LocoTokyoFunBus

I've interacted quite a bit as Claudia with my character Frank, and I've seen this player make a concerted effort to learn about Skrell ICly and OOCly. I feel confident that they understand enough of the lore that, given a bit of time to acclimate to some of the facets of roleplaying that are unique to Skrell, they'll make a very good frog. The only thing I find myself wanting to know about Urna that isn't covered in this WL is what their relationship with psionics is like, especially considering they've made a diona their qu'poxxi. Is the existence of this relationship a secret? If so, what lengths does this character go to prevent other people from finding out in Srom? For whatever it's worth on a species whitelist, +1

My interactions with Jati Hunt as my chef have been nothing but positive, and so far gr33dy has been a very attentive command player who's consistently pretty cognizant of other characters' needs. Their non-command characters are fun to be around too, and I think as a player they would do a good job with this whitelist. +1

I've interacted quite a bit with Brotendo's characters, mostly Szek and much earlier Imran Zadeh, and I think 7/10 is a very modest assessment of their roleplaying ability. Good understanding of the lore here from a player who will always "stay within earshot" when dealing with mechanical obligations to keep fun and interesting RP flowing. Good to get another great roleplayer on the frog team. +1

Fyodorov being born in Mendell City has shaped his view of his own species as one that is doomed to be an oppressed minority group under the heel of SCC megacorporations if they don't industrialize quickly. The entire enterprise of Tajara politics is a race against time to make sure that Tajara aren't made to be low level NT employees for the rest of their species' existence, and he sees both the DPRA and the NKA as counterproductive forms of factionalism, that are both working against the unity of the Tajara as a species. The PRA is the dominant political entity on Adhomai, and was the only government on Adhomai not too long ago, so why stop them from running things in the name of short-sighted values like personal freedom, the caste system, etc? None of this will matter if they let Humans and Skrell continue to ruin their species civilizations through their "benevolent" interventionism anyway. Aside from politics there are some qualities he likes and dislikes about people from either group, although these prejudices are much less strong than his political opinions. His experiences on Adhomai have led him to believe that things like the caste system, and all forms of traditional religion are regressive, and he tends to see people from the NKA who hold those values strongly in a poor light. While he likes to pretend like he's a good, conformist member of the PRA, he found some of the people there pretty dull. He tends to relate to the more free-thinking, middle and working class members of the DPRA more than he would care to admit. While he will defend the PRA's actions tooth and nail in essays, debate, etc, Fyodorov sees the expectations of the PRA for its citizens to conform to its monolithic culture as a depressing reality, and it's one that he doesn't like to consciously think about. Mostly out of a desire to experience the planet that everyone in his community talked about, after having spent 20 years in Mendell listening to other, older members of the community describe it in such a vivid and enticing way. There probably would have been a few times on Biesel where he would have thought to himself something like, "I'm writing all of this stuff about the PRA for school... But I've never actually been there. Could I be wrong about this? Maybe." He would have also gone out of a sense of duty to contribute to the technological catching-up of the Tajara that he sees as critically important.

I've had some interactions with Connor's character Alderi as Fred Lazaar that have been pretty fun and engaging. I consider them a very cool, good roleplayer and feel confident that they could play bugs properly. +1

