Subject: From Agent Techno-Dann's backstory...
Author:
Posted on: 2011-12-27 20:35:00 UTC
Quote: "...he picked up the small device, and looked at it. It was a cylinder with three numbered rings around it and a button on the end. Looks kinda like a bike lock. "
I figured that each ring would be numbered 0 to 9, so ten numbers on each ring, three rings total, thus 10^3 = 1000.
I am currently writing my introduction piece for my agent in DoI and I have (once again) a few questions to ask about background information.
Firstly, is Agent Bulldog is Architeuthis' property? He is implied to be the one in charge of newbie training so he is scheduled to make an appearance in my spinoff. I don't want to fudge up the disclaimer...
Secondly, I am considering introducing a new gadget for Intel operatives: the Dead Ringer from the Team Fortress 2 universe (more info here: http://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Dead_Ringer). The function of this Spy watch is to drop a fake corpse and to cloak the user should he/she be harmed, allowing the Spy to make a quick getaway. This gadget would make it safer for spies disguised as an enemy to follow a Sue, as a Sue killing a canon enemy wouldn't arouse any suspicions.
For example, suppose a Spy in the Zeldaverse is disguised as a Moblin to follow a Sue. The Spy activates the Dead Ringer and then accidentally makes a loud noise. The Sue whips around and stabs the agent with a sword. The Spy is mostly shielded from the damage, rendered invisible for several seconds, and leaves a fake Moblin corpse impaled onto the Sue's sword. The Intel operative backs away to a safe location, uncloaks, and is able to continue his surveillance. May I introduce this to the PPC?
Lastly, I would also like to feature a variant on the Remote Activator. The current model is described as a metal stick having only three rings that can be rearranged to form up to 1000 combinations (10*10*10). I was thinking: how can 1000 combinations cover the entire multiverse and allow agents to portal to various locations inside the word world, let alone modify portal placement and size? My proposed variant would be almost identical in appearance to a graphing calculator, allowing agents to simply key in coordinates and modify portal properties with settings accessed by sub-menus.
I do feel rather apprehensive about this gadget though. After all, the RA is one of the PPC's signature technologies and I don't really want to impose too much of my own spinoff on other interpretations. Perhaps it can be part of a prototype test?
I'm considering adding a Intelligence agent to my roster. Have there ever been missions where an Intel agent goes in, checks out the first couple chapters of a fic, then hands it off to a team from one of the action departments?
Obviously this would only work for longer badfics.
What exactly do you mean by "handed to a team"? If the handover is during the fic, then there have been no recorded events where that has taken place. If it is done post-investigation, then yes, because that is the entire point of Intel.
Handover in the fic sounds like someone got their messages crossed at HQ, but that would be believable. Alternately, the Intel agent could find out the fic is worse than the summary made it sound, and decide to call for an action team right now instead of filing a report.
Post-investigation handover would be written as a two-part mission. Part One, the Intel agent scouts the first few chapters of the fic; in Part Two the action team takes the Intel report (and any recommendations), goes through the later part of the fic to collect their own charges, and deals with the fic appropriately.
The reason I posted is because either I'm clueless or there's no action missions following up on Architeuthis' reports. His report is the mission. We can assume someone killed the Sues he reported on, but I was thinking about making the Intel-Action connection more obvious.
Check out Architeuthis's missions on the wiki. The whole point of Intel is to check out the fics, then send them on to Action agents to actually deal with the Sue/slash/crossover/whatever if the fic is deemed bad enough to need it.
... but it would be interesting to see an Intel operative call for a team during a mission and guide the assassins/disentanglers/bad slashers to their objectives.
It is to note that the Rules of Gathering Intelligence state that once a major abnormality is detected, the spy needs to come home immediately to send a report (Rule #4). My interpretation of the rules is that spies and agents go in at different times and are almost never together: a spy is there to judge, an agent team is there to correct.
One of my missions has an intel agent on a constant stakeout in a badfic, who assisted DMS agents in taking down a Sue.
This might be because the fic itself was unfinished and terminated in the middle of a chapter, so in my interpretation she stayed behind to keep 'going back to the beginning' so the story didn't cut off, allowing the Sue to escape into the multiverse without a proper chapter end to bookend her inside her own badfic.
But that was just my take on it. It's no way the do all or end all of how we do things around here. So long as it doesn't contradict laid-down canon, I'd say go for it. Just make sure to fit it in as carefully as you can, and make sure it makes sense. :)
Like Joe said, nothing is really standard around here, but I think the description you're referring to is less so than most. It's mentioned on the wiki article because it exists, I think, not so much because it represents the majority of the RA's representation. As the article says, "However, as other descriptions involve setting portals to lock onto locations or specific people, either this describes a simple version of the RA (the one in question was sent to a recruit to allow him to reach HQ), or the dials are very, very versatile."
Personally, I've always imagined it pretty much as you've described it, a hand-held box with numbers and symbols on it, and a few other specific function buttons ("Home in on Sue," for instance).
Where does the "1000 combinations" bit come from, though?
~Neshomeh
For what it's worth, my internal view of the RA is pretty similar to Neshomeh's, some kind of cylinder (the core portal-making unit) with a screen attached to it for selecting a destination/function.
The 3-dials model could easily be viewed as a previous iteration, as opposed to a more simplistic variant... just a thought.
The core portal-making unit is in HQ. The remote activator just talks to the portal generator in the console, which does the work.
~Neshomeh
Quote: "...he picked up the small device, and looked at it. It was a cylinder with three numbered rings around it and a button on the end. Looks kinda like a bike lock. "
I figured that each ring would be numbered 0 to 9, so ten numbers on each ring, three rings total, thus 10^3 = 1000.
At the very least, I can put a source link on that article now. The whole thing could use more of the like, I think.
~Neshomeh
It's generally asserted that there are few standard models for most of the PPC gadgets--in-universe there's a lot of explanations, but the out-of-universe explanation is that standardizing anything here would be counterproductive and lead to arguments over whose interpretation is right.
Naturally, I tried to bull through this with the C-CAD :P (Disclaimer: this is a joke; actual intention of making the C-CAD was quite different.)
So in short, there shouldn't be any problem with what you're talking about RE: the RA and I'd actually be willing to help with an idea of that sort in more detail. As my work attests, PPC tech is a fascination of mine.
Use of stuff like the Dead Ringer would be feasible but tricky. It wouldn't work so well in universes without hit points, after all--in Zelda this wouldn't be a concern but it might also simply be too high-tech for that canon. PPC tech usually gets around this caveat. There's also the fact that introducing too much new stuff means lots of it gets used once and never again.
What I'm saying here, mind, is not "no, don't do it". I don't actually have the authority to do that, for one (no one does)--you can do whatever you like in your spinoff. But I am saying you should consider carefully before you do--there may be another way to do what the Dead Ringer does, using the narrative instead of tech.
Thanks for the answer! I've already thought up of a few jokes concerning the prototype RA...
As for the use of the DR, I figured that the continuum can't provide the same amount of protection as the spy watch (it can only do so much to conceal agents) so that's why I was thinking of including it. Considering the level of tech around HQ like RAs, DORKS, and universal translation thingies, I kinda felt that the DR might not be that out of place... At least in my opinion. Though you do have a point about the use of the DR: I can't have Gaspard bump into a Sue every mission because it would kinda put his competence into question.