Ah, Legacy Project. How many times have I started this post, been distracted, and then failed to do anything with you?
Four. Let's hope for lucky number five. All dates are as near to accurate and logical as I can force them to be, assuming the 'present' is october of 2014. Any incomplete data you see will be eventually rectified as I find the time/motivation to do so.
Sherry Reynard
The Fox-wife
Age: 24 (Deceased)
Birthdate: 9 April 1990
In august of 2008, Sherry met Benjamin Ganders at a party. Unfortunately, someone spiked the punch at that particular party. You can guess where things went from there. The next morning they both went their different ways, both feeling very awkward and guilty. Sherry, for being the slightly more aggresive one the night before and turning down Ben's incredibly awkward marriage propasal, and Ben for making the incredibly awkward marriage proposal. The next week, she left for the moon while he went to Air Force BMT.
In september, she 'waved herself into a fox-girl and spent the following week discovering just how awkward it is to put on a space suit when you have a cute and bushy tail. This annoyance was soon superceeded by a bizarre mix of panic, disbelief, and shock at the discovery that she was pregnant. Talking to Benjamin resulted in another marriage proposal, filled with more awkward pauses and stuttering than the last. This too, was shot down. To her surprise however, he managed to demand an answer as to why she said no.
"Well, it's pretty simple in my mind. Marriage is about love. I don't love you, and you don't love me."
After a surprisingly expensive silence (Interplanetary phone rates are not cheap), he asked if Sherry was going to keep their child. The cost of the next stretch of silence, 'ah's, and 'um's could be used to purchase a sandwich. Over the course of the call, they somehow managed to figure out the following:
Yes, they would be keeping 'her'. Sherry would stay in space, and Benjamin would continue to serve out the rest of his six year his term in the armed forces. However, he would be paying child support (at his insistence, not hers). He was also allowed to start courting her, and they would try to talk at least once a week.
Sherry wasn't pretty sure their 'courtship' wouldn't work out, given the difficulty of long-distance relationships, but figured that he deserved an honest shot. To her surprise, they hit off fairly well, once they managed to actually talk to one another instead of stare awkwardly at each other through webcams. Time passed, and on May 14th, 2009, at 6:29 AM, Mei Reynard-Ganders was born at Castle Magellan General Hospital. Weighing in at seventeen ounces, and ten and one half inches long, with a tiny stub of a tail and fuzzy ears, she was absolutely adorable. Benjamin couldn't make it there physically, but he did get leave to Australia, where he met with one of Sherry's friends, a cyborg named Hex. Hex set up a live interwave connection that allowed him to 'be' there for the birth.
A year later, Sherry came to Australia with their daughter to meet with Benjamin physically for Mei's first birthday. It was intended to be a somewhat private occasion. Unfortunately, Ben's parents found out about it, and decided to make it into a 'family' event. An invasion force consisting of his brother, sister, fourteen cousins, five aunts, four uncles, and mother and father ended up taking over most of the hotel under the command of his grandparents, and throwing a great big bash for the occasion.
The non-presence of Sherry's own parents is very carefully not ever brought up.
Mei is pronounced no less than five different kinds of adorable by the various member of the Ganders clan, and both Benjamin and Sherry are needled about the date of the wedding. Both say they aren't getting married yet. The addendum of 'yet' honestly surprised Sherry herself in a pleasant way.
Over the next few years, meeting in Australia for Mei's birthday became a family tradition. Each time, at least two or three members of Benjamin's family would come down to share in the festivities, and politely needle them about getting married. Each time, the 'yet' gained a little bit more emphasis.
Eventually, six years passed. Benjamin completed his term, and on September fifteenth of 2014 came up to Crystal Tokyo to see his daughter and to present his third marriage proposal.
On September the twenty-first, Sherry Reynard was killed in the line of duty.
Author's Notes: Yeah, this is a work in progress. There's some things that I couldn't find a place to fit in here, but they should get squeezed in later. When I'm more awake. I'm going to hit the major stuff that I missed quick, though. Sherry was a Sammie, one of the first really. She mostly did administrative duties during the Boskone war, so she could look after Mei. And boy, this is embarassing to admit, but I don't actually have a plan for Sherry's death. Well, it was planned, but I never really figured out what it was going to be. Ideas?
Also, I feel very bad for designing a character for the sole purpose of killing them off. And I have no idea if that height and weight is realistic for a newborn, I just made the numbers up.
Benjamin Ganders
The Single Parent
Content Coming Soon.
