Haydizzle

This is about the same as saying "I don't know why you think that you get to decide what is and isn't rulebreaking." Moderators are trusted to handle this. At the end of the day, baiting breaks rule 2: don't be a dick. It is anger-inducing and comes from a place of bad faith. I'd be inclined to believe that you were not baiting people, were it not for the needless insults, taunting, and lip that was doled out when you received a strike, as well as over the course of this complaint— all of which still break rule 2. I stand by my decision, and I don't believe I have much else to add unless prompted by whoever reviews this complaint.

Smuggling Increases on Moghes; Stricter Levy Enforcement Yesterday morning, a ship among many carrying smuggled goods attempted to land, this one specifically in the city of Tzonia, in order to meet a dealer who would pay them. However, the local City Watch had been alerted to the criminal activity by the Navy and were ready to swoop in. With a detachment of Kataphracts, the City Watch quickly secured the ship, smuggled goods, and crew with no losses of their own. The goods were high-end electronics, originally purchased from Idris Incorporated. This is a story not unlike others being told across Moghes right now: the criminals intended to smuggle them onto Moghes and sell them with a minor markup, to any who would purchase them, without any of the new taxes imposed by the Hegemon last week. Most of the crew were humans, who only saw an opportunity to make some credits. Lord Ozmalikai decided their punishments, with the crew being sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for the betterment of the Hegemon. After jailing the crew for their crimes, Ozmalikai claimed, “Let this be a lesson to all those who would disobey the laws of the Hegemon, and those who tempt others to do the same.” This single ship is just part of a larger story. City watches around the Hegemony have been reporting an increase in smuggled goods, mostly among the more wealthy population who wish for their off-world goods to return to a somewhat normal price. Most of these goods are not essential, such as food or medicine, and those smuggling them are likely in the unfavorable business to make a quick credit off-world. It is difficult to understand what would compel those in high standing to such a dishonorable act, but nevertheless it is occurring. The Navy has stated it will be dedicating those stellar ships currently unable to exit the system to combating these smugglers.

The problem is brushing aside what people say. You said you found it fun, but it was in the same breath as waving off other people and baiting them. There are other instances of brushing aside people's arguments that can be seen when you said it "doesn't matter why" in regards to another point someone brings up. The second part is relevant because it was a hostile response, bringing up the strike needlessly on the relay when I could've taken a DM, and just another form of baiting mods. This wasn't even the first time today that you had a response like this to moderator actions.

Having an opinion that disagrees with someone is fine. People are entitled to their opinions. There were comments made however that are baiting, and the tendency of some of your posts that sound nonchalant and aloof nudged me towards striking you. This has been something I've observed in the past as well. Regarding it being "targeted," I conferred with WickedCybs about this too before making the decision, and we both felt it was appropriate. This was the post in question that I issued the strike for, and Sycmos summarized the rest of the conversation as well, in my view: Additionally, your response to it was extraordinarily hostile and uncalled for.

Due to the size of the document and scope of how many articles it covers, I will need to categorize this as medium given it will likely take my team a while to go through it (even though I probably have the time to go over it all anyway).

Hegemon Wisely Raises Tariffs, Introduces Guild Tax In a surprise visit today, the Hegemon himself gave a short speech at the Merchant’s Guild hall in Skalamar today, addressing potential issues posed by the statements many corporations made last week. He said the following regarding the state of the realm: Master of Rivers Azui Hutay’zai then took the podium, seeming rather sullen, and began to explain the steps more specifically. They boil down to an itinerary of five steps of progress that was gathered and streamlined by journalists at the meeting. First, tariffs for imports and exports have both been raised by 40%. This is to give the government liquid capital which it will invest back into critical economic sectors such as arms manufacturing and mining. These tariffs do not apply to guilds transporting their own goods into or out of the Hegemony. Next, colony worlds will no longer be able to purchase foreign goods, and may only purchase Hegemonic goods; as well, any exports from colony worlds, transported by guilds or outside parties must first be taken to Moghes. To this end, the Moghes orbital space docks are being expanded with the help of Hephaestus Industries, who expect the work to be done within a period of two months. Goods purchased inside the Hegemony will now have a flat 6% tax, with a third of the money made going to the local lord who rules the lands on which the transaction occurred. Hegemony merchants are expected to enforce this tax and are required to keep a ledger of transactions, which will be shown to tax collectors and compared with the amount of money collected. This flat tax is double on all colony worlds. Third, all Hegemonic Guilds will be required to pay a flat 75,000 CR guild rate to the Hegemony a month or give up an equivalent amount of goods. This will be enforced by tax collectors, and failure to pay will mean stripping of guild charter. Finally, all mining operations will commence on the moon of Chantarel, with bidding for two-thirds of the lands to commence within the month. One-third of the mining lands on the moon have been reserved for Hephaestus Industries, as payment for their assistance in an undisclosed project. As many can imagine, these steps were seen by many in the Merchant's Hall as too much, causing many of the audience to hurl insults and slurs at the Master of Rivers, who stood there staring out at the crowd, several times arguing back with members, and almost getting in a physical confrontation with a member who attempted to climb on the stage, before being escorted away by members of the royal guard. Several people were injured in the commotion. We have since tried to reach many guilds for comments, and while the consensus seems to be a pure dislike for the reforms, specifically the tax, Hephaestus Industries has broken away by openly stating that they believe the reforms necessary and hope that the Hegemon’s wisdom continues to protect the Hegemony.

