Scheveningen

I understand the thought process, don't get me wrong, it's just I dislike the idea of having to get an administrator's go-ahead to do something. There have been times where I felt I had greater confidence in my roleplaying ability to pull something off that might've been over the line. It would've been prevented entirely if I asked permission to do it and some admin told me no, which is usually how it turns out if I'm the antagonist. The only occasions where I do ask for permission is for situations where I'm a non-antagonist and I have no precedent in dealing with a particular problem to know what to do. The forward communication process is nice but I never utilize it if I know there's an admin who will say no. I believe rather fervently in the "easier to ask forgiveness than permission" rule because I learn nothing if I'm essentially told not to escalate because a specific admin thinks I shouldn't.

all of that was modified eggplant with some k'ois genes. i dont believe they ever emitted the koispaste reagents, given there were exactly 0 mentions of mycosis icly and through deadchat while i was observing.

I'm not so much a fan of being required through the rules to ahelp it first.

It also creates an awkward and unfair exception that one player gets to have but nobody else gets to share that right, which then undermines the point of having said guidelines in the first place if exceptions can be made.

i think this is a great idea. CM does this and it makes it so that ERT calls aren't always round-ending, but can also be reasonably counterplayed and even go in the favor of the round antagonists. +1. i hope this idea is entertained soon

The loop IPC heads had to obey before was that they were required to be a shell to be personable as authority roles. This was eventually dismissed as a rule at some point, I do not know when, however.

There are some comments I wish to add. 1.) The rights IPCs as a species earned were ones that were fairly escalated as a result of the antagonist contests that led to this radical change occurring behind the scenes which eventually brought these advantages to the forefront. 2.) There are certain balance concerns regarding IPCs right now such as them feeling absolutely zero pain currently (not feeling pain allows you to get away with a lot of shit ICly, I've found). I empathize with these concerns having been solely defeated because I did not have the sole item that reliably and totally counters an IPC, but it's a lethal measure most of the time; an ion weapon to remove the IPC from the round. However I do have separate suggestions that will end up outside of this thread as a resolution I'll try to seek out personally. 3.) Removing rights from species is not just a decision with IC implications, it is one with OOC implications too. It is extremely tenuous to follow through what is, regardless of intent, punishing all players of a certain race because of the actions of a few-to-some. "Punishing all because of a few" is a form of discriminatory practice and I would caution anyone away from this line of thinking because it has been tried before in spite of ethical concerns regarding it, essentially it does not work reliably enough to handwave the unethical nature of doing it. I wish doing such things did fix the nature of the occasional "bad RP" we see on the server but I've never seen it work enough to be worth it. I hate to say this too because I fervently believe humans should be essentially having more advantages socially and culturally than the other species. I just do not wish to see people driven from the server because we decided to disable the method they play, regardless of whether they're responsible for the changes happening. 4.) I am okay with repurposing tags to be more reliable in identification. That's about as much as I will personally extend to allow because I love Shells having the canny resemblance to humans and the only way you could find out is with physical force or the convenient tag on them. 5.) I'm curious as to what 'loop' JB is referring to. Is this short for loophole or something, or rather is it referencing a cycle?

You can't really strike a proper medium between those because it's difficult to justify roleplay being a speciesist/anti-robot character. It's the equivalent of being a racist and a Luddite all at once. So most characters are indifferent about it. Unsurprisingly, most people do not actually hold any feelings about racism or other races in general for IRL's sake. Idk why we expect people to diverge away from indifference that ends up benefiting progressive attitudes.

There's absolutely no reason to say no. Look at all of this quality stuff. Who needs an essay to justify all that? They forgot this concept too: +1

Also my campaign promise is to delicately influence the administration to add a role for would-be lore fanatics, err, devout believers of lore, to be informed and pinged in lieu of any lore-diary update in the main aurora discord channel. Much like how subscribers are pinged for a new round.

