In ancient times, ten thousand years and more before the now, the world was not as it is today. Before the threads of heaven were woven into a girdle around the world, before traitors tore them down, before the celestial spheres long since broken by betrayal were even glimmers in the eyes of dreaming visionaries – in that dreaming age, Earth was a very different place.
— Opening Words
Take Sailor Moon. Now add influences from Exaltednote , aesthetics from Asura's Wrathnote , observations from Shadowjack Watches Sailor Moonnote , and have it all written by an author with a background in physical cosmology and particle physics.
The result? Of The Stars, a Sailor Moon fanfic by Aleph (author of the Lyrical Nanoha fanfic Game Theory). A remake of the original series, it incorporates elements of both the manga and the anime along with the competence upgrades, extensive Worldbuilding, and willingness to break canon that the author is known for. However, it has been stated that the story will be a Reconstruction of the themes of the anime.
Each chapter of the story is part of an arc, which is equivalent to an episode of the original series. Each arc is part of a season, which is equivalent to about half a season of the original series. As of September 2017, a prologue, two interludes, and seventeen chapters have been written and the story is in between the sixth and seventh arcs of the first season. The story can be found here
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Like in her previous fic, EarthScorpion is acting as Aleph's editor and co-writer. Aleph has also commissioned artwork, which can be found here.The story has now been moved to here.
See Sailor Moon. Specific tropes found in Of The Stars:
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Literally - Usagi's mother Ikuko dyes her hair blue (since it's begun turning white with age).
Word of God is that she's actually blonder than Usagi. - Adaptational Badass:
- Sailor Moon's initial power set has been changed to be more effective and consistent - she starts with healing abilities that can repel mind controlled, energy drained victims, while the Early-Installment Weirdness Sonic Scream has been removed. The second arc makes it clear that while she's Book Dumb, Usagi is very perceptive in other ways - see Bunny-Ears Lawyer.
- Tuxedo Mask is a considerably effective melee fighter. To the point where he severs the first Youma's hand.
- He outright kills the second Youma! Badass indeed.
- More competence than badassary, but in the third arc Jadeite promptly decides that whoever killed two of his youma must be dealt with immediately. He then sends out a high-ranking youma specifically to find and eliminate the threat, and then plans to deal with the problem personally if that doesn't work.
- Age Lift: Usagi and the other senshi have their ages increased by two years (making Usagi 16). Aleph explains why
here - basically a combination of Values Dissonance and the author finding it easier to write about characters at that age.- Interestingly, Sailor V appeared three years ago. This suggests Minako became Sailor V at 13, same as in canon.
- Ascended Fangirl: Usagi, a fan of Sailor V, realizes she can use her new powers to imitate her idol.
- Answer Cut: In the opening of Chapter 6, Jadeite wonders what his mysterious opponent is planning. Cue Usagi being woken up by her mother.
- Book Dumb: Usagi. Ami lampshades this in chapter twelve."I don't understand how you can throw that tiara around and calculate angles and trajectories like some sort of savant, but not understand the theory behind what you're doing!"
- Buffy Speak: Usagi is a frequent offender.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Usagi might be ditzy, but she's able to tell that a person she's never met is Not Himself just from realizing that her teacher's current description of him doesn't match her earlier description. Later on, she decides that the best way to find the youma causing the riots is simply to follow the rioters (and she claims that she had this plan before she used the competence-boosting Disguise Pen to turn herself into a detective). This surprises Luna, who admits it's a good plan.
- The Cameo: In Chapter 9 Usagi walks past a girl with short pink hair and another girl with black braids and glasses. They're obviously meant to be Madoka Kaname and Homura Akemi, or at least Alternate Universe Captain Ersatz versions.
- Centipede's Dilemma: After using the Disguise Pen to become a detective and walking a bit, Usagi realizes that she has been successfully walking on heels. She then concentrates on walking...and trips.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- When Usagi listens to radio in chapter 3 it briefly mentions a new prosthetic limb technology from "Adrasteian Industries" and then a new late-night radio program that is coming soon. The radio program is doubtlessly the one Jadeite ran in the anime. Adrasteian Industries's importance is less clear, but has one heck of a Meaningful Name.
- In Chapter 4, Rei's grandpa mentions that people have been disappearing on buses - another of Jadeite's plots in the anime and manga.
- When Usagi listens to radio in chapter 3 it briefly mentions a new prosthetic limb technology from "Adrasteian Industries" and then a new late-night radio program that is coming soon. The radio program is doubtlessly the one Jadeite ran in the anime. Adrasteian Industries's importance is less clear, but has one heck of a
- Combat Medic: Sailor Moon, especially since Revive Kills Zombie.
