CakeIsOssim

Application accepted.

A lot of things can change in two months. Application rescinded. EDIT: I forgot to say, you should consider applying again, though not with an MMI-type. Do not let this discourage you from playing an IPC at all.

Thank you for applying! There are some criticisms that I would like to give you about this application. You seem well-versed in the basic mechanics of the IPC, and I do not doubt your ability to create a solid character off of such. However, you seem to be lacking in the field of realistic and good narration, as well as the inclusion of very snowflake historical points and the inclusion of a cliche and backstory-wise illegal memorable event. For this, I do not think I reconsider this application by itself, so I will have to deny it. Do not let this discourage you from applying again, however. I encourage you to hear out my criticisms so that you may improve upon your second attempt. I won't critique your form of writing because I'm not an author and I don't teach English (you begin to call your character by the wrong name halfway through your backstory). I will say, however, that your backstory is very cliche and has crossed the line of acceptable content. We consider characters that have been through such horrific and overpowering situations that tend to play out like storybook tales unrealistic. Unrealistic characters are not encouraged by the server rules, and as a member of the lore team, I personally do not like them, either. The whole thing pans out as... unrealistically plot-like. 1. IPCs have existed for roughly 20-odd years. Your character, assumed to be an IPC as it is not particularly mentioned, drifted through space in an escape pod for decades, which would make them decades old. However, it is mentioned that the character was made in 2458, which as of writing this, the current in-game year is 2459. 2. One cannot have a confirmed Syndicate attack in their records. Well, in theory you can I guess, but I don't allow it in most situations because that usually means the character is a snowflake. "An attack by mysterious assailants" is much better, leaves much more room for creativity. 3. Unrealistic events in the backstory. An escape pod could not drift from S'rand'marr to Tau Ceti in mere decades. The two systems are many light years apart. The likelihood of this happening is astronomically small, as well as the likelihood of an escape pod being captured by a research station and then almost immediately put to work as an employee. Additionally, your character has someone it is dragging directly shot (at) and their first reaction is to begin immediately treating them with no regard for any attackers that may still be in the area. I do not think this is nitpicking because if the attackers were willing to gas and shoot at random unarmed people, I see no reason why they would stop shooting if they were to see a robot treating someone they literally just shot. I strongly suggest you continue playing on the server, reading more lore pages (any of them, seriously, they are all good examples of how our universe works), and reading the news reports on our forum news section. And once again, I do highly encourage you to attempt the application again once you have done what I suggested for a while (a month, maybe). You can PM me on discord (Cake#4864) or the forums here if you ever have any questions. Thank you, and lastly, I apologize for the great delay in your application process.

Application accepted.

The more I think about this, the more I like it, actually. I do have some questions/critiques, however. What prevents an AI from altering the amount of utilons assigned to any given task? What protocol determines the amount of utilons assigned to any given task without the AI's influence? And finally, more of a hypothetical, unfortunately. One that is difficult to explain and better left vague: If an AI were programmed to select outcomes worth more utilons, what prevents the AI from constantly doing so to the point of singularity? One of the previous synthetic developers had written an entire in-character research paper regarding AI. Within it was a very informative image, one that I personally prefer using to explain the decision-making process of AI. Unfortunately, they have gone inactive for quite some time (though, I'm sure they'll come back eventually) and I've since lost the link to the page.

Application accepted.

So because this is an IPC application, and not solely for the industrial subtype, I'm inclined to ask you to provide more information on the backstory. I would even go insofar as to use a different character completely, one you don't even intend to play if you don't want to, and use that as your example. I am not opposed to a robotic industrial - I do like the character idea. However, I am dissatisfied with the amount of data present. If you were to either edit in more information that would reflect your knowledge of a synthetic's place in the world, or the company that built them, I think that would suffice.

