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Initial premise: WILD WEST AU!
So...: Yeah, how do I make that one work? Luckily, I spent several hours (8 to be exact) thinking on this one. And...Kels squeed. And said it'd be fun. So.
What happened: The Ultimate Being was born in Japan, 1969. A mitochondrial godling of immense ability, but at that time Japan was an incredibly reclusive country. No one found out until it was too late. Far too late. Concerns over Japan's complete surcease of exporting and importing caused the US government to send a group of soldiers. The mitochondrial conversion was well underway when the team landed.
There was no citizen of Japan that had not at least received a low level infection from drinking tainted waters if not mutated outright from more direct contact or influence of the Being. This fact came to light years later though.
The team barely survived to return to America, in fact, of a team of twelve, four returned. Four and one refugee that was smuggled in. The refugee was a Japanese nurse who had proven invaluable to their investigation. From that point onward war was declared, and the US was the first to strike with what military might they had.
As the mitochondrial influences began to spread from japan, other countries soon joined the assault. The Being survived all with contemptuous ease. It wasn't until a radical combination of magic and technology was used in dual assault that the Being staggered.
A year of rapid development in techno magic and The Solution was devised. The details of such were destroyed by it's creators, but it was a combination that targeted Mitochondrial cells with relentless, nearly hellish magical force.
It worked.
With dire consequences.
The Solution backlashed upon the world environment much as all out nuclear warfare would have. Japan itself was nearly obliterated. What remains is twisted, slagged spires of rock rising from the ocean depths in glassy spires. The aether of the world was twisted beyond repair, creating the Chaos Storms (explained later), and...killing and twisted most of the life on earth.
Perhaps it was a mistake, but the Mitochondrial targeting was too vague. It didn't just target active mitochondria, but inactive, dormant cells. Humans experienced a ninety percent die off within the first two years. Those that remained grew ill with wasting illness that no medical doctor had ever seen before. Most of humanity died, and those that remain to this day have a life expectancy of no more than forty years. Half breeds experienced a far less drastic die off, while the remaining two races experienced deaths due to magical over channeling and adjustments to their new environment.
Magic changed. No one was left without some small magical ability. Magic thrummed in the very air now. But it was...hard coded. Specific. Individuals no longer could channel many types of energy, flicking between Cura and Fira and back. No, beings left alive developed affinities as a self defense mechanism. A way to keep the body from burning out. The affinity levels are: Basic, moderate, high, and adept (explained later).
The animals twisted and changed as well. Flora and Fauna no biologist had ever seen emerged to fill the holes where natural creatures died off. Beasts with magical abilities.
The Chaos Storms: Writhing, twisting storms of magical energy mixed with natural and unnatural rains and winds. These storms are devastating, with a terrifying tendency to target technology. Cities were destroyed and slagged as storm after storm were drawn to the electrical patterns of higher technology. Then the lower patterns of even simply things like radios...
After each storm strike, creatures emerge...
Now, with so little left to target, the storms roll on their own strange patterns, occurring once to twice a week at most.
Affinities: Magic has become both the staple and the bane of many people left alive. Those with basic affinities find their talents useful with the ability to cast the first level of their affinity spell a limited number of times. Moderate casters can cast the mid level spells slightly more often. High casters the full range of the element spell, often.
Adepts...have become so attuned to their element that it practically suffuses them. Their affinity element seems to obey them, and they have a seemingly limitless magical energy at their disposal...so while an air High caster can cast Aerogan, an Adept could fly and shield without even thinking about it. Yes, like the difference between Nobodies and Goofy in KH.
The people who became adepts during the onset of the storms followed no pattern. For those born after the world changed, Adepts are rare, though utterly unpredictable. Two Basic casters can birth an adept just as easily as two adepts can birth a Basic. The affinity, and aptitude, are set from the moment a newborn child first breathes the energy laden air.
