Girdio

I think overall this is a good idea. I'm currently 28, and got started with Aurora when I was around 16. During that point, I've seen the general community get older and older. There was a point where pretty much everyone were minors. As mentioned though, we have gotten a point where the average player is, at the very least, 18. I think the biggest positive that would come from providing an age restriction is simply being able to say certain turns of phrase. A lot of times, I have to consciously censor myself in case there's a young teen watching. As mentioned, I still highly think the ERP-ban should exist too still. I'm going to be honest, I don't think we're losing anything by cutting young players out of the server. When I was 16, my characters and roleplay was even worse than it is now - and I think it was obvious. I'm sure there are some minors who do really well roleplaying! That said, we've had a lot of players come in and admit to being 14-15 and have...very unrealistic and goofy characters. I also don't think we have that many minors playing currently (I don't know who is, so I could be wrong), but putting it in as a preventative nature is a good step regardless.

Love can bloom between dionae and humans.

BYOND key: Girdo Discord Username: Girdio Character names: Veronica Brax, Ramala Halaby, Fikra Zadeh How long have you been playing on Aurora? Over the entire time being on Aurora - it would be since early 2014. There has been extended periods of absence over the years though. Have you received any administrative actions? And how serious were they? I don't believe so, but I could be wrong. 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, in-game? A command member is, first and foremost, useful OOC as a way to drive the round through effective and engaging interactions. Giving their department both support when a character OOCly does not know the next steps for something, and also giving people ideas to engage with. A Head of Staff should, realistically, also be there to portray the ideals that the SCC wants for their crew - and help provide a (mostly) corporate-approved/corporate-aligned flavoring for their actions, which gives room for characters not as supportive of corporate ideals to contrast. Providing guidance also goes hand in hand with another utility aspect of Heads - helping teach. Learner roles are plentiful, and Heads of Staff should be trying to engage with them in a capacity (either taking them under their wing, or directing someone else to), as this not only helps player retention, but helps people learn the role they're trying to. What do you think the OOC responsibilities of Whitelisted players are to other players, and how would you strive to uphold them? On an OOC level, Command Whitelisted players are there to help encourage players to engage in roleplay, the setting of the server, and most importantly, acting in a manner that ensures the round goes smoothly. Command players at all levels have the ability to shut down a round for antags. In turn, OOCly whitelisted players need to act in good faith for their fellow server members and let gimmicks play out, within reason. Even cold and harsh Command characters should be approachable to a degree, and be engaged with roleplay to provide characters with avenues of interaction. Providing players and characters with opportunities to interact. On a roleplay side, whitelisted command characters should be expected to model good roleplay for new (or otherwise) players, to help people understand the expectations of a heavy roleplayer server. All in all, I think the biggest responsibility is to share the spotlight with other characters. As Command characters are commonly front and center in gimmicks and events, they should be trying to find ways to engage other players who aren't. Giving people different tasks to stay involved in an idea, or simply being communicative, goes a long way to help encourage player engagement. Explain how the recent events in the Spur changed your character and how they came to be employed on the SCCV Horizon. Raziya Umarova spent most of their life amongst their fellows, amongst a small Host- far from the comforts many in the Spur have come to expect. Vysoka was not kind to her, as it has taken and sculpted something different - someone who has learned how to continue, a survivor. Most importantly, though, Raziya has come to realize the importance of community - that they could not do things alone. Comradery not only keeps you alive, but it also helps you thrive when you’re competing with some of the larger Hosts around. Telling tales and building that community go in tandem with the more practical side of things. Helping people cook, to grow their own food - all vital skills when there's nobody else to help. These were things that came easily to them. She adapted and could help others, too. When their Host joined the Great Serpents, they thought it might have been forever. A new, slightly more impressive lot in life. They were put in charge of helping guide some of the Hosts within the Confederacy, giving people the understanding to pass on to others, while also keeping things reeled in, curbing potential frustrations. It was something she was good at for a time, something that people came to expect of her - keeping Hosts from leaving the crumpling Confederacy was something she thought could be pulled off. Maybe, just maybe - they could switch things up and return the Great Serpents to a place they were once, and she would not longer be just surviving - instead, thriving. Things change, though, and recognizing that your skills are underappreciated? Taken for granted? That's when you realize that you have to make a change; that's just survival. She left, or fled as some may put it, and decided that those who had left the planet to stake their own fortunes certainly had the right idea. They made their way to the city-states and laid it all out. Her experience and the skills on the table. No, she wasn't an expert pilot - but she had what mattered. The knowledge of how to lead a group through difficult times. How to get down and dirty her fingers to grow crops. To inspire through example. In different times, perhaps they wouldn't have made the cut. But these were anything but average, and unless an end came to the scarcity of phoron? A lot of people were going to have to change their ways to adapt. That? That was Raziya’s specialty. What roles do you plan on playing after the application is accepted? Executive Officer Consular Officer Corporate Liasion (Possibly) Head of Security 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: Raziya Umarova, Executive Officer 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? It should be, as far as I know. Extra notes: N/A

