Rules By Multiple
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Belgarion213 on 2009-06-15
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For story purposes its probably best to assume that Etna as a 'Demon Lord' is essentially a 1,1 unlimited in power. Overlords are the equivalent of Hild (Though Hild is a fairly week overlord compared to the obscenely overpowered ones like Zetta etc). That puts unsealed Bellandy roughly on equal terms with Demon Lord Etna, while the upper tier of both heaven and Hell (in short Kami-sama/Hild) would probablys till pretty easily overpower her).
Gulping Again on 2009-06-15
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I say we leave the bit about explaining this one to Innortal, who wrote a story where Ranma got [aku]BLASTED THROUGH A PORTAL IN TIME, AND FLUNG INTO THE PAST[/aku] and ended up being everyone's dad.
Considering that many of the known Anchors were Ranma-kin in that story (Usagi was his daughter by Serenity, Lina his granddaughter by way of his son by way of Sailor Pluto, and he was related to Naruto in some fashion I cannot remember) the sheer blinding clusterfuckery that would result if the Anchors even learned of that universe's existence is somewhere beyond 10^4 Carrotglaces.
And it would be hilarious.
Deathwings on 2009-06-15
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I won't acknowledge Disgaea in any loop I write or as being part of what little "continuity" exist thus far.
Balancing the power levels is just too much of a bitch even for me and doing so is generally something I enjoy doing, so that's saying something.
Tough I'll have to say that if there is one person who could defeat an Overlord that completely outclass him, it would be Ranma. Simply because after centuries, you just KNOW that he must have created enough Hiryu variant to qualify as an entire Martial Art Style by itself.
Dubrichius on 2009-06-16
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People assume that the passage of time is constant in the various looping realities, with it taking the form of a straight line of cause and effect; but actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective point of view, it's a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey... stuff.
ringlhach / Gulping Again on 2009-06-22
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{refering to the angels in Ranma}
I more meant something along the lines of Ranma's body effectively having multiple souls. Or spiritual parasites- take your pick. Is that how they'd show up, though, as some kind of power-up on his spiritual body??
Damned if I know. They're kind of part of his being at this point, although they can physically manifest and function independently from him.
That said, the Angels would certainly work as a trinary Oversoul with a proper focus, like the Jusendo Dragon's Tap Key (I forgot its real name) or something similarly powerful. Lilith wouldn't truck with becoming some sort of weapon and would probably just focus on inflicting horrible violence on people and trying to molest Ranma.
Innortal on 2009-06-22
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True. Lilith feeds on lust and the soul.
The Angels feed off of love, both Ranma's love for the universe (proven by not ascending and destroying it), and the love of others for him, specifically that of the Gods and Goddesses that love him.?
Deathwings on 2009-06-30
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I'm hitting a block, I wanted to do Shaman King Fused Loop but I simply can't find something interesting to write. Anything I've come up with so far would always involve Ranma showing just how much more awesome he is and I'm trying to refrain from any more Gary Sue-ing.
I had couple of Oversoul tough out too, but they're not much use if I can't write worth anything.?
Oversoul lvl 1 :
Spirit : Lilith
Name : Soul Shredder (I need a Japanese translation for that)
Description : A wicked, clawed black gauntlet whose blade seem to be perpetually tainted red.
Special effect : Use Lilith nature as a succubi to its advantage by draining the Furyoku of any foreign Oversoul it enter in contact with. The drain is excessively slow and the gauntlet itself is not as sharp or deadly as it look, making it an Oversoul more suited for long draw out battle, chipping at the opponent strength little bit by little bit.
Side effect : Succubus are invasive creature, meaning that Ranma tend to be affected by Lilith thirst for battle when he use the Oversoul, making him prone to tunnel vision.
Oversoul type Kurobina (body armor) :
Spirit : Lilith and Ranma's three angels (what are their name ?)
Name : None yet
Description : Full body (cliche) angelic armor with short wings motif on the side of the helmet and a pair of metallic wings made out of sharp blades, 1m50 in span each. The sole exception to the whole purity incarnate thing is Lilith, who manifest herself mainly in the gauntlets he wear, the demon wings themed scythe he wield and long strip of metal that run along the limbs of the armor, making her influence look like some sort of cancerous infection upon it. All of it colored in the black, purple and red that characterize hers and Ranma's baser aspects.
Special effect : VERY tough, if a little limiting the acrobatic department. Enable flight. If it look like it is can be sharp, then you can bet it WILL be sharp. Only the scythe can Soul Shred anymore, the gauntlets have lost that ability.
Side effect Same as Soul Shredder, if more limited thank to angelic influence.
Innortal on 2009-07-02
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No such thing as Overkill in a Loop.
Nanya on 2009-07-10
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{on age of anchors}
Lesse...
Ranma considered spending a single lifetime as a girl (in this case, replacing Nanoha as she was busy elsewhere) to be trivially short. Heck, he said that he'd most likely get back to a Darkstalkers loop before the 15,000 years was up.
Ichigo is apparently older than old man Yammamoto by several... Well... I guess Eons...
So, at the very least...
At least a million or three years old.
Especially since Ranma's gone from semi-powerful human to nearly ascending.
Deathwings on 2009-07-10
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Whatever you want really. Tough billions is maybe a bit much. Personally, in order to justify his Mary Sue-ism, the Ranma I write is past the 100000 years old mark which is pretty fucking old for a mortal as it is.
