Scifi Magical Girls-A Jumpchain project

Toaru Kagaku no Mahou Shoujo: A Jumpchain project

By Andy Cyril

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is to not stop questioning.” Albert Einstein

The goal of this initiative is to develop a methodology for empowering magical girls which primarily derive their powers from science as opposed to magic-henceforth referred to as Sufficiently Advanced Science (SAS) Girls. For the purposes of this initiative, "science" is henceforth defined as the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment. Due to the paradox of a Jumper's paradigms of research quite possibly incorporating materials and paradigms which have no analogue in a given reality as well as the overlap between systems of magic such as Full Metal Alchemy and Puella Magi-style "magical" empowerment, for the purposes of this project while it is permissable to create countermeasures against arcane energies based on off-world materials, the SAS girls' abilities must be explainable through roughly quantifiable variables. In short, ask yourself: Is this a Khorne-approved means of killing someone? If the answer is "yes" then it's A-OK.

Addendum: It is felt that to preserve the spirit of true magical girliness, this project is only morally sanctionable when an in-universe threat with the potential to threaten an entire species, nation or world. Otherwise you wouldn't have a magical girl army-you'd have a bunch of child soldiers shooting whoever you want them to which we feel defeats the point of the project.

1. Induction

As a combination communications hub, HQ and outfitting center, a tower based on Ar Tonelico tech capable of flight through Futurama-style space folding and various forms of anti-gravity will be created. To oversee it, a custom AI with unlimited admin privileges and sentient security subroutines as assistants will be written as an artificial Origin Revytail to oversee its operation, maintenance and the distribution of SAS girl privileges. This tower will remain approximately a mile in orbit and constantly moving across the world/hovering over a metropolis depending on circumstances within a given jump. Its modifications include:

-A triple Dune/Mass Effect/Marvel-era forcefield designed to emulate the Antax Pattern Void Shields
-A complex enchantment based on the Stargate network, using redstone circuits to draw from the Orgel of Origins as well as a satellite array projecting a 3D topographic image of the world, in order to generate Space Bridges portals at key locations to transport SAS girls for debriefing, upgrading or emergency missions.
-A transerver
-Onboard songstone based sonic weaponry upgraded with GDI's sonic tech
-Communications array and network based on Mass Effect's interstellar network to analyse ongoing global trends/detect monsters as well as enable communication between SAS girls
-Fabrications unit producing the arms and equipment described below; fundamental design is based off Starcraft's Terran tech although aspects of technology from various jumps will also be included.
-Biotic tanks filled with stem cells and prions based off Resident Evil and Lord of Light genetic manipulation; think of a lesser Captain America super serum, to ensure a primary schoolgirl will be at peak human physical fitness without risk of overdose/death. In short-only SAS girls who put in the effort to work out will be able to flip over cars with their bare hands. On the plus side-SAS girls never lose their gains, and gain an eidetic memory through this procedure. This room will also contain various forms of medical equipment for general healthcare
-A data jack array based off SAO and Generic Virtual World virtual reality simulators, for downloading combat/surveillance skills as well as running fight simulations to maintain SAS girls' proficiency in combat.

A separate productions unit will create moth-like drones (based on Lord of Light's animal drone technology) about the size of a swan in order to scout for candidates. Using the technology of Those Who Came Before in tandem with Lord of Light's mental probing mounted on an Iji scanner candidates will be selected based on psychological stability, physical fitness, innate conviction, problem solving abilities, the capacity for teamwork, a secure home life, the potential for learning and other physical and mental traits that are desirable in covert operations.

All candidates are to remain unaware of this selection process. When candidates are selected, the official line is that they have been chosen by Intellectia, the Spirit of Progress, to defend the world and their loved ones from all evils.

It is to be made explicitly clear that being an SAS girl is a huge commitment lasting a year at minimum and more than likely a lifetime although puberty/aging will not be affected; despair is inefficient in running a fighting force. It is also to be made explicitly clear that becoming an SAS girl is optional, and upon refusal the drones will not press the offer. Finally, it is imperative that all candidates are fully aware of genetic modifications in the course of becoming a SAS girl.

