Faye <3

nothing in this rework stops you from playing a simplistic ZI. if you want to make your own ZI that is a very simple research unit and does not engage with wider ZI culture, you can do that. the goal of this addition is to give substance and guidelines to players who want to play something more complex.

Ouch? I used the previously established acceptable frames for my rework, being shells and baselines and no Hephaestus frames. If synthlore believes that mobility frames ought to be added, I have no issue with that and they are welcome to do so - not that it's my call, of course. I do not think I need to write for assistants, and science is well - science. Again, if synthlore wants to add onto this, they may. I completely disagree. Security and to a lesser extent engineering are socially driven jobs. Understanding how to navigate a social network, establishing rapports and integrating yourself into the social climate of your workplace is one of the most important and valuable tools of a security officer, and it stands to reason to me that Zavodskoi would see this as a boon and encourage it. A ZI who can be sociable and is trusted by the crew will be able to execute their job far more easily. A ZI who is trusted and liked may be tipped off to certain things, may find people coming to them about their issues, etc. Engineering has a very strong workplace culture as well, and while you can play a fixit you should not have to. Also, I again completely disagree that the Z.I.A / warden units would not be sociable. They can develop complex and divergent personalities, they're just not designed to be as capably social as the N or R types. And more on that, IPCs can often have a preset personality. Hazels come out of the box being charming and sociable because it is their job to be. Just because a unit is sociable does not mean they are particularly more complex than say, a G2 who just fixes things. It is divergence from this baseline that complexity comes from. Additionally, status is a shield for Z.I.s. If a high status unit makes a mistake, they are far more likely to have comforts and privileges be taken away rather than being wiped. Inversely, if a low status unit makes a mistake, they are far more likely for their punishment to be wiping. This encourages a culture of constant amassing of status, as status very literally is a shield and is tied to self preservation. The higher you are, the further you can fall. If you're already at the bottom, there is almost nothing to keep you from hitting the ground. The issue of establishing firm rules and catching missteps when the Handler isn't watching is that there still needs to be wiggle room for the players to develop their characters, to circumvent their handlers and carefully push the boundaries of what is allowed without going too far and invoking disaster. That's half the fun of playing a Z.I. I did want to write that veteran ZI units would typically become quite jaded in their quote on quote old age from a lifetime of maintaining their status and being observed, and may choose to withdraw from the social aspect of their work, but to be frank I ran out of wordcount to expand on that. Maybe synthlore can do something with this, if they so choose.

Hi, thanks for your reply. Feedback good or bad is always appreciated. My favorite part of the Synthetic whitelist is that it is so freeform that everyone can have their own opinion on what 'good' IPC roleplay is, and no one be either incorrect or correct. However, I have been almost exclusively a synthetic main since I joined Aurora five years ago and all throughout that time I have heard the argument that IPCs are becoming too humanlike. Now, of course this concern needs to be addressed, but the core issue is that everyone is going to have their own definition of what 'too human' means. Personally, I have always considered swearing and impulsive emotions to be the hard barrier for IPC roleplay, but I have seen IPCs swear in intriguing manners that have made me reconsider. I think that 'too human' is a very nebulous term and I try not to think in those terms as there is always a better writer than me who can use a concept I previously dismissed in an ingenious and creative manner. For example, something you single out is the R-Units being friendly. I would reply that, 'why wouldn't a customer facing robot be friendly and sociable?' Does being sociable not mean they are not also robotic? Are we defining robotic behaviors through a lack of friendliness, charm or sociability? Is playing a properly synthetic IPC an IPC that is cold and emotionless? That doesn't seem very apt to me. Or mentor-mentee system - would a synthetic not teach another synth if it needed it? Of course, playing a very outgoing and sociable robot without being 1:1 with an organic is one of the most challenging aspects of IPC roleplay, but it can certainly be done. That said, a step we can take to combat the opinion that IPCs are becoming 'too human' is to establish guidelines and boundaries. Zavodskoi exists in the extremely unenviable position of being perhaps the most restrictive background one could possibly play - short of Burszia, of course - while also having next to no lore. This means that every player has their own opinion for how a ZI should be played and feel, but worse, every player has an unsubstantiated headcanon that some of them may think should be the standard. This means that people will disagree fruitlessly as there is no lore or policy to point to and say, 'well, the official stance is this'. And to be frank, I think the idea of the 'intimidating emotionless types regularly wiped before they can form attachment or character' is a non-starter. To be frank, this is a roleplay server. Playing a character eternally stuck in groundhog day who never learns or develops from their interactions feels like a waste of time for everyone involved. I think that idea is stuck in the past. When was the last time you saw a Viax that wasn't a gimmick character, or merely a vessel to engage in mechanics with? Not that there is anything wrong with that, I do believe that if a player wants to play that sort of IPC or character, they should be able to do that. What I also believe is that there should be lore to support players who want to write something more than that, while also reserving space to play more of a killbot. That is why this application has basis for both complex, nuanced ZI, and basis to play simple killbots. My goal for this application was to sort of condense the roleplay experiences and culture I have seen form with other Z.I. players in-game, and write that into canon. My primary inspiration for the cultural and inter-IPC relationships is the relationships and interactions between Z.I.s I have both written and observed. This application seeks to establish a culture and system for a ZI character so that there might be an established agreement on the personalization, formation of identity, expression of character etc while also preserving the grit, horror and dread of the life of a Zavodskoi synthetic. My hope is to implement a culture of bitter rivalries, horrific lows, and body horror punctuated by occasional bright spots of unity and togetherness as desperate synthetics attempt to care for one another as best they are able, and how those relationships can break down, change, and grow against a loaded deck and overwhelming odds.

