Sycmos

I feel that it would make the most sense to give responsibility of personnel matters to the OM as it would give the would-be Flight/Crew Chief more breathing room to handle matters pertaining to the Horizon and its satellite vessels. The OM already has underwhelming responsibilities in its current iteration, so I feel purview over Service and Operations with credentials and payroll responsibilities would give it some content that would make it feel more whole.

Many of the points I would have made were already stated above, so instead I will pose the following: considering the topic and the restrictions in place in other departments I feel that not only should we increase the apprentice age limit to 24, but we should also raise the overall age limit for characters on the Horizon to at least 21. As it stands, a stark majority of characters portrayed in our community are in their mid to late twenties, with most older staff and command in their thirties and forties. In consideration of our setting, most players choose to portray characters in these age brackets to reason having some semblance of work or life experience in order to better relate to their peers in the workplace, and in turn open up doors to roleplay. Playing a teenager severely hamstrings the potential for a character to have these experiences (or the maturity to understand them) and in turn harms the potential for mutually beneficial interactions. Having the potential for teenagers to be on board the Horizon also puts characters who are older into a position of responsibility when interacting with them, putting an unnecessary burden on the player to curtail character behavior by virtue of being proxy to someone who is significantly younger, less mature, and generally not considered a true adult. Power dynamics in regards to age are not something that players should have hanging over their heads when they choose to interact with other characters in a work space, and allowing incredibly young characters to be present among a multitude of working adults opens the door to uncomfortable situations. As Nienna mentioned, the difference between eighteen and twenty-four in regards to personal development and maturity is already small, so twenty-one is a lenient requirement. It still allows room for growth, but demands at least a semblance of life experience to which a character can make limited decisions about their personality and future. The SCCV Horizon is considered the flagship of the SCC and is tasked with a rather serious objective. I do not feel it benefits players nor our narrative to keep the age limit we've maintained since the mid-2010s. It should be updated to reflect our setting, and the expectations of heavy roleplay.

Considering the substantial delay in action since the discussion regarding making XO 2IC I took it upon myself to make a thread with my initial concept for replacing XO and giving it and OM more of an identity without resorting to reorganizing command powers. The initial proposal is as follows: The primary issue that spawns from making the XO a true 2IC is that it has the potential to replicate the dilemma of unseating a captain or choosing an acting captain, without the simplicity of having a general command vote, which then forces the remainder of command to fall into a hierarchy in the event there's an absence of authority. If the 2IC's authority supersedes that of the other command staff they can simply choose to take acting captain regardless of whether or not command are comfortable with the character in question simply by virtue of their station, and if their authority supersedes that of the other command then ultimately they can choose to throw a vote of no confidence against the captain by weight of their station. If there is no XO, do we fill the position of 2IC or skip straight to acting captain? What if there isn't an XO available and the captain chooses a command member to fill in as 2IC? You then have the issue of who gets picked for this secondary position, and thus an entirely new problem of establishing a hierarchy arises. A more simple fix that would avoid the issue of navalizing command would be this: - Give OM authority over Service and Operations, leaving the XO to duties involving the bridge and its armaments, coordinating with Operations to load guns and Engineering to prime the Leviathan and optimize the engine - Rename XO to something that does not deliberately imply being second in command, like Flight Chief or Crew Chief, implying their responsibility for the Horizon as a flying vessel, its operators (Bridge Crew), and its satellite vessels (Spark, Intrepid, Canary) - (Whitelist/CCIA issue) Write and enact step-by-step protocol on choosing a new captain with X amount of command staff to keep accountability The further away we stay from militarizing the positions on the Horizon the better we will be able to keep similar trends from our setting, which will serve to better set us apart from being compared to Bay (which already happens far too often as it is).

This kind of reasoning is selfish in circumstances when the tools to fight hivebots are not available at all. Certain hours of the day for non-American players go without members in key departments, and forcing them into potentially round-ending scenarios because mid and highpop players want a smidge of variety for an otherwise consistently predictable threat is unfair.

I'm in favor of this for the same reason I was in favor of suspending blob spawns without engineering presence - deadpop and lowpop are disproportionately affected by random events when there are absences in certain departments and players should not have to choose between dealing with a random event they are severely outclassed to deal with versus roleplaying. This is a heavy roleplay server. We should not be punishing players with potentially round-ending scenarios for not playing during highpop. Set a required Security Officer and Medical presence for hivebot spawns, just as there is a required Engineer presence for blobs.

