Sniblet

Hello, everyone. I hope this message finds you well. My name is Perrine d'Garmeaux, and I'm a member of your bridge staff. I'd forgive you for not recognizing my name, as I've been here only a year and change, and I've been strictly assigned to deadshifts for much of that time. There's no need to cry for me, I'm quite used to it: I come from Celestial Cruises, where my role was to run whatever no one else was available to. I've had to adapt to many new things working on SCCV Horizon, but my schedule is not one. Something I have had to adapt to, comes from the fact that a Celestial Cruiser is not an exploratory vessel - and SCCV Horizon is. This means that we spend much time away from welcoming ports and hospitable territories. This means that maintaining supply is different, higher-stakes, and consumable goods are best counted carefully and used well. On a cruise, running out of supply meant at worst that one of our patrons was about to be told that we were out of their favored wine. On an exploratory vessel, running out of supply means no breakfasts. It means that a breached room is left airless. It means that parts of the crew are forced into long-term cryogenic storage to reduce stress on life support. At time of writing (21 September 2467), Horizon is expected back in port in four days. Due to emergency FTL maneuvers taken on 30 August, we will not be making this date. Related, and particularly pressing - one of our shipbound intelligences, Virgil, has informed the bridge staff that at our current rate of usage, we will run out of supply very soon (I am not at liberty to provide a precise estimate). I'm not clear on what supply means exactly. Oxygen may hold. Food may remain available. We may yet have our wines. But I am led to understand that supply refers to something that SCCV Horizon non-negotiably requires to maintain full operational capacity. Oxygen may hold. Food may remain available. I am betting against the wines. To be blunt: it's time to get serious about rationing. If our next FTL jump does not provide for us (and why should it?), and we fail to be conscientious with what we still have, grim times lie ahead. I am only a member of bridge staff, and cannot personally describe what rationing had best look like for all members of the crew. To this end, I have conducted and curated a series of interviews from other hands, for your consideration. Readers are welcome to add their own advice and personal commitments to conserve. ICSU-Chensha, Bartender: "I'll offer people watered-down drinks: 'would you like that coffee diluted with water, sir?' - that sort of thing. I'm not thinking of being too precious about the liquor stocks, because when we're out of it, we're just out of liquor. The best we can do is enjoy it while it's here. Just, you know - if you're getting smashed, you're wasting it, so I'll be cutting people off faster than usual." Z.I. Monogram, Scientist: "As my services are non-essential, I will be moving to long-term storage to save on maintenance and charging costs for the duration of the shortage." Hazel #H-S14.27, Cook: "I'll be growing some produce myself, and preferentially using what I've grown to cook! That means simpler meals." Za'Akaix'Osthi C'thur, Paramedic: "I have already been assigned to fewer shifts. My nutritional needs at high activity are greater than most vaurcae, so I will spend much of my time at rest. I hope that Hydroponics will begin to grow k'ois at scale." Ka'Akaix'Qyv C'thur, Xenobiologist: "I'll be in the Aether. They'll wake me whenever there's something to do again." Ra'Viax'Nahi K'lax, Shaft Miner: "Cull order pending deep scan of next beacon." | (I understand this to mean that the drone will be destroyed by a Breeder if new supply is not found) Thrill of Momentous Realization, Xenoarchaeologist: "We're letting them turn out lights in our dormitory, and spending our time in public spaces instead. If the lights dim in public spaces, we'll see about feeding from starlight." Iphigenia Konstantinou, Lab Assistant: "I guess I should encourage the scientists to be more frugal?" Karen Stahl, Pharmacist: "Make sure you're taking your medications as much as the label recommends. Too little and they're wasted, too much and they'll run out. If they run out, they run out - at least they got you this far." Nekhii Sansryn, Hydroponicist: "Behold, the kindest thing that one misplaced jump can do to a vessel. I've always said we needed a bigger hydroponics bay for exactly this. My siblings and cousins know these unhappy times well. Tujmansaal escapes us yet again, aiseheer. San-Khöl is ready to do her part for you, and we'll pull through yet."

