kermit

BYOND Key: Sadkermit Character Names: Loukas Tzannetakis, Captain Hugh Oswald, Chief Medical Officer Guusje van Willigen, Pharmacist Faith Windsor, Pharmacist Ka’Akaix’Lyrk C’thur, Scientist + a bunch of retired characters. Species you are applying to play: Unathi What color do you plan on making your first alien character: A grey, sandy-ish colour. Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: I have. Why do you wish to play this specific race: Mostly because I’ve observed other unathi players lately, and started to become interested in why those characters may behave as they are, and what differences may arise. Having read the lore in its entirety and more in-depth than I have before, there’s a few characters I had in mind that may be fun to play on the station. Brutal, post-apocalyptic wastelands where everyone is at each other’s throats is also a setting I quite enjoy, not to say that the Untouched Lands don’t interest me either though, as they do. Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: Unathi are far more traditional and spiritual than humans. Honour and religion plays a far larger role in an unathi’s than in a human’s life, where traditional values such as honour and gender roles have been discarded, and where religion doesn’t have such an effect on one’s life. This affects what a character will value, which then affects how they behave and are roleplayed. Being in Tau Ceti where they’re exposed to a far more progressed society, and where unathi are a fairly recently enlightened species, this clash of values leads to a lot of roleplay that shouldn’t be ignored when playing an unathi. The majority of unathi also have a far different upbringing to most humans. The Contact War has had a significant impact on those that are alive, having completely changed the environment of Moghes. This has led to a generational trauma within unathi society, with many lives changed and affected, and so roleplay as an unathi will usually account for this. Character Name: Aorza Istar’ruzk Please provide a short backstory for this character. Born in 2418, Aorza Zruxksa experienced life on Moghes before the Contact War and before First Contact with the Orion Spur as we know it. Hailing from a small village not too far from Sahltyr, the Zruxksa’s hunted for a living, and weren’t fortunate enough to benefit from much of the technology available to those living in the cities, their area being rather against the industrialisation of unathi society who feared for the loss of the traditional way of life. The closest radio was that of the nearby villages, where young children - sometimes Aorza himself - would listen in to the news, then run house-to-house and to the various farms - only a few having moved on from hand ploughs - scattered around the countryside to disperse the news. Life was easy though, in comparison to what would come: basking in the sun after a day of hard work, hunting alongside his father during Versakh, receiving a simple schooling in a class of six friends - all formed many fond memories that Aorza would struggle to cling to. Dedicated to helping his father hunt to make a living, selling meat and hides to a local guild in exchange for a small cut - which is then halved again to pay their dues to their lord - Aorza was unable to pursue his childish dream of becoming a warrior and fighting honourably in combat, adhering to the old warrior codes. The thrill of the hunt wasn’t enough, and Aorza wanted more of a challenge. This ambition was never followed through, and Aorza hunted alongside his father throughout his childhood, adolescence and early adulthood. 2433 came, and the children ran through the village screaming news from the village radio. Aorza heard the news from his mother: aliens, life on other planets - sapient life. No one believed it at first, and life carried on, but it all turned out to be true, and stirred up a lot of tension. Every day, the children flocked around the radio, and every day they’d bring more news of the alien benefactors; news of new technology, space travel, warm blooded mammalian aliens and magical amphibians. Gradually the news turned from excitement to disappointment, as these technologies, this capability for space travel, and these mammalian and amphibian aliens would never step foot in the kingdom Aorza resides in. All would be hoarded by the Izweski. Tensions continued to rise. The lord petitioned more men to join the levy, offering greater incentives, and spouting the usual ‘fight to bring honour to your name’. With the incentives now great enough and trouble on the horizon, Aorza, aged 18, departed from his village with a fond farewell to his parents, and walked an hours journey to Sahltyr to join the lord’s city guard. After a year of training, after seeing the failure that was the first ISP space launch to Ouerea, and after seeing how the Izweski were leaving the rest of Moghes behind in it’s technological slipstream, the Contact War broke out. Fortunately for Aorza, though to his dismay, he was withheld from the brunt of the fighting, and remained on watch in Sahltyr. When the nuclear exchange began, the city was one of the targets on the Izweski’s list. Dragged from his patrol on the street, shoved into a building, and thrust into the basement, all Aorza could do was tremble with the earth, and scream with the wind. Alongside 4 others in the basement, Aorza sat for several days, unsure what to do. Those that said ‘leave’ were unable to open the basement hatch - something above was pinning it down. Those that said ‘stay’ began to feel the crippling effects of starvation and insanity begin to take their choke-hold. One day, a rapping at the hatch alerted them, and it swung open. Aorza and only 2 others left the basement. Baptised by the radiation, deafened by the wailing of those grieving, and terrified by the fallout that had begun to cascade upon the city, he wrapped an undershirt around his face and immediately began to run to his village. He ran faster and further than he had ever ran before, rushing to meet his parents. Neither of them could be found. A small stack of rocks splashed with a drop of blood was made to signify their passing - a dwarf when compared against the blood-soaked rubble of buildings in the cities that have fallen - and he spoke some words, begging them to not be angered by the fact he could not find their bodies to prepare them for the spirit world. After invoking the names of every ancestor of his he could remember for several days straight, a group passed through his village. Remnants of the Azarak Kingdom - already of old - who called themselves Gawgaryns, they all vowed to save those that survived the nuclear war - upon their honour, they swore, their ancestors be their witness. Aorza Gawgaryn walked with them through the waste, leaving his insignificant pile of rocks behind. A week later, they pillaged a homestead in the wasteland which refused to give them food to eat, the men butchered and the women and children left to starve. Resorting to banditry, the Gawgaryns made their presence known in the wastelands, and Aorza beside them - barely a warrior, just a cook and a field medic, humiliated by those who he relied upon for safety. Years passed, and the Gawgaryn killed and saved, a balancing act of good and evil, honour and disgrace - a balancing act as he performed the mental gymnastics needed to see himself as a hero among heroes in the wasteland. He trudged through the heat with 23 others, brothers and sisters in-arms, gender roles cast aside, weapons kept close. His bandit cell rarely stopped, constantly on the move to avoid patrols of those loyal to the Izweski or simply protecting themselves from the Punished. In the thick of battle, Aorza would charge in, Dorviza medical supplies in his bag, a Queendom weapon in-hand, and armour dug up by Reclaimers donned. He'd raid many settlements with his group, ferry many unknowing and knowing unathi off-world. It would take Aorza 4 years to finally come to grips with the wasteland, 2 years more before he acknowledged how far he had fallen, and a further 4 years to accept it. Eventually, he had finally had enough. His cell of 23, now whittled down to 14 over the many many years, was scouting around the various Oasis Clan territories, looking to spot a small caravan or lone wanderer. Instead, a giant sea of people was spotted - more than the eye could see. A writhing, twisting snake slithering through the sands of the wasteland. Aorza and the kin of his who shared his view abandoned the Gawgaryns and ran for the entourage of people, hands held high, weapons left behind. Enveloped into the mass of unathi and pushed to the front, Aorza approached a shambling old man - a walking stick in one hand, a book in the other. Juzida Si'akh stood before him. Aorza - a nervous wreck - knelt before him and told him of his dishonour and disgrace, told him of who he was and who he wished to be, how he spat on the spirits for cursing those who survived, how he'd do anything to make amends. Juzida reminded him he could still redeem himself in the eyes of the spirits who damned his soul to eternally fester on Moghes. He slept that night and, had he been a Sk’akh before, he may have woken a Si’akh Heretic, but the idea of the Great Spirit was unfathomable to him, and he remained stubborn in his Th'akh beliefs. He remained with the entourage for a long while, offering his services as a warrior, and providing first-aid treatment to those who were wounded by Maraziite Order patrols. After waiting for several weeks to have another meeting with Juzida, he was pushed to the front and gave his farewell notice, he told the prophet of his plan to apologise to those he did harm to. With the spirits' blessings, he broke off from the entourage and made way towards the Oasis Clans. Entering through the gates, he had hoped to see a lord who he could beg for forgiveness, instead he was chased out of the gates, his head demanded upon the chopping block. Redemption already seemed like a short-lived and still-born dream. Not knowing which sands the entourage crawled through now, Aorza Gawgaryn began trudging in the direction he believed they were heading: past Mudki and towards Yu'kal to preach. It took him several weeks - alone, blending in with the sand to avoid being spotted - to reach Queendom territory, and entering through the gate with an alias, he refreshed himself in a tavern. Aorza found no Si'akh entourage that day, only the cunning smiles of the criminal underground who offered passage off-world to wastelanders in exchange for a dangerous mission. Intrigued, and with no honour to lose, Aorza took the offer - he was to raid one last Reclaimer crawler and drop the scavenged riches off just outside of Res'karum, where transport was arranged for him to be taken off world. The deadline was his shuttle take-off time, should he miss it, he'd find no other way off world. Aorza and a group of 9 others followed the Reclaimer crawler to the salvage site, waited for them to disembark, and ambushed them. It was just another ambush for Aorza, though he deliberately lagged behind to avoid the combat, refusing to draw his blade, and only aiding those of his team who received injuries. They loaded what they could into the back of a van and sped off towards Res'karum. The job done, Aorza sat in a new bar. Another sly smile entertained him, and led him towards the shuttle port. Thrown into the back of a cargo shuttle with several other to-be-immigrants, he was smuggled off of Moghes. Claiming asylum on the grounds of religious persecution, Aorza was granted stay on Biesel. Discarded into District 11, he only found more coy smiles. The ignorant smiles of aliens who had set Moghes ablaze, the friendly smiles of gangs looking for muscle, the promising smiles of factory owners looking for cheap labour. With another shot at redemption, Aorza chanced his luck with the Tau Ceti Foreign Legion who offered him an education, a chance to protect those who could not protect themselves, and, ultimately, citizenship. He was taught Ceti Basic, and how to act as a Combat Medic. He served for 3 years, beginning in 2459 and leaving in 2462 aged 45. He signed his citizenship papers under the name Aorza Istar'ruzk, refusing to associate with his previous names, hoping this new name marks a better chapter of his life. It took a while to begin to acclimatise to human space - he still hasn't - and now he's landed a job interview at NanoTrasen Corporation, a promising position aboard the NSS Aurora as a First Responder where personal development awaits. His interview is today, who knows what they'll think of him. What do you like about this character? I like the idea of a character whose entire vision of himself and morals in life have become twisted and contorted into something monstrous and undesirable, and how the immense guilt he feels drives him towards a fanatical devotion to redeeming himself: to make amends, and to appease the spirits who he has disgraced himself before. Whether he ever gets a chance to reforge himself into someone more honourable and respectable, or whether those around him constantly remind him of the wasteland creature he once was is yet to be known, and will be enjoyable to play. In the end, he's a symbol of how the Contact War has devastated Moghes and it's people. Aorza is also an old unathi, who's spent most of his life in a wasteland. I'm sure he's also got plenty of small stories he can tell those in Medical while they all ogle the crew monitor, which'll be fun to come up with. That, as well as stories of his upbringing on Pre-Contact War Moghes, before everything hit the fan. How would you rate your role-playing ability? Since I started playing again this month after a fairly long break, I've only stuck with the characters and created new characters I feel like I can consistently play well - Lyrk and Tzannetakis being where I'm best, I'd say - and have benched those where my roleplay was more inconsistent or just not good in the first place. Because of that, my roleplay this month has already eclipsed where I was a year ago, and I even feel that since I began playing Lyrk, my roleplay has already improved beyond the point before my vaurca whitelist. I've definitely improved a significant amount and will always continue improving, as I always try to get feedback whenever and wherever possible, as ultimately this isn't a question for me to answer. It always feels weird putting a number on a scale, as I don't feel there is an upper limit to one's roleplaying ability, and people, including myself, tend to rate themselves too high because it's often times hard to believe you can improve at all beyond a certain point, and that you've finally hit your limit, when you haven't and can still always improve. Notes: The backstory is long, I know. If it's a problem, I can try squish it up a bit more or format it nicely with dropdown chapters - just say. Have a malted milk biscuit in the meantime for making it this far. 15/09/2021: Proof reading edits. Touched up the part about the pile of rocks dedicated to his lost parents by making some more explicit references to Th'akh lore.