First off, let me apologize for my delayed response. I had been meaning to return to this topic to answer your questions, as I had been pinged several times regarding other items of this topic. I mentioned in the lore chat that I was not sure what I was going to do with the page on positronic brains yet, but I do have the intention of coming to it and sprucing it up a bit. This may not even include the removal of anything, though I am unsure how I feel about positronic brains having literal "modules" that can be interchanged. I am of the opinion that any emotional experience should be inherent to the positronic brain, not a piece of specific hardware. Additionally, being of robotic nature does not mean you can't have opinions, or prefer one thought over the other. I do, indeed, believe it is unfair to see something that lacks personality and assume that it should be forced not to express itself in a different way. Edit: I should clarify here that I am still referring to androids, not to robots. How do you see yourself expanding Synthetic Lore in the future? Synthetics will always grow and advance in one form or another. Expect development regarding the synthetic colony, the ethics regarding synthetic emancipation, and the morality war between biologicals and synthetics. Do you intend to fix any of the consistency holes currently in the Lore? (There are a lot) There are many issues I wish to fix with synthetic lore. Examples are the notable synthetics and descriptions of each type of synthetic. What will you do regarding Robotic Synthetics? Much change to robots is not likely, because they are relatively simple. However, they will still receive their own place on the wiki, next to the cyborgs and androids. Each sub type fills a role. Robots are certainly cheaper than androids, but are not nearly as complex, though they may be capable of performing similar tasks. If something does not require an intelligent machine, an intelligent machine will not be selected. What is your stance on Lore Canonisation applications, do you have one? I always like to not be the only one brainstorming cool things. I am unfortunately unable to change the setting at large, so do remember that your application must fit into it. I would be excited to read any ideas you have, though.

First, let me start off by saying you are basing this entire opinion of my entire time as the lore developer off of one incident that lasted two days, max. I recall no instances in which I have ever blatantly mocked someone for having a differing opinion, nor do I recall any feedback that has been disregarded, dismissed, or ignored. If I have, it would be very kind of you to direct me to such. I have not made any changes to the emotional capacity of synthetics, officially or non officially. What I've been reinforcing lately is what synthetics should have always behaved as. A recent mechanical addition helps to reflect this. Any redaction of character backstories was the choice of the player. My changes would only affect you if your character violated them, such as the operation added to allow cyborgification. In this one issue, you have assumed an opinion I have, made out of context. In the context of the discussion we were having about how to perform a complex brain operation using simple tools, I denied the application of any additional tools to the situation because it was undesirable to add any new content to the game that only has one use. I never claimed brain surgery was simple, or easy. I only claimed that it would be easier to achieve 400 years in the future. I also recall the conversations we had with lohikar and nursie, and I did forget the contents and outcome of one (but not the topic), I did not neglect any other information given to me. I am also not sure what my completely meaningless and designed-to-be-poetic title has anything to do with anything. And I am not sure where I am lacking consideration of the opinions of players, either. I am deeply sorry if you're dissatisfied with my choices in this position. I do wish you find something you like in my future developments.

