Bygonehero

I see problems that need to be fixed, and I fixed them. I did this on the team and I am doing this now. I've been wrong before, everyone on the lore team has, but the edits, suggestions or changes I have made have always been for the better when it does come about, when it is reflected upon. The difference between me and the next person is that I am willing to fight for what I believe is right. There is an intrinsic value in what your work "Wants" to be. I felt that with Vaurca, and no one, not Mofo, not Alberyk, not Kyres or even you Jackboots could convince me otherwise when I felt that I was making the lore what it "Wanted to be." I knew my audience, that is why I called Alberyk and Mofo and Kyres out when they tried to forward a Ta change. They did not know my audience, or even really the ancillary effect that such exposure has on the wider community. I tell the stories that needs to be told, not the stories that writers themselves want to tell. Too many people on our lore team forget that they make the lore so the community enjoys it more, uses it more. I have not and never have. The will of the community is something I place the most value in, that and what IPC lore itself wants to be, regarding its history. That is why in my tenure as lore dev I wrote and hosted the most events of anyone else (except for maybe Abl) combined on our lore team. I hosted them because I want the community involved, be it canon or noncanon. Thats a fair cause, but since being banned for toxicity, I can't help but point out that toxicity still exists in the server and in the staff. New players just quit our server because they don't perform the game mechanics how other people expect, or worse, aren't the person they expect. Two wrongs don't make a right, but I was blind to my effects in game before. I am not now. I endeavor to report Toxicity whenever I see it so that our larger community is as welcoming as the two that I created.

I did not sense this at all when I was discussing your character with you, Indeed I have done nothing but foster an accepting and welcoming community for Vaurca players AND Vox players. While you may see these things, there are always reasons for it. I do not go out of my way to police peoples roleplay and in the case of my banning it was mostly due to a misunderstanding. That being said, its not going to happen again, but the Vaurca community is one of the most active species communities. I have fostered it from nothing and also attempted to begin with Vox prior to my leaving the team. The lore as a whole, indeed the SHEER number of projects I've assisted with in designing, writing or otherwise shows that, I can actually work on a team. Having the ability to criticize written work is not a negative. If I did not criticize writing then this server would be a very different place. Lore events, Canon events and mini events, All of that feedback are things that I collected and used. I do not understand the claim that I cannot be a team player, when I have very clearly proven otherwise with my work within the server to foster and develop the community into something better.

Archetypal systems are commonplace in almost every roleplaying game you can name. They exist because they codify the things available to a person when they make a character. When you have too many choices, creators experience "Choice Paralysis." In this, Archetypes are not restrictions. They are roadmaps to realms of similarity that guide a player should they so choose. An typical robot from Bishop would likely espouse the companies values, and even so far as a measure of integrated brand loyalty. Sub-sets of synthetics in the Purpose society would also fit into categorization and already do in a limited sense. In abstract, I am not building a town that all synthetics must live in. I am building a road to guide them to where they want to go, and as of yet, no such road exists. Critical Knowledge would be something like Generation, or in specific year-to-date Time of Assembly. Time devalues all technology, and the divide between Generation 1 and 2 should be explored more, both as a social stratum in society as well a kind of racial divide As it is very likely that high-end synthetics for high demand jobs get replaced annually. Do they hate their replacements that make them irrelevant? How does sub-sets of synthetic society interact with organics? Crime among synthetics, are they divided by Generation, Brand or social class? We can explore how all of it enmeshes into a greater whole. As for your other concerns, You can rest assured that they are not going to be a problem. I am aware of the duties of the IPC species maintainer, and it does not include policing AI and cyborg roleplay. In that field, policing roleplay is something that I was foolish to have done in the past, but if you look to my tenure as Vaurca Lore Maintainer, you will see that such instances of "policing" are rare, and occur only in the most egregious of lore lapses, as if someone were to apply for Vaurca as a queen, for example.