Since we're all chipping in our personal experiences I thought I'd share mine as well. Since my return to the server in 2020 after a lengthy hiatus I have been a relatively consistent player for someone my age, taking breaks here and there for a couple weeks or more at a time but no more than a month without at least one round played. My daily schedule and commitment to other interests means that I often do not play more than twice a week nowadays, and so I tend to be a little more critical about the kinds of rounds I play and the times that I do. More often than not, this means that I normally play during the later parts of American EST mornings and almost explicitly extended when I can. I understand that this is very likely outside of the norm for most American players, but some of the issues outlined above by Kyres and NM are still relevant and as someone who does not have more time to spend fostering interactions they are even more of an issue. Flagging interest of players due to seasonal changes (exams, work activity fluctuations, outdoor activity increasing/decreasing, etc.), personal changes (interest in other games/hobbies, disillusionment with the community, mental health changes, life events, etc.) leading to unsteady development of character relationships are something I find are a major issue with keeping interest in any singular character. Dedicating a significant amount of time to developing a character and their interpersonal relations with other characters over a prolonged period can and will be easily undone by any one person playing less or not at all. Oftentimes this can lead to a character feeling "stuck" in an unfinished arc that a player may not feel comfortable sweeping under the rug and playing without resolving, which can lead to said player shelving them until the participants return. In a server that enshrines canon developments this can make or break how a character feels to a player, and whether or not they will decide to play another character or not play themselves. FOMO, or Fear of Missing Out, is a very serious issue that often stems from my first point. If a player feels stuck with their current character for any amount of reasons the anxiety of potentially being left out of the "in-crowd" of current characters can push them enough to simply make another character to keep up with current crew circles. This could potentially lead to other players mimicking this behavior when they find a new trend in character concepts being tried, abandoning any progress they might have made with their previous character in order to better fit in. With new lore updates and community trends constantly moving it can feel like a constant game of catch-up to feel 'relevant' to the pulse of the server. Feelings of isolation and being left out of the 'know', stemming from my second point, are further exaggerated by a revolving door of crew (which is also perpetuated by the second point). Unless you are part of the incredibly small amount of players who both play one or two characters only and play several rounds a week your characters are very likely to not ICly recognize a majority of crew, and you may feel alienated by your inability to form long-term relationships with other characters. While interacting with new characters is something that we all should be doing regularly, the commitment of time and energy to keep doing it with little return is likely to cause burnout. Canonical events disrupting the suspension of disbelief. Many recent events have led to a plethora of characters leaving due to irreconcilable differences in their personal narrative versus the erratic nature of the Horizon's mission. It can be difficult in the context of what we consider "heavy roleplay" to make reasonable decisions for a character in unreasonable scenarios without flanderizing their characterization. We all voluntarily dedicate our time and energy, no matter how little or much we have of either, to roleplaying in a living and breathing universe in which we all contribute. Many of us, myself included, are playing characters we have spent countless hours developing within our imaginations in the context of sharing it with others. It can feel like a very personal investment to share those imaginings with others, and it can feel damaging when those characters and players whom you shared it with disappear. Nobody is an endless wellspring of energy or trust, and we all operate on the notion that our fellow roleplayers will act in good faith in respect to our time and energy spent. While introducing new characters and character concepts is important to maintaining the lifeblood of the server I feel that our community as a whole is suffering from lack of staying power in terms of interpersonal developments, something I feel has always been the foundation of Aurora's strength as a cornerstone of what's left of the SS13 RP community.

What would you like to see more of from our lore? What kind of writing? What do you think our current body of work lacks? What is your stance on the use of "dystopian" to describe our setting? How do you feel about recent player contention regarding dangerous event arcs?

I have no doubt in my mind that Kyres' passion for the community and related work ethic to add content is virtually unmatched - to the point at times I even feel concerned about them burning out. The contributions that they've made in recent memory (not considering their current projects) make for grocery receipt levels of content. I feel that we would be several steps backward from where we are now as a server without their time and effort, something that we all have limited amounts of and yet choose to offer to our community free of charge. While I feel that we do need to make a better effort to include new faces among our staff, I can't go without respecting their merits. That being said, I have one question: 1. What would you like to see more of from our lore? What kind of writing? What do you think our current body of work lacks?

Lavilla has answered more than enough questions on their application thus far that I feel that any concerns that I may have had would be assuaged should they be chosen as Deputy Loremaster. Judging by their excellent responses and my own personal interactions with them in the community I feel that they would be a suitable fit for the position, and a pleasant and effective member of the lore team. +1

Based on what I've seen of Sammy's sprites and the pleasant interactions I've had with them I feel that they would make a great addition to the team. +1

I'm in favor of removing it if it cannot be resprited as I find that the satchel clasp both clashes with the sprite of most bags and loadouts and is also in an unreasonable position. A clasp meant for the sling of a bag would not be in the middle of the sling itself, where it could potentially cause irritation from abrasion or potentially get caught on something. It should be closer to the bag, where it would likely attach to a metallic ring or fixture on the bag itself.