Storms effect casters harshly. Basic and moderate casters are often knocked unconscious by the force of the Chaos storms. By the time the AU would take place in, these level casters would go home at the onset of a storm and drink teas of take pills if pills are to be had to be asleep by the time things hit. High casters may get mild headaches, but they lose the ability to cast for a day, the storms draining their MP that harshly. Adepts, on the other hand, experience a high unlike any drug offered in the old world could grant. Power. Pleasure. A catnip high times ten? Adepts have disappeared in storms, never to return...
So, how is this wild west? By the time the AU takes place, people have learned to live without most technological amenities, much as frontier living in the old west was. Machinery run on steam (usually driven by fira casters) is reliable, so some engines and the like are usable. Think steam punk and run with it! The East Coast and Europe are slowly recovering, studies allowing them to blunt the force of the storms somewhat. It is even rumored that some cities have electric lights without losing them in storms! And there's a leader emerging from that direction who is aiming to study, then defeat, the storms and rebuild America into a utopia.
That isn't the west though. They stick with what they know will run now, falling back into wild west standards. Aya will be an outrider (story to come) for her town's local sheriff. She keeps in touch with the outlying homes, helps keep the beasty population down to prevent swarms during storms...
Chaos storms are wilder, and stronger, the further west you go due to proximity to what was once Japan. The most reliable transport is horse (and horse like things), with rail track between the larger towns.
It is also the best place to 'study' the ongoing effects of The Solution.
*ominous music*
Random ideas:
1) Yes, I kinda intend for Ansem to be the emerging leader. Yay brain!
2) The Solution had some truly strange effects. It didn't necessarily destroy all the mutated humans...sometimes just the mitochondria. This left beings that were mutated and twisted, but still slightly more intelligent than animals, with little to no memory of their lives before...yep. Nobodies.
3) Some of the twisted beings ended up as 'intangibles' slipping in and out of a shadowy state that may be an affinity, or may just be something new. Magic can harm these beings, as can mitochondrial energy, but nothing directly physical. yep. Heartless. Kinda.
The BIG Question
So. Does this sound entertaining? I'm willing to actually make this an AU for folks instead of just a little side fic for me. Any ideas? Interest? If not I'll just fic my little brain bug *grin* Thanks for your patience in my rambly, rambly post!
So...: Yeah, how do I make that one work? Luckily, I spent several hours (8 to be exact) thinking on this one. And...Kels squeed. And said it'd be fun. So.
What happened: The Ultimate Being was born in Japan, 1969. A mitochondrial godling of immense ability, but at that time Japan was an incredibly reclusive country. No one found out until it was too late. Far too late. Concerns over Japan's complete surcease of exporting and importing caused the US government to send a group of soldiers. The mitochondrial conversion was well underway when the team landed.
There was no citizen of Japan that had not at least received a low level infection from drinking tainted waters if not mutated outright from more direct contact or influence of the Being. This fact came to light years later though.
The team barely survived to return to America, in fact, of a team of twelve, four returned. Four and one refugee that was smuggled in. The refugee was a Japanese nurse who had proven invaluable to their investigation. From that point onward war was declared, and the US was the first to strike with what military might they had.
As the mitochondrial influences began to spread from japan, other countries soon joined the assault. The Being survived all with contemptuous ease. It wasn't until a radical combination of magic and technology was used in dual assault that the Being staggered.
A year of rapid development in techno magic and The Solution was devised. The details of such were destroyed by it's creators, but it was a combination that targeted Mitochondrial cells with relentless, nearly hellish magical force.
It worked.
With dire consequences.
The Solution backlashed upon the world environment much as all out nuclear warfare would have. Japan itself was nearly obliterated. What remains is twisted, slagged spires of rock rising from the ocean depths in glassy spires. The aether of the world was twisted beyond repair, creating the Chaos Storms (explained later), and...killing and twisted most of the life on earth.
Perhaps it was a mistake, but the Mitochondrial targeting was too vague. It didn't just target active mitochondria, but inactive, dormant cells. Humans experienced a ninety percent die off within the first two years. Those that remained grew ill with wasting illness that no medical doctor had ever seen before. Most of humanity died, and those that remain to this day have a life expectancy of no more than forty years. Half breeds experienced a far less drastic die off, while the remaining two races experienced deaths due to magical over channeling and adjustments to their new environment.
