Owen

Mneme is a very good and well-rounded roleplayer with an ability to stay in character at genuinely all times. Each of their characters are unique and seem well thought out and they seem to have a very good grasp on Tajara lore. I heavily +1 this!!

Basic Information Byond Account: YouJustGotOwened Character Name(s): Ahkam al-Nasrallah, Captain [Retired] Auralia-Fedas Ro’Suos, Chief Medical Officer [Retired] Sebas-Regluk Vri'Shek, Cheif Medical Officer [Retired] Helena Artigas, Captain Aramina Khouri, Consular Officer Majdala al-Assad, Bartender Ali-Reza Entezami, Shaft Miner Cyra Yazdani, Engineering Apprentice and many others throughout the years (50/50 chance I am playing one of the random Elyrans you see) AI Name(s): N/A Discord username + tag: Owen#2139 Age: 21 Timezone: EST When are you on Aurora?: Usually in the afternoon and evenings during the week, I try to get at least one or two rounds in during the day. On the weekends, I am usually around a lot more through those same times and also into the beginning parts of Deadhour. Experience How long have you played SS13?: January 2015 How long have you played on Aurora: June 2015 How much do you know about SS13 (Baystation build) game mechanics?: I have a pretty healthy knowledge in most of the mechanics in most departments, and in the past year spent some time refamiliarizing myself with Medical and Engineering Do you have any experience moderating for an SS13 server?: I was a full moderator here back in my early days on the server, and then went through the trial mod process again more recently (2020 I think), I also was CCIA Leader for a period of time back in 2016. Have you read through the criteria thread; https://forums.aurorastation.org/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=4198 - and believe that you mark off all the criteria?: Yes Have you ever been banned, and if so, how long and why?: No Personality Why do you play SS13?: I've come back to SS13 countless times throughout the years, at the end of the day the game fills a certain niche that is the only one of its kind that scratches that specific itch for freeform and open-ended roleplay with the backdrop of a very complicated game that only is what it is today through being a passion project throughout the years for countless devs. Why do you play on Aurora?: Aurora really was my first ever roleplay experience, joining the server way back when I was barely a teenager. This server has been a part of my life for over seven years now, and has provided an avenue that has led to so many memorable interactions throughout my time here. Like I said with why I play SS13, Aurora is that reason. This server in particular provides such an extensive roleplay experience, from the ever-expanding lore to the unimaginable variety of characters you will come across in-game. I especially appreciate that there has been so much effort dedicated into Aurora to make the entire thing feel like a living, breathing Universe with characters that can act as a slice of life from that Universe. It is just a very neat thing, and something that essentially is the only real community that I interact with online anymore these days. What do moderators do?: The main goal of moderators is to ensure that the rounds continue smoothly at least on the OOC side of things. You are someone who, while having to issue punishments from time to time, often has to guide new players through the process to getting familiar with the server, and also try to ensure that the players involved can get something worthwhile from their time playing on the server. It is not the job of staff to be this overbearing presence that is constantly breathing down the necks of the players to make sure they are acting within very strict and narrow rules, you are just there to make sure that things can continue as smoothly as possible, while being able to make good judgment calls on issues as they arise. What does it mean to be a moderator for our server?: Essentially the same as what I said above, but here in particular I think there is an expectation that a moderator is a well-rounded individual who is also an invested member in the community. You are here to make the server a welcoming place. While you are not meant to be an all-knowing god who knows every single tidbit of lore, and the code behind every single in-game mechanic, it is still expected that you are able to at least guide players to the right place, even if you cannot answer a specific question. Why do you want to be a moderator?: I have spent so much time on this server, and have been able to get so much out of it, that I also want to be able to put effort into keeping this community running smoothly. Basically, I want to be able to give something back to this community through myself volunteering to be on staff. What qualities do you possess that would make you a good moderator?: I think that I tend to be fairly level-headed and objective when it comes to disagreements, and I believe that I am able to provide sound judgement, regardless of who I am having to speak to about a certain issue. I also believe that I have a good idea of this server's culture and the general mindset of how things should be, and the ability to uphold those expectations from the playerbase. How well do you handle stress, anger, or insults?: I think that I am able to handle stress/anger/insults all pretty well. I could probably find one or two times throughout my time on this server that I have been genuinely angry over something that happened on the server, and even then--I have always been able to take a step back and remind myself that we are all here to have fun, and not to get worked up over something trivial. I think that I manage to keep an overall pleasant presence on the server, and have never been caught up in major OOC drama or things of that nature. I tend to also take insults pretty well, and just shrug them off/let them go. Stuff like that doesn't really get to me. And for stress, that is something that I also think I have a pretty good handle on. If something is genuinely stressing me out to the point it is unpleasant, I usually just remove myself from that situation. That is a rare thing though. Anything Else You Want to Add:

I think that all these ideas are worthwhile to at least consider using for future events. Could very possibly solve a lot of the issues we've been seeing in the past since moving over to the Horizon. Not to mention, I think it does make things a lot more interesting. Not certain about the whole landing on planets, but I mean--if we can justify it our heads and it wouldn't be too much work for devs to implement, I'd be all for whatever.

Overall, I enjoyed this arc. This is one of the first “modern” lore arcs that I have been able to really participate in and feel invested in. I enjoyed that there was an emphasis on there being consequences for our actions. That our choices mattered in the end. There are some things that I think can be kept in mind for any future events, but overall--I found this to be a refreshing change of pace that actually has left lasting consequences. 1. Communication: While the summaries that we would sometimes get published in the aftermath of events were useful, I felt that there was still a lot of confusion going into future events about what exactly happened in previous events, leading the people who made the decisions in the future events not really understanding the circumstances of what happened, or what the actual consequences would be. This might just be something that I missed somehow, but I generally had no idea how the FSF came to be our protectors. I knew that the command staff apparently hired them during the first event, but I wish there were more details published in an easier-to-read format. I am sure it is a lot of work to do write ups in the aftermath of events, especially when the events are extremely chaotic such as the Eclipse Protocol event. But that is when they matter the most. Even if there is not a single clear story of what happened during an event, just mentioning the different viewpoints that happened would not be a bad idea. Just to get a general idea of how things are progressing. That leads me to something that I just thought up as a way that this could potentially be fixed. There were a lot of complaints (at least from what I could see) about the different events feeling disjointed at times, with there not being a clear continuity of things when we had different characters take the reins for a specific event. It is obviously not expected that each character is going to exactly follow the thought process of the ones that came before them, but I do think that things could have benefitted if at least the thought process was made clear in the aftermath of the event, just so the players following the event can at least have a reference point. I am still not sure how something like this could be implemented, or who would need to make their thought processes known, but at the very least I think we could see some good results if it was encouraged for players who made big decisions during an event to post a write-up in response to the event summary explaining things from their character's POV, just to shed some light on what happened. I can see concerns about this being a bit much to ask from players, but if we want there to be more continuity of actions, and for things to feel a bit more thought out on the player side of it, I think that this is something that should at least be considered. 2. Consequences: This is a term that was thrown around a lot throughout this arc, and I think that it is a good thing, generally speaking. We all want our choices to matter--for there to be some effect on how we behave in a round. I know that you cannot want it both ways, but I do feel that the consequences that happened as a result of the Redocking event were very hard-hitting. This is not something that I feel super strongly about, but enough that I think I can echo some of the concerns that have already been voiced here. That round was a massive fuck-up for the Horizon, Kruger and Becker were both killed with little resistance shown from the crew. And while it is an interesting development moving forward, I think that it really just turned the FSF into this massive antagonist that there was no real good way to deal with. After this event, the FSF really managed to get a stranglehold on the rest of the arc in a way that felt almost suffocating to deal with. Going to just say again that I know we cannot have it both ways in terms of consequences, and I definitely prefer having these more impactful consequences. I think I am just stuck on the consequences of the Redocking event being just very hard-hitting--I think it just left a sour taste in my mouth. 3. Railroading: I know that this is a commonly cited criticism for this entire arc, but I do not agree that we were railroaded. I was genuinely shocked at the number of different directions that this event could have gone in. The only thing that I could see as “railroading” would have been during the A Forceful Introduction event, with the weapons being aimed at the Horizon’s residential deck, but I feel like that has been beaten to death at this point. 4. Command/Security Focus: Unfortunately, I think that this is going to be an inevitable part of lore arcs like this, especially when they are more high-intensity/political in nature. Moving forward, I think I would like to have some more variety in the sort of events that we receive. I like some of the ideas that were mentioned throughout this feedback thread that lean more into us being an exploration ship. I could expand on different ideas for events that could be implemented at a later time, but it would be nice to see some interactions/tasks in the future that are not as inherently hostile or intense. Also, I don’t want it to seem like I am just picking this entire thing apart. I found the arc, in general, to be very enjoyable, and it did lead to very difficult decisions for me to make while I was playing Ahkam as Captain (and even when he was off-duty… oops). I am looking forward to the continuation of the next two arcs in this trilogy! I was extremely invested in this arc, and I think it did do a good job at showing the difficulty of a situation that the Horizon has been in going through the Valley Hale.

