Kintsugi

BYOND Key: DanseMacabre Staff BYOND Key: Arrow768, PratePresidenten Game ID: cdq-deWX Reason for complaint: On 8/8, there was a scheduled CCIA animal adoption event. These happen fairly often and tend to follow a similar format: people will bring pets to the station, and those pets are adopted by the crew. It's generally a laid-back extended round that can allow for some nice slice of life RP. These events are always canon. Apparently, somewhere along the line, someone decided this round would be different. Unfortunately I was busy and couldn't be present, but I ended up observing later. What I saw was genuinely a baffling sight to see on an HRP server, masquerading as a (semi)-canon event round. A group of event characters, mostly (if not all?) IPCs, equipped with sleepy-pens, went about penning and then ganking two members of security. After they were killed, admin powers were used to force the players into the bodies of animals. This is complaint-worthy enough - ganking is against the rules, and turning players into chickens with your admin powers is not, in my mind, an HRP-conducive event. What really made me decide to write this complaint was what came after: noticing that security has gone missing, the captain and the rest of security boarded the ship for an inspection. Immediately, with no prior buildup, the turrets aboard the merc ship were activated and the blast doors locked behind the inspection team. The security team was up against event characters armed with assault rifles, plasma weapons, and mercenary armor, with no escape, along with ballistic turrets. None of them were wearing anything beyond basic security armor, and all were equipped with only their disruptors. It goes without saying that almost all of security died: the captain was lucky enough to make it. An ERT had to be called, and engineering had to use an emitter to blow up the blast doors. This "event round", in essence, was a mercenary round. There was no event here - there was nothing about this that was event-worthy. This round combined LRP shenanigans using admin powers with both stealth ganking and then overt ganking. It generated no meaningful RP and there was nothing gained by making this "event" happen. Furthermore, with Aurora event culture also under some degree of scrutiny, I find it extremely questionable that we're running overtly violent events that see more people killed than 99% of other rounds, when the playerbase seems to indicate that they don't want that. What I want to know is why the people running this event and whomever the event volunteers were thought that this was, in any way, a good idea. My tone may come across as harsh- that's because I'm genuinely baffled. When so much effort is put into making high-quality events happen on Aurora, how does this get through? Evidence/logs/etc: Logs available on request. Here's a screenshot of the aftermath: Additional remarks: I am not sure of Prate's involvement, only Arrow's. I hate making complaints of any kind because they put a big target on you for being an evil fun police officer, but for once I felt that this was absolutely necessary. I am also hoping this is treated as a player complaint in regards to the volunteers.

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I don't think the keyboard should have been added in the first place. As it is, it is a bizarre inclusion that looks very out of place. It'd be even weirder having it added to the station proper. Not interested.

Going to have to echo Cybs here and say I am not at all a fan of making a whitelist character that relies on an established station character in any regard. I would recommend making your first Unathi character a stand-alone without prior connections to station characters. Furthermore, in general I'd like to see your character be expanded on. What is their personality like? Their motivations and ambitions? Etc etc. I don't mean to be rude, but as-is this seems like most of what this character is that he "likes his older brother", "doesn't trust humans", and "wants to fight some". In general, again, this application relies FAR too much on a station character to be an effective whitelist application.

Yeah, gotta agree. They contribute about as much as your typical greytider - and unlike greytiders, we let them get away with it. In my nearly two years of playing Aurora, I have seen one interesting golem - but it was interesting because what it was (Flesh golem), not how it acted.

As always, I must be a party pooper and reiterate the concern I voiced on RyverStyx's moderator application: While I personally have no problems with him, I am very apprehensive about giving staff positions to people who have only been playing the server for a short amount of time - and this would be his second staff position, if his moderator trial is successful. Moving on: This personally concerns me. As someone who had to deal with multiple accusations of bias towards my preferred faction when I made my Human lore deputy application, I feel like the same question should be brought up here - with how much of a fan you are of the Trinary Perfection (going so far as to have a symbol of their Trinary Perfection be your discord PFP, at one point), are you concerned about the possibility of bias in favor of the TP? I also recall you once saying you don't understand how the Trinary Perfection could be interpreted as anything but a "good" entity. I think there's a lot of nuance to the TP, and a synthlore deputy should be able to understand why one might identify it as a non-good entity.

