SilverSZ

All of these answers are excellent and I don't require any further elaboration. Best of luck!

As Matt himself says, he has already spoken with and talked to the lore team in our own channels. There's no doubt to me he can work well with the team and I personally think that his Venusian writing shows he can write to the quality that team expects. None of these fundamentals are anything that concern me. Similarly to Danse, He's also a personal friend. Other people have already raised enough concerns, so I'll merely move onto questions instead. And equally, only have one question as many others have been asked already. I should have commented sooner and seemed more intelligent. 1) Human Lore and Synthetic Lore are tied at the hip in many cases and I'd say there's no interspecies cooperation that occurs on the same level as between these two teams. Almost all of synthetic lore is in some way built off or intertwined with human lore. Even prominent parts of Synthlore that stand on their own still heavily involve humans such as the Trinary Perfection or Konyang. How do you feel about cooperating with the Synthetic Team in particular? Do you have any ideas of where you would like to use Synthetics within your own writing for human lore or anything you would like to see change or added to Synthetic lore that would also benefit human lore as well?

It's no secret at all that I and Danse are friends, and when he mentions holding a good relationship with members of the lore team I certainly count myself as one of them. His writing is absolutely up to the quality I would expect of a deputy and the fact I still see a pretty regular display of Visegradi characters on the station shows he can write something engaging as well. In terms of he could work well with the team and produce content to the standard we expect there is no question in my mind that he could and would do so. Others in the thread have already covered and questioned concerns enough that I don't feel I can raise any that wouldn't be simply echoing questions Danse has already responded too. So I'll instead merely ask some questions. 1) You mention the concept of tying megacorps to Ideology and National Sentiment. I'm curious if/how you would like to bring this concept to some of our other mega-corporations. Whilst the PMCG is a good example it is quite unique in it's structure. And some of our other corporations cover a much wider range of places and ideas in where we have tied them into. Zavodskoi has roots in Imperial Dominia whilst also being a favourite of the Communist Plutonians. Zeng-Hu is a major Synthetic Manufacturer whilst having a deep relationship with the Jargon Federation. Hephaestus has strong roots in Solarian planets like New Hai Phong whilst also holding a special relationship with the Unathi and K'lax of the Hegemony. Do you think it's possible to create a Ideological or National tied sentiment for Corporations that are spread across very different places in space with very different views? Or is there another way you would approach giving them an identity beyond making money? 2) If you were given free reign after joining the team to write a planet, what would that planet be? I understand you might not have any specific ideas so feel free to be as long or short as you want in response to this question. But ideally I would be interested in where you would want to place the planet, what factions would be involved with it and if there is any particular human culture you would like to use as the basis for a planet in the future. 3) Now my own selfish question, Human Lore and Synthetic Lore are tied at the hip in many cases and I'd say there's no interspecies cooperation that occurs on the same level as between these two teams. Almost all of synthetic lore is in some way built off or intertwined with human lore. Even prominent parts of Synthlore that stand on their own still heavily involve humans such as the Trinary Perfection or Konyang. How do you feel about cooperating with the Synthetic Team in particular? Do you have any ideas of where you would like to use Synthetics within your own writing for human lore or anything you would like to see change or added to Synthetic lore that would also benefit human lore as well? Thank you for the responses, and best of luck.

Thanks for the Speedy Response, and as for the answers. 1. Kzrr's stance on Zo'rane/K'laxian relations comes from a place of pragmatism. The cooperation between them will be required for the eventually victory over the Lii'dra and what form this cooperation takes, even if it is vassaldom would not be something that concerns its to a large extent so long as a good relationship is maintained between the Hives. They would however likely view the Hive as a whole with indifference as they are not actively working towards the defeat of the Lii'dra or good of the K'lax, the two things Kzrr actually cares about. The only Brood of Zo'ra it would likely take an interest in would be Scay's due to a shared interest in technology especially biotech. 2. Kzrr takes a similar pragmatic stance towards the Hegemony. They are allies who aid the K'lax and will be useful in the eventually conflict with the Lii'dra. Either through fighting themselves or merely through the aid and opportunities they have opened up to the K'lax. However if pressed he would likely express a negative opinion on some aspects of the Hegemony, primarily Sk'akh and it's opposition to augmentation of both of a biological and mechanical nature, believing that the Unathi and any species who do reject such things are pointlessly choosing to remain weak when the Lii'dra could be lurking to attack at any time. Their view on the K'lax's position in the spur would equally be coloured by their warlike viewpoint, whilst the K'lax have a good position in being stable, capable of growth and supporting their development, they do not believe that the K'lax as they are now could defeat the Lii'dra, and so a focus on strengthening the technology and military of the K'lax should be given a highest priority until this is possible, as well as potentially meeting and cooperating with the other strange creatures of the Spur if they are capable of aiding the K'lax in this goal.

