WickedCybs

BYOND Key: WickedCybs Character Names: Picture Species you are applying to play: Tajara What color do you plan on making your first alien character: White Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yes Why do you wish to play this specific race: I had a really good time on the PRA ship away site as a rank and file M’sai. Just in two rounds, got to explore some of the interesting dynamics between the PRA and NKA due to a visit from the Aurora. Bonded with fellow party members. Considered how shitty things were. Punked on Zhan. Got traumatized. I have already read the various backgrounds a few times now, but that is what sold me on the species in the end. Considering how fun it was just on that away site with a few people, I figure the station will provide a lot of opportunity. Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: It’s really the cultural differences that set them apart in my eyes, especially since as a whole, they tend to be more conservative and traditionalist. The first and second revolutions are still very recent and fresh on the minds of the people. You’d probably be hard-pressed to find someone not affected in some way. Even in Tau Ceti space, escaping the history and ones past is difficult. Lines are drawn. There are some things that will just stick with people for a long time and what is happening now will not be forgotten anytime soon in the future. Character Name: Almasa Za’ra Almasa Za’ra was a M’sai born in the year 2438 during the interwar period. Theirs was a military family. Both her parents took part in the first revolution and survived, their allegiances firmly with the Hadii dynasty throughout the conflict. Some form of military service was generally the norm for the family line, though there were hopes among the family during this period between wars that their children would not need to fight and could instead pursue other ends. Her father transitioned from soldier to police officer, and her mother, soldier to courier. For a while, things were going rather well and the children enjoyed the benefits of this new republic. Za’ra always thought she’d end up a courier like her mother. That was her main aim really, following in their footsteps. The family wasn’t well-off, but they weren’t in any bad position either. As the years ticked down though, things started to degrade. At the age of twelve, the surviving monarchists showed their face to the rest of Adhomai. At thirteen, president Hadii was assassinated and a coup was launched! Her parents began to rarely come home now, both re-enlisting and trusting the eldest of the family to take care of the rest. As for Za’ra, she wanted to help keep the ideals of the PRA alive. They all did. When she came of age at 15, her path was quite clear. A courier they would be, still. One in service to the Grand People’s Army. Home became increasingly empty. Every member of the family was doing what they could for their republic. War is never kind though, of course. Mother was never heard from again, “missing in action” they said. Father was too wounded after a skirmish, he had to stay home then. Brother was killed in an offensive. Their numbers were dwindling, duty and taking care of the rest was the only thing left to do, really. Then the armistice happened. Peace at last? Doubtful, but this was the best time to get everyones affairs in order. Taking care of mother would be draining, especially when it came to money. Za’ra would have to turn to NanoTrasen for the sake of the rest of the family to see what could be done to rectify this situation. Finally, a contract was signed, arrangements were made, and Za’ra was shuttled off to Tau Ceti. The Aurora, that would be their new workplace. As befitting a courier, cargo would be the department they would now serve. They would need to spend a number of years there. Hopefully it was going to be worth it. What do you like about this character? They’re still at that point where they’re young, impressionable. Less so than others due to their experiences but still enough that the Aurora is probably going to inflict some changes on them. The PRA and the civil war is all they really know and they have a vested interest in continuing to push forward the agendas they came to learn and support. Should make for some interesting dynamics with others. I’ve sort’ve modelled them after the PRA ship character I played a few times now. How would you rate your role-playing ability? Just average. I’ve been having a lot of good interactions lately, so I’m growing more confident. Notes: The secret’s of how to have an apostrophe in your name without it looking like @#$% is lost to me. So, might tweak things.

Does sound pretty fun, and different. I do also have concerns about the borer egg though, it just risks kind of "adding" an extra round type rather than doing something different like your other monster ideas.

I think this is a fine idea, really. I'm reminded of a pretty recent round that had a command antag, security antags and ninjas that essentially put the station into a stranglehold, removed most means of resistance, and then ganked for a bit. Did not do much for the round. The power heads can wield is pretty major, bigger than sec antags. Command antags aren't actually too common, anyway. So I do not really think it'll affect things overmuch, not like adjusting sec antag ratios. But I'm not too in the know regarding that.

