marsdragon (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
marsdragon) wrote2022-01-19 10:29 pm
marsdragon) wrote2022-01-19 10:29 pm
Worldbuilding 2022
Final worldbuilding.
I copy-pasted most of this because my desires don't change. You've probably seen this all before.
I dig unusual formats, so bring your in-universe documents, epistolary fic, posters, found footage transcriptions, whatever. I love treating these worlds like they actually exist and have supporting structure, so anything exploring that is good. I'm fine with different morals and cultures and would love to see those get explored. Myths and legends (especially if they change over time), pop culture, explorations of daily life, what normal people think of all the crazy shit that goes down in canon, technology and its relation with culture, and explorations of mechanics in the game canons.
Astro Boy
Any/No Characters, Original Characters, President Rag/Richie
WB: Robot children, WB: Robot Law, WB: Robots and religion, WB: Unusually shaped/non-humanoid robots
1980:
Free streaming for US/Canada on Retrocrush (dub only). The dub does turn the first three episodes into two by chopping out all the Atlas content for...some reason, but that shouldn't affect these prompts too much. Raws on nyaa, which match up to subs here. The subs ain't great, but they're good enough.
1963: Free streaming for US/Canada on Retrocrush (dub only). As far as I can tell no one has ever even tried to sub this, but the dub is okay for the era.
I've primarily seen the 1980 series and these prompts are mainly for that, but I've also seen a decent chunk of the 1963 series and read the manga, so don't feel bound to one particular version or anything. I haven't seen 2003 but I can fake it.
I call the main character Atom because I'm exactly that kind of filthy weeb and I like it better as a name. I'm not going to be fussed about what you call him in fic, if he shows up at all.
In the 80s series Rag/Richie is specifically a politician robot and his antennae can sense if people trust him or not. That's really interesting to me. He's not built by Deadcross in the 80s, so who did build him, and why? Does it only work for robots? What happens if he runs into a scandal and people lose trust in him? (like him getting mind controlled in front of the entire populace - that's a real security risk!) Are there any upgrades during his presidency, and how would that work? Or just focus on his platform and how he runs the country - though I'd prefer there to be a bit more than just battling anti-robot groups, since that was already in the series.
The concept of robot children is also interesting. They can't grow up, which seems like it would cause some problems. Sure it doesn't bother Atom, but he's not exactly an unbiased source. What if robot parents don't want to be stuck with a kid forever? What about if the kid wants to grow up? "Just put them in a bigger body" is one solution, has anyone tried others? Are there specific laws around robot children? What's the reason for creating a robot child if you're not a mad scientist out to resurrect your tragically dead kid?
Robot law! Tezuka's robot law isn't like Asimov's, which is cool and good. (though it apparently led to problems for the poor doctor when Asimov's works got more popular in Japan) I really like how robot law is much more legal than programmed - robots can punch humans (as Atom will happily prove), they just get in trouble for it. A legal case about a robot hurting a human and if it's justified could be interesting, especially if it means having to define "harm". What if the robot hurt the human a little to prevent a greater hurt? Or other laws about robots, like how robots aren't allowed to travel alone internationally. That could lead to a lot of problems for robots that need to travel for work. Or how about how robot law differs across countries - this could tie into President Rag pretty well! Or the first law is "Robots exist to make people happy", and boy if that doesn't open up an implied can of worms, from "what does it mean to make people happy?" to "but I'm a sentient being, why should I make a bunch of selfish crazy jerk humans happy?"
Robots and religion is a fascinating topic the series doesn't talk about, but is ripe for exploration. I'd love to see how various religions react to sentient robots - the Catholics already have an answer for this and it's pretty anti-robot, which is fine for the robots we have now but is probably going to cause controversy in Atom's world. Or take some inspiration from Masahiro Mori and his thoughts from a Buddhist perspective, which opens up lots of new questions and controversies. New religions that take robots into account, or new religions by and for robots! Robot cults! (does that mean cults by robots, for robots, or about robots? Or all three?!)