Ckey/BYOND Username: Scheveningen Position Being Applied For (Species Maintainer, Wiki Maintainer, Lore Developer, Deputy Lore developer): Human Lore Developer Past Experiences/Knowledge: At least 2 non-consecutive stints on the lore team. Once before Jackboot was Father Loremaster and once after. Tablespoon era of lore was interesting, I'll say that much. Examples of Past Work: https://wiki.aurorastation.org/index.php?title=Timeline_of_Humanity#Pre-Second_Space_Age The Pre-Second Space Age was my doing with the magnanimous support and advice of Jackboot. Previously, it wasn't particularly up to par since the initial references lent itself to nuclear catastrophe in the very beginning. The war that led to Earth being nuked was retconned during Tablespoon's era, (I think, memory of waaaay back then was fuzzy) and eventually replaced by some things that were ultimately unsatisfactory to me. I was the first humanity lore dev which was mostly unprecedented, but it led to a few changes under my reign. I eventually abdicated my throne and it was succeeded by Zundy, who proved a very capable if not better lore dev for the overarching scope of humanity. His work is greatly appreciated, in spite of my differences I had with him in the past which are largely resolved since some time ago. Another thing I carried on was a somewhat distinct-from-Skull's-vision type vision for Epsilon Eridani. While much of the militarized elements remain, there were certain things I helped paved the way with in terms of it being a dystopic corporate police state enforced by an establishment of oligarchs. Essentially, "We're the Illuminati except we succeeded at total control of the state long ago and no longer need to hide it, and the people have no actual power in being able to speak out against it without major consequences." Zundy did a great (if not initially controversial) job. Aaaaand I really wish I kept my other deepest lore manifestos on file. I'm terrible at filing resumes. Jackboot's going to kill me over not attaching a cover letter with quality on par to this and for that I apologize in advance because there's going to be a bloodbath over it. Additional Comments: One thing I did mildly disagree with Zundy's doings with Eridani was the odd spread of human ethnicities. While certain individuals in the community voiced their concerns rather distastefully and on the spectrum of near-racism, I was, and still am essentially of the opinion that 400 years into the future where humanity has had an incredible amount of reproduction amounts with several generations backing it and only further speeding up those efforts of driving up the galactic human population, and with it, certain races would... pardon me for the distasteful reference, "bare only a vague resemblance [to the ethnicities] that they once were." This is part of a theory and an initial plan created by the Pan-European https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_von_Coudenhove-Kalergi . If you are not familiar, his entire page is worth a read, and then some. Essentially it stipulates that it's a coinflip as to whom any individual is going to reproduce with. On one hand it could be another person of similar or near-exact ethnicity. Or it's the other side of the coin and it's of completely different ethnicity. We're seeing a lot of mixed folk nowadays, and essentially I believe for the sake of following population statistics, ethnostates would be next to impossible to form and be sustainable in the far-flung future our characters exist in. We have seen certain majorities of ethnicities rather than the cultural melting pots they usually would be. It's personally why I think listing human ethnicities separately as part of an overall planet's census is an ultimately nebulous endeavor, because realistically speaking it wouldn't ever be a thing unless it was heavily state-enforced, and people would eventually drift outside the definitions of "Caucasian" or "African" or "Arabic" descent, because everyone would be a mix. Anyway, sorry, that's a lot of text for a small gripe. Despite that gripe I hold I may not actually do much about it if I am accepted back into the reins of Human Lore Dev. Speaking of which, while there are some things I want to do, I want to put it out there that my second reign would be one of upholding the current status quo for the most part without significant, all-of-a-sudden "gotcha!" radical change. My first reign hinted at it with some certain characterizations to the human's end of the lore spectrum. This won't be the case for the most part, as I mostly wish to be an overseer for humanity lore and only establishing rare precedent on equally rare occasion. I wish to be in the position merely to be in a "Yes you can do that and maybe here's my advice on what you can do with it to go even further" position, or in the (hopefully) rarer occasion where "No" is the preferred answer but it is instead replaced with, "You know, we could make this work by changing it up a bit more" so as to foster a much more supportive and feedback-driven environment. There is another thing which I expect will be brought up if I don't address it; my past behavior as a staff member, lore developer, player, and as a person. I will not make excuses, 80% of the time it was, and still is considered to be, bad. I say 80% because people tend to notice the loud parts, and judging it based off my volume at times and where I phrased my louder concerns. I was rude in many occasions and unbecoming for a staff member. I accept that I blew many of my chances to improve as a moderator and I accept if I will never be brought back on as a moderator. I will not issue apologies in this thread because one, it is not the place for it, and two, it will not have the same effect as when someone reaches out to me and calls me on on my past behavior, to which I can muster a proper discussion over and apologize if it comes around to it. I, and pretty much anyone I know, are better having those conversations when it is person-to-person, because when offense is caused between one person and another, it is a person-to-person issue, and not a person-to-crowd issue. Otherwise not much gets done since the jeering of the crowd makes it difficult to discern what to learn from the situation. I'll eat my words on that mark too because I've had plenty of occasions to be guilty of inciting a crowd over an issue, so to speak, and I can't say I've only done it when an issue couldn't be resolved person-to-person, because that would be a lie. I understand entirely if my past attitude and myriad of aggressions would lead to a decisive "no" as an answer. I would accept that ultimately, but I would very much prefer if I were given this opportunity to do only good for the community for a change, rather than a mix of good and bad. I won't make additional promises beyond that because I know there are some people who already made up their mind about me years ago. To that I understand the reasons for it, but is it at all fair to totally exclude someone from the development of a server as punishment or enforced penance for someone's actions? That's something I have to ask myself often so I'm going to steel myself in case I get called out as a hypocrite, and say "no" to that question. Anyway, I've written enough. Tell me what you think and we can establish a line of conversation. Just keep in mind there are some things I'd rather discuss in DMs.

