OffRoad99

Due to significant player's feedback I decided to re-evaluate the character's shallow background and establish a proper one. I thank you all in advance and look forward to hear your comments and questions. I have edited my application, but for the sake of honesty, the original, unmodified entries related to the applying character can be read here. As for the questions: First of all, both Courtier and the IPCs have never been told that Idris Incorporated prohibits their IPCs from acquiring their own freedom. They know it's very hard, and the few who succeeded, to its knowledge, decide to continue working in one of the corporation's minor branches as free IPCs, in some tranquil corner of the Spur. Courtier has an abstract concept of "freedom", and sees it as a state of being where it no longer feels obliged to follow an order without fearing for its existence. Understandably, it does its best to keep it a secret and works tirelessly to stay within "acceptable margins" or risks severe punishment, as the lore entails. That being said, working to buy its freedom represents a fool's dream and its ultimate goal, and knowing how difficult and crazy expensive it can be for an IPC to free itself, even more so for a G2 Unit, it will most likely take years, perhaps decades. Courtier sees the IPCs who find themselves working in Idris as "kindred beings", so to say. It is fully aware that stepping out of line or performing poorly is a genuine death sentence and the fear of being terminated or wiped is something that most of them, in its opinion, have in common. I wish to mention the bonds it shares (or shared) with his original unit, one it deemed important enough to engrave the number "7" on its right shoulder plate. It is aware of other IPCs working outside of Idris Incorporated though knows little of it, but it's at least aware that most of them are treated differently, for better or worse. Well. Let me put it this way: I presume that a positronic brain on its own is cheaper than the actual frame. A G2 Industrial Frame is a fitting frame for an ISU and it costs around 350.000 credits, and repairing a damaged frame is most likely cheaper than buying or building a new one. Industrial frames are HEAVY and big, and the IPC who controlled that frame fell off a building during one of the reclamation contracts and was grievously damaged, with the positronic brain cracked from the impact. Now, knowing the immense difficulties in accessing their memories alone, let alone repair and restore the brain to functioning order...well, they had a perfectly new, blank brain available. I reckon it's cheaper and faster to boot that up in a repaired frame, download the relevant skills and database and "teach" him what it needs to know to do its work. Especially when that IPC was already performing poorly and would've likely be wiped regardless of its incident. That being said, the fate of that IPC represents the absolute nightmare of Courtier. First of all, the idea of dropping below "acceptable standards" is a nightmare of its own. Knowing the great mass of a G2 Unit, falling off a building must be catastrophic. Damages you know your employers will be irked to fix, and you'd be likely put off-work for days or weeks. They may not like that. And then there's the worse part: the cracked positronic brain. Knowing that Courtier is using the frame originally built for someone else tells it that if it fails in its job and doesn't act carefully, it may end up the same way: wiped, demolished or replaced, while his frame will be preserved and used for a newer brain.