Most robots in Tezuka's work are roughly humanoid, but there are plenty that are extra big, or have other features that would make it hard for them to get along in a world that's still primarily built for humans. I'm thinking Damdam, Pluto, etc. How do they deal with this? Are there any special accommodations, or pressure to even start considering them? What do these robots think about it? "Why did you build me this way?!" How about the kinds of cultures they develop, since they're by necessity separate from a lot of life? (Urasawa's Pluto says that these kinds of robots just have spare humanoid bodies. Gonna be honest: I consider this the coward's way out)
Giant Robo
Any/No Characters, Original Character(s)
WB: BF Organization, WB: Governments, WB: IPO, WB: Newspapers and the media, WB: Technology
There's an official English Blu-Ray from Discotek, so you can get that or... *coughcough* List of torrents. (you want the EG release)
Laserdisk linear notes, with lots of extra details about the characters and setting.
Extra info that's literally friend-of-a-friend, so take or leave it as you will. Might inspire some ideas, though.
Prompts: This is another big one, because there's just so much room to worldbuild here. Really, if you want to take any of the little scraps from the linear notes and expand them, that would be wonderful. More about the GR Project! More about the Magnificent Ten! More about backstories! More adventures! Anything.
More specifically, what sort of governments are there in the GR world? Do they openly know about BF and the IPO, or is it a secret? How much are they controlled by either organization? How good are they at navigating a path between the organizations? How about the media, do they know? What's the reporting like? Have reporters ever gotten where they're not supposed to be? If the public knows about BF vs the IPO, are there movies? TV shows? Books? Any scandals been broken, on either side?
Technology! Tell me all about the robots. Small ones, big ones, helpful ones? Supposedly the BF Organization has most of the robots, but are there any being used outside the two organizations? Or outside of robots, what was it like when the Shizuma Drive was first revealed? Did anyone hold back on upgrading their old car? Were there laws passed about it? How long did it take to take over the world? Is there anyone still using old technology? Did they get super smug during the seven days? Or how about after the series ends, what do people think of the improved Shizuma Drive? Does anyone ever try to clean up the atmosphere with the incredibly dangerous chemical just hanging out up there?
And then the two primary organizations, BF and the IPO! Tell me all about how they're organized and the nitty-gritty of working for one of them. How do they recruit? Do they ever try to recruit the same person at the same time? I'm picturing an IPO stand right across from a BF stand at a job fair. What does a propaganda poster for either side look like? How do the mooks get health care? Can they take vacation? How do you get promoted? A day in the life of a mook at any of the bases we just hear about in passing would be so great. Does anyone know someone on the other side and just kind of overlook it so they can keep their drinking buddy/gaming group/knitting circle? How much does anyone know about Big Fire himself? (and how did a teenager end up in charge in the first place?) And hell, what are Achilles, Garuda, and Neptune doing when they're not going along with Komei's plan? Speaking of that, tell me more about Komei's schemes and annoying all the rest of the Magnificent Ten. Does the IPO have any plans to assassinate him, and how do those work out? There's so much more I could ask here, but I'll leave it to your imagination. Just tell me more about this world!
King of Fighters
Any Characters, No Characters, Clemance Bellamy
WB: The King of Fighters stages, WB: The King of Fighters rules and regulations, WB: The King of Fighters publicity and reporting, WB: The King of Fighters name rights, WB: The King of Fighters fandom
Look, just get King of Fighters XIV it's on like everything and covers most of what I'm asking about. And if you're worried about not being able to beat it, set it to the lowest difficulty and press heavy kick. That is literally all you have to do to win. (or there's lots of plays on Youtube)
There's some cute stuff on the King of Fighters XV website if you want to look there.
If you want to go the extra mile/don't want to pay for anything, check out WinKwaks and some cheat codes because these are arcade games and SNK was serious about eating your quarters.
