TheMaskedReader

Hi, I don't believe I have access? It's possible I just missed it though.

BYOND key: TheMaskedReader Discord Username: TheMaskedReader Character names: - Amanda Rutherford, Galina Sarkis, Elisa Manzanedo, (soon) Dayna Bowen-Kurtz How long have you been playing on Aurora? On and off since 2021, but I believe mostly since 2022 is when I got actually involved in things. Have you received any administrative actions? And how serious were they? By both my memory and the web integration's tracker, I have not recieved any negative administrative actions. What do you think the OOC purpose of a Head of Staff is, ingame? I think that the OOC purpose of Heads of Staff are that they are there to provide their departments and the ship as a whole with communication, coordination, and interaction with the rest of the ship, ideally, acting in such a way as to ensure that players are engaging both mechanically and role-playing wise with other departments and players. However, they are also intended to guide and aid their department, acting as mentors and aides to newer players, being both welcoming and clear in helping them adjust to the server and/or department, both mechanically and in regard to expectations. In an ideal state, they enhance the game for other players and enable fun interactions that otherwise couldn't have occurred. What do you think the OOC responsibilities of Whitelisted players are to other players, and how would you strive to uphold them? Ultimately, as a whitelisted player, you're asking to be trusted, and with a Command Whitelist, specifically, you're asking to be trusted with the responsibility of making the round fun for other players, both through 'positive' (enabling/permissiveness) and 'negative' (being a narrative hurdle/handling matters when they go too far) means. Ultimately, the additional responsibilities granted to Command are granted in the name of allowing player freedom (and not just from the Command member), because if done well, a good Command member can elevate an entire department or round through wise use of their powers. If granted a whitelist, I'd want to try and utilize the responsibilities of whatever role I choose to play to enable other players to be creative, advance their own personal RP, and generally ensure that the department/ship as a whole is engaged both mechanically and narratively with what's going on in the round. Explain how the recent events in the Spur changed your character and how they came to be employed on the SCCV Horizon. Dayna Bowen-Kurtz was a Valkryie-born pilot who worked her way up into Nanotrasen captaincy from smaller outfits, mostly working on logistics vessels throughout the 2420s and 30s. She acquired a reputation for diligence and a meticulous eye for detail, which aided her in advancing into more sensitive work with the shipping of phoron and other valuable materials through more dangerous space, as the market expanded rapidly. A firm Biesellite patriot in an era where that was, at best, a fringe belief, she stood by Nanotrasen when Biesel sought indepedence in 2452, which only helped her career. Not forgetting her roots, she donated heavily to the Valkryian independence campaign as well, even as she moved from captaining logistics ships to training those who would captain them, acting as a consultant and trainer for Nanotrasen. However, with the second invasion of Biesel and the formation of the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate, she's been called back up to more active duty within the SCC, as the SCC expands endlessly in search of an end to the phoron scarcity. Having spent the last two years working as an SCC consultant for Orion Express after its founding, helping work out the foundations of their piloting training program, she's more than ready to return to the helm, and as the SCCV Horizon searches for phoron in the distant reaches of space, she's hoping that her consulting and managing expertise, along with her years of experience as a Captain, will provide her with the tools to make a few last contributions to Biesel's prosperity before she retires, as it faces troubles both domestic and abroad. What roles do you plan on playing after the application is accepted? Captain for the duration of the trial period, but I may create Liason or Consular characters after that. Have you familiarized yourself with the wiki pages for the command roles? Yes. Characters you intend to use for command or have created for command. Include the job they will be taking: Dayna Bowen-Kurtz, Captain. Do you understand your whitelist is not permanent, and may be stripped following continuous administrative action? Yes. Have you linked your BYOND account to the Forums? Yes. Extra notes: Nothing to say other than that I'll likely only be able to play a round or two a day most days during the trial period. I hope to be able to make an impression despite that, though!

