Ammadeau wrote:

First the question:

I'm in the process of writing a Ranma crossover fic where 'she'
ends up studying under Miz to be a substitute water priestess.
Anybody have any idea what the rules to being a priestess of
Mt. Muldoon should be?

    Are you basing this story on Wanderers?  That is important to know, because the character mix and society/history of El Hazard are so very different from the first OAV.

    Wanderers Episode 15: Tale of the Priestesses! goes into a fair amount of detail about how the priestesses are chosen.  It is a long process.  I'm not at all sure how much of it could be used for the first OAV, but here is a summary:

    Girls who aspire to become priestesses must first be recommended and approved to attend "priestess elementary school".  There, they are trained to meditate and control themselves, as well as learning the usual subjects.  Think of Catholic school, except the nuns carry long, thin ceremonial paddles for the girls'... edification, and use them constantly.  The process for entry into the school is complex and highly formalized.  (Side
note: Shayla-Shayla admits that her entry was highly irregular... she was the only candidate in El Hazard's history to ever just go up and knock on the door!  She decided to be Fire Priestess after seeing Krayna-Krayna, the priestess before her, practicing fire techniques near Shayla's home village.  While she did have a recommendation from her village teacher to attend the school, she really got in just on sheer nerve.)  The girls
wear a white pullover tunic with long white trousers at this level.  (Think of tight fitting sweat pants and a sweatshirt with a loose turtleneck.)  The girls shown in the school all seem to be about 8 to 10 years old.

    Once they pass the tests to graduate from elementary school, they move on to "upper graduate level" in a different part of the school (which is also called a Shrine at times).  Those who qualify are ordained into the first level (of priesthood?), and receive a generic version of the Lamp of their Element.  The story does not say what becomes of the girls who do not pass the tests; my guess would be that they become the attendants
for the various Shrines.  At this point the girls seem to be in their early 'teens.

    The girls then practice control of their chosen Elements.  They wear a black pullover tunic with black shorts and a white "girdle" that extends from just below the breasts to the waist.  (The top is just like the elementary version, but for the shorts, think of bicycle shorts.  Note: at all levels of training, they wear red headbands.)  This stage seems to confer immunity to ill effects from their element; Shayla is shown taking a
bath you could boil eggs in, and she thinks a draft from the door opening cools it off too much!

    Once all the tests of upper graduate level have been passed (Afura calls this "being chosen as a final Graduate"), they are given "diplomas", and move into the First Circle at the Shrine of their element.  At this level, they are called Initiates.  They enter training centers in the Shrines, and are taught advanced (and difficult) techniques.  Afura notes that they are competing for the highest position, and that she worked hard
for it.  The episode only shows the Wind training center.  The girls wear medium green leotards that go down below the knees, a light green shoulder cloak and a light green wraparound skirt that angles up towards the right hip.  They also wear a blue choker.  Afura is still wearing the red "student" headband, but none of the other initiates are.

    Both Shayla and Afura are 17 years old when the day comes for the retirement of the priestesses of Fire and Wind.  They are chosen as the replacements (it is noted that they are the youngest girls ever chosen) and go to the Great Temple to receive the Lamp of Fire and the Lamp of Wind... Shayla was late.

    Miz Mishtal presented the Lamps.  She was also due to retire, but there was no graduate of Water that year; she laments that most of the girls seem to just want to study Fire and Wind.  She wryly comments, "I'm in it for the rest of my life!".  She's 28 years old at this point.

And now, the teaser:

        Miz stood before her two main obstacles to her happiness, her fellow priestesses, Afra Mann and Shayla-Shayla.  The third, the source of her future happiness, had decided to climb a mountain someplace.
        "It clearly states in the rules you agreed to follow," Afra Mann intoned, pointing out the relevent passage in the Priestess Handbook, "that no priestess can take on any other duties during her term."
        "And that includes marriage," Shayla-Shayla added.
        "You're both so cruel!"

    I don't think it was ever stated at any time in any of the series that the priestesses were forbidden to marry while in office.  I guess you can play that any way you like, but I doubt that celibacy is a requirement.  Also, in Miz' case, I think they would have to make an exception even if there were.  The priesthood would be faced with a choice of letting her marry, or doing without a Water priestess. In the El Hazard 2 OAV, she
was still the Water priestess and WAS getting married to Fujisawa.

        "Now Miz, all you have to do is train a replacement," the wind priestess told her.  "Have her take over your duties and you'll be free to do whatever you want."
        "Because we are not going to cover for you," the fire priestess added.
        "But I don't have a replacement!"
        "Well, you better go find one soon if you plan on getting married before you become an old maid."
        Miz stomped off in anger.

