triogenix

When it comes to persistent money, a solid way to solve this issue is just to have it reset every month or so. I had a design doc somewhere with a general idea on how to implement a persistent money system so lmk via discord DMs if you want that.

Hi. So, Kermit and I made the decision to release the scarcity piecemeal for a variety of factors, but two interconnected factors stand out among the rest - the possibility of NBT2 and changing priorities. When I first began work on the scarcity rework, the way I went about it assumed that it would be the driving factor of the setting over the next at least five years if not longer. Therefore, much of my work was done to try and keep the situation carefully balanced to be bad enough that it gave more opportunities for things to happen, while not being so bad that it would hinder the current setting, keeping it somewhat resolvable for the future. This is a very time-consuming and difficult task. I worked under this assumption for about six months, and much of the groundwork was laid with this in mind. Then - Matt pitched the idea of NBT2 - nothing specific but just the idea of a major setting change. I want to be clear that this is something I fully support; the scarcity, even reworked, is nothing more than a bandaid needed because of an inherently flawed setting. That said, just the idea of NBT2 meant that all the groundwork I had laid under the assumption that the scarcity would be the “thing” for the next five years or longer was no longer relevant; worse, it was incompatible with the idea of a major setting change, therefore, it all had to be ripped up. This meant almost all of the work I had done went “down the drain”, so to speak - AND I NEED TO MAKE IT CLEAR, THAT IS A PRICE I WILL EAGERLY PAY FOR A CHANCE AT SOMETHING LIKE NBT2 THAT CAN FIX FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEMS - and needed to be rewritten with new priorities in mind. That said, a decision had to be made. The scarcity rework was no longer the long-term goal, but a short-term one, a stopgap before a bigger change that should set the groundwork for it, and I had to essentially start from square one again (albeit under easier conditions). I estimate it would have taken another five to six months or so of new work to get back to where I was - given how I was going about it at the time - something that would have delayed the rework until the summer of 2026, which I wanted to avoid. The best option was to salvage what I could from the original rework, restart the work but only focus on the LTA parts - and let the specific teams each handle their own aspect at their own pace. Is this a perfect solution or even an ideal one? Not really - but it’s the best given the situation and all the factors at play - of which there are many more than the two discussed here which I won’t get into.

Given my discussions with them on the general discord - mostly about the Aurora setting, its problems, and similar - I've found TCJ to be very easy to communicate with, I can't think of a better way to phrase it. They handle critical feedback very well, learning from it rather than lashing out, and will seemingly take the extra time necessary to make sure something they're working on is solid before moving on to another project when it comes to devwork. I think they'd be a nice addition to the team. +1

That is an incredibly valid point I had not considered.

*disclaimer - this is not from a game play perspective - I will defer to others who regularly play rounds for stuff like that; this is merely from my perspective as the loremaster and what bodyguards mean from a setting/representation perspective. Putting aside what @DatSamTho said about how the role will be played extremely rarely since that's not something I feel I can weigh in on, diplomatic bodyguards give us a justification to represent entities from within the larger Aurora setting on board that we otherwise would not have. Great example is the Solarian Army as an entity, since they're bodyguards for Solarian diplomats, they can now be represented on board and interact with the "primary game setting" aka the Horizon. Without bodyguards, that wouldn't be possible. It's a minor thing, but something I think is still somewhat important - not enough for the final decision to be made off of, but something that should be considered. It wouldn't be the end of the world if bodyguards were removed and these possibilities along with them. I just wanted to add another consideration into the mix that I hadn't seen mentioned yet.

Hi! Kermit and I have decided to accept this application. Congratulations!

Kermit and I have decided to accept this application. Congratulations!

Hi! Thank you for applying. I have a few questions I wanted to throw your way. 1. Tajara Lore deeply explores difficult content and themes at a level and regularity no other species matches - things like eugenics, homophobia, racism, and similar difficult subjects - and this is brought up at least once a month. I didn't see this addressed in your application, so I wanted to ask your thoughts on it here; do you see yourself just leaving it as is? Do you think it should be changed? Why or why not? 2. As a result of the above, the Tajara whitelist can be one of the trickier ones to moderate when it comes to a player's conduct. Where do you see yourself drawing the line between something that is an OOC WL issue (that may result in a WL strip at worst), and something that is an OOC player issue (that may result in said player being removed from our community)? This question is impossible to answer with specifics, and sometimes it is out of your hands, but I'm looking for a general idea. 3. Lastly, when it comes to the phoron rework and Tajara, there are difficulties presented by the nature of their factions; one large difficulty being that, for lack of a better term, Tajara are "backwards" or underdeveloped societies that exist within a setting far more advanced than them. In general, explain how you think that difficulty can be worked around to make the scarcity still relevant to Tajara society and characters? (No more than two paragraphs please). That's all - remember there are no wrong answers - and if you have any questions or want clarification on what exactly I'm asking, my DMs are always open. I look forward to seeing your answers!

