JamOfBoy's Vaurca Lore Writer Application

[JamOfBoy]

Ckey/BYOND Username: Jamchop23334

Position Being Applied For: Vaurca Lore Writer/Species Maintainer

Past Experiences/Knowledge: 
I have worked as a vaurca lore deputy for quite some time. I will say modestly that I contributed to a lot of things regarding vaurca lore.

Examples of Past Work:
My initial contribution upon becoming a deputy was the inclusion of examples of Masters of Ideal Forms which now reside in most brood pages.
I also wrote the foundation and some of the fine details regarding the newest Queen, Vedhra.
I fully wrote the Modern Day section in the History Overview of the main vaurca page. Viewable here.
And aside from this, I have contributed to various degrees in numerous other things - most recently I wrote the character guidelines on playing a Zo'ra representative, but aside from writing, I have been carefully moderating the behaviour of vaurca players during rounds following some complaints.

Extra:
I wrote an essay(?) regarding a few of my concerns and how I would most likely resolve them. All of the proposed ideas said in there are subject to change, however.
Essay.

[Lady Fowl]

I believe Jam is the best option for varcua lore dev, a very epic and kind person and a wonderful writer

[Doxxmedearly]

On Jam as a person: Jam is a friendly, approachable, and overall excellent person. They certainly have the patience and demeanor that a lore dev needs to have, and while they stand firm on their stances, they aren't rude about it, and have time and time again been open to criticism. And, of course, they have arguably the most experience with vaurca out of most active players, with plenty of proof of their ability to write, work as a team, and think creatively. This alone makes him an excellent pick.

On the essay: It's fantastic. I love the move off Biesel. I love shortening the hiveships. I love keeping the population and tech in check because frankly, they seemed so far to be this looming mary sue force with super tech, high numbers, basic immortality, etc. Maybe that was not the intention, but it's certainly the way they've struck me. The cephalon work is a really great way to solve the question I know I've had of "why do they care if they know they'll get crammed into VR heaven upon death?"

I like the addressing of Xetl and recognizing the trouble that has been caused. You seem really keen on coming up with something that won't nix the characters but will also cull some frankly MRP nonsense I've seen around. I look forward to see what you do with that.

Overall, the essay displays a good understanding of issues with Vaurca lore, with a proposed plan going forward to address them in a way that involved minimum retconning. Vaurca have heavy hands in a lot of factions and lore, and I like your plans for reducing that. And you keep them very alien, which is something I feel is important to them and makes them interesting. Excellent work. Between this and your ability to work cooperatively with other people, handle criticism, and make necessary changes, I think you're absolutely the best choice for the Dev position.

I'll still pose a question: How do you feel about the Lii'dra? They're currently a huge boogeyman in our lore. What are you plans for them at this time, if any?

[Butterrobber202]

jam is a forgiving, dedicated and talented person. I've dealt with them many-a-time on my Vaurca Adventures and I've never had an encounter that made me go "oh that sucks". They are patient and generally a good dude/person/humanoid(?)

 

+2

[JamOfBoy]

11 hours ago, Doxxmedearly said:

I'll still pose a question: How do you feel about the Lii'dra? They're currently a huge boogeyman in our lore. What are you plans for them at this time, if any?

This is definitely impossible but a retcon of the invasion would probably be the best way to deal with them. They need to go back to being the stealthy, mysterious infiltrators and not colony-abductors and invaders.

Otherwise I'm going to try to facilitate a reason for the Lii'dra to back off for the time being and to explain why they haven't really done anything following a massive demand. It's honestly one of the things I'm not sure how to handle in terms of specifics but these are my general vague ideas for what I want to happen.

[Doxxmedearly]

Well, I don't know how well a retcon will go over- it's a pretty large event that impacted people ICly, and retcons are generally looked at as a last option, are they not?

(edit: just read that you said it was impossible. my bad)

Regardless, I think your goal for them is a good one. Can't wait to see what you come up with. 

Edited September 25, 2019 by Doxxmedearly

[Alberyk]

I believe that a retconn of that event is not the way to go. But I like your plans for the species so far.

[JamOfBoy]

I may have worded that poorly - I think one is best, but not possible, so it's not something I'm going to be in pursuit of.

[Bygonehero]

Bound are no more an affront to species ethics than robots are, if not more so, as it is the Vaurca equivalent of an engineered nonsentient robot. 

Additionally, Bound are and were the main reason Nanotrasen agreed to house the Vaurca in the first place, and also the main reason why Vaurca hives were ok with living in basic enslavement, as they got their bounds to do the slave work.

Culling the bound because of some comparison to Liidra is silly, and you would need to clarify that one for me, as I am not sure of the connection there. Reducing their numbers would also be used by future developments as a means to justify Vaurca not receiving a mechanic that other species benefit from. (See Ta and the overwhelmingly positive responds to it)

Using popularity as a metric to determine if a species should get mechanics is something that shouldnt happen, but it does and this would only make it worse.

Moving all of the Zo'ra Vaurca to Luthian is something I considered, but ultimately I felt it would limit character creation too severely. Mendel City is an important part of our entire lore, and its surrounding planets are interesting places Vaurca can come from. They are by no means special on those planets besides on Luthian itself. They only seem that way because no one has bothered to write about them beyond myself. If nothing else exists to define a planet, then of course people will use the few things written about it as gospel.

The original reason I hashed out with @Zundy that NT and Biesel split up the Zo'ra Queens was in case they tried to invade and take over the system. If that is or ever would still be a concern, uniting them all on a single world would certainly not be a good idea.

Spoiler

```Cephalons and VR. Vaurca are immortal so why do they care about anything? Well, the solution to this is to make it so that perhaps being alive is better off than the virtual paradise.```

This phrase undermines the entire point of a VR heaven, and really seems like a reaction for some IC issue. Part of Transubstantiation at age 10 is its alienness, and even amongst those that player older Vaurca, I don't see someone play with no fear of death.

Introducing limits on Cephalons is something I could get behind. Maybe theres not enough Cephalons for how many Vaurca need them. Maybe a backlog of neural sockets need to be processed? Or they get uploaded and switched out, effectively taking "turns" in heaven? I feel these would be better ways to go about it.

For Xetl's brood I believe the overt strangeness of the wisemasters should be toned down to match the main paragraph. Their quirkiness being intrinsic to be inso far a part of their lore isn't without precedent.

No one would for example bat an eye at the role play of unathi challenging another to a fight, even though this is counter to what would expect in a professional setting.   Its a muddled issue though, so I think a small change and some minor policing should fix it. Similar small step measures worked in the past when Hive ran tajara lore, but he did the policing literally with a kitty KGB.

 

Jam is a wonderful writer, and he treads complex waters. 

Edited September 25, 2019 by Bygonehero

[Mofo1995]

There's a lot of good feedback here, a lot of people cheering you on in the sidelines as well. Given that you're the only remaining member of vaurca team and the only applicant, I've decided to accept your application. Congratulations on the promotion!