Rotharia

BYOND key: Rotharia Discord name/id: Rotharia#6158 Borg / AI names: DERBY, Proteus, Atom Have you read the Aurora wiki page about the AI?: Yes Why do you wish to be on the whitelist?: There are some rounds where I want to be involved in the round but not necessarily tied to a single department. AI let's me have the eye in the sky play-style and be involved in every department to some degree. Have you received any administrative actions? And how serious were they?: I have had my Skrell whitelist stripped for a non-lore friendly name, no actions since. Do you understand your whitelist is not permanent, and may be stripped following continuous administrative action?: Yes

This is a fair assessment and something I suppose I'll have to prove myself in moving forward, I accept it's been a problem until now but will endeavor to do better.

The main reason I'm AFK a bit right now is because I'm sick, I'm fairly constantly having to go take care of "business". When not sick I usually play full rounds quite happily. As for the shields, it is something I commonly forget about because most other engineers rush there instead of doing the engine setup, to fix this I've wrote down a reminder on a notepad literally attached to my screen as a reminder. As far setting it up wrong, I'm not sure how that can be because I follow the wiki's recommended settings.

I've advertised a few times but obviously no responses yet. I've managed to play Interim Chief Engineer twice since this has been posted and I didn't get any complaints? Not sure what to say haha.

Dionae lore is absolutely strongest in it's description of clusters, and how it REALLY is the experience that matters. Different clusters and how their specific events led to how they operate and the things they believe was fascinating to read about and gave me a great starting place for the character. The other strong part is the biology, and how that plays into their stories. Questions that I had while reading through the lore were few, but I felt they were important ones like the hiring process I mentioned above. Specifically for The Narrows, it states that they have strong ties to Hephaestus but that isn't demonstrated anywhere other than in saying that Hephaestus still owns them. Does the company use it as a personal breeding ground of excellent engineers and handpick the best ones and are otherwise uninvolved? Or is it an on-going collaboration between the Dionae and Hephaestus to restore the prison to full working order. Just to what extent are they involved. How does NT handle a creature that has no need for formal education? Are they given a competency test? Put on trials? In-person demonstrations? Further, I felt that there could be some added clarity between the effects of a diona WILLINGLY splitting from a gestalt and a forced split, I personally would assign them two different words because they have two VERY different implications and it was sometimes difficult to determine which one was being referred to. The pacifism can be explained as saying that they'll only act in self-defense or if they believe that it's "for the greater good." They aren't antagonistic so you'll never see them starting fights, but if they are in danger they'll still defend themselves. Finally, I was offered this page to assist with creating this application and it is a CRYING shame it's not linked on the wiki. It needs to be brought up-to-date a bit but it was seriously invaluable to tackling a backstory for this completely alien race. https://wiki.aurorastation.org/index.php?title=Dionae_Out-Of-Character

Drinking blood has shown Floating that not everyone has had the luxury of being so far removed from the turmoil of life in the spur. The narrows is fairly isolated and their cluster at large is in contact with The Biesellian Choir to keep updated on happenings in the spur, but having access to blood and gaining that first-hand perspective of the hard lives that people have lived has been eye-opening. A sense of curiosity has arisen from it that drives Floating to continue collecting these stories so that he can bring their first hand accounts back to his isolated cluster. To this end he finds non-humans blood particularly interesting but human's have stories to tell as well so he wouldn't shy away from that. Floating hasn't adopted any specific habits from other cultures, but he does appreciate a few notable things that he tends to include in his sessions of Artem. These things include, the Unathi code of honor, the Tajara's fondness for snow (which they hope to see one day), and the Skrell's ability to mimic their environment's coloration. When it comes to synthetics, Floating is fine with their inability to provide him blood. Being from the narrows, it's unlikely that the cluster had frequent opportunity to imbibe in blood so knowledge gained through practical means and blood are valued equally to them. They believe they can learn much from these beings and have no reason to believe why they aren't as sentient as any other race. Given that this gestalt is fairly young, I would say no, or if yes only for a short while. Given that I've chosen competence choir as the mind-type, it seems foolish that a nymph would choose to leave the collective unless replaced with a Diona of equal knowledge. As an aside from your questions, there is a fair bit that I took the reader to ASSUME in my backstory but I feel I should address some of the things that may be questions later. All of the nymphs are chipped and registered within Biesel and Sol. I don't know the specifics of how Nanotrasen hires Dionae given that they have no need to attend formal education centers for degrees, but they would have gone through whatever paperwork or competency tests are necessary before beginning work on the Aurora. The gestalt is follower of The Eternal. Their coloring is likely somewhere between green and default but for mechanics sake I will be choosing default. They have no cognitive obstacles at this time.

