[ACCEPTED]ShesTrying to Be a BUG

[ShesTrying]

BYOND Key: ShesTrying

Character Names: Gwendolyn Miller, Thea Reeves, Cera Rivers, Lynn Songna, Cleo Ora, Lillian Wallace would be my best known ones.

Species you are applying to play: Vaurca

What color do you plan on making your first alien character: RGB 55, 0, 120

Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yezzz

 

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:

For some time I’ve been wanting to branch out from human and play something entirely alien. I can’t really think of anything more alien than vaurca. The interactions you can have, and the way the race is set up is something that has interested me for a really long time. Every time I see them, I’m inspired by the wide range in which they can be roleplayed, and I thought I would try my hand at roleplaying one myself.
 

Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human:

Vaurca, almost every part of them, are starkly different to humans. The way that they view the world and the people around them, to the way that they interact with objects. Vaurca are made for a purpose. There isn’t the uncertainty that a human faces in what they want to do, and so they are able to focus more on their job, and their interactions. Vaurca are able to view even small things like the sensation of heat or cold or the feeling of a human’s skin with a sense of wonder that often goes unappreciated. 

 

Character Name: Ka’Akaix’Voa C’thur

Please provide a short backstory for this character

Click. The lights came on in the research lab, as they did every day. Every day after the sounds of the door opening. The faceless, formless people filtered into the room, setting to work on the complicated machines that Voa had no idea about. ‘What are you doing?’ The question went unasked, and unanswered. From her place near a flickering lightbulb, she could see the people working diligently on a project. Different every day, great projects of wonder, though their backs were always turned. Their hands and their work always hidden. No matter what direction she moved, what angle she took, she could not see the great advancements they focused so intensely on. ‘What are you doing? What are you doing?’ Watching, from a million different fractal perspectives, Voa released her grip on the ceiling. She was small, and the spider-webbed wings on her back carried her closer, silently, stealthily to the researcher. Closer to the white lab coat that hung around their shoulders.

Smack.

Hit backwards, Voa careened through the air. ‘What are you doing?!’ She wanted to scream, though she had no voice. Instead, seeing through eyes with fifty-lenses each, she watched as fifty of the same scientist worked, back directed to her, no matter how she tried. She had no means of communicating that she was not just a simple creature. She was more! She could learn, if they would only give her the chance! ‘Why are you doing that?’ Slowly, over time, her questions became more complex. Instead of focusing on the task at hand, her mind drifted. ‘Why do the lights flicker? Why do you wear white? Why do you curse and swear when you drop your objects on the ground?’ Torment, not to know what was happening, and yet sharpening to the things that were happening around her. ‘What does your skin feel like, that you must protect it so? Why do I not wear the same protection?’ Unnoticed, Voa’s questions were left unanswered. Burning, in the back of her mind, singing to be answered, her tenacity never changed. Voa was but a fly. She had no hands to aide in the research. She had no mouth to speak her findings. She had but her eyes, watching, learning, a kaleidoscope of colours and people, research and findings that she only wanted to make sense of. She wanted to know why they left, for great hours at a time. She wanted to know why they stopped to hide food near their face once every time the lights came on. Why did they laugh? Why did they shout? Why did they shuffle their feet every so often, twitch, and move? Every breath, every movement, it was noted, analyzed, and picked apart. Such was her torment, eternally curious.

--

Voa is an unbound of the C’thur hive, from the Xetl brood. After her VR experience, she was quickly woken, and placed back in VR to learn both Research and Development and circuitry. 

Perhaps the biggest thing to note about Voa is that she is very, very happy to have hands. She is obsessed with simple things, such as touch and sensation, so much so that often in social interactions she will forgo social norms to stand as close as physically possible to someone, drinking in their presence and the fact that they simply notice her. 

Curious to no end, she will often find herself going off on tangents simply to experience or learn something new. The phrase 'curiosity killed the cat’ is not misplaced here, for Voa will approach any alien, object, or place with a voracious need to understand just how and why it works. 

What do you like about this character? Her curiosity. Voa is amazed at, simply, interaction with people. She’s excited at basic conversation, and I think it is an amazing thing to be. I’m honestly excited to interact with crew from an entirely different perspective, and I think Voa is a personality that will be truly fun to play and bring to life.

Edit: Voa's interaction with the world is very tactile. She likes learning through touch and closeness, and combined with her general social ineptness, this can lead to some uncomfortable situations with crew. Yearning to make use of the hands that are still new to her, she'll often be found pulling a human's hair or poking a skrell's head tails. Moizzzzt.

 

How would you rate your role-playing ability? A solid 8/10, there’s always room to improve though I like to believe that I can play my characters well!

 

Notes: If there’s any questions or anything, please ask- Voa is still rather new, so I struggled to come up with interactions that she would have out of VR. ^-^

Edited September 4, 2019 by ShesTrying

[Spider]

While I may not know a lot about Vaurcae themselves, I can however speak on behalf of ShesTrying's roleplay, and I believe I speak for everyone when I say that it is splendid and always a pleasure to have to interact with. The backstory provided reads well and is an interesting concept that I have not yet seen explored on this server. I'm glad to see her taking the extra step in her roleplay by applying for a xeno whitelist, there is great potential and I for one can't wait to see how it turns out.

