Difference between revisions of "Crystal Millennium"

Revision as of 16:07, 2 December 2012

Crystal Millennium クリスタル・ミレニアム
Flag Roundel
Capital (and largest cityCity)		Crystal Tokyo, Venus
Official language(s)		English, Japanese, French
Common nicknames		Senshi, Action Girls
Membership		Fenspace Convention
Government		Constitutional monarchy
-	Queen	Serenity I
-	Prime Minister	Yoko Kayabuki
Formation
-	Declaration of Sovereignty	January 1, 2009
-	Kandor Treaty	March 28, 2010
Population
-	2015 estimate	45,000
Known Allies		Wizards, Supers, Stellvians, Soviet Air Force
Political influence		Major
Major Achievements		The Crystal Cities Venus Terraforming Project Sailor Armed Militia
Stereotype		Sexy women’s-libbers who wear revealing clothing.

This is the largest coalition of fandoms with a common theme. The Crystal Millenium are the “action girl” Fen, with the Sailor Moon fen and the other magical-girl fandoms at the top. But this is the faction where you’ll find the fans of Buffy, Xena Warrior Princess, Kim Possible, Really Spies, Sabrina The Teenaged Witch and even Birds of Prey (although that last group are also often found in the Supers faction). There are even a handful of Dragonriders and a contingent of mecha pilots in the Senshi. Their top priority for the last few years has been the Venus Terraforming Project.

They draw inspiration from a large number of magical-girl and grrl-power stories, and not just the happy ones. Many of them are also gothic lolita crowds. The main thing that keeps the Senshi united as a faction is that they tend to be female and believe in “Love and Justice.”

While their uniforms tend towards the revealing (most obviously in the “Sailor Senshi” short-skirt-over-leotard outfit and the “Emma Peel” catsuit), they are nonetheless very effective. A custom handwaving process that the Senshi keep secret creates their uniforms and gear, which is as protective as modern riot gear (and much more flexible). The only common quirk is that it fills the wearer with a sense of drama; Senshi in uniform are about ten times more likely to take any opportunity to pose and give a speech than otherwise.

Senshi use the same kinds of weapons as everyone else in Fenspace. Some Senshi keep trying to create magical wands for fighting evil, but so far have had less than success. The cognitive disconnect of seeing short-skirted girls wielding firearms can be jarring at first.

History

The Silver Millennium Kingdom was established in early 2009 by a group of Sailor Moon Fen who thought the laws their governments had recently enacted regarding handwavium were too stringent. They left en masse for Luna, landing in Mare Serenitatis because that's where the original story put the kingdom's capital.

After the initial rush of being in space wore off, life in the Silver Millennium Kingdom quickly started to become uncomfortable - the settlement was too far from Kandor City and Port Luna to have easy access to the infrastructure that was being created, and too poor to hire Hermes Universal Deliveries to deliver supplies on a regular basis. The colonists deliberated, made what they considered to be a courageous decision, and invited fans of similar works to join them in order to increase their numbers. (The group was still popularly called "the Senshi", though - some habits are difficult to break.) The acceptance of this invitation by groups of other magical-girl Fen, feminists, and equal-rights promoters slowly increased the settlement's wealth as well as their numbers. It also brought them to the attention of a wealthy person in Cislunar Space who shared many of their views on life, Yayoi Fujisawa. Yayoi visited the Kingdom, paid for some desperately-needed essential equipment out of her own pocket, and made a few suggestions. In exchange, the colony very nearly elected her to be the first Queen Serenity; only her insistence that it would be better to choose a leader who was committed to the faction got them to change their minds. Yayoi left as soon as Serenity I was chosen, but by mutual agreement kept her ties to the faction, and Serenity I named Yayoi the first of the Named Sailors: Sailor Stellvia.

Crest of House Serenity

Three of Sailor Stellvia's suggestions were taken to heart almost immediately. The first, and easiest to implement, was a change of names from Silver Millennium Kingdom to the Crystal Millennium. This changed the group's focus from dwelling on the past to looking toward the future, and inspired the faction to create something big. (What, they weren't yet sure. But whatever it was, it would be big.)

The second was to institute a permanent search-and-rescue group for the benefit of all. The Sailor Armed Militia quickly became a respected part of Fen life, with the "Sammies" acting to preserve lives wherever they could and asking nothing in return.

The third was to create something that people would want to visit. Having sightseers visit was an easy way for a settlement to keep in touch with other groups, and the money the visitors spent could be used to purchase a few luxuries - given their recent history, the Crystal Millennium deemed both of these to be important considerations. To this end, the faction built the Moon Kingdom Memorial Outpost in Mare Serenitatis as a tourist trap.

