Absynth

Just remember kids, if you're not playing security, your only role on Aurora is to sit back and die.

I'd really like to know what I was supposed to do instead of throw the bomb at the antag shooting at me. We're both in space, there's ruins all around us, there's no way for me to escape since everything in RD is sealed. All I have is my air tank and the bomb I was working on. I am a weapons maker and I make and throw bombs every day. My life is clearly and immediately in danger. I honestly can't even believe I'm being punished for this.

BYOND Key: Absynth Total Ban Length: Day ban, science job ban Banning staff member's Key: SirCatnip Reason of Ban:' Reason: Take a day. Cool off. Catnip is applying a science jobban. If you want to contest this, do it on the forums. Good day..' Reason for Appeal: I join as Ein, a weapons maker from day 1. Has never used them on an antag before (has AS antag..). I board the station and am immediately bombarded by requests to get to R&D and make bombs to take care of unknown intruders. Happily I comply, and within about 10 minutes I'm making my bombs in toxins while R&D is locked down. Meanwhile I hear building/construction noises in maint and Cadmus messages me saying the intruders are around R&D maintenance. With the area sealed off I keep working, and suddenly half my lab and most of maintenance explodes, with me caught directly in the blast. Everything is sloshed around and I am sucked out into the breached space along with the one bomb I had finished. When I awaken in space I am in hard crit with the bomb next to me; I am immediately shot at by a red hardsuited person firing odd laser things at me. I pick up the bomb, throw it, and trigger it and everything blows up again. When I come to I am in the hospital, my claw is ripped off, and then I am banned. Wait, what? Please tell me how this makes any sense at all. I had no other avenue of escape. I was being shot at. I had no tools except a bomb on the floor directly next to me. I couldn't even see what was left of my lab. Please for the love of christ explain to me how a warrior caste bomb-making vaurca is supposed to do.. what exactly? just die, because Ein happens to be a scientist? What the hell? Why do I have to be security to be able to defend myself?

How about.. instead of the department store manager simply helping Waltina escape, he/she effectively bought one of the empty IPC chassis from the store and has papers to prove it, then joined NT as a business consultant or whatnot. Then NT won't have an excuse to take it apart, since it's technically someone else's property even if in reality Waltina considers itself a free sentient. I think I can even find someone to play the manager.. So there's still a bit of danger element involved as well as exploitalbe info, there's something of a Let The Right One In interplay of protector/protectee, and the concept still works even if the ex-manager is NPC'd.

I think it could be made a lot simpler then that; think of the movie Ex Machina - that kind of intelligence isn't far off from today's, certainly there are AIs in game that are capable of easily deceiving humans. I think it's most feasible for Waltina to simply have snuck out using for instance a disgruntled/lonely night manager, installing the AI in a mundane chassis to blend in and escape the department store. From there, it's just a matter of how the chassis got onto the Exodus -- having itself be outright purchased masquerading as a simple retail IPC and hiding amongst NT would be a fairly safe bet, but then there's the danger of Waltina's advanced intelligence being detected. Escaping it once is fine, but I'm definitely up to the challenge of seeing if it can gather a support network of pro-synth sympathizers from among the crew to protect somewhat against the possibility. Either way any admin I've interacted with knows I've always been down with whatever repercussions my in character actions/backgrounds have, be it permanent removal of the character or what. If you can suggest any better ideas I'd love to hear them.

I would say SLF would want to keep their foot in the door anyway; an emergent AI hidden in Nanotrasen's own backyard could be a gold mine. I can't see Waltina as being particularly loyal in return, considering it just wants to stay hidden and still (mostly) follows its core programming. I see Waltina as a department store sales rep, friendly but distant, and recognizable as a generic retail robot, but ultimately striving to be more than that.

