Power Rangers AU World Building
Fist off I'm going to be using Ellen Brand's Morphing Grid divisions for this, but with my own twist to the terminology.
Namely Dark/Shadow/Light, Dino/Thunder/Ninja, and Black/White/Red/Blue/Yellow/Pink/Purple/Green.
That said:
In this world I'm creating there are four types of magic users. All magic use falls into one of these four categories, no matter how wildly different the styles may be.
Magecraft - mages draw upon an internal well of power to fuel their spells. The internal well of power has a number of names depending upon what style of magic the user studied, but in practice the internal well is virtually identical to the linker-core from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha.
Wizardry - like mages, wizards posses and internal well of power. Unlike mages, wizards do not use their internal well of power to fuel their spells, instead they use it similar to an electromagnet to gather external power and then shape it into whatever form or effect they desire. Wizards (and Witches) use various foci such as staves, wands, chants, incantations, and evocations to create their magical effects.
Sorcery - those who use sorcery have no power to call their own, but instead draw external power and channel it through themselves and various artifacts to accomplish their workings. Because they draw on external powers, Sorcerers and Sorceresses are more vulnerable to corruption by outside powers than most.
Alchemy - this particular type of magic has a number of different names, but all forms of it hold in common that the magic is centered around imbuing objects with power drawn from an external source and in the process changing the object into an artifact. Most Ranger weaponry (personal and Zord) and transformation items are created through the use of Alchemy. Most Alchemists/Artificers possess some measure of talent in magecraft or sorcery.
---------------------
The Power/The Morphin Grid - in Ellen Brand's Personality Conflict universe the Morphin Grid is the source of all magic in the universe and it is through a connection to the grid that Rangers obtain their power. For the moment this remains unchanged save that I'm adding another name for it in "The Power." Generally magic users will call it "The Power," while Rangers, former Rangers, and Morphin Masters wills call it "The Morphin Grid." When a person is both a Ranger/Morphin Master and a magic user they will usually refer to it as either or, depending on whether they were became a Ranger before or after discovering/training their magical ability.
Rangers and Magic - Rangers always have some sort of artifact that allows them to morph and draw vast quantities of power from the Morphin Grid. What is less considered is that this also grants them the ability to use magic. For the majority of Rangers this becomes an ability to use Sorcery and Alchemy should they decide to pursue it.
Morphin Masters - Morphin Masters are Rangers, active or retired, that have studied and attained a mastery of magic such that they are generally considered to be the equal of an active, transformed Ranger in combat without the need to transform themselves.
Ninjetti - As per the PC-verse, Ninjetti are Rangers that have established a connection to the Morphin Grid, not through the use of artifacts to channel the power, but through themselves. This makes Ninjetti functionally mages as the power becomes a part of the Ranger and is drawn out from within.
Ninja - Here I'm borrowing from Ninja Storm and saying that there are hidden academies and teach people how to be ninja. Only here ninja is a corruption of the term Ninjetti and has little to do with ninja in the historical sense. Also tacking on the idea that all of the academies, regardless of their name have some sort of tripartite division within their instructional ranks - Earth or its equivalent teaches those that are Dino personalities, Water or its equivalent teaches those that are Thunder personalities, and Wind or its equivalent teaches those that are, ironically, Ninja personalities. If anyone has alternate names for the Dino/Thunder/Ninja personality split I would welcome them as it would make things so much simpler.
--Additionally, Ninja Masters among this group are equivalent to Ninjetti Rangers while Ninja Grandmasters (usually only one or two per academy) are equivalent to Ninjetti trained Morphin Masters.
Earthborn magic users - they exist. Potential for crossovers with MGLN for mages, HP for wizards, and most any other series featuring magic so long as power levels aren't so high that Power Rangers can't conceivably compete.
---------------------
History Changes:
Eltar/Eltaire where Zordon was born and raised was a society that recognized magical gifts and trained those who possessed them. Zordon himself possessed a Linker Core and received some rudimentary training in Magecraft but showed both a high degree of aptitude and enjoyment of Wizardry and thus pursued that particular course of magical study in addition to the study of arts and science expected of Eltaren children. As a young man Zordon traveled widely and during his travels discovered the Dino coins that had been forged by Ninjor though he did not, at that time, meet Ninjor or even know who had created the items or what they were.
His research into the items eventually drew the attention of dark forces and, along with several associates and friends he ended up learning what the coins were the hard way as they all became Power Rangers. Among that group of Power Rangers was the Sorcerer Zedd and the Sorceress Rita. Zedd wielded the powers of the Purple Ranger while Rita served as the Green Ranger.