Retirement is entirely voluntary on the SAS girls' part, and comes with their IFF's cancellation preventing them from accessing technology not already ingrained into their biology. As mentioned before, this program is deemed only suitable for deployment on worlds facing a consistant and universal threat to civilisation.

All candidates will be chosen from an age range of 12-18; needless to say the danger of missions will vary depending on age and overall capability, with younger members performing low-risk surveillance missions.

Once selected, candidates will be required to report to the hub tower to receive their loadout, and undergo a VR tutorial wherein they will acquire the skills for using and maintaining their gear as well as covert ops training and basic knowledge of how to receive and respond to missions. They may go through this tutorial at any time of their choosing, but are only sanctioned as official SAS girls after passing it.

2. Loadout

SAS girls undergo a mandatory procedure involving a (painless) injection of fluid via TF2 medic-gun; apart from the notes mentioned above, this substrate will greatly accelerate telomere division, blood clotting and overall regeneration to the point where a papercut will heal in seconds. While excessive genetic manipulation is deemed counter-intuitive to the premise of this project, it is imperative that physical integrity is not damaged in the course of missions. To that end, a lattice of nanomachines derived from Iji and Metal Gear Rising sciences will be supplanted through SAS girls' muscular and nervous systems; being much less energy intensive than Armstrong's implanted heart, they primarily increase durability, reflexes and endurance rather than strength although the utilities from Iji nanomachines are retained.

Veteran SAS girls i.e. those who have seen action for over 1 year may also, after a strict assessment of overall conduct, petition to undergo Mosaic Organ surgery or esper abilities. However, plasmids/tonics are available for SAS girls at any level with a minimum of a month's work on duty.

The primary gadget for the SAS girls is a modified Omnitool, which through Totally Spies tech can be disguised as an ornery wristwatch. This device uses hardlight to generate various functions, including but not limited to:
-Generation of alchemic circles via hardlight to replicate FMAesque effects
-Cracking and hacking electronic defences and/or advanced technological weapons; the tutorial will include a guide on how to write viruses and other forms of electronic warfare using a user-friendly interface equipped on the omnitool.
-Forcefield generation, with settings to modify forcefields with a hexagonal structure for greater physical durability or temporarily overcharge said field with plasma to use the field as a weapon
-The projection and manipulation of electrstatic energy, based on Conduit weapons' designs
-The formation of tool such as lockpicks, traplines and small explosives; while it is considered unfeasible to mass produce a Green Lantern ring's capabilities via HALO hardlight projectors it is felt that reverse engineering can lead to a fairly versatile array of hardlight constructs being created
-An Iji-era scanner
-Atlantean solar cells and a transfer system for fuelling SAS girls' armour as well as the device itself. It is inconclusive whether hamon can be reproduced mechanically; for now plans are to include a training regime on producing hamon, as well as for the default projectiles available from the omnitool being lasers fueled by sunlight strong enough to wield through steel doors
-A communications transmitter enabling SAS girls to talk to each other on a private network, as well as an IFF based on the user's brainwaves to enable SAS girls to identify each other outside of uniform
-Hologram projection and manipulation. This includes a complex light projection to create the tangible but weightless simulation of a traditional frilly magical girl dress, which can be customised to each candidates' preference.
-A signal generator that can reach around the world in half a second based off Mass Effect communications. This may be activated remotely using the omnitool, but activates immediately if the SAS girl loses consciousness, transporting them to the tower-hub.

Instead of a traditional frilly dress, candidates receive a lightweight but durable cyborg exoskeleton woven with carbon nanotubes and ceramic plating on the chest, back and thighs, which includes a modular helment that can be fully or partially retracted. This armor is further enhanced with the following modifications:
-A sublayer of Raildex-era hard taping
-A sublayer of life fibers equivalent to a 3 Star Goku Uniform
-A miniaturised V.W.E.S reverse engineered from Mega Man X's weapon systems. Due to mass production, the copy system can only store 2 weapon systems at a time and is limited to what can be reproduced through hardlight and transformium.
-A stored set of nanomachines, which regulate the user's physiology and wellbeing as well as house a store of grey goo nanomachines to simulate the capabilities of Equ. Dark Matter armor
-A jetpack
-A built-in series of HF machetes and throwing knives
-An on-board piece of Iron Man-style sonic handblasts utilising songstone implants
-A wrist mounted grabbling hook built from adamantine wire
-A miniaturised and modified proton beam and atomic destabilizer generated through a syringe connected to the armor proper.
-On-board kinetic motors to continuosly power the armor as it is being used; typically, the nanomachines stored in the suit will absorb ambient radiation to fuel and auto-repair the suit
-Various holy inscriptions inscribed throughout the armor's plating to withstand demonic force

All suits may be recharged at the central tower, and require minimum power to send a request for recharging or maintenance via moth-drone.

