Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Character Creation and Discussion

[Fuyu no Sora]

Originally Posted by dkellis

Quick question: how is Carim addressed and referred to? I've got "Holy Carim" here, but I forget if I put that there as a placeholder or if that's really how she's called.

Well....pretty much everyone called her "Knight Carim" in StrikerS

[Keroko]

Originally Posted by Wild Goose

No. Chief has powered armor and nobody complained. The fact is we're all still wary about you, especially after that "Mecha suit that turns a C-rank into an A-rank and spams cartridges to make them fire S-rank spells." That's like taking a Civic engine, NOSing it up to maybe Integra levels, and expecting it to beat a Hemi. And frankly... to be honest, a lot of people were rubbed the wrong way with your rather arrogant entry into OC.

Actually, I did complain. In fact, I still don't like it, but I'm mostly letting it go because he's OFM material, and OFM operates outside normal TSAB rules anyway.

The moment 'mass production' of said armor is even mentioned is when I start kicking the hornet nest again.

Originally Posted by AdmiralTigerclaw

And of course, the typical counter for 'why haven't we seen it' would be: Absence of Proof is not Proof of Absence.

What I meant was that the TSAB shows no sign whatsoever that they are using power armor, making it an alien element into the Nanohaverse. It's the same reason why I was so vocal about your flight squadron and mass weapons usage, go down that path to deep and you end up with a story that makes you scrach your head and wonder 'am I reading an army story or something? I thought this was about Nanoha!' the further yuou deviate from canon, the stranger your story gets, untill it gets to the point where nobody even recognises its set in the Nanohaverse.

Originally Posted by AdmiralTigerclaw

So nobody complains about the armor I presented from pretty much day one until I actually find a picture of what it's supposed to look like?

I believe we already complained about it quite a lot, we were just more concerned at what it did at the time then how it looked.

Originally Posted by AdmiralTigerclaw

Cannon arguments may be worth taking into account. But this time it's just Keroko having a beef with my choice of Aesthetics. A beef about it turning into massive numbers of mecha when I have already stated that the model is prototype. As in, one of a kind.

The amusing thing is that I was mentioning Power Armors in general. I was already getting increasingly twitchy by several other people anxious to introduce 'frames' and 'armors' yours was simply the last drop.

[AdmiralTigerclaw]

Originally Posted by dkellis

I think that an equally relevant question is: why do you want to include that into the story?

Personally, I don't care what you do for your story. Put in space battles, put in powered armour, put in giant mecha, whatever. I really don't care. What I do care about, however, is that you make it work.

Make it a fanfic. We're already at a disadvantage here, since we want to write a fanfic, but we're using original characters, or canon characters warped into original characters with little in common but the name. If you change even more things, then after a certain point (different for everyone, writer and reader), the question arises: why is this even set in the Nanoha-verse? Why would the average fan of the series want to read the story?

Make it plausible. For every bit of original invention I put into my story, I sit back and consider it from every angle. Why do I want to do this? "Because it's cool" is not a good enough answer. Everything has to have a reason in the story, and the reasons all have to tie together into a coherent whole. Everything gets the same treatment: do I really need that plot device in there for the sake of the story? If I took it out, what happens to the story?

Most of all, though, make it a good story. Even if you have a reason and it fits into the story, maybe it doesn't fit as well as you thought. That's why we're showing our works to each other: to gain feedback. Personally, I'd be ecstatic if someone were to go through my story with a fine-toothed comb and point out every single mistake I made. Because that requires a special kind of dedication which I struggle to achieve.

If you can answer all of those questions, then I have no problems with your motivations. I might have problems with the end results (after all, I have problems with how StrikerS went down), but that's a different matter.

It's sort of like a matter of trust: I, as a reader, trust that you'll be able to dish out a good story even after all my misgivings about it. Don't betray that trust.

(EDIT: This, incidentally, applies in general.)

Thank you, a voice of reason.
Incidently, AS fanfiction, to a certain extent you have to realize that we're writing it because we want to have fun, and that we're mixing and matching things because we like them. Making them fit is the hard part.

Which I am working on as always.

[Wild Goose]

Originally Posted by AdmiralTigerclaw

We do have modern plate armor. It's just that to have it practical is mass intensive, bulky, and generally impractical to wear because of that weight and bulk making soldiers a sitting duck.

Plus you die faster while running in an EOD suit, which is essentially what modern plate armor is.

Spoiler for Power Armor is NOW!:

Only trouble left is portable power for it really.
Slap a magic power system on there and you're good to go.

To be honest, now that I remember, there is powered armor in the Nanoverse, or at least Fanon. The powered armor units used by the Erusian Military and Erusian Resistance during the War of Subjugation. And let's not forget the costs of such things as well - I doubt these units will see mass-production, since the costs are going to be huge. And even if the exoframe works and runs around, putting on the armor increases bulk, making you a bigger target, plus there's no real evidence that armor really helps against magical shots - there's inference that Barrier Jackets provide some protection, and that's a whole other shitstorm I won't get into at 4 am, plus bulking up is not a good idea in CQB; I remember reading that Delta Force, when doing an airliner takedown, doesn't use body armor because the idea is to strike fast and deadly.

Also...HEAT and EFP warheads WILL penetrate plate armor. There is no such thing as a perfect defense, beyond "Don't get hit."

Originally Posted by AdmiralTigerclaw

So nobody complains about the armor I presented from pretty much day one until I actually find a picture of what it's supposed to look like?

It would appear so. *shrug* It's not my fault this is the only free time I've had. My timing can suck at times. Besides, most of us are willing to let things like powered armor slid, provided reasonable. Kagerou mentioned the Erusian Military using powered armore in the War of Subjugation. To be fair, we were mostly complaining on what it did rather than what it looked like.

Don't start that bull argument with me Goose. I've scaled the abilities back already like asked. I've got the project work slated for the big-assed-essay which I'm going to take time on. (Not hammer together in three hours. Which incidently, my use of only FOUR hours was called SLAPPED together.) I scrapped my biggest controversial idea... I'm doing my work.

Regardless of the fact that the abilities were scaled back, regardless of the fact that you're scrapping your controversial idea of weapons stockpiles (which I seem to have missed in the days I was sick), you now have this rep, which is a cause for wariness whenever your name shows up.

The point I was trying to make to you, ATC, is that you were complaining about writing 2000 words. I wrote 3000 words in 3 hours give or take, so it can be done. As for the content, I suppose I am cheating, in that all those words were typed as I sorted out almost 4 months worth of work and worked through plotholes and inconsistencies. You want bull? How about your arguments for a fighter squadron keeping a stockpile of banned weapons? Your arguments were on using magic guns, and then you tried to make that fit to stockpiles of banned weapons. Now that's bull.

One of the issues that I'm raising in my OFM works is that as the years go by it's harder to get spare parts for the OFM's guns simply because the TSAB has been blowing up and destroying every last gun on Erusia (apart from the pistols the Gardai use, which can only fire tranq rounds).

Nobody had a beef with the fact that I keep REPEATEDLY mentioning it as powered armor, as an exoskeleton, as something weighing a whole lot with lots of metal. I even posted THIS image early on with nobody showing any real concern. Nobody... Not until I put up a vid that shows it looks like an armored football player robot. Up until this it was concerns about power levels when I was still sketchy on them and working on them.

Chinese New Year. Worst time of the year to put up anything. Plus Kha's crack has been drowning everything lately.

Cannon arguments may be worth taking into account. But this time it's just Keroko having a beef with my choice of Aesthetics. A beef about it turning into massive numbers of mecha when I have already stated that the model is prototype. As in, one of a kind.

Which begs the question, again, of why you're having powered armor by the TSAB when this is a MAGICAL GIRL SHOW and the TSAB has barrier jackets which work fine enough, thank you very much. (Surely you remember how bureaucracies love their habits) What's your rationale? What point does this serve? Chief has his armor, yes. It's part of him. So we worked out a backstory for him and his armor. We worked out when and where he can use it. Even found some -wonder of wonders- disadvantages for his armor.

This reminds me, I need to go and tell Kha "Oh hell no, making the Infinity Library a seperate faction with Frames and mecha is NOT what I was talking about when I said they had a seperate charter."

Originally Posted by Keroko

Actually, I did complain. In fact, I still don't like it, but I'm mostly letting it go because he's OFM material, and OFM operates outside normal TSAB rules anyway.

I'd forgotten about that. What I've been doing in the bits of writings still on my hard drive has been to emphasise Master Chief the man, and not his armor.

What I meant was that the TSAB shows no sign whatsoever that they are using power armor, making it an alien element into the Nanohaverse. It's the same reason why I was so vocal about your flight squadron and mass weapons usage, go down that path to deep and you end up with a story that makes you scrach your head and wonder 'am I reading an army story or something? I thought this was about Nanoha!' the further yuou deviate from canon, the stranger your story gets, untill it gets to the point where nobody even recognises its set in the Nanohaverse.

TK brought this up to myself and Kegerou while we were still prepping, reminding us that guns notwithstanding, this is the Nanoha universe we're playing in, and we need to follow its rules and make our stuff still fit into the Nanoverse.

*sighs* Now to Sleep 1 hour, wake up and go to work *sighs* Looking forward to another 20 hour day.

[SpaceBrotha]

Originally Posted by AdmiralTigerclaw

So nobody complains about the armor I presented from pretty much day one until I actually find a picture of what it's supposed to look like?

err... i thought we took up beef right from the start, didn't we? everything from general concept to the armaments to terminology...

...let's see, i've read up to the sparring match between the suit and the two aces, and based on that i did let it slide, but if you want to bring in the audience with an argument like "no one complained" then i might as well speak up.

No.
Don't start that bull argument with me Goose. I've scaled the abilities back already like asked. I've got the project work slated for the big-assed-essay which I'm going to take time on. (Not hammer together in three hours. Which incidently, my use of only FOUR hours was called SLAPPED together.) I scrapped my biggest controversial idea... I'm doing my work.

well, it's not technically bull, but the argument is rather offensively formed...
And i'm not touching the time factor with a 10 foot pole, everyone writes at a different pace, so hours can't really be used as an adequate measurement unit...

Nobody had a beef with the fact that I keep REPEATEDLY mentioning it as powered armor, as an exoskeleton, as something weighing a whole lot with lots of metal. I even posted THIS image early on with nobody showing any real concern. Nobody... Not until I put up a vid that shows it looks like an armored football player robot. Up until this it was concerns about power levels when I was still sketchy on them and working on them.

Well if you really want an answer to that, it's probably because you've shown to be a hard ass when it comes to defending your work, as well as tenacious as hell...
So no one bothered, they probably figured that if you want to make it that badly, then go ahead... It's just the few haxxbusters around that take up beef with you about it... but even they don't have unlimited amounts of energy to throw at your face, so you get it like mail... extremely late.

Cannon arguments may be worth taking into account. But this time it's just Keroko having a beef with my choice of Aesthetics. A beef about it turning into massive numbers of mecha when I have already stated that the model is prototype. As in, one of a kind.

That's because it IS a prototype, keroko is thinking ahead... a prototype that's already at a stage where it can be used in combat to that degree?
You bet it's going into mass production... hence, more than one... i doubt that kerokos argument has any more substance than that, something that will be a problem in the future.

