ImmortalRedshirt

Ckey/BYOND Username: immortalredshirt Time in Community: Since mid-2020, a short while before King of the World kicked off Position Being Applied For: Deputy Human Lore Developer Have you read the Lore Team Rules and Regulations wiki page? Yes, including that new part Past Experiences/Knowledge: Too many years of writing. Very little has seen the light of day. Examples of Past Work: The Pluto expansion This part got a bit long, so get comfy. Why are you applying for this position and why do you believe you would make a good Human Lore Deputy? If any of you have seen me around in the community, you might be wondering why a mechanic is applying to do something so wildly out of left field. Truth is, I've been as passionate about writing fiction for about as long as I have been about fixing things. I've descended deep into sci-fi both new and old and I'd love to bring the perspective that has granted to the team. The writing process thrives when everyone brings a unique view on things to the table, as it encourages developing some ideas into a new and unexpected form. What is your favourite part of Human Lore and why? What is your least favourite? For my favorite bit of human lore, it would have to be Vysoka in its entirety. It takes the roots of its colonists and develops them over the centuries into something wholly unique and avoids falling into the common stereotypes. Everything from the culture, all-new religion, environment, and tech levels comes together to create an incredible vibe that despite how it differs from our own reality, still feels deeply relatable if you've spent a decent chunk of your life in a similar region. It's no surprise I've made multiple characters for this one planet. Unfortunately, I cannot heap the same amount praise on some parts of the lore. Some parts are just victims of wider issues with the lore and could be better with a bit of love, which I'll bring up later, keep that point in mind. I cannot say the same about the sheer amount of military lore, however. For a long time now, I've been no fan of military sci-fi, so to see all the nation's armed forces receive an almost disproportionate amount of focus compared to the parts that actually do matter for characters on the ship is a bit disheartening. If you need more than two or three paragraphs to describe a nation's military, it's time to go back and see how it can be edited down, especially if most of the runtime is just retreading basic facts about how an army or navy works and offering nothing that makes it really stand out. What are three projects (medium to large sized additions, reworks, or arcs) you would like to do or help organize if made Human Lore deputy? -Adding some nuance to Himean society. Himeo is another planet I think is pretty good and not just because I'm a syndicalist at heart, but compared to literally everywhere else, it's a bit too good. Having discussions in relay as a Himean isn't really fun because at the end of the day, you really can pull out the "I literally come from the closest thing we have to a worker's utopia" card. If I were to tackle this, I'd try to create a contrast between a place that has gotten their ideology into a workable and not completely nightmarish state, and the societal effects that may arise from it all working as planned(such as, for example, the veneration of certain types of labour leading to substandard quality of education?) -Putting an emphasis on CoC-focused content in terms of arcs and articles, as well as touching on some underdeveloped places like Burzsia. We have a whole news thread for the Coalition but to this day, it has only ever really been used to talk about what's happening in Sol and its warlords. What's happening in the Scarab fleet? Is the peace on Vysoka going to hold much longer? Has a crazy experiment in Galatea had some massive consequences? -Bit of a minor one, but I'd also adjust some of the religion lore. Tribunal has plenty of doctrine and structure, but not much in the way of in-universe mythology and with a really weak explanation for anti-synth prejudice. Luceism is in a somewhat more interesting place, but that reddit-tier backstory absolutely needs to go. What do you believe are the current strengths and weaknesses of human lore? Why? What would you do to improve upon the weaknesses? The main strength of human lore is the sheer variety of content one can have. If every species had an established theme running through it all, one of humanity's would be "diversity". Just about all the popular concepts to play with in this genre are here, plus a few minor ones. Having this variety leads to a lot of really cool interactions, doubly so if even a single planet encourages characters with completely distinct upbringings and views. If you can look at a page and think "wow, I have come up with several unique characters from here that are very straightforward to flesh out", something has gone incredibly right. However, this variety is only just a fraction of what could be done, and that brings me to what I feel is a weakness of human lore. Compared to many of the species in our lore, humanity feels too mundane in many places. Things in 2465 proceed much as they do in 2023, just with the scale changed. We have spaceships and better guns and pretty alright robot arms now, but it just feels like a backdrop that can be switched out for a setting closer to the modern day, aliens aside. And even when something actually tied to futuristic sci-fi is implemented, it feels like it's still playing it too safe. For example, let's compare piracy lore for humans and Unathi. The Unathi pirates have a distinct social structure to them, with codes, traditions, bases of operation, folk tales and legends, and several fleets with their own distinct identities and purpose. Human pirates, on the other hand, get...mostly fleets associated with one nation or corporation, plus the Sadars, and very little identity beyond that. And it's not just pirates, so many entities with potential just begging to be explored are limited to something we've seen a thousand times before, rather than embracing the sheer exhilarating imagination that we're capable of. To remedy this would be as simple as incorporating even fairly basic speculative fiction concepts into what we write, ones that encourage us to really think about the implications of futuristic technologies and exotic social structures. The classics of the genre were really good at this, taking a strange idea and then exploring it in full detail, often saying a lot about society in the process. What are your thoughts on the past arcs that have been organised by the human lore team? I'm very mixed on previous human lore arcs. They've placed an overwhelming amount of focus on interstellar-scale military action, and especially on what the Sol military gets up to, to say nothing about the sheer lack of impact they have for more than two people on the ship. Amor Patriae, for the most part, went through several months of filler text before progressing the plot, happened on the completely other side of the Spur, and since it's pretty damn hard to be worse than actual fascists, had an unambiguous Good Guy, so the conflict couldn't even cause tension on the Horizon. I'd like to make some stories about the lives and local struggles on various worlds, of conflicts that don't escalate into mass military movements but still connect in some way to a decent amount of the crew, or maybe some story about some big discovery in the frontier to show that exploration is still happening. Human lore will flourish once we get characters talking about something other than "my spaceship could totally beat your spaceship." What is an idea for a future arc that you would like to have a part in writing and organising in the future? I've already talked about the Coalition a lot in this lore app so let's shake things up a bit. Rumors of phoron gas signatures in an Eridani fed gas giant causes the ship to need to head in that general direction, with the ship needing a docking event to retrofit the sensors to work better with gaseous materials. The crew get to experience Eridani I and the up-front realities of Eridani while later getting to actually do what the ship was designed for. The vapors of phoron gas turn out not to be because the gas giant is phoron rich, but because it is the hub of phoron-shipping piracy, being headed by a gang of dregs. This previously unrecorded skimming and hijacking of phoron shipments threatens Eridani's status as a special economic zone of the Solarian Alliance, and as a way of trying to curry favor from the Minister of Defense Lucien Courtois, begins anti-piracy measures in the previously laissez-faire region while the Department of Commerce intends to start a new branch office in Eridani I to investigate the matter and exert Solarian influence, harming both SCC and SCA activities in the area. Have you ever been subject to any strikes or bans of any kind from Aurora's moderators or admins? If so, how long ago were these actions and what were they for? I got slapped with a warning back in early 2022 after what could best be described as a shitty character decision. It definitely was deserved and after I cut out the problem in question I had a much better time with the character, so it all worked out in the end. Additional Comments: In term of community interaction, I'm very on again-off again with it all. I also do have a tendency to be somewhat blunt in conversation, if something bothers me I will tend to make that clear. If you have something in that regard that you wish to resolve, feel free to float a DM my way.

