crack au day!

[aria]

And before I go, a meme!

Take any one of the fandoms you know I write/rec/read AND give me a type of AU (space opera AU, pirate AU, superhero AU, etc) or another time period (Ancient Rome, Regency England, etc). I will then explain the gist of the story I would write for that AU.

I should add that any historical AUs will be EXTREMELY INACCURATE, and you are probably safer with superheroes.

Comments

[polarisnorth]

I want to do something really cracked out like a Harry Potter superhero AU or a Narnia space opera. :D :D :D

[aria]

Harry Potter superhero AU: a bit like an X-Men fusion, actually! Obviously the basic plot is the same: when Harry was a year old, the mutant supremacist Voldemort came to kill Harry and his family, and mysteriously vanished instead. Harry grows up with his relatives, who don't want a mutant in the family and repeatedly try to squash it out of him, until when he's eleven Harry's contacted by Professor Dumbledore and swept off to the Hogwarts School for Mutants to fulfill his destiny, &c &c.

Harry has flight and superspeed; his best friends are Hermione, whose stunning brainpowers manifest in extremely clever thinking and telekinesis though not, to her disappointment, telepathy; and Ron, who can stretch his limbs way far and feels a bit awkward for not having a more interesting power. (Especially since Fred and George make things explode, Percy makes forcefields, Charlie can transform into a dragon, and Bill can walk through walls. It's a lot to live up to.) Meanwhile presumably Draco Malfoy makes ice, and no one's quite sure what Professor Snape's power is, but everyone has the awful feeling he can read minds.

[aria]

And a Narnia space opera, oh my god what are you.

Well, evidently there's a confederation of planets that are under the rule of the terrible dictatorship of the White Witch. Under her control, the terraforming settings on every planet are nearly too cold for habitation, and all public holidays are banned. Her secret police lurk in every spaceport, and anyone who displeases the Witch is sent to her palace in the capitol city and are never seen again; the citizenry fears that she has them atomized.

Meanwhile, the four Pevensie children live on a planet far from the Narnian Confederation. But their lives are also troubled: their planet is at war with itself, and to escape the bombings, children are being sent off in ships to a safe spaceport. Unfortunately for the Pevensies, their ship is caught in a solar storm and dragged off-course into Narnian space, where they are commandeered by General Tumnus and his ragged band of resistance forces.

The children see that the cause to free Narnia from the White Witch is a good one, especially since their own war-torn planet is one of the Witch's next targets. They join the resistance, rising through the ranks, until Lucy discovers the intelligence that there is a weapon known as ASLAN that can defeat the Witch's forces forever! In a daring final mission, they find ASLAN, defeat the Witch, and with the resistance they set about restoring peace and order to Narnian space.

[polarisnorth]

Both of these are awesome but I am really ridiculously fond of the Narnia one. If you changed a few details it could probably pass as an entirely original story, too. :D

[starlady]

General Tumnus and his ragged band of resistance forces.

The image of James McAvoy as a faun general out of space opera is priceless. *dies of laughter*

[innocentsmith]

BSG Regency AU!

(I'm sorry. If that's too cruel, I can prompt something else. :D )

[lowkey]

mwahahah, that's awesome.

[lowkey]

Clearly, the Cylons are clockwork men GONE TERRIBLY WRONG.

[aria]

Haha, no, AMAZING. Although, fair warning, I haven't watched any BSG or thought about it properly for ... two years now? Or however long it's been since the show ended, so I may be a bit rusty.

But I am fairly sure it is the tale of Kara Thrace, whose father died some time ago and whose only prospect is to marry a good man so that she might leave the home of her horrible mother. Kara is not particularly good at being ladylike but she still attracts the attention of the young Zak Adama; they're engaged to be married when tragedy strikes again and Zak is lost in a riding accident. Zak's brother Lee seems to be interested in Kara, and so is the handsome stranger Sam Anders. Meanwhile Bill Adama is courting the influential dowager Laura Roslin, and trying to help his friend Saul Tigh make something of himself now that their days of military service are over.

Then, naturally, CLOCKWORK PEOPLE GONE TERRIBLY WRONG, thanks to the misguided efforts of scientist Gaius Baltar! I'm not quite sure how to make this not go weird and gothic, but perhaps they are in fact harmless clockwork curiosities, but Tigh believes they are a threat to good society, and meanwhile Kara is extremely bewildered that the one called Leoben is also trying to court her.

I have to say, there's a tragic lack of ladies doing political things and blowing stuff up in this universe.

[innocentsmith]

HEE. AWESOME. I would so read this.

Saul and Ellen Tigh would be great in a Regency AU - that scene in "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down" where she's having dinner with the Adamas and Roslin and being hilariously inappropriate could basically go exactly the same way. XD

Kara is extremely bewildered that the one called Leoben is also trying to court her.

♥ I kind of want a cartoon of clockwork!Leoben bowing and offering flowers to a WTF-ing Regency!Kara.

there's a tragic lack of ladies doing political things and blowing stuff up in this universe.

Hmm. Perhaps the twin sisters, Sharon and Athena Valerii, are Ada Lovelace-types and figure out how to disrupt the clockwork people's functioning. But none of the men will listen to the young ladies at first, so it's up to all the women to lay the smackdown. And possibly Roslin is the widow of the royal Duke of Adar, and thus politically important despite not holding official office? IDK.

[lowkey]

BUT SHARON AND ATHENA ARE ACTUALLY CALCULATING ENGINES

YES

[lowkey]

Regency!Gaius frackin' Baltar would, basically, be the coolest thing ever. And BONUS POINTS for Jamie Bamber being able to speak with his actual accent.

