Gunslinger Girl: The Next Generation [Discussion Thread]

[Kiskaloo]

Been a long time coming, but here’s the initial story for Gunslinger Girl: The Next Generation. Within the canon, it starts after the end of Chapter 99, but before the Epilogue and then continues some months after the Epilogue. Within my own works, it takes place shortly after Pactio and ret-cons Chapter 43 of that story.

First off – why a “next generation”? The simple answer is that with my “Original Series” (TOS) fiction, I told a complete story that ended before the majority of the current generation of OC fan fiction authors joined the forum. So while many of you have included Michele and Kara in your works (much to my delight to read), I was never really able to return the favor.

My original idea with Pactio was to “reboot” Kara and Michele to both correct things I did not like about my TOS version of the fratello as well as to give me the opportunity to include these new characters (which I was able to do with a few). Unfortunately, as Yu worked towards the denouement of the manga, it really resonated with me and instead of the start of a new series of fan fiction, Pactio became a complete, self-contained novel with a distinct beginning, middle and end.

I considered just doing “one shots” in their own self-contained universes (Alpine Foxes, for example), but this could complicate the ability to do larger arcs and general world-building. And with the exception of Claes, I’ve never been really comfortable with writing the other canon First Generation cyborg characters as I feel I do not do them the justice other fan fiction writers have, to say nothing of Yu Aida, himself. So by having them all conveniently dead (Claes, excepted), I can just concentrate on writing the other Original Characters and, on occasion, Gattonero, Soni and Fio (though perhaps they, too, have passed, leaving only Claes). This first story uses those OCs who appeared in Pactio. Future stories will start to introduce other OCs.

So with that in hand, let us discuss the world I intend to have characters inhabiting. The idea I have is that while “The Years of Blue” may be over, the friction between the North and South is not and in the subsequent years that friction eventually starts to boil over again and the Prime Minister “once again” feels it is time to bring back the remaining second generation cyborgs and start creating a new tranche, helped by advances in the production process and conditioning / training that allows more flexible jobs that the cyborgs can perform.

This thread will be for discussing the mechanics, characters, world-building and such for GSG:TNG. Actual stories written by folks will be hosted in the story thread in The Library sub-forum.

[Odon]

First off – why a “next generation”? The simple answer is that with my “Original Series” (TOS) fiction, I told a complete story that ended before the majority of the current generation of OC fan fiction authors joined the forum.

 But the problem with creating a Next Generation is you have to suffer through three years of bland politically-correct stories before your Number One grows a beard and we get some decent villains and character development. 

[Alfisti]

Not bad mate, not bad at all.

More thoughts to come but, as a starter:

“Good news, everyone!” Kara proclaimed. “The crypto-geeks have successfully cracked the encryption package Giacomelli was using on his Mac.

I'm sorry, but that entire sentence wound up being read in, well:

“Monty…is…Monty,” her handler sighed from just inside the bedroom, at a loss for words

Heh. I'm currently trying to write Kara explaining Monty to Raych... and it's turning out a bit the same. Quite a lot of vague hand waving and Monty is... Monty

[Il Direttore]

What changes have been made to the technology, in terms of the initial conversion, the conditioning, the basic information loaded with a cyborg, and the physiological "improvements"? Also, any insight on the facilities, misc. staff, and daily operations?

[Kiskaloo]

What changes have been made to the technology, in terms of the initial conversion, the conditioning, the basic information loaded with a cyborg, and the physiological "improvements"?

While I have yet to work out the details, considering how many OCs there are and the wide variety of tasks they can now perform (we have driving cyborgs, ELINT cyborgs, interrogation specialist cyborgs, etc.) I imagine that in the 12-18 months the ship was at sea there were significant advances in all of those areas.

Also, any insight on the facilities, misc. staff, and daily operations?

Facilities would be absolutely state of the art because the goal is to rapidly advance the "norm" as well as push the envelope as far as possible (which would need to happen to explain some of the more advanced cyborg OCs).

[Kiskaloo]

I've completed an initial timeline for the world:

• February 2012 – Giacomo Dante captured.

• February 2012 – Cristiano Savonarola captured.

• February 2012 – Signore Canova captured.

• March 2012 – Monica Petris retires as Minister of Defense. Remains Deputato of the “Veneto 2” constituency.

• March 2012 – Michele Pagani confirmed as Minister of Defense.

• May 2012 – Decision to move cyborgs to a ship made.

• June 2012 – Cyborgs board ship.

