On Topic[less]

[Bella]

Interesting. I myself have rather interesting (and mixed) ideas about OS-tan reproduction, so I really can't be one to judge.  ^^;

So I think Multics-tan is (was?) an avid absinthe drinker... this isn't actually my own headcanon but something a friend suggested and it kind of stuck in my mind.

It seems like something somebody of her impressive wealth, creativity and insanity would be into.

It also probably helped her take her mind off her shitty parent company making her life hell.

[Nichi]

Interesting. Somehow, I pictured Multics as being more into fine wines, but maybe she saves the absinthe for when nobody's around ^^;

I have headcanons involving Neptune and Odyssey; which I have mentioned in the past, but will go over again because I feel like it -w-

- Neptune was abandoned early in training, which has resulted in her becoming resentful toward other Windows-tans; especially 2k, whom she was supposed to graduate alongside
(The reason being that Neptune was intended to be Windows 2000 Home Edition, but it was scrapped after a few test builds, while Windows 2000 Professional made it to store shelves)

- Odyssey was abandoned even earlier than Neptune, although she was more confused than anything. However, 2k-kun saw her out on the streets and took her under his wing; caring for her like a sibling
(The reason being that Odyssey appears to have never making it past the drawing board; no test builds are known to exist. As for why 2k-kun, Odyssey does look like she could be his or 2k-tan's younger sister in most artwork I've seen, and I feel 2k-kun isn't represented enough in comparison to his twin)

[Aurora Borealis]

On OS-tan headcanons:

-I think that Plan 9-tan and Plan B-tan would both be into disco. I can also see Plan B-tan being into psychedelic music.
-Barbie Linux-tan would obviously like Barbie Girl.
-Apple ///-tan did start the fire!
-95 OSR 2.5-tan and Windows 97-tan are twin sisters. Both of them have brown hair and red eyes, and 95 OSR 2.5 was released in 1997. I think 97-tan would have been resentful because OSR 2.5 was favored over her, but they reconciled years later, while living as wanderers.
-OSR 2.5-tan left the Windows family shortly after OSR 2.1-tan did, and originally sought to look for her, but also look for 97-tan.
-Windows 3.1-tan lives a double life, since 3.1 still has some commercial use. She and DOS-tan are also the only members of the Windows Family who know of 3.2-tan's real connection to the Windows Family.
-Windows 3.2-tan is very good at melee combat, because she has lived as a wanderer for nearly her whole life, and fought against many malware-tans and bootleg OS-tans.

[Bella]

Interesting. Somehow, I pictured Multics as being more into fine wines, but maybe she saves the absinthe for when nobody's around ^^;

I have headcanons involving Neptune and Odyssey; which I have mentioned in the past, but will go over again because I feel like it -w-

- Neptune was abandoned early in training, which has resulted in her becoming resentful toward other Windows-tans; especially 2k, whom she was supposed to graduate alongside
(The reason being that Neptune was intended to be Windows 2000 Home Edition, but it was scrapped after a few test builds, while Windows 2000 Professional made it to store shelves)

- Odyssey was abandoned even earlier than Neptune, although she was more confused than anything. However, 2k-kun saw her out on the streets and took her under his wing; caring for her like a sibling
(The reason being that Odyssey appears to have never making it past the drawing board; no test builds are known to exist. As for why 2k-kun, Odyssey does look like she could be his or 2k-tan's younger sister in most artwork I've seen, and I feel 2k-kun isn't represented enough in comparison to his twin)

She is an old-time Victorian Bohemian at heart, though. (Even if her parent company tried to stomp most of those inclinations out of her.)

For some reason I've always imagined Unix-tan as being into fine wines (which is kind of hilarious because she looks like a teenager) and Linux-tan favoring nice beers (along with many of her FOSS friends). Solaris and ITS are definitely coffee fiends ... I'm not sure who my  teetotaler are, but Tenex jumps to mind.