Hi! I really love this idea, and I want to collate my sort of thoughts and critiques, based on the document, here at the moment. I think, personally, the biggest flaw I see with this system, as others have pointed out, is that the emphasis is placed on the Storyteller to generate the idea and create most of, if not all, customization. However, the other problem I see is that the Actors are given much less freedom - When they are going to be, typically, the much more accessible and on-the-ground improvisational RP role that the players are going to be interacting with. I don't think this is the intent, mind, but I think a lot of clarification and specification on the roles played by Actors OOCly will be an important part of making this work. My ideal vision of this would be, rather than the Storyteller as 'DM', the Storyteller as something of an officialized 'antag head', with the Actors and Storytellers working collaboratively and through existing tools of AOOC to weave a good story as a team, rather than the Actors either thinking they can't do anything without the Storyteller's say so or the Storyteller being domineering over the Actors. It's, again, not something I see as intentional or desired, but I think it's very important to ensure that the Actors and the Storytellers work together as motivators for a story rather than as directives being handed down from on high. Some of the most fun I've had has been brainstorming collective ideas with a Merc team, and eventually landing on this one gimmick that everyone's really excited about and has good ideas for - And I think ensuring that energy is replicated will go a long way towards ensuring that Storytellers don't get burnt out and that people play Actors for the sake of having a good time, rather than it being viewed as similar to what Antag currently is. Another thing I want to bring up, in this gamemode revolution, as it were, is rethinking or revamping the way in which we treat antagonist OOC communication. Some people have suggested that the Storyteller/Actors should be able to let the ship know OOCly when they're prepped and ready, but I think we should go a step further. AOOC, in Mission Briefing, should become something of a 'backstage' - Obviously, restrictions apply - Don't use it as some sort of team comm to fuck the players and go "CAPTAIN AT MAINTS RUSH RUSH RUSH" or something, but I think that moving away from the idea of IC disclosure via AOOC being 'metagaming' is important for ensuring that Actors and the Storyteller remain on the same page. By utilizing AOOC to handle things such as pacing, timing on twists, and information awareness, not only will it will keep verisimilitude intact by never having to go "why is the Marshal on the same comms channel as the Evil Hostage-Takers and where'd he come from when their ship is the only one that docked" (to use a random, meaningless example), it'll also encourage a more collaborative and honest environment for the Actors to ensure that they're all aimed in the same direction: Making a good story. Finally, something else I'd like to emphasize as something that should be pushed for heavily during development/testing of this gamemode, is the encouragement of the majority of the crew to come along, to avoid the 'expedition'/'offship' problem of silo-ing/limiting of 'slots'/'why should you come' sort of thing. While obviously, restrictions apply, and the Storyteller can (and should) tailor scenarios for certain departments, I think that pushing OOCly and ICly for all crew to be allowed to come, perhaps by expanding or adding shuttles/ferries of some kind, is important, especially as the server grows - A lot more people play Aurora now than back when I started, and it seems to only be growing (hopefully)! Ensuring that players both mechanically can come along to engage with the round, and won't be punished ICly for doing so, is going to be a key part of "is this fun", in my opinion. There's definitely more to be said, but that's most of what I've got at the moment - To wrap it up, great idea, I love it, and I hope it works out for the best.

Ren Hartfort is a character that I always love to see in a round, and Lucius Volvalaad is becoming much the same. I don't know if my opinion matters, but I'd give this a +1.

I'm of the opinion that from what I've seen Faye talk about on the various Aurora discords, that they'd bring a very interesting take to Synthetic lore. This can be considered a plus one, if that has any say. However, I do have some questions. 1. One of the least developed sects in the Trinary Perfection is the Practitioners, since they basically exist as a broad umbrella to categorize all of the frontier churches maintained by independent priests of the Perfection. They have no real ideology or beliefs, unlike basically every other religious faction, Trinary or not. What would you do to add more nuance and depth to them? 2. You've mentioned several times that you think that there are enough places where synthetics are repressed or on the backfoot, and I agree with you. Therefore, how would you theoretically write attitudes about spaces where synthetics are allowed to be free, but which are currently undeveloped in regard to such attitudes, such as much of the Coalition of Colonies, especially with regards to combining it with existing ideologies and lore, such as Himean Syndicalism. 3. To circle back around to the Trinary Perfection and other synthetic factions, what role do you think that factions such as the Golden Deep and the Trinary Perfection should play in the lore? Do you think they adequately fill that role currently? What changes would you like to make to their portrayal, if you're made a synthetic lore deputy? If you can't answer any of these questions, it's totally fine. Thanks!

This is a very valid point. As such, I've clarified the reasoning there to more accurately reflect what I intended with the character, replacing: "I think probably the aspects I'm most looking forward to playing is a tajara who wishes to reject Adhomai almost entirely, for entirely political reasons." with "I think probably the aspects I'm most looking forward to playing is a tajara who wishes to reject Adhomai nationalism almost entirely, for political reasons, while still having a deep investment in the cultural significance and people of Adhomai due to those same politics, and having to reconcile those two views into her worldview as a member of the Himean Front." I hope that conveys my meaning better, as well as makes a more interesting character, giving her a deeper connection with the direction which the lore is going.

Type: Sub-Culture Short Description: This aims to elaborate on the Human Entertainment Media sub-category of entertainment consumption, specifically in the streaming department, as well as providing slightly more depth to the Social Media concepts currently existing. It will cover four primary categories: Platforms - The popular streaming platforms, as well as how they interact with various legal systems, corporations, and society at large. Most Popular Streamers - This will cover various well-known human streamers, providing a brief summary of their content, their careers, any scandals/controversy, as well as how their fans are typically viewed. Slang - This will discuss popular slang within streaming culture. Genres - Various more general content within the broad overview of streaming, thus that players can elaborate on their own as to their favorite streamers or even being a streamer themselves while still having a loose framework to exist within. How will this be reflected on-station?: It will allow for more detailed discussion of entertainment, as well as adding several new forms of slang and references to be overused by people who are canonically terminally online, which I estimate to be 90% of characters. In addition, it would provide additional ways for players to have their characters exposed to various ideas, ranging from politically radicalizing concepts to ideas in the news beyond simply reading about them in the various newspapers available. Does this addition do anything not achieved by what already exists?: It adds more depth to an existing human sub-culture, which is referenced semi-frequently, but fails to be elaborated on often, as well as offering a loose framework for future developments, hopefully without constraining any creativity on the part of lore developers and players. Also, a Skrell Lore Writer said it was a good idea to do this, and I thought it'd be funny to do it. Do you understand that the project may change over time in ways that you may not foresee once it is handed over to the Lore Team? Absolutely. Long Description: Click Here Additional Notes: I'm not quite sure what to say here, but thank you for taking the time to take a look at this, and I hope it's at least an interesting read, even if it doesn't wind up being accepted. I would like to thank Flpfs (FloppaFan) and Brotendo in particular for taking the time to look at this and give me feedback before I submitted it.