BYOND Key: LocoTokyoFunBus Character Names: Xioshi Koxi - Janitor Fred Lazaar - Visitor Kiu’Isiq Liq - Surgeon Species you are applying to play: Tajara What color do you plan on making your first alien character: A smidge darker than the typical Hharar Taupe coloration Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: 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 specific race: I think the conflict between the three major Tajara factions is really cool, and provides a lot of ample material for making characters that have very interesting relationships with things like war, systems of government, etc. The lore is very developed, and it’s given me a few ideas for characters that I think could bring about some interesting on-station interactions. Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: They’re hot all the time, run faster, can see in dark places, scratch instead of punching. With regards to roleplaying, a big part of what makes them unique as a species is their sub races, historical relationship with very stratified systems of government, plethora of languages, and three major factions. The Tajara are pretty unique in that they have all of these different forms of intra-species discrimination they do. While races like Vaurca and Unathi could be argued to have similar structures of hierarchy, the amount of variables that go into a Tajara character’s sense of identity is part of what makes them stand out from the rest to me. Character Name: Fyodorov Mee’rra - Pharmacist Please provide a short backstory for this character. Fyodorrov Mee’rra was born in District 6, in the winter of 2437, the only son of a nurse-midwife and mining foreman. Both of his parents were formerly from rural parts of Adhomai, which were “liberated” from Noble rule during the first revolution by what is now the PRA. Having experienced the violent social upheaval and collectivization of local industry first hand, the Mee’rras left the planet to work for Nanotrasen in human space 1 year after the PRA’s creation in 2433. The financial struggles of living in Mendell City left Fyodorrov’s parents working almost constantly, but having moved with the rest of the first wave of Tajara immigrants enabled them to draw from a support system of former wet nurses, elders, and religious leaders from villages across the planet to help care for their child. Fyodorrov’s upbringing was exemplary of the “It takes a village” mentality towards child rearing, and his experiences here would later go on to influence his fervent support of the PRA, with its emphasis on the collective. Regardless, belonging to a family system of mostly busy, working class Tajara meant that he was alone most of the time, and he used this solitude very productively. He rapidly picked up the hard sciences, literature, and philosophy from an early age, and found himself skipping grades and testing out of classes frequently, until he found himself applying for master’s degree programs when some of his peers still hadn’t graduated secondary school. Though he attended the Biesel Institute for his master’s in pharmacology, he spent much of his undergraduate degree studying ancient human history and philosophy, and developed a fixation on Egyptology. Fyodorov graduated from the Biesel institute at the age of 20. After having successfully applied for PRA citizenship, he spent the next 5 years of his life volunteering on Adhomai as part of a humanitarian aid effort to uplift and modernize villages in what was now PRA territory. He was the director of a small, mostly outdoor provisional medical facility in the village of Me’erthrrava, which was a temporary measure to provide modern medicine to the rural public until it became within the interest of the PRA bureaucrats to industrialize the area more thoroughly. Fyodorov saw the village progress from a backwater of poor literacy, high childbirth mortality for mothers, and borderline famine to a respectable settlement with a unique economic export: Earth winter greens. Fyodorov’s experiences here nourished his faith in Hadiism to an almost radical degree, and he remains a fervent PRA patriot to this day. To him, the PRA is the sole Tajara nation interested in the progression and growth of the species, and he believes that under the PRA government, the Tajara will eventually grow a galactic presence that not only rivals that of humanity, but will eventually replace it as the dominant power in the Orion Spur. The ancient Egyptian’s mystical fixation on cats, to Fyodorov, is clearly a premonition of this inevitable reality. Similarly, he sees the practice of mummification as a kind of inept, superstitious attempt at prolonging the life and influence of the pharaoh for as long as possible, and spends much of his free time researching life support technology and privately developing his philosophy of “Biological Hadiism”. This ideology holds that the Hadii line must be preserved as much as possible through life extension technology, or possibly even made immortal, and that this is critical to the success of the Tajara as a species. Fyodorov is currently back living in District 6, privately developing his philosophy away from the scrutiny of lower party officials who, to him, don’t have the intellect or vision to see the merit in his ideas. Through a gradual process of politicking, Fyodorov intends to eventually present his fully-formed strain of Hadiist ideology to party intellectuals, and hopefully garner some position for himself with the state. Until then, he enjoys a comfortable existence in Little Adhomai living with his now retired parents, and remains an active, if somewhat introverted and awkward, member of the community. What do you like about this character? I feel like a lot of the Tajara characters I see on Aurora are generally jaded exmilitary types, who have become disillusioned with war and have a more “live and let live” perspective on Adhomai’s politics. I like that Fyodorov lacks that perspective, having led a much more sheltered and comfortable life, and I think his prickly, jingoistic personality could make for some interesting interactions with other characters who have a more sober understanding of things. How would you rate your role-playing ability? 10/10. A roleplaying god.