I remember your theory about Neptune but I'd forgotten the part about Odyssey. I really like the idea of 2K-kun befriending her, although I'm probably biased since 2K-kun is my favorite Windows-kun, and Odyssey-tan is one of my favorite Windows-tans.

On OS-tan headcanons:

-I think that Plan 9-tan and Plan B-tan would both be into disco. I can also see Plan B-tan being into psychedelic music.
-Barbie Linux-tan would obviously like Barbie Girl.
-Apple ///-tan did start the fire!
-95 OSR 2.5-tan and Windows 97-tan are twin sisters. Both of them have brown hair and red eyes, and 95 OSR 2.5 was released in 1997. I think 97-tan would have been resentful because OSR 2.5 was favored over her, but they reconciled years later, while living as wanderers.
-OSR 2.5-tan left the Windows family shortly after OSR 2.1-tan did, and originally sought to look for her, but also look for 97-tan.
-Windows 3.1-tan lives a double life, since 3.1 still has some commercial use. She and DOS-tan are also the only members of the Windows Family who know of 3.2-tan's real connection to the Windows Family.
-Windows 3.2-tan is very good at melee combat, because she has lived as a wanderer for nearly her whole life, and fought against many malware-tans and bootleg OS-tans.

I remember your theory about Windows 3.1-tan still making a living despite being purportedly retired! I had no idea OSR 2.5-tan and 97-tan were closely related; interesting ...

[winduko]

Interesting. I myself have rather interesting (and mixed) ideas about OS-tan reproduction, so I really can't be one to judge.  ^^;

Actually, how OS-tan reproduction works in my headcanon is simple, yet complicated. In the universe that I'm constructing, OS-tans are humans, and humans have special abilities. The OS-tans are just the most powerful.

The three methods are reproduction are: Heterosexual reproduction, Homosexual reproduction, and Asexual reproduction.

Heterosexual reproduction is self-explanatory.

Homosexual reproduction can be classified in two groups: masculine reproduction and feminine reproduction. The former can be further classified as dumasculine reproduction and trimasculine reproduction, depending on the gender of whomever provides the magic to allow the males to reproduce, as male reproduction, without magic to help the genetics, could potentially result in a baby with YY gender, and therefore unable to live. Feminine reproduction can be done on its own without much magical influence thanks to the nature of female reproduction unless the couple really wanted a boy.

Asexual reproduction refers to the creation of homunculi. Homunculi are seperated into three groups, Unix-based homunculi, Linux-based homunculi, and Limb-based homunculi. The former two are different only by the ancestor of the homunculi, and are not mutually exclusive. In fact, if Unix-tan and Linux-tan were to reproduce (or a Linux-based homunculi and a Unix-based homunculi reproduced), it could eventually result in a mixture of the two kinds of homunculi. Non-Unices/Linuces cannot reproduce in this way.

Limb-based homunculi, on the other hand, are a completely different thing, and are only grouped together due to the fact that they're sapient asexually-reproduced beings. They're more of an attack than actual reproduction, but because of the existence of a -tan that was created this way and has been returned into the limb it was in years (Inu-T), it is still a reasonable, if not very painful, method of reproduction. It was thought only to be similar to the other kinds of asexual reproduction in that only a certain kind of -tan can do it (in this case VMS/Windows NT), but it was disproven a long time ago by 95-tan, and it's thought that it's possible for any non-Unix/Linux to do.