Thread For Danse

Just going to +1 this app, feel free to check out Boggle’s previous app for my justification.

I'd like us to get a character-based mechanical skill system. I would not want to remove the present skill system just because it does nothing, though - you fix nothing and only make things more nebulous by removing it without a replacement.

Unlike the other two candidates, Boggle has already answered the one question I had so I don't think it's necessary I ask it here - instead, I wanted to give him my +1! I think of the three options, he's probably going to be the freshest choice going forward, and I'd like to see what he does with the position.

One year a canonization application. Time flies, really - truth be told, it is a little surprising to think that it has been a whole year since I made this application. It's a funny thing to think about. I've bumped the thread discretely and not-so-discretely a few times in the past, but I decided to take this opportunity to make a bump that is more of an update than unashamed self-advertisement. First I wanted to show off some sprites that I've made, were given to me by friends, or I have gotten permission to use: I'm getting ahead of myself, obviously, by having any sprites at all - but in my defense, they also served as creative exercises, practice, and backstory references. Some are better and some are worse, but I do want to thank the people who have contributed in this regard. Second I wanted to answer a question I've gotten a few times: "Why has this application taken so long to be handled, Danse?" I can't give you any exact reason. After all, I am the guy applying, here, not the guy handling it. But it is my understanding that there are a number of factors contributing to it. First, the Human lore team has been very busy - and may continue to be so, even with a new deputy and the summer arriving. They have a lot on their plate, and really, they don't need to rush to handle anything something as secondary as a canonization application. There is also the fact that there is a bit of a reluctance to add any additional new Human lore locations - which is in part because there are so many already. My philosophy is "The more the merrier", but there are valid reasons to feel differently. I do feel that Visegrad would be fitting an important niche if added - being a warlord planet. (After all, no warlord yet has a planet.) Third I have been told a few times to make a policy suggestion regarding the canonization application subforum - personally, I don't think it'd be a fair thing for me to do right now. Believe it or not, the human lore team has been very accommodating towards me and my questions, and the last thing I want to do is try to force them to give me any more attention than they already do. Again, these guys are volunteers with a lot of stuff on their plate. Maybe after the application is handled I'll make one - but only because there might be a genuine need to change how lore canonization applications are dealt with. There are a few that have sat for even longer than mine, after all. Finally, I have gotten one other question - "Is Visegrad a Polish planet?" oh my god no Anyway, in all seriousness- thanks for reading. Coincidentally, this one-year anniversary is coincides with my first road test, ever, so consider it a bad omen if I fail.

I am somewhat surprised to see Kyres applying for a lore developer so soon after resigning from his previous position. I think he'd do a good job - nobody can deny his enthusiasm and general interest - I am just curious about the decision to try to get back into the lore team so soon after getting out. At the same time, though, I guess dissatisfaction with one job doesn't mean he can't try to get another. I have one question.

I have one question: Nienna's roadmap before they left included mention of one concept, along with a design document's draft: biosynthetic shells. What is your take on biosynthetic shells, a la the androids of Alien or similar media? Are you conceptually opposed to them or are you interested in them? Would you have any plans to see them added to our lore and the game?

As one of the subjects of this player complaint, I'm going to let this be my one comment on this thread, as I really don't think it'll need more than that - Not only do I think that what I said is not actionable, I also think this is an extremely hypocritical and ultimately quite bizarre complaint, and I'd prefer not to be involved in it.

Bump. Any updates on this?

In the interest of full disclosure, I would like to say that I have recently asked the Human lore team to not consider me a candidate for this position. Ultimately, this application took a lot out of me - and I lost a lot of the enthusiasm I previously had for the position, and I ended up deciding I'd rather see someone else get it for the time being. I didn't want it closed because I wanted to continue engaging with people and to answer their questions, but in the end I felt like I would much rather wait for the next time around than try to move forward with this. I'd like to thank everyone who replied to this thread with an open mind and good faith - your questions and comments meant a lot to me. See you next time!