I only referred to what was mentioned by your group. There was no shadow clique out to ruin your round, as proven by multiple players at this point. Whether you think so or not, that's up to you I suppose.

That would be because it was not the first thing on their mind. The logs certainly show they didn't interject with anything until the threat was uttered. Reducing what was said to "Hey don't assault us." is still false. As for getting both sides of the story, like I said earlier, the hostility and what limited context those at the garden deigned to provide did not give them hopes for any civil conversation. I separate myself from my characters, always. I am glad at least the bad faith arguments of being in a clique has not had the others warned, whatever is thought.

I'll say what I've always said on their other apps. A very competent roleplayer who plays believable characters. It's a slam dunk, really. Being with them in command sounds like a good time. +1

Really only a few things I have to add. 1. Asking for the context sort of comes after addressing an immediate threat and making the other comfortable. So again, they got their context after that, from others. Would rather make someone comfortable first. 2. Already known. 3. Didn't hear any of that ICly, again. Was going off of what was stated by Summer and Taika. Taika especially since by the point those radio statements were made, their words were what Val knew. Other than that, Viggo was there, I distinctly remember the back and forth and then the last meeting with them outside the brig when Taika pursued further antagonist action, should be there in the logs, though his presence was minor during the main thing. As for the bit at the end? I did say I was observing here and there, didn't like what I saw. Commentary on the round is just that, commentary. The basis here was whether another statement "revealed" that I wanted to join the round earlier based on an OOC comment, to metagame. Annnd that's about it ?.

That is sort of an IC issue then, I'm sure you would agree? This was all an RP matter to me regardless of how poor it went. Your basis is that I'm metagaming, yet It's clear everyone at this point was going off of incomplete information. I do not really think it is, and I know what was stated. However it was phrased, it was outright stated you and Courier would be back. Duponte made up Val's mind based on how she acted, and it they certainly seemed hostile to her. Viggo's player has told me they felt the hostility as well, but they do not have a forum account here, so I'm relaying those words. Val did not approve of Taika attacking other people at all as part of their further antagonist action, so don't claim they did, you never saw Val's interactions with others discussing how what he did was wrong. I can. He was not an element to Val, because Val never spoke to him at all. She was more focused on Duponte and Courier. She can still do that and acknowledge he is one of the focal points since the entire reason the garden incident even happened was due to Taika harming him. As for the OOC chatter, I did not really say any insults? I just stated my thoughts on everything after the fact. Then we ceased the discussion after we were told to stop. I was being spoken to by about three people at the same time so it was kind of hard to focus on any one specific person. It's not a good place for an actual discussion. Anyway, all else I can say is that Val absolutely would have tried to have justice brought to cargo, whether I ghosted or not. Val is one of my characters who just does what they think is right rather than act the bystander. Things are more interesting that way. I apologize, but that is really what it seems like to me. Especially with these accusations considering I have only acted on IC information as well. As for what happened to the docks? You were "venting" to Val's friend and boss, Roadman. Inquiring as to if the engineering department still "hated cargo". How would it feel if I was loudly saying to Roadman how irritating cargo was? You absolutely would have tried to defend yourself, and I'd have expected you to. Yes, seek consequences on the two I saw. Based on not only hearsay, but the behaviour displayed at the garden. It was reason enough. Your accusations are that everything I have done was to screw over you and your friend. It hinges on me being a malicious actor who only wanted to screw over your round. That is far from the case and since it is the basis of your complaint, well that is what I am focusing on. It is what is it is. It does suck a lot to be reduced to that by a group of, from what I hear, long standing players saying my actions were in the defence of some clique, especially when I kind of barely know anyone OOC beyond chatter. I cannot really say I have any perfect recall here. I'll reiterate that I was on the fence about joining, didn't like what I was seeing regarding cargo but eventually just joined because I figured it'd be interesting with all the psionically activated people. That was why I joined as Val. The logs will show me debating on whether to join as a HoP instead, but I concluded to myself that'd be a pretty bad idea, bordering metagamey based on how that would impact the round. So this is all still based on one statement made, and even if hypothetically that was the trigger to me joining, there was still zero out of round information used after the fact, the logs will certainly prove that. Cargo dug its own grave, I did not seek them out and that all could've been avoided if the pair in the garden did not open with hostility in the face of a concerned onlooker who heard they were threatening another, but instead kept it civil and cleared things up. In the end, if I was really so focused on a group of players to ruin their round, I ought to have done more to hamper them. Once all was said and done, I had a rather enjoyable time in engineering exploring the dynamics of non-Skrell with psionics. I can also promise you at this point, I will simply stay out of your way when possible since I'm sure this will have your group second guessing whatever I do.

