Skrell Lore Helper App

[Resilynn]

Ckey/BYOND Username: Resilynn

Position Being Applied For:: Skrell Helper (lore dev)

Past Experiences/Knowledge: I've been around for forever, I've held canon events using my CCIA powers.  I've helped Kyres brainstorm quite a few arcs and whatnot, and I've written a tiny bit of random pieces of lore.

I'm familiar with the setting, especially the squidbois.  I'm particularly interested in them because their tech is more advanced than human tech, making them pretty unique in the species lore.  Also they love stars, and I'd love to apply my astronomy knowledge to Skrell lore.

Lastly, I think it'd be nice to have a hand in both CCIA and lore, since the two have every reason to be very interconnected and generally just... aren't.

Examples of Past Work: 

 

[Alberyk]

The announcement for the applications asked for an original writing of your choosing which either demonstrates an understanding of skrell lore in its current state or express the direction in which you will be taking it. You should include it.

[Resilynn]

Just now, Alberyk said:

The announcement for the applications asked for an original writing of your choosing which either demonstrates an understanding of skrell lore in its current state or express the direction in which you will be taking it. You should include it.

Getting there, it'll be up by the end of the day.

[Faris]

Compared to Paradox's app, yours is rather lacking. Guessing you just wanted it out there for people to know while you prepared your writing. Some questions.

1- Your last application, you mentioned wanting to push Glorsh back by some time. In general and as a deputy, I'm highly opposed to any shifts in lore that would affect character concepts and backgrounds. This will especially affect some of the older skrell characters that are actually old enough to have been from a time during the whole oppression timeline. Is this still your opinion on the matter?

2- What's your stance and intentions regarding whitelists and their standards? I've been fairly heavy handed and proactive in controlling standards. Personally, I've been fairly heavy handed and proactive in controlling standards. A few private warnings, announcements and some edits to the wiki. Are you more lax? Reactive? Easy get and hard to lose? and etc.

3- What gripes do you have with Skrell lore as is? What other bits do you intend to change? You can ignore this question if your piece of writing will answer it, though I'd appreciate if you pointed to the bits that answered this question best.

[Resilynn]

39 minutes ago, Aboshedab said:

Compared to Paradox's app, yours is rather lacking. Guessing you just wanted it out there for people to know while you prepared your writing. Some questions.

 

Exactly this.  I'll answer your questions now, I'm still preparing my little list of things I'd like to do specifically.

1- This is not something I still intend to do, no.  In CCIA I've shown a willingness to abandon ideas that the community doesn't like- a good example of this are proposed changes to contraband.  I gathered feedback, saw that the feedback was mixed, and decided not to move forward without majority approval. 

In that last application, most of the feedback mentioned that players were not interested in altering the timeline of skrell events, and I respect that feedback.  I've always firmly maintained that the community should come first in staff decisions, and that is true here.

 

2- I've agreed with how you've handled whitelists so far, you've laid out exactly what you're looking for and you've been communicative about your standards.  I'm not sure I'd call it strict, or lax, but I would call it communicative.  In terms of flexibility I am absolutely willing to let people explain why they believe their character fits within the guidelines you've laid out, but I will resolve to adhere to those guidelines.  

I would like to emphasize that I prefer whitelists relatively easy to get, but easy to lose if you are not following the standards laid out for you.  When I got my skrell whitelist, I had to write three separate character backgrounds for one character to demonstrate I was capable of playing more than one skrell character- this was in the days of Loow, when Skrell whitelists were considered the hardest species whitelist to get.  I don't think that was necessary, and I think the way whitelists were handled then had a lot to do with the low number of skrell players at the time.  I am more interested in facilitating players' ability to involve themselves in lore than I am in keeping a species elite.  I think you could expect to see me talking with players one on one to help them keep their characters lore friendly before removing whitelists, but I am willing to remove whitelists if needed.

 

3- Skrell are supposed to be the most technologically advanced species, but we do very little to demonstrate this in lore and mechanics.  Sleepy did a fantastic job in giving skrell neat mechanics (telepathy and srom), but those mechanics were biological in nature and I think we can do even more with loadout items.  I'll expand on my ideas to improve this in my 'essay', but it is currently one of my biggest gripes.  Also, the reason I made this application, skrell are no longer represented in the religious mechanics of the game just implemented today.  I would like to fix that, and have a few neat ideas to do so (coming soon in an essay near you).

