Had a late night thought today thinking about how characters react to being "recruited" for the Improbability War. Obviously, the concept is rooted in dark comedy with the idea of being dropped naked into something you barely understand for the people at home to watch. But while there isn't an official theory as to why this was the chosen method to conduct a war on the Improbability Drive, there's plenty of canon motives to draw off of. You have the EMP calamity that may or may not have something to do with the internet becoming aware or maybe as a way to shut down the Drive. A Walk with Rohit implies that war became obsolete once robotic war turned into a duel of griefing and cheat codes and that there no longer exists formally trained soldiers to launch a proper invation. Even then, how do you fight a conventional war against the Improbability Drive? Ultimately: how does the world as we know it figure out how to deal with the Improbability Drive?
Whatever the backdrop, The Network (another thought for another time of what exactly they are) made a random draft and decided to televise the war for propaganda reasons. Everyone at home crawling back out of the Stone Age is gifted a television set (side question for CMJ: does everyone have to pay a television license in the form of a war bond?) so they can cope with the hardships of daily life. They watch draftees scramble about the Island trying to survive and it makes them feel better about their current miserable lot in life. Meanwhile, there's an understandable sentiment among those chosen for this "war" that they might not be inclined to participate. Not to mention that the incredibly likely notion that they will never get to go home tends to eat away at Contestant morale. There's a sizable number of Contestants who have resigned themselves to this fact and have decided to make this war zone their new home. They build houses, get married. So on and so forth.
Here's the disturbing What If that occurred to me: What If the People at RealHome lost interest in watching the only show on television? What if they watched someone reading a book on an Outpost bench for 3 hours straight or see something so ridiculous it's decided Improbable Island has jumped the shark and they're done with it? What happens to Improbable Island if it gets cancelled due to lackluster ratings?
That's the doomsday scenario I'm exploring, though. There is no Season 3. The show isn't picked up for renewal. No one's watching. What then?
Didn't this already happen? "We'll have the Network decide that the show's gotten too silly, and nuke the damn Island." That was the end of Season 1. The Watcher caught the nuke (after a fashion) and we got Season 2.
Season Three isn't just "Oh let's change it up a little bit". A change of season is basically the Drive saying "Okay, time to start over." and warping everything as if nothing ever happened. No character remembers season one because in this reality/timeline season one didn't happen. Deus ex machina.
But if you are wondering "Okay, sure, but what if that didn't happen." then as Lyssa pointed out, the Island would probably be nuked to high hell.
But if you are wondering "Okay, sure, but what if that didn't happen." then as Lyssa pointed out, the Island would probably be nuked to high hell.
I know about that, but the scenario I'm suggesting is a bit different. Picture this: one NewDay, the cameras stop working. Some people might not notice it right away because they're so used to them being omnipresent in the background. But some folks start noticing when the cameras stop spitting out tokens. After some time, some start to wonder why they haven't heard the familiar drone of cargo planes overhead all day. Eventually, a Network flak gets around to breaking the news: "Board of Programming decided to go in a different direction. It was for a number of reasons: the people at home are tired of endless war coverage. Naked people fighting isn't as hip with the kids any more. Now they're into rude doctor dramas and situational comedies about zany extended families. Plus the Director's nephew just pitched this thing called Firefly Season 2. So we're going to go with that. It's not you, it's us."
And like that, The Network pulls out of the Improbability Wars. They don't try to destroy the Island, they just stop filming. How do you think the inhabitants would react?
Would they do that, though? The Island is the only place with pre-EMP-level technology, after all. Running a loss in the short term if the show becomes unpopular would be more than balanced out by what they'd get if they had the only source of that kind of technology in the world under their control.
I know about that, but the scenario I'm suggesting is a bit different. Picture this: one NewDay, the cameras stop working. Some people might not notice it right away because they're so used to them being omnipresent in the background. But some folks start noticing when the cameras stop spitting out tokens. After some time, some start to wonder why they haven't heard the familiar drone of cargo planes overhead all day. Eventually, a Network flak gets around to breaking the news: "Board of Programming decided to go in a different direction. It was for a number of reasons: the people at home are tired of endless war coverage. Naked people fighting isn't as hip with the kids any more. Now they're into rude doctor dramas and situational comedies about zany extended families. Plus the Director's nephew just pitched this thing called Firefly Season 2. So we're going to go with that. It's not you, it's us."
And like that, The Network pulls out of the Improbability Wars. They don't try to destroy the Island, they just stop filming. How do you think the inhabitants would react?
Now you've got me interested, because I've got an idea what would happen.
The Island would, ironically, become the safest place in the world
Picture this, most folks on the island get by pretty well without much outside help. Sure, there would be a massive shortage of nicotine gum and OSTs but there is plenty of food, water, and even booze to go around. The contestants are already used to dealing with some of the worst the world has to throw at them. But the Drive? The Drive would be pissed. At this point hurling titans at outposts is something it does for fun. Imagine if it did that for every coastal city in the world, with the intent to kill. The world, and by extension the network, would be reminded why they need the draft.
To keep the war somewhere else.
If you would like me to expound on why I think that would happen, I'd be happy to do so in or out of character here or elsewhere.
Stop filming? Well, maybe they would, maybe they wouldn't, but the question Whistle asked is, What if they did? Let's speculate!
If no more req tokens are being dispensed, that changes the Island economy pretty drastically right there.