Now, as for wild gooses arguments, i do think that he has it somewhat correct, the entire "C to A who can use S rank spells" was the main point that rubbed everyone the wrong way... and i remember your counter to that "it's not something that's meant to be used continuously" now although correct, i'd like to point out that jumping from A to AA to AA+ to AAA to AAA+ to S is a long friggin jump, and according to manga, fate at AAA said that chrono being AAA+ meant that he was going to beat her without even breaking a sweat. we're talking about some radical differences in power when we're jumping a single friggin rank from AAA to AAA+, which is exactly why someone who's already being forced to A casting something rated S seems insanity, if not downright impossible.

I haven't been following much, but did you implement the modular structure that i proposed? Because without it you've got some serious haxx built into your machine...

...as for how you're viewed, we can point out that you did come in with a crash, threw this idea of yours in our face, then proceeded to pound it in our face until we'd give up resisting the idea. Most people kinda tend to stop trying to force you to see reason, i'll grant that i didn't, instead i thought that most of the glaring problems about the suit had already been solved: you downgraded it a bit and with the modular concept it seemed downright interesting, adding a fun tactical side to engagements in cases where the wrong module was put into use ...

So, shall we get this thing going again for another 4 pages then?

Edit: that's what i get for taking so long to post this... both wild goose and keroko had time to post replies already...
Edit 2: removed an extra "or" from there, no idea how that snuck up on me...

[AdmiralTigerclaw]

Not that I'm complaining about doing 2000 or 3000 word essays. (I sometimes write POSTS that long on a regular basis) But I remind that I was asked to spend a week on it alone, just to cover an area of backstory HISTORY that wasn't even supposed to be in the forefront of the story itself except as little snippets here and there. Something I like to call a 'useless task'.

Spoiler for I am NOT bowing down to the Terrible Trivium!:

Since then I've found a method to do it without submitting to the Trivium and have it slated.

EDIT:

@SpaceBrotha:
You had a beef not with that it's armor or powered armor, but with the fact that I equipped it with conventional shot and rapid fire shot, a sniper rifle, a rotary cannon, single round missile launcher, and artillery mode all at once to cover multiple aspects of combat.

And I do plan on pulling the artillery mode off it and leaving that as modular. But I'm keeping the standard rifle mode, the rotary cannon (thing's still inaccurate) and making its 'power' mode the Lance Rifle.

I'm also writing in that the AI onboard is constantly rebalancing energy. (Ever play the Xwing series? It handles energy management like an ELS system. Watch this video and watch the display in the X wing Cockpit marked E L S. Or Engines, Lasers, Shields. Especially watch the speed indicator at the bottom of the instrument panel when the ELS is readjusted.)
Essentially, the armor will have to rapidly go from attack, to engine, to defense rapidly. But cannot do all three at once. ELS management makes fights so much more interesting.

[Kagerou]

I'm actually going to jump in the fray with this one, simply because it seems worthwhile. I'm going to use my G3C Ghost Armor as a foil to ATCs armor, simply because they seem to be complete opposites in function and serve as decent foils to each other.

From what I can gather, ATC's armor (the name escapes me; I'm going to call it Metal Gear for now) is designed to be a heavy-assault and augment armor, essentially turning the user of it into a mobile walking weapons platform . Metal Gear's equipment is designed to be able to pump the unit from a mere C rank to a AAA/S rank with the use of cartridges, along with giving them all sorts of nifty gadgets. In theory, this sounds like a good idea; turning a grunt into a AAA rank? Yes plz. In practice? Totally different.

Let's look at cost, for starters. These things would have to be damn expensive, on par with a Main Battle Tank in the modern time if not more. Like Goose mentioned, it'd be a 30 to 300 syndrome. You could build one Metal Gear armor, or you could build 10 (using an example) Infantry Fighting Vehicles (not that the TSAB has those, I think). Cost does not outweigh utility. I'm sure if they could afford to mass-produce it, they would build legions of Metal Gear suits. But they can't. Maintenance costs alone would be scary.

Now let's observe what it does to the user. You're proposing that you take a C rank mage and turn them into an A rank at the least. Coupled with the Cartridge system, which is proven to strain the user's body, you're bumping them up to an S rank. If Nanoha, an S rank, is worn by using such a huge number of cartridges, I would think a C rank would die from them. I see these things being used in limited, very short, engagements; I would put an hour of operational time at the most. That's to prevent damage to one's Linker Core (well, permanent damage). But some engagements can last even longer, taking days.

Finally, let's just assume that a unit of Metal Gear-equipped ground forces goes haywire or rebels. Now you have a platoon of enhanced super-soldiers running around killing people willy-nilly. And you definitely don't want that.

I'm going to use my Ghost Armor now as a foil.

The Ghost Armor is designed to be a supplemental utility to the mage. To expound, it focuses on stealth while providing the mage with a defense thicker than your standard Barrier Jacket. This is because of the second Device that the Armor emits out of, the Charge Device, which processes and stores the armor. Running semi-dependently on the mage's Linker Core, the armor provides minimal wear and tear on their Core, allowing for extended engagements. The Storage Device that usually comes with it is a rifle-shaped Storage Device that allows for most standard TSAB attacks. Furthermore, the cloaking system, while the heat output it high, provides near-total invisibility, greatly increasing utility of mages when they're tracking their targets.

But like with Metal Gear, there are heavy drawbacks to why you will never see massive production of these things. First off, like Metal Gear, the cost is almost prohibitive. While not as expensive as Metal Gear, dedicated cloaking technology is still in its infancy, and thus costly to maintain. The armor itself, with all the bells and whistles it comes with, is also expensive. Totaling up the costs of everything, I'm going to estimate that it costs about 1/3 of that of Metal Gear. A 3 for 10 ratio, if you will. For one suit of Ghost Armor, you could build 3 IFVs. Not as bad a tradeoff as Metal Gear, but prohibitive enough that there are very few of these in production, and which is why I expressed that only some Enforcers and the OFM use it.

On the user, the wear isn't nearly as bad as Metal Gear. However, the drawback with Ghost Armor is the cloaking tech. The technology is extremely sensitive to user magic, and whilst cloaked a mage is unable to cast any spells, not even flight. This means that you're not going to be sniping a target from 3000 meters while cloaked. You're not binding someone while cloaked, and you're sure as hell not going to be casting anything defensive while cloaked. Though invisible, you're also totally vulnerable. Most people wouldn't like this, though others can see its function and adapt.

Finally, just for kicks, let's pit Emili against Crash. Ghost Armor versus Metal Gear. Emili is AA rank, and Crash is... well, I forgot, sorry. The point is that Metal Gear augments his rank.

If they start at range, then both would have a good fight. Emili is a combat specialist, and she enjoys ranged attacks. It would come down to Emili evading Crash's attacks, since Emili's Ghost Armor can't stand up to the power of Metal Gear's attacks, and Crash just standing there and taking it, because IIRC Metal Gear is really tough.

[AdmiralTigerclaw]

I haven't really named the Armor anything other than Battery Armor.

I have essentially two visions for it.

1: Shock Trooper. Like you mention above, the heavily brute power version for brief engagements. Something for beefing up a spec-ops unit when they go in against a heavily entrenched enemy of some kind. Something to bring the power of the sparse Aces down on the location like a Clap of thunder.
This is the initial design. Crash wears it in my sound cinema.

2: Heavy Combat.
The second version, which Crash will use in the story (Because Cooper adjusted it), is less shock troop, and more heavy assault and movement. It still has firepower, it still has defense power, and it's still more for rapid engagements. But its sustainable compared to the shock trooper image. The idea is to give a mage more staying power in a drawn out fight... so it has more energy management features and efficiency focus rather than pumping up the power. (Example, in the end combat segment, you saw how crash made use of the limitations of the efficiency when he Lanced Nanoha while standing on her barrier.)

I think I'll call the first model the Adrenus (After Adrenaline, something that gives a brief super boost for a short time.)

The second one I don't know. Wait, yes I do. The second mocel terns you into a super athlete... Athlete, Olympics... Olympian Armor.

BAM!

I'm off to work. I'll think about it on my drive.


EDIT: Oh. Crash is B- rank Overall in across the board stats. He ranks a C (Average) in the Magic Power catagory on his own.

[Wild Goose]

Originally Posted by AdmiralTigerclaw

Not that I'm complaining about doing 2000 or 3000 word essays. (I sometimes write POSTS that long on a regular basis) But I remind that I was asked to spend a week on it alone, just to cover an area of backstory HISTORY that wasn't even supposed to be in the forefront of the story itself except as little snippets here and there. Something I like to call a 'useless task'.

Six months ago, the first idea for Erusia involved an oval-shaped planet that placed itself under a time dilation field, advancing rapdily, really really really fast, and taking to the stars and meeting the TSAB head on before being eventually driven back and stalemated wherupon it hit the time dilation field and began rapidly advancing once again. He'd put in about a month of planning and effort into this.

The finished Erusian/Subjugation War articles make no references to this because this idea was dropped.

All in all, the Erusian backstory that was worked out and is part of Alpha Canon was essentially rewritten completely after being junked. It was, in your own words, useless. It hasn't been touched on in writing, save for slight allusions here and there and twitching when the name A. J. Ivanovich comes up. This backstory history is not at the forefront of any of the writings that we're doing. It doesn't come up except here and there. And we did it anyway.

So, in three words: Suck it up. If working out the backstory is good enough for J.R.R. Tolkein, then goddamnit it's good enough for us!

You had a beef not with that it's armor or powered armor, but with the fact that I equipped it with conventional shot and rapid fire shot, a sniper rifle, a rotary cannon, single round missile launcher, and artillery mode all at once to cover multiple aspects of combat.

To be honest, I'm actually annoyed at myself for not pointing out the old adage "Jack of all trades, master of none." I prefer a certain degree of specialisation - easier to program and maintain, afterall. Riflemen use the rifle options, support use the long-range weapons, rather than one guy trying to do everything at one time.

I'm also writing in that the AI onboard is constantly rebalancing energy. (Ever play the Xwing series? It handles energy management like an ELS system. Watch this video and watch the display in the X wing Cockpit marked E L S. Or Engines, Lasers, Shields. Especially watch the speed indicator at the bottom of the instrument panel when the ELS is readjusted.)
Essentially, the armor will have to rapidly go from attack, to engine, to defense rapidly. But cannot do all three at once. ELS management makes fights so much more interesting.

Now, see, aren't things much more interesting when you carefully think about stuff instead of "zomg this is awesome bow to it!"

Will continue during lunch break; heading off to work.

[Sheba]

To be honest, I'm actually annoyed at myself for not pointing out the old adage "Jack of all trades, master of none." I prefer a certain degree of specialisation - easier to program and maintain, afterall. Riflemen use the rifle options, support use the long-range weapons, rather than one guy trying to do everything at one time.

It also make up more interesting inter-character dynamics. In canon cast, we have the three Aces who excel at their own different fields.