- Conjunction Interruption: Happens between Usagi and Luna in Chapter 4 - Luna is attempting to teach Usagi how to use her Significance Sense to detect a youma's location, when Usagi is trying to tell Luna that she's already figured out where the youma is.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Sailors Moon and Mercury effortlessly waste a group of youma in chapter 15, and Mercury muses that it was the third time in a week they did so.
- Darker and Edgier: Oh yes. The youma in the first arc is not messing around, and in the second arc there are riots going on in the city. And in chapter 15 Jadeite actually abducts Rei.
- Die or Fly: In the first interlude this happens to Rei when she's nearly killed by the chanelas. This results in an Out of the Inferno situation. In chapter 10, Ami's powers begin activating uncontrollably when she's being drained by a youma, though all she does is create water and mist.
- Drama-Preserving Handicap: Usagi's Power Incontinence at the end of the third arc causes her powers to be weakened in the fourth.
- Dramatic Irony: In Chapter 12 Luna speculates that Rei might be descended from crow spirits. Usagi thinks about it, and decides Rei could be one. She then thinks about Rei's grandfather and says that he probably isn't a spirit because spirits don't act like him. The reader knows that Rei's grandfather is probably still one of the Seven Wizards from...err, Seven Great Youma.
- Entertainingly Wrong: Jadeite comes to the logical but hilariously wrong conclusion that whoever is thwarting his plans is a cunning, ruthless, and efficient mastermind, which is just about the least accurate description of Usagi imaginable.
- Dreaming of Times Gone By: Happens to Usagi in the first chapter.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Usagi visits Hikawa Shrine and meets a certain shrine maiden and her grandfather much earlier than she did in canon.
- In Chapter 6 Naru namedrops Rui Saionji, the first Victim of the Week from Nephrite's arc in the anime.
- Chapter 7 has a passing motorcyclist hinted to be Haruka.
- Luna speaks of the remaining Inner Senshi in Chapter 12, as well as Neptune and Uranus (though she indicates they would be harder to find). She then refuses to speak of the other Outer Senshi, saying their presence would be an ill omen.
- Also in Chapter 12: It's confirmed that Ami goes to Mugen Academy. (Her school uniform hinted at this in earlier chapters).
- Excited Title! Two-Part Chapter Name!
- Fighting a Shadow: As a result of Self-Duplication. Hubnerite creates a shadow copy of herself in Chapter 12.
- Fix Fic/The Remake: Of Sailor Moon.
- The Four Loves: Word of God says that Usagi is a textbook example of agape
- Good Hurts Evil: Sailor Moon's power, of course.
- Healing Hands: Sailor Moon. Useful for freeing the possessed and helping the injured.
- Here There Were Dragons: According to the prologue, magic once was prevalent on Earth. And while it left, it didn't vanish entirely...
- Hidden Elf Village: The prologue seems to be set in one. "Village" is a bit of an understatement, however.
- Holy Halo: Taken directly from Asura's Wrath. And according to Luna, one of Usagi's souls. Yes 'souls' as in plural
- Housewife: Ikuko may be a subversion. Chapter 12 reveals she's on one of the town planning departments, and seems to work from home.
- Improvised Weapon: Sailor Mercury uses a few in Chapter 11.
- In the Name of the Moon: As in canon. In Chapter 10 Usagi runs all the way to the monsters location without transforming first, causing her speech to devolve into Buffy Speak.
- I Surrender, Suckers: Hubnerite's surrender offer confused Usagi enough to get her and Mercury captured. Even when they got out of that mess, in the following interrogation she learnt more from the Senshi than they from her.
- Jumped at the Call: Usagi when Luna explains the broach's abilities and she realizes she can become a hero like Sailor V
- Lies to Children: Luna has to explain things this way to Usagi by necessity.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Luna keeps things from Usagi, though mostly because she thinks Usagi wouldn't understand it. At one point however, she apologizes for not teaching Usagi how to sense youma - it's implied that Luna assumed Usagi would already know how.
- The Man Behind the Monsters: Moon and Mercury are shocked to find Original Character Hubnerite is actually a human. It turns out she's a reincarnated Martian who joined Metallia's side in her past life.
- Master of Disguise: The Disguise Pen, as in canon, but it also provides basic competence in whatever the disguise is.
- Modern AU Fic: The story starts in 2008 rather than the nineties, and many of the setting elements reflect it, as shown here.
