rrrrrr

Reporting Personnel: Maya B.J Huang Gretzsky Job Title of Reporting Personnel: Engineer Game ID: N/A Personnel Involved: Orion Express, presumed manufacturer of "FrontierVend" vending machines - Offender All Solarian nationals working aboard the SCCV Horizon - Victim Time of Incident: Real Time: Location of Incident: Various; wherever "FrontierVend" vending machines are Nature of Incident: [ ] - Workplace Hazard [ ] - Accident/Injury [ ] - Destruction of Property [ ] - Neglect of Duty [X] - Harassment [ ] - Assault [X] - Misconduct [ ] - Other _____ (Place an x in the box that applies. If other, replace line and specify.) Overview of the Incident: "FrontierVend" vending machines have slogans that express anti-Solarian sentiment and attempt to incite violence against Solarian nationals. Submitted Evidence: None submitted, but easily obtained. 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; outside of their purview Actions taken: None Additional Notes:

I'm hype for NBT2, but this is sort of a question and maybe suggestion: will medicine names be changed? Many of them are, presently, Star Trek references. A lot of them are incredibly common. Here's a full list!

I have interacted with Veeq's Chief Medical Officer a number of times, as someone who plays characters prone to malingering and getting horribly maimed. They're playing a great character and seem to have what some call "the sauce" --- it truly feels as though I'm talking to a doctor! +1

Would I need to talk to anyone in specific before making a PR to add this as a loadout item?

Drab, unadorned bulkhead got you feeling down? Wish there was more on the wall to stare at than air alarms, light fixtures, and your Dominian co-worker's portraiture of a questionably real deity? Well, buddy, have I got something for you! You know what's a staple of corporate offices everywhere? Calendars. Miranda really spared every expense shipping these to the Horizon. They're cheap! They're flimsy! You have a PDA, anyways! But hey. They're there. I don't really know how to code at all but here are some sprites in case someone reading this does. To briefly explain my Vision™ in how these would "work," the complexity of which I am uncertain... looking at them tells you the current in-game month, day, and year. It will also, hopefully, tell you if there are any holidays occurring, whether that be Christmas, Hanukkah, Republic Day, or really, any of the holidays that I swear the game tells you about at round start. Wow! The tiny, like 10x5 pixel "art" on them is a placeholder and should be replaced, eventually, because it's just resized stock images. Kind of lazy, I know. I don't really know how to code, so I'm just dropping these here if any coder is interested in further cluttering the Horizon's walls. Here's the .dmi: calendar.dmi

BYOND Key: Timby Discord Username: I don't feel comfortable sharing that on a public forum. Character Name: Maya Gretzsky Item Name: Boilersuit Item Function(s): It's clothing. Item Description: A baggy boilersuit issued as a uniform by one of Zavodskoi Interstellar's many subsidiary companies, Ingkom. INGKOM is printed on the left sleeve in blocky grey letters. Why is your character bringing this item to work? Nudity is prohibited. How did your character obtain this item? It was provided by the subsidiary company they work for. What value does this item have to your character, and what story does it tell? No sentimental value whatsoever. It identifies the character as an employee of a Zavodskoi subsidiary. Sprites: I've attached the .dmi below along with an image. I hope you like looking at it. boilersuit.dmi Additional Comments: This could probably be a loadout item in the faction section but I felt moderately uncomfortable just doing that. It seemed self-serving. It also has two states, "normal sleeves" and "rolled up sleeves." It does not have a rolled-down variant because I have continuously forgotten you can do that since the feature was first "rolled" (haha) out in ~2012. Woopsy.

The case I'd make for these is that they're fairly compact (9x9 pixels, making them, I think, much smaller than certain signs, which are much larger) but yeah --- the semiotic standard stuff I based them on is both a) abstract and b) in some cases, does not translate well or at all. The case I'd make for them is that they look cool and futuristic and also visually English signage in a universe where English is ostensibly no longer a widely spoken language makes my head hurt.

Got bored and whipped up some compact, Ron Cobb-inspired signage that could possibly be used. Is this good? Is this bad? I don't know, I haven't sprited in a long time and this was my way of forcing myself to open up Asesprite and doing something. You be the judge, I guess. Here's the key.

Hi! Engagement bait-y title aside, I think that "ambrosia" --- the in-universe, weed-but-not-actually-weed plant, should be deprecated in favor of just calling it what it is. It's weed. It's marijuana. Presumably, in the year 2467, weed is legal. A sci-fi drug is not, in this case, necessary! "Plant you smoke to relax" already exists on Earth. This is pretty brief. I will also promise, if this suggestion is approved, to do the legwork necessary to make weed real in Aurora via the requisite PR replacing ambrosia with weed... and also, I guess, spriting a classical looking "leaf o' weed," the kind you see depicted but never actually see in real life... y'know, like this.

Haha. Woops. Should be fixed.

