Are the SOS-dan the real SOS-dan? Ah now, there's a question for the ages... My answer is, and has been pretty consistently, "mu." Nobody in Fenspace knows if they're the "real" SOS-dan or just a bunch of insane cosplayers. More to the point, that we as authors should try and make sure that all the on-screen evidence could justify either claim.
Example: I've been kicking around a story fragment for a while now where Cap'n Mal meets up with an old friend who has Connections. This old friend was approached by SOS just like all our characters have been & drew Yuki, who proceeded to give the full-out story just like she did to Natalie. A bit of checking later (it's a pretty preposterous story on the face of it, after all) discovers that this... was the plot of a couple of short novels published in Japan a few years before, anonymous author, sank like a stone in the market.
(Here of course we see a major non-wave difference between Fenspace and OTL: the Haruhi franchise has legs & is running fast in Japan and the States, whereas here the outcome was different.)
So, here we have Doubt planted in the mind of the audience. People who know & love Haruhi are convinced that it's true, but there's that nagging seed of doubt planted. People not familiar with the series may think it's an act, but then something else pops up and leaves them with a nagging suspicion... Schrodinger's cat rules all!
As for the SOS-dan's existence breaking the setting... If the SOS-dan is really who they say they are then they've got an esper and a time traveller on staff, which - as you state - breaks the setting because neither of those things are allowed. But that's not true; the setting rules only say that handwavium can't create superpowers or time travel, not that those things aren't possible in their own right. And even then I don't recall a hard vote one way or the other on time-travel. If that sounds like nitpicking and rules-lawyering, well... it is. I won't deny it, I'm not especially proud of it but I stand by my judgement until the People browbeat me into another consensus.
Mr. Fnord
http://fnord.sandwich.net/
http://www.jihad.net/
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"
Example: I've been kicking around a story fragment for a while now where Cap'n Mal meets up with an old friend who has Connections. This old friend was approached by SOS just like all our characters have been & drew Yuki, who proceeded to give the full-out story just like she did to Natalie. A bit of checking later (it's a pretty preposterous story on the face of it, after all) discovers that this... was the plot of a couple of short novels published in Japan a few years before, anonymous author, sank like a stone in the market.
(Here of course we see a major non-wave difference between Fenspace and OTL: the Haruhi franchise has legs & is running fast in Japan and the States, whereas here the outcome was different.)
So, here we have Doubt planted in the mind of the audience. People who know & love Haruhi are convinced that it's true, but there's that nagging seed of doubt planted. People not familiar with the series may think it's an act, but then something else pops up and leaves them with a nagging suspicion... Schrodinger's cat rules all!
As for the SOS-dan's existence breaking the setting... If the SOS-dan is really who they say they are then they've got an esper and a time traveller on staff, which - as you state - breaks the setting because neither of those things are allowed. But that's not true; the setting rules only say that handwavium can't create superpowers or time travel, not that those things aren't possible in their own right. And even then I don't recall a hard vote one way or the other on time-travel. If that sounds like nitpicking and rules-lawyering, well... it is. I won't deny it, I'm not especially proud of it but I stand by my judgement until the People browbeat me into another consensus.
Quote:Were I a truly horrible person I'd suggest the Stone entering Earth orbit instead of aliens, but that's just too evil...---
(Especially since we're looking at making indirect contact with aliens in December 2012.)
Mr. Fnord
http://fnord.sandwich.net/
http://www.jihad.net/
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"