Desven

Hi, thanks for applying. I'll ask you some questions. I like that you're using some of the new lore, which isn't even a week old at this moment. Also that you're applying as K'lax, since that's probably the most negelcted Hive. With that in mind: 1. A theme laid down around various bits of the Vaurca wiki, most noteably the Sedantis page, is that Vaurcae are embarrassed of even conceiving the study of the pre Era of Augments. I wrote Doss with that in mind, so I'm wondering, how does Silith feel about the primitive Vaurcae? 2. If I recall correctly you told me your bug is around ten years old, which means that it actually was alive before they reached Uouea-Essa. What does Silith think about Unathi, and Tret? 3. K'lax is in a funny position when it comes to dealing with other Hives. They're stranged of Zo'ra and have a turbulent relationship with C'thur. What are Silith's personal thoughts on these, and how would it interact with other Vaurcae on station? 4. Finally, does Silith follow any faith? Vaurca society is very lax when it comes to enforcing religion, but atheists are mostly an odd concept. If they do follow a faith, how does it affect their life, if any? Good luck.

will aurora ever recover? 😰😔🤔😪

The more I think about it, the more it bothers me how barebones the medical area of the shuttle is. It's really cramped, and I find it hard to believe that they would rather equip a proper kitchen with machinery than maybe even a bed that won't move around. I think some design elements from the current transfer shuttle and research shuttle could be learned for the medical bit. Maybe even change it next to the cockpit and have it have actual walls instead of just glass. As for the shuttle windows, all the current shuttles have some connecting textures to smooth the corners. I think the same could be applied here. And the cockpit windows should really connect to teach other, instead of looking like individual squares. Regarding the bar, I've already addressed it. Not only I think the sign is way off, I think both the kitchen area and the bar area themselves need to be redesigned, and put in consideration just how much interaction you're cutting off from the people playing those jobs if the rooms are set in this way.

The bar sign should probably be relocated. It makes the hallway look too asymmetrical imo.

The problem is persistence, not to mention those could fall under cosmetic surgeries NT wouldn't really cover you doing while in shift. I don't think it fits HRP, honestly.

My issue with the deck 3 is the full window behind the cafe. I think that room could do without it and just space between the fridge and the table.

Twenty minutes is not that much, and you can already load a different character after you respawn. I don't see the issue with that.

Zapslat sounds will no longer be used in the future and the current hiss sounds are to be removed because of the same issues with incompatible licenses.

In my opinion, you can't really say they're not very useful if you don't know about them. There's been recent buffs to the meds an antag can buy, and those belts come loaded with it. There's also been a change in pain tresholds, bleeding, etc. If you're really having a problem with this, as others have said, I recommend you make an intern character and just learn the ropes.

I agree and would go as far as to remove those from xenobiology (imo that job needs a revamp to make it more interesting and lore accurate). They're just a magic thing that don't really make sense. I think mayyybe keeping them with the techno (if it can spawn them) is fine, but otherwise they're just odd creatures that while curious at times (the cardbox one and the flesh one are peculiar, I agree) are usually more than not obnoxious.

With genetics done, there's little you can do in terms of what Zeng Hu can offer. Most of the augments fulfill that and give the company a face. Perhaps the only one that would need a lift up in terms of low players would be Hephaestus. Basically all of security is either Zavod or EPMC anyways, and Idris is always a popular choice. As many said it before on the other thread, there's no need to give the augments to everybody, just as there's no need for every company to have augments themselves. It just doesn't fit them.

I agree it's a bit too quick how it works, but at the end of the day it's still a game and there would really need to be a huge new sense of medical treatment from med players. It's already annoying, as it is, that you're basically left for dead as Vaurca because the sheer amount of doctors that just expect you to self heal on your own.

Sorry for not updating here on the forums. For the most part, we worked the sprites on Discord. Anyways, here are some versions of it: This is how it would ideally look if connected. We have the textures in game to do so, but it seems a bug might cause it to not connect. I have no idea, really. It's weird: Here's a different sprite I used. I think it looks better. The problem, as it stands, is that it's too flat. I dropped it for a while, but I had a newer idea. I resprited the shuttle windows to match the station wall colors. Here are the sprites: I'm not good at replacing sprites, even less so for connecting textures. There would still be a lot left to be tweaked. Namely, all the different possible angles and perhaps a redesign of the window metallic borders so they match the station walls better. If somebody is up for the task of testing these textures, I'll leave the dmi here. windows2.dmi

So yesterday while playing a round I just kept thinking about how much the security lobby would benefit from a light here, since it's a really grim room. I convinced an engineer to install it. Here's how different the room looks. However, as a friend suggested, it would be better to have the lights line up in a way. Like this? If anybody could map this small change, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

Update: Added some hand sprites and tweaked the mob back sprite a bit. alqaana.dmi

BYOND Key: Desven Discord Username: desven#3538 Character name: Ka'Akaix'Pax C'thur Item Name: Alqaana backpack Item Function(s): Exactly like any other backpack in game does. Item Description: Known for her extravagant concerts, Alqaana is one of few idols that have draw inspiration from Solarian classical music over more contemporary skrellian genres. This is her, in bag form! (credit to @Caelphon) Why is your character bringing this item to work?: Pax is known for its devotion to pop culture, especially Skrell media. A backpack is handy and almost everyone carries one on work, so it decided to give it a little of spice and bring its Alqaana one. How did your character obtain this item?: Likely bought it from her overpriced webpage (this doesn't really mean it's that expensive, just that it costed more than an average backpack despite its cheap materials). What value does this item have to your character, and what story does it tell?: Probably holds it very dearly. Again, it's akin to Pax's personality, and also to Skrell lore. I really like the idea of Skrell having idols and whatnot. Alqaana is completely headcanon, but I picture her as something akin to a K-pop star/gamergirl streamer. I'll probably keep coming up with Alqaana stuff and facts because Pax really talks a lot about the idols it admires and one can only say Axic so many times without losing their mind. Sprites: Additional comments: Thank you @DronzTheWolf for helping me recolor the sprites, @Caelphon for the descriptions, @MccRrib for hearing the idea and @Butterrobber202, @Lmwevil and @goolie for feedback and sprite talks. Also Gemspark for helping me make an alternative version with other another colored dress. alqaana.dmi

This PR might interest you.

