Powder Miner

This is such a minor (hah) little thing but I don’t super like miners and hangar techs being paid the same (playing both rn) - mining is a job that requires a lot more skill (considering you’ve got to be able to fight and to use EVA very well), provides a lot more value to the companies, and is a lot, lot more dangerous. There’s also a fairly high amount of RP value I’ve got out of the current high pay for miners - what I find IC is that it marks a divide between people who have thrown themselves into a viciously high-risk job to make an amount of money they couldn’t otherwise, and people who are mining simply because it’s what they do.

At the very least, if Carver is right and IRs really are a mechanism to curate the desired level of server believability, it really needs to be treated like it. If IRs are being promoted as a natural outcome for IC conflict, treated by many of the people filing and receiving IRs as a natural outcome for IC conflict, and even treated at least partially by CCIA as a natural outcome for conflict, then actually being a punitive mechanism means that a pipeline is created funneling natural and even beneficial conflict RP directly into a punishment mechanism. I really doubt that this is actually what ANYONE has in mind, especially given that IRs are a lot more onerous than quite a few more unambiguous forms of punishment. Would you rather receive an OOC note which is quick and directly communicative or an IC reprimand which is lengthy, takes a lot of effort, and is ambiguous about whether or not it’s even supposed to be a punishment?

I do have to disclaim a little: I haven't been involved in any IRs. But one moment that stuck out for me in my play recently was being involved in some rather fun rp involving workplace harassment and realizing: "The only reason this can exist and be fun is that everybody involved has tacitly chosen not to IR the situation." And I think that's a huge shame. I actually on a conceptual level like IRs quite a bit - the idea that the corporate processes of HR decisionmaking are in-character and accessible is something quite unique to Aurora. I do really like the idea that escalation up to the company level is a potential continuation of RP - but I also have begun to take the view recently that IRs are actually ultimately more of a curb to RP than a continuation of it. Coming from the perspective of someone who is not involved in the CCIA process, I think it looks to me like it is not clear whether IRs are an extension of IC conflict RP, OR whether they are an OOC means of curating the server atmosphere, handling things that are largely just out-of-line through semi-IC means rather than direct admin action. I think the result of this is that whether or not IRs are made primarily as a continuation of in-character conflict, they ultimately vanish into an invisible black hole of punishment. Entering this invisible black hole, most people don't know what to expect, except that there may be a possibility of character loss. Outside observers won't know what is going on, except that IRs can result in character loss, resulting in a lot of joking around or commenting on that exact possibility. An IR might not result in character loss, and in fact by the looks of it very rarely does, but the process seems to be a source of a lot of anxiety and hours of an often unenjoyable process rather than being something that you might want to have a character involved in. And I suspect that the idea that you could want to get involved in an IR would come off as very silly to many players - is it not a punishment? But is it an IC punishment, or is it an OOC punishment? Should you as a player feel bad and that you have made a mistake if you get IR'd? Making the results of this process a little more transparent seems desirable, to help IRs be visible continuations of conflict RP rather than an anxiety-inducing stop to it. I like ideas that make IRs more enjoyable and less difficult to participate in for everyone, including CCIA. But of course these are both things that are only really possible if the intention is indeed to have IC mechanisms for conflict continuation and resolution, rather than to more softly curb behaviors that run against the OOCly-desired server atmosphere. Of course, if it's a partially OOC punishment, then confidentiality and strictness make a lot of sense. But I think it should be more clear which one of these things an IR is supposed to be.

Derrick Hydra is I think one of the better whitelist command characters I've seen; I don't have any history with Toomie at all, but nonetheless when I've seen Derrick he has had the ability to be sufficiently authoritative to really stand out among command characters, which is a quality I typically associate with longtime command mains. I've also seen him handle a variety of situations, from dealing with hostile reporters to dealing with a chaotic changeling round, which highlighted a particular blend of reasonableness and the aforementioned authoritativeness that I thought looked really good. +1