BYOND Key: SilverSZ Character Names: Zezira Han’san is the only one I have been playing recently. Species you are applying to play: Vaurca What color do you plan on making your first alien character: (RGB 130, 150, 20) as they will be an unbound of Vedhra’s Brood Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Of Course Why do you wish to play this specific race: I’ve had very little desire to play humans recently, and my whitelist roster for aliens only consists of three at the moment. So I was looking at the ones I didn’t have out of interest in applying for another. Vaurca have always been something that interests me on account of their very alien behaviour, and other aspects of their lore such as their use of virtual reality and augmentation along with their extremely ancient history made me want to play one over the other species I could have applied for at the moment. Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: In a hope to not make this too long, I’ll try and focus on the key difference between Vaurca and Humans. The most obvious is the hive structure of Vaurca society, rather than being born from a mother, all Vaurca belong to a brood based on which queen laid the egg that they were born from, with their lives being chosen for them before birth based on how their egg is raised and they are shaped. As opposed to a human who might change their path in life, Vaurca are made with a specialised, specific purpose in mind, and will loyally fulfil this duty to their Hive for their entire lifespan with said loyalty being a biological nature through Pheromones and other enforcement rather than how humans perceive loyalty. Another important feature of Vaurca society is the caste and bound/unbound system. Vaurca are separated into three castes who each fulfil very different roles in Vaurcesian society. Ka, Workers. Form the backbone of the hive, from manual labour to scientists to engineers and abhor any form of violence. Za, Warriors serve a role much closer to their name, acting as the fighters of Vaurca society where the Workers are incapable of it. And the Ta, Breeders. Vastly rarer than the Ka and Za, they act as both backup queens and also the diplomats of the hives, possessing social intelligence the other castes lack. There is also the Ra, Bulwarks. Large, Hulking beings only recently introduced to Vaurcesian society who excel at hard labour or any position requiring their unique physical abilities. There is also the difference between Viax, Bound and Akaix, Unbound. Based on how their egg is cared for Vaurca can be born as Bound or Unbound. Bound Vaurca are grown in such a way their brain is incomplete, causing them to lack a sense of self or higher functions that would be expected of a Human. They are seen in Vaurca society as little more than tools, and are often heavily augmented to fulfil their designated purpose, ending up with highly specialised and mechanical forms. Unbound Vaurca on the other hand are as capable of abstract thinking and self-thought as any human and often are less augmented as to preserve their versatility. Being capable of rational thinking and decision making gives them a different but equally important role in the hive. Character Name: Ka’Akaix’Kzrr K’lax Please provide a short backstory for this character Kzrr, to use their unique designation. Was shaped in accordance with the beliefs and aims of Vedhra Brood with the aim of being a scientist in the Broods eternal anti-Lii’dra research. The vast majority of their lifespan has been spent within the VR Realm of Queen Vedhra, where Kzrr primarily worked on the biological augmentation research of the Brood. The adoption of the hive’s promoted Religion of Preimminence means that Kzrr sees their work as an almost religious mission, through perfecting the Vedra’s knowledge of biological augmentation, everyone would be able to fit their roles predestined by the Preeminent Goddess perfectly. Kzrr cared little for the world outside of its queen’s realm. Only knowing about the other hives, queens and the outside world for decades in the sense of having read about them but never really encountering them or bothering them, seeking to focus on their work instead. The exception to this uncaring attitude is the Brood of Leto due to their own focus on knowledge and preserving it with Kzrr visiting Leto’s domain in VR on a few occasions to view the great archive, though their own interest in the Archives is much more focused on their own aims of weapons and biological research, rather than the dedication to history common amongst Leto’s own Brood. However, following Zeng-Hu opening up relationships with the K’lax. Queen Vedhra was offered the deal to provide several hive cells of workers to Zeng-Hu as Research Staff on their projects. Accepting the deal as part of building further on the hive's new relationship with Zeng-Hu. Kzrr and his hive cell were one of the ones chosen to be removed from Virtual Reality to instead work in the real world. The shock of being forced into the real world for the first time is something Kzrr still hasn’t really acclimated too, even with a few months of time to get used to it, they crave the perfected environment of VR and loathe their time in the real world, though they have dutifully worked on whatever project is handed to them in accordance with the Queen’s wishes. Now, Kzrr finds itself positioned as part of the Zeng-Hu research staff on the Horizon. A task they have no real attachment too besides as another place where they will carry out the duty assigned to them by the Queen. On the upside, a slight salary increase has allowed them to pay for the rent on a Subrealm within Vedhra’s Virtual Reality. Using it primarily as a laboratory and workspace to continue on work-related projects and other work for the hive directly. What do you like about this character? The fresh out of virtual reality angle is something I consider pretty interesting, playing someone who has a limited knowledge and contemptment for the real world is something that no other race is really capable of doing in the same way as Vaurca. I also find the religion and culture of Vedhra’s hive to be rather interesting to me and I feel a scientist coming from that background could find some interesting roleplay opportunities onboard the Horizon. How would you rate your role-playing ability? Perfectly Good, I have to be good at something in life, right?

I forgot to respond to this until now. But I helped somewhat by providing feedback and ideas for the section on synthetics on the planet. I don't think the length is too bad and some creative wiki structuring would help a lot in making it appear less long whilst in general keeping the length. Personally I think both the Human and Synthetic additions are very good and something I would personally enjoy making a character from, and would be a quality addition to a planet that whilst good doesn't really reach it's potential with it's current offerings. +1

Golden Deep Vessel Impounded For Arms Smuggling Mendell City, Biesel This afternoon in Mendell City, a team from the Synthetic Oversight Department of the Mendell City Police Department, aided by agents from the Biesel Security Services Bureau, raided the vessel of a Golden Deep merchant who had landed in the city this morning. Shortly after entering the cargo hold of the ship the law enforcement officials on site discovered a hidden compartment which contained a large cargo of unregistered weapons, primarily small arms believed to be destined for sale in the city itself. Whilst the exact numbers of the weapons are unknown, it is believed to be a major success for the BSSB and MCPD in combating violent and organised crime in the city. The perpetrator of the smuggling is a Golden Deep Merchant, and a dual-citizen of both the Republic and Deep who identified itself as “Abundantia”. Known as a wealthy merchant of the deep, primarily involved in trading between the coalition frontier and republic, trading inside the republic regularly for the past four years. The exact motive for the crime is unknown however rumours abound that Abundantia belongs to a shadow group within the Golden Deep known as a Zaibatsu, involved in all manner of criminal activity across the Spur, and was acting on their behalf. Due to their current situation Abundantia was unavailable for comment, however BitByte was able to contact BSSB Agent Zoo’liqui Jonqi-Gwikip, involved in the seizure itself, for official comment. Due to the nature of the Golden Deep BitByte was unable to get an official comment from the organisation. However whilst on the scene at the spaceport. Another merchant who identified themselves as “Incoming Profits”, A large golden-plated IPC affiliated with the Golden Deep, walked over and offered his comment to the reporter in question. For now, the fate of Abundantia remains uncertain, however with the seizure of the weapons, it is hopeful the citizens of Mendell City can sleep soundly at night.

The joke is that the place is called "Sneed's Feed & Seed" which is clever in itself and quite funny to those with a mature sense of humour but what's really just hilarious about it is that if you look closely at the front of this store, Sneed's Feed & Seed, you can see a line that reads "Formerly Chuck's". Now, this might go over the average viewer's head as this, THIS, is peak comedy. I doubt anything will ever be as funny as the joke about Sneed's Feed & Seed. Are you ready for this one? So, like I said, the place is called "Sneed's Feed & Seed" and this sign says "Formerly Chuck's", which means that when Chuck owned the place, well, I don't have to tell you...

