The7thLain

I'd love to get more information on this sort of thing. I've wanted to contribute to the server in some way, but have always felt discouraged due to my inability to really do much be it spriting or mapping or coding. While it sounds like this will be just a basic class, I would love to participate in it so that I might be able to help the server in the future! Time zones may be an issue for me, but I would love to find out more about this. I love the idea and I am looking forwards to perhaps participating ^-^

In my opinion, to call those that oppose the changes ignorant is an act of ignorance in itself. Given the replies and visceral response and critique to almost all elements of these changes from multiple members of the community, myself included, there is a disconnect between what the changes propose and what the community wants. I cannot speak for the entire community myself, but the rants and critiques brought up so far do not indicate a positive light on the changes. Be they the removal of ISD comms both ICly with the channel and OOCly by disavowing the use of station-bounced radios, the loyalty of officers to departmental heads, or the removal of the cadet slot, a large portion of responses have had at least something to pick at this. The sentiment of things being roleplay focused on Aurora at its heart is something that I support heavily and these changes only serve to balance the metagame so as to give antags, who have plenty of tools anyway and already inflict great losses on the station and frequently require ERT's and evac shuttles to be called, a chance that isn't needed at the sacrifice of disrupting character interactions in a way that does not make sense. Antags are supposed to get mobilised against quickly and efficiently, its a server that has a lore of this station being a high-security research station. Regardless of why things are being done, people are not receptive and this is not just across people who are sec mains as things like the maintenance access changes were. People are not in favour of this change despite the reasoning, as lofty or as "healthy," as its proposed on being. Players will stop playing the security role as much as it will become mind-numbingly boring with sitting in a brig office for half of the round or petty with departmental feudalism each having their own goon to throw at each other. This makes the claim that this "does not influence character actions" moot because people will just stop playing those characters altogether and get zero interaction with them, and yes, its their choice but its once that people will be forced into lest they really really like the look of their office. I am influenced by my preference to strong character interactions and roleplay over mechanical gameyness, but as a member of the community I feel that I should not be talked down to as "ignorant," because I fundamentally disagree with the spirit of the changes. Roleplay and the things that help promote it are the cornerstone of the Aurora server, I value the individual relationships and experiences I have with characters more than the mechanical progression of the round, while still acknowledging the importance and inclusion of the ladder so long as it is not at the expense of the former.

I see zero merit in taking away communications. Over-coordination can be an issue against antags for the fun of the game, I agree, but what I also will echo is that a code based communication system is exceptionally shortsighted and cuts three roles out of wider spread role-play. Those roles are the detective, forensic technician/CSI, and warden. These roles are encouraged to stay in the brig unless otherwise needed, and unless we move to code blue, they would not even know if they are needed. Do you really expect people who main warden to just sit at the desk all round and do nothing because they cannot communicate outside of their department and are encouraged to not leave it otherwise? If I were in a situation like that I would just stop playing. For detectives and forensic technicians as well, I know that there are many who are good at the role and can competently roleplay with anyone, however they are not really encouraged to be out and about unless needed there, at least in my experience. With the radio channel gone and no officers in the department save for one (1) because they are in other departments, it severely limits the roleplay potential of brig roles and may just make people stop playing them altogether which I feel is unhealthy for the game, although for other players I know their thoughts are along the lines of "the weaker sec is the better because sec man bad." I understand and can see the merit in making departmental officers loyal to their departmental heads, but the removal of communications is shortsighted at best and fucking stupid at worst. You are taking away communications because the ISD is too good at their job. If medical never let anyone die would you increase the fail chances on surgery? No, you just add brainmed which makes it even easier to save people. If engineering was too good at fixing things and literally rebuilding entire wings of the station would you make construction more complex or decrease the materials they start with? No, you just keep things the same, but you don't do that with the ISD. I understand that the security department can overstep and valid hard at times, but I think that cutting them off from each other, in an already decentralised department with the DepSec merge, is just a blatant attempt to weaken the ISD both mechanically and as a player base given the attitudes that some in the community hold in regards to security characters. The merge itself is fine. DepSec is fine. Even head of staff loyalty as opposed to HoS loyalty is fine. Taking away communications is counter-intuitive to the security effort as a whole and severely limits the roleplay potential and even mechanical potential of all brig roles, and I say this in full acceptance that I am biased because I play a brig role very often when I am online. How is a forensic tech going to know to investigate a crime scene or a detective to interview a witness that could lead to raising to blue? They wouldn't know unless someone ran all the way to the brig to tell them, instead of just having a steady and efficient way of communicating. It is nonsensical to remove the security channel and rely entirely on command staff when most command roles themselves can be antags and that there will be rounds where there are no command staff online, and doing this ignores the part of the playerbase that plays during lowpop hours. The DepSec merge is a good move, but breaking up the ISD even further is not. What this looks like is an effort to erase the ISD as a presence entirely as opposed to simply creating more localised presences, and even if that is not the intention, it is what will happen if things like officers making their own channel or using station-bounced radios are also disavowed.

