Ravings.txt

16:41 <koz> Also, I have been thinking (based on something Ariana said)
16:41 <koz> Imagine this scenario:
16:42 <koz> It's [insert year before ToCS 1 came out]
16:42 <koz> The main writer suddenly gets hit by a giant cat toy and can't continue.
16:42 <koz> They're 60% done.
16:42 <koz> And they call me.
16:42 <koz> I can't change the overall plot of the game, I can't add or remove characters, I have to keep the same themes.
16:42 <koz> Wat do I write?
16:43 <jookia> have the characters call out the behaviour so its a criticism about tolerance
16:43 <koz> More better.
16:43 <koz> So here's what I think.
16:44 <koz> 1. Rean loses all harem protag traits.
16:44 <koz> Like, make him hard heroic protag.
16:44 <koz> So he makes actual sense and his being the leader makes fucking sense.
16:44 <koz> 2. Make Laura the official love interest.
16:44 <koz> 3. Instead of having Erebonia mimic 19th century Germany politically, have it be more like the HRE.
16:45 <koz> (will explain later)
16:45 <koz> 4. Have Millium... I dunno, be something
16:45 <jookia> lampshade the acceptance of nobility at least
16:45 <koz> No it's better.
16:45 <koz> OK hear me out here.
16:45 <jookia> maybe millium can call out nobility being foreign
16:45 <koz> Now, the weirdest part of the setting politically is this.
16:45 <jookia> since she's so weird
16:45 <koz> You have a modern society with fucking smartphones, trains and near-instant comms.
16:46 <koz> Together with hereditary landed nobility that have private armies and can levy their own taxes.
16:46 <koz> That makes... very little sense from the beginning.
16:46 <koz> And one of the themes ToCS tries (tradition versus modernity) basically makes us want to cheerlead said nobility, while _not doing absolutely anything_ to show how they are good or even useful.
16:46 <koz> Basically their biggest defender is Rean, and his defence is 'Laura and Jusis are fine I guess'.
16:47 <koz> So my solution to this is to do the following:
16:47 <koz> Erebonia is actually a confederacy.
16:47 <koz> And the nobles are like, sovereign rulers in their own right.
16:47 <koz> The emperor of Erebonia is a symbolic monarch, whose power doesn't actually extend outside of Heimdallr.
16:47 <koz> So the _reason_ those fuckers levy their own taxes and have private armies is because they're _actual separate countries_.
16:48 <koz> So Erebonia isn't a kingdom - it's a region with a shared culture and language.
16:48 <koz> (aka, how Germany _used to be before unification_)
16:48 <koz> So the idea is that the Erebonian emperor's power is actually vested in the Chancellor.
16:48 <koz> Who is elected.
16:48 <koz> (like, the suffrage isn't universal, but he's still elected)
16:48 <koz> And so the real power's with him.
16:48 <koz> BUT
16:49 <koz> The only part he's _technically_ in charge of is Heimdallr.
16:49 <koz> All the other stuff out there? He can't do shit with it.
16:49 <koz> So you know how he's been having the Imperial Army gobble up all those small states?
16:49 <koz> (like Crow's home and the rest?)
16:49 <koz> That's him basically going 'you know what, I want actual military might so I can eat the nobles and take their kingdoms'.
16:50 <koz> And the Imperial Army is his to command, but only the capital feeds it.
16:50 <koz> So basically his galaxy brain idea is 'ally with Reinford to basically have them build railways, and then ask him for help to keep them defended from multiple other kingdoms'.
16:50 <koz> So the RMP are basically corp security with the backing of a sovereign nation.
16:50 <koz> Reinford gets military contracts and money, Chancellor gets an invasion pathway and newest tech for his armies.
16:51 <koz> Now, look at the response of the nobles.
16:51 <koz> It's gone from 'basically we are shitheads' to 'actually we have reasonable concerns, even if we're acting badly towards ordinary folks'.
16:51 <koz> Now, where does this leave Thors?
16:51 <koz> Thors is basically kinda like Babylon 5, or the UN.
16:52 <koz> It was established ages ago by the first (also symbolic) emperor as a pathway towards _actual unification_.
16:52 <koz> Like, the idea being that if we teach kids that we're Erebonians first, eventually all these kingdoms will unite.
16:52 <koz> ... except that basically went nowhere.
16:53 <koz> So we essentially have Bismark versus the Hapsburgs, and we see it play out large and small.