Just going to point out some things I noticed. First off, I do not think Mictlan should be renamed. I don't see any gain to be gotten from renaming an established planet that has been canon for years now. Moving on. It is not possible for hybridization to occur between an Earth species and a species from another planet. If you're implying that the Aztlanian llama is a species native to Aztlan and it is able to hybridize with Earth Alpacas, this is not at all biologically sound and shouldn't really be a thing. If Humans, for example, cannot hybridize with their closest extant relatives in terms of species, how could two species that don't even come from the same biosphere do so? Another thing that is more personal preference than anything else - but you should consider coming up with unique names for animal life instead of saying Aztlanian (x). For example, the Llama could be "Melena", which is the Spanish word for mane. Generally speaking I think that hard numbers for population and ethnic makeup are a net detriment to worldbuilding and are generally pointless. I suspect the lore team feels the same way, as you'll notice that new planets and articles tend to omit this detail. I think this entire paragraph presents a problem, because you're trying to touch bases with every species - and this is wholly unnecessary. Mictlan is a Human planet - it would be acceptable for it to not have any aliens at all. If, however, you feel it necessary or desirable to include one or two species because it makes sense - more power to you. However, there really isn't a need to include mention of every single species in our lore. Ask yourself this: Why would aliens come to this particular (Solarian) planet, when Tau Ceti exists? The reason must be fairly substantial, as things will be a lot better for them in Tau Ceti than here, surely. Also, let me point out a problem that goes back to your previous use of hard numbers in terms of percentage. 2% of 2.4 billion is 48 million. This number is pretty huge for an alien population, all things considered. Moving on to specific species: Tajara not being present makes sense. Unathi being an established population could make sense, I suppose, but not in their present role: Aztlan was a Solarian world and as a middle ring colony, the general opinion of the population regarding Unathi is going to be low - and having them be police officers and members of the military (What military are you referring to, by the way?) directly contradicts that - as these are positions of authority. In my mind, Unathi would be menial laborers and unskilled workers, if they're present at all. Skrell, despite being present in *very* large numbers, appear not to be mentioned at all in this section. Dionae being present makes sense, I suppose. As a species it is well known that I'm not fond of them, and therefore don't really have the experience to comment on their situation. Vaurcae being present at all doesn't make sense to me. IPCs being present is fine, though I would say that their situation as it is described too strongly resembles the situation they face on Silversun. Why didn't Sol intervene in this conflict? If Aztlan is such a vital breadbasket, why is it that they allowed this civil war to take place - this sort of thing would have major repercussions for the supply chain. Once again, a problem with hard numbers - with a population of 2.4 billion, don't you think the capital of the planet would be more than five million? Santiago (The capital of Chile), for example, has a population of half a million more people than that - and it isn't even one of the top five largest cities in the Americas. IRL religions are never really mentioned in Auroralore as a rule, and I suspect that Aztlan won't be treated any differently. You may want to consider coming up with a folk religion to fit the niche of religious lore for the planet. Having such a blatantly sexist Human society may prove controversial for some. I do not mind it, personally, but I suspect that at this point in the timeline, sexism such as this is a thing of the past.

Cybs is a good friend of mine and someone I know from his time as a moderator on Bay. With that experience in mind and my personal knowledge of who he is as a person and how he acts, I have no doubt that he'll do just fine as a moderator. +1 from me.

I don't have any outstanding problems with RyverStyx, but at the same time I don't really know them either. I think that less than a month of time on the server is just far too little to be applying for moderator with. I'd say wait a few more months and then try again.

I'm going to answer this in a straight-forward manner - I don't foresee this being a problem. I dislike megacorporations as a science fiction trope/theme, yes, but I will also say that I don't detest them - and I can even find them interesting, with enough modification to the original formula. Furthermore, I believe I'll manage just fine with writing things I don't enjoy. Think of it this way: writing is work, and you do not need to enjoy work to do it. It just so happens that I do frequently enjoy writing - but at the same time, I have spent plenty of time writing about things I have positively no interest in, or have no desire to write about. Schoolwork, anyone? I hope you'll forgive me for pointing you at answer five in my response to Lain's questions, as I believe I sufficiently answer this question there. If you want further elaboration, do let me know.

