GHOST IN THE SHELL
Tokyo was destroyed by a nuclear bomb during World War III, resulting in the seat of government being moved to the city of Fukuoka. While it is a parliamentary democracy, political corruption is an issue, often driven by the competition of corporate, military and bureaucratic interests. These groups make use of considerable and indiscriminate surveillance and espionage. The Self-Defence Forces continue to be legally bound by Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan. They, along with a variety of police organizations, help to maintain order, often via methods that greatly compromise individual and press freedoms. The demographics of Japan have been shaken by the post-war influx of Asian refugees; their illegality confines them to ghettoes, leaves them vulnerable to exploitation, encourages identity fraud and other crime, and leads to ethnic tensions. Their presence and status constitute a major national political issue. The trade and abuse of illegal drugs, including "cyber-drugs", human trafficking, and other activities of Japanese Yakuza and Chinese organized crime syndicates also pose a threat to internal security.
In this group you will have the option to exist within the Ghost in the Shell universe, you're not required to join Section 9, you may be a citizen, a refugee, anything of the sort.
We are a crossover-friendly group, but any proposed crossovers need to be reviewed on a case by case basis for approval.
1. Be polite to other roleplayers and patrons.
2. No duplicates of canon characters.
3. A list of allowed crossover series' are as follows and will be updated as necessary, otherwise no other series' will be allowed to participate in-room and these series also follow the NO DUPLICATES rule.
4. Activity checks are not mandatory but if you are inactive and someone else shows more activity and/or more interest in the room, you risk being replaced.
5. Combat that happens in-room will not be retconned if a disagreement is reached, pick a winner and/or loser and get on with it. Combat follows the the typical combat rules and a format must be agreed on before any combat begins. This excludes plot-related combat scenarios.
6. Technology must comply to the universe's standards. (Stand Alone Complex, First Assault) New tech will be reviewed on a case by case basis.
7. WE ARE CROSSOVER-FRIENDLY, HOWEVER The only series that will be considered for crossovers would be those with a means to interact with the universe (Nier Automata having ties to Drakengard makes this possible due to the events that lead to Nier being that of cross-dimensional travel, for example.) don't see a series you like? Ask! We'll review it and add it to the list IF it can work.
8. OOC should be kept friendly and positive, admin isn't afraid to ban trolls and troublemakers. YOU DO NOT have to be related nor accepted to the room to interact OOCly and we ARE lurker friendly unless the room fills up.
Approved Crossover Series: |
|
Nier Automata (X-Over) Resident Evil (AU/X-Over)
|
Q: What do you mean by "Ghost"?
|
A: In Ghost in the Shell, the word "ghost" is colloquial slang for an individual's consciousness. In the manga's futuristic society, science has redefined the ghost as the thing that differentiates a human being from a biological robot. Regardless of how much biological material is replaced with electronic or mechanical substitutes, as long as individuals retain their ghost, they retain their humanity and individuality.
The concept of the ghost was borrowed by Masamune Shirow from an essay on structuralism, The Ghost in the Machine, by Arthur Koestler. The title itself was originally used by an English philosopher, Gilbert Ryle, to mock the paradox of conventional Cartesian dualism and dualism in general. Koestler, like Ryle, denies Cartesian dualism and locates the origin of human mind in the physical condition of the brain. He argues that the human brain has grown and built upon earlier, more primitive brain structures, the "ghost in the machine", which at times overpower higher logical functions, and are responsible for hate, anger and other such destructive impulses. Shirow denies dualism similarly in his work, but defines the "ghost" more broadly, not only as a physical trait, but as a phase or phenomenon that appears in a system at a certain level of complexity. The brain itself is only part of the whole neural network; if, for example, an organ is removed from a body, the autonomic nerve of the organ and consequently its "ghost" will vanish unless the stimulus of the existence of the organ is perfectly re-produced by a mechanical substitution. This can be compared, by analogy, to a person born with innate deafness being unable to understand the concept of "hearing" unless taught.
Ghost-dubbing, or duplicating a ghost, is a near-impossible act in the Ghost in the Shell universe. When performed, as a cheap AI substitute in Innocence and earlier in the manga, the result is always inferior to the original-which always dies in the process. In Stand Alone Complex, criminals use a ghost-dubbing device to create numerous duplicates of South American drug lord Marcelo Jarti; after the original died, the device continued to duplicate him into a near-infinite number of bodies with identical memories and personalities, essentially immortalizing him. |
Q: What is "Stand Alone Complex"?
|
A: While originally intended to "underscore the dilemmas and concerns that people would face if they relied too heavily on the new communications infrastructure," Stand Alone Complex eventually came to represent a phenomenon where unrelated, yet very similar actions of individuals create a seemingly concerted effort.
A Stand Alone Complex can be compared to the emergent copycat behavior that often occurs after incidents such as serial murders or terrorist attacks. An incident catches the public's attention and certain types of people "get on the bandwagon", so to speak. It is particularly apparent when the incident appears to be the result of well-known political or religious beliefs, but it can also occur in response to intense media attention. For example, a mere fire, no matter the number of deaths, is just a garden variety tragedy. However, if the right kind of people begin to believe it was arson, caused by deliberate action, the threat that more arsons will be committed increases dramatically.
What separates the Stand Alone Complex from normal copycat behavior is that there is no real originator of the copied action, but merely a rumor or an illusion that supposedly performed the copied action. There may be real people who are labeled as the originator, but in reality, no one started the original behavior. Furthermore, in Stand Alone Complex, the facade just has to exist in the minds of the public. In other words, a potential copycat just has to believe the copied behavior happened from an originator - when it really did not. The result is an epidemic of copied behavior having a net effect of purpose. One could say that the Stand Alone Complex is mass hysteria over nothing - yet causing an overall change in social structure.
This is not unlike the concepts of memes (refer to the conversation between the major and the Puppet Master in the manga) and second-order simulacra. It also has ties to social theory, as illustrated in the work of Frederic Jameson and Masachi Osawa. The Slender Man phenomenon, in which the fictitious concept of a supernatural murderer went viral and has allegedly inspired real attacks, may be seen as an example of the Stand Alone Complex. |
| character directory List of current characters |
|||
