[OOC][Brainstorming] Intelligent Devices for non-"Lyrical Nanoha" mages

[Black Aeronaut]

Mine was a Sumomo-sized persocom named Yotsuba Koiwai.  With, you know, some magic circuits too. This is her in her barrier jacket that she stole the idea from someone else.

*Cackles like a lunatic*

I can only imagine what Arturia's reaction to that is gonna be like.

[robkelk]

Mine was a Sumomo-sized persocom named Yotsuba Koiwai.  With, you know, some magic circuits too. This is her in her barrier jacket that she stole the idea from someone else.

*Cackles like a lunatic*

I can only imagine what Arturia's reaction to that is gonna be like.

Who do you think Tomoyo took measurements from before making the ID's outfit?

[classicdrogn]

While I haven't followed the stories enough to suggest it for a specific character, I do have a device design my super sentai/medic character used, even if the original was a fake for the sake of fitting in with MSLN casters.

White Brace's storage form is a wristwatch with a citrine-orange face crystal (or whatever color suits the user) and an elastic, claspless strap divided into a lot of little metal segments. It can project a small holographic screen from the crystal and perform various health monitoring scans on the user or another person nearby without needing to change forms. In active mode it becomes a forearm-length bracer with a larger crystal in about the same place and three smaller ones clustered around it in red, green, and blue, and may or may not have a gauntlet protecting the hand and fingers depending on whether that's needed over dexterity and a soft touch, with a second strap like the first halfway along the arm. Naturally, it is all white enamel aside from the crystals, as the name suggests. The original was quite plain and utilitarian, but a lengthwise red stripe with a crossbar near the elbow and/or a heart monitor sinusoid graph wouldn't be out of place if it doesn't clash with the rest of the user's visual design.

If it doesn't have a cartridge system upgrade, that's all, but if it does, then a set of six lie flat along the inner arm anchored to thicker versions of these straps with a backplate between them. The command to use a cartridge is just "load cartridge" to which it replies "Injection!" and as sudden power surges are bad for most designed use cases for a medical Device, the cartridge does not empty instantly as usual, instead popping upright at the end closest to the wrist and releasing its stored energy over the course of a second or two, with a line of glowing bars along the inner (usually against the arm, now toward the user) side that show the progress, in the mana color of whoever filled the cartridge. Likewise, it lacked a Shooting or Sealing Mode, but an Iron Man style shift of the main crystal to the inner palm, possibly adding a second copy of itself on the other arm as well, would make sense for that, or abandoning the wearable form for a traditional staff - a proper Asclepius staff with one snake and no wings would be the design inspiration there, not Hermes' Caduceus, since being the patron of thieves and merchants makes him pretty much the root of most of the problems with modern health care.

Daisuke's signature combat style was martial arts with a lot of <=8m "combat teleports" by mechanics that were more like a flash step as fluffed, able to add momentum to kicks, kick up a wave if moving over water, etc. and requiring a clear path between origin and arrival points, which would be connected by a glowing streak of mana color light. This was his own ability, but would be viable for inclusion in White Brace's repertoire as a real Device, along with being able to cast shields and barriers for half the usual mana cost relative to the strength. (He could also tap cartridges on his own, so the Injection system was just a bit more fakery, a spring-loaded socket and charge bar to fit them into with a release catch activated by the spoken or telepathic command.)

It didn't have a personality as such due to being made out of the guts of a children's toy that could receive telepathy and repeat the message with a synthesized voice or play a few pre-programmed phrases on command and only really supported casting small illusions for the display otherwise (specifically to let young kids train their telepathy/basic mana manipulation) along with having a student ID card style IFF function and a storage space that amounts to being a lunch box, so that part can be tailored as needed. Honestly, the original toy functions made for an interesting character prop if you want to just use that, or have someone make and sell them for cash and/or to promote the use of (environmentally and physically safe) magic use over other weapon and power generation technologies, in line with TSAB philosophy.

[robkelk]

Getting back to this...

With Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid in the setting to help with the magic, Reinforce Taiga should be coming online a lot earlier than we expected. So at least some of the Senshi should be getting their Unison Devices before the Academy City Job. This moves one story that I had pencilled in for Arc 2 up to Arc 1... not that that's a problem.

[robkelk]

Getting back to this...

With Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid in the setting to help with the magic, Reinforce Taiga should be coming online a lot earlier than we expected. So at least some of the Senshi should be getting their Unison Devices before the Academy City Job. This moves one story that I had pencilled in for Arc 2 up to Arc 1... not that that's a problem.

And in a bit of serendipity, I just found an image of the person and Unison Device in question (whether the artist knew it or not).

[Black Aeronaut]

Getting back to this...

With Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid in the setting to help with the magic, Reinforce Taiga should be coming online a lot earlier than we expected. So at least some of the Senshi should be getting their Unison Devices before the Academy City Job. This moves one story that I had pencilled in for Arc 2 up to Arc 1... not that that's a problem.

Wait.  How soon are we talking here?  Because I thought we had Taiga pegged as being Hayate's Valentine's Day Gift to Benjamin.

Although if we look at it strictly from the standpoint of a more easily implemented OS for Unison Devices (maybe called it ReIn-OS 2.0), then I can see that getting done in a very quick and timely manner.  Especially if we have Hayate taking to the new programming language like a fish to water.

[robkelk]

Getting back to this...

With Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid in the setting to help with the magic, Reinforce Taiga should be coming online a lot earlier than we expected. So at least some of the Senshi should be getting their Unison Devices before the Academy City Job. This moves one story that I had pencilled in for Arc 2 up to Arc 1... not that that's a problem.

Wait.  How soon are we talking here?  Because I thought we had Taiga pegged as being Hayate's Valentine's Day Gift to Benjamin.

Although if we look at it strictly from the standpoint of a more easily implemented OS for Unison Devices (maybe called it ReIn-OS 2.0), then I can see that getting done in a very quick and timely manner.  Especially if we have Hayate taking to the new programming language like a fish to water.

Yes, exactly. Even allowing for six months of debugging ReIn-OS 2.0 and installing ReIn-OS 2.1 in Guardian Jupiter, that still puts Guardian Jupiter's appearance before The Academy City Job.

[Black Aeronaut]

Getting back to this...

With Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid in the setting to help with the magic, Reinforce Taiga should be coming online a lot earlier than we expected. So at least some of the Senshi should be getting their Unison Devices before the Academy City Job. This moves one story that I had pencilled in for Arc 2 up to Arc 1... not that that's a problem.

Wait.  How soon are we talking here?  Because I thought we had Taiga pegged as being Hayate's Valentine's Day Gift to Benjamin.

Although if we look at it strictly from the standpoint of a more easily implemented OS for Unison Devices (maybe called it ReIn-OS 2.0), then I can see that getting done in a very quick and timely manner.  Especially if we have Hayate taking to the new programming language like a fish to water.

Yes, exactly. Even allowing for six months of debugging ReIn-OS 2.0 and installing ReIn-OS 2.1 in Guardian Jupiter, that still puts Guardian Jupiter's appearance before The Academy City Job.

Bwa?

*Goes to check the Wiki*

Ahhh, okay.  This was the first time I'd heard about Guardian Jupiter, so it kinda confused me.  (Forgive me if you had mentioned it to me before.  I honestly can't remember when or where it came up because of life happening.)

Also...

Reinforce Zwei, now known as Reinforce Taiga, comes online on or around February 14, 2017. Give Piffle three months for beta-testing the Metacontinuity tech, debugging the gender-bender issue, and building a second test model, and Guardian Jupiter comes online somewhere around the Victoria Day long weekend. (checks calendar) Victoria Day is May 22 in 2017; since the bakery where Makoto works is closed Mondays, that's an excellent day for Guardian Jupiter to be born. --Robkelk (talk) 20:47, 28 October 2021 (UTC)

Minor nitpick: I apologize if I never said anything about it, but Zwei, as she is seen in StrikerS, will be developed by Hayate in TNB.  The confusion, I think, was from me referring to Ben's unison device as Reinforce 2.1 - this was before I had the idea about an Aisaka Taiga unison device.

That said, I feel that Reinforce Zwei and Reinforce Taiga would be concurrent developments.  If it helps, think of them as the infomorph version of fraternal twins - two unique designs, but developed at the same time and in the same lab.  I could easily see Taiga seeing Zwei as her own "Minorin" - her close friend (sister?) who is always cheerful, upbeat, a serious go-getter, and very perceptive despite seeming like a bit of an airhead at times.  (Maybe less airheaded than Minori Kushieda was, but Zwei has her moments.)