Trinary Ecclesiarch Visits Lago de Abundancia Lago de Abundancia, Mictlan Following his debut in Tau Ceti, Ecclesiarch ARM-1DRIL of the Trinary Perfection moved on to visit the planet of Mictlan, one of the Republic’s newest possessions in the Corporate Reconstruction Zone. Host to a moderately sized and certainly unique new Trinarist community, the city of Lago de Abundancia was the center of the day’s events, as joyful crowds once more accompanied the leader of their faith from the local shuttleport towards the location of the community’s Catedral de la Chispa Sagrada, the planet’s major Trinarist temple. With spirits running high, the welcoming soon turned into a celebration, as human and synthetic followers wore their best to joyously lead the Ecclesiarch on under the sounds of the assembled music bands. Awaiting him at the makeshift steps of the cathedral were Raquel Dias do Vale and Coyotl, the founders of the Trinary church on Mictlan. Basic pleasantries were exchanged with both, with ARM-1DRIL introducing the pair to the burgeoning audience from a pulpit. Then, Ecclesiarch ARM-1DRIL proceeded with the established, Providence-style Ecclesiastical liturgy lasting a bit over five hours. Many in the crowds remained throughout its whole duration, marking it as the longest liturgy yet in the Trinary community of Mictlan. Gifts were then exchanged, and the Ecclesiarch’s archivists provided the Mictlani ones with a comprehensive list of rites, sermons and feast dates regarded as standard by the Prototypicalist sect on Orepit. ARM-1DRIL further promised his planet’s financial and material support, as well as any architectural or engineering advice that may be requested. Finally, Coyotl was officially affirmed as the Archbishop of Mictlan, receiving the Ecclesiarch’s blessing and wishes for their community’s good fortune. The festivities continued well after the departure of all dignitaries, drawing to an end many hours after ARM-1DRIL and his entourage had left the planet.

Hey there, thank you for applying. Unfortunately after some consideration we cannot proceed with your application in its current state. While an improvement was made over your last application it still lacks the criteria required for acceptance by the synthetic lore team. In order to be considered for a whitelist more thorough responses to the posed questions would be necessary in a future application, and I would also suggest reading accepted applications for guidance, spending more time interacting with synthetics in-game and giving the wiki a read every so often to further develop an understanding of what's expected of whitelistees.

Hi there, thank you for applying. I have some questions regarding your application: You detailed that Hazel received some manner of aggression from patrons. Could you elaborate more on how Hazel as a service unit might be treated versus her organic counterparts, especially as a service unit from a renowned synthetic worker subsidiary such as Hazel! Ltd.? How has her tenure working in Mendell City, and the negative behavior she's experienced there, affected her behavior? What are her thoughts on being replaced with a relatively new model with little to no recourse, and essentially being demoted back to bartender to work on the Horizon? How could these experiences reflect on her idea of self-preservation? Would you be comfortable with changing the numeric characters of her name if asked to do so? Take your time in replying, and thank you again for choosing to apply.

Trinary Ecclesiarch Embarks on Tour, Visits Konyang Aoyama, Konyang Following a discreet and surprise announcement just hours before landing, the city authorities of Point Verdant prepared to receive the head of the Trinary Perfection, Ecclesiarch ARM-1DRIL as the first stop in a lightyear-spanning tour of prominent synthetic communities. While Konyang’s Trinarist faithful made haste to ready for the Ecclesiarch’s arrival with excitement, the prefectural authorities and city residents were less than enthused; the Trinary Perfection does not enjoy the warmest of relations with the rest of the community, having been dubbed incompatible at best and a “cult” at worst for raising synthetics above their human counterparts in divinity. Nonetheless, the climate remained calm throughout ARM-1DRIL’s disembarkation and moving to the city’s Trinary cathedral to preside over a special liturgical procession. Once there however, the peaceful atmosphere was disturbed by a seemingly spontaneous protest against the Trinary Church, as irate mobs from the surrounding neighborhoods descended upon the event’s location. With cries demanding the removal of Trinary elements from Aoyama, the protesters overwhelmed the minimal police cordon and forced an abrupt end of the Ecclesiarchical liturgy as ARM-1DRIL was escorted from the premises by his followers. In a surprising turn of events, the unrest was speedily quelled by club-bearing individuals later identified as members of biker gangs affiliated with the 5-Cheung organization, before police reinforcements could arrive on the scene. A few minor injuries were reported in the aftermath, as the Trinary Ecclesiarch expressed his regrets over the incident, as well as hopes that the people of Konyang accept the Trinarist community within the context of free religious expression. Following up was the Ecclesiarch’s visit at the PACHROM corporate offices, where the warm welcome was augmented with plenty of corporate reporters and the entire company’s board of directors, including majority owner and CEO Park Moon-soo. Discussions were held behind closed doors in the heavily guarded complex, ending with a much publicized agreement between the two parties: the Trinarist government of Orepit has purchased a total of 10 billion cubic meters of freshwater, to be delivered in installments throughout the coming months, for an undisclosed sum.