I'm a big fan of this in general. There's been a lot of times where I've set my pose to reflect reading/writing/using a console etc, but people aren't typically examining everyone constantly. It turns into having to keep an eye out for players approaching, and emoting that you're doing something so it doesn't look like you're doing nothing.

Lynx has been pretty invested in improving on their last application. I know Lynx reached out to myself and others for feedback and ways to incorporate more insight into their understanding of Tajara lore. Furthermore, their current characters have been a fun inclusion within the Horizon, and I don't have any worries with their roleplay ability. +1

Name: Fikra Zadeh Job: Investigator Content: During a routine shift, a navigation disk was located by members of the Horizon crew. After looking into it, it was determined to be a direct shot to the Starlight Lounge. The location was rimward of the ship's current location. This navigation disk has been put into evidence and would be vital for any efforts to investigate the casino.

This is something I was considering as well. On a similar point, people could still DM their friends and ask if they were playing a certain round.

I think this COULD work, but has to be implemented well. I don't know if flat out removing it is the move, but I don't know what is. I do agree that we have an issue with people wanting to play only when certain characters/players are on. I can understand why it happens, and why people might not want to hang around certain characters, but I don't think it's good for the server overall. It's how we get cliques, which has been severely determental to the server in the past, but it's been better recently. I say that as someone who tries to avoid it, but HAS had times of being "I can't think of any interactions with these characters so I won't join." Ideally, this would be cutting down on people not interacting with an array of characters. If you don't know who's playing you might just have to roleplay with someone new, or that you don't typically. An additional benefit is making things a little more secret. If you didn't know security was full, you can't guess it's merc now that the manifest is divided by half. The thing is, not everyone has the desire or energy to do that. There are some players that wouldn't simply want the stick around in the round, or might just hang around and wait for certain characters to join. At that point, I don't know if anything changed. That said, I feel like the manifest checker could be removed from the Discord bot without substantial loss, but I think having the round timer at the very least would be nice to keep around. I don't know how customizable the bot is though.

I'm a little confused as to what the suggestion is, to be honest. It feels like it's "give more OOC leeway to people to commit crimes," and as others mentioned it happens! We've even had the BSSB involved before. I'm leaving it at that, to repeat what everyone else is said. From your example, I can't entirely understand why your character would have done that to begin with. Obviously everyone has moments where afterwards they go "my character wouldn't have said/done that," but this kinda feels like your character doing something on OOC knowledge (which you mention). Why would your character be fine breaking into a workplace, and get negative marks on their record over this? I get where you're coming from, having more non-antag criminal behavior would be fun! At the same time, like Fyni mentioned, the reason you don't see it all that often is mainly people not wanting to lose characters (however that may be). That's the issue with a character building up a huge arrest record. It becomes less "oh that rascal" and more "why aren't you fired?" You mention trespassing as something minor (which sure, ICly it is), but I can't see the SCC wanting to keep someone KNOWN for breaking into places around. "How long until they break into something critical?" Sure, the SCC may employ really shady characters, but as long as they're not breaking regulations they're not screwing over the SCC. The same can't be said for Johnny, after he runs off from his job to get drunk, and gets arrested every shift.