Prompts:
So there's this big fighting tournament that runs (nearly) every year, and it's usually sponsored by some form of villain trying to use it for their own ends, and it always ends explosively. ...and people still show up, every single year. I love that.
One of the big things that stuck out for everyone in KoFXIV was Antonov bragging about getting the name rights. This is a tournament started by either a mob boss running shit in his backyard or an arms dealer running shit from his private aircraft carrier. What name rights? Did Geese register them? Rugal? Chizuru? How are naming rights even a thing? How do they get passed around? Did no one notice how dang near everyone trying to run one of these is some form of criminal, especially when they're participating in the tournament themselves? How in the hell did Antonov get them, and who did he get them from?
And then who sets the rules? Who enforces them? What kind of rules are there? Is it just one committee that gets passed around to whatever crime lord wants to run a fighting tournament next, or does each boss have their own set of people to run the thing? Did any special incidents cause rule changes? (Feel free to get as comedic as you want here, it's basically a "favourite character causes trouble" free space)
The stages vary between literally holding up traffic by fighting in the street to big productions that must've cost a ton to get going, sometimes both in the same game. Who sets those up? What's location scouting for KoF like? Negotiations? Do they hire teams of people to come and cheer? What happens if the crowd gets hurt? What about property damage? All those Power Waves and Earth Movers gotta be causing some problems.
And KoF keeps getting reported on like it's a legit thing. It mostly kicked in for 96, so were there any reports beforehand? Why is it getting reported on through the news in XIV and not a pay-per-view? How did Clemance Bellamy not know what a shitshow KoF inevitably turns into? I'd love to read an in-depth interview with the fighters, or an article on the tournament, or something treating KoF like a legitimate sporting event, fireballs and ancient gods and all.
And then there are enough fans to fill a stadium. I'd love to read about them. What stupid arguments do they get into? Bragging about how long they've been fans? ("You got in during 98? Ha! I remember back in 94 it was completely underground and I followed it anyway!") Do some fans just show up for the crazy final battles? I'd also love to see Clemance or another reporter doing an interview with a fan. Is there RPF? How weird and different is the in-universe fandom from the out-of-universe fandom? (and how stupidly similar?)
Suikoden
Any/No Characters, Original Characters
WB: Runes, WB: Academic Writing, WB: Technology
Let's Plays for I-V
Canon notes: I've only ever actually played I and II, though I more or less know what happens in the other three. I'm fine with referencing all of them if that's what you need, but if you're going to specifically focus on one I'd rather it be the ones I've played. YEAH SORRY I'M A BAD FAN
Prompts:
What does history have to say about all these wars and revolutions? What do future historians argue about? Are there camps that refuse to acknowledge any influence of the True Runes, or are destiny and the 108 stars accepted thing in the Suikoden world? How about some discussion of the fallout of the wars, or trying to fit the games into a larger narrative? Do people argue over Silverburg strategies?
Or political analysis, either current or historical. Highland entirely predictably rebels later, does anyone lay the blame on Jowy's terrible, terrible decisions? Barbarossa's backstory is remarkably like the story of a Suikoden game, what do people make of him getting overthrown within a generation? What does that mean for the Toran Republic? And actually, how does the transition from Scarlet Moon Empire to Toran Republic go? Are there even any major differences?
Or how about a treatise on runes? I'm really curious about how the Vancian magic system works in-universe - it always seems like such a game thing. How can you tell how many spell charges you have left? What does it feel like to have an affinity for a class of runes? Are there any runemasters besides Jeanne? Are runes used for anything besides battle? Do hospitals eventually just start buying Water and Flowing runes by the dozen and handing them out to nurses? Can regular, non-True runes influence their masters in any way?
How does technology evolve in the Suikoden world? Every game has an elevator, but does anyone ever get beyond that? Rune-powered technology? (it's entirely possible other games have that and I just missed it) Does any one country get an industrial revolution before the others, and how does that tilt the balance of power?