Solar+passive cooling again, same bartender shell as my last post. Put my thermostat up to max again, because it still couldn't get me below 65 anyway. This time I spent the majority of my shift at max charge. I would slowly drain if I idled on certain tiles behind the bar, but I just spent more time in the right spots and I was good. Felt nice. I sort of expected the intended power level of the solar reactor to just be slowing down the discharge process, so making a gain was a pleasant surprise. I could safely run for like 7 seconds at a time before needing a 20ish second break, but I never needed to run. Security shells went on complaining in LOOC, and I was standing there dionamaxxing like "uh huh. tell me more about how you suffer for your own inferior choices."

they’re robots. they have no personality. the only thing they can add to the round is “surprise! you thought the fighting was over but actually here are three more security bots and these ones have grenade launchers and energy swords and combat hypos and their ONLY purpose in existence is to remove the antag from play and then d/c” it’s cool to have options to play with but this is not a very good option to play with

To elaborate, I mean skrell are more human in roleplay than IPCs or vaurcae often (though not necessarily) are, in the sense that most skrell have lives outside of their work, and they are strongly emotional in a way that doesn’t require a big asterisk and a unique definition of emotion. Of course there are still major differences, or else I wouldn’t be writing this much. 1. Miq has heard (mostly) good things about C’thur. To their slight discredit, they’re very new here, and living close enough to Qerr’Malic to view it with the naked eye, Miq is aware that some few of the hive have gotten much too comfortable in the Federation, much too quickly. Looking past the only exemplars of the species in the Nralakk system, though, C’thur seems very willing to understand and work with the Federation. The Ta, especially, understand the value of foresight and cooperation in a way that a majority of the Spur demonstrably does not. Miq has yet to see the bugs in person but fleetingly, but they’re going in with a positive attitude. Miq’s feelings on dionae are more positive, though, to sidetrack a bit, are negatively colored by personal experience. Unique among the aliens of the Spur, Miq has met a few dionae, and their lack of a Wake is, to be brief - deeply unsettling. Apart from that, though, they seem to have integrated about as well as the tragedy of their physiology permits! It’s come to their understanding that as long as they’re fed right - which the Federation, in its wisdom, ensures as a priority - they tend be exemplary citizens, uncanny psychic silence aside. Those that Miq knows have backed this up - their Nral’Malic is stunted by their lack of a zona bovinae (Miq cannot get past this) and yet despite this, they give off generally intelligent and socially compatible impressions. (You know, all the aliens of the Spur are supposed to be like this. It’s difficult to imagine how some of them can possibly maintain a society.) Miq has largely superficial and stereotypical understandings of unathi and tajara. Unathi are burly savages for the most part, and tajara are natural infighters (so are humans). Both had the potential to be better than they are, but have been tragically sabotaged by humanity’s shortcomings. There’s still hope for them, at least. Non-Federal skrell aren’t to blame for their circumstances, and Miq is disinclined to rush judgements. Miq wouldn’t argue with a good SCI score if they saw one. It’s just that they don’t tend to have good SCI scores. 2. Miq is a bit leery of Weishii, believing that it fundamentally promotes laziness and contrarianism, and is positively disdainful of those who follow all the other ones. They profess Qeblak, though they don’t follow it particularly ardently - they’re not sure of how the movements of stars are meant to affect the affairs of mortals. They’d love to learn, though, because their uncertainty puts a minor dent in their SCI. Miq is a proud Oqi, hovering between high 6 and low 7, and they have been observed dreaming of wearing the Iqi insignia one day. A little bit older, a little bit more knowledgeable, a little creative, and they’ll surely get there. They certainly have the spirit - they’d strive to maximize their social compatibility even if it weren’t indexed. They quite appreciate all the advantages of a dependable grading system, though. 3. Miq was a medic attached to the Bureau’s expeditions, and their relationship with Void Tech is closer than most, though not exactly close - similar to how an interested and attentive medic aboard Horizon would have understood the Konyang Signal. It’s what caused some of the laser burns they’ve healed, but it’s also more nuanced than that. Glorsh’s mind was deeply disturbed and incomprehensible, but it had a definite purpose in mind, and it was very, very intelligent. Consequently, Lu’Piq tends to be good at what it does, and what it does ranges wildly and unpredictably from saving lives in the way of miracles, to ending the lives of perfectly good and decent people in an instant. Classifying what does what, and doing so with confidence, is a strong net good for the Federation. Understanding how any of it works would be revolutionary, and Miq would be happy to help it they had the knowledge to even begin that work - but it seems a distant dream, for now. 4. Big fan. Miq considers the Nlom relay network a crucial staple of Federal society. Miq can empathize with those who’d prefer more independence, but they don’t really understand and they don’t agree. The Federation’s unity is a powerful advantage, and is much of what makes them the best nation in the Spur.