As for the powered suit topic, when they got brought up in fictions they were barely capable of flying, maybe they have jet-packs for brief and long jumps, and that's about it.
(I have Red Eyes SAAs and Heinlein's power suits from Starship Troopers in mind)

[Kha]

@Powered Armor discussion:

Keroko has several valid points about deploying too many of them. Canonically, we're seeing none of them, and as much as the girls remind us of mecha, that's about it. The closest I ever got to power armor early in Rebuilt of StrikerS is some troopers masquerading as Thors from Battletech. Masquerading means "he's firing one device in his left hand, he's holding another on his right and what's with that fat tube strapped to his shoulder?"

This is why I think the Power Armor is vital to the type of force Midchilda is, but is never seen in canon:

Midchilda is arguably the most central of the Core Worlds, deep within the Blue Zone, and therefore is strictly civilian territory. Like we don't see tanks patrolling the streets of Manhatten everyday, we don't see the TSAB, which I believe is acting as a police force in the Blue Zone, flying around in bulky armors and scaring the daylights out of tourists. The most we ever see are SWAT teams, and we get that in the Enforcers.

Power armor, due to the protection and power offered, are the magical world's legal weapons of war. Short of invoking Martial Law, you're never gonna see them operating on home soil.


However, here's the catch that should have been invoked in canon: When even the Enforcers and pretty much all ground troops are in trouble, it's time to call in the elite. Granted, Regius has been manipulating the works forcing the transfer of such resources off-planet, and the Brains helped that happen, it is impossible, in fact mind-bogglingly suicidal, to transfer all self-defence assets off-planet without invoking a major political backlash.


"But canon has no parliament/electorial system to speak of!"

And one would expect that kind of system to rule the entire of the Inner Space in peace?


That's another change in Rebuilt so that things would make sense; The government has been changed to having the High Council acting like a Senate to the Lower and Upper Houses of Parliament, allowing adequate representation of all worlds, and that Bills and Acts can be properly debated before enactment. I'm giving the Houses enough power to Veto the High Council's decisions if more that 75% of the MPs agree.

Makes for more sense, more drama, and what I believe would bring out more of Carym as the representative of the Belka Aligned Territories outside of Midchilda.

So at the end of the day, the High Council could only move some gear off-planet, leaving a token force floating in orbit. That would mean a very small handful of Frames amongst the mage-dominant battle group able to respond to the Gadgets' assault on 912.

However, if Chrono had been thinking carefully, he would've noticed that only the Frames stood any chance of resisting more the Gadgets' AMF. With most of his assets missing in action, his arms are pretty much tied until the tide changes. That's I've only 2 Overframes operating for the Navy before 912.

It'll be a political game after that to try and bring the Frames back and even deploy them, but that's a Rebuilt plot. And until then, we're gonna see like 1 official Frame every few chapters.

That's excluding Celestial Being, since they are vigilante and free from bureacracy.

Originally Posted by Keroko

You were talking about the Wolkenritter, last I recall Sakura was not one of the Wolkenritter.

I mean, otherwise we already have a perfect archer. Take your pick, Teana, Nanoha, Vice.

Caster would be Hayate, or Reinforce I. Probably Reinforce I.

Berserker might as well be Subaru, heck, she went berserk even better then Vita.

Assasin, best choice would probably be Teana, strangely enough. Stealth spells are genius assasination skills.

Rider... best bet would be Erio or Caro.

Lancer, this one is tricky. Not counting OC's, Zest would seem the best choice in terms of weapons, Nanoha going in second. Personallity wise I'd say Vita.

Saber is Signum. Too many paralels not to.

Wait wait wait...

Spoiler for Long Explanation:

This is BEFORE StrikerS, during Nanoha/Cente Gravia, when the Servants were chosen to take part in the Pilgrim Duels. As the Servants appeared, so would the battlers meet and fight for the right to have their wish granted.

Kha in the story figured out that by binding Servants to a Tome, they can reduce the number of warriors they have to fight, as each Servant and Meister they defeat only allows another Meister to summon another Servant of that class and join the duels. Sakura was already bound to the Libram of Devotion, and later he bound Illya's Servant Rider Gurren to his Libram after winning her over.

Sophia for various reasons, is one of the chief antagonists in Cente Gravia, and that's why Caster wasn't bound until very late.

As Hayate proved to be a dangerous opponent and yet one with a giant mana pool, Lancer, Archer and Berserker ganked her at once when she was with her Guardians. The outcome was pretty bloody, and that was where Vita, Signum and Tesla were practically slain, with Zafira and Shamal, both hanging back to protect Hayate, were grieviously wounded. Assassin, who had been waiting for a chance, springs out to take advantage of the defenseless girl.

This is where the Wolkies, due to their wish for protecting Hayate, would receive the gift of Light and chase Assassin off.



That is the crack that would turn 3 of the Wolkies into Servants, making each of the 3 Tomes to have 3 Servants bound to each of them. It persists in Rebuilt of StrikerS as Vita, Signum and Tesla, not only in terms of the strategem they serve but also in terms of their higher magic ranks as Servants, are part of the Forward Team while Shamal and Zafira are part of Long Arch.

With that in mind, I can change the arrangement of the Servants that attacked Hayate, thus affecting the Wolkies, but Saber is clearly out of the question...

Besides, like how Tiara could've been Caster or Saber, Signum could've been Archer or Saber, due to her specialization in swordcraft and her ability to shoot powerful magic arrows, even mount Agito as a arrow (Nighty's brilliant idea for Rebuilt! ). I'm increasing her Sturmflake variations after several new ones that I thought of last night so that this idea would make more sense.

The other CCs are still living and therefore don't qualify to be Servants.

And with more crack involved, we can even say that Signum can be Archer because of how much Signum parallels Emiya Shiro; both were good with swords, but their ultimate attacks were bows; and most importantly because of this:

Spoiler for Signum as Archer:

...the big Signum crack before Carognum.

Tesla uses a javelin type device, or am I mistaken...?

*goes off to check*

Originally Posted by dkellis

Quick question: how is Carim addressed and referred to? I've got "Holy Carim" here, but I forget if I put that there as a placeholder or if that's really how she's called.

Originally Posted by Fuyu no Sora

Well....pretty much everyone called her "Knight Carim" in StrikerS

I've seen Paladin Carim, Cardinal Carim...

[USB500]

Holy crap! Four more pages to the HOLY 10,000!

All stations! Full power!!!!

@ Tears of Northern Wind: my apology for the contents. well, there's always the Special DVD UNCUT version

Time for quick backlog recap.

===========

Originally Posted by LoweGear

And don't forget AKARED

*runs from CrackBusters*

Originally Posted by LoweGear

Yes, like that

Waiting for the extras in the DVD version =)

*runs*

Will do.

*runs*

Originally Posted by LoweGear

And now you're gonna be checkin' out Kamen Rider... bug magnet indeed

*dodges*

All that's left is for Keroko to be left with some Antlions

*runs*

===========

Originally Posted by Evangelion Xgouki

As well as grope her knights anytime she wants...

*runs*

WANT THIS NAO

*runs*

Originally Posted by Evangelion Xgouki

Epic finish is...EPIC!!

Actually, there's the epilogue.

=========

Originally Posted by LoweGear

And after some delays, finally starting off PROFILE TIME

for the second of the Belkarangers, the Honest Heart, and Ebony Justice, Mayura Lee Labatt

Here's Part I: History

Spoiler for Chronicles of the Roaring Fist:

*flexes fingers*

"Right Glock, let's get this over with."

"Same guidelines as last time Kay."

"Of course! Who the hell do you think I am?"

-----

Name: Mayura Lee Labatt
Alias:
- KuroBlack
- BelkaBlack
- KiiYellow
- BelkaYellow
- “Kokou wa Awarashi” (Noble Eagle)
- Honest Heart
- Ebony Justice
Gender: Female
Age: 23 (as of MC0075)
Origin World: Cranagan, Midchilda
Birthdate: April 8, MC Year 0052
Height: 5” 5’
Weight: 112 lbs
Complexion: fair
Eye color: hazelnut brown
Hair color: Blonde

Theme Song: Just Feel It ~ Ashita No Tameni (For Tomorrow)

Spoiler for ID Image:

23-year-old Mayura Lee Labatt

History:

Amongst the three Belkarangers, Mayura was the only one not born into the bloodline of wealth and luxury. She was born Mayura Lee, youngest of three siblings, and only female of the Haken Lee Dojo of Martial Combat in Cranagan. Their parents had died in a power-related struggle that had left the dojo in near ruins, and left to fend for themselves it was up to her elder brothers Garrod and Falken to restore and continue the family tradition. Without the restrictions that their conservative parents might’ve otherwise imposed on her as a female, Mayura was extensively taught the family arts by her brothers at a very young age, excelling in the ways of the ‘Gaoleon’ style of hand-to-hand combat by 6 years of age.

The turning point in her life came at age 7, when their most hated rivals, the Ark Chen School, challenged them yet again to a match for their dojo’s name. Hoping for an easy victory with their underhanded methods, the Ark’s best mage fighter, Rio, had asked specifically for Mayura to represent the Lee’s in direct combat.

In an astounding moment that would shock her brothers and the Arks, the young Mayura managed to utterly own the taller and more powerful Rio in combat, using her own magic-enhanced fighting style. The defeated Arks could not take this overwhelmingly embarrassing defeat of their best adult fighter at the hands of a child, and in a fit had their minions proceed to have the Dojo burned and the Lees killed. Despite their best efforts the Lees could not overcome their enemy’s superior numbers, weapons and dirty tricks, and as the siblings lay exhausted and beaten they could only watch their Dojo razed to the ground. It was when all hope seemed lost for the Lees that salvation arrived, and it came in force with the mass of police sirens that accompanied Mr. Mason Labatt, head of Labatt Enterprises, and one of the most influential people in Midchilda. After months of surveillance the Arks were finally caught in the act, and were thus rounded up to face justice, including their leader Rio.

With the Haken Lee dojo gone, Mr. Labatt offered to take in the tired and battered children, because in his words “so he can clear his immeasurable debt”.

The Lees were thus adopted, which was a blessing to the long childless Labatts, as they now had legal heirs to their decades old family business. The now Labatt siblings would now be indoctrinated in the ways and responsibilities of the upper class elite, groomed in the decorum of luxury, a world once alien to them. Fortunately the siblings were still allowed to continue their Haken Lee martial arts tradition, but with the elder brothers having less and less time in practicing their art and dedicating themselves more to upholding the Labatt business it was left to Mayura to shoulder the burden.

For a while, the weight of this responsibility at such a young age, coupled with the isolation of being the only female around nearly left Mayura in despair… until the day Mayura met a bored Asagi Colwell at cocktail party, and casually started a conversation about the martial arts and fighting. This would be the simple start of an inseperable friendship between the both of them, and only a year later up her return from a family vacation on the 97th Administered World, Mayura would be responsible for introducing Asagi to what would later become their shared passion, and the latter’s obsession: Super Sentai.

And it was this passion that would lead to the two of them joining the TSAB Academy a few years later along with their new friend Julie Liu Ming to put their collective combat knowledge into good use. Like Asagi and Julie, Mayura would train as a Midchilda-type Mage for their first two years as cadets, before they were enlisted into the experimental class of 0061-Q, with their superior’s realization that their skills as close combat fighters would be better honed and utilized in the emerging style of Neo-Belka. As one of the newly formed Belkarangers, codenamed BelkaYellow, Mayura displayed her impressive talent in unarmed martial combat, besting many of the cadets in hand-to-hand, and getting the personal approval and praise of instructor Quint Nakajima, whom Mayura had fought to a standstill in duels.

