Subject: It would definitely need to be ethical in some measure, yes.
Author:
Posted on: 2014-05-02 20:40:00 UTC
The Mary Sues are still alive, even if they aren't people, and so someone who does unspeakable things to them would be just as horrible and unfit to perform science as if they were doing it else with any other creature.
So, I was working on some ideas for PPC agents last night, and I began to wonder about something.
If I present them in the same way that I present my agents (meaning, light hearted and funny, as per PPC standards), is it okay to invent some recurring antagonists for my agents?
Maybe if I have that he gets fired from the Legal Department for his petty bias?... In fact, that gives me some ideas...
I had scrapped some plans for giving him some minions of sorts from the DIA, so maybe I can bring them back.
I have to go now. You gave me some excellent ideas that I want to start playing around with. Thanks for the help.
Yeah, don't do that.
It'll be more of a reluctant partnership in which they work toward a common goal, then. Or something like that. I'll work out the details.
Quite honestly, it implies he did something that the DIA would probably arrest him for, not team up.
That's very true. Where would you suggest I put him instead? I have a few ideas, but I also need more perspectives.
The DIA simply doesn't work the way you seem to want, and neither does Legal. However, if your vengeful ex-partner were in Intel, they're in an ideal position to mess with people by assigning them the worst fics they can find and stuff. Of course, subtlety is still required, he can't be blatantly trying to get them killed right off the bat, but it gives you more to work with.
He doesn't really want them dead. He thinks that they are dangerous and wants them kicked out.
However, I will take your suggestion into consideration. Thanks.
Intel's such an ideal location because he can easily create conditions that can cause them to be forced out of action, be it being killed, snapping in action or screwing up so severely they're removed from the field - though keep in mind the kind of thing that'd get someone expelled from the PPC entirely is probably a really serious crime, not something he could create unless he frames them for something.
The Fern makes a single appearance in Crashing Down, to the Sub Rosa. Everything else is either mentions or, occasionally, messages.
I don't have a veto, obviously - we don't work like that - but I will argue vehemently against any attempt to show, discuss, or otherwise reveal anything (further) of Legal's inner workings. That includes ex-agents who might talk about it.
hS
An unnamed lawyer made an appearance in "Catastrophe Theory: Bound and Gagged". Still tried to keep them mysterious, though.
-Phobos
As much potential as there is with Legal's workings, exploring them would ruin what Legal is in a sense, their role in this setting. They kind of have to be this aloof, mysterious figure for the effect to work as well - I mean sure, logically the staff of Legal are PPC agents with a job to do just like anyone in the other departments, but labouring that point too much would kind of miss the point.
Besides, those guys are lawyers; if they're anything like World One attorneys, they're working at least eighty hours a week and don't have a whole lot of time for anything else. :P
I've reread it several times, and I'm still not entirely sure what you're trying to say with it. One or more of your Agents would break so many rules of the PPC so regularly that he constantly has a DIA squad on his back, and this means that the DIA squad would be someone's cronies? Whose? The rule-braking Agent's? The probably-ever-only-claimed-to-work-for-Legal guy? How do those two points match up? I don't get it.
I see. But what if the Mary Sue was thrown into action before she was ready, because the scientist thought that he had succeeded, and therefore the Mary Sue could snap back at any time?
Oh, okay, good. At least one of my agent ideas is far along in development. With everyone helping me, my agents will be awesome!
The PPC at least recognises Sues as sentient enough that torturing them, like torturing anything else, is strictly forbidden; at least one agent has actually been arrested by the DIA then forced to go to FicPsych for it. So if the experiments start crossing into the inhumane I imagine there'd be some trouble.
The Mary Sues are still alive, even if they aren't people, and so someone who does unspeakable things to them would be just as horrible and unfit to perform science as if they were doing it else with any other creature.
I was just saying on the matter of "wouldn't get in trouble for experimenting on Sues" and such. It seemed worth pointing out that if the scientist was getting outright unethical or inhumane, he very well could get in trouble.
Of course, that kind of trouble would probably end with him in a cell in Central or a FicPsych ward, so.
Oops. I made another typo. If some Agents were capable of bringing all nearby rules to a halt, they'd have a lot more than one DIA squad after them.
We'll see. For now, I have other concepts that I want to try. Maybe I can replace him with one of them when I have them fleshed out.
That could work...
What other Departments could I send him in? What Departments are considered untrustworthy? Which ones' would be able to maintain their reputation even with a betrayal? I would prefer something from Infrastructure, but I'll use an Action Department if I have to.
That's another thought provoking suggestion. I'll take that into consideration as well. Thanks.
Thanks. Glad you found the suggestion useful. Us newbies have to stick together against the killjoys in the old guard, right? (And you'll find I'm very good at thinking up story ideas, but hate the process of turning them into actual stories. So I'll probably come up with some more suggestons for you.)
You could take totally the opposite approach, and make the antagonist one of the Flowers. This will make it easier to get henchmen, since who's going to actively disobey a direct order from a Flower? And you don't have to worry about your story damaging the reputation of any human(oid) agents in any departments.
(On a vaguely similar note, I'm sure that somewhere in HQ there's an acacia tree that's always moaning that everyone only thinks of it as "the Acacia", not "the Acacia".)
Hmmm... A rogue Flower. That gives me an idea...
Really? I must not have come across that one. I'll check the wiki page.
Kelemen Totth runs that, unless he works for the Morning Glory and could somehow be prevented from doing his job.
Probably easy to just say she's Kelemen's boss or something though.
I'll keep those things in mind. Thanks.
Oh, okay. That is an idea. Hmmm...
You don't really see that come up very much, so the little games of power that I'm sure go on between the Department Heads would be an interesting thing to have in the background. I've been pondering writing some stuff along those lines myself one of these days.
If the ex-partner was transferred to one of the non-action parts of the DIA, and was relatively clever, he could cover his tracks with a little work. The issue is, if he didn't want to get caught, attacking your Agents directly would be too risky. More likely, he'd just set them up to go on NSFB missions in the hopes that they snapped.
That's an idea. I'll stash that away in my trove of possibilities.
I will think about this. Thanks for that.
Also, I'm curious. Why do you type all your subject lines in caps?