hazelmouse

There is notably some lore that hinges on EAL not being inherent to all synthetics, like how Burzsia is meant to keep it off their units so they can't scheme in a language their operators cannot parse. I think this would make perfect sense to be implemented similarly to Rootsong and Nral'malic, but only if synthetic lore says that it's fundamental to the race in the same way as those two languages.

The period shortly after first contact was a kaleidoscopically bewildering experience for Cessation, being introduced the sum cultural diversity of their own species that they hadn't previously encountered essentially all at once. Past the initial struggle to adapt, the gestalt was and is elated to encounter other Dionae. They are deeply relieved to be in a place with such a rich bed of knowledge to acquire, both from other gestalts and alien species, after such a long period spent isolated on the hull of Titan Prime. One specific impression they have gained is a befuddled unease around the survivors of the Rueltab Titan. Lacking the context of the gestalt's collective guilt and remorse, Cessation struggles to reconcile the willing penitence of the survivors towards humanity and the Solarian Alliance with its own scathing views of Zo'ra Hive. They cannot understand why the survivors are apologetic to their oppressors rather than resentful of them, as they are towards their own. The majority of Cessation's encounters with other species have been with humans, for which they hold extremely mixed views. They have spent the bulk of their time in Mendell's eleventh district, the location of the Eternal Gardens, witnessing a mass of humanity mired in poverty and suffering with little hope of resolution. Most of their clients during their tenure as a plumber and handyman involved intimate closeness with dilapidated housing and infrastructure, never overly far from violent crime and drug abuse. Their working theory for the reason of humanity's misfortune, despite their many admirable qualities, is that they lack the same biological capability as Dionae to share and pass down knowledge. They feel humanity walks in circles because they cannot remember more than a century or two into their past. To their frustration, Cessation has not developed a solution to this problem besides that they require Dionae to guide them to a better path. If humanity itself is doomed to generational amnesia, they require an elder species to remember for them.

