BYOND Key: Goolies
Character Names: Mister Newspaper, Ska'zaszhk Guwan, Ra'Akaix'Bruzk Zo'ra
Species you are applying to play: Dionae
What colour do you plan on making your first alien character: A dark colour with some spotty "planty" areas!
Why do you wish to play this specific race: The main reason I was eager to hop onto a Diona was the unique opportunity to play multiple characters within a single character! I’ve always had this idea of embodying different personalities or personas, and the Diona species offers the perfect way to explore that. I’ve tried to achieve something similar by playing as an IPC, it never quite felt the same since Dionae have actual mechanics you can mess around with to achieve this. Dionae, with their distinct mechanics, allow for far more flexibility and depth in roleplaying multiple minds or entities within one physical form. The fact that they’re the only species that lets you engage in this kind of roleplaying is really exciting to me! It opens up so many possibilities for storytelling and character development, I just don't know if people are ready for a goolies character that has MULTIPLE characters inside it...
Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: The most obvious thing I can point out is that instead of playing a single-minded individual, you're playing a gestalt, a collective consciousness made up of conjoined nymphs that're all working together to better their own survival! Your character can take many forms and "types" of gestalts too, making it more of a pick than just "where should I make my human come from?" You have to consider how your gestalt has garnered its knowledge as well, because unlike humans (and the other species!) You gain experience and knowledge through the sampling of blood or DNA from your fellow co-workers. Unlike humans and other species, who spend time learning through books, literature, and direct experience, Dionae can gain flits of knowledge almost instantaneously!
Character Name: Mystic Travels On Paths Yet Unlaid
Please provide a short backstory for this character: Once part of a Colossus, a massive gestalt of countless nymphs that drifted silently through the void of space, their nymphs spanning hundreds of years to only a few weeks old, the unnamed Colossus roamed the stars, travelling from system to system. Its sole purpose was to gather and share knowledge from every corner of the Spur, as many Learning Lyrics types would. The younger nymphs within would frequently break off from the larger whole, venturing onto passing ships and inhabited planets to interact with the other species they encountered. Knowledge wouldn't come without a price, however, and in exchange for the memories, experiences, and skills of those the small fledgling nymphs extracted from countless drops of blood, the collective, even separated, would lean into the mysterious ebb, paying back its price owed with woven predictions and insights about the future from the blood samples it collected, offering cryptic visions of what might come to pass in exchange for the knowledge the split nymphs sought.
After splitting from their whole, the nymphs (including our nameless protagonist!) never truly severed their connection to the massive Colossus. Though they ventured far and wide across the Spur, interacting with other species and gathering knowledge, they always carried with them a deep yearning to return to the Colossus, to once again be part of its vast collective consciousness. They would wait upon the planets they found themselves on or drift aimlessly with the information they had sought until, by chance, the Colossus would eventually return.
It had been restless, exploring unknowns and unaware of when you might be connected back again to your cluster. Decades had passed, and the small nymphs, the ones that had formed their own Cyclops in the absence of their Colossus began to wane in patience. All across the Spur, flecks of what once remained began to come to the conclusion that the great, drifting Colossus simply vanished into the infinite void. The Colossus, their ancient home, had likely been lost to the Spur. One such small handful of nymphs left stranded without its larger consciousness, scattered and isolated, began to sense their connection to one another more keenly. They pooled the knowledge they had acquired from their separate journeys, the wisdom gleaned from the blood samples they had collected. Slowly, piece by piece, they began to merge their minds and bodies, realising that, in the absence of the Colossus, they would have to create something new.
These nymphs, led by their individual insatiable curiosity, coalesced into a small, singular entity. A cyclopean Diona formed from their combined essence. Mystic Travels On Paths Yet Unlaid.
How has the recent events of the Orion Spur impacted your character? I haven't fully planned out all the events and changes in the lore so far and how it'd affect my character I'm trying to go for, but I can already imagine that the more violent ones would definitely leave a sour taste in a Learning Lyric Dionae. As a species, Diona are inherently pacifistic, preferring harmony, understanding, and the peaceful exchange of knowledge. (Unless they're rolling for antag!) Learning Lyrics live for the pursuit of wisdom and mutual growth. To experience the loss of life is a loss of knowledge, potential and the ability to share your experiences. The more violent shifts in power, particularly those involving corruption, would be even more troubling to them. Diona value the purity of knowledge and the exchange of honest ideas, so to see power being used to manipulate, deceive, or destroy would go against everything they hold sacred.
How does your character view the megacorporation they work for? I was going to play them a visiting gestalt. Probably not going to work for anyone! (I've left out a lot of personal opinions the character has on companies, Omnivirate, the Mandates etc, so I'm happy to answer those questions. I want to flesh the character out a little bit more in my head before I fully decide what their opinions are, if they even have opinions at all.)
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I don’t want to immediately give this a -1 without giving you a chance to respond, as that would feel unfair. Instead, I’d like to ask: what’s your plan as a command member when you’re inevitably forced to interact with antagonists? Since you’ve joined, I’ve noticed that you tend to stonewall most antagonist types and often go to cryo when you’re converted in conversion rounds. You also seem to avoid interacting with characters you dislike, choosing to walk away or cryo instead. As a command member, you’ll frequently be involved in gimmicks, some of which you might not enjoy. I understand that it can be frustrating or even aggravating to have to interrupt your RP to participate in a gimmick, but that’s one of the unspoken responsibilities of being in a command role. You mentioned on Discord that you feel uncomfortable during antagonist rounds, which makes me wonder if pursuing a command whitelist really is the best choice?
