Mofo1995

Nah. But I like the picture, I'm keeping that.

So, first off I'd like to say that the application is well-written, in that you have a firm grasp of the art of storytelling. Second off, I didn't see what the application looked like before it was edited, so I dunno where all this seems to be blowing out of proportion. The homosexuality part seems grafted onto the end... ish. I'll get into that. As someone who isn't gay, and isn't in tune with LGBTQIA+ rights movements, let's limit the scope of this discussion as much as possible to our fantastical science fiction setting instead of talking about OOC politics regarding it- a restriction which I feel inhibits proper expansion of alien races in lore. Taking it from the top, plenty of people put jokes in these sections just because they're such a formality, no need to make a big stink about it, fellas, considering our boy here went on to satisfactorily answer the questions when the jolly good fun was over. While I've always complained about everyone seeming to ignore focus on race considering how much support for it there has been in the lore, I've been pleasantly surprised at how newer applicats have been zooming and enhancing on that jon. I think it's reflective of the enhanced maturity of the current crop of Tajara players on station who are willing to broach those subjects and express racial unrest on station supported with good roleplay. The focus on the social elements making Tajara different rather than spitting out a paraphrase for the wiki's description of their cosmetic and physical differences was also pleasant, since the latter tends to indicate a reader is uninterested, a furry, or a power gamer. About the only thing I disagree with is the notion that they are not as culturally advanced, in that I do not view culture as an object of progression and regression. Authoritative statements which evaluate and weigh cultures against each other is inherently bad for anthropology. One of the themes I've been really hoping that people would grasp within the lore lies with the grappling between moral imperialism and tolerant multiculturalism. Okay, let's get on to backstory. So firstly the call of war brought our Luka, with pre-adulthood backstory short and sparse, into the Republican Army despite abhorring violence. This seems to imply that he was brought in within the past 2 years, since conscription for the Republican Army was only brought into law two years ago. It was a few months after conscription was passed into law that a mostly conscript army seized P'urr, which had been in ALA hands, and renamed it B'urr. What I'm trying to evaluate here is Luka's age, since he would have been born before the second revolution, and his home city would have been the site of at least two major battles in his young adulthood, once sometime after 2451 and a second time in 2458. I guess I just want to know how the family pharmacy was doing during all of this and how he wound up in the military despite being a pacifist in nature. I appreciate the take on a service record being generally unheroic, but he sounds liable to be absolutely *hated* by all his comrades. But, there really is a phenomena of people purposely avoiding shooting to kill. Studies which will go uncited as the only one I can remember of the top of my head was a LindyBeige video strongly suggest that most soldiers just kind of shot in the direction of their enemies in the hopes of scaring them into running away. An English regiment in testing was found to be absurdly more accurate when firing at white sheets organized and placed at a distance to imitate line infantry than they were at actual line infantry, suggesting most were intentionally missing in combat. So I guess there's a pass and justifiable reason there. Back to story, it's not entirely clear when this is all happening still. Prior to 2458 the ALA controlled both P'urr and Tampiska, so fighting between them seems like forming a salient and asking to be pincered. It seems to suggest a scenario in which the PRA owns P'urr and the ALA owns Tampiska, which makes me think it happened within the past 2 in-game years. It's during Luka's time of servitude that I really start to get lost on the backstory though. So he spends time in the prison camp, taking on the usual war crimes, when he's acting as slave medic and decides he wants to help people in medical need no matter what and do no harm. Or something similar to it. Okay, fine. But... preaching to PRA POWs that both sides are hypocrites and not worth following? What'd the PRA do to him? It's not really clear here how the PRA wronged him on par with being a work camped POW, all that's defined of what they've done so far was being unhappy with him for low combat capability. Personally, I'd think he bought into ALA propaganda too if I were one of his comrades. But then we get to the part of the application where I just really don't buy it. Homosexuality isn't really native to Tajara, in that it was universally unacceptable before contact with humanity. Gay rights and being a part of humanity's sphere of influence goes hand in hand with Tajaran perception in this world where there just weren't really any homosexuals who hadn't completely repressed their true selves. The ALA which started as a coup has grown to a reactionary popular movement. Homosexuality faces worse discrimination there than anywhere else on Adhomai, and it's by popular decision. So this weird... covert homosexual gang signs in the prison camp between a reactionary soldier fighting for popular traditional values and the bleeding heart centrist pacifistic just doesn't really seem all that believable. But, the ALA does press people into service, so maybe this mystery soldier doesn't give a Njarir's ass about popular ideology. But there's still the issue that he risked execution for desertion and treason to sneak a doctor out, the very one that was and would be treating him and his comrades if they got hurt, just for a one night stand. I dunno, as a plot point, having to sleep his way out of the camp seems forced and clumsy. Am I supposed to get from this that Luka is the kind to use others (possibly fatally) for his own ends, in an act which is hypocritical of his knock off Hippocratic oath? Am I supposed to get that this one soldier was very feckless and horny to the point of being suicidal? What did it bring to the table that some other hardship as a means of escape didn't? OwO what's this? Anyways, it's clear that you're a capable and competent writer and that you're interested in Tajara lore, but while this application catches some of the general vibes, it tends to get hung up and tangled on the point of being believable. Namely, I feel like it shifts focus too much on what makes Luka different from other Tajara, rather than giving him much of anything tying him to Tajara. Application Denied.