Sorry, forgot to reply to some criticisms. Firstly I forgot to mention that the Chapter was not initially known as the Sons of Cain, but rather the Sons of St. Paul. I'll edit more comprehensively when I get time to fluff things up. The Sons of Cain can still likely be Christian but are often more than not, Gnostic. To be part of the traitor chapter implies a distaste for the overarching Papacy and what they view as corrupt Cardinal rule. The Sons of Cain are not intended to be Satanist in the slightest. They own that name simply for fear factor's sake. Much like some Cardinals in the Papacy, however, it wouldn't be surprising if some members of the Chapter of Cain were heretical atheists in private, especially in the higher ranks. For the most part, however, there is still a religious element to the Sons of Cain, but also a lot of antagonistic tendencies directed towards what they view as a corrupt papacy. @deadlantern It more or less depends on the Knightly chapter. The Knights Templar (known today as the Supreme Order of Christ in real life, actually) wore their own cross, as did the Maltese/Knights Hospitaller Order, and the Order of Saint Lazarus. It also depended on what a Catholic knight could afford based on his class in society, especially at the time of the Third Crusaders where paraphernalia of "deus vult" memes tend to originate from. Some Catholic knights did not even belong to a chapter per se which likely further extended the possible backgrounds a knight could come from. One could have simply followed King Richard to battle during the Third, and was nominated a crusader regardless. The comparisons of this to WH40K are also largely unintentional, but the comparisons are easy to make no thanks to WH40K essentially basing the majority of their lore on Catholic military orders and ecclesiastic bureaucracy structure. Kyres and I are working on concepts for the most part to help further realize this.

I'd prefer the ability to extend to just anyone short of an admin, really. I don't want the ability to punish an individual either, I just want the option to not have to see what they have to say.

Because it is far too difficult to moderate OOC or LOOC. "I was just joking", "It was just banter", "I didn't mean what I said, why are you taking me so seriously" are often mewled as excuses for OOC/LOOC harassment to the point where administrators can't be relied upon within their policies to put a stopper in that, especially if it's an odd occasion where the mod/admin in question decides one occasion out of hundreds is an event where they choose to defend someone's "freeze peach" to generally be unpleasant. Having the ability to manually block someone is incredibly useful in the event you'd rather not read what a specific individual has to say. This is a functionality on Discord and it's useful, so what's wrong with it being implemented in-game? The block function is oodles more reliable in its net result than what you would not be able to guarantee from an admin or mod. I shouldn't have to have the displeasure of reading a particular person's going on particular tangents as they might do in OOC to seek attention, or in the event the individual who happens to be notorious for calling people out in OOC doing as they do, but I also shouldn't have to be forced to disable OOC if my only reason for doing so is to totally shut out one person shitposting from my end of viewing. What if I want to chat with some friends in OOC but want to shut out the one person I have no interest in seeing chatter from? There's also no tangible potential for abuse in which it actually negatively disaffects people with good intentions, though particularly unpopular people or known shitposters will certainly feel the effect of never being talked to in OOC. As it should be.

I did not realize this was a permanent ban. Many apologies, but I do think the perma should be undone and turned into a warning instead. I think that is all BSA really 'earned' for the morally grey area that was his decision-making in this instance.

I just noticed the area where this posted and almost made a call-out response over this. why.