CLEARLY this is the best of all possible worlds.

[paxpinnae]

Hmmmmm... Young Wizards Noir AU?

[aria]

This AU is actually really difficult! Because Young Wizards is inherently bright and hopeful, and noir is inherently not! But obviously the Lone Power is a shady businessman who rules New York City, and presumably Tom and Carl are a pair of private detectives who are doing their best to get to the bottom of the -- hm, murder of Nita's mother? Obviously cancer still exists in noir worlds, but it seems against the YW spirit to just go around killing people. Or I suppose that some guys name of Fred and Ed are also murdered, and some dame named Peach (who happens to be an old friend of Tom and Carl's!) I don't know exactly what the kids would be doing in this universe, but maybe they're aged up and Roshaun is a hilarious femme fatale.

[wrabbit]

Doctor Who University AU :D

[(Anonymous)]

Harry Potter: Whoniverse AU

[ellen_fremedon]

Due South in the Temeraire-verse. Or Doctor Who as a backstage musical.

[lowkey]

Aria reads Temeraire? Now I know she's definitely the coolest person ever.

[aria]

Oh my gosh, okay. Presumably the RCMP are mounted not on horses but on dragons; I strongly suspect that Fraser's dragon is Diefenbaker. Or, in fact, he was still in line for a dragon when he went to Chicago on the trail of the killers of his father; he inherits Diefenbaker from Bob upon Bob's death. I'm not sure how viable it is for a man and his dragon to stay on in Chicago, liaising with the police, since the RCMP probably has a limited supply of dragons and they're unlikely to exile Fraser no matter how he exposed corruption in their upper ranks. So perhaps instead the supporting cast is the dragon crew. Obviously meanwhile Meg Thatcher has her own dragon. And ADVENTURES.

[sentientcitizen]

Doctor Who superhero AU!

ALSO, if you feel inclined to do a second one, The Secret Garden pirate AU. :D

[lowkey]

As in, the novel written by Frances Hodgson Burnett?

[sentientcitizen]

Yup! *grins*

[lowkey]

Well, there's a ship, and it's called the Garden, and it's SECRET.

ohgodohgod I am terrible at this.

[sophia_sol]

Ooh, how's about a Highlander robot AU?

(...I was about to say a Highlander serial killer AU and then I went OH WAIT THAT'S CANON. And then I proceeded to do this for basically every AU type ever. How about -- nope, that happened. This? Nope, that happened. This? Nope, plausibly canon. This? Nope.... Oh, Highlander.)

[aria]

Ohhh Highlander. And, to clarify: an AU in the future with robots, or an AU wherein Immortals are robots, or ...?

[sophia_sol]

In the future with robots, in the present with robots, all Immortals being robots, it's all good! I like all robot scenarios.

[surexit]

Harry Potter space opera.

[order_of_chaos]

Babylon Five - Diane Duane's Wizards series AU

[aria]

This suggestion makes me LIGHT UP WITH JOY. Be warned for feeeelings, and also probably spoilers for all of both series.

Since Babylon 5 is some time in the future, and Earth has had contact with alien cultures, wizards aren't sevarfrith on Earth anymore; in fact, while obviously most people in Earthforce aren't wizards, it's common practice to assign wizards to diplomatic posts. In fact Sinclair is quite likely a wizard, though Sheridan isn't. (Other human wizards: Franklin, Marcus.) I'm not sure how well the Psy Corps operates in a world where wizardry is out in the open, but then I am deeply fond of the notion of them as an alarming suborder of wizards. Bester would be the most amazing overshadowed wizard/avatar of the Lone One. -- Oh, and I suppose that makes Ivanova a wizard too! Or, ooh, she had wizardry once but gave it up, hence that intense melancholy she sometimes gets. (I LOVE YOU WHETHER OR NOT YOU'RE A WIZARD, IVANOVA.)

Since the main conflict of Babylon 5 is more order vs chaos than straight-up good vs evil, I think it might be cheating to say that the Vorlons are lesser Powers while the Shadows are agents of the Lone One. Rather, let us say that the Vorlons are an old species who should have ascended long ago (much like that alien species in Wizard's Holiday) and that the Shadows are a similarly advanced race who made a really alarming Choice and are attempting to have all other younger species make the same one.

Meanwhile, the entire religious caste of the Minbari are wizards. Presumably the warrior caste are not, nor the worker caste; basically, taking the Oath is saying your religious vows. I suspect that Centauri wizards are still sevarfrith -- that is, wizards exist on other worlds, but surely not here, since wizardry is a frivolous pursuit and an embarrassment to your family (the great Centauri Republic is already perfect!). Obviously Vir is a wizard -- hence his endless coaxing of Londo, hence his friendship with Lennier -- and things are going to change when he's emperor. Meanwhile I suspect that as a Centauri colony, on Narn wizards are effectively sevarfrith as well -- and they're all working to make their world a better place, so quite a few of them have lost sight of the central tenets of the Art. G'Kar is one such wizard, and his arc is about reframing what his wizardry means and finding a different way to save his people.

What I love about this AU is that I believe it could happen in the YW world, and it changes the context but not the content of B5. No wonder I love both these worlds so much. :D

[order_of_chaos]

I AM FULL OF GLEE! Thank you, this is glorious! *beams*

[januar]

I have steampunk on my mind all evening, so how about White Collar steampunk AU?

[gehayi]

Due South superheroes AU.

Thor as an old-style Gothic.