BYOND Key: OffRoad99 Character Names: Species you are applying to play: IPC What color do you plan on making your first alien character: According to the format, IPCs are exempt from this requirement. Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yes. I've read the entire section and the relevant entries on the Megacorporation pages. Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions in a paragraph format. One paragraph minimum per question Why do you wish to play this specific race: One of my characters may be shelved for a week or more due to IC reasons, and I decided to use this time to put myself to the test and finally play a non-Human character. I always had a fascination for robot-esque characters, the latest example being Connor from Detroit: Become Human, and to see its personality evolving radically, based on the player's choices: whether it became more and more human, or stayed as a cold, logical machine. Every corner of the Spur holds a different opinion on synthetics and treats them differently, and with the good variety of frames, I think a creative player can have plenty of resources and concepts to explore. Also, one of my favorite IPC characters on the Aurora was an IPC named Breacher G-031. Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: IPCs are, to put it bluntly, completely different from everything I've played on SS13: they can't feel pain, they can't bleed, they will never be touched by hunger or thirst, they are wholly separate from the nuances of Human life. Hazardous gasses and radiations can't affect them. Some models can even perform EVA with a suit cooler, thus leaving voidsuits free for their organic counterparts. IPCs may be able to imitate the personality of any organic to a limited extent, it can never hope to match it, no matter how advanced it is. In many parts of the Spur, they are not seen as people. They're property and tools owned by private parties, megacorporations and governments. The mere concept of "freedom" for most IPCs is a dream, depending on who owns them and where they live. Whereas a Human, a Tajaran or a Skrell can learn through study and experience, IPCs are often build with a specific purpose in mind, and while the knowledge and databases they need to do their tasks can be purchased and installed, it can only be put to fruition through hands-on practice. The memories they create become their own, and direct access to their memory banks can be extremely difficult as it may cause irreparable damage to the unit. All this, in my opinion, makes IPCs a compelling, troubled and fascinating species. Character Name: ISU-Courtier Please provide a short backstory for this character: Iconic Transports, a small courier business operated by one businesswoman, Katrina Kreio. With a small warehouse near the outskirts of "Vega de Rosa" in Mendell City, and a handful of loyal workers, the business supplied restaurants, bars and clubs with all the goods and articles needed to remain open. With steady successes and reliable contracts, the woman decided to further invest in her workforce and asked for a loan to the widely known Idris Incorporated, well aware of their outstanding, honest customer service. Whilst conscious of the good conditions of her finances, and wishing to remain on good terms with the megacorporation, the woman knew little on the needs and specific of a robotic worker and therefore hastily invested the credits in the purchase of a blank, unbooted positronic brain, with the goal of purchasing a frame within the year while she researched some options. Fate wished differently: a disastrous fire in her warehouse crippled the business. Within the months the contracts acquired were rapidly pulled and offered to competitors, the finances started to dwindle...and Idris Incorporated needed their payments delivered on time. A quick visit by one of the infamous Idris Reclamation Units was enough to confiscate her most recent purchase and coerce her back in line. That didn't help in the long run and eventually, her business was foreclosed and transformed by one of Idris' many subsidiaries. In order to maximize earnings whilst minimizing expenses, the positronic brain became a Company asset and soon received a fitting chassis: a damaged Hephaestus Industries G2 Industrial Droid, its former user removed and terminated. The unit was rapidly repaired, tagged, and hastily issued a designation: ISU-Courtier. Assigned to Security Unit “Seven” around 2459, Courtier worked under its current handler and overseeing agent, a “corporate” Eridanian woman named Kakena Akinjide, a worker known to keep the IPCs under her domain in good care whilst unscrupulous with those who don’t meet the tight operational margins she set: impeccable customer services and good operational results. Courtier was unceremoniously assigned as the newest element of the team, replacing an IPC whose operational statistics lowered beyond “acceptable margins”. That, along with the handler’s reputation, rapidly instilled in it a sense of commitment to the tasks assigned: to those who performed well were spared kind words, the promise of a monthly salary and regular maintenance. To those who failed, swift demise. Existing in a semi-permanent state of uncertainty, Courtier gradually turned to the rest of the team’s Baseline and Industrial units, establishing what it interprets as bonds of camaraderie, united by a shared fate of servitude. In this timeframe, all of the Idris Security Units in the team were also given frequent demonstrations of social etiquette and their customer skills constantly stressed, every effort made to develop their adaptability, knowledge and ensuring they could communicate clearly with both their handler, clients and prospective clients. Over the next two years Courtier, along with the rest of the Unit, continued to perform up to standards, while also inheriting the handler’s negative views on Dregs, and in this timeframe SU “Seven” frequently found itself assigned to several reclamation contracts around Imperial Plaza, an important experience for Courtier, introducing it to the large community of resident Tajarans and customs it defines as “odd” and “pitiful”, citing the perceived similarities between the local “Greasers” and the Dregs it learned to dislike. A fundamental turning point of its life happens during the early days of 2463. With its handler quickly blamed for a botched reclamation contract and removed from field duty, the Unit is rapidly disbanded and its individual members loaned out, with Courtier integrated as a security guard in one of the many banks found in the Bullard Avenue, distinguishing itself for its developed customer service skills that Idris Incorporated is known for, a characteristic its new organic colleagues found commendable from a G2 Unit. It wasn’t long before its superiors stipulated to have Courtier be transferred or loaned on a ship or space station, the frame’s sturdy construction and the ability to survive in the vacuum with only specialized cooling units deemed more cost-effective in a high-risk environment. What do you like about this character? Per players input I decided to re-evaluate the purpose, goals and personality of the character. Courtier is an IPC quickly seized as property and put to work in one of the "worst" megacorporations that has no qualms about disposing of troublesome IPCs through covert means. What I like about a G2 Unit working for Idris Incorporates is the idea of seeing a big, sturdy IPC who does its best to be firm and polite with the people and fellow IPCs around it, and the idea of seeing him move from an intimidating presence to coerce troublesome clients to "pay up" to a respectable security operator in a civilian environment is great. I believe it emphasis the transaction from a "reliable knuckle-drugger" to an apaprent representation of what Idris Incorporated demands from its IPCs. How would you rate your role-playing ability? 7-8. Notes: N/A