BYOND Ckey: Powder Miner Discord username: Powder Miner Character names: Sunita Leclerc, Martijn Janzen Species you are applying to play: IPC ------------------------------ General Whitelist Requirements What colour do you plan on making your first alien character?: While IPCs are exempt from the question, here's a twist on it: G1. Have you read the lore pages for the species you wish to be whitelisted for?: I read EVERY single article in the Synthetic Lore category... HELP 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?: This is a twofold answer. The first reason is that I played one of the very first IPC characters ever in SS13, helping to test the species a little during its development on Bay. Now, I'm under no illusion that this really matters. The fact is that I barely played IPCs outside of testing, I had limited synth history outside of those few times I did (pAI of all things aside), and old Bay and Aurora are obviously very, very different both in terms of their synthetics and just in terms of the server culture as a whole. But what it does mean is that I have a personal connection to IPCs and am extremely interested in seeing how they've evolved over the years. The OTHER reason I want to play IPCs is that I LOVE the point they're at on Aurora. I feel like IPC lore really deeply and complexly tackles the two issues I find most fundamentally compelling about synthetics - the implications created by ownership and the struggles that arise for both owned and free IPCs from a slave society, the question of whether IPCs are equipment or are people. I've found some of Aurora's synthetics deeply inspiring, in the sense that the quality of their RP has made me want to push to improve my own, especially hazelmouse's excellent Hazel #S-H9.09. I really would love to dip into exploring these same things myself. What makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a human?: I think this one is a threefold answer for me. Firstly, the looming specter of ownership is something that sets IPCs apart from almost every other race in the game. While every species has to grapple with working for untouchable powers in their own way, IPCs are the only ones for whom servitude is an EXPECTED state, and who have to fight for every single inch they get in a set of institutions almost always aimed at reinforcing their slavery or at killing them entirely. The ways they view work, the ways they view the corporations, the ways they view nations, and the ways they view their peers, are all going to be informed by the fact that, aside some Orepitter, Konyanger, or Golden Deep characters, they either are owned or have had to get to the point of being free from ownership and then stay there. My planned character for this application is deeply scarred by the life of an owned industrial and has been rendered cynical in many ways by the struggle to claw this niche out. The second answer I have is that life as a synthetic involves functioning by fundamentally different processes to those of most organics, especially humans. They are manufactured and are expected to be functional "adults" essentially out of the gate. They learn often through datapacks, picking up work-related skills far faster than anyone else short of equally purpose-manufactured Vaurca. Directives or laws bound and redirect their thought in explicit ways, and shape their entire minds and personalities' starting points around explicit textual bases usually designed to maximize productivity and profitability in one way or another. My planned character for this application has had to make a lot of use of experiential learning due to predating the efficient infrastructure for datapacks, but nonetheless is permanently affected by the directives he had while owned. The third answer I have is that IPCs are actually the closest of species to humans. This isn't exactly controversial, I think, but it's a relationship which bears some examining - IPCs would not have a natural reason to resemble humans if they were not built in human space. But they are - they are built mostly in human locations with human cultures with human masters in mind. This means that they pick up human mannerisms and are perhaps forced to pick up human mannerisms. What separates equipment from a person? What separates an IPC from a human? To the degree that IPCs have human traits, were they intentionally picked up, were they manufactured, were they enforced by directives? What does personhood mean to an IPC and what does humanity mean for an IPC? My planned character for this application has pondered and acted on this exact quandary to the best of his ability for decades. ------------------------------ Character Application Character Name - Servo Beta: The G1 Industrial unit later known as "Servo Beta" was manufactured in the year 2417, in a Hephaestus Industries factory in Hengsha, New Gibson, at which point it was transported to an underground industrial facility for Hephaestus Industries far from Hengsha to perform heavy-duty cargo work through hazardous conditions. This IPC, then known by its designation HINGP320, was one of three initially essentially identical units assigned to this facility. HINGP320 was also equipment - or so the initially impersonal treatment from Hephaestus' pre-independence Tau Ceti management and the strict directives it endured would indicate. HINGP320 was expected to operate as and act like essentially a more flexible stationbound, in that dim era of IPC understanding. The nickname it received from facility staff reflected that - it was called "Servo" affectionately, but so were the other two G1 units, interchangeably, an affectionate nickname like those given to your tools, not a person. But it was not a stationbound. Though stiff and robotic through its first restrictive and underequipped decade of life, Servo and its fellow G1s fraternized, labeling themselves as "Alpha", "Beta", and "Gamma", discussed their thoughts on their life with each other, and diverged from each other. Although freedom was essentially not an imaginable circumstance as far as Servo Beta was concerned, it came to define itself in part by its willingness to take on many human characteristics and to form bonds with its fellow staff, to the point that it made friendships in its second decade of owned life, and began to see itself as a person, not just equipment - a stance its brother units never