This application has been accepted.

Hello! Following Alberyk’s resignation from the Lore Team, the Tajara Lore Writer position is now open. When making your application, please include the Lore Developer Template, alongside answers to the following questions; 1. A particular section of Tajara Lore that you think should be expanded upon, alongside your reasons for it; or what you think should be removed, and expand your reasons for that too. 2. Do you have a long-term vision for what direction you want to take Tajara? 3. Is there anything regarding Tajara lore that you'd really like to remove or heavily rework, but it's so ingrained in the lore to the point where it'd be challenging to do in a way that's satisfactory? 4. What do you think are your strongest and weakest attributes in terms of working on a team, and why? 5. Tajara writer is a position that comes with two deputy writers under them on the team. It is the writer's job to manage their team, in addition to their duties of moderating the WL. Given that, what skills do you have that you think will assist you in this? On the opposite end, what do you believe is your weakest link regarding management and moderation?

Hi! Kermit and I have decided to accept this application. Congratulations!

Hello! Following Desven’s resignation from the Lore Team, the Vaurca Lore Writer position is now open. When making your application, please include the Lore Developer Template, alongside answers to the following questions. 1. A particular section of Vaurca Lore that you think should be expanded upon, alongside your reasons for it; or what you think should be removed, and expand your reasons for that too. 2. Do you have a long-term vision for what direction you want to take Vaurca? 3. Is there anything regarding Vaurca lore that you'd really like to remove or heavily rework, but it's so ingrained in the lore to the point where it'd be challenging to do in a way that's satisfactory? 4. What do you think are your strongest and weakest attributes in terms of working on a team, and why? 5. Vaurca writer is a position that comes with two deputy writers under them on the team. It is the writer's job to manage their team, in addition to their duties of moderating the WL. Given that, what skills do you have that you think will assist you in this? On the opposite end, what do you believe is your weakest link regarding management and moderation?

Thank you for your responses so far! Last of my questions coming up; 1, Positronics are currently improved iterations of processing units found on ancient mining droids of unknown providence; do you think this is a good thing? Should it be changed? Why or why not? 2. Currently phoron is being rewritten to be a Room Temperature Superconductor, and a required material for the continuation of the spur's technological and economic status-quo, now threatened by the scarcity. With this very general summary in mind, list three to four general ways you'd like to see IPCs be affected by the scarcity, and why. 3. What is one way you think that the lore team can improve in terms of OOC organization or similar? Best of luck on your application, and remember, there's no wrong answers!

Thank you for your responses so far! Last of my questions coming up; 1. IPC lore in general has a few old scattered factions (scrappers, purpose, SLF, ceres lance, etc) that don't do much besides exist, or in some cases are narratively dead. Given that you covered the scrappers in your application, what do you think should be done with Ceres Lance and the SLF? How would you modernize them? How would you connect them to the wider setting? Don't feel the need to write out exactly what you'd do, but give a general synopsis of how you'd approach the topic, what generalized solutions you'd use, and your reasoning why. 2. One of the biggest areas of improvement for the lore team as a whole is bridging the disconnect between the Horizon/the game and the wider setting on the wiki. If you were assigned to write a small article arc relating to synthetics, what would you do to try and bridge that gap? Would you try and make it directly affect the characters on the Horizon? Where do you draw the line for how much a lore development should affect a character? Don't feel the need to write out exactly what you'd do, but give a general synopsis of how you'd approach the topic, what generalized solutions you'd use, and your reasoning why. 3. The IPC team also has some domain over the lore of other synthetics, such as AIs and Cyborgs. Given the latter is a domain shared with CCIA, if you were assigned a project to improve the lore of the former, how would you go about it? Do you think it can be improved? Why or why not? 4. What is one way you think that the lore team can improve in terms of OOC organization or similar? Best of luck on your application, and remember, there's no wrong answers!