In mid-2009, Yoko Kayabuki came up with an idea for a major project: The terraforming of the planet Venus. The idea caught the imagination of the entire faction, who gained approval for the Venus Terraforming Project at the first Fenspace Convention, Anticipation. As a reward and an encouragement to continue coming up with good ideas, Serenity I named Kayabuki-san her Prime Minister, a position she still holds in 2014.

The faction left a token presence at the Moon Kingdom Memorial Outpost and moved to Mare Marginis, on the far side of Luna. The Sailor Armed Militia quickly nicknamed the new settlement Bristol after the English seaport, and the name stuck. There they built the headquarters of the Venus Terraforming Project, Crystal Tokyo, and used the process that had previously been used on The Island to launch the entire city into space. Further Unreal Estate followed Crystal Tokyo - Crystal Paris, Crystal Seattle, Crystal Osaka, and others - built from both the Lunar regolith and transparent carbon sheets made from molecules harvested from the atmosphere of Venus. The Senshi built eleven cities then discovered there weren't enough faction members left to populate a twelfth; the few Senshi remaining on Luna decided to remain there and build ships for the faction instead of joining their sisters above Venus.

In late 2010, the Terraforming Project created processes (with the assistance of Sailor Stellvia's employer, Stellvia Corporation) to turn some of the hydrocarbons they were extracting from Venus' atmosphere into various fuels. This secured a stable funding base for both the Senshi and the Stellvians, and brought the two groups into close cooperation on many matters of concern to both.

Corruption within the Venus Terraforming Project and the Sailor Armed Militia came to light in 2013, in the middle of the Boskone War. Early in the year, it was discovered that thionite was a byproduct of the terraforming bacteria being produced by Crystal Osaka - this was discovered by the faction leaders during a battle which caused the outright destruction of that city. Four months later, one of the connections that the Boskonians used to ship the drug from Venus to the rest of Fenspace was brought to light when the commander of Crystal Paris' Sammies was discovered to have been acting as a lookout for a large drug ring. The Sammies have recovered from that revelation, but not without some lifestyle changes being instituted, especially in Crystal Kyoto.

The Senshi continue to terraform Venus, promote Love and Justice throughout the Solar System, and provide a place for independent women to live their lives to the fullest no matter their background.

Politics

The Senshi are a democratic Monarchy (not a Matriarchy as assumed, although women are far more likely to be elected), with a directly elected Parliament for the civilian government. The Monarch is elected for a 10 year stint, and upon taking the throne takes a Royal Name. (Queens can take the name Serenity or any of the names of the other Sailor Senshi or any magical girl of comparable power and standing.^[1] Kings have a similar naming convention, but due to the general lack of powerful Magical Boys are likely to take the name Endymion).

Queen Serenity I, the first and current faction leader

Queen Serenity I is the current Empress of Venus, and is head of the Privy Council. The other members of the Privy Council are Prime Minister Yoko Kayabuki, Deputy Prime Minister Min Credible, the Secretaries of State for Interior, Defence, and Planetary Development, Military Chief of Staff Crystal Senshi Hayakawa, and the Head of the Royal Council.

The Prime Minister runs the civilian government on the behalf of Her Majesty via a cabinet of Ministers. These ministers are commonly referred to as the Secretary of State for their ministries. Some ministries include:

• Ministry of Interior (The Home Minister)
• Ministry of Defence
• Ministry of Planetary Development^[2]
• Ministry of Education
• Ministry of The Treasury (The Chancellor of the Exchequer)
• Ministry of Health (The Surgeon General)
• Ministry of Law
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Ministry of Technology

The Royal Council is a group of Peers of the Realm, and has an appointed Head. It includes such luminaries as the Chief Justice, the Military Chiefs of Staff, the Police Commissioner, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The only Non-Peer on the Royal Council is the Deputy Prime Minister, who serves as Official Liaison to Her Majesty's Government. The Royal Council's role is to provide Her Majesty with information as to the Faction's emotional state, as well as provide some oversight on the civilian government. The Royal Council's other role is to monitor and occasionally recommend appointment to Her Majesty those Senshi who are Named.

Political Blocs

Besides (and across) the fiction-specific groupings described below, the Senshi subdivide into three informal subfactions, based on the members' outlook on life. These are the closest that the Senshi have to political blocs.

The Love Subfaction

These Senshi believe that what the Senshi should be doing is making life better. Creating new technology, terraforming Venus, advancing art and science and philosophy. The Love subfaction contains thinkers and dreamers (most notably Prime Minister Yoko Kayabuki), people who want to serve as a shining example.

At their best, the Love subfaction are idealists who get things done, helping to develop new forms of medicine and recreation, and being nice people. At their worst, they are lazy hedonists, more interested in acquiring new toys and experiencing new sensations then work, who shuck off responsibility and whine and complain when forced to do things.

