Difference between revisions of "Crystal Millennium"

Latest revision as of 21:40, 9 February 2014

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 II
-	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.^[1] The cognitive disconnect of seeing short-skirted girls wielding firearms can be jarring at first.^[2]

History

The Silver Millennium Kingdom was established in late 2008 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 2024.

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.

Future plans

(TO BE DEVELOPED: plans for Season 3/Infinities - developing Venus is Job One, but there's plenty of magical research to do with the Wizards, and closer relations to forge with the Blue Blazers as long as the Sammies keep providing search-and-rescue services)

Politics

Main article: Politics of the Crystal Millennium

The Senshi are a democratic Monarchy,^[3] with a directly elected Parliament for the civilian government. The Monarch is assisted by a Privy Council made up of the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, a cabinet of nine Secretaries of State, the Military Chief of Staff, and the Head of the Royal Council. The Crystal Millennium's two major political blocs are the "Love" and "Justice" subfactions, with a scattering of other small groups.

The Senshi Sailor Armed Militia is the faction's military, although it's more a Coast Guard than a Navy.

The Crystal Millennium are known to work well with the Wizarding World, the Justice League Interplanetary, Stellvia Corporation, and the Soviet Air Force. This makes them natural go-betweens between these four groups who don't always see eye-to-eye with each other.

Administrative divisions

The Crystal Millennium's settlements are divided into four prefectures, three of which orbit Venus.

Shin-Nihon

The "Japan Cluster" of Crystal Cities is the most-populated prefecture, and the one that most people think of when they imagine Senshi life. It is made up of four cities.

Crystal Tokyo

The prefectural capital, and the host of Castle Magellan (the seat of government of the entire faction)

Crystal Hiroshima

Home of both the Sailor Armed Militia headquarters and Crystal Hiroshima Hospital, the largest medical facility in Cytherean orbit

Crystal Kyoto

The Venus Terraforming Project's current headquarters, and the cluster's primary vacation spot

Crystal Sapporo

The cluster's agricultural centre, and the headquarters of the AMP. Also home to Crystal Sapporo Brewery, one of the most noted breweries in Fenspace

Crystal Osaka was also part of the Japan Cluster before its destruction in January 2013, during Operation Great Justice anti-zwilnick activity. It was the original base for the Venus Terraforming Project.

Nova Europa

Orbiting Venus roughly 120 degrees west of Shin-Nihon (depending on the needs of the Venus Terraforming Project), the "Europe Cluster" is made up of three cities.

Crystal Moscow

Seat of the prefectural government

Crystal Paris

The Senshi's primary dry dock and light-manufacturing centre

Crystal Venice

Essentially a tourist destination (much like its namesake on Earth)

High America

The final Cytherian prefecture, the "Americas Cluster" tends to remain equidistant from the two other prefectures in orbit around Venus. There are three cities in this prefecture.

Crystal Rio

Seat of the prefectural government

Crystal Seattle

The most obviously Western of the Crystal Cities, and the cluster's primary vacation spot

Crystal Titusville

Home to the Senshi's heavy industry, including the faction's signature industrial-diamond manufacturing plants and StelOil's largest refinery

The Archipelago

This is a catch-all for the faction's "outliers" - the settlements found away from Venus.

Shin-Azabujuban

There are four cities in this prefecture, plus a myriad of single-family residences and small neighborhoods scattered throughout Fenspace's other settlements.

Moon Kingdom Memorial Outpost

The faction's oldest city and the original seat of the Silver Millennium government, the Memorial Outpost is now the prefectural seat, a tourist attraction, and home of the monarch's official "Lunar Residence." Many of the Senshi's ceremonial Affairs of State take place here.

Bristol

Found in Mare Marginis on Luna, Bristol is home to the Takeuchi Shipyard, where the Crystal Cities were constructed. Even more so than Crystal Hiroshima, this is the settlement where the faction's Age of Sail fen have the most influence.

Shin-Azabujuban

Located on asteroid 342 Endymion, the Sailor Armed Militia operate one of their largest search-and-rescue bases here.

Nehalennia

Originally a boskonian way-station pretending to be an insular Senshi outpost, Nehalennia has become the newest and smallest of the Crystal Millennium's settlements. The Space Patrol are still finding booby-traps and drug caches in little-visited sections of the base. It is located on and within asteroid 2462 Nehalennia.

