hazelmouse

For the record, I intend to push for a fix for the Spark airlock woes. Once the map freeze is over I want to make it work identically to the Intrepid, with a separate pressure tank for airlock air supply at a lower pressure, with a pump connecting it to the distro tank rather than a valve. Pressure tanks have insane volume, so more moles, so it should be able to readily survive being forced.

As a miner, I've had really good experiences with Armand Gessler! He's been very proactive and very interested in what I've been doing, not to mention just a plain interesting character I'd love to see more of. +1

Last round, 80:20 proactively reached out to work on freezers in service for the synthetic service staff to lounge in, including transforming the back of the bar into a freezer. It was super cute and made me smile, I adore Chief Engineers that involve the crew in their projects. +1

I've had nothing but good experiences, especially with Tsi Jho. They're a very competent roleplayer with a very good sense for pacing arcs and character development, and I think they'd be an excellent addition to command. +1

Nyström has been nothing but well played, receptive to gimmicks, and competent with managing her department in my experience. I particularly like how well she seems able to push back against antagonists without invalidating what they're trying to do, and how much attention she pays to her department. +1

This sounds interesting! I feel the titles might give something more of an air of legitimacy for actual departmental staff to humour them, more than they do right now.

BYOND Ckey: hazelmouse Discord username: rattydew Character names: Hazel #S-H9.09 (Bartender) Reem Faladay (Atmospheric Technician) Vafthrudnir (AI) Jackdaw (Chief Engineer) Eve Caelestius (Machinist) Species you are applying to play: Vaurcae ------------------------------ General Whitelist Requirements What colour do you plan on making your first alien character?: 0B2B1B, the colour of the unbound members of Zkaii's brood. Have you read the lore pages for the species you wish to be whitelisted for?: Yes! 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?: Out of all the alien species in the Aurora setting, Vaurcae strike me as the most unique, novel, and downright foreign. They're utterly unlike humans in almost every way - their eusocial nature, the sheer timescales on which they operate both as individuals and as a species, and their seamless incorporation of the digital world into their societies, personal lives, and religions all particularly stand out as being utterly unlike anything else in the setting. They're a fallen civilisation of staggering heights and damning lows, as astounding in their achievements as they are harrowing in their hardships and mistakes. Some of their most terrible catastrophes appear totally mundane in a way I find wonderfully realistic. They're morally complicated and internally diverse, feuding with other hives and broods and inventing philosophies totally at odds with all their others, with a long history providing them a wealth of reason for conflict with other members of their own species. I want to play them because I find them fascinatingly written and rife with potential for interesting roleplay. What makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a human?: Vaurcae, with the exception of Ta, are not socially adept in a manner familiar to humans, and struggle with their newly found obligations to acclimate to the temperaments of their host species. They lack the capacity for facial expressions a human possesses, and things as mundane to a human as spoken language are an alien novelty to them, having only become a part of their species in the last decade or so - spoken language is awkward to a species acclimated to the seamless transferral of thought possible via hivenet. Social interaction with other species, generally, is a hard-learned art that does not come intuitively in any capacity, and individual Vaurca may welcome integration or sharply oppose it. Their conceptions of reality and their own lives are also radically different - a Vaurca lives with the expectation of ascendance to the Aether upon their death, and knows that their time spent in the material world is only the beginning of an incredibly long life ahead of them. ------------------------------ Character Application Character Name: Ka'Akaix'Kiiz K'lax Write a backstory for your character. This may include their origin, education, personality and how they arrived to the SCCV Horizon. Ka'Akaix'Kiiz K'lax was spawned in 2463, belonging to the the brood of Zkaii, imaged via Imagotis to serve as a menial logistical worker for the hive's operations on the planet of Tret. It was entered as a novice apprentice to the Tretian guild for the duration of its training in Virtual Reality, in which it was taught the histories of Hive K'lax and Sedantis, necessary skills in the fields of logistics and supply, an introductory understanding of the wonders of technology and mechanical engineering, and a substantial degree of knowledge on the Mother Dream religion. It was particularly enthused by its religious education, finding a great degree of fascination in the conception of nested simulations stacked upon eachother, and taking comfort in the image of Mother K'lax presiding over them. It developed a deep, longing craving to join K'lax in the real world, and found itself immeasurably pleased to be racked by constant bouts of dramatic somnambulism. It deeply admires the theology of Xakat'kl'atan Ka’Akaix’Vhixok K’lax, having developed an admiration generally for all ancient Vaurcae that have spent long periods in the Mother Dream. It believes firmly that the Ny’tatyk is closer to the mind of Mother K'lax than is the material world, and more closely represents the unimaginable splendour of the real world than does the material world. Upon the conclusion of its training, Kiiz became a true apprentice within the Tretian Guild, practicing its craft on the factory-planet. The dreary sights and sounds of the dark volcanic landscape of Tret, plumed with showers of ash and the distant lights of shuttles impossible to see through the clouds, sharply contrasted the shining jewel that is Zkaii's realm, and strongly reinforced Kiiz's already dour views on the material world. It saw that this was a dreary, dirty reality, that K'lax has sent it to endure only so it could prove it held the endurance and self-discipline to be worthy to join her in a truer, more beautiful reality. It endured with that image in its mind, despite its disillusionment with what it found in the world, knowing that this was all for a good reason. It regularly devalues and derides the material world, falling into a very gnostic sensibility that the only value to be found in it is to secure itself a place in a better world through its actions within it. While it has been faced with the notion of the death of Mother K'lax, it has concluded that the question is irrelevant and that K'lax must survive in some capacity for her dream to have continued. To it, her survival seems blindingly obvious, in whatever form she does. Recently, Kiiz found itself subcontracted to Hephaestus Industries by the Tretian Guild to continue its apprenticeship elsewhere, serving as a hangar technician. It will be its first time leaving Tret, assigned to some human corporate vessel in the area organizing humanitarian aid to Moghes. It found itself pleased it could assist this effort, certain that through this new duty it can inch its way closer to the real world, and equally certain that nothing it could see in this material place could astound or impress it. 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. Most notably, the news of the War in Heaven has badly shaken Kiiz. Politically, it adheres to Pious Integrationism; it is alarmed and confused by the infighting within its own hive, and the hostility shown to the Mother Dream by the other broods therein. While it naturally admires figures such as Ka'Akaix'Udon K'lax for their close relationship with the Mother Dream and similarly finds an elegance in the idea of the beautiful war, it is also quietly horrified by the voiding of consciousness in the Xathul Xon. Its belief in the closeness of the Mother Dream to the intelligence of the real Mother K'lax tempts it to view these acts as sacrilegious in nature, tainting a holy place with death and conflict imported from a filthy material world. It does not speak out of turn, however, and is careful to avoid the topic when asked. How does your character view the megacorporation they work for? Kiiz is weakly positive towards the machinations of Hephaestus Industries. It views the corporation as a stepping stone in a nested virtual reality, informed in its nature by its utility to the children of Mother K'lax to ascend to reality to meet her again. Given its support to the Izweski Hegemony and Hive K'lax, it can only imagine that its purpose as mandated by K'lax is to help, not to hinder, and it is pleased to have found a new avenue to practice its duty.

This would be especially helpful for colourblind players. If I need to come up with a colour on the spot without taking the colour from an existing object or turf, eyeballing the right colour from a colour wheel is extremely challenging.

This would badly disrupt numerous character concepts that depend on the indistinguishability of the line to work. The narrative thrust of a Hazel is that they're identical, and the character has to process what that means to them and what they're going to do about it. Forcing a change of name dulls that quite horribly. Imperial Great Houses are major political institutions, I don't see nearly as much IC impetus for an IPC manufacturing corporation to care what a self-owned unit calls itself.

ATG is a very competent and communicative roleplayer that knows how to create fun, satisfying interactions. I'd be quite confident in their ability to play command. +1

This is a cool idea! You could also use it for two way communications - on Moghes you could make a device with a large screen that translates both to TCB and Sinta'Unathi, for instance. I do have half a mind that the 'TCB' produced by circuits isn't actually subject to known language and may be legible to everyone, though I haven't tested that, though.

I'm honestly already getting used to it. At first it really jumped out to me, but I find my brain is just filtering it out now that it's been in for a few days.

I'd definitely like to see more crafting put on an autolathe rather than being done in-hand, if anyone were to try implementing that. More immersive, and engineers having to run back and forth to manufacture and deliver processed materials from the autolathe would give the department a lot more to do.

@Faye <3 For Bitter Promise, to capture the lonely conflicted robot vibes for those long, dark hours spent in her boiler closet. @Misiek1001 For Alvere, sorry. Had to do it. He's too much of a villain. @dessysalta Based on the relatively little I've seen from GEVURAH, and possibly influenced by how much of that involved a burst rifle. And, for Sadie. It's mostly slow, and calm, and quiet, but it rises to a frantic, emotional high - before simmering down again, like water roiling down after a storm. I think it fits her nicely. @goolie I feel this plays in Coffee's head. @CatsinHD And for Maryah Marakova! Sorta thrifty vibes. For my own, I present Lily Lowe Nines Hazel #S-H9.09, the comically opportunistic self-owned Hazel unit with a dim sense of self and a dimmer ethical intuition.

One thing engineers in particular can do to help with this problem is to delegate tasks throughout the department when they start getting gameplay. Instead of scouting maintenance, finding the blob, and immediately bolting to hard storage to kill it by your lonesome, you can ask another engineer to fetch the emitter for you. In the meantime, you scout out a good position, prepare the wires, and coordinate where you need the emitter. Now at least two people get gameplay, not one. Engineering is mechanically always going to be most efficiently completed by just a few people working silently with optimized loadouts. Roleplay slows you down. If you want it done as quickly as possible, that's how you do it, but it's not a particularly inclusive or enjoyable way to play the department. I'd like to see people communicate and delegate tasks, and consciously try to give everyone in the department something to do even when it slows things down a little.

I haven't been playing engineering during his trial, but everything I've seen while observing and while playing in other departments is very encouraging. He's attentive to the activities of his department and extremely communicative, which I love to see from command. +1

I don't have a comprehensive view on how I'd introduce IPC medical, but there's a few key points I'd like to see addressed. IPCs shouldn't be immortal. Somehow, there should be a way for a positronic brain to be beyond repair, or even destroyed once it's out of the frame. I legitimately enjoy being able to roleplay with people as a cube, but death for IPCs is badly trivialised when they're the only race in the game that can invariably be carted to the workshop and come back out as good as new as if it never happened. IPCs should have more hazards to worry about. As things stand, they don't care about radiation, they don't care about anything that causes pain, and there aren't any ship events that specifically target them. They have to worry so little about anything that it feels trivialising to play. Radiation damaging their eyes is a fun idea I'd like to see implemented, and I'd love to see others like that to keep them on their toes.

Why is it an issue? I honestly just judge the activity of the server by the manifest rather than by the number of people online, so I'm not sure how this affects me.

Nothing comes strongly to mind, I don't have quite enough of a read on him to say. I'd say play more and see what comes naturally, his origin already comes with a wealth of narrative conflict you can make use of.

I enjoy him a lot! He feels well written + consistent in temperament, and I'm extremely game to see where you take him.

I really like the design of the AI core! One awkward element of the current design is that the AI needs to disable pretty much all their turrets for someone not to be shot when venturing inside, since there are a lot of windows that produce overlapping firing lines. I appreciate that, with this, the consoles are only within firing range of one set of turrets. I think I would prefer if the processing strata tiles were limited only to the four tiles within the glass panes, though, like with the current version of the same structure. It looks a little overwhelming in that screenshot. The buttons to the side of the intercom also seem oddly placed, a little like they're inside of the wall, and it seems to have lost its flash. I'm also curious what the intention is behind the intercom at the far north of the core chamber?

During European hours, you can't really expect many people to ready up for a new round between around 8am - 8pm UK time. The best way to keep population up in those hours is usually to carry population over from earlier and keep the round going for a very long time, even overnight. People leave the round over time but a few stick around, people see there are still people playing and new people join, and it often works out to keep the server populated during the quieter hours. If there are constant crew transfers during lowpop, this never has a chance to happen and population sizzles out with the transfer. I'm honestly a little bewildered by why people ghosting or in the lobby call crew transfers while there are still people playing, and then don't even bother joining in the next round. I'd fully be in support of prioritising people currently in the round in some way. I think the round is the business of the people playing it, not the people in the lobby. I'll also note that this is mostly exclusively a problem with lowpop. The 2 hour round standard in highpop doesn't work during European hours, and it kills population if you try to enforce it.

I don't honestly think engineering has much more to do with the machinists than does operations. Engineering runs the engines, configures power, and repairs the ship. The workshop repairs synthetics and prosthetics and fabricates equipment and toys for the crew to use. I don't see much overlap here, and I have difficulty picturing exactly what either either side would gain from the arrangement. There's also the concern of what we allow machinists to do if we made this change. Can they start the engines? Can they work with atmospherics equipment? Can they start the shields? If they can't, why are they in the engineering department in the first place? Right now, machinist gains from being in operations from being able to more easily coordinate for their materials with miners and hangar technicians, and they have in common the role of providing gear to the crew. What do they gain from being in engineering, and what role do they have in common with the rest of engineering?