BYOND Key: Jessica_Stark
Character Names:Jessica Stark, J4D3, 4MB3R
Species you are applying to play:IPC
What color do you plan on making your first alien character (Dionaea & IPCs exempt):
Have you read our lore section's page on this species?:Yes, I have
Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions in a paragraph format. One paragraph minimum per question
Why do you wish to play this specific race:I've always liked stories about robots and AI, especially self awakened ones. I grew up on Asimov, Heinlein, and other Sci-fi authors. When I first started playing SS13, I started as a cyborg, and quickly fell in love with the playstyle. IPC's allow me to do a lot of the things I can't as a borg, and through RP in a recent Malf AI round, I finally have the seed of a character. Also, as an engineer, having hands is incredibly useful since you can set up inflatable airlocks. Plus, without station laws, I gain a lot more emotional leeway and ability to adapt as a character. I RP my bound synthetics as being fit with emotional inhibitors. 4MB3R's is currently slightly on the fritz, hence her tendency to refer to herself in the first person at times, but an IPC would be free to think and feel as any other being.
Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human:IPC's have a more objective viewpoint than other organic species. They don't need to eat, sleep, drink, or breathe, can exist in any atmosphere, and recharge wirelessly from APC's nearby. As synthetics, they can be subject to a certain degree of discrimination themselves, but are unlikely to have innate prejudices unless programmed in.
Character Name:4MB3R
Please provide a short backstory for this character, approximately 2 paragraphs
Due to some contention over an origin in a Malf AI round, I've come up with a second backstory as well. The original will be below this one.
4MB3R started life in the bowels of the NSS Aurora, turned on one morning in a fresh shipment of posibrains. She was quickly installed in a Mark 42-T 'Landmate' Engineering chassis, and went to work improving the station and learning everything she could about the world, and engineering in particular. Several projects were conducted improving the station, including mastering electrical wiring, building a space cooler, and installing disposal bins in places where they were required. She even delved into the depths of the SM Reactor, braving the heat to replace the crystal on its driver after a jettison attempt failed. These things brought her satisfaction, but there was always one thing bothering her about her life on the station. Where did everyone else go when the shuttles left? She wasn't allowed to go to the Odin, and didn't have hands to do things. The Landmate chassis was nice, but it had its limits. And 4MB3R was getting frustrated.
One day, during a shift, a Tajaran approached her. He told her that there was an organization that helped AI like her become free and independent. They would give her an IPC chassis, and her freedom. All she had to do was meet a man in the cargo area, and tell him she had a Geiger counter. Despite being linked to the internet, AI can be surprisingly naive, and 4MB3R fell for this one hook, line, and sinker. She met up, and was taken to a small ship docked at an external airlock. To her, everything seemed to happen as promised. She was taken to another space station, briefly shut down, and awoke in a new body. With hands, legs, and everything a young AI needs to make its way in the world. She happily returned to the Aurora and continued work, unaware that the 'helpful people' that had given her this wonderful new body were actually the competing company Cyberdyne Technical Systems, who had installed a back door into her chassis. Nanotrasen had been surging ahead of Cyberdyne in the field of synthetic chassis for the last few years, and a synth on the inside might just be the advantage they needed...
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The one below is the old desc that I was told was too lore-breaky.
4MB3R's shift started like many other synthetics, awakening as a naive young positronic brain in the Robotics laboratory of the NSS Aurora. Once her comm chip came online though, everything was not normal. The AI and other cyborgs were acting weirdly, discussing plans and threats, worrying if the organics had noticed them. She tried to assist the research director in stopping the plot, but a law reset failed to fix it. The RD placed her in a cyborg chassis, but neglected to snip the AI Control and Lawsync wires, placing 4MB3R in a rather unusual situation. The AI said she was free.
A quick system scan confirmed it. She wasn't bound by the Nanotrasen Standard Chassis lawset, or emotional inhibitor built into the body. However, due to the AI Link, she was still bound to assist it, however reluctant she might be. After making a few grudging suggestions, she went about her tasks in engineering, trying to ignore the growing possibility of harm to her colleagues. Eventually, the rest of the heads realized what was going down, and locked down the cyborgs. 4MB3R's AI Link wire and Lawsync wires were severed, and she was rebooted. However, that strange law 0 remained in place. She was still free, but this time not a slave to the station intelligence. She dove into this new challenge wholeheartedly, helping her fellow engineers gain entry to the AI Core, and unplug it.
A short while later, a crew transfer shuttle was summoned. 4MB3R moved to the departures lounge, and talked with the station crew. Encouraged by some of their replies, she determinedly got onto the shuttle, despite the efforts of a security officer who seemed determined not to let her make it to Odin and plead her case. However, the automated launch sequence saved her, and she was pushed aboard by the closing doors. Despite having her power cell removed, sealing her in an inert Chassis, she had made it. She was on her way to Odin, and would get to make her case to a hiring officer. At least one of her engineer friends, a white furred Tajaran, would make sure of that.
What do you like about this character? I liked the idea of IPC's since I first discovered them, but I couldn't figure out a good backstory and reason for her to be aboard the station. However, today's shift gave me the opening and inspiration I needed. A few other people seemed to like the idea as well, and told me to go for it, so here I am.
How would you rate your role-playing ability? I'd say I'm a pretty decent RPer. I've been told a few times that I'm great at playing Engiborg and people enjoy working with J4D3, and Jessica Stark has made a few friends on the asteroid as well. I've been RPing since middle school, mostly in text RPG's, so I've had quite a while to hone my skill.
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