[Accepted] Jamchop23334/JamOfBoy's Vaurca Lore Developer Deputy Application

[JamOfBoy]

Ckey/BYOND Username: Jamchop23334

Position Being Applied For: Vaurca Lore Developer Deputy

Past Experiences/Knowledge: There isn't much I can mention here, other than being whitelisted since ChevalierMalFet became the species lore developer (I was his first whitelist application, if I remember correctly), and also playing as a breeder for the C'thur hive in a semi-recent canon event.

Examples of Past Work: The vaurca application I made is outdated, but can be viewed here, as well as my other species applications, here, here, and here. Other than these, the only thing I have to offer is my roleplaying ability, which others will have to testify for, because my word means nothing.

Preferred Mode of Communication: Discord, at jamofboy5452, Steam, here.

Please detail a facet of the lore you think should be expanded upon, and how you would expand upon it if given opportunity:

The Xakat'kl'atan or Master of Ideal Forms. While an interesting concept, right now they lack anything substantial. I intend to provide every lesser queen at least one Master of Ideal Forms recorded, so that vaurca can boast about their brood’s achievements. Here is a rough summary/brainstorming, mostly just a few Zo’ra broods: here is a google docs of it.

Additional Comments:

I'm green to lore writing, but I've decided to try and write legendary vaurca historical characters and teachers. It's midnight, I don't know what I'm doing, aaah bugs eat fungus. I promise I'll try my best to learn fast, despite the fact there are probably many others better suited for this role already. Sorry for the mess that this is.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

Hello. Thank you for your application! I'm glad to see you are interested in the lore team and the Vaurca.

Bygonehero is bygone for a bit, so I'm going to pose a few questions to you on their behalf.

You briefly touch on some very specific niches. It's good to have interests but it's also important to frame them in the context of the greater whole.

What is the ideal relationship between Vaurca and Tau Ceti? How should Vaurca be treated on the station? Should each hive have different privileges or drawbacks in terms of the glass ceiling?

Who are your favorite notable Vaurca? What about them catches your interest?

What is your favorite narrative arc from Vaurca? What sort of stories would you want to tell with them?

How do you think the Vaurca are faring in our server? Is their playerbase healthy, to you?

[JamOfBoy]

What is the ideal relationship between Vaurca and Tau Ceti? How should Vaurca be treated on the station? Should each hive have different privileges or drawbacks in terms of the glass ceiling?

 

Vaurca are supposed to be discriminated against. They're the toxic-gas inhaling, toxic-mushroom eating weird internet bugs that often land in more trouble than they're worth. On station, this is demonstrated somewhat effectively. Discrimination tends to be incredibly subtle - sending the Vaurca engineer to fix the part of the station right next to a fight, sending the Vaurca officer in first, dropping a conversation with a Vaurca because my human friend showed up - I was once drafted into spreading ATLAS flyers regarding the ALA.

However, there are instances where Vaurcae are treated as equals, which I have experienced. This is fine, because it never occurs instantly, and for me, was done through a lot of time.

In terms of hives, the C'thur have sort of used the skrell to secure a contract with NT, allowing Vaurca from that hive to take any job (aside from command) without the need for an Avowal Of Responsibility. Being diplomatic, the C'thur are probably the easiest Vaurca face to deal with in regards to any other species. The K'lax, on the contrary, are typically the most difficult. One brood simply distrusts outsiders a great deal, while the other takes great offence to having their ideals mocked. This isn't helped by how technologically focused (or historically focused) they can be. The Zo'ra are a good, general ground between the two - with some having a lesser distrust for other species, and some working in tourist jobs in Phoenixport.

 

Who are your favorite notable Vaurca? What about them catches your interest?

There are no notable Vaurca aside from the Queens on the Vaurca Hives page, unless I have missed something. This is something I want to address with the Masters Of Ideal Forms - creating Vaurca who have achieved great strides for their hive's or brood's goals, which players can use as mentors for their own characters; eg. little old ka'akaix'joz zo'ra is learning under big wise ka'akaix'khiz zo'ra, a Master of Ideal Forms in engineering.