I don't normally leave comments on Command applications, but Equairio's a friend of mine and has approached me a fair bit for questions regarding playing Command, etc., so I feel like I can contribute more than just a 'Hey, they're super duper cool, +1'. After this application went up, I've answered a lot of questions for her, explained situations she was unsure about, and just tried to give any advice I wish I had known when I began playing Command. She's taken a lot from it and, when I've observed/been in rounds with her as an Interim Chief Medical Officer (and Senior Physician, in that one round where a CMO arrived just after she was made iCMO, and Command struck an unusual compromise), she's been able to handle the department pretty well on her own. I've also been able to play alongside a fair few of Equairio's characters, so I can attest for their ability to roleplay well within Medical and for their understanding of the department as a whole. She has my +1, and I'd look forwards to seeing her as a CMO during a trial so they can get a better feel for Command.

Thanks for the questions, both of you - I've done my best to answer them in great enough detail. I can focus on more specific details if I missed the point of any of your questions. Lyrk will be quite reclusive at first, keeping their head down as they work on whatever project they’re working on in Science. Their background in District 9 pushes them to be somewhat fearful and paranoid of non-vaurcae around them, believing that non-vaurcae have an inherent disgust towards vaurcae. However, as they work aboard the Aurora and as they meet more and more people who are amiable to themselves, then Lyrk will open up more and be more social and friendly. Being very young and with no experience working in any non-vaurcae facility, Lyrk has a significant amount to learn, not so much that they’ll act dim-witted and childish, as they've certainly been taught the fundamentals. After getting beyond their fear of non-vaurcae, they may be more inquisitive and curious, asking questions - appropriate or inappropriate - to learn more. They’ll gradually progress from little experience dealing with non-vaurcae to having acquired the tact C’thur are known for, and is something I'd quite enjoy playing with. Being scientifically inclined, this tact may be for better or worse. Lyrk also hails from Mouv’s brood, who is quite close to Einstein Engines, and the C’thur hive overall, who are close to the Federation. Both Einstein Engines and the Federation have been cast as antagonists on the stage of the Orion Spur currently or at some point, and so Lyrk will have a crisis of allegiance: skrell versus human, the Conglomerate versus Einstein. Their opinion on this is entirely influenced by Mouv’s opinion and instruction on the matter, as skrell, humans, the SGC, EE, are all bodies that Lyrk knows little about and isn’t part of. While they’re still new to human space and unfamiliar with how everything proceeds, Lyrk will likely be grateful for the Federation’s treatment and hospitality towards their High Queen, believing them to be valuable allies. Influencing this view may also be Lyrk’s belief that a High Queen is far too powerful or influential to be held captive or to have allowed themselves to be held captive, and so it’d be laughable for anyone to say that the High Queen is a hostage. Vaurcae honour also dictates it to be abhorrent to dictate unbound vaurcae, and more-so Lesser or High Queens, so Lyrk may, for some reason, believe the Federation and other players on the Orion Spur’s stage would respect these same values, until it becomes evident through interaction with non-vaurcae and observing events in the Orion Spur that they do not. As Lyrk begins to figure out the landscape of the world they’re living in, and they begin to witness just how powerful and sly corporations and nations can be, they’ll wisen-up and realise that vaurcae aren’t the big players on the stage in the Orion Spur. It only suits the Federation quite well to have the High Queen held in life-support with all her subordinates vying to serve and please the Federation so as to ensure their continued aid of the Queen - if that’s even their goal. Having spent a month in District 9 where tensions between different alien groups is high, and soon to be employed on a station where vaurcae are a very small minority, Lyrk will likely overlook hive differences at first and instead value the experience all three hives share as a widely discriminated group in Tau Ceti. Conflict between hives is tame and regulated compared to conflict between vaurcae and humans and vaurcae and tajara in Tau Ceti. The interactions Lyrk has with vaurcae hailing from other hives will likely influence this view further. Though, having only really been exposed to the C’thur hive and originating from this hive themselves, they’ll be biased towards their own hive if ever a discussion about inter-hive relations or actions was raised. Outside of that, they’ve yet to form a concrete opinion about either Zo’ra or K’lax - interactions on-station have yet to shape them. Being in the C’thur hive and exposed to other vaurcae of the C'thur, they’ve probably already formed opinions on the virtual reality set-ups of the other C’thur Queens. The realms of C’thur and Vytel would both be admired by Lyrk, as they encapsulate regions of Sedantis I. As someone scientifically inclined, this preservation of Sedantis I in these two Queens realms is something admirable. However, from this description alone of these two realms, Lyrk may feel that these realms are clinging to the past, and that vaurcae need to find a better foundation in the Orion Spur. For that reason, they would point towards Mouv’s virtual reality as somewhat superior, as Mouv’s realm is an endless source of information with relevant data that can be applied in the material world. Regarding Xetl’s realm, Lyrk would view the experimentation which goes on within as a good use of virtual reality, and the Newts which are discarded as being necessary sacrifices. If Lyrk was to bump into a Newt, they would likely have many questions, which would then inform their opinion of Xetl’s realm further. Lyrk isn’t aware of the structure of virtual reality in the Zo’ra and K’lax hives, and so any opinions formed on the set-up of their virtual reality would be a result of interactions with vaurcae from those hives. Looking ahead though, should Lyrk ever have a discussion regarding the Vetju's or Leto's realms, they'd admire these two realms for knowledge they contain and the ability to prepare Klax's vaurcae for their role and life in the material world. Scay's realm would also be admired by Lyrk, again for the knowledge it contains and it's ability to prepare vaurcae for their role in the material role, but also because it fuses the history of Sedantis I - at least creatures which inhabited the moon - into the learning environment of the virtual reality. Lyrk doesn’t adhere to any religion, yet - like all things, this’ll be influenced by interactions they have on-board with other vaurcae. Being scientifically inclined, Lyrk observes the flaws each of the religions has. For example, the Hive Panthenon venerates the Queens and depicts virtual reality as a heaven, however this is inconsistent as Queens haven’t always had virtual reality and also doesn’t fit other species into the equation. Now exposed to the religions of other species, this may dissuade Lyrk either further from adhering to any faith, as faiths always tend to put the species where the faith originates on the pedestal: the Eternal places dionaea on a pedestal, the Panthenon and Preimminence places vaurcae on a pedestal, etc. Overall, religion seems too curated for Lyrk to believe in any particular one.

