LINC

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LINC
Character Information
Common Names	LINC
Other Names	Laboratory Instrument Computer
Human Name(s)	Dr. Lincoln
Faction	Formerly DEC Military
Lineage	MIT Society, contributed to DEC Faction
Rival(s)	Various DEC-tans
Appearance
Height	Mid 5' range
Hair Color	Black
Eye Color	Grey-blue
Weapon(s)	Paper magic
Design
First Appearance	Spring 2011
Technical Information
System Personified	LINC
Developer(s)	MIT, Lincoln Labs, later DEC
Debut	Circa 1962
Latest release	n/a

Technical details

Originally built by MIT Lincoln Labs, the LINC computer was later produced and sold by DEC from 1964 to 1969. A partial descendant of MIT's Whirlwind, via the TX-2 computer - which was used to develop LINCTape. LINCTape is a very reliable system, but was needed for its system to operate, and is hard to type on. Several DEC systems are descended from LINC: PDP-4, PDP-5, LINC-8, PDP-11 and PDP-12. LINC's design is entirely in the Public Domain.

Character details

General

LINC-tan has pale skin, long black hair with straight-cut bangs and gray-blue eyes, and usually wears black dresses with a lab coat and green ribbons in her hair. In her recent years, she also wears a stab vest reflecting the strength and reliability of LINCTape, which can have holes punched in it by a paper tape puncher without any problems.

Despite being pacifistic and outwardly-polite for the most part, her personality is cynical and somewhat acerbic. She is highly intelligent and educated with good powers of recollection, but needs her planner with to do anything. She is sometimes hard to communicate with and intimidated by groups, as such she prefers to talking to one person at a time. Her experiences with the National Institutes of Heath gave her psychology skills and up until DEC's demise, she worked as a mental-health professional.

Like many OS-tans of the time, LINC possessed certain magical skills - in her case, strange powers over paper. This ability got her branded as something of a witch by her DEC peers, who were already mistrustful of her due to her outside (MIT) origins.

Family and relationships

LINC-tan is married to PDP-8-tan and together they have one child, PDP-12-tan. LINC-tan considers all the PDP-8 OS-tans her step-children, and they seem to be the only DEC-tans who are openly friendly toward LINC.

Outside of her own familial unit, LINC-tan had few friends or admirers at DEC.

History and background

Early Life

LINC-tan began life in 1961. She was created at Lincoln Laboratory and attended classes at MIT; unlike many of her peers, who were directed into physics, computer science, mathematics and other 'hard science' fields, LINC studied social sciences, psychology in particular. While studying at the university, LINC made acquaintance with many MIT computer-tans - she and CTSS-tan sometimes spent time together, and she occasionally visited Whirlwind-tan, although Whirlwind was already in delicate health at this point. She looked up to Whirlwind in a way, and considered her something of a conceptual-ancestor - because of this, her health problems caused LINC a certain amount of emotional distress and sadness. It is unknown how, or if, LINC and TX-0-tan got along; as TX-0 was created with knowledge gained in the experimental surgeries that disabled Whirlwind-tan and considered something of a pariah among the OS-tans who admired Whirlwind.

LINC started working for the National Institute of Health sometime in the early 1960s. Little is known of her time working for the NIH, but it is known that she furthered her training as a psychologist during this time.

In 1964, she was recruited into the DEC Faction and faced a frosty welcome. Several factors have been cited as contributing to the DEC-tans' hostility; among these, her work as a mental-health professional and assigned position as "surgeon-general", her MIT origins and unusual paper-based sorcery. In spite of the mostly negative reaction, some DEC-tans took a liking to her; most notably PDP-8-tan, who herself is a distant relative of LINC.

Despite their seemingly clashing personalities - LINC being cynical, cold, intelligent and over-educated, and PDP-8 being bubbly, personable, but rather uneducated and mentally-simplistic - they were fast friends, and their relationship soon took a markedly affectionate, perhaps even romantic turn. Realizing that they shared a high level of compatibility, the management of DEC arranged for them to be married; LINC and PDP-8-tan were not only accepting of this arrangement, but enthusiastic over it. They wed in 1966, and remain together to this day.

In 1969, PDP-8 and LINC-tan had a child together, PDP-12-tan. This is one of only a few recorded instances of an OS-tan being created from two parents.

Modern Day

To date, there are no theories or documentation concerning LINC's activities between the 1970s and current-day. Today, she resides with PDP-8-tan in an undisclosed location in New England.

Fanworks

• LINC and PDP-8 Pinups
• LINC-8 Portrait, Version 1
• LINC-8 Portrait, Version 2
• Some PDP-tans-in-bathing-suits references
• PDP doodles, including a small LINC comic
• Early PDP-tans sketch