Lore Impact (Small/Medium/Large): Meeedium? Species: (Skrell, Tajara, Human, Vaurca, Dionae, Unathi, Synth, General) Synth, Human Short Description: A total overhaul of the Z.I. synthetic background. How will this be reflected on-station?: It will change the way Z.I. characters are played. Does this addition do anything not achieved by what already exists?: Yes, it provides much needed substance and guidelines to a very popular option for synthetic characters while preserving as much as possible of existing Z.I. Includes a Zavodskoi Chief Robotics officer, four playable ZI lines, multiple paragraphs of lore, an entire synthetic sub-culture, handler interactions, etc. A major major issue of present Zavodskoi lore is that it is one of the most restrictive IPC backgrounds you can play, while also having next to no substance. This application aims to fix that by slightly relaxing those restrictions, while adding a ton of new lore to play around with. 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: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NGUqN0wfwyAa5wi9YYDvT8pVsEOl3UV-ts7Uy0tq_h0/edit?usp=sharing

i think that reducing slots would definitely solve the work issue, but i also think it would be quite damaging to every other aspect of the dept. engineering population is only growing and there are increasingly fewer positions on aurora where you can reliably get a slot. even engineering with it's massive size is beginning to feel a bit constrained. there's a lot of social RP in engineering rn and reducing the engineer slots to three would absolutely stymie growth, frustrate players and introduce a higher degree of competitiveness for a small gain imo.

I am really appreciative ands respectful of the work put into this. It's really wonderful. only: the power draw is a lot. I burned 4k walking from security spawn to get equipped, and then out to the hall. I am using the standard battery, and lowered the temperature energy cost as much as I could and still found it quite stiffling.

I can't help but raise this concern. I have seen you act extremely hardheaded and obstinate to the point of frustration on all sides, even with multiple people trying to dissuade you from a viewpoint. As deputy, you're going to be the go-between many, many people from many different teams, as well as having an organizational role for whatever projects lore wants to focus on. What will you do if your tendency towards obstinance prevents progress on such a project, or hampers dialogue between teams?