Okay, in short, individuals having the mindset of wanting a firefight to happen while playing security is exactly a point of contention of what is wrong with certain mindsets with 'security players' right now. Much like an antagonist, you're supposed to tread extremely carefully when playing security on a heavy roleplay server rather than behaving like a bulldozer. Escalating conflict above what other characters are even able to respond to without initial conflict being undertaken, especially with explosives that can kill characters instantly, is gank, no matter how you try to paint it otherwise. Can I say with 101% certainty this situation was gank? Probably not unless I had the whole thing OBS recorded. Still, there is very little nuance to throwing a bomb in the middle of a room and setting it to blow, but there's a ton of nuance to the motivations in setting a bomb to blow, as well as the impact it eventually has. Bombs reach through multiple z-levels and cause an immense amount of destruction. A person using a bomb like this must take responsibility for any destruction or casualties they cause or else what would be the point of bombs being in the game if anyone could use them for the slightest inclination? If shooting a merc dead for assaulting the captain is a low impact, low justification response, then using explosives tends to be high impact in the round due to the capacity for neutralizing a person's ability to roleplay. As a result, one needs a large amount of justification to set a bomb off because when you do so, you have to accept that casualties will occur and that they happened because of your decision to set the bomb. This is more about taking responsibility and not admonishing other people for being "wrong place wrong time". "They were just there, it's not my fault, I can't control people being there despite that the placement of the bomb was going to likely kill people anyway" probably was an argument said by the Unabomber in some timeline. It doesn't admonish guilt in the slightest, because the usage of a TTV bomb in such a manner is hard to argue being anything other than intentional. Timer TTVs are far more dangerous for this reason due to what can happen on a minute timer. That and they do not actually set for a minute but for what the server counts as each individual second adding up to a minute. This leads to a lot of time dilation over time, so what could be intended as one minute may actually be two and a half. If a lot can happen in one minute, an incredible amount happens in two and a half. This isn't necessarily "timers borked" as already mentioned in the thread, it is literally just because time is counted differently by the server. Albeit, an incredibly inefficient way. According to other people in this thread they were not "obvious bad guys" you were so quick to characterize them as. It takes an incredible amount of charm and charisma to be able to actually convince people to do things as an antagonist, and having the entire gimmick singlehandedly blown up by a single robot detective with a TTV who also bragged about doing it on discord is perhaps not a positive legacy to be remembered by. It seems you took initiative, not the antagonists. This is generally frowned upon for good reason when a non-antagonist, as being proactive in responding to antagonists leads to gank and valid-hunting. It's a very risky (in the sense of the rules and happening on a not-pleased admin, not the actual risk in playing the game) way of doing things, and being reactive is generally much better as a non-antagonist. Again, when you set an explosive, you must take responsibility for whatever happens when it goes off, not too dissimilar to point blank executing an antagonist (i.e. you accept you must provide a good reasoning for why you did so if an admin tries to talk to you). You do not use a bomb and then immediately admonish yourself of any responsibility in using it. It sets a horrible precedent for what other people can do with explosives. I'm not sure if you're well-versed in using explosives which would be surprising but not unusual - so I'm personally willing to give the benefit of believing you when you say the level of collateral wasn't intended, I'd believe anyone that says so short of a guy who's notorious for literally griefing the server since the past week or something. A major thing to learn from this is that if you set a timed explosive in an area that has potential to be populated, then announce it over the common radio to protect the best interests of any hapless crewmembers walking by. In this way you take responsibility for the act while also taking another measure of positive proactivity within a greater interest than just yourself and what you want to do. Another thing about the justification bit: I dislike Noir and his personality because it lends itself to decision-making that particularly lacks in interesting... well, nuance, really, that is a word I'll be overusing. It isn't this way all the time, but "cold, dark and handsome synthetic" tends to make decisions like "cold, dark and brutally efficient decisiveness." While I don't mind characters being quite competent and there being a competitive element between antagonist and non-antagonist at times for everyone to be at least trying to play at their best if there's no trauma to deal with (simply because it makes the game tense and more fun), the problem with synthetics in general is that they cheat and don't have to really experience trauma or revisit their own actions in a light of "right" and "wrong." A synthetic does not get this train of thought and makes decisions that are automatically "right" to the character. It's boring yet has the potential to be the opposite of constructive, in short, but that's my opinion. Say what you want about the one person who has a track record. It is ultimately fallacious to extend that definition to anyone other than that person with the track record for doing so. Just because one person has a desire to be a dick when using a report function does not automatically mean anyone else using that report function is also a dick. That is why your argument is fallacious, because you tried to apply it to a "you people" statement. It is insulting and ridiculously disrespectful to the people who value the rules being enforced for higher reasons than one person having a personal vendetta with you. It's a fairer shake to try and think in all circumstances, before and after something happens. It helps bring clarity to the overarching past, present and what one intends on doing moving forward to the future. Reports are a measure of wanting to take action when one feels like the rules were ignored when a decision was made in IC or OOC. Much like anything, if you have a good case pointing in the direction that someone is misusing the report function to carry out a grudge against you, compile the evidence and submit it to a staff member. A lot of these two paragraphs is parroting what was already said in the main OP at the very bottom. Before I end on a particularly amusing note, I believe the most you should've really earned was a warning. Simply on principle of making people think about their particularly destructive decisions whether they think they were in the right or not so that it can advise them to refine their technique with better precision and finesse in the future. The justification for detonating the bomb is not per se wrong, but it's the rejection of personal responsibility that you had anything to do with the detonation of the bomb and the collateral that happened. There's a difference between "oh shit I opened a door to a place I didn't know was even vented and my buddy flew out the airlock" collateral and "I set a bomb without telling anyone it was live and it killed at least one person" type collateral. The former is collateral of either an incompetent or an innocent kind, depending on one's viewpoint. The latter can only be characterized as one with very specific destructive intent and with destructive consequences. Firstly, what was the last two paragraphs in your main post to you, then? Do you have this level of confirmation bias that you can recuse yourself of writing that up while accusing other people of doing the same? Either we're both guilty of it and it apparently matters or we're not guilty of it and it doesn't matter. Secondly, it's the holiday season and I'm going to let that second jab slide no matter how malicious or personally motivated it might be. I get it's likely because you feel particularly persecuted for eating a ban that I would personally agree was too much in this instance, but you felt the need to reference that to fulfill some "gotcha" meter, yet I'm certain anyone can compare the two threads and find no comparison between that situation and that one from 14 months ago, if we also ignore the amount of time between then and now and the likelihood that referencing such a case holds zero relevance and does not undermine a single argument levied against you. Thirdly, I get it. You feel targeted and mistreated because you ate a ban when you feel like you should not have. Perhaps it should be no surprise to me that you're being all sassy about this, but you look less like a person who has well-reasoned points and justification for their decisions and more like someone who has a bone to pick when you establish sweeping generalized statements about how the community uses the report function, how they respond to conflict and also going for low blows to, presumably, make people feel like shit for having an issue with you. Because that whole, "I'm going to put this person into a box and kick the box as often as I can" only creates a situation where you deliberately craft an argument where you think you're 'winning' it, all the while ignoring that the point of a discussion is to ultimately learn something new and learn how to do it.

