Carver

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?

Per the title, it does a terrible disservice to our wonderful sprites to see them stretched or blurred unnecessarily (and the latter is painfully straining to look at). I would hope that this is still possible in some manner, though forgive me if the option is around and hidden somewhere and that I've merely been unable to find it.

I’d be very curious to see the potential directions taken with a timeskip or setting adjustments. I’d also be wary of reeling entirely away from Corporate influence for reasons that others have mentioned prior, primarily the potential inability to comfortably play character archetypes that are enabled by the existence of a corporate structure and its influence. Such risks are why I’ve historically argued against the varying suggestions to move over wholesale to an independent ship, but I’m well intrigued by the concept of opening up more availability for independent backgrounds and roles beyond the mere smattering that we have now (aka consulars, journalists, passengers and priests). As for the potential timeskip, the only concerns that I might hold would be regarding massive retcons required within the lore to some extent if we chose to move backwards. Whilst no doubt that the foremost example, the Vaurca, could have their background adapted to some degree - it would present the potential of heavily compromising the dominant themes that colour their place within the Spur as the ‘new, alien and untrustworthy powers only granted the slightest room beneath the heels of the greats’. Maybe it might actually take them in a more fascinating direction, especially if a massive setting change gives them the chance to actually be wholly independent powers, but it could very well just make their whole situation confusing if not adequately adjusted and rewritten. That’s my ultimate concern with any timeskip, is how it would affect the greater lore and may well confuse players who are intimately familiar with the existing themes and story. On a lesser scale, I can say as someone who’s played one character through several arcs over five to six years, that so long as there’s still room for existing archetypes then one shouldn’t be terribly concerned about the effects of (thoughtfully) adjusting the power dynamic of the playable space. In short, if we don’t go entirely independent, then there’s little risk of effective character loss. Timeskips might be a bit different but I’d only be super concerned about those if we go forward 10-15 years and you’re currently playing a Vaurca that isn’t a Ta (lifespan lol). The main reason that you don’t see many recurring names from older maps and the like moreso has to do with long-term (active) player retention. Final (and wholly personal) thoughts I have, in regard to stagnancy, the main reason I’ve drawn away from playing mostly has to do with the general lack of engaging non-antagonist driven gameplay that provides good roleplay hooks or opportunities, with roleplay itself being the primary if not sole hook for my prior interest in the server. Often I had felt that there’s just not much to do, though I struggle in my ability to explain exactly barring off-topic rants about the limitations of the medium itself. Half-corp half-indie might help this, or it might hinder it, I’m not terribly sure about what might change other than one thing: The windows of opportunity for off-ship RP aren’t particularly relevant to me because, when it comes to those, where there’s a will there’s a way. It has never been difficult to employ one’s creativity in writing whatever character drama or slice of life scenes may appeal to them, even within the seemingly restrictive confines of the Horizon itself, and so a new setting is extremely unlikely to change this unless we somehow end up in the equivalent of a Vault. P.S. if we get a new ship, name it Aurora so the server title makes sense again. Never letting go that we were scammed out of that ship name with an unnecessary second poll.

Those proposed changes to CCIA would utterly ruin the point of CCIA. The value of CCIA is that, as it were, they are without bias and every matter is seen to. Even the smallest IR is at least read no matter who reports it, and the investigations are carried out by an ostensibly neutral party who can’t be bribed and is held to a significantly higher standard than any command member due to being a member of server staff. Without that guarantee of equal and fair investigation, of what value is CCIA? Nothing at all. Those proposed changes effectively delete it.

The people you want should perhaps be subtle then. IRs generally arise from overt misbehaviour, the sort of thing where corporate has to step in because Sec/Command aren’t doing enough to curtail the issue. This is an SCC vessel after all, if you want to break corporate rules you can’t be blatant about it. Otherwise, it would be incredibly difficult to maintain the immersive atmosphere of an ostensibly professional working environment if people were freely crass and criminal.

It would also be nice if there was a way to keep them out of observer logs for someone who wants to observe the round without being forced into local ghost hearing/vision only. As well as keeping them off of any communications since the centcomm z-level is used by actual round antags and staff/event character roles.

I’ll add to the above that on several occasions I’ve seen people dodge meaningful punishment by avoiding it until round-end where they may dodge a security charge entirely. Even whilst playing HoS I’ve had that issue occur, furthered by officers who simply didn’t care to act. As it stands, there also isn’t really any significant punishment in regard to being charged by security. It’s a little note on your record that won’t mean much until someone review requests you (the close sibling of IRs), and to many people doesn’t matter because they don’t see it through a real corporate lens of how much that effects your character’s future in regard to employment opportunities. Only staff, whether administrative or CCIA (or rarely, lore) depending on the specific matter, can truly affect one’s character in any significant and lasting manner.

If they were handled in-round, then they wouldn’t be IR’d. IRs typically cover matters that couldn’t, or more rarely, wouldn’t be handled by Command and Security. If it’s a situation where you could have solved it in-round, then refer to the excerpt from IR rules below: Then refer to the following section of the IR format: To put it simply, that which could have been solved in-round wasn’t due to any number of circumstances.

As opacity goes, can’t you read the punishments on the web interface? Is that just a Command WL thing that I can read them there? I assume it’s something wholly OOC either way, but I’ve had no issues reading the outcomes more or less transparently there. Generally, I like IRs. I remember when they were added, I remember why they were added (handling characters who act unreasonable for corporate personnel but who aren’t breaking server rules), and I’ve yet to really see any reason to change them. From my experience with a prior interview, I hadn’t assumed that discord interviews weren’t favoured, as the individual handling it told me that discord was entirely acceptable and without issue as a medium for it. I personally prefer said medium since it keeps observers out of the matter (I would not want to use the relay for that reason). If discord is discouraged then I agree that it shouldn’t be. I also agree that, to an extent, things should be transparent - the web interface seems to handle this rather perfectly as-is, but perhaps it can be directed to a little more visibly. Otherwise, IRs are a very well-functioning system that I wouldn’t want to see changed. They serve an extremely important purpose in helping to keep characters behaving reasonably, at least canonically, and if more were subjectively thrown out as ‘inconsequential’ then I fear that the alternative would be character/player complaints.

The sec main in me tells me that Attempted Murder applies given the extent of the physical harm, as that amount of brain damage sounds as though it would have been fatal without intervention. I don’t really see a need for another charge in the book, as this isn’t one of those cases where it’s cumbersome to find an appropriate charge (compared to others like bribery where there isn’t really a charge for it).

I'd argue that this can only be a good thing, as it means we can finally get rid of that hideous immersion-breaking Canary-wall since the aux hangar is no longer 'visitor access'.

Wouldn’t this absolutely shit on any kind of antagonism or otherwise stealthy departure with the Spark, though? If simplification is needed just add a device that ‘clocks in’ swiped IDs into the airlock so someone who boards can clock in when they leave, clock out when they return.

In a sense, aren't most ghost roles effectively the best BC learner roles? You're almost always given a ship that no one particularly cares if you fly like an idiot, and there's no risk to it really impacting the Horizon unless you perform an escalating series of mistakes with your ship's weaponry. It's all-around low-stress good practice. The only thing really close would be learning to fly in the Canary (with Command's permission, which probably wouldn't be hard at all to get) as a full BC, which is similarly low-risk tho Command will likely worry if you mess up enough to damage it in the process - but not nearly as much as if you did the same w/ the Horizon itself.

Intriguing, in this case I suppose that I’d hope it’d get updated/buffed for better usability. When I asked a few engineer mains they had no idea of anything fixing windows which is what prompted the thread (as I remembered this decade+ old chemical that was useless and mildly lightened window sprites).

Per the title, it's an old chem that rarely sees use on its own. This would help solve that and give a (better) means to repair partially-damaged windows. A(n effective) means to repair windows is the primary goal of this thread. For the unaware, this is Silicate, it's a truly ancient chem that could be sprayed to strengthen windows. It was never very useful back in the day.

I would perhaps argue that Earth not being a monoculture is what makes it the most grounded part of the setting still, as any culture you can imagine IRL can be applicable to an Earther and will have hundreds to thousands of years of lore (history) to work with. I quite like that this application doesn't try to change that, and instead focuses more on the political aspects/history of Earth/Sol.

Reporting Personnel: Reed Calom Job Title of Reporting Personnel: Corporate Representative, PMCG Game ID: cwb-dGAW Personnel Involved: Ashi Firetalon, Tech Support, Orion - Primary Offender Rakka Kuhwinla, Security Officer, PMCG - Secondary Offender Reed Calom, Corporate Representative, PMCG - Reporting Witness Camille Lancaster, Operations Manager - Witness Lodovica Pirro, Consular, Empire of Dominia - Victim/Witness Secondary Witnesses: Za'Akaix'Telap Zo'ra, Assistant, PMCG - Witnessed the 'Toy' that verbalized a false bomb threat and countdown, overheard all radio comments. Samantha Gallagher, Investigator, PMCG - Personally informed me that Officer Kuhwinla had both refused to act upon the report and had failed to inform their department. Time of Incident: Around 01:00 Ship Time, for the lattermost offense witnessed in person. Radio comments were throughout the shift. Real Time: (00:00-01:00~ish GMT, throughout the round) Location of Incident: Primarily via Common Radio, and outside of the Bridge near the end of the shift Nature of Incident: [ ] - Workplace Hazard [ ] - Accident/Injury [ ] - Destruction of Property [X] - Neglect of Duty [X] - Harassment [ ] - Assault [X] - Misconduct [ ] - Other _____ (Place an x in the box that applies. If other, replace line and specify.) Overview of the Incident: The primary offender, Ashi Firetalon, verbally stated over the common radio a thinly veiled desire to commit murder and arson. They attempted to veil these remarks under claims that it was to be in a video game, but given their criminal history (Security Record - Record: 13-04-2436) one can assume that this is not merely a grossly inappropriate attempt at humour. Furthermore, they harassed a Consular of the Empire of Dominia over the common radio prior and seemingly created or at least used an electronic device that verbally stated a bomb threat after which it would count down to a faux explosion. The lattermost was witnessed by myself and my assistant Telap near the end of the shift, outside of the bridge, and it is possible that the Consular may have seen this device used earlier based upon their remarks. The radio harassment, then the comments expressing fantasy of criminal action, were fully overheard by myself and Operations Manager Lancaster - who herself had attempted to calm down the initial harassment over radio. After the remarks over the radio regarding murder and arson, I messaged Officer Kuhwinla via PDA, the only Security Officer on-shift, to file a request to investigate Firetalon's comments. After some time without response - despite the Officer's PDA having power as they had replied to a query but a moment before the request - and witnessing Firetalon playing haphazardly with the markedly concerning 'toy' whilst hauling a keg, I queried Detective Gallagher regarding the status of my request - and whether it had even been shared with the rest of the Security Department. I soon learned that Officer Kuhwinla had not only neither shared or acted upon it, but had refused to do anything about it according to the Detective's own statement, flagrantly neglecting their duties. Submitted Evidence: Refer to the SCCV Horizon's Common Radio logs for the early morning of the 15th of October for the primary offense, Would you like to be personally interviewed?: [ ] - Yes [X] - No Did you report it to a Head of Staff or a superior? If so, who? If not, why?: -Camille Lancaster, Operations Manager -Sylvia Ewart, Chief Engineer I had informed them both that I requested Security to open an investigation into the matter of the comments over the radio. Actions taken: Reported the incident to Security, specifically Officer Kuhwinla initially, then Detective Gallagher after a period of noticeable inaction. Kuhwinla had not shared my request with the rest of the department. Command Staff had, after my initial report, assumed Security to be investigating the matter. By the time that Detective Gallagher was involved, the shift was coming to an end and there was no time for her to look into the matter fully - though I reported the 'toy' to her and Command at this point nevertheless. Operations Manager Lancaster had personally attempted to stop the radio harassment of the Consular. Chief Engineer Ewart was a late arrival and pre-occupied with maintaining the vessel's new equipment, furthermore I am uncertain if they were present to overhear any of the radio misconduct or witness the 'toy'. Additional Notes: I have many words to offer after reading the individual's record, but it more than speaks for itself.

You could easily cut a lot of useless channels like meme channels and art channels (and some of the unused polling channels) tbf but yeah it’d still take up a lot of room.

I agree with the first two, but xenobotanist would be a bit odd given you’re ostensibly working around in the planter soil a bit and carefully working around delicate xenoflora. I feel like it’s the kind of work where you’d be on your knees or leaning over a fair bit.

This would certainly be a nice improvement.

I wouldn't mind it covering just as well as a full set of heavy armour if it had a little more slowdown to account for all the extra weight of the hologram projectors (or whatever they are lore-wise).

I'm not sure how this would work for any antagonist round, given that a significant majority of people's behaviour during said round can be entirely influenced by an antagonist that is a third party to the form entirely (neither the recipient nor a validator). As one can't IR someone for antag-influenced behaviour, one shouldn't be able to review them for the same. Furthermore, having it only show the last 3 of a category means that one may be missing out on an established pattern over the long-term, I would rather have a full picture of someone's canonical good/mis behaviour. I like the concept, but I cannot see it being especially useful without the above being taken into account.

I really feel like Zavod would fit vastly better with all of these points. Zavod builds most of the ship guns we see and would have the best experience with maintaining and loading them, they're the peak arms dealers in the setting so the hardsuit and exosuit stuff for Machinist fits them like a glove, and finally they fit the role of mining.. slightly better than Orion, I guess, due to their manufacturing focus. Comparatively, the PMCG's all about bodies and muscle, not gunnery and manufacturing. As for anti-corporate, I truly don't quite get what you mean. Orion is the peak of anti-corporate friendly, and the rather hamfisted shoving of the Machinist into Ops means that Orion does cover some skilled labour to a degree. If I ran into an explicitly anti-corporate mercenary I'd be passing them over in favour of one of a million other mercs who I can trust to have less moral issue with their employers. Finally, and this is perhaps my biggest thought, the absolute last thing I want to see is PMCG Miners. Miners acting like mass-murdering badasses because the game's forgiving mechanics let them kill dozens of comically widespread wildlife is already immensely grating. I would thoroughly despise seeing 'Military Miners' being a genuine thing. Furthermore, you are a miner, salvaging is not and should never be the main point of your job, please don't fuck research out of the materials that enable half of their mechanics just so you can go loot a bunch of guns and gear and end up illicitly holding onto a pistol that you'll pull out on the next antag you run into with how trivial it is for miners to steal and conceal salvaged weapons that don't belong to them.