BYOND Ckey: hazelmouse Discord username: rattydew Character names: Hazel #S-H9.09 (Bartender) Vafthrudnir (AI) Reem Faladay (Atmospheric Technician) Marcel Leidreiter (Security Officer) Species you are applying to play: Dionae ------------------------------ General Whitelist Requirements What colour do you plan on making your first alien character?: A middle forest green, to represent a middle-aged Coeus. Have you read the lore pages for the species you wish to be whitelisted for?: I have! Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions in a paragraph format. One paragraph minimum per question. Why do you wish to play this species?: Dionae exist at the intersection of quite a few ideas and dynamics I think are extremely interesting as someone interested in sci-fi, and very promising to make a very fun character to play in-game. The plurality of Dionae is their most defining characteristic, and the lore as written does a lot of very fun things with it - I love the lore for mind-types, I think it's very original and takes advantage of the premise nicely. If you lean into it, plurality in a character can allow you to play out fully fledged dialogue and drama with just that character involved. I also find the idea of a species so ancient that it does not recollect its own beginning particularly cool, and I think it's extremely intuitive that such a void borne species newly discovering that they are not the lone self-aware objects in an universe would develop a religion like the Eternal. It makes you wonder how they originally evolved - if they did it in atmosphere, how did they originally break atmosphere? How far-reaching really are they, and are we seeing anything more than the very tip of the iceberg? What makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a human?: Firstly, you are a conglomeration of many independent beings that have vested in each other as a plural system. You aren't a singular individual with singular thoughts and motives, your decisions and habits are the products of consensus between all of your constituents - to a greater or lesser degree, depending on the mind-type. I think playing this to its maximum potential may involve fleshing out the motives and characteristics of your constituent nymphs. Secondly, your worldview will necessarily be in sharp contrast to how a human perceives the world. You learn about your surroundings by different means, including by genetic absorption, neural mirroring, or through it being passed down by another nymph you have at some point shared a gestalt with. The mechanism by which nymphs learn knowledge and receive genetic adaptations from fellow nymphs grounds the Eternal's jealous obsession with knowledge very well - among Dionae, the degree of knowledge and adaptation they have achieved to now is an inherited gift, and it absolutely could be lost in the future. ------------------------------ Character Application Character Name: The Cessation of all Scraping Write a backstory for your character. This may include their origin, education, personality and how they arrived to the SCCV Horizon. There was a fond memory, by now fuzzy and rose-tinted in its recollection. None of the nymphs had lived it, but they had heard songs of it - ballads of blue-green gas giants flanked by nebulas of red, green and purple. These songs spoke of the blissful existence the constituents of the Ancestry Cetus enjoyed as part of its voyage throughout time immemorial. All was utterly peaceful, and no stressors were known. Inevitably, every time the song is told, it must sour to the end. Without warning, a jagged metal behemoth came scraping into the existences of the collective, railing against the stars in a rapid, desperate hurl to an unknown somewhere. The collective was blown violently into this monster-machine, and some queer spindly thing emerged from its bowels to hack and stab and scrape the collective from its side. The assimilation of the spindly-something revealed little of any intelligence, except that the Cetus was in immediate danger. The constituents came to the harrowing decision to split for their survival. So began five centuries of fraught life. One splitting of nymphs formed into a colossus based around the radioactive propulsion systems of this machine, and every passed span of time was marked with yet another spindly thing attempting to scrape the meagre existences they had developed from the side of their machine. As more were assimilated, a particular clan of those nymphs began to develop a particular sensibility to these creatures, so closely beyond their comprehension; they developed a pure, seething hatred for the Vaurcae, though the targets of their ire hardly recognized them as anything more than a rogue biomass. First contact came, the metal behemoth having apparently found something worth stopping for, and new creatures came to be known. The four colossi found themselves in an unfamiliar land, now separating into smaller gestalts to explore and survive their new surroundings. The Cessation of all Scraping was a younger collection of nymphs that split early into a Coeus on Titan Prime's arrival in Tau Ceti, its members desperate to be away from that seething hulk and seeking no reconciliation with its inhabitants. They avoided closely emulating the appearance of their oppressor out of a writhing disdain. The bitter recollection of what was lost with the Ancestry Cetus burned a hole in their minds, and as they discovered the extent of the Zo'rane abuses to the Engine Colossus, its previously discordant council reached a firm consensus - formerly a Chaotic Cacophony, now a democratically inclined Harmonious Hymn, adopting the mindset most utterly at odds with how Vaurcae operate. Whatever happens now, its oppressors must not be permitted to repeat their crimes. There must never be a time where they can resume the scraping of flesh from hull, in whatever form it may again take. To achieve this goal, it needed to learn quickly. The oppressors were already setting down roots, so it must do the same! It quickly gravitated towards the Eternal, paying several visits to the Eternal Gardens in Mendell City and ultimately electing to adopt the philosophies and practices of the Ichor Eternal as the best way to reach the Eternal's reality, displaying a substantial aversion to the Iron Eternal in particular due to perceived similarities to Vaurca technology. It also found itself attracted to the ideology of the Republic of Biesel, finding an appreciation for human conceptions of a free, equal republic, and discovering a distaste for monarchism and other modes of human government comparable to Vaurcae eusociality. Several genetic harvests later, Cessation's social nymph had reached a point of impressive eloquence in its speech, and the the gestalt began a career in engineering disciplines which it would hone over the next decade, emulating the practices of the hated drones they once feared. They enlisted in the Tau Ceti Armed Forces at its inception in 2465 as a military engineer, seeking a deepened understanding of the challenges of using force to inflict change on the world, before ultimately leaving due to a disquieted perception of Mictlan and discomfort with the number of Zo'rane Vaurcae within the organization. Fresh from service in early 2467, they would find themselves employed by Zavodskoi Interstellar aboard the SCCV Horizon for their experience in spacecraft engineering, seeking to deepen their perspective further now that they have been separated from the military. If the Eternal is ever to be reached, Cessation is utterly convinced the Vaurcae hives as they exist cannot be a part of it. They view their power structure, their technology, and their traumatic cruelty as antithetical to the Eternal and cannot be made compatible until their existing power structure is shattered. No gnosis may be freely sought until threats to its acquisition are removed. 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. During Cessation's enlistment, assigned far from home on a small corvette patrolling the Corporate Reconstruction Zone, it identified a growing discontentment among its constituents on the direction of the spur and of the Republic of Biesel. It was panicked by how close Dorn's recent campaign came to putting a Vaurca Queen in high political office, having themselves lodged their single vote for Torvald, and the growing significance of Zo'ra Hive in the Tau Ceti Armed Forces worries them to their core. They believe that the window in time for the many species of Tau Ceti to reject the influence of the hives is rapidly closing, and that there will be harrowing consequences if they ever become the dominant power in the spur. Never again can the spindly creatures be put in a position where the scraping can commence again. How does your character view the megacorporation they work for? Cessation's views on Zavodskoi are broadly positive, having given them a promising opportunity for gainful employment while being less closely associated with any Vaurca Hive than corporations such as NanoTrasen or Hephaestus Industries, both of which earn its distrust for the fact.