Let's keep them at least younger than Earth itself, okay
Belgarion213 on 2009-07-10
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There seems to be a variation in how 'old' they are. We have seen that Ranma apparently has taken on the 'mentor' role for several of the anchors, even main ones to a degree like Naruto and Ichigo. However yeah probably a couple hundred thousand to low million years. Staggeringly old for a mortal but probably not that old for a Ascended being. Naruto has probably been looping the 'longest' but Ranma seems more 'experienced' than him, spending more time in the loops if that makes sense. Ichigo seems pretty young in comparison to Naruto/Ranma. Not sure about Harry though.
Deathwings on 2009-07-11
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Everyone Loops ending at the same time wouldn't work. When you take into account Ichigo's Loop sometime stretching into the several centuries length, that would mean that Ichigo outlived everyone else by hundred of eons.
Likewise, it would make Ranma's superior growth rate compared to the other Anchors kind of insane since his Loop is the shortest. The actual reason that Ranma tend to grow faster that I originally gave being that he simply have nothing else to do but improve while the other Anchors could find other interesting thing to do.
Quite simply, the Ranmaverse, once you have figure out the (pitifully simple) mental ticks of the cast, is mindbogglingly boring. Even more so then the other universes.
So no, the Loops do not all end at the same time, quite the contrary. They actually progress at the same speed, meaning that when an Anchor go trough a 3 years Loops, Ranma go trough 2 of His Loop, since it is a year and an half long. See what I mean ?
Also, Naruto is the very first Anchor, the problem that result in the Loops within Yggdrasil first appearing in his universe. Said Bug then proceed to contaminate others universes with Ranma's being one of the first one as well as the Potterverse.
From there it keep spreading faster and faster until the maintenance crew of Yggdrasil realized what the hell was going on and manage, with grueling efforts, to contain it.
Innortal on 2009-07-11
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But that doesn't take into account for fused Loops.
We can go for simple and obscure: the Loops proceed in the first time dimension, while intersections occur in the second (what keeps everything in the multiverse from happening at once). Since the second time dimension is supposed to be somewhere after 11 dimensions (thus Yggdrasil and such), even they can't be certain how the ends of each Loop line up to create a fused loop.
Naruto-verse wasn't the first one, just one of the first, which included a select series of anime. As the damage spread, other universes found themselves Looping, which is why the Bleach-verse could be finding itself starting Fused Loops long before the others did.
If we want to be a pain, we can say that the earlier Loops here that were listed with only the trio of Tendo sisters + fiancees Looping was the cause. Kasumi's patch worked ... for a little while. But anyone who has had any dealings with program patches can tell you, sometimes they work and then make the problems worse.
Innortal on 2009-07-14
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They aren't so much Mary-Su as tightly defined tracks of evolving. While Ranma and usually all the other Loopers study everything and anything, the Tendo Trio have only been looping for less than 400 years. So for them, they haven't had much time to be exposed to anything new, added to the fact that until recently, they had been Looping separate instead of together. As such, they focused on whatever path they simply felt would end their Loop, not yet aware that such things were impossible for beings higher than them.
This of course could also hint that they all aren't from the same reality, but that Kasumi tried to fix it in what could be termed a Fused Loop.
Deathwings on 2009-07-14
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Actually, we're walking the fine line of making the characters believably powerful enough for their age without making them uninteresting Mary Sue.
And unfortunately, your Kasumi {Tornado Ninja Fan} cross every line there is.
As for patience, you don't get it. Consider that the Loops we write about are the interesting ones. The one out of a hundred where something unique happen and ALL the others Loops between them are mind bogglingly boring uneventful ones.
So the reason the Anchors seem to be mildly manic/crazy isn't that they haven't learn patience, it's that they've been patient until that Loop and now that something interesting is happening, they are going to ENJOY IT ! Go CRAZY ! FREAKING UNWIND !
Deathwings on 2009-07-14
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me and Innortal have been heavily hinting that out of all the female in the Multiverse, the one Ranma is actually serious about is Skuld ?
Deathwings on 2009-07-14
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I haven't gotten around to writing it yet but in whatever version of the Loop storyline i write, Mara is scared out of her wits by Ranma.
Simply enough, Ranma's first meeting with Hild result in him punching her in the face and blowing up the solar system in her face for the sole purpose of making a point.
Now, it wouldn't make Mara fear him normally, more like wonder if he was rocked too close to the wall when he was a kid, except instead of squashing him like a bug, Hild respect him for it, that's what unnerve Mara to no end.
Trow in the fact that the more time pass, the more Ranma's ascension to a powerful 10D state of being become certain, one that has admit to the attention of getting payback for the fact that a lots of Gods and Demons seem to consider his alt-selves a squeaky toys, and she is determined to not end up on his "Peoples whose ass I will kick"-list.
To Ranma, Mara is that very skittish demon woman that sometime hang around Hild and who doesn't try to get into his pant AT ALL...which in itself is good reason to get to know her, which horrify Mara all the much more.?
PCHeintz72 on 2009-07-15
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Given a million years or so in loops, what would still be left to learn that he would want to learn.
Even if he spread it out and learned only one new occupation or art style every 10 years...
That would be 100,000 occupations or styles of martial arts.
This is a Ranma that has likely seen and done it all.
Innortal on 2009-07-15
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Right. Before Yggdrasil was well enough for the Gods and Goddesses to go out and alert the Anchors as to just WTF was going on, a few were reaching the end of their sanities.
Deathwings on 2009-07-15
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I'm going to try to give some coherence to the Loops.