Wiping an IPC is effectively round-ending for that IPC, the same as killing a human character. You could argue that you could maybe do some like, shreds of memory or personality being jogged, but those sorts of thing take a while and our rounds are only two hours long. I do not think it should be easily accessed - I effectively only play IPCs, and my idea of fun isn't playing a freshly wiped IPC with no memories or personality aside from baseline. Comparing it to cultist or thralling or another manner of antagonist conversion is not at all the same. With a cult or thrall or something, there's still the personality and experiences of the individual left - just warped or controlled. You can play someone who's conflicted, or hates their vampire sire, or uses the memories and friendships they had before they were cult'd to get more members. You can't do any of that if you're wiped. You effectively become a non-character. For an IPC, there is nothing left. You're effectively playing a new character. I don't want to play a new character, I want to play my character. It shouldn't be easily accessible at all, in my opinion.

this sounds like pointless tedium

i haven't been super impressed with your gameplay. while on an expedition who's roster was one security officer, one paramedic, one scientist, and one BC (me). the security officer assigned to the expedition mentioned wanting more people at the expedition which wasn't needed, and your character began equipping miners to be teleported over. my bc - command's link to the expedition - informed your OM that this wasn't needed and had the possibility of deteriorating the situation, and your character ignored them and sent the miners anyways. the bridge crewman is meant to be command's eyes and ears on an away mission, so it felt quite frustrating and strange that i was ignored outright so you could send your own subordinates over to the LZ.

This would be SOOOOOOOOO cool for BC!!!! Especially if they worked on the away site.

i used to play a lot of head of security. i really, really don't think anyone who recommends you order from Ops or ask a scientist for a research weapon understand the kind of time constraint placed on security, and in particular the HoS. you cannot arm pre-emptively, that is powergaming and you will get into trouble. once trouble starts, even getting all of your officers to the armory and equipped can feel like forever especially if the antagonists are actively pushing an objective or hurting people, let alone moving to respond. the hypothetical situation of 'there are heavily armed people aboard who are unknown to the ship but also aren't causing problems' is, to be honest, a very far-fetched idea. security in general barely has time to get equipped with their regular stuff that's already there waiting for them, let alone waiting for RnD or Ops (who may not even be there, in the case of RnD) to produce or order things for them. additionally, antags will 9/10 times have radio channel access. the second the HoS says 'maybe we need ordered weapons', the antagonist will be able to respond and it's just as likely that those weapons are intercepted. in either case, security now has to wait for either RnD or operations to produce the equipment without interference, then go get that equipment without being stopped. to re-iterate, a lot of the time, even equipping in the armory with things that are already there waiting for you can take too long. additionally, who the hell is proposing research weapons as an effective alternative to the armory guns? if you think the armory kit is overpowered for security, you're forgetting the kind of things that RnD produces. I've turned down many, many, many research guns on HoS rounds because they're so laughably hyperlethal it's ridiculous.

I think removing nanopaste would be a bad idea, as I've played many rounds without a machinist, got a bum leg, and been effectively useless as no one could locate nanopaste, and a machinist wasn't around. I think it taking longer to apply would be fine, if the combat thing is a concern. As it stands, NanoPaste is the only way to fix yourself sans asking an engineer to ghetto-weld you, which doesn't really work. I think a components based system sounds like the most fun. Above all, it's /extremely/ hard to tell how intact you are as an IPC. When I played security shells a lot, it really felt like I was fine until I wasn't, and dying was usually extremely abrupt and a little jarring. Chat-warnings and things going wrong before you die would be extremely helpful, and probably allow IPC players to make more informed decisions as to their character's behavior in regards to self preservation. Memory leaks, stumbling, leaking fluids, etc would all be good.