I will be reviewing this application tomorrow.

FaG does bring up a few good points. Though some of them can be eased with some implications. Firstly, there's an obvious implication that since Anjara's grandfather was in the Grand People's Congress, it's clear that her family sided with the rebels or Hadii during the first revolution to get by. So there's that issue put to bed. However the concept of her and her family being completely unexposed to hardship is a valid criticism. While her life might be sheltered in the wake of the revolution, maybe we could hear something about what her previous generations had to go through? The party of the PRA has also been known to have the occasional purge under Malik Hadii, maybe her grandfather was put out of a political career earlier than he intended? I do appreciate the take of not having your character be the subject of yet another war drama, but to make someone who is sheltered completely is rough when the flow of the lore heavily encourages adversity. Personally, I think the being out of touch and trying to reach out was a nice touch, and how her perception of the everyman was just what she would see on television. It'll make for a real culture shock when she boards the station and is shit on for her race all the time from disgruntled commoners. Anyways, once the above points are addressed, I think it would shape up this application to be good enough for whitelisting.

Hey! That works pretty nicely. It's still the same effect- he's being sold, but the contract element to it fixes it up nicely so that he doesn't come off as a de jure slave. Application accepted.

I was under the impression Malik was still selling Zhan-Khazan etc to NanoTransen due to this exert in the wiki: "His brother and vice-president Njadrasanukii Hadii quickly assumed the office of the presidency and immediately passed brutal laws that punished Zhan-Khazans and 'subversive elements'. NanoTrasen was invited back to Adhomai and menial workers were sold en masse to NanoTrasen workplaces while the rights to the bountiful natural resources of Adhomai were sold off to NanoTrasen." However if that's not the case, the issue of him being sold can easily be fixed to his contract/writ of work that he had with the store owner was sold to NanoTransen. Yeah the writing there was a bit metaphorical. NT does pump money into the PRA in exchange for workers, but the workers aren't strictly slaves. Maybe in the abstract sense of belonging to a totalitarian government and having few liberties, but the transaction described here is that the worker and his government gets paid if the worker decides to shuttle off to work for NT. Just fix that one detail in the application and everything else is good enough to go.

How exactly was Ra’amiz Kondrati sold to NanoTrasen? Slavery is illegal in the PRA.

Application denied. Move along, nothing to see here.

Tajara pride station wide. Tunnel cats rule.