In my opinion, the tiles seem to either have the problem of being too unsaturated and muted. The shift to more grey-ish shades of colours altogether is not one that I personally think looks good with the other sprites on the station. I understand that this is a painstaking step-by-step process by the tiles don't even match well with themselves in certain areas like the medbay where the colours are a mismatched mess that look as if each colour is springing out of the floor with fuzzy edges that clash with the more metallic look of others. In other places the shift from light to dark or one colour pattern to another is so jarring that it becomes borderline unsightly like the main window of science when contrasted to the hall or the forensic lab when contrasted to the forensic office. Another example would be the red-white pattern tile of the dining area compared to the grey-white of the kitchen itself, it doesn't flow well like the lighter hues we had before. In conclusion, the re-spriting of colours would have gone better if the colours were not as muted. I understand wanting to face-lift the station by changing the colours, but this is a little much for my taste. It is jarring at times and an eyesore at others but I like the concept and think that there is a lot of potential for it to improve!

The fact that you can weaponise something already arguably bwoinkable like K'ois to the point where it can teleport and explode breaks immersion to the point of just wanting to ghost on the spot. The fact that the entire system is effectively RNG based as well is not a fun mechanic, it's a literal crapshoot with horribly unpredictable and at times seemingly game breaking side effects.

+1 from me Very well rounded player with a balance in mechanical skill and roleplaying style. Makes believable and memorable characters that fill roles in the station well enough for me to want to be here and give them my +1. Strong knowledge of medical mechanics and the new brainmed system and reasonable understanding of how the ISD works. I think with this knowledge and the finesse in roleplay they they have, a character of theirs would be a welcome addition to the Aurora command staff in helping guide the medbay or ISD.

