Microsoft
From TCWiki
| Microsoft | |
|---|---|
| Character: | (None) |
| Abbreviation: | M$,MS |
| Leaders: | Bill Gates |
| Threads: | Rise of the Dark Goddess, A New Confusion in MegaTokyo, Property Damage Church of Miho: New Blood, (Others, need additional info from older players |
In the real world, Microsoft is a large, bumbling, somewhat incompetent monopolistic software giant. In the TC universe, Microsoft, often called Micro$oft, is a sinister and well-oiled machine of evil, trying to enslave the world, and Megatokyo is a major stumbling block in its path to domination. Detailing their full involvement with the plot will be very difficult, but new players are always wanting them to be villains, so it's useful to chronicle what's already been done/known about it, to avoid contradiction.
Current Status
Last update: Property Damage, thread 1.
Microsoft's role in the city is greatly diminished. Headquarters determined, after NUMEROUS failures, that maintaining an active hostile presence in the city wasn't worth the time or money. As a result, overt military operations my Microsoft have been suspended. This is represented by the fact that the one player who was playing a Microsoft-aligned character (Jacob) in Rise of the Dark Goddess hasn't been seen in nearly a year and a half.
However this doesn't prevent certain covert operations from continuing. Something called Operation Landfall is in the works, involving Nathaniel, an outside contractor.
Microsoft has a public office in Megatokyo, but it's just a normal software development and QA office-- nothing sinister. Sputnik works there for his day job, at the Department for Adding Ominous Warning Messages Without Actually Fixing Any Bugs. This office is regularly destroyed by irate users, leading Sputnik to have a very spotty work schedule.
Sputnik is himself a secret Microsoft research project, though he does not know it. He has no short-term plot significance, however, and since his powers haven't been revealed IC I wont' be revealing them here either. If you're interested in Sputnik-plot, contact BozoCat by PM, AIM, or IRC.
Microsoft has a genetic research division that is working on creating humans with unusual abilities. Speak to Ameryll for more information.
Previous Operations in Reverse Chronological Order
SEFCO
SEFCO was a villain faction controlled by ph00tbag. They had lots of powerful disposable troops with which they attacked various factions. There was also a robot girl named Kimachi Ai who had the KFH tied up in knots (not literally). Both were puppets of Microsoft. However, they abruptly disappeared from the city when Microsoft, unsatisfied with results, pulled funding. At least that's what happened IC. OOC, ph00tbag got annoyed with authorspace shit and left the game, as did Snow, thus leaving SEFCO with no authors. The start of the SEFCO arc involved someone pitching the idea to Bill Gates, who explicitly stated that operations in Megatokyo had been an unmitigated failure, and that he was reluctant to authorize even covert actions there.
Raziel Cat Project
Jubai turned out to be a product of a Microsoft lab devoted to the study of magical creatures and the undead. This lab is also the origin of the combat EDS unit Jared Thorne. Due to the project's catastrophic end, leading to nearly everyone involved being killed, this project was deemed a failure. However, combat EDS unit technology has been proven to be effective, and Microsoft could still be manufacturing them.
At the end of the Seeking Origins sideplot, the lab was turned into a giant pink plastic crater 30 storeys deep by a release of wild mana.
Blue Screen of Death Commandoes
This was a short-lived unit written by now-inactive author Jacob. It stopped existing when he stopped writing, and its only significant action was to be killed by zombies when the Zars Children rose as undead during Rise of the Dark Goddess.
Instigator Funding
Microsoft funded the Instigators for a while, in hopes that the Instigators' hidden agenda would weaken the factions from within. However, the Instigators proved ineffective at destroying the clans, only managing to prune weak, defunct clans. They did make a pretty big mess during the U.S. Versus Them, but Microsoft failed to capitalize on the opportunity.
Microsoft had a lab on the edge of Mount Fuji dedicated to researching some of the dark magical artefacts the Instigators acquired for them as part of the deal, however it suffered from an outbreak of undead and was closed down. Tak and Ash the Instigator(character) raided this lab to secure the Dark Computer.
The Death of BGMaster
This is perhaps the only time Microsoft has ever successfully gotten what they wanted. Working together with J.C. Denton, Microsoft's CSX droids were sufficient to kill the former Mihoist leader.
New Blood
Wolfdead, after being tossed aside for some reason (which I'm afraid I don't recall), somehow managed to worm his way into the upper echelons of Microsoft Management. While there, he initiated the Ragnarok project(someone please verify this name, if it even has one), a simulated version of Megatokyo, with ambivalent purpose -- some say it was a way to realign reality and make himself God, some say he was simply doing research with real people. Either way, he employed technology from one of Microsoft's Black Ops branches and somehow managed to put the majority of its superpowered citizens in a virtual reality, indistinguishable from our heroes' own, and tested them with the 4 Horsemen, Frost Giants, and Ragnarok itself. BGmaster and others, recognizing finally the virtual reality for what it was, managed to escape, track down Wolfdead, and rewrite the Rules Themselves to ensure that such a thing would never happen again.
Avatar of Bhall
Microsoft let loose an avatar of the dark god Bhall into the streets of Megatokyo to cause havoc.
Other Stuff
I'm sure I missed stuff. Add it if you can recall it. Many authors have appeared, vaguely referenced Microsoft, and then disappeared after two posts. I don't consider that sort of thing canon.
Kuraiou, however, stuck to his guns about it, and managed to retcon a significant portion of New Blood into his backstory in such a way as to not interfere with canon (Fish (Backstory)). To sum it up, though, around 1999 (and possibly earlier), they had several warehouses stationed across Japan(and potentially other places), where they were essentially kidnapping metahumans and performing all manner of experiments on them to somehow anaylze, understand, and finally synthesize super powers. After suffering a terrible defeat via the hands of the newly-formed Himitsu Desu Police, M$ superiors gauged the project an undue financial burden and cut their ties, without any results.
OR HAVE THEY (bum bum buuuuum)?
Style
Microsoft has a lot money and resources, and tend to be absurdly complex and overthought in its plans, which are frequently defeated by simplicity. Microsoft's funding is nigh-infinite, allowing these plans to be fueled by an endless stream of money. They also seem to access technology that seems futuristic to say the least at will. They rarely do anything that has to do with them being a software manufacturer, usually prefering robots, high tech weapons, virtual reality, or magical research.
They also seem to have a habit of funding insane people to go on destructive sprees. Nobody ever seems to sue them for this-- perhaps their legal department is too intimidating for that.
Microsoft's right hand often does not know what its left hand is doing. This is probably due to lack of communication in authorspace, but it's true of the real thing and the Megatokyo version.
Resources
CSX Series Combat Robots These are supposed to be really badass. Yukiko was an experimental version of said series, and beat the tar out of BGMaster (and eventually married him). Jared Thorne is another CSX series combat robot.
Instigator Knowledge Base As a result of their alliance with the Instigators, Microsoft has files on most people in the city up-to-date as of the middle of the Rise of the Dark Goddess story arc. It is possible they have made other arrangements to continue to update their information.
Money Microsoft has a damn lot of money, frequently used for funding rogue groups.
Futuristic Technology Microsoft has access to combat AI, super haxx0r AI, immersive virtual reality so good you can't tell it from the real thing, magical research, and soforth. And yet they still can't write a good word processor. Go figure.
More Information
user:BozoCat used to work for the actual company Microsoft, and would be happy to talk about the parts of his time there not covered by NDA. I.e. he can't tell you about the plans to run Windows on human wetware, or about the nanobots that install RFID tags in your body whenever you touch a piece of... *gunshot* oops.