Am I being memed? I asked resident cat lore expert Alberyk and he said make the name as long as reasonably possible. I then considered in addition what the Tajara wiki had to say, in that Tajara take their clan names as their humanized middle names. I then created a humanized name (Borislav Krasimir Kosterlovovich), and added the character's true tajara name (Rrazhkhun’khalzuhn Kodiri Vahzirthaamro Rhagrrhuzau), removed (Rrazhkhun’khalzuhn) because of the ol' razzle dazzle, and then jammed the rest of it in there as a middle name. Do not tell me that I was deceived by Alberyk. While making the name as long as reasonably possible is bad advice, I mostly just wanted to make sure you weren't being zany with a name like that. The citations to lore and the explanation perfectly justify it. To be honest, it's the first time I've seen the lore about clan name being a middle name actually being implemented. With regards to the entire rest of the application, it strongly reinforces how old Borislav is compared to most Tajara characters who are too young to remember a time without introduction to humanity. Taking it from the top, there was some solid integration of the fauna lore here as the young Borislav worked on the farms. It's a nice depiction of common peasant life, even as it is today for many rural Tajara. But the two strongest aspects which immediately stand out to me are the rare elements of his story. Firstly, that he is a first great war veteran instead of second, and secondly that he fought for the nobility. I can only think of one other character I've ever encountered who can claim both of those, and unlike Borislav they did defect during the war. Your writing is very dense and highly descriptive, which probably contributed to the lack of community feedback here, but a bunch of +1s and -1s without elaboration is worthless anyways, so if anything you've weeded out the plebs. Now that we've covered the unique items, let's review backstory. It starts off like a lot of other Tajara applications, but the shift in context to being a time before world breaking decade long wars changes the situation a bit. We have that same young starry eyed Tajara who wants to become a soldier, except this time it's peacetime and there doesn't seem to be much ideological motivation beyond simple patriotism. But you've sneaked in this nice implication that they're just brigands in uniform going about forcibly collecting taxes- something Borislav realizes once he's one of them. The second paragraph is mostly a history lesson with demonstration of lore comprehension with some agreeable minor OC lore additions, but it's also the start of his disillusionment with nobility and his military superiors. The next two paragraphs- the battles for Al'mari and Castle Hadii- are the most exciting. The tactical withdrawal from the city leaving them at the mercy of the angry and definitely violent rebels to defend the castle showed a great understanding about how the old system (and the systems that followed it for that matter) were built around protecting the people in power. The military priorities were around defending Hadii's personal property rather than the local cities. But, arguably, it was the soundest strategic decision as well considering they only narrowly held out before the Hadii family co-opted the revolution and assumed global power. The siege itself with the three Tajara in the guard tower with a gatling gun was tense, and the conspiracy with the Zhan to overthrow the sergeant and defect really added to the desperation of the situation. One line in however confused me on first read and subsequent reread. Maybe I've been reading too many degenerate doujins, but at first I took this to mean Borislav and Krrazghan had gay love and Rrhakhun and the other sergeants were doing weird things. I think the tendency of some Tajara players to hypersexualize their characters has conditioned me to be cautious and assuming, but I realize now what you were saying was that Borislav and Krrazhgan became friends and cut through the military formality, whereas Rrhakhun still clung to process and procedure and remained cold and superior to them. Going on, Borislav's life just keeps hitting new lows, such as living in poverty for awhile before being forced to re-enlist in the very army that he had fought against so desperately- ironically still fighting for the same people. By the outbreak of the second war he is an old man with no known surviving family members or even really ties to Adhomai. All that's left for him there is pain. The circumstances of his immigration to Biesel is another part which is unique, Krrazghan's little shipping company. Most people, myself included, just had their characters go straight from Adhomai to Nanotrasen. As a result, the lore is written to facilitate that sudden jump, but your character going to work for a small time company founded and operated by one of his old comrades was fresh air. Having it be bought and split up by NanoTrasen was a nice touch and a completely plausible and far more interesting excuse to place your character on the station rather than the old "cheap labor lmao" concept which people are encouraged to use for lack of greater creativity. And so, Borislav is once again left alone in the world with everything he's ever really known lost again. Overall its a very strong application that I don't find very many faults in, and I know you're a fully competent, capable, and talented roleplayer and (former) lore writer. So I have no problems handing out this whitelist. Application accepted.