To be honest, there is a pretty big gap between the Dwarf Fortress style of losing, where it takes on more of an entertaining string of cascading failures, and the style of losing where you're taken out of the game because someone believed "difficulty" means "making the game more frustrating without adding any interesting dynamics to play off of." On another note, I've been thinking of a little tool/program/whatever that is given to FRs where, instead of getting the whole list of people, you need to select one name in particular and if they've got sensors on or something, it outputs their location at the time you requested it. You're not completely screwed over when someone cries for help without giving a location, but it withholds much more information such as wellbeing or whether or not they're on the move, as well as whoever else may be with them.

I'm not sure I agree with the implication that all worthwhile conflict in a story is inherently violent.

And there's the kicker. As it is right now, the damage systems is skewed heavily towards the most bullshit deaths imaginable. You can shrug off headshots like it's no big deal because antags get nerfed into the ground every time security mindlessly unga rushes them, but drop into crit the moment you get a papercut. This heavily detracts from the game, as you're actively punished for doing the smallest things. Medical and sensors need an improvement, but making it more frustrating for all parties without adding any interesting dynamics isn't it. Aurora isn't a "I FUCKING LOVE PEOPLE DYING" server, and that's ok. It's ok that our bodycount is lower than your typical LRP fragfest or shitty Russian secret club.