Mei Reynard-Ganders
The Fox Kid
Content Coming Soon.
Sissel
The Cat
Content Coming Soon.
Alexandria Hendricks AKA Hex
The Witch
Content Coming Soon.
General Author's Notes: I'm almost wondering if this whole project is too dark. It's centered a not quite widowed single dad trying to raise his daughter, with the help of his family and not-quite wife's friends. In space. Of course, the reason I call it the Legacy 'Project' is because I'm planning on (eventually) writing pieces centered around them during a bunch of different times. Some happier ones (like Mei's birthdays) some sadder ones (Sherry's funeral), and even a funny one or two (what's the male to female ratio on Crystal Tokyo?). The point is, the Legacy Project is basically a group of characters I designed to interact mostly with one another. That way, I could do interactions without constantly stepping on people toes.
But, I'm wondering if perhaps I'm over-doing it on some aspects. Tackling issues like being a single parent, the death of a loved one, the reasons one would biomod themselves, and body issues may be a bit beyond me, or inappropriate for Fenspace. Well, the biomod thing might fit right in actually. I've got two very different scene ideas for that, one for Sherry and one for Benjamin.
Anyway, feedback would be appreciated. Imma go pass out now. More content will be added as soon as I get the time to sit down and pound it out.
There's nothing wrong with creating a character with the sole intention of having them die to advance the plot (/Whedon). The characters might not like it, but as a tool it's fine. If fleshing her out heightens the emotional drama, then by all means make her more than just a faceless 'death'.
And just because 'Fenspace is not a dystopia' doesn't mean that you can't tackle issues that you want to write about through a Fenspace lens. That's kinda what science fiction's about. I know I've scratched at the surface of a few things from time to time, as have a few of the others.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
Interesting little idea you got there. I'll wait and see what the other weigh in on it, though.
Dartz Wrote:And just because 'Fenspace is not a dystopia' doesn't mean that you can't tackle issues that you want to write about through a Fenspace lens.
Agreed. "Fenspace is not a dystopia" doesn't mean people don't die and individuals don't have tragedy in their lives. It means as a whole the setting is optimistic and heading to Good Places. It doesn't mean everyone in it's perfectly happy and lives forever, even in Crystal Tokyo.
This is a good idea and I'd love to see where you take it.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
First of all: Welcome to Fenspace, shaderic!
shaderic Wrote:Ah, Legacy Project. How many times have I started this post, been distracted, and then failed to do anything with you?
Four. Let's hope for lucky number five. All dates are as near to accurate and logical as I can force them to be, assuming the 'present' is october of 2014.
That's as good a "present day" as any - it's the one I use, after all.
shaderic Wrote:And boy, this is embarassing to admit, but I don't actually have a plan for Sherry's death. Well, it was planned, but I never really figured out what it was going to be. Ideas?
September 2014 - one year after the Battle of Serenity-Con. Perhaps that might have something to do with why she died...?
shaderic Wrote:I'm almost wondering if this whole project is too dark. It's centered a not quite widowed single dad trying to raise his daughter, with the help of his family and not-quite wife's friends. In space.
It's not dark at all, IMHO. Tragic for a while, and maybe a bit melancholy at times, but not dark.
shaderic Wrote:Of course, the reason I call it the Legacy 'Project' is because I'm planning on (eventually) writing pieces centered around them during a bunch of different times. Some happier ones (like Mei's birthdays) some sadder ones (Sherry's funeral), and even a funny one or two (what's the male to female ratio on Crystal Tokyo?).
Unlike most of Fenspace, the Crystal Cities have noticeably more females than males – the ratio isn't at the point where it would cause social problems, but it is there. Grabbing some numbers out of the air and asking for feedback, maybe 5 or 6 women for every 4 men?
shaderic Wrote:The point is, the Legacy Project is basically a group of characters I designed to interact mostly with one another. That way, I could do interactions without constantly stepping on people toes.
But, I'm wondering if perhaps I'm over-doing it on some aspects. Tackling issues like being a single parent, the death of a loved one, the reasons one would biomod themselves, and body issues may be a bit beyond me, or inappropriate for Fenspace. Well, the biomod thing might fit right in actually.
Nobody has (yet) done anything like this, so the field is wide open. And I like the idea of somebody featuring the Crystal Cities and their inhabitants in more than the "local colour" role they've had so far.
I look forward to seeing more of your ideas.
--
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
Since its a death in the line of duty and she's a Sammie, it could be something as simple as saving someone else from an accident. Maybe a burning apartment on Crystal Tokyo and she is able to respond faster then other because she's walking by? Fire's in space are Bad Stuff (tm) after all.