1. I'd argue that I don't typically over-focus on "technical" aspects of lore in any substantial capacity - I would like to point out that a lot more information is provided on Visegradian culture and society than on Visegradian economics and government, as an example. I will say that I do tend to pay a considerable amount of attention to this side of the lore of any planet I work on- largely because it is easier for me to write, personally- and as with anything a balancing act must be made. Should I become a deputy, I think the best way for me to provide a proper vision of both sides of this coin through a combination of conscious design and self-control - the key would largely be approaching lore development in a way that isn't lopsided, and keeping in mind the original goals of the lore in question - sometimes the balance may not, in fact, need to be 1:1. Certain pieces of lore will necessitate a greater focus on one side or the other, depending on the situation. Furthermore, the best way to keep from overdoing these things is by making a focus on integration with other aspects of the lore in question - like with Silversun, to steal an example from the question. 2. I hope you'll forgive me for pointing you at answers three and four in my response to Lain's questions, as I believe I sufficiently answer this question there. If you want further elaboration, do let me know.

1. I'm assuming this is in an OOC sense? Because my answer is relatively straight-forward: It depends on the situation. Some cross-species interaction is a necessity, and it'd be bizarre if Human lore was totally insular - however, at the same time, I don't think we should be looking for excuses to force cross-species interaction. This is a uniquely Human problem, in my opinion - we occasionally run into planets or locations having an alien presence when it may not make sense. Cross-species interaction is something I want to see in environments where it makes sense, and the interaction between species makes sense. For example, I would strongly oppose Gadpathur developing cross-species relations with one of our alien factions - or having a substantial alien population - the same goes for Assunzione, or Aemaq, as examples. Building upon that, some factions don't make sense having relations with certain alien factions - I don't foresee Dominia developing involvement with the Skrell, or Sol with the Unathi - it all depends on the time and place. At the same time, an expansion of Sol-Skrell relations or Elyra-Unathi relations would be perfectly understandable and wholly welcomed. There's a time and a place for everything, in the end. 2. This is an exceedingly broad question that I'm going to answer relatively briefly, and in bulletin point fashion. Regarding Skrell - I think the number one priority for Human-Skrell relations should be an expansion of Sol-Jargon relations. Jargon was exceedingly silent during KotW, and I think we should really make it clear what the state of affairs between those two nations are. Regarding Tajara - I think Taj interaction with the rest of Humanity is fine as it is. They are in a good place and have just the right amount of lore integration with the Human factions. Regarding Unathi - I think an expansion of their dealings with Elyra and the Coalition could be warranted. I specifically want to examine the antagonistic attitude they have regarding Elyra. Regarding IPCs - Not really a species in the technical definition, but similarly with Taj, I feel they're fine as-is. I do want to evaluate their position within certain factions, specifically the Techno-Conglomerate. Regarding Diona and Vaurca - Beats me, man. These species have certain foundational problems that I feel need to be fixed before they can be approached for cross-species interaction. 3. Again, my answers here will be brief. I think Eridani is in a good position as-is - the lore is sufficient, and the niche it occupies stable and well-represented. As for Mictlan, I feel it could use a total rewrite, or at least a major refactor - Mictlan is a black sheep planet, largely neglected within the scope of Human lore. I have a few ideas for Mictlan - and I'd also like to see the entire Corporate Reconstruction Zone receive an expansion.

