Hey good people! It�s been a while since I posted anything, but
the responses I received prompted me to do some major rethinking of my
story
ideas. I�m going to write my one-shot tentatively titled �Good
Intentions�
where Akane falls to the dark side of the force and I finally came up
with
I had an idea like this once. Akane reacts very *ahem* enthusiastically to
any "power-ups" like the super-soba. Since Anger, Fear and Aggression are
the keys to the Dark Side, Akane will fall *fast*. In fact, no Jedi I can
think of would even consider training Akane (Me ----> Star Wars fanatic
^_^). Even manga Akane has too much anger in her. As a Dark Side adept, she
would be frighteningly powerful.
workable plot for the �Kidnapped� where Ranma grabs Akane and runs. This
one
will be a short series hopefully no more than 4-5 chapters long.
Today I come to you with a new Idea that has been swimming around up
in
my head. I just wanted your thoughts on it so that I don�t waste time on
a
bad idea.
Ranma/BattleTech Fusion
COOL! (Me ------> Battletech Fanatic ^_^)
Plot:
Star Captain Ranma is a freeborn Mechwarrior in the Smoke Jaguar Clan. As
such he is considered a second-class citizen and is treated as such
despite
his skill in a BattleMech. Compounding this, he is a Known warden (A
person
who believes in protecting the Inner sphere) in a Clan of Crusaders
(People
who believe in conquering the Inner sphere). Although treated poorly he
serves his Clan well. Still being a freeborn he was kept out of the
initial
Clan invasion and after the truce is stuck pulling garrison duty.
The Smoke Jaguars are amoungst the most aggressive of the Crusader Clans.
>From my impression of them, they would not let a Freebirth within spitting
distance of a mech. Okay maybe a Firestarter. Pity he was not born amongst
the Wolves. I am assuming that these events take place after the Truce of
Tukkavid but before the "Twillight of the Clans" storyline.
The new commander in charge of their base decides the inner
sphere needs a reminder that the Clans are still alive and kicking and
sends
60 Mechs to hit an inner sphere world above the truce line that the
Draconis
4 Trinities?! That's a heck of a lot of omnimechs. The last time I've seen
the Smoke Jaguars field anything this big was the Battle of Luthien.
Combine is setting up to stage raids into Clan space. Ranma�s command is
sent along to pull rear guard. A token position, all the glory will go to
the people at the front.
The raid goes completely awry as two recently hired merc units
make the odds arrayed against the Clans 6 to 1. Ranma�s group is able to
Standard Inner Sphere mechs need to outnumber Clan Omnimechs by a ratio of
4-1 (by tonnage) in order to have a reasonable chance of victory. Inner
Sphere Omnimechs need numerical superiority of 2-1 in order to equal the
Clan's technological and skill advantage. That means that the DCMS must
field about 720 omnimechs in order to achieve the odds you state. That
sixteen regiments and one lance of omnimechs. I think not even the
Federated Commonwealth at its height could field such a force at any one
place.
open a hole in the mercs defenses that the rest of the strike group uses
to
get to their drop ship. As Ranma heads for the drop ship he notices one
of
his people�s mechs limping badly. Seeing he will be overtaken Ranma
covers
the young mechwarrior and orders the drop ship to take off once the young
warrior is aboard. The Doprships guns assist Ranma as long as they can
before they take off.
Very like Ranma, very unlike a Clansmen.
Left alone Ranma Leads the forces arrayed against him in a running fight.
Eventually his mech is severely damaged by several Missile strikes and he
is
forced to eject as a WarHammer II C proceeds to gut what�s left of his
mech.
There's only one person I know of in the cast that's bloodthirsty enough to
gut a battered mech instead of saving it for salvage........
Later in the bases prison Ranma is visited by the heads of the two Merc
groups Captain Soun Tendo of the Nerima Maulers and General Cologne of
the
Amazons. After introductions the two quickly get down to business and ask
Ranma about the rules of becoming a bondsman. Ranma explains that he is
the
bondsman of who ever delivered the killing blow to his Mech. Soun and
Cologne argue a bit over this but eventually it is reveled by Ranma that
a
Warhammer II C is what took him down. The WarHammer II C belonged to
Soun�s
daughter Akane. Cologne leaves unhappy as Soun welcomes Ranma into the
Nerima Maulers.
