Carver

I don't think that I've ever really seen people, IC or otherwise, enthusing about Bubble over all the years. Before this change I hadn't realized that it even had a name.

Yeah, it’s a trade off of haste versus flexibility.

I can't possibly agree enough.

-1 As far as attachments, I'll admit that I hold a slight preference for the Zo'ra. Their position within Tau Ceti allows them to have a greater reach in regard to affecting the Horizon in minor but visible ways (i.e. Zo'rane Beverage Vendors), in addition to making them the most accessible for any event arcs. Whilst the other Hives are always present to some degree due to the Court (special mention to Hephaestus and Zeng-Hu), being a valuable component of the setting's foremost state is a significant advantage that makes them the easiest to immediately work with. For my opinions on the K'lax, it can be more simply explained by my prior disinterest in Unathi and the Izweski Hegemony over the past years. I had nothing against the K'lax specifically, only the state/species that they had been attached to. Fortunately recent arcs and developments have gone quite far to rehabilitate my views on them, as before the Trio and Rusting eras I had considered the Unathi to be the species most held back by the burdensome mistakes of old/pre-NBT lore. Ultimately I don't presently consider any of them to be decisively better written than the others (though if forced to choose, Diulszi would be my choice of a standout Hive-specific article for best capturing my imagination!). If I had to express any immediate concerns, it would be less in regard to writing and more that the C'thur are (travel-wise) the least accessible Hive for event arcs. I'm hoping that future developments open up better travel routes to Federation space, but until then I fear that they're especially reliant on the Court, Einstein and Zeng-Hu to give them a foot in the door. -2 I tend to prioritize consistent feedback, both in seeking it for my own work and being available to offer it as needed. Though lacking extensive experience with co-operative writing efforts, between a relatively open schedule and the qualities mentioned in the prior sentence I don't foresee any terrible difficulties with teamwork and availability. Additionally and importantly I am more than capable of biting my tongue in regard to personal disagreements, as I find myself especially averse to drama (that is to say, I have no energy for it and will actively seek to avoid it). I will further note that whilst the aforementioned open schedule can be irregular due to my insomnia, it isn't a difficult matter for me to set aside or make the necessary time for any projects/meetings/whatever have you. May be slightly more difficult if I'm not given advance notice for something truly urgent, but I can't say that Aurora Lore is an environment where I'd expect such sudden urgency. Slight addendum, this is a bit of a rough draft reply since I one-shot it at six in the morning. Please forgive any grammatical errors that I may have missed, my overuse of parenthesised thoughts or any especially stilted prose. As noted, I typically tend to prefer cycling through multiple drafts before I finish or post anything.

Playing a lot of specific roles might lead to you tuning out certain text colours, plus the occasional overactive radio chatter or being in a particularly busy room can make it even easier to miss.

Outside of first responders (I think this is why no one ever really asks for medical exosuits anymore), I think it's a little more thematic that hardsuits are restricted to departmental heads or have to be earned. It gives them a notable presence, similar to exosuits which generally tend to be less flexible. I do like the idea of the warehouse having random pre-damaged low-tier hardsuits if they're not especially easy to repair (as in, fixed in just a few minutes by a non-antag without much resource investment), as it that might offer a nice little goal for enterprising and handy antagonists to steal whilst giving machinists something to do if they feel like it.

Echoing the above, it used to be really trivial to miss rolling it and then realizing 'oh shit' right before or at round-end.

Pigs would be a nice addition, after seeing their inclusion/use with the recent canon Odyssey. Any extra variety for Chefs to cook with is neat, even if the meat's generic.

I'm rather astounded if/that this isn't already the case.

It’s entirely trivial to work around any sort of age check if you know where to look. There’s not really a good way for a private individual to verify another’s age without completely stripping away someone’s anonymity. Much as I’d love SS13 overall to have zero minors, it’s entirely unfeasible, the best you can do is attempt to remove any dangerous material from the community as a whole.

