Foreword - Disclaimer, Acknowledgements and Why I Wrote This Story

Disclaimer:

I do not own DB/Z/GT, and the characters herein are the property of Akira Toriyama, Toei, Sunrise, and its partners. With the exception of a few of my own original characters, places, and themes which were inspired by other fanfiction writers, this story idea is completely my own. I only use things from other fanfiction I like to pay homage to their writing, and no offense should be taken.

Acknowledgements:

The DBZ Fanfic Salon - This was the first place where I began writing DBZ fanfiction. It was on the drabble board where I first started OGC, and its format continues to inspire the evolution of my story. A sincere thank you to all of the posters and readers there.

My three all-time favorite DBZ fanfiction writers:

Lisalu/Erin Lasgalen
http://erinlasgalen.livejournal.com/
(Go read her Doctor Who fanfiction...and while you are doing that, bug her about the Tetralogy. She'll know of what you speak.)

Trinsan/Ruthanne Reid
Trinsan.com
Door To River

The Prime Minister
A. Pauli Writes

And last but not least, my friends and family who convinced me to go back to writing. It feels good to be doing it again. Special thanks to Ray, Jason Scott Jones, and my sister Nita.

Why I Wrote "Our Great Conscience"


The animated series DBZ is and always will be one of my favorite series of all time. Not because it's perfect--far from it--but because of the world that was born out of it, and its endless possibilities and philosophical ramifications. Just as is done nowadays in academia with "The Simpsons" and "South Park", one could easily conduct a class on the DB Universe and Akira Toriyama's poorly hidden political commentary on everything, from Man vs. Nature to Communism to the Role of Women in Modern Society. Out of the many social debates I've had on the events of the show (Thank you again Ray), one of them stuck with me. And it is my experience as a writer that all great stories start with a question.

What would our favorite DBZ characters be like if Gokou really was gone for good?

The most annoying thing to me about Son Gokou (my opinion has evolved over the years) is not that he's an idiot or an idealist. It's that Gokou acts with the utmost of purity...despite the dubious origins and desires of the people around him. Usually Gokou and the others unite to achieve a common goal: To defeat a monster/android/fill-in-the-blank-villain. But just because Gokou has pious intentions does not mean his companions are, ultimately, moral as well. They simply could be intimidated by his great strength, or could overly depend on him to be his/her moral compass. It's the "Teach a man to fish" argument: Gokou never really taught anyone to 'fish'.

The Z Warriors consist of ex-genocidal murderers, infant mercenaries, thieves, cybernetic assassins, reincarnated demons, liars, and con men. We have seen one example of regression (Majin Vegeta), but what if all of them retained some measure of their "old selves"?

And what if those traits passed on to their children?

Well, that's my spiel on how I got the idea for this story.

A quick note on the writing style: You'll notice that each chapter is relatively short. I started this on the DBZ Fanfic Salon's DBZ Drabble board. A "drabble" is a short fanfic that is usually no more than about 500 words. It's challenging to work with, but I also find it rewarding...one of my favorite writers once said one should try to tell a tale in as few words as possible, and that the most incredible story of all time would be one sentence long from start to finish. If one sentence--or in my case, 500-700 words--can successfully convey to the reader the feelings of passion, fear, loathing, loss, and desire that my OGC characters experience...well, I've done my job. Quality most definitely over quantity.

Well, with that, thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy.

K