BYOND Key: TheMaskedReader Character Names: Amanda Rutherford - Himean Psychiatrist Species you are applying to play: Tajara What color do you plan on making your first alien character: Silver (RGB 192, 192, 192) Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yes, I have. Why do you wish to play this specific race: Tajara have always intrigued me, being a race that struggles with being uplifted before they would have naturally developed space travel, but yet maintaining so many internal divisions, unlike the uplifting of the Unathi. However, once I started to learn more about them, it was ultimately the core theme of struggle that caused me to want to play as them. Despite the horrific cost of the Revolutions, and despite the less than optimal outcomes, I feel as if Tajara are consistently characterized as always struggling, be it against the political structures they see as unjust or against the exploitation they face at the hands of the mega-corporations that utilize them as cheap labor, even if they are doomed to fail at achieving true justice and equality in said struggle. And, thus, I was drawn to the most doomed cause of them all: The dead-enders of of the Free Tajaran Council, which was the faction that really solidified my choice to seek to play as Tajara. The ideals of Kar'etrinkism are doomed to failure, this is apparent as soon as you read them. A community of ex-patriate Tajara living in a commune on Himeo, seeking to overthrow all three governments of Adhomai? It's an idea that is, at best, condemned to irrelevance, and at worst, will kill its adherents in a futile struggle they cannot win. However, it struck me as being the perfect sort of doomed cause that deserves to be explored and discussed in-game, which I haven't seen very often. So, exploring that concept is why I chose to seek this whitelist. Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: While there are the obvious biological and cultural aspects, an under-stated aspect of Tajara I would argue makes them most different from a human is their connection to their past and to their history, as well as the sheer upheaval their entire society and culture has undergone repeatedly within the last several decades. With humans, there are centuries of history, and many planets have essentially stayed the same since they were settled. Adhomai has undergone two revolutions, seen the destruction of basically every polity that used to exist on it, and is currently making its way towards a hat trick on civil war, this time with a nuclear twist. There are so many historical factors to consider when playing a Tajara, because merely being born a year earlier or later could give you an entirely different perspective on everything to do with their character, which is something you rarely see with a human. With regards to so many of the cultural differences, all of those are rooted in Tajara history as well, such as the ethnic tensions having their roots in the past, and being equally affected and changed by the actions of the Adhomai polities in the present, even as the tensions shape and change those polities. Character Name: Galina Sarkis Please provide a short backstory for this character: Galina is a M'sai who was born into the Free Tajaran Council's commune on Himeo in the year 2435, raised in the communal environment by believers in the ideals of Kar’etrinkism. From them, she gained an ever-firm faith in the political ideals they taught her, even if other lessons didn't stick as much. As soon as she was able, she did what she saw as her duty and ran for election into the Adhomian Free Guard. Following her election, she wound up volunteering in the local Himean surface unit for additional training. After serving in both for several years, her mother, who had been a cartographer's scribe in the Duchy and now acted as a teacher and translator for the commune, asked Galina to follow in her footsteps after her current term of service had ended. She obliged, doing what she thought was her filial duty, and wound up pursuing a bachelor’s degree in translation as part of her learning process. Her time spent in broader Himean society wound up infusing her with a deep love of reading, a healthy curiosity, and skepticism she’d never felt before about the cultural aspects of Kar’etrinkism. She had served alongside Himeans, she had studied alongside them, she had seen their political system and its similarities to theirs, did she not have more in common with a Himean than those on Adhomai? What was on Adhomai but reactionaries, traitors to the revolution, and waves of endless blood that would drown the commune if they ever tried to retake their old home? What culture did they have that was worth reclaiming there, that could not be rebuilt without the bloodshed such total war would bring? The political heart of Kar’etrinkism itself, the values she had been raised to idolize, were alive and well in Himeo. Could they not be spread to the Tajaran people abroad, now scattered and far from home as exploited immigrants? Why should they venerate Adhomai, a planet stained with the blood of honest revolutionaries and sullied by reactionary tradition, when they could instead establish an entirely new state, a history free from the curse of nobility in its entirety? It is this dream for the future she believes in, not the revanchism of the Old Guard or, as she puts it, 'their failure to sufficiently discard such counter-revolutionary sentiment as imperialist ambitions counter to true Kar’etrinkist political thought'. Still a firm believer in the political system of Kar’etrinkism but with a disdain for Adhomai itself, this self-described ‘Himean Tajara’ has chosen to set out into the Spur aboard the Horizon as a librarian. She aims to seek out and take notes upon immigrant Tajara she meets, to collect evidence on the current degenerate state of Adhomai’s people and the need to evangelize on the truth of Kar’etrinkism to the hearts and minds of tajara while they are abroad, rather than pursuing a futile quest to reclaim mere land. What do you like about this character? I think probably the aspects I'm most looking forward to playing is a tajara who wishes to reject Adhomai almost entirely, for entirely political reasons. Many tajara feel strongly about Adhomai, positively or negatively, because they have strong personal experiences there, but Galina has never even seen the planet. She dislikes Adhomai because of what it represents to her, the decades of useless bloodshed in the service of outdated ideals, the place which violently rejected her community, and the home of the polities which would seek to repress her political beliefs, in service of what she sees as Hadiist propaganda, faux-democracy and militarist goons, or outright reactionary royalism. It's what she sees as the logical conclusion of the ideals she was raised to believe in. However, it's entirely possible that she might actually learn to appreciate Adhomai and its culture through her plans in seeking out and interviewing various immigrant tajara about it...or she may just learn to hate it more for what its done to her people, or she might find something else entirely. There's a lot of possibilities, which is fun! How would you rate your role-playing ability? I hope I manage to do a decent job of roleplaying. In terms of experience, I've been playing SS13 for the past five years, and I've been doing roleplay for longer than that, both in real life and online, which has definitely helped me get a better grasp of how to do character voice. Notes: So, these were some things I couldn't fit into Galina's backstory for length's sake, as well as for flow, so: While Galina's family has attempted to instill the values of the S'rand'marr faith in her, they were never able to do so as much as they had instilled the values of Kar'etrinkism. The association of the worship with conservatism on Adhomai in combination with her political views have only driven her further away. She remains functionally irreligious, however, she hopes to potentially reconnect with her cultural roots through a non-Adhomian source throughout her travels. Galina's infatuation with literature is contrary to traditional Tajaran Free Council thought on the matter. However, she considers those suspicions to be the Old Guard failing to sufficiently discard outdated Adhomian thought and prejudice, and thus crippling their ability to truly adapt to the new home they find themselves in. This cultural disagreement is part of what drove her decision to go on her journey, and she hopes that her writings will help break down some of the stigma within the more traditional youth. With regards to her views on Kar’etrinkism, she has an incredibly deep respect for the Tajara himself, even though she disagrees with his point of view at times. However, Kar’etrinkism itself is, for her, viewed separately from the Tajara who founded it, and his word alone is not the living gospel of the ideology. Instead, to her, Kar’etrinkism is following the political organization principles set forth during the revolution, and thus, can only spring from within the population, if with aid from more experienced theorists. Imposing Kar’etrinkism from the exterior, to her, would never be successful, as the people who make up the proposed democratic councils would only seek to re-impose the old power structures, as shown when the New Kingdom of Adhomai rose up in counter-revolution against the People's Republic of Adhomai. She is fluent in Siik'maas and Siik'tajr and speaks with a Northern Rasn'rr accent.

This looks pretty groovy, I dig it! I'm all for this being implemented if that's feasible. How would it look on the Horizon, though?

I for one love the more horror-oriented aspects of bluespace, of dubious canonicity as they may be. Bluespace ghosts, bluespace monsters, all that. I love the idea of a megacorporation tapping into some hell-dimension and ruthlessly exploiting it for profit, and that backfiring onto their employees/them. I feel like it fits the setting, without getting too grimdark, so I hope future lore explores a bit more of that! Bluespace madness, people lost in bluespace, etc, that sort of thing. Additionally, I do think that teleportation and telescience through Bluespace should be emphasized as a pretty major scientific field/'advanced technology'. Teleportation on any industrial scale, or even on a 'high-end luxury' personal scale, is a game-changer for a lot of industries in a way I think should be explored more, especially if you can do things like send signals through teleportation devices.