[Episode 170428] [Episode 170428]With five different wish-granting agencies involved, all with varying capabilities, personalities, and motives, one would expect an utter mess of literally cataclysmic proportions.
The sword, Wishbringer, was probably the weakest of the bunch. Not so much due to a lack of power, but more because it was limited by the knowledge and understanding of its master. Considering that master happened to be Tatewaki Kuno, even if he had chosen to sublet the wish to 'the pig-tailed goddess,' that was a crippling indemnity.
The monkey's paw was either malevolently literal, or stupidly so. It always granted wishes in the simplest and most literal fashion possible. Wish for wealth, for example, and you'd likely find yourself the beneficiary of the life insurance policy of one of your loved ones. You pretty much needed to be a lawyer to have any chance of getting a half-decent wish.
Technically, Mihoshi Kuramitsu was only a substitute genie, but she still had the powers. She also, unfortunately, tended to be something of a sweet, well-meaning ditz and klutz. Nevertheless, perhaps because of the spark of divinity inherited from Washu, things always seemed to turn out all right.
The dragon, Shen-Long, was at the upper end of the power scale, but preferred to simply grant the wish and be done with it. He wouldn't twist it or grant it in such a manner that someone would suffer, but if things ended up as a mess anyway, he couldn't care less.
Verdandi, acting as an agent of the Goddess Relief Office, and backed by the Ultimate Force, was easily the wisest, most benevolent, and most powerful of the lot. Only the fact that only those who were truly deserving could get a divine wish could be considered to be any sort of a limitation.
Five wish-granters for one wish. None of whom could withhold from granting said wish, and neither could they duplicate nor negate each others efforts. Redundancy, on the other hand, was to be expected.
Of these five, Wishbringer and the Monkey's Paw were each simply incapable of acknowledging the existence of the rest, much less working either with or against them, while Shen-Long didn't really care, unless it'd delay his return to slumber.
Mihoshi was quite willing to go that extra distance to help out, but that obviously presented its own problems. Not that Shen-Long would've cared, of course.
So it was pretty much left to Verdandi to manage things. She was also the only one who could effect true, retroactive changes to the past which would also affect changes to any parallel realities which had diverged previous to the granting of the wish. Mihoshi and Shen-Long lacked that power, while Wishbringer and the Monkey's Paw couldn't even pretend to affect the past.
That Wishbringer chose to grant the wish in the form of a highly communicable viral meme probably shouldn't surprise anyone. This meme completely and continuously eliminated the entire concept of body modesty for everyone to whom it was communicated. The very idea of wearing something for no other reason than to be wearing something became utterly inconceivable. In effect, they became fanatical exhibitionists.
Shyness didn't matter. Even the meekest of couples would think nothing of coupling on national television.
Wearing something for practical reasons, such as warm clothing in cold weather, was still acceptable. Though going naked would always be preferred, especially if there might be any detrimental consequences to wearing anything.
The Monkey's Paw chose to manipulate situational probabilities. Those who wore clothing would find themselves suffering 'wardrobe malfunctions' of a decidedly immodest nature, as well as finding themselves in sexually compromising situations. The more coverage or protection their clothes provided, the worse it got.
Situational factors, such as the weather, made no difference. Though it was certainly more problematic to have one's clothes destroyed when it's cold or such.
Those wearing armour, including powered armour, would find themselves receiving a ridiculously disproportionate number of attacks. Even if somebody who wasn't wearing armour happened to be completely blocking the line of fire.
Mihoshi took a more personal approach, perhaps because she was from a mature and cosmopolitan galaxy-spanning civilization.
A taut, flexible, and protective sub-dermal layer served as an innate mechanical counter-pressure suit, making it possible to venture out into the vacuum unaided, provided insulation against temperature extremes from 30 below to 65 above Centigrade, served as a natural, flexible body armour comparable to light plate, and shaped the body like a natural corset. It also included a nictitating membrane protecting the eyes that was outwardly opaque.
Since the corset bit tended to be more flattening of the bust than flattering, Mihoshi [over]compensated. The size of the bust now made up for the difference in mass between males and females, weighing in at more than ten pounds. Gainaxing hadn't been universal for females past puberty before, but neither had it been so erogenous. At least they now they didn't need to worry about sagging or back strain.
Wearing light clothing was pointless, while anything heavy enough to actually be protective would make people somewhat clumsy. Though they'd collapse from fatigue in short order. Being completely unencumbered by clothing, which doesn't include things like jewelry, pouches, and shields, has the benefit of improved reflexes. Topless females had it even better, but were also nymphomaniacs, with powerful and indiscriminate libidos.