You can always risk a plan B, where she is MIA, and will be found frozen in carbonite in some abandoned Boskonian base when you need a Happy Ending (tm.)
Also, Mei must be one of the first (or even the first) baby to inherit a biomod. Half of the solar system geneticists woudk want to have a peek -wich is no problem for the average Mad, who won't get ofended with a "no". But the bonafide mad doctors like Dr Grey or Quattro may add some drama if you need it.
Still working on character updates, but those got me wondering... Warning, Rambling ahead.
Crystal Tokyo/Castle Magellan is a big floating moon-rock anchored to the surface of Venus with a tether, right? Now, I'm wondering if this thing drifts/tilts. I know that on bigger boats you don't notice it rocking unless something is really wrong. But this isn't a boat. It's more like a large stationary aircraft that floats in the atmosphere. But do changes in the wind affect the city enough to be noticed anyway? Or is it all mitigated by various safeguards?
And what do people who live there call it? Two names are cited on the wiki. Do people from different factions use different names, or do they refer to different parts of the city? I can easily see 'civilian' areas just being Crystal Tokyo or just Tokyo by the locals, while more governmental/military areas are refered to as being in Castle Magellan.
Alternatively, the entire city is Crystal Tokyo, and Castle Magellan refers to the 'core' area in the middle of the spiral. Is there an actual castle, or does the area just have architecture that looks like it? And where does the Castle Magellan name come from, anyway?
Then there's the architecture of the city itself. Space is at a premium in space, so I'd imagine that in some areas apartment buildings that reach almost all the way to the top of the 'dome' are common. On the other hand, some people may have made arguments that such tall building would either interfere with maintenance, or just be major eyesores. There might be areas where houses are deliberately designed to be low to the ground, with roofs that are flat. That way, you can take advantage of the extra space to stargaze, like a porch. Which, in a place with no/little weather that's located high up in the atmosphere, might be surprisingly popular, depending on the transparency of the dome. Or, maybe they have rooftop gardens.
Of course, it's very likely that both of these designs are in the city. As per your usual models, apartments are where people with lower incomes live, whereas 'flats' are where people with cash to burn live.
I can't imagine very many people at all have yards, though. There might be a few 'real' houses with yards, but I imagine most of the greenery is in public parks. Of which, there are probably very few, although they are probably very popular. In 2014, what few trees are there, won't be very big at all. Baring biomods, of course. At an arbitrary guess, I'd say there are two, maybe three parks on Crystal Tokyo. A 'Royal Garden', likely located in or close to the castle, and the other ones being a 'Flats' park and an 'Apartments' park. Ironically, I'd think that the 'Apartments' park is likely the bigger of the two. Since there's more people crammed tighter together there, they probably have a much higher in interest in public utilties and more space to play with. The 'Flats' park, on the other hand, is probably smaller. I'd say that they're both about equal in terms of quality, just that the 'Apartments' one is likely larger.
Now, I'd imagine that to reach most places you'd need to go on foot. Given the segments domes that make up the city, there probably isn't much 'air' traffic and there's probably always lots of people at inter-dome transfer points. That said, there's probably a subway system that goes through the moon-rock. Which, again, I'd imagine is generaly crowded. Assuming the city is arranged in a rough circle, I'd imagine that the rails are layed out in a flattened figure eight, with seven stations. North, Northwest, Southwest, South, Southeast, Northeast, and Core/Central/Castle.
The Core/Castle is likely the government district. Given the spiral layout of the city, I don't think I could really hazard a guess as to the where the other ones are, but I have an idea of what they might be. Again, there's the Flats and the Apartments. But given that this is the HQ of the Senshi faction, I'd imagine a strong military presence, so there's a military/Sammie district.
And where there's people, there's going to likely be shopping/dining/fun-seekers. So, that gives us an Arcade. I use that word, rather than Mall or commercial district, becuase I'd imagine that the Arcade would take more after the japanese model of a department store. That is, rather than the western concept of everything being spread out over an area, tall/deep buildings where each floor is something different. If I'm explaining it poorly, just think of it as a mall where rather than build out, people build up. Down on street level, you'll likely see a bunch of more small, shallow stores and shops.
I also like the sound of 'Arcade' more that commercial district.