BYOND key: Rotharia Character names: PLEX, Victrix, Clayton Burton, Bose. Floating Among Stars Without Number How long have you been playing on Aurora?: I first joined the server several years ago but there are some large gaps in between, in all I've probably logged a couple hundred hours in Aurora. Why do you wish to be on the whitelist?: Too often I spawn into rounds and there are no heads whatsoever, especially during deadpop hours early in the morning (EST). I'm hoping to spice those rounds up to be just a bit more interesting. Why did you come to Aurora?: I joined Aurora after the server that I had been admin on shut-down due to lack of funding. (Apollo Station 17) and been here ever since. I wanted another HRP server but not one that was absolutely overflowing with players where it felt like you never really had a personal connection or stake with other characters. Aurora fit those criteria for me. Have you read the Aurora wiki on the head roles and qualifications you plan on playing?: Yes Have you received any administrative actions? And how serious were they?: The only administrative action I have received was the removal of my Skrell whitelist for a bad name. 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: Playing a character among others in a larger setting/story. Specifically a form of interactive and collaborative storytelling between multiple people done in the context of that larger setting. Through roleplay, people have the chance to interact and engage in a story on a more personal level, everyone has a stake in how the story is written. To that end, good roleplay should have an emphasis on sharing the story amongst your peers, not trying to be a spotlight hog every chance you get. Everyone should get their time in the limelight. In addition, good roleplay is characterized by believable characters and events. Characters should feel like they're a part of the world and act like it too. What do you think the OOC purpose of a Head of Staff is, ingame?: Ingame heads of staff serve two purposes. The first is to teach new players the basics of the department, acting as mentors and teachers. This is especially true in places like Engineering and Medical where the in-game systems can be quite difficult to grasp at first. The second purpose is to drive the story forward and act as plot points. A head of security's purpose isn't to charge headfirst into firefights equipped with the best the armory has to offer, it's to decide how to best deal with a threat and delegate that decision to his subordinates. Heads of staff shape the course of rounds by giving orders and providing direction and structure for the roleplay. What do you think the OOC responsibilities of Whitelisted players are to other players, and how would you strive to uphold them?: Their first responsibility is to always set a good example, having a chief engineer who consistently slacks off in-game or provides bad roleplay can turn off new or returning players to the game or cause players to think they can get away with the same. In a way you almost want to encourage players to be better by curbing bad habits in-game. The more we can do to make everyone's experience in the game enjoyable, the better. That isn't to say that we're the end all be all of good roleplay, but I think most everyone has one thing that they do particularly well and if we can spread some of that to other players then everyone wins. Could you give us the gist of what is currently happening in Tau ceti and how it affected your character and their career?: As the Solarian Alliance crumbles, corporations are rising through the dust to take advantage of the chaos. The Phoron shortage is still on-going and it's effects are still being felt across the spur, leading to things like the use of Hydrogen in the stations power supply as an alternative. Tensions are high and we all live in uncertain times with the formation of the SCC and the end of the second solarian invasion. The whole spur seems to be sitting on a powder keg just waiting for a spark. What roles do you plan on playing after the application is accepted?: Captain, Head of Personnel, Chief Engineer and potentially Head of Security, I will also probably make the other heads eventually but I have no concrete plans for that right now. Characters you intend to use for command or have created for command. Include the job they will be taking.: Bose for Chief Engineer, Rose Tomlin for Captain, Willow Wilkerson for Head of Personnel. How would you rate your own roleplaying?: 7/10, I tend to act as an enabler for other characters, I don't particularly like taking the spotlight myself but I love playing off of others and helping them have "their moment." Do you understand your whitelist is not permanent, and may be stripped following continuous administrative action?: Yes Have you familiarize yourself with the wiki pages for the command roles?: Yes Extra notes:

