Changes from the canon.

[Anastasia]

As you can tell in the course of the game, I made changes from the canon material to suit what I had in mind. I'd like to go over these, and reflect/get commentaries.

1. The Dark Kingdom:

1a. Kunzite:

Really, he had almost no changes short of a slight deplot powering. He wasn't quite the nearly invincible terror that he was near D-point Still quite respectable, he was nonetheless nerfed a bit.

The only other real change of note was omitting any reference to 'Our Great Ruler'. This was due to the shitty US dub being at the front of my mind. I apologize.

Ironically, he died when he was forced to work with Endymion. They bickered as much in game as they did in canon, it was just offscreen by necessity.

1b. Beryl:

Minimal changes at best, really. With the fall of Kunzite, she was forced to actually take a more active roll against the Senshi. Sending her DD girls out was a good gambit, moreso as she gained the identities of the Senshi by watching Endymion/Mamoru was really her only big hurrah at this, however. After that,  Usagi put her barrier up and the end events really began - Metallia took over more directly for the portal attempt, and we all know how it went from there...

Oh, and she didn't totally suck in battle, too. That barrier was nice, pity Usagi criticalled it to hell.

1c. Endymion:

Another that was barely touched from the canon. Had a smaller role, though that can be written off due to the lack of filler episodes. Being sent to the hot springs right off the bat hints that Metallia was better at breaking his will than in canon, reflected in the fact of Dark Kingdom Rei.

1d. Dark Kingdom Rei:

A new addition to the Kingdom near the very end. She speaks of Queen Metallia's enhanced presence in game than in the canon, and the raw hatred and viciousness of her evil. DK Rei is the concrete proof of the facet of hatred and twisting possessed by Metallia, as Queen Serenity was evidence of her command over despair and ruination.

Reflecting as such, Dark Kingdom Rei was somewhat different than the Generals: she was a crazed killing machine, loyal only to her Metallia-sama, an instrument of revenge to break Tokyo and the other Senshi as she came into this world.

2. Metallia

Mainly different for being somewhat active before the last ten minutes of the last episode, game Metallia stirred and shifted in her prison. A prime entity of hatred, despair, destruction and chaos, Metallia was the Goddess of the Dark Kingdom and intent of leaving Earth as her own new Kingdom. Taking Rei and warping her was her most notable act of note - expanding what she did with Endymion after she got a free swipe at Rei's exposed soul.

If pressed about her mentioning in canon that Mamoru was taken because his energy was like hers and comparing that with Rei, it was possible I would either note that such a being could quite easily corrupt others as well, or that Rei had her own inner seed of darkness that was harvested. Or even perhaps that the traces of blood from ther grandfather gave her a familiarity to Metallia, one that she could exploit.

3. The Dark Kingdom:

The main change here, of course, was that the actual Kingdom was on the ruins of the Moon instead of in the great frozen wastes at the end of our world. In effect, this had minimal impact - each of the Generals and their youma had small little pocket dimensions sealed within the Moon, as evidenced a few times in the anime. Honestly, I don't think the change of scenery had much raw impact on the Dark Kingdom as much as for making things interesting and sticky for the PCs.

[Anastasia]

2. The Space Criminals:

While none of these souls had any existence in the canon, they are all nonetheless tied to the Moon Kingdom and elements of it.

1a. Celcia:

Meant to reflect how Metallia wasn't the only threat the Moon Kingdom ever likely faced.  Not anywhere in Metallia's league, just a pain to kill. Not every evil in this universe is fueled by some great purpose or godlike darkness, after all.

1b. Oxyite:

Oxyite had a few notable things. First and foremost, he validated that there are worlds and systems beyond the Moon Kingdom. As big as the Solar System and it's struggles are, they are but a part of the greater scheme. His primary role, however, was showing how things had truly changed in canon even before Metallia came. With his slaying of Sailor Neptune, he committed the most obvious change to the timeline, robbing a future Haruka of her lost love and the Princess of a valuable ally.

1c. Cynthia:

Cynthia has something of an interesting background and development here, frankly. It's a safe bet to assume Serenity had friends besides Queen Serenity and Endymion, of course. A lady of the court whom she cared about yet wasn't send into the future is also quite reasonable, even if she was talented herself at the mystical arts.

It's that she was a fallen soul, one gifted in the darkest of arts that set her tone and some of the feel of the SC arc. She showed that there was more to the past that just an impossibly happy kingdom filled with flawless love and mythical tales. No matter how much one may wish for it, it's an impossible dream. Even Neo Queen Serenity in the canon, akin to a Goddess, could not bring such to Earth.

