Rabid Animal

Maybe I just hate change, I like the idea of the other corps getting more of a hand in things but I also feel like NT served as a kind of "neutral party." I know the goal is to force variation but I'd personally rather see NT remain a baseline for all departments and encourage players to branch out just by allowing other corps into more jobs or departments - which seems to be the case with the proposed changes. Hot take, I know. ALSO I'd love to see independent get more jobs since the whole thing seems to be based around contractors anyways.

+1 from me, enjoyable to play with. Good roleplay. Based.

I'd have to think on that real hard to formulate a good opinion, I think, but my kneejerk reaction is; 1. There are multiple antagonists so getting people to coordinate on a choice that effects the whole rest of the round might not be the best idea, particularly when it comes to TWO choices. I'd have god summon requirements be unrelated to domains, and have it so once one is summoned you can't summon another. 2. Having players railroaded into a domain, even if you get to pick it, begins to feel like a reskinned version of what we have 3. This sounds like an overly complex way of doing it BUT to be fair my ideas are way way worse in that regard. Hear me out; What if research was brought back? Make it so cultists have to discover their spells, but instead of learning the words - we instead focus on tasks more related to domains? The more tasks they do, the more 'loyalty' they'll get towards that domain. The types of spells you can get are directly tied to that loyalty, and if you start working with other domains you'll loose loyalty towards the others. You can either work towards a lot of low level spells from a lot of different domains or work towards high level spells in one domain. This is an extreme spitball, so apologies if it sounds pretty rough. Pros; Flexibility Cons; Perhaps too complex, possible power gaming combos I'm still super against connections to lore gods, I think players should be able to do that on their own if they'd like - and we can leave the gods nameless to facilitate that. Otherwise it feels like gatekeeping to me, which is big bad for an antagonist role. Let players come up with their own gimmicks, give them the tools to do so, don't railroad a gimmick by having those connections in place. I'd also like to see the game-mode remain very horror focused, to be honest. It's kind of what its built around, which is why in my original proposal for gods they were all very spooky themed in one way or another. I also think leaning towards outright holy or light themes would result in some really boring peace cults that might as well be an extension of the chaplain. (I say all this in contradiction to the gimmick railroading above but I think there's a middleground somewhere, and if it was to be truly open we'd just port deity lmao)

Which is the intention, I think it can be expanded upon to not necessarily have a 'god summon' end game as well - and wrap it all up in the domain system. I'd hesitate on making the domains specific to religions in the lore 'cause it makes it a bit hard for /anyone/ to jump into it, which is why deity is actually better for that sorta thing since the god is whatever you say it is. Having it be open ended is generally better for RP anyways. I leave Nar'sie in as is because she doesn't actually get summoned often anyways, and the proposed changes make her even harder to summon - she's a rarity and she's meant to be. Which makes it really novel when she does get summoned. Plus she's pretty iconic and I'd hate to see her properly removed. Yeah I actually have a handful of sprites already, I have a rough design document too - though I quoted a huge chunk of it already and I haven't put a whole lotta thought into it other than the gods, yet. This is a project I've wanted to pick up for a while but I wanted to have something really solid to work off of before suggesting anything so, kinda stagnated lmao. Its definitely not a small project.

The first step to anything is to discuss it, particularly with sweeping changes as mentioned. Discouraging discussion of ideas, no matter the size, just leads to stagnation, which I think everyone can agree is bad. THAT SAID; You're right. It doesn't come out of thin air. I'm a spriter, which is part of the equation, and I'd be willing to commission a coder (if one was willing) to actually work on something like this, because at the end of the day its a big enough thing that it wont get added unless someone is passionate enough about it to just do it, or if someone is being motivated to do it via other means. Of course. There's always the lazy mans solution to just port deity.

It's good to see some ideas for cult floating around, I agree with the idea that cult needs some love. It's one of my favorite game modes but its also very used up and has seen very little changes over the past 8 years. The lazy mans solution is to port deity from bay, (which actually covers quite a few of your suggestions here) but I think the two are different enough that that doesn't fix much other than "oo, new content," and essentially functions as an entirely different mode with similar themes. (that said I'd like to see it ported regardless) I had an idea (part of a WIP) for cult as well that focused a lot on something similar to what you've laid out as domains, though a bit more abstract. Destruction, Reality, Corruption; each with their own "end game" (see; deities) that have different requirements to get. I get why having an endgame can stunt rp, but I like to think of it as giving additional tools to players rather than railroading people towards specific paths. I think having certain paths not include summoning a deity but obtaining power or etc. is a fantastic idea but I'd like to see more detail. I mention this because I think it's super applicable to your domains idea and could be expanded upon to include themes I've missed or vice versa. See specifics in the spoiler below; RE: I think a fix for this could easily be to make the cult more obvious the more shenanigans they get up to. See; casting spells, having members, summoning gods, etc. We already have themes with the veil in place, so expand on that. Give ghosts more visibility (though I'd like to see their sprites changed so IC you're not seeing your co-workers ghost cause they're observing). Give the station a reddish tint. Make the cultists have red eyes. All stuff within that vein of thinking. ANYWAYS. Not meaning to derail too much, like the concept. Needs to be fleshed out a lot though.