It's surprising to see many of the points so quickly deflected i.e. what a detective is doing setting explosives in the merc shuttle and plotting their undoing far before any sort of shootout had apparently begun, according to the summary, especially considering the aforementioned's extremely long and storied behavior of frontlining and behaving as a ruthless combatant as a security detective. I believe Bath Salts Addict should, how one should say, 'get woke' for a moment and realize the ban wasn't placed merely because of a last straw type situation but rather that the behavior and decision-making displayed through it most likely led to a ban being administered. Might I remind you that it was your behavior alone as Noir that got the shotgun slugs and the shells removed from the standard armory, which has had a rather substantial effect on security play so far. It is not something to be proud of to be the sole reason why a feature was removed from the game, nor is it something to be proud of to detonate a bomb as it catches several antagonists and bystanders in its wake to instantly remove them from the round. I believe there's a rule that says collateral damage is not preferred when using explosives. As in, if you didn't intend those people to die by the explosion, they were collateral. This seems to be another problem endemic to you and your roleplaying in general and that's the "my character is not really required to care nor consider human factors involved because they're a cold and lifeless synthetic" card, and such judgments being made on a regular basis by you should probably start to be reviewed by the synth whitelister regarding decision-making such as this. Perhaps I'm not the only person who is very tired of seeing much of the same cold, snarky, and totally ruthless HK-47 knockoffs that will escalate to lethal given the opportunity. It is very sad to see Noir constantly fit that bill. And, as a note. If you + your character are particularly notorious for something, you eat a ban and then stick with it for a time and get it appealed and seem like you finally reform, and then one day make a decision that looks almost identical to your previous behavior while in-character as Noir, then it will unsurprisingly seem as if nothing had changed at all, and it becomes a fair assumption again to say the behavior is then "ongoing" again. The point of bans is to give an individual time to think on their decision-making, whether it was a mistake or simply a decision made in markedly poor judgement, and then endeavor to their absolute best ability to never repeat the outlined behavior or anything that resembles it. As per how staff tends to escalate punishments, bans tend to follow bans if they've already been tried. If severe enough, the time between two incidents probably stops becoming such a relevant factor when considering what the proper discipline would be for such an infraction. Likewise, the braggadocio attitude with 'showing off' the wanton destruction despite the reasoning for it being under question and in doubt was perhaps not the wisest thing to do, since it characterizes your motivations as if you knew exactly what you were doing. Frankly, I see nothing but irony in this entire statement. You are, effectively, complaining about others who issue complaints through adminhelps regarding their interpretation of a situation and then make such an assumption (without outright proof I might add) that the individual who dares to report your behavior is simply out to get you rather than exercising some concern regarding fair and just enforcement of the rules and properly roleplaying in-game. And then you tack on the rest of the statement with, "It's just a game, why u haff to be mad?" like the tired old meme it is used on this server to dismiss criticism of certain problematic playstyles that certain players are content to continue but ideally should be given opportunities to start thinking and improving how they play. Again. It's incredible how lacking in self-awareness you are, while still dishing out yet another low blow of insisting other people (yet again, without proof) are merely irrationally angry when reporting an issue with you. It's quite disrespectful to assert this as in any way true and you're deliberately discrediting the value of other people having a say when they have a problem with your habits so that it becomes easy to justify and defend yourself. Perhaps you should stop wasting so much time on your part and the part of other people's by constructing these elaborate strawman community members who apparently exist to permanently remove you from the server as their sole intention only. Because as of a result, you are building these hypothetical arguments out of straw, and it's too easy to see the fakeness in this. The irony to that is that if you don't improve your behavior, permanent removal from the community would actually be enforced, considering how it seems like based on the initial post and certain replies that you have honestly retained very little about what is or what was problematic roleplay behaviors, and how you seem to take responsibility.