1d. Orestes:

As with Cynthia, all the lost friends of the Senshi weren't ones that they would even want back. An imperfect man from a striving to be perfect Kingdom, he showed the basest of desires existed even in that Silver time.

[Anastasia]

3. The Elves.

3a: Alan:

This first bit really applies to both Ann and Alan, but since Alan is going first...

In this, they really ARE siblings of a sort, and not pseudo incestuous siblings/lovers that the canon portrayed. While still very close, there isn't that line of real desire and love. The jealousy comes simply from the fact that they are so close and are wary of seeing them spend time with others at the expense of leaving the other alone.

Alan's main change was a bit more of a laidbackness - more so after the fact when Makoto and Alan got together in earnest. While still possessing the stronger nature and charm of the canon, he's more willing to relax and go with things. He's happy now - he has a girlfriend he really cares about, a home, friends, the Tree is surviving and regrowing, and the constant worry of getting energy is gone.

Still close to Ann, the two have accepted that they are going to walk slightly different paths. Ones close to each other, but not the same identical path as they did before. And with living on Earth...they're okay with that in the end. They aren't alone now.

3b: Ann.

The latter of the elven duo, and the one who got the worst part of the deal at first. Seeing Alan and Makoto together really brought out the worst parts of her personality - aggressive, vindictive and jealous. Honestly, she was a hurt bitch until after the Doom Tree was saved and resolved. Since then, she's mellowed some, taking to Earth life and finding it appealing to the active part of her nature.

[Ebiris]

Just commenting on the ones that catch my eye...

Kunzite

To be fair, while Kunzite wasn't the invincible terror he was in canon, we senshi were also a lot more powerful than our canon counterparts at that stage. I recall it was to balance out for the lack of a PC Moon, although when Moon did gain a player she was still more powerful than the rest of us, changing the whole villian/senshi dynamic.

It's a change I view as for the better. Really, it'd suck to constantly go up against villians who eclipse us by such a huge amount, and throws our status as the elite warriors of the Silver Millenium into question. Having any one senshi be a decent match for a regular villian makes for a far more interesting dynamic, and considering how rarely we were able to get the whole group together, would have made most battles a real pain if we needed all of us to stand a chance.

Metallia

Ah, the big nasty. Having Metallia able to act out as her seal weakened rather than spending the entire game as a lava lamp that Beryl talked to (which would be offscreen) really helped make her into a meaningful foe rather than an unexpected 'surprise final boss' after we dealt with Beryl.

Celcia

I recall even towards the end of the DK arc we were speculating on this one. With our GM being such a snow whore, there was a fair expectation that the villian from the S movie would make an appearance. Celcia is kind of like a cheap knockoff of said villian, I guess...

Ann

Truthfully, I was a bit dubious about giving Ann much of a chance after the way she stomped all over everyone on her energy draining sprees. Still, she has grown a lot since then into someone honestly concerned with doing the right thing, even if in an amusingly heavy handed manner as her 'training' of Natsume showed.

[Anastasia]

Yes to your points on Kunzite. It did work out well in the end. I'd almost forgotten that you were far more capable than in the original. >_>

Metallia? Yeah, I agree. With what she did, that battle with her had a strong emotional impact, far more than if she was just the force behind the DK. I know you had to have wanted Metallia dead for what she did to Rei, and I suspect Corwin, Hal, Merc and the others shared that sentiment.

She wasn't inspired by the S movie villian at all, honestly. Really. It's just a case of the GM taking something he liked and ending up with something similiar to that. Really really.

Ann has grown. As I said...that was really the worst part of her showing, as she was i a nasty situation. If it wasn't for having some balance from Herb, she may have gone even deeper into her own darkness....

Fortunely, she recovered from that and has indeed embraced the better half of herself.

[Anastasia]

4. The Deathbusters/Infinity Academy/Pharaoh 90

Ironically, debatably the best polished and most developed arc in the canon is the one I did the most altering to. I blame Lord Igasu.

4. The Infinity Academy:

On designing this arc, I had to bear a few things in mind - namely, that not only would Rei be working from the inside, but there was an honestly fair chance that the academy would survive this entire mess. Therefore, I decided that Mugen would need to be somewhat 'beta'; caught a few years before it's time in the SM canon. Reflected by younger Witches, as I admittedly played with their ages to adapt better to this setting; reflected by the fact that Daimons were just barely being developed and in a prototype phase; reflected by fact that Germatou was still searching for Witches; reflected by the fact Mugen doesn't have the college and graduate tiers added yet.