BYOND Key: Sadkermit Character Names: Loukas Tzannetakis, Captain Hugh Oswald, Chief Medical Officer Guusje van Willigen, Pharmacist Faith Windsor, Pharmacist + a bunch of retired characters. Species you are applying to play: Vaurca What color do you plan on making your first alien character: RGB: 150, 180, 255 Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: I have. Why do you wish to play this specific race: I’ve been interested in playing vaurcae characters for a long while, mostly after observing and being involved in the performances of a few particular vaurcae characters that were enjoyable to roleplay with and who had cool stories. Recently, I became more interested after discussing possible vaurcae character concepts with a friend who then encouraged me to apply, so here I stand. Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a human: The most notable difference is their loyalty and subservience to their hive and brood. A large aspect of a vaurca’s life is determined by their brood, with traits and quirks being decided by and a representation of their lesser queen, who vaurcae show unwavering loyalty towards. This is a result of lesser queens each having their own VR with its own carefully curated space, which unbound vaurcae are raised in to develop their personalities and teach them the skills required to aid their hive. Though, in the case of bound vaurcae, indoctrination, pheromones and immature brains ensure their unwavering loyalty. This subservience to a brood and hive and the impact of VR on a vaurca’s development impacts role playing and creating characters a fair amount. The foreign nature of vaurcae as a whole also marks a difference between them and humans. While all non-human species are alien, vaurcae originate from beyond the Orion Spur - the sheer distance makes vaurcae more alien - they are nowhere near home, they do not belong in the Orion Spur. This, in addition to their insectoid biology and the fact they experience no organic life development and are thrust into a human world with little experience of what it is to be human, results in the treatment they receive from other species in the Orion Spur, which should be taken into account when roleplaying as and also with a vaurcae player. Both of these aspects intrigue me the most about vaurcae, which could also be included as an answer to the previous question, and would be what I focus on the most when designing characters. Character Name: Ka’Akaix’Lyrk C’thur Please provide a short backstory for this character. An endless ocean of white, only a shade apart from their own carapace. Lyrk was fixed on walking in one direction, tugged along by an invisible force which beckoned them along - no attempt to resist was conceivable. As they walked, with nothing to identify the passing of time, they observed giant waves which rose and shimmered with scenes of another world, scenes which they learned from and drew information from. Further on, a wave carried a swathe of other vaurcae who bobbed into the path of Lyrk and lectured them on this other world, providing insight into other lesser species found there, and then some more insight about the virtual reality, the Aether, they stood in. Now understanding this journey was to prepare them for a greater journey into this more material world, Lyrk began to more actively find this insight they needed. Diving into the ocean, they swam unhindered by any force pushing against them, and only encouraged by that invisible force which directed them further and further in. Currents of information, like schools of fish, whizzed and zipped by, composed of orbs, and Lyrk reached out and grabbed any which came close. The orbs flashed lines of translated code which were absorbed by their eyes, providing more and more insight into the material world and their to-be role in it. They swam close to the surface, fishing any orbs within reach, though avoided glancing down at the depths beneath them, where the strongest currents thrashed at any who got close, occasionally sucking in those unlucky where they blended in with the current, vanishing. Time progressed, unbeknownst to Lyrk, who, after obtaining a sufficient enough of training for their role as a scientist for Mouv’s brood, suddenly felt the force which had been directing them reverse. Wrenched from the ocean and into the sky faster than they could process it, the endless ocean began to vanish from beneath them, fading from view, as they were disconnected from virtual reality. White turned to black, and their eyes opened for the first time. Having awakened in the material world, Lyrk was assigned to the C’thur research laboratory in Qamlok, where day and night they utilised the skills learnt in virtual reality to aid more senior C’thur researchers. More practical skills were learnt, and under the supervision of other vaurcae, they flourished and were seen as an aspiring professional in the field of biomechanical engineering, specialising in implant technology and small-scale augmentation, mostly those that could be applied to vaurcae, though occasionally Lyrk would be assigned to a project where more alien anatomy was involved. They occupied this position for one year, observing their first Freedom Day where they was permitted to leave Qamlok and venture into the nearby city of Oqraxo where many C’thur vaurcae were celebrating. That day, Lyrk met several skrell and the occasional human for the first time, as well as the alien infrastructure of a skrell city when compared to the subterranean environment of Qamlok - this was quite the shock for them, who’ll likely never forget this experience. After obtaining enough experience, first in virtual reality, and now in the material world in Qamlock, a transfer was made for Lyrk. They, alongside a cohort of other young vaurcae, were transferred to human space. Some were assigned to Einstein Engines to work on warp drive technology, some were assigned to the Eridani Federation and consigned to corporate hell, though Lyrk was assigned to NanoTrasen Corporation where they would continue their work on augmentation and implant technology. Arriving at the beginning of August of 2463 and thrown into District 9 of Mendell City, Lyrk has had a month to acclimatise to human space. Never venturing out of District 9, the only experience they had of other species is that of violence directed towards themselves and other vaurcae - the occasional riot, the occasional slur - and the Hivenet going wild, whispering of those beyond District 9 who wish to cause harm to the hives. With their fresh ID and uniform having just arrived alongside the documents confirming their Lab Assistant position at the NSS Aurora - only briefly seen and immediately given to the local breeder administrator for their hive - Lyrk is unsure what to expect on their first day, and is nervous to say the least. What do you like about this character? Besides the backstory and besides how much more different it will be to play a vaurcae compared to a human, one of the things I’ll enjoy playing this character the most is their naïveté and how foreign humans/tajara/unathi/etc, are to them, and how equally foreign Lyrk is to those other species. While they may be somewhat acquainted with skrell, and slightly less so humans, other species are totally unfamiliar to them, and so their first interactions with characters of those species will be interesting and could cultivate Lyrk’s views of other characters of that demographic. Regarding their naïveté, it’ll be interesting developing their social intelligence from pretty low, where they’re only competent at socialising with other vaurcae and perhaps the occasional human, to being more socially intelligent and socialising more freely, having properly acclimatised to human space. How would you rate your role-playing ability? Last time I applied for a species whitelist, I placed by role playing ability between 7 and 8. This was over a year ago, and I think I’ve developed a significant amount since then, especially having stuck with characters that I role play better and more consistently than those which dragged me down and were role played less consistently. I’d place myself at an 8 now. Notes: None 04/09: Edits made after proof reading.

Sorry for the god-awful response time which you'll have to excuse me for, I've not been active so much lately and only seem to pop by every now and then. I've got a PR up that should fix this issue entirely which I'll link below. Instead of increasing the amount of adrenaline needed to fast-track to an OD to 10 units, I opted to go another route with making hyperzine less dangerous during combat. Instead of any amount of hyperzine plus 5 units of adrenaline resuting in the fast-track to OD, I've altered it such that having 5 units of adrenaline in your system reduces the overdose threshold of hyperzine from 15 units to 10 units, meaning you can still use hyperzine below doses of 10u during combat. This makes hyperzine in combat less about avoiding getting high adrenaline levels - which is kind of impossible to manage - and more about making sure you're managing your hyperzine levels and keeping it below 10 units. Regarding the chemistry guide lacking details on hyperzine's overdose and contraindication with adrenaline, I'll take a look and make sure all the details are there. Thanks for pointing all this out. https://github.com/Aurorastation/Aurora.3/pull/10897

It is effective, however you need to use doses larger than 30u, as it's a 2% chance every tick over a 30u dose to treat arterial bleeding. If you inject exactly 30u, you're only rolling the dice once for arterial bleeding; if you inject more, you increase your chances. Adding bicaridine to sleepers or to the cabinet will remove a very large need for surgeons, as anyone can treat arterial bleeding just by using a sleeper or digging into the medicine cabinet.

Putting bicaridine into the sleepers isn't really a viable option as bicaridine can be overdosed to treat arterial bleeding. Bicaridine's healing properties have also barely been touched, and has always been a kelotane-equivalent to treating brute damage. One option considered is to put butazoline (which doesn't heal AB) into the medical cabinet besides the dermaline pills which, once I find the time, I will likely do. Would that solve the issue or there being no brute medication available despite there being burn medications available?

How does increasing the overdose threshold to 30 units sound? It's enough such that if two doctors administer hypospray-fulls of tricordrazine, there will be no overdose. It can be raised to 40 units, but then that's enough for 3 doctors to blindly administer full hyposprays of tricordrazine, which is what this change is aimed to prevent - ensuring doctors are communicating more. There should be more "Hey, I'm administering 10 units of [drug] now." to make sure no other doctors also give a large amount of a drug. And regarding the Medibots, their transfer rate can be lowered to 10 units - how does this sound? This is low enough to avoid Medibots overdosing someone (unless you've got more than 3 in a room), and also means tricordrazine won't linger in someone's system for so long. You mentioned tricordrazine is slow to metabolise - which it is - so ten units is generally plenty and will last a while, no doubt doctors will top it up with another ten units upon someone entering the GTR which is fine (more so with tricordrazine's overdose threshold being increased to 30u). The tricordrazine overdose itself is also incredibly minor and non-debilitating, so even if you do overdose on the chemical, it will be relatively minor. Do these alterations come together to alleviate your concerns? I can set the default transfer rate of bottles to 5 units to allow for more precise measurements of chemicals without people having to go through every bottle on your belt to change transfer rates to 5u. People can, of course, still raise this to 10 or 15 units if they wish to.

Apologies in advance for the slow reply, been a mite busy today. Okie, let's address the concerns. Would reducing the transfer rate of the chemical injector RIG modules to five units a go solve this issue, allowing more precise measurements of drugs to be administered? My problem with having synaptizine overdose at anything higher than 5 units is that it takes a very long while to metabolise the drug - a minute and a half roughly per unit of synaptizine, ten units therefore being an entire quarter of an hour. You'd be taking the drug and then, as soon as you forgot you've taken it, you're experiencing the overdose symptoms. One option would be to increase the metabolisation rate, though the option I've suggested is to simply reduce the transfer rate of the RIG chemical injectors, after all most of the time you'll only need five units of a drug, and there's nothing stopping you from pushing 5 units more if it's needed. Regarding alkysine, the drug itself is too frequently misused by folk in Medical. The drug requires blood oxygenation levels to be above 85% oxygenation, yet people usually inject the chemical as soon as a patient comes in asystole (when blood oxygenation would be rock bottom at ~20%). The drug is also very strong (which won't be changing, unless you OD it), 5 units is more than enough usually, and yet most people hammer in 10 to 15 units - whether they're underestimating it's strength or just making sure the alkysine remains in the blood long enough, I'm unsure - but this'll aim to reduce the frequency of events like this, making people actually consider when to administer alkysine and hopefully ensuring people only administer it in the right circumstances. If the changes have their desired effect, it'll also reduce the burden on chemists to have to stock 3 bloody bottles of a chemical that'll only have ~20 units dished out per shift. Of course there will be accidents where doctors are either unaware of the change or, just out of habit, administer large doses of the drug, but with how pronounced the side-effects may be, people'll gradually come to realise that it's not a safe drug to hammer in willy-nilly. Was there anything in particular you feel nerfs alkysine to a too-high degree - I'm guessing the traumas? This was largely a suggestion from someone else that I quite liked and therefore implemented as it gives psychiatrists something mechanical to deal with - people kind of forgot about them when traumas were binned which was sad. I've hand-picked only traumas that aren't too shit for someone to get (no paralysis or split-personality or anything), so only the RP conducive traumas should be rolled. Overdoses are currently based on how much has been metabolised, though overdoses based on the volume of a chemical in the blood sounds cool. I'll see about working on that . ?