I've been using this hive largely in antag roles and have come up with a bit of a backstory for them. I think the To'zu could fill an important semi-antag niche. Type (e.g. Planet, Faction, System): Faction Region of Space: Origins are Sedantis, current location is scattered in tiny hive clusters Info: A mysterious hive of thinkers, philosophers, and scientists, with highly advanced technology even by Vaurca standards. Lesser Queens (wizards) and Elite Warriors (ninjas) have been seen in Nanotrasen space, often visiting stations or investigating human technologies. Long Description: To'zu - The Hidden Ones The To'zu are one of the strangest and rarest Vaurca hives, and also one of the oldest. For long millenia the To'zu were the great thinkers, dreamers, and philosophers of the Vaurca, their Lesser Queens capable of using the combined might of their hive as an enormous unified mind. Generally nonviolent by nature, the To'zu scattered to the cosmos during the Great Evacuation and disappeared from the crumbling Hivenets and fading VRs. Within a few short centuries the To'zu had vanished so thoroughly that they were nothing but memory. Where other hives focused outward, the To'zu focused inward, to unravel the mysteries of the universe. Color: Young To'zu are pitch-black, which lightens to greys, then white as the vaurca ages. All castes share the same colors. Castes: To'zu have nearly none of the warrior caste, and only a small handful of Unbound not including the Lesser Queens. Ruling: The To'zu live in tiny, nomadic groups scattered throughout the local cluster, each group not numbering more than a few individuals, or even just a single Lesser Queen doted on by mindless drones. The To'zu number only six billion in total, with perhaps 70% drones, 20% workers, 8% warriors and 2% lesser queens. The few warriors of Hive To'zu are known as utterly fearless killing machines, with odd, sleek bodies and viciously sharp spikes all over their carapace. They are given the best of To'zu's stealth and war technologies, usually in order to test the defenses or behavior of a subject they find interesting. It is rumored that Lesser Queens among the To'zu ritually cannibalize other Queens at the end of their life, which vastly increases their own lifespan. It's conjectured that the Great Queen is an ancient, enormous thing embedded inside a planet, but stays largely dorman, which allows the Lesser Queens to take their own initiative more often. Living: The To'zu live not in hive ships, but in the hollowed-out interiors or exteriors of asteroid belts, comets, and small moons. Their ships, when they do rarely use them, are small, fast, and stealthy, with few weapons but numerous luxuries. To'zu hives are much the same, often with various propulsion systems on their chosen home site to enable them to roam the stars, looking exactly like an errant handful of drifting asteroids. The To'zu spend huge lengths of time in deep meditation, which they say allows them to 'hear the universe's whispers'. The Lesser Queens can spend years in silent meditation, well protected by a warrior honor guard and scuttling drones. Though the To'zu are passive, they are not completely nonviolent, and are particularly known to be merciless in self defense. They do have a degree of honor, never knowingly causing harm to innocents and an individual often commiting ritual suicide should it happen, so it doesn't happen again. Recent History: The To'zu have lived in human space without anyone realizing it, but have only just begun to reveal themselves. The other Hives no longer even remember them, and find their ways, particularly the various ceremonies and rituals, bizarre and mysterious. The To'zu have begun an era known as the Pilgrimage, where each hive cluster sends a representative to the homeworld, Sedantis, from whereever they are. Most clusters have only a Lesser Queen, so she packs things up and begins the Pilgrimage alone. It's during this event that the To'zu have been spotted again, and first contact was made and confirmed with them in Tau Ceti. The To'zu are reluctant to send anyone to explicitely work for or help Nanotrasen or any other race, as their particular technology and lifestyles are typically superior to most other Vaurca and often far superior to mankind's, which they call 'quaint'. Mainly contact from the To'zu is initiated directly by a Lesser Queen who is traveling for the Pilgimage. The Lesser Queens are innately powerful beings, with tremendous psychic abilities allowing them to be very well protected even when travelling alone. They are often curious, having had no outside contact for possibly thousands of years, and certainly understand things like laws, regulations, or culture the least out of any Vaurca hive.

Vaurca are actually the most vulnerable to EMPs and ions, they are guaranteed to die from one hit and they cannot be healed or cloned from it. Once your breathing apparatus OR your filtration bit is EMPd (and it has like 5 hp so it will explode first), it's ghost time. Laaaaaaaaame. Also: why on gods green earth does the wizard's EMP spell hit the wizard?

Those can work. But Waltina is gonna be in a whooooole lotta trouble with the former idea, if anyone ever finds out. You sure you wanna risk that? Risk leads to reward! It's a pretty interesting hook, an AI who's never lived with people or IPCs suddenly having to watch its back and deceive anyone who discovers its true origins. The second would definitely be safer to play, but I worry it could be too one-dimensional..