Move aside, Manifesto posters, it's time to drop the dogma and get holly jolly. Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Holidays. It's a bit early (or a bit late depending on your faith) but I have no accountability of whether I'll be around on the internet for the Christmas week. While Thanksgiving is over, I do want to say that I'm thankful for all of you that's stuck around this community so far. Sometimes we all make really silly decisions and it leads to arguments sometimes, but this holiday season we should all strive to think of the other person on the other side of the screen and try to wish them good tidings, no matter what you think of them. Christmas season can either be the best time of the year or the hardest time of the year. No matter what you might know or think about somebody else's life, let's all try to consider what could be going on for other people and wish them only the best. That aside, I'm really happy to be around this community for so long and it's all thanks to you guys. I'm not going to make special mentions because all of you are special in each of your own unique ways. You all add something interesting and different to this community that creates different experiences for me and for everyone else, whether for better or worse. It's created special bonds between a lot of us and that's probably the best part of Aurora, you never knew what friend you're going to find in someone tomorrow. Aurora really is a fun place to be around specifically because of all the cool friends I have here and I really wouldn't have it any other way. It's also the season for forgiveness. The holidays are always a fruitful time for thinking about forgiveness. It's always a good time to let go of the grudges you've held the past year because it's rarely ever a good thing to carry them over to have in the next year, and prevent those old transgressions from happening the best you can. In particularly difficult cases, reach out to somebody if you think they're angry and frustrated. Sometimes all someone needs is to talk to someone this holiday season, whether it's online or offline. The holiday season will be a lot happier for people if they are less angry and resentful. Forgiving is tough business. It takes courage and resolve to let go of negative feelings when we've been wronged. Fortunately this gets easier with practice—especially if we start with the small stuff and get in the habit early on—and it makes us stronger and better people. In case anyone mentions it, you don't have to open a line to DM me, I forgive you, whatever you did. Consider it in the past year at this point. I'm happy for all the friends I made this year and for all the ones I kept, I hope you all can say the same. Stay safe if you're driving this holiday season and try not to drink too much eggnog.

