Well, I've been thinking to myself, "Exactly why would a group of Senshi join up with The Roughriders?" It's not really their schtick, after
all. After thinking about it, I got the idea that they could be a special detail personally assigned by the Boss Lady of the Senshi.
Now why would she go and do something like that? Probably because Ben did some serious good for the Senshi, I figure.
Question: what the heck did Ben do!? Maybe something to do with the fall of Crystal Osaka? Rescued someone near and dear to her or just some people that were
important? Or perhaps another incident altogether? I've had thoughts about Ben rescuing the Senshi's Queen from a Boskonian assasination attempt.
One way or another, Benjamin did something that wound up making The Roughriders automatic allies of the Senshi. To accomplish this, I would appreciate it if
someone could fill me in on everything there is to know about the Senshi in Fenspace. I know there's some stuff over in the Wiki, but being underway I
don't have the time to thoroughly research the subject by myself.
Thanks in advance!
ETA: Okay, looks like I've got a bit more time than I thought. Thank God for Holiday Routine on Sundays while underway - some of us were thinking we
weren't getting it this time for some reason. So, I've done some poking around and so far the only personage that has been mentioned to be even close
to being the leader of the Senshi is Haruhi. Now, I know she's charismatic and all, but it's pretty easy to see once you get up close what a nutbar she
is, so that phase won't last terribly long. We do know from experience, after all, how leaders with plenty of charisma but poor management skills fall out
of favor.
That said, have we settled on there being a set leader for the Senshi? I'm pretty sure I've seen her mentioned around here somewhere, I just can't
figure out where.
Haruhi is not in charge of the Senshi. A.C. Peters has threatened to take over the entire faction if Haruhi makes noises in that direction.
A.C. is not in charge of the Senshi, either - she doesn't want the job.
I've pulled the name "Hayakawa" out of the air for the person in charge of the Senshi military (and that's all we know about her), but that's only the military, not the entire faction.
And the stories that are set in or around various Crystal Cities don't go too far into the social structure.
In short, there isn't a heck of a lot of material about the Senshi out there... and they're the best-defined of the major factions, too.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
The only other person with authority that's been defined is Utena Ten-Joh, Chief Inspector of Crystal Tokyo PD, and she's (more or less) on A.C.'s
side in the Haruhi/Justice sub-faction argument. I.e., she's leading debate as to Haruhi's worthiness.
(Rob, I'm not including Naoko Sato due to the fact that we barely see her on-screen.)
If you're wondering blackaeronaut, A.C. doesn't have an Official position in the Senshi hierarchy. She is, as Fnord has pointed out, regarded as Senshi
nobility as Sailor Mars. While she could leverage that to Official power, she (A.C.) wouldn't do that unless ABSOLUTELY necessary. And she'd give it up
A.S.A.P.
Hmm. Capsule starts for some "Haruhi-faction" senshi okay?
Sailors Virgo, Capricorn, Libra, and Gemini [Ranks TBD]: Began as a clique of Anime fen from a Saint Paul, Minnesota high school who took the wrong lesson from the stories of that first batch of "guacamole." These girls are still in the "badly-written high-school yaoi mary sue shipper fics" phase of their fandom.
Each sailor in the clique has a biomod of varying utility. Potential choices...
Virgo has the basic "I'll look damn good forever" package. She got exactly what she was looking for due to an almost monomaniacal focus fitting her status as the "Leader."
Capricorn wound up with goat horns and eyes and "universal digestion."
Libra has uncanny grace and equilibrium, making her an EXTREMELY effective pilot
Gemini has the ability to calculate solar system orbital mechanics in her head quickly enough that she sometimes out does their patrol ship's AI for speed. [I would have done the "Hivemind twins thing" but Blackaeronaut has his Ayanamis already...]
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''
-- James Nicoll
Quote:Foxboy wrote:
Hmm. Capsule starts for some "Haruhi-faction" senshi okay?
Sailors Virgo, Capricorn, Libra, and Gemini [Ranks TBD]: Began as a clique of Anime fen from a Saint Paul, Minnesota high school who took the wrong lesson from the stories of that first batch of "guacamole." These girls are still in the "badly-written high-school yaoi mary sue shipper fics" phase of their fandom.
Each sailor in the clique has a biomod of varying utility. Potential choices...
Virgo has the basic "I'll look damn good forever" package. She got exactly what she was looking for due to an almost monomaniacal focus fitting her status as the "Leader."
Capricorn wound up with goat horns and eyes and "universal digestion."
Libra has uncanny grace and equilibrium, making her an EXTREMELY effective pilot
Gemini has the ability to calculate solar system orbital mechanics in her head quickly enough that she sometimes out does their patrol ship's AI for speed. [I would have done the "Hivemind twins thing" but Blackaeronaut has his Ayanamis already...]
Sounds cool. I like it and it would only make sense that we got a few of these running around. They'd probably irk Benjamin's Senshi and Gina to no end...