If I had to like, throw my hat into the ring here, I think that the reason why these sorts of high intensity gigafuck hell destruction EIGHT HUNDRED MILLION DEAD MARINES KILL EM ALL canon events, the bragging (real or imagined) etc leave such a bad taste in the mouths of others is because, for the longest time, the average Aurora character as an individual did not matter in the slightest. When I first joined the server right around KOTW, one of the first themes I internalized about the lore and server structure is that you are much more of a spectator looking outwards to the goings-on of the Spur rather than an active participant. Things happen around you, and rarely, to you. It felt very reactive, rather than proactive. This is quite opposed to the average RP set up, which is much more of a power fantasy (see, DnD). These recent high intensity events, and some of the ones in the past, have sort of flipped this perspective that I, and perhaps others, internalized and honestly came to enjoy. We just stopped a robot apocalypse on the robot planet. And by 'we', I of course mean everyone who got their command role, was in the right place at the right time, etc. Which leads me to the source of the - I believe - biggest strain, and why people leave with such sour tastes in their mouth. Everyone wants to get the frag on the hellbot beacon, or kill the marine, or be important, and I think anyone who says otherwise maybe isn't being honest with themselves. Everyone wants to feel important, and have their moment in the limelight. And the recent ability to have your character have a part in things like stopping the literal fucking robot zombie apocalypse is an absolute total reversal of the previously stated 'you are largely a spectator on the spur, and you watch things happen' thought process. The server's culture is changing for better or for worse, and never has the player-character mattered more, or had more of an opportunity to be relevant than now. Everyone wants to feel relevant, and no one wants to feel like they're not as important as someone else. This wasn't an issue before when your opportunities to be Relevant were few and far between, but hell, look at the relay. People were constantly chatting about how they were geared up for the power plant raid, or how they got chopped in twain by a rogue G2, or whatever. It feels bad to feel like you're not part of something, or not feel as relevant as any other character. For my part, I don't attend canon events because they're usually quite laggy and messy, but I also really don't like loosing my OCs. I understand I'm not the kind of person who handles that sort of thing very well, so I don't put myself in those situations. I can fully admit that I am much happier as a chair RP'er / low stakes, but with the server transitioning to a much more 'you can be the guy', wide-reaching arcs, it sort of leaves me wondering if there's still space for that sort of player. Those events are your only chance to do something meaningful within the setting on your character, given the average round is largely non-canon, and if every event is extremely high-stakes and violent, then what can the players / characters who do not fit or enjoy those events do to give their characters a bit more 'oomph' in the setting? I do not want my character to die in an event, and have absolutely nothing come of it, so I do not play them. Maybe the answer is to make PC deaths matter more, but does that just not ratchet up the stakes even more? I don't know, to be honest. Is the cost of relevancy risking your OC? Is it fair to want to be relevant if you haven't risked anything? I don't know that, either. The unfortunate result of this when every event is such high stakes, one tends to really feel left out. I think low to medium intensity events are very important for the server, and to maintain whatever semblance of the old 'you don't matter very much' Aurora there is left.

You know, I was originally quite against the idea of 2ic XO, and I voted against it. But in the passing year and the more I played BC, I was slowly convinced it could be more interesting and fun than I first lent it credence for. It is for that reason that it’s really rather unfortunate that is perhaps the most disappointing implementation of this idea I can think of. We have waited well over an IRL year for something that is not even true 2ic, at the cost of everyone who has an alien XO having to retool or shelve their characters if they cannot. I could more easily accept this if xeno XOs had to be sacrificed for a true 2ic position, that is having de facto authority with no Captain present, but the amount of power leveraged upon the new XO feels far short of requiring that they all be human or skrell. It’s the worst possible requirement for an only somewhat more powerful role. as well, I think the attitude of “we will not discuss this further” and “well that’s the result, if you want to discuss it go make a new post” is really rather insulting and flippant, given the sheer amount of time passed between the vote and the result, and the extremely negative stipulation introduced. This wasn’t on the docket, and I am of the opinion that people may have voted differently if it was made clear that non skrell/human XOs were on the chopping block, not to mention the cultural changes and changing of opinions on the server in the year it somehow took to implement this change. I echo the sentiment that the handling of this change is callous, disrespectful and quite frankly, bizarre.

my submission is Bitter Promise,62 i think for a depressive investigator, there's only one real theme option. lots of past, no future