Graduating from the Academy with flying colors, Mayura served with Asagi and Julie in their assignment in the 79th Army Battalion under Hiram Maxim. It was while serving with the 79th that the Belkarangers would meet one of the most influential people in their lives: Private Shinobu Nakajima.

-----

"Did you say something Glock?"

"... no, it's..."

"It's what?"

"... just remembered something strange that's all..."

-----

As one of the rare TSAB servicemen to practice hand-to-hand combat, Mayura easily found a common bond with the young and fiery Nakajima, becoming an honorary Belkaranger dubbed “BelkaBlack” who always went along on any mission assignments the girls would find themselves in for the rest of their time in the bureau. As sparring partners in martial arts the two complemented each other well, and Mayura found a sympathetic soul in Shinobu, who only too well understood the ordeal the young Lee had once undergone, and knew best how to lift the girl’s spirits from the burden of responsibility for her entire dojo.

Thus the news of Shinobu’s untimely death at the hands of a Lost Logia only weeks after the Belkaranger’s retirement devastated the trio, Mayura being the hardest hit of them all. Her grief was only quelled by Asagi’s creation of the Search Guard Successor Foundation with the intention of preventing a similar tragedy from happening again. And so as Asagi founded their current organization in memory of their fallen friend, so did Mayura honor her beloved friend by adopting Shinobu’s colors as her own, as The Ebony Justice BelkaBlack.

Currently Mayura is still serving with Asagi and Julie in search of their “Precious”, all the while continuing to uphold the family arts by teaching a new generation of young warriors in the way of the roaring fist.

-----

"You can always leave this to me, if it's alright with you."

"No, it's fine..."

Hurray for Mayura!

Originally Posted by LoweGear

For some reason I find this chapter wierd, even for my style of writing.

Nonetheless, here's the 2nd Update to Mayura Labatt's profile -

Part II: Personality

Spoiler for length:

Personality:

In between the explosively dynamic Asagi and Julie’s multiple personalities, Mayura can be considered the most… normal of the Belkaranger trio, though even she isn’t free from some quirks…

To many people, Mayura is the Labatt’s pride and joy, a shining example of the grace and elegance that all Labatt females seem to possess. With impeccable decorum and a gentle yet proud aura she never fails to catch the eyes and respect of many a male (or female) onlooker. But beneath her soft smiles is a person who has weathered the odds to arrive at where she is today.

As one who was raised in and has experienced the two opposing spectrums of socio-economic class, Mayura is a girl who knows and appreciates the meaning of contentment: to accept good graces gratefully, and yet never asking more than what she feels she requires. Balance is Mayura’s principle in life, making sure never to let any one aspect dominate over another, to let everything settle in their natural order in harmony, and to give equally to what is taken.

Her years of exhaustive training with her brothers in the Haken Lee dojo has given her incredible mental and physical discipline, the restraint to act only when needed, and to block out all unnecessary distractions and noise from her mind. Where Asagi’s singlemindedness stems from her obsession and stubbornness, Mayura’s comes from her stern determination to see the task accomplished at all cost, steeled by the incredible patience built from her years trying to hold together the bonds between her brothers, and now her friends.

Critical and logical thinking are her best mental friends, along with a head that rarely looses its cool, mostly calm, and often collected, her most favored weapons in dealing with any crises. This tranquility of mind paradoxically comes from a burning passion within her to achieve perfection, and it is this passion that drives her to perform her best in all things.

It doesn’t mean Mayura can’t let loose, and at times she can let the martial artist inside rest and just let the girl have fun. As a daughter of Labatt, Mayura is encouraged to indulge in fun and pleasure, and often this means lots of playful teasing and jabs at her friends… if they’re not up to something incredulously impossible again, in which case she steps up with her elder sister authority and hands out any much needed correction. When not with her friends or left to herself, Mayura indulges herself in her unconditional love of animals, especially with her favorite pet cats, and strangely enough beetles.

Only a few things can break through Mayura’s rock solid defenses, and much like Super Sentai is to Asagi, Mayura’s emotions are released at full force by the tokusatsu series known as Kamen Rider, as series she went to love due to its emphasis on martial combat (and beetle motifs). No matter how much she tries to restrain herself, her insane love for anything and everything Kamen Rider will most always override her conscious thought. Thankfully she can regain control of herself before she does too much collateral damage, unlike Asagi or Julie…

-----

"Reminds me of the train she destroyed that one time with a Rider Kick..."

"Could've been worse... much worse..."

-----

Like Asagi though, Super Sentai has left a big impression on Mayura, most specifically the 2007 title “Jyuuken Sentai Gekiranger”, whose story about the power struggles between martial arts schools is a constant reminder of her own experience against the Ark Chen school (and it didn’t help that the main villain was also named Rio…), and further reinforcement to temper her will to succeed.

And on the negative side, the same martial arts that gave Mayura her strengths are also her weakness, as her love and pride for her art is such that anyone that she cannot turn a blind eye to those who dare to sully or challenge their name, and the smallest insult for her family’s tradition can, and had rattled her enough to anger. At times, that very tradition is the very cause of her sadness and stress, as the only one of the Lee siblings entrusted with carrying on their intangible family legacy the weight can sometimes be too much to bear alone. And as proud as she is, she often keeps such matters regarding her personal life to her own, a move which oftentimes reveals her still fragile inner-self.

Which is why she’ll be forever thankful to Asagi’s explosive optimism and Julie’s sage advice to counteract her doubts and fears, and understand her unique plight amongst the sisters. No wonder that when all the corrections are said and done, she resigns herself to the whim of her two beloved sisters who are always up to more insane antics and tricks.

So does this mean piss Mayura and die?

===========

Originally Posted by Anita

Kha I see that you've been hard at work overseas... Don't think I'll forgive you for slacking off just because you miss me.

^_^

Kagerou that was one swell piece of writing! I wish I could write like that!

(How do you guys do that noddy thing?)

And hello everyone... I hope Kha hasn't been too much trouble... What's with this place being called Cadia anyway? And I even see that Kha made an OC called Canoness... What's with all these WH40K madness?

Originally Posted by Kha

...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...


OMFG HOW ON AZEROTH DID YOU FIND ME HERE?!?!?!?!?!


(runs off screaming incoherently)

Please don't kill me... You'll never get the 160g back if I'm dead.

It's called Cadia because of Outer Cadia. Really long story, as you can tell from the 19k++ posts...

Canoness is Maria from Mai Otome actually. You know, the one who caused everyone to jump at her looks when she transformed? But yeah I got inspired by the Adepta's awesomeness. I know you love them.

(Should I? Should I not? Should I? Should I not? Should I? Should I not? Should I? Should I not?)

Er... Anyway...

PLZ FEEL FREE TO MAKE AN OC HERE!

(I said it! I'm so gonna regret this... )

*cue dramatic music*

Dun! DUN! DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, welcome to the world, Anita. Hope you'll enjoy your stay.

============

Originally Posted by Kha

Not in the mood for too much crack, and there's enough in Signum herself already anyway. Just left with stuffing more crack into her lifestory. :3

LIGHTNING-02
Rebuilt of Signum

Spoiler for space:

The Burning Fire General

Spoiler for space:

Spoiler for Signum, the Burning Fire General:

Signum, the Burning Fire General

Signum (シグナム), voiced by Kaori Shimizu, is a character in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's. She is the leader of the Wolkenritter (German > "Cloud Riders" or "Overcast Knights"), a creation of the Book of Darkness. She is generally seen as the cold one, but Shamal has said that Signum's heart has warmed since they met their mistress Hayate Yagami. Signum's weapon is a chain-link sword called Laevatein, and as a magical creation, she has no familiar. She is named for the Opel Signum, much like characters of Magic Knight Rayearth are named for cars, and her device appears to be named after the mythical sword Laevateinn, but due to the spelling it might be a homage to the fiery Armor Slave Laevantine.

Like Vita, Signum’s life before becoming part of the Book of Darkness is a blur. And even more so, as she only recalls being in service to the same princess as the other Wolkies with no recollection of her earlier life, and she sometimes feels that it is all the result of a case of double amnesia. And that feeling of loss sometimes changes to a sense of being in waiting; it’s as if whoever she once was is still looking for something.

Each of the Wolkenritter has had dreams of snippets from their days as the living, and Signum is no exception. But as the leader of the Guardian Knights, she hides it all to be the pillar of strength of the group, only indulging in them when she is alone, letting a surprisingly soft side, almost reminiscent of Caro’s childish innocence (), show...

Also, Signum finds Erio strangely familiar, and in trying to beat the deja vu from her mind forgot to return Erio's salute.

()

Road to StrikerS

One of the biggest Signum was to face came during the events of Nanoha/Cente Gravia, which saw the Wolkies wounded critically as they fought to protect Hayate and Kha who was still recovering from his crash. Later rescued by Marge and her team, Signum returned with advanced cybernetics that reinforced her Valsaiga program body, making her attain an almost superhuman level of toughness. She withstood two simultaneous attacks from both Dios and the Phantom Lancer, and still came out just minimally wounded, despite both men being powerful mages and claiming that they hit her deeply.

However, she is remains oddly vulnerable through other means, such as being drugged or passing out from ingesting food or drinks, such as Shamal's cooking or Liana's infamous health drink. Alcohol is another of Signum's banes.

After the events of Cente Gravia, Signum too misses Marge, but she often thinks of Marge’s solemn gynoid assistant Lambda of which they shared an almost sister-like connection due to similar personalities.

And after performing Unison with Agito, it seems that her Knight Armor changes slightly to resemble that of Lambda’s.

Lightning No. 2

Ten years after the epilogue of A's, Signum became the sub-commander of the Lightning Squad of the TSAB, working under Fate, who worked under Hayate. Unlike Vita, however, she did not participate in training the trainees, under the pretense that she is an old fashioned knight and can only teach to them is to get close to their enemies and rip them apart.

However, near the end half of the series, she accepted the request of Erio Mondial to spar with him. And the knight couldn’t help note how that little boy reminded her of both Kha in the past, and of someone else buried deep within her memories.

Powers

Much like Raising Heart and Bardiche speak English, yet their masters understand them, the Wolkenritter's devices speak German. Translations are in parentheses.
Belka combat doctrine consists of 3 trees: Movement, Magical and Psionic.

Movement techniques focus on the body, strengthening it and facilitating the mastery of advanced melee battle finesse.

Magical techniques teach a Knight to infuse his/her attacks with enchantments and spells, turning the Knight into a devastating opponent.

And lastly, Psionic techniques focus on support skills like flight, teleportation, sensing, mental calculus and psionic communications, as well as other Belka skills like Mind Tricks and basic telekinetics. However, this tree is governed more by talent rather than training, and as such only the rarest of Knights go far in this tree, and those that do gain access to awesome traits like moving great masses with only their minds, creating psionic storms and even mind-control.

Signum is a skilled Knight, having expert mastery over magical and movement techniques, while her grasp of psionics, as evidenced by her flying capability and crystal-clear telecomms, isn't shabby at all.

Bogenform (Bow form) — Signum combines Laevatein with its scabbard to turn it into a longbow.