Forgive me for letting these questions sit for some time. After the first day of this application being up, I felt the need to step away and take a break due to the intensity and volume of questions/replies made in this thread. Furthermore, forgive the length of some of these responses - I understand they might be a little long. 1. Passion itself isn't going to distinguish me as a candidate - you're right in that regard. However, as I originally state, it is only one component of my relationship with the lore. What I feel truly distinguishes me as a candidate is not just my passion, but the things that come with that passion. Anyone who has spoken with me in regards to the lore can doubtlessly tell you that I have a fervent desire to thoroughly understand and internalize as much lore as is possible. I think it is this desire, coupled with an intense focus on whatever I'm working on is what truly distinguishes me as a candidate. This is harder to demonstrate in action, but there are at least a few people who can attest to my drive in regards to any project I take up. 2. In the interest of truthfulness, I am going to give what may in fact be a wrong answer: I do not believe having such a large body of material is a problem. In fact, I think that human lore should continue expanding, at least for the time being - in my mind, the addition of the wildlands necessitate at least six more planets being added to the game. No, the real problem with our body of human lore is in fact the underutilized, poorly-written, or obsolescent components of this particular media. A large body of well-developed lore is a considerable asset - a large body of some-good-some-bad lore is a point of concern. So-- getting back to my wrong answer? I do not think there is a problem with too much diversity. I do not think there is a problem with there being too many locations. Variety is the spice of life, and Humanity is the most significant component of our setting and of our roster of characters, and deserve a fair share of attention. A species like the Vaurca with such a limited playerbase perhaps does not need such a large body of lore - but a species like Humanity, which every player on this server has made a character for at some point, does. Mind you, I am not suggesting that species other than Humans do not deserve a quantity of high-quality lore - I am just saying that the amount of lore should be proportional to player interest and playerbase girth. In the end, though - the gimmicky, unnecessary, and unbelievable planets of Human lore do not get a free pass because of that. An effort should be made to rework or downsize aspects of Human lore which are a problem. Just as a large body of lore is an asset, and variety is the spice of life-- paradoxically, sometimes less is more. 3/4. I will be answering these questions together, as I feel they cover what is essentially the same topic. I think my vision for the Coalition is, in fact, perfectly amenable with the present direction and overall design that characterizes the Coalition. I am not intending to at all compromise the diversity of the Coalition's member-planets in any capacity - perhaps I erred in describing my aspirations for the Coalition as being a rework. Rather, I think "expansion" or "refactor" were the appropriate terms to use. Furthermore, I do not intend to at all make the Coalition similar to the Sol Alliance - this would be a bizarre decision on my behalf, and I can recognize that it is not at all the right direction to take the Coalition's lore in. No-- My ultimate thought on the matter is that the Coalition itself should receive a degree of the attention that is already afforded to the member-planets. The sole characterization the Coalition's government receives beyond the planets is the brief description on the main page - which I feel is sorely lacking. My vision, for lack of a better word, is that the Coalition would be akin to perhaps the League of Corinth - a highly decentralized state consisting of a number of autonomous polities with their own affairs and goals - with the end goal of this state being military cooperation in the pursuit of defense against outside threats. This """new""" Coalition would have a weak government, but one that actually exists - the Coalition as an entity becomes less of an abstraction and more of an umbrella. It would actually be a confederation instead of a defensive alliance. Getting back to how well this interacts with the Coalition's present status, I think this would be perfectly compatible with the ideal we currently strive for. There is no loss of autonomy or diversity in regards to the member-planets - only a net gain in detail and lore presence for the Coalition. Furthermore, it could create an interesting dynamic - the Coalition's weak central government and ideals contrasting with the immense freedom that is afforded to its constituent bodies. I think this new setup would also allow us to expand upon another theme that the Coalition has - how the Coalition's heavy-hitter planets are able to influence the direction of the entire "nation", and occasionally butt heads with one another. 5. I ultimately don't expect many complications coming from my unpopularity with some individuals. While I do think that I'll need to change my behavior in regards to the community at large due to the standards that staff are expected to hold themselves to, I also think that in any community you will not always be universally-liked - and this is something that all people need to deal with. With that in mind, besides making myself more approachable and generally amiable, I also intend to be objective as possible in my dealings with the playerbase. Ultimately while a lore writer's greatest responsibility is going to be writing lore, community functions are doubtlessly important, and I'm going to strive to change my dealings with the community at large in order to handle this in the right manner. I think that as long as I'm being treated fairly, I'll have no trouble interacting with people who I might even adamantly dislike in the course of lore-related dealings. As far as whether or not this will impact my ability to write lore, I highly doubt it. A small minority of people having negative feelings toward me will not hamper my ability to do my work at all - if that was the case, I imagine I would've hit that hurdle already. As far as having work denied is concerned, I believe I touched upon this previously - so I'll be brief. I am not going to claim I won't mind it at all- but I don't think there'll be long-term problems coming from this. Nobody is happy when something they worked hard on is rejected - but I think at the same time, I'll be perfectly able to sort this out with the other people, or move on if that's not an option. Communication about this sort of thing is key: And I think the best way to handle a situation like this is communicating with the other party. Even if nothing changes, you gain the insight needed to avoid this situation from happening again, if at all possible. Regarding Visegrad: It would be an outright, bold-faced lie if I said Visegrad was not very important to me - and in the interest of full disclosure, I do truly and adamantly want to see it added to our official canon. The planet itself has seen a year and a half's work on and off, and has been up for canonization for eleven months now - in June, it'll be a year. To be very clear: I do not at all intend to use this position to try and canonize Visegrad. As far as I'm concerned, I want the application to play out exactly as it would if I did not get the position. I, in fact, wish to minimize my official dealings with Visegrad unless my involvement is officially requested. I want to make it clear that I will not try to use my position for quasi lore-nepotism (for lack of a better phrase). Besides Visegrad, I have no other personal pet projects I wish to see integrated into the lore proper - so I wouldn't be concerned about monocularity. As far as a vision is concerned? Visegrad, I suppose, is related to one thing I feel quite strongly about - that every warlord faction should have a planet in its domain. Visegrad would, in my idealized future, be one of those planets - however, that vision exists regardless of Visegrad's being.