So Mihoshi gave both genders complete control over their own fertility. Thus, they would only beget children if both wanted them, and then only if they'd reached sexual maturity. Incidentally, Mihoshi also made sure that all of the features she introduced were genetically dominant. Any hybrid descendents would therefore inherit them.
The result was a humanity which was utterly promiscuous, since they had never had any concerns about accidentally getting pregnant. Not to mention the fact that the fact that pregnancy required a conscious and deliberate choice by both parties involved made the concepts of fidelity and chastity completely superfluous.
Shen-Long took the straight-forward route of ensuring that humanity evolved on a hothouse world, instead of an icehouse. Thus, there would be no impetus to develop clothing. This was done by, some fifty million years ago, moving the Earth's poles to ensure that there would be an unobstructed flow of warm, tropical water to both poles, ensuring that no polar icecaps could form to cool the planet.
As such, the south pole found itself in the Arabian Sea, and the north pole in the southeast Pacific Ocean. As a result, the equator runs up the length of the Atlantic Ocean, through Davis Strait and Baffin Bay, over the tip of North America (Ellesmere Island), across the Arctic Ocean just beyond the Beaufort Sea, over the tip of Siberia, off the Pacific coast of Kamchatka, and across Australia between the Gulf of Carpentaria and the eastern end of the Great Australian Bight.
Sea levels are rougly 200 metres higher, however the fact that there were no ice ages during the Pleistocene means that the terrain of those regions which were historically subject to glaciation are rather different. The Hudson Basin, the Baltic Sea, and the West Siberian Lowlands were never depressed under millions of tons of ice. Scandinavia and the Laurentian Shield were never scraped bare by the passing ice. Canada's Arctic Archipelago is part of the mainland. The large lakes along the edge of the Laurentian Shield were never gouged out. The Grand Banks don't exist.
Shallow seaways separate North America from Central America, which includes the Yucatan, and Central America from South America, but perhaps the grandest is the seaway seperating Europe, Scandinavia, and Asia. It follows the Turgai Strait between the Urals and Asia, the Paratethys Sea (from the Aral Sea to the Black Sea). At that point it splits, with one branch following the foreland basin at the foot of the Carpathians and the Alps to the North Sea, and the other connecting to the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Another seaway at the base of the Pyrenees seperates Europe from Iberia. A constant current flows through, going from the Arctic Ocean to the Indian Ocean, and to the North Sea.
The deepest parts of that seaway are unconnected with the sea, resulting in a number of briny abysses. Especially with evaporation replenishing the easterlies coming over the mountains.
The oceans, being much warmer, don't absorb as much heat from the mantle through the seafloor. This energy therefore goes into tectonic activity. Seafloor spreading, earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountain building are thus much enhanced, which helps to compensate for the higher sea levels and the increased erosion caused by the significantly wetter climate. The Strait of Gibraltar has slammed shut, wielding together Iberia and Africa, and Australia and New Guinea have begun to collide with Melanasia. Also, the low magnesium calcite seas that had been around since the start of the Jurassic period some 200 million years ago still endure. As such, the older coral reefs and atolls that dissolved when our own oceans changed into high magnesium aragonite seas still exist. There are sunken volcanoes and continents, lost to the waves in our history, which are still covered by coral reefs and atolls here.
The combination of the oceans trapping less atmospheric gasses in solution, and the increase in volcanic outgassing, has increased the total mass of the atmosphere, with oxygen and carbon dioxide levels both being much higher. This allows it to retain heat better, and at higher altitudes, and makes it possible for larger avians to fly. Even the mountain tops are as tropical as the rest of the world. The warmer atmosphere has also caused the tropical Hadley cells and the Polar cells to expand and merge, eliminating the temperate Ferrel cells between them. As such, air rises at the equator, releasing moisture as precipitation, and sinks at the pole, picking up moisture. The arid bands along the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn vanished with the Hadley cells that caused them. The wind blows from the east, and the weather is rather more predictable. Though also much more energetic. Storms are much more frequent and potent, especially with both an almost completely aquatic northern hemisphere and an equator-straddling Atlantic-Arctic Ocean. This does help to keep the seas fully oxygenated, though.
The thermohaline circulation present in our oceans doesn't exist in the same form. Instead, deep ocean circulation mirrors the convective circulation of the atmosphere above. Evaporation at the poles leaves behind denser, more salinated water, which sinks and travels towards the equator, where it rises, being diluted by precipitation. This hypersalinated water brings with it much of the nutrients collected along the way. The best fisheries are therefore found along the equator and along the polar-facing coasts, such as along the western coast of the Americas and around the Indian Ocean.
Global precipitation is much greater in a hothouse world, which results in both much more plantlife world-wide, and in much more erosion. Mangrove swamps along the shorelines help to ensure that the eroded soils aren't lost into the ocean depths. They also capture decaying biomass, helping to ensure the oceans don't get choked with algae, which would trigger an oceanic anoxic event.
