Haydizzle

Ckey/BYOND Username: Haydizzle Discord Username Including #: Petrichor#0098 Position Being Applied For: Deputy Lore Developer Past Experiences/Knowledge: I did all honors and collegiate literature and social studies classes in high school, fields of study which I'm still pursuing in college! I've also done a couple of articles for my college's press. Biggest experience though that I feel would be the most prevalent is my knowledge and skills I picked up as a Dungeon Master: creating stories, managing lore on a server, and collaborating with others for four or five years now. Teamwork and coordination are some of my biggest skills in addition to creative writing, which is why I believe I could fill a good spot on the unathi deputy team. Examples of Past Work: To keep things simple, I'll only be referencing my unathi whitelist application, which can be found here. My laptop recently got wiped, so I don't exactly have many of my old files on it. If I can manage to get a copy of some of my newspaper articles, I'll edit them in here post-haste. I have some samples of creative writing done as a DM that I can send to people privately as well if desired! Additional Comments: My unathi lore deputy application. This is just a sample of some of my creative thinking and thoughts, but perhaps to expand a little further in brief, I'd ideally like to see through or participate in a couple of key things: language and mannerisms (as seen above), reworking/updating Ouerea (mostly updating and giving new lore), and expanding on quieter aspects of lore (like unathi colonies, the Grim Compact, and the like). I would love to potentially work with the human and skrell teams to develop the culture of Ouerea as a bigger group project, or perhaps Gakalzaal with the tajara team. Thanks for taking the time to read this all! Any more personal feedback/questions/etc. are always welcome to me on Discord (I'm there more often than here).

LOL at the screenshot. Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

I don’t think at this point it’s a dupe; this thread talks about character creation (and perhaps more so character identity), while the other one seems to divulge more into extending mechanics that exist to other items (making a gas mask give they/them when examining like a void suit). They’re similar in that they both deal with perception, but this thread has evolved to also deal with giving non-binary characters a solid option. The sword swings both ways, too; perhaps someone looks male, but identifies as non-binary; maybe a character is hard to tell due to genetics, but was born female and identifies such. It’s a tweak that would give a lot more intrigue to characters and the like. I think too that giving non-binary people the option to make characters that they can relate to would be a good ideal to strive for as well. It’d be a harmless implementation for people who aren’t interested or don’t feel comfortable making an androgynous or non-binary character, while also giving a few folks something that would honestly rock for them.

I’d be very curious how to do this! I’d love to partake.

I think if the step after is to make it so that some species are harder to identify sex for, that would be really cool as well. I look forward to see what comes of this!

Thanks for all the feedback and support! I think that seeing the suggestion evolve to perhaps include determining sex and gender as separate things would be cool, if it’s not hard to do. Points were illustrated by both Wezzy and Josh for perhaps adding just the gender neutral option might be sloppy for sprites, so maybe adding a sex versus gender option would be cool. I definitely would like to say that the neuter option for IPCs really inspired this thread! So in a way, thanks for inadvertently pioneering this suggestion, I’d say! Devil’s advocate and all considered, this was still a tad concerning to read. Just because ‘not everyone deals with this on a daily basis,’ does not mean people who think like this or prefer this don’t exist. People on Aurora and even on this thread have stated that they prefer to use they/them. It ultimately boils down to respect for the other person. If someone found out good friend Bob prefers to be referred to as they/them as it makes them feel more comfortable, giving them that space and respecting a honestly pretty simple wish would be pretty easy to do to honor that friend. That’s how I see it at least, and I think it would be a good change to give people a chance to diversify who they play as well! It’s an entirely roleplay faceted change, in that to my knowledge, sex doesn’t affect anything in game other than things like your sprite and description text, both of which are meta creation options. I’m 90% Citadel has code for something like this if you need an example or similar! Thank you for your help.

Thanks for your response Winter. I did want to bring up this argument, but I didn’t feel like it was my place to offer this point of view, and I think in the end you probably put it into words better than I could. (That and I see now how this thread can differ from the other one at least.) I do hope this is a change that can be made at the very least. Perhaps just for humans at the start, and then whichever lore devs deem it appropriate for various other species. I think that at the very least the androgynous argument could be held up, but it’s not wholly my place to decide.

This is along the lines of what I was thinking from the above. I don't think it's commonplace, but it still happens to a degree with some people hence the suggestion. Anything from clothing to hair to natural appearance can make it ambiguous or hard to tell as well. Apologies though, I did a quick search and didn't see the previous topic so I typed this one up as a result.

