OS-tan Theory Revival

[Bella]

I'm not totally sue how Multics and BESYS are related either - I always thought they had some sort of social connection, but not necessarily a familial (and certainly not blood/genetic) relationship. It's also worth noting that CTSS' and Multics' exact relationship is subject to interpretation - while they're officially considered "adoptive" mother and daughter, there's plenty of evidence that they actually share a genetic connection.

No idea why CTSS-tan (or the MIT power structure) would have wanted to hide this fact, though.

[Aurora Borealis]

I'm still sure that BESYS would be Multics' predecessor, but the would have been step-sisters. With BESYS being years older, she could have been assigned to be Multics' first tutor (against her will, of course! Just like having part of her life force sacrificed!), but on the other hand, having a tutor who resents the student's existence quickly turned out to be a bad idea, and CTSS gained full custody of Multics. If we go with that, then just might be the first custody fight in OS-tan history! XD

Also if we go with that, BESYS wouldn't have been upset losing custody since all she wanted was to spend her last days in peace.

[Bella]

I'm still sure that BESYS would be Multics' predecessor, but the would have been step-sisters.

I didn't even think of calling it a step-sister relationship before, but that sounds right to me. 

With BESYS being years older, she could have been assigned to be Multics' first tutor (against her will, of course! Just like having part of her life force sacrificed!), but on the other hand, having a tutor who resents the student's existence quickly turned out to be a bad idea, and CTSS gained full custody of Multics. If we go with that, then just might be the first custody fight in OS-tan history! XD

That's not a bad idea, though I'd have it play out a bit differently. Instead of having BESYS-tan be Multics' first teacher, I'd suggest that CTSS was Multics' first teacher, then Bell Labs stepped in at some point and assigned Multics to BESYS (presumably to broaden her worldview and help keep her from developing a strong allegiance to MIT). Neither Multics nor BESYS would have been happy with that arrangement and it quickly dissolved - with Multics going back into CTSS' tutelage/care.

Heck, you could even have all this coincide with Bell Labs' dropping out of the Multics project and say it was because of Multics petulant attitude toward BESYS-sama. (And her general poor health and instability.)

Also if we go with that, BESYS wouldn't have been upset losing custody since all she wanted was to spend her last days in peace.

That sounds about right.

In other news, I've had some recent ideas about the DEC-tans, Data General-tans and the relationship between their cultures.... but I'm too lazy to post them here atm. >>

[Aurora Borealis]

Oooh! I like that, especially the thought of Multics being spoiled as a kid, causing as much trouble as her health would allow her to, but that thought then gets sad because BESYS at the time didn't know if Multics would survive (leaving her teaching efforts wasted), plus the fact she wasn't in good health either.

Does this all sounds good, and can be added to their articles?

[Bella]

Go ahead. ^^

[Chocofreak13]

holy shit, this thread's active. *__*;;

that said, though i can't speak to vintage -tans, i like the way you guys went on this. one of the flaws in changeling is mentor's resentment, and it seems to me that Multics would have had that one had she stayed with BESYS! ^^;;

hope the thread stays alive ;v;

[Bella]

Since the topic of OS-tan history has come up, some information surrounding the DEC-tans, PDP-8-tan and the Data General-tans (henceforth known as the DG-tans) that is relevant to the histories of all three.

1) PDP-8-tan accidentally caused the creation of the DG faction.
PDP-8-tan's creator/father was so disappointed at her perceived weaknesses that he attempted to muscle the DEC higher-ups into creating an improved successor to her ... DEC management wouldn't have any part of that plan, so he ended up leaving, founding his own faction (DG) and creating this successor - Nova-tan.

Naturally, PDP-8-tan felt terribly about this. It caused her to harbor a small inferiority complex for a time - something she got over by asserting her usefulness through learning a (staggeringly wide) variety of skills and trades. On a much larger scale, the DG-tans became a rather persistent thorn in the DEC faction's side, which brings me to point #2.

2) The DG-tans are what drove the DEC-tans to adopt a military structure.
In 1968 the DG faction was founded, and from the beginning their main target was their rival DEC faction. While relatively powerless, the DG-tans were masters of propaganda and posturing -  this, coupled with their reputation for unstable and underhanded behavior (think of them as the North Korea of the minicomputer community), threw quite a bit of fear into the DEC-tans. So much so that the up-and-coming leaders of the DECs - PDP-10 and TOPS-10-tan - founded a military/militia organization within their faction to defend themselves if they were ever attacked/faced a direct confrontation with the DG-tans.

(On that note, i wouldn't be surprised if the DG-tans had some sort of military structure as well.)

This didn't really jive well with the majority of (typically peace-lovin') DEC-tans, but the growing threat of Unix-sama and her hordes pretty much solidified that way of life, and they continued to maintain a military organization until their faction's downfall in 1998.

