Subject: Thanks for the tech suggestions - what about magic?
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Posted on: 2010-05-18 19:23:00 UTC
Would, say, something along the lines of Moody's magical eyeball work outside the HP continuum? I ask because Foxglove's primary fandoms are magic-based, not tech-based, so it makes sense to explore magical options as well, if that's possible.
I'm trying to fix my bad case of Webcomic Time with my agents by doing something set after the Macrovirus invasion, as their current fic time is stuck around late 2007. However, Foxglove lost an eye in the battle for HQ just after the invasion. Can Medical actually rebuild eyeballs, or would she be stuck with a fake one? I know they weren't able to rebuild Ithalond's hands, and the eye was too badly mangled to simply stick back in, but is there a canon from which they could take eyeball-rebuilding or transplanting tech (e.g. Discworld's Igors)? Or is there a canon where they could get cybertronic or magical eyeballs which work better than real ones (e.g. Moody's magical eye), and if so, would they work outside their home continuum?
...I'm not really coming up with a lot. I know of several canons where eyes, magical or not, can be transplanted from one person to another, and I know of at least one dimension-hopping character who should be capable of creating artificial eyes (seeing as she at one point creates a fake arm that can bleed and, for some odd reason, grab ghosts), but I can't really think of any where there's a standardized magical eye replacement.
The fun thing about the PPC, though, is how easy it is to justify whatever type of plot device you want. Not only are there millions of canons Medical can steal from, but HQ isn't exactly lacking in the mad scientist department. Making up some sort of magically powered replacement is not out of the question.
In terms of technological-based replacements, though, my favorites are still the prosthetics used in Ghost in the Shell (specifically in the character Batou). They look sort of like camera lenses embedded in the eye socket and function the same way, identifying, isolating and zooming in on points of interest (such as weapons or writing) in a scene as the user observes them. Of course, they also might require having a computer installed in the user's brain to work properly...
She'd want one which did something other than just what a regular eyeball does, but I'm trying to think of functions which would be actually useful. Nightvision could work for missions at night, but then her partner hasn't got nightvision so they'd still need a torch or something. X-ray vision wouldn't be much good because half the time the characters they're watching wind up naked anyway.
...on what Foxglove's definition of useful is. If she's the sort who would want her new eye to actually be helpful on missions, then maybe some kind of CAD variation that can identify Sues and such (though that might be tricky, seeing as CADs blow up a lot and exploding eyeballs = bad). Or that translates Fangirl into English. Or that can just see a long ways away.
On the other hand, if her idea of useful pretty much equals cool, there's a whole different set of functions available. An eye that can take pictures and play movies and shoot laserbeams and identify whether an outfit is stylish or not may not be much practical use, but could be, ah, entertaining.
And then there's the issue that anything she got would only be limited to one eye.
On further thought, the eyeball would have to fit in the socket with no frames or protrusions onto her face, because elaborate cybernetics would be sort of out of place in most of the continua she works. That, and she's still in contact with her family, and they'd notice anything too elaborate - a funny-coloured magic or tech eyeball could be passed off as a contact lens, but weird Borg stuff couldn't.
Would, say, something along the lines of Moody's magical eyeball work outside the HP continuum? I ask because Foxglove's primary fandoms are magic-based, not tech-based, so it makes sense to explore magical options as well, if that's possible.
Umbridge uses it as one of those little peephole thingies that you stick onto doors, so it's magical power is internal, not supplied by Mad-eye himself, and there doesn't seem to be any other reason why it wouldn't work outside of the Potterverse. A copy could be made fairly easily. In fact, since Harry buried it, Foxglove could get the original...although why in nine hells she would want to is not my guess to make.
Apart from the fact that it'd probably count as desecration of canon to steal it, all it really does is X-ray vision, and half the time the characters in L&F's missions end up naked anyway so it would be kind of pointless ;P So perhaps something similar, which does something more useful to a PPCer ... dunno what.
I ask because agents can cast at least some spells in the Potterverse if they use witch or wizard disguises, but if they don't come from the Potterverse they can't cast spells in HQ. Not sure how it applies to magic users from other continua.
One of the sarcophagus in Stargate SG-1 should do the trick to heal the existing eye. Someone mentioned another method causing addiction problems, and the sarcophagus does also, but only over long time exposure-like daily for a few weeks. Initial personality changes after perhaps a week.
http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Sarcophagus
Anyway, the character is placed inside, the lid is closed and it heals everything, even the recently deceased. It would be on the safe side to have the damaged eyeball in the socket before placing the character in the sarcophagus.
The safest place to get access to one would be Season 1 episode 14, or one of the hundreds of fanfics based on that episode--it is one of the more popular ones to be written about. There is a sarcophagus in Stargate Command--Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, Earth. It is unguarded and unused for hours during the episode. Just open a portal into the room, use it, and leave.
http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Hathor_%28episode%29
If you sneak into either the episode or a fanfic of the episode, do not take any males with you. If you accidentally encountered Hathor, they would be immediately under her spell, possibly even Stormsong. Her control is based on pheromones of a sort. I don't know how human pheromones affect Redwall creatures.
They're nifty, too - UV and IR vision included as part of the package, and zoom ability. The only downside is occasional headaches.
Geordi says outright (in Insurrection) that he's never before seen a sunrise - "at least, not the way you see it" - which means that Trek-cyber-eyes' vision is still limited to what can be detected electromagnetically. But if your agent only has one eye replaced, not two, then they'd have the benefit of one super-eye and still able to see things normally in the other (I suspect that the loopiness of bad writing, plotholes and so on could well play havoc with electronic eyes, as they do CADs - it might also be that such cybereyes can't see Words and such as well as normal eyes, but that's pure speculation).
In the Cowboy Bebop anime, I believe the character Spike has a replacement eyeball. Other than an ever-so-slight difference in eye color, it's barely noticeable. And it apparently improves his aim.
Not that I know jack about Cowboy Bebop; I just came across that little tidbit when I was trying to find a possible eye-replacement idea for Jack. ('Course, then I decided to screw the idea and let Hilarity Ensue).
Though, Foxglove does strike me as the type who'd enjoy having a cybernetic eye. Like John Silver from Treasure Planet.
The most sure-fire way would be to let Foxglove use the morphing cube from Animorphs, turn into an animal, then turn back. This would "reset" her body to whatever her DNA coded for, including fully-functioning eyes. However, I suspect you don't want to turn your agent into an Animorph...
The other thing I thought of is the mana infusion chamber from Magic: the Gathering. One particular character used the chamber to patch up his body whenever he got injured, but it carried the side-effect of addicting him to black mana. That wouldn't be a problem for Foxglove if she only used it once, of course.
I guess the problem with these ideas is that Foxglove would get her ownn eye back, rather than a fancy sci-fi one!
G'Kar gets a replacement eye (which he can take out of his socket and still see out of--sort of a high-tech version of Moody's eye) in either the end of Season 4 or the beginning of Season 5, I can't remember.
...but it might not be too easy to get, because most stories set there would have only a very few characters capable of 7th level Cleric spells. It's pretty doubtful that you'd be able to find someone at HQ who can learn something of that level.
Your best bet is probably Cadderly Bonaduce, if you want to go that route; but make sure to catch him after he becomes a Chosen and before the Spellplague. Stay away from Danica, though; she's likely enough to be resistant to the neuralyzer.
The Star Wars novel Vision of the Future mentions replacement eyes briefly, so I'd imagine Medical could get their hands on whatever is used in the Star Wars continuum. The book is rather vague as to the exact process, so you could probably write it however you want. One of the characters has an eyepatch and when he's asked about it, he says, "Our medical replacement facilities are limited, and I opted to forgo a new eye in favor of others of my pilots who might need the operation."
Foxglove's the kind who would want a weird magical/cybernetic implant just for the hell of it, but if the option of eye transplants is on the table would Medical let her have a weird one, especially since she's from the Real World and it would be conspicuous?
I do know S&S and Laburnum tried to ban her from getting a removable one, because she considered just getting a glass eye so she could play pranks on people with it.
I don't think it's a real transplant actually. I just remembered that there's at least one other canonical eye replacement and that one is a cybernetic eye. From what I've been able to gather from the descriptions of it in the books, it's an implant fits in the eye socket, but the surface looks like a red screen instead of the usually pupil-iris-white appearance.
Foxglove would want one which actually did something a regular eyeball didn't, if she was going for magic or cybernetics. Maybe like the Treasure Planet one with the zoom-in function ...
Star Wars cybernetics do indeed have the capability for unusual things.
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Cybernetics Here. As a side note, a cybernetic eye can easily be modified for scope... or better yet, to interface with some other scope one would strap on like an eye-patch, and thus look fairly normal the rest of the time. Any colour you like! There's also the potential to use cloned tissue, to implant an eye that is effectively her own.