BYOND key: LocoTokyoFunBus Character names: Joni Mercury - Chef Stephanie Weisgarber - Xenobotanist Za'Akaix'Zygr Zo'ra - EMT Erika Kondo - Security Officer Kiu'Isik Liq - Surgeon How long have you been playing on Aurora?: About 4 months recently, add one month if you count some gameplay in 2017. Why do you wish to be on the whitelist?: I feel like I'm comfortable enough with Aurora's lore and game mechanics (particularly medbay mechanics), that I could add to the round in a way that would be fun for other players. I've had a few teaching experiences in non-command roles that I've really enjoyed, and I've gotten some good feedback from the people I've helped out. Teaching and guiding new players is a big part of why I'd like the whitelist, as well as the unique roleplay opportunities it offers. Why did you come to Aurora?: Playing on Aurora for me has scratched the same itch that Pathfinder sessions with friends did in high school. There’s lots of really good roleplayers on the server, I would even say in SS13 altogether, and I like the IC friendships and routines some of my characters have developed with other people’s. The lore feels really fleshed out and developed, and so far I’ve really enjoyed writing characters to fit into the world. Have you read the Aurora wiki on the head roles and qualifications you plan on playing?: Yes Have you received any administrative actions? And how serious were they? One warning for a gank. I came to Aurora after a period of playing on a few Med-Low RP servers, and thought I understood what was meant by escalation, but didn’t. I didn’t feel particularly good about what I did after, so I fielded a few questions to BearSchwanz (the admin who gave the warning) about how I could be a better antag in the future, and after a very helpful discussion, I feel confident nothing similar will happen in the future. Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions in a paragraph each. Give a definition of what you think roleplay is, and should be about: Roleplaying is a way of telling a story in a communal, collaborative way, usually facilitated by some basic rules/parameters to make sure no one person’s contributions are unfairly overpowered by any other person’s. Everybody likes playing pretend, but nobody likes the kid with the everything-proof shield. Good roleplaying necessitates prioritizing carrying out realistic, in-character responses to situations over efficiency or a win-condition, so the grand overarching plot thread(s) of the entire round can unfold in a natural, fun way for everyone involved. What do you think the OOC purpose of a Head of Staff is, ingame?: Making sure every player within the purview of your department is having fun. Making sure all of the individual roles are staying in their lanes and not stepping on each others toes, making projects for your lessers to work on when there isn't much going on, setting up meetings, and generally keeping the gameplay/roleplay flow of the round going. Also providing good leadership to the players within your department, and developing strategies to help all of your players respond to situations in the round in a believable, interesting way. What do you think the OOC responsibilities of Whitelisted players are to other players, and how would you strive to uphold them?: Knowing the relevant department and teaching new players about it is definitely one facet of being a good CMO, RD, etc. I remember starting out in security being pretty frustrated by the lack of any Head of Security or other good leadership on a lot of the rounds that I played as Cadet, whereas I had a blast learning Surgeon as a direct result of having a really cool CMO who helped me practice on monkey cubes and offered a lot of good advice IC and LOOC’ly. Being good at general command duties is also important. Things like knowing when it’s appropriate to issue the spare ID, call ERT, and organize responses to antag plots between departments are all important things for command players to know, and can make the round a lot more fun when done appropriately. Could you give us the gist of what is currently happening in Tau ceti and how it affected your character and their career? The modern political landscape of Tau Ceti, particularly the actions of the SLF and civilian riots in Mendell City's District 6, have caused Liq (my Skrell CMO) to entrench herself further into her casual discrimination and distrust towards synthetic life, Tajara, and to a much lesser extent Unathi. The entire Cold War arc has, in her mind, affirmed her belief that the newer races are uncivilized and unable to unify under a solitary government. She resents the damage Tajara have caused the human society she admires so much, and her facade of tolerance is, at this point in time, beginning to crack. What roles do you plan on playing after the application is accepted? Corporate Liaison, CMO, HoP Characters you intend to use for command or have created for command. Include the job they will be taking: Kiu’Isik Liq, CMO Ta’Akaix’Anaka C’thur, Vaurca Consular Officer How would you rate your own roleplaying?: 8/10. After having played for this amount of time, I feel like my human characters are beginning to develop into believable people who exist in the current, 25th century political landscape, and that the aliens I play engage with human societies/cultures in a way that an alien realistically would. Do you understand your whitelist is not permanent, and may be stripped following continuous administrative action? Yes, especially so as somebody who has been on the receiving end of administrative action before. Have you familiarized yourself with the wiki pages for the command roles? Yes Extra Notes: Vote for me as NT's first Vaurca CMO so I can flood the sub-level supervised living quarters with phoron and create Insectopia

Woops, my b. I figured an influx of people claiming to be Sk'akh priests with relatively unusual spiritual practices might have seemed suspicious to the local Chapter Master of the Maraziites, especially if they were trying to informally reorganize into something that might look like a cult. The Moza monastery would have been a little known sect of Sk'akh in its time, by virtue of the fact that they were somewhat newly established, and so many of the monks were taking vows of silence, and not talking to very many people about what they were doing. This isn't a crucial element to Uza's character, though, and I take no issue scrapping it and attributing the scattering of the Moza to some other reason.

The discrimination that Uza faced at his school was on account of his blindness, to a lesser extent his origins of being raised by a female Th'akh shaman, and his struggles in the school were his alone. Given the nature of the Moghean orphanage system, and the Izweki Hegemony's history of kidnapping non-Sinta'Unathi speaking Unathi and raising them in boarding schools where they were abused for speaking their native language, I thought this kind of passive ableism would be appropriate for a society that still observes a feudal, hierarchical distribution of power and oppresses women the way it does. The abuse he suffered during his years of formal schooling wasn't necessarily one of active discrimination, but passive neglect. Rather than these very busy theology instructors going out of their way to accommodate this blind, chatty, backwater village dweller with special after-hours oral tests to replace the occasional piece of written homework required by the curriculum, they just let him pass through the system without any extra help. Because he didn't find Th'akh doctrines about the spirit world to be true, Uza was perfectly fine, during his intellectually formative years in school, to let what little local history he bothered to remember atrophy away, certain in the fact that some other person would be taken up as the protege to the next shaman to continue the local tradition. With his home now destroyed, his inability to remember anything but the very basic history of his childhood community is a source of internal conflict, and for many years after the events of the Contact War his feelings on the issue would vacillate between indifference and intense personal guilt. Now at 50, he's made his peace with the fact that his village has been unfortunately forgotten, and is working on a small compilation of traditional folk tales to sell and support the remaining members of his old home. Uza was a part of the Moza order, in the middle of a very long vow of silence during the events that would precipitate the formation of the Traditionalist Coalition. As well as this, he feels a nostalgia and deep connection to village life, but an equal and opposite appreciation of the improvements in infrastructure, public safety, and theological education brought about by the Izweki. He feels conflicted, and prefers to keep his head down in modern Unathi politics. If pressed, however, he would probably say that he supports the Izweki hegemony. Uza attributes the events of the Contact War to a pre-existing rift in lifestyles between the communities of what is now the Traditionalist Coalition and the Izweki, with alien intervention only catalyzing and escalating what was basically an already tense conflict that would inevitably break out into war. Uza, with his great memory, open mind, and passion for listening to and engaging with the experiences of others has no issues fitting into Ourean society, and views his ability to meet and learn about these new intelligent species as a gift from Sk'akh, and spread her wisdom in a form that is more moderate, and accessible to the uninitiated alien. Hope this helps! I'll happily edit anything the lore devs think I should.

