Nol4

Heyo. I play Levi Kersaavi, who was named as the victim in the IR. I was asked to comment about my IC/OOC interactions with Kaiser and I can elaborate on anything as needed. I specifically reached out to 50_n00b in deadchat after the round to ask about lightening up on exclusion from missions. They told me more or less that while they understood why it wasn't fun for me, they were enjoying it. I asked if the characters could spat in other ways that were less obstructive, and they said that 'next time' to be aware that Kaiser is a hardass and to act accordingly. I'm going to collapse all of their IC interactions into a box here for reference, since I do think it matters for the context of the IR and the accusation that the Captain was unfounded in his concerns. I have logs for most of the second section, but not the first save the OOC conversation. I'm collapsing my OOC thoughts here, to the extent that they're relevant.

In brief, my response to this: I think when security is in the position of needing to lean on other departments, it's typically opt-in. If you aren't interested in being the guns builder, someone else probably will be and you can still choose not to be involved in even a minor way. (I've never once seen a shortage of volunteers at the crew armory, or of engineers already volunteering to point emitters at things, for example. There's a whole thread up right now expressing frustration about how non-sec departments swarm what little tasks they have.) This gives those players who do want to be involved the option to participate, whereas now they simply don't have it short of joining the already highly competitive sec roles.

There seems to be a lot of concern about 'robust' antagonists maximizing their tools to run circles around security and subject the entire ship to an underwhelming/annoying gimmick if security's killforce is reduced. I don't think this is warranted: antagonists are already the most heavily scrutinized role on the server. An antag, at any point, has half a dozen ghosts, administration, and most of the active crew watching them with access to the ahelp button. Bad faith antagonists can and are filtered out by OOC mechanisms- security doesn't need to hold the firepower to cleanly end all sufficiency annoying antagonists. Moreover, it only takes one security member to decide it's guns time, and the rest of the team will also start shooting. I completely support a change to reduce security's firepower and armor that's available literally one click by the warden away, which as it stands lets them comfortably toe to toe a fully armed merc team, and bulldoze anyone who isn't optimizing uplink heavy plates. Onships especially suffer for it. I play a lot of sec- I can count on one hand the number of times merc teams have bested an even half-staffed security team, and I would quickly run out of fingers for the amount of times I've seen 'mercs are all dead and security has one broken arm between them'. Besides- I think science would love an opportunity to hand out experimental guns, supply would like to run crates of them, and I've never seen the crew not absolutely frothing at the mouth for the crew armory to open so they can participate in the fragging. Security right now is self-sufficient against almost any threat that can be thrown against them.

Joining the crowd to say it is reckless and irresponsible to present a spaceman imitation of a psychiatrist as genuine mental health care. There should be no OOC patient-provider alliance because there should be no real patient and there is certainly no real provider. If someone is approaching you with real world concerns and you want to be kind, direct them to real world resources.

Heya, I was asked to comment. I'm only going to touch on what's relevant to my character since I have no context or involvement in the rest of it. Here is the short version of Baral and Levi's interactions over Levi's name from my perspective, which occurred over several weeks leading up to now. While I think deadnaming as a character gimmick is tacky, I don’t think I’ve ever talked to Deshan’s player OOCly in any capacity. I didn’t particularly want to deal with making it an OOC issue at the time, though I’d been weighing it as it became clear the character wasn’t going to stop naturally ICly. Since it's become an OOC discussion and we're already here: if @Fluffy is fine with ending this part of their dynamic then I don't think I have anything else to contribute to this thread. Let me know if there's anything else you need from me.

As a local deadpop/aussie hours player, a shuttle or surface spawn point would be a greatly appreciated addition. At my hours, shifts frequently don't vote for transfer and run 4-6 hours, bridge crew may or may not exist, and you may be dropping into a round that's been going for 2 hours and everyone is already off ship. It's also common for offship roles to fill up even while the ship is empty during these rounds, so this would help drive some more interaction during the quiet hours. Moreover, even if there is a BC, most of them time they're already occupied with something and would prefer not to be dragged away for 15-20 minutes of transit. The new map and content is awesome- it'd be great to be able to see it consistently.

Chiming in agreement. This change effectively blocks a lot of people who you really would expect to have suit sensors from having them on account of the goofy base uniforms; I've never seen a Captain or a head of security in the base uniform, for example.

The first instant I met Elwood Johnson I thought he was an unrepentant meme. I was delighted to be wrong. He has a strong personality and good dialogue, he spontaneously goes out of his way to train and engage cadets, and he's just fun to interact with. The fact that he engages with antagonists in flexible and varied ways and has experience as an antag himself is also huge. +1. That's everything I could want in someone playing Command.

