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Post by johnreiter902 on Jan 27, 2022 20:50:40 GMT
On a related topic, someday I want to do a story focusing on Captain Nippon, the Japanese version of Captain Nazi from WW2. All we know from his origin is that he was a soldier in the Japanese army, resurrected and empowered by a secret society of sorcerers serving the Emperor. I imagine that the sorcerers empowered him with the abilities of 6 Japanese gods, but I don't know enough Japanese mythology to figure out who. I'd love some ideas.
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Post by DocQuantum on Jan 27, 2022 21:02:28 GMT
I remember reading that first story and thinking it was a real missed opportunity, since they just put him in a typical Japanese soldier costume and made him look primitive, like a caveman. He returned later in a green costume like that of Captain Nazi. Perhaps his "primitive" look might be explained as a temporary effect of first gaining his powers, causing him to appear dull and bestial (probably connected to his being an experiment and apparently coming back from the dead with the qualities of Brute Power, Murder, Hate, Terror, Lust, and Greed) -- sometime after his original appearance, but before the end of World War II, he could reappear with a much sharper look, less monstrous. This could be explained that his powers NOW derive from Japanese gods instead of all the worst evils of man like IBAC or SABBAC.
I'd suggest that perhaps he didn't survive World War II, but might have had a child at some point during the war, and a grandson or granddaughter could somehow inherit his powers to become a modern-day Japanese hero on Earth-S, and who could team up with the Japanese hero Ultraman.
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Post by dave on Jan 27, 2022 21:28:12 GMT
Another possibility is that he had one or more children by a willing geisha and/or a series of Comfort Women who were single civilian women forced to worth in in brothels to serve the Japanese Army. Earth S could have a slew Filipino, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Burmese, Indian, and Indonesian heroes/villains as Captain Nippon's children/Grand Children.
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Post by redsycorax on Jan 27, 2022 22:41:51 GMT
Here I come to provide appropriate research! Okay, John, these might be useful in your Captain Nippon context. Does Captain Nippon have a magic trigger word? In Japanese itself, his name would be キャプテンニッポン Kyaputen'nippon. One problem might be the lack of acrostic precision amongst the aforementioned deities (or kami, as they are known in their Home Islands). Chief of the Japanese pantheon is Amaterasu-Omikami, who protects the Japanese Imperial Family and is the sun goddess. Fujin is the Japanese wind god and one of the oldest kami. Hachiman is the god of war. Omoikane is the god of wisdom. Raijin is the god of thunder and lightning and close to Fujin, for obvious reasons. Sujin is the god of water. Susanoo-no-Mikoto is the god of storms. Takemikazuchi is another thunder deity, Takeminakata is a god of battle, Isetsuhiko is a wind deity, Kagu-tsuchi is a fire god. As you can see from this Wikipedia list, I've preselected the kami who might be invoked to assist Captain Nippon: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Japanese_deitiesI'm not sure if you also want a potent Japanese wizard or sorceror to provide assistance to Captain Nippon. If you do, here's a useful background on medieval Japanese magic, or onmyodo and onmyoji. One possible suggestion is that they might be specifically motivated to assist modern Japan against the United States if they were particularly sourced from another time of crisis to the Home Islands, namely the thwarted attempted Mongol invasion of Japan. Here's the onmyodo/onmyoji link...: japanesemythology.wordpress.com/2012/09/23/onmyodo-and-onmyoji-legendary-magicians-and-diviners-of-the-heian-period/And here's a reference to the Mongol invasion attempts, which took place in CE 1274 and 1281. It is possible that one or more of the relevant kami listed above might have been invoked to frustrate the Mongol invasion attempts. These events were also regarded as pivotal events in the foundation of Japanese nationhood. In invoking the relevant deities, an effective wartime communicator might productively compare the United States as analogous to the medieval Mongol Empire, an earlier time of threat to the Chrysanthemum Throne: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_invasions_of_JapanThis is why this interpretation could be useful- wind, storms and attendant turbulent seas were instrumental in thwarting the Mongol invasion attempts in the thirteenth century: www.nippon.com/en/japan-topics/g01214/
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Post by dans on Jan 28, 2022 1:43:08 GMT
My bad, I missed a couple of words. Sorry, Dave!