Interesting. Somehow, I pictured Multics as being more into fine wines, but maybe she saves the absinthe for when nobody's around ^^;

I have headcanons involving Neptune and Odyssey; which I have mentioned in the past, but will go over again because I feel like it -w-

- Neptune was abandoned early in training, which has resulted in her becoming resentful toward other Windows-tans; especially 2k, whom she was supposed to graduate alongside
(The reason being that Neptune was intended to be Windows 2000 Home Edition, but it was scrapped after a few test builds, while Windows 2000 Professional made it to store shelves)

- Odyssey was abandoned even earlier than Neptune, although she was more confused than anything. However, 2k-kun saw her out on the streets and took her under his wing; caring for her like a sibling
(The reason being that Odyssey appears to have never making it past the drawing board; no test builds are known to exist. As for why 2k-kun, Odyssey does look like she could be his or 2k-tan's younger sister in most artwork I've seen, and I feel 2k-kun isn't represented enough in comparison to his twin)

I have headcanons about Neptune and Odyssey, but that's as similar as it gets.

Neptune-tan was 2k's identical twin sister who was thought to have died at a fairly young age. She actually didn't, but in a world where Neptune-tan didn't have the potential death thing happen, she's not only the alternate Neptune-tan, but also the alternate Homeko. The alternate ME-tan was thought to have died, and like the Neptune of the primary universe, really didn't die.

Odyssey-tan herself doesn't exist in the main universe, but in the same alternate universe where Neptune-tan is still alive, she's the alternate Saseko and Vistan, the latter being a reference to Odyssey, if it were to have became a product, becoming Windows NT 6.0, which is Vista's edition number.

-95 OSR 2.5-tan and Windows 97-tan are twin sisters. Both of them have brown hair and red eyes, and 95 OSR 2.5 was released in 1997. I think 97-tan would have been resentful because OSR 2.5 was favored over her, but they reconciled years later, while living as wanderers.
-OSR 2.5-tan left the Windows family shortly after OSR 2.1-tan did, and originally sought to look for her, but also look for 97-tan.

Interesting. On a related note, in my headcanon OSR 2.1-tan is the same tan as Nashville/Windows 96-tan, as a reference to Nashville/Windows 96's features going into Windows 95 OSR2.x.

I really like the idea of OSR 2.5-tan and 97-tan being twin sisters though. Within my headcanon, they are Detroit-tan and Memphis-tan respectively. Normally a beta OS-tan wouldn't have its own -tan, but considering that's what 97-tan is, it'd make sense that she's Memphis-tan rather than either 98-tan or SE-tan.

[Bella]

My interpretation of what OS-tans are follows closely with the traditional interpretations outlined by C-chan, Aurora, StewartSage, Nejin et. al.; computer-tans are humanoid (though distinctly NOT human) beings who have powers of data manipulation. They're split up into classifications of hardware, software and OS-tan, with OS-tans being the most magically-powerful and least connected to the rules of the physical universe as we know them.

As for reproduction — I imagine they can reproduce with any number of parents, ranging from one to two or more. They don't leave much to chance, and most of their offspring are heavily genetically-engineered using whatever the hell magitech they have available.

I imagine Back In The Day OS-tans often reproduced the old fashioned way (frankly, it doesn't seem a bad analogy for the slow and stupidly-impractical development process of Iron Age computers, though I admit my fondness for fempreg/Lesbian Science Babies may've shaded my opinions as well), although the ever-pragmatic Unices were the first to pioneer growing offspring, something that allowed them to reproduce exponentially and essentially take over the whole damned market. The Linuces kicked this up a notch by making their source code (basically, their gene sequence) freely available, meaning that anyone could "craft" offspring anywhere with essentially no intervention from the parent/donor/whatever. No clue how other modern -tan bloodlines reproduce, though I imagine they probably would have taken cues from the Unices.

[Nichi]

@Duko: Oddly enough, in the universe of my stories, ME-tan died; although in this case it was at the hands of Neptune, who was at that point known only by the alias of "The Reaper" (That being shown as a flashback; to give some background on 2k's previous encounter with the Reaper).

As for how the universe works in my stories, the OS-tans live in a different dimension, and everyone is human-like but some have special abilities. The idea takes a few cues from ReBoot (A TV series I loved as a kid); where the computer programs are portrayed as people going about their daily lives.

