[Keroko]

Originally Posted by Kaijo

My list of three things was a more of a general reply to all the suggestions put forth. They all apply in varying degrees, depending on your solution.

Except you can't throw a sweeping generalization like that. What's so unethical about a linker core transplant if both sides agree to it?

Originally Posted by Kaijo

So, you're assuming the Bureau has unlimited money to afford everything it wants?

I'm assuming we don't know anything about money in the TSAB and thus shouldn't be trying to assume anything regarding limits.

Can you tell me how expensive Raising Heart is? How expensive a cartridge is? How expensive maintenance is? What the average salary is of a TSAB officer? Hell, can you even tell me what the Mid Childa currency is and what the market value of it is?

If not, then we can't assume anything. Anything we assume will automatically be in support of our own opinion, making it anything but a solid argument.

Originally Posted by Kaijo

And Teana and Subaru's devices are actually a good example; they were decent on their own, but nowhere near what was needed for heavy use. Subaru basically made her skates (which fried in one of the training sessions) but already came with the knuckle her mom used. Subaru's was basically a short staff with the ability to load a couple of cartridges.

So there is a wide range, and you can probably put something together cheaply if you know how, but we're talking top of the line stuff because we want to make our army good. That's gonna take money.

And also note that most of the special devices our heroes use, are deliberately crafted just for them. Whereas the staves the red shirt army uses, seem to be manufactured. There is a very deliberate difference in cost between hand-crafting everything for everyone, and using economies of scale to churn out the exact same weapon for everyone. If Linith is anything to go by, a top-of-the-line hand-crafted device is expensive.

And yet poor archaeologist Yuuno was walking around with the most powerful device in the series. Like I said: Assumptions.

Originally Posted by Kaijo

Okay, in my fic, cyborgs are suddenly plausible with no downsides whatsoever because some smart guy somewhere that it was fine. Also, we've mastered linker core donations, so now everyone is a mage, all because we made up a scientist who said it could. How did we get past all the problems? Why are you asking such silly questions. They are all possible because a scientist said so!

Good. Go for it then and make a good story with it.

Originally Posted by Kaijo

Actually it was addressed by Signum, who said it was a then-unreliable system. I'm assuming that the cartridge system is more reliable now precisely because they had Levantein and Graf Eisen to look at; actual armed devices from ancient Belka. And then, they weren't making a new technology, so much as recovering a lost technology that already existed.

In short, the cartridge system is a poor analogy to use. Yes, it didn't technically exist until A's, but it was woven into the back story well enough as a lost technology.

This is more an example of how a system can be woven into the background despite not having been shown on-screen before, which doesn't negate my point in any way.

Originally Posted by Kaijo

What are the drawbacks? Because if a linker core is an organ, then you run into issues of potential organ rejection, and taking pills every day for the rest of your life.

There you go. One potential drawback that can become centerpiece in a fic.

But if the author doesn't want to work with that particular drawback, it being a magical organ gives it more than enough leeway (it being capable of being ripped out of a body and returned without permanent harm or surgery required shows it doesn't function as regular organs do).

Originally Posted by Kaijo

The difference is that A's did it well. Introducing a new ability but with sufficient drawbacks such that the heroes could use them, but also stated that it wasn't something for everyone.

What I am saying is that the drawbacks need to be recognized in such a fics, not simply hand-waved away as "A scientist did it."

Note that I'm not saying it's impossible, only implausible and giving in-universe and logical reasons why. It's up to a fic to address those very real concerns. I'm not saying "No, you can't." I'm saying "there are issues with those ideas that need to be address."

I suppose it's the amount of hand-waving each person can accept.

Then actually help people with that. All you have been saying to this point is pretty much "no you can't, no you can't, no you can't." That's not constructive criticism, that's just stifling someone's creativity by telling him his ideas are impossible.

Originally Posted by Kaijo

It's not a social message; it's a fact of the show just like magic and the TSAB is a fact of the show. I keep hearing the rationale for OC's is that they like the universe, but don't feel they can do much with the current crop of characters. That's fine, that's great, more power to ya! But what do you have if you're not really using the characters nor adhering to the laws of the currently constructed universe.

It is a social message. It's the usual 'teamwork and hard work overcomes cheating!' social message. Fine and dandy, and a working method to achieve power, but if a writer wants to introduce a new system and make that a part of the plot in his fic, why the hell not? Introducing new elements is nothing new to fiction, and Nanoha has a variety of elements that suddenly got introduced.

For example, you say "don't you think Regius would have jumped on the Linker Core transplant?" I say "Don't you think he would have jumped on Eclipse and try to get it to work in a good way?" Except Regius didn't, because Eclipse got introduced in Force, which came after StrikerS.

The same argument can be raised for cartridges. Why didn't Regius jump all over that? Not only is it a fine way to boost a good selection of mages, but sending his R&D staff to work on it would have been perfectly legal too. The reason he didn't? Because cartridges were introduced in A's, and StrikerS came after that.

The rules of a universe should be there to guide an author, not stifle them.