Yup. I was right. Akane "The Mallet" Tendo.
Major Players
Nerima Maulers
Ranma:
Has spent his entire life in service to a Clan that at most tolerates his
existence. Though being a Warden helps him to adjust to working for the
inner sphere he is still used to Clan society. Meaning no knowledge of
anything beyond friendship. Any attempts to warm up to him will simply be
taking as solicitations for coupling. His past experiences with this have
been at the hands of female commanding officers. There was no love or
tenderness, it was simply sex, sometimes with insults about his heritage
thrown in by the women before, after, or during the deed.
Worse, some Clansmen regard sex as something you do with your sibko. That's
as close as you will get to a family in the Warrior Caste. Makes me wonder
what Nicholas Kerensky was smoking when he instituted this. Sex in Clan
society is an affirmation of closeness (in the Warrior Caste at least) not
of love.
Because of such
experiences he will avoid anyone he sees as trying to do the same. Kasumi
Eventually gets through to him and a friendship forms between the two.
Much
of Inner sphere society and day-to-day stuff he will simply not get at
first, but will learn. Amazingly he is still a fairly nice person but
doesn�t lie and is very blunt about things, and will not realize when
he�s
put his foot in his mouth. Also, considering the suffering he experienced
in
the Clans the Distrust he receives from his new employers doesn�t faze
him
much. Will not apologize for what he did as a Clan warrior.
Good interpretation of what Ranma would be like if he were raised in the
Battletech Universe.
Ranma: �It was war, Akane. If I didn�t kill them they would�ve killed
the
people under my command and there is no way in hell I�ll let my people
die
if theirs something I can do about it!�
Pilots a captured Thor
A Thor? A captured merc has a heavy omnimech?
Lt. Akane Tendo:
Lost her mother during the Clan invasion of the Inner sphere. Harbors an
intense hatred of anything Clan like because of this. Is driven to prove
she
is better than any �Clanner�. Is the one who brought down Ranma and at
first
believes her self to be his better and treats him as such. When she has
her
head handed to her in a simulator duel by Ranma her dislike and distrust
explode out with a vengeance. She takes this out on Ranma as often as
she
can. Pilots a WarHammer II C.
A Warhammer II C is a fairly new model assault mech, where did they get the
money for one?
Sgt. Ryoga Hibiki:
Has fallen for Akane. Believes the only good Clanner is a dead Clanner.
Pilots a Marauder.
Another Assault Clan Omnimech. Man, even Wolf's Dragoons do not have that
many. Princes in the Inner Sphere pilot Daishis, not grunts in merc
companies.
Captain Soun Tendo:
He and his wife were Mech pilots in Comm Star. During the battle on
Tukayid
his wife was killed by the Jade Falcons. After the battle he left Comm
Star
a broken man. His daughters gave him a purpose in building a Merc unit.
The
overseeing and protection of the unit is what keeps him going now. Takes
Ranma on at the request of one of his daughters. Pilots a Penatrator.
Why is Soun piloting a mech designed to hunt down command mechs? I would
think that with the money that they seem to have, he could have afforded a
command mech like the Sunder or at least a Commando.
Nabiki Tendo:
Is the one who makes deals and contracts for the small Merc unit and
makes
sure they stay several steps ahead of debt. When in battle she pilots a
Raven.
At least Nabiki's piloting a Scout mech. Information gathering was always
her strength anyhow. As a bit of curiousity, does Nabiki's Raven have the
NARC retrofit?
Moral Officer Kasumi Tendo
Morale not Moral. Unless she's the group's chaplain as well.
The mother of the group. Has kept this group together through thick and
thin. Along with moral and cooking, she has the finale say on the hiring
of
new mechwarriors. Requested that Ranma join the group for as yet unknown
reasons. Is his only friend for sometime in the whole group. Doesn�t
pilot a
mech.
Same old Kasumi. Maybe she can man the point defense systems or an Arrow IV
battery. Imagine a really creepy smile as she mans the Long Tom Batteries.
Mechwarrior Ukyo Kuonji:
Recently lost her fianc�e who went on a raid against the clans. Later
discovers Ranma was partly responsible for stopping the Raiders and
directly
responsible for the death of her fianc�e when he was a Clanner. Hatred
ensues. Pilots a Sunder.