Businesses Vacate the Hegemony; Izweski Economy in Ruins? In an announcement made by many Stellar Corporate Conglomerate companies, there is news out of the Badlands today when it was announced that they will no longer be engaging in major business practice within the Hegemony. They cited “unfriendly” practices and difficulty with the transportation of goods and services purchased within the nation to the rest of the Spur as their reasons for withdrawing from their businesses growing inside of the Hegemony. The only two corporations to not make an announcement of similar note are Hephaestus Industries and Orion Express, who both answered the questions of Bugle journalists with affirmatives when asked if they would continue to operate with Hegemonic businesses, or guilds as they are called by Unathi, and within the Hegemony. Azui Hutay'zai, economic consultant for Hegemon Not'zar, answered brief questions on the matter. While the loss of valued partners in trade and beliefs will be missed, he offered that "[the Izweski Hegemony] will graciously accept their time and business again … when they are able." Other questions were declined, however, notable among which were how Not'zar Izweski plans to have his country cope with the departure of important business within the Hegemony, or if they would attempt some way to bring corporate interests back into the fold. The withdrawal will likely not be immediate, as though there are not many, these storefronts will become either unmanned and foreclosed, switch to being owned in shop, or be bought by competing guilds. The more concerning point of the withdrawal is the massive amount of raw resources purchased within the Hegemony by many of the withdrawing corporations. The Hegemony along with the other less developed states of the Badlands, such as the People's Republic of Adhomai, account for a majority of rare metals and raw resources used in factories across the spur, from Xanu Prime to New Hai Phong. The loss of these materials may be felt far and wide, though multiple corporate spokespersons have stated that their factories would not be affected by this change. Some professionals speculate that due to the aforementioned heavy reliance on exports, the Hegemony’s economy may take a steep dive as it is already struggling to cope with the ongoing scarcity of phoron affecting the wider Spur. Without the backing of most of the economic backbone of the galaxy, one pressing question remains: what direction is it that the Hegemony is heading?

I'll be sitting in on this one since it involves unathi and the Hegemony, but I think it's a great idea to add to Tret. My only question for you is this: why make the date so soon? It could be pushed back a bit to give room for characters to have some work experience there before moving to the Aurora (IE project started in 2459, finished in 2461).

Good suggestion. I don't really have much else to add. I always thought relaxing the security garments was a good idea provided there were some guidelines to prevent anything outrageous, and those are included in the initial suggestion. My only note on this is that we should say what qualifies as being clearly identifiable or not.

Alright, three days have passed since the update, so I'll give my verdict. I will say that this has some improvement and remarks on the lore. The point of the whitelist though is to reflect on your knowledge of the lore overall (at least, the basics of the species), and I don't think I'm confident that this application reflects that for you. For starters, there are no mention of any of the locations unathi reside (like Moghes proper). It can be assumed they aren't from Dominia, but that still leaves either Biesel or Moghes for countries they could have grown up in. There is no mention of the Contact War, the singular most defining event for unathi in the last few centuries due to the toll on life it had. There is no mention of what culture they were a part of, whether traditionalist or Izweski. Additionally, the backstory seems to not go with the lore either. There is mention of purposefully cutting off a limb and getting it replaced with a prosthetic, as well as being the closest any Aut'akh has ever been to being completely metal. The Aut'akh Communes page outlines how they are struggling communities that barely make ends meet, so an Aut'akh would most definitely not be purposefully getting their limbs removed on purpose by doctors and paying them to do it. There are some issues with the tone as well that make me concerned for responsibly roleplaying the species, but I think the area of improvement for now is brushing up on your knowledge of the lore if you want to apply again. This application is denied. You can try again after two weeks from this ruling, and of course are free to ask questions on the lore discord for my deputies and I or other whitelistees.