Edited August 16, 2019 by Resilynn
I can't format like a normal human.

[Resilynn]

Behold, a long post on the general direction I'd like to help move Skrell-

Spoiler

In my previous post, I mentioned that my two biggest interests in assisting with Skrell lore are their tech and their religion- I’ll be expanding on both of these ideas.

            Skrell are canonically our most technologically advanced species, however, there is nothing in game that demonstrates this.  Their current mechanics are good, srom and telepathy are both unique and engaging, but both are biological in nature.  I believe we can improve the xenowear sections of character loadouts by providing Skrell with a few more high-tech gadgets.  For example, a Xir’quio Projector- a small, round device which can be held in your pocket, which, when activated, provides a list on prompts- Jargon seaside, for example, or Traverse sky. 

Depending on which prompt is selected, the projector will display a local text (within view of the projector) explaining what is projected.  It will also cast colored light in the immediate vicinity of the projector, as if it were an average colored lightbulb.  So, if you selected Jargon seaside, perhaps you would cast an aqua light in the immediate area and see occasional text reading, ‘you hear waves lapping on the shore’, or ‘on the ceiling you can see the sands of Oibuish projected’.  Skrell are proud of their culture and proud of their home, so it doesn’t seem very out of place for them to bring these techy little reminders of home with them.

I’d also like to give Skrell body markings- both spots and bioluminescent tattoos.  Both are described on several Skrell characters but have no physical representation in sprites.  These would be accessible in the body markings section of the loadout.  The tattoos would cast a tiny bit of colored light, much like a baseline IPC screen does.  Spots would appear as a couple of colorable pixels on Skrell tentacles.

Eventually I’d like to look at incorporating some xenowear fashion for Skrell beyond headchains and a couple more gadgets.  I’d like to emphasize their tech and their amphibious nature- relying on light and color in dark waters, through these implementations.

I’d also like to expand upon Skrell religion.  I’ve been a fan of the idea of Qeblak for a very long time, but in implantation it is very vague.  I understand why, we want to offer flexibility in lore, but I have personally found that it is occasionally too vague, often falling just to ‘seek direction from the stars’, which seems a bit silly and archaic for a species capable of interstellar travel.  This doesn’t lend much to Skrell chaplains, particularly now that chaplains get a loadout contingent upon their religion- where Qeblak is not represented.

So, I’d like to expand Qeblak by naming Skrell constellations- the island, the starsinger, the hatching egg- these are just examples.  For each, I’d like to give a brief interpretation of what the constellation means in Qeblak, kind of fusing the ideas of tarot cards and astrology into something uniquely Skrell.  I’d like to give all Skrell access to Stellascopes, binocular like devices which can see through the asteroid and walls to display space- really, mechanically useless, but it emphasizes the Skrell fascination with the stars.  I’d like Skrell chaplains to get a book of celestial spheres and a little top-like device which can be spun and will land pointing to a constellation- the name of which will be displayed when it lands (like how dice work).

As it is currently, the Skrell don’t have to really believe in this form of astrology in any kind of concrete way, but largely use it as a means of contemplating their current choices and provoking new questions, the way some people use tarot cards in real life.  Ideally none of this changes anything currently in Qeblak, but instead, fleshes it out and gives it a reason to exist beside the other religions which currently have mechanical representation.

Aside from these few ideas I’ve pitched, you can largely expect me to keep working on day-in-the-life Skrell lore, helping to create a species that feels lived in, the same way vaurca, unathi, and tajara lore does.  I’d like to eventually help work on giving the Skrell current events to be invested in, as I’ve always envied the way the other species have conflicts and sides to choose.  I think they’re a great species to work with, and I think the players and recent lore developers have done a great job breathing life back into them.  I’d like to help contribute to that life.

 

Edited August 16, 2019 by Resilynn
I have a whole degree in English and I still typed the wrong 'there'.

