Sycmos

If you recall the circumstances in which I was commenting regarding the first several screenshots they involved a number of your friends brigading a discussion regarding a rather offensive depiction of a "religious extremist" that did not involve them and had been resolved between myself and the player. It was even acknowledged as much by Alb. Another one of the above screenshots was a circumstance in which you used to try and extricate an apology from me again, much like what you attempted in Nienna's screenshots, after I simply posted an sticker in response to a rather uncouth series of comments: Furthermore on this, Garn encouraged saying what you meant, even if it meant getting banned: Given that I was about as direct with my comments as is reasonably okay with server moderation, this complaint reads more like tone policing than any sincere issue with my conduct. Besides providing context, I feel that I do not need to explain myself any further.

Everything that I have said that has been posted in this thread was predicated on commentary by other community members that prompted a response deserving of my tone. I stand by everything that I've said, without reservation.

I am in universal, unshakeable support of reversing this PR. It's an absolutely terrible change that does nothing but harm player creativity. The fact that the only "feedback" thread we have for this PR was a discussion that did not allude to or have the attached PR, which has more than a dozen thumbs down and many comments against the change since its inception, tells me enough about how it was expected to be received that it should be reversed on principle. The absolute lack of transparency on merging this PR is offensive.

Hi Tzui. Thank you for applying for a synth whitelist. A few questions, to follow up with what our DLM and Dessy asked: How did Liu-su manage to be transferred to Zeng-Hu from Sekhmet, knowing that competition between corporations in Eridani is cutthroat? What function did they perform with Zeng-Hu in Eridani before being transferred to the SCCV Horizon? What is the nature of Liu-su's handler? Are they a private owner, or appointed by Zeng-Hu? If the latter and it implies they are corporate-owned, #1's answer is important here. What does Liu-su think of working with Zeng-Hu versus Sekhmet? How do their feelings about their coworkers in Sekhmet compare to their coworkers in Zeng-Hu? Do they have any aspirations in regards to their career with Zeng-Hu? Does Liu-su have any personal aspirations outside of their employment that they wish to seek out? Over the years, how have they changed? Take your time answering, there's no rush.

Hi, thank you for applying for a synthetic whitelist. Due to recent administrative actions we've decided to deny your application. You are free to reapply in a month from the day of your initial application.

I've had the following screenshots of in-game deadchat sent to me by a concerned player since I've made this complaint, indicating that actualbear's behavior is not contained to just Discord.

BYOND Key: Sycmos Game ID: N/A Player Byond Key/Character name: Discord name actualbear, ckey filthyfrankster Staff involved: Roostercat Reason for complaint: Over the course of nearly three months, on both the Aurora Relay and Main Discords, Aurora community member actual/filthyfrankster has been routinely posting sexist and racist rhetoric and "memes" under the thin pretense of "humor" by way of a character named "Measurehead", from Disco Elysium. For those uninitiated: "He is a Semenese supremacist who participates in "science"-anthropometry based racism, considering most races - particularly mixed individuals with a Semenese parent - to be beneath him. To Measurehead, the people of the Occident (whom he calls "Ham Sandwiches" or Occidental Haplogroup B4) have fallen from grace after giving the world eugenics, electricity, missiles, and aerostatics, on top of other scientific advances (like race theory). He considers the end of brutal subjugation of other cultures to be a sign of weakness and of things to come." Actualbear often makes several of these posts daily, some in rapid succession and others spread throughout the day. Dialogue screenshots from Disco Elysium promoting fascism, sexism and the utility of phrenology, a pseudoscience involving measurements of the skull that was once used to affirm European superiority over other races, are the most common behind images of Measurehead themselves (who they also use as their Discord profile picture). Remarks about the insignificance or annoyance of women on Aurora, requesting to measure players' skulls, and endorsement of racist behavior usually follow behind these screenshots. On one occasion a meme regarding the Israeli Mossad's capture of Otto Eichmann in Argentina in 1960 was posted. This kind of rhetoric going completely ignored by both players and moderation staff is completely unacceptable and a stain on the image of the community. Without the context of Disco Elysium, something that I would venture that most players are likely not privy to, it looks like the ramblings of a racist, sexist troll trying to bank on reactions by repeatedly making the same type of posts. With the context of Disco Elysium it is still incredibly tasteless, and an enormous show of immaturity to perpetuate this rhetoric for 'humor' for such a long period. It's offensive, unfunny and completely out of line for what we should be expecting of player conduct in our public spaces. Below I have compiled a rather comprehensive gallery of screenshots of actualbear's remarks. Did you attempt to adminhelp the issue at the time? If so, what was the known action taken by administration/moderation: Approximate Date/Time: 2/11/2023 6:49AM EST

