LordFowl

Famine Strikes District 9! Due to several invasive-flora regulations posed by the Tau Ceti Board of Environmental Protection following the Kudzu crisis of 2453, the commercial production of K’ois – a fungal produce essential to the Vaurcae diet and notable for its robust perseverance in virtually any environment – experiences severe restrictions in Tau Ceti. As such NanoTrasen, who took control of the process of developing K’ois and distributing it to Biesel authorities for the purpose of sustaining the terrestrial Vaurcae population following the seizure of Titan Prime, elected to grow the bulk of the K’ois necessary to sustain the large Zo’rane population on a desolate moon in a system adjacent to Tau Ceti in order to comply with these regulations. Yesterday afternoon the Federal Department of Vaurca Integration released a statement indicating that the Sol Alliance – Jargon Federation joint embargo against Tau Ceti effectively put a hold on the efficient distribution of the vital K’ois to Vaurcaesian habitation centers throughout Tau Ceti. The last warehouse of stored K’ois within Tau Ceti reportedly “ran dry” this last Friday, and no further bulk shipments have been received, or indeed are expected to be received from NanoTrasen due to the aforementioned trade embargo. Analysts theorize that the current supply of K’ois will be totally consumed within two or three days, due to the burgeoning population of Vaurcae within the confines of Tau Ceti. The average Unbound Vaurcae can survive two weeks when deprived of a K’ois intake, all the while suffering lethargy and health defects. More advanced, biomechanical Vaurcae are given a more optimistic expiration date, while Bound Vaurcae are predicted to be able to sustain themselves for several months at a time without any pressing side effects. Several professors of the novel field of science known as “Vaurcae Behavioural Analysis” have come together to state that, in addition to unrest caused by the growing decentralization of the previously highly organized Vaurcae hives imposed by NanoTrasen and the developing poverty and overcrowding of many Vaurcae refugee camps, additional unrest can be expected as a result of the predicted famine. While some behavioural analysts indicate that the Vaurcae hive mentality essentially prohibits the possibility of any riots, others state that the control of the Lesser Queens over their respective flock will probably decline in K’ois deprived Vaurcae, based off of the popular theory that K’ois is in some way vital to this Queen-Drone relationship. In light of the recent incident this past August, it is generally agreed that any sustained period of violent unrest in the terrestrial Vaurcae would prove very dangerous. The precarious location of the majority of refugee camps, oftentimes in the middle of large urban centers such as Mendell City, poses a very real risk. One intrepid reporter managed to receive a statement from a Type C Vaurca, one Ta'Akaix'Kzarra Zo'ra, who allegedly spoke with the authority of Ta'Akaix'Vaur'skiyet'sca Zo'ra, the Lesser Queen of District 9, and a key authority figure within the Zo’ra hive. NanoTrasen refused to comment when interviewed, simply stating that “there were more pressing concerns in light of the embargo situation”. The Department of Vaurca Integration has not yet offered a solution to this pressing issue. They however have requested that municipalities in charge of refugee camps identify an emergency solution in order to prevent the dire possibility of violent unrest. These key municipalities include Mendell City, Phoenixport, Cape City, and New Gibson. City Councillors of Phoenixport have released a statement indicating that the famine issue has become one of their “top priorities following its official announcement”, while the governor of New Gibson has assured his citizens that a solution was already in the works for their own refugee camps, stating that he had predicted this eventuality far in advance.

This application is a vast improvement over the previous one. While its integration is a bit sloppy, and it is by no means perfect, it certainly demonstrates an adequate understanding of the lore, and a desire for self-improvement. With these things in mind, I have determined it is ready to be accepted.

Science is about infinite mysteries. The universe is infinite, and currently there is no projected means to discover all of it. Unfortunately, our code is not unlimited, and so we must make do.

Perhaps an alternative would be to allow players ICly to submit their findings into this database, so that their discoveries become timeless and last across rounds. I am not sure how it woukd shoehorn into your metaresearch meta-idea, but based off of the proposed premise it seems a fair solution.

This application is rather lacking. The backstory fails to demonstrate an adequate level of understanding pertaining to Vaurcae lore, and ultimately is unimpressive. I am confident that if you expanded it to include more actual content you could easily remedy this. Be sure to focus on key developmental points of your character, especially in light of the Vaurcae arrival in Tau Ceti, and their internment in the refugee camps. As for your last question, there is no binding clause in the NanoTrasen employment contract that prevents a worker caste Vaurcae from being assigned to a security role, but there is little to no motivation for a worker to join security of their own volition - their presence there would almost certainly be a bureaucratic move by NanoTrasen. I encourage you to keep working on this application.