[VTCobaltblood]

You seem to apply with short-term plans (and specifically to execute said short-term plans), and a big emphasis on that you want to specifically help develop Skrell lore. So, this leads me to 2 questions:

1. After the religion and loadout stuff is done, what are you going to do?

2. Why are you applying to be a Skrell maintainer and not waiting for Skrell deputy slots to open?

 

And more minor, general questions:

1. What is your vision for Skrell's relationship with not just AI, but synthetic stuff in general? Prosthetics, cyborgs?

2. Psionics are a bit of a big thing, and I even envisioned whole rewrites of certain areas (history, mainly) of Skrell lore to accomodate this addition. Would you change anything in its representation from the current status quo? Would you push for it to be represented more, or dial its importance back a bit?

3. You mentioned that you want Skrell to have current events related to conflict. How would you imagine big conflicts in Skrell lore?

Edited August 16, 2019 by VTCobaltblood

[Resilynn]

20 minutes ago, VTCobaltblood said:

You seem to apply with short-term plans (and specifically to execute said short-term plans), and a big emphasis on that you want to specifically help develop Skrell lore. So, this leads me to 2 questions:

1. After the religion and loadout stuff is done, what are you going to do?

2. Why are you applying to be a Skrell maintainer and not waiting for Skrell deputy slots to open?

 

And more minor, general questions:

1. What is your vision for Skrell's relationship with not just AI, but synthetic stuff in general? Prosthetics, cyborgs?

2. Psionics are a bit of a big thing, and I even envisioned whole rewrites of certain areas (history, mainly) of Skrell lore to accomodate this addition. Would you change anything in their representation from the current status quo? Would you push for it to be represented more, or dial its importance back a bit?

3. You mentioned that you want Skrell to have current events related to conflict. How would you imagine big conflicts in Skrell lore?

1. Skrell arcs.  God, we need Skrell arcs.  Or politics.  Or anything.  Unathi have had translizardism in the last year, Vaurca had the lii'dra, Tajarans have had their usual adhomai winter wars, IPCs are having an arc right now, Dionae got to mysterious disappear which... counts, I guess.  I've been on this server for 3 years or so now and I haven't seen Skrell do a damn thing expect show up, occasionally, in other species' lore.

2. I want Paradox to be maintainer.  His essay was amazing and he actually has anything resembling an idea of what he's doing.  I also want to make seductive eyebrows to be his deputy ahead of time.  I 100% intend to keep this up as a deputy application, or to repost if I have to.  I know they're not open yet and I know it's silly, but, well.  It's what I'm doing.  If I have to be a maintainer, I completely believe I can do it.  I'm great at project tackling and navigate pretty easily through red tape, but I would vastly prefer to help someone more experienced.

I'm not going to lie, I'd be incredibly flattered to be maintainer given my lack of experience.  And if I were maintainer, I'd be opening deputy slots to find someone experienced to help me pretty much immediately.  For all my jokes about being a narcissist, I know that I would do better with help.  I also know I CAN maintain lore if it's asked of me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1/3. One of the neater things I've seen Skrell players do in the last year or so is have varying levels of apprehension towards AI- some even secretly being in favor of its development.   Naturally, the Skrell as a whole are going to be fairly cautious of AI, if not vehemently opposed, given their history.  But I see so much potential in those secret beliefs, and secret research projects, and secret circles of support.  I think it would be a great place to explore some conflict in Skrell society where there currently is very little.

2. I like the psionic aspect of Skrell, and I would like to move forward in fleshing it out a little further.  I have no intentions to change any of the recent lore, I've been a pretty big fan of its direction lately.  I think the current lore CAN be expanded on to include psionics, right now it's only barely touched upon.  I imagine it's a craft that takes a lot of practice, as it takes a lot of focus.  I think it'd be interesting to include the history of psionics, from when it was just used as a 'FOOD' or 'DANGER' or 'HAPPY SOCIAL TIME' broadcaster in early Skrell history, following its development into a learned language, so to speak.  I think it'd be neat if honing psionic skills was something Skrell really had to work at, taking study and practice and years of devotion- the same way music is, for us.

Edited August 16, 2019 by Resilynn

[Mofo1995]

After having a long big think, I've decided to accept your application. Your posts seem to lack a good solid focus on your long term plans, but I believe, especially with the held of your deputy, that you should be able to gather together a clearer vision. Welcome to the team!