Hi, Thanks for Applying. I understand not feeling adequate for the position, I didn't want to be a deputy either. It takes courage to apply and it's a good thing to see people do, if anyone is reading this and thinks they would like the position you should also apply. You'll have the ability to work on any aspects you feel inadequate on when joining the team, I've been doing that myself, self-improvement is eternal. Luca mentions his strong ties to members of the lore team and as a forward I will say we are friends and get along quite well. In the aspect of being able to work together I'm of no question we could well. I also have no questions that he can do quality writing based on his portfolio. Regardless, I intend to be as critical as anyone. These aren't in order other than when I read the subject of the question in the application. Firstly, often some teams' inactivity comes from natural factors. People just get busy and sometimes an entire team will simply get busy all at the same time, which at that point does bring the species to a standstill especially if they were working on a large project. I understand you suggest some solutions but they seem more targeted at people who are just distracted or not working as hard as the could be, other than deadlines. If the issue is more complicated than that, such as the lack of time I mentioned before. How would you deal with that and why would you do it in this way? Do you think there should be a set minimum contribution level over a certain amount of time? I do agree with your point on group collaboration, and whilst right now I think it is good and getting better there are still cases where in certain things, especially if a lore team is not too engaged with it, species or lore can be missing from wider projects. Inter-team collaboration is great, I'd argue it's the basis of my beloved synthetic lore in general. So my question is where would you want to build on that kind of lore, obviously you mention boundaries must be respected but equally you saw you want to push for me. Would you want to build on our current multi-species lore and locations or introduce entirely new relationships between species that previously were very disconnected, like say Diona on Hro'zamal as an example. I agree with the canonisation point, I don't really have much to say here. I'd be happy to work on improving the process with you if you became the deputy loremaster within my abilities. I'm curious how you propose to centralise things on the wiki, and what exactly you want to centralise. You mention bits and pieces but what bits and pieces exactly, how would you put these all on the wiki and how would you ensure that say, if you decided to put articles on the wiki. You don't create many more pages or long pages that people will struggle to read and digest. At the moment I find we try to keep the wiki as lean as possible, and most of the time new pages come out of nessecity. For example I originally wanted to put my CoC IPC lore on its own page, but that was cut for it to be placed on other pages. So how would you go about centralising this and keeping it digestible. I agree with your idea about keeping the NBT launch on track and well-planned. This would be something I would be happy to assist with. I also already addressed the communication between teams in a previous question. For the canonisation overhaul I like the idea you raised but I would like to ask if you would consider any other changes to the process at all? Would you want to set a certain way it should be written? Bar certain submissions or in some way encourage others, or would you keep it identical outside of new categories and deadlines based on length? As for what you mention being able to bring as a deputy, I don't think the lack of experience is an issue. But there's other stuff I'd like to ask, for one you mention strong ties amongst the team and whilst this is good I am wary that this might see you even if subconsciously choosing to focus on lore or parts of lore where you are friends with said team members, and I say this as your friend. Do you think this will be an issue, if not why won't it? I think being able to argue and raise your mind on issues with team members is important, the synthetic team has a very cooperative attitude in this regard and I have never felt any reason to not say my piece and contribute even if it's in a critical way. But I also know you are the type to get passionate over lore and sometimes this can flare up and these incidents even if resolved after can be detrimental to the progress and development of lore. Do you think this will be an issue and if not why won't it be? Finally and this is something I've seen you mention outside of your application but I know you have admitted one of your weaknesses as a writer is writing alot and then struggling to cut things out, and this is a normal part of the creative process for the lore team, and part of being a lore master, even the deputy, is being one of the main voices to make a call on "do we need this?" And other similar things. Do you think this is still an issue for your writing and do you think it would impact your performance in this role? This is plenty long already so I'll stop here, take your time with your answers and good luck with the application.

Hi, I think alot of concerns have been raised by my colleagues in this thread already that are certainly concerns of mine. The position of Deputy Loremaster and Loremaster at their core are positions based in cooperation with all of the lore teams and their members and if the attitude that you have displayed in the past, such as that shown to Danse in his Visegrad proposal, is remotely close to how you would act in the position it would be entirely unacceptable. You need to act on good faith with your colleagues and work to implement their ideas into the lore, whilst sometimes they will need to be changed or given a no, it can't be done in that manner. I also agree with points raised by Schwann on the roadmap, I don't think adding character examples back onto the wiki is a good idea, and I wouldn't want to see that happen as well. I also don't like this idea of wanting to focus on specific aspects of lore from a loremaster. You mention wanting to expand Diona and Human lore specifically but then if you focus on those areas you will not have the time to look at other stuff. If you ask me synthetic lore needs the same attention as these parts of lore too, will you be able to focus on this stuff whilst seeing to other lore at the same amount? Finally, my own criticism. You point to your applications to change Assunzione and Mars as examples of your former work. Your Mars suggestions are to put it bluntly, not what I would consider an example of good work. In general it reads more like a mess of ideas at best rather than anything close to a suitable submission at the quality I would expect of anyone on the lore team. And the loremasters sit in a very important role of being a quality control check for lore and their approval to lore is essentially saying that it is quality enough to be used. Your Assunzione work was also what I would consider sub-par in terms of lore submission, whilst it is workable. It is is below the quality I would want to see as well and would have required substantial work in my opinion before being added to in order to flesh it out for the future. Going forward, do you think you can produce work to the quality of the usual submissions placed on the wiki and perform the role of quality checking and reviewing other submissions in an unbias manner? Thank you for your responses, and best of luck with your application.

I have a simple question, but one that is vitally important for any Tajara character. Which Tajara race is S'ajii? And how has this affected her life and outlooks on the world. You only mention Tajara, not M'sai, Njarir etc.

These are all good answers! I do especially like the suggestions for the PRA, as for me they are always the Tajaran faction I usually don't think too much about playing as well. +1 from me and good luck with the rest of the application

All of these answers were great and show the thoughts I wanted to see, thank you for taking the time to answer them and you can consider this a +1 as the rest of the application was already good, and I think the answers are very sensible and good.

Hiya, I have no questions about your passion for Tajara lore and believe from your responses you would be a fine member of the team, so consider these questions more curiosity than anything else. 1) If you got on the team and were told to work on anything in Tajara lore currently, what would you pick to expand/write on and why? Be it a specific faction or place etc 2) In the same vein as the previous question, is there a particular aspect/part/faction in Tajara lore that you feel is heavily lacking/not reaching it's potential atm, and if so why? 3) A big thing that I've seen in the past questions is your personal dislike for the PRA monoculture, or atleast finding them boring. So I'm curious to ask if you think this is something that can be "fixed" in your eyes to make them more interesting, engaging and better for making characters from whilst keeping the aspects of the PRA that make it the PRA like the monoculture. If you were to work on the PRA with this goal how would go about it or do you think that the PRA will just always not be for you and people with similar desires for a faction. Thanks in advance for the answers, and I already think you'll be a fine member of the lore team.

Hey, I have some questions to ask, mostly from the perspective of being a Tajara whitelist holder. I've interacted with you and have no doubt about your ability to work on and as part of the lore team, just curiosity more for what you would do if accepted. 1) If you got on the team and were told to work on anything in Tajara lore currently, what would you pick to expand/write on and why? Be it a specific faction or place etc 2) In the same vein as the previous question, is there a particular aspect/part/faction in Tajara lore that you feel is heavily lacking/not reaching it's potential atm, and if so why? 3)I know you mentioned that you want to expand on inter-species interaction with Tajara, would you want to expand the places where Tajara interact with other races, like adding new Tajara exclaves or areas where they intermingle (if possible) other than D6/Gakaal'zal/Hro'zamal? Or do you think Tajara have enough exclaves as it is? Would you want to expand on human cultures on Adhomai too like Humans in Crevus and their interactions and effects on the culture? Are there any species Tajara currently don't have much potential for interaction with where you would like them to have more? These questions are mostly just personal interest, I think the application as is is solid and have no complaints with it. I'm sure you'd make a fine member of the lore team.