The pride of the DCMS is the Sunder. In the Otomo, there are only THREE
Sunders and the Otomo are arguably the best of the elite units of the
Draconis Combine (like the Ryoken and Sword of Light). The fact that it was
given to an unranked mechwarrior of a MERC outfit boggles the mind.
The Amazons � A mostly female merc group, has ties to Wolf�s Dragoons.
Natasha Kerensky probably trained the lot of them. Maybe they were those
who chose to stay behind after the Black Widow Battalion rejoined the
Clans.
General Cologne:
Should be Colonel. A Colonel leads a regiment, not a general. No merc has
that rank unless they have an unhealthy ego. Cologne is too experienced for
useless displays of ego.
The owner of this merc group. Is arguably one of the best mech warriors
of
her generation. Wants Ranma to join her group after he took down her
prot�g�
Shampoo. Pilots an Awesome.
At least the Awesome is a bread-and-butter merc mech. Gotta wonder how a
Capellan mech made its way to the Draconis Combine though. Just a thought:
Make the Amazons native to the Capellan Confederation. After all, House
Liao is the closest thing you'll get to a Chinese state in the Inner
Sphere.
Lt. Shampoo:
One of the best Mechwarriors in the Amazons. Grudgingly respects Ranma
for
being able to take her out that quickly. Pilots a Mad Dog.
Another Clan Heavy Mech. I do not remember them being so prolific in the
Inner Sphere even during the "Twillight of the Clans" saga.
Sgt. Mousse:
Dislikes Ranma because he�s gotten Shampoo�s attention. Wants Ranma to
stay
with the Nerima Maulers and away from his girl. Pilots a Phoenix
A phoenix is not so bad.......
Draconis combine forces
Captain Kuno
The son of a noble in the combine Kuno picked a place that would allow
him
to prove himself in combat against the Clans. Has this insane belief that
Akane is playing hard to get.
Ha, make him pilot a Hachetman but replace the axe with a giant bokken and
you'll be all set.
Where to go with this? Ranma�s going to have to learn to live in the
Inner
sphere and deal with his new employers. Will face a lot distrust at first
but will gradually earn the respect of Most of the people around him.
Will
also have to deal with going up against the people formerly under his
command as the group commits raids into clan space.
No curses, no fianc�es. Just Ranma dealing with the fact that people
HATE
him for what he once was. A member of a Clan he did not always agree
with.
There's a lot of potential for drama here.
Well what do you think? Any hope for this one?
I like this idea and would very much like to see it done. Although I do
disagree with your parts of your scripting though. I would rather have
Akane as the Truebirth that Ranma tried to save. The Dropship could not get
to them due to LRM fire and they were left behind. Thus not only does Akane
hate Ranma for being a Freebirth, she hates him because its naturally his
fault they are in this mess. Have Ukyo put down Ranma and Akane's mechs.
Then both of them must obey a girl that hates them. Yes I'm evil. Ranma
could start paying a fair bit of attention to Ukyo as he is an honourable
bondsman. Akane on the other hand would rather gnaw on ferro-fibre.
Just a note about your mech selections. Yes its cool to ride a hundred
tonner but these are merc outfits and their rides are better than any elite
Regiment I have ever seen. Not even Wolf's Dragoons can match the firepower
they are packing.
In retrospect I can only come up with one conclusion:
The Nerima Mauraders are not rich, they *print* money. Think that Maurader
parts are easy to come by? When you can field a force capable of stomping
any Great House regiment, you got to have money coming out of the wazoo.
Especially since many mechs have restricted supply (Great House military or
Clan Omnimech).
If you write this, please tone done the mechs a bit. I know that this is
irritating but you need to establish some semblance of credibility to your
mech selections.
Most merc groups operate on a tight budget. That means mechs like the
Raven, Jenner and Mongoose for light mechs; Blackjacks, Centurions and
Shadowhawks for mediums; Orions, Grasshoppers, Banshees and Blackjack IIs
for heavies and Atlas, Grand Titians (well Soun was Com Guard) and
Awesomes for Assault. Merc groups do not have manufacturing facilitites,
they make do with what they can buy on the open market (pretty much junk)
and what they can salvage (ditto). If you are very lucky, you might wind up
with a handful of military grade mechs and even an omnimech. You will not
end up with so many rare and powerful Battlemechs unless you hit Strana
Mechy itself.
Hope this is useful.
Regards,
Mechamorph