"The inner council" (needs a better name)(has a better name) "Advisory Board"

[robkelk]

Pre-retcon, it was easy to figure out who to involve in a story when a residence needed external help... because one writer insisted on his SI being involved everywhere.

Post-retcon, that is no longer the condition that applies. Which means that there are at least three "asking for advice" scenes that need to be retconned, and maybe more.

So, when a building manager needs to kick a matter up the chain but it isn't important enough to bother Sebastian or Belldandy directly, who do they call?

One thought, for discussion: By Christmas 2016, there's an "inner council" (which really needs a better name than that) of building managers and trusted displacees who offer advice and assistance. Is this something we want in the setting?


Assuming we're doing this:

First question: Who's in the group?

The "building managers" part is easy enough: all of them.

The "trusted displacees" part, though...

To begin with, I'd include both Tessa Testarossa (ranking active military officer among the displacees, even if she's paramilitary) and Artemis Mau (ranking spymaster among the displacees) - if a decision is made that requires armed response or espionage, one or the other will be in charge of turning that decision into action, so they may as well be involved in the meetings. I'd also include one displacee from each residence who takes the building manager's place if the manager is unavailable for whatever reason, with a Doylist expectation of having these displacees take over from the building managers eventually.

Who else gets tapped to be on-call to give advice and make decisions without bothering the Celestials?

[Dartz]

Data must be only. If only because he's the only one of us having common sense.

Also, why not call it The Shadow Cabinet.

[Labster]

I know, the Inner Party, and we can have ministries and everything just for fun!

For my residence, honestly I can only think of two early in the story, and they're not strong contenders:
* Sakaki-san, who is fairly thoughtful, smart, and diligent.  She speaks rarely, but when she does people tend to follow her lead.  Does the group need a secretary?
* Sonomi Daidouji, who knows about business, finance, governance, and logistics.  None of these were shown on screen, but she runs a toy company that also makes cell phones so it's probably part of grandpa's zaibatsu.
* Shaoran Li, when he gets older, for a bunch of obvious reasons.

For the SF residence:
* Gomez as manager, obviously
* Honestly anyone who had a rose signet, including the black ones, could do it.  Utena is obviously, but not necessarily, the one to do it.
* Lurch, because when someone asks if a plan is a good idea, we need someone else to groan painfully.

For the National Park Service:
* Jessie.  Obviously.  She's kind of a workaholic so what's one more responsibility?  Will obviously need to wait until I figure out when to introduce her.

Actually on second thought, can we be the Student Council?

[robkelk]

Does the group need a secretary?

In groups this large, he who takes the minutes decides what is remembered. So, yes, this group needs a secretary that everybody can trust.

Actually on second thought, can we be the Student Council?

I was about to say "Only if I get the stopwatch", until I remembered that that character also gets a creepy twin sister...

[robkelk]

A thought: The "trusted displacees" can be chosen differently at each residence. Yosho gets the nod in Vancouver because he's the building owner. Cologne gets the job in Antigonish because she's the oldest. Mii gets the job in Blossom because she's the only one in the building who has a psychological need to be part of a group. Mahoro gets the nod in Windsor because she's the most popular. Once the school ships show up, Hana gets to be "manager" of Oorari because she was voted in as Student Council President, and Anzu gets "most trusted" because she's the outgoing SCP. And so on.

[Bob Schroeck]

I think Usagi should have some role, even if it's only secondary or symbolic, as "the heart" of the group, and also as long-term training.

I'm not sure who to nominate from Douglass Gardens because it's predominantly quirky artistic types. (Or no, it isn't anymore, is it?) Hm. Akiko Natsume, as the former CEO of a major arms manufacturer, might be good. Clef, as an expert on magic. Maybe Sawako Yamanaka, because as a teacher and band member she might have a clue about herding cats.

EDIT: On looking into the Gorillaz characters more, it occurs to me that Noodle might be another good military resource, as according to Wikipedia

...she was a participant in a top secret government supersoldier project, and was trained with a specialty in musicianship, mastering many weapons, languages, and musical instruments...

She's also supposed to be a martial arts master, as well.

[Inquisitive Raven]

I think that, at least to start, Momoko or Shiro should be the trusted displacee for Philadelphia.

[robkelk]

Just made a wiki page-top icon for these folks. For now, I'm calling them "advisors", or the "Advisory Board" as a whole. Alternate names are still welcome.