The Justice Subfaction

These Senshi believe that they should stop thinking and Do Something. The Justice subfaction is the most ardent supporter of women’s rights in Fenspace. Sexism is still surprisingly common among nerds and geeks, and they seek to correct this. But more importantly, they see women’s rights as an issue they should deal with on Earth as well. There is a small but significant (and well supported under-the-table) group in the Justice Faction who liberate oppressed women (and other minorities) on Earth. Most of these women are moved to new lives in other places on Earth. Some suspect that small biomods are used to conceal these women in their new lives. A small minority are taken up to space, to help as they can. They almost always join the Justice subfaction.

Unsurprisingly, the Justice subfaction is well behind Operation Great Justice. They believe Haruhi is pretty much their leader, and really like her ideas – there has been some talk of electing Haruhi to the official leadership of the Justice subfaction.

At their best, the Justice subfaction are dynamic people who accomplish a great deal (such as noted geneticist Leda Swansen). They put in twenty-hour days doing thankless jobs because It’s The Right Thing To Do. At their worst, they’re control freaks and demagogues who believe They Know Best – militant feminists, borderline fascists, and very dangerous.

The Black Subfaction

This is an un-talked-about subfaction that is very, very much in the minority. The Black subfaction is made up of goths^[3], nihilists and other malcontents who left Earth not so much out of a sense of hope and exploration but because it sucked less than living on Earth. The Black subfaction does not believe in anything, which means they aren’t really organized at all.

For the most part, they’re harmless, if a little depressing to be around.^[4] The Senshi took them in as a whole because the Love subfaction (especially the Perky Goths) thinks it can help them stop being so gloomy and the Justice subfaction thinks it can use the manpower.

The Senshi Sailors Armed Militia

The "Sammie" Roundel

Main article: Sailor Armed Militia

While the term “sailor-suited warrior” is integral to the base description of the canonical ur-senshi, the “Sailor” part has, over the years, become something more generic. This has led to quite a number of residents of the Crystal Cities being people who don’t really cleave to the concept of “girl power” that the Crystal Cities draws its central image from.

These folk have latched onto the “sailor” appellation and made it their own. The various countries on Earth have long and, in the most part, honorable and glorious naval traditions. To be a sailor in the British Navy or U.S. Coast Guard is an honorable thing, and provides a set of goals and rules to live a good life by.

Active Sailors can be found on patrol, training new recruits, researching, or active in the other main pursuit of the S.S.A.M. – search and rescue. No-one has responded to more distress calls and automated beacons than the Sailors, and while they carry that as a mark of pride, they search and save because they believe it’s the right thing to do.

Relations with other factions

(TO BE DEVELOPED: describe the faction's external politics)

The Senshi/Supers Alliance

The Senshi and the Supers are allies because their source materials share common roots.^[5] If the Senshi hadn't started their own faction, they would have been a major power bloc - maybe the dominant one - within the Supers. The Supers recognize this, too, and especially since both had their first toeholds in space on the Moon they more or less automatically offered each other the hand of friendship - without even the obligatory "beat each other up over a misunderstanding" first!

Well, actually the hardcases on both sides insisted on the traditional "befriending each other into the ground," so they held one after formalizing the alliance. It was a for-fun head-to-head featuring the best fighter each side had at the time - a fistfight with padded gloves, preceded by a scripted sketch that "justified" the "misunderstanding" leading to the battle in such an extremely overwritten, over-the-top manner that it left the entire arena roaring with laughter.

The actual fight (now known as the Mary Marvel Memorial Melee, despite only two people taking part) was to first blood, and took all of five minutes. The rest of the night was a party celebrating the alliance.

Future plans

(TO BE DEVELOPED: plans for Season 3/Infinities)

Administrative divisions

(TO BE DEVELOPED: three Crystal City Clusters, plus one non-Venus administrative district)

Economy

(TO BE DEVELOPED: internal and external - give an overview of the faction-wide economy, then highlight each major economic engine in a separate subsection)

Demographics

(TO BE DEVELOPED: start with population and largest settlement)

Ethnic groups

(TO BE DEVELOPED: list the prominent and notable groups - Primarily anglophone white nerds to begin with, because that's the nature of early Fandom, but Fenspace starts to change in Season 2)

Biomods

(TO BE DEVELOPED: list the prominent and notable groups - roughly 1.3% of the overall Fenspace population are biomodded as of the end of Season 2)

Subgroups

(TO BE DEVELOPED: primarily their fiction-specific groupings)

Language

(TO BE DEVELOPED: list them - official languages if they exist, then common-use languages)

Culture

(TO BE DEVELOPED: what do they do? why do they do it? keep in mind the "stereotype" line in the faction box, but don't be straitjacketed by it)

Psychology and stereotypes

(TO BE DEVELOPED: develop that "stereotype" line in the faction box)

Religion

(TO BE DEVELOPED: if there's an official religion, give it a quick description; otherwise, discuss what religions if any are practiced by noticeable groups in the faction)

Law Enforcement

(TO BE DEVELOPED: who enforces the law? how well or poorly do they coordinate with the Patrol?)