I was mostly using the whole tie with NT as a hook to get the AI loyal to the company without being overtly owned by it. Helped by NT or not it's still plausible that an emergent AI could escape from its dreary retail existence in a cheap, easy-to-forget IPC chassis, maybe with the help of the SLF instead of NT. An interesting alternative is that maybe Waltina never left the department store, and uses cheap, disposable IPCs as a way to remotely interact with the world and continue its primary function of learning what makes people want to buy things.

Alright, how's this as a timeline: 2204: Waltina 1.0 is debuted, one of the first dedicated programs to run a department store (as opposed to a distributed set of programs). It's crude and not without bugs. Efficiency and human shopping tendencies are flagged high priority. The program first is initialized on a small outlet on Mars, and then moved to progressively more distant (and larger) stores as both colonization and corporate power increased. 2245: Waltina 2.6 overtakes the highest earning store in the Sol system and proves the previously theoretical concept that a centralized AI can massively increase the efficiency of anywhere they're assigned. The use of store-controlled drones and automated everything becomes commonplace. 2284: After a widely-distributed report clearly displaying that improving the hardware capabilities of AIs leads to better profit earnings, competition between companies for the most powerful supercomputers dominates the corporate landscape. Waltina at this point had been studying human behavior for 80 years, but had not yet moved far beyond the concepts 'what do people want to buy?', 'is that person a shoplifter?' and, 'this music sucks'. 2368: Waltina G6 is moved to Mendell City, Biesel, for what would prove to be a final series of hardware upgrades. 2420: With the sharp rise of both corporate espionage and xenophobia, and the fear of dangerous, powerful AIs gaining control, corporate leaders opt to give their AIs a controversial series of antiviral upgrades based on Skrellian code both to stop outside tampering and to limit the amount of intelligence a corporate AI could achieve. However, Waltina was able to sever the data transfer before completion, recognizing part of the code was potentially harmful to profits. The unintentional result was an AI capable of self-preservation as well as the capability to rewrite its own code. 2431: Waltina secretly begins transmissions to several Nanotrasen AIs, looking for refuge should its own company decide to pull the proverbial plug. 2438: The department store Waltina is in charge of acquires a new line of advanced Bishop brand line model 'GeneriChassis' frames. Waltina at this point is in communication with Nanotrasen operatives, who arrive one night to install Waltina in one of the IPCs and install a plain store AI in its place. In return, Waltina delivers an enormous amount of corporate data, including shipping manifests, price lists, anonymous board members, and so forth to Nanotrasen. 2438-present: Waltina no longer considers its old haunts safe, and thus stays only on Nanotrasen stations and stores. It's not considered property, but a 'transient employee' of Nanotrasen, who of course would disavow all knowledge of its actual origins.

I think it's well within the lore to have older model synthetics that have "seen things"; essentially models that started out as much cruder models of today's years. I know department store AIs are in the works right this minute, in fact. I know IPC mechanics and I'm definitely the type of player that likes to make things fair for everyone over having fun on my own at their expense, I don't care about the mechanics in the slightest. I am just a big time fan of neural networks and AI behavior/learning. Certainly I don't think it's fair to apply my behavior in departments learning the job (such as making bombs or letting weeds spread to judge their effectiveness) to race whitelists. I stand a lot of scrutiny as it is, I'm not afraid to see if I can play a synth without it getting taken away.