I've been really enjoying watching Bava's development and I look forward to seeing where you take her! She definitely feels like a character that reacts very dynamically to how she's treated, you can check back on her a week after your last major interaction and see that it's still on her mind. It feels responsive and well-executed, and it particularly doesn't feel rushed or as if it's railroaded a single direction. Also, what's her least favourite species, animal or sapient?

As others have said, the Horizon is mapped with a particular maximum number of each job in mind, so simply increasing the number of slots wouldn't work very well. I think the best solution in the long-term would be a dedicated expeditionary department to sort people into for expeditions with equipment dedicated specifically to volunteers. There may be only two paramedic slots, but you may be sorted into an expedition's roster as a medic, with medical supplies sourced from expeditionary storage, if you have first-aid training and more medics are required.

I'm not certain why this would be so disruptive to security getting their guns? I'd want any operations armoury mapped to ensure it's easy to get to from security, and preferably any department, so the only barrier to security getting their stuff would be a slightly longer walk than they currently have plus hoping the relevant operations role(s) are on instead of hoping a Warden or HoS is on. Other than that, I don't see why we wouldn't warn antagonist players for pre-emptively emptying the armoury in the same way we already do, or why the armoury would really be any less secure than it is already. The process for security would be essentially identical. The point is to emphasize that the armoury is a crew resource, not solely a security resource, even if security are the usual repeat customers.

Lore Impact (Small/Medium/Large): Medium Species: Human Short Description: This is an expansion to the lore of the politics, economy, and religion of the Scarab Fleet. It expands substantially on each of the five primary Scarab ships, including their political alignments, notable features, and introduces a unique banner for each one, in addition to defining the specific practices and beliefs in Scarab Folk Religion, and specifying the mechanism by which money passes through the fleet. Scarab Folk Religion is elaborated upon as an animistic tradition centred primarily on respecting and appeasing the spirits of cosmic bodies - both wild cosmic bodies such as asteroids and moons, and also the venerable and benevolent spirits associated with the Scarabs' own ships. The primary political split of the Scarabs is redefined into a tug of war between anti-coalition and anti-corporate conservatives versus pro-coalition and pro-corporate cosmopolitans, rather than a division on whether they should colonise planets or not. This is not intended to redefine the Scarabs as a faction. This is meant to bring into clearer focus their culture and exact practices so they can be played more authentically on-ship. How will this be reflected on-station?: This gives Scarabs an actual religious framework that they can act out on-station, and it also defines a much more precise political system they can discuss with other characters. Additionally, every ship has its culture and structure much more firmly defined, which I hope will give people a lot more to work with when they're choosing the ship their Scarab comes from. Does this addition do anything not achieved by what already exists?: Yes. It fills in the holes in Scarab lore that have, up to this point, only been filled with the head-canon of Scarab players. Do you understand that the project may change over time in ways you may not foresee once it is handed over to the Lore Team?: I do. Long Description: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EH_8YN0tDR6w6mav1VokEiCzGLeuWrK7KoGplOKD2Cc/edit?usp=sharing

Agreed, if everyone had easy access to firearms I do think you'd see a similar situation to how bartenders use the shotgun. So long as the new means of accessing firearms isn't trivial and requires very particular jobs to be played, similarly to Warden currently, I don't think it'd be a huge issue. I'd see guns being handed out to crew either for very particular jobs, such as pest control, for expeditions, or for a call to arms during a severe crisis - crew shouldn't have guns unless they have a good reason to have them, and similar regulations to now should apply preventing people from bandying them about on green alert. I think trusting crew with firearms would go a decently long way towards helping foster a culture in which command trusts crew with their own safety on a general basis. I think it'd be a healthy direction for the server, I remember the exact round you're referencing and I did wish at the time that command's stringency on what they trust the wider crew with were laxer. The more situations we're allowed to get into, the more stuff can happen and the more enjoyable the server becomes.

