FlamingLily

Lillian Nyström, Chief Engineer: Keeping this short. Got a splitting hangover- and now I'm out of drinks, so. Wonderful. Think the bridge crewman has some good points. If we head to CES 146, the Malebranche will have one way to follow us. So, Set the interdictor now, then warp to CES 146. Then, later we can try and trade with the Skrell.

In case you're not aware, it's just here: https://forums.aurorastation.org/gallery/

I've thought a bit and I think I'm going to take a full 100% reversal on my position on the Hour of Return. As much as I do think my proposal here gives a lot of grounds to work with engaging with faith in a way in a more deep and nuanced way, I think I've inadvertently cut back a liiiiittle too much . See: Dominia is still an autocratic, militaristic invasion-based nation, and the Tribunal is still the state-designed justification for the actions of the Empire. I've done a lot of solid work on justifying why **individuals** would be loyal to the faith and by proxy to the Empire, but.... what is the nexus that connects the Empire's activities and conquest-based economy with said faith, therefore making the faith inherent to loyalty towards the Empire? Well. I kind of removed it. Whoops. So, I'm putting this one back in the oven for a little bit longer, looking towards the return and integrating it far more closely with the rest of tribunal lore- bringing it up to a key point of the faith as opposed to a semi-sidelined piece. For now, I'm withdrawing this LCA. But, much like Her, it will return, and the promised Hour will be upon us.

With the introduction of the Commissary, there has been more work added to the HT job that could justify an extra pair of hands. It's certainly not a job that's lacking on activity right now. There's also already 4 hangar tech lockers in the bay, anyway, and adding a new slot doesn't really throw off much balance anyway. People are drawn to the commissary when they see it constantly staffed. Problem: That's boring if you're the only HT staffing it. More slots means more chance to have a commissary coworker. The PR itself: https://github.com/Aurorastation/Aurora.3/pull/21433

How it started: How it's going:

Just had a thought to add to the redshirt toggle idea: Decrease the respawn timer if you have it enabled. (or maybe just, decrease it generally, tbh, but that's a different suggestion forum post). Frankly, I think very few people will want to agree to a toggle that says "you can wordlessly bypass escalation and remove me from the round for twenty minutes." I certainly wouldn't. Something like 5-10 minutes would be more reasonable, imho.

Brief thoughts. Completely agree with all of the discussion about framing. If this is to be implemented, it needs to be very clearly described as preferences. I've been on a server which had antag consent toggles in the past, and it had a worse antag gameplay loop than we do (and half of our discussion around antags is how we barely have any (although that's improved recently, tbh)). In fact, I would personally take it a step further. No negative toggles. I think, no matter how strongly you describe it as a preference, issues will arise when someone with a negative toggle is targeted in a gimmick. Not all people, of course, but some people (and I need to stress, this isn't about anyone specifically) will treat it like a consent toggle. It being misinterpreted will be inevitable. In an ideal world, people with positive toggles enabled will already draw antag action away from people with neutral toggles. Exactly what I was getting at with the above but much more succinct. That being said, Torture might be one thing that could have an OOC, moderation consent toggle. That's a different discussion, but I do want to at least make the distinction here that I think at most that kind of RP could maybe be more deserving of a consent toggle than the rest. Ironically, this is basically how I format my exploitables anyway: So I do agree that this is probably a pretty solid way to go about this. HOWEVER, 32 characters is WAY too small, and I would be really disappointed if we lost that much ability for creative expression. Ideally, I think we could implement it like flavour text, where it has individual smaller tabs but each field with a large size. That'd let us have preference toggles as well as IC exploitables, too. Exact categories/toggles I don't know about fully yet but I also do like the idea of the redshirt toggle. - especially because that one's something that would ordinarily be against the rules but can override that.

I know this wasn't what you were going for but this gave me the idea of a full simulated bank statement you can pull up in the character creation screen that shows all your transactions, and you can delete entries if they're character created. Definitely don't need that level of effort but. Y'know.