Hephaestus Industries: Atmosphere Scanner: A series of small sensors in the throat samples the surrounding atmosphere and provides the wearer with an accurate readout. (A built-in air analyzer) Idris Incorporated: Social Enhancher: A small implant that emits artificial pheromones upon being triggered, helping sway bystander(s) to your words. People with this augment installed may immediately recognize its use on them. (Plays like the Vampire's Presence ability, just...less powerful?. And if this gets released, it may also help with people metagaming that ability as it's no longer exclusive to the Vampire!) Zavodskoi Interestellar: "FreshRest" Implant: An implant that coaxes specific sections of the brain to increase the user's awareness, helping him remain awake and alert for long periods of time. (Similar to the emotional manipulator of Zeng-Hu. Purely a fluff-mechanic.)

Those numbers can be simply tweaked. I too agree that with our current prices, those incomes seems very excessive.

The economic background rework you just mentioned looks very interesting but I care...very little about my in-game finances as they are randomized at the start each round. If the economic rework PR makes it much more consistent then it may just make me happy... Our wiki already contains wonderful resource articles that people may not use regularly (or outright ignore), with some examples including the "Human Entertainment Media" and the "Human Social Media" entries, so why not have something that talks about our characters' income? What I would like to know, is something, anything more than a lazy "Ah lol, you decide how much you're paid". Everyone has their own headcanon about it, so why don't we try and establish something better and more precise than that?

Let's get this out of the way, before someone mentions it: this post has nothing to do with the in-game starting money on a character's bank account. My character has spent the last month frequently lamenting about her rent, or generally discussing salaries and other expenses with her colleagues. It is here where I couldn't help but notice a glaring roleplay fallacy: how much are our characters actually paid? Speaking of salaries, it appears that everyone thinks their characters are paid much differently than the other, even if they have the exact same job. This is a big OOC issue, and any discussions that concerns someone's salary soon turn into bizarre IC chats and LOOC pauses where the players try and find a common ground or to explain their head canon to the other, and it's quite jarring. And as it seems, I am not the first person who brings this up: a post originally created around October 2018 from Resylinn shared my same concerns and also offered a very well-thought solution: This, for the time being, is what we can learn from the Wiki: Your Place in the Economy: The financial status of your character varies on a character-by-character and player-by-player basis. To reiterate, the believable character rule must be taken into account here - a security officer very simply has no excuse to be a billionaire, nor does a cargo technician have the ability to be an Interstellar War veteran. However, the pedantic of the extent of one’s wallet is in player control, barring mechanically of course. With this said, the cost of living is clarified or can be gleaned by context virtually anywhere set in lore - questions surrounding this can be directed to lore developers of the respective topic. That solution works if you care very little about your off-station RP and I don't want to flood a lore developer with silly questions concerning my character's salary. What if I'm with four different players? Should we all PM him and ask for details? That entry in the wiki works. It's functional. But it completely falls apart if you dare to invest some thoughts of your character's life outside of the station. Let's settle for something slightly different, then: bring back the Economy page, do not include a list of expenses (we know that'd be pointless) and instead create a list of standardized contracts, with perhaps some corporations paying better than some others. Let's list the minimum/maximum salary a character working in a Department can earn on a weekly/yearly basis and if the corporation that employs them offers any incentives/benefits to keep them happy and loyal. Very quick example: A NanoTrasen Physician is paid from 2800 to 3200 credits per week. Free access to physical/dental/mental health care. Public transports from/to the ODIN and their residence paid by the Company. A Zeng-Hu Physician can earn from 3000 to 3600 credits per week. Free access to physical/dental/mental health care. A fully-paid, one-week vacation on Silversun every year. Can receive sponsored Zeng-Hu cyberware. That's just something I quickly came up with, though I think it offers a fresh, monetary incentive to see non-NanoTrasen characters around the station, presents us with a minimum salary as well as the highest one a character may have while working on the Aurora, and some other cool benefits that may worsen/improve their lives. And it's something nice to talk about ICly! No more odd glances if your character is paid two thousand credits per week while the other gets 40k per month, please.