Quote:"Easy there Gina. I'll deal with these girls... Oi, listen up, chibiko-"
"Chibiko!? Where the hell do you get off-"
"FIRST OF ALL!" snapped Ben in a tone that brooked no backtalk whatsoever - something rarely used by him at all. "I'm damn near old enough to be your father, so I think I got the advantage in sheer experience points here. Secondly, while Miz Suzumiya's messenger girls you may be, it gives you absolutely no right to dictate policy to me or anyone else under my command - not even the other Senshi here. They have been assigned personally by her majesty, The Queen. DO you UNDERSTAND me?"
Oh, and I claim no exclusive rights whatsoever over the hive-mind thing. By all means, have at it! ^_^
The only thing that's exclusive is Jess's Mass-Production strain of Handwavium, and even then she may be talked into making up a batch for trusted individuals, especially if it somehow benefits The Roughriders.
ETA: If we don't really have social structure or leadership setup for the major factions, then we need to get cracking on that. Really, people in positions like Benjamin and the SMOF's are going to wind up having to deal with these people on-screen at some point in time or another, or at least refer to them on a regular basis.
As for the leader of the Senshi... Well, it would definitely have to be someone who is...
- A Big Name Fan who is beloved and respected by a very wide portion of the faction and only came to Fenspace because there was an overwhelming call for her to be their leader (I think a neat story can be written from that).
- A Fen of the Crystal Millenium faction who represents everything it means to be a Senshi and has Charisma of the Haruhi-level.
So, let's get cracking! Any thoughts? Ideas?
Quote:So, let's get cracking! Any thoughts? Ideas?
This requires thought? I thought it was obvious. The leader of the Senshi is HRH Serenity I, Queen of Crystal Tokyo and Empress of Venus.
I mean, come
on. This shit ain't rocket science.
Mr. Fnord
interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"
It ain't, but I don't always know what other people know - for all I knew she could have been Lady Sundancer of Crystal Edo. Thanks for dropping that
tidbit, we should squeeze that into the Wiki's Crystal Millenium entry somewhere.
That said, while we know something of the sub-factions, the actual governing structure is still an unexplored topic. Sure, we got the Chief Inspector, but
aside from Her Majesty, she's the only other figure of government we know of. At the very least we need to come up with a bunch of titles and positions -
we can fill them in with actual characters later on down the line as we write, but we do need to get the framework nailed-down and published on the Wiki before
people start walking on eachother's toes.
This could get complicated really quickly. The source material is "ZOMG! We're all princesses! SQUEE!"
There's not much serious structure implied in the name, compared to the Supers, Warsies, and Trekkies. However, there might be some sort of structure one
could intuit from the subfandoms folded into the Senshi. Like Sailor Moon fen tend to take on a sort of Praetorian Guard type of job for Serenity *insert real
name here*, fans of Minky Momo do child care, etc.
There's definitely gonna be some sort of pseudo-feudalism based on a mishmash of idealized/Disneyfied chivalry and bushido. Even if you wind up wih weird
occurences like a constitutional monarchy like Naboo from Star Wars Episode I, or just a representative democracy with "noble" titles...
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''
-- James Nicoll
Quote:(Rob, I'm not including Naoko Sato due to the fact that we barely see her on-screen.)
That's fine by me. (And have you been reading my story notes again?)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
For the inspiration of the Collective. Rip apart as you see fit.
Oh, and Rob? No I haven't been reading your story notes. I was going on published information. (Maybe I should post the character notes I put together for Utena and Anthy to the Wiki.)
Senshi Organisation
The Senshi are a democratic Monarchy (not a Matriarchy as assumed, although women are far more likely to be elected), with a directly elected Parliament for the civilian government. The Monarch is elected for a 10 year stint, and upon taking the throne takes the Royal Name (i.e. Queens become Serenity, Kings become Endymion).
Queen Serenity I is the current Empress of Venus, and is head of the Privy Council. The other members of the Privy Council are Prime Minister Yoko Kayabuki, The Deputy Prime Minister, the Secretaries of State for Interior, Defence, and Planetary Development, Military Chief of Staff Crystal Senshi Hayakawa, and the Head of the Royal Council.
The Prime Minister runs the civilian government on the behalf of Her Majesty via a cabinet of Ministers. These ministers are commonly referred to as the Secretary of State for . Some ministries include:
* Ministry of Interior (The Home Minister)
* Ministry of Defence
* Ministry of Planetary Development
* Ministry of Education
* Ministry of The Treasury (The Chancellor of the Exchequer)
* Ministry of Health (The Surgeon General)
* Ministry of Law
* Ministry of Foreign Affairs
* Ministry of Technology
The Royal Council is a group of Peers of the Realm, and has an appointed Head. It includes such luminaries as the Chief Justice, the Military Chiefs of Staff, the Police Commissioner, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The only Non-Peer on the Royal Council is the Deputy Prime Minister, who serves as Official Liaison to Her Majesty's Government.
The Royal Council's role is to provide Her Majesty with information as to the Faction's emotional state, as well as provide some oversight on the civilian government. The Royal Council's other role is to monitor and occasionally recommend appointment to Her Majesty those Senshi who are Named.