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 - tourist trap "Moon Kingdom Memorial Outpost", artificial-diamond plant and fuel-refinery "StelOil" at Crystal Titusville, more...)

Demographics

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

See also: List of cities in the Crystal Millennium

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, although Serenity I is black and feminism doesn't mix well with nerddom... and Fenspace starts to change early in Season 2)

Biomods

Obvious biomods amongst the Crystal Millennium tend to be of two types: the cat-person and the shapeshifter. These two groups decidedly outnumber the various other biomods amongst the Senshi.

Cat-people tend to be victims of the various Catgirling Machines, although a small fraction of those people have undergone the process voluntarily. However, there are some catgirls - and cat-boys - who biomodded themselves in other ways, mostly before the Boskone War. Many stories beloved by some Senshi have cat-people characters, after all.^[4]

Shapeshifters tend to be able to shift into a single alternate form, usually a animal's body (with or without human characteristics). Shapeshifting of any sort requires a particularly-successful biomod, so shifters are as rare among the Senshi as they are elsewhere in the Convention. Because of his highly-visible position at the Crystal Tokyo Academy, Andrew Fauho is perhaps the best-known Senshi shapeshifter.

There is no obvious prejudice or high regard attached to obvious biomods in the Crystal Millennium. The percentage of obviously-biomodded Senshi is lower than that of the Convention as a whole, which has lead some to wonder about non-obvious biomods, which in turn has lead to many people believing the most common rumor about the Senshi (see below).

There are a few known non-obvious biomods amongst the Senshi; many of them have abilities that are loosely-inspired by the faction's various source stories (such as Leda Swansen's electricity-based abilities). However, most Senshi with non-obvious biomods tend to keep them to themselves.

Subgroups

Besides (and across) the political blocs described elsewhere, the Senshi subdivide into a multitude of informal subfactions, based on the fiction that the members find inspirational. Not every Senshi is a member of one of these "fraction" subgroups, of course.

These informal fractions are often grouped into three broader subgroups: the Magical Girls, the Action Girls, and the Age of Sail fen. Some outside analysts add a fourth broad subgroup, the Professional Villains.

Magical Girls

"The cognitive disconnect of seeing short-skirted girls wielding firearms can be jarring at first."

From Mahou Tsukai Sally, through Cutey Honey, Urusei Yatsura, Nanako SOS, Magic Knight Rayearth, Ah My Goddess, Card Captor Sakura, Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne, Mahou Tsukai Tai, Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha, and beyond, magical girls and magical girlfriends have been a staple of anime even though the earliest titles were inspired by Hollywood television shows such as Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie and classic novels such as Carrol's Alice in Wonderland. But the best-known Magical Girls show in North America, and the one that originally inspired the faction, is Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon. Each of these shows has a subgroup of fen in the Crystal Millennium, even if there are less than a half-dozen people in the fan club.

The magical girls - and the faction as a whole - take many of their defining tropes from Sailor Moon, to the point where "Senshi" and "Crystal Millennium faction member" are synonyms outside of the faction. The Sailor Moon fen are "first among equals" in the Magical Girls, contributing more than their share of successful politicians, high-level bureaucrats, and Named Sailors (see below).

Many of them have a black-and-white view of morality, but others have outgrown the simplistic worldviews of many of these shows.

Action Girls

Senshi in these subgroups draw inspiration from a different genre of entertainment: action/adventure stories with strong female leads. While it can be argued that the trope goes all the way back to Lysistrata, it's the more recent stories that the majority of Action Girls favor: The Avengers,^[5] Kim Possible, Heroic Trio, Friday, Nausicäa of the Valley of the Wind, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Legend of Korra, Alien, Ghost in the Shell, Kill Bill, Beyond Good and Evil, Mahoromatic, Zero Dark Thirty, and many, many other works all provide examples to these fen.^[6]

They have very slightly more mature worldviews than the magical girls on the average, although sometimes the difference can be impossible for an external observer to notice. Most Action Girls are also on average more athletic and in better physical condition than most of the Magical Girls.

Age of Sail fen

Some people hear the term "Sailors" and think of a completely different sort of story. The "Hormblower," "Aubrey and Maturin," "Bolitho," "Sir Sidney Smith," "Lord Ramage" and "Matty Graves" cycles, H.M.S. Defiant, Billy Budd, Captain Blood, The Seahawk, The Pirates of Penzance, and even some thematically-related stories such as the "Honor Harrington" novels, to name just a few, are the stories that these Senshi prefer.

These fen are the driving force behind the Sailor Armed Militia.

Historical (and pseudo-historical) fiction often attracts both the romantic and the pragmatic, and the Age of Sail fen are no exception. They rarely get into arguments over whether action girls or magical girls are "better;" they know that both types of women exemplfy the Senshi ideal, and these fen admire them all. While there are males in almost all of the Senshi's subgroups, there is a larger percentage of men in the Age of Sail fen than there is in the other fractions.

Professional "Villains"

The smallest of the Crystal Millennium's broad subgroups, most professional "villains" exist to make the heroes look good.

Most of them are as villainous as the Space Pirates are piratical, and indeed this subfaction finds much common ground with the Space Pirates. The professional "villains" will show up somewhere, create a disturbance that falls somewhere between flash-mob and victimless-crime on the spectrum of annoyance, and wait for the local Magical Girls or Action Girls to come and "defeat" them on-camera. Occasionally this is done by appointment. These "villains" are found mostly in the tourist areas, with relatively large populations operating in the Moon Kingdom Memorial Outpost, Crystal Kyoto, Crystal Seattle, and Crystal Venice, although the better-funded "villains" have their own (small) space stations that serve as "secret lairs."

There are, however, a very few professional villains who put on a persona to commit actual crimes. Called the Dark Kingdom by their fellow Senshi, these villains sometimes work with - or against - the Boskonians; one group was partially responsible for the fall of Crystal Osaka. These criminals are actively prusued by the AMP and the Space Patrol, with occasional help from the Senshi's larger group of professional "villains."

Language

The official languages of the Crystal Millennium are English, Japanese, and French. In popular use, English is the most common language, with Japanese second and French a distant third.

English is the most common language of the early faction members, and Japanese is the language of a large fraction of the faction's source material. Private businesses will usually post signs and offer customer service in both of these languages.

French is spoken primarily by two distinct subgroups, both of whom idolize stories that are set in France. The first of these groups love stories such as Rose of Versailles and Sakura Taisen: Ecole de Paris, while the second are Fen who love stories such as Noir. Outside of government offices and the fan-club meetings for these subgroups, French is rarely used in the Crystal Millennium.

Culture

Trainee Senshi Betsy Hounslow, in high-visibility-orange duty uniform, just before being assigned to the Sailor Armed Militia patrol vessel Surprise

(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

Much like any other coalition, individual members of the Crystal Millennium practice a wide variety of religions. Most of the religions that can be found in the western world have adherents or believers within the Senshi, in similar proportions to those back on Earth.

In addition, there is the Church of the Sisters. A very few people follow this faith, which they say is based loosely upon what has been shown in the manga and anime Ah My Goddess! They are not at all organized^[7] and do not share a common set of worship rituals. Most outsiders, and indeed some adherents, would be hard-pressed to say what the tenets of the Church of the Sisters are, but they include a striving for personal excellence and a willingness to help others that matches the average Blue Blazer. The faith became known after the Interdimensional Incursion Incident; one of the Visitors was a person who answered to the name (and appeared to have the abilities) of one of the major characters from Ah My Goddess!, and the members of the Church of the Sisters have taken her existence as proof that the rest of their beliefs are true - whatever their individual beliefs might be.

Law Enforcement

Main article: AMP

The AMP is the Senshi's internal police force. Small, dedicated, and professional, they work well with the Space Patrol and other Fen police forces.

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.^[8]

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 0.5%) 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 experiments based on holotechnology being developed by the Trekkies and The Jason show some promise.
2. ↑ Unless, of course, you think Homura is the best character in Puella Magi Madoka Magica.
3. ↑ Not a Matriarchy as assumed, although women are far more likely to be elected because they outnumber the men.
4. ↑ Nuku-Nuku, Ichigo/Zoe in Tokyo Mew Mew, Merle in Escaflowne, Fam in Ruin Explorers, Neko-sensei in Princess Tutu, and Yuriko and Chinami in Mao-chan are a few of the many cat-people characters that have inspired cat-person biomods.
5. ↑ Emma Peel and John Steed, not the group idolized by the Supers.
6. ↑ Action Goths all seem to like Blood: The Last Vampire for some reason.
7. ↑ A "live and let live" faith suits the inhabitants of Fenspace very well.
8. ↑ 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