Nachladen — Not a real attack, just Laevatein reloading cartridges.

Telepathy — Not notable, as like flight and teleportation, all other mages in the Nanohaverse have it; however, her links appear to be strong with the other Wolkenritter, so it is tentatively listed here.

Schlangenform (Snake form) — Laevatein expands into chain-link form.

Schwertform (Sword form) — Laevatein returns to sword form.

Transformation — Signum performs a group transformation with Vita and Shamal.

Defensive Abilities

Knight Armour "Angelg" — Signum's battle costume is comprised of a battle dress designed for mobility, and armor plates. Although it is only referred to as "Armour" in the series, it seems to function similarly to the Barrier Jacket of the Mid-Childa magic system. Although Hayate discouraged her and the other Wolkenritter from fighting, she co-designed each of their costumes.

It may be Hayate's idea of a joke, but Signum noticed that after a recent design upgrade, she found her chest mantle a lot looser, and gave her assets rather unprecedented freedom.

Knight Armor "Vaisaga" — Signum's alternative battle costume created after Unison with Agito, shedding the extra gear for a more sleek and figure-complementing setting. It also bears a striking resemblance to the Knight Armor once worn by Lambda.

While it is not clear what settings changed with her armor swap, Signum did swap back to Angelg during Unison, when she prepared to fire Uberatna Sturmfalke.

Panzer Geist (Tank Spirit) — Creates a defensive aura, which surrounds Signum.

Offensive Abilities

Belka Magical Techniques

Hiryū Issen (飛竜一閃, Hiryū Issen?) (Flying Dragon Flash) - One of Signum's most powerful attacks, she spins Laevatein in Schlangenform and makes fire elemental energy run along the blade. A typhoon of flames is formed in the air between the segments of the blade, which is then thrown against the enemy. Though it falls in the Shooting-Type category, this attack has roughly the same power as Fate's Plasma Smasher, a Bombardment-Type Spell.

Karyū Issen (火竜一閃, Karyū Issen?) (Fire Dragon Flash) - Signum creates a shaft of flames and hold it as if was a sword. By swinging her arm, she can then throw the flames against enemies that are far away, hitting all enemies within her front-arc and more as it travels forwards for a short distance. She can also create this rod in her off-hand, allowing her to dual-wield Laevantine and the magic sword.

Shiden Issen (紫電一閃, Shiden Issen?) - Roughly translating to "Sword Flash", this is a weaker version of the Hiryū Issen with Laevatein in Schwertform that covers the sword's blade with flames to increase its attack power. Other than that, its just a regular melee strike.

Ougi, Tenryū Issen (Heavenly Dragon Flash) - An improved Shiden Issen that uses Laevantine as a core for the rod of fire. Signum unleashes the flames like Karyu Issen, hitting all enemies within her front-arc and more as it travels forwards for a short distance. However the flamewave travels faster and burns several times hotter.

Jizan Shikkūtō (Earth Slashing Swift Sky Sword, 地斬疾空刀) - Signum would charge Laevantine with fire beforehand while it is still in it's sheaths. Using it as a Batou technique, Signum unleashes it at an unsuspecting enemy with a quick swipe, sends fire blast towards the target if the enemy somehow managed to avoid getting struck at melee.

Suiryū Sōga (Flow of Claws and Tusks, 水流爪牙) - Signum charges Laevantine with fire, then swungs it down from above her head, releasing a column of fire that blasts through a line of enemies. It can be described as a typical Samurai ranged "blast from the blade" attack skill, akin to Inuyasha's Kaze no Kise or Kurosaki Inchigo's Getsuga Tenshou.

Sturmfalke (Storm Falcon) — Laevatein's attack as a bow.

Uberatna Sturmfalke (Super Etna Storm Falcon) — A powerful version of Sturmfalke made by using Agito as the arrow. Signum draws upon her own magic as well as those still lingering around her, gathering it into her bow. Due to the ignition of expended magic as they are drawn into Signum, the Knight, who switches to Angelg in this attack, is given the appearance of an angel with giant fiery wings.

Visually, the attack is similar to the Angelg's Phantom Phoenix attack in magnitude, fiery opulence and sheer glory.

Belka Movement Techniques

Signum employs several basic Movement Techniques, and as such these are usually unnamed. She has 1 named MTs to date:

Trugbildswert (Mirage Sword) — Signum launches herself at her opponent and deals a torrent of slashes to her target.

Trugbildsignum (Mirage Sign) — Signum carves two star shapes in the air and strikes through them, right through the enemy and pinning him in place. She then charges in and does five slashes on the enemy, which creates a pentagram. Signum then finishes it off by doing a final vertical slash.

Fūjinsen (Wind Blade Flash 風刃閃) — Signum sheathes Laevantine and gathers her maryoku, creating a "tornado" of mana around her. Blinking open suddenly, she rushes forward, faster than the eye can follow such that she leaves multiple images travelling up, down, left and right of her previous position while she herself is moving forwards. Signum does a quick unsheathe and slash at point blank range, right in front of the enemy.

Ōgi - Kōjinsen (Secret Technique - Light Blade Flash 奥義・光刃閃) — Signum performs the same motions as the Fuujinsen, with the only difference being where the Knight ends up. In the Ougi: Koujinsen, Signum ends up behind the opponent, and hits harder like a critical strike for Fuujinsen.

Later, when Signum's limiters were released, she uses this skill as an entire new attack altogether. Dashing straight towards the enemy, she delivers a multitude of slashes, effectively paralyzing the target. As a final strike, Signum readies herself, then swiftly slices the enemy horizontally in half, leaving the hapless Ex-Number to explode behind her.

Spoiler for Allusions, for those who are interested...:

Allusions

The creator of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha is noted as a fan of Super Robot Wars, thus fans has noted that Signum might be based on or is a homage to the heroine of Super Robot Wars Advance, Lamia Loveless. There have been a lot of similarities found between both characters:
• A lot of Signum's spells bear similarities to the attacks executed by the Angelg, Lamia's canonical mecha, particularly the sword and bow attacks (And although Angelg lacked a chain-sword, Laevatein's Schlangenform translates into 'Snake Form', while Lamia is also a name of a mythological snake demon). Furthermore, Signum's overall fighting style resembles that of Lamia's other mecha, Vaisaga.
• They are voiced by the same seiyuu, Kaori Shimizu, with her using similar voice level (she is also known to voice younger characters with lighter voices).
• Their have similar backgrounds:
• Signum was once an artificial intelligence within the Book of Darkness, with ruthless attitude, devoid of any personalities, but gradually changes as she served Hayate
• Lamia was created as an android only to fulfill orders, but after being surrounded with other people, she began to develop her own conscience and free will.
• They were somehow connected with men who were considered dead once:
• Signum fought against Zest Grangeitz, a former member of Capital City Defense Forces, formerly presumed to be dead.
• One of Lamia's predecessors in the W-Series is W15, based on the Shadow Mirror universe's Sanger Zonvolt, which was considered killed in action beforehand. Also later includes Axel Almer, who was thought to be dead in Original Generations, but came back alive in the Gaiden.
• Signum's color scheme matches Angelg's (Pink and white).
• In the final episode of StrikerS, Signum managed to perform an unison with Agito, resulting a new outfit resembling Lamia's outfit, colored in blue[5]
• Both of them also experienced events where they were thought to be dead, but in truth, they were still alive. They also underwent some reprogramming in process.
• In the end of A's, Signum was abruptly deleted by the Alia and Lotte Liese under Gil Graham, only to be called back by Hayate 2 episodes later, reprogrammed with more power and her memories intact.
• In the end of the bonus section of Original Generations, Lamia was abruptly killed by Wilhelm von Juergen. In the continuation of the events in Original Generation Gaiden, it turns out she was slightly reprogrammed by Duminuss and fell under her control.

Originally Posted by Kha

Spoiler for Offensive:

Offensive Abilities

Belka Magical Techniques

Hiryū Issen (飛竜一閃, Hiryū Issen?) (Flying Dragon Flash) - One of Signum's most powerful attacks, she spins Laevatein in Schlangenform and makes fire elemental energy run along the blade. A typhoon of flames is formed in the air between the segments of the blade, which is then thrown against the enemy. Though it falls in the Shooting-Type category, this attack has roughly the same power as Fate's Plasma Smasher, a Bombardment-Type Spell.

Karyū Issen (火竜一閃, Karyū Issen?) (Fire Dragon Flash) - Signum creates a shaft of flames and hold it as if was a sword. By swinging her arm, she can then throw the flames against enemies that are far away, hitting all enemies within her front-arc and more as it travels forwards for a short distance. She can also create this rod in her off-hand, allowing her to dual-wield Laevantine and the magic sword.

Shiden Issen (紫電一閃, Shiden Issen?) - Roughly translating to "Sword Flash", this is a weaker version of the Hiryū Issen with Laevatein in Schwertform that covers the sword's blade with flames to increase its attack power. Other than that, its just a regular melee strike.

Ougi, Tenryū Issen (Heavenly Dragon Flash) - An improved Shiden Issen that uses Laevantine as a core for the rod of fire. Signum unleashes the flames like Karyu Issen, hitting all enemies within her front-arc and more as it travels forwards for a short distance. However the flamewave travels faster and burns several times hotter.

Jizan Shikkūtō (Earth Slashing Swift Sky Sword, 地斬疾空刀) - Signum would charge Laevantine with fire beforehand while it is still in it's sheaths. Using it as a Batou technique, Signum unleashes it at an unsuspecting enemy with a quick swipe, sends fire blast towards the target if the enemy somehow managed to avoid getting struck at melee.

Suiryū Sōga (Flow of Claws and Tusks, 水流爪牙) - Signum charges Laevantine with fire, then swungs it down from above her head, releasing a column of fire that blasts through a line of enemies.

It can be described as a typical Samurai ranged "blast from the blade" attack skill, akin to Inuyasha's Kaze no Kise or Kurosaki Inchigo's Getsuga Tenshou.


Sturmfalke (Storm Falcon) — Laevatein's attack as a bow. It leaves a trail of blue dust as it flies to the enemy target. Signum unlimited can strum this skill repeatedly.

Uberatna Sturmfalke (Super Etna Storm Falcon) — A powerful version of Sturmfalke made by using Agito as the arrow. Signum draws upon her own magic as well as those still lingering around her, gathering it into her bow. Due to the ignition of expended magic as they are drawn into Signum, the Knight, who switches to Angelg in this attack, is given the appearance of an angel with giant fiery wings.

Visually, the attack is similar to the Angelg's Phantom Phoenix attack in magnitude, fiery opulence and sheer glory.

Belka Movement Techniques

Signum employs several basic Movement Techniques, and as such these are usually unnamed. She has 1 named MTs to date:

Trugbildswert (Mirage Sword) — Signum launches herself at her opponent and deals a torrent of slashes to her target.

Trugbildsignum (Mirage Sign) — Signum carves two star shapes in the air and strikes through them, right through the enemy and pinning him in place. She then charges in and does five slashes on the enemy, which creates a pentagram. Signum then finishes it off by doing a final vertical slash.