They play really good and creative antagonists, and that is my main experience with them. It's honestly refreshing. Outside of that, I've seen them as a command assistant and they do their role pretty well. It's an easy +1 from me.

I have not really done any in-depth interactions with their characters, but they seem to be a fairly competent roleplayer based on the few IC interactions I've had with them and most of the interactions I've witnessed while a ghost. They are one of the few notable QM's, in my eyes and there's really no doubt I think that HoP will suit them well. +1

Yes, apologies for forgetting these. The attacks on my character had me glossing over a few details. Val only mentioned the "threats" in regards to Thomson. Never said once that they were threatening every other department. The whole "threatening engineering" thing was the captains word, not mine. Though the actions displayed did not have them too confident in what might happen next. As for the second point, yes, this was known. But Thomson and Summer told Val that Prestoff was harassing the medical department. Considering he did not die and Thomson said they kept it light on purpose, they saw it as an entirely deserved albeit misguided response due to the second hand information. And again, thinking this was all based on one comment? No, it wasn't. I encourage you to read the prior response, but I'll say it again. Cargo certainly was acting belligerent. The statement to Talka? Certainly was threatening crew no matter how you slice it. There was no "We'll be unhappy.". There was a "We'll be back". Completely neglected to hear out cargo? I'm sure listening to the insults of the group and the continued utterances of "Ask questions!" from those who did not ask questions when it came to why medical was acting "boneheaded" would've done my character a whole lot of good. Attacked in the first place? Based on Summer and Thomson's words, it certainly sounded like cargo started the whole situation and a friend was getting revenge, so sympathy was not in the cards. Anyway, two dipshit humans and a robot? Try one dipshit human and a robot. Prestoff was not even an element Val thought about, beyond being the reason the whole mess happened in the first place. So, what does one do when they see an injustice they want to see corrected? They go to the relevant parties. Command were sent messages. Security was talked to. The whole Eridani PMC thing muddled things somewhat, so the captain herself went to cargo. Everything done was to better ensure the matter would not be overshadowed by antaggary going on throughout the round, and would actually be dealt with rather than fester. That was the motivation, to actually see something done about what Val saw happen in the garden and about the rest of the information pieced together. Nobody who didn't need to know was informed about it. Don't need to scream on common about something you can just hope your higher ups and station security will handle, you know? In the end, your character was not even at the garden. We didn't speak at all that round except that bit at the end, yet you act the authority on what went down to cause my character to be upset, as if you saw what you needed to see. Course, you get your information ICly, just like me I hope. Not OOC with the one you know. Decided my character hated you for some reason, when they really didn't even know who you are. Zero reason to care. I was doing other things once the needed messages were sent out, then once at the docks, which was a long time after, obviously you felt the need to shit-stir. If you act the part of a prick ICly, don't be surprised when you are treated as such and have people seeking consequences for it. Creating a false narrative and pushing it with your friend OOCly? That is not something I expected from the community, but I'm glad It's not overall representative. I hope. - This is an edit. I was going to remove the personal attacks from this post, but I figure it should stay up for the benefit of the complaint. I've obviously been getting pretty heated and upset. Apologies again, for that. I'll go ahead and keep things more concise from here on out.