I copy-pasted most of this because my desires don't change. You've probably seen this all before.
I dig unusual formats, so bring your in-universe documents, epistolary fic, posters, found footage transcriptions, whatever. I love treating these worlds like they actually exist and have supporting structure, so anything exploring that is good. I'm fine with different morals and cultures and would love to see those get explored. Myths and legends (especially if they change over time), pop culture, explorations of daily life, what normal people think of all the crazy shit that goes down in canon, technology and its relation with culture, and explorations of mechanics in the game canons.
Astro Boy
Any/No Characters, Original Characters, President Rag/Richie
WB: Robot children, WB: Robot Law, WB: Robots and religion, WB: Unusually shaped/non-humanoid robots
1980:
Free streaming for US/Canada on Retrocrush (dub only). The dub does turn the first three episodes into two by chopping out all the Atlas content for...some reason, but that shouldn't affect these prompts too much. Raws on nyaa, which match up to subs here. The subs ain't great, but they're good enough.
1963: Free streaming for US/Canada on Retrocrush (dub only). As far as I can tell no one has ever even tried to sub this, but the dub is okay for the era.
I've primarily seen the 1980 series and these prompts are mainly for that, but I've also seen a decent chunk of the 1963 series and read the manga, so don't feel bound to one particular version or anything. I haven't seen 2003 but I can fake it.
I call the main character Atom because I'm exactly that kind of filthy weeb and I like it better as a name. I'm not going to be fussed about what you call him in fic, if he shows up at all.
In the 80s series Rag/Richie is specifically a politician robot and his antennae can sense if people trust him or not. That's really interesting to me. He's not built by Deadcross in the 80s, so who did build him, and why? Does it only work for robots? What happens if he runs into a scandal and people lose trust in him? (like him getting mind controlled in front of the entire populace - that's a real security risk!) Are there any upgrades during his presidency, and how would that work? Or just focus on his platform and how he runs the country - though I'd prefer there to be a bit more than just battling anti-robot groups, since that was already in the series.
The concept of robot children is also interesting. They can't grow up, which seems like it would cause some problems. Sure it doesn't bother Atom, but he's not exactly an unbiased source. What if robot parents don't want to be stuck with a kid forever? What about if the kid wants to grow up? "Just put them in a bigger body" is one solution, has anyone tried others? Are there specific laws around robot children? What's the reason for creating a robot child if you're not a mad scientist out to resurrect your tragically dead kid?
Robot law! Tezuka's robot law isn't like Asimov's, which is cool and good. (though it apparently led to problems for the poor doctor when Asimov's works got more popular in Japan) I really like how robot law is much more legal than programmed - robots can punch humans (as Atom will happily prove), they just get in trouble for it. A legal case about a robot hurting a human and if it's justified could be interesting, especially if it means having to define "harm". What if the robot hurt the human a little to prevent a greater hurt? Or other laws about robots, like how robots aren't allowed to travel alone internationally. That could lead to a lot of problems for robots that need to travel for work. Or how about how robot law differs across countries - this could tie into President Rag pretty well! Or the first law is "Robots exist to make people happy", and boy if that doesn't open up an implied can of worms, from "what does it mean to make people happy?" to "but I'm a sentient being, why should I make a bunch of selfish crazy jerk humans happy?"
Robots and religion is a fascinating topic the series doesn't talk about, but is ripe for exploration. I'd love to see how various religions react to sentient robots - the Catholics already have an answer for this and it's pretty anti-robot, which is fine for the robots we have now but is probably going to cause controversy in Atom's world. Or take some inspiration from Masahiro Mori and his thoughts from a Buddhist perspective, which opens up lots of new questions and controversies. New religions that take robots into account, or new religions by and for robots! Robot cults! (does that mean cults by robots, for robots, or about robots? Or all three?!)