Played a few rounds with them, have no complaints personally. They do well handling security, while still attempting to give antags necessary space to do their thing. +1

Ckey/BYOND Username: Girdio Position Being Applied For: Biesel/Megacorp Lore Deputy Have you read the Lore Team Rules and Regulations wiki page?: Yes. Past Experiences/Knowledge: While not having experience in any team, I have had experience with submitting works to small zines and magazines. Examples of Past Work: I am including an ongoing LCA proposal to provide support for having continued lore interest, and an interest in contributing to Aurora's worldbuilding. 1) Answer the following questions concerning the Republic of Biesel: What are your thoughts on the Republic of Biesel’s current politics, external and internal, and how would you like to see them develop? After returning, I've enjoyed the shift toward a heavier focus on the internal side of the Republic. I would love to see more happening in the Republic's internal politics that impacts the characters. The 2024 election arc was phenomenal for this, and I feel like there's opportunities to do more with this. Having the opportunity for characters to have more investment to Biesel would go a long way to making it feel lived in. Many of the planets under the banner of the Republic of Biesel have lagged behind in development and/or lack good pull-factors. Is there a particular planet you would like to help revise and do you have any suggestions in that regard?’ Valkyrie comes to mind, first and foremost. I believe it’s seen substantial improvements in recent years, as it was very limited and has seen its expansion. I think we can go even further, though, by developing an actual identity for Valkyrie. Currently, it has a segment literally listed as “blah blah blah, tl;dr”, and the crime segment basically implies the Republic doesn’t care that Valkyrie is just a den of criminal activity, which seems weird. Vaurca, Unathi, and Tajara are all on Valkyrie, but you could almost not even realize it because it almost seems like an off-handed remark. I think going into detail on how these citizens are seen on the planet by the humans would go a long way. After all, Biesel has a lot of “shining beacon of diversity and equality” on the surface, while prioritizing humans at the end of the day. I think Valkyrie could benefit from the concept of the “Valkyrian Dream” actually being defined and expanded outward. Perhaps the Valkyrian Dream isn’t just something for Sinta citizens, and instead refers to the self-determination that the Commonwealth of Valkyrie wants to instill in all its citizens, to put itself apart from Biesel. A dream that is at odds with the rampant crime on the planet. Having an ongoing effort to try and curb this corruption, leading to burnout and disillusionment, as it’s getting harder and harder to stop what has become so ingrained into the planet. Having subsets wanting to have honor in their home “planet”, while others just wanting to scrap by and not wanting to rock the boat, being at odds can provide conflict both within the planet and off the planet for Valkyrie-born residents. It also gives characters a reason to leave and seek off-world employment. Is there anything about Biesel's (the planet) lore you really like or really dislike? I considered Biesel to be the focus of "a planet I think needs revising", because, while I love Biesel, a substantial part of the draw to the planet is Mendell (for...very obvious reasons, of course). There's noted to be so much else on the planet, but the development of stuff outside Mendell is rather weak. I would love to see even just small, noted locations for characters in a city to reference, without it having to be headcanoned. Or, just in general, more reasons for characters to visit Biesel and go somewhere besides Mendell. That said, obviously, Mendell is a high point in both Aurora lore and for world-building, as each district is unique and offers a reason for characters to have a connection with or familiarity with. 2) Concerning the Megacorporations: Can you tier-list the megacorporations, graded by OOC characteristics (eg. characterisation, writing quality, contribution to the setting, relevance to played characters) with brief reasoning as to why they are graded such. Bonus points if you go the full mile with graphics (you don’t have to, that’s effort). A Idris starts it off. I’m always a fan of groups in media like Idris to begin with, but I appreciate the current angle of how they cultivate their image. The ability to, in some small ways, pull at more strings than one would expect ties the typical “deal with the devil” motif together. Then there is obviously conflict with Silversun that provides a direct show of the priorities of Idris, and the conflict their mere existence can cause. Being a source of conflict for characters, through their planet of origin, their horrible loans, or the uncanny nature of their IRUs is only rivaled by… Heph, another A ranker. Obviously, Himeo and N.H.P. come to mind regarding human lore and the negative influence that Heph has had on them. Providing the opportunities for characters to be opposed to a megacorp, to have tangible ties to the lore, is just as important as providing characters with reasons to support them. There is an argument to be made that, despite the harm Heph has caused, it still outweighs the alternative, which avoids it simply being the typical “evil” company. The final A-rank is Nanotrasen. Potentially due to being such a long-term staple, it's hard to see NT as anything BUT fleshed out and important. Hell, they have their hands in almost