• June 2013 – Rico passes at sea.

• July 2013 – Petrushka passes at sea.

• August 2013 – PM Pisano asks Michele to head new cyborg agency. Michele leaves as Minister of Defense at end of August.

• September 2013 – Meeting in Monza.

• October and November 2013 – Michele works to launch new agency. Facilities purchased and outfitted and staff hired.

• November 2013 – Michele recovers cyborgs from the ship and flies them to Naples.

• December 2013 – Sagittarius Group officially formed.

[Il Direttore]

Hey, so, to bump an old thread: 

Can we probably assume that most Gen 1s are on "training duty" at this point, in the sense that they're no longer expected to do combat operations? As a corollary, Gen 2s are probably upgraded and refurbished, and Gen 3s (Caterina is apparently the first of them) are a different thing entirely?

[Kiskaloo]

Sounds reasonable to me.

[Il Direttore]

Sweet. 

More questions. Who's alive? I hypothesized that Claes was on her last legs and Michele just managed to save her, but since Petrushka died, things are a little muddled.

[Kiskaloo]

Sweet. 

More questions. Who's alive? I hypothesized that Claes was on her last legs and Michele just managed to save her, but since Petrushka died, things are a little muddled.

Of the cyborgs, Elsa, Angelica, Beatrice, Sylvia, Triela, Henrietta, Rico and Petrushka are all dead per how they died in the manga. The rest are off active duty (effectively retired) and Claes lives with Michele's parents.

Of the handlers, Lauro, Raballo and Jose are all dead per how they died in the manga. I also have Jean dead at New Trino (Rico and Claes now live with Michele's parents).

[Il Direttore]

Right, then, so, list of remaining cyborgs: 

Claes
Silvia
Chiara
Gattonero
Soni
Fleccia
Unnamed
Unnamed

----

List of Basic Skills:

Basic skills, in order of importance, probably with things missing:

Management of instinctual combat response
Marksmanship
Cyborg Mixed Martial Arts System (Jujutsu/Muay Thai/Others)
Basic First Aid
Conduction of organized combat response
Single combat tactics
Group combat tactics
General Academics
Basic Equipment Skills
Explosives Handling and Demolitions

Note: By Chatbox discussion, this would probably be taught to a group of cyborgs as a sort of basic training, with specializations handled by the handler or a consultant.

[tremec6speed]

Sweet. 

More questions. Who's alive? I hypothesized that Claes was on her last legs and Michele just managed to save her, but since Petrushka died, things are a little muddled.

Of the cyborgs, Elsa, Angelica, Beatrice, Sylvia, Triela, Henrietta, Rico and Petrushka are all dead per how they died in the manga. The rest are off active duty (effectively retired) and Claes lives with Michele's parents.

Of the handlers, Lauro, Raballo and Jose are all dead per how they died in the manga. I also have Jean dead at New Trino (Rico and Claes now live with Michele's parents).

"Of the handlers, Lauro, Raballo and Jose are all dead per how they died in the manga."
AAAAAHHHHHHHH!
Sorry..... just hate to read about the death of me favorite character.    

[Il Direttore]

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2014/cochlear-implants-with-no-exterior-hardware-0209.html

Of particular interest:

The researchers’ design exploits the mechanism of a different type of medical device, known as a middle-ear implant. Delicate bones in the middle ear, known as ossicles, convey the vibrations of the eardrum to the cochlea, the small, spiral chamber in the inner ear that converts acoustic signals to electrical. In patients with middle-ear implants, the cochlea is functional, but one of the ossicles — the stapes — doesn’t vibrate with enough force to stimulate the auditory nerve. A middle-ear implant consists of a tiny sensor that detects the ossicles’ vibrations and an actuator that helps drive the stapes accordingly.

The new device would use the same type of sensor, but the signal it generates would travel to a microchip implanted in the ear, which would convert it to an electrical signal and pass it on to an electrode in the cochlea. Lowering the power requirements of the converter chip was the key to dispensing with the skull-mounted hardware.

Chandrakasan’s lab at MTL specializes in low-power chips, and the new converter deploys several of the tricks that the lab has developed over the years, such as tailoring the arrangement of low-power filters and amplifiers to the precise acoustic properties of the incoming signal.

Since this is the case, it seems very plausible for Sagittarius to tune such technology such that cyborgs can hear in both ultrasonic and infrasonic frequencies and detect... things. 

I'm not sure what, but they would be things.

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