Just to explain this part--Our XO during the event sent a fax over to the SCC explaining the situation, and essentially that we were being extorted for phoron and credits. Right before the FSF left with all of the phoron, the SCC responded to us saying something along the lines of "you have full authority to renegotiate the deal in order to secure the success of the Horizon mission" (not the exact quote, but basically the same intent). Given that there was a lot of talk about the SFA and other various pirates venturing around out there, and how the Horizon, without the Caravaggio, would be completely unprotected from even the smallest of ships carrying torpedoes, we ended up coughing up about 85k credits for them to continue protecting us. Not sure how that is going to play out in the long run, or whether or not the SCC will continue with that, but the mindset at the time was we'd at least cough up this amount of credits for the guarantee that hopefully someone would be looking out for us until the SCC was able to respond after the round.

I think this could be very interested to try out. I can see it leading to more rounds with a more coherent plan/plot/narrative from the antags when they can choose what they want to be, rather than them having to throw a quick gimmick together every single time they randomly roll one of the antags. Definitely would like to see this.

The only thing that I think would make sense from this suggestion (as others have outlined) are removing cameras from inside heads of staff offices, or at the very least the Captain's office.

A way to know what shuttles are docked with the Horizon at any time would be incredibly useful. There is often a fair bit of confusion unless it is explicitly stated that someone is docking. Hard to tell either WHERE they are docking or if they even docked in the first place with the current system we have in place. This could also tie it fairly well with the suggested implementation of docking codes.

PLEASE yes, the shutters are so infuriating. Entire areas of the ship are locked down, and it is incredibly tedious to fix, even after we get power back to them.

I'd like to see this test-merged at the very least. Could be interesting put into practice

We just had a round where a blob spawned on a deadpop round with zero engineers active. Took over the entirety of deck 1. Should be screenshots getting posted soon. It was a disaster

100% agree it is such a pain in the ass to move the Horizon anywhere in a reasonable timeframe. I don't think there is really a justification to make the Horizon have the mobility of a beached whale, especially since it has such a bit impact on our ability to explore the sector beyond a single area

I agree. The uniform regulations could use with some loosening with Security. It is rarely enforced, but when it does come up it is fairly restrictive. Most outfits that Security players choose to wear are within reason--and as long as they are identifiable as Security, I have no issue with there being some customization. If people start wearing pajamas or whatever, then obviously you can crackdown on that, but in general Security wears appropriate clothing, and the regulations should reflect what occurs already. This essentially.

Going to start this off with saying that I definitely support this application, and want to see you get your command trial at a minimum so I can give more structured feedback. I would like to give my full-throated support for you getting this Command WL overall, but I think that I might have to echo some of the same concerns that others have been saying in this application. Not at all that you are a bad player, I think it is actually the opposite. You appear eager to learn, and overall a good spirit and addition to the community. I do, however, find it difficult to get to really see your characters on more than a surface level. This is not faulting your RP abilities, but I think the issue is that you are casting your net rather wide with your current roster of characters. You have many many characters to fill different jobs (not necessarily a bad thing), but they tend to be very surface level in terms of characterization. Ideally, I think it would be best if you worked on cutting down how many characters you actively are playing for a bit and focus more on developing the quality of these select few. Really, it is difficult to get a read on your characters. I have interacted mainly with Maya and Amara Nasr, especially Nasr in the past few days. I genuinely am having decent interactions, but I am left feeling that there isn’t a whole lot to them, if you are understanding what I am saying. Now, I don’t want to discredit this in terms of your application, since I think that you have what it takes, but I would like to see some development on your part, especially if you get a command trial. Because of this, I am +1ing this application for you to get your trial. I’ll make sure to keep tabs on how I think you’re doing with it, should you get accepted, and then make sure to give actual specific feedback afterward. I am always glad to see new command players, and I hope to see that this turns out well. EDIT: Just want to add that after talking to you over Discord about some of the points I brought up, I am heavily supporting that you get your command trial, and then we move forward from there. I'm glad you were receptive to the criticism.