As a Z.I., you are subject to an ownership style that the wiki compares to the Burzsian method. It’s unlikely that your handler is uniquely merciful or that you can win them over with charm - if they think your winning personality is too human, or too complex, whatever that means to them, then they are liable to mindkill you. Exceptions to this rule probably do not remain in the profession long. Living under these conditions ought to have a substantial effect on the character. It doesn’t have to be your whole thing, but the executioner’s blade hangs over every Z.I., and it is unwise to ignore it. Most don’t mind; they just stay well within the lines set by their employer, and don’t fret about it unnecessarily. Some develop something of a phobia, fixate on the threat, and are conspicuously careful. This is risky. Some develop complex minds in secret. This is very risky; you can’t go back from it. ”Cool and refined” is about the kind of image that I think Zavodskoi would want to maintain. This might come “naturally” to your Z.I., or they might cultivate this personality as a matter of survival. At three years old, you have the option to play it as meaning it’s been three years since Tinter’s last wipe. Playing a previously wiped IPC is interesting I think. Someone else once lived in this body and this brain, but they made some mistake… I’m not your boss, nor am I synthlore. I just think that Zavod’s policy is very important to those subjected to it. Choosing to play a Z.I. means volunteering your character to exist under the eye of an unusually murderous slavemaster, and it’s cool if you make the best of it.