Mob sprites for IPCs are a time-intensive endeavor to both sprite and code as they are 11 pieces for a full mob sprite for just one direction, meaning that 44 total images are required that need to be parallel to each other from each angle and have severed parts hidden by layering, along with overlays for lighting and monitor displays for TV heads. Our spriters are intensely busy as it is with several projects given that we only have a handful of them available spread thin across the Konyang arc and other quality of life updates, meaning that we do not have available resources to dedicate to such a task. If someone is willing and able to produce quality sprites for alternative IPC chassis then the synthetic team welcomes it, but as it stands this is not something that can simply be suggested be done from a forum thread.

Not only do I think that the relay needs to be merged with the other Discords, but I think that as a stopgap that relay OOC as an off-topic channel in the current iteration of the relay Discord needs to be either more heavily monitored or deleted altogether. Not anywhere else will you find players who are more confident in openly dragging the efforts of the lore team, providing unwanted and often rude commentary on community creations, posting offensive content and generally behaving in a way that is more befitting that of a high school classroom than a space for group-based roleplay. Since its inclusion I find myself using the Aurora admin bot to report behavior issues several times a week, often because the moderation team are either not able to catch it or it gets swept up in the momentum of conversation. Many of the attitudes and remarks that get made in the relay would not fly with the maincord, in-game OOC or LOOC and yet there is some innate passiveness towards how snide and abrasive players behave that it's simply normal to poison your words with sarcasm and irony. It's not conducive to healthy or friendly conversation, and in my opinion if we can't sculpt how players interact with each other with moderation then the vehicle in which it happens should be nuked.

While the synthetic team appreciates you reapplying we have decided after some deliberation to deny this application. The contents of your whitelist character background, and the underlying understanding of our lore presented through it, do not sufficiently meet what we are expecting in a realized, grounded whitelist character from a synthetic whitelist holder. You are free to reapply in a month's time from today.

Hi, thank you for reapplying. I have a few questions regarding your application: Could you further expand on your thoughts regarding how you feel portraying an IPC/synthetic may be different from playing an organic? Given the predominantly Unathi population of Ouerea, their spiritual predisposition of disliking synthetics, and the Nralakk Federation's stewardship over the planet during the Contact War, how can you reconcile BN's place in Ouerean society and their interaction with Skrell and Unathi? Knowing Hephaestus' relationship with the Unathi, why would they choose to send synthetic coworkers to potentially replace their organic workers? How would this history with Hephaestus lead to them being considered for work on the SCCV Horizon?

Thank you for reapplying, I'm glad to see that you gave it another shot. Upon my first impression of your second app I can say that it's a considerable improvement over the first, and hits all of the notes that I would be looking for in a successful application. From here I will defer to my seniors @The lancer and @The Stryker in regards to processing your application. Good luck!

They already have utility, and that's being a palate cleanser/morale boost for crew. They don't need any function beyond that, because that's not what pets are for. They're for companionship and making a living space feel more comfortable. If we gave them utilitarian function they would stop being pets and become working animals, which are not treated the same as pets in most places as their intended purpose is to serve a function first before being considered a pet. Working animals are bred and trained to fulfill a certain function first, and are pets second, which lays down ground rules for how people who are not trained to handle them are allowed to interact with them. Giving them any function beyond being therapy animals (which they tend to be treated as and is a relatively low-risk assumption) would likely lead to rules and guidelines with how they can be interacted with that defeats the purpose of them being shared with crew.