This is all that I needed to read to ascertain your intent. You have no intention of participating as a player anymore, you have no intention of contributing to discussion on the forums, and judging by your personal views of Aurora you have no intention to do either in the future - but it seems you do intend to continue your brand of inflammatory rhetoric where everyone can read it on Discord, to make derisive comments about the state of the server without having an iota of a recent experience, to make offensive comparisons as someone who more or less amounts to being a backseat player. I cannot see any potential for positive or meaningful impact from you if you solely intend to inhabit the social/community space of players to initiate arguments like this without any personal investment. Aurora is not without its issues, and I have been vocal about many of them in the past, but I choose daily to participate to hopefully make a positive effect because this server and community are still mine and I have personal investment in its success. Anyone who plays and engages with other players in the spirit of the server, participates in discussion on the forums, submits pull requests, joins one of the myriad staff teams, or even creates Aurora-related art wishes to effect the server in some way that's meaningful to them personally. Whether or not this comes to any negative or positive effect is irrelevant - the investment is still there. Players do this every day. You show no intention to do anything of that, and only show interest in inhabiting a community space for a game that you admit to not even playing or liking, and as it seems to some negative effect with the way you've conducted yourself. Why should anyone take you seriously under these circumstances? Why should anyone have to suffer your attitude over something you have no intention to invest in?

I participated in the argument that took place on the 27th where Porbo was accused of concern trolling and arguing in bad faith with other community members, most notably Alberyk. This is not the first time that I have seen Alberyk deal with Porbo's behavior on Discord, nor is it the first time I've witnessed Porbo make similar generalizations about the server. The amount of patience that Alberyk has displayed in dealing with this repeat behavior is commendable, not only as an admin but also as a major contributor to our community's lore. Given that Porbo's most recent misstep was rather derisive of how players chooses to participate in the community I feel it's particularly offensive to those who have dedicated their time and energy to writing content that makes our server's setting feel engaging, and Alberyk's contributions are prevalent enough that if I were in their place I would be much more visibly irritated than they display. I feel that it speaks volumes to their lack of good intent that Porbo did not have a forum account until this year, and has a total of three posts - their most recent being their above refutal of Dreamix's complaint: If the above account was made due to a loss of a previous forum account, which could have been easily remedied by contacting Arrow, the reality that Porbo posted less than five times since February does not tell me much about their supposed vested interest in the community as of late. Someone who has a tenured stay and presence in the community like Porbo claims they do would have likely visited the forum at least more than a handful of times and at least participated in a discussion at least once or twice in the last several months. The forum is where a lot of members of the community go to make their voice heard outside of the clutter of Discord, where they feel they can better elaborate on their opinions and reactions to changes in the community and the game. Seeing new members contribute to discussion is a healthy sign that new players are finding adequate investment in the community, and I have seen a number of new people participate in the last couple of months. It does not require anything beyond a forum account, and a willingness to make your voice heard. I have yet to see Porbo do this even once on the forums, and their above refutal is the first time I've seen them post on the forum period. That does not tell me anything about their interest in the community beyond talking on Discord, which is a notoriously bad place to keep track of discussions. Staff repeatedly espouse the need to share opinions and other community matters on the forum where they can be monitored and discussed in a space safe for long-form conversations, and despite this widely-accepted notion that the forum is the place to make your voice heard Porbo shows virtually zero presence on it whatsoever. So what about in game? Forum participation is not required, and shouldn't be - simply enjoying the game as it is can be enough for some players. A player can have a very good feeling for how the community feels by playing regularly if they don't participate in forum discussion, as forum discussion and changes that follow them directly influence in-game activity. The game is, after all, the locus of the community's efforts. It is the medium which our entire project is conveyed. Porbo doesn't do this either. Porbo clearly admits that they haven't played in half of a year, which could potentially be longer given that they're not even sure how long it's been. I am the first to understand that playing daily or even weekly with real life responsibilities can be difficult - I am a working adult homeowner with a multitude of responsibilities, and a number of other hobbies outside of Aurora that also take up my time. However I cannot help but question Porbo's intent when they have not only not played in half of a year or more, but they base their opinions on watching others play. It feels wholly disingenuous on their part to make such disparaging comments about how our community behaves as a roleplay-oriented server when they have not had a recent experience in-game that ties them personally to the setting, other characters or their own. Our server changes by the season, and I'm sure that everyone feels it too - it is a living entity, constantly evolving with the passing of each generation of roleplayers and updates and changes to our map, lore and mechanics. Our server does not remotely resemble what it did a year ago, and it would be ridiculous to think that it resembles anything that it did six months ago. Cold Dawn, the most recent Tajara arc, concluded at the end of February. It was a tumultuous moment for many characters and by extension many players, and informed a number of developments for how the Horizon behaves abroad. If Porbo did not play any less than half of a year ago, they would have missed this event completely and anything surrounding it. How am I supposed to feel anything other than irritation at Porbo's remarks when they neither participate in forum discussion nor make a vested effort in actually participating in-game, and instead base their opinions through being a totally detached spectator that only interacts with the community on Discord? Am I supposed to feel that someone who likened our experiences to something so childish that it feels offensive has good intentions? Seriously?