Fūjinsen (Wind Blade Flash 風刃閃) — Signum sheathes Laevantine and gathers her maryoku, creating a "tornado" of mana around her. Blinking open suddenly, she rushes forward, faster than the eye can follow such that she leaves multiple images travelling up, down, left and right of her previous position while she herself is moving forwards. Signum does a quick unsheathe and slash at point blank range, right in front of the enemy.

Ōgi - Kōjinsen (Secret Technique - Light Blade Flash 奥義・光刃閃) — Signum performs the same motions as the Fuujinsen, with the only difference being where the Knight ends up. In the Ougi: Koujinsen, Signum ends up behind the opponent, and hits harder like a critical strike for Fuujinsen.

Later, when Signum's limiters were released, she uses this skill as an entire new attack altogether. Dashing straight towards the enemy, she delivers a multitude of slashes, effectively paralyzing the target. As a final strike, Signum readies herself, then swiftly slices the enemy horizontally in half, leaving the hapless Ex-Number to explode behind her.

Hell yes! Lamia Signum Loveless!!!! She is indeed made of and

And credits for including the ever-kickass Koujinsen.

=================

Originally Posted by LoweGear

I'd rather bring Eldora V here

*cue theme of El Dora V*

Originally Posted by LoweGear

Yes, more meganekko is good

I concur.

Originally Posted by LoweGear

Band of Brothers?

Spoiler for *salutes*:

*salutes*

Originally Posted by LoweGear

Aaaah, there's Kojinsen

Though who's the unlucky Ex-Number?

I've been wondering of that, too.

===========

Originally Posted by Kha

BAND OF CADIA

"I am not a hero, but I served in the company of Nano."

-----------

I've been wondering to make a pseudo-sequel of my 2007 Animax Anime Competition's entry (or at least, something like the Girls-with-Guns trilogy *points to Noir, Madlax & El Cazador de la Bruja*). So my question is: should I follow my tried-and-tested "sniper boy" formula or just go with something entirely new?

Thanks.

[LoweGear]

Originally Posted by USB500

Holy crap! Four more pages to the HOLY 10,000!

20,000 actually

Originally Posted by USB500

So does this mean piss Mayura and die?

Something like that, though that's true for all the rangers

I guess you haven't seen Mayura's latest entry then? You'll like who I brought in there

Originally Posted by USB500

I've been wondering to make a pseudo-sequel of my 2007 Animax Anime Competition's entry (or at least, something like the Girls-with-Guns trilogy *points to Noir, Madlax & El Cazador de la Bruja*). So my question is: should I follow my tried-and-tested "sniper boy" formula or just go with something entirely new?

Thanks.

Well, if the sniper formula bags you a competition-worthy entry then go for it Even better with meganekko MILF onboard

*runs*

[Reiji Tabibito]

Originally Posted by Aaron008R

Grandis: Just what I wanted to hear! Well, that's that!


Grandis: Since when did you get tasked with protecting even other females that way...?

Arcas: Since I decided that I wasn't an insensitive jerk who gets off on teasing girls...including HIS OWN GIRLFRIEND.

Originally Posted by Aaron008R

They come to me.

Well, whatever drugs you're taking to make it happen...


...STOP IT!

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

...Yes, yes I have.

I wasn't referring to YOU in specific...

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

The question is though, why would he think it's USB's ?

Curious curious...

'Cause of the humor.

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

Ever since the "Ascension" Ceremony.

Get it? Ascension?

Ha ha. Yes. VERY funny.

Originally Posted by Saint X

That is liable to be shot...

With a GN Mega Launcher preferably...

*runs*

Do you even WHERE & WHO "that" is from?

Originally Posted by Kha

Hey who's afraid? Me? AFRAID?! No tsundere can resist my cha--

*dictionary lands very close*




It's a long running joke of how she acts like Anna from Shaman King, and ever since then she's been hammering me with every tsun immitation.

That was the latest.

But that just why I keep coming back apparently.

<laughs @ inability to deal w/Tsundere>


Kha, I thought we'd already established that the Master Tsundere Handler in this merry little band was ME.

Originally Posted by LoweGear

So Arcas is not only a sis-con, he's a lolicon as well?

*ducks inside foxhole*

Ehh...not quite. It's more of a D.Gray-Man thing - like how Komui acts when someone says THOSE THREE WORDS...

But no. Arcas is no lolicon - not seriously anyway - if he is, it's more in the vein of Irie from Higurashi - played purely for comedy.

Originally Posted by LoweGear

As long as she's wearing a ponytail, I'd die happy

*jumps into trench*

That's because you're a moron.

Originally Posted by Keroko

Hmm, small backlog, obviously its weekend. Good for me, as I'm enjoying myself immensely with the -now translated- Utawarerumono game (and being seriously amazed at how much Touka and Signum are alike in personallity and apearance).

Wait, seriously? Translated into English? WHERE CAN I FIND THIS?

Originally Posted by Fuyu no Sora

Girl POWAH beats any other kind of POWAH

I'll have to debate you on that...the greatest in the world is:


UGUU~ POWAH!!!

[Keroko]

Originally Posted by Kha

@Powered Armor discussion:

Keroko has several valid points about deploying too many of them. Canonically, we're seeing none of them, and as much as the girls remind us of mecha, that's about it. The closest I ever got to power armor early in Rebuilt of StrikerS is some troopers masquerading as Thors from Battletech. Masquerading means "he's firing one device in his left hand, he's holding another on his right and what's with that fat tube strapped to his shoulder?"

This is why I think the Power Armor is vital to the type of force Midchilda is, but is never seen in canon:

Midchilda is arguably the most central of the Core Worlds, deep within the Blue Zone, and therefore is strictly civilian territory. Like we don't see tanks patrolling the streets of Manhatten everyday, we don't see the TSAB, which I believe is acting as a police force in the Blue Zone, flying around in bulky armors and scaring the daylights out of tourists. The most we ever see are SWAT teams, and we get that in the Enforcers.

Power armor, due to the protection and power offered, are the magical world's legal weapons of war. Short of invoking Martial Law, you're never gonna see them operating on home soil.


However, here's the catch that should have been invoked in canon: When even the Enforcers and pretty much all ground troops are in trouble, it's time to call in the elite. Granted, Regius has been manipulating the works forcing the transfer of such resources off-planet, and the Brains helped that happen, it is impossible, in fact mind-bogglingly suicidal, to transfer all self-defence assets off-planet without invoking a major political backlash.


"But canon has no parliament/electorial system to speak of!"

And one would expect that kind of system to rule the entire of the Inner Space in peace?


That's another change in Rebuilt so that things would make sense; The government has been changed to having the High Council acting like a Senate to the Lower and Upper Houses of Parliament, allowing adequate representation of all worlds, and that Bills and Acts can be properly debated before enactment. I'm giving the Houses enough power to Veto the High Council's decisions if more that 75% of the MPs agree.

Makes for more sense, more drama, and what I believe would bring out more of Carym as the representative of the Belka Aligned Territories outside of Midchilda.

So at the end of the day, the High Council could only move some gear off-planet, leaving a token force floating in orbit. That would mean a very small handful of Frames amongst the mage-dominant battle group able to respond to the Gadgets' assault on 912.

However, if Chrono had been thinking carefully, he would've noticed that only the Frames stood any chance of resisting more the Gadgets' AMF. With most of his assets missing in action, his arms are pretty much tied until the tide changes. That's I've only 2 Overframes operating for the Navy before 912.

It'll be a political game after that to try and bring the Frames back and even deploy them, but that's a Rebuilt plot. And until then, we're gonna see like 1 official Frame every few chapters.

That's excluding Celestial Being, since they are vigilante and free from bureacracy.

*rubs eyes tiredly* Kha, you do realize that I opose power armors as a whole because they make no frikkin sense in the Nanohaverse, right? It's not so much that we don't see them, its just that, to quote Goose, this is Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, 'Mobile Soldier' Lyrical Nanoha.

I will allow rare exceptions, such as the Chief, and even the admirals prototype (though he has some explaining to do why an official research facillity is working on that stuff)

But the TSAB itself fielding power armors, frames, whatever you want to call it?

No. Way.

I'm drawing a firm line here, this is a show about magic, a world about magic. To turn this into the next 'battle of the cybernetics' would destroy that world. We wouldn't even recognise it as the Nanoha world anymore. Where's the magic? Where's the seemingly impossible but stylish battle clothing? Gone and replaced with steel plates and wires.

Tell me, and answer this one honestly, is that how you see Nanoha?

Originally Posted by Kha

Wait wait wait...

Spoiler for Long Explanation:

This is BEFORE StrikerS, during Nanoha/Cente Gravia, when the Servants were chosen to take part in the Pilgrim Duels. As the Servants appeared, so would the battlers meet and fight for the right to have their wish granted.

Kha in the story figured out that by binding Servants to a Tome, they can reduce the number of warriors they have to fight, as each Servant and Meister they defeat only allows another Meister to summon another Servant of that class and join the duels. Sakura was already bound to the Libram of Devotion, and later he bound Illya's Servant Rider Gurren to his Libram after winning her over.

Sophia for various reasons, is one of the chief antagonists in Cente Gravia, and that's why Caster wasn't bound until very late.

As Hayate proved to be a dangerous opponent and yet one with a giant mana pool, Lancer, Archer and Berserker ganked her at once when she was with her Guardians. The outcome was pretty bloody, and that was where Vita, Signum and Tesla were practically slain, with Zafira and Shamal, both hanging back to protect Hayate, were grieviously wounded. Assassin, who had been waiting for a chance, springs out to take advantage of the defenseless girl.

This is where the Wolkies, due to their wish for protecting Hayate, would receive the gift of Light and chase Assassin off.



That is the crack that would turn 3 of the Wolkies into Servants, making each of the 3 Tomes to have 3 Servants bound to each of them. It persists in Rebuilt of StrikerS as Vita, Signum and Tesla, not only in terms of the strategem they serve but also in terms of their higher magic ranks as Servants, are part of the Forward Team while Shamal and Zafira are part of Long Arch.

With that in mind, I can change the arrangement of the Servants that attacked Hayate, thus affecting the Wolkies, but Saber is clearly out of the question...

Besides, like how Tiara could've been Caster or Saber, Signum could've been Archer or Saber, due to her specialization in swordcraft and her ability to shoot powerful magic arrows, even mount Agito as a arrow (Nighty's brilliant idea for Rebuilt! ). I'm increasing her Sturmflake variations after several new ones that I thought of last night so that this idea would make more sense.

The other CCs are still living and therefore don't qualify to be Servants.

And with more crack involved, we can even say that Signum can be Archer because of how much Signum parallels Emiya Shiro; both were good with swords, but their ultimate attacks were bows; and most importantly because of this:

Spoiler for Signum as Archer:

...the big Signum crack before Carognum.

Tesla uses a javelin type device, or am I mistaken...?

Glaive, technically. But it transforms into a javelin to use Sturmzeichen.

Originally Posted by Reiji Tabibito

Arcas: Since I decided that I wasn't an insensitive jerk who gets off on teasing girls...including HIS OWN GIRLFRIEND.

Keroko-chan: *pokes Arcas in the back of his head* No, instead you're an insensitive jerk who does everything he can to avoid us getting boyfriends.

