Post by diresloth on Oct 28, 2009 22:42:44 GMT -5
I came up with this idea in the shower last night, and spent several hours writing it all down. Origionally I was going to post it in Mr Cales or AOD’s ideas threads, but after it ballooned into a several-page synopsis I figured it deserved its own thread. In a nutshell, it’s a fairly straight-played Magical Girl series, with elements of western superhero comic books. Think of it as “Magical Girl heroine in a western superhero setting.” The plot synopsis I thought of goes like this: Our heroine (We’ll call her C for now) lives in a relatively well-off neighborhood in a crime-ridden city. Her mother is the chief of police, and is renowned for her ironclad determination and incorruptibility, who almost single-handedly forces the city’s felony rate to drop for the first time in decades. However, one day a mysterious new figure in the criminal underworld (We’ll call him Mr. Null for now) starts making himself known, thanks to his ruthless planning and apparently limitless resources. Just as the police finally think they have a lead on the workings of Mr. Null’s organization, seven key figures in the precinct are killed in a single brutally efficient assassination scheme, including C’s mother. C’s father is so devastated he quickly changes from a dutiful parent into a miserable drunkard who can barely make enough money to support his children. C’s older brother, formerly a lazy skater dude, becomes determined to follow in his mother’s footsteps and become a police officer, but because he was badly injured in the attack that claimed his mother’s life, finds himself stuck as a booking clerk. C becomes so depressed she looses interest in everything she once held dear, spending every hour not in school or asleep at her mother’s grave.
One day, she meets a strange woman (Let’s call her E) at the cemetery, who invites her to rest awhile on a bench overlooking the graves. In time, they become close friends, as E seems to be the only one who can really emphasize with and comfort C. Eventually, E asks C if she wants revenge against her mother’s killers.
“Not revenge,” C answers, “I want justice.”
E is pleased with this answer, and explains to the increasingly skeptical C that she is actually a powerful sorceress dedicated to combating evil in all it’s forms. She gives C the means to bring her mother’s killers to justice, a bastard sword called the Sword of the Heavenly Guardian, actually a powerful magical artifact that feeds on wielder’s desires. It’s primary ability is to encase the user in a suit of magical armor, which gives her various superhuman abilities. The Sword’s powers are modular, with E regularly visiting C to add new forms for the armor to take, which C can unlock by swinging her blade in a specific patter to form a rune (giving her a weakness in that she can’t switch forms if her sword arm is immobilized).
With the power of the Blade (which can retract into the form of a pendant when not in use), our heroine transforms herself into Heavenly Guardian Celeste, an icon of hope for the citizens of the beleaguered city. But, as she is getting used to her new powers, C is unaware that Mr. Null is moving on to phase two of his scheme to bring the city, and eventually the world, under his rule. Wherever all his money is coming from, he can apparently retrieve supernatural assistance and superpowered henchmen from it too…
What I really like about this concept is how much fun it would be to explore the Sword’s various forms and their potentials. Here’s some I thought of.
Heavenly Guardian Celeste: C’s basic form, this armor consists of shiny metallic plates. Specifically, a solid breast and backplate, a white skirt mostly covered by more plates, greaves and metal boots (or rather, articulated metal boots so high the upper parts serve as greaves), a set of gauntlets and spaulders completely covering her arms, and a winged headband like that on a stereotypical Valkyrie. The bit of white skirt visible underneath the thigh guards and four long white ribbons coming off the back (designed to suggest wings, and can transform themselves into a back scabbard for the Sword) are the only parts of the outfit not appearing to be polished steel with electrum highlights (which glow when her powers are in use).
C’s powers are most limited in this form, but because it is the easiest to achieve and maintain, and is generally the most balanced form, it’s the one she spends the most time in. The suit can sense her mana field and command the joints of the plates to move in unison with her, giving a sort of magical power-armor effect. The magical energies in the suit are also directed inwards, constantly monitoring her body and using healing magic. This regulates her hormones, giving her increased physical and mental stamina, as well as improving her reflexes and giving her a healing factor. She has enough magical energy left over in this form to make use of the Sword’s inherient powers, allowing her to generate a glowing, concessive force to increase the power of the sword’s strikes, as well as firing off in the form of SwordBeams (and, as she gets more skilled, a number of other more complicated attacks).