BYOND Key: LocoTokyoFunBus Character Names: Joni Mercury - Chef Stephanie Weisgarber - Xenobotanist Irvine Pikari - Phoron Researcher Za'Akaix'Zygr Zo'ra - EMT Species you are applying to play: Unathi What color do you plan on making your first alien character: Orange-brown Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yes, and thoroughly enjoyed it! 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 specific race: I really like their lore! I've been reading it in short bursts, article by article, over the course of about a week now, and I think the Contact War is a really interesting conflict, and how human contact has gone on to shape the Unathi's feudal culture of fiefs, lords, nobles, etc is all really interesting, and full of potential for interesting character backstories, and engaging interactions with other characters Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: Mechanically, you eat meat, don't drink alcohol, and talk like thisssss. With regards to role-playing and player-to-player interaction, Unathi express emotions with different physical mannerisms than humans or other xenos do, generally have a distaste for synthetics and augmentation, (provided that they belong to one of the two predominant religions, Sk'akh and Th'akh) and tend to socialize in ways that, relative to other societies, is more formal, owing to the hierarchical nature of Unathi society under the Izweki Hegemony. Character Name: Uza Sheresekh - Priest Please provide a short backstory for this character: Uza Sheresekh was born in 2412 in what is now the Wasteland, the son of his father, a merchant, and his mother, a homemaker and "assistant" to a Th'akh shaman, though it was generally an accepted fact in his village that his mother had a connection with the spirit world, and a knowledge of the village's ancestry that paralleled even that of most of the religious men of their city. Though Uza's parents had made plans earlier in their adult lives to groom their child to become a merchant like his father, their plans quickly became frustrated by virtue of the fact that, when Uza was born, he was very clearly blind, and very sickly. Uncertain of their son's future, Uza's father was convinced that he should be drowned. Uza's mother, however, insisted that his blindness was a gift from the ancestors, citing the story of the grandfather of the current Th'akh shaman of their community, born into a similarly poor state of health, but gifted with tremendous insight into the spirit world. This would be a difficult role for the young Uza to fit into, however, with his gregarious and good-humored personality lending itself more to slacking off and socializing with the other children of his village. He was taught Th'akh religion with much resistance, maintaining an internal, private skepticism of the idea of a spirit world full of the souls of those from generations past, who could exert their control over the mortal world from beyond the pale of physical reality. Nevertheless, in an effort to avoid punishment, he learned much of the rich oral tradition of his local community before being sent to a formal school in the more developed city of Kutah to the north, where he learned Sinta'Unathi, the history of Moghes, and the doctrinal differences between the religion of his parents and Sk'akh, a topic of increasing interest for him. Uza's friendly nature would serve him well in this environment, with many of his instructors failing to adequately accommodate his disability. He depended on a network of friends to study with to make a passing grade, and only made it through school by the skin of his teeth. While he was by nature a good orator (being 7'1" with a deep voice that could easily carry across a room, people tended to listen when he spoke), he routinely failed written exams when teachers were too busy or simply cared to little to take the examination with him verbally. Eventually, though, he graduated, and to the chagrin of his parents, had decided on becoming a priest of Sk'akh, a faith whose doctrines he believed made more intuitive sense than those of Th'akh. His parents, particularly his mother, were outraged at this life decision, and after his return home, and months of subsequent bickering, he eventually would move far away to a monastery of the Moza Order, a group of Sk'akh priests that put particular emphasis on the practices of fasting, and the vow of silence. Uza left home with a distaste for all thing Th'akh, chief among them the use of hallucinogens as a spiritual practice. This made him fit right at home with the Moza, some of whose priests would allegedly go years without speaking to one another. This was a practice Uza would, unfortunately, engage in throughout the entire beginning of the Contact War, which began 7 years after he began his affiliation with the order at 25. By the time he sought out his parents to ensure their safety, his childhood home had already been reduced to rubble. Uza would spend the next two decades of his life struggling to find his place in the world, with his parents now deceased, his order forced to evacuate their monastery due to the consequences of the fallout. He stayed with the order as long as he could until it crumbled after years of harassment from the Maraziite Order in 2455. Uza now lives on Ourea, and maintains a Tau Ceti work visa to provide religious services for Unathi, and secular counseling for non-Unathi, with a certificate in the field. What do you like about this character? Being born in 2412, Uza is 50 years old, which would make him the oldest of any of my characters. World-weariness, regret, wisdom, and humility aren't character qualities I've had the chance to engage with yet, and I think he would be a fun character to roleplay. How would you rate your role-playing ability? 8/10