- My Significance Sense Is Tingling: As in canon, Usagi instantly learns Naru is in danger when she becomes Sailor Moon. It's quickly made clear that this is because Naru is someone close to her. Later on, Luna tells Usagi that she can learn to sense the presence of youma...and we also find that Usagi's ability to sense whether her friends are in danger isn't a one-time thing.
- It works both ways. In Chapter 12 a youma is able to sense the magic of Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury at the site of the latter's first battle.
- Mysterious Protector: Tuxedo Kamen as per usual and now we have the mysterious Moonshadow from the interlude helping Rei, who gets bonus points for the all Wild Mass Guessing involving his identity
- Mythology Gag: Chapter 15 has a short scene where Sailors Moon and Mercury easily kill off some youma. Said youma were using a weight loss program to gather energy, which was the plot of an episode of the anime.
- Never Was This Universe: As explained here, in this setting psychic powers, effective religious rites and divining fate are all objectively real even without the Dark Kingdom and the Sailor Senshi.
- In the real world, the earliest eras of human pre-history are generally called the Paleolithic, the Mesolithic, and the Neolithic. The setting in Of The Stars has four, the Arkheolithic, the Palaeolithic, the Katastrophic, and the Neolithic.
- Not His Sled: It's somewhat notable that Naru's mom isn't replaced by a youma, being out of town at the time. Instead one of her jewlery store assistants gets replaced (though Naru later mentions her being released from the hospital). This is likely meant to evoke a certain Epileptic Tree from Shadowjack Watches Sailor Moon...
- Not What It Looks Like: In Chapter 11 Ikuko notes Usagi invited Ami to her house after meeting her only a day and a half ago, and asks Usagi if there's anything she'd like to talk about. The implication is that Ikuko is asking about Usagi's romantic preferences. At least, Usagi thinks something like this and insists that it's not like that. It's then subverted when Ikuko confronts Luna and reveals she knows Usagi is Sailor Moon.
- Orwellian Retcon: After writing the second chapter, Aleph added a prologue to the story.
- Out of the Inferno: In the first interlude. Rei's power awakens semi-uncontrollably while she is on the verge of death. Without regaining consciousness or transforming, she incinerates her would-be killers, destroys one of the youma standing guard, and emerges from the conflagration only somewhat singed.
- Patchwork Fic: Word of God has stated even tidbits from the live-action adaptation will be incorporated.
- Painting the Medium: Done subtly. Luna's and the youmas' dialogue are written in single quotes. It's currently unclear what this means, but the first chapter hints that Luna is The Unintelligible to Normals.
- Some readers think that this is a form of telepathy. Which makes sense as Luna doesn't have the physical capabilities for human speech while she's a cat.
- Pocket Dimension: The Dark Kingdom, and it has more Pockets within Pockets. The initial pocket is where the palace and the Youma upper class is located, and almost looks like it is on Earth itself if one doesn't pay attention at the sears of reality. Next are the various fiefdom pockets within the initial pocket, and the effects of being removed from reality are much more obvious here, with the colors, sound, emotions and the like being stretch thin. The lords of these fiefdoms have their own pocket dimensions within the fiefdom, but avoid the above problems by the powering these pockets via the energy tax from their subjects.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: In Chapter 6, Jadeite doesn't even consider the possibility that his opponent isn't a man. Even after receiving reports of Sailor Moon, he immediately assumes that she must be a pawn to his real enemy.
- Poke in the Third Eye: Chapter 12 shows us that a Senshi's transformation is not something you can scry for on a window without it breaking.
- Portal Pool: One of Sailor Mercury's powers.
- Power Incontinence : In Chapter 8, Usagi loses control when trying to heal everyone. "Everyone" changes from "every human" to "everything".
- It happens to both Rei and Ami when their energy is being drained.
- Press X to Not Die: Discussed in Chapter 12. Apparently in the Sailor V game you push buttons at the right time to make her speeches. Probably a Shout-Out to the gameplay of Asura's Wrath.
- Reconstruction: By Word of God, the story will be this for the Messianic Archetype, where even in a realistic world The Power of Love and Forgiveness still work.
- Race Lift: The original Endymion is described as dark-skinned.
- Recursive Fanfiction: Sort of. As noted above, the story was inspired by Shadowjack Watches Sailor Moon.
- Revive Kills Zombie: Sailor Moon uses this to kill a youma in Chapter 11.
- Scenery Porn: The prologue goes into depth describing the visuals of a magical world.
