The fact that he did not mean it did not matter.
The fact that Mihoshi was granting it did. And in her opinion rich men owned businesses.
Really rich men might have their own countries.
Really, really rich men might have their own planets.
But Really, Really, Obscenely, Dirty, Filthy Rich? Only one kind of man qualified for that!
A man who had his own EMPIRE!
Of course... making him the Emperor/King/Prince/Duke/Khan or heir of an Empire wasn’t so easy. She could do a few things in the past to make him the consort of a princess or queen, or the long lost son/grandson/nephew of an Emperor but she really didn’t think that would work.
So she’d just revive that long dead Empire, what was it... oh yeah, the Moon Kingdom!
Somewhere, Setsuna got a shiver up her spine.
All it took was to make sure each planet and the moon had a few survivors after the fall of the Moon Kingdom in question. Of course these few survivors, after seeing such a battle waged needed a figure to untie and lead them. All it took was a little dash of magic here, a little there, a whole lot over here... maybe a bit more... Ta-Da! And there you have it, Ranma’s Past Self, Tenma, united the remnants of the Kingdom! And as order and prosperity began to reassert itself the people did away with the idea of a monarchy and named Tenma King of the New Moon Kingdom (Under much protest from the new King.)
Next make sure that they have a suitable magical artifact, something like Ginzuishou. Well, Mihoshi couldn’t conjure something that powerful, but a powerful Sword could be made! Make it so it can heal people, maybe a couple of magical attacks... a couple more for good measure... Ta Da! The Crescent Moon Sword! It wasn’t a Ginzuishou... and the attacks it had were only about the same level as the Outer Senshi’s attacks (Excluding Sailor Saturn of course) but it was good!
Of course after recovering from such a devastating battle the New Moon Kingdom did not want any more outside contacts. Not for a long, long time! So King Tenma had charged the top mages, sages, engineers and whoever else he could get with the task of casting giant illusions over top the cities and towns of each planet and the moon. Even when astronauts touched down on the Moon they would not see an awe inspiring Kingdom, just barren land for miles around.
Anyway, Tenma ruled fairly and well for three hundred years, there was peace and prosperity all around, the peoples of the Moon Kingdom evolved their magics, laws and concepts. Finally the rule was ended with his death. The true power of the Cresent Moon Sword made itself known to Tenma during his final days, it would sent him forward in time to be reincarnated. At his death bed his Councillors, most trusted friends and allies gathered around to hear his final words.
“I shall be reborn someday upon Earth, in the land where the sun rises...”
He died before he finished his speech however. “Please do not seek me out, one lifetime as King is enough thank you very much!”
Without that little bit extra the gathered crowd came to one conclusion...
The King would return some day to take his rightful place as their ruler! They had to prepare for that day!
And as the long, long centuries and even longer millennia past the tale of the Great Warrior King of the Moon. (Actually he never used his sword. And he never fought in a battle either, how the title ‘Warrior King’ came to be was anyone’s guess. He was a merchant before he brought everyone together!) From Mercury and Venus to Uranus and Neptune the tale spread of their King’s Vow to return! It was only a matter of time until they could find him! As time went on the true history of King Tenma became a little... distorted.
The tale later changed to how the King led a great battle against the remnants of Beryl’s forces, fighting a tooth and nail battle and emerging victorious as he united the people into the New Moon Kingdom. Paintings and statues of this event was commissioned for every planet, although each planet had it’s... own image of the tale.
On Mercury, the Kingdom’s Technological and Medical centre, the artists tried to make a realistic impression of the battle, hence the King was always shown either at the forefront of an army or with a group of knights and mages.
Venus was not only the Kingdom’s version of Hawaii or California it also exported the finest clothing, gold and jewellery. A somewhat romance obsessed culture Tenma was always shown standing upon a fallen foe, his shirt either in tatters on his body or in tatters off his body and a number of scantly clad maidens surrounding him (And in more... erotic paintings wearing nothing at all).