Most robots in Tezuka's work are roughly humanoid, but there are plenty that are extra big, or have other features that would make it hard for them to get along in a world that's still primarily built for humans. I'm thinking Damdam, Pluto, etc. How do they deal with this? Are there any special accommodations, or pressure to even start considering them? What do these robots think about it? "Why did you build me this way?!" How about the kinds of cultures they develop, since they're by necessity separate from a lot of life? (Urasawa's Pluto says that these kinds of robots just have spare humanoid bodies. Gonna be honest: I consider this the coward's way out)
Giant Robo
Any/No Characters, Original Character(s)
WB: BF Organization, WB: Governments, WB: IPO, WB: Newspapers and the media, WB: Technology
There's an official English Blu-Ray from Discotek, so you can get that or... *coughcough* List of torrents. (you want the EG release)
Laserdisk linear notes, with lots of extra details about the characters and setting.
Extra info that's literally friend-of-a-friend, so take or leave it as you will. Might inspire some ideas, though.
Prompts: This is another big one, because there's just so much room to worldbuild here. Really, if you want to take any of the little scraps from the linear notes and expand them, that would be wonderful. More about the GR Project! More about the Magnificent Ten! More about backstories! More adventures! Anything.
More specifically, what sort of governments are there in the GR world? Do they openly know about BF and the IPO, or is it a secret? How much are they controlled by either organization? How good are they at navigating a path between the organizations? How about the media, do they know? What's the reporting like? Have reporters ever gotten where they're not supposed to be? If the public knows about BF vs the IPO, are there movies? TV shows? Books? Any scandals been broken, on either side?
Technology! Tell me all about the robots. Small ones, big ones, helpful ones? Supposedly the BF Organization has most of the robots, but are there any being used outside the two organizations? Or outside of robots, what was it like when the Shizuma Drive was first revealed? Did anyone hold back on upgrading their old car? Were there laws passed about it? How long did it take to take over the world? Is there anyone still using old technology? Did they get super smug during the seven days? Or how about after the series ends, what do people think of the improved Shizuma Drive? Does anyone ever try to clean up the atmosphere with the incredibly dangerous chemical just hanging out up there?
And then the two primary organizations, BF and the IPO! Tell me all about how they're organized and the nitty-gritty of working for one of them. How do they recruit? Do they ever try to recruit the same person at the same time? I'm picturing an IPO stand right across from a BF stand at a job fair. What does a propaganda poster for either side look like? How do the mooks get health care? Can they take vacation? How do you get promoted? A day in the life of a mook at any of the bases we just hear about in passing would be so great. Does anyone know someone on the other side and just kind of overlook it so they can keep their drinking buddy/gaming group/knitting circle? How much does anyone know about Big Fire himself? (and how did a teenager end up in charge in the first place?) And hell, what are Achilles, Garuda, and Neptune doing when they're not going along with Komei's plan? Speaking of that, tell me more about Komei's schemes and annoying all the rest of the Magnificent Ten. Does the IPO have any plans to assassinate him, and how do those work out? There's so much more I could ask here, but I'll leave it to your imagination. Just tell me more about this world!
King of Fighters
Any Characters, No Characters, Clemance Bellamy
WB: The King of Fighters stages, WB: The King of Fighters rules and regulations, WB: The King of Fighters publicity and reporting, WB: The King of Fighters name rights, WB: The King of Fighters fandom
Look, just get King of Fighters XIV it's on like everything and covers most of what I'm asking about. And if you're worried about not being able to beat it, set it to the lowest difficulty and press heavy kick. That is literally all you have to do to win. (or there's lots of plays on Youtube)
There's some cute stuff on the King of Fighters XV website if you want to look there.
If you want to go the extra mile/don't want to pay for anything, check out WinKwaks and some cheat codes because these are arcade games and SNK was serious about eating your quarters.