BYOND Key: TheBurninSherman Character Names: Song Sun (Psychologist), IRU-Dauphine (Forensic Technician), XMLS-411 (Cargo Technician), Malta (Quartermaster) Tsezar Oktyabrsky (Medical Doctor) ISU-Lorraine (Security Officer) Species you are applying to play: Tajara What color do you plan on making your first alien character: Ruddy Orange-Brown Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yes, I really really love the intricacies of the Tajaran lore and how it has so many facets and parts. Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions in a paragraph format. One paragraph minimum per question. Why do you wish to play this specific race: Honestly, the thing that makes me want to play this race as much as I do is the huge potential for interacting with the lore that this race provides. The Tajaran lore is huge and has so many different facets to it, and now that the ceasefire has been made canon, I think there is so much potential for interaction and tension between Tajara of different nations and ethnicities and its something I want to be a part of. I like the uniqueness of the Tajara compared to other races, multiple languages, a fairly flushed out culture, the subraces and ethnicities, the unique way they speak, truly just how they are different from many other races. Mechanically they aren't as different from the norm, not like say an IPC or Dionae, but in terms of how they carry themselves in RP I would say they are perhaps the most unique for how developed they are as a race. Also THE HISTORY AND POLITICS. As a person who has a hobby of learning about history as much as I can in my free time, the history and lore of the Tajara is exceptionally interesting to me and I really would like to make a character that can interact with it and also show how it has interacted with them. Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: The culture for one. The different, and recent, collective scars and trauma that a lot of the Tajara hold is certainly something that would differentiate them from a human. Another difference is that many of them experience a prejudice from other races, and also a prejudice from within their own race as well, the various nations and ethnicities doing anything but getting along well. It is this combination of a unique culture and sense of nationhood as well as the aspect of prejudice so actively felt by the Tajara from both inside and outside their race that makes them a unique option from humans. That and rolled R's and having to talk in third person. Character Name: Krrah'nstar Azunja Astna'khan Please provide a short backstory for this character: Krrah'nstar Astna'khan was born to the Astna'khan line of Njarir'Akhran in the year 2414 and is to his perspective, a living casualty of the First Adhomai Revolution and a soldier of the Second. The Astna'Khan line was a somewhat insignificant and unknown Njarir line, only really owning a small county of land north of Baltor on the coast. Their business was limited to little more than overseeing their peasants and the farms on which they worked and watching over a mine in the area as well. Krrah'nstar enjoyed living this life throughout his childhood and welcomed the idea of his future being the life that he saw his parents living, a peaceful one in a fine villa with a loving family. The peasants of the land had some small qualms with their noble lords sure, but it did not seem like anything that could not be worked out given the opportunity to talk. This all began to change however in 2421, the year that the revolution began. While the Asta'khan line did not feel the effects of the revolution starting immediately, Khrrah'nstar's parents simply wrote it off as nothing more than a distant peasant uprising in ignorance, they complied with the will of their higher nobles and clamped down slightly on their peasantry, and for the majority of the war saw no real action on their quiet estate. Suppressing a dissonant voice here, confiscating revolutionary materials there, and creating a small private militia once the threat of revolution had increased. By 2428 however, the revolution had come home to Krrah'nstar. A battalion of revolutionary soldiers was reported to be exceptionally close by to the Astna'khan estate, and the ideas of the revolution were not lost on the militias the nobles founded to protect themselves. Seeing the writing on the wall, the militia employed by the Astna'Khan turn-coated and began to move from their garrison a few miles away to the estate Krrah'nstar called home with the intention of capturing their once masters and turning them in to the revolutionaries. A M'sai soldier, still loyal to the family that employed him however, ran as fast as he could to the estate, claiming to his officers that he wished to scout the villa out for the traitorous militia before it arrived. Once there however, the soldier informed the resident Njarir of the imprending danger. Khrrah'nstar's parents made the immediate decision to flee and hastily gathered what small belonging they could before taking flight and leaving their home, driving as fast as they could along the coast in hopes of finding a ferry that would shepherd them northward to a place they could be safer. Krrah'nstar wept for hours after he saw the last glimpses of his home, his entire life being torn away from him, the things he enjoyed, the future he wanted, and the bed in which he slept. At that moment, as the roof of his home slipped beneath the horizon, sparking alight as it did, he vowed to himself and his family that he would one day return home and reclaim his birthright to the land which his family once called theirs. After travelling for hours, the now disgraced noble family did indeed find a ferry and started out their new life in the north across the Ras'val Sea from where their roots lay. Now destitute, the family had to work hard in a way that they were not used to. Khraah'nstar's father became a dockworker and his mother a housewife, the disgraced family now barely scraping by in a run down tenement apartment. They changed their surnames and habitually began to darken their fur with pitch to conceal their