[Saint X]

Originally Posted by Kha

@Powered Armor discussion:

Keroko has several valid points about deploying too many of them. Canonically, we're seeing none of them, and as much as the girls remind us of mecha, that's about it. The closest I ever got to power armor early in Rebuilt of StrikerS is some troopers masquerading as Thors from Battletech. Masquerading means "he's firing one device in his left hand, he's holding another on his right and what's with that fat tube strapped to his shoulder?"

This is why I think the Power Armor is vital to the type of force Midchilda is, but is never seen in canon:

Midchilda is arguably the most central of the Core Worlds, deep within the Blue Zone, and therefore is strictly civilian territory. Like we don't see tanks patrolling the streets of Manhatten everyday, we don't see the TSAB, which I believe is acting as a police force in the Blue Zone, flying around in bulky armors and scaring the daylights out of tourists. The most we ever see are SWAT teams, and we get that in the Enforcers.

Power armor, due to the protection and power offered, are the magical world's legal weapons of war. Short of invoking Martial Law, you're never gonna see them operating on home soil.


However, here's the catch that should have been invoked in canon: When even the Enforcers and pretty much all ground troops are in trouble, it's time to call in the elite. Granted, Regius has been manipulating the works forcing the transfer of such resources off-planet, and the Brains helped that happen, it is impossible, in fact mind-bogglingly suicidal, to transfer all self-defence assets off-planet without invoking a major political backlash.

and the closest thing that amounts to having too many of them is for one group/s to have them in reserve/backup/tool of last resort, and for said group to not operate in the civil Blue and Green Zones, leaving the neutral Yellow and hostile Orange and especially dangerous Red zones to said group/s with suits- well as for me, no TSAB in the Orange and Red zones though- a third party takes care of them.

the AX is one such group... even rebuilt does not mention them...

Though the closest i can think to anything powered armor-ish which is even remotely feasible as of now are the Otome-type robes...

Originally Posted by Kha

"But canon has no parliament/electorial system to speak of!"

And one would expect that kind of system to rule the entire of the Inner Space in peace?


That's another change in Rebuilt so that things would make sense; The government has been changed to having the High Council acting like a Senate to the Lower and Upper Houses of Parliament, allowing adequate representation of all worlds, and that Bills and Acts can be properly debated before enactment. I'm giving the Houses enough power to Veto the High Council's decisions if more that 75% of the MPs agree.

Makes for more sense, more drama, and what I believe would bring out more of Carym as the representative of the Belka Aligned Territories outside of Midchilda.

So at the end of the day, the High Council could only move some gear off-planet, leaving a token force floating in orbit. That would mean a very small handful of Frames amongst the mage-dominant battle group able to respond to the Gadgets' assault on 912.

However, if Chrono had been thinking carefully, he would've noticed that only the Frames stood any chance of resisting more the Gadgets' AMF. With most of his assets missing in action, his arms are pretty much tied until the tide changes. That's I've only 2 Overframes operating for the Navy before 912.

It'll be a political game after that to try and bring the Frames back and even deploy them, but that's a Rebuilt plot. And until then, we're gonna see like 1 official Frame every few chapters.

That's excluding Celestial Being, since they are vigilante and free from bureacracy.

Or better yet, Revive the Tripartite of TSAB, Parliament (new name for the 'Secretariat')/CA (Civil Authority) and a third party? *ahem*cough*GDI*cough*

though i was thinking of a Constitutional Monarchy instead...

may serve justice to my Royal Character...

One is independent of the other two, but one's decisions can affect all three...

Luckily, the TSAB has chosen wisely so far in rebuilt, not allowing the civil authority to take action...

If things were different and that the civil authority has dealt with it with a 'special rule' - the Cradle would have been taken down at 500 feet terran...

And a very cracky thing entered my mind...

What if the TSAB also has/had this motto as well...

We begin the Armed Intervention of Conflict with Magic...

*runs from Thrones*

Originally Posted by Kha

*goes off to check*

I've seen Paladin Carim, Cardinal Carim...

I brought in the Cardinal...

and also Pope Carim...

*runs from Vatican AX*

====

Yes... I'm not feeling well...

[USB500]

Originally Posted by LoweGear

20,000 actually

Originally Posted by LoweGear

Something like that, though that's true for all the rangers

I guess you haven't seen Mayura's latest entry then? You'll like who I brought in there

There is? Link please.

Originally Posted by LoweGear

Well, if the sniper formula bags you a competition-worthy entry then go for it Even better with meganekko MILF onboard

*runs*

Meganekko MILF? I like where this is going.

In before Stalker.

*runs*

[LoweGear]

Originally Posted by USB500

There is? Link please.

Here

Originally Posted by USB500

Meganekko MILF? I like where this is going.

In before Stalker.

*runs*

Yes, you must have Meganekko MILF for GREAT JUSTICE!!!

*headshot >>> Lowe*

[Kagerou]

Right, Scene VI now. Just a quick info dump, really, has some OFM character development.

Spoiler for MSLN Alpha, Chapter One, Scene VI:

On Board the Support Ship Aus'ruf, above World 52

He walked as a soldier; measured, controlled steps, in perfect marching time, and standing straight and tall. Dressed in what could only be described as a Wild West-style outfit, he appeared as a relic of the past; even his two Devices, shaped as revolvers with a colored gem (crimson and emerald), were holstered on his hips. His face was chiseled and mature, and his gray eyes peered with an intense gaze from under his hat, which he wore at all times. Indeed, as he walked by a female officer, he tipped his hat and uttered a "Good day, ma'am," in pure Western drawl, indicating that he should be back in a time of gunslingers and cowboys.

Only the image of an eagle with spread wings, attached just over the breast pocket of his duster, gave any indication that this man was a Colonel. But everyone on this ship didn't need to see that. As two men dressed in standard Dress Blues paused to salute him, he only gave a confident smile and one back, their respect and awe at the man, the legend aboard this ship, that was Erick von Long, spoke for him.

This was the Aus'ruf, the long-range support ship of a special operations group, known as the Order of Freelance Mages. Multiple men and women, most hailing from a planet named Erusia (though many others were from Midchilda), were not only a SpecOp group, but a black SpecOp group. They had one purpose; seek out corruption and disaster, and prevent it. They were the TSAB's cure for cancer; while many SpecOp groups sought Lost Logia or apprehended criminals, the Order was strictly an assassination unit. If there was an official laundering money, trading slaves, or anything of the sort, the Order would be there to destroy that individual and erase their existence. If there was a non-administered world that was about to destroy itself, the OFM would be there to stop it, infiltrating the planet and its populace and tracking down the enemy, ending the threat before it could be carried out.

The OFM was the only group in the TSAB that had a special permit; to carry conventional mass-based weapons on missions. This only applied to missions that took place on worlds that still used such weapons; otherwise, they were kept under lock and key. Erick acquired this permit because of their mission, and only for that mission. His people, the Erusians, were destroyed by these weapons, yet at the same time they were useful; on some worlds, not carrying a weapon would be equivelant to suicide, and using magic was simply out-of-the-question. They were a Black Ops group that not even the TSAB liked to admit that they had; they were the secret forces.

Those under his employ, however, were not so secretive. Those their mission was definitely of the most classified nature, Erick encouraged the OFM to make friends; any that they could. Their network of allies was broad, and included a certain group of Aces. One of these aces, one Fate T. Harlown, even had the... "honor"... of attending an assignment with them, as per the request of the Enforcer's leadership. She had fared well on that mission, Erick recalled with a smile, and she definitely worked well with others. What was her rank again?

Erick simply shook his head as he entered the briefing room. Seated in a circle were the Order's top officers... and Erick's closest friends, one of which he even considered a son. Taking a seat, he pulled up a holographic image of the world.

"So, who c'n tell me what jus' happened?" He drawled, kicking back his chair and leaning on it with two legs; a habit he picked up from a friend of his, Aurion.

Really, the man who saved his life.

"As of 1600 hours HQ Standard Time, Enforcer First Class Keroko G. Takamachi deployed on her mission," One of the officers said; Franz Jaeger, the second-oldest person at the table and paradoxically one of the lowest ranks there. He was a man who had a penchant for rather extreme (or as he and Erick liked to call it, "hotblood") moments. While not a master mage, he was impressive in his own right, and his skill with the MA5C Assault Rifle was also spectacular. Currently, the hotblood was off. "We tracked her as ordered to this location," a spot on the holo-map lit up. "There, she engaged five Infection Forms and One Hydralisk Form... along with fifteen Human Combat Forms."

"This isn't too surprising," A second voice said; Glen Schattenman, a man who was both a Knight and a Mage; in times past, he was one of the experiments designed to found a new type of magic. Though this experiment died in favor of what became Neo-Belka, the skills he retained were still deadly. His Device, Phoenix, jingled from his necklace. "As we suspected, their next outbreak would occur here... odd, I figured the girl would have died." Glen wasn't known for being optimistic, but for being fairly blunt. "The fact she survived as long as she did is quite surprising."

"Don't make it sound like she's dead," The girl sitting next to him scolded. Emili Nailo, the only female in the room, leaned forward into the light, revealing her violet hair and bright blue eyes. Cradling slender hands in front of her face, she stared at the image. "Keroko will be just fine. We have her stabilized in the Medical Bay; her injuries are severe, alright, but otherwise..."

"No chance o' infection?" Erick asked.
"No," Emili shook her head. "There's something odd about her Linker Core - I can't quite place it - but according to Doc, it's warding off the infection. Her body is rejecting the Spawn biomass very powerfully despite her physical health. Her shoulder will be a little stiff for a while, but a few more healing treatments and a couple weeks rest will alleviate that."

"She took down a Hydralisk Form by herself," Franz said, adjusting his glasses. "That's no small feat; it's one of the highest Pure Forms in the Spawn we've encountered. We've seen the damn things take sustained AA-rank fire and shrug it off. I know Keroko's powerful, but even she has problems, it seems."

"Nevermind that," Glen cut him off, his grey eyes staring at the holographic image at it switched to a screen of the TSAB's so-called "Blue and Green Zones"; the area that they controlled in the galaxy. "Ever since their first outbreak in 0066, Spawn have been showing up at an increasing rate. It appears that whatever seals that had locked them away are finally starting to crumble," He looked at Erick, who remained silent. "Now that part of our mission is to eradicate any and all outbreaks, we've been able to lessen civilian casualties... well, not just us."

"That's righ'," Erick nodded. "Last I recall, Carter's fleet is dedicated to eliminatin' the space-bound forms, and they got Rogue Squadron helpin' us out from their own base of operations." Rogue Squadron was Keroko's creation; a group of nobodies that turned that thought on its head and became their own force. "The 82nd have had a few encounters wi' them in the Rim, too," The 82nd Rim Advance Force, aka Noble Phantasms, were a group of mages who had recently been assigned to watch over a group of planets on the Green Zone borders due to the high number of Spawn outbreaks there. "These things have been multiplyin' at an incredible rate..."

"...it's like someone is deliberately weakening the barriers..." Glen muttered. "Even the Saint Church's Cleric Knights are having a problem..."

"And then there's the Ariadne case," Emili said, partly to herself.
"We don' mention that," Erick snapped. "No one mentions Ariadne."

A brief silence fell in the room, the feeling of the air tense suddenly. "Sorry," Emili whispered.

"It's okay, Emili," Glen told her. "None of us like what happened there."
"If we had gotten there a few days sooner..."