I've played just a handful rounds of sec as Erika Kondo, and in a department where players like to roleplay grizzled exmilitaries, strong silent types, etc, Pewter is a really welcome, funny, well-roleplayed character that worked as a very good foil to my aspiring by-the-book cadet character. The power dynamic in particular, combined with his character's complete lack of scruples was what made it a lot of fun, and the thought of Pewter as HoS makes me want to play sec more now that I've gone from cadet to officer. +1

I was Zohd the Vaurca trainee that round, and the only reason he didn't train me as well was because I had completely lost track of time and had to go to work. I thought the way he juggled his responsibilities as CE that round, while still making sure me and my newer friend got enough attention was particularly well done, too. After a little bit of preliminary RP with most of the engineering staff, he overheard one of the atmos techs offering to maybe train us in atmos "eventually", and being busy himself, capitalized on it immediately and had her train us until he was ready himself. Not sure if my pre-trial +1 counts towards his current trial, but I think I can safely give him a +1 now as well.

Ckey/BYOND Username: LocoTokyoFunBus Discord Name: Morky#6225 Position Being Applied For: Sound Designer, Composer Past Experiences/Knowledge: Been making music and sounds for the past 3 years or so, at a more serious level the past 2 after having decided it was something I wanted to eventually do professionally, if possible. Most of my skills are self taught, but I do have some formal music theory education, where I learned a lot of nitty gritty about harmony and composition. Most of my experience comes from personal projects. This is probably the best example of something from my musical output lately, and this is an example of some more recent sound design work. The footage is from the game Rain World, with the audio muted and all of the sounds having been replace by me. Ambience, sound effects, everything. Examples of Past Work: Unfortunately, I was dropped on my head as a small child and now my head don't work no good. : ( As a direct consequence of this tragedy, I don't feel confident enough with coding to be making pull requests or messing with files in the github codebase, and I don't have a history of edits to the code source to use as examples. What I do have are some sounds I worked on this morning for probably a little under 2 hours: Here is one meant to replace the current Biogenerator sound in Xenoflora and Hydroponics, which in my opinion is, as it stands right now, a little bit anemic considering how big the sprite for the machine is. This cool new sound is a blender layered with some engine sounds and lots of different materials squelching around inside of it. This one was an idea I had for a Vaurca emote called "chortle". Could also be used as an additional variation of the existing *chitter emote. This last one is another hypothetical sound for a Vaurca gauss cannon. To my knowledge there's no such thing in the game yet, but I still thought it was worth mentioning as an example of something I'm capable of making. Could also be used for the ion cannon, though I haven't seen it used myself so I'm not sure its sound needs replacing. Additional Comments: I don't have a lot of coding experience, and I'll probably need a lot of help with implementing sounds into git. I spoke to Skull for a hot minute about whether or not the dev team was interested in someone to help with audio, and he mentioned the possibility of working closely with a coder to help with implementation in the same way some of the spriters here do, and that would be my ideal setup, if possible.

I've played frequently with VeteranGary's character Asclepi in medical as my character Za'Akaix'Zygr, and we've had a few interesting interactions, usually precipitated by me, in finding common ground between an IPC and a Vaurca. I would agree with their assessment of their role-playing skills, but I think as a player they have a lot of room to grow and easily become an 8-9/10 very quickly as they develop more knowledge of the lore, create more characters, and make more apps here in the forums. +1 from me