In truth, since background work seem to be the only thing I excel at, I should have done that age ago.
The Loop begin !
Something or other manage to damage the Multiverse central computer, Yggdrasil, sending space-time for a loop, literally.
Now, universes are stick in a constant time loop whose duration is actually specific for each universe and unfortunately, the problem, like a nasty virus, is spreading among Yggdrasil.
One the first few universes that was hit by the phenomenon was a Ranmaverse whose Anchor is Ranma himself.
At first Ranma is, understandably enough, freak out to be reliving the past year and half. He somehow get by, wondering what the hell is going on, blundering is way trying to make the "right" choice and such. End of the second Loop, beginning of the third one, Ranma is now thoroughly confuse ? Is the universe granting his wish to make things "right" until everything work out or something ?
Ranma set out to his task, trying to tie loose end and such to reach the elusive "best end" that would, hopefully, grant him freedom.
Loops follow each others and Ranma begin to realize that he do not feel chalanged anymore. Herb is becoming easier and easier to overcome, Saffron, his tricks revealed, is a joke. Ryu Kumon ? Too easy. The rivals ? let's not even go there. Happosai and Cologne ? On actually equal ground and he is quickly rising beyond even them.
Boredom begin to set in and as a result, Ranma redouble his effort to untangle the complete utter mess that is his social life while on the side getting new interest and such to stay occupied.
An undetermined number of Loops later, Ranma has learn so much about the peoples of Nerima that he can basically predict what they are going to say before they even tough about it.
He has reach kind of conclusion to his life there is, with any of the girls, all of the girls, none of the girls, EVERYTHING. And still the Loop is not stopping.
Ranma is getting desperate, the loneliness is eating at him and it tore at his very sanity that at the beginning of each Loop, all of theses peoples he has come to love do not remember anything.
He is loosing it and soon enough, something happened, and all hell broke loose.
He spend the following Loops out of minds, either catatonic or acting completely on the spur of the moment, doing thing for the lulz, sometime doing thing that he prefer to forget about because of just how depraved they are.
And then he grew bored of being crazy, and he stopped, a deeply changed man.
Unable to form bonds, he has shut himself, becoming more and more aloof, submerging himself in the Martial Art, traveling not out of interest but because there is simply nothing better to do. Learning anything and everything for there is a void in his Soul and only the acquisition of knowledge seem to be able to stem the all devouring madness that spring from it.
Such is Ranma Saotome's life for the next millennium, as an empty shell of an human being.
And then, as he was relaxing in the Tendo home during one of those Loop where he just stay in Nerima for whatever reason (or maybe he simply hadn't left on his next journey yet), something completely unexpected and random happen.
A strange girl, a loli really, who is distinctly missing her underwear appear out of thin air, trip and manage, in the most bizarre of random occurrence, manage to impale herself on him.
Ranma and Skuld met for the first time and for the first time, color began to slowly crawl back into an existence that had long ago turn to an ashen gray.
And then life begin to slowly come back, in the form of Urd, of Bellandy, of Nabiki who is now regularly Awake and the other peoples like her.
And while they are so, so very young compare to him, because he has never felt as much as an old as after his first conversation with an Awakened Nabiki, slowly, ever so slowly, the loneliness began to abate.
And them, several centuries later, Ranma screw up his connection to the Dragon Lines, manage to damage the fabric of his universe who then began to bleed over into neighboring ones and enter his first fused Loop.
Where he met Harry, someone who is actually like HIM. Another Anchor !
And EVERYTHING IS JUST SO NEW AND GREAT AND...
Well you get the point, it's like giving a spoonful of sugar to someone who has not eaten anything sweet in year, Ranma end up overwhelmed and goes a little bit crazy,
having not FELT enthusiasm in years.
So in the end, those Loop where Ranma lack "patience" ? It is because more then anything else, Ranma is relearning hos to live and most importantly, how to feel.
Deathwings on 2009-07-15
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Written solely for the reason that I found the idea of Ranma seeing Negi as a little brother amusing and that the potential for corruption since Negi basically look up to Ranma as a role model is simply hilarious.
What can I say, I have a strange humor.?
Innortal on 2009-07-18
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If we need the plot motive, we can claim Ranma's pocket universe is his actual limiter, since it would take a massive amount of energy to maintain a pocket space the size of a few solar systems--including the weight of whatever he is storing in there (artificial suns, planets he stores stuff on, ships, bases, etc...).
That doesn't include what artifacts he might even store there, zanpakuto, Lantern batteries and rings, spell books, giant mythical beasts, magic wands, etc.
Then we have external powers, such as the Angel clones, Lilith, the embodiments of the Nekoken in a nine-tailed Raiju, and whatever else he may have absorbed during his journey.
Deathwings on 2009-07-20
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It's been weeks that my inspiration has pretty much hit the proverbial brick wall. O have no less then 6 Loops in the works, all so deeply showed down the gutter I wonder of I'll ever manage to get them out of it.?
So anyway, since I'm useless as a scene writer, I'll do what I'm actually good at, background work.
My latest background work would be Ranma's relationship with some of the others characters. Everything I'll write down will pretty much be how the characters in my Loops behave around each others...if I actually manage to ever write anything constructive again that is.