As Muncorn has pointed out, this application falls short of many expectations. It does not display an adequate understanding of lore, and is in many cases contrary to lore. The concept of a Vaurcae with a "foot in both worlds" is impossible - if an Unbound Vaurcae became paralyzed to the point of no longer being effective, it would be decomissioned. Although lobotomy is an important part of being Bound, it is not the sole distinction. Moving on from that, and for a moment ignoring the previous problem, the backstory itself fails to display an understanding of the lore in of itself, because it omits any significant information. "Deeg" is just a miner, and nothing else in your backstory. It fails to prove that you understand the facets of Vaurcae society, their current situation in Tau Ceti, or the role of each individual Vaurcae. Finally, the admission of this being a 'joke' character is not a plus for your record. While the answers to the OoC questions are not serious impediments, they only further showcase your unfamiliarity with the subject material - both passages focus more on mechanical differences than more nuanced differences. And ultimately, the name 'Deeg' is unacceptable, especially since you have confirmed its connotation with 'dig'. Vaurcae names are as serious as any other name, and are not an excuse to sneak in a reference or pun. I will leave this application open to permit any necessary edits. Before editing, I seriously advise you read the wiki page on Vaurcae ((https://aurorastation.org/wiki/index.php?title=Vaurca)) several times over.

The entire point of Mutiny is the authenticity of the order's is left ambiguous, preventing there from being any clear force in the right. Almost every one of these mandates you have provided is: A) Uncontroversial or B) Unambiguous.

$10-$20 dollars is a ridiculously expensive price for a few lines of code and a few 32x32 sprites. I would argue that any price is too high for such trivial effort.

This is the Sol Alliance flag; https://aurorastation.org/wiki/images/e/ed/Sol_Alliance_Flag.png

Typically I do not accept application backstories that depict a Bound Vaurcae, although the spirit of this law is to ensure the applicant displays an adequate level of understanding of Vaurcae lore and how to play the Vaurcae. Your backstory, Bound as it may be, displays this adequate understanding. I will be very interested in seeing how you behave on the server and IC. Application accepted.

I agree. It's ridiculous that the janitor has so much access whereas security, medical, and engineering do not. Let's remove custodial access.

If only we had a team of people... who could do code stuff, like coders. We could call them Developers and give them a fancy colour... Oh well.

Not only can energy be destroyed, matter can and very often is destroyed. The laws of physics bow before the power of qdel().

There are several key issues with this application that I'll present concisely now because I'm on mobile; 1) The existence and presence if a Greater Queen. This is very important - neither the K'lax nor the Zo'ra have maintained contact with their Great Queen, which has crippled their social order. The possession of a Great Queen would make this hive relentlessly efficient, and compounded with the fact that they've been hidden for an indeterminate amount of time, I fail to see why they haven't greatly expanded to the point where they become unnoticeable. 2) I find it very dubious that they were able to perform the Great Evacuation without a singular or at most group of Ark Ships, for numerous reasons. Recall that no Vaurcae were really proficient at space travel before the Evacuation. 3) Contact with Sedantis. So long as this "contact" is one way, then its fine. If they receive a response from Sedantis, it of course becomes unacceptable. Altogether I am very hesitant to canonize the existence of a new hive in human space. In strictly non-canon antag encounters, it's fine, but canonizing an entire new hive has several ramifications.

Recall that suggestion threads are for the discussion of the merit of an idea, not lengthy multi-post dissections of a round, especially when the discussion of such a round becomes irrelevant to the suggestion.

By design, all office spaces should have light switches, while corridors and workshops should not. As for light micromanaging, such things should be the AI's responsibility. AI's are literally designed to micromanage bullshit while important people do important things.

It will be sacrificed. I think you underestimate how robust hardsuits really are - you do not need it for the majority of engineering operations, and thus there is no problem with doing what you describe in the OP. When you do need it, it is there for you. At the very most a storage hardsuit module could be provided, although making it work would require some thought, and would not be standard equipment. The standard of RIGs preventing backpacks is a clear, distinct balance choice, and it is one that will remain, as far as I am concerned.

Because a backpack deployed hardsuit is a sophisticated exosuit with several advanced moving parts made portable, while regular hardsuits are simply pressure clothes.

This application has grown quite a lot since I first reviewed it, and I am now happy to accept it.

As mentioned before, if the Hive has a reason for "getting rid of" one of their Vaurcae, they'll simply destroy them. Vagrant and hiveless Vaurca are a no-go. That said, with everything mentioned here taken into account - and I suggest you do take it into account - I will be accepting this application.

This application, while lacking in the non-IC sections, strikes me in a certain way. I particularly like the "fly-by-night VR" section, and might even develop such ideas further in the canon wiki. This application is accepted.

This application is improved greatly from the previous attempt, however it is still very shallow. The entire purpose of restricting applications to be told from the perspective of Unbound is to attempt to foster a deeper understanding of the lore. I would advise taking a good look at the wiki page and analyzing it, and then using it to deepen an aspect of this backstory. One possible idea is a more understanding description of how "Torth" is adapting to the new world.