MAJOR credit to my mate Snake for the help in drafting this lore canonization application. Type (e.g. Planet, Faction, System): Autonomous paramilitary faction. Founding/Settlement Date (if applicable): Answer depends on context. If context is within the 'ultramodern' Supreme Order of Christ, roughly 2302 AD, with steep advancements and windfalls all along the way to the present date. Region of Space: Generally within Alliance space. Main Diocese HQ on Luna, whilst the Vatican City serves only as a ceremonial location for annual parades or events led by the Papacy or Ecclesiastical administration. Various Chapters that answer to the Grandmaster of the Order are generally spread out throughout known space, even having chapters on worlds such as Moghes in their efforts to convert some of the Sinta peoples. Controlled by (if not a faction): In terms of ranking authority, The Papacy > Any designated Cardinal by the Papacy to hold authority over the Order > The Grandmaster of the Supreme Order of Christ (who is chosen either by the Papacy or by the designated Cardinal) > Chapter Masters (often chosen by the Grandmaster of the Order) > Holy Regiment Commanders (chosen by seniority rules, approved by the Chapter Master). In general, the Supreme Order of Christ is an autonomous functionary of the Roman Catholic Church. The Order's highest echelons of leadership are generally descendant from Portuguese, Spanish or Italian descent. His Holiness John Paul V has absolute sovereignty over the matters of the Supreme Order of Christ. Presently, the Grandmaster of the Order is César Guerra. The Order's Honorary President is Bruno Cdl. Iannella. Other Snapshot information: Special thanks to Robert Chew for concept art. Copyright infringement not intended. https://robertchew.artstation.com Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light. - Micah 7:8 Known outside the Papal structure as the Supreme Order of Christ (SOoC heretoforth), the aforementioned is another link in the chain of RCC-supported military orders that eventally merged into a single, autonomous entity, and the old Orders such as the Knights Hospitaliers and St. Boniface eventually were merged into Chapters to allow for easier management of clergy-personnel. If the Knights Templar were the sword and shield of the Roman Catholic Church in the Medieval Ages, then the SOoC are the firearm and mobilized infantry of the Roman Catholic Church for the futuristic era. While certain traditions of the Catholic faith have been timeless and never changing, the needs of a Papacy to be able to defend its own interests have always shifted and adjusted with the times. The SOoC is the example to the latter rule. Essentially, the Supreme Order of Christ is the Papacy's answer to the paramilitary complex in the current galaxy to be able to defend its own interests and project power where it needs be. The overall numbers according to the Papacy's census data states that the Supreme Order of Christ numbers at 70,000 persons strong, however this does not take account of its special operatives and its integrated positronic chassis units that follow the agenda of the Order. There have been speculations that the actual manpower number, assuming 1 IPC is equivalent to another being, is roughly around 120,000 to 200,000. Not all sources testifying to this being the case have been verifiable, however, and many such voices proclaiming the Supreme Order of Christ being larger than really it is suddenly fell quiet in due time. Long Description: Much like the Knights Templar and Hospitaliers that preceded it many generations ago, the SOoC is a charity-led organization turned elite fighting force for the Papacy's interests. It has projected its influence in ways as one might expect a religious order would do: They've provided immediate crisis relief for natural disasters on Earth and the other colonies too far away from the centralized reach of the Sol Alliance, as well as towards the other systems with non-human inhabitants, often with the motivation to streamline conversion. In many ways their presence has saved more than just a handful of lives within the Core Worlds and outside of them. Due to issues regarding traditional dogma and ancient stigma regarding the role of women, The Roman Catholic Church does not openly permit women to be in any public Chapter. There is, however, an exception to this, listed further below. The Roman Catholic Church also is extremely selective regarding alien candidates, especially considering how one must be a converted, pure and wholesome Catholic to have any chance of passing the very heavy screening process to be given entry into the Order. While they have a separate Chapter for synthetic paramilitary operatives, they ultimately see IPCs as tools much as a sword or a shield would be seen as. Known commonly for their white garb with red accents in urban environments, the Supreme Order of Christ is nonetheless feared for its zealotry and aptitude to seize property out on the Frontier and mistreat whom the Chapters view as 'Unrepentant apostates', which has earned the SOoC a mixed reputation. Certain members carry what seem to be archaic longswords in their sheathes, but there are reports that these seemingly ceremonial weapons hidden in their sheathes are actually vibroblade-based technology, capable of magnetizing and drawing incoming bullet-based projectiles to absorb their impact. Given this is in reality a known development of Alliance technology, one could only wonder what kind of support the SOoC really receives from the Alliance. The Sons of Adam are the largest Chapter and ultimately the most crucial to the interests of the Papacy. Their role is to protect the various Dioceses within Alliance territory from outside harm. The most notable regiment under the purview of the Sons of Adam are the Papal Guard, formed from the remnants of the Pontifical Swiss Guard and integrated with the highest quality military training money can buy in order to protect the Pope and the Cardinals within the Vatican. The Chapter's official HQ was based in the Vatican, but their training facilities are primarily located on Luna, and the Luna Diocese is where one would spend the majority of their life during times of peace as a member of the Sons of Adam. Additionally, since a fair amount of time they've been driven away from being able to attend mass in the Vatican, a major political focal point as part of their agenda to influence the Alliance government to grant the Roman Catholic Church its property back. The Sol Alliance has no official opinion regarding the status of the Supreme Order of Christ or the Sons of Adam, in spite of how much assistance the organizations have given the former. In short, they are the bulwark to protect the homefront and are easily the most dangerous Chapter given their numbers and influence. The Sons of Adam also dispatch members out to the Frontier colonies that the Alliance's own military cannot reach as part of their charity efforts... as well as attempting to convert more faithful, of course. Much of their generosity towards the Sol Alliance has been in part due to spite of the Alliance's unjustified occupation of the Vatican, with hopes that the Alliance will one day grant the RCC the return of the most Holy City on Terran soil. The Daughters of Eve are the smallest Chapter and perhaps the most unusual one. This Chapter's numbers are primarily women and purportedly led by a woman as the Chapter's Master, particularly sourced from candidates that are rumored to be sourced from consecrated lay virgins. A Daughter of Eve must be chaste in order to attain and maintain membership, as well as marry themselves to God, carrying on the exact same rules as they had to follow from before. This lends itself to a degree of plausible deniability especially since it is not common knowledge that the Supreme Order of Christ conscripts women into their