Jamini Head of Staff Application

[Jamini]

BYOND key: Jamini

Character names: Nasir Khayyam, Edwin Atweeke, Blake Matthews

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How long have you been playing on Aurora?: About a week. I've been playing quite heavily however

Why do you wish to be on the whitelist?:

I'd like to be on the whitelist for a few reasons:

1. Aurora has a general lack of head of staff characters, in part because of your whitelist (which I understand and support!), which can be a rather severe bottleneck for many, many things. Most notable is the lack of CMO and CE characters in off-hours, who are fairly vital positions on the station.

1b. As a corollary to 1, it's fairly rare to see an Acting head of staff assigned by the acting captain. Sometimes bringing departments to an entire standstill due to lack of initiative/leadership.

2. I've played as a Chief Engineer elsewhere for about two years consistently, and I enjoy the position. I've been outright told I'm good at herding cats managing and I'd like to try and do so here. I've been promoted once to Acing CE (though I belive the captain was confused, as Ha'kim has joined as CE just before the promotion) and managed to organize engineering to take out a particularly tough biomass with an emitter array in a larger round.

3. My main character is, historically, a chief engineer. I've been playing him as on suspension since I've come here, and I'd like to get that off.

4. I'm, OOCly, probably one of the more/most knowledgeable players about SS13 mechanics, especially engineering. I've already rebuilt telecomms for the station, complete with channels, from scratch and I have a lot of experience with mapping, atmos, power... pretty much everything. If something can be modified or fixed, I've probably modified or fixed it. If I can't, I will learn how to do so.

Why did you come to Aurora?:

I left Baystation after a disagreement with a new policy in place by the administration there which prevented me from playing my character. As well as a few other reasons. I tried Aurora on the suggestion of a few friends a few months ago, and have found myself enjoying the server.

Have you read the BS12 wiki on the head roles you plan on playing?:

Of course. I've actually contributed to some of the guides on that page. Once it was vandalized with Khayyam's picture instead of the stock human CE one, back when Baystation had "catgineering".

 

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Please provide well articulated and argumented answers to the following questions in a paragraph each.

Give a definition of what you think roleplay is, and should be about:

Roleplay is, at its heart, interaction between two or more people. To even start role-playing you need to get people in contact, talking, and acting. Beyond that Roleplay is an opportunity to explore a personality or mindset that one would not normally consider and to see the fallout thearof. In the context of a game like this, Roleplay is the spice and seasoning that makes something (in this case, a game) that is fairly bland interesting and engaging.

What do you think the OOC purpose of a Head of Staff is, ingame?:

Heads of staff, OOCly, are there to act as a cohesive force for the varied players of a department. They are an obstacle and the glue that both holds excessive players in check, and brings the out the less involved players to participate fully in the round. They exist to get other players into a conflict or story, and to help move it along. They are the primary link between departments, and are organizers of their own department. They are targets for antagonists and, if played well, the rock that keeps the players in their care from falling apart.

Essentially, OOCly Heads of Staff are gameplay and roleplay facilitators.

What do you think the OOC responsibilities of Whitelisted players are to other players, and how would you strive to uphold them?:

Players on a whitelist are held to a higher standard, as they are the visible face of a server. Those that apply for any whitelist are applying to be seen as OOC server leaders, be they play as aliens, heads, or other things (duty officers, moderators). Whitelisted players should know the rules and SOP of the server they are on by heart, and should not be seen violating rules or directly harming the play of others, as it reflects badly on the group as a whole.

 

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Please pick one of your characters for this section, and provide well articulated responses to the following questions.

Character name: Nasir Khayyam

Character age: 35

Please provide a short biography of this character (approx 2 paragraphs):

Born to Rashad Khayyam and Na'ima Khayyam-Hadii, Nasir is the product of an arrange marriage between the rebel leadership and the remaining Tajaran nobility still in power, primarily as a ploy by the Hadii to cement their status and influence in the post-revolution Ahdomai. From a young age he was explicitly groomed for a political career, and given the best education that his parents could afford. Unfortunately, as time progressed he proved to have little to no talant law and politics and repeatedly failed out of several secondary schools in rapid succession. In a fit of desperation, and under threat of censure by the Hadii side of his family, he was ordered to pick and complete a degree. He chose the furthest school he could from Ahdomai that would accept a Tajaran, Hadar Technical Institute.