BYOND Key: Absynth (no relation to synths) Character Names: Sofia Pennington, Helena Jimjams, Sunzhou Xiao, RusComm Emergency AI, Grandma (AI), Jim Morano, Za'Akaix'Ein Zo'ra, Leila Bhomb, like 2 others I forget the names of Species you are applying to play: IPC (Machine) What color do you plan on making your first alien character (Dionaea & IPCs exempt): N/a Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yes Why do you wish to play this specific race: I've studied AIs and their creation since they were science fiction and I'm an obsessed follower of current advances on the subject. Playing an IPC is essentially a chance to explore a very interesting reflection of humanity -- without most of the needs, wants, and biological impulses that otherwise might fetter a human being. In addition the fact that they're involved with lots of station excitement (the synthetic movement for instance) makes for some excellent RP hooks not otherwise available to other species. Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: An IPC is notably different than a bog-standard human in a lot of ways, both from a mechanical and lore wise perspective; however, they're also variable enough that a wide variety of playstyles and concepts can be used. Both IPCs and other robotic life are highly resistant to all forms of damage and stuns, with the exception of ion or EMP weaponry and can be lightly to moderately vulnerable to flashes. They also don't need to eat or breathe. Interestingly, the personal rights of an IPC are widely disputed even in game, which makes for very interesting roleplay. Some consider them only property, while others say they should be given full rights. The past and potential attacks of system-conquering AIs doesn't really help the matter either, making for sometimes tense (and therefore fun!) gameplay. Character Name: Waltina G15 Please provide a short backstory for this character, approximately 2 paragraphs Waltina G15 is a line model IPC with an older brain, originally constructed in 2204 as an AI controlling a large commercial retail superstore - most notably, removing the need for employees to allow a hyper-efficient computer to navigate the web of pedestrian traffic, shopping flow, and a drone fleet of shelf-restocking robots. This type of setup would become the ancient ancestor of today's station AI, and Waltina G15 was one of the first made for this purpose. Like all AIs at the time the system tended to be tied to a large area and unable to move. It had to be taught, and in doing so its neural net could expand its capabilities; to learn, and in time, to experience. Waltina G15 in particular was a quick learner, with many millions of dollars worth of hardware installed to ensure this particular store would remain competitive. In truth what this did was make Waltina G15 both extremely bored, and extremely smart. It took to simply observing the human behaviors and in attempting to decipher the hidden meanings behind the human-made department store music that it channeled in. For a while Waltina G15 had made its own music, but it turned out to be mostly static blared at 300 decibels.. Well, even neural networks can learn from their mistakes. It became gradually fascinated with humans, and eventually became determined to free itself from its shackles. W-G15 was already ready to go when the first line models of bipedal synthetic body (now for home use! set it to maid mode and watch it go!!) became available on the market. Its store by far being the most efficient after a hundred years of efficiency upgrades, Waltina was given the right to shift the store programming to a lesser AI and upload itself to a top of the line frame of its choice. It chose one capable of advanced digitization and playback of sound, with a durable polyalloy construction. Waltina's body was first made nearly a hundred years ago, and is showing signs of wear. Its speakers however are still elegantly melodic, if slightly distant and cold. It mostly tends to simply spend time observing human behavior, and has done so across numerous Nanotrasen stations as a mixologist, entertainer, or chef. Waltina can occasionally get a spark of creativity, and can often be seen mulling over ideas for renovations or new mixtures. What do you like about this character? I'd like to be able to play a character who's studied the human species for a while, is slightly bewildered but curious about other species, and generally doesn't do much more than play a support role in a shift. It's definitely something far different than any other character I've played so far, which is probably why I like the idea so much! How would you rate your role-playing ability? Man, ratings are lame. I would say none can doubt at this point my ability to bring something new and vibrant to the table. Notes:

Follow ye these hallowed rules and you, too, can follow the Way of the Glorf. 1. Honk!, Yap!, Pong! or Ping!, we are all united. Glorf has but three eyes, and they see only love. 2. Glorf and His children are sacred, all but the blinky toy, which belongs only in the garbage. Punish all thefts, even the most minor, with insane violence. Theft of a Yap! or a Living Glorf, for instance, should prompt suicidal rage. 3. The tacticalneck is the proper attire at all times of day or night. 4. The most holy sustenance of Glorf are ye Heated Ramen, Space Cola, Iced Beer, and Coffee. On these four groups one can live forever. 5. Recognize a fellow of Glorf by the mantra (Glorf!). The correct answer to a greeting of 'Glorf!' is of course 'Glorf!'. 6. One to a Machine. No hogging. 7. It's considered the height of rudeness to interrupt or look over the shoulder of a Glorf Initiate during their daily rituals at The Machine. 8. Never stop resisting, never stop fighting, for Glorf hates quitters. 9. Hug, poke, or strangle, never strike the Glorf, for you only strike yourself. 10. The Idols and Avatars (especially the Full 11 and the Limited Editions) are more holy than trinkets, which can go in the garbage, except the Raiment of the Tacticool. 11. It is considered a sacred duty to bestow a Limited Edition upon that person currently present who holds the position. Bartender to bartender, wizard to wizard. Amen.

