That's all that was really necessary. Just finding that first Ring would have caused everything to start changing.
Finding more of them would have just accelerated the changes.
When the father team of Soun & Genma had hatched their latest plot to unite the families, that's all that they were thinking. They were not thinking about how much magic they'd seen, and how the only purpose behind any of that magic had been to screw the victim's lives up.
So one magical "wedding ring" (not that the shop owner believed in the things, mind you) for Genma's Wayward Son and one for Soun's headstrong daughter.
The crafter of the Rings had been related to Happosai. Of the same bloodline that had distantly produced Ataru Moroboshi. A master of magery, a sorcerer nearly supreme, he had spent most of a mortal lifetime learning how to craft the Rings. He'd mastered the most potent and esoteric of magical formulae to make sure that every part of the enchantment was perfect. Artifact level enchantments as eternal as the Ginzuishou. Nothing less would do for the dream he'd had as a child.
That dream had been born of fear and despair and a desire for revenge. Oh yes, there had been lust involved too. But when he'd gotten his start it had oddly enough been a desire for justice that had gotten him going. When he'd seen childhood friends died - mowed down in one of the petty conflicts between the Earth Kingdom and the Moon Kingdom by one of those empowered by that Moon Kingdom - a Sailor Senshi. Destroyed for the crime of three starving kids trying to steal lunch in that "perfect society" under Queen Serenity.
So he'd studied and learned and grown in power. He'd spent most of his time in isolation, dedicating himself to this new goal.
He'd made them so that not only were the rings attractive to look at, they would increase the abilities of the wearer. He would be the great and glorious Master, but he would benefit those he took as well.
Some would transform the wearer into the appropriate race if the wearer wasn't already. He'd mastered potent magics by then and learned the trick of it. He'd added the Other rings - because he never knew what would catch his eye in later years. Some of the portents of the future were strange and terrible. Still he learned and perfected his craft - because anything less than perfect would bring the whole thing down around his... ears.
And then he'd been too damn old to make proper use of it! So he'd set his own spirit into the Rings as his body failed from age and the excitement of success.
To Hell if he was going to wait this long for the activation only to have his long term descendent waste his youth in this situation! He had four girls who really damn cute and interested in him, plus he was living with two more who weren't exactly hard on the eyes, and this waste-head wasn't doing one damn thing about it!
Of course he'd later discovered that after one set of Senshi passed their burdens to the next generation, that they weren't completly guilty themselves. There were geases involved, where any dreams they may once have had would end up ground up and destroyed for love of their Queen. That the damn Senshi, eternal and beautiful cheerleaders and killing machines of the Silver Millenium. They were victims too. Oh he had suspected something like that since he saw the Senshi destroy his friends. Now it was revealed as fact instead of theory. And by himself, he could not lift those geases. Which brought him full circle to the original reasons for his Rings. A desire for vengeance - now not against the Senshi but against the system that had created them and the oaths sworn of that damn Ginzuishou.
Oh to be sure, the Moon Kingdom was a nice place if you were of the ruling caste, and if your free will didn't matter to you. There had to be a better way though. Unfortunately the Ginzuishou was an artifact of near perfect Order and to subvert it you had to have a driving force of Chaos but directed into an orderly fashion.
And since he was a bit of a slob, he came up with ten lesser rings that would be useful in creating happy little helpers. They'd have gone about and continued to be happy little drones - just that they would be his drones and not Queen Serenity's. Domestic help with a need to perform those duties. Among others. Another eleven because he'd seen some images in those divinations of the future that he'd guessed were some sort of werebeast. Not knowing that his own Rings would create them.
Because his body was currently a Ring, and such spirits tended to be more emotion than reason, he hadn't quite registered that this was not the Silver Millenium and Queen Serenity was not in charge.
It wouldn't have mattered much to him because Crystal Tokyo was on its way, which would have repeated many of the same mistakes as its forerunner.
Finally some "bargain basement" Rings. These to give out to others who came to him willingly but not as part of the harem. A simple geas that would leave them loyal to him, and gave them some minor benefits.
Beyond that he really hadn't set any plans in stone because he'd spent so much time and effort just focussing on accomplishing this much.
Now of course, the One Ring could be used to pull the others to it. To that end, and to cause Ranma's resistance to tumble, the next recruits should be someone close to him.
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(Posted Fri, 25 Oct 2002 00:06)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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