Playing with Ryver is always a treat, his cats are fun to be around and he's great with his robot characters too. I'm sure he'd do a good job with Skrell. +1

Herp has some fun characters, I've mostly played with bob who is really solid. I'd love to see his take on a command character. +1

As Zukarrs life has entirely post contact, and even beyond that, mostly in space, his opinions on modernization are pretty positive. His younger years in the early days of the wasteland exposed him to a hodgepodge of jury-rigged tech, from a mixture of eras. The bigger city saw to expose him to more modern devices, though perhaps in a more conservative way. As he moved off planet and into space, particularly with the pirates, he was exposed to a lot of variety in terms of technology. The idea of life before the accessibility of tech as it stands is alien enough to him that it's not something that crosses his mind often. The Aut'akh strike him as fanatics, taking what he sees as normal and pushing it to an extreme. He's not a fan of their practices regarding augmentation, following the idea that prosthetics can damage the soul, but he is still fairly ignorant of their religion as a whole. He's not so prejudiced against them as to purposefully stir up problems with them, though, he just thinks they're wrong. Spirituality was never something that struck a strong chord with zukarr, but he grew up practicing Th'akh and the beliefs surrounding this religion are ingrained in his head. To him, it's all very common sense and so he treats it as such. He can come across as surprised when others don't understand or know of the practices or the importance of spirits, to the point of assuming they are dumb. This can rustle some feathers as one might expect. All in all, he mostly sticks to what the shamans tell him - not entirely interested in delving deeper himself. Any struggles he has surrounding this mostly come from profound ignorance of other cultures, and even other unathi faiths - in so far as mixing Sk'akh and Si'akh up with each other on a regular basis. This has resulted in more than a few tussles over his lifetime, but his lack of fighting expertise has put him under the boot more than once. Unfortunately he's also too stupid to learn most the time, and to him, Th'akh is the only correct faith.

Thanks for the heads up, went ahead and made an edit, switching to NT.