Purging Inferno Efreet: This form transforms C intoan Iron Man ripoff a warrior of wind, smoke, and fire. It appears exactly like Iron Man’s outfit as a suit of thin, heavily articulated dull red plates completely covering her body below the neck, as well as a stylized gas mask covering her lower face. The sword itself morphs into a series of silvery metal discs with glowing orange jewels in the middle, attached to each of her palms, one in the center of her chest, two angled-down ones just below her shoulderblades, and two more down-angled ones on her calves, kinda like Iron Man’s Repulsor Rays and Uni-Beam. While in this form, C can shoot gouts of flame, clouds of noxious smoke, and expanding gusts of hot air from the discs, as well as exert a modicum of control over each of these elements. Think of it as instantly turning her into a Fire-specialized nuking mage from every RPG ever. The main drawback of this form is that the armor is relatively thin and she no longer has a separate weapon to ward off blows with, making her somewhat vulnerable. This is also the only form other than Nemesis capable of true flight, which she does by shooting jets of expanding hot air and flame out of the back discs while stabilizing herself with the discs in the calves and palms, again, just like Iron Man does.
Rocket Bruiser Derby Girl: One of the more bizarre forms, when C activates this mode the Sword transforms into a shiny metal sport helmet covered in bright pink stars, studded elbow and kneepads, a pair of oversized brass knuckles/cesti, and a set of footwear that, despite being made of articulated metal plates, still look very much like old-fashioned roller skates. The rest of her armor shrinks down into a pair of fingerless leather gloves, fishnet arm coverings, a Psychobilly band shirt, a pair of Daisy Dukes, white and lime green banded stockings, a pink star painted over one of her eyes, and several long beaded necklaces. While in this form, C can trigger a pair of tiny but powerful rockets built into her roller skates giving her a massive speed boost. The skates also have the curious ability to temporarily reshape dense matter they come in contact with, letting her subtly alter the floor, walls, and other fixtures of wherever she happens to be skating in to make it easier for her to get around without slowing down, i.e. forming a stairway into a ramp or corner in a hall into a banked curve. Because it doesn’t have to dedicate power to maintaining actual armor, the suit can also inherence it’s healing/physical enhancement effects in this form, giving her greatly enhanced durability, strength, and reflexes. E admits to not being exactly sure what this form would be useful for, she just created it becauseI she loves roller derby.
Untraceable Sniper Ainiaan: In this form, C’s armor is reduced to a breast and backplate with a single huge shoulder guard, a chainmail skirt and sleeves, and tough leather gloves and boots. She also gains a long cloak that can shift its colors to give her camoflage or even render her temporarily intangible. In this form she is armed only with an oversized crossbow (or maybe just a regular longbow?) with a scope and a number of TrickArrows. Her armor’s enhancements shift to be biased towards improving her hand-eye coordination and reflexes.
Unstoppable Juggernaut Calliope: In this form, gold and crimson armor plating builds up around C’s legs and arms, including exaggerated shoulder and forearm armor. To her dismay, the build up around her limbs leaves her torso significantly less covered than in her other forms. The Sword transforms into a huge double-headed axe, or maybe just a much bigger sword. This form is geared towards pure offensive power, as the power-armor effect combined with how built up the armor around her arms and legs gives her “18-wheeler as handy projectile”-level strength. The increase in strength also makes her faster and more mobile, but she is still slower to react and worse at defending herself than in other forms.
Stalwart Defender Gozen: In this form, C gains dark blue armor patterned after O Yoroi armor, with massively exaggerated shoulder and thigh guards and an armored headband. The sword transforms into an ornate naginata. While in this form C’s defensive ability is emphasized. The heavy armor makes her very difficult to harm, and the naginata’s long reach makes her difficult to get around, letting her defend a large area from whatever enemies she happens to be facing at the time, but leaves is relatively slower and less mobile. This form should probably have some other sort of gimmick besides impenetrable defensive power, but I’m having difficulty thinking of one…
Lightning Gunslinger Lillian: In this form, C’s armor shrinks down into a soft armor vest of some sort, plus subtle shoulder, forearm, and shin guards, and her clothing changes into a loud orange catsuit with stylized holsters for the dual oversized handguns the Sword transforms into. This form greatly boosts C’s reflexes, senses, and hand-eye coordination, making her a supreme John Woo-style gunslinger. The name references this form’s special ability, which lets C channel magical energy into the guns, generating electricity which arcs through the path the bullets leave, effectively allowing her to shoot lightning bolts.