I've seen Jeriko around a few times recently, and think that he is a very interesting character and a good addition to have on the Operations Manager rotation. I wasn't aware you were on trial for a command whitelist at the time, so I don't have entirely specific feedback right now, but I will make sure to keep an eye out for your command characters in future rounds. So far, I think you've been doing a good job with your trial.

I really like the idea of having the possibility for there to be canon unfriendly and neutral/wildcard ships. This leads to a lot of interesting actions, so long as it doesn't just devolve into a massive firefight every single round. There was just a round last night where there was a Free Solarian Fleet ship that interacted with the Horizon, and it was nice to see some tense negotiations occur, posturing, etc. over an asteroid that both groups wanted to use without it actually devolving into a firefight.

I have no issue with changing it to Chief of Security, or Chief Security Officer like others suggested. Given the existence of the Chief Medical Officer and the Chief Engineer, I'm not sure that this will necessarily be an issue. Either way, I prefer Chief of Security / Chief Security Officer over the current Head of Security title. And I know that this isn't the topic, but I guess this might also bring into question the titles of the Research Director and the Chief Operations Manager. But those can be different suggestions

I thought I was going crazy that my face-direction was no longer working properly. I would greatly appreciate seeing this reverted to how it used to be, not only for the "quietly examine," but for just being able to click where i want (especially when looking on cameras) without spinning around like a mad man

Unless we were going to expand and increase the number of districts in Mendell City, I don’t think that each species should necessarily get a specific district for themselves. That does not mean, however, that we couldn’t include details of waves of immigrant groups to Mendell all generally setting up in the same area, and clinging onto their culture there. Things that we already have set up such as District 6 being Little Adhomai are a fine addition in my mind, given the sheer number of Tajara immigrants to Tau Ceti that we hear about. It makes sense that they would likely settle in the same area, especially if they immigrated in waves with families and friends, etc. But taking Skrell, for example, they have been in close contact with Humanity for so long, I can’t necessarily imagine the need for a specific district set aside known for being the place that Skrell tends to reside in. An exception in the Skrell case, in particular, could be that we see a lot of those Skrell refugees who were fleeing the Traverse settle down in groups, and maybe make a “Little Pluat” or a “Traverse Village” center in one of the districts at large, where perhaps many of these Skrell refugees were placed once they were let into Tau Ceti. It could be an interesting point to include some sort of difference between the old waves of Skrell who migrated to human controlled space and how they interact with the newer waves of Skrell. Just sort of spitballing here a bit. I guess my main point with this is that while it makes sense to have these communities pop up across Mendell City, I don’t think that they should necessarily encompass an entire district, like in the case with Little Adhomai. I do think, however, that it would be neat to see a little blurb included in some district descriptions that are just like “This district is also home to many [insert group here] immigrants who moved here during [whenever event], setting up a cultural diaspora of their own.” and basically describe some sort of cultural shift in this specific area whether in politics, religious convictions, language, things of that nature. Maybe even, depending on the age of this community, the architecture of these buildings might even be different and reminiscent of where these groups came from. Overall, I don’t have any major issues with how Mendell City is set up at the moment, it is simply adequate, but I think that we have the ability to greatly expand the foundations of Mendell City since so many of our characters live there. It could be neat to have more ‘slice of life’ details about the city, just to make the characters who live there feel more alive and active. And as others have mentioned, the inclusion of some sort of map could be a great help to at least to get a general idea of where all the districts are located and how things would overlap and connect.