Reporting Personnel: Gordon Dutch Rank of Reporting Personnel: Security Officer Game ID: bN4-bL4H Personnel Involved: (Name, Rank: Offender/Witness/Other (Ckey)) - Fai'ra Al-Murkhan, Chief Engineer: Offender - John Holdeman, Station Engineer?: Witness - Ka'Akaix'Nyx Zo'ra, Detective: Witness - Screw Loose, AI computer: Other Time of Incident: 13:00 to 17:00 Real time: 11:00AM GMT to 3:00PM GMT Location of Incident: The bridge, the AI core Nature of Incident: []Workplace Hazard []Accident/Injury []Destruction of Property [x]Neglect of Duty []Harassment []Assault [x]Misconduct [x]Other: Exceeding official powers granted by central command during non-emergency situations, ignoring actual emergencies to settle disputes. Overview of the Incident: Soon after the shift began, a warden boarded and asked the AI for access to the bridge to talk to the chief engineer about gaining more access. The chief engineer kicked him out of the bridge, and proceeded to upload a new law to the AI that specifically hindered it from opening doors for any crew members without gaining permission from command staff first. Ironically, the chief engineer was the only command staff for the rest of the shift after the captain had gone to cryogenic storage (which was quite soon into the shift). The law was arbitrary, and could have been avoided simply by ordering the AI not to open doors without asking first. The AI and the chief engineer bickered nonstop for the entire shift, with one side saying that the other was incompetent or "preventing a rogue AI." Given, both of them were rather grumpy and standoffish. It doesn't stop there, though. With the chief engineer literally stating that they were okay with dying should they ever get into trouble (because they would not be able to give the AI the order to let the rest of the crew rescue them), it's not very becoming of command staff. No declaration of acting captaincy has been made yet at this point (and will never be, for future reference). They escort the detective into the armory to take tactical armor to fight a few xenofauna that had drifted outside of the station. Immediately after that, I get a radio call from the AI saying that someone unauthorized was in the AI core. It was John Holdeman, who had broken in in protest of the chief engineer's new law. Even though I had arrived first, and was already halfway through the AI core, the chief engineer shoved me out of the way, closed a door in front of me, and proceeded to batter the engineer herself, and then came out to ask me for handcuffs. Before that detention, she also detained an atmospheric technician by herself, utilizing wires to make restraints. While the law change mentioned beforehand was occurring, a meteor shower was approaching, and the chief engineer did not commit any resources in an attempt to prevent damage to the station because they were too busy trying to change the AI's laws. They literally admitted this, over the radio. Damage caused by the meteors was then either never repaired, or extremely delayed. The arrivals section was uninhabitable since the start of the meteor shower. They did not attempt to repair it, and the only engineers that did attempt, were killed or injured in a fire caused by an accident due to the atmospheric technician's negligence. Did you report it to a Head of Department or IAA? If so, who?: No IAA aboard, offender was the only head of staff. Actions taken: I personally wanted to move to detain them for exceeding official powers and dereliction of duty, but I lacked any actual physical evidence and by the time I came to the conclusion that they be detained, the crew transfer shuttle was sent. Additional notes: Could I have perhaps detained them sooner? Maybe, but I, without a doubt, do not have the full picture. It's not easy detaining a boss, you know.

Industrials will not be receiving the traditional Baseline screen head. I will, however, arrange to resprite their head to some degree to make it less unattractive. It's all your fault, Fowl.

Looks a lot better. Application accepted.

I see. Not bad, application accepted.

Application accepted.

This would be no problem if it weren't for later on in the backstory. Humanity in our canon has only had artificial intelligence for about 22 years, roughly. This would mean that Creatively would have had to have been a robot with or without a virtual or simulated intelligence. That makes sense, also, until I continued to read and noticed that it acts like an artificially intelligent robot and also possesses a positronic brain despite being constructed long before positronic brains existed, and spent its time buried in the sand for the duration that any non-positronic synthetic was being upgraded. Another thing; why are they 100 years old, but 80 of those years are spent doing... nothing? Why are they so old but only worked for the research team for 20?

I like it so far, but I feel like the back story's leaving out some information. Is Zenith a nickname given to them? Were they named Zenith by their creator? How did they manage to get a position aboard the Exodus?

I'm inclined to agree that more backstory will be necessary. I understand this application has been sitting for a while, and that's partly my fault. I also understand that this particular character is meant to be pretty distant, but I just don't feel satisfied with the amount of information provided about them and where they come from. I will be home all day today, so if you're able to reply in that time frame, I will be looking forward to it.