Ultimate Authority Nemesis: The Sword’s requisite “Ultimate Form,” Nemesis turns the armor into a highly ornate version of the Celeste form, and turns the ribbons in back into actual armor-plated wings. She also gains a Centurion-style helmet with a golden mask set with a serene visage. While in this form, C’s offensive, defensive, and movement capabilities are virtually infinite, she can summon matter out of thin air, telekinetically control everything within miles, and project energy blasts powerful enough to damage the Earth’s crust. However, the mana drain this form requires to gain and maintain are massive, and even if she manages to meet them the psychological strain would be very dangerous. I’ve toyed around with the idea of this form actually causing her to be possessed by a benevolent but highly judgmental spirit of some sort.
Malfunctioning Guardian Quasimodo: Unlike so many other Magical Girls, C does not have the advantage of being invulnerable during her transformation sequences. If she is harmed while shifting forms, her armor may malfunction, rapidly shifting between random shapes and colors for several minutes. Though she would otherwise be greatly hampered by this happening, having trouble even moving correctly, if C can figure out to use the flexibility this form offers she may be able to turn a disastrous occurrence into an advantage.
I’m not sure what I want to do with this idea. Probably nothing, unless I’ve gotten anyone else interested?
One day, she meets a strange woman (Let’s call her E) at the cemetery, who invites her to rest awhile on a bench overlooking the graves. In time, they become close friends, as E seems to be the only one who can really emphasize with and comfort C. Eventually, E asks C if she wants revenge against her mother’s killers.
“Not revenge,” C answers, “I want justice.”
E is pleased with this answer, and explains to the increasingly skeptical C that she is actually a powerful sorceress dedicated to combating evil in all it’s forms. She gives C the means to bring her mother’s killers to justice, a bastard sword called the Sword of the Heavenly Guardian, actually a powerful magical artifact that feeds on wielder’s desires. It’s primary ability is to encase the user in a suit of magical armor, which gives her various superhuman abilities. The Sword’s powers are modular, with E regularly visiting C to add new forms for the armor to take, which C can unlock by swinging her blade in a specific patter to form a rune (giving her a weakness in that she can’t switch forms if her sword arm is immobilized).
With the power of the Blade (which can retract into the form of a pendant when not in use), our heroine transforms herself into Heavenly Guardian Celeste, an icon of hope for the citizens of the beleaguered city. But, as she is getting used to her new powers, C is unaware that Mr. Null is moving on to phase two of his scheme to bring the city, and eventually the world, under his rule. Wherever all his money is coming from, he can apparently retrieve supernatural assistance and superpowered henchmen from it too…
What I really like about this concept is how much fun it would be to explore the Sword’s various forms and their potentials. Here’s some I thought of.
Heavenly Guardian Celeste: C’s basic form, this armor consists of shiny metallic plates. Specifically, a solid breast and backplate, a white skirt mostly covered by more plates, greaves and metal boots (or rather, articulated metal boots so high the upper parts serve as greaves), a set of gauntlets and spaulders completely covering her arms, and a winged headband like that on a stereotypical Valkyrie. The bit of white skirt visible underneath the thigh guards and four long white ribbons coming off the back (designed to suggest wings, and can transform themselves into a back scabbard for the Sword) are the only parts of the outfit not appearing to be polished steel with electrum highlights (which glow when her powers are in use).
C’s powers are most limited in this form, but because it is the easiest to achieve and maintain, and is generally the most balanced form, it’s the one she spends the most time in. The suit can sense her mana field and command the joints of the plates to move in unison with her, giving a sort of magical power-armor effect. The magical energies in the suit are also directed inwards, constantly monitoring her body and using healing magic. This regulates her hormones, giving her increased physical and mental stamina, as well as improving her reflexes and giving her a healing factor. She has enough magical energy left over in this form to make use of the Sword’s inherient powers, allowing her to generate a glowing, concessive force to increase the power of the sword’s strikes, as well as firing off in the form of SwordBeams (and, as she gets more skilled, a number of other more complicated attacks).