BYOND Key: Rotharia Character Names: Victrix, PLEX, Clayton Burton, Bose Species you are applying to play: Dionae Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yes Why do you wish to play this specific race: Aside from having options available to me for variety's sake, I'm interested in the decision-making that comes along with being a Dionae. More specifically, I'm interested in eventually exploring many different mind-types and clusters and "theory crafting" how these would play together. In addition, I think Dionae's in-game mechanics put a lot of emphasis on seeking out the roleplay rather than being mechanically tied down by it. That is, if I am not forced to eat food and drink or stay in oxygenated areas, I'm free to move about the station as I please and interact with whatever I may find interesting. It's a race that allows you to engage in almost any situation and I appreciate the freedom that offers. Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: The inclusion of mind-types is massive, deciding how your gestalt's mind works and the unique events that led to it's creation is a large portion of the character building process. Dionae also are unique in that they have no centralized culture, they can piggyback on nearly any belief or idea, taking part in it but never truly belonging to it. They exist on the outskirts of traditional society and only truly fit in amongst other Dionae despite their best efforts to integrate. Character Name: Floating Among Stars Without Number Please provide a short backstory for this character: The gestalt that would become Floating Among Stars Without Number formed in The Narrows cluster in response to a need for more cyclops amongst the working force. This particular gestalt was composed of older nymphs shed from a single Argus. It would spend the next year of it's life working as an engineer for the Narrows, usually being delegated to tasks on the exterior of the facility. During this time, the gestalt truly came into it's own and formed a Competence Choir mind-type. Once the immediate need for more specialized workers was gone, the gestalt turned it's eye on the rest of the galaxy. Desiring to bring back knowledge of engineering from all across the spur, it set out in 2458. Often using it's skills as an engineer to afford passage across various ships, the gestalt spent the next year of it's life living aboard these ships. Often after finishing EVA repairs the gestalt took time to engage in artem while among the stars. It is during this pivotal moment of it's life the gestalt chose it's name. While aboard ships, the Dionae often requested to drink the blood of other Engineers. Though many were asked, only a handful gave permission, leading to most of the Dionae's knowledge to be self-gained. Finally, while in Mendell city, the gestalt recognized the great diversity that Mendell and Biesel offered and decided to seek citizenship and employment. Seeking out The Biesellian Choir for advice, the gestalt was put on the trail of Nanotrasen. Nanotrasen agreed to sponsor his citizenship as well as offer him a position, the gestalt itself requested to be placed aboard the NSS Aurora due to the similarities it shares with it's home cluster. This is where the gestalt works today as an Engineer by trade, and a janitor when time permits. What do you like about this character?: I like the concept of obtaining information about other species' engineering feats and bringing that back to a cluster who's focused on repairing and maintaining a prison facility. I also like that they're a particularly "tame" Dionae, they lack any real racial biases of any kind given their spacer lifestyle so interacting with other Dionae who may hold such biases should be interesting. How would you rate your role-playing ability?: 7/10 Notes: I'm well aware that the backstory is fairly lackluster. I have a solid concept for the character but I struggled to put into words how it is that they came to be. So PLEASE ask questions.

Feel free to close the topic, Skrell have become slightly too confining lore-wise for what I would personally consider a fun character. Sorry to clutter the topics