        Sometime later she was relaxing at her favorite onsen.  She'd already tried asking around for a replacement, but when they heard what the job entailed they all refused.  Most of them wouldn't have passed the tests anyway.
        Miz tried tossing a coin and praying before one of the fountains for help, as she had seen her beloved do once.  What she needed was a replacement Water Priestess.  Someone young, female, didn't mind a little hard work, wasn't afraid of danger, and had a natural affinity for water.  Now where in the world was she going to find someone like that?
        "Aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!" yelled a female voice somewhere above.  Before Miz could even look up, the fountain exploded all around her as something heavy landed in it.  Miz was prepared to get very angry at whoever caused this, but was too surprised when she found a young girl lying unconscious in the fountain.

    Um, I wouldn't say Ranma has an "affinity" for water.  It comes closer to an aversion.  Also, given his distaste for being female, it is hard to picture him volunteering for a long term job that requires him to be a woman.  Another potential problem: the curse itself.  In order to be Water priestess, he'd have to learn to control water.  The curse involves him not being in control of it.  If he was a master of the element, he
could avoid being splashed, so I'd think that the mechanics of the curse would counteract his attempts to learn the skills.  In other words, he'd have an exceptionally powerful force working against his passing the tests.

future scene:

        "So what are these three trials anyway?" Ranko asked impatiently as Miz was searching her house, collecting items here and there for no obvious purpose.  She noticed that most of them were clothes like Miz was already wearing.  Were they going on a trip to some training ground?
        "First, you have to wear this," Miz told her as she thrust the clothes she had collected into Ranko's hands.  "They're some of my old things, so they should be able to fit you, more or less."
        "What?  No way I'm wearing these girly clothes!"
        "Then you have failed the first trial already."
        "Huh?"
        "The first thing a water priestess must do is look like one.  You can't very well do that unless you dress the part."
        "Are you sure that I can't have something less, you know . . . femine to wear?"

    I don't think the priestesses have a "uniform" as such.  There seems to be a general look peculiar to each element, but there are individual variations.  In the Temple and Shrine shots in Wanderers, they show bas reliefs of the lines of priestesses, and each seems to have their own take on the outfit.  If Ranma objected to the long skirts Miz wears, it seems reasonable that a compromise would be reached.

        Miz looked at Ranko oddly.  She was dressed strange, but the water priestess had first dismissed it as proper fashion for the world the girl was originally from.  Did not Nanami dress in a similar fashion? Now, however, she did notice how much more the clothes resembled Makoto's woredrobe, though a bit more flashy in color.  But this was clearly a girl.  Something was obviously wrong here, but Miz couldn't figure out what.
        "Will you give in so easily, just over what rainment you have to adorn?"

    "...over what <sp> raiment you have to don?"  "to adorn" means "to decorate".

        "Huh?"
        "Does your word mean so little that you would break it so quickly?"
        Ranko suffered a bit on that one.  She had given her word and her honor was about all she had managed to preserve so far.  If she lost that, she really would have nothing.  "No."
        "Good!  Then you'll try on the clothes?"
        Ranko nodded, but added as she walked away to get changed, "But there's no way in hell I'm wearing any panties!"
        Miz wondered what that was about.  She certainly didn't give the girl any of her panties to wear.  She thought she would have her own.
        Ranko came back some time later in an outfit that was identical to the one Miz wore.  Her face was as red as her hair though, and her hands were balled into fists.  Clearly, she wasn't at all happy about her new clothes, but either Miz didn't notice or chose not to.
        "Okay, so what's the next trial?" Ranko asked through clenched teeth.  This one was bad enough, she just wanted to get this over with.  One thing was for sure, she was taking this stupid outfit off as soon as the trials were over.
        "Oh, no no no.  You haven't completed the first trial yet.  Not only must you look like a water priestess, but you must act like one as well.  I think that we should do something about your hair though."
        "No way!  I like my hair the way it is."
        "Fine, the hair isn't such a big deal anyway.  We'll have to start your instruction on proper behavior right away though.  I can tell that we've got a lot of work to do."

_________________________________________________________________________

    Overall, I think you are in for a tough time building a situation where it's believable that Ranma would go along with this.  It is OOC, so there would have to be an awfully good reason for him to cooperate.  It would help if you can tell us the setup.  Why would Ranma want to help Miz?  What is he going to get out of it?  In the series, Ranma only "goes girl" when he has an agenda.  What is he up to?  He wouldn't make this kind
of promise to Miz lightly, especially when it involves being a girl for long periods!



--
 Ja ne,
 LarryF

http://home.earthlink.net/~lwf58