Holy Cow~ I love this. Thanks for getting so excited people; I'm getting all pumped up for this too now!
Decided to browse for images for the character I have in mind. These two are good, but I'm not sure... the guns might not be big enough.
Of course, such weapons may not actually be valid options, so these might not work out, but... sharing is good, I figure people might enjoy them anyway~
Little Girls with Big Guns? You're in. No, but seriously, I love that trope. Guns are definitely a part of this universe; one particular elemental alignment might be able to just pull of wielding something that big and heavy~
... Everytime Wooly says "peace~~" like that, my bullsh*t counter rises. There's been not a single time in human history where a paramilitary organization separated from the government yet at the same time supposedly serving the government has ended well. Not a single time. So I look forward to see some shades at sometime.
Peace~~
Now that's just cynical Marx! Setting things aside for a moment, let's remember this is an anime universe. If we start questioning things like logic and human nature, we'll start to question why maids are being awesome spec ops soldiers anyways. And we can't have that.
the plus side (or downside depending on their cooking ability) is that they get to eat the result, only incentivizing improvement. The same goes for lunch and dinner.
From experience, I can say that does not tend to work that well. I made my food (only for lunch though) for 2 years without barely improving. Yet only 3 months doing food sometimes for my brother has made increase my proficiency threefold (of course, it has merely changed from 1 to 3, but to me it was an improvement). Normally it's when you do food only for yourself that you get very lazy and your worst habits come to light.
Well, that depends on person to person. I refuse to put crap in my body if I don't have to or if I don't get a kick out of it, so I'll cook to the best of my ability and resources for any given day regardless of whether or not I'm cooking for myself or for Cat. It's more a personality thing I think. Anyways it's a moot point because if a maid slacks off cooking for herself, one of the teacher maids will probably start screaming at her until she starts getting better. Between public humiliation/punishment and eating good food, most choose to eat good food.
On NPCs, Wooly, I actually have a nice idea for a pair of instructors (one a "scholar", the other a maid) NPCs. I have more or less the appearance and bios thought out. Would you like me to write it and send it to you? I advise you, it's going to be classic Marx's wall of text. Oh, and given they're supposed to be instructors NPCs and relatively old (~40s) I meant for them to be fairly powerful.
Sure, thanks for doing that. Can't promise that they'll fit without being adjusted, but I'll be happy to take a look!
-Given that everything outside the Barrier Cities is dangerous and barren, there's agriculture, mining, or anything to obtain raw materials? Or is almost everything salvaged and the food generated otherwise? There's even a lot of fauna or flora to eat or maintain the ecosystem?
Yes, people farm and do all those good things within the habitability bubble. The bubble's large enough to sustain some farms, although hydroponics technology is far more commonplace. Mines for metal and the such are sometimes exploited if there's an ore body within the bubble. Otherwise you might go and salvage some of those crashed airships and ruined cities yonder. Within the bubble, there's relatively normal fauna and flora preserved from when the ships crashed many hundreds of years ago; outside's sort of a different story.
-Also, there are different government systems between Barrier Cities? As in, maybe some have a king (either as a ceremonial head of state or as a true rules), other maybe ruled by an oligarchy, a third a social democracy, etc. Or all are generic democracies with a very similar system?
Yes. Most Barrier Cities still call their leader/leaders "Captain," but the way the title is inherited differs from city to city. The power vested in the Captain also differs from city to city. You'll learn lots more about the other Barrier Cities that exist on Antiope eventually.
-Does the power of maids fade with age? Or they simply move from front-line jobs when they start getting old?
Do old people even exist in anime? Ha! Well sure, an old maid of 80 years with arthritis isn't going to be sent to the front lines. Jeez. Just imagine her getting dolled up in the maid combat outfits...
Seriously though; Maids usually stay at their job as long as their bodies allow them to. Remember that having most alignments of Adalstier manipulation don't actually change your physical abilities, so by the time a maid is 40, her prime has come and gone. Still, you probably wouldn't want to cross her if she hasn't turned in her Adalstier Engine quiet yet. Or even in general. I've seen a retired ranger at the veteran's hospital at 75 who probably could've beaten the crap out of every doctor on my team before we'd even be able to wet our pants.
-Besides combat maids, are there still old classic maids around?
In a shocking turn of gender reversal, that role is now almost exclusively occupied by butlers. Nobody wears a maid outfit unless they're a Maid. Sort of how nobody wears military uniforms or jackets unless they're military (or that's how it should be anyways. Scumbags.).
Maid uniform - is there any reason why these battle hardened individuals wear (possibly) frilly dresses into combat?
See above point on anime. I briefly considered having the maid outfit be more like a dress uniform to be worn on ceremonial or formal occasions, but that seems to beat the whole point of Maid RPG. So we're going full anime powered by rule of
sexy cool. You will be wearing maid outfits onto the battlefield ladies. And you'll rock it.
Does our Barrier City happen to have an upper class? Are they more like a nobility, or wealth based, or something else?
Indeed our city does! They're probably a blend of all of that. There aren't noble titles by law, but obviously some old families that can trace their family trees all the way back to the upper officers of the ship before it crashed probably still wield considerable influence and power in terms of wealth. Mostly, ours is a merit based society where people have a pretty equal shot at rising with education and self-improvement and where individuals that contribute more to society rise to higher tiers. It's not like there's no luck, inheritance, corruption, etc. but it's probably less than in some other cities. Don't forget that the Maids are also pretty upper class; they get the first slice of the budget every year, no joke.
