[Withdrawn] Skrell Lore Dev App - Schev

[Scheveningen]

Ckey/BYOND Username: Scheveningen

Position Being Applied For (coder, mapper, spriter): Skrell Lore Dev

Past Experiences/Knowledge: Past work includes work on human lore, creating frameworks to facilitate change for future human factions (well ok I can't take all the credit), a relatively substantial story built off of the origins of the Sol Alliance and how megacorporations managed to consolidate power from the very beginning.

Examples of Past Work: I worked on the rewrite of the Alliance's history and some stuff on Eridani before it was reworked by Zundy. Check "Timeline on Humanity."

Link to Essay: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AAr-SlTWk1hNwVXGJdpy9JJLUoMYE2KLdXmd3D0nH18/edit?usp=sharing

Preferred Mode of Communication (Skype, Steam, etc.): Discord, Scheveningen#0188

Additional Comments: This is more of a reactive application for lore dev and if there was virtually any other person wishing to step up to the plate right now to be a Skrell lore dev, then I'd withdraw my application after seeing someone with better narrative conceptualization accepted onto the staff team for lore writing. This wasn't something that was pre-meditated, if Skrell didn't have a lore dev for an amount of time in days among two digits (102 days if the next dev merge of Nov 3rd comes along), then I'd otherwise have no interest in rejoining due to my history as a staff member bouncing around, and my tenure being a controversial one, to put it lightly.

However, I genuinely care for the narrative Skrellements (Fowl takes credit for that pun) regarding the aforementioned race and I would not like to see them go the way of the Tajarans as they did on Baystation before they were removed from gameplay over in that community. It would be an absolute shame to witness that happen again especially to a race that has a substantial amount of weight regarding inter-sectional viewpoints on synthetic rights and the paranoia regarding them.

It is to my understanding that Nursiekitty hasn't stepped up to the plate to full lore manager for Skrell due to their disinterest in the role and the implications regarding having the role.

Regarding the question of build vs. reform, my policy will be heavy on reformation with occasional construction of new Skrellements when necessary. Likewise I'll also try to slightly push the developers to bring unique and interesting mechanics to the race in addition to technology that they will bring onto the station that fascinates and brings new innovations to both roleplay and gameplay. Specifically so that the Skrell have some actual narrative use in the known Auroraverse.

I do wish to evolve them past being squishy synth-haters. I want to add a level of moral greyness to the Glorsh situation and re-write the Skrell genophage to be a bit more sensible, yet difficult to really track in terms of its overall justification and "whodunit", rather than giving every Skrell full IC reason to validhunt synths.

I find fluff to also be important, but it'll come secondary after some of the glaring issues regarding consistency and the black-and-white nature of the Skrell get resolved as non-issues.

Furthermore I fully intend on promoting game mechanics for Skrell to give them unique gameplay and interesting mechanics compared to humans, or compared to any species. They'll be innovative and on occasion might be gamebreaking at first. It's best to make some things a little overtuned at first and then hotfixing them a little later after the initial data and experiences are pulled.

[Butterrobber202]

got some questions because while I don't have a Skrell Whitelist, I do find them interesting enough.

1. How will you make the genophage make more 'sense'. Will you go down in the Mass Effect Route?

2. Do you plan to make changes to the Skrell's current political stance, which seems to be rather static at the moment?

3. How, in broad terms, if you want, do you plan to nudge Skrell away from their extreme synth hating stance?

[Scheveningen]

1. Very possible. I want to mix it up in terms of who actually produced it, ranging from stories supporting the claim that it was produced by the intellectual elite of the Skrell to try to place blame on Glorsh solely for producing it.

2. They'll certainly be a little more active in the grand scheme of participating in various discussions that would reasonably be in their best interest to be active in. In other cases they'll fall back on their neutrality so as to not get involved in an issue with a lack of ethicality on either side to be on.

3. It will be a lot less black and white. Or just less black, rather.

[Conspiir]

I've read your app over twice now, once at night and once in the morning. I would read it again the afternoon, but that would have to wait until Friday, and we're on a countdown here, apparently.

1. There's currently little interest in playing Skrell. How do you plan to address that and gain interest?

2. Skrell lore is based on Nralakk system, mostly, with side-wikis having a paragraph or so of information about other places. Do you have plans to involve these other places so anyone but me might know they exist?

3. The Jargon Federation is very different from the Sol Alliance. How would you describe that juxtaposition and what it means for Skrell as opposed to Humans?

4. What sort of mechanical changes were you thinking of? What about cultural integration onto the station (e.g. foods, further fashion options, the already-lored augments)?

5. You mentioned your previous time on the staff. How will it be different this time?

[Scheveningen]

1. The major distinction between the Skrell and the other races is largely due to the lack of rewarding gameplay or distinction from simply playing a human. It's difficult to be motivated to roleplay a race that is supposed to be differentiated from the rest, yet its mechanics are barely any different from the rest. I do plan on trying to get Skrellepathy kickstarted back up again, which was Skull's project at some point.

2. The what now? Just kidding. I fully intend on consolidating all information on a single page, and barring that, it will be hotlinked in a Skrell info bar on the main page so that nobody misses anything. The small systems will, of course, get a bit less coverage than the more important systems through the newsposts, but they'll have occasional relevancy when the situation calls for it. They will be shown as much more distinct than how the Alliance does things with its Senate.

3. The Jargon Federation would be described to me as a meritocratic pro-intellectual republic where the officials in the government are typically your model sentients that contribute a lot to their communities organization-wise and also are responsible for advancement of social propriety in addition to pursuits pertaining to the various Skrell tech industries.

4. Pretty much yes to all of that. Aside from the Skrell empathy stuff that I just mentioned I don't want to spoil all my ideas straight away, I do want a bit of splashdown for excitement.

5. Ten-foot-pole rule for anything that slightly looks dramatic or bait-yy. Plus I'll avoid taking complaints about the lore if they aren't directly filed to Direct Messaging.

[Mofo1995]

You stated that you were only interested in the position if no one else applied. Now that there are two more applications, are you still interested in the position?

[Scheveningen]

Not particularly, I'll keep to my word and retract.

[Mofo1995]

Application withdrawn at applicant's request. Thank you for your interest! Your essay about the complexities of Skrell expression was an interesting read.