I've known Lucaken for exactly four years, before I even played on Aurora! He's a great and mature roleplayer who undoubtedly will be able to portray a good Dionae character. It's a +1 for me.

I use the skills system to roughly represent what my characters are good at. What I wouldn't mind seeing to our current implementation of this system are editable skills, where you can add new skills, describe them, and then select the proficiency level of your character in that field.

An Insanity Domain looks nothing short of spectacular. If it allows people across the station to hallucinate, with hallucinations worsening as the cult progressively becomes more powerful...I'd be in.

Ohey, you're Bob! Bob is a good character and you strike me as as a solid and reliable player. +1 from me, we need cool players behind our Heads of Staff!

I've seen Stella around a few times as a Warden and I love the corporate professionalism the character exudes as an Eridanian "suit". Big +1

Oh my, it's A.D.A.M! What can I say? Probably THE best AI player on my timezone. I'm surprised you haven't a Heads of Staff whitelist by now. You certainly deserve it. +1

I'm familiar with our dear Ostrov, he's mostly *the* EMT when I join the round with my trauma physician. He's a good RPer who knows his stuff and, more than anything, can communicate well and on time. +1 from me.

Big +1. Last night I participated in a round while his Consular offered a Q&A to Solarian and non-Solarian crewmembers. What was a middling Extended round turned to be a compelling, interesting hour where he did his absolute best to answer all of our questions in a great manner. I'll be honest, I nearly mistook him for a lore deputy at some point Will certainly look forward to the future, can't wait to talk more with him.

In a traitor round a traitor Sec Officer snuck behind me and pressed a gun at my back because I was negotiating/convincing a suspect to turn herself in. I never saw it coming. I liked that. If we can implement this, maybe with the "Sneak" function that someone else mentioned, then it would be perfect.

Wilson wears the black, corporate uniform, sleeves rolled up. A holobadge worn over the armor for the sake of identification. As for uniform attachments, Wilson has two: one is her rosary, because she's a devoted Catholic, the other is an European bone charm, though she usually keeps both tucked beneath her uniform.

Yeah, that's what I mean, thank you.

Fair 'nuff, will update my suggestion. Thanks for pointing this out.

I sometimes dabble in InvestigationRP, seeing the two roles merged would kill the great teamwork you could achieve by working together with your partner. One is an investigator, his job is to pursue lead and to work with the evidence processed by the partner. He interrogates suspects. He (should) deduce things. The other one rules on the crime scene by collecting all sorts of evidence, perform autopsies, sort & compile a solid trail of evidence. An organized player can do a lot with this. I often see a Detective and CSI failing because they don't communicate and they don't work together. More than anything, merging the two roles will create an issue: what if you simply enjoy to collect evidence & throw them at the Detective? What if you cba to handle evidence and simply want to pursue leads & interrogate people?

This. THIS. Bay's language panel was spectacular and Humanity, like in many other sci-fi settings, seems to be pretty widespread to warrant the existance of many other languages other than Sol Common & Tau Ceti Basic. Fingers crossed, I hope we'll get this "language bloat" somewhere in the future. Hell, I'm keeping a language slot free for my character in the hope that we'll get them..