The lack of land bridges, combined with the uninterrupted global hothouse, has resulted in much greater biodiversity. Both megaflora and megafauna have evolved over the millenia, albeit tending more towards the lean than the bulky. In the oceans, larger fish can better cope with the reduced solubility. On land, larger animals can better handle the scarcity of the dry season and the powerful storms of the wet season.
The amount of natural energy (call it mana, orgone, chi, or whatever) produced, between the increased tectonic activity, the more active weather, and the greater biomass, is significantly greater. If it had previously been a low mana world, now it was a very high mana world, with the various fantastical flora and fauna being indisputably real.
Higher levels of oxygen in the atmosphere means that fires burn more strongly, metals corrode much faster, people are more daring, and significantly more females are born than males.
There was a very real risk that humanity might never advance technologically, so Shen Long also doubled the tilt of Earth's axis. This attenuated the differences between the summer wet and winter dry seasons, and created a polar savannah that extended towards the middle latitudes. It also meant that early hominids evolved above the Antarctic Circle, so they have excellent night vision to go with their black skin, brown eyes, and black hair. Though the colour of their eyes isn't readily apparent through the black nictitating membrane they have thanks to Mihoshi.
The climate is still tropical, with no cold season to kill off weeds and diseases. This encouraged the eventual domestication of perenniels over annuals as staple crops, as did the increased risk of erosion. The increased precipitation and more violent storms also encouraged the construction of fortress-like housing complexes over seperate dwellings.
Early hominids first colonized the austral savannah surrounding the Indian Ocean from southern Africa to Australia. The equaatorial rainforest initially presenting an impassable barrier. They thrived on the good fishing along the coast, and spread out accordingly.
Off east Asia, the fishing grounds are offshore, following the equator. Thus requiring the development of suitable vessels. However, beyond that, they follow the Pacific seacoast of the Americas and Antarctica.
They also spread through the inland seaways seperating Africa, Asia, Europe, and Scandinavia. The Arctic-Atlantic, unsurprisingly, was the last sea to be colonized.
Sea travel and trade was already well established and globe-spanning by the time farmers began colonizing the equatorial rainforests. An example of this was the tin trade, used in the production of bronzes at least as hard as any iron. Useful, considering the rapidity with which the latter would corrode into uselessness.
Verdandi had the effects of the others granting of Ranma's wish actually take place some 50 million years ago, to resonate ever onwards and including any subsequent divergent timelines. The reasoning was never explained, but there were apocalyptic rumours about the second day of February.
Wilhelm Reich had put forth the concept of orgone, a natural energy field which manifests most strongly in orgasmic release. Factors which indicate a lack of orgone include stifled creativity, armoured feelings, and radiation sickness. Verdandi took this theory, and not only made it reality, but also expanded upon it.
Exposure to hard radiation would cause the body to react as if to an aphrodisiac. The resulting orgasmic release would then counteract the danger. Exactly like how the body reacts to the cold by shivering. In this world, humanity would have no real use for radiation shielding.
Other species, which were only 'in season' at particular times, were at something of a disadvantage. They could not attain an orgasmic release any time they desired, and the energy released could not be harnessed for purposes unrelated to intercourse.
Verdandi was also responsible for ensuring that Ranma's 'personal' history remained unchanged.
For a given definition of 'unchanged,' of course.
He didn't need to worry about the problem of having multiple fiancees anymore, for example. Not so much because he didn't have them, but rather because it was normal in a world with so many more females than males.
The matter of being seen as perverted was also no more. Rather difficult, what with libidos being as high as they are.
Ranma was definitely sleeping with his fiancees. All of them, and all the time. Which was normal, and would've been even if they hadn't been engaged.
Although there hadn't been any children yet, much to the dismay of some.
Then there was the effect on heaven (and hell). Certain aspects needed to be realigned.
Both goddesses and demonesses were now succubi as well. Among the most fundamental of their powers was the ability to override people's control over their own fertility. To the point of actually changing their desire to conceive or not.
Marriage ceremonies actually made use of this, ensuring the birth of quadruplets in short order.
Which, in all truth, was probably necessary to ensure that as many males were born as actually were. Single births were almost always female.
Couplings who didn't want to have children immedietely therefore avoided formal marriage.
"Clothes? What are clothes?" Akane asked curiously.
Ranma wondered himself, the anti-modesty meme having already taken hold and wiped his memory of the concept.
Besides, he was rather more interested in returning the erotic affections of his tomboy fiancee crawling over him right now...
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(Posted Tue, 06 Aug 2013 02:58)
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