No more crates, no more consumable supplies for eBoy. No more free stuff for humans in the NewHome Council Office. There'd be hoarding, and since the Drive wipes out everything you're carrying, it would quickly become the custom to gift it all before you fought the Drive. Fewer people would fight the Drive. Sheila would probably run out of ammo, too; the armor and weapons that don't need recharging would become a lot more valuable. People would still fight monsters, but only when they had to.
We know enough about the Watcher to be pretty sure the Network wouldn't be offering her a lift back to the mainland -- she's too scary. Plus she probably wouldn't even take it if offered. Would the Failboat still function as it does now? That would depend in part on whether the Retraining Personnel were still around to do their jobs. They might not be, and that would really change things. But... okay, let's say the Network abandons them too, so hey, they have no reason not to keep on doing what they've been doing...
What about all that miraculous future-tech healing? What happens when medical supplies start to get scarce?
What else would stop working?
Edited to add:
If you would like me to expound on why I think that would happen, I'd be happy to do so in or out of character here or elsewhere.
Down Below becomes much more important - suddenly it's the only renewable source of medkits, grenades, and Smile Drops.
Hunting monsters in the jungle becomes more important - but this is balanced by a general shortage of medical supplies which makes it more dangerous. Food prices spike, the pressure to become self-sufficient intensifies.
On the plus side, ranks are probably no longer a thing (I believe they are caused by Network Tampering) - so everyone suddenly becomes Rank 1 which removes a lot of the risk of Jungle Fighting.
Jokers (and anyone else who can provide their own healing) would be in much better shape than the majority.
Full clan buffs would really matter.
If ranks were no longer a thing, achieving full buffs in a new clan would be considerably harder. Also, I'm not sure if all cigarettes originally come from the mainland.* If they do, cigs would be increasingly harder to find. Many older full-buff clans that have fallen dormant or semi-dormant would likely start accepting applicants again.
* I still sentimentally cling to the notion of a Secrit Tobacco Mine somewhere near Squat Hole.
Would they do that, though? The Island is the only place with pre-EMP-level technology, after all. Running a loss in the short term if the show becomes unpopular would be more than balanced out by what they'd get if they had the only source of that kind of technology in the world under their control.
Stop filming? Well, maybe they would, maybe they wouldn't, but the question Whistle asked is, What if they did? Let's speculate!
If no more req tokens are being dispensed, that changes the Island economy pretty drastically right there.
No more crates, no more consumable supplies for eBoy. No more free stuff for humans in the NewHome Council Office. There'd be hoarding, and since the Drive wipes out everything you're carrying, it would quickly become the custom to gift it all before you fought the Drive. Fewer people would fight the Drive. Sheila would probably run out of ammo, too; the armor and weapons that don't need recharging would become a lot more valuable. People would still fight monsters, but only when they had to.
We know enough about the Watcher to be pretty sure the Network wouldn't be offering her a lift back to the mainland -- she's too scary. Plus she probably wouldn't even take it if offered. Would the Failboat still function as it does now? That would depend in part on whether the Retraining Personnel were still around to do their jobs. They might not be, and that would really change things. But... okay, let's say the Network abandons them too, so hey, they have no reason not to keep on doing what they've been doing...
What about all that miraculous future-tech healing? What happens when medical supplies start to get scarce?
What else would stop working?
Edited to add:
If you would like me to expound on why I think that would happen, I'd be happy to do so in or out of character here or elsewhere.
The Watcher is already the de facto general in charge of this war, so I'm guessing most people would turn to her for answers both because she is the strongest person on the island and has the closest connections to the network. I'm guessing there would be some objection to her taking the role of "benevolent dictator", but most would see it as her just asserting herself as the commander in chief she already is.
Racial tensions would probably reach all time highs. Squats would be the first to get out of line, their thievery going from a mild nuisance to major problem if there was a food shortage. It also wouldn't help that Squats aren't known for being organized or obedient, so it would take a heavy handed approach to keep them in line. The Robots would probably declare themselves the superior race, and then not do anything about it. The Zombies would get the most agitated by a food shortage, but they also wouldn't be hard to placate. The Mutants would likely start being held in much higher regard for their weird, disgusting livestock cultivating skills. Lastly, the Jokers. I have no idea what the Jokers would do.
But what I'd really like to see is the Network executives come crawling back to The Watcher begging her to keep fighting the war, because deadly improbable creature are crawling on the beaches of coastal cities and they don't have the manpower or the resources to prevent casualties.
The Watcher is already the de facto general in charge of this war, so I'm guessing most people would turn to her for answers both because she is the strongest person on the island and has the closest connections to the network. I'm guessing there would be some objection to her taking the role of "benevolent dictator", but most would see it as her just asserting herself as the commander in chief she already is.
Racial tensions would probably reach all time highs. Squats would be the first to get out of line, their thievery going from a mild nuisance to major problem if there was a food shortage. It also wouldn't help that Squats aren't known for being organized or obedient, so it would take a heavy handed approach to keep them in line. The Robots would probably declare themselves the superior race, and then not do anything about it. The Zombies would get the most agitated by a food shortage, but they also wouldn't be hard to placate. The Mutants would likely start being held in much higher regard for their weird, disgusting livestock cultivating skills. Lastly, the Jokers. I have no idea what the Jokers would do.
But what I'd really like to see is the Network executives come crawling back to The Watcher begging her to keep fighting the war, because deadly improbable creature are crawling on the beaches of coastal cities and they don't have the manpower or the resources to prevent casualties.
Lastly, the Jokers. I have no idea what the Jokers would do.
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