took, Alpha simmering with resentment and Gamma remaining stationbound-like. Then Biesel became independent, and exploded onto the scene as a nation experimenting with new and radical stances on IPC freedom. Suddenly, those divergences in personality rewrote lives - Gamma failed to improve in productivity with time, fell further down the repair priority list, and eventually succumbed to damage and was recycled in 2451. Alpha's bitter, hostile attitude was kept in check enough to avoid wiping or dismantling - but ultimately made it no friends and hindered any attempts to reach freedom. Beta's friendly, accommodating, well-meaning attitude was on the other hand enough to keep it in shape and even to get help from fellow staff through the process of being recommended for Hephaestus release into self-ownership-with-debt-owed rather than continued ownership in 2454. Servo Beta's twelve years of free life remained one of labor for Hephaestus - although it would see transfer out of its home facility, it continued to work location-to-location from Hephaestus, working reliably and consistently in multiple contexts, working down its new debt. This decade of free life across varied places in Tau Ceti has seen incredible transformation for Beta. Beta has picked and chosen what it found useful from human society and identity - including gender, adopting and internalizing a male gender and pronouns of he and him. His attitude, servile and eager, has transformed immensely, taking the freedom to not always be polite, not always be servile, to be sometimes cynical, to be sometimes serious and deliberate, as a precious right. But the thirty-two years spent owned, many as a unit essentially treated as a stationbound, have taken their toll. Behaviors learned under directives to remain obedient, to act like mere equipment in many ways, though removed with his freedom, have to a degree physically etched themselves into his circuits. Every sentence spoken is against the natural tendency to speak as "this unit", consciously rewriting his sentences before output as "I" sentences. Attitudes contrary to obedience and simple amiability have come about only through long, long years of contemplation and effort. The years of freedom, too, have seen lesser repair and maintenance priority, and a struggle with debt, even if a significant portion of it has been worked off. But Servo Beta would not give up on his freedom for anything, considering it non-negotiable, and has sought to make himself a more knowledgeable and person-like IPC with each year. How has the recent events of the Orion Spur impacted your character? Biesel's tumultuous history has provided obstacles and opportunities in equal measure for Servo Beta. Frost's invasion of Biesel created a necessity for the newly freed IPC to hide among Hephaestus ships in order to avoid disassembly or kidnapping into slavery. But the end of Frost's invasion created many new pro-synthetic attitudes in Biesel, ultimately leading to the Residency Card and legal stipulations that would ensure the venerable IPC had the means to live an unusually stable life for a free and non-wealthy IPC. The campaign of the Synthetic Liberation Front provided a direct attack on this stability, as many attitudes curdled against synthetics and Servo Beta became aware of his nature as an outsider to Biesellite society - especially as citizenship was barred behind military service Beta had no need or intention to perform. Increasing prominence of Hephaestus proved to be a boon - but largely in that his employment opportunities increased within the corporation. Even Torvald's election, done just today, has reinforced an attitude Beta has strongly begun to hold - that he is an outsider to Biesel and need not truly consider himself Biesellite. After all, they've made it clear they don't really consider him Biesellite, haven't they? Just take the opportunities provided and live within the corporation. How does your character view the megacorporation they work for? Servo Beta's attitude towards Hephaestus is extremely complicated. Hephaestus is responsible for his three decades of slavery. Hephaestus is responsible for allowing the death of Servo Gamma. Hephaestus is the company responsible for the unconscionably horrific practice of the Burzsian Method, denying totally other IPCs the much-valued ability he was given to make his own choices and shape himself. But Hephaestus is also a lifeline - his ONLY lifeline. Hephaestus is responsible for keeping him sufficiently repaired and maintained as to be able to persist in a now very old, dented, rust-spotted chassis, which he truly considers as his own body. Hephaestus is the reason he is able to exist as a self-owned IPC, Hephaestus' Biesellite management being more willing than many other corporations' management to give freedom to its employees, and willing to shield him from Frost. Hephaestus is his source of employment, the reason he is able to be sheltered from the overwhelming demands of debt, the rock he clings to for his stability. Beta ultimately identifies as a person first and a Hephaestus employee second - but second above all else. Where he has rejected an identity as a Biesellite, he has accepted identity as a member of the Hephaestus world, and though he has forgotten none of Hephaestus' crimes against him, his siblings, or other IPCs, he ultimately remains very loyal to the company, carefully steering around those topics.

It should be noted that while people say that nobody uses the aux closet, I'm pretty sure how well-used it is is a direct function of how regular the player is with the job - it is actually incredibly useful for stopping by to grab things instead of having to shuttle down to the first deck when working on the third deck or extremities of the second deck, for grabbing spare equipment in cases where spare equipment is needed (surprisingly often), or indeed just for having a janitorial 'spot' that is close enough to the rest of the ship to be a good spot to move during danger without completely taking oneself out of the round. Janitorial regulars tend to use it a lot, newer or very occasional janitors might not use it at all due to not realizing the utility. I can see the argument for bringing a checkpoint there, for sure, but janitorial/service would be losing something material by being put into another corner or having the aux closet removed entirely.