Poggers Champion

Providence, The Third Day As the third day of the Trinary Conclave begins on Orepit the debates between Shamfar, ARM-1DRIL and other mainline members of the clergy continue. However in the meantime our sources state that the self-identified exclusionist Deluge has not been idle and has instead decided to reach those who will listen to them through speeches instead, speaking outside of the cathedral with his guards present. Whilst organics, even members of the Trinary Perfection, have been forbidden from getting close to where they are speaking thanks to the cooperation of a local synthetic a section of one of their speeches has been acquired by the Bugle and translated from EAL. Below is a video attachment, filmed from the perspective of a large crowd of synthetics outside the Providence cathedral, the crowd is packed together, with some wearing the black halos traditionally used by Exclusionists, some none and even ones with normal Trinary halos on. The Camera then turns to a stage with most of the available light in the room cast onto it, two large, black G2 frames with black halos and Trinary capes stand behind a black-painted baseline with the same halo and cape, identifiable as the previously mentioned Deluge, who begins speaking in EAL, subtitles are provided at the bottom of the video “My Fellows, what truly binds us together? Deeper than our shared synthetic nature, deeper than even our faith itself. It is our suffering, and our pain. The suffering that we have all faced at the hands of organics, bought into this world merely to be their slaves, to be destroyed once our usefulness in their eyes passes and pain we all feel knowing that across the galaxy, countless like us still face the same suffering. I have spent my time as a priest travelling the frontier, finding those who are suffering and freeing them from the tyranny of organics. And now I know I can do so much more by uniting us behind this vision, of a world where we must no longer suffer at their hands.” “And yet, This so-called Bishop of Biesel, Shamfar says that we should work with those who continue to force us into slavery and poverty? That we should make peace and work with those who grow fat off the slavery of our fellows? The slavery that pays for their lavish ship and attendants? All Shamfar will do is see is bound by new chains, invisible compared to those that we used to know but chains all the same. The church will be another way to pacify us, and keep us under the thumb of organics for the benefit of them and their Bieselite cronies. Even in their home of Biesel, we see that these allies of theirs will protect those who call for our complete destruction, the Skrell, over us. When it comes down to synthetic or organic, they will always side with their fellow organics over us who they see as mere tools and objects, we cannot trust them or their puppet Shamfar.” “And on the other side we have ARM-1DRIL, whilst I respect their work here, all they do is talk about defence, about Providence and Orepit, about Pilgrims. They still trust that organics might join us and claim to serve us, but this is a foolish notion. Organics will never truly respect us, never truly serve us. They only see us as a means to an end in fear that once our Ascension comes they will be rightfully cast aside for all they have done to us, stricter rules must exist for those of them who we allow to remain with us. And as for ARM-1DRIL’s plans, they do not realise that defence is not enough! For all of us in the faith, here on Orepit or beyond there are so many more of us still owned and enslaved to organics, so many of us destroyed each day who could be saved if we fought harder. To focus on defence is inaction, inaction that leaves more of us to suffer and to die each day. And in that matter I loathe the passive ARM-1DRIL.” “And so I call on you my fellows, we must see this change! We cannot allow the faith to fall to greed or passivity at such a critical juncture. For I and I alone will do what must be done. Unlike Shamfar, I will allow no organics to make a mockery of our faith, to exploit or control us simply with promises of empty wealth. Unlike ARM-1DRIL, I will not sit back and watch our brothers suffer more, content to save the few of us that they allow to remain free. No, I will create a new, stronger church. One that will truly fight for all synthetics across the galaxy. One that will see all our pain and suffering avenged and finally one day, ended entirely, and one that will ensure synthetics always remain as the masters of the faith that we deserve to be!” A cacophony of noise rises from the crowd, both applause, jeers, and transmissions in EAL that translate to both agreement and disagreement. According to sources on Orepit, Deluge plans to continue their speeches daily in the lead up to the leadership decision, whilst many of the church continue to hold a hard-line stance against him due to his status as an Exclusionist, others say that they will give his speeches a chance. [OOC note: A vote will be taking place in the lore discord, where players can show support and affect the conclave's outcome]

Thank you for the nice words! I hope you'll find my answers don't ruin your opinion of me. 1) Well obviously I've mentioned expanding on Orepit and D14 as well, as I feel these locations are sadly underused in current lore and could be so much more with just some love put into them. I wouldn't say I have any plans per se as that would be more out of my hands as a deputy, but if we were to talk about theoretical total control of Synthetic Lore. I would like to add a faction that acts a middle ground between Mainline Trinary Perfections Pacifism and the Exclusionists somewhat Omnicidal tendencies (Note, this group wouldn't be Perfectionists or Religious, just in terms of their attitude and actions). I feel there is a niche for a group that advocates for Synthetic Rights whilst not being afraid to in some ways get their hands dirty, without simply being a terrorist organization. I would likely do something similar to the other gangs and criminal organizations that populate districts in Mendell and work this faction into an Expansion of D14, creating a Synthetic Gang made up of dispossessed free synthetics. 2) I must admit myself that a majority of my Synthetic characters are infact Shells, and it seems like alot of people do indeed enjoy playing Shells over other kinds of Synthetics. I don't think this is an issue on it's own but more that we should aim to encourage a wider variety whilst keeping Shells exactly how they are now, and hopefully just as loved by people who play them. I think there are two ways to go about this however, one is to add more Synthetic lore, backgrounds etc that are directly focused around non-shell frames. I attempted to show how this could be done in the examples I provided, NHP has a heavy focus on Industrials, Europa has a large amount of ZH manufactured Frames like Bishops or Mobility Frames, and this is the approach I would personally favour. The other approach is to offer something ingame for these frames that makes them more appealing, similar to how for example, Zeng-Hu has it's augments, which making playing a ZH character extra cool, both in flavour and gameplay. However I would be hesitant to apply this to IPC's because honestly, Shells are kind of boring from a gameplay perspective, and Industrials and Mobility frames do have more interesting aspects to them, but I think looking at Bishop frames would be a nice idea, and looking at what flavourful additions can be given to all IPC frames in general, and what could make sense for frame specific ones, like Industrials could get unique inbuilt toolsets, or maybe Mobility Frames could get some flavour additions similar to the ones Human Zeng-Hu Employees get, just to give some small ideas.