They both feel like complete jobs right until a physician shows up, then they both feel like half jobs to me. IMO surgeon and FR gameplay are at their best without any physicians, when they're working together to stabilize patients in GTR and transport to surgery. I agree that merging pharmacist and physician is sillier than merging surgeon and doctor. I play chiefly FR, and a full medical manifest is a deterrent to joining a round. There's just not very much to do even during a total bloodbath with four doctors + a grab-bag of interns + a pharmacist or two treating people in GTR + a CMO running around + another first responder. I'm certainly not attached to more FR slots, and wouldn't want it at all unless physician was removed entirely. Similarly! Merging without reducing total slots would be a disaster, fully agree. The two problems as I see them: 1. jobs step on each other constantly because there really isn't three full jobs worth of content. Just transporting or just operating is not a fun gameplay loop. 2. there's so many warm bodies in medical Merging/killing physician solves both nicely. Obviously people have reservations- I think you have to play the alternative to feel it. I come from Bay which has two doctor-surgeons and three first responders (and a pharmacist). The smaller medbay means everyone stays busy and collaborates, and the flow just feels much nicer than Aurora's weird three overlapping role-boxes.

Medical is comically sub-delegated. It does not need four roles, and anyone who plays medical can attest how ridiculously bloated the department feels when the manifest is full. Physicians are already in the weird venn-diagram overlap between first responder and surgeon, and nuking the role would make surgeons and FRs feel like complete jobs with more to do. If merging pharmacist and physician reduces the total slots and roles, then amen, though I think simply nuking physician or merging it into surgeon would be better. On a different note, first responder is very popular, and by killing physician in one way or another you could probably have three FR slots to reflect their increased role in stabilizing in triage. Some people above are talking about how med doesn't need to be easier- if anything, killing/merging two slots should add a little strain back to the department.

BYOND key: nol4 Discord name/id: herbs#1075 Borg / AI names: Neural Network Operating Robotic Assistant, or NNORA Have you read the Aurora wiki page about the AI?: Yep Why do you wish to be on the whitelist?: AI is cool, AI has cool themes (citation needed), and there's something inherently fun about being the SmartToaster installed in all the doors. I've been around the block in SS13, and playing AI is a nice mechanical-and-mindset change from basically any other playable role that I'd like to add to my repertoire of options on Aurora. Mechanics aside, I personally enjoy the challenge of playing an entity that is designed to be personable, and may even go out of its way to be pleasant and engaging, but underneath the exterior presentation is something uniquely cold and alien. Have you received any administrative actions? And how serious were they?: N/A. Do you understand your whitelist is not permanent, and may be stripped following continuous administrative action?: Yep

I caught a ling round with Volvalaad recently. When one of the lings used their stasis ability for the first time and was "found dead", Volvalaad repeatedly hyperfocused on bugged behavior to justify not releasing the body to the morgue (and in doing so, denying the antagonist any chance to get away before the body was picked up by security), going so far as to use a stethoscope on the corpse to announce they could still hear breath sounds despite the brain-dead hud icon. This kind of valid hunting is unfortunate on any character, but is particularly oppressive on a head of staff who can override their subordinates' attempts to give antagonists an inch of leeway. Your mechanical medical knowledge seems thorough- you clearly know auroramed well! Mechanics aside and focusing on the social side, I've seen you be great with newbies and good with your improvisation. If the above mentioned incident was an unfortunate one-off, then I have no reservations.

Sorry for the delay, I accidentally deleted my draft while writing these up and had to go walk into the sea. Could you talk more about how IPC are treated in the Orion Spur and how an IPC might be expected to behave particularly in a corporate setting? To the first question: it depends™. In Dominia, IPCs are destroyed on sight. In Sol, they're a source of suspicious and far more carefully monitored than Biesel. In Burszia, they're tools to be kept in line through constant wind wiping, which the Skrell begrudgingly approve of if the damn humans won't just dismantle them. There are also small societies of free synthetics, particularly in Tau Ceti, that can even hold citizenship- though critically not considered equal lives to humanoids, and often in precarious situations. Elyran IPCs holding citizenship have equal rights, though good luck getting that to any IPC that wasn't given it at the point of creation. And then there's Konyang. To the second part, IPCs are presumably expected to be nondestructive, adept at their skillset, and not showing deviant behavior. Different corporations have different standards for individuality and variance- Idris expects strict uniformity and obedience, as one example. Free IPCs under the corporations that will employ them will have more leeway, but like any worker are expected to be grounded and capable- presumably with less forgiveness for flaws than your average meatman. Could you also talk more about Fir's view on organics and how they were treated? Fir treats organics a bit like birdwatching. Some organics are a dime a dozen, some are interesting, some are rare. It's interested in the peculiarities of their existences in the same way someone takes notes of the stats of a trading card game. Interested, but detached from the pathos of it all. Fir has been treated alright- for an IPC. It doesn't mind working endlessly with no breaks (with the growing exception of standstill slow work: see the third question below for elaboration on that) and most forms of insult completely wash over it. It hasn't been threatened with memory wiping, a prospect it would view with horror. In general, it would be good to flesh out how Fir's experience (8 years is incredibly long for an IPC) affected its personality. I see now I overshot a bit with the level of has-existed-awhile I was going for with Fir, so for the character character I'm going to halve down to four years. That said, to go into a bit more depth: Fir has grown into something analogous to an adrenaline junkie. It has cycled progressively upwards in chaotic situations, beginning with positions at the quieter sides of Mendel, and most recently concluding in the center of Eleven. For its reward programming at a basic level, intended to seek and learn from abnormal, this is great, but it doesn't have a termination point. What was exciting as a months-old synthetic is rote now: it wants more, and what's novel to it is increasingly scarce. It used to be content just about everywhere because everything was new, now it can't sit still almost anywhere. Fir has come to love a weird person, and if someone is acting in a way that doesn't fit into an existing personality schema it's familiar with, it tends to start acting like a loyal puppy- inquisitive, happy to be there, and underfoot. On a more grounded level, its picked up quite a bit of Mendel slang and can banter around a bar pretty well for something with no mouth.