 

Big fat +1.

[VUX]

Big ol'+1, I do enjoy ShesTrying and she's shown great interest in Vaurca as a species!

[Bear]

Voa is creepy as all bugs are adorable and I see this going horribly wonderfully in so many ways with the touching. +1.

[WhatsUpBrotendo]

+1, I enjoy RP'ing with Tryings characters and I'd like to see how they do as vaurca 

[AmoryBlaine]

Competent, capable. I don't know Vaurca lore but I can support this.

[Guest Menown]

Literally nothing about any of the Vaurca backstory in any of these support comments, meaning this is nothing more than blind support for a friend. I don't know enough about Vaurca lore to actually weigh in on this, but I know @Bygoneherois always willing to comment, given it's his job.

[GreenBoi]

I can actually support Menown's statement mainly because of the fact that not only do vaurca apps usually get jackshit in the review department from other players, but there was also another app just a couple hours earlier and there were no comments.

 

With the actual application, I find it to be fine for a backstory and character concept. My only issue is the fact that the 'different from playing a human' feels lacking, and slightly centered on Xetl's brood. I know some points like phoron and k'ois dependancy is pretty obvious, but there's also other notations like being able to die probably easier than any other species, the fact that if you're playing a drone that you don't have to listen to anyone else unless it would kill you or hurt your hive and such.

 

This comment probably sounds a little harsh, but I do believe in this application, and the concept. Just make sure that it doesn't look like your vaurca has just one personality trait because of its brood and segway in sidestuff other than the fascination about hands.

[AmoryBlaine]

3 minutes ago, GreenBoi said:

another app just a couple hours earlier 

Which one?

[AmoryBlaine]

Oh, I see it. SomethingIGuess. Well, had I know I'd have given the exact same response as I gave here. Both are competent players and I willing to afford anyone who I think is competent a shot at whatever race they're trying for, with the expectation that they'd carry over that competence to said race.

[niennab]

I don't think we should put down any remarks that aren't specific to the lore to be honest. I wouldn't call it blind support for a friend but rather reaffirming the roleplaying capabilities of the applicant. I think this is just as important in any white-list application, since we're effectively offering our support and confidence that this person can roleplay the race as necessary.

 

ShesTrying is a brilliant writer and roleplayer. Her characters have a lot of heart and character to them and I am certain that she can approach any race with the same attitude. +1

[Jupiter Storm]

I know ShesTrying can roleplay, so I can echo what's already been said, however the whitelist apps do not purely exist to rate a person's roleplaying ability, they exist to provide an overview of your understanding of the lore behind the race you want to play as.

Now I actually had to read Vaurca Lore a bit to properly help in this regard, and I am sympathetic here because having just been trawling through the Unathi for several days, I managed to read everything there was on Vaurca in a morning, so I don't really blame you for the sparse detail per se.

What I think a Lore Developer will want to see (obviously they'll comment themselves later but this might save you time)...

- Some reference in your character's backstory that shows you understand what the C'thur Hive actually are, their relationship with the galaxy at large and how being a member of that Hive makes you different to say, a Zo'ra, or a K'lax (and there is a difference, I found it).

- A short piece added in that provides some reference to show you know what Sedantis I was like, and what it means to the Vaurca race. I am pretty sure every single Vaurca who experiences VR is given a thorough grilling on their homeworld, given that the species were responsible for its destruction and they were nostalgic enough to carry with them the memories and keepsakes of creatures and plants that lived there, as well as samples of its rock.

- Lastly, there is a lot of reference to Voa's personality, but... I feel it's missing one of the core, key aspects of being a Vaurca, which is that everything you do, everything you are, is FOR your Queen, and for your Hive. You have written a lot about what she likes, but there's almost nothing said about... Any sort of pride in serving her Hive. Not one of her 'thoughts' ever drifted towards her Queen, which is like the central focus of a Vaurca's mindset.

If at least two of these things are added in, I'll gladly +1 it because I know you can roleplay!

Edited September 4, 2019 by Jupiter Storm

[Resilynn]

How does your c’thur feel about Skrell?

[Resilynn]

Also:

”Perhaps the biggest thing to note about Voa is that she is very, very happy to have hands. She is obsessed with simple things, such as touch and sensation, so much so that often in social interactions she will forgo social norms to stand as close as physically possible to someone, drinking in their presence and the fact that they simply notice her.”

Xetl’s unbound are generally desensitized to pleasure, and their VR is explicitly NOT monotonous. How does Voa fit into this hive?  Why does she gain so much joy from physical touch?

[ShesTrying]

Okie! So I'll go through one at a time:

-Vaurca are super different from humans! What with their open blood system, they can bleed out much faster, and of course the phoron and k'ois dependancy. And of course, there's the drones, which are generally complerely purpose-driven and focus entirely on their task, as designated to them by their Queen. Even unbound vaurca have a purpose, and so they will go about their assigned job and work with perhaps more dedication than a human.