I didn't add the category to Momoko or Shiro's page yet. There's no rule against naming both of them as advisors, but you'd be setting a precedent unless you had a reason to name more than one person as an advisor. (Yes, I know the apparent hypocrisy here, with three advisors in my SI's building... but two of the three are there as special advisors rather than representatives of their residence.)

[robkelk]

I know, the Inner Party, and we can have ministries and everything just for fun!

I almost suggested "Inner Circle" here... before realizing that that name would give the conspiracy theorists a field day.

For the National Park Service:
* Jessie.  Obviously.  She's kind of a workaholic so what's one more responsibility?  Will obviously need to wait until I figure out when to introduce her.

Well, obviously. But we can still add her to the list, just like... er... Kalos wouldn't delegate this job to any of the performers at Kaleido Stage, right?

* robkelk realizes something important

Jessie and Eve's very existence as displacee civil servants means that at least one government department is at least aware of the Metacontinuity: the U.S. National Park Service. So much for flying under government radar post-retcon (not that I mind - I never thought that that prohibition passed the "deconstruction" test to begin with).

[robkelk]

...  Clef, as an expert on magic. ...

Hmmmmm... form a sub-group that handles magical issues, perhaps? Clef, Caster, maybe Lindy,... who else?

[Labster]

Kalos wouldn’t delegate this to a *performer*, no. But possibly to one of the crew, who tend not freak out at the drop of a hat.

In 2017 the park service was essentially at war with its own government over the first ever proposal to revoke national park status, as well as directives not to consider climate change in future planning.

[robkelk]

For my residence, honestly I can only think of two early in the story, and they're not strong contenders:
* Sakaki-san, who is fairly thoughtful, smart, and diligent.  She speaks rarely, but when she does people tend to follow her lead.  Does the group need a secretary?
* Sonomi Daidouji, who knows about business, finance, governance, and logistics.  None of these were shown on screen, but she runs a toy company that also makes cell phones so it's probably part of grandpa's zaibatsu.
* Shaoran Li, when he gets older, for a bunch of obvious reasons.

I just had a thought... Being in this group is, at best, a part-time job. Why not let Touya do it?

[Inquisitive Raven]

I didn't add the category to Momoko or Shiro's page yet. There's no rule against naming both of them as advisors, but you'd be setting a precedent unless you had a reason to name more than one person as an advisor. (Yes, I know the apparent hypocrisy here, with three advisors in my SI's building... but two of the three are there as special advisors rather than representatives of their residence.)

Oh, I wasn't figuring on both of them being advisors. I actually think that Momoko is better qualified, but once she re-opens Midori-ya, Shiro will have more time to for the job, which is why I was leaving it open as to which one. I figure the best choice is an adult familiar with Earth cultures, and of the TSAB personnel, Gil Graham is the only one who qualifies on those grounds, and after his part in the last Book of Darkness incident, would you put him in a position of responsibility?

[robkelk]

Kalos wouldn’t delegate this to a *performer*, no. But possibly to one of the crew, who tend not freak out at the drop of a hat.

So, stick Ken Robbins with the job?

In 2017 the park service was essentially at war with its own government over the first ever proposal to revoke national park status, as well as directives not to consider climate change in future planning.

So them being aware of the Metacontinuity wouldn't make much if any difference, then.

[robkelk]

Just made a wiki page-top icon for these folks. For now, I'm calling them "advisors", or the "Advisory Board" as a whole. Alternate names are still welcome.

It's been a month, and nobody's complained about "Advisory Board" or offered anything better.

Yeah, let's go with that.

[robkelk]

I didn't add the category to Momoko or Shiro's page yet. There's no rule against naming both of them as advisors, but you'd be setting a precedent unless you had a reason to name more than one person as an advisor. (Yes, I know the apparent hypocrisy here, with three advisors in my SI's building... but two of the three are there as special advisors rather than representatives of their residence.)

Oh, I wasn't figuring on both of them being advisors. I actually think that Momoko is better qualified, but once she re-opens Midori-ya, Shiro will have more time to for the job, which is why I was leaving it open as to which one. I figure the best choice is an adult familiar with Earth cultures, and of the TSAB personnel, Gil Graham is the only one who qualifies on those grounds, and after his part in the last Book of Darkness incident, would you put him in a position of responsibility?

On the grounds of "meh, why not?", I went ahead and added both Momoko and Shiro to the Advisory Board.