Type (e.g. Planet, Faction, System): Mainly Chemistry/Medicine/History. Briefly touches upon other facets of lore such as certain religions and region-specific crime. Describe this proposal in a single sentence (12 word maximum): This proposal is designed to ground chemistry in our universe’s lore. How will this be reflected on-station? The proposal will mostly affect the roleplay of pharmacist/chemists and those who are collecting prescriptions or asking about chemicals, as well as doctors who use the chemicals. Some of the historical lore of certain drugs will have also have a moderate impact on other facets of lore, including religion and planetary lore, where individuals within these groups can capitalise on the new lore surrounding these chemicals and incorporate them into their character. With the historical lore introduced in this proposal, we also have expanded upon how some regions of the Orion Spur may be technologically behind when it comes to the available pharmaceuticals, and so the historical lore here can have an impact on character’s backstories and can, to a small degree, dictate what injuries are survivable and what are not. The new historical lore is also intended to spice up some chemicals which, otherwise, were just there - this could spark a bit of interest for those chemicals, seeing more characters who are interested in them. Does this faction/etc do anything not achieved by what already exists? Currently there is very little historical lore for chemicals and how they impact the various societies in our universe’s lore, so no, I do not believe so. Why should this be given to lore developers rather than remain player created lore? Some large portions of the historical lore we have will need to be looked over by the lore developers of their respective species to ensure that the lore we have is compatible and in-line with existing species/planetary lore. Some of the historical lore for certain chemicals is grounded heavily in planetary/species lore that I’m not entirely well-versed in - a prime example being Spectrocybin which is grounded in the unathi Th’akh faith, a segment of lore I’ve only glossed over on the wiki given I do not play unathi characters myself. Lore developers can also include additional details, for example, wherever it says “a skrell chemist” or “a tajaran chemist”, a lore developer could insert actual named chemists which could then be listed on the ‘Notable (Species)’ wiki pages as chemists who have revolutionised the field of pharmacology. The historical lore we’ve come up with could also allow the further development of facets in lore that have only briefly been covered. Red Nightshade, for example, has been grounded in Martian crime lore. With Red Nightshade being grounded in this facet of Martian lore, it could allow further development of Martian lore surrounding drug cartels which produce and distribute Red Nightshade and other illegal combat performance enhancers. Also, due to time constraints however, I wasn't able to finish writing the lore for every chemical, so if any lore developers want to pick up where I left off, they're free to. There's some interesting chemicals such as hyperzine, phoron salts, phoron salt derivatives, etc., that could have some wicked lore done with them. Do you understand that if this is submitted, you are signing it away to the lore team, and that it's possible that it will change over time in ways that you may not foresee? Yep. Long Description: Thus far, I, alongside two other chemistry/medical players who have helped me out a tad, have completely expanded upon the descriptions of chemicals (which have already been merged with the chemical renames, thanks Chada), planned out some additional mechanical features, and also have given the vast majority of chemicals in-depth history which grounds them in our universe’s lore. The latter, of course, is the focus of this application, though it all compounds together to form what we hope is a massive expansion of the various chemicals, making them more interesting. Some of the more generic drugs haven't got a lot of lore that I've written for them, though some of the more fancy drugs have a lot more. With all of that said, let’s move onto the actual lore we’ve drafted. To avoid ruining the formatting of this post, I have all of the chemicals, their descriptions, and the historical lore I've written in one single Google document. It'll be way neater than posting it all here as there's like,14 pages worth of history. If posting this in a Google doc. is an issue, I'll take the time to move it all over into this post, though I can't vouch for how well it will then be presented. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HMMlY7RvP-chU0yKHJsgyAb_TL1pfPtn8xDIaI7ci5U/view?usp=sharing I've got no experience when it comes to formatting and editing the wiki, but my general idea for how this would be presented would be with a drop-down box beneath the chemical descriptions on the Chemistry Guide which contain all of the history. That way it's available to every player, but can still be hidden by folk who are just skimming through the guide looking for recipes as opposed to lore. P.S.: I'm a dummy and, when submitting the descriptions for chemicals for Chada to merge with the chemical renames, there were artifacts of the lore I've written that are, of course, not yet canon/approved. Namely Ryetalyn including in it's description 'developed by Dominian scientists' and Red Nightshade including 'originating from the criminal syndicates of Mars'. I'm hoping this isn't such a huge problem and that, eventually, it won't be a problem at all as it will be canonised, but should this not be canonised, then I'll probably have to figure out how to fix my mistake, which will involve having figure out how to do pull requests. Apologies for that. P.P.S: I pulled on my big boots and learnt how to do PR shenanigans. The problem mentioned in the first post script can be easily reverted by myself if it's a problem.

I was quite hesitant to post this at first, but a bunch of other medical players pushed me too after we discussed this suggestion a fair bit. I'll preface this by saying that this is a long post, but we spent a while going through all of the posts here trying to isolate all of your arguments and I wanted to tackle each of your points in-depth by raising my own arguments and those of others who I've spoken to about this suggestion. If I've misinterpreted any of your points, I apologise, as that was the case with my first comment here. There's also probably repetition throughout this, but that's because I've not written this in one sitting, but over a day. There's a summary at the bottom if you've only the time to skim over it, but I do encourage you to read the elaborated points I've made beneath your arguments. Anyway, starting with your first point: It allows people to do more things as their skill set is more broad: 'It’s going to rename them all, and give everyone a wider skill set so they can apply it in more situations.' -- The skill sets are already fairly broad. A trauma physician can do everything a trauma physician is ‘meant’ to do, but can also do the basics of the other specialities. What this means is, if there is a role not present in the medical bay, the trauma physician can fill in. The same can be said for a physician, if there is no trauma physician, the regular physician can fill in stabilising patients in the ICU. There is no in-game condition that cannot be treated by a (trauma) physician, unless they happen to lack a chemist, so there is no argument that, should medical be filled with a dozen arterial/fracture cases, only the surgeon has anything to do, as (trauma) physicians can treat AB via alternative routes, limb fractures via alternative routes, or ask the surgeon if they can reduce the load by helping in the second OR. How exactly do you think merging the physician roles will broaden the responsibilities of, say, a trauma physician? 'Or we just remove all 3 of those jobs, replace them with a Biologist and he can do that except he can also operate if he feels like it.' -- By merging the roles, you remove the need for teamwork and coordination. If a critical patient comes in with severe AB and fractures, then as a ‘biological/medical specialist/researcher’ could, first, stabilise them in the ICU, then move them to an OR and fix them up, then move them to the GTR to make sure they’re all fine. This cuts out most interaction within the medical department when there’s a large intake of patients as there is no need to talk to another player. Working as a team becomes a choice with a change like this. If the problem is that half of the physician roles are sat around doing nothing depending on the cases that come in, then perhaps we can figure out alternative ways to treat all of the conditions in game, each with their own pros and cons so that, regardless of the case, no one is sat around doing nothing. "this isn't removing a chemist or making a super-doctor who will be able to do literally every job in medbay. Chemist is still going to exist." -- By making all of the physicians capable of surgery, it devalues the job of a chemist rather severely. There will be no need to stock chemicals which treat organ damage as, now, all of the biologistics researchers/specialists are capable of just whisking the patient to an OR to open them up and slap some regenerative membrane on it. There is no need for a biologistics researcher/specialist to try to increase blood oxygenation to allow alkysine to have an effect on repairing the brain because they can now just whisk them to an OR and splash some regenerative membrane on the brain. Entire chemicals will become useless as they will see even less use than some of them currently do - namely adipemcina, peridaxon, pneumalin, oculine (imidazoline), alkysine, bicaridine ODs. If the physician roles are rolled into one, making them all capable of surgery, what do you believe will happen to these organ-regen. chemicals which are generally meant for (trauma) physicians to treat organ damage without the need for a surgeon? The clear boundaries allow the players themselves to ‘specialise’. A player who primarily plays surgery can just do surgery without having to know how to get someone out of asystole in the most effective way, they go in knowing that it’s a relatively stressful role; a player who primarily mains physician can just handle minor-cases and the exams and not have to fuss about having to learn the surgical procedures, they go in knowing that it’s a more relaxed role, presuming you have a surgeon/trauma physician to handle critical/surgical cases; a player who primarily plays trauma physician can specialise in getting people out of asystole in the most effective way without having to deal with minor injuries or surgeries, they go in wanting to deal with the intense and stressful cases. By combining all of the roles, players now need to be proficient in every field of Medical, regardless of whether it’s their strongpoint or not. This suggestion removes the unnecessary restrictions placed upon roles. 'I said the titles are arbitrary and useless, which they are.' -- I disagree that the restrictions are unnecessary. Bringing up a point I mentioned earlier, it’s these ‘arbitrary’ restrictions which generate roleplay and make the gameplay enjoyable. By having duties split between roles, then there are hurdles that can present themselves during your treatment of a patient. If you’re a physician or trauma physician with a patient in-need of surgery due to their severely damaged heart, but the only surgeon is busy treating an arterial bleeding case, then that’s a hurdle you need to try and figure out - you will need to consider alternative avenues such as peridaxon/adipemcina, you may need to hail the surgeon over radio and say there is a patient who is more dire in regards to triage and needs surgery more urgently. That is a dilemma that enhances gameplay and roleplay, by homogenising the physician roles you will not have this issue. Do dilemmas such as these not enhance gameplay and create roleplay that cannot be had with all the physician roles pressed into one? It prevents people whinging about things being unrealistic. 'The constant repeating and draining argument of "Well this job does X and needs Y age and also we should make 2 more subsets of jobs because these surgeries are extremely complicated for one person" is discarded.' -- Renaming the department and the roles doesn’t change the mechanics and expectations of the job. Whether a physician is called a physician or a biological researcher/specialist doesn’t matter, they will both have the exact same responsibilities and so people will still complain about the responsibilities if they’re unrealistic or not. By merging them into one ‘medical specialist’ job, you may deal with this problem of ‘why is x role capable/not capable of doing this task which they should/shouldn’t be able to do in real life?’, but then you replace it with people complaining about ‘but it’s unrealistic that a doctor is specialised in every field of medicine when it takes 2-4 years to specialise in just one field’. Renaming and merging roles isn’t a solution to this. Also, I don’t see why this is a problem, maybe it is because I can’t see from the perspective of developers, but so what if people are whining about realism? Developers can just ignore these people, if they wish, it’s not like everyone in Medical is going on about realistic expectations, and if they are, then that’s the audience you’re catering to and should tailor changes to - if a playerbase wants a more realistic medical system/role layout then, in my opinion, deliver a more realistic medical system/role layout or, alternatively, don’t try to make it less realistic to spite this audience. This is how it is for other departments: 'Engineers also do everything. Scientists can do any role in science. Literally nobody has issue with those two. It was fine in Star Trek, it doesn't matter here.' How other departments operate shouldn’t be a factor in how Medical ought to operate - instead you should consider who is playing the department and how many people are playing it, as well as why these departments may have a single role. In the case of science, less people play the department, and so there’s little incentive to split up the role otherwise there will, at no point, be a full roster, which is not the case for Medical as there are more players, meaning the roles can be more split to ensure everyone is working as a team. Take security for example: it’s divided into cadet, officer, detective, warden, CSI. Each of these roles have their own clearly defined responsibilities and generally do not over-step on one another unless one of the roles is missing - this is the same way Medical works. If you argue that Medical should be unified with one role simply because Science and Engineering are, then should we not homogenise Security, Supply and Service into one role? The point here is homogenisation works for some departments, and for other departments it can ruin the experience. I’ve skimmed through all the posts in this thread several times trying to figure out all of your arguments. You say homogenisation of Medical will result in less people whining about realism and will lead to broader duties for the role (though I’ve argued against this). Do you see any other benefits to the roles being merged into one, have I missed any other points you’ve raised? I’ve never really played in other communities, but from my observations, homogenised roles tend to be characteristics of LRP/MRP servers - sure science is unified in one role, but I think it could be split up to allow better RP (splitting scientist into Exploratory Chemist/Circuit Inventor/R&D Scientist, and whatnot [though I don’t play science so I cannot vouch for how conducive this would be for roleplay, this is just my uninformed opinion]), as is Engineering, though engineering was only merged into one role because no one played the alt-titles, which is not the case in medical. The physician roles overstep one another constantly due to the overlap of responsibilities. 'This already makes it very clear what they're supposed to be doing, makes it impossible to overstep because hey, there is no overstepping and improves IC mentality by removing this antiquated system of medical professionals everyone refers to.' -- Overstepping was a large issue when BrainMed was first introduced, yes, and I severely disliked it. However, as more people have become acquainted with BrainMed and the responsibilities of each role have been more clearly defined (physicians take the minor-moderate cases, trauma physicians take the critical-asystole cases and may often assemble a team of nurses/physicians to help, surgeons take surgical patients after they've been stabilised), people tend to stick to the limitations of their roles - and people do stick to them. The only exceptions to this is during lowpop. when there’s usually only one physician, however even during deadhour, I've been told that when there are multiple physician roles, the boundaries are still usually kept. This hearkens back to my argument regarding the importance of role distinctions, you are permitting everyone to overstep one another as there is no incentive to work as a team. You end up staffing this biologistics department with a handful of super doctors, where one doctor can do every single procedure to treat one patient - if only one patient is admitted in a round with say... severe burning and a fracture, then one doctor can treat the burning and the fractures, whereas with our current role layout, the workload will be divided between a physician/trauma physician treating the burns, and then a surgeon dealing with the fracture. 'Except this isn't an individual, nor is it a player specific behavior. It's an up-kept culture that has been normalized within medbay.' -- During rounds where the Medical Department is fully staffed, you’ll often see people organising themselves according to their role to ensure the intake of patients runs smoothly - and this is with or without a Chief Medical Officer being present. It is ingrained in how people play Medical, that there are boundaries between the roles and people organise themselves accordingly. By refuting the numerous rounds where this is apparent, you’re generalising the actions of a few individuals who have tended to overstep in the past to everyone who plays Medical - though this is no longer so much of a problem from my view and others. What examples of overstepping can you remember that are still present in Medical today - nowadays, physicians stick to the GTR, trauma physicians stick to the ICU, surgeons stick to the COT, they only deviate from their postings when they’re trying to meet the demands of a specific patient influx when another physician role cannot keep up or if there is a role lacking and their duties have been fully attended to? Physician and Trauma Physician have few differences - 'Tell me exactly how a Trauma Physician and a Doctor don't step on each others toes, despite the fact that they cover 80% of each other's jobs.', 'We have nowhere near the amount of medical mechanics to justify these role splits.': I agree, there is nothing mechanical that separates the two roles. However, they are separated in how the roles act by a substantial amount. When there is both a physician and trauma physician around, these substantial differences between the roles are observable. Have you never played a busy round as a physician role where Medical is fully staffed, because if not, I urge you to as the roles make it several times better? Roleplay-wise having these two roles makes sense to give players choice in how they should roleplay their characters; setting-wise, it makes sense for there to be one role which handles minor incidents and another that handles the emergency cases, and this will be ever more so the case when the setting shifts to that of an expeditionary vessel. Instead of merging these two roles due to a lack of mechanical variance, why not advocate for the development of mechanics which further separate them? There’s a lot of creativity to be had when it comes to developing sci-fi. medical instruments, and these would go way further than just renaming medical to something mildly dissimilar and then making some Frankenstein’s monster out of the roles. While I understand that you need mechanics to back up the need for a role, I also think that the ability for them to act differently to another role also goes a long way. A large amount of roleplay you see in the ICU stems from there being a trauma physician present. On another forum post I went into a lot of depth regarding the importance of the trauma physician role and how much it affects roleplay. "Quite often, you would see a patient in the middle of the ICU in a stasis bag with a trauma physician and a couple of other medical staff looking at a scan planning, in depth, how they would tackle each problem causing the patient’s asystole, with the trauma physician usually being the one taking point. I’m not aware of how many people have been in situations like this but these moments are arguably some of the best moments I’ve had in the year I’ve played in Medical - people all gathering around a stasis-bagged patient, scan in hand, taking around five minutes to just devise a treatment plan for saving someone - and I’ve heard similar from other medical players." I believe the points I raised there are equally valid in this argument, because by homogenising the roles, you're stripping away this ICU/trauma physician roleplay, even though you say, "None of that is being taken away by this change. Said this like 3-4 times already." Overall, what I have to say can be boiled down into these points: The roles in Medical underpin a lot of what makes a busy round enjoyable in Medical, as the roles create dilemmas and opportunities to have to look for alternative means of treating something. The roles do not make other roles invalid depending on the type of patients being admitted. If all of the patients are surgical ones, (trauma) physicians can ask to reduce the load and help out in an OR, or treat conditions using chemicals instead; if all of the patients are minor cases not in need of surgery, the surgeon can ask to help out in the GTR to reduce the burden on the (trauma) physicians. The roles allow players to specialise, for lack of a better term. You can ‘specialise’ as a trauma physician, going into the round expecting to deal with the more intense cases, gathering a group of the other roles in the event of an asystole case so you can orchestrate the patient’s resuscitation. You can ‘specialise’ as a physician, going into the round just expecting to deal with minor cases, and less so the more stressful ones. You can ‘specialise’ as a surgeon, allowing you to just focus on learning the mechanics for surgery, and less so what chemicals are the most effective at dragging someone out of an asystole. If there is no mechanical variance between roles, then make mechanical variance. There’s creativity to be had here and it can only add to gameplay/roleplay within Medical, as opposed to detracting from it. The structure of other departments shouldn’t determine how the Medical Department is structured. They all have different dynamics and they all have different amounts of active players. I’m all for renaming the roles to something more vague and detached from reality, but if it begins to remove elements of Medical I and other people find enjoyable, then it’s not something I can get behind. Merging Paramedic and E.M.T. and calling them ‘Rescue Technicians’ is fine, I can get behind that, as there is no mechanical, gameplay or roleplay deviance between these roles that cannot be had after merging the roles. With that said though, the suggested name isn’t that different from ‘Emergency Medical Technician’, and so I can already see people associating the expectation of the role closely to that of an EMT. Paramedics/EMTs currently function to a degree higher than both paramedics/EMTs in real life, so perhaps the name could reflect that? I’m at a loss for suggestions though, sadly. Chada’s ‘Emergency Respondent’ suggestion works well too with nothing that suggests either paramedic or EMT. Merging the physician roles I can’t get behind for the numerous reasons I’ve mentioned above. I’ve discussed it a bit lately and really thought about it, but I’ve not shifted. There is genuine deviance between how these roles function and act, and I believe that makes up for the lack of mechanics separating them, but even then, mechanics can be suggested to further separate them, and I think that is a far better avenue to take than merging them to the detriment of people who play these roles and enjoy the dynamics they offered.