Ckey/BYOND Username: GMR25 Position Being Applied For: Deputy Vaurca Lore Developer Have you read the Lore Team Rules and Regulations wiki page?: Yes, as proof/humour, retcon is misspelled in 'How To Recton News Articles' Past Experiences/Knowledge: I am afraid that I haven't worked with any form of collaborative writing team prior to now, at the most I've assisted the Vaurca Lore Team with a few sprites and a slight handful of the descriptive text to accompany their associated items. I'll readily admit that I'm no expert when it comes to writing or spriting, often needing to work through bad habits with my occasionally stilted vocabulary, but I'm more than willing to improve wherever I can. Examples of Past Work: Primarily extremely minor projects such as spriting and describing the Hive/Sedantis flagpatches, spriting the (embarrassingly simple) Phalanx Receiver, fixing a few pre-existing Phalanx undersuit sprites + producing new variants. Spriting Credits https://github.com/Aurorastation/Aurora.3/pull/18776 https://github.com/Aurorastation/Aurora.3/pull/18771 As writing goes, I've mainly produced the following lore application: https://forums.aurorastation.org/topic/20681-shades-of-the-vekatak/ Additional Comments: I had been meaning to further write multiple lore applications over the past year, but I couldn't find the time between the relatively slow response to my initial one plus a lengthy sabbatical from Aurora over the past nine months to wean off of a medication that had been rather harmful to my mind and memory. I try to make sure that I finish any project before beginning another, and I'm more than willing to adapt to a team environment without any of the prior abrasive or overtly blunt behaviour common to my past self. Furthermore, I would also make a point of pursuing Skrell and Unathi whitelists in order to be able to further understand the necessary crossover lore of each in respect to their relationships with the C'thur and K'lax. Questions: 1. Choose any Vaurca background and write one or two paragraphs of lore that you believe would expand upon it in interesting or meaningful ways. Let's take a very small look at Shapers, and their potential direction (solely within the Republic of Biesel to keep the scope reasonable): To a Shaper, Biesel is fertile ground for the Preimminence. A melting pot of untold numbers of pieces of the greater whole, the many lost beings within Mendell City would be seen as ideal converts. Outwardly, the Shaper itself is an unknown, a Vaurca that seeks to help anyone find their purpose? Surely these robed preachers can mean nothing well. To the well-to-do Bieselite, the corporate higher-ups and even wealthy tourists these 'Shapers' within the streets of Mendell would be seen as no more than charlatans, exploiting the vulnerable for what must undoubtedly be some greater scheme of the Hives. But to those with nowhere else to go, the indebted, the directionless and those wholly alone; the words of a Shaper provide a meaning in what had once been nothing to them. As Biesel's wealthiest estrange more and more of society's lowest with every passing day, the followers of the Preimminence grow in number as the Shapers seek to guide the forlorn. It is said that in the lands of the lost, more than anywhere else, the Shapers truly fit into their place. 2. What is your opinion on the current status regarding the Vaurca Hives in relation to their host nations? K'lax with the Hegemony for example. How do you view it developing? Is there anything you would change? Why or why not? Oh how things change in so short a time. Let's go against alphabetical order and begin with the Zo'ra; Prior to the election and the accompanying news/article-based arcs, I had thought that they were on a wonderful path of what had seemed to be a cordial and mutualistic relationship. Since then, a great degree of uncertainty has developed that - whilst an upset - has done remarkably well to re-establish their place as 'second class' within the Republic of Tau Ceti. More than the others, I feel that the Zo'ra have the most potential to retain their uniquely Vaurcaesian identity due to these conflicts. Whilst I wouldn't change anything, they're the Hive I would most look forward to writing for. The K'lax are a case where, prior to the 'War in Heaven' arc, I didn't have an immense interest in either them or the Izweski Hegemony. Much of the tandem work between the Unathi and Vaurca writing teams since then has captured my heart, and with it I've come to see the K'lax as more of partners to the Hegemony than merely an expedient vassal. For the time being I feel that the K'lax are in a great place compared to where they had been in prior years (where I often had expressed a desire to see them go their own way), and I have no immediate interest in changing anything without seeing where the arc ultimately takes them. Even if they're merely second-most to me in interest, they're the Hive that I feel has the most potential for the short-term beginnings of cultural hybridisation with their host. Onto the last, but certainly not the least. To be blunt, I've never been happy with the current state of High Queen C'thur, feeling that her health has been yet another neglected card-up-the-sleeve for a future major arc involving her death in some form. To remedy/retcon these health issues entirely would pose a significant shift in the amount of leverage held over her Hive by the Federation, yet to kill her would require one to have both the ability and confidence that they could write both the future of the C'thur and the accompanying arc alongside the Skrell team to a frighteningly exemplary degree of quality. I want to see a future for the C'thur and Federation that doesn't revolve around a royal hostage, but it's a puzzle that I'm not sure how one would best solve. Perhaps most of all, I would like to expand upon the 'daily lives' of Hive Vaurcae living amongst their host species, particularly how they've managed (or failed) to adapt to the variety of alien cultures and environments. I see these otherwise mundane background elements to be a valuable guide to ease the hurdle of applicants and fresh whitelistees writing their Unbound characters, and moreso I would hope that it could also be an aid to anyone who wishes to write a C'thur or K'lax character without having significant initial experience with their respective host species. The latter of which had been something that I've had prior difficulty with myself. 