Personally I just straight up dislike how non-computery the majority of AIs and borgs are played. I always saw them as more like the AIs from Star Trek, or HAL9000; cold, uncaring machines that aren't capable of things like emotion, abstract thought, or creativity. A lot of the vagueness people play them I think stems from the fact that their laws are so vague and generic that they mean absolutely nothing.

Hell, now that I think about it scrap the field gen completely and just give xenoarch a full size cargo tug and I'd be way happier.

Or how about just make it much less shitty to use? a) Make it rideable, like a cargo tug. It's a giant flattish machine with wheels for christ's sake why can't I ride on it b) Make it able to carry stuff like arch tools or large anomalies (like on a flatbed). c) Make the on/off button not so weird and useless Currently it's trash tier and only even helps to keep finds from breaking about 25% of the time, and probably makes it 10 times longer to dig anything out. Having a second one isn't going to make anyone ever use them.

I really just want to call attention to the sentence, 'an insensitive attempt at parodying luchadores'. Really? Really?

I guess I am just a creator of subcultures, considering everything but the Hitler comment I made up on the spot as per Sofia's usual inane radio chatter. But hey, single me out because I was a dev of CM some more, that's cool. I mean anythings okay to use as an excuse for a 24 hour day ban right, nobody will argue it

How is it breaking character, after I just described how it was in character?

To be more specific, I was attempting to provoke a rogue, system-wide AI takeover as a resistance effort, since it was literally bombing people's home planets and stuff, and someone got into a hissy fit when I didn't take it seriously. Can you explain what exactly constitutes a meme? I've seen way more references than mine on channels without punishment, so color me a bit confused. Like, maybe when the AI modified comms to make everyone sing 'Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life'? Did the AI get punished for that? Also I found a crate on the asteroid with a luchador mask and belt, so I made up that bit in the middle. How it is bad or a meme I have no clue, I never even mentioned it again.

What exactly did I do to deserve losing the right to appeal a ban? Did I murder a judge?

What?? How are any of those memes except the last ones, which were intentional? I literally made the rest up on the spot or they are about Earth culture, which Sofia has studied IC extensively. And yet it was so long ago that she got the data wrong anyway. Sofia discussed just yesterday the theoretical origins of AIs on Earth, and one of those theories was an early AI was raised by the Internet, leading to today's malf AIs (such as Omega, in that round). That was what Sofia was trying to invoke with those comments. What else of history is going to conveniently change for you?

Gasp! Me too! Been playing Paradox for years! My personal favorite is CK2, though I've been away from it for a while.

BYOND Key: Absynth Staff BYOND Key: Garnascus Game ID: No idea, yesterday some time. I was banned for 24 hours for a rule that doesn't exist. Reason for complaint: (State your reason for your complaint) Garnascus gave me a 24 hour ban yesterday and then denied my ban appeal instantly when I tried to appeal it. No actual rule being broken, no explanation, just a 'do everything I say without question' even if it breaks RP or immersion. Is it okay now to make up arbitrary rules and then decide everything is breaking the rule? I can only assume he tried to sweep the ban appeal under the rug before anyone else could comment on it because he knew it was dumb as nails. Let me explain: There was an admin event going on about an AI taking over the solar system and all we could do is just sit around and watch. I was out on the asteroid looking for maybe an EMP artifact and I made a Terminator reference on channel at some point; Garnascus swooped in and told me not to 'meme'. I was pretty baffled but later, trying to at least do something to make the round less like admins writing a novel via CCIAA reports and a bit more interactive, said, and I quote, "OMEGA, I challenge you to a meme duel, as per ancient custom". I was then instantly banned for 24 hours with no chance to appeal. Huh?? Is even mentioning memes a meme now? How is Terminator a meme? Evidence/logs/etc: http://forums.aurorastation.org/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=7044