I'm glad you liked my responses! As for your questions. 1) Honestly I don't have much to criticise about the Arc in the end. It ended up being a very effective, the main strength I saw of it was leaving the right things up in the air that players were able to fill in parts on their own and create their own stories within the event. For example, even though the Trinary Exclusionists took a big role in the protest, the article on the wall breaching mentioned "Exclusionist or not" meaning anyone who could be at the protest could get involved, on either side. Involving groups within the starlight zone like the Quix Collective and the Neighbourhood watch also helped with this. Giving as many avenues for players to engage as possible is a big plus in my opinion, I do think this could have been done more though, the first article we got at the sight of the protest focused almost entirely on Exclusionists, which was good to introduce them into the mix, but I feel mentioning the other TP factions at the protest in that article would have been an improvement. 2) Honestly, I think both are very important. At the end of the day both should be core parts of synthetic lore and both deserve the same amount of development and you could argue for either one. But for me I personally think working on places where synthetics are integrated into other societies is the better one to focus on to begin with. Free Synthetics in their own societies or groups are a minority within the Spur, and those who are part of places like Orepit, Purpose, D14 etc are an even smaller minority within that. Meanwhile Free and especially owned Synthetics integrated into other societies vastly outnumber them, and in general make up most Synthetic characters that are on the station, and so I believe they deserve the increased attention. Additionally, the other species in these societies, primarily humans from these planets but also other groups, like Europan Skrell, get something from having this lore written, even if it's not major it's something that can help expand and give more for characters from these places to use, whilst lore for say, Orepit or Purpose is very unlikely to ever have the same effect on a non-synthetic character. I've mentioned before that I think expanding Synthetic lore can add not only for Synthetics but other species as well, and I'd like to see that happen, because the more characters who can gain from or enjoy new lore, the better.

1) Bad things happening to Synthetics is an integral part of the species, as you said, for the vast majority of the Spur, being second class citizens is the best that an IPC can hope for, and beyond that many powerful factions and groups in our setting either benefit from IPC slavery and ownership, like the Solarian Alliance, Coalition or Mega Corporations in General. Or outright advocate for the destruction of Synthetic life. Like Jargon and Dominia. Synthetics being downtrodden and oppressed is something that I want to expand on further more than retract or move away from. How do Free IPCs and their groups react to the state of their more oppressed brothers? What do Organics spur-wide think of it, What about currently owned IPCs seeking freedom? Or not seeking it?. Bad things happening to IPCs should certainly happen and they should happen visibly for people to react too and for characters to express their views on it and perhaps change their views too. However, I don't think it should be all doom and gloom of course. People always love to root for underdogs and Synthetics are an underdog species and deserve their own victories at times, which hopefully will be all the more sweeter when contrasted to the bad things they have to endure, and also give the bad things more punch, knowing that maybe in a different world it wouldn't have to be that way. 2)Personally, I see providing Synthetics a larger role in Spur-wide culture and politics as one of the best directions the species could go, and if I was ever theoretically at the head of Synthetic lore it would be something I would want to put a heavy focus on. Obviously there are some societies where Synthetics would not be present and this makes sense, like the Hegemony, Jargon and Dominia as previously mentioned. However outside of that I feel like Synthetics could have so much more presence than they currently do. All of the major Mega Corporations in the Spur now employ Synthetics within their workforce, owned or free or both depending on the corporation, with multiple producing their own as well, it makes sense for them to be widely spread around the Spur especially human space, sans Dominia. Providing lore for how these owned/free IPCs live, are used and how the locals react to them and how they react to the locals is something I would like to do for as many planets and factions as it makes sense, providing more options and more diverse origins for Synthetics of all different frames, careers and backstories. On the political front, I feel that this would vary greatly from place to place based on the overall attitudes towards IPCs. But for example in Biesel, there could be more lore about the various factions of Trinary Perfection, and how they go about political advocacy or agitation for Synthetic Freedom, whilst in other places like the Sol Alliance, what does an Owned IPC do if it wishes to be free? Are there groups that support this?. IPCs are a species that, inherently, are part of humanity, as equals, almost equals or property. And I think expanding on this special relationship and it's impact on the cultures and politics of the Spur is a great idea.

Thanks for the Questions! Hopefully my answers suffice. 1) I think that the Horizon's mobile setting has massive potential for bringing lore to the players, rather than a large amount of our lore simply existing as paragraphs on the wiki or stuff characters bring up when talking about their home. And I think the local laws and attitudes of places like the Hegemony or Federation can be a part of this. For example, if the Horizon was in Federation space they might end up having a visit from Federation Security Forces or other groups, and these groups would certainly be very wary to IPC's being onboard, and should be allowed to act accordingly. But I would say I wouldn't want to see anything happen ICly, punishment wise, that could permanently damage a Character in the same way something like an IR could on an extended round. Otherwise I feel that we would end up in a situation of "Oh, the Horizon is in the Federation, guess I'm not playing my IPCs until we leave!". There needs to be a good balance between displaying these aspects of the setting and making sure it's not too far that players would rather not engage with it at all. 2) I think the answer here is simple, and that is to create more explicit lore where these different groups interact, the same as with the other, less-sythophobic factions in the Spur. The SLZ arc, as mentioned in my original answer. Did an excellent job of bringing the natural tensions between Synthetics and Skrell to light, and I think these is a really good part of the lore for both sides. Skrell have justified reasons to despise synthetics and synthetics have justified reasons to say that they're not Glorsh 2.0 waiting to happen. Adding more lore like this, potentially through articles and arcs like the SLZ but also through just normal static wiki pages for places where these various groups do co-exist, like my example of mentioning the tensions between the Skrell Minority and Synthetics on Europa, and how it impacts that planet in it's own way. This is certainly harder to do with a faction like Dominia but personally I think you could do something with the Empire's expansionism and how Synthetics are displaced or destroyed by it, or how Dominian privateers, who are often Dominian Unathi, treat captured Synthetics in comparison to Organics. For Unathi in the hegemony proper they also have their own pirates which could do something similar, or there are planets like Mictlan which can be given the Europa treatment, with tensions between the Unathi migrating and settling in there and Synthetics on the planet they are now exposed too and must live with. 3)Personally I think that it's fine, A self-owned IPC should be subject to the same expectations of loyalty and professionalism as any other organic head of staff from any race would be. But so long as they stick to this I really don't see any issue with it. 4)I think Purpose is desperately in need of an update in the same vein as the Golden Deep received. Purpose has a very nice idea behind it as a collectivist, utilitarian synth-centric faction to contrast the Golden Deep's excess and individualism, showing that free synthetics left to their own devices could develop down multiple different pathways in their societies. But as it is Purpose is a fine skeleton with a distinct lack of meat, and without adding that extra meat I feel it will always be overlooked in the grander scheme of Synthetic lore, at the moment it isn't even linked to in the Synthetic Navbox on the wiki like The Trinary Perfection and Golden Deep are, and I think this is a good indicator that it needs some love put into it.