Not sure why Captain Nippon's offspring would automatically be villains. He was not a good guy for our side during WWII but he was a hero to his own people. And if he had kids from an enforced comfort woman, those kids could easily be heroes when the women were freed to return to their own former countries...
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Post by DocQuantum on Jan 28, 2022 1:56:49 GMT
Nobody said that, Dan.
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Post by dave on Jan 28, 2022 2:35:16 GMT
I think they could and should be both heroes and villains.
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Post by johnreiter902 on Jan 28, 2022 3:42:35 GMT
I remember reading that first story and thinking it was a real missed opportunity, since they just put him in a typical Japanese soldier costume and made him look primitive, like a caveman. He returned later in a green costume like that of Captain Nazi. Perhaps his "primitive" look might be explained as a temporary effect of first gaining his powers, causing him to appear dull and bestial (probably connected to his being an experiment and apparently coming back from the dead with the qualities of Brute Power, Murder, Hate, Terror, Lust, and Greed) -- sometime after his original appearance, but before the end of World War II, he could reappear with a much sharper look, less monstrous. This could be explained that his powers NOW derive from Japanese gods instead of all the worst evils of man like IBAC or SABBAC. I'd suggest that perhaps he didn't survive World War II, but might have had a child at some point during the war, and a grandson or granddaughter could somehow inherit his powers to become a modern-day Japanese hero on Earth-S, and who could team up with the Japanese hero Ultraman. The part about Brute Power, Murder, Hate, Terror, Lust, and Greed was so ridiculous, that I considered it literary license brought on by wartime propaganda. More likely the jars contained the mystical essence of the six gods who empowered Captain Nippon (note, there were 6 jars. very suggestive)
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Post by johnreiter902 on Jan 28, 2022 3:49:47 GMT
Here I come to provide appropriate research! Okay, John, these might be useful in your Captain Nippon context. Does Captain Nippon have a magic trigger word? In Japanese itself, his name would be キャプテンニッポン Kyaputen'nippon. One problem might be the lack of acrostic precision amongst the aforementioned deities (or kami, as they are known in their Home Islands). Chief of the Japanese pantheon is Amaterasu-Omikami, who protects the Japanese Imperial Family and is the sun goddess. Fujin is the Japanese wind god and one of the oldest kami. Hachiman is the god of war. Omoikane is the god of wisdom. Raijin is the god of thunder and lightning and close to Fujin, for obvious reasons. Sujin is the god of water. Susanoo-no-Mikoto is the god of storms. Takemikazuchi is another thunder deity, Takeminakata is a god of battle, Isetsuhiko is a wind deity, Kagu-tsuchi is a fire god. As you can see from this Wikipedia list, I've preselected the kami who might be invoked to assist Captain Nippon: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Japanese_deitiesI'm not sure if you also want a potent Japanese wizard or sorceror to provide assistance to Captain Nippon. If you do, here's a useful background on medieval Japanese magic, or onmyodo and onmyoji. One possible suggestion is that they might be specifically motivated to assist modern Japan against the United States if they were particularly sourced from another time of crisis to the Home Islands, namely the thwarted attempted Mongol invasion of Japan. Here's the onmyodo/onmyoji link...: japanesemythology.wordpress.com/2012/09/23/onmyodo-and-onmyoji-legendary-magicians-and-diviners-of-the-heian-period/And here's a reference to the Mongol invasion attempts, which took place in CE 1274 and 1281. It is possible that one or more of the relevant kami listed above might have been invoked to frustrate the Mongol invasion attempts. These events were also regarded as pivotal events in the foundation of Japanese nationhood. In invoking the relevant deities, an effective wartime communicator might productively compare the United States as analogous to the medieval Mongol Empire, an earlier time of threat to the Chrysanthemum Throne: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_invasions_of_JapanThis is why this interpretation could be useful- wind, storms and attendant turbulent seas were instrumental in thwarting the Mongol invasion attempts in the thirteenth century: www.nippon.com/en/japan-topics/g01214/Captain Nippon does not have a trigger word. He is empowered all the time. I doubt that he has a secret identity either, though he certainly had a name before he was killed in China and his body re-animated. On the positive side, this mean that his patrons do not need to spell out an acronym.
Thank you so much much for your research! That is just what I need. How does this sound?