- Science Fantasy: As opposed to the Magitek in Game Theory, Of The Stars is being written in what the author calls "myth-tech", which is mythological fantasy with a layer of sci-fi.
- More specifically "myth-tech" refers to what technology, especially sci-fi technology, can do and then use myth-based versions''Which is to say, they don't have ICBMs, but Jupiter can throw a sacredly-blessed and constructed thunder-spear crafted by the greatest artisan of an era which scourges dark places from the map in actinic lightning and then brings new growth to replace the brightness-burned evil [1] , and there's no Dyson Spheres; not when one might weave a girdle around the sun to bind the horror within to captivity with hair-thin chains of gold and silver woven together.
— EarthScorpion
- More specifically "myth-tech" refers to what technology, especially sci-fi technology, can do and then use myth-based versions
- Secret Secret-Keeper: Ikuko knows that her daughter is Sailor Moon, and does what she can to help Usagi without her knowledge. The reason she doesn't tell Usagi outright is because Luna asked her not to (essentially making Luna a Secret-Keeper for Ikuko).
- Self-Disposing Villain: The youma in chapter 8 tries to deliver a fatal blow to Usagi when she's distracted. The backlash from disrupting Usagi's Holy Halo obliterates it.
- Shout-Out:
- The title itself is a reference to the Sidereals of Exalted - "Of the stars" is the definition of sidereal.
- The duel in the dream in the first chapter has a character manifesting a mandala straight out of Asura's Wrath.
- Usagi's reaction to her broach: "It was hers, and it was precious."
- Usagi actually decides to work as a miko part time, mimicking the experiences of Sailor Moon's creator Naoko Takeuchi.
- Usagi's Not a Morning Person routine in Chapter 6 is pulled straight out of the first episode of Puella Magi Madoka Magica.
- See also The Cameo.
- In chapter 8, Usagi's narration states that "She was alone. Outnumbered. Without allies, without weapons, without hope."
- In Chapter 12, Naru reads The Prince of Tennis, while Usagi reads Gatchaman and Lucky Star. Usagi also asks Ami if she plays Final Fantasy or Zelda.
- The other manga Usagi gets is titled "Games Team Seventeen". When asked, the author smiled and said it might be a Spin-Off Doujin of a magical girl show. In other words, Usagi reads Game Theory.
- The other manga Usagi gets is titled "Games Team Seventeen".
- Soul Anatomy: Discussed in chapter 11, with names taken from Egyptian Mythology.
- The Social Expert: This is Usagi's normal talent in a nutshell. Chapter 15 has an example where she comforts and assists a group of freed youma victims.
- Spot the Thread: In chapter 4, Usagi quickly learns the location of the youma's fortune telling house when she sees that it's the brightest store in the area... and also that it's open, other stores having closed due to the riots.
- The Stations of the Canon: Barring certain events like Usagi meeting Rei, the first two arcs are mostly based on the anime's first two episodes. The third arc apparently skips to Episode 7... but then it turns out to be a fusion with Episode 5.
- Surrounded by Idiots: Jadeite thinks of this in chapter 15, when he muses that his youma would just throw themselves at Hikawa Shrine and die at its wards. Which is why he decides to abduct Rei personally.
- Take That!: A subtle one. In the original series, there was a subplot about the Senshi having to find the Moon Princess...ignoring the obvious possibility that the Moon Princess is Sailor Moon. In Chapter 14, the villains' discuss Sailor Moon...and think she's likely to be the reincarnated princess.
- That Came Out Wrong: This happens to Usagi when she first meets Rei.
- The Time of Myths: The prologue describing the Silver Millennium
- A True Story in My Universe: On the Spacebattles thread, EarthScorpion has a Running Gag where the story is actually a tabletop roleplaying game being played by people with names from the American Sailor Moon dub (except for the nameless GM).
- Turn Undead: Usagi's healing powers can repel the zombie-like victims that were drained of energy by a youma.
- Urban Fantasy: The "intended" setting of the fanfic.
- The Watson: Ami asks lots of questions to provide an opportunity for exposition about how the setting has changed or been expanded upon from canon. Unlike most examples of the trope, she is highly intelligent and asks very perceptive questions.
- Wham Line:
- Chapter 11:
So I thought we'd talk, you and I, Luna, about my daughter. My daughter, Sailor Moon.- Chapter 14:
She's not a youma! - White Magic: Sailor Moon's abilities seem to be this, complete with Healing Hands
- Wistful Amnesia: Past-Life Memories variant; Rei and Usagi immediately find each other familiar when they meet. The same thing happens when Usagi meets Ami.