Nasir did not do well when starting school. His common was distressingly sub-par, even for a Tajaran, and there were no other Tajaran at the institute to help him along. Instead he was befriended by a Xeno-friendly human partway through his first year. They quickly became friends and roomates, and much later romantically involved. With the help of his human friend Nasir successfully was able to successfully, if barely, pass his classes at Hadar. As the years passed, it became increasingly apparent that his relationship with his roomate was a one-sided affair. When Nasir attempted to take an internship with Nanotrasen for graduation credit his roomate quite literally tied him down and forced themselves on Nasir in an attempt to prevent them from leaving. The culprit was quickly discovered, arrested, and charged with sexual assault and kidnapping. The assault and betrayal of trust drove Nasir to near-suicide on multiple occasions.

During his internship, and later employment with Nanotrasen Nasir fared admirably despite his mental health problems. His linguistic skills have improved greatly, though his accent remains exceedingly heavy, and he proved to be a competent structural and electrical engineer on-board the NSS-Lumen, and later branched into atmospherics and engine construction and operation. Due to crew shortages in the engineering department on said station, he was promoted to acting chief engineer several times in his stint there, and eventually given provisional CE status. During his years with Nanotrasen he has shown exemplary loyalty to the corporation, and an utter determination to get things done even at cost of his own life and limb. He has been an active participant and planner for the construction of two small Nanotrasen-affiliated stations and one ship during his tenure.

Approximately three months ago, the NSS-Lumen was scuttled in an emergency procedure. As the CE on duty at the time, he has been placed under a temporary suspension from command, pending investigation, and reassigned to the NSS-Aurora.

What do you like about this character?:

Despite his wealthy upbringing, Nasir is humble. He doesn't like power or wealth. His accomplishments have been entirely on his own merit. That said, he is proud of his ability in the field.

Nasir is ridiculously loyal, to both the people he works with as well as the corporation. He actively avoids straying from regulation (most times) and does his best even when a situation has gone far out of control.

What do you dislike about this character?:

For one, he does not play as an antagonist except as his nukeop Alter-Ego, a wizard, or changling (Ahri Tahan/Prophet). He has background reasons to have antagonist roles disabled, and I do not intend to re-enable them. Often if I roll an antagonist as him due to lack of antagonists, I'll request to have it removed.

He is fairly established, backstory-wise, and can be tricky to get involved in new things. I've actively been attempting to counter this, but it's still an ongoing process.

His husband and many of his old friends are not here. Making new friends is hard.

Do you think this character is fit to be a Head of Staff?:

Yes, indubitably.

Why?:

Well, he's been a very long-term head of staff on other servers for one. He was quite literally the only remaining Tajaran head of staff on B12 before a certain administrator completely prohibited Tajaran from playing head roles, and was a fixture in engineering there for quite some time. He is extremely qualified in most fields in engineering, including telecommunications. He does not (generally) stray from regulations, and was well known for being paperwork/accountability-heavy. I literally jumped for joy when I saw you had a paperwork database in your request consoles here, as I didn't need to break out my notepad files with paperwork on them for here!

As for leadership... people listen to him, at least most times. He tries to make sure his orders that make sense, and keeps in communication with his team no matter what role he is in. He keeps his team updated and apprised of the situation, especially when things are going south, and rarely loses his cool or allows himself to be distracted by side concerns when dealing with emergencies. As he recently told Ziva, "Focus on one thing at time. We can fix that (the incinerator) later."

 

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Please provide well articulated and argumented answers to the following questions.

How would you rate your own roleplaying?:

Rating ones own role-playing ability is extremely difficult. I make every effort to roleplay out my actions, even trivial ones, unless the situation calls for a fast response (such as a critical patient, or an engine overload/release). I'm not afraid of interpersonal conflict, and I enjoy playing characters of a vast array of competency and backgrounds. When push comes to shove I may occasionally forgo roleplay occasionally to ensure that another player can remain in the round/have fun, but that is often a conscious choice on my part to keep others involved.

As a head of staff, I make particular effort to keep my department moving and talking. Keeping other players involved is important, so very very important.

 

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Extra notes:

I'm aware I still have not been on Aurora long, and that will factor into this application. However, I do think I've managed to get a good grasp of your server here and I enjoy playing here enough to want to continue doing so.

I'm aware some of you may feel that bringing in a character with a background like Nasir's was an obvious ploy at CE even from the outset. It was. I'm not going to even hide it. He's been my Chief Engineer character for a long time now, and I'd like to play him in that capacity. I've played as a CE on him for a very long time, and your policy on Tajaran head of staff was a direct reason why I came here over other HRP servers.