I'd say making it vitals only really doesn't solve much of the issues. It still weighs really heavy on nefarious deeds and makes finding the victim an exercise in frustration. Location only, on the other hand, makes it relatively straightforward to find someone bleeding out in a decent amount of time, and also doesn't alert the entirety of medical towards suspicious actions. People showing up as being in unexpected places is rarely commented on right now, much less followed up, especially on decent pop rounds, where you just sort of stop comprehending the data until someone calls for help and you can hyperfocus on where they're at. This is good. Catching someone in the act requires decent perception and a certain sense of where people should and shouldn't be, instead of just neuron activating when the green number stops being green. Plus, in regards to the antag's scrambling devices, it's much easier and potentially a bit more interesting to spoof someone's location than their health(one just keeps med unaware of what's happening to someone, the other leads med and possibly sec on a wild goose chase, engaging them in your plot.) This last bit's a bit more of an in-universe reasoning and based off my own experience with telemetry, but it's usually much easier and cheaper to develop something that broadcasts a location and stick that in an ID card or something rather than incorporating a full suite of medical sensors into one's workwear.

Cut out, or at least heavily simplify, the vitals part, keep the location tracking. Gives people more leeway to do nefarious deeds without completely cucking the responders. They won't notice someone being dragged off to a suspicious location, the list on highpop is already enough of a sensory nightmare to keep track of. Also lets you remove those useless middle options in the sensor selection menu. Actually, now that I think about it, it would be kind of cool if location was tied to the ID Card rather than the suit sensors. Opens the door for a lot more emergent opportunities.

Hey, not a bad idea!

I fail to see how this would fix the problem. All it does is encourage half-baked gimmicks by people who are mechanically railroaded into something they didn't even want to do. Basically everyone who was around during those days has nothing positive to say about it.

I don't think there is any adjustment to this. It doesn't play nice with a lot of systems, the motion sickness makes the game actively less accessible, and all for something who's sole reason for being added is because every LRP fragfest on the hub uses it too.

I agree with the above. The pets have rarely added anything of value, and they only ever seem to be around to provide cheap shock when this metal deathtrap of a ship kills them. Fewer pets, the better.

I think there needs to be some kind of means to counter mechs. Being trapped in a room by an unmovable, functionally invulnerable object isn't really that fun for anyone involved, and the cheese tactic of the machinist spamming out exos for everyone to block the zombies with doesn't reward creativity on any level and offers zero actual risk to the players.

I've gone into more detail on this in a separate thread but SS13 engineering in general is functionally structured like a trade job, just with a misapplied label that still persists due to inertia.

In our world, individual religions alone have as many variants in opinion as there are believers, and these variants are impossible to summarize in an adequate way. Aurora lore also tends towards the approach of making vast generalizations for the sake of being concise. With these two facts in mind, any attempt to write about what IRL faiths would look like in the future would require putting more focus on a specific set of interpretations, or even just one in some cases. This would quite likely lead to not only some parts of the community being annoyed at the lack of representation for their own faiths, but also have to witness other players taking what is written and playing a character that they would view as both rooted in an incorrect view and incredibly stereotypical to boot. Headcanons about a religion's place in 2465 may clash frequently, but hey, that's been happening for much of human history.

I'll be honest, I don't see why this was changed. The fact you can still get pretty bad radiation poisoning despite being told that the coast is clear is a decision that was made entirely to punish common intuition and feels like a player trap that belongs on something like Lifeweb, not on this server.

Hi, just a few questions for you! I've occasionally seen Unathi lore referred to as a space opera, and such a view often contributed to some of Unathi(and Aurora lore in general)'s best arcs, such as the Hegemony civil war. How do you feel about this label, and should it continue to be embraced? Given the chance, would you roll back the retcon made to the Sk'akh faith's view on trans unathi?

They also convey much less information from a glance than before. On the old ones, light of a few different colors shows up, you know other side has bad time waiting and what kind of bad time it is.