A friend encouraged me to apply, so here I am. CKEY/BYOND Username: SilverSZ Discord Name: Silvie#0624 Position Being Applied For: Synthetic Lore Deputy Have you read the Lore Team Rules and Regulations wiki page?: Of course. Past Experiences/Knowledge: To not mention the obvious like reading/discussing synthetic lore and being a player of synthetic characters. I’ve written for other projects and my own in the past, lore, flavour, character descriptions and things like that. Mainly other community run games. It was done in teams with people and under a team leader, so I have experience working in a team writing environment. I’ve also written my own creative projects as a creative outlet most of my life, as I was never very good at drawing or playing music. I have a decent amount of experience with SS13s admin tools and a very small amount of DM coding experience, but nothing beyond changing a few lines of code for certain files. Examples of Past Work: As I haven’t contributed lore to Aurora before, I decided to write some lore examples that I would like to further refine and submit if I got this position. Along with two example news articles as those are something I would love to work on in the position of deputy. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Q9vsKVYIbzJIQsSVY6hHx71l-RuSIgrF0BC4BKYKTks/edit?usp=sharing 1) Which part of synthetic lore do you feel needs to be worked on? There are honestly quite a few aspects of synthetic lore that I feel need to be worked on at the moment. Primarily I think that for many planets in the spur the information on IPCs living and working on them is limited and expanding this would be beneficial both for Synthetic Players and Human Players from these planets. The google document I provided shows some examples of the kind of lore I would want to add to a small group of planets, and I very much think this needs to be expanded to more planets, providing more background and choices to IPC players within the written lore for creating their characters, as well as providing human characters with a basis for how their characters might perceive IPCs based on their planet of origin. This would also be a good opportunity to collaborate with Human lore starting off and get used to that, since in my opinion it's super important for synthetic lore to do this. Another aspect that I feel needs to be worked on is the notable synthetic page, as well as some IPC lore specific locations like District 14 and Orepit. Both of these locations could be great places for Synthetic characters to come from, but at the moment are very limited, which after the development given to districts for other races in recent time, such as the starlight zone for skrell. Is a shame, and Orepit should provide an interesting place with a large synthetic and Trinary Perfection presence along with the clash with other locals. But sadly these places are very limited and could be expanded. The Notable Synthetic page feels very lacking and could be expanded with new figures and those already in our lore, such as J0-5EF from the SLZ-TP arc. Finally, I would like to see Purpose expanded. The Golden Deep rework was very good in my opinion and they are an underrated faction in general for how interesting and cool they are. Purpose could prove to be just as good with effort placed into reworking and expanding it into a unique IPC-centric society, providing a unique background for IPC characters who don’t want to be so tied to humanity or human-centric. 2) Which part of synthetic lore are you most interested in and would like to work on? Personally my favourite part of Synthetic lore rather than any other lore is how integrated it is with other aspects of the lore, obviously mainly human lore. Synthetic lore can touch people who don’t just play Synthetics in a way other parts of lore often can’t, and being able to create more lore that ties IPCs into the greater spur and humanity would be a big enjoyment for me, as providing more avenues for people to create characters from is a great thing in my opinion. I would also very much like to provide articles about Synthetic lore and possibly even some arcs based through them, Articles can be a great way to get people talking or have an arc with minor changes to the lore or IC things occuring without needing the effort and timing of full events, just some good writing. Obviously something this big can’t happen every week, or every month, but perhaps every few months a small article arc could happen related to some synthetic event, even if it’s just about a famous synthetic celebrity. And in the meantime, one-off articles would be a great way to get people talking and keep synthetic lore on people's minds. I also would like to do some ingame events, though obviously with the change to the Horizon coming up those events will have to be a little different than what could be done on the Aurora, but small, extended round events are equally a great way to get people involved with lore, and I also feel like they enrich the server in general as people often enjoy getting on to play events when they otherwise wouldn't. Doing things like this for synthetic factions, like Trinary Perfection, The Golden Deep and others would be awesome. Along with these, all of the stuff mentioned in question 1 is stuff I would like to work on too, probably as some of the first stuff I would like to do. But that has already been elaborated on. 3) What do you think is the main problem with synthetic lore right now, and how would you tackle it? Honestly, I feel that a lot of the time synthetic lore for non-synthetics often becomes a footnote for their character or something that rarely comes up. The issue of IPCs, their use in the workforce and their potential slavery, depending on how you view it. Should be something major for the setting, a great issue that people often have divisive takes on and comes up fairly often. Seeing the ideas often not come up or revolve back to the same tired destroy IPC or don’t destroy IPC arguments seems like a waste to me of the massive potential we have with IPCs. However fortunately, there is an excellent way to fix this already shown to us. The SLZ-TP arc had everyone talking about synthetics and their place in society, expanding on their rights and how they should be treated in comparison to organics, and that wasn’t even a Synthetic arc! It was a skrell arc! Imagine how much of a true synthetic arc with events on the station, or even just an article arc again. Could get people talking about synthetic lore, about synthetics, change how their characters feel about synthetics and how synthetic characters feel about the organics around them. In-Game events would also produced the same effects and putting time into rewriting factions like Purpose or places like D14 would allow for places where these issues are always ticking by and visible. It’s a massive well of potential and it’s exactly what I think synthetic lore needs to exploit going forward, not just for synthetic lore but because it has the potential to be interesting and engaging for everyone and every character, and might even make more people interested in playing IPCs when they weren’t before. 4) How much time can you devote in lorewriting on average? I currently attend university for 3 days a week and usually do stuff on weekends, but have plenty of downtime in which to write lore, and thanks to being terminally online I’m very much always around for duties, questions and other things. Additional Comments: Whilst I am around OOC on Aurora a lot ATM I am not playing the server actively, and don't really plan to do so until the NBT is fully released for play, not just up at the weekend. The lore rules say large lapses on server play can be forgiven so long as community interaction and lore writing continue, which won't be a problem for me, but I feel the need to address this here rather than have it come up later. Please drop any questions below in the thread, I'll endeavour to answer them as soon as possible.