However, I can tell you my favourite Lesser Queen - Ta'Akaix'Mouv'lek'tanta C'thur. Her hive could be summarised as iceblue-cyber-hacker-business-bugs. They're uniquely coloured, being a vivid and bright blue, which has been historically useful as identifying them as diplomats between hives in the dark tunnels of Sedantis. Their virtual reality is an torrential ocean of raw, translated machine code, which unbound literally have to dive into with the goal of extracting valuable data, even though they run the risk of being literally swept away with the data. However, should they extract some juicy secret buried within the tidal waves of code, they may receive the honour of ascending to breeder-hood; being reborn a Ta, who are increasingly becoming representatives for the Queens.

 

What is your favorite narrative arc from Vaurca? What sort of stories would you want to tell with them?

 

I'm not really sure what to say here, so excuse me if the following is unrelated to your question:

My favourite narrative lies within the history of the Vaurca, with the Lii'dra. Essentially, way back on Sedantis, the Lii'dra invented VR. This was great. Then the Lii'dra invented an evil VR, which essentially took the concept of your consciousness inside virtual reality, but made it so that everyone who entered was interconnected. Thoughts, emotion - all were essentially clumped together in a hivemind. What is worse, is that the Lii'dra already assimilated some smaller hives into this hivemind - and those smaller hives were part of the entity speaking to the rest of the hives. The Lii'dra then detail how collecting all thought of a hive into one, and all thoughts of all hives into one would position them as a supreme intelligence. This incident is what triggers the original conflict between the Lii'dra.

The Lii'dra carry huge potential from this small snippet of history. Canonical Lii'dra events would be awesome to see, but problems arise with getting 'good' Lii'dra players to begin with.

 

How do you think the Vaurca are faring in our server? Is their playerbase healthy, to you?

The playerbase is absolutely something I want to address. From what I can gather, people seem to stray away from playing Vaurca, even if they have a whitelist. I want to rectify this. In terms of how well the few regular Vaurca players RP, I think they're all of acceptable standards, if not generally well informed.

I hope this gives you an understanding of why I've picked out those specific niches - especially with notable Vaurca. I'd be happy to answer any other questions you have.

[Zundy]

How do you think you could encourage people to play as the ants?

How well do you think you'll handle working under another's direction?

What if bygone wants you to do X which you personally disagree with?

How would you feel if bygone shot down one of your ideas which you were sure would be a boon for ant lore?

[JamOfBoy]

How do you think you could encourage people to play as the ants?

Well, first I'd have to find out why people don't play vaurca. Perhaps the lore is too mind-boggling, or the phoron system is too much of a hassle. Perhaps people are just against playing a race who is designed to be discriminated against. Once we find the cause, we can develop a solution - or not.

 

How well do you think you'll handle working under another's direction?

I'm certain it'll be fine, though I'm going to make mistakes at one turn or another.

 

What if bygone wants you to do X which you personally disagree with?

I'd provide my input. If Bygone changes their mind, then, well, I guess I got what I wanted. If Bygone doesn't change their mind, then I'll accept it and carry out the task, as long as I can assure myself I won't subconsciously implement my bias against it whilst doing it. I'm sure Bygone is reasonable enough to listen to my opinion on the matter, right?

 

How would you feel if bygone shot down one of your ideas which you were sure would be a boon for ant lore?

Well, it'd depend on the reasoning. Take for example, my additions to the Masters Of Ideal Forms. Say Bygone thinks, "Wow, these are bad additions to the lore and wouldn't be feasible additions to the wiki." I'd be disappointed, sure, but as long as it's justified there wouldn't be an issue. I'm not going to nail everything right away, and I'd be incredibly surprised if everything I contribute is accepted instantaneously.

Sorry for the short responses. Hectic day. I can elaborate if needed.

[Bygonehero]

I like your responses and drive. I think together we can flesh out more of the culture and lore of the species.

In short, Application accepted [mention]JamOfBoy[/mention] !