Skuld : Lover and actual serious girlfriend. The latter state of affair actually took them quite a while to really get to. The first meeting was less then graceful and the only reason anything happened at all between them was because of strange sets of circumstances. Namely, Skuld being so very needed ray of color in a life that had long since gone as gray as you could possibly go on Ranma's part and the whole "you took my virginity" furo accident that happened during Skuld first appearance, which combined with her unbalanced mental state from overworking herself, result in a strong sense of obsession toward Ranma.
Whatever rocky beginning they may have had, they are nowadays as close to a couple as it is possible in the current state of affair and fully planning to go official once Ranma is free to ascend.
Urd : Ranma's best friend. You may now begin to fear for the Multiverse as a whole.?
The two of them manage to bond over two dozen of bottles of Everclear (each), going on drunken stories and such that they actually miraculously remembered the following day. They made it a tradition to go bar hopping at together and get totally shit-faced at least once per Loop and end up becoming friends and confidants over time. The "with benefits" strangely came a lot latter after Skuld gave her permission, for while flings with mortals are to be expected and are of little value, another goddess, her oldest sister no less, was another matter entirely.
Sympathize greatly with Urd's problems with her parents thank to his own bad experiences on the subject.
Bellandie : Do not met all that often because of Bell's contract with Keichi, which force her to remain in his Universe most of the time. The space out tendency, like some sort of Kasumi time 100 did not ender her to Ranma at all and she herself did not really appreciate the growing influence he was having over her sisters. They did manage to put those different aside, mostly for Skuld benefit, and are became civil to each other, if a little distant. The real ice breaker happened after Lilith appearance which result in Ranma having sex with all 3 Norns.
A direct result of the incident was that in order to prevent the acquisition of one more girl after his dick, he made sure to put Keichi trough the grinder every chance he got until the boy was actually able to keep up with his divine fiancee.
Hild : A match made in hell if there ever was one. Ranma DO NOT LIKE Hild. Respect ? Yes. Like ? As if.
Their first meeting pretty much set the tone for their whole relationship. Resentful of how Hild and Kami-sama pretty much fucked over Urd childhood and life, he was less then respectful and very open about his opinion toward the grand demoness. Unused to such bravado being directed at her, Hild reacted aggressively.
Insulted and opinion about each other ancestry were exchanged until Hild made the mistake of abording the subject of Urd and how she only had the best intention and Urd should have never defied her to begin with.
At which point Ranma pretty much lost his cool and socked her in the jaw.
Neither of the two ever told anybody what happen next, but the Loop ended exactly 30 minutes later from the solar system imploding.
It is said that totally outclassed, Ranma was to one who did it just to prove a point that no, he would NEVER bow down to Hild and even manage to injure her in the process. Most Demons are since then pretty wary of him, particularly considering that Hild came to respect him out of the whole thing.
Peorth : Has showed her face around Ranma a grand total of once, just long enough to place a snide comment toward both Skuld and Urd while he could hear her.
Ranma then proceed to make her swallow her front teeth via the application of his fist to her mouth. It is unfortunately deplorable that 10D being suffer from very strong case of terminal arrogance that make about as likely to listen to a mortal's opinion as Tatewaki Kuno, making physical violence the only way to make them understand that no, that particular human was not going to be bullied into going your way any time soon.
Mara : VERY wary of Ranma and unfortunately forced to interact with him from time to time by virtue of being Hild pet. Unfortunately for her, her twitchy demeanor and (apparent) complete lack of interest in him has actually attract Ranma's attention, to Mara's never ending dismay.
Kami-sama : Have yet to meet face to face but the result promise to be less then stellar. Ranma has some pretty long rants in reserve just waiting to be unleashed, such as why the asshole was such a coldfish of a distant aloof father to all 3 of his daughters when he seem to have enough free time to personally enforce such useless drivel as the "no cursing" rule.
Nanya on 2009-07-20
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Other anchors mentioned in the loops that I know of...
Usagi, Harry, Shinji, Ichigo, Naruto, Lina, Anakin (possibly, I don't know if he's the true anchor tho), Nanoha, and Negi.
Other loopers who aren't the anchors but are often times awake...
The Senshi, (don't know any from HP, don't follow that one), Rei and Asuka (Eva), a good chunk of Ichigo's closest friends, Sakura and Sasuke (Naruto), Ashoka and Rex for Anakin, Fate and Vivio for Nanoha, Eva (at least) for Negi and Lilith (who's attached to Ranma's soul ATM).
There are other loopers and anchors, they just haven't been explored yet (Darkstalkers), and I may have missed them.
Others mentioned in the loops have been Master Asia (G-Gundam), Marvin the Martian (Looney Toons/Duck Dodgers), the Doctor (Doctor Who), Etna (Disgaea) and Bender (Futurama)
Just thought it would be a little easier with a list to look at.
Innortal on 2009-07-24
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The good thing about the Loops, we've already established a true canon that it isn't just one reality Looping, but hundreds, some sharing the same Prime Loop (the original timeline before they started Looping or what we consider canon reality). So no doubt there would be a Ranma in some Loop that decided "enough is enough!"
Lilith is hard to say because you have to define her growth. After feeding on Ranma's soul for a while, it could be said she would quickly reach her adult (neo-Morrigan) stage. She's already in the Loophole with the Angels and anyone else Ranma absorbs because the Lock prevents him from having children inside the Loop. Technically, those entities are inside Ranma's pocket universe/soul, where time is not Looping.
Deathwings on 2009-07-24
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It wasn't made clear but since it was from TNF's Nabiki's point of view, it could have been a fused Loop without her becoming aware of the fact.