BYOND Ckey: Timby How long in the community: Roughly 10 years (since late 2014 or early 2015) 1. Why are you applying for the position of human lore deputy writer? Why do you think that you would be good in the position? I like Aurora and I like writing. I have a particular fondness for Aurora’s human lore. I think I’d be a good fit because I’m a fairly competent writer with some background in writing SF. 2. What is your favourite part of Human Lore and why? If you submitted something for canonisation that was indeed canonised you may not select that as the answer to this question. Broadly, the diversity and depth of it all, especially any and all writing on the political inner workings and systems of all of the major human factions, i.e, Sol, Biesel, COC, Elyra. More specifically, I greatly enjoyed the recent “election arcs” for both Biesel and Sol and found that both of them got a fair number of players talking about and debating politics. More specifically, Valkyrie. Valkyrie is the right kind of in-game location and it just really tickles this part of my brain that likes to make up characters who, I, uh [tugs collar] proceed to not play for more than a round. I just think it’s neat! 3. What do you believe are ways that the Human Lore Team could best implement the phoron scarcity to our various factions and locations throughout the setting that would reflect the gravity of the in-character situation without grossly compromising the out-of-character things that make each faction and location unique and compelling? Given that phoron is fairly integral to the setting, every single faction is going to be hit. It’s sort of just a question of how hard! On the extreme end of things, you have Biesel and Elyra, with Biesel’s phoron scarcity write-up being absolutely wonderful and managing to paint a nice grim picture of where things are headed. Specifically, I think a vibe of ‘economic depression’ needs to be imbued into the writing, going forward. Everybody’s suffering, it’s just a question of how much. 4. What do you believe are the current strengths and weaknesses of human lore? Why? What would you do to improve upon the weaknesses? Please do not mention offworlders in your answer to this question. We know that they are a weak spot and that they require action and would prefer to hear perspectives that do not highlight this area of human lore. I think that human lore’s biggest strength is its overall breadth. It allows for an incredible diversity of backgrounds to pick and choose from, both culturally and tonally; overall, I would say that, in regards to planets, backgrounds, et al., it all coheres together into a very interesting whole. Currently, I think Elyra is a little behind, writing-wise, and probably needs a little TLC. It also isn’t currently up-to-date with the Phoron Scarcity bizness; I don’t know if anything for it is in the works, right now, though. 5. What are three projects (medium-to-large size additions, arcs, or reworks) that you would like to complete during your tenure as a Human Lore Deputy writer? Please do not mention new locations or factions in this answer. I think that the whole ‘uncharted space’ business in the Crescent Expanse sector (and elsewhere, like Light’s Edge) is a fertile place for future arcs that can manage to be high-stakes while also not being spur-defining historical events. A lot of my ‘arc-based’ ideas sort of hinge on that and I’ll illustrate one in #6. Some non-arc ideas are as follows… 1. One thing I’d like to do is write something going over what would be considered ‘common knowledge’ in each human faction; I’m also interested in adding more depth to the setting’s lore on ‘education,’ going over advancements in pedagogy, and what exact fields of study could lead to you being hired as an [insert job here] on the SCCV Horizon. 2. I’m not sure if this counts as a ‘rework,’ but getting a touch more granular planet-to-planet on what the living conditions are like, to what degree they experience wealth inequality (Silversun is a great working example of a human background that is very detailed on that!), any miscellaneous cultural touchstones stemming from what specific Earth culture settled a specific planet, so on and so forth. 3. A detailed overview of medical advancements that humanity has made by 2467. I would specifically like to focus on figuring out what the average lifespan is in the 25th century, something that would likely vary heavily based on class, faction, and specific system. For example: someone from Luna probably lives longer, on average, than someone from a podunk Coalition planet on the edge of settled space. 4. a fake democracy rating for every human planet by the Freedom from Tau Ceti Foundation 6. What is an idea for a future arc that you would like to have a part in writing and organising in the future? If you provided an arc(s) as part of your answer for question 3, you may expand on the ideas for that arc(s) here, or you may provide another idea. I am still overly fond of the arc idea I had last time I applied for this role, so, er, hopefully it’s okay if I just restate it… ha-ha… [starts sweating nervously] To summarize said idea: while in transit towards the frontier, the Horizon is waylaid by a small fleet patrolling the space around a Coalition-aligned planet whose government is undemocratic and overall suspicious of the SCC. From there, things would develop: if allowed, the ship would be boarded and searched up-and-down by some fairly unfriendly people (customs officials and space cops.) Command staff would have to answer such exciting questions as ‘where are you going’ and ‘why are you here.’ This could develop further, with command having to shuttle down to negotiate their passage through the system with a handful of bureaucrats. Maybe they’ll meet (and even, gasp, get their picture taken with?) the generalissimo in charge of this backwater planet…? In the meantime, the crew could enjoy an amazing ‘shore leave’ on a planet that has no tourist attractions! For a while, the Horizon would hang out in orbit of the planet, hosting a small contingent of bureaucrats and space cops. The service department, presumably, would have to roll out the red carpet for them. Meanwhile, political prisoners escaping from the planet’s moon-prison hijack a shuttle and book it over to the Horizon, since it might be their only real ticket out of here! Are ‘morals and ethics’ worth causing a small incident over? Who knows! Basically, some Star Trek style hijinks spread out over a few events. Fun-fun-fun. 7. Have you ever been subject to any warnings, strikes, or bans from the Aurora moderation team? If so, how long ago were you and for what actions did you receive moderation action for? Answers for this question should include actions taken on the game server, discord servers, and forums. Yes, multiple, including a permanent ban at one point. Several years ago, my overall conduct on this server (both as a community member and, briefly when I was around thirteen or fourteen years old, as a writer for synthetic lore) was poor. While I can provide an explanation for my poor behavior and highly questionable, inappropriate writing, this doesn’t really excuse any of it. A lot of this happened or is coming up on taking place a decade ago, but, regardless, I am deeply embarrassed by it and have tried to apologize to people I treated badly. It wasn’t right. 8. OPTIONAL: Do you have any miscellaneous comments or remarks for the Human Lore Team or the community? I tried to keep it short and sweet.