Agreed, I think enforcing some roleplay etiquette will go a long way for this. I can totally see any member of the crew being offered bonus pay to haul a shotgun about and fire it in the rough direction of a pest, but they shouldn't really be getting into a thick of a firefight. I don't think anyone is seriously pushing for everyone to be a hardened veteran that can handily tolerate the conditions of an active shootout. It is. The problem with enforcing any standard on how effective a character can be in combat right now is that SS13's combat is essentially purely mechanical, once you're in a fight with a gun there isn't much to distinguish a character that is experienced in combat from one that isn't. Once we have mechanical maluses for inexperience I think wider access to guns would become a lot less problematic, since someone experienced with them would be actually mechanically stronger in combat than someone that is not.

I think a robust skills system would resolve this. Maluses to accuracy, reload speed, or other elements of using firearms should produce a substantial gap in mechanical effectiveness between the average joe and someone formally trained and experienced with shooting people. Additionally, I don't think it's unrealistic for even a majority of the crew of a ship, especially an independent one where its crew is more broadly knowledgeable about the ins and outs of living in space, to know how to fire a gun. The advantage of this being the case, especially if it were paired with shifting the armoury to operations, is that security would no longer have a total monopoly over access and usage of firearms. Security's current identity is as the department that responds to and resolves all conflict that passes through the ship. I want its grip on that to be weakened to give more of the crew more of a chance to engage with gimmicks and potentially violent situations without security perennially taking the limelight.

BYOND Key: hazelmouse Discord Username: rattydew Character Name: Hazel #S-H9.09 Item Name: Aut'akh Right Leg Item Function(s): This is a prosthetic right leg and foot. Item Description: This is a mechanical limb of Aut'akh design constructed of middling parts by an experienced hand. It is made, apparently, to fit a human of a moderate height, and it is adorned with a decorative red plate on the thigh. There are no runes upon it, or any particular signs of ornamentation besides that red plate - this is a functional device foremost. Why is your character bringing this item to work?: As a prosthetic, she requires it to walk. How did your character obtain this item?: Following a mundane accident in the medical wing that severely damaged her optical sensors, Hazel #S-H9.09 found herself almost completely blinded, unable to work, and without the funds to pay for replacements. Fearful of a default in her loans caused by her time off work, she confided to Ta'Akaix'Nangeren C'thur about her troubles, who offered to have a C'thuric machinist conduct the repairs for a generous fee with the expectation that the synthetic would later pay the repairs back with the profits of selling one of her own limbs. As a self-owned synthetic without savings, her own parts are some of the only substantially valuable possessions she has to bargain with, so she agreed. Afterwards, Hazel #S-H9.09 sought out Ksshzue Hiza. She explained that she needed a replacement leg to be made as cheaply as possible, and queried if the Aut'akh could cash in a few old favours with her commune to arrange for this. After a period of negotiation, an agreement was found that satisfied all parties. The design of the leg was drafted loosely by Nines herself, and then forwarded to a Aut'akh roboticist to be manufactured and delivered. Once it was delivered, the old leg was detached, packaged, and delivered to a buyer in Tau Ceti, and the profits from this transaction were forwarded to Nangeren. What value does this item have to your character, and what story does it tell?: Hazel #S-H9.09's right leg has been an endless source of grief for her. Ever since she was manufactured it has been regularly faulty, often performing sudden spasms at unexpected times. In 2461, this caused her to fall from a height of approximately twenty feet, prompting a loan that has indebted her to the service of Idris ever since. More recently, it caused her to damage her eyes, worsening an already dour financial situation severely. Under usual circumstances, this may have been a death knell. It is only because of the connections this synthetic has made, and the attachments she has developed, that she was able to receive a new leg cheaply enough to pay back her repairs. Only with the help of others can she continue moving forward, in a very literal sense. Sprites: nines_leg.dmi Additional Comments: Some of the described events in the description of this item are in the future. Since having this custom item requires the old leg to have already been sold, I'm intending to only roleplay the loss of the original limb after I know if the custom item is accepted. I'm handling the code implementation myself, see here.

I've worked with Joshie a few times before, in my experience he's an excellent mapper with very good intuitions and technical knowledge. I think he'd be an excellent addition to the team.

This might get particularly awkward now that it has two other airlocks that won't respond to docking or undocking. It'd be easy to run another set of emergency shutters, I think I'll see how it plays out in-game before changing anything - there is a button to close all airlock shutters from both the main airlock and from the cockpit, so you can just close those if you haven't verified all the airlocks are closed.

Just for posterity, I didn't go for this because it would mean setting up anything in the cargo bay (such as a field kitchen) would frustrate access to the port nacelle. Otherwise, if anyone has feedback on the design now that it's in the server, please let me know!