3. Is there an area of Vaurca lore you want to expand on that isn't directly related to the Host nations? Mythology, to put it most plainly. Whilst unfortunately of (potentially?) little value to the game itself, I am thoroughly enamoured with the possibilities of the ancient histories and beliefs of the pre-VR Vaurcae as well as the untold Hives assimilated by the victors of long-forgotten wars. I would like to potentially see some of these loosely tie in to the present belief systems and faiths of the modern Hives and perhaps even some of the Queenless, as the most fun to me in both fiction and history is being able to draw a line from antiquity to the present. Secondarily, I'd also like to expand upon the commercialisation of the Hives. Tourism, art, literature, food, clothing (both for aliens and Vaurca) and all manner of merchandising and similar. Athvur's Brood is a wonderful vehicle to introduce more of these elements into Tau Ceti (and by extension the kitchen/loadout/etc.), and it would be an excellent opportunity for me to work on my spriting abilities at the same time. 4. What do you think of the current Queenless Vaurca groups? Do you think they're underutilised, fine as is, or overrepresented compared to the main Hives? As much as I loathe seeming indecisive, all of the above? I tend toward the belief that the Queenless and adjacent concepts present something of a writing obstacle to the rest of the species. In many regards, they occupy a thematic space that could be explored by more individualistic elements of the greater Hives themselves, yet simultaneously they currently hold the risk of leaning too far into the distinctly familiar. Delving ever-slightly into the next question, I feel that in the long-term one must assess where each and every one of these estranged groups ends up. Assimilated back into their main Hives? Withering away to nothingness without the Court's support? For better or for worse it would be difficult to truly change them in any satisfying way, given that they're a key ingredient toward maintaining a solid foundation of anti-Vaurca sentiment amongst the various aliens. I see no reason to neglect them, but I don't believe that they should be a primary focus, as I'd personally equate them to the pre-contact nobility of the Tajara - an immensely valuable component in the overall story thus far, but one that is bound to become no more than a historical note in the decades to come. 5. Where do you see the Vaurca going long-term? Whether or not the question is in relation to any form of 'timeskip', I'm deeply interested in further exploring the relationships between the Hives and their hosts. I personally adore the concept of (attempted) true integration over a period of decades, often imagining the myriad of experimental bioforms that may be created by the Hives. Of course, I wouldn't wish to see the addition of any more standard playable/mainline bioforms at the risk of muddying the overall identities of the existing ones, but it would be fascinating to introduce the unknown and unexpected as elements in various event arcs. Overall, there is no species more capable of adaptation to the challenges posed by the Spur. More relevant to the game itself in both present and future, I would also like to work on a variety of 'hybrid cultures' that mix elements between the traditional Hive cultures and those of their various Biesel, Hegemony and Federation hosts - whilst retaining the distinctly inhuman nature of the former where possible. Outside of any unexpected upsets such as a Hive's departure from their current servitude (to which I'm a bit dumbfounded to imagine the immediate implications of), the likely way forward would be each Hive further developing a unique and varied approach to integration depending upon how their individual relationships with their hosts evolve. 6. What other skills related to lore development do you have, if any? Per my above statements on past knowledge/work, a middling knowledge of spriting and the will to further improve where needed. There are a myriad of minor projects I'd wanted to work upon in order to refine my spriting skills, with the hope of eventually both taking up some larger projects in the future and working to improve or fill in a few existing gaps. I would invariably have to learn PRs as well in order to not rely upon others for implementing said projects, but that shouldn't be an immense hurdle. If you consider it a skill of any sort, I also heavily value (perhaps overly) open communication and seeking critical feedback from others within a workspace. Whilst I can get somewhat frustrated if I feel that I'm being stonewalled for an extended period (weeks+) without explanation, that is because I try to make sure that everything is 'just right' before a project of mine is finalised rather than trying to rush it out the door.