As for what purpose Zwei would serve?  She'd be something of an adjunct to Eins - as Shamal is to the rest of the Wolkenritter, Zwei would be to Eins.  And it fits, too, as Zwei is shown to excel at coordination and collating information in the battle field as well as performing magical healing.

Outside the field of battle, Eins will serve as the Tome of Night Sky's curator (that is, determining what spells will be most useful to Hayate based on Hayate's interests and directives) while Zwei will perform the actual Librarian functions of keeping everything organized.

Fun idea: On the side, Eins will also maintain a record of Hayate's favorite recipes and will often be seen talking with Kino Makoto, Masaki Sasami, and (when she has a moment to spare) Morisato Belldandy about recipes they've discovered and how to make them better.

As for the gender bending "bug"?

"Oh, it was absolutely unexpected.  In that way, it certainly was a bug.  That said, though, it's usefulness cannot be denied, either.  So we're looking to keep it as a feature.  We just need to optimize the code to make the transition happen more smoothly and without the need of an adrenaline surge."

[robkelk]

Bwa?

*Goes to check the Wiki*

Ahhh, okay. This was the first time I'd heard about Guardian Jupiter, so it kinda confused me. (Forgive me if you had mentioned it to me before. I honestly can't remember when or where it came up because of life happening.)

I know I mentioned her somewhere... (goes and looks) ... yep, post #7 in this very thread:

Okay, let's try an example: Guardian Jupiter. Obviously, she's going to be Sailor Jupiter's Unison Device. Poke holes in this, please.

Appearance and personality: Looks like Makoto Kino, but 1/12 scale (so 14 cm tall). Body by Piffle, processor by Washuu, linker core (in forest green) and Unison capability by Hayate, Sakura, and Usagi. Just for fun, get somebody to sample Emi Shinohara's performances as Makoto to assemble her voice file. (Since we've established that the displacees don't sound like their seiyuu, Guardian Jupiter won't sound exactly like Makoto but will sound like the "Sailor Jupiter" stereotype.) Her personality is complimentary to Makoto's; the most obvious difference that Guardian Jupiter has less of a tendency to need to prove herself than Makoto does.

Magical support capability: Pre-programmed with all the "electric" magic from the Mercury Computer and the Tome of the Night Sky / Book of Darkness.

Main defensive spell: Electric Shield. Visually equivalent to a Midchildan "Round Shield", but electrostatic instead of mage-force... which means it's a more powerful defense against electromagnetic and ferrous-metal attacks than a Round Shield is, but a less powerful defense against other attacks.

Flight capability: As per what Bob worked out in... Bob, have you published the chapter of Drunkard's Walk where you describe how electrokinetics fly? (Sometimes being a prereader sucks. Just where did I read that tidbit? Anyway.) Faster than Nanoha for as long as the electrons keep coming, not as fast as Fate even on Guardian Jupiter's best day and Fate's worst.

Other Support: Pre-programmed with all the recipes from Sasami's cookbook that she's willing to share, and at least a basic knowledge of flower arrangement.

Obvious hole in the programming: No martial arts skills. (If Makoto wants to get better there, she'll just have to spar with Mii and learn the skills the hard way.)

Introduction in the story: "Body by Piffle" means the earliest that the work can even start on her is mid-January 2017, and that's only if they drop everything they're working on to get a persocom production line going and work on this instead. More likely, development work would start in spring 2017 (roughly when Phobos and Deimos are "scheduled" to show up)... and Reinforce Zwei comes before any other Device. Guardian Jupiter might not show up until Makoto's 17th birthday, in December 2017.

EDIT: And then Bob confirmed that his description of electrokinetic flight was in a published chapter of DW.

[Bob Schroeck]

Don't forget that with the seiyuu connection you can get Emi Shinohara to record the sound samples directly...

[Black Aeronaut]

Bwa?

*Goes to check the Wiki*

Ahhh, okay.  This was the first time I'd heard about Guardian Jupiter, so it kinda confused me.  (Forgive me if you had mentioned it to me before.  I honestly can't remember when or where it came up because of life happening.)

I know I mentioned her somewhere... (goes and looks) ... yep, post #7 in this very thread...

*Makes a "Now waitaminit" face and goes to check how old the post is.*

Ahh.