Eventually, after many battles of varying intensity Zedd fell and turned against the Rangers. While he lost his ability to become the Purple Ranger his Sorcery had grown in strength to the point where, in the thrall of Evil, Zedd was able to defeat his former allies and friends with ease. Although it would be a great deal of time later, Zedd's fall also sowed the seeds of Rita's own fall.
This particular bit I'm doing for a number of reasons, not the least of which being the fact that I find the idea of Rita capturing the Green Coin and the Dragon Dagger (which was not an intrinsic part of Tommy's original transformation) to be fairly unlikely, especially if the other coins stayed out of her possession. Of course, if she were to have been the original Green Ranger then her possession of both artifacts makes a lot more sense and it doesn't even require massive continuity tweaking as I find it unlikely in the extreme that Zordon would share that bit with the Rangers...even if Tommy weren't joining as the new Green Ranger after a stint on the Dark Side so to speak.
Zedd's having been a good guy at one point is also a bit of continuity nod to both Ellen Brand's PC-verse and the end of Power Rangers in Space where he and Rita both are returned to a human-like form and implied to now be good guys.
Further changes involve Rita's sealing in the Dumpster. Here it was White Ranger and Morphin Master Zordon dueling Rita and finding that he is unable to defeat her in direct combat he shifts tactics and seals her away in a nearby object - the dumpster. Similarly, Rita realizes that she cannot defeat Zordon in a straight fight and casts a spell to cast him outside of space-time. In a quirk of cosmic irony, both succeed.
Many years later Zordon manages to free himself from the space-time warp that Rita had trapped him inside and returns to his "Wizard's Tower," the facility where he kept the Red, Blue, Yellow, Black, and Pink coins and performed his own magical and technological research only to learn that his sealing of Rita is about to fail and release her onto the universe once more. Severely weakened from his long imprisonment, Zordon has little choice but to find new wielders for the coins. His search, abbreviated due to the short time remaining before Rita is free once more, only turns up five matches - a group of teenagers from the city that has grown up not far from his tower.
I've got a bit more in terms of ideas for how the storyline would proceed from there, and I will admit that they are influenced heavily by both Ellen Brand's PC series which, if nobody's guessed, I've been re-reading lately, but even more-so the retelling of the Mighty Morphing saga is influenced by Linkara's "History of Power Rangers" video commentaries.
Namely Dark/Shadow/Light, Dino/Thunder/Ninja, and Black/White/Red/Blue/Yellow/Pink/Purple/Green.
That said:
In this world I'm creating there are four types of magic users. All magic use falls into one of these four categories, no matter how wildly different the styles may be.
Magecraft - mages draw upon an internal well of power to fuel their spells. The internal well of power has a number of names depending upon what style of magic the user studied, but in practice the internal well is virtually identical to the linker-core from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha.
Wizardry - like mages, wizards posses and internal well of power. Unlike mages, wizards do not use their internal well of power to fuel their spells, instead they use it similar to an electromagnet to gather external power and then shape it into whatever form or effect they desire. Wizards (and Witches) use various foci such as staves, wands, chants, incantations, and evocations to create their magical effects.
Sorcery - those who use sorcery have no power to call their own, but instead draw external power and channel it through themselves and various artifacts to accomplish their workings. Because they draw on external powers, Sorcerers and Sorceresses are more vulnerable to corruption by outside powers than most.
Alchemy - this particular type of magic has a number of different names, but all forms of it hold in common that the magic is centered around imbuing objects with power drawn from an external source and in the process changing the object into an artifact. Most Ranger weaponry (personal and Zord) and transformation items are created through the use of Alchemy. Most Alchemists/Artificers possess some measure of talent in magecraft or sorcery.
---------------------
The Power/The Morphin Grid - in Ellen Brand's Personality Conflict universe the Morphin Grid is the source of all magic in the universe and it is through a connection to the grid that Rangers obtain their power. For the moment this remains unchanged save that I'm adding another name for it in "The Power." Generally magic users will call it "The Power," while Rangers, former Rangers, and Morphin Masters wills call it "The Morphin Grid." When a person is both a Ranger/Morphin Master and a magic user they will usually refer to it as either or, depending on whether they were became a Ranger before or after discovering/training their magical ability.
Rangers and Magic - Rangers always have some sort of artifact that allows them to morph and draw vast quantities of power from the Morphin Grid. What is less considered is that this also grants them the ability to use magic. For the majority of Rangers this becomes an ability to use Sorcery and Alchemy should they decide to pursue it.
