[META] The nature of the SOS-dan in FenSpace?

[robkelk]

(I typed this out about a month ago, and have been dithering about whether to post it ever since. Obviously, I've finally decided to do so...
Commentary and rebuttals are not just requested, they're encouraged - it's a fairly big part of the background assumption that I'm poking at
here.)

Way back, before I started contributing, a question was raised. Somebody offered an answer, possibly in jest. That answer was discussed for a short time, and a
conclusion was reached by the simple matter of discussion dying off - I don't recall seeing agreement reached, just discussion dying off. So, near as I can
tell, we've got an Elephant in the Parlor ...

Here's my position on the topic, to get discussion going again: As far as I'm concerned, the Fenspace characters calling themselves Haruhi and the
SOS-dan are biomodded Fen, not the anime or manga characters.

Here's why I take that position: If we were to allow the alternate possibility - that Haruhi and the SOS-dan actually
are Haruhi and the SOS-dan - then we'd be opening a can of worms that we've already agreed
to keep closed. I doubt anyone wants time travel to actually work in Fenspace, and esper abilities are part of the super-powers that we've already agreed
are simply not possible. But if the SOS-dan really are the SOS-dan, then they've got at least one time-traveler and at least one esper in their number...
Oops; there go the "no time travel" and "no super powers" restrictions in the setting. (Also, doesn't Haruhi-kami
want espers? If Handwavium came from her, then it should be able to create super-powers that match
esper abilities. But it can't, so...)

Less importantly, saying "the magic goop came from Haruhi-kami and acts the way it does because that's what she wants" assigns rules to the
Handwavium, which in my opinion goes against the spirit of the Guidelines. I'd have the same objection if you replace "Haruhi" with
"Belldandy", or "Washuu", or "Dark Schneider", or any other godlike fictional character. It's
Handwavium - the embodiment of handwaving away awkward details. It's the setting's
"unicorn in the garden" that doesn't need to be explained. This isn't Hard SF, folks; it's Space Opera - not everything needs an
explanation. (I'm reminded of the explanation for FTL travel and communications in "Doc" Smith's Skylark
series: "Einstein's theory is only a theory. That distance is an observed fact." That's classic handwaving - in that
universe, FTL travel Just Is. In the same vein, in my humble opinion, Handwavium Just Is. You don't explain
handwaving - if you do, then it isn't handwaving any more.) But this whole paragraph is just my artistic sense talking...

As for the SOS-dan themselves, we already have plenty of secondary characters based on anime or manga characters: Matel, Catty, and Sora are three who came to
mind immediately. (And the Auska-AI makes a fourth.) Who'd blink at another "anime
character come to life" or six?

Untimately, of course, it makes no difference to the stories that have already been told whether the SOS-dan are or aren't the "real" SOS-dan.
But it may make a difference to future stories...

(Especially since we're looking at making indirect contact with aliens in December 2012.)

-Rob Kelk
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[M Fnord]

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.

---

(Especially since we're looking at making indirect contact with aliens in December 2012.)

---

Were I a truly horrible person I'd suggest the Stone entering Earth orbit instead of aliens, but that's just too evil...---
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!"

[CattyNebulart]

I agree with MFnord, except about that bit about the series unpopularity.It doesn't need to be very popular, but it should have at least some following.
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

[robkelk]

This is an area of "canonical doubt" (to use the In Nomine term), then. Okay, I can live with that.
I'll do my best to write them ambigouosly, if they end up in my stories again...

-Rob Kelk
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012