Wiki:FAQ

This page is written in first-person perspective.

Frequently asked questions people may ask about this project.

Is UNIVER.SYS an OS-tan work?

While the scope of what is considered "OS-tan" may vary from person to person, my answer is no.

I defined "OS-tan" as operating system gijinka/personification characters from Futaba Channel and Nijiura, excluding mascot characters like the Madobe Family or technology-related original characters, which also includes my own work.

UNIVER.SYS has its own term for the characters: Techne, and their only similarity with OS-tans is that they were inspired by real-life technologies.

Why not setting it in the real world/Earth?

I don't think it would be that interesting. There are already many works written about the microcomputer revolution or human-computer interaction, and I'm not going to write another one. Another reason is that I'm not American or born in the West, which is where computing history mostly took place, and my view of the Western world is complicated.

Why don't you salvage old ideas from OS-tan fanons? It's not all bad!

I've since distanced myself from the English-speaking OS-tan scene, and it was for the best. Sure, several OS-tan designs and concepts did appeal to me despite my major disagreement of how they were written, but not enough to make me adapt it to UNIVER.SYS for narrative reasons.

Mostly it was the generally "darker and edgier" tone of the English OS-tan fanon. I assume that their intent may have been to shed light on issues such as planned obsolescence, geopolitics, and corporate monopoly, but ultimately those are at odds with what I wanted to portray. I'm not aiming to create a dystopian story just for the sake of being "edgy", as not everything has to be.

How do you design your characters?

You can visit this Moeverse page for my tips on character design, as those are my general workflow, though I have to add that this isn't a definite way, and you can create characters however you want for your own setting.

Can I create fanworks or use your characters?

Here are the licensing and usage guidelines UNIVER.SYS:

Anyone can use or create derivative works of UNIVER.SYS and its characters for non-commercial purposes, as long as it is safe for work, not containing harmful/misleading messages, and the author (Rizzonen) is given credit.

You can:

Take inspirations from my characters (no credit required)
Create fanworks (fanart, fanfiction, etc.) as long as it's tasteful and safe for work

You can't:

Claim the characters as your own
Monetize/commercially use my characters
Create NSFW, harmful, or misleading fanworks