Okay, another medical change that’s stolen my attention. This suggestion has raised a lot of concerns, so I’ll address each one individually, which may take a while - apologies in advance. Beginning with the general idea of a Biologistics Department, I don’t really believe it makes any sense for what its function will be on the station. This department seems like its main aim is biological research, but that is incompatible with the function of a Medical Department. Is a Biological Researcher meant to study and research the wounds of a patient who has just come in with a broken leg or something, what are they meant to be researching, and if they are researchers, why are they assuming the roles of a doctor, too? Scientists are usually equipped with PhDs (and any equivalents for the various alien species) whereas physicians are equipped with MDs, these two doctorates being very different in what they allow - while a biologist may have the knowledge to treat a gunshot wound to a decent degree, ultimately their abilities and knowledge pale in comparison to a physician; a physician may have a good understanding of researching biological processes, but again, that would pale in comparison to a biologist. The function of the Medical Department is to treat crew injuries, and incredibly severe ones at that, which I don’t see a Biologistics Department feasibly able to do without claiming to have both PhDs and MDs, but then that would mean everyone except the interns/assistant biologists would be in their late thirties/forties or something. A Biologistics Department would primarily focus on researching biology, but there is no equipment to really be able to do that, and then you’d come across issues of what can be researched - it’s 2462 and we’ve essentially mastered cloning technology, cryotherapy, advanced medications, et cetera, I don’t know any ideas of what could be researched pertaining to biology that wouldn’t require an incredibly imaginative mind which I, sadly, lack. In summary, I don’t really see how a biologistics department, a department of biologists, can sufficiently act to the same degree as a Medical Department staffed with actual physicians. My second point is that the Medical Department fits the setting just fine. Our stories are set on a space station, in space which is no surprise, with miners prone to falling, in an incredibly hostile environment with carp and blobs, where there has been at least a year and a half (that’s as long as I’ve been around, but I’m sure there were high-action canonical events before I joined the community) of history of firefights and incursions aboard the N.S.S. Aurora. It makes an incredible amount of sense for NanoTrasen to have installed a Medical Department on their space station due to those issues - a Medical Department staffed by actual trained physicians and surgeons, and not researchers doubling as both roles. If a miner falls down a hole and breaks their arm and punctures their suit, you want a department full of doctors and surgeons nearby trained to remove hardsuits, treat arterial bleeding surgically or with medication, and trained to bone-glue fractures up; if a school of migrating carp are coming by and they’re intent on depressurising the station, you want a a team of physicians trained to deal with health problems related to depressurisation; you don’t a team of researchers prodding you trying to to further understand the exact mechanism behind your impending death. The Medical Department already makes perfect sense on a space station, maybe it’s not perfect how it’s currently laid out, but it makes sense and functions well-enough. And when the Next Big Thing comes around and the setting will be moved onto that of a mobile expeditionary vessel, then a Medical Department will make even more sense as there are likely not going to be any decently equipped hospital or clinics nearby. My third concern is the mushing together of all of the physician roles into one role. Powergaming concerns asides, this could damage one of the largest aspects of playing Medical: teamwork and coordination. I have the pleasure of playing Chief Medical Officer every now and then and getting to see a Medical Department, with a varied roster, all working together like clockwork is fascinating. Describing a recent round: we had a trauma physician, surgeon and myself. I opted to remain clear of the various wards, allowing the surgeon and trauma physician to triage the five or six officers who had come in mauled by a changeling, and between them they determined who was the most critical, and thus under the domain of the trauma physician to be treated in the ICU, and who was the most in-need of surgery, and thus under the domain of the surgeon. There was an observable flow of patients entering the GTR, going through triage, then either being admitted to the ICU for the trauma physician to treat or diverted to the 3-person queue outside of the COT for the surgeon to treat. In other rounds, you can see this same thing, though they are definitely rare. When they do come around they really emphasise the importance of having roles that are split into clear responsibilities and can-do’s and cannot-do’s. If you were to mush all of the physician roles into Biological Researcher, then you won’t have this, you’ll have lost one of the best aspects of Medical. You’ll open the door for Biological Researchers being know-it-alls who are knowledgeable about every field within the Medical/Biologistics department, and you will also diminish the emphasis on team work as roles are no longer clearly defined, which will probably result in a lot of overstepping. And my fourth concern is related to the first con you outline, that ‘people are attached to medical roles […] and this is going to make them angry/sad/upset.’ Yep. As someone who’s never really enjoyed playing the other departments, turning the Medical Department into a sciency knock-off of one will probably leave me stranded. That’s all I have for this one: medical makes sense as it is; a biologistics department doesn’t make sense to me; this change would, as Lemei mentioned, homogenise the roles which removes the flavour of each one which, from my view, would remove the already diminished and rare sense of teamwork from Medical.