Pistols do have magazines. I have little opinion on magazines by themselves (I've seen servers do it, I prefer heavy back-worn power packs personally) as much as concern that energy weapons may need a degree of rebalancing if they're made trivially reloadable.

An addendum, beginning with some OOC thoughts: You may be wondering why I am adding to a near-year old (over a year old, if you account for the myriad of rough drafts on my end) lore application. To be transparent, the core feedback that I had received from the Vaurca lore team was that the application was a bit -too- overtly dark in tone. Of course, there was a reason for that when it was being written that I'll explain below. During the conception of the original drafts, Vaurcae as a species suffered dearly from a degree of (wholly external) flanderization in how many players/crew viewed them. They were seen in an unusually positive, almost 'cutesie' light at the time, standing in total contrast to their background and themes. This was at a time before the Ve'katak Phalanx had been expanded upon mechanically with the receivers and other similarly polarizing elements, and so I had seen a need to reshape the outward perception of what had been an obscure, relatively unpopular yet wholly fascinating sub-faction of the Court and the PMCG. Overall, it was an attempt to offer a stepping stone for players to work with when either crafting or reorienting an existing character to fit within the whole. In many regards, I explicitly cut away the softer edges of the concept as it formed within my head. A multitude of small ideas that, for a mere lore application, were seen to be unnecessary or to stand in undesirable unison with existing misconceptions surrounding the Vaurca. This addition brings up a handful that had been cut, refined into a small array of ideas that I consider potentially complementary to the greater whole. Before you read what follows, I ask that you excuse my odd prose in writing these. They're not written to be from a wholly OOC perspective, whilst any OOC notes present within them will have italicization in addition to clear markings (double forward slashes or parentheses) to transparently indicate the difference. = A couple of plainly simple ideas that angle for a more positive IC reception. - Facsimile Shift - Projector Lockets = The radical ideas. These were ones that I'd considered later and had found fun enough to include for the sake of posterity. - The Terracotta Army - Facsimile Imprinting

I rather like the current selection (assuming that you can still select it!), it’s one of the very few ways that bartenders can personalize their workspace and that choice by itself is a wonderful form of expression. To lose that would be depressing. Also I’ve always called that shuttle the mining pod both before and after it was named, sometimes even calling the shuttles by their specific class, but that’s not particularly relevant so this is in tiny text.

If I’m not mistaken, can’t the bartender choose their preferred sign from inside of their back room?