BYOND Key: 50_N00b Character Names: Yasin Deamurr, Clement Sormirr, F-R.A.N.K.Y, Bjorn Rolaerr Species you are applying to play: Unathi What color do you plan on making your first alien character: Red Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yes Why do you wish to play this specific race: I’ve had a character idea floating around in my head for a while, I went ahead and read the lore and while the idea has changed substantially since I first thought of it, as a result of a better understanding of the lore, I’m still excited to try and execute it. I also like that Unathi don’t feel like a rehash of anything particular from human history (at least in my opinion), so I’m excited to explore more of their lore and develop characters based on it. Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: Unathi are large lizard-like aliens, and as one might expect from that, they have reptilian-like qualities. Mechanically, they have a slow walking speed but are able to sprint quickly for a short amount of time. They’re cold blooded, so their idle body temperature is lower than the average human. They’re sensitive to cold, but resistant to heat. They have claws, causing bleeding when they attack – all things to keep in mind when playing. Most Unathi are refugees one way or another, as their race reels to recover from a nuclear war that occurred shortly after first contact was made with humanity. This was recent enough that there are a wide variety of perspectives in regards to this. Older Unathi will remember the times before contact was made, and may have entirely different perspectives than younger individuals where this is all they’ve ever known. Their society is heavily focused on honor, spiritualism, and clans – feeling somewhat antiquated on the galactic stage as a whole. Character Name: Zukzi Zukarr Please provide a short backstory for this character: Zukarr hatched shortly after the first bombs fell on Moghes, his entire childhood occuring during the contact war. As his clan occupied the more rural areas of Moghes, they found themselves pushed further and further from their homelands as the encroaching wastelands made life difficult. The first ~8 years of Zukarrs life were spent wandering deserts in a slow and grueling journey towards fertile lands untouched by the nuclear fallout. His lifestyle became mostly nomadic, traveling in a group with his clan and coming into contact with many villages and towns that had, or would be, meeting the same fate as theirs. As the war came to a close, the idea of approaching Skalamar became increasingly appealing to the clan's dwindling elders. They spent some time outside the city, waiting to be let in amongst the flood of refugees that now sought shelter within, living in ghetto camps until their time. While there, Si’akh preachers made their rounds – appealing to the tired individuals strewn about. While Zukarr and his clan didn’t buy into the wild doomsday claims, the interactions certainly fueled Zukzis thoughts, allowing him to come to his own conclusions about the evils that led up to the war, namely coming to dislike both the Izweski and the Coalition. Shortly after their entrance to Skalamar, Zukzi and much of his clan were met with severe overpopulation and pushed into the spacefaring life. Too proud to accept any of the contacts offered by the mega-corporations poaching for cheap hands, they found themselves seeking refuge on sinta operated colonies and took a shuttle to Ha’zana where they integrated themselves into the colony. After the formation of the Grim Compact, Zukkar took an interest in joining. He approached the Steel-Spirits, inspired by their forward tactics, wanting to become a warrior amongst their ranks. Very quickly, though, it became apparent he wasn’t great at fighting (or, frankly, much else). While the thought that he’d approached the wrong crew did cross his mind, he was too stubborn to admit defeat and continued with the Steel-Spirits. Zukarr would be assigned to more menial tasks when he wasn’t needed, and took on many responsibilities of the chore wheel on his particular vessel. At first he found it demeaning to do tasks normally delegated towards women, and worked hard to try and elevate himself off what he deemed as the floor, but he wasn’t strong nor intelligent, so there he stayed. As he became more familiar with the culture of the pirates, he’d become less offended by his work. Their Dread-Lord was a woman, and this did a lot to weaken gender roles in his mind. Eventually he’d find himself in the galley, preparing the day's meal for the rest of the crew. An older Unathi taught Zukzi much about the process and he had a knack for it, more so than anything else he’d tried - at least. Over time, he came to realize that the pirates, and in fact the government of Ha’zana as a whole, was a tributary of the Izweski Hegemony. Not the least bit pleased by the idea of indirectly working for the Izweski, even if it was mostly autonomous in nature, Zukarr broke away from the lifestyle and began looking for contracts to take him away from the system. Idris picked him up, interested in the idea of access to the exotic cuisine of Sinta cooks. He received some formal training before he was dumped in Tau Ceti to become familiar with the other sapient species and gain more experience before, ideally, moving onto more profitable ventures. NanoTrasen picked him up, placing him in Tau-Ceti to fill some shorthandedness on the Aurora while also attempting to introduce him to a more mixed society, becoming more familiar with other sapient species. TLDR; >Childhood was nuclear >Join pirates...Is a bad pirate >Learns to code cook >Idris big money chef What do you like about this character? I wanted to play an Unathi in a role they are not commonly seen, this accomplishes that well, I think. I also enjoy playing contarians in general, so having a Sinta who generally dislikes the governments of their species is also a point of interest for me. I think since he’s fairly new to culture outside of Sinta space, he’ll have a lot to learn which makes room for character development which is always fun. How would you rate your role-playing ability? I’ve warmed up quite a bit since my last app, and have had an easier time sliding between characters and diving into development, so I’d rate myself at an 8/10 Notes: Sorry for the long ass backstory!

Problem with mechanical skills is implementation, its a lot of work to make skills relevant to everything they should be relevant to, and what'll happen is a half-done job like it has been on bay. In an ideal world, they'd be sick and I'd be totally down but I don't see them getting enough work done with them to make them really functional. I don't think skills should be removed either though, its a handy reference towards what your character can do when you have a lot to keep track of already, though I think some policy change might be worth looking into - since as is, yes! you can get bwoinked for working outside your department even if you have the skills (and the backstory to match them) to do so. (of course then you tread on what is and isn't powergaming so I dunno that's a whole other discussion) Maybe a good alternative would be to port and expand on the polaris traits? It's more focused on physical characteristics and depends a whole lot less on tons of integration with other aspects of the game.

I've known Ryver for years and he's always been a great roleplayer, his idea with Royale is great +1

re-balancing it to be less deadly is perfectly viable, the point is that it's a PVE like game-mode while still being player controlled - which there aren't a lot of options like that to choose from short of making something from scratch.

Port TG blob, its player controlled but plays a lot like a PvE game-mode.