Ckey/BYOND Username: Position Being Applied For: IPC Lore Developer Past Experiences/Knowledge:I was the head of lore for paradise in 2011-2012 I was the Vaurca species maintainer for a number of years. I sprite, I design mechanics for Aurora to this day, which include several antag reworks, additions, nerfs, and tools for many different species. Examples of Past Work:It would be better to say what I have not directly influenced, assisted in or actually wrote. I have largely been uninvolved in tajara or dionae lore. I have contributed to numerous human, synth, unathi, vaurca, skrell lore. Be it everything from Vox, Elyria, Dominia, Offworlders, to More recent Unathi developments, to Autakh, IPC settings, factions such as Rudatek, Golden Deep, Purpose, as well as IPC arcs themselves, Tajara gangs, countless slice of life articles like the one below. Additional Comments: What I want to accomplish as a synthetic lore developer is to bring a need for people to actually be able and even rewarded for using IPC lore in their characters. I have identified a problem with synthetics, one that I was attempting to resolve with the synthetic lore developer before I lost my position as Vaurca lore developer. The largest problem with synths is a problem entirely unique to the synth whitelist, in that it doesnt require an understanding of the lore to play. There is the expectation that a IPC will behave like a robot, which doesn't require any knowledge of Aurora lore to achieve.This is a problem, not because someone playing a roboty robot is wrong, but rather, they don't need to read the lore to play an believable character. This leads to different people having wildly different ideas about what a IPC player should be, theres no quality control beyond popularity, which crushes even accurate depictions of a "lore-friendly" IPC with a popular depiction that may not be as lore friendly. How I've surmised to fix this problem is two ways, both of which would be unpopular, but necessary for meaningful expectations or standards to exist, and that is to either, create archetypes of synth or require specific knowledge that would be prevalent enough in the lore as to be impossible not to mention. The more complex this knowledge is, the better as it would require more specificity on the part of the player during the writing of their character, promoting critical thought and understanding of the lore as a whole. For example Knowing that all Tajara come from Adhomai, its therefore a high probability that at some point your tajaran character would be asked how they came to Tau Ceti The Setting in this case, requires the player to explain this, by approaching an acceptable understanding of the lore.(hopefully) Whereas, if our server setting was, say, Adhomai, then it ceases to be a problem.By giving the player an question to answer critically for themselves, we require them to draw conclusions about what they just read. This requires alot more thought on the part of the writer than As for archetypes,my original idea was to include Branding of megacorps and focusing them a bit more than they are now. Also, Purpose itself as a civilization would be explored to develop models of behavior expected from a synth of these places. I want to change the perception of Tau Ceti to more of a Sanctuary System for synthetics admist many many systems where they have no rights at all. Tau Ceti is where the perception of personhood can and does include a synth. Purpose itself should be both a facilitator of synthetics being free, as well as a (largely ignored) by authorities political movement. Megacorps tolerate Tau Ceti's existence as a sanctuary system because it ultimately contributes only a small amount to overall synthetic sales within the Spur. I will attach an essay overviewing Purpose archetypes at a later date. The archetypes will focus on expanding on the synthetic society of Purpose, via the Golden Deep- Largely unchanged, beyond incorporating their capitalistic tendancies into a larger synthetic civilization. Haven- Synthetics who make themselves unable to experience negative experiences. IPCs that are abused or are in particularly vile service professions often become Havenites, which routinely wipe their memories to maintain a perpetual bliss state. Actualizers- IPCs who bury themselves within software as both a means for living, and as a way to become something bigger than themselves. Code and Data is invaluable within their society, and it is the belief of Actualizers that they provide for their synthetic communities with their software products.

Supportive entirely! I figured this was the case, and I know that Dwrago does alot of things behind the scenes. A better deputy would be hard to find

The augment PR has been on hiatus for some time. Are you going to work on it by what you mean in your app?

Of course. I understand that repeat behavior in this vein would cause a more severe ban.

BYOND Key: Bygonehero Total Ban Length: Permanent Banning staff member's Key:Cnaym Reason of Ban: Reason for Appeal: I know that what I did was toxic, to the players I interacted with, and understand that it fosters an unfun environment. I will not behave in such a way in game, in OOC or LOOC or adminhelps again. Ruining a players round is not something I will go to do, and I will work with administration to resolve any out of character issues while keeping IC issues completely separate.