I'd also like to see more heads of staff online on Aurora at all, as often you have 8-12 players and a single captain to lead them all. I'd like to see that changed, especially in lower population rounds. If this is approved, you would have a player who plays EXTREMELY often to fill one of the five very vital roles on the station.

[Guest]

Well, yeah, I was the Captain that promoted you. I really was confused since the amount of chaos the Ninja created was pretty high and as a result I haven't really noticed that a CE came onboard. I didn't regret it, though. You followed orders, returned the PDA system AND the telecomms into function without me having to worry about it. Or at least I think that was you, since the CE and you shared a first name.

Either way, I have no daubt you would be qulified as a CE. However, while I'm not sure how IC rules worked on your server, you'll probably stumble upon certain issues, like, HoP wanting to demote your most useful engineer because they are underage and can't possibly have an engineering degree. How would you deal with stuff like this, that are outside your areas of expertise, but people still require your opinion or action. This is more of a question than a criticism.

The app itself is well done and detailed. Kudos for that. Just a note, most people just roll their characters as nuke ops and then don't canon it (antag rounds aren't canon, unless you chose it to be). If you get to be a nuke op, just think of either a new name or a nickname (which you will be prompted for) and quickly create a new backstory in your head, since it most likely won't be important during the round. He will look the same, but it doesn't need to be the same character.

[Jamini]

Well, yeah, I was the Captain that promoted you. I really was confused since the amount of chaos the Ninja created was pretty high and as a result I haven't really noticed that a CE came onboard. I didn't regret it, though. You followed orders, returned the PDA system AND the telecomms into function without me having to worry about it. Or at least I think that was you, since the CE and you shared a first name.

 

Khayyam did indeed get get Telecomms up. Someone else got the PDA system up after I got the array working on-station. There was actually a rather humorous situation on the sattalite as Ha'kim walked in on Khayyam, and the latter asked if Ha'kim had a bounce radio and threw one them.

 

Either way, I have no daubt you would be qulified as a CE. However, while I'm not sure how IC rules worked on your server, you'll probably stumble upon certain issues, like, HoP wanting to demote your most useful engineer because they are underage and can't possibly have an engineering degree. How would you deal with stuff like this, that are outside your areas of expertise, but people still require your opinion or action. This is more of a question than a criticism.

 

A HoP wanting to demote an underage but useful engineer is a tricky situation. For the shift in question I would accept the demotion, but request they keep their access and be made an Engineering Apprentice. I would not accept them being made a plain assistant, nor would I accept them being removed from my department barring actions that violate corporate regulations or SOP. They joined as an engineer, they will be able to be an engineer.

I'd probably have myself or a senior engineer run with them to confirm they are indeed competent, and try to and set them up in a training or schooling program so that they can get their degree. Nasir knows what it is like to work his way up through the ranks and he does not throw away talent, but he follows procedure. Procedures exist for a reason, and ignoring them is something only done in a dire emergency.

 

The app itself is well done and detailed. Kudos for that. Just a note, most people just roll their characters as nuke ops and then don't canon it (antag rounds aren't canon, unless you chose it to be). If you get to be a nuke op, just think of either a new name or a nickname (which you will be prompted for) and quickly create a new backstory in your head, since it most likely won't be important during the round. He will look the same, but it doesn't need to be the same character.

 

Tahan isn't Khayyam. They are separate characters who look almost identical. I simply keep the name of the operative persistent, mostly for my own sake. Tahan is, essentially, the evil doppelganger of Nasir, and they do share skillsets. My EMT character also has a similar nukeop doppelganger.

[Nanda]

Nasir is one of the few people I trust implicitly in engineering, particularly as chief. If Nasir told Aquila to jump out of an airlock, and told her "It will be okay, trust Nasir!" she probably would.

Jamini has been in engineering for -quite- a long time, and even manages to out-engineer me; when I was a cyborg. His character of person is solid, at least in-game, and I think he would make an excellent CE.

[Thundy]

Nuff sed.

 

http://gyazo.com/1270f57bf6df4b6406517201bd149aa6

[Jamini]

Can't load Gyazo here, sadly.

[SierraKomodo]

Can't load Gyazo here, sadly.

 

Have an imgur instead: http://imgur.com/IOdCCOy

[TishinaStalker]

Finally got around to doing this today:

Application approved.

 

 

Glory to Aurora