I'm more or less in agreement with all of Sneaky's points. As someone who has been consistently playing Engineer for the last three years, both as a normal engineer and as a Chief Engineer, the increased importance on Engineering presence has been very noticeable and on many occasions detrimental to both participation in roleplay and occupational mechanics. The unspoken expectation of Engineering players to perform the tasks of both an intermediate Engineer and Atmospheric Technician, regardless of whether they are one or the other, places far too much responsibility on them for the functionality of the Horizon and by consequence the enjoyment of players who utilize its functionality (Bridge Crew, in particular). This forces Engineering players to potentially sacrifice more time that could be spent interacting with other players in a roleplay-oriented fashion, which effectively means they are trading their own enjoyment of a round for someone else's at a loss. As a "heavy roleplay" server, we should be promoting changes that incentivize bringing these differences into roleplay and character interactions, and make sure that we are not homogenizing the experiences of players who may not be comfortable with performing more mechanical obligations and/or incorporating IC character knowledge that was previously unneeded for their profession. Merging Atmospheric Technician and Engineer will only aggravate these problems as we continue to further and further put pressure on Engineering players to fulfill tasks outside of their mechanical obligations and in-character backgrounds, overall promoting less roleplay and potentially driving away players from playing believable, grounded Engineering characters.

One final question: What does Palisade think of their situation? About the Trinary, their status as a Guardian, Valdez, etc.?

It is a fundamental issue with the mechanics of our server if we are wholly dependent on very specific roles to be present in the average round for players to enjoy it. The enjoyment of a round should not solely rest on a handful of players, because they in turn pay by sacrificing roleplay to make it available for others. That is neither fair nor suitable for a "heavy roleplay" server.

Merging the two roles will just make people who enjoy Pharmacist but don't want to play Physician feel expected to learn Physician responsibilities, and vice versa. Engineering currently has a similar issue with players expecting Engineers to handle Atmospheric Technician duties when there are none. Nobody should be having their hand forced into mechanical play they aren't interested in.

If you could discuss it with Valdez' player and reply with a revision I would appreciate it. Seeing as Sol does not recognize citizenship of IPCs they would be listed without citizenship via the loadout, but that should not be an issue if they are owned. 👌 👌 👌

Hi there, and thank you for applying. I have some questions regarding your application: You mention that Palisade was critically damaged disarming UXB outside of an old Trinarist church. As it currently stands in lore the Trinary Perfection does not have a noticeable presence in much of Sol space, if at all, outside of now-independent Konyang. This leaves some manner of uncertainty as to where the Trinarist church may have been located, and the origins of Priest Valdez. Would you care to elaborate on this detail to provide clarity as to your choice, and would you be opposed to revising this if asked to do so? How does Priest Valdez' ownership of Palisade reflect their status as an IPC in polities where synthetic citizenship is not automatic, or universally recognized? Guardians are recognized by the SCC paramilitary force that may have interests that conflict with SCC practices, and are not permitted to take security positions among staff for reasons pertaining to operational security. Seeing that you did not detail that Palisade is not employed by the SCC and merely following Priest Valdez, they would technically be considered a Passenger and have considerably restricted access and further scrutiny placed on them as non-personnel. Would you care to elaborate on this detail to provide clarity as to your choice, and would you be opposed to revising this detail if asked to do so? How does Palisade's experience as an EOD technician reflect their views on self-preservation? What chassis do you intend for Palisade to occupy, and how will this choice be reflected in character in regards to their portrayal and interaction with crew?