BYOND Key: Rotharia Character Names: PLEX, Doppler, Rose Tomlin, DERBY, Ivy, Mae McKinley Species you are applying to play: Skrell What color do you plan on making your first alien character: Sea Foam Green Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yes Why do you wish to play this specific race: Personally I believe Skrell to be under represented on Apollo and as they were my first alien race I ever played, I have a particular connection with them. I think their unique eagerness and joy for science or medical can make a normally serious or dry department fun and inviting. I wish to bring the fun back to extended rounds without sacrificing role play. Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: Displaying emotions through language and other means is a tricky task. You have to have a good grasp of how things can be perceived. It's a fine balance between using solely noise such as a synthetic, and using solely movements such as a mute. The way this can be accomplished is fairly open ended but in particular Blorp's approach will be to use explicit language to denote their feelings (such as "This troubles Blorp...") and ALSO use low and high pitch warbles that the crew will be able to learn mean certain things through context clues and continuous play. It It's a unique and interesting challenge that I'm certainly up for. Character Name: Blorp'Qua Worshol Please provide a short backstory for this character: Born in a Qerrbalak research facility to a medical doctor and a visiting representative for Bishop Cybernetics Blorp'Qua was raised mostly in the care of his mother, with his father's work taking him across the Federation in attempts to establish interests for Bishop across it's many worlds. Blorp'Qua's mother took a very active role in his education, silently pushing him towards the path of medicine even in his childhood. Blorp'Qua proximity to her own research sparked his interest and biology soon became his favorite part of his curriculum. When his mother's work took them off Qerrbalak and to Xaqixal, Blorp'Qua's fascination with the sciences rose to new heights. After earning himself an internship within his mother's company Blorp'Qua set his sights on the real prize, a seat in the prestigious Gliutip’lyaz University. Many late nights were spent studying and re-studying material sure to be on the entrance exams, and his work at the facility had earned him a few good recommendations, but it ultimately proved to be not enough. Blorp'Qua was turned down by Gliutip’lyaz and he instead accepted by Aliose University. An honor to be sure, but it was still second place for Blorp'Qua. This blow particularly caused tensions between himself and his mother, ultimately leading to them becoming estranged not long after his acceptance. Blorp'Qua was broken but schooling and research was all he knew, so he poured himself into his books and studied his youth away. By the time he had graduated he had healed, but was socially stunted. During his residencies Blorp'Qua comments were split equally between outstanding work ethic, and dark moody behavior. Fortunately, this period would not last, but it would come to define how Blorp'Qua interacted with others. He tore himself away from his seclusion and looked for a position that he could really test himself, both socially and mentally. Aurora Station would be that chance for him. What do you like about this character?: Blorp's vulnerability socially makes him likely to fall down, but his eagerness to get back up is the fun part. It's very much like watching a toddler learn to walk, the trial and error is funny and I think entertaining to most people. How would you rate your role-playing ability?: 7/10 Notes: Astute observers will note that the backstory is largely unchanged from my former application, this is because I wanted to protect the character's integrity while still bringing it up to the standards of today's Skrell lore.

I suppose it was a poor example, what i was trying to touch on here is that there are events and circumstances that a emotional being would find far more distressing and serious than an IPC both due to their cause and effect mentality and their different frame of reference for time given their long lives. A more accurate example would be the following, If a distraught co-worker approached an IPC looking for advice about being rejected by a potential mate. The IPC may fail to see the reason why they are distraught. Logically, there are billions of other potential mates out there and an IPC may not recognize the importance of emotions in selecting a mate. As another reason why the IPC may not be able to fully grasp their plight, IPC's would not feel the same pressure from a biological clock. Their timeless perspective means that if they were a species that required reproduction they would have hundreds if not thousands of years to find that mate, so getting one rejection would basically be a non-issue. Hope this helps!

Damn, I must have read something wrong somewhere because I've definitely read this page. Sorry for the misinterpretation! I don't think it really changes his backstory too terribly much, Hephaestus is just trying to get their money's worth out of him before he meets that ten-fold threshold. I'm open to ideas if this isn't feasible.

- Meme names will no longer be an issue. -Once captured by pirates CICI took on a "custodial" role. Cleaning up after the pirate's nights of drinking, scrubbing floor tiles, any kind of menial labor the pirates felt was beneath them he was put up to. On top of tending to their small ship-side hydroponics bay (which likely housed more recreational plants than edible ones). -When en-route to one of New Gibson's bio-domes to lay low they were intercepted by a detachment of the Tau-Ceti Foreign Legion who had received an anonymous tip from CICI about the pirates intended flight path., After a short series of negotiations, the pirates were taken into custody without incident. As CICI was untagged but still branded, they contacted Hephaestus who confirmed their ownership of him and he was returned to their custody. -My logic here was basically that Hephaestus thinks Aurora is an unprofitable rock (if this is incorrect and the amount of resources present at Aurora is well known please inform me) AND doubling up with a set of skills that CICI has not had time to hone. He may be an excellent miner eventually but for the moment he's just as new as anyone else. -This question is difficult to answer as I think a lot of a character changes from paper to when you actually start playing them, but for the moment CICI's outlook on his past is one of bewilderment. By all accounts, he should have been scrapped as soon as the pirates got their hands on him, and once again when he made the anonymous tip to the TCFL. He understands that his situation is lucky beyond belief and more than anything he's just happy to return to a safe normal life. While he may feel frustration at times, he's in Tau Ceti now, and he has a chance at freedom. After everything he's been through, CICI has something that he can work towards and finally feels like he has a future ahead of him.