Quoted myself so that I could see what my last update was. Here's a quick rundown for the obligatory end of 2017 dev updates: Got around to updating the Adhomai political map to its 2458 form Gave the People's Republic of Adhomai an out of system colony, Hro'zamal. A jungle planet with an orbital naval base that it used for anti-piracy operations. Colony home to mostly xenobiologists. Wiki page for planet still [WIP] Reduced homosexuality to a misdemeanor. In your face non-subtlety lecherous Tajara are still going to be talked to, but the lore ramification has been reduced to not death camps- which by the way now also have to improve their living conditions. Resolved a collaborative arc with Canon about PRA *allegedly* printing too many Sol Alliance Credits The NKA has begun building a new defensive line to consolidate their gains Most citizens of the DPRA now have reliable access to electricity, and are now having their first elections. What's coming up for that is *new* for the wiki: Culture by geographical region Counter-Cultural Stereotypes by ethnicity Political agencies/parties by faction pages, and their leaders. Things on the wiki that I still need to complete: Timeline Hro'zamal Page The best lore development of 2017: Memes! Really, 2017 saw a strong revival in original content and memes created about Tajara lore. I always save em whenever I see em, love it.

I've read everything up to the second paragraph, give me one more night to read the rest- I mismanaged my night after work today in particular. Only input so far: Am I being memed?

Electrical Power Grid Completed The first major industrial project of our Democratic People's Republic of Adhomai was to bring power to ALL free living Tajara within the domain, and it has happened. For the first time on Adhomai, all people of a country have access to power. The project was called upon by Interim President Brajrr Alnadruskiy since his appointment by the Supreme Commander Halkiikijr Nated'Hakhan following the formation of the new civilian government. Skilled and educated Tajaran workers flooding to the cause of self-determination for our people, bolstered by the disillusioned from the recent purge of the People's Congress, toiled around the clock in this massive infrastructure renovation. The effort was not without issues as the human loving harlots interloped wherever they could. Sustained bombing campaigns against Shastar City killed innocent freedom loving Zhan-Khazan workmen as the power plants were modernized and repaired. Constant artillery shelling of Tampiska killed many of the 47th Free Engineers Battalion as they built fortified sub stations. Naval cruise missile strikes against Amohda destroyed a hospital next to a coal power plant which was being constructed, killing the sick and elderly along with the workers. The sacrifices these brave rebels made to blaze a new path for Tajara free of puppet masters will not be forgotten, and the power they've given to all free Tajara is the ultimate monument to their contributions. As elections begin, Interim President Brajrr Alnadruskiy of the Free Tajaran People's Party leads in the polls with 38% of the vote. His next closest competitor, Provisional Minister of Civil Rights Almrah Harrlala of the National Adhomai Worker's Party, holds 19% of the vote. Supreme Commander Halkiikijr Nated'Hakhan had this to say: "Bring light to one of your fellow Tajara's life."

I don't really have much to contribute beyond what the other two said. The whole raised by humans thing used to be a really common trope that made for RP that amounted more to just humans with fur than an alien race. While it's technically possible to circumvent the hard rule that all Tajara whitelist app characters must be from Adhomai, such an application would have to be beyond merely exceptionally good, so I wouldn't count on it. The number of characters today who were born expatriates from Adhomai are few and far between, and have largely been whittled down to the few who can pull off the roleplay very well. Coloration is not something I get bent out of shape about, so long as people respect that most neon colors are out of the question. IE, blue, green, purple, pink, red- the crazy stuff that if you see someone with a head of hair of that color, you know it's dyed. There is a Zhan color that's blueish, and Njarir can be Donald Trump orange, but those are really the only exceptions. I think that using out of race colors is kind of lame, but there isn't a hard rule against it, think of the racial group colorations as a guide. As far as names goes, the only human names that are really kosher for Tajara are slavic and arab in nature, for some reason. It hasn't ever really been defined, but if I had to write lore on it, it would have to do with the first humans they interacted with extensively. What's far more appreciated though is "traditional" Tajara names which there are many examples of on the wiki. It's hard to describe them, but I guess it's like growling? At any rate, if you do apply for a whitelist, please take a keen look at the Tajara wiki page and make sure you understand the material. Beyond understanding, make sure that you actually want to play as a Tajara, as a common issue with whitelist applicants is that some don't really have any interest in Tajara beyond the cosmetic.

-1. Everytime I've encountered them they've seemed upset or angry. Direct interaction is non existent, but I just don't like the jive of how I've seen them argue with others on and off server. The RP I've observed has also just been, well, lackluster. Well, maybe a better description would be just not my cup of tea. I feel like, as a staff member, they'd earn a few complaints. I'd weigh my input less than others though, since it's entirely based on taste and gut feeling and has no hard evidence.