Morphin Masters - Morphin Masters are Rangers, active or retired, that have studied and attained a mastery of magic such that they are generally considered to be the equal of an active, transformed Ranger in combat without the need to transform themselves.
Ninjetti - As per the PC-verse, Ninjetti are Rangers that have established a connection to the Morphin Grid, not through the use of artifacts to channel the power, but through themselves. This makes Ninjetti functionally mages as the power becomes a part of the Ranger and is drawn out from within.
Ninja - Here I'm borrowing from Ninja Storm and saying that there are hidden academies and teach people how to be ninja. Only here ninja is a corruption of the term Ninjetti and has little to do with ninja in the historical sense. Also tacking on the idea that all of the academies, regardless of their name have some sort of tripartite division within their instructional ranks - Earth or its equivalent teaches those that are Dino personalities, Water or its equivalent teaches those that are Thunder personalities, and Wind or its equivalent teaches those that are, ironically, Ninja personalities. If anyone has alternate names for the Dino/Thunder/Ninja personality split I would welcome them as it would make things so much simpler.
--Additionally, Ninja Masters among this group are equivalent to Ninjetti Rangers while Ninja Grandmasters (usually only one or two per academy) are equivalent to Ninjetti trained Morphin Masters.
Earthborn magic users - they exist. Potential for crossovers with MGLN for mages, HP for wizards, and most any other series featuring magic so long as power levels aren't so high that Power Rangers can't conceivably compete.
---------------------
History Changes:
Eltar/Eltaire where Zordon was born and raised was a society that recognized magical gifts and trained those who possessed them. Zordon himself possessed a Linker Core and received some rudimentary training in Magecraft but showed both a high degree of aptitude and enjoyment of Wizardry and thus pursued that particular course of magical study in addition to the study of arts and science expected of Eltaren children. As a young man Zordon traveled widely and during his travels discovered the Dino coins that had been forged by Ninjor though he did not, at that time, meet Ninjor or even know who had created the items or what they were.
His research into the items eventually drew the attention of dark forces and, along with several associates and friends he ended up learning what the coins were the hard way as they all became Power Rangers. Among that group of Power Rangers was the Sorcerer Zedd and the Sorceress Rita. Zedd wielded the powers of the Purple Ranger while Rita served as the Green Ranger.
Eventually, after many battles of varying intensity Zedd fell and turned against the Rangers. While he lost his ability to become the Purple Ranger his Sorcery had grown in strength to the point where, in the thrall of Evil, Zedd was able to defeat his former allies and friends with ease. Although it would be a great deal of time later, Zedd's fall also sowed the seeds of Rita's own fall.
This particular bit I'm doing for a number of reasons, not the least of which being the fact that I find the idea of Rita capturing the Green Coin and the Dragon Dagger (which was not an intrinsic part of Tommy's original transformation) to be fairly unlikely, especially if the other coins stayed out of her possession. Of course, if she were to have been the original Green Ranger then her possession of both artifacts makes a lot more sense and it doesn't even require massive continuity tweaking as I find it unlikely in the extreme that Zordon would share that bit with the Rangers...even if Tommy weren't joining as the new Green Ranger after a stint on the Dark Side so to speak.
Zedd's having been a good guy at one point is also a bit of continuity nod to both Ellen Brand's PC-verse and the end of Power Rangers in Space where he and Rita both are returned to a human-like form and implied to now be good guys.
Further changes involve Rita's sealing in the Dumpster. Here it was White Ranger and Morphin Master Zordon dueling Rita and finding that he is unable to defeat her in direct combat he shifts tactics and seals her away in a nearby object - the dumpster. Similarly, Rita realizes that she cannot defeat Zordon in a straight fight and casts a spell to cast him outside of space-time. In a quirk of cosmic irony, both succeed.
Many years later Zordon manages to free himself from the space-time warp that Rita had trapped him inside and returns to his "Wizard's Tower," the facility where he kept the Red, Blue, Yellow, Black, and Pink coins and performed his own magical and technological research only to learn that his sealing of Rita is about to fail and release her onto the universe once more. Severely weakened from his long imprisonment, Zordon has little choice but to find new wielders for the coins. His search, abbreviated due to the short time remaining before Rita is free once more, only turns up five matches - a group of teenagers from the city that has grown up not far from his tower.
I've got a bit more in terms of ideas for how the storyline would proceed from there, and I will admit that they are influenced heavily by both Ellen Brand's PC series which, if nobody's guessed, I've been re-reading lately, but even more-so the retelling of the Mighty Morphing saga is influenced by Linkara's "History of Power Rangers" video commentaries.