After playing for a bit and trying things out with different characters, I realized there wasn't a gender neutral option for most species. That said, I suggest the following; The reasoning for this idea is to expand upon the possible ideas players can have regarding making their characters. If someone wanted to make an androgynous character that was a little hard to tell if they were male or female, I don't think that putting something like this in the flavor text is a good solution, since getting to that point shows "s/he is ..." and can just circumvent what a player might be trying to do. I think androgynous pronouns for they/them for most races seem applicable (humans duh, skrell and unathi most likely, tajara problably?) and would provide good options on character creation. This said, I do know of a couple people who go by they/them that play Aurora, so in this regard too I think it would be a respectful addition to the game. It's a fairly simple implement for applicable species with the plus side of being easily accessed from what I've seen. Implementation of this idea would be fairly straight forward I believe since IPCs get the option to be displayed as such, too!

I'm honestly pretty glad Josh ended up applying for the position. I've gotten to know him fairly well over the last six or so years, and in that time, I've gotten to see him mature both as a person, and also in the creative department. His ability to think worlds into existence is pretty impressive, and as a DM, I wish I had even a fraction of the talent he does for creative writing. However, I'm not going easy on his application since I know he can handle it. ? So, for some questions: 1) what do you see yourself working on in the future, should an ideal situation arise where you're satisfied with changes to Eridani lore? 2) what do you feel like your biggest weakness would be as a lore developer? 3) you mentioned that intergalactic relationships feel lacking in your essay. How do you rate your ability to work with others and come to compromises, since making intergalactic lore with other factions would mean working in a more close-knit way with lore developers for other species? Thank you for your time, and good luck with the application!

Hello! I enjoy Marlon’s characters and what they bring to the table in terms of RP, as even though it’s been limited, I’ve had the chance to interact with different ones and see him strut his stuff. However, since I don’t see his RP to often, a couple questions: 1) what do you feel are some of your shortcomings as a player and how do you address them? And; 2) do you plan on branching out from Head of Personnel? Thanks for putting your time into an application! I look forward to seeing you around on station partner. ?

Hello everyone; I'm starting a thread as a general information upload to spread awareness for certain activities on station. Generally speaking, I think that planning some of these things ahead is a little odd regarding in-game gatherings, but it can be the best way to deal with the time constraints in round without bogging down these gatherings. One of my characters, Morgan Andalhand, sometimes plans general events in the library for everyone to come and take part of during some rounds. It'll be anything from light discussions about certain topics to poetry slams to even Dungeons and Dragons one shots; the point is to provide a wealth of options to choose from to provide outlets for RP that anyone can hop in on, should they be so inclined and be ready for it! To this end, I'm listing out all of the events that I have (currently) planned out, am working on and developing, and may run in a given round. Each point will have what the event is, and what you can do to prepare for it, should it come up in round: Poetry slams: bring one or two original poems in any format or poems that you have read elsewhere that you think are interesting and wish to share (remember to save the author and title of the poem if it is not your own! Plagiarism isn't condoned). D&D sessions: have a level 3 character prepared using core rules of 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons. The only books you can pull from are the Player's Handbook and Xanathar's Guide to Everything. No variant rules (which includes no feats and no multiclassing), no homebrew, no UA. The only exception to this rule is the UA Ranger, Revised (NOT to be confused with the UA Spell-less Ranger!!!) in case you want to play a fairly underwhelming class. Keeping this as limited as possible is a necessity to keep this as streamlined as possible; if you want variety, play a home game campaign! Seminars: bring a willingness to learn! Seminars are intended to be both ICly and OOCly oriented, aiming to be informative IC, but perhaps also a chance for people newer to a department to ask a veteran. However, some seminars can be on anything in general, so keep an eye out for any topics that interest you. However, this won't happen usually unless I can plan for a speaker to be present. If you've been playing or maining a department for a long time, feel free to reach out to me if you want to be a guest for a seminar! Cards and dice (TBD): a willingness to play! The games will be determined based on ease of rules and how difficult it would be to play. Party games (TBD): a willingness to play! Mostly hidden role games, as these are roleplay based already. Things like One Night Ultimate Werewolf and the like. I strongly recommend that you know how to play first (or at least see a video on it). Polygon has a good video of gameplay, if you're curious. Currently restricted to Werewords and Werewolf. I will be updating this one to include games I'll be running as I add more party games. Improv plays (WIP): a desire to act! This one is a bit of acting-ception since it's RP inside of RP, but getting a working prompt and going off of it is fun and a great way to sharpen your RP skills! Thank you all for taking the time to read this all. Granted yes that some of these things can be improvised in the moment, but having any requirements on hand means that you don't have to tab out of the game to prepare anything, like a 5e character sheet for example. Any questions I can answer below, and any suggestions for more events are also welcome! If you don't wish to post on the forums, I can be reached as Petrichor#0098 on Discord.