-Because the c'thur are a much smaller hive, they struggle to stay relevant, and have to rely on different means to form reasons to keep themselves alive. Sort of information brokers, and diplomats at times, to quote the wiki, they're the smallest, though I believe the craftiest hive, focusing on the importance of money and stocks. While they can be bullied at times by K'lax, their relationship with the Zo'ra is still strong, and as a result of that playing a c'thur is, I believe, lacking the Zo'ra's politics or the K'lax's techology, playing a character who needs to find more creative ways to be relevant.

-While Voa does know about Sedantis and it's ultime demise, after her stint as a fly she was flooded with a lot of information, very, very quickly. She is still young, and is mostly curious about it, as she is everything else. She often reflects back on the planet with a sort of nostalgia, because, as Xetl can do, she learned about Sedantis by taking the place of the planet itself, in a horrid, sped-up movie of her own- and the planet's- deterioration, watching the vaurca exterminate entire speces and the ozone slowly fall apart. 

-In Voa's experiment, she did not know she was a vaurca. She thought she was a fly, and interacted with the world from that perspective. Now aware of the fact that she is a vaurca, Voa does get great enjoyment from serving her Queen! Bred specifically to be curious, and read between the lines, her service to her Queen is to learn about new experiences and new sensations, and it is stated that Xetl enjoys and even rewards new sensations. Voa's service is to touch, feel, and learn from a new perspective, and show these new experiences and sensations to her Queen whenever she can. 

-Zzzzkhrell are zzzquishy! But yes, Voa loves Skrell! She's generally excited to see any alien speces, though skrell especially. I like to think of the nameless, faceless researcher in her VR as a skrell, and as such Voa is drawn towards them. Again, still young and lacking of experiences and interactions, Voa still needs, largely, to form an opinion on Skrell! She's been left, largely, to learn about things and races on her own, and relate those new experiences and sensations back to her Queen.

-Xetl's unbound are generally desensitized to pleasure, but there are the outliers. The experiments that create Newts, the vaurca that live in VR believing that they are another race entirely. Voa grew up largely without any physical contact or the use of her hands, and as such, having hands now is exciting! Physical touch is new to her, and especially given that she is to show new and exciting sensations to her Queen, she is eager to feel and touch whoever she is able to. 

 

 

Hope this helps ^-^

[KingOfThePing]

How do they think about Queen Xetl and the High Queen? What do they think about the fact that Xetl exploits their Bound in every way possible, even "worse" than other Queens or Hives?

While your section about VR is nice and all, the actual description of your character is lacking. They are curious and like touching things. That's about it, really. Unbound can have a more complex personality, than Bound, besides one or two simple things in life. How did they come to work for NT anyway? Most of their hives Unbound are used and needed to develop their colonies, so why are they at a human research station? Why were they chosen to learn Research&Development, together with circuits? Also, as Resi already pointed out, coming from Xetl's blood and being so overly joyful about simple touch needs to be explained, too, due to the nature of their VR. Same goes with, quote: "basic conversation". It shows again that your backstory or character background in general is lacking, since there is no indicator on why they are this way, even though they technically shouldn't.

[Doxxmedearly]

These are extremely good answers and demonstrate an understanding of the lore very well. I can't think of many newt characters, but you certainly have the roleplaying chops to pull it off, as other people have said. I do have some personal gripes with parts of your roleplay, but on the whole, you're one of the consistently better players on the server. You're open to conversation and criticism, you're very kind OOC, and this is an extremely good app. A well-earned +1 from me. 

[ShesTrying]

She, for the most part, holds the usual mindset of vaurca: service without question. The expoitation of bounds is simply 'the norm' for folk from the Xetl brood. There isn't anything else Voa has experienced, and as such she's not overly concerned about a bound's mistreatment. If they were made to be a chair that moves on it's own, that is what they are made to be. 

Voa was made to be shaped by the people around her. Her experiment and her generally secluded VR experience were formulated so that she would be able to bring fresh experiences to Xetl. Sure, Xetl may know not to pull on a Tajaran's ear, but Voa may not, and the resulting claws to the face and Voa's surprise would be a new and pleasurable experience for her Queen. I guess what I'm trying to say is that fresh experiences are sought after by Xetl, and as a response Voa is made to question the world around her and develop and experience things from a fresh perspective. 

Xetl's actions are largely whim-based, and as is her VR. Sure, there are norms, but Newt's experiences can be pretty mind-breaking, and I like to think that Voa came out of it a little-less-than whole. Because of that experience it would explain her general outlier status from the usual results of Xetl's brood, but I don't thin it discounts her completely. 

[Bygonehero]

A very good application, and a creative method to convey what a Newt is suppose to be. The disconnect from reality and expectation, of an entirely expanded horizon from the tiny one your character until recently occupied is wonderful. I am eager to see how Voa develops moving forward, application accepted!