On the subject of reproduction, I've never really thought of how it'd work...or what would happen if 2k ended up pregnant in my story, since she's with an ordinary human; would it result in some kind of monster like the lizard-baby from V (Both the '85 and '09 series), or something fairly normal barring the enhanced strength like Gohan in Dragon Ball Z?

[winduko]

My interpretation of what OS-tans are follows closely with the traditional interpretations outlined by C-chan, Aurora, StewartSage, Nejin et. al.; computer-tans are humanoid (though distinctly NOT human) beings who have powers of data manipulation. They're split up into classifications of hardware, software and OS-tan, with OS-tans being the most magically-powerful and least connected to the rules of the physical universe as we know them.

Meanwhile, while they might not be what we consider Homo Sapiens, in their universe, they're definitely considered to be human, alongside the other humans of that world. Computer-tans are some of the most powerful humans, with the OS-tans at the very top, pretty much all humans have magic.

What you say is interesting in a good way, just not what works for my headcanon.

On an unrelated note, the data manipulation thing reminds me of Haruhi Suzumiya, and more specifically the Data Integration Thought Entity, as that's what the Humanoid Interfaces from there do.

As for reproduction — I imagine they can reproduce with any number of parents, ranging from one to two or more. They don't leave much to chance, and most of their offspring are heavily genetically-engineered using whatever the hell magitech they have available.

Humans can reproduce with as many parents as well, with a number of two to four parents being common for non Unices/Linuces. They do tend to leave more to chance, though, as while there is magic to change genetics, therefore genetic engineering is possible, the only common genetic engineering spell is the one that prevents two males from having a YY baby.

@Duko: Oddly enough, in the universe of my stories, ME-tan died; although in this case it was at the hands of Neptune, who was at that point known only by the alias of "The Reaper" (That being shown as a flashback; to give some background on 2k's previous encounter with the Reaper).

In the main universe, the plot of the story I'm writing kicks off with ME-tan's death. Not at the hands of Neptune, but Neptune didn't really help.

As for how the universe works in my stories, the OS-tans live in a different dimension, and everyone is human-like but some have special abilities. The idea takes a few cues from ReBoot (A TV series I loved as a kid); where the computer programs are portrayed as people going about their daily lives.

It's close to how the universe works in my stories, except it doesn't focus on our dimension, and virutally everyone has special abilities. Never watched (or even heard of) ReBoot though.

On the subject of reproduction, I've never really thought of how it'd work...or what would happen if 2k ended up pregnant in my story, since she's with an ordinary human; would it result in some kind of monster like the lizard-baby from V (Both the '85 and '09 series), or something fairly normal barring the enhanced strength like Gohan in Dragon Ball Z?

To be fair, I'm making this up as I go. That's part of the reason why it took me long to post. The main reason is that I was doing World of Warcraft as I made this post, though.

[Nichi]

You never know; it's possible I might go down that rabbit hole and find some explanation as to what would happen if 2k mated with a human. It'd likely be strictly a noncanon "what if?" story; as IDK how I'd go about working a child into the series as part of the main cast ^^;

Also, interesting how your story has ME-tan dying. In mine, truth be told I sometimes regret doing that, but at the same time, she had to die to give 2k the motivation to try and stop Neptune from killing her or other Windows-tans deemed "obsolete" (Without it, 2k doesn't really have anything to push her beyond "the plot says so").

[winduko]

You never know; it's possible I might go down that rabbit hole and find some explanation as to what would happen if 2k mated with a human. It'd likely be strictly a noncanon "what if?" story; as IDK how I'd go about working a child into the series as part of the main cast ^^;

Well, Pizza-tan is a part of the main cast of my story, as Pizza-tan saved 2k's life.

Also, interesting how your story has ME-tan dying. In mine, truth be told I sometimes regret doing that, but at the same time, she had to die to give 2k the motivation to try and stop Neptune from killing her or other Windows-tans deemed "obsolete" (Without it, 2k doesn't really have anything to push her beyond "the plot says so").