Finally, all SAS girls are issued with a medi-gun. Raildex era firearms, reverse engineered Covenant tech and Dead Space projectile weapons may be requisitioned following the submission of a report detailing the justified use of these weapons. Weapon loans are registered, and failing to return weapons 24 hours or later after the completion of a mission will lead to SAS power privileges being remotely revoked.

3. Advanced ordinance

The following weapons are only to be issued at the AI's discretion after a SAS girl has registered a supernatural incursion deemed acceptable to the AI; typically this is a supernatural threat that has killed multiple SAS girls or that threatens an entire city.

-Gauss and darklight turrets or heavy weapons
-Ride armor with variable fighter-like capabilities based on studies of the prototype "thunder chariot" from Lord of Light, with the above as ordinance
-Ars Armagus weaponry-typically some form of firearms, although melee weapons are available on request
-Beam Katanas
-Orbital satellite high energy weapons
-Thermal/Implosion detonators
-Variable Time-Stasis fields
-Spark Science-derived sentient construct which spawns numerous moth drones by absorbing local metals, which can be directed by the SAS girl attuned to said construct; the construct resembles a UFO. For the moth drones' specs and capabilities, see Necron Scarabs and the Combat Mandala Array-although note they are likely to be more fragile due to inferior quality metals in other realities
-Attached weaponry emitting the Universal Fire (Addendum: This stuff puts GAUSS WEAPONS to shame in sheer precision, impact and range and we can only assume whoever's desperate enough to need this is up against a goddamn kaiju OR some JRPG boss calling itself the Demon King of Chaos or something. Veterans ONLY)

4. Mission Control

The Tower's AI assesses the world for signs of supernatural threats to humanity and major criminal uprisings, before delegating missions of varying importance to the SAS girls. Extreme threats to the world will be displayed here as well. However, a certain amount of laissez faire management is encouraged and it is likely SAS girls in the same municipality will be allowed to nominate a first among equals and oversee its protection collectively, girl scouts style. A certain amount of friendly competition is encouraged and reasonable usage of abilities outside of combat is tolerated, but bullying/infighting/unprovoked attacks on civilisans will be immediately punished by temporarily banning the offender's IFF and thus access to SAS tech.

5. Concerns and considerations AKA WHAT HAS SCIENCE DONE?!

-One of the key aspects of magical girls is that they are meant to combat monsters, not other humans, with things like purification blasts instead of bullets. However, the process of trial and error in science inevitably lends itself well to weaponisation against all targets. The success of this initiative is therefore predicated on the AI's ability to interpret and stay true to a humane set of values.

-Disruption to the central tower would pose a tremendous hazard to the project's integrity. However, the logistics of constructing sub-stations to replicate its functions may prove problematic, and likely vary on a need-to-build basis from jump to jump

-Being meguka is suffering, and some magical girls may feel conflicted over whether to continue their career as they grow older. We're...not really sure how to handle this actually, other than perhaps having the AI performing some equivalent of a discharged with honours ceremony the moment an SAS girl goes to uni. Possibly have some more AIs available for psychological consultation? As for those who wish to stay on-the initiative is aimed at targeting in-universe threats which are often extremely pervasive in setting where they exist at all. We're thinking of making biological immortality and eternal youth an optional thing for SAS girls older than 20

-On the one hand, we're not sure if cybernetics or kaiju morphing goes against the spirit of being a magical girl. On the other hand, those are pretty damn cool powers to have.

-There's no real reason why this programme can't extend to boys as well. But hey, anon was asking about creating scifi magical girls, not boys