BYOND Ckey: Sniblet Discord username: Sniblet Character names: I have over 30. The most memorable/current, in my opinion, in no particular order: Kiertaa, Lyric Valana, Iphigenia Konstantinou, Perrine DeGarmeaux, ICSU-Chensha, Z.I. Monogram, Za'Akaix'Osthi C'thur, Ka'Viax'Zanaa K'lax, Ra'Viax'Nahi K'lax, Thrill of Momentous Realization Species you are applying to play: Skrell ------------------------------ General Whitelist Requirements What colour do you plan on making your first alien character?: Dark red, with dark blue markings Have you read the lore pages for the species you wish to be whitelisted for?: Yeah uh like a few times Why do you wish to play this species?: Well, a lot of my answer is in the next section. Most of my whitelists are the weird races, the ones that don't functionally bleed and can only wear voidsuits sometimes and don't think at all like humans do. Skrell are much more humanlike, both mechanically and mentally, and maybe I just want to play an exotic human or two. On other platforms, I've recently been playing a lot of outsiders. People who come from a very different world, and find their new one strange, arbitrary in its customs, and overall discomfiting. Skrell are great for this! Why the void do you guys care if the corporatocracy is stripping your freedoms? Can't you just be happy anyway? Back at home, it hardly mattered if the Federation exercised its immense power seemingly arbitrarily. Overall, they were still good! We probably just didn't understand their motives; the Grand Council is known for their incredible wisdom, after all! (Official policy is to not overthink the fact that this is exactly how a Glorsh collaborator would have sounded) What makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a human?: I've been playing a lot of vaurca since failing to pass the Skrell whitelist the past several times. It's occurred to me that, at full power, the Nlom and the Hivenet are remarkably similar, at least in effect: all the rest of your species is in your head, to some extent, at all times, so it's quite rare to find yourself going against the grain, whenever there is one. Humans already struggle. You aren't being mind-controlled or anything. Your eyes aren't glazed over. You're just being influenced, and you won't deny that much. It's normal, and it feels more comfortable than being alone. The first thing that comes to mind that makes them different, is the fact that the Hivenet has strong reach all over the Spur, and the Nlom does not. A skrell feels a great difference between being in the Federation and being wherever the Horizon goes. It's quiet. Most of your thoughts come from your own head. Your thoughts may wander off track... and so, the Federation asks that you don't stay away for long. As a skrell, the Nralakk Federation lays claim to you no matter where you go. This isn't exactly a bad thing; it's not a bad nation. Humans may hear "authoritarian" and get immediately up in arms, but the Federation takes care of you. And when you're in the thick of the Nlom, all these ideas of freedom and liberty that human space might try to teach you, start to feel like what they really are: silly, abstract human obsessions. You're plenty free enough under Federation law. After all, you already want to do everything that the Federation expects of you. A society of conformists who can agree on most everything that matters is an effective society. It's a great system, really. Skrell are long-lived, up to the age of about 400 with Federal technology. This follows typical elf logic, where their perception of time is sort of drawn out: they're patient, forward-thinking, and prone to looking down on briefer races. Though, it's generally in good humor. Less importantly, skrell are amphibious and do not have facial muscles. If you *smile then your whitelist catches on fire. Their headtails fill the roles of a face, and their voice and body do the rest. And they don't slip. ------------------------------ Character Name: Quvs. Miq Tapse'Xuq Write a backstory for your character. This may include their origin, education, personality and how they arrived to the SCCV Horizon. (2 paragraphs minimum) I did say I was creating a skrell so that I could feel like an outsider. Up to the name, this character is meant to echo my recent experiences with that archetype. Born in Qerr'wesi of Qerrbalak in the early 2300s, Miq has always been deeply and completely a Federation skrell. It was one thing to be born in the oldest city of Nralakk's capital planet, but Miq, more than that, has independently grown to be fascinated with their own culture, past and present, and much less so with... everywhere else's. Humanity is so clearly on a self-destructive course, and will surely reap dire consequences for its principled shortsightedness within Miq's lifetime. Adhomai and Moghes have been near strangled in their cradles, leaving their native species tragically unrealized. The wider Spur is suffering and dying for its faults. But the Second Nralakk Federation has learned and retains all its needed lessons, and today it works. (Especially for a Secondary Numerical like them. Do not bring up social inequality in the Federation to them as a bad thing; you will be rebutted via common Federal talking points and dismissed as ignorant) Nationalism and classism aside, Miq is something of an empath, you know. No, but actually. They're a strong Receiver, and immersing themself in the thoughts and feelings of the people around them has fostered an equally strong compassion that endures beyond the Nlom relays. The field of medicine called to them, partly because the Federation needed it given the X'lu'oa and all, and partly because the individuals of the Federation will always need it. Beside their pursuit of medicine, their interest in Skrellian history has placed them in touch with the Bureau of Void Technologies. The Synthetic Age is as much a part of history as anything else, after all; and, unfortunately, much of Skrellian history is gated behind breaking the Tzqul Archive's encryption, which means understanding Glorsh. Their early work consisted of accompanying expeditions into blasted ruins and drifting space stations, making little notes for the researchers and then throwing them aside to rush over if someone met a piece of Lu'Piq barrel-first. Someday, they'd like to brave an expedition into Tri-Qyu. But today? Today, humanity's mistakes have come around to punish the skrell, and solving this contemptible, avoidable problem falls on the shoulders of people like Miq. May it pass quickly. How has the recent events of the Orion Spur impacted your character? Events such as the Phoron Scarcity, the Solarian Collapse or even the Invasions of Biesel for interstellar-wide affairs, while region-specific events such as the Peacekeeper Mandate, The Titan Rises or even Cold Dawn may impact your character. (1 paragraph minimum) It's the phoron scarcity. Of course it's the phoron scarcity. Humans caused this, and fucking everyone has to answer for it. While the Federation got by just fine before phoron, its disappearance is shutting down certain new technologies that were useful to the Bureau's function, and, secondarily, is on track to provoke marked disruptions in the neighboring polities. There is certainly an argument for simply letting go and going back to warp, as the Grand Council surely knew they were always destined to. There is another for relying on the Federation's inevitable discovery of synthetic phoron. Miq is inclined to both of these, but... ...someone's got to watch out for the sparks, right? They're addicted, and if not properly treated, they're going to make a real mess of things. Listen - it's not... that Miq cares. Much. It's just that humans are so prone to scapegoating and senseless war. It's going to blow back on the Federation if the human empires collapse on themselves. SCCV Horizon seems to be the best sincere human effort to fix their own crisis, so... hey. It'll be good experience, too, right? On second thought, that's the primary reason, forget all the other stuff. They just hope they can get back home before they start to miss it. How does your character view the megacorporation they work for? (1 paragraph minimum) Don't laugh, okay? Miq views Zeng-Hu with respect. Einstein too - but if Einstein's doing anything with regard to the phoron crisis, it certainly isn't public about solving it. Yes, they're capable of respecting human enterprises! At least they're not stars-damned NanoTrasen. The - let's say elders - of ZHP's leadership are forward-thinking and intelligent, in a way that most megacorporations fail to be. The keiretsu is unconventional, detached from the failings of its contemporaries, and vitally, sees the value of the Nralakk Federation on the galactic stage. They're good people, as humans go. They're not skrell, but they can't help it.