"Then the world we were eliminatin' Spawn on woulda been offed too," Erick told her. "Ariadne was a lost cause, and th' TSAB did what it thought they had t' do." He paused. "Now look, we got to move on. XO."

"Yes, sir," Glen said, bringing up a particular section of Green Space. "This world, we believe, will have the next Spawn outbreak. Just like all the others, it's about 1.2 AUs away from the star it orbits, and the moon around the planet has a lot of mana, not to mention the planet itself."

"Anyone important there?" Erick asked. Glen nodded.
"Three of those kids from 0075," he answered. "Erio Mondial, Caro Ru Lushe, and Lutecia Alphino live on the planet, and recently the 43rd Air Battalion has been stationed there for training purposes." He brought up the planet itself. "We'll be en route by the end of the day. We contacted the unit Keroko was with and let them know that we'll be taking her. We flagged it under Code OMICRON, which shut them up pretty quickly."

"Righ, so we'll be leavin' to fight more o' them." Erick paused. "What about... that other thing?"
"None so far," Franz said; a PDA in his hand revealed that he had been researching what Erick was about to ask. "Not since the one last month. None of the Candidates have unlocked the System. As for the stabilization of our own, he remains at eighty-five percent."

"Very good," Erick nodded. "Righ', everyone get ready. We're goin' monster huntin' real soon. Dismissed."

The three he addressed stood up and proceeded to exit the small room. As they left, Franz mentioned something about needing to check on something and disappeared, leaving Emili and Glen to walk together down the ship corridors.

"So... eighty-five, huh?" Emili asked.
"Yep," Glen said, nodding. "Everything seems okay at this angle. Nothing odd is acting up." Leaning over, Emili wrapped her arms around one of Glen's as they walked.

"Glen..." she said. "These past few years have been odd... what do you think will happen?"
"It'll all be alright, Em," Glen assured her.

"You always say that," Emili chided. "...baka." Glen just nodded as the two walked.

Must you lie to her? A voice in his head asked.
I'm not lying. To date, I've not lost any control. Glen said to the voice.
Soon, though, you will. The voice warned. And I can only contain it for so long before I, too, lose control.

...perhaps.

[LoweGear]

Originally Posted by Kagerou

Right, Scene VI now. Just a quick info dump, really, has some OFM character development.

Spoiler for MSLN Alpha, Chapter One, Scene VI:

On Board the Support Ship Aus'ruf, above World 52

He walked as a soldier; measured, controlled steps, in perfect marching time, and standing straight and tall. Dressed in what could only be described as a Wild West-style outfit, he appeared as a relic of the past; even his two Devices, shaped as revolvers with a colored gem (crimson and emerald), were holstered on his hips. His face was chiseled and mature, and his gray eyes peered with an intense gaze from under his hat, which he wore at all times. Indeed, as he walked by a female officer, he tipped his hat and uttered a "Good day, ma'am," in pure Western drawl, indicating that he should be back in a time of gunslingers and cowboys.

Only the image of an eagle with spread wings, attached just over the breast pocket of his duster, gave any indication that this man was a Colonel. But everyone on this ship didn't need to see that. As two men dressed in standard Dress Blues paused to salute him, he only gave a confident smile and one back, their respect and awe at the man, the legend aboard this ship, that was Erick von Long, spoke for him.

This was the Aus'ruf, the long-range support ship of a special operations group, known as the Order of Freelance Mages. Multiple men and women, most hailing from a planet named Erusia (though many others were from Midchilda), were not only a SpecOp group, but a black SpecOp group. They had one purpose; seek out corruption and disaster, and prevent it. They were the TSAB's cure for cancer; while many SpecOp groups sought Lost Logia or apprehended criminals, the Order was strictly an assassination unit. If there was an official laundering money, trading slaves, or anything of the sort, the Order would be there to destroy that individual and erase their existence. If there was a non-administered world that was about to destroy itself, the OFM would be there to stop it, infiltrating the planet and its populace and tracking down the enemy, ending the threat before it could be carried out.

The OFM was the only group in the TSAB that had a special permit; to carry conventional mass-based weapons on missions. This only applied to missions that took place on worlds that still used such weapons; otherwise, they were kept under lock and key. Erick acquired this permit because of their mission, and only for that mission. His people, the Erusians, were destroyed by these weapons, yet at the same time they were useful; on some worlds, not carrying a weapon would be equivelant to suicide, and using magic was simply out-of-the-question. They were a Black Ops group that not even the TSAB liked to admit that they had; they were the secret forces.

Those under his employ, however, were not so secretive. Those their mission was definitely of the most classified nature, Erick encouraged the OFM to make friends; any that they could. Their network of allies was broad, and included a certain group of Aces. One of these aces, one Fate T. Harlown, even had the... "honor"... of attending an assignment with them, as per the request of the Enforcer's leadership. She had fared well on that mission, Erick recalled with a smile, and she definitely worked well with others. What was her rank again?

Erick simply shook his head as he entered the briefing room. Seated in a circle were the Order's top officers... and Erick's closest friends, one of which he even considered a son. Taking a seat, he pulled up a holographic image of the world.

"So, who c'n tell me what jus' happened?" He drawled, kicking back his chair and leaning on it with two legs; a habit he picked up from a friend of his, Aurion.

Really, the man who saved his life.

"As of 1600 hours HQ Standard Time, Enforcer First Class Keroko G. Takamachi deployed on her mission," One of the officers said; Franz Jaeger, the second-oldest person at the table and paradoxically one of the lowest ranks there. He was a man who had a penchant for rather extreme (or as he and Erick liked to call it, "hotblood") moments. While not a master mage, he was impressive in his own right, and his skill with the MA5C Assault Rifle was also spectacular. Currently, the hotblood was off. "We tracked her as ordered to this location," a spot on the holo-map lit up. "There, she engaged five Infection Forms and One Hydralisk Form... along with fifteen Human Combat Forms."

"This isn't too surprising," A second voice said; Glen Schattenman, a man who was both a Knight and a Mage; in times past, he was one of the experiments designed to found a new type of magic. Though this experiment died in favor of what became Neo-Belka, the skills he retained were still deadly. His Device, Phoenix, jingled from his necklace. "As we suspected, their next outbreak would occur here... odd, I figured the girl would have died." Glen wasn't known for being optimistic, but for being fairly blunt. "The fact she survived as long as she did is quite surprising."

"Don't make it sound like she's dead," The girl sitting next to him scolded. Emili Nailo, the only female in the room, leaned forward into the light, revealing her violet hair and bright blue eyes. Cradling slender hands in front of her face, she stared at the image. "Keroko will be just fine. We have her stabilized in the Medical Bay; her injuries are severe, alright, but otherwise..."

"No chance o' infection?" Erick asked.
"No," Emili shook her head. "There's something odd about her Linker Core - I can't quite place it - but according to Doc, it's warding off the infection. Her body is rejecting the Spawn biomass very powerfully despite her physical health. Her shoulder will be a little stiff for a while, but a few more healing treatments and a couple weeks rest will alleviate that."

"She took down a Hydralisk Form by herself," Franz said, adjusting his glasses. "That's no small feat; it's one of the highest Pure Forms in the Spawn we've encountered. We've seen the damn things take sustained AA-rank fire and shrug it off. I know Keroko's powerful, but even she has problems, it seems."

"Nevermind that," Glen cut him off, his grey eyes staring at the holographic image at it switched to a screen of the TSAB's so-called "Blue and Green Zones"; the area that they controlled in the galaxy. "Ever since their first outbreak in 0066, Spawn have been showing up at an increasing rate. It appears that whatever seals that had locked them away are finally starting to crumble," He looked at Erick, who remained silent. "Now that part of our mission is to eradicate any and all outbreaks, we've been able to lessen civilian casualties... well, not just us."

"That's righ'," Erick nodded. "Last I recall, Carter's fleet is dedicated to eliminatin' the space-bound forms, and they got Rogue Squadron helpin' us out from their own base of operations." Rogue Squadron was Keroko's creation; a group of nobodies that turned that thought on its head and became their own force. "The 82nd have had a few encounters wi' them in the Rim, too," The 82nd Rim Advance Force, aka Noble Phantasms, were a group of mages who had recently been assigned to watch over a group of planets on the Green Zone borders due to the high number of Spawn outbreaks there. "These things have been multiplyin' at an incredible rate..."

"...it's like someone is deliberately weakening the barriers..." Glen muttered. "Even the Saint Church's Cleric Knights are having a problem..."

"And then there's the Ariadne case," Emili said, partly to herself.
"We don' mention that," Erick snapped. "No one mentions Ariadne."

A brief silence fell in the room, the feeling of the air tense suddenly. "Sorry," Emili whispered.

"It's okay, Emili," Glen told her. "None of us like what happened there."
"If we had gotten there a few days sooner..."

"Then the world we were eliminatin' Spawn on woulda been offed too," Erick told her. "Ariadne was a lost cause, and th' TSAB did what it thought they had t' do." He paused. "Now look, we got to move on. XO."

"Yes, sir," Glen said, bringing up a particular section of Green Space. "This world, we believe, will have the next Spawn outbreak. Just like all the others, it's about 1.2 AUs away from the star it orbits, and the moon around the planet has a lot of mana, not to mention the planet itself."

"Anyone important there?" Erick asked. Glen nodded.
"Three of those kids from 0075," he answered. "Erio Mondial, Caro Ru Lushe, and Lutecia Alphino live on the planet, and recently the 43rd Air Battalion has been stationed there for training purposes." He brought up the planet itself. "We'll be en route by the end of the day. We contacted the unit Keroko was with and let them know that we'll be taking her. We flagged it under Code OMICRON, which shut them up pretty quickly."

"Righ, so we'll be leavin' to fight more o' them." Erick paused. "What about... that other thing?"
"None so far," Franz said; a PDA in his hand revealed that he had been researching what Erick was about to ask. "Not since the one last month. None of the Candidates have unlocked the System. As for the stabilization of our own, he remains at eighty-five percent."

"Very good," Erick nodded. "Righ', everyone get ready. We're goin' monster huntin' real soon. Dismissed."

The three he addressed stood up and proceeded to exit the small room. As they left, Franz mentioned something about needing to check on something and disappeared, leaving Emili and Glen to walk together down the ship corridors.

"So... eighty-five, huh?" Emili asked.
"Yep," Glen said, nodding. "Everything seems okay at this angle. Nothing odd is acting up." Leaning over, Emili wrapped her arms around one of Glen's as they walked.

"Glen..." she said. "These past few years have been odd... what do you think will happen?"
"It'll all be alright, Em," Glen assured her.

"You always say that," Emili chided. "...baka." Glen just nodded as the two walked.

Must you lie to her? A voice in his head asked.
I'm not lying. To date, I've not lost any control. Glen said to the voice.
Soon, though, you will. The voice warned. And I can only contain it for so long before I, too, lose control.

...perhaps.

Aah, so Keroko is safe, though righting a raging infection One of the few times good ole' Nelth is useful

It's sounding more and more like the Swarm every second, next thing you know a Protoss Mothership comes in and...

The question of who Araidne is is intriguing though, and with the ex-Lightnings being the swarm's next target I'm really looking forward to where this goes