Given the rather liberal stance regarding synthetics on Konyang, Franky wasn't met with much resistance when it wanted to start on its own cases - so long as its required work was done. At first that didn't mean much, its workload was designed for a synthetic so Franky was kept very busy in the earlier years. There were periods of time when law enforcement in the area was less busy, as per the natural cycles of things - and during those times is when Franky was most able to work on personal cases. Primarily it worked for lawyers, though it found work in a wide variety of cases doing a wide verity of things, boiling down to getting dirt on people, for the most part. I'm sure a fair amount of people understood Frankys goals in taking on side work, but it was cautious enough when saving its money to ensure nothing would be taken. Franky has a generally positive relationship with humans, but it also understands the resistance in letting one such as himself become free. So in that sense, yeah. Franky was sneaky about it, though a fair number of his co-workers at the time knew what he was up to. It was still somewhat of a surprise though, particularly to those who didn't work closely with the bot, as beyond what's mentioned above, Franky didn't indicate it's intentions. Since it was owned at the time, expenses in terms of maintenance were covered by its owners, and as it had little reason to spend money on those beyond itself. It didn't, every cent it made was put towards furthering its freedom. Before it was free, Franky worked. It really didn't do much else, it was living the life it was built for, and any fragments of free-time it had was dedicated towards accumulating extra wealth. After switching the dates around, Franky is gonna be 26 years old. 2 years to account for working for the law like it was designed, 23 to account for the time it took to accumulate enough money to purchase itself + the time it had to sit and wait for laws to change, and 1 year to account for the time its been freed. Within that time, Franky would have had the opportunity to become accustomed to a much wider verity of people which in turn would give it a much better understanding of them. To Franky this just helped its ability to do its job. It's views shifted a bit during that time, I wouldn't say it became cynical or anything of the sort, but it definitely started to grasp the complexity and nuance of situations that, prior, it may have seen as more black and white. Franky is not attached to things or people. It never has been. While its outlook on humanity and his previous employer was positive, it certainly didn't form any emotional bonds with them - if that's even possible. So, Franky does not keep in touch with them. The 10 year timeskip is getting snipped given that Franky would have only had the opportunity to become free within the last year. That said, it still had opportunity to interact with those outside of his previous environment. Given the fact it was a PI for what primarily amounts to a group of merchants, I'm sure its dealt with more than its fair share of seedy individuals, you know the type? Cut-throat sellers looking for ways to ruin the opposition. That said, Franky has always dealt with seedy individuals, just this time its on the other side of the fence. So, in that sense I think the most change it would have experienced between when he was freed and now would be a wider sense of right and wrong. It's just business, after all.

Franky is a baseline model. The display they have was considered important to it's ability to present evidence, but beyond that it was also not expected to be in any particularly 'rough' situations, so versatility took precedence over durability. As for the why? The guy had been arrested, brought in for interrogation. He pleaded for an out, asking why lock him up? He said that surely an IPC would understand, being owned - it was just the same, he'd be treated like property in a cage. He knew well he was caught so it was more or less a last ditch effort for sympathy, out of a robot of all things. Needless to say it didn't work and the guy went to prison - but it did get Franky to consider it, and that was enough. Ah, whoops. I did a quick dig and saw it was mentioned on the collation of colonies page, but I must have missed it. Well, that's not too hard to fix in backstory, I'd wanna push the dates around a bit - say Franky still saved up the money but bided time until it would actually be able to legally purchase itself. Then wound up in Tau-Ceti shortly after due to, as with before, contracts with The Golden Deep. It's probably gonna wind up younger, and with less experience with freedom, but that's the only major changes I see as a result of that.