Lore Impact: Medium Species: Dominia (Human, with a hint of Unathi) Short Description: This update goes over the entire Moroz Holy Tribunal page with a fine toothed comb, adding a major new element to the lore as well as a lot of minor ancillary lore elements, tweaks, and changes to bring it inline with the new change. The major change is Righteousness, the key Tribunalist doctrine that all Tribunalists aspire to live as. It takes the form of a model individual, and is the main mechanism a faithful individual can be judged as worthy by the Goddess to see their way into the Kingdom of Moroz. The key difference between Righteousness and the Edicts is that the Edicts are law, while Righteousness is simply a private affair between you and the Goddess; Though there is a large amount of overlap. Principles of Honesty, Respect, Loyalty - for instance - can be seen throughout the Edicts. Ancillary changes include: Expansion on the nature of souls and Goddess' role as the judge of souls Expansion on the distaste for synthetics, cybernetics, and cyborgification Minor changes to Universalism to bring it in line with this Expansion on the creationist myth, the holy symbols, burial rights and conversion to and from the Tribunal. Removal of the lore surrounding the Hour of Return Yes. I know this one might be controversial, and I don't mind at all if this specific change is denied, but to me, this was always one of the most confusing parts of the Tribunal. To sum up my thoughts, I don't really see what exactly the Hour of Return actually does? It almost runs a bit anti-thetical to the basis of the Tribunal, which is "act good in life and you will be rewarded after death in My Kingdom" (especially now, after I lean heavily towards that with my changes.) It seems like an odd addition which kind of undermines that whole concept imho. I can see its use as "Why does the Empire seek to improve itself," but that can just as easily be achieved through my proposal here, and imho having two separate schemes for running that feels off. Also, the whole discussion about the Goddess replacing the royal family feels a bit clumsy. This is simply not true, if you look at the other pages. Also, plenty of minor grammar changes and touchups. There's a more in-depth change log in the google doc attached. How will this be reflected on-station?: Ideally, through every Dominian character. This is a hook that I would hope every Tribunalist can find some way to play around- beyond the core three of "Love the Goddess. Love the Empire. Hate robots." Does this addition do anything not achieved by what already exists?: Reading Tribunalist lore always had me thinking one question. "Why does anyone believe this?" Not in a snarky way, but in a "What is the hook that captures the mindset of the faithful? How is this religion finding its way into the core identity of people, the way religions do? Why- other than "the government told me to"- do people find faith in the Goddess?" After discussing this with a few people, including the idea that Dominia must be sending missionaries to neighbouring planets ("Why would they be converted?"), I finally came to the conclusion that there wasn't really one written down. That was, until, I found the in-game, mechanical version of the Tribunalist Codex. (here) After reading this, I finally understood. I saw the answer to my question. This proposal is my attempt to give that answer wording and formality on the wiki. This is a way, in my eyes, that someone can play a Dominian and a Tribunalist, and have a hook to engage with the religion beyond the surface level of "We hate synthetics." And, don't get me wrong, Tribunalism has a number of very important identifying factors, most which in the Edicts which I would boil down to Immense faith to the Empire of Dominia Your standard faith and loyalty to the deity, The Goddess Immense distrust for synthetics and cybernetics And on a much lighter note: the Sixth and Seventh edicts (Lying and Animals) And as good as that is, alone those 4 factors are kind of lacking. Loyalty to the nation is any autocracy, loyalty to the deity is any faith, and while the distrust for cybernetics and synthetics is absolutely a strong point, when it's the only one, it easily causes an external perception of that being all there is to the setting and feeds an attitude of Dominians often being one-note characters. As it stands now, I don't really think the Sixth and Seventh are powerful enough to do all that much with. So, in summary, I believe that my proposal here gives Tribunalists a little more material to engage with the faith through without needing to go all in on the "I hate robots" side of the lore- not diminishing that part of the lore, but giving a bit more material to flesh things out and to build from to make a more rounded character. 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? Of course. Especially so for my removal of the Hour of Return lore. Long Description: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LHUoSAejAH-MZY277t7MbE6_uYOx4aGOSsTW6Qnv0f0/edit?usp=sharing

shameless self post because i just thought of this and laughed too hard (quote of hiding too high-res image)

Hard agree with everything shimmer adds but wanted to also raise: The red in the Sol Army flag feels pretty out of place imho. Sol rarely uses red in its colour scheme, and with such a big flag like this it almost feels a little Martian. Potentially might be interesting to try a gold? Or maybe a green? Unsure.

