Ooh this is a fascinating prompt. I had a bit of trouble thinking of what to do here because FFIX feels so strongly embedded in its medieval setting, and also it's hard to pick which part of the 20th century to set this in -- so many possibilities!
I'm tempted to say World War II, or maybe WWI, setting here, though? War is a big part of FFIX's storyline, at least the beginning, and part of that involves airships and black mages/air superiority in the game, which I think translates pretty well to fighter planes and bombs. In this case, I'd probably make it a bit alt-history/historical fantasy, though, to keep the vibe a bit fantastical and not get too bogged down by real-world politics.
I feel like a war orphan or "evacuated to the countryside to avoid bombs" storyline could work for Eiko and/or Vivi, and I think Zidane would be part of a traveling entertainment group that puts on shows for soldiers, and I'd probably throw Freya and Quina in there as part of that crew. Garnet is a defector/spy who needs to be extracted from behind enemy lines, and Amarant is part of a mercenary group. Kuja is looking for a super weapon.
This is a bit half-baked, but that's all I've got so far. I was also trying to come up with a 20th century AU where Garnet is some famous actress? dignitary? who runs away and hides in a quirky little theater group, but I didn't really have many more thoughts than that, and also that could be set in basically any decade of the 20th century, so it didn't really narrow things down... But yeah, trying to imagine what the cast of FFIX would look like in different decades was an amusing exercise! I'm curious to hear if you have any thoughts about this one.
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I'm tempted to say World War II, or maybe WWI, setting here, though? War is a big part of FFIX's storyline, at least the beginning, and part of that involves airships and black mages/air superiority in the game, which I think translates pretty well to fighter planes and bombs. In this case, I'd probably make it a bit alt-history/historical fantasy, though, to keep the vibe a bit fantastical and not get too bogged down by real-world politics.
I feel like a war orphan or "evacuated to the countryside to avoid bombs" storyline could work for Eiko and/or Vivi, and I think Zidane would be part of a traveling entertainment group that puts on shows for soldiers, and I'd probably throw Freya and Quina in there as part of that crew. Garnet is a defector/spy who needs to be extracted from behind enemy lines, and Amarant is part of a mercenary group. Kuja is looking for a super weapon.
This is a bit half-baked, but that's all I've got so far. I was also trying to come up with a 20th century AU where Garnet is some famous actress? dignitary? who runs away and hides in a quirky little theater group, but I didn't really have many more thoughts than that, and also that could be set in basically any decade of the 20th century, so it didn't really narrow things down... But yeah, trying to imagine what the cast of FFIX would look like in different decades was an amusing exercise! I'm curious to hear if you have any thoughts about this one.