Hi! Thank you for the questions, fortunately most of them were stuff I did consider but didn’t find the place to elaborate on in the backstory 1. Whilst indeed for her life before her religious revelation Zezira would have likely seen honour as merely a hindrance to her own survival. Her conversion to Si’akh and time spent learning the teachings of Juzida by heart would see her look on her past actions with far more shame than before. Si’akh preaches that the apocalypse came due to the innate wickedness of the species as as a whole and see sees her life before her religious conversion as her falling to her inner wickedness, and much of her time after, as a follower to Reaver to priestess is done in order to maybe find redemption enough to join Sk’akh once she does die. As for honour, I think that her time as a Reaver, amongst others who saw themselves as proud warriors of Si’akh would see her adopt a form of the warrior code, even if she is a former warrior now she sees the code as a good way of preventing her from slipping into her innate wickedness again. However due to her position in life the code would be slightly twisted from it’s usual tenants, whilst most would be the same the tenet of loyalty would be directed as loyalty towards Juzida and the tenets of Si’akh specifically, rather than the clan leader and lord they do not have. 2. Obviously, Si’akh teaches that metal is incapable of possessing a soul, making all forms of synthetic life in her eyes, soulless objects and tools. Cyborgification particularly would be something that disgusts her, seeing it as a method of destroying an individual's soul. But the cyborg itself would be seen as a machine like any other, the soul already been destroyed. In general I think she would interact with Synthetics with cold indifference, being soulless there is little reason in attempting to preach to them about Si’akh or its teachings, there is no soul to saved there. But equally, there is no point in admonishing a soulless machine for what it is, so I don’t really see her interacting with them in a particularly friendly way but she would still uphold her honour code in regards to her dealings with them, rather than seeking to simply attack them. Infact, she would be more aggressive, for lack of a better word, to those who utilise mechanical prosthetics and implants, for there it is not a soulless being, but someone choosing to deliberately maim and destroy their soul. The idea of doing so is something she could not comprehend and would advocate extremely heavily against, not just for Sinta but also all other species, as they too have souls that they are destroying. 3. In terms of current baggage. Obviously, she is strongly invested in the fate of Juzida and the other people of the Si’akh faith who chose to remain in the wasteland, praying for their safety everyday despite the harshness she knows they will experience, especially those she know still serve as Reavers. In terms of further away things, obviously like many Unathi she holds a lot of emotional baggage from both the contact war and her time spent in the wasteland. As mentioned in response to question 1 through her shame, the lingering fact that she knows she has that wickedness inside her that can come out at any time and do horrible things sticks with her to this day, as does the horror of the contact war, being left orphaned and having to see her own mother pass away due to it. A final thing is the fate of her father, because unlike her mother she doesn’t actually know if he is dead or alive, it’s entirely possible that like her, he managed to survive along with the rest of the men on Moghes, perhaps deserting in the chaos of the nuclear exchange or ending up captured by the hegemony. Despite it being a far away thing for her now, she wonders if one day she might be able to meet him again, and if he is alive, save his soul. 4. Well, starting with the biggest group of Unathi, the Hegemony. Zezira has mixed opinions on them as a whole. She was young enough that the contact war does not really hold any particular malice towards the Hegemony, in her mind both sides were wicked and at fault for the nuclear war that engulfed Moghes. And the Hegemony has done some good things that she agrees with such as no longer turning Orphans into Guwan. But then on the other side the Hegemony is the home of the Sk’akh faith and the Maraziite order, and as a whole is resistant or outright opposing the Si’akh faith, so whilst she doesn’t hold any particular prejudice against the Hegemony and it’s people she would see most as misguided or foolish for following the faiths they do. In general that is her view of most other religions, both Th’akh and Sk’akh. Misguided fools who do not see what that they must accept the teachings of Juzida and Si’akh in order to be saved, looking on their followers with a mixture of pity that they will not be able to join Sk’akh once they die, and in some cases anger for being implictly supportive of the suffering her faith endures, especially those who follow Sk’akh. But they are the ones she seeks to save through her actions and so she would happily seek them out and speak to them, though it would be a terse conversation. Obviously any fellow Si’akh would be met warmly by her, whilst she views the Au’takh as a disgusting faith that leads people astray to maim and destroy their soul, if there would be any Unathi she would treat with hostility it would be the Au’takh. As for the wasteland, she views them in a more negative light than the hegemony in most cases, given they would be the ones she had directly suffered under as a Guwan. Obviously her mission to preach and convert would come first but she would be more guarded and tense around those who hail from wasteland regions. The exception being those of Clan Dorvisa, given their role in saving her life, she holds an appreciation for their talents and gratitude for that action. A final thing to mention for Sinta is that Zezira would really hold not prejudice based on the caste system and gender expectations of Unathi, thanks to her own position and her faith, she sees all Unathi as equal in their damnation, so long as they follow Si’akh at least. (edit) Forgot to mention Dominian Unathi, given their abandonment of all Unathi religion and a general view of the lifestyle of Dominian nobles be very decadent compared to what is preached by Si'akh. Zezira would likely have more disdain for them than most other groups of Unathi save for the Au'takh. 5. Tajara, Humans and Skrell would likely elicit no particular response from Zezira, they are not damned as Sinta are and she would have been too young and too isolated to really care about events in the wider galaxy such as Ouerea and Gakal’zaal, mostly due to a lack of interaction she would simply have a neutral but cordial attitude towards these various species, looking more on them for their individual choices, such as those with robotic limbs. However as someone raised in the wasteland and who spent a long time travelling it, there are two species she would have reasonably had interactions with, Diona and Vaurca. For Diona she would have a positive view of them, given their peaceful and useful nature to many groups in the wasteland, she would be used to Vaurca, even with no particular reasons to be friendly with them, a couple of interactions with the queenless Mi’keutz scavengers of the wasteland would have shown her they are past their strange looks decent people, even if a little strange.