I’m kind of against the need to change the names of real-life chemicals to made up chemicals because I foresee it being detrimental to a lot of roleplay involving the pharmacy and people who stick prescriptions on their record. By having real life drugs, it allows folk to do a cursory bit of research on it, see what they can and cannot do when on that medication, etc., and with that information, include some aspects to their characters that may help develop them - I’ve seen this several times when I play chemist; I’ve done it a handful of times with my own characters. Removing real life chemicals makes this task impossible and requires you to resort to whatever little amount of information there will be about on the made-up drug and pharmacists/chemists won’t be able to explain drugs and how they work to interested prescription-collectors, unless they create their own head-lore (which will, of course, be inconsistent among players). By solving the small, medium or large issue of people complaining that “X drug is not realistic because X drug in real life does this and this, not that.” - which is an issue, I agree - I feel like you will only cause another issue of people not being able to look at real life effects of the drug at all due to them being stripped from the game which could be beneficial in their roleplay. Another detriment to this change is the lack of effort behind some of the proposed chemical names. Because of this and the seeming inevitability that this PR will go through, I spent roughly two hours coming up with what feels like a lexicon of chemical names which are mash-up of Latin and pre-existent chemicals (see below). I feel like more time needs to be put into creating new, alternative names for the chemicals you wish to re-name because, currently, some of the names feel like a cruel joke - Antihistadryl, for example - and, when you consider that these changes will likely be semi-permanent, that’s not a good thing. It feels like you’re trying to merge this PR too fast, with too little feedback, and with too little thought put into each chemical name. Some suggested alternatives and their explanations: Anyway, that’s all I have. Thanks.

Okay, normally I stay off the forums for the most part, but I’ve seen a handful of lamentable changes to Medical recently and I tend to regret not commenting on the feedback posts regarding them. Keeping it brief and tackling only the suggestion to remove the Trauma Physician role, I was honestly expecting it as the role was utterly gelded by the somewhat recent stasis bag nerf. Since the introduction of Brainmed, trauma physicians have generally been recognised by people in medical as the folk who are incredibly capable of orchestrating the treatment of patients who are asystole or incredibly likely to go into asystole, knowing exactly what to do and how to instruct 2 or 3 other people to help them. Quite often, you would see a patient in the middle of the ICU in a stasis bag with a trauma physician and a couple of other medical staff looking at a scan planning, in depth, how they would tackle each problem causing the patient’s asystole, with the trauma physician usually being the one taking point. I’m not aware of how many people have been in situations like this but these moments are arguably some of the best moments I’ve had in the year I’ve played in Medical - people all gathering around a stasis-bagged patient, scan in hand, taking around five minutes to just devise a treatment plan for saving someone - and I’ve heard similar from other medical players. Lately, these situations have become an incredibly scarce sight as, with stasis bags being nerfed to the point where they are now more reliable at putting someone into asystole than aiding in taking someone out and to the point where people are incredibly hesitant about using stasis bags that they may as well have been entirely removed. It is now impossible to spend ~5 minutes assembling a group as a trauma physician where you can then plan with others how to save a patient’s life, which was arguably one of the biggest features of playing trauma physician that I noticed when playing trauma physician myself and when admiring how other people played trauma physicians. To argue that, currently, trauma physicians are not bloat would be a tad silly because, right now, they are bloat, though not because they’re a role identical to the physician role or because they add nothing to Medical, because they do, but instead they’re bloat because everything that made trauma physicians attractive to play has been gutted - the nerfing of stasis bags prevents them from gathering a group of medical staff to plan and orchestrate the resuscitation of a patient who is asystole because, now, by the time you get a group of people to help you in the ICU, the patient is already dead (if not stasis-bagged) or with blood oxygenation levels that won’t rise depending on how long you bagged them. What used to be a role where you could communicate with those around you closely to devise a stratagem to treat asystole has been reduced to a role in which you’re under constant pressure to act fast, without communicating, because you have no means of delaying the progression of the asystole case via the use of stasis bags which would then allow you to communicate and plan. Not only that, but the crack down on trauma physicians doing surgeries, despite them being, arguably, more qualified to perform some of the more advanced surgeries than regular physicians, who are akin to internists in my view, has also removed the attraction to the role. I don’t see myself playing a trauma physician with the recent changes, and the trauma physicians who I have seen play the role lately are playing it more for backstory purposes than the actual role differences that there used to be. The role of trauma physician has been made to be the same as the physician role, when before they were quite different, and that's where the problem lays, from my perspective of things. So, with all of that said, and I hope I didn’t delve too far into the stasis bag issue which isn’t part of this pull request, though I felt it necessary to give some context, I’m against removing trauma physicians because, while they are not so dissimilar from physicians currently, I’m hoping that there will be a better future for the role - especially when the Next Big Thing comes around - where the differences between the roles are more visible and can be appreciated again by people who enjoyed playing the trauma physician role, though this may just be wishful thinking on my end. Removing the role has no benefits. I’d also just like to encourage any other people who have or do play trauma physicians to chime in on what they believe made the role attractive to them and whether the sentiment I’m expressing is one that others may share, whether recent changes made the role as similar as it is to physician nowadays, or whether it has always been similar. I'll be fun hearing the opinions of other folk who play in Medical. Anyway, thanks for reading this. I said I’d keep it brief but clearly I haven’t.

Their memory hasn't been altered, mostly because it's a backstory I'd enjoy exploring through dialogue with others, playing the character, and tweaking it further. The memory update/alterations in the hospital and in the brief period they were working around District 9 were much for the same reason as her memory update/alterations for being employed at NanoTrasen; mainly to solidify ownership, to ensure Rosie is aware that they're owned and who they belong to so that they work at their best when on display to the public and higher-ups within the resus.ward/hospital and then when they're working out in the field within D9. - In hindsight, memory re-write does sound like their memory is being re-written, as opposed to some internal clarification as to who they're owned by.

I briefly mentioned in the backstory that, after being sold to NanoTrasen, their memory would be updated/altered to register NanoTrasen as their new owner. Rosie will not be against this so much, having been owned before at a hospital where they were likely branded and subject to similar memory re-writes.

Reporting Personnel: Dr. Robert de Winter Job Title of Reporting Personnel: Captain Game ID: b5M-dkP3 (when the report was made to my character) Personnel Involved: Jake Jarvis, Security Officer (NT.), Visitor at time of reporting- Witness Lena Hegarty, Cargo Technician (NT.), Visitor at time of reporting - Witness Myraal Al'Khazar, Visitor - Offender Secondary Witnesses: Xuleix Iruun-Sulox, an investigator with an undisclosed, likely federal, agency of the Jargon Federation. They were investigating the father of the adopted child (detailed below) before his death, their case then expanded when the aforementioned individuals gained interest over the child. Time of Incident: Real Time: Reported at ~2230GMT, 19/02/20 (DD/MM/YY) Location of Incident: Not localised to a specific area. Nature of Incident: [ ] - Workplace Hazard [ ] - Accident/Injury [ ] - Destruction of Property [ ] - Neglect of Duty [ X ] - Harassment [ ] - Assault [ ] - Misconduct [ X ] - Other | Possible relation to mob activity within District 6. Overview of the Incident: Following the adoption of a skrell child (name not disclosed to maintain privacy), employees Miss. Lena Hegarty (henceforth L.H.) and Mr. Jake Jarvis (henceforth J.J.) were approached on two occasions by a tajaran associate of the criminal father of the skrell child who is deceased. The individual, Mr. Myraal Al'Khazar (henceforth M.A.), offered a sum of credits to purchase the child from L.H. and J.J., saying, '[ I ] am not happy with her father's work'. Both L.H. and J.J. refuted this proposition, though were approached a second time in a later shift by this 'mobster' (so L.H., J.J. and the investigator, Mr. Xuleix Iruun-Sulox (henceforth X.I.), claim - I was unable to confirm whether this individual has a criminal record within Tau Ceti) who is intent on gaining hold of the adopted skrell child. Both have expressed their concern over this matter and, seemingly, are incredibly uncomfortable as one may expect, and so I believe, as a Captain who was deemed privy to this information, that action must be taken to ensure M.A. does not continue to harrass L.H. and J.J. who are valued employees working with NanoTrasen, and that we aid X.I. in capturing the tajaran individual who can very likely be linked back to tajaran gang violence within District 6. It is unlikely M.A. will have any records within NanoTrasen databases, though it could be possible to liaise with the Republic of Biesel to obtain criminal records linked to the name which will allow us to act further. Submitted Evidence: None. Did you report it to a Head of Staff or a superior? If so, who? If not, why?: The incident was reported to myself, a captain with NanoTrasen Corporation working aboard the N.S.S. Aurora, during a brief meeting. Actions taken: Central Command was informed, however the fax system has been unreliable as of late and a Dominian Prince scam was sent as a reply instead of an official response. An injunction was also filed in the event the individual turned up that shift. A copy of the entire report is attached below. Additional Notes: Attached Report:

