth.' It was a lie, of course, but I didn't know that. In the end, the plan nearly went off perfectly. Nearly."
"The first thing to go completely off plan was the Princess. My hidden saboteur expected a despot, a princess that cared not for the lives of her people, who would go about her day kicking puppies and generally making the lives of everyone around her worse for her existence. After all, that was what we had been told she was like." Pandóra explains.
"The princess wasn't anything like that. She was silly, she liked to wander the palace, exploring all the nooks and crannies, and most importantly of all she was kind. Princess Serenity knew all of her servants by name. Not just that, she knew their families, their worries and their woes, their joys and their triumphs. My Saboteur had no chance." There is a smile on her face, despite what she says.
"I don't know when it happened, but at some point, my little saboteur told Serenity about the plan. Thus, when the Princess was convinced to come down to the planet, her guards came with her. I don't know how Cloch Ghlas knew that they were coming, but him not being there, not helping to fight the 'Tyrant', that was the second part of the plan that completely fell apart."
There is a soft smile on Ami's face as she hears this, "And let me guess, when they landed, you were not met with force, but with kindness?"
"Exactly, well, no, not exactly, but very close." Pandóra confirms. "Princess Serenity came down to the Earth, she was ambushed, and everything fell apart. My children were dismantled with ease, none of the Senshi breaking even a single sweat. Yet, at the same time, the Princess had ordered them to be... soft, on us. Not a single one of my children were killed. The princess brought out a table and then she sat down and had tea with me. It was surreal." Somehow... that doesn't surprise Ami. She could very easily see Usagi doing the exact same thing. "We talked."
"That turned out to be not just a turning point for me, but for the Princess as well." Pandóra explains, "The Princess forgave me for my attempt on her life, stating that it was clear even back on the moon that I was being manipulated and it wasn't fair to hurt me for trying to protect my family. Apparently it completely baffled the princess that anyone of the Earth might have thought ill of the Moon Kingdom. Which then rose a new question - Did the people of the other worlds hate her too? On that day, Serenity decided that she wanted to explore the whole of her lands. From the tiniest island of Pluto to the widest storms of Jupiter."
Pandóra chuckles. "Of course, given the fact that she was attacked on the Earth, and the fact that no one knew who exactly Cloch Ghlas was, Serenity was forbidden from traveling to the third planet."
"It took Serenity three days to get back to the Earth the first time. But... for a long while I was her guide." Pandóra says, "We traveled the world, from the farthest reaches of..." Pandóra tilts her head. "The word that comes to mind is not the name that I know. I wonder if it is because of my next life, or the transformation... Either way, we traveled from the coldest reaches of Siberia to the hottest sands of the Sahara. Bit by bit, we slowly made our way across the whole of the world, at least, until we came across the capitol of the Earth Kingdom. There... Princess Serenity met Prince Endymion. Things were tense at first." Pandóra says, but there is a wistful look on her face. "Endymion was an ass. Maybe that's overstating things a little, but he liked to tease and mock the Princess, if only because she made the best faces when she got upset." Pandóra smiles sadly. "And that... is the story of how the Prince of the Earth met the Princess of the Moon." Rolling her shoulders, the giant serpent smiles down at the Senshi, "Past that is just history. I think I've got enough in me for one more question. Otherwise, I'm going to return to my dreaming."
"You said your name was Pandora?" Makoto starts to ask, "There's a greek legend about that name. A woman who opened a box that contained countless evils. And... also hope? But like, are you That Pandora?" Makoto asks, "Is the story true?"
Pandóra Snorts. "So technically that was four questions, but I'll answer them anyways. So, yes, I am that Pandóra. It was just one of the many names I gained between the Fall and when I died. It was my favorite, but it wasn't the name I was given upon my birth, the name which I came to first be known to the people after the fall. Originally, I was Tiamat, and uh... As such, there are actually two different Pandora stories." Suddenly the giant snake woman seems extremely nervous, scratching at the side of her head even as she blushes. "From the sounds of what you are saying, they seem to have combined the stories in this era, which I'm not sure if that is better... or worse."
"So, the first of the two stories..." Pandóra sighs, "Yes, there was a box... well, a pithos, so a vase, but that's not the important part. I had been given the Pithos to pass along to the wedding of King Epimetheus by one of my Legacy, a Genius Loci known as Zeus. Unfortunately, I had not known that the pithos was not filled with Winem, but with a tide of plagues. Famines and disease, drought and heat waves. Apparently, King Epimetheus was marrying on of Zeus's daughters, and the storm god did not approve." Pandóra pauses, "However Poseidon, another of my Legacy, and King of the Gods had approved of the wedding."
"Wait," Ami says, blinking in confusion, "I thought Zeus was the King of the Gods?"
"Oh, well, you aren't wrong. Just not yet. My unsealing of the Pythos was actually the first stone thrown of a War of the gods that ended up collapsing Greek Civilization for a time. I... I died during the early bits of the revival that came later. But I had lived long enough to see Zeus take his throne."
"Was there no hope in the Pithos?" Makoto asks, and Pandóra just sighs.