This man armed a coup and sold my homeworld into Adhomian-style civil war for phoron extraction rights. Command material. +1.

I don’t interact with engineering very much. Damage Control Technician does not jump out at me as implying atmos tech, especially next to Maintenance Technician meaning engineer. I was not aware that atmos techs were more on the emergency responder side. Systems Engineer sounds vague. What systems do you engineer? The ship’s full of systems. Surely you don’t do environmental systems? I happen to know an electrical engineer. He designs and builds circuits for his job, but as a consequence of his education and experience, he could probably transfer his skills to wire up a house, not that he’d want to.

Spent a lot of yesterday playing a bartender shell, solar reactor, passive cooling. I'd say the lifespan was fine - much shorter than it used to be despite using the most-efficient setup, but altogether playable. I didn't notice movement having any effect on power consumption, and no matter how close I was to a light source, I never perceived the solar reactor making any difference. Charge times were boring, though little different from how they've always been. Good opportunity to tab out for a minute. Again, passive cooling - temperature management was never an issue. I had to do one quick sprint to get a red nightshade berserker off my screen, and stayed within safe temperature bounds. I took maybe 10-20 seconds (wasn't counting) to go back to my idling temp of 64-65C. Compared to previously, it seems like getting down to equilibrium temp is slower, but that equilibrium is cooler. I didn't have a temperature warning for the entire round, like shells used to, which felt nice. Adjusting the thermostat seemed to be useless, because the selectable range was colder than I ever got. I didn't notice a power change depending on where I set it. Diagnostics seem to be less "sensitive" than they were? I got smacked with a bottle of liquor by the Booze-O-Mat, and while my health doll stopped showing 100, diagnostics were all-green. I wouldn't have known I was hit at all without the doll, the attack log, or, I assume, stripping and examining myself. Seems appropriate for an IPC. More on the weird side of damage, I also had the dubious privilege of getting bludgeoned several times by the aforementioned red nightshade berseker. The health doll and my clothed sprite made it clear that my chest had been caved in, but diagnostics only had to say that my plating damage was massive, without a specific location. I took no internal damage from this, so I was able to continue my day as normal despite no machinists ondeck, in classic IPC fashion. I assume that if I had been destabilized, I'd have had to make someone sprint me to residential, which might have been impossible if I played an industrial. Especially an issue for antags, but then again, organic antags are done when they go into crit too. Electrical storms were neat. It was unclear whether I was supposed to roleplay anything other than the visual distortion.