BYOND Key: LocoTokyoFunBus Character Names: Stephanie Weisgarber - Xenobotanist Joni Mercury - Chef Za'Avaix'Zyrgr - EMT Irvine Pikari - Phoron Researcher Species you are applying to play: Skrell What color do you plan on making your first alien character: Slate blue, as a consequence of his weakness for imported inky foods Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: 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 specific race: I really like a lot of the Skrell lore, particularly their religions and really strong singular state. I think the Skrells' relationship with their state, with their religion, and with their social role as a listener/receiver can shape Skrell characters' backstories, and in turn, their personalities, in really interesting ways. I also think Skrell relationships are really neat, and I would like to see what it's like to interact with other Skrell playing on aurora. The kind of friendships that form, intellectual rivalries that occur, etc. Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: They can't slip, drown, or eat solid food unless they have beakmouth. They also have difficulty conveying emotions to other races that aren't attuned to the very particular ways in which they express themselves. Skrell can also communicate to each other via various means of psychic communcation (Nlom, The Dream, telepathy), and their preferences with regards to the amount time they like to spend in Srom, whether they're a listener or a receiver, etc are personality vectors that there are only rough human analogues to. Character Name: A'ablek Quomi - Xenoarchaeologist Please provide a short backstory for this character: A'ablek was, in his youth and so to into adulthood, an oddly intellectual Skrell for someone of his background. Coming from a more pragmatically-minded community on Xaqixal I, most of whose infrastructure was present to support mining efforts and hot spring tourism, A'ablek found himself spending most of his time outside of Skrellian kindergarten exploring the environs of the hotel his mother owned, reading in the library, and spending time in Srom, exploring worlds of his own creation, preferably by himself. He was a listener, oversleeper, beakmouth sufferer, and generally the black sheep of whatever room he was in, and frequently found himself in the position of an aloof object of other Skrell's intellectual interest, but never one to be befriended or romantically involved with. As he grew to first-college aged, this became a more severe source of distress for him, and he sought certainty in his social standing with others by antagonizing other students. It was here that he first challenged his long-standing Lu'Poxii, and made frequent Lu'Kaax. These frequent challenges sharpened him mentally and bolstered his confidence, and although he still felt unable to relate or empathize with many of the other Skrell at his first college, these experiences helped erase the notion in him that there was something wrong with who he was. He began socializing more, forming a small friend group of 4 or so other listeners, and gained somewhat of a reputation for his irreverent and witty sense of humor. He also found great company in nearby communities of Diona and Vaurca, typically miners, who tended to find him very insightful. A'ablek had always been frequently accused by family of behaving selfishly, wasting his talents on lackadaisical romps through Srom, and generally not living up to the ideal young Federation Skrell, but as A'ablek transitioned to his second college, learning more about the traditional religion of Qeblak, and more recent Weishii, his understanding of his place in the world began to crystallize. He began attending underground counterculture concerts, visiting Wulumunusha houses as he became more serious with his spirituality, and studying hard at his second college, choosing to focus on classes regarding Skrellian religion, Skrellian history, and the origins of Vaurca and Diona, spurred on by his friendships with members of the two races. As he progressed through his second college, he came to terms with the fact that he was somewhat selfish, and perhaps wasn't the most exemplary Skrell the Jargon Federation had to offer. However, cosmologically, it became his belief that his free-spiritedness, his imagination, and his unique perspective on life was a gift from the creative force spoken of in Qeblak, and that these qualities were, paradoxically, what would help him do his part in uncovering the source of all things for the good of all species as a collective. After cobbling together the money for a dwelling with several multi-species roomates, A'ablek finds himself living in a small sharehouse on Xaqixal I, finding joy in the distance from home that his Tau Ceti work visa offers him. After several unsuccessful attempts at finding non-volunteer work researching the archaeological history of the Diona, he found himself working for Nanotrasen more out of necessity than enjoyment or interest. What do you like about this character? He's somewhat bitter and confrontational due to his former outcast status, but is embracing of all other races, especially the ones he grew up around, and is finding a plethora of new people who don't share the prejudices that Skrell on his home planet had of him. He also feels a lot freer in expressing the more bubbly and humorous sides of his personality being free from that same discrimination, which is a side a lot of my characters tend not to have. He's also the only character I've made that doesn't particularly like his job, and is typically mentally preoccupied with more fantastical theories about the origins of the Diona, the location of Sedantis I, etc. How would you rate your role-playing ability? 8/10, and as I've said before, getting better the more I play on Aurora and learn the lore

Imran has had some extensive interactions with my Chef character Joni, all of which have been really engaging and fun. Good roleplayer, has (from what I've seen, anyway) a really good and second-nature understanding of engineering mechanics, and among the engineering regulars I see on aurora, probably my first pick for CE. +1

1) With that being the case, I would want to rework their backstory to have them be a stowaway in a cargo shuttle headed towards the Republic of Biesel, and gain their citizenship, education, etc there, provided that that is possible in the lore. Nymphs can scatter and hide in places where humans can't, and maybe sometime in KoaWM's past, an opportunity arose that they saw and couldn't refuse, despite the emotional consequences of leaving their mother figure behind. 2) The child that Erin gave up for adoption (and she did give her child away, and so they're no longer with her, not sure if I made that clear.) would be to KoaWM like an estranged sibling. Because KoaWM's entire history of receiving blood gifts comes solely from Erin, they have a tendency to think of themselves as something between an adopted child of Erin's, and her real blood-related child. While KoaWM may seek out information about Erin's child passively, they're primary focus right now is earning enough money to help Erin earn her citizenship, working as much as possible. 3) Likely advancing further through the ranks of NT's science department, maybe settling for a salaried research position, their reasoning being that it's the most consistent way of earning their income. Their ideal living arrangement would be with Erin and her estranged child (once found), in a small dwelling somewhere less populous than the bustling Mendell City. Probably somewhere relatively quieter on New Gibson or Luthien, where they could put any place resembling the vast cityscapes of Eridani behind them. Hope this helps!