"There was a cure for the plagues within the vase, but it was held within by Zeus's magic." Pandóra says, "The cure was right there, right in front of all those people, but it could not be removed from the vase, it could not be drawn out to save the people. That was a cruelty in the form of a kindness."
"And the other story?" Ami asks, the question making Pandóra's face go bright red, before she coughs.
"So... in the other telling of the story. The Plagues in the 'Box' were some of my Legacy. And the hope was Chiron, trainer of heroes. And the box... The box was me." It takes a second for Ami to parse what the giant snake woman is saying, and once she does her own face goes bright red. Pandóra laughs, "And unfortunately for you all. While this conversation has quickly turned awkward, I don't have to worry about it. Instead, I'll just leave you to explain why you are all blushing to my future self." Pandóra says with a wicked smile, and before Ami can even begin to realize what the demon might mean by that, Pandóra brings down a clawed hand on her own arm, and with a sharp 'POP'.
Pandóra is gone. And standing there is a clearly tired Naru, the girl wavering back and forth on her feet. "uhhhh..." The girl groans. "Why am I starving?"
"Let's go get you some tea." Makoto says, "And we'll explain what we've learned." Sunday, May 10th, 1992
The lobby of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police is a busy place, officers moving back and forth as they do their jobs. Paperwork is filed, convicts are processed, and on and on the day continues. To the untrained eye, it might look like chaos, but there is a peace and an order hidden among it all, something that those who have worked here over time learn to see and feel and understand without saying a word.
Kimiko is one such person who has learned how to understand the ebb and flow of her work place, even as she continues to deal with the struggles that being a woman on the police force brings. And things have only been more stressful over the last few days. At the end of the last week, she decided not to join the newly formed MCAT organization that the Japanese Government has set up to handle the super natural.
Ever since that day, she's received at least one call a day, different people from the organization stepping up and trying to convince her to join them.
So far... it hadn't worked, and it didn't look like that was going to change any time soon. Kimiko is drawn out of her thoughts and frustrations when the woman feels a sudden flare of... magic. Glancing up, the woman can only watch as space and time unfold, and suddenly, standing in the center of the police center are four mysterious figures.
It's the Sailor Scouts. Sailor Moon stands in the front of the group, a suitcase in one hand as she glances around the room. On her left stands the blue one - Sailor Mercury, the woman's short hair not covering the strange glowing visor that covers her eyes. On her right is stands Rei Hino, the teenage Miko, though she is wearing the uniform of Sailor Mars. And bringing up the rear of the group is Sailor Jupiter, the green dressed thunder throwing heavy hitter of the group.
All at once, the movement of the Department comes to a stop as everyone looks at the sudden intruders. Looking at all the police in front of her, Sailor Moon simply raises up the suitcase. "There was a reward for information about the Dark Kingdom and the Life Energy?"
"Yet, too was I blessed. The first to carry my blessing was but a simple wolf. It had died, hunted down by the people of my village. I gave it motion, and I gave it life. It had not been my attempt to give it thought or reason, but I done so nonetheless. Such was the very first Youkai of the world, and for my transgression of creating new life, I was banished from my home village."
"However Poseidon, another of my Legacy, and King of the Gods had approved of the wedding."
"Wait," Ami says, blinking in confusion, "I thought Zeus was the King of the Gods?"
"Oh, well, you aren't wrong. Just not yet. My unsealing of the Pythos was actually the first stone thrown of a War of the gods that ended up collapsing Greek Civilization for a time. I... I died during the early bits of the revival that came later. But I had lived long enough to see Zeus take his throne."
Ah, so this is referring to Mycenaean Greece! Back when Zeus was a minor god, Poseidon was king of the gods and more associated with earthquakes and the underworld instead of the ocean, and Hades didn't exist.
Really nice to see it mentioned!
Endymion was an ass. Maybe that's overstating things a little, but he liked to tease and mock the Princess, if only because she made the best faces when she got upset.
"You said your name was Pandora?" Makoto starts to ask, "There's a greek legend about that name. A woman who opened a box that contained countless evils. And... also hope? But like, are you That Pandora?" Makoto asks, "Is the story true?"
Pandóra Snorts. "So technically that was four questions, but I'll answer them anyways. So, yes, I am that Pandóra. It was just one of the many names I gained between the Fall and when I died. It was my favorite, but it wasn't the name I was given upon my birth, the name which I came to first be known to the people after the fall. Originally, I was Tiamat, and uh... As such, there are actually two different Pandora stories."
Lilith, Pandora, Tiamat... yes, I'm starting to see how the threads spread out into the mythologies we know today. Pandora may be her preferred title, but the 'mother of monsters' and 'refusing to bow to mankind' themes also make it clear that the Earth Kingdom was no monolithic global empire. The children of Echidna have always lived in the outside, unwelcome in civilization or the untamed wilds of fae realms.
In the ages since the Fall, my children have had dozens of different names, each of their lineages being given their own names. Lamias and Nagas, Vampires and Rusalka, Yakshas and Genius Loci. Youkai and Devil. If a life is not of the House of Man, the Den of Beasts, or the Courts of Fae, then they are my children.
"I created an infiltrator, a Kitsune who would be shy and demure, soft spoken and kind, and far more capable of hiding her demonic traits than any other."