everything, in some form or fashion. Biesel and the SCC exist largely because of them. They're the top dogs in the room by a large margin, and the reach is felt. That said, it’s hard to nail down what their identity really is because they’re spread so far around. It’s hard to ignore their impact in both the long history of lore, though, and even without a strong identity, I feel so much of Aurora has been built with them in mind. B The first B-Rank is the PMCG. It does really well, providing a multifaceted “merc” group, and it provides at least (some) in for in for each species, although skrell lack something that is individually “theirs”. I think the biggest issue when it comes to the PMCG is that they feel pretty one-note. You play Eagle Corp if you wanna play an ex-criminal, you play Ringspire if your character loves killing, you play Freewater if you’re a Unathi, so forth. Not to say that is a bad thing, and there’s obviously nuance here. That said, I feel like these companies could be given more to them, to help further explain why someone may join them. The second B-Rank is Zeng-Hu. There’s so much cool stuff about Zeng-Hu, and a lot of it feels like “pushing the boundaries of science and medicine, even without caring what happens.” Hell, the focus on furthering oneself at the cost of personhood is a theme that rings pretty strong with quite a lot of characters - most obviously Galatea. The question of “does this company actually care about my well-being, or am I just another experiment?” I feel like the biggest issue, though, isthat I can’t remember the last time Zeng-Hu has really had a heavy focus. Obviously, there’s the current Mindblankers going around in lore, but it feels like there are opportunities to have Zeng-Hu drop in - there’s a ton of research-flavored arcs that can come about because of Zeng-Hu. The third B rank is Zavod. As someone who loves the thought of companies within the SCC not being all super friendly with each other, the long-term conflict with Heph provides a realistic look at things not being “peaceful” within the SCC. That said, outside of this…it’s kinda hard to figure out something to say about Zavod. They make guns, and they’re professional. I feel like Z.I.s could be expanded, since people love playing as them, but compared to ISUs or IRUs, there’s not much to figure out what makes them unique. Finally, is Orion. Initially, I had Orion down in C-Rank with Einstein, but the more I thought about it, the more I think Orion fills its niche. I don’t think Orion is bad; it’s just okay. I feel like, though, it being okay is okay. Given the fact that it’s the company that hires pretty much whoever, and the employees being just regular fodder instead of “the best of the best” that a lot of the other companies expect, provides a good contrast to the professionalism of the rest. I can’t really think of anything else to call Orion as “quick, easy, and cheap”, and I feel like that’s something the company would be proud of. C There’s only one company left. The first, and only, C-Rank is Einstein. I love the fact that Einstein is, all things considered, a pretty good workplace (if you’re not an IPC, but that’s a high ask anyways, sorry robots). For all the demonization and hatred the SCC wants people to believe, they’re just…typical people and not some big bad villain. That said, because Einstein is so much of a boogeyman, they rarely come up anytime, and it’s hard to really justify talking about them or mentioning them, making them something a lot of players may not even realize exists. 3) Write a small Google Docs proposal for any piece of Republic of Biesel or Megacorporate lore you are interested in for the current setting. The proposal can be a wiki lore addition or a stand-alone forum article, but must be >=2 okay-length paragraphs. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dyhXAm1pDOidTgsKywHiKX7KXxM_gZgQExloMnr9SQ4/edit?usp=sharing This is a proposal focusing on the concept of corporations trying to undermine each other. The intention is to BOTH provide players with ways to come up with traitor gimmicks and exploitables to interact with, and also provide flavoring in regards to the inner workings of the corporations. 4) Finally, what’s a piece of sci-fi you are most inspired by in your writings, be it a media franchise, novel, game or something else? Is it cliché to say The Expanse? In particular, the world-building and character development through the entire series were always really reminiscent of a good DnD party/setting, which I suppose makes sense given its origins. The Alien franchise is huge, and I love the aesthetic and overall worldbuilding in it's setting, along with the character relations (most) of the entries have, and whenever I think of good sci-fi horror - it typically comes back to Alien. The Children of Time series, along with the Wayfarers series, are also pretty big inspirations that I look back at whenever I’m writing something.

I like the general idea. Someone with training being able to discern how long it's been there, or a body getting picked up just by a chance notice feels reasonable and could add a good deal.

I have only now realized my grave mistake. It didn't click with me at the moment that this was NOT including deputy applications (user brain error). I'm not quite sure why I didn't make the connection, I think the "new team" aspect just made me forget. I don't think I have the experience enough to lead an entire new team. My intention was to apply for lore deputy, and I will withdraw the application until a point that occurs. Really sorry about that, I should have double checked, I feel like a goofball now.