As for the Anchor status, there are actually variation, such as the Star War universe where the "ownership" of the title of Anchor get passed around depending of which time period the Loop is taking place in. Anakin is the one who get that duty more often then not but Revan got it from time to time as well as Luke, otherwise the later wouldn't have been able to surprise Vador like he did in some of his Loop.
Then there are the universe where Anchor status is shared between several peoples since some show/anime have several characters that could be considered "main".
For example, while it had not been established yet, Nanoha and Fate could very much be in such an arrangement.
Innortal on 2009-07-30
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we never stated how Tenchi Muyo! ended up in the Loops. We have stated that either some attempts to fix the Loops or an expanding affected area has led to Loops with less 'time' than the original groups. So Tench could have been Looping for very few Loops before the destroyed Sol System (thanks to Ryoga unleashing a Shi Shi at Dragon-Line-Ranma) brought them into First Contact with Ranma.
{the destruction of} Not the Loops, just his own universe. No matter how many others 'awaken', he is still the Anchor. And ascending beyond 4D would mean his universe would no longer be anchored, and thus cease to exist
Belgarion213 on 2009-08-18
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While all the loops seem tohave no connected continutity (see the talks/arguments) in Innortals and deathwings posts its more or less accepted that Skuld is the true pairing.
Innortal on 2009-08-19
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It depends on the author of the Loop. We've also stated that they are not the only [insert character name here] Looping. In all likelihood, alternative realities exist past 10-D, and as such, lots of Yggdrasil are affected. Thus it is very likely that there are multiple anchors out there, multiple Goddesses, and so forth.
Innortal on 2009-08-25
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The basic idea why they can't fix things is this:
Whatever hit the dimension where Yggdrasil is (10D) wasn't just limited to 10D in scope, otherwise only one reality would have been affected. They assumed it was 10D because like us, it was all they could process. It was based in even higher dimensions, including the dimension where we start getting into the multiverse (which is assumed to be at or near the second time dimension).
Now, while they can work on fixing it, you can't assume they have the power or the understanding yet to do so. After all, the Chousin are looking for beings or trying to create one greater than themselves. If they haven't located a life form beyond their own 11D, odds are they might not be as all-knowing as they would like.
And finally: because it would end the story.?
Deathwings on 2009-08-26
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Perso, I've began to separate the Loop time period into "Generation" to make the classification of the times periods easier.
I've tough of five generation, using various events in the Loops as hallmarks and blatantly ignoring some if they are just in uninteresting from a plot related point of view, too out of character for even my suspension of belief to wrap itself around it or bringing characters that are so Gamebreaker it stop being funny.
I'm looking at you, Disgaea. I love that game, really. But I do NOT want to deal with the SHITSTORM that peoples like GH would pile on us if we actually nick their beloved universe. I've had ENOUGH of gamers fanatics, THANK YOU.?
So anyway, the whole thing follow the logic that the all Loops did not actually began at the same time, that is was an infection that spread across Yggdrasil until it was contained.
Generation 1 : the beginning. Looper from that time period are considered the most cracked of the bunch. A result of of the complete utter isolation they went trough, what with being alone in a ever repeating world. It was particularly bad for Ranma, because the very small time frame of his Loop made socialization basically worthless. In a year and an half, you can barely get to the truly interesting part of really involved relationship before the Loop renew.
As a side note, the only other Anchor who went through something similar was Shinji, whose Loop is about as long as Ranma's, only the guy was so already broken into a thousand pieces BEFORE the Loop, that it took him until the beginning of the second generation to get over all of his already pre-existing issues.
There is something poetic in the reason that Shinji didn't broke down was because he was already broken beforehand, don't you think ?
Major first generation Anchor are Ranma, Naruto, Shinji and Harry.
Generation 2 : the Gods and Demons trying to repair Yggdrasil manage to rig the Loop in such as way as to allow some other peoples to "Awaken". The Anchors deteriorating sanity take a turn for the better and Anchor "Born" during that period have a far easier time.
Ranma begin to slowly get out of the introverted, acidic, hermit scholar persona he has build around himself in order to prevent anymore part of his heart to shatter. He never did lose his acidic tongue, legendary snark and aloofness tough. Most "open" emotion he display at the time are actually more faked then anything, from fear of creating sentimental bonds and having them blow up in his face. The only persons he is true to at the time are Skuld and later Urd, who he is relatively sure won't suddenly disappear on him.
Major second generation Anchors include Sailor Moon and Ichigo.
Generation 3 : the Fused Loops begin. Attempt to "break" the Loop by several Anchors and/or Awakened result in incident that damage the boundaries of their Universes. While it hardly would be a problem usually (it happen all the time), the Loop change everything and actually allow Universes to "meld" together from time to time.
Friendships and rivalry blooms, the Anchors, meeting peoples who have gone trough the same hardships as them, begin to actually get better mentally.
Ranma ability to all but soak-up techniques and learn everything he put his mind to is noted by several peoples, who then ask for at first training tips and then outright training from him. Numerous peoples came to regret it, having NEVER in their worst nightmare imagine that Saotome grade training would be so brutal and mind shattering painful.
Generation 4 : The longest generation, began when the Gods and Demons finally manage to completely contained the spreading of the Loop, preventing new Universes to join in.
It is during that very long period, long even from the Anchor point of view, that the constant accumulation of having his basic human rights denied from him times and TIMES again by the looping female population of the Multiverse and being to nothing but a mere squeaky toy to them finally catch up to him.