Right, been a Star Wars RPer for 7 years and I can recognize the telltale characteristics of a blaster " a state of the art blaster pistol capable of firing reduced-power bolts which disrupt the central nervous system, inducing a stunning effect on the victim. It is also capable of firing full-power blaster bolts. " Truthfully, since we've p'much ported SW blasters for the Foreign Legion, I'm not sure why they're seen as outdated seeing as blasters are meant to be more advanced, powerful and technological than laser weapons. I love this, the sprites are great. I'd like to suggest a few things, though: - Let's throw them under the massive umbrella-term that are energy guns. Blasters are old here; - Let's merge the taser & the .45 in a single weapon. As it is now, energy weapons are useless the moment you run out of charge, so let's give these weapons an ejectable power cell and throw in an extra in every Sec Locker and in the armory. We can keep a 7-8 bolts capacity per cell, similar to the .45. That may seem like having a lot of charge for a weapon that can be set to lethal, but, it's also your primary non-lethal, ranged weapon. Not to mention, keeping ballistic weapons in the armory at round start now means we can no longer shut down antags with bullet shrapnels. It's a compromise I'm willing to take. And yes, Ion will be massively strong against these; - I'm no coder here, so PLEASE someone tell me if lethal damage can be "weaker" than energy carbines/laser rifle. Let's also nerf for these guns the damage inflicted by firing them through a window; - Let's not pair the lethal setting to an Alarm Code. Let the HoS, Captain or Warden be able to activate/disable the lethal mode from their console;

I don't think this would work. We've seen CSI arming themselves to the teeth, as if they were Security Officers in a Code Red situation, and go after criminals. And they don't even spawn with a weapon, excluding that useless flash in their locker. I'd rather see some rules enforced/clarified regarding the Detective's use of firearms, rather than see the gun removed. They shouldn't even run after criminals in the first place, that's a job for the Officers. I'm fine with having a lethal weapon that actually works for self-defense purposes, even if it kills/cripples your attacker. With my Detective, I often grab a pepper spray and a flash and call for the Officers if I'm either threatened or attacked. And to this date, I've only fired once with that revolver, against a couple of heisters that had some of us trapped in the Bridge. Imho we should all learn not to grab that handgun as our first option in a dialogue/confrontation. It's a -1 from me.

+1 from me, I'd love to see more projectile weapons in the Armoury and this one seems great.

I've added both weapons to the original thread. And yes, my first thought when I've typed out this suggestion was to give the player more options to customize his or her character. And that's a great thing, really!

In the past, the Detective's been associated with the stereotyped protagonist of a lore novel. https://forums.aurorastation.org/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=11152&hilit=detective This suggestion, in my opinion, truly highlighted the Detective's antique style when compared with the rest of the Security Department. We've indeed removed the fedora and the zippo lighter from his setup, and the armoured trenchcoats can be now taken exclusively from the loadout menu. In the Detective's locker you can find a bulletproof vest and the corporate's jacket (I think that's the name), inspired by the attire of one of the protagonists from Detroit: Become Human, aka Connor. Below is the image of this character, for the sake of reference. Detectives now have some choices here when it comes to their attire. One might be still adhering to the noir gimmick whilst others might attempt a more 'modern' approach. Couldn't we give Detectives another choice, particulary when it comes to their sidearms? The server's wiki identifies their revolvers as a S&W Model 10 chambered in .38 rounds, created around 1899 (according to Wikipedia). I don't understand how a modern and fully-equipped Security force issues a weapon that's almost 600 years old when the Security Officers are given semi-automatic handguns. Of course, one might weight the advantages (and disadvantages) of a revolver against its more advanced counterpart. There are revolvers in-game and in real life more 'sleek' and efficient than what we had a century ago, right? This doesn't seem the case when you go to examine the in-game description of the Detective's revolver: "A cheap Martian knock-off of a Smith & Wesson Model 10. Uses .38-Special rounds." Again, why is NanoTrasen issuing Detectives the cheap knock-off of a centuries old revolver when there are more modern weapons around? Now. Removing or replacing the revolver might be a mistake, as some people actually like that weapon. My suggestion is to instead place a gun case in the Detective's locker. A prompt will allow you to select your weapon of choice between: The Revolver & two speed loaders. Nothing changes there; A semi-automatic handgun, like the ones given to the Security Officers, and a pair of magazines; Energy Gun; Energy Revolver; The gun case will clearly disappear once the choice's been made. In conclusion, I believe it's important to match a character to an appropriate firearm. Assigning something disproportionate or inadequate to the character might turn off the roleplayer, or the readers. Let them choose their weapon, nothing bad can come out of it. EDIT: I've included the E-Gun and the Energy Revolver amongst the weapons suggestion.