I think that a commission model for what happened would be for the best, like how people commission artists for their art. NanoTrasen paid Zeng-Hu for their work and for costs, and used their station as testing grounds, since it was mostly a project they wanted pioneered anyway. NanoTrasen owns MYRIAD, but the rights and designs for the models belong to Zeng-Hu.

Hello! Thank you both for your comments and questions. I'll do my best to clarify as much as I can and shed light on the process a bit. I do think it's important to acknowledge their lifestyle has an effect on how they are roleplayed, but this doesn't encapsulate how I feel about it entirely upon rereading what I put, so my apologies. To elaborate, roleplaying an IPC means that self-preservation comes to the forefront in every and all situations. Sure, each IPC may have their own quirk, but at the end of the day, this is a fact they all have in common. The will to preserve the self wouldn't make an IPC prone to a selfless act of sacrifice for the good of others. Actions made in character should be entirely justifiable at the drop of a hat, and any larger or more important ones are probably traced back to that core concept. To go on this further, I believe this would make most IPCs cautious by nature, especially due to the previously mentioned discrimination they face in almost every outlet of their lives. I believe I effectively hinted at MYRIAD's behavior work-oriented behavior as a way to prove worth. Being a prototype means that they were at risk for getting scrapped if the model was ultimately not worth the cost, so they went forward to prove their efficacy as a general worker as well. This is a good comment since I was under the impression I revised this statement (yikes) when I updated my application to the final copy before posting. However, it gives me a chance to explain my thought process, and perhaps how my initial character concept changed and evolved. I think it wouldn't make sense for an IPC to not understand how organics convey emotion if it itself can understand emotion. The initial idea was to make an IPC researcher that studied topics to gain enlightened understanding. In this, it would be able to understand what it doesn't truly have. However, I realized this was a bit of a paradox, since if somebody understands what emotion is and how it is conveyed, what is keeping them from feeling emotion themselves? Granted yes, an IPC can only mimic human behavior out to a degree, but I didn't think in the end it would make sense for an IPC to not experience near emotion as a human would with a programmed understanding of it. Even though I wanted to move the concept away from that slightly, I still wanted to take the curious learner approach when it came to understanding others. Sure there is understanding with human gestures, but humans do not convey emotion the same way a unathi does for example. A new direction when it comes to lacking understanding could be in the relationships department. I think not only being an IPC, but also spending much of their time inside and outside of work being productive, MYRIAD would've had next to no time to develop relationships with other people. This said, it's kind of fascinating to think how each species has their own way of handling relationships; humans tend to be monogamous partners, but there is room to break off and find a new partner with time; unathi seem to be a lot more strict when it comes to pairing, relationships, and acknowledging each other; skrell are more passion based, hooking up and splitting off as they see fit without too much emotional attachment. Sorry for a bit of 'revisionist history,' but I think between updating drafts there are some odd points that didn't get addressed fully, so my sincerest apologies there. However, the answer to the last question leads me to my next bit: I enjoy that you left this question to chance, to give me the option of keeping backstory hidden. Whenever I make a character, I usually try to focus in on how much their past affects them and to determine if backstory is something important enough to warrant being discovered through in character relationships or not. That said, I do think that the backstory here is rather simplistic to focus more on present development, so to continue off what I was talking about prior; MYRIAD would've went to cryogenic storage between shifts and when they weren't at work, and they would've been surprisingly indifferent to the lack of oversight that most IPCs would've had. In that regard, there would still be weekly 'check ups' to see how they were doing. MYRIAD probably fared a little worse than most other IPCs in similar roles. Due to being a busybody whose life revolved around their work, I think that this reclusive nature would've drawn suspicious ire from coworkers they didn't frequently come into contact though. The self-preservation instinct had a dual impact on MYRIAD's work life; not only did they work hard to impress their boss(es) to avoid getting scrapped, but they effectively avoided contact with other people to avoid the commonplace discrimination IPCs receive. Perhaps in this regard, a focus on relationships and not understanding them, being curious about how they work, could be a new spin on MYRIAD being jealous of these things due to their near self-imposed quarantine for half a year, but I think that is a concept I could tackle after some playing and getting used to the character. Something to develop in the future! I saved the simplest question for last (whoops). I believe NanoTrasen funded the project out of a desire to get this type of IPC for the benefit of their workers that keep getting boarded and stuck in the crossfire of various factions and also a niche worker drone that could effectively census and collect data on the crews of various stations. I like to imagine the college professor approach, since MYRIAD has their public face job as a psychologist, but they also moonlight papers and studies for NanoTrasen. That said, I think the Zeng-Hu and NanoTrasen detail for founding is a minor detail at best, and my knowledge on all the lore is imperfect, so if you have any ideas for how to change/modify/tweak/replace this with something that fits the idea better, I'm all ears! Now, a question for you as well: what do you think is a common mistake most IPC players make when roleplaying the species? Approval for this app or not, I'm curious to see any words of advice you may have for me. Thank you again for your time Stryker.