In my time back on the server, I have interacted with every single one of Mneme's characters, along with being able to interact with them fairly frequently in both OOC and the Discord. Based off my interactions with their characters alone, I can say with some confidence that Mneme is a fantastic addition to the Aurora community. Their characters are, at least to me, the most recognizable people on the manifest a lot of the time. They conduct themselves with a fairly level-headed attitude, and have shown themselves to be helpful to newer players, while still ensuring that rounds are fun and progress smoothly when they play in command. On the OOC aspect of their character, I believe that Mneme has a good attitude when it comes to SS13. I don't believe I have ever seen them get heated over things not going their way, and have also displayed a pretty good understanding of the rules and expectations of the server. Along with this, I believe that they have been extremely welcoming and helpful to newer players on the server, and usually very good at directing them to the correct places. I have also noticed this aspect of Mneme when playing as a Head of Security, and interacting with their department. They seem to be a genuinely decent person with a desire to give back to the community that they've been able to derive so much entertainment from. Simply put, I think that they would be a wonderful addition to the moderator team, and I hope to see that their time on the staff treats them well. A definite +1 from me. EDIT: I just wanted to add, that I find Mneme's approach to trying to make rounds as enjoyable as possible when playing as command staff with limited resources to be very similar to my own. I think this is a good mindset to have when dealing with the game, and tends to make the best of whatever circumstances they are thrown into. In general, their presence is a good help in keeping rounds interesting in their own right. Because of this, I believe that they have a good understanding of expectations of our community, and it would be interested to see them on the staff side of things.

Reporting Personnel: Ahkam al-Nasrallah Job Title of Reporting Personnel: Captain Game ID: cgm-aEEb Commended Personnel: Aez Goldhorn, Chief Engineer Markos Rakt, Atmospheric Technician Felix Fleeter, Engineer Shura Petronovisk, Engineer Douglas Richards, Bridge Crew Eliska Viitalah, Bridge Crew Yuna Ariwiyati, Bridge Crew Witnesses: - Antediluvian, Executive Officer: Present for the test flights, oversaw the actions of the Bridge Crew. Can attest to the skill and level-headedness of the personnel on the bridge at the time. - All crew of the SCCV Horizon at the time of the event: Anyone present during the flight tests can also attest to the coordination and skill involved to pull of such maneuvers and to maintain stable power. Time of Commendable Act: 4:30 Station Time Real Time: ~5:00 AM GMT, 2FEB2022 Location of Act: Engineering, Bridge, SCCV Horizon overall Overview: Throughout several of the shifts that I have served as Captain of during the SCCV Horizon test flights, Engineering and the Bridge Crew have often shown interested in pushing the ship to its limits to ensure that it will be properly tested and capable by the time that the ship officially in launched. The specific test that was decided upon for today's shift was to put the Horizon's engines and thrusters under a stress test, and attempt to reach the maximum possible speed of the Horizon. This is vital data for the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate to receive in order to understand the functionalities of the Horizon in action--this information could also be vital when we officially launch and leave the safety of the Romanovich Cloud, in the chance that we must quickly evade whatever hazards we come across. On this shift in particular, the combined efforts of the mentioned engineering and bridge crew showed true dedication to the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate and the SCCV Horizon. During this event, all mentioned crew worked tirelessly to assist in bringing the SCCV Horizon up to speeds that, to my knowledge, has not previously been reached. The specific test in mind was to push the ships engines and thrusters to new limits, with the assistance of Engineering ensuring a stable power and fuel setup for the duration of the tests. At the peak speeds, our bridge crew reported that we were travelling at a minimum of 40 gm/h, which according to our artificial intelligence at the time, was calculated to be around 2% the speed of light. This type of dedication toward providing thorough testing to the SCCV Horizon would not be possible without the hard work of the aforementioned crew. Without the careful actions and stellar communication, it is very likely that any less experienced crew would have tore the ship apart at the speeds we reached. Engineering and the Bridge Crew were both absolutely vital to the success of this endeavor. We were able to maintain full-power and ship integrity throughout the entire trial. Additional Notes: I believe that anyone who was on the main three decks at the time of these flight tests of the SCCV Horizon can attest to the ability that was demonstrated by the mentioned names. This was truly an impressive feat of coordination and dedication to the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate and toward seeing the true success of the SCCV Horizon. I am thoroughly impressed, and pleased to have such capable crew under my command during this shift. These crew members truly embody the dedication, intelligence, and grit that it takes to work on a state-of-the-art vessel such as the SCCV Horizon, and because of that, I firmly believe that they all should be recognized for their service to the SCC.

Echoing the last two replies by saying that the most recent screenshots sold me on this. I would like to see this tested out in the very least

Unless I am remembering reading over someone else's records, wasn't he also supposedly trained to be an investigator? Is there a reason that he is an assistant rather than that?