BYOND Key: Sadkermit Character Names: Species you are applying to play: Integrated Positronic Chassis What color do you plan on making your first alien character: Undecided Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yes, several times over. Why do you wish to play this specific race: Simply to explore various concepts that arise when creating IPC characters as I go along (detailed below). There is no singular reason that I can identify. Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: For the most part (and in regards to owned IPCs, which I will likely see myself playing more than unowned IPCs), IPCs are more professional and efficient, otherwise they risk being deactivated or wiped or sold, at least by working to a sufficient degree they may be afforded some modicum of freedom. Their self-preservation directive would be constantly pushing them to do better and to please their employers, or at any moment, they could be replaced with another model which can. All IPCs, owned or not, are of course robotic in nature. They can vary in how well they imitate humans, how much they may even aspire to be like humans, or whether they have a superiority complex to make up for the fact they are slaves within society. They approach tasks different, instead of investing feelings and emotion into something, they may tackle the task more logically and systemically. In the field of medicine, where most of my characters will likely be, this could lead to so many different ways of roleplay - whether you patients are treated with a holistic mindset, or whether your character checks lists and diagnoses due to met conditions. Character Name: Rosie Backstory: Rosie, Baseline IPC, Emergency Physician Created in 2453 at Hephaestus Production Station Sidirourgeio. Commissioned by the Republic of Biesel at a cost of 103,599 credits, Rosie was designed for use in the resuscitation ward of Mendell City General Hospital's A&E/ER department. Programmed with the most up-to-date medical software at the time, they are capable of performing all procedures that would have been required in the resuscitation ward; Rosie is also equipped with decent social and emotional emulation software to allow for great bedside manners and team co-ordination. When they begun their work, they mostly showed little little empathy, treating the issues as they came in, working quickly and efficiently to keep patients flowing out of the resus. ward, though while working in the resus. ward, they learned how valuable and cherished life was to people, and how quickly it could be lost due to poor decisions or simply unfortunate circumstance. In 2458, after several years working in the resus. ward, and with the reluctant introduction of a large vaurcae population into Mendell City society and a larger amount of the high-end IPC models being introduced to Mendell City’s General Hospital, Rosie was relieved of their duties within the resuscitation ward and was re-assigned to a small team of pre-hospital emergency medicine physicians & critical care paramedics who worked in tandem with the MCPD to respond to calls in District 9. Picked due to their neutral stance, Rosie would attend incidents related to gang fights between vaurcae D9 and tajara D6 populations, fights between vaurcae hives, as well as the frequent systemic k’ois mycosis case - often having to enter the quarantined homes of infected individuals to remove the parasite on-scene. They would work this position for a decent amount of time. Overtime, after working for 3 years in District 9 and the outer boundaries of neighbouring districts, Rosie would prove too expensive to maintain, with damage sustained by any of the various gangs within D9 needing to be repaired, and the occasional deep and thourough cleans that would have to be done after any response to a k’ois mycosis infected individual. They were slowly and gradually retired from service, cleaned and repaired one more time, and advertised for sale. Rosie next woke up following an update to their software and a memory re-write which registered NanoTrasen as their new owner, the medical department aboard the Aurora their new workplace. Rosie’s view on her ownership and how easily it is for those who own her to shut her down and move her around as they will is rather simple. They have no intention on purchasing their freedom as it would impact their ability to continue to live and pay for maintenance, and could also impact job opportunities. They largely see themselves as a tool for delivering quality care to any patients they are assigned to. What do you like about this character? I'm going to try and play them as an efficient and professional robot, one that is largely methodological and exact. I quite like these traits in characters, so there's one. The background they have is also one that I really like and have been trying to explore in a character, though have yet until now, hopefully it will allow for some good anecdotes and approaches to situations that occur during rounds. How would you rate your role-playing ability? 'I’d rate my roleplaying ability at anywhere between 7 and 8 - it depends on the character I'm playing. Since June, I’ve gathered some feedback as to how well I can roleplay and I’ve stepped back to see how well I’m doing myself, I believe I’ve improved marginally, and plan to continue doing so. My roleplay quality shifts a lot depending on who I play, which is something I hope to fix, becoming more consistent with my roleplay despite which character I've joined the round as.' - I wrote this on my dionae application at the very end of last year, I still believe this to be my stance on how well I roleplay. I've not been gathering feedback so much as of late, and so I cannot say if there is any marked improvement. Notes: None. Edits: 18/02/20: Missed details 19/02/20: Spelling correction 21/02/20: Edited list of characters.

BYOND Key: Sadkermit Character Names: Species you are applying to play: Dionae What color do you plan on making your first alien character: A light, oak floorboard colour. Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Numerous times. Why do you wish to play this specific race: The idea of playing a dionae has intrigued me for a fair while, almost since I started playing here, though I’ve never made the effort of applying for this alien whitelist until now (actually now, not in September when I wrote this). The lore behind the dionaea is really interesting and I feel like I can incorporate a lot of it into any characters I make with this whitelist, and with how small of a presence dionaea have in the medical bay where I mainly play, it would always be great to introduce one or two. Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: The main feature of dionaea setting them apart from other species in roleplay, is that they’re an amalgamation of several conscious organisms and must argue amongst themselves to come to a conclusion before acting out something - this contributing to their obvious slow nature. When roleplaying a human, you can go more off your own impulses and what you think there and then (unless you're playing a wildly different character from yourself); when roleplaying a dionae however, you’ve got to slow down and consider what each individual nymph at that point may be thinking, all depending on individual personalities you may have given each nymph - this could lead to interesting conflicts of interests which further develop your gestalts’ character. Another interesting feature of dionaea that makes them different to roleplay compared to the average human is that dionaea are incredibly inquisitive and knowledgeable. Knowledge is all that dionaea value, and this allows the creation of some interesting character concepts. A dionae has a huge capacity for knowledge, more than any human, and some may wish to completely fill this capacity up to the brim with own experiences and sometimes even those of other, occasionally safekeeping the memories of other organisms who have passed so their memories live on with the gestalt. This curiosity would play a large part in any gestalts I create down the line. Character Name: Perusals Into the Reservoir of Souls, the Stream Connecting Source to Reservoir, and the Vessel. - a long-ish name, justified by the backstory, I hope. Backstory: The core nymph of Reservoir of Souls was grown in the dodgy greenhouse of a psychiatric hospital facility on Biesel by an inpatient who couldn't quite get the thermostat working properly, thus it’s more light colouration that would be expected from dionaea who were grown in more arid regions. Reservoir of Souls became their therapy nymph, similar to a therapy dog, such that it would snuggle up with them and accompany them to counselling sessions to comfort them. During this time, Reservoir of Souls would skitter about doing the normal nymph things; pinching some blood from each of the staff around the facility and also some inpatients, as well as collecting other kinds of biological matter like loose hair caught on furniture in the therapy room. By doing this, Reservoir of Souls would gradually learn about the basics of therapy (from consuming biological mass of psychiatrists/psychotherapists), but also of the struggle of those with mental illnesses (from consuming biological mass of inpatients, learning about their condition and how such people want to be treated et cetera.) It would spend the duration of the inpatient's stay observing it's treatment, then getting left behind after the inpatient was discharged from the facility, left behind as the patient realised how valuable the nymph was to other inpatients who also were comforted by Reservoir of Souls. As Reservoir of Soul’s core nymph got older, it would form a gestalt having fused with newer nymphs of it's own seeding. Reservoir of Souls, now a gestalt, would be keen to help out the troubled folk around Biesel, to understand how and why people reach such stages of life and how people could be fixed, per se, so their life becomes worth-while to live, and would have some of the knowledge to do that from the snippets of information it gained from site staff. It would demonstrate this, and after appealing to some of the psychiatrists on-site, they would refer Reservoir of Souls to the company's higher-ups who works out a grant that would allow Reservoir of Souls to be trained as a psychotherapist. It would work this position for several decades, seeing hundreds of patients with varying conditions, before seeking the training to become a clinical psychologist where it could not only do clinical work, but actually research and see the science behind people's minds and how mental illnesses were causes and treated, their effects on life and such. At first, it would treat patients very systematically and analytically - despite being old in the eyes of a human, it may not have developed a massive range of emotions - though eventually it would have a more emotional, holistic outlook on psychotherapy. Several decades more, having established itself as a knowledgeable psychologist in the private field with it's own office where it sees troubled people, it would begin to develop it's own theory. It would theorise and work with other great minds, eventually developing it's own theory that it further researched in a lab setting, then incorporated into it's clinical practise, possibly publishing a book too. It would be at this point it took the name 'Perusals Into the Reservoir of Souls, the Stream Connecting Source to Reservoir, and the Vessel', old and knowledgeable in it's field with decades of experience and then even more experience from the biological matter it consumed from inpatients and psychiatric staff during it's nymph days. A familiar conglomerate would become aware of Reservoir of Souls, offering various incentives (credits, a better accommodation given it spent all of it's credits on developing it's theory and publishing the book, and maybe some coupons for the blood market) to have Reservoir of Souls employed aboard the Aurora where it would do both clinical work (helping crew) and scientific work (doing the occasional psychology lab experiment). What do you like about this character? The two things I like the most about Reservoir of Souls though would be: one) it’s theory, which, keeping it minimal, combines several fields of science that are studied aboard the Aurora including xenobiology, bluespace science, and the standard biological psychology, and would be a blast to try and apply to patients who do choose to see Reservoir of Souls - I would hope it be interesting for any players who do turn up to Reservoir of Soul’s counselling sessions as it would be quite different from the standard sessions done by most psych’s; and two) just the backstory in general which was fun to write and will be even more fun to explore as I play and develop the character, expanding on certain niches of Reservoir of Soul’s character as it is asked question or encounters things that could relate to it’s development pre-employment aboard the Aurora. How would you rate your role-playing ability? I’d rate my roleplaying ability at anywhere between 7 and 8 - it depends on the character I'm playing. Since June, I’ve gathered some feedback as to how well I can roleplay and I’ve stepped back to see how well I’m doing myself, I believe I’ve improved marginally, and plan to continue doing so. My roleplay quality shifts a lot depending on who I play, which is something I hope to fix, becoming more consistent with my roleplay despite which character I've joined the round as. Notes: Oh, yeah. Happy New Year. Edits: 1) 04/01/20 - Grammar. Changes highlighted in green.