The story behind ME-tan's death in my story is this (spoilered due to mentions of suicide):

Spoiler: ShowHide

There were once two major factions, Windows and Mac. ME-tan and Mac OS9-kun decided to stop the war by secretly getting married then having a child together, as both of the main families of the factions put their families above anything else. It backfires, as they divorced (against their will) after the child was born, and the war becomes a custody battle over the kid.

ME-tan is then the subject of many assassination attempts by Windows loyalists that felt that ME-tan betrayed them. It doesn't help that she wasn't very trusted within her own faction for reasons beyond her control. 2k, considered to be a very trustworthy and moral member of the faction, was always on ME-tan's side, and was pretty much the main reason why ME-tan was even tolerated.

ME-tan became sick of the constant attempts on her life that she eventually decided to take her own. 2k was not happy about it to say the least. In fact, because of the fact that ME-tan reminded her of her own twin sister, 2k became depressed about it for quite a while, to the point where she too attempted to take her own life. That's how Pizza-tan enters the picture. Pizza-tan *don*s 2k, saving 2k's life, and gives 2k some of her lost hope.

Eventually, 2k resolves to be the heroine she once was to honour ME-tan and to make her happy when they next meet.

[Nichi]

Established children are one thing, like Pizza-tan; as the group in my main story have two kids traveling with them. I meant incorporating the child of two of the main characters; as it just seems strange to me ^^;;

Also, that's interesting. As for how everything works out in my story... (spoiler'd due to, well, spoilers for my story)

Spoiler: ShowHide

Working under the shady President Ballmer, Neptune is an assassin who is sent on missions to track down and kill anyone who is deemed obsolete and refuses to come forward for execution. She is omnipresent; allowing her to easily find her target and confront them, no matter how far they run.

In 2006, ME-tan received the End of Life notice in the mail; signaling her to come forward for execution or face the consequences. She chose not to; instead opting to have 2k-tan train her for battle so she can at least go down fighting, to prove that she is still useful regardless of being considered "obsolete". Unfortunately, although she did hold her own against Neptune well, she ultimately died in that battle; 2k was there, forced to watch but powerless to intervene, as everything happened.

Come 2010, right after an adventure drew to a close, 2k received a rude awakening as she received her own EOL notice in the form of a device that was intended to turn her to stone, but unfortunately, an ordinary schoolboy whom was traveling with 2k activated it and he was turned to stone. In a moment of grief, she distanced herself from everyone and was going to merely wait around in the pouring rain for Neptune to find her, so nobody else would get hurt...but everyone tracked her down and helped her snap out of it; as she realized that she now has an opportunity to try and finish what ME started all those years ago; end Neptune's reign of terror and see to it that nobody else has to feel the same loss she did.

Also, as a note, while Neptune only targets Windows-tans who are deemed obsolete, she will go after anyone who knows too much about who she is; given that she operates under the alias of "The Reaper" and wears a helmet to hide her identity as Neptune is technically "dead" according to records. For this reason, OS9-tan is a target; as she did research into it in an effort to help 2k.

[winduko]

That's true. OC children are really hard to do well. My friend actually attempted to do something similar. It didn't work, to say the least.

That's really interesting. :O

Thing that is spoilered due to spoilers for my to-be-published story:

Spoiler: ShowHide

Neptune is a major villain who does so because she felt abandoned by her family after her near-death experience, and she was one of the many former Windows members that was found by Cairo-tan, her older sister who ran away for spoilers so great that they couldn't be put in these spoiler tags.

[Cockleshell]

Guys, you're incredible. This needs to be made into a full-length novel.

[winduko]

Funny you should mention that. I'm torn between making my story into a webnovel or a webcomic, to be honest. Either way, it's fanfiction.

[Nichi]

Mine's being posted on my DeviantArt; currently up to chapter 9 -w-