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General Theories: Difference between revisions

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Like all theories pertaining to the OS-tan universe, the views presented in this article may not be considered canon or even fanon by all people. The majority of these theories come from various character-creation threads on OSC, as well as the personal views of various OS-tan artists and writers. The goal is to gather all theories at a central location before putting them in their proper articles (under the Theories and Notes section).
Like all theories pertaining to the OS-tan universe, the views presented in this article may not be considered canon or even fanon by all people. The majority of these theories come from various character-creation threads on OSC, as well as the personal views of various OS-tan artists and writers. The goal is to gather all theories at a central location before putting them in their proper articles (under the Theories and Notes section).
==Theories about the wider OS-tan universe==
====OS-tans and ethnicity====
While the OS-tan universe is populated by characters possessing a wide range of body types, skin colors and styles of dress, the topic of character ethnicity has rarely been broached, either in-canon or theory. This lack of attention to race is somewhat justified by the nature of OS-tans themselves - since they are not human beings, they do not belong to human races per se. At the same time, OS-tans are frequently depicted as having bodies that are nearly indistinguishable from "normal" human bodies - it only makes sense that they would display the same level of variability seen in humans.
There is a fanon  precedent for ethnic variability in OS-tans; they are often depicted as belonging to whatever ethnic group is most common in their country or region of origin - for instance, personifications of Japanese systems are typically ethnically-Japanese. Furthermore, many OS-tans have been explicitly stated, by their creators, as belonging to a certain ethnic group - for instance, [[PCLinuxOS]]-tan is Mexican-American, [[TRS-80]]-tan is portrayed as Hispanic, [[Pardus]]-tan is Turkish and some depictions of [[Ubuntu]]-tan depict her as being of native South African heritage.
Other times, ethnicity is only hinted at by the creator or depicted in drawn form, with little attention being given to the character's ethnicity in written depictions. For example, this may be the case with CTSS-tan and MCP-tan, who have been suggested by their creator as being Chinese- and African-American, respectively.


==Theories about present and past factions==
==Theories about present and past factions==
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==Theories about non-factional groups==
==Theories about non-factional groups==
====Animal-featured OS-tans have specialized forms of magic====
All OS-tans have some form of innate magical ability, but not all of them express it the same way. It has been speculated that OS-tans who have animal features - such as animal ears, wings, tails, horns, etc. - would possess and utilize forms of sorcery (henceforth referred to as "animal magic") that are not seen in OS-tans who have strictly humanoid features.
Under this theory, animal-featured OS-tans have specialized powers and modes of attack. These powers would be naturally stronger, subconsciously-rooted and easier to invoke than the magic of their non-animal-featured peers. Non-animal-featured OS-tans would have to undergo extensive training to become skilled at magic-wielding, but these OS-tans may be able to use more generalized forms of sorcery. These OS-tans can choose which forms of magic they want to learn; however, since they would have to use a conscious spell-casting process to invoke their magic, it is slower-acting than the magic in animal-type OS-tans.
====Multics originated animal features/animal magic in most OS-tans====
Multics was the first (documented) OS-tan with animal features. Her daughter Unix-tan sports owl ears and has wings, CB Unix has cardinal features, various BSD-tans have horns and tails (and one has dragonfly wings), Plan 9-tan has bunny features, the OSX-tans have cat features, Minix-tan has raccoon ears, various Linuces have animal features, etc, etc. OpenVME-tan is loosely related to both Unix AND Multics, and she has wings too.
One could even make a case that Multics passed down animal traits into the Windows NT family via OpenVMS, who shared a loose spiritual relation to Multics. While VMS-tan doesn't have any outward animal features, she it very closely linked with sharks, and seems to display a lot of shark-like personality traits. Her granddaughter, Inu-T-tan, has dog features.
That being said, there are several OS-tans that that have animal features despite being seemingly unrelated to the Multics line - for instance, KolibriOS, GS/OS and Bendix G-15-tan.


==Theories about families==
==Theories about families==
====Early factions were wary of the Unices because of their political and magical power structure====
Until the Unices came along, OS-tan clans/factions were typically comprised of groups loosely- or un-related OS-tans. There would sometimes be small family structures - with a mother and children, or a group of sisters - but it was very rare to see large families. Magical powers were usually an entirely individual, and often learned, skill.
The Unix "clan" was different - with a distinct lineage, all the Unix-tans being related by blood or cloning, and all/most of them deriving their magic from a shared "pool" of power. Animal-type OS-tans are common among the Unices, so it's probably not a stretch of the imagination to think that their distinct forms of animal-type magic and unusual physical features were strange, and sometimes upsetting, to outside OS-tans. Combined with their reputation for assimilating cultures, you can see why so many outside factions were afraid of them and wary of letting them join their groups.


==Theories about individual characters==
==Theories about individual characters==
====Multics-tan is CTSS' and BESYS' child====
In canon, it is commonly thought that [[CTSS]]-tan is [[Multics]] lone ancestor. A conceptual tie is recognized between Multics and [[BESYS]]-tan, but they are not widely believed to be related by blood.
In an alternate theory, Multics-tan is the daughter of both CTSS and BESYS-tan. Evidence cited in support of this theory includes Multics' hair color, eye color and the fact that Multics was ordered by CTSS to live with BESYS in her youth (although she and BESYS mutually disliked each other and the stay was short-lived), as well as physical and mental similarities between BESYS and Multics' child, Unix.
====VMS-tan has powerful empathic skills====
It's odd that the personification of an OS with exceptional networking features has always been portrayed as generally emotionally-cold and distant. It has been suggested that [[VMS]]-tan is actually well-attuned to the emotions of others, but that she has to isolate herself and/or carefully choose her friends because she is easily dragged down by the bad energy of others.
====Plan 9-tan is a hardcore geek====
She's a confirmed space- and science-geek who cosplays, loves B-movies, anime, and is a Touhou fan. How can she NOT be a huge nerd?