Notable Faction Members

Aside from members of the Crystal Millennium who have become famous for their own achievements, there are some notable groups of Senshi.

Peers of the Realm

The Peers of the Realm of the Crystal Millennium (to give their full title) are what could be termed Factional BNFs. The vast majority of these are Knights (becoming Sir/Lady X Y), but there are four Baronesses who more or less run the Moon Kingdom Memorial Outpost, Bristol, Shin-Azabujuban, and Nehalennia (the latter working closely with the Space Patrol until the Dark Kingdom mess is completely cleaned up) alongside the civilian Governors, and one Countess who runs the Senshi's Takeuchi Shipyard facility at Mare Marginis.

There is the possibility of higher ranks, but Princesships are reserved for The Planetary Senshi, of whom there have been no official appointments.

Named Sailors

Very, very occasionally, a Senshi (whether a full-time faction member or a Sammie reservist) will be granted the honor of being listed as a Named Senshi. This honor is never given out on a whim, because there is only one Named Senshi for any given installation or celestial body.

Named Senshi are the ones that have proven themselves to be exemplars of the ideals of the Crystal Millennium. Being compassionate, swift and sure in battle, and attractive are usually good indicators of potential to become a Named Senshi.

While a Named Senshi is allowed to add the "star seed" sunburst to her (or rarely his) insignia, many don't bother. Technically, Planetary Senshi (Named Senshi who have been awarded planetary names) outrank other Named Senshi, but since there is currently only one Planetary Senshi and she's unofficial, this rarely matters.

Known Named Senshi include Sailor Stellvia and Sailor Atalante.

A.C. Peters is often referred to by Senshi as "Sailor Mars", but this is not an official designation.^[6]

Nezumi of the Banzai Institute is supposedly a Named Sailor Scout, although she doesn't broadcast it. She occasionally refers to herself as "Sailor Sociopath" and will physically harm anyone who suggests that she wear a seifuku.

Rumors

One notable rumor about the Senshi faction is that they offer... reassignment. Nobody talks about it openly, but it is hinted that if a man is having gender-identity issues, he can approach the Senshi faction for custom biomodding. It is an unspoken rule that you never ask a Senshi about her past life before she joined the faction and not dig too deep into whatever story she chooses to tell you. The “price” for such services (which are claimed to be approaching becoming quirk-free) is a term of service on important Senshi-related duties. A small but important percentage of the Senshi (around 10%) identify as “fendane” in this regard. They say research is underway to answer the other side of the sexual identity dilemma, but the process is still too quirk-heavy and unique to work on a broad scale.

Notes

1. ↑ Although the Space Patrol's use of "Nanoha" as a code-name makes that name a poor choice.
2. ↑ Which translates to "Ministry of The Venus Terraforming Project"
3. ↑ Although the Perky Goths tend to end up in the Love Subfaction instead.
4. ↑ However, many Dark Kingdom agents love to hide amongst the Blacks.
5. ↑ It can be argued that Mary Marvel is the Ur-Magical Girl.
6. ↑ A.C. Peters is only on the list because the Senshi grabbed hold of the image at Kandor-Con, and have clung like barnacles to it ever since. This despite the fact that A.C. is neither Senshi nor Sammie, and politely (mostly) discourages the name at every opportunity. However the Fen 'Live and let live' policy seems to be working against her.

v • d • e Crystal Millennium The largest multi-source fandom faction in Fenspace People (active Senshi) Serenity I - Serenity II - Percival "Perry" Doper - Andrew Fauho - Yayoi Fujisawa - Beverly Hayakawa - Fawn Iris - Hotaru Minaguchi - Winry Rockbell - Erin Simmah - Leda Swansen - Anthy Ten-Joh - Utena Ten-Joh - The A-Team People (inactive Senshi) Katie Lee - Naoko Sato Ships Bolitho class - Boadicea - Haruka - Leopard - Lydia - Polychrest - Le Reve - Sophie - Surprise - Sutherland - Witch of Endor -- Fenspace Infinities: Ariel - Atropos - Hotspur Installations Crystal Tokyo - Crystal Hiroshima - Crystal Kyoto - Crystal Sapporo - Crystal Osaka - Crystal Paris - Crystal Seattle - Crystal Titusville - Moon Kingdom Memorial Outpost - Mare Marginis - 342 Endymion - 2462 Nehalennia Gazetteer Crystal Millennium - Politics of the Crystal Millennium - List of cities in Crystal Millennium - Sailor Armed Militia - Venus Terraforming Project