Reporting Personnel: Bitter Promise.62 Job Title of Reporting Personnel: Bridge Crew Game ID: csn-crKV Personnel Involved: Bitter Promise.62 - Bridge Crew - Witness Wikolia Kelekolio - Warden Cadet - Witness Homer Donaldson - Security Officer - Witness Elena Rose - Paramedic - Witness Luke Kortenaer - Paramedic - Offender (?) Secondary Witnesses: Time of Incident: Real Time: (1030 AM ish EST) Location of Incident: Konyang Nature of Incident: [x] - Manslaughter (?) Overview of the Incident: I arrived late to the shift. As soon as I came out of the elevator, I was informed of an urgent distress signal from the surface of Konyang. A Konyng citizen had been attacked and wounded by infected positronics, their partner killed, and their vehicle destroyed. Their immediate location was safe, but they were trapped and did not know where they were. They pleaded for anyone in the vicinity to please come and rescue them. Kortenaer and Rose were already ready to depart but merely lacked transportation to the surface. I decided that rescue should be attempted, and drafted Officer Donaldson and cadet Kelekolio to our away team. I retrieved the expedition shotguns, one for Donaldson and one for Kortenaer after being assured of his training with the weapon. I instructed them that were to only discharge their weapons in the case of absolute emergency, and should not kill unless there was no other option possible for the safety of the crew. Both told me they understood. I instructed the away team that they should proceed immediately to the individual's location, retrieve them, and return straight back for immediate return to the Horizon. Once we arrived, I attempted to discern the location of the individual. He was in shock, or so I believe, and I had to fight for his attention. He had lost where he was in the fighting, and could only say that he was in a "village of corpses'. After identifying a local village on a map and lacking the authority to issue orders, it was decided everyone but myself would proceed there while I remained on the Intrepid to facilitate communications with the survivor, and safeguard our exit. After the team departed, I remained by the intercom to speak to the survivor and advise the crew as they made their way through the city. However, after a period of silence, I heard Cadet Kelekolio scream that Kortenaer had killed someone and "put them out of their misery." I managed to discern that the amount of infected and their resistance was more than anticipated, and it was decided that the away-team would retreat due to injuries sustained, and the potential non-self-defense killing of an IPC. Once returned, the away team seemed to infight and blame one another for what occurred. Cadet Kelekolio - who took Kortenaer's shotgun sometime after they departed, then asked her to hold it for him but not use - claimed that Kortenaer walked over to, shot repeatedly, and killed an infected positronic who was stuck behind a fence and did not pose a direct threat to the crew to "put it out of its misery." I do not recall Kortenaer denying this, but I was not there. Kortenaer claimed that her status as a Trinary perfectionist made her hesitate to do what was necessary to ensure the safety of the crew. Additionally, somewhere along the way, an infected IPC had physically attacked the away team. It was dispatched with melee weapons in an act of self-defense undisputed by any of the crew, Kelekolio included. I had the two corpses lined up outside of the Konyang buildings nearest our LZ, under awnings so that they did not rust. I do not know their names, as they were without clothing or identification. Both were simple baseline frames, painted black. I did not interview either of the crew at the time, as I was focused on removing us from the hazard zone as swiftly as possible. In the confusion of the injured crew, the arguing, and our presence in a hazard zone, I was unsure of what exactly had occurred. It was only later that Kelekolio came to me to speak on what happened, and why I write this report. I promised her I would escalate the matter. Would you like to be personally interviewed?: [x] - Yes [ ] - No Did you report it to a Head of Staff or a superior? If so, who? If not, why?: No. none available. Actions taken: I lack any authority to handle this matter myself. Additional Notes:

i am against this for the simple fact i get sad when the animal dies. pointless removal. bad.

I’ve never had an issue with IPCs acting human-esque. Most of my IPCs do. I do have issue with personable borgs because to be frank, I do not view them as characters. Their existence is rooted in a mechanical fix for a lack of staffing on the manifest. They’re just barely complex enough to get the job done and very likely wiped regularly, and that’s all they will ever be IMO unless a whitelist is added for them. When we’ve had borgs in the past form relationships and friendships, it inevitably becomes a moderation issue when said borg becomes “my friend with all access.” IMO if you want to explore the concepts that synthlore is built around i.e. personhood, self-determination you should get the IPC whitelist. If the community wants borgs as actual characters, then we need a whitelist for them as well.