Prompts:
So there's this big fighting tournament that runs (nearly) every year, and it's usually sponsored by some form of villain trying to use it for their own ends, and it always ends explosively. ...and people still show up, every single year. I love that.
One of the big things that stuck out for everyone in KoFXIV was Antonov bragging about getting the name rights. This is a tournament started by either a mob boss running shit in his backyard or an arms dealer running shit from his private aircraft carrier. What name rights? Did Geese register them? Rugal? Chizuru? How are naming rights even a thing? How do they get passed around? Did no one notice how dang near everyone trying to run one of these is some form of criminal, especially when they're participating in the tournament themselves? How in the hell did Antonov get them, and who did he get them from?
And then who sets the rules? Who enforces them? What kind of rules are there? Is it just one committee that gets passed around to whatever crime lord wants to run a fighting tournament next, or does each boss have their own set of people to run the thing? Did any special incidents cause rule changes? (Feel free to get as comedic as you want here, it's basically a "favourite character causes trouble" free space)
The stages vary between literally holding up traffic by fighting in the street to big productions that must've cost a ton to get going, sometimes both in the same game. Who sets those up? What's location scouting for KoF like? Negotiations? Do they hire teams of people to come and cheer? What happens if the crowd gets hurt? What about property damage? All those Power Waves and Earth Movers gotta be causing some problems.
And KoF keeps getting reported on like it's a legit thing. It mostly kicked in for 96, so were there any reports beforehand? Why is it getting reported on through the news in XIV and not a pay-per-view? How did Clemance Bellamy not know what a shitshow KoF inevitably turns into? I'd love to read an in-depth interview with the fighters, or an article on the tournament, or something treating KoF like a legitimate sporting event, fireballs and ancient gods and all.
And then there are enough fans to fill a stadium. I'd love to read about them. What stupid arguments do they get into? Bragging about how long they've been fans? ("You got in during 98? Ha! I remember back in 94 it was completely underground and I followed it anyway!") Do some fans just show up for the crazy final battles? I'd also love to see Clemance or another reporter doing an interview with a fan. Is there RPF? How weird and different is the in-universe fandom from the out-of-universe fandom? (and how stupidly similar?)
Suikoden
Any/No Characters, Original Characters
WB: Runes, WB: Academic Writing, WB: Technology
Let's Plays for I-V
Canon notes: I've only ever actually played I and II, though I more or less know what happens in the other three. I'm fine with referencing all of them if that's what you need, but if you're going to specifically focus on one I'd rather it be the ones I've played. YEAH SORRY I'M A BAD FAN
Prompts:
What does history have to say about all these wars and revolutions? What do future historians argue about? Are there camps that refuse to acknowledge any influence of the True Runes, or are destiny and the 108 stars accepted thing in the Suikoden world? How about some discussion of the fallout of the wars, or trying to fit the games into a larger narrative? Do people argue over Silverburg strategies?
Or political analysis, either current or historical. Highland entirely predictably rebels later, does anyone lay the blame on Jowy's terrible, terrible decisions? Barbarossa's backstory is remarkably like the story of a Suikoden game, what do people make of him getting overthrown within a generation? What does that mean for the Toran Republic? And actually, how does the transition from Scarlet Moon Empire to Toran Republic go? Are there even any major differences?
Or how about a treatise on runes? I'm really curious about how the Vancian magic system works in-universe - it always seems like such a game thing. How can you tell how many spell charges you have left? What does it feel like to have an affinity for a class of runes? Are there any runemasters besides Jeanne? Are runes used for anything besides battle? Do hospitals eventually just start buying Water and Flowing runes by the dozen and handing them out to nurses? Can regular, non-True runes influence their masters in any way?
How does technology evolve in the Suikoden world? Every game has an elevator, but does anyone ever get beyond that? Rune-powered technology? (it's entirely possible other games have that and I just missed it) Does any one country get an industrial revolution before the others, and how does that tilt the balance of power?