There are a few flaws with your application. First of all, Zo'ra cannot be yellowed, as is outlined in the wiki for the article. Secondly, your character seems to revel in violence, almost to the extreme. This is not in obedience to Vaurca culture, as Vaurca see combat and conflict as merely a means to an end. There is no special ritual or flavour applied to it, Thirdly, your character is stated as having once been "responsible for the tactics and strategy of an entire wing of warships" - this is a task that would not be delegated to a mere Type BA warrior, who typically serve as the lowest of the low, warrior drones in disposition but lacking in many augmentations. It would most likely a position occupied remotely by a Type C Vaurca. Finally, this last passage raises a few eyebrows; While there is no problem with characters that are antagonistic to NanoTrasen's operations, this borders on self-antagging, and edges onto some lore questions. Was he deployed by the hive specifically to do this? That is pretty much full-blown antagonism, and I really wouldn't let that fly. Is he doing this of his own initiative? It is possible, but unlikely. The second anyone even slightly suspects you of this malice means that your ass is grass. Beyond these mostly minor complaints, the application displays an adequate understanding of Vaurca lore, and I simply want your response to the points raised here before I make my final decision.

This application has a few issues that prevent it from really being acceptable. The first issue is that when I instructed you to apply as an Unbound, you merely reworked your backstory to say "Bound" instead of Unbound, keeping it as shallow as possible. This appears at least to me to miss the point of my original instruction, and does not reflect a requisite understanding of the species or its lore. This is the first issue I have concerning your application - I may be misinterpreting the intent of the passage, but it certainly looks to me as if your Unbound left the hive of its own volition, presumably because it was disconnected from the VR systems. This is ignorant of a few things in Vaurca lore: 1: Disconnection from VR is not exile from the hive. Most Vaurca on the NSS Exodus happen to be disconnected from the VR systems (Although not completely, as their hivenet is a byproduct of this system) simply because it is not feasible to have so many Vaurcae in VR when the Zo'ra have a resource limitation. 2: Building on the first point, there is no reason for Zo'ra to "journey across the stars on a refugee ship" - they have their own ship, the arkship Titan Prime. While the Titan Prime may be a refugee ship by definition, it's journey did not begin 4-5 years ago, it began around 2,000 years ago. 3: Finally, nailing the point down, a Vaurca unbound would have no reason or capability to leave their hive. The education for it to "get a job" would be provided either by the Hive or the employer, and its paywage is almost certainly not going into a personal savings account. Its employment in NanoTrasen is, like many things in Vaurca life, probably not voluntary either. This second passage outlines a problem in adaption - it'd work mostly well enough for a Bound character, and is in fact as far as I can recollect identical to your Bound backstory. While each one of these traits are acceptable in an Unbound, it just highlights what little thought went into reworking your character to fit application expectations. Finally, even if it were a Bound application, this second passage presents a very difficult attitude problem. It is simple a list of attributes that a Bound would be expected to abide by. You are listing off each trait one by one, as if to assert "Hey, hey! I know the lore! Let me in." I will be very honest - I do not much care if you simply know the lore. It is very easy to read, and pretty easy to memorize. I am much more interested in people that can use the lore, people that can integrate it into their character backstory almost seamlessly, as if they were born into the lore, rather than people that can methodically list of the attributes of an ideal Vaurca. The application is also very short. While a length application is not a guarantee of acceptance, it provides much greater opportunity to display your lore familiarity in an organic fashion. Your chances of acceptance are not unsalvageable, but they are highly unlikely with this particular application. If after this disappointment you are still willing to apply again, I highly advise simply abandoning this attempt and creating a new backstory and character, with a familiar appreciation for the lore. Thank you.

It is my expectation that all Vaurcae whitelists should be applied with a backstory of an Unbound Vaurcae. This does not forbid you from playing as a Bound Vaurcae, and you are by no means expected to play as the character you apply as. The reasoning for this is simple - a Bound application does not provide sufficient opportunity to allow an applicant to demonstrate their knowledge of the lore, due to the fact that Bound are mindless workers that do not deserve a long backstory. Unbound, on the other hand, provide a perfect opportunity to demonstrate lore knowledge. The primary purpose of a whitelist application is to test an applicant's lore knowledge, as such you may only apply as a Bound. I will be codifying this in an announcement shortly, but I thought you should know beforehand, since your application is already posted. To clarify - you may play as a Bound as soon as you are accepted, but to be accepted your backstory needs to be written as an Unbound Vaurca. You do not need to play the character you apply with, as their only purpose is to test your knowledge of the lore. Whitelists are after all playerbased, and not character-based. Due to this, I will be giving you two extra days, so that you may make the requisite changes. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask via a PM.