16:53 <koz> Alisa is now basically the heiress of a goddamn military contractor to someone who wants to forcibly unify a country.
16:53 <koz> Her personality NOW MAKES FUCKING SENSE.
16:53 <jookia> ill read all this in a bit it gon be good
16:54 <koz> Machias hates nobles because his dad comes from a city whose government is elected, and basically believes that Heimdallr is better run.
16:54 <koz> (which it is)
16:54 <koz> And therefore he basically looks at the nobility kinda like all the techbros look at old people who can't manage a computer.
16:54 <koz> (yes, I am proposing Machias' MRA angle should be leaned into _more_)
16:55 <koz> So basically, Rean's Third Wayism is basically 'I don't think militarily stepping on all of these independent countries is a good thing, but I certainly see that nobles are petty tyrants and people suffer'.
16:55 <koz> So ultimately, his mission is to create a society where you need _neither of these things_.
16:55 <koz> Gaius' role gets rewritten as someone with whom Rean talks about this.
16:56 <koz> Like, how every future revolutionary needs a right-hand-man?
16:56 <koz> That's Gaius for Rean.
16:56 <koz> And the idea is that the big plot turn with the gundam is 'hey, now Rean actually has the power to make this real, let's have him and his friends do that'.
16:56 <koz> Elliot and Jusis fit into this really well too.
16:56 <koz> Elliot is the concience of the whole movement.
16:57 <koz> Jusis on the other hand is the one who says 'u know wat, I'm a noble outsider but I kinda see their point, let's not tear everything the fuck down'.
16:57 <koz> So him and Machias having tsundere moments ACTUALLY HAS A FUCKING SENSIBLE EXPLANATION.
16:57 <koz> I'd even have the MRA moments play out, in that Jusis is a gentleman actually, and Machias is a 'gentleman' like MRAs are.
16:58 <koz> And basically have that be a conflict point while combo'ing it with 'teenage boys are awkward at romance'.
16:58 <koz> Now the _real_ galaxy brain maneuver is this.
16:58 <koz> Have there be a (default) canonical relationship path for both of them!
16:58 <koz> For Machias, it's Emma.
16:58 <koz> For Jusis, Alisa.
16:59 <koz> Because basically, Emma represents tradition and mystery and all those things the 'atheist' 'rational' MRAs hate and accuse of being irrational women shit.
16:59 <koz> And his arc is basically seeing that even though Emma is into all that, she's just as smart and as capable as he is.
16:59 <koz> Whereas for Jusis, both him and Alisa have shit relationships with their families, and are thus hostile.
16:59 <koz> (in Jusis' case, he's arrogant, in Alisa's, aggressive)
17:00 <koz> And so they find solace in each other, and realise that actually, the world isn't really that shit and they're both super privileged and should realize that)
17:00 <koz> That leaves Fie and Millium, but their story is 'they're both child soldiers'.
17:00 <koz> The idea being that Fie is like Setsuna from Gundam 00, and the whole arc is her understanding what it's like to have a fucking childhood.
17:01 <koz> Whereas Millium basically ... I dunno yet but something like that from another angle.
17:01 <koz> And the big plot turn is that Sarah, being a bracer, understands that the current situation and where things are going is super-shit, and multiple Thors teachers agree with her
17:02 <koz> Because Thors was established as a place for fostering cultural unity leading to political unity, but ended up doing the fucking opposite.
17:02 <koz> Like, that phrase 'Arise o youth and become the foundations of the future' was a call to unity and understanding.
17:02 <koz> And the principal basically realises that they're failing in this goal, and the establishment of Class 7 is meant to try and make that better.
17:03 <koz> (the fact that as a result of Rean getting his gundam and Events Moving Too Fast they end up being able to do this much more quickly aside...)
17:03 <koz> OK done now.
18:41 <jookia> makes sense
18:42 <koz> Like, if ToCS were written like _that_?
18:42 <koz> A thousand times better.
18:42 <koz> And I could even keep basically the entire plot.
18:43 <jookia> yes
18:43 <koz> Because Laura can act as a backup for both Jusis and Machias if you choose to romance Emma or Alisa.
18:43 <koz> LET ME EXPLAIN WHY
18:43 <jookia> koz's destiny to become a writer
18:43 <koz> Laura is a perfect antithesis to MRA logic.
18:43 <koz> (by basically punching Machias in the face and making the entire female crowd cheer)
18:44 <koz> And Laura and Jusis actually both are critics of the nobility: him for structure, her for sexism.