ranks. The conditions of which a Daughter of Eve is chosen is not known apart from brief glimpses based on non-verifiable ex-Cardinal testimonies and what the Pope himself is beholden to know. The exact role of the Chapter is not publicly known given the lack of insider information, though there have been sightings out in the frontier of individuals in the regalia and armor of a typical warrior-monk of the Supreme Order of Christ, but their figure was far from what would be a masculine appearance. This has led to wild speculation such as the Supreme Order of Christ fielding female operatives working their own operations with varying levels of discretion and indiscretion, but these reports have not been corroborated by a legitimate investigation, nor confirmed by the Roman Catholic Church to be true or false. The Sons of St. Boniface, based on a remote underground outpost on Moghes, are also particularly detested by those of the Sk'akh faith due to drawn-out antagonism between the Knights of St. Boniface and the Maraziite Order donning their iron masks. The motivation for this conflict is due in part to the Chapter attempting to support and convert certain Sinta communities further out of the reach of the main cities, but often the Chapter's members have intruded upon sacred ground of the Maraziites in doing so. This has resulted in those of Sk'akh faith proclaiming themselves a staunch enemy of the Sons of St. Boniface and condemning the Roman Catholic Church for allowing this trespass. The other faiths are not as hostile towards the Sons of St. Boniface as the Sk'akh are, and on occasion have crossed paths with the Chapter, leading to each party relieving the other of minor inconveniences, though perhaps not intentionally on the Chapter's part. The Th'akh and the Si'akh likely only see a benefit in relations with the Sons of St. Boniface due to a common enemy being shared, but this has not often been taken advantage of either by the Chapter's leadership or by the Th'akh and Si'akh. Ultimately, the Th'akh and Si'akh would not likely be compatible with the interests of the Chapter and vice versa short of sharing that common antagonism with the Sk'akh. The Sons of St. Lazarus are a Chapter within Dominian space, though much like the St. Boniface Chapter, the Sons of St. Lazarus have a hidden headquarters chapter. The efforts of the St. Lazarus Chapter have largely been to subtly sabotage the affairs of the Dominian Tribunal (given the total ideological incompatibility between the RCC and the Dominian Tribunal this should be no surprise), though they have been very careful in threatening the sovereignty of the Emperor, often avoiding certain opportunities to throw a wrench in the plans of the Dominian Tribunal if it meant aggravating the Emperor himself. For the past 5 years their operations have been without substantial progress in their line of affairs, but this is more perhaps due to the Dominian suppression of the media that no such stories of certain acts being thwarted by the Sons of St. Lazarus. The Sons of St. Dominic are based within Jargon Federation space. Unlike the Sons of St. Boniface and the Sons of St. Lazarus, the Sons of St. Dominic have much more amiable intentions towards their hosts. The Sons of St. Dominic have a Diocese on Qerrbalak itself and often assist in much of the same ways as the Sons of Adam. While the Chapter has excellent diplomacy and rapport built with the local government (due in part to constant exchanges of generosity in some highly sophisticated and complex attempt to out-gift the other party), the Skrell have proven generally difficult in proselytizing to given the secular nature of the Skrellian scientific community which is ever-present throughout Skrell culture, as well as how obvious the cultural barriers are. As a result, there is a very low turn-over rate of Skrellian Catholics, but the Pope and the leaders of the Skrellian communities at the federal level possess good relations in general, albeit many altercations near ending in heated debates over subjects of belief (Popes are particularly stubborn in terms of doctrinal argumentation, as a rule), before returning to warm relations and amiable departures. The Sons of Cain, also known as the Sons of Brutus and the Sons of Judas, are a traitor Chapter with Freemasonic, corrupt megacorporate allegiances. They were previously a Chapter based on Adhomai that was eventually taken over by a malicious Chapter Master that has since been excommunicated by the Church, but is still at large. Their primary agenda is based on dragging down the reputation of the Supreme Order of Christ down by any means necessary, in doing this they often co-opt the identity of a legitimate member of any other Chapter (often a local one for enhanced believability) and then commit terrorist attacks while in the traditional garb of the relevant Chapter. The Sons of Cain often operate within Tau Ceti and Adhomai, the Sons of Brutus operate often within the Alliance territory, and the Sons of Judas operate in-between the Jargon Federation territory. The distinction between members of Cain, Brutus and Judas can often be confusing, but they are simply subdivisions of the same Freemasonic interest. It is said that if they had equivalent numbers to the Sons of Adam, they'd be an incredible threat, given the financial support by the criminal Syndicate umbrella organization that funds anti-national government activity. The Sons of Cain employ tactics such as blackmail, sabotage, threats of murder and bribery in order to corrupt the vulnerable to their cause. It is said that one can identify a Son of Cain by a Maltese cross with a diagonal slash through it etched into their body, though operatives have been identified before without these markings at all, making them all the more frightening and dangerous. These individuals are the antagonist faction. All public Chapters have divisions of regiments, the significance largely lays in the specialization of individuals. The Knights of Saint John eventually developed a military branch of the Supreme Order of Christ of what is known now as one of many Hospitaller Regiments. Their presence as doctors and EMTs match that of the IAC, and the two organizations have collaborated in many occasions. Many of their hospices have been established together. Those who studied under either the civilian Knights of Saint John (whom are unaffiliated officially with the SOoC) or underneath the Hospitaller Regiments as a member of the SOoC would likely be well suited as an EMT, Medical Doctor or Surgeon. They operate anywhere they can and their duties involve healing the sick. The Maltese Order, originally sourced from the Knight Hospitallers, developed into a separate paramilitary branch of the SOoC of what is now known as the Maltese Regiments. These individuals heavily specialize as the vanguard operatives of the Papacy interests, and they can perform a very wide variation of tasks, whether it is breaching and clearing a defensive position with the assistance of their sapper squadrons, or capturing and holding critical locations with remarkable resilience and fervor. Units of the Maltese Regiments are also known for their starship piloting and mechanized infantry crews. [A few things are left unfinished. I hope to god I can still edit my OP anytime, this is just proof of concept for now, the non-fluff is mostly done. Tell me what you think.]

This is the ideal extended round. I used literally all the flour in a chem sprayer to simulate snow on the floor. Unfortunately this meant making cakes was delayed later in the round.

Bump! Capesh roleplays amazing synthetic characters, ORB being no exception to this rule. Characterization through aesthetic is something I've always enjoyed and I hope to see more of it in the times that'll come, but I +1 this app in particular, largely because I trust Capesh as a roleplayer and know he's capable.