I used what was happening on the cargo radio strictly as an example when it came to the narrative you were pushing forward of cargo being innocent of any wrongdoing after the round ended during the OOC spat, which was asked to conclude. In the round itself, while the limited view of cargos behaviour was frustrating to watch during my time as a ghost, I carried none of that information with me ICly. I was kind of busy playing an MMO at the same time up until the time I spawned. If I was actually using my knowledge to metagame here, I would have mentioned far more or joined as a HoP I was meaning to test out that day, which I mentioned as something I could've done in dchat. Could've also spoken about that one Unathi attacking medical that was seemingly the source of all this, but I never knew that ICly, all that really happened was... joining the round. Hearing some of the round happenings on the engie comms and my PDA. As Val is about to leave, lingering around for a bit because the gardener had a psi-aura which was pretty curious, they hear what can be considered a threat to someone they consider a rather kind person based on their few interactions, which led to the incident in the garden. A simple "I will let security know about your threats if they continue" had Duponte and Courier crank up their hostility. That is not going to have anyone see them in a good light at all, and it really didn't did it? Based on others who walked by. It set the tone along with all the other information obtained in round after the fact. As for being on the fence, that was making me not want to join but I ended up doing so because the round had a few cool people on and I figured It'd be interesting considering it was a far more peaceful borer round than usual. I was doing fine with just playing the round once any relevant command staff were informed of the situation, and that is what I did. Of course, at the end of it cargo mentions it again to Roadman. Don't need to say what happened next. That was a big detraction from the otherwise good RP going on, but thankfully short. Course, the basis of the complaint here is whether I metagamed or not. And to restate, if I did, Val would have a lot more knowledge on the situation. I don't really know any of the characters in the "clique" I was "crusading" with more than superficially and have had no interactions with them on an OOC basis other than LOOC and OOC chatter. Duponte and Prestoff. I do not care about at all. Prestoff was not even a blip on the radar other than the yelling the end of round, and to say I outright wanted to screw him over just speaks to the you-centric mindset being put out here. Did I beeline for the garden or make my way there? No, I spawned pretty much there via cyro and overheard it. Had it been anywhere else, none of this would have happened since non-Skrell having psionics is pretty insane and it would have been a beeline to engineering. Everything that happened, happened because of our characters IC actions, and consequences were going to come of that for certain. Like I said before, realize how things look from an outside perspective. And from an outside perspective, cargo acted the part of school-yard bullies, which my character is never going to abide. That is why they inserted themself into it. Why onlookers such as Viggo Mab did as well when they chanced upon the increasingly hostile cargo department. The "reasoning" supplied to Val were backhanded insults and "you aren't asking questions!". To say I egged any of this on OOC, is disingenuous as well. Considering I made a remark in response to someone about cargos behavior, which then sparked the whole argument about being totally justified. Suppose I should have heeded the warnings by other cargo players about how badly the cargo clique can react. Maybe I should have listened and stuck out of it if this how it would be. Meta-grudging is not conductive to anything though. Saying I was metagaming based on one statement? That is reaching. Now, one last thing As I said before... they did not have any knowledge of what was happening on the cargo radio. This one statement is the entire basis of your complaint and you have not provided even a shred of evidence Val was acting on information obtained from the cargo radio. It was not mentioned or referred to, except in OOC when again... I mentioned I saw it as a ghost. But that was as WickedCybs, not Val Xiram. Be upset all you want about everything else that happened, but you are blatantly lying and coming up with baseless conjecture based on one statement I made in OOC. Is it even relevant that your department was "joking"?. No, it wasn't. Because everything impactful that was learned, were from characters such as Thomson and Summer, and the event in hydroponics that started this all. Cargo was not of any help at all when it came to understanding, your cargo radio communications would not have impacted things much I'm sure. Considering the bulk of this complaint are criticisms and assumptions on the how and why my character acted as they did, rather than anything to back up this complaint's basis, it's rather telling the complaint has its foundations based in malice that things didn't go your way. Perhaps I'll have more to say later.

So, about three or four rounds of observation here with one spent actively in game for me. They act as a leader of their department, delegating things and such. Can be trusted to be active on command communications when needed. Are pretty knowledgeable when it comes to the mechanics medical has. It's about in line with their interim CMO rounds too, I'd say. Those were fine. I'm sure they'll do well with the whitelist. May put more thoughts in later if I happen to be in more rounds with them as a head.

