Code Geass

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"Geass power is similar to a wish, don't you think? It's a request to someone to give you the power to achieve what you can't on your own."

Code Geass tells stories in a world gripped by the yoke of the Holy Britannian Empire, a global hyperpower whose dominance comes from its use of the Knightmare Frame mobile weapons platform. In spite of this, however, people struggle for freedom and change with means both mundane and magical.

Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion

Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion focuses on the story of Lelouch vi Britannia, a boy who seeks a kinder, better world for his sister Nunnally to live in, armed with only the strength of his convictions and the mysterious "Power of the King." SRTMOO starts Code Geass off less than 10 episodes into its two-season, 50+-episode run; Lelouch has taken on the guise of Zero, a revolutionary seeking to eject Britannia from occupied Area 11. Opposite him is Suzaku Kururugi, an honorary Britannian and son of the last Japanese prime minister, who pilots the experimental 7th-generation Knightmare Frame Lancelot.

Integration Notes

The following are notes on what elements have been changed or adjusted as part of integration. Geass has a lot of elements that bend a tiny bit, so we've broken these into subcategories.

Britannia/Area 11

  • Britannia has been reimagined as the Britannian Union of the New Continent, a supranational union that also includes Cosmic Era Gundam's Atlantic Federation, Anno Domini Gundam's Union of Solar Energy and Free Nations, Front Mission's United States of the New Continent, and Future Century Gundam's Neo Britain. This has led to a mix of American and British aesthetics and stylings in a way we promise we've reconciled. Really. (Accordingly, America did not exist as a nation-state prior to the Universal Century in SRTMOO theme, thanks to Britannia. Neo-America is an AEU Britain-affiliated Neo Colony styled on the dream of what America could have been without Britannian intervention, almost entirely as a snub to Britannia.)
  • Likewise, as in Geass canon, Britannia lost historical Britain; accordingly, on the game, the British Isles have been split into the BU Historic Kingdom (Ireland, Scotland, and Wales) and AEU Britain.
  • Second Prince and Prime Minister Schneizel has extensive connections outside of the Britannian infrastructure, including with After Colony Gundam's Romefeller Foundation, and accordingly has membership in the G-Hound faction in addition to the BU Forces faction.
  • There are more commoners in high-ranking positions due to the magic of "money."
  • The Purist Faction has been rolled into Cosmic Era Gundam's Blue Cosmos racial supremacist organization. Much of the Purist Faction's military power has been shipped off to G-Hound by Cornelia li Britannia after its altercation with Suzaku Kururugi and Euphemia li Britannia.
  • There are more Elevens in pilot positions in the military, though these remain contentious posts due to Britannia's intense racism. Honorary Britannians are likely to get shuffled off to NERV or Londo Bell to avoid making matters worse.
  • The Japanese nationalist groups of Area 11, such as the Japanese Liberation Front and Blood of the Samurai, have heavy Amalgam and OCU Forces backing, thanks to the machinations of OCU Japan's military chief of staff, Masao Sasaki. There is a reason Zero generally does not make common cause with these dudes.
  • Charles zi Britannia is one of NERV's largest backers, and despite his invasion of Japan, seems perfectly content to sponsor the projects of Evangelion Series's Gendo Ikari. Accordingly, the Geass Directorate's resources currently get leveraged under the guise of Britannian support for NERV. PCs actively participating in the Geass Directorate may ask to be NERV-affiliated rather than BU-affiliated.

Black Knights

  • The Black Knights also incorporate the Build Base of Kotetsushin Jeeg, some Banpresto Originals characters, and the Mufti organization of Universal Century Gundam's Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway. This allows for the Black Knights to care about general Federation jerkbag behavior rather than exclusively fighting Britannia.
  • The Black Knights receive under-the-table support from Front Mission's OCU Japan and some subversive elements in the Republic of East Asia, though they are less popular choices to back than the more conventional Japanese nationalist groups like the Japanese Liberation Front and Blood of the Samurai.

Geographic

  • Many themes need a functioning, conventionally-Japanese Japan. For this reason, the Britannian invasion of Japan took longer than in the canon, ultimately seeing a stalemate broken by a peace treaty that ceded the southern half of the country to Britannia. Some geography has been moved accordingly; most of Code Geass's essential spots take place in Nagoya rather than Tokyo.
  • Kaminejima Island and its Thought Elevator have been moved to Kyushu. There's a reason for this. We promise.

Miscellaneous

  • Knightmare Frames are part of the MULS-P standardization agreement that also includes Front Mission's wanzers; 7th-generation and onward KMFs tend not to be compatible despite this, however, which may be taken as a sign of Britannian belligerence.
  • The origin of Geass powers... exists? We know where they came from. (The PCs, for the most part, do not.)

Not Integrated/Heavily Changed

  • While we legitimately love Akito the Exiled and OZ the Reflection, other shows needed European playspace. Euro Britannia has been made smaller, and Britannia has not decided to test the limits of how many crimes it can do to other Federation member nations by invading Spain. If you have pitches for Akito or OZ content, however, we would absolutely love to hear them and are eager to integrate them!
  • While the show is far enough along, in its general sense, for Shirley Fenette's father's fate to be a question, the general shape of the Narita incident in terms of Lelouch's relationship with Todoh/the NLF has happened, but Shirley's dad isn't dead. We wanted to make Kyoshiro Todoh an easy, straightforward app prospect without a lot of fussing, but not rob Lelouch of the chance to panic over causing problems on accident while solving problems on purpose.

Code Geass Jargon

Development Trivia

Included here is some trivia about the development process of SRTMOO specific to Code Geass.

  • Code Geass was actually one of the latest major adds, and of the late additions, the one with the most that had to change to suit it. More or less everything feels like it benefited from the change, though.
  • Part of the reason it's allowed to take up as much thematic space as it does is that it wasn't finished airing when SRT MUSH (2008) launched, and accordingly had a somewhat shaky integration. While many of the staff here were players, staff, or both on that game and remember it fondly, Geass came out too late in the project's life cycle to get a very fair shake, and for that reason we wanted to give one of the biggest names in oughts-era mecha a good chance on a MU*.