Talk:Department of Floaters

The timeline... oh, the timeline.
So I think I've messed this up. Here's the evidence: Huinesoron (talk) 06:13, May 29, 2014 (UTC)
 * The Department of Floaters was created around 2003 in the Real World. It may have been created by oracle, as Ginger's author.
 * Virtually all Floaters agents date from after that time. The exceptions are NytBloomer, who uses it as a term for the DMO, and April Halloway, who claims to have transferred out of Floaters in 1999.
 * In "Ephemerals", I created the Great Consolidation. In 2003, multiple minor departments were collected into the Floaters, under the Floating Hyacinth.
 * "Ephemerals" also established that the department was named after the nickname 'floaters' used of the Department of Multiple Offenses.
 * It may seem a bit strange that in 2006, a three-year-old department was the largest in HQ, but that's pretty much how it went in the Real World.
 * And now, the problem... according to "Minor Gods", the Floating Hyacinth was head of the Department of Operations until it left to found the Floaters. That would be 2003 - except that the Wisteria was already head of Operations in 1999, when he was placed on the Board of Department Heads.
 * So. Was the Department of Floaters actually around in 1996, when April joined? If so, it was a small department, and was simply chosen to be the keystone of the Great Consolidation. That contradicts the idea that it was named for the DMO's nickname, though.
 * Alternately, was the Floating Hyacinth the head of the DMO? "Minor Gods" specifies 'the Floaters', not 'the Department of Floaters', so that would be a valid reading. It would explain NytBloomer's confusion over her flashpatch (she was thinking of the Department Head, instead).
 * This would also explain some of the quirks of Nenya and Rosie's spinoff. The Sunflower Official assigns them to the DMO, which suggests it was at that time without a department head. Could it be that the Floating Hyacinth had already been spun off to sort out the details of the Great Consolidation? Then, when the DMO became a division, the Cattail was made its head - or was already acting as 'deputy head' beforehand.
 * This is not the most elegant solution - but it has a certain charming complexity. Of course, now we're going to find (or make!) another reference which tangles it even more...


 * The trouble is, we know the Cattail was the head of the DMO c. 2003-2004 because the PPC Handbook lists it as such. Since the Handbook was also created by Nenya and Rosie, I think that's pretty incontrovertible. (Doesn't explain why the SO had anything to do with assigning them, but personally, I'd guess they just thought he was in charge of the whole PPC when they wrote that part. Common misconception.)


 * This might be a cruel suggestion, but how hard would it be to just, er, rewrite the contradictory bit of "Minor Gods"? It's a recent story, so I don't think it can have ripples too far-reaching yet, right?


 * And... to twist the knife a little more... I'm not actually sure the Great Consolidation works, either. {= ( Definitely not as far as Godplayers is concerned, since Sebak was in the department as of 2008. If it was just the off-hand mention in Tawaki's story, you might be able to write it off as someone mistakenly calling ESAS "Godplaying," or something like that, but hermione of vulcan adopted him and built on the story, so it's kind of set now. There's also Steve Holmes, who was there "in Jay and Acacia's time." That wouldn't contradict a 2003 dissolution by itself, but adds a little more weight to its existence.


 * The way I see it, it's more like, in 2002-2004, there was this great boom of recruiting in the wake of the LotR fanfic explosion, and new departments sprang up left and right; anywhere an aspiring Flower could find a new recruit or two mad enough to work for it. That's how we got silly things like the DOOCH and the Department of Culture under Madame Orchid (clearly putting on airs, that one). Floaters was part of that, and in the beginning, it was more or less a temp agency. Nobody could have predicted it would get popular, but somehow it did, and its flexibility let it survive and even grow when recruiting fell off again and the less enduring startups died off or got absorbed one by one. That process was more or less complete by 2006 (when we started the Manual IRL). The department structure stabilized, and here we are.


 * Basically, it's a more literal translation of Real World events into the universe. But still just my interpretation. Maybe someone else will have more creative ideas?


 * ~Neshomeh 15:14, May 29, 2014 (UTC)


 * 'Sebak from Godplayers' was actually something I wrote around - partly by throwing in the 'you can still call yourselves Godplayers', but even more generally... well, Dafydd is still 'Dafydd from DOGA' even though he's no longer in the PPC. What you're remembered by may not be your current status (witness: Camilla Parker-Bowles). I specifically checked all the later citations and couldn't actually find any mention of Godplayers in later Sebak stuff - can you point me at it? (And Steve was also on my mind - yes, he was in Godplayers, right up until it shut down. Someone has to be there at the end)


 * I also don't see any problem with the DMO leadership going Floating Hyacinth > (potential SO intermission) > Cattail > shut down. It would just mean the Consolidation took a little longer than expected to set up - which would make perfect sense!


 * The Great Consolidation may well have been a reaction to the proliferation you're thinking of, and I'm quite happy to rework Ephemerals to push the closure dates forward a year or two. But I'd really rather not dump the whole thing, since I did work hard on that story.


 * (Also: we have a Department of Culture? Where?) Huinesoron (talk) 17:39, May 29, 2014 (UTC)


 * There's no explicit mention, but the first of hermione's stories featuring Sebak and Tish takes place directly after Sebak's pon farr in "Weapon of Atlantis," so if he is in Godplayers in Tawaki's story, he must also be in Godplayers in hermione's story. Hermione never intended to retcon it as far as I know. But, either way, pushing the Consolidation up a few years would probably be beneficial. You might even be able to add to it that way. {= )


 * Hm... I suppose the SO could've been handling things in the Hyacinth's place until the Cattail got up to speed with its new assignment? That might make sense... especially if it was all preparation for the DMS absorbing the DMO as a division later on. And the APD came on the scene in April 2004, which, being so similar, pretty much would've sealed the DMO's fate. (Poor Nenya and Rosie wouldn't have known whether they were coming or going.)


 * The late Department of Culture. I figure it merged with the PotO Division of the DMS, which is what I wrote in the List of [Discontinued] Departments.


 * ~Neshomeh 19:44, May 29, 2014 (UTC)