Yes, this looks much better made and I like it. The tall one is a bit weird, but the small one looks really good.

1. I think avowals could be made more fun and I like how some Captains (myself included) have actually made Vaurcae prove themselves worthy before signing it. Of course, this is up to the player, but a section of how the avowals work would be really nice on the wiki, with ideas of how to play them out- especially for non-Vaurcae players. For us that play bugs, it's somewhat of a (sometimes tedious, sometimes fun) struggle to play it. For those not familiar with Vaurcae and that ignore CentComm spam, they have little idea that there's this paper and don't really understand what goes on. That would probably be a coordinated effort with CCIA, however. 2. We talked about this last night, and basically, I'm not a huge fan and I would like to see some ethical and philosophical concerns brought on the wiki. Well, first of all- actually add this on the wiki. I'll get to that point later, but on a second point, have humans and Skrell, mainly, question how this actually works, or if it works at all. I play a cloned Captain, he suffers from disassociation and other fun stuff. I don't really get to bring it up when I play him because coordinating the station sometimes takes a big chunk of time, but it's there on the character concept. Likewise, I play a resleeved Za that, unlike my Captain, I think it has no question they're the same warrior from Sedantis. I think that would be the biggest difference, again, like how we spoke last night via Discord: the neural socket probably (and this is my personal take, I like it being ambiguous and would DEFINITELY leave it like that, because I would actually like to see more players come up with their own interpretations!) doesn't really transfer consciousness, but is more akin to copy it and make some kind of AI on the VR, and in the case of resleeving, inject somebody memories that they have no doubt are theirs. I'm totally for seeing this expanded, however and, in some ways, probably nerfed? I think it's a weak point, to be honest, that bugs get to cheat death so easily, and it's not in par with our current cloning lore and whatnot. I think this might even warrant its own article on the wiki, so that could probably happen too. 3. I don't think it makes much sense unless it happens on events or NBT. As of now, I see no reason for why players should play C'thur consular. At the end of the day, playing Zo'ra Ta is in part also to promote the TCFL and I really like that. 4. I like Jam's idea of cutting down Viax, and I think it makes sense lore wise too. Some underestimate just how expensive Viax are to keep alive, and that they're probably fancier and well-kept than their unbound counterparts. I would like, again, guides or tips on how to play both Bound and Unbound, and especially to remove the 'stupid bug' reputation the species has in general, even if I myself have been guilty of propagating it too. I like Sleepy's Viax, for example, that feels a bit more as a character than just a mindless drone. There are definitely Viax tiers on lore, such as those Viax that are just used as furniture to those used for war or other tasks. I think some Viax can have some sort of personality and do not oppose it. Ultimately, you also have to think what gets boring in game- being just a mindless drone isn't always fun, and can be easily abused to get fun on behalf of others for acting just dumb and clueless. 5. I take fiction writing very seriously, and it's something that requires a whole ritual for me. I think I'm great with coming up with ideas on the spot or prompts, but not so much if I actually just want to write a story instantaneously. I can, however, try to explain how it would be: if you mean a Vaurca that has been in VR for long, returning to real world their memories of real life would be quite fuzzy, and everything would look 'off' or uncanny for them, not to mention they would probably try to interact in real life as they do in VR, which would cause struggles. If you mean a Vaurca that's just out of VR after their formation and ready to join the workforce, I think this would probably be traumatic, but ultimately the switch would become somewhat blurry too- think of it as the moments humans acquire consciousness after being babies, we don't really remember that, but the thought sounds like a huge dread. I don't think it cripples them, however, but they would likely prefer the sheltered lives they had before leaving the VR for the first time, as it is within lore. If you're talking about a resleeved Vaurcae, I think it's similar to what I spoke of before. I don't think many bugs actually suffer from some sort of identity crisis after that, but their own take of the memories being shoved into the new body would probably cause some interesting views on what they 'experienced', or to some degree, this 'defectiveness' you spoke of- this is actually a really interesting point I really hope gets discussed more in the future. 6. There's just so many lore outside the Wiki! Not only it can make writing an app daunting, but it can also alienate some players that are already whitelisted but don't play the species as often. I think that the few of us that currently, actively, play Vaurcae take into consideration many things we've learned from participating on the Discord that returning players would have no idea of because it's not anywhere to be found. I really don't like this method of sharing lore and I would definitely like to see the Wiki expanded. Weakness: I criticize myself really harshly. Again, I take writing, and mostly fiction writing, pretty seriously and it's a whole ritual that can take a very long time. I hope this doesn't get troublesome, however, as I see writing lore for Aurora more akin to coming up with prompts and sharing a world with others. It has definitely been a HUGE problem when I write my novels, however. Strength: I truly believe writing is an art and I have a huge affinity for literature. I've been told my fiction pieces are really good and I have experience on the field, both studying and teaching.

There are just plenty of good things I can say about Pedantic, and I've been pushing them to make this application for long now. I really believe they'd do a great job, and would trust a medical bay ran by their characters.

Not so much a Cargo request, but maybe fix it so that xenobotanists can open the strange seeds crates? For some reason they're not available to.