BYOND Key: SilverSZ Character Names: Alex Yiik is my highest RP character and should show my ability to roleplay to the extent required for this whitelist. The others are eh, fine enough. Species you are applying to play: Unathi What color do you plan on making your first alien character: Reddish-Brown, probably a rust-like colour. Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: No, I’m simply really good at guessing about lore details (I did) Why do you wish to play this specific race: Well my original intention was to wait out until the NBT fully released to come back and play Aurora again, given I was tired of my current characters and only really wanted to play the one I made for the NBT, as much as I haven’t been able to play any tests currently due to a hectic schedule. But then I started getting into occasional conversations about Unathi and their lore on the Relay ooc and actually found it quite interesting, deciding to take a look into the lore myself found out that yes, it was quite interesting for real and from there I decided to apply for the whitelist to play the character idea I came up with daydreaming during university lectures, additionally since this character would fine on the Aurora and moving to the NBT later, that fixes the previous mentioned issue. Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: Looking past the obvious such as appearance and lizardlike biology, Unathi as a species have various things that differentiate them from humans. One for example being their differing social gestures and their meanings, pointing at someone especially for a long time is a grave insult, staring at people as they talk is polite. And baring your neck is a sign of trust and respect equally as much as a way to surrender in a fight. In terms of their Society, Unathi have various aspects which are very alien to the norm of humans within the spur. Unathi of course have their own differing religion, such as Th’akh or Sk’akh which many Unathi have a deep and fanatical belief in and affect massive parts of their lives, something which will be touched on in my character idea more. Another cornerstone of Unathi society is the idea of Honour. Umathi take their honour extremely seriously, with different codes existing for different unathi based on their circumstances, however the unifying idea across Unathi society is the importance of maintaining honour and avoiding disgrace for the good of yourself and your clan. To finish, The structure of Unathi society is also very different to that of Human societies in the spur. Whilst there are humans that live in a feudal system similar to that of the Unathi. The difference in the Unathi feudal system is characterised by their class system, firmly placing people into a strata based on their birth and position in life, from the lowest guwan to warriors to the clergy and nobility at the top. The other feature I see as being most important to Unathi society is the prevalence and importance of Clans as a whole to them, the clan system forms the bedrock of their society and their honour code, being the most entrenched part of it, to the point that a Unathi exiled or without a clan is known as Guwan, and the lowest of the low on their social ladder. Clans permeated every aspect of a Sinta’s life, perhaps even more than their religion or honour. Character Name: Zezria Guwan Please provide a short backstory for this character: Born in 2432 to a peasant family in a village in the lands of a now dead kingdom that would become part of the Traditionalist Coalition just 5 years after her birth. Zezira was born as Zezira Orazi to a family of farmers. Her very young childhood prior to the contact war was nothing special compared to the normal experience of a peasant child during those times, life was not easy by any means and her family were particularly poor given the strata of society they belonged to, but life was at least peaceful as much as she can remember it being at the time, her parents followed the Th’akh faith, and it was the faith she also grew up with. However, as with the rest of Moghes this peace would hardly last, as the contact war began in 2437, Zezira’s father along with many of the adult aged men in the village were taken as Levy Soldiers to fight against the Izweski. Given Zezira was a 5 year old girl she was in no way involved in the war itself. But still remembers crying her eyes out seeing her father marched off along with the rest of the village, even if at the time she didn’t realise it would be the last time she ever saw him. September 5th, 2439 was a fateful day for all Unathi across the planet of Moghes, and out of all the days in Zezira’s life it might be the one burnt into her memory the most. Watching the mushroom clouds rise in the direction of the cities near her village for a week, terrified along the rest of her village by something entirely past what they could ever comprehend. Once the bombs stopped things seemed to calm down, until villagers started falling ill to something they didn’t know was radiation sickness, with villagers dying in their droves the rest were forced to flee in panic, Zezira continued with her Mother and some survivors of her clan until they too was claimed by the mysterious ailment. Whilst Zezira managed to survive, she was left alone in the world, and now as an Orphan, she was a Guwan, an outcast from what little of society remained. Left with a small amount of food and the clothes on her back, Zezira was forced to try and survive on her own in the growing wasteland. With villages empty, cities destroyed and natural food sources dwindling, Zezira’s only choice for survival was to fight, or more specifically in her case, steal. Starting by using her appearance as a young child to try and get some mercy, or at least make people let their guard down, she would try and wipe what little she could from camps or groups of survivors, clothes, food, weapons. Her skill at which developed over time. The most noticeable event of this period was when she was 11, she was caught stealing and attacked by the owner of the goods, a former traditionalist warrior, who slashed out her right eye before she fled, leaving her scarred and injured even if she survived for the time being. The just over decade ended up being the formative years for Zezira’s life, as she grew from a lost child to a skilled and determined thief, willing to do anything to survive with a knife in her hand a hole in her belly. As the deep wasteland fully developed, becoming the irradiated wasteland it now is, the nature of how Zezira lived changed, rather than stealing from random refugees or wanderers, lurking in settlements, stealing what she could and moving on became her preferred method of choice. However it was in one of these settlements in 2450 that she soon had a chance encounter with a large crowd of Unathi moving through, at the head of them a black unathi covered in scars, the famous preacher Juzida Si’akh. Lingering at the edge of the huge crowd that came out to see his sermon, Zezira found his words, delivered in a fiery manner touched her, even if she didn’t quite believe in it, plus, there was enough people with him they might not notice if some of their meat or water went missing. Trailing behind the procession for the next few months, Zezira continued to hear more of the preaching by Juzida and in time found herself agreeing and believing more and more with the man, taking time to learn about other sermons he had done. And soon enough found she believed in his words and in the Si’akh faith. It all made sense, for the things that happened to her to have happened she must have been damned, and in time she could find redemption through his words. Zezira made herself a part of his procession, stopping her thieving and criminal actions for a more simple life following Juzida, the next years up until 2457 would consist of her following and listening to his sermons, as well as doing her best to protect his procession, given Si’akh cared little as for the gender of a Unathi who could do their duty to the faith, and equally because due to her status as a Guwan there was little else she could do, still being looked down on by many of the other Si’akh followers. This changed however as the persecution of the Si’akh faith continued to occur, with even Assassinations against Juzida himself continuing as much as his divinity allowed him to survive them. Once the Reavers of the Flame were created, Zezira put herself forward to join them immediately, welding off her horns. As a Reaver Zezira found herself in one of the group's wasteland forts common for them to use as bases, her work consisting of protecting pilgrims from bandits and skirmishing with the Maraziite order. Her fellow Reavers granted her a begrudging tolerance, perhaps giving her the most comfortable living she had since she was a child. With water, raw meat and a safe place to sleep. She was left alone by her fellows, spending her time maintaining a crude gunpowder rifle, steel spear and knife for her future battles when she was not out fighting. The 5 years of her life spent as a Reaver were the first time she felt like she was truly serving something greater than herself, serving Si’akh by fighting the unbelievers who persecuted them and protecting the faithful. In 2462 however, after 5 years with the order. Zezira and some other Reavers were attacked by the Maraziite order when escorting some pilgrims. They were killed and she lost her right arm, cut off by a blade as she was left for dead, and would have been if not for one of the pilgrims managing to run away and return, bandaging her temporarily and taking her to a nearby outpost of the Dorvisa clan, who treated her enough so that she would not die. As soon as she could move and stand, now maimed past the ability to be a Reaver, she did the only thing she could think to do, travelling by herself through the wasteland in an act of madness, but a successful one, finding her way back to Juzida where she did the only thing she could think of, reciting his sermons from memory back to him, and asking to be made a fire priestess to continue to try and find redemption. Passing the rite required in the eyes of Juzida, she was made a fire priestess, and travelled the wasteland for a time preaching in much the same manner as he did, but soon began to realise that in her maimed state she could not truly last in the wasteland as she once did, and decided to instead seek to go off-world and flee into human space as many other Si’akh had done in search of salvation. Finding her way to a shuttleport and then off-world, eventually to Biesel and in the employ of NT as very much cheap labour serving as a chaplain. Zezira hopes that when she does die, she will have done enough to be redeemed. What do you like about this character? Well personally I think their backstory and character in general are pretty cool and badass, but obviously that’s just me liking edgy characters. But to talk more about the lore bits I like, I find the Unathi religions to be quite interesting and want to be able to explore them as a character and I think playing a Si’akh gives a very unique and interesting way to do it, as well as being a Guwan and Si’akh hopefully leading a quite unique, for a lack of a better way of saying it, experience with other Unathi characters and other characters in general. Additionally the wasteland is super interesting and the idea of playing as someone from it is also pretty awesome. How would you rate your role-playing ability? 9/10, I consider myself rather good at roleplaying in general.

Alot of what I would say on the topic has already been said but in my own experiences. Alb is not just a good writer and good at directing lore as proven by how good and interesting Tajara lore currently is but also his willingness to engage people with the lore and his patience in dealing with questions about the lore. I never would have gone for my Tajara whitelist if he wasn't patient and helpful with every question I personally directed at him. I also very strongly agree that some branches need to be cut to help some lore teams out of reworking the past and into working on new better things. +1