Collision at Hephaestus Manufacturing Station, Company Still Moving Forward 4.7.2459 Less than an hour ago, a collision of two freight vessels occurred at the Hephaestus Industries manufacturing facility, HPS Amóni. The two ships involved, the HBF Iapetus and HBF Atlantic, were not heavily damaged, but careful towing will be necessary to separate the two ships from each other. Nine people were injured, and several hundred kilograms of debris was sent into and around the station. The structure suffered minimal damage, and surface dwellers on Earth are not in any danger at this time, as the debris field holds a similar orbit to the station. According to an interview with a navigations technician, the station’s primary AI traffic control system was taken offline temporarily for maintenance, and replaced by a secondary system. Both systems have reported no errors or malfunctions in the past, and the officials at Hephaestus are concerned that there may be foul play. At 4:42 AM GST, the Iapetus, carrying assembled machines and other trade goods bound for the frontier, had recently undocked and was preparing to distance itself from the station using maneuvering thrusters. The Atlantic, carrying raw materials such as steel girders and plates, was scheduled to dock to a different port to unload. Their paths crossed, and with so much inertia, were unable to stop themselves from colliding at 4:48 AM GST. “Our traffic control computers are state of the art. I know, and everyone I know knows, that they don’t fail us. We’ve not had a collision since this station was built,” says navigations technician Charlie Lewis. “Anywhere else, and those ships could have spotted each other sooner and stopped. I think there’s a human element at play here.” The station foreman, when told of the technician’s account, stated that he agreed. “All other possibilities have been investigated, though maybe not thoroughly at this time. We really believe this could be an act of sabotage,” says foreman Frederick Lowell. Despite a setback in supplies en route to frontier planets as per their promise made a few months ago, chief operations officer Lauren Comley assures that the frontier worlds in need will receive their vital supplies. “We won’t be tolerating any setbacks. If not the Iapetus, then another ship will deliver the supplies. They’ll be delayed slightly, but they’ll make it.” Comley continues by assuring the delivery of the aid once again, and concludes by saying that “We also won’t tolerate acts of sabotage on our facilities. We’ll be looking to local and interstellar law for assistance in this matter. If you’re out there, reading this, you know who you are.” The CEO was unable to be contacted due to apparent unavailability.

As you wish. Application denied.

In the past if you examined a borg it'd display a list of its module slots and what's in them, the sprites remained the same. Pretty much that. It was something like:

Application accepted.

While I've played with you before, and you seem to do well, I see two issues with this application: 1. If there's minimal space left on their positronic brains for emotional gubbins, why is Goel desperate to make friends? 2. A security, engineering, and medical IPC in one is way too much. I suggest you pick one of the three, or all three but you may only exercise one at a time.

Application accepted.

I'm a little sketchy about someone being bribed into employment, but other than that, everything looks good. If you can explain the bribery a bit, that'd be great.

As you all may know, the most recent antag contest resulted in a minor synthetic victory. It's time to announce the changes that will be made to synthetics: IPCs will now be elligible to take Head of Security and Head of Personnel positions with a written recommendation from a head of staff, sent to central command via fax (similar to the Vaurcae avowal of responsibility). The name of the document is the Synthetic Command Recommendation. These HoS/P IPCs MUST be Shell frames. These Shell frames would be supplied to the IPC in question for their full price, making the IPC into an indentured servant who is paid very little and what little money they do make goes to the debt of their chassis transfer. An IPC is no longer considered free when volunteering for a HoS/P position; it is now company property until it pays the full sum of money to its chassis, which could possibly never happen as the company will keep looking for reasons to increase the amount of money owed. If the IPC volunteer is already a Shell, they must still purchase the frame, as it will have specifications that only that Shell frame can meet. There is no way around the indentured servitude. When the IPC manages to pay off the interest of their Shell frame they may then be eligible to purchase a Confirmation of Emancipation certificate that registers them as a free employee of NanoTrasen and are no longer company property. All HoS/P IPCs MUST be promoted on the current station. No off-station promotions, no new IPC characters that were promoted in the past. Your IPC is required to prove its worth to the crew and to the station command staff, because the form you have to get signed must be signed by a head of staff who can also be investigated should your promotion be deemed invalid. IF THE IPC IS ALREADY OWNED BY AN INDIVIDUAL: You won't own any part of the IPC while it's contained in the Shell frame - what little pay it makes will go towards its debt. If/when the IPC is no longer in the Shell frame (say, whenever it is not the HoS/P), you can be considered its owner, but you must continue paying off its debt until it is transferred back to the Shell frame. Additionally, IPC HoS's will spawn loyalty implanted, but the implant will be a chip installed in their positronic brain. It uploads to it a set of directives that ensures loyalty to the company. The chip is reflected mechanically; not in the form of laws, but the chip is renamed, and will not work if taken out of an IPC and installed into an organic. When this is announced, it will already be implemented, but community feedback is highly encouraged! Please reply or PM me with any questions or comments you might have. There's also going to be a poll, which will last for two weeks. Remember that this does not mean all synthetics are suddenly people. The company has given IPCs the benefit of the doubt; they have shown enough loyalty and worth to the company that they are now trusted with high-risk positions. Edit: Clarified something and made the list prettier. Edit 2: Clarified something again.