The_Ill_Fated

Played RD alongside their CMO, and thought they did an excellent job in the engagement I had with them. We can always use more CMOs! +1

Had what was probably the most chaotic first round with Joe as Captain that I could imagine, and he handled it beautifully. Dealt with boarders, all of security dying, being kidnapped, and then ship-to-ship combat, and did it all in a compelling, fun, and well roleplayed way. +1

I played a round as Research Director with them on shift, and I greatly enjoyed my interactions with them. I believe they offered exceptionally good roleplaying, acted in a very solid manner in terms of Command-play, and made the round more enjoyable. I look forward to playing more with them! +1

BYOND key: The_Ill_Fated Discord Username: The_Ill_Fated Character names: Andromeda Maschera Eliana Laska Noelle Bellec Maaike Houk How long have you been playing on Aurora?: Since early 2022, off and on. Have you received any administrative actions? And how serious were they?: Yes, a three-day ban in 2024, and a warning for shutting down an Antag gimmick in an inappropriate manner. Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions in a paragraph each. What do you think the OOC purpose of a Head of Staff is, ingame?: A head of staff serves as one of the primary conduits through which RP is delivered to the wider crew. Due to their authority, and visibility,they become natural anchors during events, antagonist scenarios, and interactions with external factions. Their decisions have real narrative weight, and the way they choose to handle situations can either open doors for engagement or shut them down entirely. A head of staff who approaches the role thoughtfully can help guide the round towards interesting outcomes, rather than cutting them short or forcing them into positions where they stagnate. What do you think the OOC responsibilities of Whitelisted players are to other players, and how would you strive to uphold them?: Whitelisted players have a responsibility to elevate the experiences of other players. That will mean sometimes prioritizing the enjoyment of others over what you might particularly want to do. The choices that would be ‘realistic’, or ‘consistent’ for your character, can often be detrimental to the larger narrative if it shuts down antagonists, kills a gimmick prematurely, or diverts attention from the emerging story, the antagonists and players are creating. Above everything else, I think being whitelisted bears a responsibility to act as a facilitative component, it’s about helping steer the round towards fun, engagement, or opportunities for others, even if it involves missing moments as your character. Explain how the recent events in the Spur changed your character and how they came to be employed on the SCCV Horizon: Maaike’s life has been shaped by concealment, by adaptation. Born into the remote backwaters of Sun Reach, she was raised under the Viceroyalty’s eye, expected to demonstrate piety, and loyalty to a tribunalist order that had, just before her birth begun the long process of stamping out Sun Reacher identity into something ornamental, something politically harmless. For her family, descended from among the few favored under the rule of the Pirate Lords, this was but one face presented. Behind the mask remained the old rites, the shrines at the edge of the swamp. For Maaike, adolescence felt like a choice between surviving quietly or stagnating. She chose survival, and Zavodskoi’s interstellar’s corporate tendrils provided escape, as they sometimes did for the clever. In return she signed contracts, accrued debt, studied in Biesellite institutions, and ultimately found herself within weapons development for Kumar Arms, a life far removed from the humid forests of home. She carved out a career there, competent, well-paid, but alienated from meaning. The Spur’s relentless appetite for armaments ensured her hands were never idle, yet she often questioned if she had merely traded one form of subjugation for another. The recent instability in the Spur, the political fragmentations, shifting corporate power-blocs, and the constant undercurrent of crisis, made Maaike reevaluate what she wanted. For the first time since leaving Sun Reach, she could see that the large institutions could be shaken, that loyalties were less than immutable, and that the powers of the Spur were not the monoliths she once took them to be. That volatility awakened something within her, a sense of possibility, of contingency, and for a woman raised among kaivijadii, and the old rites, a suspicion that perhaps far less was set in stone than she once imagined. Her motivation ceased being profit, stability, or even professional advancement. What she wanted was meaning, the chance to participate in something that wasn’t simply another production cycle, or another tightening of Zavodskoi’s grip. The SCCV Horizon represented precisely that: a vessel where research, politics, and culture collide in real time, where the Spur’s changing future is felt, rather than divined through news feeds. It was, she discovered through the months of interviews and paperwork, a place where a woman of her background could steer research rather than simply execute orders. Being appointed to the Horizon’s research leadership pushed Maaike into a role she never expected. Rather than hiding beneath technical expertise, she now sits in a position to articulate priorities, manage people, and navigate the competing philosophies aboard a vessel that felt as if it sat at the crossroads of the Spur’s future. It has not made her louder, nor more ideological, she remains quiet, serious, and task-oriented, but it has forced her to invest in meaning beyond the next contract, beyond the next quarterly report. The Spur is changing, for better or worse, and Maaike felt it best to witness that change from the front line, rather than within the depths of a Kumar Arms laboratory. What roles do you plan on playing after the application is accepted?: Research Director is all, for right now. Have you familiarized yourself with the wiki pages for the command roles?: Yes, I have reviewed all of the relevant Wiki pages. Characters you intend to use for command or have created for command. Include the job they will be taking: At this point it’s just Maaike Houk Do you understand your whitelist is not permanent, and may be stripped following continuous administrative action?: Yep, I am aware. Have you linked your BYOND account to the Forums? Yes Extra notes: Over the last year+ I have taken a substantial amount of time to reflect on my previous whitelist strip before applying again. I believe that gave me the distance to clearly understand what I did wrong, how my behavior in the past was unacceptable, and why the consequences were justified. I made the deliberate choice not to rush back into reapplying, but instead wanted to take the time to ensure I could demonstrate improvement over a long stretch of play without issue. I believe I fully grasp the responsibility that comes with command roles, and how important it is to uphold those standards, and how failing to do so can have consequences for the rest of the players in the round. I am confident that this has made me a better player, and that this time I am capable of approaching command-play with a healthier, more thoughtful mindset. While I hope I’m accepted, and prove trustworthy in this position, I can absolutely understand if it’s a bridge too far.

