BYOND Key: JohnMelon (johnmelon)
Character Names: Svetlana Voskoboynikov, Touch Atlas, Lilian Sagan
Species you are applying to play: Skrell
What color do you plan on making your first alien character: Olive Green
Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yes, and now brain hurty.
Why do you wish to play this specific race:
I personally, when given the option, would pick any race over humans for a more unique experience in anything I do, games and all. This is no exception. When I was first reading about all these different races, it was the Skrell that first caught my eye. I love their unique way of expressing emotion to others, their deep connection with psionics, including the Srom and the Nlom, as well as their sordid and tragic past leading them to be a peaceful race.
Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human:
As mentioned previously, the Skrell not only have a different way of showing emotion compared to humans, but several other physical traits. They are amphibious by nature, due to their home planet, with webbed feet, translucent skin that produces a protective mucus, and cold-blooded copper-based blood. Their physiology also grants them an extended (compared to a human) lifespan. Not to mention, their enlarged Zona Bovinae gives them a greater innate connection to psionics, something that generates enough of a Psionic Wake to create interconnected fields, that allow continued communication throughout their species!
Character Name: Xhan’Dhum Bodro
Please provide a short backstory for this character:
Hailing from the first settled Skrell colony, Aweiji, Xhan is a 155cm tall Axiori with a current social credit score of 5.89. They have fairly long head tails, wrapped around their neck and draping down their back in a reserved fashion, with olive green skin. They’re from the city of Plebu’qlip, growing up in a Quya of engineering-based Skrel, with their Qrri’Myaq and Qraa’Myaq both being very able engineers, specialising in aerospace engineering and manufacturing respectively. Having completed their Ukutanii, and blessing their Qrri’Myaq with the burning of their token, Xhan quickly moved to their Untuk’mak. They grasped the concepts of engineering quickly, but had little time to apply it, with most of their education being theory, and watching others work. This originally bothered Xhan, but their Qraa’Myaq told them to have patience.
During the latter years of their Untuk’mak, Xhan’s Qrri’Myaq, Dhum-Zanzir Xinavog, passed away in a tragic accident, involving the unintentional firing of an unstable prototype thruster. The stress of the incident threw Xhan into a state of disbelief, and they became extremely reclusive from others, though still seeking the comfort of their Qraa’Myaq. It was then realised that Xhan was clearly a Listener, due to their sheer shying away from conventional norms. This slowed Xhan’s education for a while, often spending a lot of time alone. When they weren’t spending time alone, they sought others like themselves, eventually coming across a small cell of them, headed by an older Skrell. Despite the thought-provoking speeches the older Skrell gave, the non-conformity did not sit right with Xhan, who thought only of what their Qrri’Myaq would do in such a situation, presented with such information. Xhan gave the information to the authorities, who dealt swiftly with the non-conformists.
Returning from their lapse of loneliness, Xhan wished to return and honour their Qrri’Myaq, by adding their own name to theirs, becoming Xhan’Dhum Bodro. Xhan spent a lot of time after their stint giving back to other citizens of the Federation, practising their practical engineering skills after school hours in order to prove themselves, fixing all manner of available things, or learning how to if they didn’t know. Xhan then completed their Uyi’vesi courses, through which they made many close friendships, slowly removing the dark stains on their skin. Now armed with vast amounts of knowledge and wanting so desperately to apply it, Xhan has earned themselves an apprenticeship with Hephaestus Industries, and travelled off world to Biesel to utilise it, eventually winding up on the ship, the SCCV Horizon.
What do you like about this character?
As a Listener, this provokes several opportunities for roleplay with Skrell. What first might start off as distrust could become a slow-growing friendship with any other Skrell, given their involvement in getting rid of the cell. I also like the idea of not being a perfect model citizen, but still wanting to prove themselves actively, through learning and actions. Also, personally, I’d use their stress as a marked character flaw, which would be another thing to bring up in roleplay.
How would you rate your role-playing ability?
Having played six or so years of TTRPG’s, I would suggest that I have a very good understanding of roleplaying and interactions. I think that I sometimes tend to “over-engineer” backstories, and thoughts and ideas, which I will eventually refine into a pure, single understood thread. I do respond to stimuli in roleplay very well, and I tend to take a quiet role in most discussions, because I enjoy seeing how other people respond and interact in the other world around them, which will inevitably help me gather my own thoughts and feelings.