Hello! Good job with the application, the backstory was nice, you answered your questions well, and even got an endorsement from the last unathi maintainer. Application accepted! Feel free to ask my deputies and I any questions you have going forward.

I haven't had a chance to look through all of it with a scrutinizing lens, but I will say what I've seen so far looks wonderful. I had the honor of helping with the religious sections, and Wigglesworth was cooperative, creative, and fun to work with to boot. I personally think the length of it all isn't terrible for a one-off planet (around 50k characters before HTML formatting), but I'd understand if some cuts had to be made by the human devs. I'll hopefully swing back around to give some actual feedback provided I have the time, but a majority of this would have my support anyway so +1. Good luck!

I've seen this topic come up to me personally a couple of times after this post, so to give my own thoughts on it: We are hitting a point where aliens segregating themselves into these communities is starting to make less sense. Tajara and vaurca have some solid reasons to not fully integrate themselves into Biesel society, but past those species, the reasons start to dwindle. It also starts to become a question of how crappy can Biesel become if it's supposedly better than the other nations of the Spur yet the only reality is aliens are not outwardly discriminated against by most people and instead done so in private— it starts to feel samey when done ad hominem. I'm likely not adding a unathi district for these reasons. I think there would be other ways to write them into the setting there without falling for the template, so to speak. I think the same with synthetics can also be done.

Thanks for applying! Both you and Clem had great qualities fit for lore, so it ultimately came down to a matter of which writing style and point of view I wanted for the team. Welcome aboard!

This was a tough choice, but I ultimately went with Triogenix. It basically came down to your writing style and your views on the lore and which was my preference. I think you'd be a fine candidate in the future, so do not be disparaged. Thanks again for applying and all the effort you put into the application!

Good answers. I don't see any issues with accepting your application. Apologies for the slight inconvenience with the timing of the update, though I think you handled the questions with grace. Feel free to ask my deputies and I any questions you have going forward.

Thanks for your answers. I will be reviewing the applications and get back to you shortly.

To briefly touch on the subject, religious tension is supposed to be one of the core themes of unathi and their history. A lot of recent strife (like the crusade against the Akhandi, the Civil War that happened regarding the Church of Sk'akh versus the Hegemony, and the general tension between Traditionalists and Izweski) can be attributed to religious tension, and I wanted there to be fleshed out religions to highlight their differences further. That said, when I tackle something, I want that page/area of the lore to basically not need any other major additions so I can move on to the next major project. This way, I'm not going back and needing to expand drastically on Aut'akh communes or what Th'akh's ancestor worship looks like later on. Thanks for your answers. I'm looking to reach a verdict after Clem replies to the questions as well.

I have some questions; feel free to be however brief or elaborate you want with the answers. 1) Both applicants talked about guilds, which I thought was an interesting topic. Would you say guilds are unimportant in the political sphere? What is their role in the grand scheme of things? 2) While I enjoy having deputies that agree with my vision, I think it's also important for them to stick to their guns on their thoughts if we disagree. Have you ever disagreed with any lore developments I've either helped in or done myself? Notable ones are but not limited to: any parts of the religion page, the prosthetics page, the Aut'akh rework, the articles regarding Ouerea, the Dominia additions for unathi, the unathi clothes additions in game. 3) Lore writers nowadays are expected to contribute on greater team projects, so chances are you will get to contribute on things for megacorps, projects for Biesel, and things that are outside the purview of any one species' lore. Taking this position means contributing on these is a given, but is there anything outside of unathi lore that interests you? Sometimes, if you have a passion for something and want to write about it, you can get approval to write about it on a maintainer or loremaster's behalf. 4) Now, time for probably the most important question in my eyes. This is perhaps a couple of smaller questions rolled into one. Something other lore teams have taken to is adding new subspecies through lore developments. Dionae got a quicker and younger group, Vaurca had a large story and arc around introducing Bulwarks, and Skrell have one that got tails. In the wake of this, a lot of people make either idle remarks or full-on suggestions for adding a unathi subspecies. As a disclaimer, I'm neither condoning nor disapproving of the proposal and am using it as a method of gathering your thoughts. Often, you will be approached with ideas regarding the lore, so I think this is a good hypothetical. Do you think adding a subspecies for unathi specifically is a bad or good idea? What would qualify needing a new subspecies? How should a new subspecies be introduced? How would you reply to a player that disagrees with you and is adamant on their point of view on the matter?