Everyone has limits and it took Ranma hundred of thousands of years to finally reach his. That plus the added stress of his powers growing out of control bit by bits (like being on the rags non-stop for years on ends) simply the last straw that broke the camel back.
Ranma snapped, and a literal slaughter followed.
Ranma took every last one of them apart, both physically and mentally, slapping them down like mere insect while using his natural talent for pinpointing peoples buttons to its complete and full potential.
He literally force down the girls throats EVERY. LAST. ONE. SHORTCOMING.
Denying them the mental protection of their Righteous Female FuryT by tearing them apart all along the process.
It was following that event that numerous girls, such as Sakura, began to take heavy counseling.
Notable Anchors from that genration would be Nanoha and Fate (shared Anchor statue)
Generation 5 : the current generation. One day, Akane Tendo Awoke, two time in a row in fact, and in a show of utter stupidity that Ranma is still making her pay for, Nabiki showed her one of the control station of Yggdrasil through a completely illegal back door access Urd gave Ranma for reason I will not reveal yet. What followed was predicable and the station was damaged, resulting in suddent lose of power withing the containment field that prevented the Loop from spreading.
The was numerous new Universes getting infected while the repair crew desperately tried to prevent of their effort from going to waste because two little human brats decide to turn off their brains.
A side effect of the event, is that 5th generation Anchors are YOUNG. Kids really and it tend to show on occasion.
Negi is a notorious example of how the older "wiser" Anchors treat the 5th generation.
And yes, Akane demolishing Yggdrasil was totally Thrythlind Loop.
{note to above, he was wrong, the 'Akane demolishing Yggdrasil' was by PCHeintz72, me}
Innortal on 2009-08-26
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Excellent. Just missing a few parts.
There is no 'one' Anchor. In other words, there is not just 'one' Ranma Looping, nor one Yggdrasil affected. Depending on how you view the multiverse, the dimension connecting them is higher than 10D. Thus some Loops end up in clusters, meaning you are more likely to end up in a Fused Loop with a certain Anchor than another version of him. It was only later as the damage continued to spread that even the line between these clusters began to blur.
Deathwings on 2009-08-27
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I personally only write for one Ranma, the very original one who was part of the Loop from nearly the very beginning, fell in love with Skuld, is only waiting for the Loop to end to become a God, ect, ect...
Other versions of Ranma exist in the Loop, but I do not care about them, so I didn't include them. That article was from my personal notes that I use to organize my tough about the Loop so they tend to be biased toward my personal preference by default.
Deathwings on 2009-08-31
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In my mind, the "core" of the Loop is a gigantic hive of mutated, superpowerful Yggdrasil Bugs.
Think Final Showdown from Hell.
I can't get the image of Ranma, clad in his full Darksteel Overlord armor, the wings of all three of his angels sprouting from his back and an upgraded Grosppoliner hand, rushing toward the Bug Queen à la Lagann Impact, tentacles, enemy Bugs and obstacle rebounding on him or being disintegred by the aura of Primordial Chaos that he intent to stab the Queen with while the other Loopers fight against the Bugs army all around in a fight for their freedom.
That just scream EPIC to me.
Deathwings on 2009-08-31
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I puting that as one the Law of Ballance of the Multiverse. Having a short lifespan mean that the speed you can accomplish your potential is absolutely enormous.
After that, most peoples would say that even if you can reach your full potential, if said potential is small, it's not going to help much. Problem is, Ranma do not believe in the limit of human potential. It is actual that unshakable belief that allowed him to push his limits again, again and again.
As for how Ranma kill Kagura, he severed the link between her Soul and her body on the primordial level. There is reason I'm calling PRIMORDIAL Darkness after all.
In effect, he forced her to seek out a new vessel and since she was the Anchor, the Loop interpret it as Kagura dieing and reset itself, ejecting Ranma.
Had she not been the Anchor, Kagura would have come back eventually it would just have taken a little longer then usual is all.
Likewise, if Ranma had tried to do it to himself, it wouldn't have work.
Innortal on 2009-09-14
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Terms of the Infinite Loops:
Prime Loop: The Prime Loop is the original timeline, what the universe would have been like had the Loops not occurred. It is basically what the universe of the Anchor had been like before anyone was `awake', with history proceeding as required. No matter what, a new Loop begins with the history of the Prime Loop until the new Loop begins. As far as anyone knows, you can't change the history of the Prime Loop, even if you begin a Loop earlier than normal.
Main Loop: This is the home Loop of an Anchor, a Loop that represents their original timeline. A Main Loop includes any and all variations an Anchor creates in their home universe.
Fused Loop: A Fused Loop involves more than one Anchor. In a Fused Loop, two or more realities merge, forming a new temporary universe. As such, this new universe has a history to support the presence of all Loopers. Usually, this new universe is based primarily on one of the Anchors involved, including the likely Rules and End Points. Once the Loops end, those involved return to their Home Universe. Unless an Anchor is from a Fused Loop, that reality is assumed to cease existence afterwards.
Partially Fused Loop: A Partially Fused Loop is similar to a Fused Loop in that a new Anchor in introduced to a different universe. However, they assume the original role of the Anchor of that Loop, including often the family name or a variation of such (Ranma Potter or Ben `Shinji' Tennyson). In effect, they replace the original Anchor or various residents with history reflecting such. No one knows if the originals fail to exist for that Loop, of it is a temporary universe like a Fused Loop, or if they in turn enter a Partial Fused Loop of the replacing Anchor's reality. However, they often face the same Rules and End Points as the originals.
