At 09:33 PM 11/26/97 -0500, Brendan wrote:

	Well I for one am a bit iffy on it myself.  I really doubt that the kind

of ability Ifurita showed could have come from anywhere except years of
battlefield experience.  Besides she said herself that her arsenal is the
result of her many battles in the past.

I do not see this statement as precluding what I mentioned about Ifurita.
Her arsenal would of course grow with each battle as opponents used
different things on her. I never stated that they would not.

	The problem is that everyone sees what sort of destruction Ifurita can

inflict in modern day El-Hazard, forgeting A. that modern day El-Hazard
doesn't have any of the defensive systems created with contempary
technology to that which created Ifurita.  And more importantly B. As
Ifurita said, "I grow stronger with every attack."  Which means that the
further back you tracker her, the WEAKER she is.  Indeed if her designers
focused most of their budetary efforts on her adaptation capacity she could
have started out seriously underpowered.

This is true, she does grow stronger after every attack, because she is
able to replicate that attack after it being used on her. She was able to
reproduce Afura Mann's attack and use it on Afura after one shot. Since she
*was* used as a weapon in the past, I find it hard to believe that she did
not have some form of offensive capability at the start. Even if it wasn't
built-in, but brought about by lab tests to see if this ability worked. 
	Before Ifurita was resurrected, Diva (Deva?) showed Jinnai the ruins of a
city; a cityblasted by Ifurita. She did have the power back then. Also,
when Makoto looked into her memories, she stood on top of a blasted
building, surveying the carnage which she caused.

	Here's how I'd see Ifurita's development.

	My own take is that the Holy wars were just that, a series of seperate

wars with times of uneasy peace in between.  As I see it, The demon's were
probably a civilian product who's creators adapted it for military
application.  (After all aesthetics are not something Military engineers
put much thought into.)

	Now, if you note, the first djinni seen were used in civilian tasks. Even
later, human looking models were mainly civilian. However, the military
knows a good thing when it sees it.
The military djinni still looked human, because, well it made it easier for
people to work with (at least, in the civilian sector it did), plus, they
could use some in the intelligence division for spying (not mentioned in
the fic, but it wasn't dismissed either. Just mentioned that they were
used). It would also make it harder for enemy troops to distinguish between
human and djinn troops (djinni are replaceable, humans are not).
	This would also explain the statue that Makoto reawakens in the garden,
being a much earlier design.

	Later generations of demon's were equiped with semi-organic brains that

improved the demon's creativity and decision making capacity dramatically.
The fact that the new design wasn't completely understood made some folk
leary on using it, but after a few battles won by the superior mental
ability of these demon's everyone had to either start using something
similar or fall behind in the arms race.  Thing is the reservations were
justified because the demon's began to develope their own beliefs, their
own desires.  And in time some of them discovered how to counteract their
behaviour restraints, and a new war broke out, 

between the free demon's and their creators.

The OAV series leads me to believe that Ifurita's restraint system was
absolute, not being able to be broken by her: it was Makoto's power that
did it. Still, the possibility does arise that some might have been able
to: damage on the battlefield for instance might have burnt out the
appropriate circuit.

	Before this new war, though while the warning signs were there, the

military was planing for a war with their Human adversaries, and looking
for the next generation of demon to be used in that conflict.  Taking the
US as a base, they approached several firms and asked them for their best
product to take place in a test of it's abilities.  One of the smaller
firms had an edge in brain power, but not in buck power, and they built
Ifurita as an attempt to introduce her adaptation capacity.  Naturally the
Military minds judging the competition couldn't see it's value so the main
production contract was given to a competator.  

One would think the opposite-- Ifurita's ability makes her the ultimate
soldier, or the potential to become so.

However then the demon rebellions really started and all the prototypes

were immediately put into action.  The demon rebellions lasted several
years and Iffurita gained a great deal of power, and when the final
rebellion was ending, one of the sides decided it was a good time to begin
the next holy war.  During the holy war Ifurita became stronger and
stronger, shifting the balance of power to her side, however both sides
were still squemish from the demon rebellions and wanted to phase all the
demon's out of service.  So a peace was forged, Ifurita was put in storage,
and the eve of god was completed and used, destroying the 

technological and intelectual base of both sides to the point of casuing

total social colapse.

I see this as a possibility, that both sides put Ifurita into storage after
they forged a peace. I would think though, that instead of storage, they
would simply destroy her, to prevent her from being used again; after all,
what if someone gets ahold of her who doesn't really have too many
scruples? Hold the world hostage perhaps?

	The technological and intellectual base could suffer, at least in this
area. The Eye of God was not complete (half-way? or maybe less, I'm not
sure. not more that half-way though, I know that), and it is mentioned as
have being fired off before (Gallus mentions it. That was how the Phantom
Tribe were introduced into El Hazard). It seems that was one of the events
right before the collapse of the old society: there is talk of a cataclysm,
which seems to have started from usage of the Eye.

However, as I stated in the beginning of the story, this history is in no
ways 'official' El Hazard history, and is a product of my own imagination.
I welcome any comments on this possible history, and welcome any debate
over points I make in the story (hell, even calling them "djinni" is
something I made up. Sort of fits though, and it's shorter than saying
demon god all the time, so...), but realise that I will also debate any
points anyone else makes, if I find what I believe to be flaws in the
opposing arguement.

It is nice to hear other people's ideas on the past of El Hazard though,
and this was a nice, civil reply, with logical points made. This was good.
Intelligent debate is good.

Just as a throwaway idea (feel free to use, I doubt I will in the
forseeable future at least), does anyone else think there should be a
fourth priestess? We have water, fire and air, but according to the four
classic elements, should there not be one for earth? Domain would probably
have something to do with memory, enduring, something like that (each of
the priestesses seem to embody the characteristics applied to each of the
four classic elements they are connected with).
	Perhaps the fourth user is not a priestess, or not of Mt. Muldoon a least
(maybe in another land?). Dr. Schtalubaugh could be the fourth one (he
preserves knowledge as Dean and caretaker of the Royal Library).
	Just a thought, if anybody is interested. Like I said, I doubt I'll be
using it in the future (for one, I haven't decided who I would have for the
last element-- I'm not including wood, which is often in Asian cultures as
an element because of the more Arabian feel to the series, so I'm sticking
to the four classic ones). Too much right now. Working on part 2 of oracle,
of this series (Bugrom are next!) another El Hazard historical fic (the
Phantom Tribe, before and after they came into El Hazard), and of course my
OMG one. Oh, that and I really can't think of a story for the controller of
the earth element (what would she/he use? a ring like Mishtal? lamps like
Mann or Shayla? I see a different name for it for some reason).

As always, replies are welcome, as are different perspectives.
Cheerfully:



Matthew "Shortfics are a way of life" Lewis
	maybeso@ican.net
___________________________________________________
The Second Question:
 What happens when you win?
   When your enemies are at your mercy: how will 
you act then? Compromise is the temptation of the
weak; this is the test for the strong.
What are you going to do?
	-Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses
___________________________________________________