BYOND Key: LocoTokyoFunBus Character Names: Joni Mercury - Chef Irvin Pikari - Phoron Researcher Erika Kondo - Cadet Stephanie Weisgarber - Xenobotanist Za'Akaix'Zygr Zo'ra - EMT Species you are applying to play: Dionae What color do you plan on making your first alien character: N/A Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yes Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions in a paragraph format. Why do you wish to play this specific race: As somebody who enjoys pushing the boundaries of the types of characters I'm comfortable roleplaying as, I'm really fascinated by the different opportunities there are RP-wise with the Dionae as a race. A lot of the characters I play tend to err on the side of lawful neutral, and the ones that don't fall into that category tend to be a little more aggressive/confrontational. While empathy or being emotional obviously isn't a character trait unique to Dionae, the ability to really, literally feel the exact same experience someone else has through the consumption of blood has, to me, a lot of very interesting potential for roleplaying. Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: They're plants, and there are a few consequences of that mechanically. Firstly, they need radiation, usually in the form of light, to get up and work or do whatever they have decided to do that day. They're completely ambivalent to changes in atmosphere or pressure, potentially making them good for non-emergency EVA roles like Xenoarchaeologist, Shaft Miner, etc. Diona gestalts are also an aggregate of individual nymphs, each of which has their own personality to roleplay out, and their own individual memories to be held responsible for, and potentially lost. Nymphs can consume the blood of others to gain their memories, experiences, and knowledge, and nurture in the form of blood consumption has a greater bearing on the gestalt's personality than nature. Character Name: Kindness of a Wounded Mother, Lab Assistant/Scientist Please provide a short backstory for this character: Erin Carpenter was a low-level bank teller working for an Idris branch in the same skyscraper as her meager apartment dwelling in the Eridani Federation. She worked the job to earn her living in between her time spent at an internship and Bishop Cybernetics, and her work as a graduate student at the Epsilon Eridani Academy of the Sciences. Although very industrious, and brilliantly intelligent for her age, Erin's frequently found her time and attention dominated by these three responsibilities, leaving little time for her to spend with her family, or a relationship, both of which she desperately wished she could have. Perhaps even too desperately. As Erin progressed through her internship, she found herself interacting more and more with her direct supervisor Michael Yung, a very charismatic Eridani suit who was always very happy to listen to and console her about her recently troubling life. As the two spoke more and more, conversations became increasingly more flirtatious, and the two found themselves in a clandestine office romance, which was strictly against the policy of her branch. Regardless, the two continued the relationship in secret, until news of Erin's pregnancy by Michael came to both of their attention. At first, Yung completely avoided Erin, but when that stopped working, Yung, having been backed into a corner, fired Erin, falsely claiming she had been caught stealing a single client's card information on security camera footage. The slander offered only moderate damage to her reputation while still getting her fired, but the damage was just enough to have ruined her life. Yung thought little of it, as another equally beautiful teller would come to fill Erin's role within the next few weeks, both occupationally and romantically. Erin, unable to find other work to pay her tuition and other expenses, and being exiled from her family for having done what she did, became a dreg, any potential she would have as a future scientist squandered. Her child, after she was born, was given up for adoption, which became a great source of pain for Erin throughout her adult life. As a very intelligent and respectable woman, she distanced herself as much as she could from other dregs. She never dyed her hair, or took on the punk lifestyle that those who live on Eridani's surface are wont to. Her only interaction with other dregs was occasional repairs she did under the table for gang members with augmented limbs and organs; she was otherwise a hermit. A hermit who, one day, happened upon a cluster of dionae spores, covered in a threadbare layer of ambergris, likely weathered upon its entry into the atmosphere. Knowing none of these seeds would last on Eridani's horribly polluted surface, she took the seeds into her care, growing them in an abandoned greenhouse a short ways away from her home. In the absence of a significant other, a child, a family, an ambition, of anything she had lost the day she was fired from Idris, her only source of genuine joy in the world became the care of these nymphs. As each spore germinated in the barely functioning hydroponics trays in the greenhouse, there became enough to, after some time, form a 4' tall diona cyclops from the battered seed pod she had found. The aggregate of these nymphs referred to themselves as the experience they had felt most in their life, Kindness of a Wounded Mother, and having been gifted her blood and felt all that she had felt, strived to help Erin move to the nearby Tau Ceti system and escape her poverty. Kindness of a Wounded Mother quickly tested out of more elementary classes at the same university Erin attended, and now holds several science degrees related to bluespace and phoron technology. However, they're currently defending their right to their degrees while working aboard the NSS Aurora as a lab assistant, while sending the money they earn to Erin to help her afford her flight off of Epsilon Eridani, and into Tau Ceti. What do you like about this character? I like that they're a synthesis of their human parent's ambition and intelligence, the calm, serene nature intrinsic to Diona, and their sense of empathy towards the suffering of others. I also intend to make softness and a sometimes overly-kind or coddling demeanor one of this character's flaws, which is not currently something I have for any other character. I'm interested in the roleplaying opportunities that are present in this character, and how I can use them to make everybody's round a little more interesting and fun. How would you rate your role-playing ability? 8/10, and getting better the more I play on the server.

I was having trouble determining exactly how large a hive cell would be, and the most descriptive thing I could find was that their size "can vary drastically." I thought of Shekh's character as being a kind of parental figure within a larger hive cell of around 40-50 Vaurca, who occupied an unofficial strata of authority between other Ka/Za Vaurca, and the Ta who they were all overseen by. Glubi wouldn't necessarily come to him out of a sense deep existential dread or angst, but in the same way that an engineer would sooner talk to the CE for help with something than the captain. The mention of "hardship" was referring to, primarily, reassignment after having not had a position for some time, which I assumed was displeasing to even to Bound Vaurca, so thank you for clearing that up. I know that the Bound don't experience pleasure, but I thought that they may have been wont to seek guidance when in that position so that they aren't useless. Hope this clears everything up! If their backstory needs any edits from here, I understand, and would be happy to make them.