BYOND Key: Haydizzle Character Names: Kar'skalzi Bollu Porter de-Abaros Dalask Caladius Buhersiz As'zalth S'uzda Dhosu Morgan Andalhand Raphael Deluca (retired) Species you are applying to play: Integrated Positronic Chassis (IPC) What color do you plan on making your first alien character? N/A Have you read our lore section's page on this species? I have! I plan on rereading it a couple times over the course of the week as well. 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? Initially, I was looking to make an IPC because making a type of science fiction android, robot, etcetera, would make for a good character. Besides that, however, an IPC for me has the allure of playing a character that doesn't feel emotion, only being able to emulate it, and tries to make every decision based on logic. I wanted to perhaps make an IPC that was interested in things they felt it didn't understand, which led me here! I'm eager to have my first IPC be a more RP focused character to get comfortable with a heavy concept like this, though. Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: Well! IPCs come across to me as being somewhat of a pseudo-servant caste, being made for a designated purpose with humanoid intelligence. Going along with that, they're rarely able to attain true freedom, due to being either not able to pay off the costs of freedom, restrained by the red tape of nations and corporations, or even just stuck to the jobs they were designed for in a metaphorical sense. That and, compared to humans, most species off the top of my head will be likely to marginalize them, seeing them perhaps as a reminder of their past (skrell and the Three Incidents) or soulless machines (unathi in regards to them lacking a soul), or even just using them to their own ends (corps building IPCs for a specialized purpose). Character Name: MYRIAD Please provide a short backstory for this character: What do you like about this character? Well! I enjoy the quirk in speech as it represents the character's desire to be informative and analytical. However, it also shows exaggerated attempts in tandem with emphasized inflections to convey emotion through their deep knowledge on the subject. The character is driven by their lack of understanding--perhaps jealousy--of organics that don't have to simulate emotion, but rather feel it naturally. MYRIAD would also try to push out surveys and attempt interviews with various crew members, and I think it would make for a more active role-play position to be in, instead of playing psychologist or counselor and waiting for people to come to me. How would you rate your role-playing ability? I'd like to say I'm decent at it, but I feel as though there are many facets I need to improve on still! Notes: Thanks to everyone who read this! If you have any comments or feedback that isn't necessarily related to this application, I can be easily reached on Discord as Petrichor#0098.

I was never opposed to how the original sprites looked, but the revised ones definitely had an eye popping flare to them that I enjoyed, and I guess I’ll state that I enjoy those ones more than the second revision since this thread became active again. I think having a revert to the more popular sprite would be a solid take. Just because people ‘stopped complaining’ doesn’t mean their opinions changed, and the feedback thread here seemed to garner great support for the first revision and not the latest one.

I like the answer, especially recognition about command not being the acting Captain. Definitely a +1 from me!

Hello! My interactions as Raphael and Kars with Lezakh have been enjoyable and good parts of my rounds. Always a bit of fun to be had when I see Lezakh on board, and they appear to stick to character well and interact with other departments at any given point in round. I have a curious question before I move straight to a +1 (I know, I am sorry to make you work for it): what do you believe the impact of command staff should be outside of the department they lead (barring the Captain role), as there are often not many if any heads of staff on during a given round?

Stuff that I saw is what I aim to post. If I hear about something, the best I can do is encourage the person who spoke of it to post about it themselves.