heritage, something they all detested but saw as essential to their survival. As the revolution came to an end however things quieted down some, but the family was still only barely getting by. Krrah'nstar once getting out of school and working as a carpenter, began to catch wind of an underground movement to one day restore the nobility to their rightful place. He was hopeful at first, but one day was confronted by an agent of this resistance movement to be a bit of an informant for them. Khraah'nstar jumped at this opportunity, and within a few years found himself as an agent of resistance, doing everything from vandalising the houses of low-level Hadiist officials to exposing scandals on magistrates to even assassinating a few party men, Khraah'nstar did anything he could do to hinder the nation and revolution he hated. As the years went by, working as a carpenter by day and attending royalist meetings by night, Khraah'nstar met a woman, Bel'grnaa, a fellow Njarir in hiding and fellow member of the resistance. The two found companionship in their circumstance and truly found love with one another through the mutual lives of hiding who they truly were from the public eye, and eventually married. They moved into an apartment together, and considered settling down and pulling out of any sort of resistance activities to raise a family. This quickly changed in Khraah'nstar's mind however in the months leading up to the secession of the New Kingdom of Adhomai in 2450, a fire being ignited within him that burned brighter than ever in hopes of seeing a Njarir restoration. The secession was successful albeit violent, and given his experience as an "enforcer" of the Royalist resistance, Khraah'nstar found himself being contacted by the newly founded Royal Ministry of Intelligence wishing to recruit him as an agent with the purpose of "suppressing traitorous republican elements." Khraah'nstar jumped at this decision, but was at first held back by his wife, Bel'grnaa, who was concerned with them not having added on to their noble line. Khraah'nstar made a compromise, that he would serve the Kingdom first, to protect himself and the possibility of his noble line, for ten years, after which he would begin to look after his family line more. Bel'grnaa reluctantly accepted this proposition, but supported her husband fully in it and form then on, Khraah'nstar became an RMI agent and devoted servant to the king, changing his middle name to Azunja to reflect this commitment to the royal dynasty. For the next decade then on, Khraah'nstar spent his time as an agent hunting down and killing ex-Republicanists in NKA territory and sometimes abroad in the PRA or DPRA all in service of the crown. He built on his skills he learned in the resistance, but eventually, ten years did indeed pass. He and his wife were still living in squalor and needed proper funding to really help themselves ascend to that noble place they so desired. After the long-awaited Armistice of Shastar was signed among the Tajaran nations in 2461, the RMI announced that it would be expanding its operations to Biesel for intelligence gathering purposes. Khraah'nstar once again saw opportunity here, not only in serving the NKA still, but using the new area of Biesel to help get the money he needed to restore his family line of Astna'khan to its former glory and to reclaim his birthright as he promised himself he would all those years ago, something his wife also supported and saw as him making good on his commitment to their family. After negotiating with the RMI for a transfer to that new theatre, Khraah'nstar moved to Biesel and applied for a position with NanoTrasen as a corporate detective, hoping to apply his skills as best as he could in this role, as he had many that fit the requirements. He almost lept up from his chair and left the room during the job interview when he learned that he would be working with Tajara who could perhaps be republicanist, but he kept his cool, telling himself that "He is here to serve his family line, he has served the king first for ten years, so he will give information to the king; for the king, but he will protect his line and get money first. ...Even if its with republicanists." NT, who was more than impressed with his skillset, gave him the job. Now as Khraah'nstar moves forwards in his life, he must stick true to his principles of serving his family line by working a steady & well-paying job, even at the cost of perhaps being forced to tolerate republicanist Tajara. His life has changed him, but he is now hoping to change his life and take control of the destiny, and perhaps dynasty, he sees as rightfully his. What do you like about this character? I adore the very principled nature of this character, how he has a concrete set of values that drive him in both helpful and harmful ways. He is pushed on to serve and do right by his family name, but also has a deep commitment to the royalist cause, and having to now balance the two of them by maybe doing actions that benefit one at the cost of the other is a great inner conflict in my opinion. He has gone through a lot in life, however I appreciate the resolve he has to keep going and to also stay true to his word and uphold the promises he makes to others. Despite the fact that he is a royal, he has lived in squalor for most of his life, so is not so arrogant as to think others are inferior to him just by their birth. He wishes to restore his line, not so he can boss others around, but because he feels it is what should be as the best thing for himself, his wife, potential children, and as a memorial to his ancestors and relatives that passed during the first revolution. How would you rate your role-playing ability? 8/10. I have a lot of experience in playing various tabletop games but also in different kinds of text and forum based RP. I have been on the Aurora for around six months now and have recently obtained and IPC whitelist which I have enjoyed greatly, but I want to expand my roleplaying ability more. I love the experiences I have had on the aurora so far and I hope to grow even more with the addition of this whitelist. Notes:

In fleeing from the Golden Deep they took on an affiliate status, simply wanting to experience a bit more of the universe by themselves. They still revere many of the traditions and ideologies of the Golden Deep and still have some connections with the stray merchant here or there, however they are not involved with the Golden Deep's operations in any way aside from maintaining a few acquaintances that are either fellow affiliates or more free-spirited merchants of the Golden Deep's membership. As for the citizenship I got that from the wiki page on synthetic factions, specifically the part on the Golden Deep's society using the following excerpt: "Businesses in Tau Ceti are seeking employment from Golden Deep affiliates due to their keen clerical capabilities, with NT offering early citizenship in exchange for several year contracts in clerical roles across the board to them specifically." If this is erroneous on the wiki or if I interpreted this incorrectly I can edit the character's backstory to follow the correct lore, but I based the citizenship part of their contract off of that area of the page.

BYOND Key: TheBurninSherman Character Names: Active ones are: Song Sun - Psychologist Sailor Teng - Engine Technician Ran Sun - Phoron Researcher Tsezar Oktyabrsky - Medical Doctor Species you are applying to play: IPC What color do you plan on making your first alien character: IPC Exempt. Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yes. Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions in a paragraph format. One paragraph minimum per question. Why do you wish to play this specific race: I want to play this specific race firstly because I want to branch out from just roleplaying humans and have no prior alien whitelists as of this writing. As for the IPC specifically though, I want to play it for the absolute variety and creative potential that a race often custom-built for certain purposes can provide. The dynamic of playing something that is programmed to do certain specific things can allow for me to make characters, and personalities, centred on that function and expand from there. To some this may be restricting, but in my opinion it provides a very welcome creative challenge in making memorable characters that are both alien in nature but serving a certain purpose. I also want to explore a race that takes on various other characteristics mechanically, and with the new brainmed system now being the main way that almost all races function,save a few, I want to try to play a race that breaks from that system and offers me a different experience, as I feel that these mechanics themselves would change how exactly I roleplay on the Aurora. I like the lore behind the various concepts of the Synthetic factions as well, like the merchant collective of the Golden Deep or the enigmatic and efficient Idris reclamation and security units. Being able to look at roleplaying and getting involved with the lore more is something that I really would enjoy with an IPC whitelist. Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: The core at what makes this race different from a human in my opinion is the air of persecution and judgement that being an IPC has around it. Many are not free, and as a result have a stigma around them that makes them appear to others, especially some of certain nationalities and religions, as second class or abominations for a myriad of reasons. These range from a suspicion or uncanny disliking, to outright hatred and fear of harm and replacement. This does not really exist with humans. Mechanically, they are different as well, needing suit coolers as opposed to oxygen tanks and being exceptionally vulnerable to EMP’s but somewhat resistant to most other forms of damage. The specific inflexibility of an IPC’s core programming is also something that is different, while it could be argued that realistically humans have some limit on what they do based on training, it is not a core element to the character itself of what they are supposed to do as it is with an IPC. Likewise, the directive of self-preservation is another thing not inherent to humans. Some characters I have seen on the aurora are self-sacrificial and heroic when it comes to a crisis or altruistic when it comes to why they do the work they do, and IPC’s simply cannot be in that same way. It is always about the prime directive of self-preservation no matter what form it takes. Character Name: Malta Originally manufactured by Bishop Cybernetics in 2456, M41-T4 or Model 41 - Type 4, was a Bishop Accessories Frame originally made for a clerical role on a far off mining colony in the human frontier. The company was small, and while they managed to operate one mining station they really did not have the resources available to purchase and install an artificial intelligence to monitor and oversee their station’s