While I do see depsec as a buff to sec, it works for antags too as the above post has mentioned. Especially the rather common antagonist security officers, who now have expanded access and comms on top of their usual advantages. Not too uncommon for the armoury and other areas to be easily cleaned out by them or others, especially on lower pop.

It's an interesting concept, and the application shows they have good understanding of the lore. Cannot say I have interacted with their characters much, but the few times I have were pretty alright and have certainly made an impact. Their consular being pretty great and probably the one I have seen the most, other than Lezakh. OOCly, they seem pretty good too. Solid app. So in the moment of time that is now. The hour, the minute, the second. That is now. What will ensue, at this juncture, is a +1

Yes please. I jumped in my seat the first time I heard it, and that was as a ghost where it will just blast you at the maximum volume I believe. I even keep the game at a pretty low volume level but its still enough to hurt my ears.

This would be very good. Spreading that work between two roles always seemed rather questionable to me anyway, with a lot of lonely detectives/CSI's without the counterpart to complete them. Though, the detective suffered from this more considering they couldn't really collect evidence while a CSI could at least conduct interviews and such in the absence of a detective.

As far as their CE play goes, they have been doing quite alright from my observations. Generally trying to get the team involved, actively teaching apprentices and doing what they need to do as a member of command. You never really notice just how much a good member of command/engineering can do to avoid or fix various situations. Telecomms incidents that would make most in a round cryo, are solved by them. Knowledge is good. Roleplay is fine. They fit right in.

It is about time, really. Schwab plays believable and grounded characters that are fun to roleplay at. Considering their track record here there's really no doubts they would be able to perform well with a Skrell whitelist and seeing their spin on them should be interesting considering the variety to work with here.

I think the recent changes to the offices were very good, especially supply. Rather excited to see how this ends up.

I really like dep sec so far. The office placement not so much in some cases. They also seem too big, rivalling a few of the head offices in size, like the CE or HoS. For engineering specifically, it takes up too much space at the "front" as well, making the actual front desk very tiny. Not to mention, they stole our paper bin ?. I do not really like the supply office location either. Missing out on the vendors and maintenance exist near disposals feels pretty bad to me since it was a natural spot. You'd have to step all the way to the far end of the bar or go through the maintenance entrance by the chapel and wind your way down if you are not a member of supply. The science officer and medical officer locations are probably my favourite even though it cut the maintenance maze in half in the formers case. Having them relatively out of the way rather than dominating a departments main space is how I like things.

Removing it from secret would be neat. Bad things happen, AI starts trying to kill people, conflict, the inevitable delta or shuttle call. Overdone, poisoned by malfs who want to "win". I have experienced some very good malf rounds in the past but lately I don't think it has any place in secret.

I've seen a carbon dioxide engine attempted before I ended up joining a round. Works seemingly okay at first, though it seems like the gas just gets continually hotter and needs replacement, quickly. Ended up having to replace it with phoron since it was kind of in a loop of barely stable yet quickly becoming an issue again. As for interesting setups, observe this, courtesy of the engineering discord.

Has the validhunting been an observed problem? I can only speak for the actions of myself here and those I worked with in a few rounds, but I treat it as a very different experience versus being a traitor. The renegade variants of my characters are irrational and do whatever it takes to survive. This frequently ends up with them at odds with command and security rather than another antag. It spices up a round and makes the atmosphere a touch more chaotic. I don't really need or want the mechanical advantages being a traitor provides and hunting down other traitors as a traitor yourself is something I've never been a fan of. Putting up a better fight is not in my interests either, the crash and burning of renegades is part of the appeal to me and its led to some pretty neat RP. My designated "renegade" characters do well with it, as do my designated "traitor" characters do with that, though I have not done much of the latter. Maybe other modes could benefit from renegades as has been said above me, though I do understand renegades by nature could be lot more valid hunting than other roles, especially for something like vampire or ling.

They have already been doing amazing with the Skrell whitelist they recently received, actively involving others and providing interesting takes on Skrell lore. There's really no doubt in my mind they would be able to do the same with Diona. I really want to see this character. +1