BYOND Key: Rotharia Character Names: Mae McKinley, Graham Mathis, Alyx Ferriday Species you are applying to play: IPC What color do you plan on making your first alien character: N/A Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yes. 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: It is my opinion that IPC's offer the most freedom and player agency when it comes to actually playing their character, the freedom of speech patterns, chassis, and even just naming scheme leaves a lot of room for players to make fun and interesting characters. Additionally, I think that synthetics can offer a unique perspective on events. As an example, something that may be quite damaging to a human such as being fired or demoted could be perceived as trivial to an "immortal" synthetic. Their perception of time and the urgency of some events compared to others is intriguing and offers an interesting dynamic. In addition, exploring the concept of owned vs free IPC's is also interesting, especially given how people may treat them based on that information. Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: Decision-making. IPC's are not driven by emotion or "gut instinct" like other species. They operate on a very simple cause and effect basis. This binary way of thinking and moving through life makes complex things like friendships and workplace drama different depending on how the IPC interprets these events. While some may see friendships as "strength in numbers" others may see fleshy species as emotionally volatile and a liability. The room for interpretation that you have as an IPC is HUGE and frankly a fascinating concept to explore over the course of several characters. Character Name: CICI Please provide a short backstory for this character: Originally created by Hephaestus Industries CICI is a second-generation industrial model created with the purpose of overseeing a massive hydroponics facility serving the system of Sol. While in service there, his facility was attacked by a particularly desperate band of pirates who aimed to shore up their food supplies and salvage what tech they could. What the pirates thought was an easy target quickly turned nasty as the stations security got involved. In the fight with station security, CICI was incapacitated by the pirates and "stolen" from the facility, the pirates hoping that they could recoup some of their losses. Quickly realizing that CICI was worth more "alive" then dead, he was offered his own preservation if he maintained and operated the marauders own ship-side hydroponics array. Deeming that this was his safest and only option CICI agreed. He was in service of these vagabonds for nearly three years. During his time among the pirates CICI did his best to stay in their good graces and quickly found that humans were easy to appease if you just did as they asked, no matter how asinine. The pirates luck ran out just outside of New Gibson when they had an unfortunate and unexpected run-in with system security. (Thanks to an anonymous insider tip.) Now officially in Tau Ceti space, but still property of Hephaestus, CICI was shipped off to Biesel where he tended the farms there while working towards his own freedom. In an effort to slow his progress, Hephaestus decided to re-train him as a miner, hoping that the dangers of the job and the drastic change would deter CICI from his freedom. Soon after, CICI was contracted out as a Shaft Miner / Cargo Technician aboard the Aurora where he toils to this day. Working ever closer to the promise of freedom. What do you like about this character?: I find the futility of CICI's task humbling in a way, he's working towards a goal that he will likely never achieve thanks to the powers that be, but like Sisyphus he perseveres. I also like that he's an owned IPC and look forward to exploring the idea of being just "property" to both the corporation you're employed by AND your workplace. I think that it gives a lot of room for other players to interact with him in interesting ways. I also like the potential double-edged sword that's been set up with Hephaestus' decision to assign him to the Aurora. To them, he's being assigned to a backwater station who's mining department may as well not even exist, but in actuality he's got the potential to actually achieve his goal of freedom thanks to the richness of Aurora's asteroid. Which leads nicely into the final reason I want to play him, taking an owned IPC and playing them for a while before finally letting him earn his freedom and seeing how the character changes once it's passed that point. How would you rate your role-playing ability?: It varies, I think given the appropriate circumstances and situations I can perform really well, but I recognize that I have difficulty making something from nothing, especially during extended rounds where the extent of my role-play is interacting with other people's characters. Notes: If you have any questions for me that don't fit into the context of the application, contact me on discord at Rotharia#6158

No pressure friend, take your time. Just wanted to make sure it had gotten to ya.