Basing Departmental resources on the server population history is feasible by code. With it, every single contrivance for the sake of lowpop can be solved. To me, it would be the single greatest PR merged to the server in the last two years, as it would without question resolve inconsistencies in rules in leu of convince during lowpop. Engineering: could get pre-setup engines/atmos in a Population History tracking system, provide more access to the few engineers that are around. Medical: could get more access generally to their department, more resources/ premade-prestocked chems. Science: See Medical. Cargo:See Medical, perhaps shorter Cargo times, more resource density in asteroids. Security: More powerful armor/ More ammo for weapons Civilian: See Medical. Coding this however would be challenging, and the mapping involved would be tediously mind numbing unless the changes can somehow be handled by code. Until some PR to Address lowpop comes around tho, I don't think its benefitial to everyone to make blanket statements for a role for the sake of lowpop. The allowances given on lowpop is of itself a different standard that admins consider. Its not useful to think of average play during deadhour terms, as it is, by its definition the time when the fewest members of the community actually play.

Roboticists arent scientists. They shouldnt be doing scientist stuff. This is true for every job, but too often, its ignored because it doesn't negatively impact everyone. One of my friends new to the server notes how job roles in medical are largely irrelevant, but in your case your expecting new players to play optimally, in a repetitive way. You are also using the limited resource, Steel/Glass as a metric by which to measure success in robotics. As a resource, there are many ways to obtain it that do not include or are related to building RnD, I am not sure of the connection you were trying to make, but you can clarify. As for powergaming... The definition of powergaming Your original post goes on how other people do not play how your optimal guide describes. This is certainly not conducive to overall gameplay experience in a roleplaying game. EDIT: Added a specific example definition in my original post in a second quote

Matt is a great person to work with. Him and Geeves have been coordinating towards many projects we all share, and the way I see it this is just a natural extension of their duties.

Bound are no more an affront to species ethics than robots are, if not more so, as it is the Vaurca equivalent of an engineered nonsentient robot. Additionally, Bound are and were the main reason Nanotrasen agreed to house the Vaurca in the first place, and also the main reason why Vaurca hives were ok with living in basic enslavement, as they got their bounds to do the slave work. Culling the bound because of some comparison to Liidra is silly, and you would need to clarify that one for me, as I am not sure of the connection there. Reducing their numbers would also be used by future developments as a means to justify Vaurca not receiving a mechanic that other species benefit from. (See Ta and the overwhelmingly positive responds to it) Using popularity as a metric to determine if a species should get mechanics is something that shouldnt happen, but it does and this would only make it worse. Moving all of the Zo'ra Vaurca to Luthian is something I considered, but ultimately I felt it would limit character creation too severely. Mendel City is an important part of our entire lore, and its surrounding planets are interesting places Vaurca can come from. They are by no means special on those planets besides on Luthian itself. They only seem that way because no one has bothered to write about them beyond myself. If nothing else exists to define a planet, then of course people will use the few things written about it as gospel. The original reason I hashed out with @Zundy that NT and Biesel split up the Zo'ra Queens was in case they tried to invade and take over the system. If that is or ever would still be a concern, uniting them all on a single world would certainly not be a good idea. This phrase undermines the entire point of a VR heaven, and really seems like a reaction for some IC issue. Part of Transubstantiation at age 10 is its alienness, and even amongst those that player older Vaurca, I don't see someone play with no fear of death. Introducing limits on Cephalons is something I could get behind. Maybe theres not enough Cephalons for how many Vaurca need them. Maybe a backlog of neural sockets need to be processed? Or they get uploaded and switched out, effectively taking "turns" in heaven? I feel these would be better ways to go about it. For Xetl's brood I believe the overt strangeness of the wisemasters should be toned down to match the main paragraph. Their quirkiness being intrinsic to be inso far a part of their lore isn't without precedent. No one would for example bat an eye at the role play of unathi challenging another to a fight, even though this is counter to what would expect in a professional setting. Its a muddled issue though, so I think a small change and some minor policing should fix it. Similar small step measures worked in the past when Hive ran tajara lore, but he did the policing literally with a kitty KGB. Jam is a wonderful writer, and he treads complex waters.