Pseudo Loops: A Pseudo Loop has no Anchor. In fact, it is a span of time from a Prime Loop not affected by the disaster of the multiverse. As such, those `awake' in it tend to have much more freedom in how they act, as there is no set Rule or End Point for them. The main and only changed rule is that any version of the `awaken' that is created in that Loop (quantum clones, etc but not including Doppelganger techniques or such) remain in the Loop after the original leaves via an undetermined End Point or Death. It has been proposed that certain Loops where the person arrives well before the Anchor is even born should be counted as such. However, that debate continues.
Variant Loops: A Variant Loop is a Loop of a parallel reality to the Anchor, a Loop based on `what might have been', a different Prime Loop base. As such, a new set of Rules exist. Variant Loops are rare, but have been known to happen, usually involving the Anchor and if they had been born a different gender, such as Harry and Rose Potter, Naruto and Naru Uzumaki, and such.
FUBAR Loop: A FUBAR Loop is a temporary universe that contains multiple groups of `awakened' Loopers. The main difference between a FUBAR Loop and a version of any other Loop is that aside from the duration of a Loop, the timeline established cannot support its own weight. History cannot bear out so many different individuals. So while they remember a past to exist there, it never happened. FUBAR Loops are self contained temporary realities almost completely impossible to actually exist in the multiverse or outside of the Loops. At times, even those `awake' find that such realities wear heavily on their sanity.
End Point: The End Point is the point in any Loop where reaching it will reset the Loop to the beginning. The one constant in this is that the death of the Anchor will always reset the Loop. Another is that after a certain amount of time, the Loop will reset, no matter what business is left or unaccomplished by the Anchor and those `awake'.
Awake: This term refers to any and all people aware that they are Looping and contain at least one other previous Loop's set of memories for themselves. A Loop's Anchor is always Awake, no matter what, with others in their Main Loop joining them for unknown reasons.
Anchor: This is the main person(s) responsible for the stability of their home reality. According to Yggdrasil, an Anchor's main job is to keep their reality stable until such time as the Gods and Goddesses repair the damage that created the Loops. As such, a reality will theoretically cease to exist should an Anchor either be erased from existence or evolve into a higher being beyond a normal 4-D entity.
Rules: The Rules of a Loop vary from one Loop to the next, with very few ever being present throughout every Loop incarnation. In fact, the Rules that exist allow for a lot of leeway for any of those `Awake' to react, as Kami-sama has stated that whatever done in a Loop will not be held against those awake even if the Loop ends. The only Rule not bent is the Infertility Rule, stating that only those awake cannot procreate. This Rule was created to keep the Anchors from constantly watching their children be erased from existence. Of course, even this rule can be broken at times, if the children were born in the Prime Loop. There has been some debate to allow Loopers to have children inside of Pseudo Loops, only after a safe connection has been created to allow them to remain in contact with their parents.
Future's Past: This is a special club created by the Chousin and several deities from across the multiverse. It resides in the twenty-sixth dimension, thus encompassing all of the multiverse. Only Anchors can allow someone to enter it, initially started with Ranma Saotome, who passed the Key to other Anchors he meets, who in turn pass it to those awake in their reality. What exactly is contained in this place is only lightly hinted at, but it has been suggested that the club will literally alter itself to fit the needs of the occupants, including the staff that run it.
Kami Planes: It has been hinted at by the Chousin that the realms of the lower (10D) deities can be viewed from a higher dimension. This is known as the Kami Planes. It is rarely mentioned, but Washu once stated that in terms of the respective universes, Yggdrasil is a small tree in a growth of trees representing the Kami of one universe. These growths form a huge forest when combined with the growths of other realities, and this forest surrounds a great sea, hinting that the Sea of Chaos described by Lina Inverse is actually a different version of Yggdrasil. However, Washu has refused to describe if this means there is only one Lord of Nightmares or if multiple versions of her exist as well, as well as what dimension is can be viewed from.
Fate's Law: This Law denotes the following: certain events must and will happen in certain universes, no matter how much the Law of Probability must be shifted. The biggest example of this was seen by Ranma Saotome in the Eiken universe, in which he was knocked onto Chiharu Shinonome by a falling meteor. Very few of these examples exist, and many Loopers will claim that they exist solely as `someone's way of getting pleasure from our pain'.
Subspace Pocket: Some Anchor's have discovered that a pocket of folded space attached to them allows for certain things to pass through a reset. Ranma has stated that this is likely due to the subspace pocket existing outside of normal space-time, which is what is reset in a Loop. As it is always attached to an Anchor and they can never truly `die', it will always exist and not be touched by the reset. A person will have some control over the pocket, depending on the size (some freshly awake have one large enough to store a few items in, while the largest is held by Ranma Saotome, which holds several star systems and is populated by his Doppelgangers). Though it is hinted that this might violate several universal laws, nothing has happened from such. However, it has been noted that the original powers of an object stored in a subspace pocket will work as intended in said pocket, even if those functions might change when introduced to a new universe. Skuld has stated this is due to the nature of the physical constants inside a pocket being `whatever the user wishes them to be wherever they are'.