Bump.

Admittedly yes, my attitude was poor, but I've never had an issue with admins before and to return to the game and immediately get bwoinked was frustrating to say the least. My biggest issue is that the lore you've introduced is prohibitive rather than guiding. Having every character fit within the same cookie-cutter mold is not conducive to a "living world". Outliers exist across all walks of life and while I'm certainly open to changing the backstory, origin, whatever about my character I am unwilling to change his name. As much as you think it's a meme, you've not given the time to see a moment of his role-play. He is Blorp, that's all there is to say and I am not willing to compromise the integrity of that character.

BYOND Key: Rotharia Staff BYOND Key: Snakebittenn Game ID: b9C-aOvt Reason for complaint: After returning to Aurora after quite some time away I log in as my Skrell character, Blorp Worshol, only to get bwoinked minutes later to Snake telling me that my character couldn't have the first name Blorp as it no longers meshes with the skrell lore. This character already has an accepted skrell backstory and I see no reason why a character I've spent forever playing should be deleted just because of a change of staff. As a player that doesn't feel fair or friendly at all. Evidence/logs/etc: There was an event going on after I ghosted and the chat was quickly filled so I wasn't able to gather any logs. Check the round logs to verify. Additional remarks: Please contact me on discord at Rotharia#6158 if you have any further questions.

Overall I like this idea, however I'm a bit skeptical as to how much interaction the regular crew will actually want to interact with things like permanent inmates, people barely interact with real prisoners as it is.

Enjoy them when I play Blorp in science, +1 for a skrell brother.

I've edited the topic to include the requested changes.

I specifically made the Jargon character because I assumed human space skrells were the norm actually that's certainly something I'm willing to change, but to be honest there's not a single conceivable style of government that completely eliminates skepticism (in my opinion.) While yes the propaganda machine is strong it would seem to me that in a society that values rational thought and the scientific method it would behoove one to question what they're being told, that being said I'm definitely open to using human space if he can't be justified from Jargon. Not trying to change anyone's lore haha. Thank you for being blunt I'm terribly dull Skrell display emotions the same way humans do, however they emphasize sounds and noises that are usually inaudible to all but other Skrell, Thus, most of the emotions that other races receive are displayed through movement and word choice

1.) Primarily through withdrawn behavior, burying themselves in their work, minimal contact with friends that he's made aboard, getting a psych check up, sad warbles. The works, regressing back to the same behavior that he used to find comforting. 2.) The same reason that not all Germans hate the Americans or Russians, or not all Japanese hate the Americans. Everyone is capable of great evil, but this didn't happen in his lifetime, it wasn't his war to fight. Even if you equate this more to African American slaves, prejudice is certainly present. But there are those that have moved on,

Patrick and Antoinette are always a fun addition to any shift, +1

1.) I intend to play the character not necessarily as conflict adverse, but they try to suppress conflict through sheer force of will/positivity if something DOES come up. Though it'll likely that thoughts will linger and signs will show, so should someone dig too deep or say something specific that ties back to those memories he'll become dejected. To overcome means that there is an increased level of self worth, even if it's fake at first. While he's making his transition from darkness to light he will very much be faking it until he makes it. 2.) Spending most of his life with other Skrell means that he hasn't formed any strong opinions on races, his only knowledge of them coming from schooling or his own research. Aurora is the deep end of the pool and he figures he'll either sink or swim. The only exception to this is with synthetics, to which he is slightly wary of, coming from the federation where they're non-existent. As a player, I of course want Blorp's opinion of synthetics to cool off and for him to forget his bias even if it is slight. However, this particular character point is something I plan to resolve through station time. If he has bad experiences with synthetics then his bias is justified, if not then it's silly and an unnecessary precaution. I hope those answers were sufficient, let me know if you have any more!