For food, I'd bet you'll see your standard fen hodge-podge of things. Mexican, chinese, japanese, italian- if you want it, you'll likely find it. But, there's probably a strong emphasis on fast food and take-out. Sit-down restaurants do exist, but I'd imagine them to be less common, and there's probably none at street level. And, on whatever side is closest to the Sammie district, there are likely to be bars. Which I'd imagine is like saying that you might hear loud noises close to a rock concert, but moving on. The popularity of crepes is off the charts.
Entertainment wise, the Arcade likely has, well, an arcade, with a great variety of Fen-original cabinets. King Of Fen is a mainstay, but DDR machines likely eat lots of credits everyday too. Touhou machines are probably pretty popular too, and there's a King of Fen machine with a dedicated Danmaku mod installed. There's probably alot of Noise Board (which I just made up) installed too, to eat up sound from surrounding machines. That way, you can actually hear what's going in your game, without having to listen to gunfire, screams of anguish, or the loud mish-mash of sound that you get when a lot of people are clustered together and playing around.
... And now I have to go to work... should I have just made a 'Let's Flesh Out Crystal Tokyo' thread instead? This stretched out a lot further than I thought it would. Originally, I was just going to wonder a bit about daily life in Crystal Tokyo.. and it bloated into this.
Ah, well. I had fun.
shaderic Wrote:Still working on character updates, but those got me wondering... Warning, Rambling ahead.
Crystal Tokyo/Castle Magellan is a big floating moon-rock anchored to the surface of Venus with a tether, right?
I don't think the Venus floating cities have a tether... they are just floating on the atmosphere.
Quick reply:
The name "Castle Magellan" is from the Sailor Moon manga (or maybe the Sailor V manga) - in that, it's the name of the Silver-Millennium Sailor Venus' residence in orbit around Venus. Using both names is a concession to the purists who insist upon rigid adherence to canon. Most folks call the city "Crystal Tokyo."
Although, now that you mention it, "Castle Magellan" would be a good name for the Queen's Residence in the city (as opposed to the Queen's Official Residence in the Moon Kingdom Memorial Outpost). One could make it like the White House and have some of the castle grounds devoted to official business, as well.
More later - need to leave for the day...
--
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
shaderic Wrote:Still working on character updates, but those got me wondering... Warning, Rambling ahead.
Crystal Tokyo/Castle Magellan is a big floating moon-rock anchored to the surface of Venus with a tether, right? Now, I'm wondering if this thing drifts/tilts. I know that on bigger boats you don't notice it rocking unless something is really wrong. But this isn't a boat. It's more like a large stationary aircraft that floats in the atmosphere. But do changes in the wind affect the city enough to be noticed anyway? Or is it all mitigated by various safeguards?
Wind changes are definitely noticeable - one of the earliest Fenspace stories (which I can't find at the moment) mentions how difficult it is to dock at Crystal Tokyo because of them.
shaderic Wrote:Then there's the architecture of the city itself. Space is at a premium in space, so I'd imagine that in some areas apartment buildings that reach almost all the way to the top of the 'dome' are common. On the other hand, some people may have made arguments that such tall building would either interfere with maintenance, or just be major eyesores. There might be areas where houses are deliberately designed to be low to the ground, with roofs that are flat. That way, you can take advantage of the extra space to stargaze, like a porch. Which, in a place with no/little weather that's located high up in the atmosphere, might be surprisingly popular, depending on the transparency of the dome. Or, maybe they have rooftop gardens.
Of course, it's very likely that both of these designs are in the city. As per your usual models, apartments are where people with lower incomes live, whereas 'flats' are where people with cash to burn live.
I can't imagine very many people at all have yards, though. There might be a few 'real' houses with yards, but I imagine most of the greenery is in public parks. Of which, there are probably very few, although they are probably very popular. In 2014, what few trees are there, won't be very big at all. Baring biomods, of course. At an arbitrary guess, I'd say there are two, maybe three parks on Crystal Tokyo. A 'Royal Garden', likely located in or close to the castle, and the other ones being a 'Flats' park and an 'Apartments' park. Ironically, I'd think that the 'Apartments' park is likely the bigger of the two. Since there's more people crammed tighter together there, they probably have a much higher in interest in public utilties and more space to play with. The 'Flats' park, on the other hand, is probably smaller. I'd say that they're both about equal in terms of quality, just that the 'Apartments' one is likely larger.
Consider also that the patch of land that makes up Unreal Estate isn't a plane. Most of the industrial areas, and a few of the lowest-rent residential areas, are carved into the base rock of the habitat.
