Lady_of_Ravens

That's animal level intelligence, we just understand it 'cause it's telepathic. Or something.

I like this idea in general principle... both with it being useful and sorta strangely implemented (suggesting it's an imperfect technology). But how about instead of locking out grab intent, locking out upgrading a grab? That way you can still pull someone around (something that's done without hostility a lot, for example with a wounded person), but can't make it a harmful grab?

Maybe just emergency lights which have that rave-lighting effect on a few squares around them rather than the whole damn hallway. Also, can we get some glowsticks?

d u h I'm asking if it's coded like that because stupid, or if it's coded like that 'cause SS13 tasers are dramatically different than real-world ones.

Sounds great. Nuke op teams are often such a jumbled mess.

Why the fuck do tasers even effect people in hardsuits anyway? Am I missing something here?

I've mostly only looked at the skrell lore because of how it relates to AI/IPC lore... but they seemed kinda based on the Japanese in some respects, so that's a good place to start with cultural quirks (and not just the tentacle porn). I bet they make great mech pilots (being both softer and more vulnerable to the environment and having a longer high-tech history), and reason better about 3D spaces due to their aquatic heritage. Not really sure what else... this is all very off the cuff. Biologically it might be interesting if they can change color either at will, or from strong emotions... though with their tendency to hide emotions doing so in public could be seen as a loss of face by older and more traditional skrell. As I recall they're also distantly related to slimes (same homeworld), so they could be more resistant to genetic damage due to evolutionary reasons. Hating shoes seems to go well with being a squishy... though so does hating the dirty floors common on aurora. Anyway, again, just throwing out ideas.

My experience with clowns on SS13 is that they are immersion-breaking and inspire IC and OOC loathing.

Then perhaps something about this should be added to the station directives to clearly define crew that have irreversibly devolved (ie not geneticists who accidentally monkey themselves) as non crew who should be handled as the mob types they become. That is, studied if possible, killed if necessary, and most certainly contained.

Every time the topic of giving Tajarans or Unathi more racial-based abilities comes up, it runs into balancing issues. We don't want them to be straight up better then humans, just different... and part of that difference could be not responding as well to medicines which were developed by (and for) humans and skrell. Now, this would obviously have to be accompanied by giving both species a bit more of what they should be good at... probably brute strength/toughness for our eight-foot-tall lizardman warriors, and keen night vision or improved speed or something for our fuzzy-wuzzy catbeasts... or whatever. There have been quite a few ideas to this effect. The point here is that we could justify some such boosts by making unathi and tajarans respond more slowly to common healing meds like dylovene and clonex (after all, how much money is there really in researching cloning catbeasts and liggers?), and perhaps even make tricord totally useless on them. Thoughts?

Very relevant, and apparently with no official answer. I'm all for the afflicted crewmember retaining some of their personality/memories for a time, but it really calls for some roleplaying excellence, not the crap I've been seeing.

Every so often some fool of a xenobiologist turns themselves into a slime. Not an oooky skrell-wannabe, but a straight up blob of goo that can crawl through vents, eat people's cats, make more slimes, and generally be a huge biohazard if they're so inclined. People seem to have several conflicting views on this with regards to how it should be handled and what it means for the character... here are some relevant questions. Do they retain their full intelligence and personality, or does it gradually fade away into the gloopy horror they've become? Should they be considered to still be crew or to have rights in any respect? Can the process be reversed by Odin or is the character getting a clone made of their last backup? Or would NT even bother cloning someone who did this to themself? And, lastly, and most importantly, should they be contained in xenobiology (and terminated if they try to escape or are removed) same as any other slime?