Random human name notes:
-PDP-8-tan's human name is Kate De Castro. Unfortunately she shares this surname with her father/creator and a number of the DG-tans. The DEC-tans don't bring up this fact, like ever.
-LINC-tan's name is ... LINC. Dr. Lincoln, formally. 

[Bella]

NEW TEHORIES FOR THE OS-TAN UNIVERSE YOU CAN IGNORE THEM BUT THEY'RE TOO AWESOME TO IGNORE IMO:

-All BOY OS-kun characters will now be considered GIRLS! After all, all the *original* Japanese canon characters were girls with OS-kuns coming afterward, so we can see from that male characters were just silly additions to the original female cast.

-Because there are no more boy characters, EVERYONE IS YURI FOR ONE ANOTHER.

-But since yuri hentais are sooo boring and peenz are teh sexays, ALL THE GIRL CHARACTERS ARE NOW FUTAS.

-All non-moe characters are now moe! Look at the original OS-tans, they were all SO moe (desu). So now all of our boring non-moe characters will wear adorable outfits and do super kawaii things like be clumsy and have cute catchphrases!

-Every character comes from Japan and speaks Japanese. Since all the *canon* characters were Japanese, ours should be too - it would be baka of us to hijack the OS-tan concept and westernize it. Plus the Japanese language is sugoi!!!

[Aurora Borealis]

@Bella: I like your DEC-tan and DG-tan conjectures! They do a good job explaining how the DEC faction became militarized, because the earliest DEC-tans weren't the militaristic type. I'd imagine that even PDP-1-tan agreed to the militarization for the survival of the lineage she founded.

Despite her inferiority complex, and perceived failings, she was still one of the most successful DEC-tans. What rank did she achieve?


========

Another involvement with the DG-tans I know of is that the Data General Nova running RDOS was used as a control and maintenance unit on the early Cray-1 supercomputers, so I'd imagine that the Cray-tans would be friendly towards the DG-tans, since Nova-tan and/or RDOS-tan helped Cray-1-tan become more self-sufficient.

The CDC-tans, I think would also be antagonistic towards the DG-tans. If the DG-tans have the same last name as one of the most well-known DEC-tans, then they might end up being mistaken for DECs, whom the CDCs were enemies with!

Nova-tan would also be Apple I-tan's and Altair-tan's role model.

========

Actually, part of me agrees with the OS-tans becoming less westernized, because the westernization of the OS-tans we've created clashes with the Japanese-based canon Windows-tans- put these two viewpoints together, and it just gets... confusing. But we did agree to the OS-tan universe being a fusion of eastern and western cultures while leaving the Windows-tans alone out of respect for their original creators, didn't we?

[Nichi]

New theory: 2k-tan is a legendary hero that will save us from the evil 8-tan

[Bella]

I hope you don't mind that I took so long to reply, Aurora, but since you said you're only posting on the weekend I thought I'd wait to post here on the weekend too.

@Bella: I like your DEC-tan and DG-tan conjectures! They do a good job explaining how the DEC faction became militarized, because the earliest DEC-tans weren't the militaristic type. I'd imagine that even PDP-1-tan agreed to the militarization for the survival of the lineage she founded.

Thanks, I'm glad you like them. And yes, I imagine pretty much everyone was on board with DEC taking precautions against outside threats.

Despite her inferiority complex, and perceived failings, she was still one of the most successful DEC-tans. What rank did she achieve?

I'm not sure what rank PDP-8-tan achieved - Stew figured out the rank structure for the DEC OS-tans, maybe I'll ask him to help with the hardwares.

Another involvement with the DG-tans I know of is that the Data General Nova running RDOS was used as a control and maintenance unit on the early Cray-1 supercomputers, so I'd imagine that the Cray-tans would be friendly towards the DG-tans, since Nova-tan and/or RDOS-tan helped Cray-1-tan become more self-sufficient.

I remember reading about the Nova - Cray-1 connection on the wikipedia article for the Nova. So it makes sense that Nova and/or RDOS-tan and Cray-1-tan would be close friends.

The CDC-tans, I think would also be antagonistic towards the DG-tans. If the DG-tans have the same last name as one of the most well-known DEC-tans, then they might end up being mistaken for DECs, whom the CDCs were enemies with!

Nova-tan would also be Apple I-tan's and Altair-tan's role model.

I imagine the DG-tans would have persistent problems of getting mistaken for DEC-tans, at least by outside groups who aren't very familiar with minicomputer factions.

Sounds right, I recall reading that the Nova influenced the Altair and Apple I in some regards.

Actually, part of me agrees with the OS-tans becoming less westernized, because the westernization of the OS-tans we've created clashes with the Japanese-based canon Windows-tans- put these two viewpoints together, and it just gets... confusing. But we did agree to the OS-tan universe being a fusion of eastern and western cultures while leaving the Windows-tans alone out of respect for their original creators, didn't we?