{Yes, I'm creating a lot of crossover here. It needs work.}
Peers of the Realm
The Peers of the Realm of the Crystal Millennium (to give their full title) are what could be termed Factional BNFs. The vast majority of these are Knights (becoming Sir/Lady X Y), but there are a few Baroness' (who more or less run the larger Senshi colonies/enclaves outside of Venus alongside the civilian Governors), and one Countess (who runs the Senshi Shipbuilding facility at Mare Marginis).
There is the possibility of higher ranks, but Princesships are reserved for The Planetary Senshi (of whom there have been no official appointments).
The Named Senshi
A very small sub-sect of the Senshi are those who have earned the right to be Named after their normal posting (e.g. Yayoi Fujisawa is known as Sailor Stellvia). Named senshi act as Guardians of the Realm, and as such are technically agents of Her Majesty even if they can be totally independent of the Faction. Named senshi also are considered the senior Senshi for their posting (which up until her recent promotion caused some friction on Stellvia as this meant Yayoi (who was OF-03) was considered senior to Leda (who was OF-05))
How does A.C. Peters fit into this?
Ever since Kandor-Con, A.C. Peters has been unofficially adopted as Sailor Mars (due to her unintentionally near-perfect cosplay of said Senshi). Miss Peters has made public her dislike for this, however she is too polite to outright disassociate herself from the title (she doesn't like raining down on peoples' beliefs unless provably wrong). While she has been offered positions in the Faction, she has turned them down.
While the Senshi hold to this position due to popular support, A.C. doesn't have any official standing in the Faction. Unofficially however she has a lot of pull, and she knows this. She goes out of her way NOT to use this or draw attention to herself around Senshi (being a mistress of disguise helps with this).
Okay, that sounds like it would work, Cobalt. Though, being Senshi, I imagine that the names of the posts would take on something more reflective of the
faction. Not sure how, though, but I bet I can come up with some good ones when I get the time to think about them.
In fact, it's eerily close to what I was thinking of myself, especially that "Peers of the Realm" bit. To me, it would make sense that if
Benjamin did do something extraordinary for the Senshi he might get himself named an honorary Knight of the Crystal Millenium. This would make it easier for
HRH Serenity I to assign a squad of senshi, with their commander being one of the named. Sailor Atalante, in this case. ^_^
It's just for inspiration, so don't take it at face value (I knocked it up in a couple of hours). It's based, more or less, on how things work in
the UK, tweeked to give the Monarch more actual power. And I named the Prime Minister that as I believe the Senshi would want a strong woman in that position,
and Margret Thatcher was out
The way I was seeing Named senshi working was that it tends to be the most prominent of the Senshi stationed there (not public, as a lazy Love sub-faction
senshi making the news for her love life isn't the image the Senshi as a whole want to project). Hence why Yayoi was called Sailor Stellvia. But it does
mean that unless the mission reports or word-of-mouth (the Senshi having the best gossip network in Fenspace) are positive enough, the assigned Senshi are
unlikely to get that sort of recognition.
Ahhh, okay. So, in short a Named Senshi is not so much part of the regular chain of command, but in a whole other class unto themselves, answerable only to the
Queen/King? I'd imagine that they tend to have FEMA-like powers in making things happen in a hurry when the situation warrants.
This would be very useful, especially when Haruhi herself visits. While she may have overall command of OGJ, The Roughriders are not to be micromanaged.
She'd try, I'm certain. Thing is, while Benjamin alone could do no more than butt heads with her, even using his leverage as a Knight of HRH, a Named
Senshi sounds like she would be able to give him the additional push needed to get Haruhi out of their hair, so to speak.
Of course, in terms of power, it seems that a Knight and a Named are more or less equal, which could lead to trouble of its own in having one stationed on 36
Atalante. That is, unless HRH gave explicit instructions in that regard. I'd imagine if this were the case, there is also the cavaet that Sailor Atalante
could report back to the Queen on what went down and why she didn't like it.
I'm pretty sure we can get this all sorted out sooner or later. If I get to it before anyone else does, I'll definitely look at everything more
thoroughly and see if I can present a more streamlined version, hopefully with titles that sound more like what the Senshi would use.
Interesting. The Named Senshi sound a little like the Heralds of Valdemar in the way they operate. If I understand this properly.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Quote:Interesting. The Named Senshi sound a little like the Heralds of Valdemar in the way they operate. If I understand this properly.
Well, I suppose I could have Dee and Yayoi compare notes somewhen during
LoGG...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
I would have to say that both AC and Nezumi (who still insists that her "official" title is Sailor Sociopath) share a SMOF status among the Senshi.
In other words, they have just as much power as the Senshi are willing to give them, but nothing official, unless the command structure chooses to give it to
them. Since AC doesn't want it, and Nez doesn't care (see her character traits for her slothful quirks), all it really results in is that when they
talk, the Senshi will listen, but whether anyone acts upon their words depends on the Senshi.
(SMOF, in case you're unaware of the acronym, is Secret Master of Fandom. Also known as, those folks that Everyone Knows.)
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com
"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."