This is especially true in the Crystal Cities, where a large fraction of the rock's interior needs to be hollowed out in order to create the buoyancy chambers needed to keep the cities floating in the Cytherian atmosphere. Some people aren't going to be able to stargaze at home - they live underground, with more buildings outside their windows and rocky walls beyond those.
On the other hand, there will be greenery everywhere - it's part of the life-support system. (While the amount of plant cover that can be crammed into a Crystal City is nowhere near enough to be able to sustain a "natural" closed-circle air system even if every surface was covered with plant life, the plants that are present do provide some air-treatment to supplement the mechanical systems.) It's also something that's said to help people maintain their mental stability.
shaderic Wrote:Now, I'd imagine that to reach most places you'd need to go on foot. Given the segments domes that make up the city, there probably isn't much 'air' traffic and there's probably always lots of people at inter-dome transfer points.
Definitely, yes. The life-support system can't handle cleaning the exhausts of more than a few internal-combustion engines from the air, so foot travel and electrically-powered mass transit are the common modes of travel in a Crystal City.
shaderic Wrote:That said, there's probably a subway system that goes through the moon-rock. Which, again, I'd imagine is generaly crowded. Assuming the city is arranged in a rough circle, I'd imagine that the rails are layed out in a flattened figure eight, with seven stations. North, Northwest, Southwest, South, Southeast, Northeast, and Core/Central/Castle.
The Core/Castle is likely the government district. Given the spiral layout of the city, I don't think I could really hazard a guess as to the where the other ones are, but I have an idea of what they might be. Again, there's the Flats and the Apartments. But given that this is the HQ of the Senshi faction, I'd imagine a strong military presence, so there's a military/Sammie district.
The Sammie's main fleet calls Crystal Hiroshima "home port," but there's at least an official Sammie presence in each of the Crystal Cities.
shaderic Wrote:And where there's people, there's going to likely be shopping/dining/fun-seekers. So, that gives us an Arcade. I use that word, rather than Mall or commercial district, becuase I'd imagine that the Arcade would take more after the japanese model of a department store. That is, rather than the western concept of everything being spread out over an area, tall/deep buildings where each floor is something different. If I'm explaining it poorly, just think of it as a mall where rather than build out, people build up. Down on street level, you'll likely see a bunch of more small, shallow stores and shops.
I also like the sound of 'Arcade' more that commercial district.
That's much like how I described (in passing) the retail district in Crystal Paris, with the "Crystal 109" department store modeled after Shibuya 109.
shaderic Wrote:For food, I'd bet you'll see your standard fen hodge-podge of things. Mexican, chinese, japanese, italian- if you want it, you'll likely find it. But, there's probably a strong emphasis on fast food and take-out. Sit-down restaurants do exist, but I'd imagine them to be less common, and there's probably none at street level. And, on whatever side is closest to the Sammie district, there are likely to be bars. Which I'd imagine is like saying that you might hear loud noises close to a rock concert, but moving on. The popularity of crepes is off the charts.
Crystal Tokyo is a government town, though. The sit-down restaurants will be present, and some of them will be
very good and
very expensive – these are the ones that the diplomats and senior bureaucrats frequent, making deals while enjoying their dinners.
(Although, here in Ottawa, one of the restaurants patronized by the senior bureaucrats isn't particularly expensive – it's a small pizza-and-pasta place near the HQ of the largest government union. There should be at least one restaurant like this somewhere near but not in the capital district of Crystal Tokyo, although it doesn't have to be faux-Italian.)
shaderic Wrote:Entertainment wise, the Arcade likely has, well, an arcade, with a great variety of Fen-original cabinets. King Of Fen is a mainstay, but DDR machines likely eat lots of credits everyday too. Touhou machines are probably pretty popular too, and there's a King of Fen machine with a dedicated Danmaku mod installed. There's probably alot of Noise Board (which I just made up) installed too, to eat up sound from surrounding machines. That way, you can actually hear what's going in your game, without having to listen to gunfire, screams of anguish, or the loud mish-mash of sound that you get when a lot of people are clustered together and playing around.
The most prestigious of the entertainment arcades would be the Crown Arcade, named after the one in Sailor Moon...
shaderic Wrote:... And now I have to go to work... should I have just made a 'Let's Flesh Out Crystal Tokyo' thread instead? This stretched out a lot further than I thought it would. Originally, I was just going to wonder a bit about daily life in Crystal Tokyo.. and it bloated into this.
Ah, well. I had fun.
Don't worry - you've done more to describe Crystal Tokyo than any of the rest of us have!
--
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