I don't have much time to provide a full feedback since I got called into work, but here's a quick synopsis: Surprised your studied lore, especially Tajara lore, since you never really seemed interested in either lore or Tajara. Stuff from all over the Tajara wiki pages are here and placed properly in context, showing excellent understanding of the lore. Great application! Strong story, the new ending was far more powerful. What a great guy, good at RP, tons of peer reviews that add to my already positive perception of the player. Approved. Go dab on the commies.

It's an all right application with an outpouring of public support. I was particularly fond of the reason for leaving. Which appears to be an original concept: to avoid inevitably defecting and risking his family's life. A lot of people just kinda say "screw Adhomai that's a dumpster fire lol, let's go to human enlightened democracy" but you went with a fresh approach. Application approved.

I will be reviewing this tomorrow and likely deciding on it the day after.

I will be deciding on this application tomorrow. I'll let you know if I have any questions in the meantime.

Let's talk about this app. Finally. It's been nearly year since my addition that Tajara breed pretty quickly compared to humans, and this is the first time I've seen someone capture a side effect of the phenomena which I had hoped this addition would have- huge families with lots of siblings. I shiggy dig it. Why the chaste ones? What a mean guy, punishing all the virgins. I get what you meant though, Casts. Or did you just mean spartan-living working class Zhan only? I don't really have much to meme on for the rest of the application. Simply put, it's easily the best Tajara application I've ever processed in my tenure as lore dev. The backstory was an engaging story, and the anecdotal section, while completely unnecessary, was a strong sample of your roleplaying capabilities (which I already knew were great.) Plus it just added so much flavor to the application. It glides from Malji's fervor for the rebellion and this light heart story of his recruitment at a young age to disillusionment and melancholy over the acts carried out in the name of the cause. The circumstances of his departure to the Republic of Biesel out of love and instead falling into crime ridden Little Adhomai and becoming a gopnik was great. I can almost his phone ringing with "Cooousin! Let them go bowling!" And the last and final crowning feature is how his job isn't a an engineer, or security. Of all the jobs on the station, he dodged all the meta-stereotypes and went for one of the most realistic jobs for Tajara on station: assistant. Top shelf stuff, m8. You even went through all the work to pull off the two name meme! And they're both great! And it sounds totally legit as a traditional Tajaran name. First rate. Well, application accepted. Godspeed.

Today is the day, brother.

Application denied. It just doesn't really show an understanding of the Tajara race. Discussion of Adhomai, the Tajaran race, and Tajaran culture really seem to take a backseat to your character's relationship to your other character and desire to leave planet.

Hello! I will be getting to this either tonight or tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Just wanted to also add that I think this is :ok_hand: and fully support it.

I agree with Prospekt that things are a bit stricter now. I think Coalf has the right diagnosis for the reasons too. I used to know all the regulars at least on an acquaintance level. Now I don't even know all the staff on an introduction level. Even the staff team seems huge compared to what it used to be, but maybe that's bad memory on my part. Whether it's for better or worse, the whole moderation experience has been made impersonal by the sheer number of actors available at a given time that are either breaking the rules and being ahelped on or casually ahelping everything not going their way. While I wouldn't necessarily agree with opening a dialogue by calling it a complaint, I do think it's a phenomena that deserves some talking about. It is the rise and fall of servers afterall. Is Aurora currently in its golden age, it's peak, where the majority of people who will remember us will experience it? Or is there still more rise in playerbase to be had? Has the number of players affected the quality of roleplay? How has the difficulty of moderation shifted since the sudden rise in playerbase? The food for thought I would like to add is how a not-so-recent change in policy may have been an early indicator in shifting attitudes for server management. Namely, the removal of hidden weekends. This former bulwark against greytide made Aurora an exclusive in-club of course. While it was a low barrier of entry, it was ultimately an isolationist policy from the greater SS13 community. At least seemingly, in the twilight days of when cliques ruled the land, there was a tendency to exclude and distrust new players. Now, the community has become extremely welcoming to new faces with doors wide open. I think the change in attitude along with the seemingly small change in policy has contributed greatly to create and shape the era we're in, possibly at an expense to roleplay quality and freedom (I said behind rose tinted glasses of pink haired princes from planets in bluespace and ape-people genetic experiments who self-antagged daily.)