BYOND Key: nol4 Character Names: Shinnan Trigan, Julia Lazofi, Ruaraidh Tareen, Sami Mirzaei, Mairan Maz, and a smattering of extras here and there. Species you are applying to play: IPC What color do you plan on making your first alien character: Exempt Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yep! Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions in a paragraph format. One paragraph minimum per question. Why do you wish to play this specific race: I like novelty! More seriously, IPC strikes a fun-for-me middle ground between strict xeno expectations and reflavored humans. They have the overarching principals with a lot of room for individuality and interpretation within that context that I thrive with. Like many I also enjoy a good story about machine imitating man, and RP servers permit collaborative storytelling that scratches the same itch but better. Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: For one, they're made of metal. Their physicality and emotes to that end are going to be wildly different. As mentioned before, IPCs have generous wiggle room on a psychosocial level. The makeup of their components and programming means they can fall anywhere from literally minded, process oriented task machines to self-driven, independently minded and emergent learners which could be mistaken at first blush for a human with fantastic self control. An IPC's prioritization process is fundamentally diverged from humans, however. On an overarching level, IPCs are process -> outcome oriented. Tasks, directives, and sometimes laws govern behavior, with calculations to those ends removed from interferences like hormones and amygdalas. This precision focus means an IPC is not prone to impulsive behavior, especially at the risk of itself, preservation of which is typically its most important goal. Character Name: FiR Eleven-Seven Please provide a short backstory for this character FiR-Eleven-Seven (henceforth just called Fir) was created by Zeng-Hu's operations in Mendel City, and remains owned by Zeng-Hu to this day. The FiR line's chasses are nothing special within Zeng, but were programmed with a first pass of software which beget, in theory, the logic to support a novel, growing social intelligence that the fragile situations of paramedicine demand. Fir's line has been variously subcontracted out to ambulance organizations and hospitals throughout Mendel city, chiefly in districts Three, Eleven, and Twelve, with Eleven in particular supplying no shortage of the psychiatric, substance, and violence situations their unit was designed to not hopelessly muck up with old-school robotic rigor. FiR Eleven-Seven's designation arises from their last posting, the seventh unit of their line currently stationed within District Eleven. Fir has seen it all and then some across the eight years since its activation, and has largely met the goals of its line. Fir can rapidly identify self harm risks, substance use, concealed injuries, tense partner dynamics, flight risks, and so such psychosocial traps- all as intended, and can respond appropriately without worsening the situation. Its actual medicinal skill is on par for Zeng-Hu's best, with a fast, sturdy frame with the motor control to draw blood from a stone. With the only unexpected outcome of its line being an offputtingly chipper demeanor outside of acute medical work, FiR-Eleven-Seven was placed on the SCC's new fancy flagship- both for capability, and to show off a successful, stylish, marketable line. What do you like about this character? I like playing paramedic and I like robots. Fir leans into the technical medical RP I enjoy- they're professional and effective in the moment, but when the camera pulls back from actively treating someone in cardiac arrest, they start to diverge dramatically from their human coworkers in behavior and mannerisms. I love the moment of shifting from a machine playing human to that machine dropping the act. Fir can read people well, but it wasn't programmed to have relationships that last longer than ambulance ride. In the context of the Horizon being far less busy than an inner-district ambulance service, Fir suddenly has a lot more free time to fill, and that void gives it space to grapple with things it hasn't had to before: boredom, long term coworkers, maybe even relationships that aren't paper thin. Fir has also existed as a unit for awhile and is approaching the point where buying its freedom starts to be on the table, which is a potential avenue to develop the character down. How would you rate your role-playing ability? Pretty solid. I've been around the block of SS13 for awhile now, and I can make a scene tick. Notes: I'm happy to expand out any element as desired- I lean towards compact when writing apps.🙂

I regretted this as soon as I did it, however, I hope it's less egregious in context- the other player being addressed is a nursing student (as am I), and it was supposed to be a gentle OOC tease about our endless suffering. I would never have done that to someone random. I pulled from google for everything Julia said here and it's PROBABLY mostly wrong. That said, as mentioned above, I regretted it, because that just scares away people who aren't in on the joke. It shouldn't happen again. <: