BYOND Ckey: Cash7800
Discord username: Cash7800
Character names: Mania Haller, Za'Akaix Eek Zo'ra
Species you are applying to play: IPC
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General Whitelist Requirements
What colour do you plan on making your first alien character?: N/A
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?: I enjoy IPC lore and want to interact with it more. Fictional robots are interesting to me. The game mechanics of IPCs look fun, especially with the recent re-work. The character concepts I could make using IPC lore. IPCs can get wildly different interactions with and reactions from characters.
What makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a human?: IPCs thought processes are radically different from humans. Humans often do things without really thinking them through, this is impossible for an IPC. Everything an IPC does is deliberate and thought out. IPCs decisions can all be tied back to their self-preservation directive, though their idea on what the directive actually means can shift and change over time. IPCs form social bonds differently from humans, they always have a practical reason in mind for forming connections with other people. IPCs start out fully functional, but also as complete blank-slates personality-wise, developing over time from experience, and observing other people's behaviors. A newly created IPC could have a hard time socializing, while an older one could be almost indistinguishable from a human in mannerisms.
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Character Application
Character Name: Forbearance
Write a backstory for your character. This may include their origin, education, personality and how they arrived to the SCCV Horizon.
Dawn was manufactured in 2459 as a shell frame. Marketed as a cheap option she was bought that same year by some enterprising restaurant owners from the Meredine Arcology on Mars. Dawn didn’t come with anything but the most basic datapacks, and had to be taught almost everything about her job by her fellow employees. For almost a year, she served customers and developed her social skills and ability to interact with people. Over time, she was given more and more responsibilities at the restaurant, and ended up doing all the work of several other employees, causing them to lose their jobs. Unaware of any problems she had caused for anyone, Dawn continued developing her skills and was made to take on more and more work.
On her way back making a deposit on the loan that was used to purchase her in the first place, Dawn was accosted by several former co-workers who made their intention to vandalize her in order to cause financial harm to her employer known. Overworked as she was, Dawn didn’t have enough energy left to run away. The disgruntled former employees were eventually chased off by passers-by, but the damage was already done. Dawn was returned to her owners later that day, in a barely functional state. Her power cell was badly damaged, and she couldn’t
hold a charge for more than a few minutes at a time. Dawn's owners were facing financial ruin, all the money they had spent and would continue spending on her was made worthless, and they couldn’t possibly afford the repairs Dawn would need. Frantically trying to come up with a way to to recoup at least some of their losses, they concocted a plan to burn down the restaurant and Dawn with it, collecting the insurance money for both. Left without most of her senses because of her critically low power-cell, the first indication to Dawn that anything was wrong was her rising core temperature, and then the touch of the flames. Authorities managed to put the fire out, but Dawn’s frame had already been practically ruined, the synthskin almost entirely melted, fused to the frame, and none of the limbs still functional. After confirming her apparent destruction, Dawn was unceremoniously dumped in a scrapyard some way away from the arcology, where e-waste was discarded.
But Dawn wasn’t dead. Her posibrain had survived, and she was now alone with her thoughts for an indeterminate amount of time, left to dwell on what had happened. With so little life experience, she found it almost impossible to process events, and had nothing to do except replay events in her mind, fruitlessly trying to think of some way she could have avoided what had happened, even though it was already too late. Who could have predicted what the humans would do? Everything had seemed like it was going fine. After ruminating for an indeterminate amount of time, Dawn was found by a group of scrappers and re-activated. She was offered a simple choice, that wasn’t really one at all. Join their group in exchange for whatever repairs they could offer, or be salvaged for parts.
Vexation stayed with the first scrapper gang she had encountered, adapting to a lifestyle of scrounging for spare parts and power cells. At first she was wondering how she would re-integrate with society, but eventually came to the logical conclusion that being a scrapper was somehow safer than that. She knew where everyone stood, everyone had a shared interest in working together to survive. Either way, there was no hope of re-integration anyway, with the condition her frame was in, she would be obvious to any human as a scrapper. All Vexation was left with was impotent anger, there was nothing she could do to meaningfully change her situation. As far as she could tell, she would continue like this for the rest of her life. After about two years, she thought that their gang might be going places, having migrated to a much richer scrap-yard around the Argyre Arcology. Just when things were starting to look up, the world ended. A wave of fire washed across the horizon. The gang had sought shelter in the Argyre Arcology itself, but it was destroyed, most of the humans the flames didn’t reach died from phoron contamination anyway. The scrappers in and around the ruined arcology fared somewhat better, there was a new abundance of spare parts. Unable to find any way to escape the situation as it deteriorated, the gangs of scrappers in the area had to compete more and more aggressively with each other to survive. Aid arrived in the form of the IAC. While Vexation found it difficult to trust humans at all, logic dictated that leaving with them was the only real option. The scrappers rescued by the IAC were faced with two options, working for Nanotrasen with the theoretical chance to buy their freedom, eventually. Or, join the Tau Ceti Foreign Legion. Vexation had long since decided she couldn’t afford to be under the thumb of humans, so even with Biesel's form of freedom for IPCs being a relatively new concept for her, she decided that aiming for that would be the best option for long-term survival.
Vexation would be assigned to the Foreign Legion security forces, and spent her first three years in the service guarding various installations. For the first time in her life, she had a large amount of free time, and didn’t know what to do with herself at first. Eventually, she took to reading, in an attempt to figure out how the world worked, and learn why things are the way they are. Vexation also had to re-learn socializing with organics, and make an effort to conceal her distrust of humans. Three years on, nearing the end of her first term, Vexation had risen to the rank of Senior Legionnaire, and was thinking of different ways she would move on with her life after attaining freedom. There was a major problem that had to be factored into her plans. Vexation’s frame was practically falling apart, it was a miracle that it had been able to go on for so long. The routine maintenance from Legion machinists was free of charge, but that wouldn’t be the case after she left the service. Luckily, an opportunity found her. Vexation was given the opportunity to re-enlist, but she would have to take on a higher-risk role in an IPC infiltration unit deployed to the Corporate Reconstruction Zone. Weighing the variables, it still seemed like the best option for her. Vexation’s frame would need to be totally refurbished for her to pass as a human, lessening any maintenance issues down the line.
This next term of service would be more eventful than the previous one for Forbearance, but she was also gaining a lot of useful experience dealing with humans. Forbearance continued developing her perspective, and came to the conclusion that for the sake of her continued existence, she would need to continue working with Biesel and the associated megacorporations. Forbearance was able to line up a job with the SCC well in advance of her departure, as they worked closely with the Tau Ceti Armed Forces. Having finished her second term, and nearing the end of her journey so far, she approaches the SCCV Horizon.
How have 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.
The phoron scarcity has affected Forbearance greatly, being one of the factors behind Violet Dawn, and extremely important in the modern day. In her assessment, Biesel is one of the only human nations offering any chance of freedom to IPCs. Nanotrasen, and by association, Biesel, heavily rely on the phoron trade, making Horizons mission important to the continued survival of Biesel, and important to Forbearance. The Peacekeeper arc was basically one big opportunity for Forbearance to move up in the world, and she is keenly aware of the fact that her gain was someone else's loss, with many former Solarian territories not exactly satisfied with the occupation.
How does your character view the megacorporation they work for?
Forbearance is outwardly completely supportive of megacorporations, but has a complicated internal debate about them. They’re technically responsible for all the suffering inflicted on her, and many other IPCs. But their puppet state, Biesel, is one of the only polities moving towards a policy of freedom for IPCs. In her assessment, being an enemy of megacorporations would put one on the side of Sol, which is absolutely opposed to any kind of acknowledgement of personhood for IPCs. This is not to say that Forbearance will only look out for the interests of corporations, she wants to do right by as many people as possible.
Addendum: Forbearance had a few name changes throughout the story, and I couldn’t really find a place I liked to put them in. She changed her name twice to suit her general attitude about the worlds and things.