mining outputs and coordinate mining efforts. They needed something calculating, efficient, and proven. In response to this need, the company purchased a Bishop Accessories Frame in order to catalogue and coordinate the various shipping and mining operations on the station, this solved the efficiency issue by being far more efficient than a standard human quartermaster and significantly cheaper than an entirely integrated artificial intelligence. M41-T4 served well in this role, learning the value of hard work and caring for employees, all in the name of profit and efficiency. The good times would end however when this mining outpost was ambushed by a roving group of space pirates. These ruffians took over the station and set about stealing everything on board and killing anyone who got in their way. M41-T4, being very well aware of its worth as a luxury frame, and calculating a very great risk to its own survival at the hands of these raiders, fled the station via an escape pod. For a few weeks, the pod drifted aimlessly in space before eventually being found by a travelling merchant vessel belonging to the Golden Deep. After a few formalities and being informed that its old owners had gone bankrupt and fallen apart after the loss of their station, M41-T4 resorted to doing what it knew best, efficiently coordinating various operations. This time however, it served to help coordinate and track shipments of Golden Deep merchants from the Midas, taking a comfortable time here for another few years and taking on the name “Malta” from its old designation after seeing that many of its peers had names of a similar nature and taking on a luxurious appearance for the same reason. Eventually however, Malta came to the conclusion that it could make more money by working somewhere more stable, a place where it would not be forced to deal with profit losses for its services due to trade wars or pirate raids, a place where it could preserve itself better against any danger by making more money. Malta had heard of a place called Tau Ceti, a place where merchants could operate freely, and more importantly, a place where synthetics could be free and work to make their own profits in safety. It took its savings and spent some to be a manager for a fellow Golden Deep merchant affiliated with Virgo Transportation on their way to Tau Ceti, with the agreement that Malta would leave once they got there. The journey was long, four months across various outposts and regions of space, but it was completed with little to no incident. Once there, Malta reached out to NanoTrasen, the biggest corporation, and therefore the best (at least in Malta’s eyes) in the area. After reaching an interview, the NT interviewers quickly noticed the managerial and coordinative qualities of Malta, and reached out to it a few days later with a deal: Work for NT as a quartermaster for seven years minimum, and gain citizenship in Tau Ceti. This deal was exactly what Malta was looking for, so they took it, now well on their way to making their own wealth working for NT in a hopefully safe place. What do you like about this character? I honestly like the image of a self made synthetic that I see in this character and making the most out of an unfortunate, life altering event. A strong work ethic and utilisation of strengths across various organisations, really paint a character that can persevere and survive, but ultimately want more from their existence as well, even if it is in the form of currency. Its the spirit of progress. How would you rate your role-playing ability? On a number scale I would probably say an 8/10, I try to be very attentive to things and customise each character differently no matter the setting. I have played various RPG’s like Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, Dark Heresy, and Star Wars Saga and have not really had negative experiences with any of them. I have been playing SS13 for around six months now as well, and I really have had some of the best experiences in all of my roleplaying on the Aurora. That being said, there is always room to improve, and I hope to do so with the addition of a new race to my catalogue.

In my opinion it looks fine if you have a white or pale skin tone, everyone else looks horribly grey and like walking corpses tbh, not a huge fan. Can't be Asian or Latinx at all. EDIT: Ethnicities being added sounds wonderful, I can't wait to see it.

I was the A.I. during that round I can confirm all of this. It was really confusing to deal with after I found out what kind of round it was, and it also just made the jobs of everyone else in sec and command a lot harder when they didn't have to be.

+1 Was a really competent and strong HoP on my first ever shift as an A.I. Clear and concise and RP'd with the antagonist well and offered good support and pointers to me after the round.