Starting confrontations is also something I hate doing, so I hope to keep this light and brief. Windsor isn't meant to be nice, she's all about being fast and efficient and dislikes people who slow her down or critique her, there are huge IC problems stemming off that which have been entertaining for all involved. Ever since I noticed the tension between Windsor and Greyson, I've been meaning for Windsor to apologise, but it just makes no sense for her to, more so now that it's calmed down a bit; regarding Nietzsche, that's a personality conflict I don't know how to solve, personalities clashed and it sparked dislike for one another. I personally think this is just a problem in-character, but I'm happy to resolve it OOCly too. I'm not Windsor, teaching interns/residents and giving real, constructive criticism is one of my more favourite things to do in medical and has led to some really great interactions with other players. I promise that for every poor critique from Windsor, I've had my other characters give out a plentiful amount of helpful comments and I could easily refer you to some players who've benefited from them. I'm sorry if you believe my character is rude and abrasive all the time, but I think the situation we were in demanded it. Your character was absurdly drunk, possibly threatening/insulting the intern my character was with, and, after hearing the intern insult you back, was committing battery against the intern. I do think I may have resorted to the flash too quickly, I'm sorry about that, but it's never something I've done before, I only ever retaliate and try not to make the first move - even with something so non-lethal such as a flash. I don't want to pick on this too much about it as I've noticed you've filed an IR, so I hope everything is cleared up in the investigation and it remains in-character from here onwards. Regarding the Research Director's death, we treated them as best we could. I admit to making a mistake in regards to using a standard table instead of a roller bed to do a hardsuit removal in the heat of the moment, but otherwise, blood loss was the immediate concern (30-40% blood in her, toxins already high, time is very limited at that point) and I called for the appropriate equipment to deal with it, half of it just did not arrive on time. From there on, my performance just dropped the remainder of the round because I could feel the eyes of everyone observing and ridiculing me, especially some of the players who I've noticed are very caustic, for that I apologise. My CMO specialises in general medicine and surgery. She refuses to do any psychology, and is only capable of basic-intermediate chemistry (she can't make anything under the advanced tab, nor does she touch the cryo mixtures). The two times I recall going up to the virology lab as Marcello were both on changeling rounds and was to analyse a blood sample to see if it contained any pathogens, she can't do anything more than that. I do recall a recent round where I went up to cure a virus, but I really can't remember if it was as Windsor or Marcello. If I was playing as Marcello, I'm very sorry, I'll ensure it doesn't happen again. I said above in my application that the only administrative action taken against me so far (an informal one, at that), was because as a surgeon I was making advanced chemicals, ever since then I've always made sure my characters aren't know-it-alls. To both of you: I hope your observations in these last days of my trial can change your minds, even if only a bit. I've dropped Marcello from the lime-light temporarily while I revise her a bit, given she seems to be the source of a lot of my problems; I've also been trying to find out where I've gone wrong OOCly and plan to ask for a few tips and some guidance from those who have had the opportunity to gain experience. I personally think that you've both missed some decent highlights of mine while playing as Marcello, but if given the opportunity, I hope to weed out future moments like those that you have witnessed and replace them with future moments that were similar to those that you missed. Both of your critiques wont be ignored, I'm going to make changes were possible to alleviate your concerns and start a fresh, clean page. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to change by raising and clarifying your concerns regarding me and my characters, I really hope this was a one-off thing and I don't present any more problems to you or anyone else for that matter (though it's inevitable I'll make some mistakes while I figure out how command works).

Character names: Ciara Chipperfield (Psychiatrist) Roy (Stationbound) Alexander Nietzsche (Surgeon) Faith Windsor (Biochemist) Vincent Lemmons (Quartermaster) -> (Head of Personnel) Rosa Marcello (Chief Medical Officer) Jack Welbourn (Engineering Apprentice) How long have you been playing on Aurora?: I’ve been playing since the 29th/30th of April, almost non-stop. Why do you wish to be on the whitelist?: I decided that I would apply for the command whitelist about two or three weeks ago. Initially, I came to this decision just because I had some ambitious characters I wanted to bring into play, some unique stories to tell; though more recently, my reasoning has expanded beyond that. I've always enjoyed taking lead positions, helping a team advance, giving insight to people listening to me, and managing things from above- even if that means paperwork, as some know. This was a large reason behind me applying for this whitelist, it would allow me to manage the departments I know and love to play in and help those playing below my characters. It would accredit me as someone who can be trusted to steer someone's roleplay in the right direction. Even without a whitelist now, I tend to be relied upon to help those unfamiliar with the department I'm playing in (mostly medical) and to take lead, though without the title of department head, it sometimes becomes a problem which had led to some interesting but stressful scenarios that tend to leave one party flustered. Another reason why I wish to be on the whitelist is that I believe I can introduce some interesting characters with real, believable yet unique stories to tell and draw someone into. A lot of my characters have traits that I leave for others to discover, or methods of interacting that are different to normal and all the more fun. With the whitelist, I'd like to introduce or further develop some of these characters to give more life to the shifts I'm playing in and to offer some more interesting interactions to those I roleplay with. Finally, and the reason of least importance yet of most value to me, I wish to apply for this whitelist because it has been suggested that I do so by some friends, in character and out of character. This was what really pushed me to fill in this application when before I doubted myself. Why did you come to Aurora?: I got involved with Aurora because I was new to SS13 and was looking for a roleplay-oriented community, Aurora was the first HRP server I checked out and fit the bill well. I’ve stayed since as most of the people I’ve met have been great to speak to. That and the lore is very detailed, browsing the forum’s lore sections have been quite interesting, especially some of the news articles which I’ve incorporated into my characters development. Have you read the Aurora wiki on the head roles and qualifications you plan on playing?: I have, several times. Have you received any administrative actions? And how serious were they? There was one instance where, when playing a surgeon, I made some drugs listed under the Advanced Chemicals section of the chemistry guide. I was given the heads-up that I should keep to basic chemicals else I’d be power-gaming, and have since when playing the surgeon. Asides from that, I’ve received no warnings nor have I been kicked out of a round. 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: Roleplay is a form of escapism and story-telling set in a universe with it's own lore, be it similar or completely different to our universe. You envision and create characters with their own backstories, traits and ambitions, and weave them together with other people's characters during interesting interactions to come up with amazing, emotional stories. These stories then weave into other stories to expand on the universe you’re roleplaying in itself, leading to a collectively crafted and maintained universe. Decisions you make can impact future events, from small things such as destroying your relationships with other characters, to being the catalyst of universe-effecting policy changes. What do you think the OOC purpose of a Head of Staff is, ingame?: Having thought about this a lot, I’ve come up with four main purposes for Head of Staffs in game: Firstly, a head of staff should act as a liaison between non-antag players and antagonists. They should ensure everyone in their department is not left out and that everyone can enjoy something from the round. No fun can be had if there’s a crisis going on next door in another department and you’re sitting around doing nothing, not even aware of what’s going on. Secondly, a fairly important purpose of a head of staff is to ensure cohesion between personnel In your department. They are to make sure no one is left out and that everyone is contributing towards a successful round in regards to a good, functioning department. Further expanding on the second point, a head of staff should ensure communication between their department and others, keeping in contact with other heads of staff and coordinating things from above so everyone is working together and, if done right, more efficiently. And lastly, but not least, a head of staff should root out problems. This is mostly done by being approachable for those who are new to the department or looking for advice, so they can be mentored, but can also mean giving a stern but constructive talk to those who are experienced but have slipped up. What do you think the OOC responsibilities of whitelisted players are to other players, and how would you strive to uphold them?: I haven’t been able to think of any responsibilities that whitelisted players have differing them from standard players, though given that a whitelist can highlight those who are experienced and well-versed in the community’s lore, two OOC responsibilities could be to mentor those looking for help and to also introduce those to our lore, integrating it into their roleplay. Could you give us the gist of what is currently happening in Tau Ceti and how it affected your character and their career? I wouldn’t say anything massively impactful is currently happening in Tau Ceti, definitely nothing that would have a significant and noticable impact on any of my characters. Something to note may be the recent recovery of a marooned Sol Alliance captain’s corpse and drone who my quartermaster, Lemmons’, miners (Krovajson, Dmitri- all credit to them) rescued as he co-ordinated their recovery. This isn’t major but could be seen as his first recognition, giving him confidence and ambition and motive to become even better. He spent a large portion of his life assisting the Sol Alliance in their conflicts in the human frontier, this serves as a glimpse back to his previous life before he moved to Tau Ceti. Faith Windsor and Alex Nietzsche pay little attention to the news, living in their own worlds. Windsor, especially, deals with things immediately before her and doesn’t like getting political. What roles do you plan on playing after the application is accepted? The roles I hope to play once being whitelisted are: Chief Medical Officer, I’m confident in my abilities to lead the medical department as a CMO, knowing what it takes; and Head of Personnel, a role I feel will introduce me to more aspects of the station than just medical, which I’ve stuck mostly to. I also intend to play the Captain role a lot later down the line, I’ve not yet drafted plans for the character which would take this Captain role however . I have plenty to learn and feel that jumping into such an important role immediately would only cause problems, in-character and out-of-character. Characters you intend to use for command or have created for command. Include the job they will be taking.: Vincent Lemmons (pre-existing) - Head of Personnel - Lemmons has a large background in business administration, having been a quartermaster aboard a merchant vessel he was mentored on, and later a Hephaestus Industries vessel. He moved to Nanotrasen when employment at Hephaestus Industries bore no fruit and the merchant vessel he worked aboard was inherited by a son who disliked Lemmons. He’s worked as a quartermaster for some time, and now wishes to step up to a more general administration role; that of a Head of Personnel. Rosa Marcello (new) - Chief Medical Officer - I’ve not got a clear picture of what she will be like, though I intend for her to be a slight amalgamation of all my other characters, yet still completely different. How would you rate your own roleplaying?: I’d rate my roleplay at around 7/10. I can be very detailed and particular when writing actions, being really descriptive and engaging for everyone involved, this is mostly seen when playing my surgeon who loves to teach interns/residents surgery. I have noticed that sometimes I can be a little bit lacking when it comes to roleplay, offering no good me’s (this is a fairly serious problem depending on who I play), though this is a problem I’ve been trying to rectify so my roleplay abilities remain uniform regardless of my character and situation, once that’s sorted, I’d bump my rating to an 8/10. I’m always looking to improve, and feedback is appreciated on my feedback thread. Do you understand your whitelist is not permanent, and may be stripped following continuous administrative action? That is what I’d hope. Have you familiarized yourself with the wiki pages for the command roles? I have read the wiki pages for the command roles I intend to play several times. Extra notes: None.

Can you rename my quartermaster or omit the part where he got crushed by an elevator?-Say he retired to his office for the rest of the shift or something. Thanks. Anyway I really like the articles you do, they're really well put together, and have got my hands on some of your newspapers in-game which always give me a laugh. I'll be looking out for articles you public in-game and here.