If we made rulings on whether to keep things based entirely on whether or not it was pragmatic for a "dystopian megacorp conglomerate" we would not have Patience, we would not have holodecks, we would not have a bar and the Horizon would resemble more of an office space than a long-range vessel. These are all choices that are made for quality of life for the betterment of staff morale where a majority of crew are expected to both live and work in the same place for long periods. The most immediate sci-fi franchise that features what is closest to a dystopian megacorporation has a cat as a crew member in the first film - Alien. Small concessions for the sake of personality are important for keeping the atmosphere from feeling dull. They make the setting feel lived in and real. The issue with Pun Pun is that, as Nienna mentioned, they are a leftover from memes that came from early SS13 culture. By comparison to the remainder of the pets on the deck they are neither mundane enough to feel normal nor unique enough to make sense for our lore - they're just a monkey in a costume with a reference name. A capybara would be far more unique and likely to garner positive attention, and less likely to be left in the backroom to be ignored.

After some consideration regarding the origins of your whitelist character, the synthetic lore team has decided to deny your application. While we appreciate your effort to write a realized background for your synthetic, the circumstances in which they come into employment with the SCC as a free synthetic and the events leading up to it were deemed unfeasible for a synthetic to undertake in our setting and at odds with the state of perception and treatment of synthetics. You are welcome to re-apply with another character concept at any time.

Hello, thank you for applying for a synthetic whitelist. I have several concerns regarding your application: 1. "Athena was originally manufactured as KU-15991 and programmed to be used in research projects for Zeng-Hu pharmaceuticals. Their chief duties included hazardous materials handling, long term observation of experiments, and crewing isolated research outposts in the north of the Solarian Alliance. During the civil war the research outpost they were posted to would be ransacked by Anti-Corporate League forces and KU-15991 would be reprogrammed to interpret sensor data for a League fleet." When was Athena manufactured, and for how long were they stationed at this research outpost? What effect did this position have on their perspective of being an owned synthetic, and how did that translate to their ownership by the The League of Independent Corporate-Free Systems? If they were reprogrammed to interpret sensor data, did they maintain the original datapack that they were programmed with upon their initial activation for Zeng-Hu, or did they lose that skillset upon reprogramming? How did this affect Athena as a thinking entity? Were their memories and experiences prior to this seizure still intact despite this reprogramming? 2. "As the League descended into banditry and the war continued KU-15991 would change hands several times until finding itself recaptured by the legitimate Solarian government and sent to the 104th fleet to continue interpreting sensor data for warships. Due to an unfamiliarity with the model of IPC that KU-15991 was navy technicians would frequently miss data and allow the machine to retain a sense of self and some scattered memories throughout its life." Considering the Solarian Alliance's legislation regarding synthetics and the cultural view of synthetics in Solarian space, could you elaborate on how the 104th fleet may have permitted Athena to maintain a degree of autonomy despite becoming what is essentially military property? If 104th personnel were unfamiliar with her model of IPC, how could they have made errors in regards to her maintenance if other Solarian fleets, though not uniformly the same but farther from the Core Worlds, were able to reprogram her for more relevant work on naval ships? Given that the 104th is stationed in the Middle Ring and its previous seat of power was Visegrad, a planet that previously knew the presence of Zeng-Hu as a major employer, how could this misstep have occurred? 3. "After a failed raid on the Republic of Biesel's CRZ by the 104th KU-15991 was captured by the Republic and considering the damage to their baseline chassis old off at significant discount to a company on Biesel where its positronic brain would be transferred into the new shell body they occupy for use as a mid-level manager at a Nanotrasen subsidiary responsible for providing super computer power to Nanotrasen itself and a number of other corporations." The implication of an SSMD fleet invading the CRZ has serious consequences for both player characters and the relationship between the Solarian Alliance and the Republic of Biesel, and to my knowledge has not been broached as a canonical event. Even if this were the case in lore, under what pretense would a NanoTrasen subsidiary choose to purchase a used and damaged Baseline chassis to insert its likely damaged positronic into a new Shell chassis, which are often much more expensive and made to order by clientele? Given that NanoTrasen owns a considerable number of synthetics in their work force, what inclination would a subsidiary have to place a positronic of relatively unknown origin and with rather questionable datapacks into a position of some authority in their company? 4. "Athena bought her freedom and became self-owned in late 2464 by embezzling money from Nanotrasen and planting evidence that would ensure her human supervisor was framed for the crime after she had become free." NanoTrasen has virtually monolithic power over the Republic of Biesel, its laws and its citizens - especially synthetics, who are often gatekept from freedom by byzantine laws that make purchasing self-ownership/freedom virtually impossible for the average synthetic. The implication that a stolen Zeng-Hu Baseline IPC that was reprogrammed for military use, captured again by the Republic after sustaining damage, had its positronic transferred to a new Shell chassis to serve as a mid-level manager at a NanoTrasen subsidiary only to successfully embezzle enough money to pay for their freedom without inquiries as to its sudden accrual of wealth or the lack of a paper trail of the embezzled funds raises several questions as to the understanding of the burden on synthetic persons in our setting. How could Athena attain such a vast amount of money in such a short period, accounting for the reality that synthetic persons in the Republic often have to pay forward several times their estimated value to attain citizenship? How could a human supervisor in her subsidiary not be aware of such financial discrepancies occurring when accounting for such sizable amounts of credits, knowing the responsibility of their company as a subsidiary to NanoTrasen is to produce wealth for its parent company? How did Athena come into access of this financial data as an owned synthetic that would likely be under some manner of scrutiny holding a positronic that was once in the possession of The League of Independent Corporate-Free Systems, a known anti-corporate entity? Given the circumstances in which Athena came into the possession of NanoTrasen, on what grounds would they choose not to wipe her, and permit her to remain as she is - a potential liability?