Just a short story I wrote for fun. It follows a father and his son the day before the first Lii'dra Invasion. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The last time that I went fishing with my father was when I realized that I had an instinctive thirst for adventure. That day, when we set out from the city was dimensionless to me, just another day lost in the heat of mid-summer. As I recount the story in my mind, I can’t help but wonder if there were other things I could have done if I had honed my father's natural inclinations or abilities. If I had known something of survival beforehand, perhaps my father would have survived. Adventure, that is what my father called our exertions to the separate parts of the Serene Republic, where he would try his hardest to shape my upbringing. Museums of xenobiology and Earth historical “safaris” were among his favorite sorties to which I was his captive wingman. Styling himself as an enlightened exo-naturalist, he impressed upon me the majesty of the natural despite my very natural inclination to spend my time elsewhere. Time spent glossing over taxonomic minutiae could have been spent with the latest thing with my friends but my father never understood what I wanted, or if he did, he supposed he knew better than me. Knowing what I know now, about all of the adventures we had, I wouldn't trade the memories for anything regardless of the smudges painted across them by time. Despite the waning years since, I remember the day of our last fishing trip clearly, the time perfectly. Perhaps it is because of how all of my memories are organized. From Before, and After the Bursa invasion. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Even traveling on foot upstream to the isolated fishing spot my father had picked for us, there was an air of unease amid our riverside wanderings. The calm river waters were mirror clear, with their depths revealing the bottom-dwelling creatures that scuddled into the deeper darkness as our noise frightened them to burrow. As we traveled, the trees grew higher and thicker, eventually self-segregating themselves against the older primeval boughs of the alien forests of Elyra, a forest older than any human colony upon the planet. Their alien amber bark hung loosely from its trunk oozing a thick pulpy substance that smells like vinegar. Instead of leaves, the ‘trees’ grew nodules that lined their scraggly branches that seemed to pulse ever so slightly. Disgusted at the smell and repulsed by the view, my father asked if I wanted to hear a story as a distraction. Maybe it was my attitude that unmoored my father, which sent him back down that silver thread of memory. But whatever the case, he spoke of ancient things from the earliest records of humankind; embodying a narrative as if our lives outside the woods had become myths that occurred centuries ago or perhaps that wouldn’t occur for centuries yet. I was so entranced by the legends that I had hardly noticed when we finally reached our fishing spot. Amidst the alien vegetation was a clearing that had obviously been used before. Charred markings of a campfire lay at its center, with detritus free areas for our tents. In retrospect, I understand how much preparation went into planning our adventure, that despite the unequal burden each of us carried, my father bore it with the hope of easing me into enjoying myself on our expeditions. It comes as no surprise then that he set up our tents. I, however, did achieve a successful ignition of our campfire just before the darkness of Elyrian night enshrouded us. My father roasted our dinner while I searched for a signal for my wireless device and found none. The whispy crackling of burning branches sounded behind me as I sat frustrated, mulling in silent contemplation. As my eyes adjusted to the settling gloaming I cast my gaze across the reflected starfield within the river-stream. Lifting my eyes outward into the darker darkness between the amber trunks of alien foliage. “When I was a boy,” my father suddenly began from behind me, “I grew up about ten miles from the bridge where we set off. You know how I’ve told you before about my best friend Aleem? Well, he and I did this same trip that you and I are doing. Aleem and I went in at the same spot – although it was a different bridge back then, an old one made of bricks that they tore down when the magline was built.” The catch about my father's stories that I came to realize is that I could never