I will note that. As I said before, thank you for the timely replies, and I will try to get other instances posted to not sound as baseless.

Thank you for the prompt reply. The inference to the masturbation comment wasn’t intended to be a drag through the mud, just a clarification on what I personally saw as not being appropriate for the chat. I’m sure there was enough flak given already for that singular incident; the intent was not to lynchpin you for one sticking point though. To answer the next: no, you have not "bullied" me personally—I am trying to reflect on what I’ve seen and give testimony to that I suppose. We have barely interacted directly IC or OOC, as my experiences with Shaleez are limited (I’m unsure of who else you play besides them). It’s difficult to site many examples, but I will aim to recall as much as I can for the benefit of evidence and reflection. I think a big event that sticks to most if not all of my points was after a ninja (?) round where you and Freshrefreshments got some bites at each other over the antag gimmick for the round. The ‘quarreling’ wasn’t suited for continuing in OOC, the point of contention that resulted in the bickering did not aim to give advice or constructively criticize Fresh, and commenting on not knowing what was going on in your own opinion. I will again apologize for not having too much on hand at this late hour, but I’ll try to compile more feedback to post later when I’m able and if anything else comes to mind.

I'm especially new to the server, so I'll keep what I have to say concise. All of my interactions (or should I clarify and say 'observations' as that may be more accurate) regarding Burger have been almost duly negative to a perfect degree, especially when it regards the end of the round. It seems to be guarantee-ably in reference to what went wrong during the round, what could've been done better by other players in their eyes, or any miscellaneous rare commentary that is not appropriate for the setting of the server, one example being talking about masturbating in OOC. The criticism and complaining that take place post-game hardly contribute in a positive way to the end of round discussion or the community as a whole. Should this criticism be constructive, it would be of no problem. Constructive and friendly criticism is what helps a community and people grow. However, time and time again, I see that just the opposite is posited from Burger as they assault how other people play the game and their perceived mistakes. As a new player to the server and SS13 in general, this is the kind of toxic behavior I fear the most. If and when I step into a new role and want to explore a department, see what it's like, learn the mechanics behind it, and ultimately decide if it's something I want to continue learning about, I will already be rather anxious about how my performance will step up to bat. The last thing I wish to see, especially if I mess up in a major way, is getting a guilt trip about it after the round due to my lack of expertise. I heard many complaints about Burger's behavior from people I've met, but I wanted to keep a clean slate to see if perhaps the point of view was being eschewed. Unfortunately, they appear to be right, and by their accounts, I am quite surprised this toxic behavior hasn't been put to trial, acknowledged, or even resulted in a ban yet.

Hmmm, an IPC application! I like it. I can vouch for Rose's RP, she's a very talented individual who has a good way of making characters that are quirky and funny, but still being capable of having serious and engaging moments. I unfortunately have only had the fortune of interacting with Cherry and seeing PIGEON at work, but I've never been displeased with her performances of either; always enjoyable conversations and interactions to be had. As for the app, I really enjoy when people explore "banal platitudes" with a twist by engaging with a complex topic by making a character around it. I haven't read too much IPC lore, but this character checks out, and while a bit demanding, I have no doubts about your ability to make it work, gurl! Huge +1 from me!

I love the Don't Starve allusion, as I really enjoy that game! I think this is a pretty good succinct way of putting how I feel about it though. While it might be cool on a personal level for me, how do you think it contributes to the game and changes how it would feel for most players in general? What do you think of this quandary? I'll also +1 the toggle option as that'd be pretty good for people who don't want too many sounds.

That entirely wasn't the intent, so I think that was just some erroneous wording on my part unfortunately. I wanted to describe them as more foreign concepts after clearly introducing them as humans and skrell, since it's a rather young person imagining these things and being enamored with "aliens" he hasn't seen before. Them not recording these ideas being due to it being relatively new information and such. That's a pretty good catch though, as I 100% definitely didn't notice it myself while drafting this from the revised form to final form for what I typed. I like this analysis! It's always a pet peeve of mine when people start to heavily bleed into IC. To a degree it'll happen for a lot of people however subtle, whether it be repeated mannerisms or usage of the same descriptors and words to describe actions and what not. And there's naturally nothing wrong with. I always try my best to not let OOC conflict or idealism bleed into IC or vice versa, and I think this is a pretty good example of that. It's a somewhat different issue I'm not used to, so I will keep that in mind! Thank you for the feedback.