I have some questions; feel free to be however brief or elaborate you want with the answers. 1) Both applicants talked about guilds, which I thought was an interesting topic. Would you say guilds are unimportant in the political sphere? What is their role in the grand scheme of things? 2) While I enjoy having deputies that agree with my vision, I think it's also important for them to stick to their guns on their thoughts if we disagree. Have you ever disagreed with any lore developments I've either helped in or done myself? Notable ones are but not limited to: any parts of the religion page, the prosthetics page, the Aut'akh rework, the articles regarding Ouerea, the Dominia additions for unathi, the unathi clothes additions in game. 3) Lore writers nowadays are expected to contribute on greater team projects, so chances are you will get to contribute on things for megacorps, projects for Biesel, and things that are outside the purview of any one species' lore. Taking this position means contributing on these is a given, but is there anything outside of unathi lore that interests you? Sometimes, if you have a passion for something and want to write about it, you can get approval to write about it on a maintainer or loremaster's behalf. 4) Now, time for probably the most important question in my eyes. This is perhaps a couple of smaller questions rolled into one. Something other lore teams have taken to is adding new subspecies through lore developments. Dionae got a quicker and younger group, Vaurca had a large story and arc around introducing Bulwarks, and Skrell have one that got tails. In the wake of this, a lot of people make either idle remarks or full-on suggestions for adding a unathi subspecies. As a disclaimer, I'm neither condoning nor disapproving of the proposal and am using it as a method of gathering your thoughts. Often, you will be approached with ideas regarding the lore, so I think this is a good hypothetical. Do you think adding a subspecies for unathi specifically is a bad or good idea? What would qualify needing a new subspecies? How should a new subspecies be introduced? How would you reply to a player that disagrees with you and is adamant on their point of view on the matter?

This application somehow slipped through the cracks between deputy applications and the recent lore developments, apologies! I have a couple of comments and a couple of questions before making a verdict. You show a very good understanding of the lore in your breakdown of the question: "what makes this species different from roleplaying a human?" However, I also look past player knowledge and attempt to look at their creativity. I am not approving this character per se, but your capacity to make an infinite amount of unathi characters. Seeing as your section for backstory is on the shorter side, I have a couple of questions regarding their personality and such. 1) In the recent Sk'akh update, Sk'akh no longer believes it is possible for a soul to mismatch a person's body, as they believe when Sk'akh creates a soul and its body, they both are intended to be together. It is meant to offset Th'akh, which believes in a soul mismatching the body due to reincarnation and a soul having an existing preference. If you choose to change their and their clan's religion to be Th'akh is fine. If not, how would Kukssal rationalize this belief despite the Sk'akh faith? How does his clan cope with it? 2) There's nothing wrong with a strict adherence to the Warrior's Code; however, people all view it and roleplay it differently. How does Kukssal's personality impact his execution of the code? Is he more benevolent, ruthless, tactical, etc.? 3) What is something Kukssal wanted where his flaws stopped him from achieving his desire? Whether a physical thing, a love interest, a position of note, the like.

Very good replies. I spent some time mulling over what to ask, then thought Gecko's questions were good. Application accepted. Feel free to DM my deputies and I with any questions you may have.

-1 didn't put 10/10 for your roleplaying skills. Even ignoring the effort put into your application and responses, which alone are impressive, you show a really good understanding of the lore. I don't really have any questions or concerns about how you'd fair with the whitelist. Application accepted. Feel free to send any questions to myself or my deputies.

I spoke with Kaizr in DMs about their application and my reasons for denying it. Thanks again to everyone for the effort they put into this— not only the person applying, but opening a dialogue with the applicant.

I spoke with MyphicBowser in DMs about their application and my reasons for denying it. Thanks again to everyone for the effort they put into this— not only the person applying, but opening a dialogue with the applicant.