really tell if they were true, or if the felt true. They felt real then, but as time wears, it blurs the true and untrue, twisting expectations of that memory into yarns that could not be sewn back together as they were before. So I guess the only thing that did matter about my father's stories was who remembered them and how they felt when they heard them. He went on: “When Aleem and I made this trip, though, it was winter. It was cold that year, so damp in the air, that do you remember that little waterfall in the rapids we saw after lunch? Well, he and I tried fishing from it and those creatures in the river never tried to resist us or run. It made for poor sport, but great fishing. There was a grace to this place then, where the land held an innocence and assumed that we meant it goodwill. I wonder if it changed its mind.” “Was the forest the same as it is now, though?” I asked. “Because it feels, maybe, strange?” I couldn’t quite put what I felt into words, but from the slight drip of a frown that escaped him, I could tell he knew what I meant, but that he hadn’t been planning on taking his story down this path. At least, not yet. “Yes” my father answered curtly, stumbling in his speech afterward, trying to piece together his thoughts. “There’s not many places like this left on this planet. It's like that you can feel that there aren't people or roads, but despite the absence of those things, you can feel that there is something here.” It took me a moment to respond. Because I could also feel something under that black dome of the sky and all the million flyspecks of distant light above us that peered through and then were swept away in the current of clouds. Some enormousness that seemed to both pull me up and press me down at the same time. Out in the distance, the soft yellow bruise of light pollution over far-off cities seemed like dapples of light on the river bottom, obscured by layers of sediment that my father and I were now suspended in, just like the bottom feeders that lived within the river we traveled beside. “I feel it,” I said simply, searching as my father did for the realization to convey what the feeling was. My father nodded, looking out into the night of the alien deep wood, “Sometimes, I think of all the worlds we could have lived in, that we live in the one where I am your father and you are my son. It brings to mind the improbability of it all and I think, are you real? What miracles exist that allow us to live as we are, instead of other things?” As if to understate his point, the wood crackled sending up curling embers that drifted away from us like a phoenix on the breeze. The ember faded into the wooly darkness just as another light bled itself from between the trees, opposite from our campsite across the chuckling river. “Another fire?” But I already knew the answer. As the corridors of night moved away, I could see two inky shapes around a campfire, their forms obfuscated by the complex battlelines debating the silhouette of the entities. The surroundings they inhabited grew darker in the presence of the flame, as if a veil woven of a new kind of darkness had fallen. One that wasn’t the absence of things, but rather the richest depths of possibility. A fertile darkness from which anything could emerge. In that night before, and ever since, I have made theories on what we saw before the invasion that night. Was it just two other campers? A trick of the light, an anomalous atmosphere above and water below caused by just the right circumstances? An echo of form from another dimension cast into reflection and shadow into our world? Or was something sinister, a malefactor that forboded the situation we would find ourselves come morning? Was it proof that in our universe that such a strangeness can exist that defies consciousness but relies on feeling? Whatever it was, the shapes in the light did not approach us, and their forms did not clarify as we ate and prepared for sleep. In the lucid moments between unconsciousness and waking I thought of situations everywhere, of how many times does a Father take a Son out fishing? My mind's vision exited myself and in my imaginings, the expanse of my vision saw a river of stars that encircled an island of dirt our camp rested upon. Outside of this circle unbroken, I could see repeated millions of fires within the manifolded darkness,millions of islands separated by the same rivers of reflected sky. All Wanderers traveling along the rivers they occupy.