BYOND Key: 50_N00b Character Names: Yasin Deamurr, Clement Sormirr Species you are applying to play: IPC What color do you plan on making your first alien character: N/A Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yes Why do you wish to play this specific race: I’ve migrated from baystation 12, I had almost exclusively played IPCs during my time there, from the literal day they were coded in to when I eventually stopped playing ss13. Upon revisiting the game and joining the server, I’ve realized I’m still breaking out of a lot of old habits that came from playing the race. I still like them, the idea of them, and I think Auroras take on them is far more interesting than what I had seen prior – so I’d like to give the race another shot. Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: Mechanically, IPCs are well. Machines. They do not feel pain, nor do they bleed, nor do they need to eat drink or any of the other things organic creatures need to do. That said, while they are extremely resilient, most IPCs would want to take good care of their chassis – it’s expensive, and they’d be hard pressed to buy a new one outright. This creates a scenario where as an IPC you’d not be avoiding pain so much as avoiding serious damage, which plays out a bit differently; Hot and cold objects, that would normally burn your poor fingees? Not a problem. An EMP which has no effect on the cute squishy parts of a human? Dear god get me out of here. Emotionally, IPCs are made to replicate, not to produce emotions. Cold hard, FEELINGS. While the line can certainly get blurred in some particularly advanced models, in general IPCs can come across as cold, uncanny, or both. Some forego the formality all-together and express themselves logically. That said, all IPCs rely on logic to get them through the day, they are robots and every action they do comes down to their processes deciding the most effective course of action. They don’t behave irrationally, though some may come across as such to an outsider. As such, an IPC is more methodical than your average human, they’re not phased by stressful situations and rather tend to push their way through – in whatever way they’ve decided is best. While it’s possible for an IPC to pursue other jobs, they tend to stick in the field they were designed for – for self explanatory reasons; they were designed for it! Beyond that, it can be hard for an IPC to afford maintenance on top of the process of learning new fields. So, IPCs you do see tend to be pretty rigid in their workplace choices. Lastly, IPCs are property. One may purchase itself and become free, but in the end it’s still seen as property in doing so. This creates a scenario where many people will treat them with very little value, they’re not living, so the cold may question any reason to give them their empathy. Character Name: F-R.A.N.K.Y. Please provide a short backstory for this character In 2424 a robotics company by the name of ‘Enigma Enterprises,’ well known in the local area for specialty bots, was contracted by the city of Suwon, Konyang, to create a series of robots able to help their law enforcement agencies with forensic sciences and investigations in light of the ever increasing populace driving an up-tick in crime within the less wealthy areas of the city. Just over a year later, the contract was finished and six bots were released to the cities various police agencies, F-R.A.N.K.Y. being one of them. A few short years into service, whilst investigating a case involving a violent murderer, Franky was met with a question it hadn’t really considered. ‘Why?’ Why stay here, when there is an entire galaxy to explore, why remain caged here – subservient to the will of its masters. Franky wanted to explore its sense of self in that moment, and the idea of freedom became firmly planted into its robotic synapses, as intoxicating as something could be to a robotic mind. It began to look for an out. The liberal laws regarding synthetics on Konyang made this easier than for it than most, and it was able to carry out its plans with little resistance. Over the next 23 years, Franky began taking on private cases on top of its normal workload, saving every penny until it was able to purchase itself. It had been fairly secretive about its goals, so its sudden departure from the workplace was a surprise, but not entirely unwelcome. It had a good relationship with its employers, and humanity in general. With that in mind, it decided to keep its original designation, while it wanted to examine its grasp of itself, it still latched onto its purpose as an anchor – and saw no reason to deviate from it. Not particularly attached to anyone or anything, it finally was able to branch out and seek new experiences. Within the next decade or so, the unit continued its work as a private investigator – landing jobs with a hodgepodge of individuals, including various members of The Golden Deep. Their trading enterprises and traveling tendencies took Franky beyond the Coalition of Colonies and into the Republic of Biesel. It was there it was formally introduced to various mega-corporations, namely Nano-Trasen. From there, the unit, wanting more than just a taste of the area, decided to settle down in Tau-Ceti (at least for the moment) and begin work as a formal investigator. What do you like about this character? I wanted to write a character without a lot of first hand experience with prejudice, to the point it may not fully understand why it receives this kind of treatment. It’s pretty good at blowing off ill-treatment as the opinions of ‘poor, uneducated souls, not realizing the importance of synthetics.’ I think this accomplishes that idea fairly well, whilst leaving plenty of room for development. I’ve always enjoyed playing IPCs with a strong sense of purpose, Franky knows what it was built for – and it is eager to continue that work but it also seeks a stronger identity for itself, which drives this sense of adventure and willingness to approach Tau-Ceti How would you rate your role-playing ability? Uh… 6 out of 10. I’m massively out of practice, I haven’t done this kind of RP since 2017 so I’m very much trying to get back into the swing of things. Before that I would have rated myself much higher, but I gotta build up those muscles again! Notes: I was in charge of IPC applications on bay for a bit when I played there, and wrote some iteration of their lore (that is no longer in use) – I understand it’s gonna be way different here and that's fine, but just a footnote to express that I do and have played IPCs. (I was never the maintainer, more like a helper)

Thanks for the love ❤️ Check my latest post for up to date info and pricing!

I've only been playing here for a week, but that's just enough time to start shilling my art. I'll try to keep it mostly ss13 IPC related - but let me know if any you wanna see other stuff. I do take commissions, thanks for asking!! First some old shit to introduce myself; Parable Onion Range I'm not even whitelisted for IPCs here and all I got is IPC art, whoof! Here's some more recent stuff, recent enough to actually be applicable to this server; Yasin Rusty I've got a lot more ss13 related art, I've been at it for a long time - but here are the highlights, hope to be around here long enough to keep at it!