The Moon was both the political and magical hearts of the Kingdom, and hence imagery of the King’s ‘epic’ battle could be found everywhere, often cutting into foes with the golden blade of the Crescent Moon Sword (Never mind the fact that it didn’t appear until his second week as King, the sword dropping into his throne three inches away from the royal jewels...) and fields of slain foes behind him.
Mars was more of a warrior culture, churning out not only the best soldiers and weapons in the Kingdom but the best metals and alloys as well. In their portraits Tenma would be trusting his sword into the chest of a foe as they stood upon a stack of fallen foes, his body covered in blood (Depending on who you asked is was the blood of a foe, his own blood, or both) and dirt.
Jupiter’s primary exports consisted of food and wood of all kinds. Soldiers of Jupiter were also highly valued, but it was not as deep a part of their culture as that of Mars. The portraits here often consisted of Tenma offering his hand to help a comrade to his or her feet. Most of these pictures were of female knights or soldiers who’s armour or clothes were close to falling off, showing that woman of Jupiter were only behind those of Venus in obsessions with romance.
Saturn’s exports mostly consisted of jewels and well crafted tools and items from simple things like shovels and pots to oil lamps and furniture. The artwork of Saturn was often in darker tones than the rest of the Kingdom, and Tenma’s hair or something else often shadowed his face. Often times his pose was relaxed as he looked over the carnage that was the field of battle.
Of course travel from planets needed to be possible for a Kingdom such as this to exist. While teleportation was possible it was considered impractical unless it was a major emergency, so ships capable of crossing space were required. This was what Uranus brought to the table in addition to marble and various other material for making grand structures, roads and statues. The images of the Warrior King often had a ship in the background, either aloft of on the ground, Tenma standing tall with his sword resting on either his shoulder or the point on the ground as his hand rested on the grip.
Lastly Neptune was the artistic and musical centre. The finest pieces of pottery, statues and of course instruments of music. Blacksmith’s of Neptune forged weapons, but they were not built for the rigours of battle but as ornaments. The portraits of Neptune often showed Tenma in elaborate clothing or armour and sitting or standing at the edge of a cliff as the sun rose over the horizon.
Pluto was the only planet of the Kingdom that did not have a populace. It was home to the Time Gate, kept in a subspace fold in a location only a total of four people knew. Of those four only Sailor Pluto survived, but the New Moon Kingdom didn’t know that, they assumed she was slain with the rest of the Senshi.
Likewise Pluto had no knowledge of the New Kingdom as well, the illusions over the Planets able to even fool the Senshi of Time as long as she didn’t look hard enough to see past those illusions. Which she never did, she felt too much survivor's guilt to even direct her attentions over there, and as far as she knew no one else survived.
The tale of the Great King carried on, waiting until the day that his incarnation called out to them...
The day had come during Ranma’s battle with Saffron, even if Tenma wasn’t a warrior as the tales claimed he did have a connection with the Moon’s Power channelled through the Crescent Moon Sword. Ranma had managed to tap into this power in his grand fight, although since Ranma himself had not come into contact with the Crescent Moon Sword or knew exactly how to channel any power that carried over in his rebirth and the fact that any information of using that power did not join him on his trip to be reborn meant any power he had gained from it would have been like adding a cup of water to a lake.
It did have an effect on the Crescent Moon Sword, now hanging above the throne where the Chancellor sat. It began to emit a golden glow that filled the throne room, signalling to all who saw it their King lived again!
Nobles and Chancellors across the Kingdom flocked to the Moon in droves and a debate began as to how to bring their King back to his throne. Ideas were tossed about ranging from sending an individual to find their King to an entire fleet! The debate raged for a month until Lady Koto, the Head Priestess and Spiritual Leader of Mars pointed out that they had wasted valuable time in finding their King. She then put forth the idea that they should take a vote on how exactly to proceed.
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(Posted Fri, 21 Jan 2005 11:00)
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