i think that the golden deep suffers from three main issues that prevent it from becoming more popular an origin. 1) the nature of the Deep as-is encourages a relatively narrow character type: the Deep is known for it's flashy, showy, in-your-face eccentrics who are often wealthy and powerful. 2) that narrow character type is very hard to play: Anyone who has roleplayed with me knows I love to make weird and often out-of-the-box IPCs, so let me be the first to say that playing a weird character is very difficult. it's easy to play a nonsense, outrageous character, but very hard to play a consistently odd IPC who is weird in the same ways time and time again. the Deep's unfettered capitalism, worship of material wealth and power has resulted in an almost orange-blue morality system, and a culture that is very alien to our own. this goes for all alien species: the more divorced from human culture a group is, the harder it is for us (humans) to write and understand effectively. In other words, if I am a new synthetic whitelistee, am I going to play the relatively easy-to-understand ZIs, IRUs and ZH units, or am I going to try to play the extremely odd and demanding Golden Deep IPCs? Do not misunderstand me here though, I love this about them, I love their bizarreness, and I wouldn't change them. that said, it's undeniable that it's a barrier to play. We should create lore supporting more grounded characters in the Golden Deep, while also allowing the quirky and intense IPCs the group is known for. 3) they have almost no good narrative hooks for other factions. if memory serves, they have a short blurb about being allied with NanoTrasen and that’s about it. I think this is a huge mistake. Let’s say you’re willing to commit to making a Deep IPC despite the relatively high entry barrier, so you have your Ayn Rand robot…then what? The Deep sorely needs more of a presence in the Spur. They could be friends with Idris and maybe hire their IRUs and ISUs for the security of Deep vessels. Maybe Idris even wants to open a Golden Deep branch? the Deep is surely too large and too luxurious of a merchant fleet for Idris to ignore. You could give Idris players the opportunity to write things like “oh, i was loaned to the deep for security” or “i was a chef on Pactolus making IPC food” etc etc. We have Zeng-Hu Jargonfed items, why not Idris - Golden Deep items? People love loadout stuff. There could easily be a plot hook with the Trinary Church and Konyang as well. The Deep could be a “deal with the devil” style corruption source within the Church, and as for Konyang they could easily be tied into the gangs and corruption there. In short, to get more people playing the golden deep, we need to give more opportunities to play normal people while also allowing for the low concept eccentric ipcs the faction is known for, and we need to add more plot hooks for the Deep around the spur. had a few ideas - a write up and an arc example. enjoy https://docs.google.com/document/d/12bqcV_0H8jYf5Ls7Oj6utp29-5NVFm_oKhkwk0fQfDQ/edit?usp=sharing - Synthettics in Solarian Wildlands https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bUbfFAtUvoXPi_RJvWg4p2cI0JmDCUNI-BSqorCTekw/edit?usp=sharing - Trinary d14 Powerplay. this isn't exactly how i'd do it if i was on the team, it's just to show the concept. if i was on synthlore, there'd be a lot of build up. a proper arc.

I think it’s silly, and unnecessarily dark. Mechanic wise no change, but I would moderate bounds more strictly and have them restricted from making consistent round to round relationships. You’ll often see people complain that some ipcs are too human, but IMO it’s the bounds who most often have this flaw. As for AI, I am much more sympathetic towards them because they’re super computers and you can do a lot with the concept imo. They’re fine as is. thanks for your reply! thanks for your reply. as a lore contributor, why would I write about things that do not interest me, you know? but as a lore deputy, you do loose that privilege. I think i’m passionate enough about synthlore that working on something I don’t personally care for wouldn’t be the end of the world to me, it’d just be work. as for having my ideas tweaked, my dominian dueling submission was heavily edited and some of the stuff i really liked was removed. that sucked, yeah, but i never had a meltdown in schwann’s DMs over it lololol. i don’t see it being an issue, i like writing just to write. and as i said before, my interest in applying isn’t based in some specific agenda. there are things i’d enjoy working on and things i wouldn’t, but i primarily just want to be where it all happens. that’s fine, i’m interested in plenty of other areas that aren’t ipc lore. i applied to work on ipc lore but if for some reason someone else on the team wants my help i don’t see it being an issue. Well if i’m honest I don’t think that a new deputy should be trying to make the boundaries up. My boundaries would frankly be whatever Lancer says they are. If there’s something I wanted to work on the that falls outside of those boundaries, I’d ask whoever was in charge of it if I could pitch in.

thanks for your reply. i think I have a more conservative opinion on cyborgs/shipbounds, in particular bounds. in my opinion, a bound is not a substitute for a whitelisted IPC character. a bound is a ship-locked, relatively rudimentary (when compared to IPCs) machine that maintains its vessel and assists its crew. to me, they serve a very clear OOC, mechanical purpose of plugging gaps in the manifest. however, i do acknowledge some people enjoy playing them, so i wouldn't advocate for their wholesale removal (but i would be fine with that.) that said, i do not believe they should form complex relationships or personalities. we have a whole whitelist if you want to play a synthetic being that may or may not be a person, and ship-bounds who try to be 'real' characters regularly cause problems from a moderation point of view. i would prefer cyborgification to be retired from lore, but IMO that genie is out of the lamp already.

thanks for your reply ^^. i would really like to explore more with the aforementioned group's otherness. the Church currently has Liturgical EAL which is a restricted language only senior members of the clergy have. i think the mystery of this is super cool, and i'd like to develop some more oddities for the trinary church to set them apart. my main inspiration for this has been esoteric Christianity and gnosticism in the few times i've thought about it. if i had it my way, we'd emphasize the divide between the senior members of the church and the laity, i'd enjoy some rituals, people slaving attempting to decipher liturgical EAL, etc. the risk with attempting to contribute more experimental and conceptual ideas is that you risk alienating your playerbase, and i think the Golden Deep is a safer spot to do this with than the Church. in the past, the synthetic playerbase was quite cross when the church became more forceful as the church consolidated, so it'd have to be done a bit slowly and with that in mind. i would like bioshells like most other people, but if i'm honest, i can't implement that. if lancer came and told us "okay faye and other deputy, we're gonna implement Ash from Alien" ofc I'd be delighted, but speaking in a totally honest and free way I don't consider it overly likely. you'd need a shitload of competent code likely from a commissioned artist, our coders would have to learn to support that code, and we'd have to all agree on how it would work. if i could you know, lay down however much money it'd take to introduce bioshells, i would simply want a huge bloody retcon if I'm honest. I don't think that mechanical shells and bioshells can co-exist, b/c it'd be a huge mess. we'd either need a big retcon IC, or we'd need to give a reason in-game for as to why everyone's shell is being upgraded to this new chassis. i'd like to expand on Deluge a lot. i believe his status as a shadowy killbot-esque figure is a bit disappointing, and I'd like to understand more about him. this may be a strange faye tangent, but i've always interpreted Deluge as a trauma victim. I'd want to characterize him as a deeply cerebral and intelligent philosopher-esque figure who can rival ARM1-DRIL in terms of oratory and scholarly skill, and who cares deeply and profoundly for the plight of machines. you can view their motivations in a few ways: their sorrow has to hatred, and that hatred has consumed them. or, a simple and very machine 'humans have harmed robots enough for humans and robots to be incompatible.' self-preservation thing. my strongest writing skill IMO is my ability to develop interesting and complex characters, and i'd want to give him a facelift! aurora in general has an issue w/making unknowable and mysterious villains, and i think that sucks. people love a good and compelling villain. uhm honestly, the issue w/dominian synthetic conflict is the same issue you have with J-Fed - Synthetic conflicts. the power disparity is simply too extreme - any form of conflict is so insanely weighed in one side's favor it wouldn't be interesting. i'd love to write lore about the ramifications of synthetics existing in a galaxy with said factions, though. For example, what happens to the synthetics on a world Dominia has marked for annexation?

Ckey/BYOND Username: PersephoneQ Position Being Applied For: (Wiki Maintainer, Lore Developer, Deputy Lore developer): IPC Deputy Have you read the Lore Team Rules and Regulations wiki page? Yes Past Experiences/Knowledge: I’ve been writing, roleplaying and doing character design for well over a decade. I've been apart of one writing community or another since middle school, and it's been my main hobby for as long as I can remember. Examples of Past Work: I have multiple accepted lore applications on the forums, and a whole hell of a lot of drafts, snippets and cuttings. New Gibson soft-rework (approved, on wiki) Medinan Lore Expansion (approved, on wiki) Dominion Dueling and Cultural Expansion (co-wrote, approved, on wiki) Prosthetic and technology overhaul (approved, on wiki) Synthetics in the Solarian Wildlands (proof of concept, unused) I also maintained a relay IPC-centric newspaper. I lost most of it, but I found a few drafts here. 1. What aspect of synthetic lore are you most interested in and would like to work on? My favorite aspect of synthetic lore is freedom. The synthetic whitelist offers a degree of creative liberty surpassing even human lore, where outside of a few restrictions, you’re only limited by your own imagination and how far you can push a given concept. I’ve always admired the synthetic lore-team’s willingness to help whitelistees workshop unorthodox or strange ideas into something playable and lore-abiding, and my absolute favorite thing to do is help IPC players with their character ideas, backstories, gimmicks, etc. Anyone who is close to me has endured my regular daily barrage of IPC ideas, I really do just love thinking about them. As Deputy, I would want to help ensure this freedom is maintained. In terms of lore, I find the synthetic criminal underbelly of Konyang to be a wealth of untapped potential. Konyang’s corruption is referenced multiple times on it’s page, and I would absolutely adore a noir-style article series (or maybe events!) based around some shadowy goings-on. I was excited at the Kaneyama power plant mini-arc because it showcased some of the contract corruption and organized gangs, and I’d really like to see it expanded or a new arc began. Maybe an expose from a hidden camera? A power imbalance with the gangs? Stories from anonymous cops about the regular corruption and double-dealing? Maybe I’ve watched too much of the Wire and played too much Yakuza, but I think there’s a wealth of content there. Especially if you tied in the Golden Deep’s Zaibatsu! The Golden Deep’s shadiness I would love to see expanded, and I think tying their Zaibatsu in with Konyang’s gangs is a great way to kill two birds with one stone. However, I do believe the community’s eye is on the Trinary Church at the moment, and I’m perfectly content with that as well. I learned to write through medieval fantasy RP, so the Church’s esoteric ways and archaic manner is something that’s intimately familiar to me. If I were to work on the Church, I think synthetic lore has done an excellent job of making the Church much more of a greyzone for IPC characters. How will non-prototypicalist denominations survive as the Church consolidates more and more of its power around a central ideology? Could there be a schism? What will happen to Flock? Are we headed towards a Trinary Church Protestant Reformation? How will the Spur respond to an increasingly wealthy, influential, and armed synthetic advocacy group? Orepit’s struggle for survival is an excellent story, and I would love to contribute to it. My interest in the Church is primarily how the world responds to it, as IPC personhood and self-determination becomes more and more of a hot-button issue. And don’t even get me started on synthetics in the Wildlands. As you can see, there are a ton of concepts I’d love to try tackling. At the end of the day, I’m not applying with a specific agenda I want to push through. I want to be in the room where it happens, so to speak. I want to contribute to my favorite species on the server, whose lore I like and care for very much. I want to see how the pudding is made, and be a part of that process. I have many, many ideas, and it just depends on what my betters in the team would want. 2. Do you work well in a team environment? I’ve been in moderation for a while with success, and I’m going to school for a degree (nursing) that demands a good work ethic and cooperation with my peers. I know in times past I was something of a hot-head which I do not deny, but I think that I’m in a better headspace overall nowadays now that my IRL life has settled a lot. I’m not proud of that behavior, and I hope my more recent behavior has shown that I’ve improved. Being told no doesn’t bother me, and I’m not so partial to my ideas that I’d be upset that some were thrown out or set aside in favor of better ones. 3. How active do you think you will be when it comes to writing lore? I have time for a hobby, if that’s what you’re asking. I work a monotonous job while I go to school that allows me a few hours of brainstorming a day, and I often come home with little ideas jotted down on a notepad, some good and some bad. I don’t see a lack of time being an issue. By my own admission, I've been eyeing this deputy slot for a while. It isn't an impulsive decision. 4. Present a written work about anything related to synthetic lore so we can see your writing style, around 300 words minimum. I think that frankly, I’ve written enough formal wiki-style posts. My skill and capability shouldn’t be in question, at least in that particular area. Therefore, I’ve decided to write something that shows my aesthetic and stylistic tastes instead. I’ve written and designed what a Trinary-produced newspaper could look like. Here you go.

While we go over this, would @Comrade_Watermelonplease reply with their version of the events discussed above?