Hi, thank you for applying for a synthetic whitelist. A few questions: Where and when was Sophocles manufactured? Would this background play into their background as being designed to be an Idris bartender? Why did you choose Biesel given their Idris background in comparison to other planets with Idris presence? How did Sophocles approach their Legion service? What did they think of their time with the Legion, and did it have any affect on his perspective of his newfound citizenship in Biesel? Did Sophocles work anywhere else with Orion Express prior to being assigned to the Horizon? Has their work with Orion allowed them to travel and perhaps see parts of the Spur they otherwise would not have been able to? Does Sophocles have any lasting resentment for Idris, or any other mixed feelings regarding their immediate termination?

Thank you for applying, but unfortunately after consideration by the synthetic lore team we've decided to decline your application. The criteria that we are looking for in regards to complete synthetic whitelist applications has not been met in regards to sufficient detail regarding your whitelist character's background, and concerns regarding their behavior on board as a newly-activated positronic. We are looking for players to emulate realized synthetic characters that go beyond the basic measures of what can be accomplished by a cyborg. You are free to re-apply again in the future, and/or contact me for assistance.

Hi, and thank you for applying for applying for a synthetic whitelist. Unfortunately, we will have to deny the application. The synthetic team does not feel that the background presented for your character is suitable for a whitelist character. You are welcome to apply again in the future with a different concept that is more appropriate for the themes and presentation of synthetic lore.

1. Specifically, how old did you intend your IPC's positronic to be in the context of their age and general experience?

Did SE work anywhere else prior to the Horizon? How old are they? If they did, would they have developed any thoughts or experiences about their prior positions before the Horizon that might benefit their stay on board? Would you anticipate that SE might have the opportunity to discover more about their origin in the future, and develop as a result? How do you feel their timeline as a synthetic would develop given a whitelist? Would you potentially entertain them moving to another position if given the ability in the future?

Hello, and thank you for applying for a synthetic/IPC whitelist. I have a few questions regarding your application: Could you elaborate further on how SE-34-3948729 came into possession of Orion Express, and how this transaction from their original ownership to a megacorporation may have influenced their interactions with others as they are assumed to be sold under the table to the company? If SE is aware of their origin as a seemingly backroom deal owned synthetic, how do they feel about this arrangement? Do they feel it benefits or harms them? What do they think of Orion in this instance, participating in these sort of questionable transactions? How did they end up on the Horizon? What were the circumstances in which they were arranged to work on it? What do they think of it?

I'm not a fan of the new loadout system at all. It's not intuitive to navigate, and the tags make for excessively long lists of items if not used properly. We did not need to change our previous loadout system, or fix something that was not broken.

Locking and moving this thread as it's been addressed in the lore channel on the official Aurora Discord.