I've never seen a clash between the westernized OS-tans and the Japanese canon OS-tans, but then again most of the OS-tans I've created have been far removed from the canon OS-tans due to running in entirely different social circles (IE, having few chances to interact with Windows-tans in-story) or existing in completely timeframes before the Windows-tans existed/became relevant.

But yes, the OS-tan universe is hinted at being a mix of Western and Eastern culture.

[Bella]

I had several thoughts about the nature of OS-tan magical power. I was originally going to post these as WMGs in the Tropes thread, but I figured they might get more exposure over here. >>

Theory 1.1: The Unix Wars stripped Unix-sama of a lot of her powers.
It's been speculated that Unix derives her power/lifeforce from all her children. The Unix Wars were the political "splitting" of the Unix family, so why not assume that this breakup and all the subsequent Unix-on-Unix fighting/bloodshed it entailed also impacted Unix-sama's magical abilities?

Supported by the fact that Unix is rarely shown as using substantial amounts of magic in recent years.

Theory 1.2: Unix-sama stands a chance of regaining her lost powers/becoming even more powerful
...If she can unite the Unix family again. This could be why she's so supportive of the Linuxes (even at the risk of undermining parts of her own family), they're the last best chance of a unified Unix race.

Theory 2.1: Damage to an OS-tan's magical ability can effect their physical integrity.
Let's assume that some OS-tans are so heavily magical that their health and physical integrity are bound up with their magical ability. I'm not sure how common or rare this would be among OS-tans - I assume it would be fairly uncommon, just because it puts an OS-tan's life at great jeopardy unless they have a LOT of magic and can protect their powers from attack. TSS/360-tan and Multics would be two such OS-tans, and their lives were punctuated by frequent brushes with death from hitherto-unknown ailments. I propose that these ailments were a direct result of issues with their magical abilities - namely, those abilities not being developed enough to "stabilize" their physical bodies.

I've always thought the "Unix lost the use of her legs because of psychological trauma" story was a little weak, so I propose a new theory in conduction with Theory 1.1 - that losing all that magical energy in the midst of the Unix Wars is what caused her to become wheelchair-bound.

Theory 2.2: Damage to physical manifestations of magical energy can also impact magical integrity.
By physical manifestations of magical energy, I mean body parts that are rooted in the magical, not biological, nature of an OS-tan. This would primarily center on body parts relating to an OS-tan's "animal magic" - that is to say, animal features like ears, tails, wings, etc. Since those are the sort of physical focus-points of an OS-tan's magical nature, they'd pose a very, very alluring target for anyone wishing to do magical harm to a -tan.

(Which would explain why Unix-sama seemingly aimed for Multics' wings when she attacked her - she knew that it wrecking enough damage on them would disable Multics' abilities.)

[Chocofreak13]

-Every character comes from Japan and speaks Japanese. Since all the *canon* characters were Japanese, ours should be too - it would be baka of us to hijack the OS-tan concept and westernize it. Plus the Japanese language is sugoi!!!

not to steal your hipster energy, but i mentioned this sort of thing before it was cool. that japanese canon should ALWAYS be paramount, since the idea of the os-tans were born in japan. that makes them inherently japanese, regardless of where they were created. (NOT the computer, the -tan.)

@os-kuns: ......
*materializes behind bella*
*SLICE*
*disappears*

[NejinOniwa]

Please tell me you didn't look at the date of that post...

[Bella]

I'm going to go on the record as saying I frankly don't care about Japanese "canon".

I mean, I'm okay with the canon Windows-tans (and like the canon Macs even more) but for me the fun has always been in making my own OS-tans and making my own stories, unrelated to anything in the "canon".

It's sort of like my friends in the OC Geography-tan (states, provinces, cities, etc)  fandom - they were inspired by Hetalia and many love that series and the characters in varying degrees. At the same time, many of them create their OCs outside of the Hetalia universe, and try to be as un-Hetalia-like as possible when creating their characters. (For instance, instead of creating very pun-and-stereotype-based, humor-driven characters they actually spend days researching geographic regions, history and native culture, etc., and crafting a character who both accurately represents a place yet avoids being bogged down in injokes and references). That's how it's always felt, for me, creating OS-tans - I use the original canon a inspiration, but I never let it guide or dictate what I can and can't do with my own characters.

As awesome as it would be having my -tans be a cast of kawaiidesu☆genki-girls hailing from Japan, I have a personal moral obligation to put historical accuracy ahead of Japanese "canon". Stewart and Nej to feel the same way, if their stories (and lack of Japan-originating non-Japanese -tans) are any indication.

Please tell me you didn't look at the date of that post...

I wondered the same thing. 'w'