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The FFML Refugee List

Colleen Leah Morgan wrote:

semi-gritty future
of evil killer Ranma characters

The planet has not always been like this.  It once held several
thriving civilizations and gave birth to numerous species, including
our own.  Though it is hard for anybody who knows its current condition
to believe, it was once known as "Earth", not "that blighted watery
rock".

Alas, one member of the dominant race became altered...and then even
more altered...and even more.  Curses and magic and, eventually, the
dark spots of science sought the individual out.  First this person, a
male by birth, gained the ability to change genders in the presence of
water, during a childhood spent in utter humiliation called a "training
trip".  Then this poor soul was subjected to all kinds of dehumanizing
trials, shown by example just how little humanity truly cared for him
even as what passed for his friends used him to their own ends; those
who professed to love him usually came to blows for the right to beat
him up, rarely practicing any other aspects of "love" except to secure
various ends for themselves.

All of this would have been but another sad blot on the human record,
save for three things.  Starting with the training trip and not ending
until few other people remained, he was constantly forced to come up
with new methods of combat, to the point where even execution-style
murder was merely another form of victory.  Then, in another in the
string of magical "accidents" that those around him forced on him from
time to time, he was duplicated, and his female form's gestation rate
greatly increased.  For all the professions of affection from the
females who claimed to want to marry him, he was still a virgin and
sexually curious, leaving him only his new double to experiment with.
The inevitable came within a week, with their first child born but a
week after that.

As the third of this series quickly reached the same physical maturity
level as the first two (though one wonders how those around him could
have been so self-absorbed as to not be alarmed enough to do something
about the tremendous appetite this would necessitate), the first two
set about reproducing again.  While one gestated, the other two
(historical anecdotes suggest the second and third) went at it, and so
came the fourth and the fifth of the series - along with the discovery
that changing gender while pregnant had painful results, thus
preventing all three of them from carrying at once.

And so the line expanded.  History records that one of the "fiancees"
regarded this line as competition to be defeated in combat like all
prior competition...with predictable results, closely analogous to a
hyena attempting to make a snack of a bear cub in full view of the
cub's mother, except that the hyena had no chance of escape.

Death lead to retaliation; the bodies of those who would have revenge
were blasted almost beyond recognition.  This incurred more attempts at
vengeance, such that the growing family's caretakers expelled them out
of quite reasonable fear for the caretakers' own safety, as well as
logistical concerns about providing for the new additions.
Unfortunately, one of the caretakers, out of malice or wrong-headed
fear, fed the local media a highly exaggerated tale of what had
happened, with the result that no one this new family encountered would
take them in or do business with them.  With such a reaction from what
they formerly thought were their own countrymen, it is only surprising
that it took as long as it did for them to begin seizing food, shelter,
and other necessities of life by force.

And thus began the downward spiral.  Such a force was not to be
tolerated among polite society, so law enforcement was called in...and,
when that proved far too inadequate, the local military, then
international militaries after the growing clan raided bases belonging
to other nations.  It was at about this point that the family's joint
telepathy was discovered, thus explaining how the newborns already
possessed combat techniques learned over a lifetime, and how their
swarms could act in such deadly coordination.

It is said that history is written by the winners.  In this case,
however, history was written by the survivors, and most of humanity
alive today can trace its exclusive ancestry back to the several
handfuls of people wise enough, and with enough resources, to get off
the planet before someone unleashed nuclear weapons.  To this day, it
is not known which side started the exchange, but by that point, both
sides were in control of enough nuclear weapons that the planet still
suffers from lingering nuclear winter today.  The strongest speculation
is that the non-clan, or at least that part of it that fired first, was
completely unaware of the clan's acquisitions, or that they thought the
clan incapable of using said weapons.

Regardless, out of all of humanity, only one side was capable of
surviving the ecological chaos that ensued, bringing together enough
plants and animals to feed themselves until they could clean up the
atmosphere...though the data suggests they intentionally waited until
their enemies had all starved before beginning this repair, and even
now there is enough dust and grit in the atmosphere to make observation
difficult.  They all share a homocidal hatred of all humans not of
their line.  Anyone who attempts to land on their planet usually
succeeds - in pieces.  For our safety, we have destroyed the few
attempts they made to join us in space.  They seem to have accepted the
edge of the atmosphere as a kind of border zone, though with no
communication by which we may judge their intent, it is impossible to
say how long this will last.  They also appear to have found a way
around disease and age, so waiting for their demises is not a viable
option, though one can hope their hatred will not be similarly
immortal.

---

It's even semi-gritty.  Read that last paragraph close.  ^_^;

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Sir Desaix, member # 116 of the Knights of the True Fiancee           
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