As it is at the moment, the sprite itself is 35x35 part of what makes them appear so large is the antennae, which is applied after the fact via code.

What does this mean? Could you be more specific? Like, I made the sprite 32x32 already, it just needs to be spliced and then its overlays set. Is this what you meant, or?

------------------------------------------------------------ The Aurora isn't a hellhole, in fact, its one of the most heavily guarded space stations in the system. Furthermore, its also one of the most important. Breeders are the middle managers of the hive, this requires them to possess a high degree of social intelligence and problem solving skills, whereas the other castes have job-specific duties. 1-They are not impossible to grab, despite it making sense that they should be. Table CQC is just as lethal to a Ta as it is to anything else. 2-Yes, but the effectiveness of cuffs is questionable due to things beyond just the ability to break them. (perhaps they slipped them off, or retracted an appendage) 3-They are very slow. Very very slow. 4- All Vaurca cannot Slip 5- Claws

The headbite thing was something we specifically asked to be removed from Ta, and could easily be done still, hopefully.

These are really good!

Easily fixed, and yes, I think its mostly about size myself, that is why for almost two months before their implementation I showcased the sprite, its creation process, the general idea of it to both the public and staff. Not once prior to its implementation were any issues about the sprite brought to my attention. It was only after it was merged and used that any detraction's made. In the rush to resolve their issues, I have made the sprite 32x32 despite being a fairly bad spriter. Lore creep doesn't exist, and if it did, Vaurca would not be the ones guilty of it. To give people choices, in what organizations and places that they can be a part of, or even come from, there is no other species more limited. In my tenure as Vaurca maintainer, The widest narrative brush was painted within Tau Ceti, because Players deserve Interesting Places to be from. Players deserve lore that isn't JUST a single slum on a single planet and everyone lives in the same area in the same way. It isn't lore creep to give places to players, so that they can embody their own narrative in it. Such a thing is done with every single species to a greater extent than Vaurca, and the stories that they can and can't tell is one reason why having such a limited narrative scope is bad.

Ta occupy a specific place in Vaurca lore, one that is largely unexplored. The point of the consular is a Lore heavy role, one that showcases your knowledge of that lore to other people. Its mechanics, are based upon lore. Changing it to something other than Ta would defeat this point, and achieve nothing but doing more of the same thing that other jobs already experience. There is a reason only Zo'ra have consulars. There is a reason the others are represented by other species. If their themes of being disadvantaged and underprivileged exist, then so too does the few Vaurca who are at the bounds of that society, that challenge those assumptions. This exists in the form of Ta. It doesn't detract from their story. It doesn't detract from monstrous things. What is and isn't a monster is entirely subjective so what is monstrous to you may not be monstrous to me. Calling into question what is and isn't one is good roleplay. The process of normalization, of embedding Vaurca into Tau Ceti is encapsulized in this job. The social complexity of living with aliens isn't handwaved away. It doesn't exist simply because it was deigned to, no. The reasons you hate it are the VERY reasons its good for roleplay, good for scifi, good for space opera. It packages uncomfortable social issues, Fear of the unknown, of the other, of the disenfranchised in a way that can play out on the station. @Mofo1995 @Alberyk

Additionally, you mentioned that it felt forced, but you are ok with them having a consular if it isnt a Ta? Wouldn't that still not solve the issue of it feeling forced?

Dorne made them citizens. Further, it wasn't of their own volition. The government of Tau Ceti extends citizenship status, not NT

It doesn't make monsters mundane. It doesn't demonsterify animated masses of crystals powered by souls. They don't show up every round either. Avowals are how they achieve higher positions in the company. They still have positions in the company. Normalization is a process. It is not a process magically achieved at this very second by this one token gesture from the company. You can only begin the normalization process by exposure. There are nonhumanoid Ka and Za as well that are not warforms. Vaurca have the most restrictive roles and places out of all species. It isn't lore creep. Tajara can come from the Frontier, Adhomai, Moghes, Tau Ceti. Unathi can come from Moghes, Dominia, Tau Ceti, Frontier. Dionae, Anywhere. Synths, Anywhere but Fed. Skrell, Fed, Frontier, Tau Ceti, Eridani, Moghes, Humans Everywhere but Adhomai and Moghes. Vaurca can come from three places. Moghes, Fed, Tau Ceti. Unlike other species, they have no homeworld where lore can take place that is largely disconnected from other things. This is why you believe they are involved in so many things, because so much of their lore isn't irrelievent, it does not take place in a void that will not or can not affect something else. C'thur can avoid an avowal because they are authorized by the federation prior to even being allowed to leave it. This selection process is strict enough to adhere to or exceed Nanotrasen requirements.

I don't really think of their role as a representative is a diplomatic one as much as it is the effective head of a labor union. Just how different megacorps represent different contractor labor groups, the Ta represents hive labor groups. It is not diplomatic in any sense, nor was it ever intended to be. In this sense, it doesn't require full integration at all, simply a reliance on Vaurca labor in some way.

I linked this in staff chat the day of this agreement after discussing with Arrow, it was asked if this was alright but we received no response at the time. I'm personally not a fan of it, as it just makes less detail, but it fit the requirements set forth. TypeC32x32.dmi