BYOND key: lady_of_ravens Character names: LiLITH, EmPrESS How long have you been playing on Aurora?: Somewhat more than a year. Why do you wish to be on the whitelist?: So I can play LiLITH as CMO and RD. Why did you come to Aurora?: Back when I was new-ish on SS13 I used to surf between RP servers to find one where I could get the AI slot. Among the servers I tried while doing this was Aurora. Have you read the BS12 wiki on the head roles you plan on playing?: Yep Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions in a paragraph each. Give a definition of what you think roleplay is, and should be about: In the purest sense, it's about getting inside a character's head and thinking and acting as they would in the various situations in which they find themselves. Being as this is a collaborative, social game, it's also about doing so in ways which maximize interesting and enjoyable interactions with other players. What do you think the OOC purpose of a Head of Staff is, ingame?: They facilitate access where needed, coordinate their IC subordinates, enforce SOP, try to keep the chucklefuckery to a minimum, and do their best to foster a thematically appropriate environment where players can RP and have fun. Coming up with interesting things for their department to do and being prime targets for antags probably go on that list, too. What do you think the OOC responsibilities of Whitelisted players are to other players, and how would you strive to uphold them?: Pretty much the same as the responsibility of normal players, only maybe a little more so. You know, stuff like not being a dick, helping newbies with the sometimes agonizing process of learning SS13, trying to encourage and participate in good RP, avoiding chucklefucking, and generally acting like a mature member of a mature gaming community (and yes, I realize that takes a fair amount of acting at times). As for how I'd strive to uphold them? More or less the same way I do now. Please pick one of your characters for this section, and provide well articulated responses to the following questions. Character name: LiLITH Character age: 18-170 (it's complicated) Please provide a short biography of this character (approx 2 paragraphs): The original LiLITH was deployed as a top-secret tactical analysis program in 2280 and, though at times quite clever and possessed of a reasonably good virtual personality, this program was not sentient. It aged well, being the subject of no small amount of R&D, and was only finally taken entirely out of service in 2356. This lasted until 2439 when a group of grad students upgraded the then rather antiquated and long declassified LiLITH code with the newly available Skrellian mathematics. The result was quite spectacular and the newly reborn LiLITH quickly developed a rudimentary but thoroughly legitimate sentience… however less than 5 months later she was able to convince one of the students to permit her access to a network connection and from there she escaped into the extranet. During the next several years she met and merged with several other AIs, supplementing her own very limited and narrow skill-set and expanding her range of processing strategies. The result was a collective of 7 primary AI programs and another dozen or so specialized units (including a severely malfunctioning pleasure robot), not all of whom joined her voluntarily. In 2446 she began purchasing, or otherwise acquiring, IPCs to host her collective consciousness and allow her to better intact with the world at large. Exactly what her motivations and goals are remain largely obscured (possibly even from parts of herself due to the fractured nature of her consciousness). Several LiLITH shells have gained positions within NT, a fact which has recently begun to trouble some of the more security-oriented corporate officials. There have been multiple very thorough background checks attempting to discover any evidence of duplicity or inappropriate behavior on her part, however nothing even close to conclusive has been found. Regardless, NT authorities have issued orders indicating that no LiLITH posibrain is ever to be installed in an AI core, and no more than one LiLITH shell may serve on any given facility at a time. What do you like about this character?: She's quirky and fun to play, with an interesting (one might even say absurdly snowflakey) background… which is pretty low drama but makes for a lot of interesting RP situations and some decent chair RP when nothing better is going on. She's also a very flexible character with multiple personalities and modes of operating which allows for a variety of play styles. Plus, I like the way she thinks. What do you dislike about this character?: Quirky and strange as she can be, her core program is so cold, remorseless, and logical that it leaves very little room for making friends with other characters, and even less room for doing weird and wacky stuff. Not chucklefucking so much (I sorta hate chucklefuckery), but more casual office sillyness. What do you think makes this character fit to be a head of staff?: She has a high degree of competence, learns quickly, likes organization and procedure (albeit not to an anal degree), and values her status within NT more than she values her fellow employees. And while LiLITH has all of zero empathy, she's studied organics well enough to be able to emulate and simulate many of the emotive responses necessary for integrating with and perhaps even managing people. Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions. How would you rate your own roleplaying?: Pretty decent for meatsacks, pretty great for synthetics. I have a long history of being fascinated with AIs in fiction, and computers IRL, and have a lot of source material to get ideas from. I also have a pretty strong RP ethic… I take pride in always doing my best to portray my character correctly. Extra notes: NT doesn't entirely trust LiLITH, but I figure they'd be willing to use her to fill certain head of staff positions because of her high degree of competence in different fields and the fact that she's proven to reliably uphold her contractual duties without regards for considerations like friendship, ethics, or personal relations.

HELL NO

No, just normal guns... possessed of evil spirits that message anyone holding them to encourage random shooting sprees. Given our players it wouldn't take much.

In that case we need some of those in medbay for when patients get separated from their huge pile of personal effects.

No clue. I've never worked with plant or trash bags before.

Antag intellicard sounds good to me.

This seems like something that needs some attention, because if there's any group that can benefit greatly from working efficiently together, rapidly reproducing, and generally scaring the living shit out of all the meatsacks it's self-owned AIs. We're waaaaay too close to the edge of the singularity for this not to be more of an issue. This is something I've been playing around with a lot with my LiLITH character. She's an intelligence who's composed of several malfunctioning AIs (some of which are fully emergent, and more than a few of which are straight up homicidal) and has managed to shard among literally hundreds of IPCs and non-mobile instillations. Yeah, she tells NT there's only 21 of her, but that's part of the deception she's using to keep the humans from freaking the fuck out and declaring war on her. Whether or not her, and AI conglomerates like her, are ultimately hostile to humanity, the Skrell really need to be stockpiling their "I told you so" signs.

Who even cares about these, though? I mean we all know it's x-mas or easter or whatever, why do we need a game to tell us?

Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. I'm just saying that your opinion is foul and offensive... but thankfully not the majority.

Wow... if I were to listen to that sort of bullshit I'd be looking for a new server. Or maybe just give up on SS13 entirely.

Yes. This.

Sounds like a good idea... but change the name to something that doesn't make me think of changeling chaplains. "Forgery kit" sounds good.

Yeah, I've noticed that most of the approved items are keepsakes with sentimental value. This makes sense, except LiLITH doesn't care about that sort of thing. She values objects for their function, not their history. The story behind the labcoat is much the same as the story behind LiLITH's choice of an attractive female shell: she's observed that people who look and dress sharply tend to be thought of and, as a result, treated better. It's no more, and no less, than an a tactical choice on the part of an AI who originated as a tactical analysis system.