Turns out, opening a portal onto a dangerous away site full of monsters has downsides.

+1! Dude's an amazing roleplayer, Darvan in particular is multifaceted and complicated character beyond what most would expect.

Hello, apologies for the delay. I'm traveling for the holidays right now. 1/1. Do you think the current structure is effective? Why or why not? I believe the current structure certainly has the potential to work successfully, I particularly believe that its structure enables a high degree of consistency that’s essential for the plans for NBT2. While I can see how this might cause bottlenecks, I think that is worth the uniformity of oversight as to allow a cohesive vision that’s critical for such a foundational rework. 1/2. How would you structure the lore team if you had full freedom to redesign it? Honestly, I don’t currently possess the insight with the information I have right now. I think any adjustments would best be based on how the structure works as we progress towards NBT2. I.E. what works, what consistently bottlenecks, and what the team actually needs during NBT2 development. My priority would be a data-driven approach rather than reshaping the team according to personal preference, ensuring stability while letting real results guide any future restructuring 2/1. Are you confident you can stick out the tedious or uninteresting parts of NBT2 work? Yes, long, tedious projects are something I’m already accustomed to in my professional life, and I understand that major reworks require substantial amounts of unglamorous groundwork. I’m fully capable of pushing through the less enjoyable stages to ensure the project reaches completion. Consistency and follow-through are two of my strongest professional habits in my opinion, and the end-goal is worth the labor. 2/2. How would you describe your work personality? I believe I am generally goal-oriented, communicative and somewhat structured. I believe clarity, accountability ensuring everyone understands the full breadth of both the purpose, and expectations of what we’re doing is essential. 3/1. Please expand more on how you see NBT2 moving toward a more dynamic state. NBT2 allows us to shift from a static corporate setting into a freelancer-driven universe where conflict, exploration, and change are natural parts of daily life. With the galaxy fragmented, and technology lost, and waiting to be recovered, characters have believable reasons to take risks and encounter danger without breaking canon. The contract-based gameplay loop, persistent technology tiers, and redesigned away sites create constant movement both IC and OOC, ensuring the setting evolves through player action supported, rather than constrained by the lore. 3/2. How would you stop stagnation from occurring over time? Stagnation is prevented by making the universe inherently unstable and by ensuring that gameplay/lore progression never fully plateaus. Contracts, rival freelancer groups, shifting resource scarcity, and evolving relic technologies give the IC world continuous pressure points that naturally generate change. I think the predominant problem will be, after we’ve achieved this, to keep it fresh and dynamic rather than a repeating cycle. 3/3. How do you envision strengthening the connection between lore and regular rounds? The new systems make lore directly tied to in-round actions: money earned or lost affects the ship, relic discoveries grant temporary mechanical advantages, and interactions with away ships become persistent narrative threads. Instead of lore being something players only read on the wiki, it becomes a feedback loop where what happens in a round has visible IC consequences. By letting round-to-round gameplay meaningfully influence the world, through persistent resources, evolving tech levels, and contract outcomes, the lore becomes something players actively experience and shape. Allowing players to make moderate, and minor changes to the settings through their actions