I think my tone is just landing badly; I have zero intention of being facetious with you, considering that I respect you, your opinion and also enjoy playing this game with you. It probably reflects poorly on me that my responses make you want to stop posting and I apologize for that. I think we may have seen different things because while I fully believe that what you're describing is real, I don't think I've seen it to the extent that you have. My experience as of this year is that people are generally communicative and sort themselves into solving problems based on what's necessary; for example, during a recent round, there was a firefight in starboard-side maintenance on deck two. How this was handled by a mostly-full department involved staging, preparing materials, using the new cart to move sheet metal, and working with Security to fix what we could while negotiations were ongoing. The roleplay in the lead-up to this was fun and the roleplay that occurred during the aftermath was also fun. It was an ideal situation --- but those don't always happen. I agree that there's something of an issue with over-preparedness and people full-tilt sprinting to fix, say, a broken APC, but many of the situations that Engineering as a department deals with are emergencies and sort of require acting quickly. I am also actively planning on adding more content to Engineering to the best of my ability and will be taking time this weekend to do so. I am mostly hampered by a lack of experience with DM and Git but working to understand things better. Engineering, in general, has received a lot of TLC lately from specific developers (Batra, Fabian, both of whom have great stuff in the works, from what I understand!)

Just got back from the doctor's office. Wow, this thread sort of blew up. I think that my post about the actual department size (11) is relevant. I also think that a lot of the discussion going on and seemingly driving this PR is culture-based. I'm going to try and piece-meal give my two-cents on this whole thing, so forgive me if this reply is sort of scattered. First of all, thank you for your reply. I think that this PR is a little premature, personally. I had a thread up about a year ago with a few ideas on how to get more gameplay into engineering and while I'm fairly busy at the moment, life-wise, I'm trying to make some steps into getting those ideas into the game this weekend; Engineering as a department thrives when it has a lot of work to do but, sadly, given the way the game is, a lot of that work comes from non-canon antagonist rounds. Filling this out by adding more random events and making repairs less trivial to do would be a huge first-step. I agree that Engineering suffers from a lack of specialization. This is why I support the return of alt-titles to, specifically, Engineering. While I overall sympathize with what you're saying, having played Engineering very consistently for two years now, essentially exclusively, I don't know if I fully agree that Engineering has a "pervasive and oppressive cultural issue." I agree that there are mild problems present --- for instance, I've had two rounds in the past six months on highpop where there was simply no steel or plasteel present in the equipment room. Other people took it all! I had to ask them for some! What Engineering is currently suffering from is "popularity." There's a lot of vibes-based arguments going on, here, so I'm going to similarly argue based on vibe. Not so long ago, Engineering was not so vibrant and full of warm bodies. Oft would I join a round and there would only be one or two other engineers. Glorious were the few times one, let alone two, atmospheric technicians would be present. This is not the case anymore. Over the past two months or so, I've missed out playing on high-pop rounds because the department was full twice. There are a lot of apprentice characters and, I think, two characters who consistently play tech assistant. I really do not think that reducing the number of slots will solve anything. As a solo engineer, you can get everything on the ship up and running in around thirteen to fifteen minutes. The solution is not to reduce the number of engineer slots (which, I think, would negatively impact roleplay) but to make engineering harder and to give the department more to do.

Comparing and contrasting other departments to Engineering, excluding Head roles, the numbers currently stand at this --- Engineering - 11 (if PR goes through, 7) Medical - 11 Security - 9 (!!! no wonder slots are so coveted...) Science - 10 Operations - 9 As you can see, Engineering is currently on-par with Medical (although Medical's eleven roles all exist in fairly distinct niches, i.e, 2 Physicians, 2 Surgeons, 2 Paramedics, 2 Pharmacists, 1 Psych, 2 Trainer roles.) Overall, I don't think this part of your reply is true. Regarding the cultural issues you mention, I think this has been discussed in the past and I agree that it's "real." I don't personally think the solution involves reducing the number of slots available.

Made a thread for this PR: https://github.com/Aurorastation/Aurora.3/pull/21376 ... because I think it's a fairly major change and should potentially be discussed before being merged. I personally disagree with this and commented on the PR to that effect, but that doesn't matter. I am one person.