Subject: To a large extent...
Author:
Posted on: 2014-05-04 19:40:00 UTC
... it's rare because no-one writes it. For all we know, the other 10 million+ RCs in HQ are filled with World One's best and finest, and we feeble authors only write about the 0.0001% who don't reply to adverts. Probability suggests otherwise, but I'm sure we still advertise - somehow.
(So tempting to run a PPC recruitment ad in the local paper... no, hS, must resist)
hS
I was working on my agents and their backstories, and I discovered that there is something that I don't know, and I can’t find it on the wiki.
What is the re recruitment process? Is it an interview with the Department head? Is there some kind of test?
And yeah, it's not really laid out anywhere on the wiki, is it? I might go fix that later today. Most of us know this from reading a bunch of spin-offs, though. I recommend doing that.
Anyway: In modern times, people tend to wind up as agents in one of two ways:
1. They were recruited from a badfic. This generally entails the assigned agents giving them a choice about it, but when the choice is A) join us, B) become a background nobody, or C) possibly cease to exist, most people are gonna choose A. Especially since a lot of them get to witness why the bad writing is so bad up close and personal, which tends to motivate them to help fix it.
2. They wandered or fell into HQ through a plothole (or similar vehicle) from their universe of origin. Why they decide to stay is up to them, but it seems that plotholes attract people who love fiction, hate bad writing, and are intrigued by the idea of adventures to their favorite worlds. It seems likely to me that other types fall through, too, but we don't hear about the ones who decide HQ is too freaky for them and get someone to send them home and (I'm guessing) wipe their memory.
In the past, people joined by actually hearing about the PPC and applying for a job. Techno-Dann and Architeuthis both did this. It's rare to see this now, but still a perfectly valid option. Dann had an interview with his Head of Department after visiting Personnel, too. This might be unique to DoSAT, or (and this is what I think) it might be common to any of the departments that require a certain level of practical skills/technical expertise/strength of character. Medical springs to mind first and foremost. FicPsych, the DIA, and Finance, too.
A vanishingly rare few have discovered HQ by finding one of the Doors, such as the one in New Caledonia. You have to get past an SEP field and the DES to pull that one off, though.
Once they've (presumably) gotten someone to explain what's going on and decided to stay in HQ, as Hieronymus Graubart (did I finally spell it right this time?) mentioned, they're sent to the Marquis de Sod to fill out paperwork and receive an official assignment. Sometimes they're given training, sometimes they're immediately sent to their new partner.
Badfic recruits sometimes do a stint in FicPsych before being sent to Personnel. It just depends on how boggled they are by their badfic and/or the transition from their previous life to HQ. There may be a bit of an existential crisis involved with finding out they were controlled to some degree by some kid with a keyboard. Also, they may lack certain life skills due to the poor start they were given by the badfic author. Note: This is not to suggest that badfic recruits experience a lot of ANGST and DRAMA. As with everything else in the PPC, the tone should generally be kept light.
~Neshomeh
Thanks for that advice. Techno-Dann... I'll look up his missions and begin there for my research.
It is pretty rare, now, huh? Funny how that happens. I did actually go with that for Agent Dawn, though (but she joined back in...2006 or 2007, I think, so I decided it worked.) I've no idea how exactly she managed to apply, but she had some sort of interview with the Marquis and then basically got told 'it's your funeral' and had her request to join the DMS approved. (She wasn't initially suited for the DMS, of course, but that's what you get when you've just turned 14 and think Jay and Acacia have--or is it had, by that point?--really cool jobs. It worked out in the end, though, more or less.)
Another way that people end up as agents, of course, is that they've grown up in the Nursery as the children or adopted children of one or more agents. That's exceedingly rare as well, though, as far as I'm aware, but I think it's happened at least a few times...
~DF
I'm planning on having an agent who applied for the job. If that's not being done any more, should I change it?
... it's rare because no-one writes it. For all we know, the other 10 million+ RCs in HQ are filled with World One's best and finest, and we feeble authors only write about the 0.0001% who don't reply to adverts. Probability suggests otherwise, but I'm sure we still advertise - somehow.
(So tempting to run a PPC recruitment ad in the local paper... no, hS, must resist)
hS
It would be interesting to see how many people would respond to such an ad... I know I would! ;D
The challenge being to write an advert which could be run in the papers and bring in recruits to the (fictional) PPC. I don't have many ideas, but I'll start us off:
...that I did a while back:
Give me two more weeks and Photoshop and I'll see if I can come up with something else.
The PPC isn't supposed to be openly advertising its existence, after all.
Think about all the misadventures recruiters probably get up to trying to keep RCs filled! It's good story material.
...it's currently rather rare, but still an option. So I think you're safe :)
(My headcanon is now quickly becoming that there are a couple of ads scattered around, but for the most part the ones that are there get dismissed, or aren't found by the right people...who knows?)
But yeah, unless I misunderstood Neshomeh--you can definitely still have an agent who applied for the job. It's become rare, but it's still a valid option.
~DF
In-setting though it seems like a bunch of agents have kids there. Most of the little ones living in there will probably grow up to serve the PPC in some capacity.
king.
Heh. I was about to write out that I agree with you, without realizing that I was agreeing--y'know what, I'm going to stop.
So yeah, that's true. I did definitely mean rare out of universe, rather than in it. Thanks for clarifying :)
~DF
It really does depend on how the agent in question found their way to the PPC. Rina, for example, fell through a plot hole and asked to join after she learned about the PPC. She wanted the DMS, specifically, and since they're always in need of more agents, it wasn't a problem.
As for badfic-rescued characters, they'd probably end up working in whatever department deals with the kind of badfic they came from (someone from a Suefic would join the DMS, someone from a bad slashfic would join the DBS, etc.)
In regards to tests... there isn't really one. If you survive your fist mission, you're good to go.
At least, that's what I've seen so far. Of course, Agent Techno-Dann was a part of the civilian reporting force and was recruited via letter. Just go with whatever seems to best fit.
Or it may be just the opposite. Someone from a bad slashfic joins Misplaced Flora and Fauna, hoping they will never see any bad slash again. Someone from a Suefic joins Bad Slash, hoping they will never meet a Sue again. And the Ironic Overpower is cackling in the background.
HG
Civilian reporting force, huh? I'll have to look that one up. Thanks.
A fist mission? Cool. X)
The Original Series and many spin-offs skip this and tell about agents who have already been in the PPC for some time, or begin with new agents trying to find their assigned RC, meeting their partner or getting the first mission.
But if you don’t want to skip it, there should probably be an "interview" with the Marquis the Sod, who needs to assign the Agents to a Department before they even know who their Department Head would be. Also, when bit characters are recruited in missions, there is often talk about taking or sending them to the Marquis or to the Department of Personnel in general, so this seems to be the point to start. I put the "interview" into quotation marks, because I’m not sure whether the Marquis would ask many questions or just send them to a Department that needs some more agents. He should consider their qualifications, but he doesn’t seem to enjoy the presence of agents, so he may just want to get rid of them as fast as possible. As so often, the advice is to do what is most funny.
HG
I will keep that in mind. I thought it might be something like that, though. I'm not entirely sure if I will actually show the interviews, but I might. It could make a difference, give possibilities to show character development and, of course, comedy.