1. I have no intentions to use my position to push Visegrad in any regard. I intend to allow the canonization application to play out as it would otherwise-- if the Human lore team (bar me) wishes to have it canonized, so be it - I would involve myself in that process if requested. In summation, Visegrad does not factor into this application in any factor except as an example of my ability as a writer. 2. I'm glad you would consider it a talent! I do think that in a way it could factor into the development of events, but I cannot be absolutely certain - I have no experience with running events, after all. Ultimately I do think my ideas aren't going anywhere, and I could absolutely see myself trying to put some of my thoughts into action in that regard. 3. It isn't that I am not interested in megacorp lore - The issue is that I think megacorporations as a science-fiction trope/theme are uninteresting foundationally. I do think the best way to go about making a megacorporation interesting is by, ironically, making it feel less like a corporation. I point to Idris in this regard - I love Idris because it feels less like the corporation, and more like the mafia. It is more akin to an Italian banking dynasty in the Renaissance than it is to Chiquita bananas. I think this dynamic could be pushed for the rest of the megacorporations: all from a different angle. 4. Something like this is ultimately dependent on the situation. Things that are necessary may be widely disliked - ultimately, I think I could handle the flak. As far as handling it is concerned, I think I'd factor in the feedback that the playerbase gives and then confer with the rest of the Human lore team. Mistakes can be made - and obviously if something is unpopular with the community at large, steps should be made to fix that - be it edits, a major change to whatever's the problem, or even a retcon in extreme cases. 5. I'm not really a coder (the work I've done is largely copypasting), but I'm ultimately willing to work with the other lore teams in whatever way's necessary, to better the server at large.

I am going to be very brief in addressing Memescope's points, for personal reasons relating to my interactions with them. Regarding this point, Memescope is invoking a discussion that occurred. I am not going to offer my thoughts on the matter, as I do not feel it necessary: I encourage everyone here to take a look at what was said themselves. Here is a link to the discussion: https://discord.com/channels/724651070017765459/724653076866400336/813122261304999946 - this is in the lore discord, so you will have to be in it to see it. In my opinion, I do nothing wrong in this interaction, and Memescope/VT are clearly out of line in how they approach the discussion and the "feedback" they give. - with the latter having a successful player complaint lodged against them for their actions. I am biased, however. Words are being put into my mouth here. This is a flagrant exaggeration at best, in my opinion. I have never claimed that I want to "remove everything but Sol". The only thing I feel that needs to be addressed here is the idea that I will somehow advocate to turning my preferred faction into a behemoth that cannot be stopped. Anyone who knows me knows that despite the fact I enjoy Sol as a faction, I have no intention on trying to-- somehow-- make it dominate the setting. I think the fact I enjoyed and frequently applaud the arc depicting its violent collapse and anarchic warlordism to be evidence of that.