Wisdom: Omoikane
Strength:Hachiman Stamina:Takeminakata Power: Amaterasu
Courage:Oda Nobunaga
Speed: Raijin
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Post by redsycorax on Jan 28, 2022 22:35:05 GMT
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Post by DocQuantum on Jan 28, 2022 23:13:50 GMT
It was a group of black magicians in the story
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Post by redsycorax on Jan 28, 2022 23:29:31 GMT
Okay, that helps. They could be affiliated to the Tsuchigumo, or historical renegade local clans. Perhaps their magicians were blocked from participation in the Onmyoji due to the status of their outlaw clans: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsuchigumo...so they could have ended up associated with this highly unpleasant character, who, as you can see, is no respecter of life/death boundaries: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuten-d%C5%8DjiSo, say Captain Nippon's dying self or spirit was waylaid by renegade tsuchigumo wizards on the site of Yomotsu Hirasaka, under the command of the malevolent Shuten-doji?
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Post by johnreiter902 on Jan 29, 2022 1:56:08 GMT
Okay, that helps. They could be affiliated to the Tsuchigumo, or historical renegade local clans. Perhaps their magicians were blocked from participation in the Onmyoji due to the status of their outlaw clans: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsuchigumo...so they could have ended up associated with this highly unpleasant character, who, as you can see, is no respecter of life/death boundaries: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuten-d%C5%8DjiSo, say Captain Nippon's dying self or spirit was waylaid by renegade tsuchigumo wizards on the site of Yomotsu Hirasaka, under the command of the malevolent Shuten-doji? It's a cool idea, if you go with the idea that the sorcerers really were evil. Of course, the part about them being "black magicians" might have been propaganda, in which case they might have actually been the Onmyoji.
However, from your outline, I get the idea that necromancy is frowned upon in Japan, and so the magicians probably were evil. Maybe, if I re-tell the origin from the Japanese perspective, I will include a scene where the Onmyoji warn the emperor not to traffic with the dark arts, and beg him to choose a different solution to Japan's crisis.
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Post by redsycorax on Jan 29, 2022 2:13:06 GMT
I'm not sure that it would have been the Emperor involved. It probably would have been WW2 Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, a rabid ultranationalist, whose lack of wartime ethical scruples when it came to the Japanese Empire was notorious- the guy presided over such infamous events as the Rape of Nanking, the Bataan death March, the starvation of civilians in the occupied territories, enslavement and abuse of Koran 'comfort women'. active use of torture and bacteriological warfare experiments. Therefore, if some renegade factional Onmyoji came to Tojo and argued that necromancy was justifiable when it came to patriotism and defence of the Empire, I think he would probably have been ruthless enough to have authorised it at once: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hideki_TojoThere's active debate within Japanese historian circles over the extent of Hirohito's concrete political power and direct influence over Japan's wartime objectives. Some argue for considerable influence at the initial stage, others argue that he delegated enforcement and execution authority to Tojo and responsible wartime Cabinet ministers and the armed forces, which may mean that Tojo was probably the best candidate to authorise the use of darkmagick in this context: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HirohitoPerhaps, in an interesting twist, have the unknown soldier's wife be related to the Dark Onmyoji and plead with her father to allow Captain Nippon to be resurrected from the dead? (I got the idea from the song Ogi No Mato, which was played when the Off World Colonies blimp passed over the derelict building in Blade Runner. It is said to depict something akin to the William tell folklore story although it involves a romantic couple:): www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQYJM2SdrVU
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Post by redsycorax on Jan 31, 2023 0:28:34 GMT
Returning to the Nazi Marvel Family origins of this thread, I've tweaked my initial concept of a Nazi Marvel Family somewhat and introduced a somewhat unpleasant analogue of Captain Marvel Junior/Black Adam, only I've made Storm Boy a supernaturally empowered anti-Semite endowed with his abilities by Klingsor of Earth-964 (so he's from the same alternate Earth as Captain Thunder and Lightning Girl) in my Justice Alliance Earth-500 series to get away from the Black Adam aspect of that character's provenance. And I've also tied in why Storm Boy is such a fanatical anti-Semite- he's actually an iteration of the medieval anti-Semitic hate myth character Little Hugh of Lincoln from twelfth century England, who's unfortunately immortal.
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