Thanks for the feedback! I'm a relatively newer player, so my understanding of the nuances of Vaurca lore may be somewhat lacking, and I'll try to edit it as needed to fit the setting more appropriately. However, I think some of the "lore inconsistencies" present are more owing to my inability to convey some of the qualities of this character as an individual, and some accidental omissions of specific traits. For example, Glubi, even as a grown Vaurca, stands only at 4'11". I understand that Vaurca aren't subservient to the will of others who are larger than them on those grounds alone, but for this character as an individual, their size has played a large part in how they perceive their duties to the hive and places they're contracted to work. When I refer to him helping other large Bound Vaurca, what I intended to imply was that he assisted Bound male Ta in preparing the environment for new Bound workers to be born. The part of his backstory involving the Tau Ceti mining vessel is, admittedly, an inconsistency that kind of flew under my radar, and I'll do my best to go back and edit the post to give the character a more appropriate reason to enter Tau Ceti space, and then the Aurora.

BYOND Key: LocoTokyoFunBus Character Names: Alec Dempolous - Surgeon Irvine Pikari - Phoron Researcher Joni Mercury - Chef Corey Ginsberg -Pharmacist Species you are applying to play: Vaurca What color do you plan on making your first alien character: The white color of the lesser queen Mouv'lek'tanta's brood (RGB 90, 150, 255) Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: 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 specific race: Primarily for the unique roleplaying opportunities offered by their lore and gameplay mechanics. Most of my characters tend to be motivated by self-interest, and I think the very eusocial, communal aspects of the Vaurcae's lore could help me expand my range of character traits I could comfortably roleplay. My characters also tend to err on the side of being very calculated and rational, and the idea of playing a Bound Worker Vaurca, whose decisions are more based on an intuitive sense of what is good for the hive, as well as their sense of smell, sounds like a fun new avenue of roleplaying to explore. Beyond lore reasons, I'm really interested to see how the Vaurca's gameplay mechanics enable me to play roles like Janitor and Cargo Tech in interesting ways that I wouldn't necessarily be able to as a human character. Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: From a roleplay perspective, Vaurca society is host to a chasm of inequality between the Unbound, who have the luxury of spending much of their time in VR, and the Bound, who are stuck performing menial labor for the betterment of the society as a whole. These two radically different perspectives, the juxtaposition of the entitled Akaix and the humbled, brainless Viax plays a very deep part in how individual Vaurca characters would react to everyday situations. An Unbound will sooner, and likely often lament at there not being any of the same stimulation available on the station as there would be in a virtual environment, whereas a Bound hardly knows any better. Mechanically, Vaurcae characters are unaffected by phoron, can engage in EVA comfortably provided they have internals, and are less prone to radiation poisoning, among many other traits unique to their biology. Character Name: Ka'Viax'Glubi C'thur (Janitor) Please provide a short backstory for this character (Aproxomately two paragraphs) Glubi has always understood their programmed purpose intuitively since they were hatched. Look to those that are bigger, find what obstructed their path, and take it elsewhere so they could pass. It came so easily to him, he never had to think of it. He did it for other, larger Bound Vaurca as a hatchling, then the Unbound Za Vaurca of his brood's small militia, and then, when it came to for employment to another group, for the Skrell scientists of The Moonvine, a station in orbit around the planet Aliose in Federation space. As time passed, his perception of what his role was became, slowly, more nuanced. It involved cleaning chemicals, changing light bulbs, mopping, and, increasingly lately, moving big canisters of pink gas to special places. But in principle, it was always the same. Look up, clear the way. One day, though, they woke up to a loud, shrieking alarm, and that pink gas hung in the air. And when Glubi looked up, there was nobody to see. When he looked down, he saw all of the scientists he had been accustomed to seeing laying down, as if they were resting. Glubi was alone, until several days later, several men from a Skrell-managed mining vessel, who were mostly human, responded to the distress beacon. They explained that the Skrell scientists aboard The Moonvine had died, and that they were the only survivor. They offered to take him to Aliose, were they were on the way to anyway, to which Glubi agreed so he could receive orders as to where to go next. Upon arriving, Glubi made an effort to speak with Ka'Akaix'Shekh C'thur, the Preeminence Shaper who had communed with Glubi during every time of hardship he had had during his past two, long years of life. Shekh suggested to Glubi that their rescue by the mining vessel, who he soon learned had lost several crew members, was a significant sign in determining his calling. It was clear to Shekh that Glubi should be the custodian aboard this ship, and after verifying that this was an acceptable new position to take with the Ta responsible for his hive cell, Glubi took off into Tau Ceti space aboard the ship. He worked there for one year until, at the request of his hive-cell, going aboard the NSS Aurora for Nanotrasen's competitive pay. What do you like about this character? His simplicity, innocence, and altruistic personality are all characteristics that I tend to unconsciously avoid when creating characters, and I think he would be a much-appreciated, wholesome presence on the Aurora. How would you rate your role-playing ability? 8/10 . I have a decent amount of experience with tabletop roleplaying games outside of SS13, and I feel confident that I could get the hang of roleplaying my character correctly very quickly.