Translated from Sinta'Unathi. "So, Fisher Aieszk Kukssal. In your own words, please tell us what exactly happened. Take your time... I'm sure this has been difficult." "...yes. Quite. It was... a few days after I had broken my foot. It had grown swollen, painful- infected, of course. So, I made my way up to the ship's healers bay. The.... spirit- ... The spirit was there. At the time, I thought she was a healer. As did everyone. Or... maybe she was- and the spirit took her over. I don't know. She invited me inside, to the room in the back. Exam room, I think they call it. I removed my boot, she began to inspect my swollen appendage.... And then I felt a sharp poke in my other leg. Like a syringe, or one of those medicine guns the healers have. I reeled back- to put some distance between myself and her- assuming she had drugged me, of course. Which... she did. My leg had gone numb in the few moments I was standing, and I hit the floor hard. I couldn't feel my leg. Before I knew it, I couldn't feel the other. Or my arms. Or my face. I was entirely numb. Paralyzed. And then.... the spirit came out. I could do nothing but watch on- not even scream- as I watched the flesh rend from the healer's arm, as bone crunched and twisted, and as- as far as I could tell, for a human's face, the expression had drained from her face entirely. No malice. No pain. The bones in her arm- tendon and flesh hanging loosely from them- had formed into a horrific visage, a blade, sharpened to a point. That... spirit beast could have killed me. I was immobile, One clean slice to the throat would have finished the job, I'm sure. It didn't. I can't tell what it wished to do, but I can only assume. It plunged this... bladed arm down into my stomach. The pain was excruciating. Unimaginable. And yet, I couldn't move. I couldn't scream. I couldn't beg. It struck again, and again. I knew then that I was going to die- and yet... a voice in my mind. An ancestor of mine, calling to me. Telling me to live. It was as if my ancestor had purged the toxin and the pain from my body. I kicked up at the spirit with all of my force. It flew back, striking the maintenance hatch across the room, and I knew then what I must do. With all my strength, despite my injuries, I rose to my feet. It attempted to lunge at me, but I sprinted past- the thing was stuck with the speed of a human, not a Sinta, ha ha! I ran through the tunnels as fast as my legs would take me, screaming out on the radio the only word I could manage- in basic. "Healer." My legs took me into a room with a ledge to the deck below, but... the hatch wouldn't open to take me further in, It was approaching, and I was bleeding profusely. If I stayed, I would die. And thus I flung myself off the ledge. The deck below came at me fast, and I landed on my arms. It felt as if my shoulder had come out of the socket, and the blood gushing from my abdomen was certainly not helping. Nor was the spirit, which had followed my path, and landed on by back, hard. Perhaps the ancestors were to blame for my spine remaining intact. In any case, I was able to get to my feet before the human-bound spirit, and I struggled my way further into the tunnels. I was weary. I had lost a large amount of blood, and the pain was enough to overwhelm me, Each step was a struggle, feeling as if minutes passed between them. I was not sure where I was, and I could hardly tell how far behind me the spirit was. However... I knew that they had to be gaining on me. It was then that I heard it. In the distance. The sound of metal on metal, repeatedly. Clunk, clunk, clunk. It echoed down the tunnel. And in the rhythm, I heard the voice of my ancestors. They were calling me. And so I ran towards the noise. I could feel my legs about to give in and my vision began to blur. Yet still, I pressed on. This single tunnel stretched on impossibly, yet the echoing of footsteps even closer behind me drove me ever forward. Until... I passed the threshold around the corner. What I saw then was a sight so miraculous I knew it had to have been the work of the ancestors themselves. Around the corner, a maintenance hatch- half pried open by a team of warriors. They were breaking it down, and swarmed in to save me. A healer accompanied them, and she swiftly began her work. It was then I lost consciousness, to the sound of gunfire and the scream of a spirit. When I awoke, I was in the healers' recovery room, bandaged and stitched together, but alive. Alive only because of the righteousness of my ancestors. I was not a so-called skeptic, before, but... I now know with absolute certainty that my ancestors watch over me. One day- once my time is up, of course- I hope to watch over my descendants in much the same way."

Crew, Reviewing the information we've gathered about the propellant depot on Marax 1, and a greater understanding of the rate at which the Malebranche will be able to track us down, I think our next course of action should be a jump to CES 142. We gained no supplies this week, and I believe that the significantly most pressing issue will be to ensure that we find some. A 200 year old propellant depot is unlikely to have any. Not to mention the supplies we'll burn to fend off the hivebots. Berkley 72 has no evidence of anything of note, while CES 142 has a signal that we can follow. It has the added bonus of putting a pretty significant buffer between us and the Malebranche as it enters the lane. I find myself in agreement with my colleague that we have little time to spare, though I see our dwindling amount of food and medical supplies as far more of a pressing matter than the pirates at present. Signing off, Doctor Lillian Nyström, Chief Engineer