Purging Inferno Efreet: This form transforms C into
Rocket Bruiser Derby Girl: One of the more bizarre forms, when C activates this mode the Sword transforms into a shiny metal sport helmet covered in bright pink stars, studded elbow and kneepads, a pair of oversized brass knuckles/cesti, and a set of footwear that, despite being made of articulated metal plates, still look very much like old-fashioned roller skates. The rest of her armor shrinks down into a pair of fingerless leather gloves, fishnet arm coverings, a Psychobilly band shirt, a pair of Daisy Dukes, white and lime green banded stockings, a pink star painted over one of her eyes, and several long beaded necklaces. While in this form, C can trigger a pair of tiny but powerful rockets built into her roller skates giving her a massive speed boost. The skates also have the curious ability to temporarily reshape dense matter they come in contact with, letting her subtly alter the floor, walls, and other fixtures of wherever she happens to be skating in to make it easier for her to get around without slowing down, i.e. forming a stairway into a ramp or corner in a hall into a banked curve. Because it doesn’t have to dedicate power to maintaining actual armor, the suit can also inherence it’s healing/physical enhancement effects in this form, giving her greatly enhanced durability, strength, and reflexes. E admits to not being exactly sure what this form would be useful for, she just created it because
Untraceable Sniper Ainiaan: In this form, C’s armor is reduced to a breast and backplate with a single huge shoulder guard, a chainmail skirt and sleeves, and tough leather gloves and boots. She also gains a long cloak that can shift its colors to give her camoflage or even render her temporarily intangible. In this form she is armed only with an oversized crossbow (or maybe just a regular longbow?) with a scope and a number of TrickArrows. Her armor’s enhancements shift to be biased towards improving her hand-eye coordination and reflexes.
Unstoppable Juggernaut Calliope: In this form, gold and crimson armor plating builds up around C’s legs and arms, including exaggerated shoulder and forearm armor. To her dismay, the build up around her limbs leaves her torso significantly less covered than in her other forms. The Sword transforms into a huge double-headed axe, or maybe just a much bigger sword. This form is geared towards pure offensive power, as the power-armor effect combined with how built up the armor around her arms and legs gives her “18-wheeler as handy projectile”-level strength. The increase in strength also makes her faster and more mobile, but she is still slower to react and worse at defending herself than in other forms.
Stalwart Defender Gozen: In this form, C gains dark blue armor patterned after O Yoroi armor, with massively exaggerated shoulder and thigh guards and an armored headband. The sword transforms into an ornate naginata. While in this form C’s defensive ability is emphasized. The heavy armor makes her very difficult to harm, and the naginata’s long reach makes her difficult to get around, letting her defend a large area from whatever enemies she happens to be facing at the time, but leaves is relatively slower and less mobile. This form should probably have some other sort of gimmick besides impenetrable defensive power, but I’m having difficulty thinking of one…
Lightning Gunslinger Lillian: In this form, C’s armor shrinks down into a soft armor vest of some sort, plus subtle shoulder, forearm, and shin guards, and her clothing changes into a loud orange catsuit with stylized holsters for the dual oversized handguns the Sword transforms into. This form greatly boosts C’s reflexes, senses, and hand-eye coordination, making her a supreme John Woo-style gunslinger. The name references this form’s special ability, which lets C channel magical energy into the guns, generating electricity which arcs through the path the bullets leave, effectively allowing her to shoot lightning bolts.
Ultimate Authority Nemesis: The Sword’s requisite “Ultimate Form,” Nemesis turns the armor into a highly ornate version of the Celeste form, and turns the ribbons in back into actual armor-plated wings. She also gains a Centurion-style helmet with a golden mask set with a serene visage. While in this form, C’s offensive, defensive, and movement capabilities are virtually infinite, she can summon matter out of thin air, telekinetically control everything within miles, and project energy blasts powerful enough to damage the Earth’s crust. However, the mana drain this form requires to gain and maintain are massive, and even if she manages to meet them the psychological strain would be very dangerous. I’ve toyed around with the idea of this form actually causing her to be possessed by a benevolent but highly judgmental spirit of some sort.
Malfunctioning Guardian Quasimodo: Unlike so many other Magical Girls, C does not have the advantage of being invulnerable during her transformation sequences. If she is harmed while shifting forms, her armor may malfunction, rapidly shifting between random shapes and colors for several minutes. Though she would otherwise be greatly hampered by this happening, having trouble even moving correctly, if C can figure out to use the flexibility this form offers she may be able to turn a disastrous occurrence into an advantage.
I’m not sure what I want to do with this idea. Probably nothing, unless I’ve gotten anyone else interested?