Looping Psychosis: Also known primarily as "Sakura's Syndrome', this is a mental disease affecting mainly those not Anchors. It has been stated that those made Anchors had the highest stability factor in a particular universe. As such, it could also be true that anyone `awake' may not be able to handle the mental stress a Loop places on them. For many, this causes them to act out in ways meant to `gain immediate satisfaction, preferring to live only in the now'. This has caused many to lose their moral compass and conduct experiments they would normally never, become promiscuous, violent, or a host of many severe personality shifts. Though there is no quick fix, it has been stated that a close friendship to the Anchor can help resist this, even reverse the mental damage (I was insane for so long, I finally got bored and went sane).? It's chief cause is the mind of the newly awakened person being unable to deal with the strain of their new existence. It rarely happens to new timelines going through the Loops because they have a greater chance of experiencing a Fused Loop before the Looping becomes mundane, repetitive. They show signs of being unable to handle the fact that long-term plans are quickly made meaningless in their home Loop, that at any given moment, they could wind up again at Point A. This lack of future reward or consequences leads them to seek out any and eventually all forms of immediate gratification.
Deathwings on 2009-09-27
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I should be sleeping right now...but insomnia just hit me with a sledgehammer...ah why the hell not...
Ichigo and Usagi are indeed second generation. I have no interest in SM, so I'll leave the "why" for someone else to explain but Ichigo, when he first showed up was strongly implied to still be fairly new during a fused Loop, which make it a 3rd Generation period by default.
Since Bleach Loops are SUPER LONG, it could mean that Ichigo began to Loop near the end of the 2nd Generation, which most peoples seem to have agreed to, making it a implied "canon".
Nobody disagreed with me when I wrote it down last time anyway.
As for Lina...what follow is something me and Nanya have discussed at length.
Lina began to Loop during the 2nd Generation because L-Sama entered the Loop willingly. And yes, there is a reason for that though I'm not going to write it there.
The problem was that there were...compatibility issue between L-Sama and the main frame of Yggdrasil.
The end result was that the quickly drawn up program that allowed peoples to Awaken was incompatible with L-Sama.
In effect, Lina went trough the same trials as a 1srt Generation Looper until she met Ranma, who was the very first person she met who knew of the Loop as well.
Deathwings on 2009-10-10
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There are several kind of Anchors.
Ranma is a classical Anchor, meaning that he is the sole Anchor of his Universe.
The Star War-verse is different in that the Anchor statut keep bouncing between different peoples. Sometime it's Anakin, sometimes it's Luke, sometimes it's Revan, so on and so forth. It depend mostly of the time period with the Universe but there are case of Vader being Anchor/Awake but not Luke as well as the opposite.
Nanoha and Fate are the third type of Anchors, Shared Anchor. They are both always Awake and it take the death of both of them to prematurely end their Loop.
The Sailor Senshi are in mildly similar position. Namely, while Usagi is the Anchor, the Senshi's soul are tied together, resulting in the other Senshi having a greater chance to awaken. It is extremely rare for Usagi to be alone in a Loop.
Deathwings on 2009-10-16
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Ranma had already studied in depth everything he could get his hand on from his native universe before the third Generation hit. That include Jusenkyo which he took great pleasure dissecting.
I think this is safe bet to say that self polymorphism is one of the area of magic he has completely mastered.
So even using abilities from his home universe only, his ability to use disguise should be pretty fucking high.
Deathwings on 2009-10-26
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He (Ranma) didn't made that universe from scratch.
Initially, it was gift from Skuld and L-Sama, so that he could meet his student on a more regular basis. It basically was the prototype to the Future Past but was far more unstable, mostly because it was the first time L-Sama tried to do a fine precision work like that one and didn't had the hang of it yet.
Later, the instability of the Pocket Universe became too much and Ranma got an idea. They would anchor the pocket universe within his subspace pocket, providing it with the stabilizing factor it needed. Doing so however would prevent L-Sama from providing the energy to maintain the place in existence, shifting the link to Ranma and in the process, getting him rid of the surplus of energy that threaten to surge out of him and force his Ascension.
This take place mid-fourth Generation, not too long after Ranma's big blow up with the girls.
Innortal on 2009-11-09
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Got one for a better writer than me at the moment (alcohol plays a part in this).
For the DS9 fans, remember the episode Body Parts where Kira took over carrying Miles and Keiko's baby. One could do that for a Looper, even Ranma. The terms were that the Looper could not conceive a child, not carry them.
Use as you see fit, or damn me for such a bad idea.
Innortal on 2009-11-09
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Sorry, I blame Smirnoff if it doesn't work. Besides, I never stated the end had tor esult in Ranma-chan/guy pairing.
Belgarion213 on 2009-11-09
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Sorry, regardless iwhether its NOT a Ranma-chan/guy pairing, I still call you danmed and beholden to the darkest depths of hell...but that's mainly because I HATE pregnancy fics..ALL of them. Doesn't matter WHO is pregnant, HOW or by Who...I just hate the genre and the way ti seems to structure the story.
Besides...apart from that I think it would be physically UNHEALTHY for a baby to be carried by one of the loopers at this point considering that without absolute PERFECT energy control the feutus, unless protected by divine level shielding, is likely to be vaporised within 3 seconds...or be horribly mutated by the exposure to so much power.
Innortal on 2009-11-09
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Good points. I have to admit, as the alcohol leaves my system, I have less interest in this.
However, it could also be used as a springboard for a Loop where Ranma admits the trauma of having lost a child in the early Loops before the block was put in. Doesn't matter which female we use, as long as they tend to be from the Prime Loop (before the Loops began to Fuse).
That has been missing from a few of these Loops, ones where the original Anchor's show some hint to there being a major reason for the Block.