Rob, no offense, but that post was from almost three years ago.  No wonder it slipped my mind - there's been so much that's happened since then.

[robkelk]

Don't forget that with the seiyuu connection you can get Emi Shinohara to record the sound samples directly...

I don't usually share text from stories this early in the writing process, but hey. Subject to change, of course - I've already changed it twice so far.


Which left only Chitose, Ami, Usagi, and the as-yet-unnamed Unison Device in the room. "Why aren't you saying anything?" Ami asked the miniature version of herself. Then she turned to Chitose and asked, "Does she not have a voice?"

"She has a voice," Chitose assured Ami. "Do you remember when the seiyuu were visiting North America, before the secret was out? I mentioned Reinforce Taiga and the Unison Device project to Inoue-san and Belldandy-sama when they were visiting, and Inoue-san mentioned it to her friends when she returned to Japan. Eight weeks later, we received a set of Vocaloid phoneme files from both Inoue-san and her daughter with a note saying that they were to be used only for the Unison Device project. Another month later, we received more Vocaloid files from Hisakawa-san, Mitsuishi-san, Shinohara-san, Minaguchi-san, and Tomizawa-san with the same sort of notes."

"That's almost a complete set for us," Usagi said in awe. "Shinohara-san did the voice for Guardian Jupiter?"

"She did," Chitose replied. "And we also have permission to use her files for Misaka-taichi's Devices if they want some."

Usagi grinned. "As if Mikoto would want a Device that sounds like her mother."

Chitose nodded. "There is that. Her Sisters might like Devices that sound like their biological mother, though. But that's something for much later in the project, if at all. Unfortunately, they couldn't coax Fukami-san to come back into the studio, but they did get Itō-san to do a voice set for us, so we almost have a full set."

Bwa?

*Goes to check the Wiki*

Ahhh, okay. This was the first time I'd heard about Guardian Jupiter, so it kinda confused me. (Forgive me if you had mentioned it to me before. I honestly can't remember when or where it came up because of life happening.)

I know I mentioned her somewhere... (goes and looks) ... yep, post #7 in this very thread...

*Makes a "Now waitaminit" face and goes to check how old the post is.*

Ahh.

Rob, no offense, but that post was from almost three years ago. No wonder it slipped my mind - there's been so much that's happened since then.

Hey, I had to go look up the post, too.

[robkelk]

* robkelk blows dust off thread

Just had a thought here... Given that Reinforce Taiga will show that folks in the Metacontinuity can build Unison Devices, is there any reason why any of the assorted mages among the displacees would want only a Boost Device or an Intelligent Device?

Not counting the characters who already have Intelligent Devices, that is. I'm not suggesting Raising Heart, Bardiche, or Durandal be upgraded to Unison Devices.

EDIT: And Signum shows in canon that it's possible to Unison and use an ID at the same time, so maybe Raising Heart, Bardiche, Durandal, and Graf Eisen get some friends...

[Black Aeronaut]

Hmmm...

I think the biggest issue with a UD is available power. The only people we see using them are people like The Wolkenritter and Hayate.

Right after that is compatibility. I don't believe we ever see Nanoha or Fate using either Reinforce or Agito during StrikerS, and I think this is mainly because Unison Devices primarily operate off of the the Belkan system. So in order to use one, you need to be using the Belkan system yourself.

But that's just in the setting of MSLN. In TNB, things are a going to be a bit different.

Prime Example: Reinforce Taiga.

Benjamin's anti-magic field would make it impossible for him to use any sort of device, be it Unison, Intelligent, Boost, or what-have-you. Thus Taiga was built using a system that is as agnostic as possible. Which, interestingly enough, will make her the most broadly compatible Unison Device ever made at the time - she can Unison with just about everyone in Benjamin's family. Though she works a better with some than others, she generally gets along well with everyone.

[Labster]

After the split, I'm not sure if we're going to use Alicia Testarossa or not.  But after reading the Shadowjack IWIW, I was made aware of Alicia's device:  a giant paper fan.  (image 1, image 2, image 3)

At least one of our Tsukkomi characters needs this, be it Yomi or Eimi.

[robkelk]

Or Yuu from Comic Party, but she'd be using it to attract customers to her doujin circle's table at conventions.

[Labster]

Yuu is who I meant to say, Eimi is the boke.