I felt this would make it feel more accessible not only to Rei, but in the event the other Senshi got involved. I'd worked out fairly early on that Germatou's last stand would likely not be at Mugen. Between it being beta and the fact that it is quite possible it would fall apart from the inside on him...having it less developed also makes the Pharaoh giving up on such a powerful base of operations a little more palatable.

And while it's still quite a tall building, I've downplayed the fact that it's 60 stories high. Helped keep a smaller, more manageable feel. FYI, most of the stuff up there is either empty right now or being used for storage/research.

Professor Tomoe is still kicking around the idea of extending Mugen's services to the level in canon, but he hasn't made a final decision at the current time. It was part of Germatou's scheme, but the idea does appeal to him on it's own merits.

4a. The Deathbusters:

Aka the Witches 5(6), the main foot soldiers and researches of Germatou. Very theoretically led by the Magus Kaolinite, it consisted of Eudial, Mimette, Viluy, Tellu, Cyprine and Ptilol, and Rei. The most obvious change from the canon can be gleamed from the member list. Rei aside, putting Kaolinite in a more related position with the Witches expanded her role easily enough. The organization of said Deathbusters are indicated to be  more intermingled than the canon, with the Witches dealing with each other on a daily basis. Makes it fun for character interaction that way, right? >_>

In the manga, the Witches are nothing more than clay dolls. In the anime, they appear to be humans - not normal ones, but humans nonetheless. I played this up, making them all girls who happened to be both gifted at magic and unlucky enough to fall under the sway of Germatou's mad plans. To this end, I made them unwilling followers - taken in and altered to serve the Master Pharaoh. This made it possible to include Rei in the organization as well as for providing an out and way to perhaps save them should it come to it. (And it did.)

Despite that, the other changes weren't too big. I tinkered with their ages as mentioned, as Eudial, Tellu and arguably the Twins were aged past high school. They were thrown back partly to be able to relate to the others and to compensate for the lack of the higher levels of Mugen from the canon.

On a final note before I get down to each Witch, it's noteworth that kept their 'Witches name' as each's real name. There's some evidence in the canon that these are codenames of a sort. However, I kept them, partly by choice and partly by being a dumbass. Somehow, even with the background research I did, this one slipped through my five-hole. Damn.

Then again, though, it's no worse than someone named Rubeus, Saffiru or Demando. *shrug*

4aa. Kaolinite:

The Magus bit was a honorific I took from the manga, to accent that she was higher ranked than the other Witches. That said, I had her in a more hands on role with the other Witches, where she soon became Rei's rival in the group. Vicious, hateful and nasty, she showed honest evil where the others showed a less...dedicated strain of such. Why?

As hinted in game, she go the attention of the Mistress. Her very special, caring touch, if you will. The type that rips away your spirit and fills you with the deepest darkness, Kaolinite in that moment embraced it and became what she was. She was meant to be a contrast to the other Witches: Unlike them, even though controlled at first, she made a free willed choice to accept Pharaoh 90. It would have made purifying her futile - she was evil of her own volition and choice.

In personality, she's fairly close to the canon. Her nasty side is slightly played up, but that could be written off to having a lot of screen time with Rei. She still had her thing for Germatou/Professor Tomoe, though it wasn't fully realized by her at that time.

4ab: Eudial.

Miss Fire Buster herself, Eudial wasn't too overly changed in Deathbuster form. Still loudish when the chips were down and brash, though she began to show a much softer side as Rei's influence spread in her.  She was assigned to train Rei, and as that happened, they just ended up spending more and more time together...and things led on, as they felt strong positive emotions, things that chipped away at the control Germatou installed.

Anyway, as with all of the Witches, I had to develop a personality past what Germatou had warped into them. Eudial is a rather scientifically minded girl at heart, though a wild and erratic streak tends to hide this very well. She's almost a loose cannon, honestly. In spite of that, she's a nice girl who cares about her friends...

...even if shes not interested in them THAT way. Really!

But that brings up the next salient point about her - she's notable unlesbian. This has been played up OOC by the girls for laughs and in omake land, but the point of it was two fold. Firstly, to show that not every single girl in this world swung that way. (Hi, Usagi, Rei, Minako, Ami, Haruka, Viluy and God knows who else.) Secondly, there was a more pragmatic concern. A Usagi/Rei angle was starting to bubble up on the side, and I didn't want Eudial complicating that matter after all the drama with Minako and Rei.

Anyway, again. Past that, she's interested in continuing her research and development - she loves tinkering and building things. Her magical talent even runs along lines complimentary to it. I feel this is a reasonable set of extrapoliations from the canon works - it explains her Fire Buster nicely, as well as giving her depth beyond just being a maniac driver.

Halfway break.