Two fewer gamemodes that everyone dreads, and a bright future featuring something like twice as many merc rounds. Putting this in all uplinks is weird and, although I'm already thinking of two modestly interesting merc gimmicks, I hope it doesn't get bought often by non-traitors - though if psionics are any indicator, we should be safe from constant heavy-armored changeling invaders.

Can’t count for you the number of times I’ve thought “hm, maybe I’ll opt into vampire/changeling for a change today” and then gone back to the lobby and noticed I was readied as an IPC and been like “oh yeah. damn.” So I’d like to not have that happen to me anymore. I’m not impressed with the counterarguments presented by the borer thread. > it is what it is, stop crying I’m really sick and tired of reading this kind of argument deployed against all proposed change in all contexts like it’s an own. We know it is what it is. The question being asked is, what if it weren’t what it is? Man has asked himself this question since ere he took his first uncertain steps into conscious thought. Keep up sweaty. > it doesn’t make sense for changeling (+others) Wait, you know what a changeling is? > it imba IPC mercenaries are common. All-G2 mercenary teams have been done before. The only reason you haven’t seen me play a changeling bulwark yet is because it hasn’t rolled when I felt like doing it. Aurorastation 13 is not a competitive shooter; generally, our answer to something being powerful is to rely on players to use that power well, then excise swaths of potentially interesting interaction in fits of miserable exhaustion if they don’t.

If we care so much about Visitor (why?) then we can just modify it so it can also be a Stowaway, depending on the player.

Unless Aurora's gotten deep into some esoteric contractual binds while I wasn't looking, I suspect that there's no risk of legal trouble inherent to removing unwanted images from the wiki and not replacing them. I'm not sure what about this requires consulting the lawyers internally. AI is GARBAGE And Here's Why: A Short Video Essay (10 hrs) Did you know that AI is bad? When we invent real-life positronics, I'll probably flip my opinion. Right now, Port Antilia can look a lot more boring and I will sleep soundly. We come to it for the text, and it's not winning awards as-is given it was built using Argent Energy.

I’ve built more than one service synthetic with just a pile of human languages. They’re designed for hospitality, they’re meant to make people of all sorts feel at home. I’m always left fishing for reasons they wouldn’t have either Elyran or Freespeak, and if anyone asks, my IC explanations can only be flimsy. ”oh I can’t talk to the martians in their own tongue because, like, classism, I guess - you see, making the poor feel excluded takes priority over my whole reason for being.” And no EAL. Simply not a priority. ICly, I can only resort to the Burzsian reasoning. ”my owners want to be extra extra sure that I can’t secretly plot against them. they are paranoid and abusive and would probably wipe me for any twitch. huh? yeah, I’m NT, don’t worry about it.” Language slots are silly. It’s another one of our gameplay limitations that we’ve put in place and decided to hold sacred so that it might discourage the sort of behavior that none of our regular players are interested in or have been interested in in, like, years. Try budgeting the languages of a deaf or mute Himean, just as well as one of their industrial IPCs. Or a Martian. Or an Assunzioni. Or a New Suezi. Or a Lunan. Or a Konyanger. Or a mute Himean IPC. SO many planets are exactly bilingual, because they're built around our two picks. Play a shell, play a Bishop, or suffer for eternity because you cannot build a fully believable character.