Ok, at this point I think it might be time to clarify the nature of work tied to Associate's degrees and technician jobs in general, jobs that do things that are very much like what is done on the ship. It is not unskilled labor that you can learn in a week, it's as far from it as you can get. From the start of your education until its end your head gets filled with the most minute details about everything to do with the machine. Not only will you know how to tackle any relevant problem, as well as the math and science behind such, but you'll also be getting quite a few ideas on how you can change how it works with what you've got, and you'll have the hands-on expertise to handle all of it. With the right equipment and a few helping hands you can tear down a vehicle and put it all back together better than when it rolled off the production line. You also know how to make do when you don't have the perfect stuff for the job(like making a basic gasket out of a cereal box and some rubber cement) and how to handle an emergency quickly and effectively. All this and more is stuff one is expected to know on the Horizon, none of it is taught in any four-year engineering program, and I don't expect that to change in the future. Just as an understanding of computers was woven into two-year degrees for technicians, so too would working in the vacuum of space be integrated.

Except we do that too. Several times, I've had to do things like optimize the timing of systems, machine entirely new parts, completely tear down and overhaul engines, and many more things, all without the future tech this setting has. Contrast this with actual engineers, who's closest brush with any of these things is telling someone else to do it, because their job isn't to work directly with these systems, it's to design a 2 percent more efficient nozzle in AutoCAD. Part of the problem does arise from the name we've chosen for this department, as it infers an entirely different set of skills and responsibilities that does not line up with the actual loop.

Currently, the requirements to be an engineer on the ship are a Bachelor's degree or seven years of experience, and a PhD if you want to go CE. Given the sort of responsibilities on the ship, these requirements are excessive. Even with the "it's abstracted to be easier to play" policy we have in place to help mitigate powergaming, the core loop of the job is much closer to that of a service technician than an actual engineer. If those jobs have some kind of formal education tied to them, it's usually a two-year Associate's degree, and they use those two years to the fullest, packing in all the knowledge one needs on why things work, how to set things up and use all your equipment, and how to fix it if things go wrong, as well as a bit of the sciences so you can figure out if something you do is going to break things. These are all things that everyone in this department is expected to know, and any greater theory is largely irrelevant to the day-to-day activities. Actual engineers, on the other hand, spend all their education learning about the theory and how to sit at a desk(in fact, I've never encountered a real engineer that understood how to use these tools, or even basic workshop safety). Best way to put it is "Engineers will tell you how fast water is leaking out of a pipe, the technician will actually fix it for you." On a ship like the Horizon, I think the crew would much rather have the technician. Basically, bump down the minimum requirements for engineering to an Associate's in the relevant field and/or somewhere around five years of experience, and the CE to something a bit more advanced to reflect their greater expertise and managerial experience.

Metal crushers gimmick let's fucking go. Anyway yeah this could be a neat idea, might encourage people to give mechs some attention code-wise.

will hatefucking return?

Very good application, and interesting newspaper draft I give it my +1. I have one question, if you don't mind answering. What is your opinion on the state of cyborg/shipbound lore?

Lore Impact (Small/Medium/Large): Medium Species: Human Short Description: An expansion to Pluto primarily focusing on the environment and society that resides within How will this be reflected on-station?: Characters from Pluto will have a lot more to work with in order to set themselves apart from other Plutonians. Does this addition do anything not achieved by what already exists?: Yes. The wiki currently describes very little about the Plutonian lifestyle, something that is very much needed for a world with as unique a background in a corporate-dominated Spur as this. Do you understand that the project may change over time in ways you may not foresee once it is handed over to the Lore Team? Yes. Long Description: This application does not describe every minute detail about Pluto, and that's intentional. No one place is a monolith, and even with much of the societal portion expanded on, plenty of things are left open-ended in order to make unique characters. Some of the most interesting people to come out of this planet were those that held closely to the culture they grew up immersed in, but expressed their own ideas and desires, and I want to encourage that here by providing an expanded base to work from. Praise to Plutonian players past and present who provided plans and perspectives for this "planet" proposal. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Cxfm5D8mFyAMD_Wh0z3nyBmFTGqmVSR4iUiUZvCe1gw/edit?usp=sharing

Solid +1. I've interacted with their characters on and off over time and they're pretty well committed to having legit characters. Also helps that they're competent at their jobs.

How do you do, fellow Command players. I would like access to the forum.