Magic changed. No one was left without some small magical ability. Magic thrummed in the very air now. But it was...hard coded. Specific. Individuals no longer could channel many types of energy, flicking between Cura and Fira and back. No, beings left alive developed affinities as a self defense mechanism. A way to keep the body from burning out. The affinity levels are: Basic, moderate, high, and adept (explained later).
The animals twisted and changed as well. Flora and Fauna no biologist had ever seen emerged to fill the holes where natural creatures died off. Beasts with magical abilities.
The Chaos Storms: Writhing, twisting storms of magical energy mixed with natural and unnatural rains and winds. These storms are devastating, with a terrifying tendency to target technology. Cities were destroyed and slagged as storm after storm were drawn to the electrical patterns of higher technology. Then the lower patterns of even simply things like radios...
After each storm strike, creatures emerge...
Now, with so little left to target, the storms roll on their own strange patterns, occurring once to twice a week at most.
Affinities: Magic has become both the staple and the bane of many people left alive. Those with basic affinities find their talents useful with the ability to cast the first level of their affinity spell a limited number of times. Moderate casters can cast the mid level spells slightly more often. High casters the full range of the element spell, often.
Adepts...have become so attuned to their element that it practically suffuses them. Their affinity element seems to obey them, and they have a seemingly limitless magical energy at their disposal...so while an air High caster can cast Aerogan, an Adept could fly and shield without even thinking about it. Yes, like the difference between Nobodies and Goofy in KH.
The people who became adepts during the onset of the storms followed no pattern. For those born after the world changed, Adepts are rare, though utterly unpredictable. Two Basic casters can birth an adept just as easily as two adepts can birth a Basic. The affinity, and aptitude, are set from the moment a newborn child first breathes the energy laden air.
Storms effect casters harshly. Basic and moderate casters are often knocked unconscious by the force of the Chaos storms. By the time the AU would take place in, these level casters would go home at the onset of a storm and drink teas of take pills if pills are to be had to be asleep by the time things hit. High casters may get mild headaches, but they lose the ability to cast for a day, the storms draining their MP that harshly. Adepts, on the other hand, experience a high unlike any drug offered in the old world could grant. Power. Pleasure. A catnip high times ten? Adepts have disappeared in storms, never to return...
So, how is this wild west? By the time the AU takes place, people have learned to live without most technological amenities, much as frontier living in the old west was. Machinery run on steam (usually driven by fira casters) is reliable, so some engines and the like are usable. Think steam punk and run with it! The East Coast and Europe are slowly recovering, studies allowing them to blunt the force of the storms somewhat. It is even rumored that some cities have electric lights without losing them in storms! And there's a leader emerging from that direction who is aiming to study, then defeat, the storms and rebuild America into a utopia.
That isn't the west though. They stick with what they know will run now, falling back into wild west standards. Aya will be an outrider (story to come) for her town's local sheriff. She keeps in touch with the outlying homes, helps keep the beasty population down to prevent swarms during storms...
Chaos storms are wilder, and stronger, the further west you go due to proximity to what was once Japan. The most reliable transport is horse (and horse like things), with rail track between the larger towns.
It is also the best place to 'study' the ongoing effects of The Solution.
*ominous music*
Random ideas:
1) Yes, I kinda intend for Ansem to be the emerging leader. Yay brain!
2) The Solution had some truly strange effects. It didn't necessarily destroy all the mutated humans...sometimes just the mitochondria. This left beings that were mutated and twisted, but still slightly more intelligent than animals, with little to no memory of their lives before...yep. Nobodies.
3) Some of the twisted beings ended up as 'intangibles' slipping in and out of a shadowy state that may be an affinity, or may just be something new. Magic can harm these beings, as can mitochondrial energy, but nothing directly physical. yep. Heartless. Kinda.
The BIG Question
So. Does this sound entertaining? I'm willing to actually make this an AU for folks instead of just a little side fic for me. Any ideas? Interest? If not I'll just fic my little brain bug *grin* Thanks for your patience in my rambly, rambly post!
