[Accepted] Forktressssss' Unathi Whitelist Application

[Forktress]

BYOND Key: Forktress

Character Names: From most played to least; Sabela Aldara, Kruger Aldara, Margarida Tuyet, Senan Malloye, Mordecai Taras, Desta Dumi, Nudd Bilrost, Gilead Ubbi, Brynmor Vilte, FRAME

Species you are applying to play: Sinta Unathi

What color do you plan on making your first alien character: Black

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

 

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:

Personally, I am fascinated by the unique aspects of Unathi culture and specifically the different theological arguments that appear throughout the species lore. I think it will be really interesting to explore the deeper connections between the different faiths, how they compliment each other, and how they can lead to interesting character conflicts. I find the juxtapositions between the different religious groups to not only be a point of interest but a rich source of Roleplay for a number of characters on the server if tapped into correctly and wish to create characters which others may be able to use to facilitate interesting stories and conflicts.

 

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

The Unathi as a species have access to a large number of possibilities when it comes to creating characters due to the variants in religious beliefs, home planets, clans, and personal level of adherence to the code of Honour. Which at first may not seem overly different to the options presented to humans. However, I believe that where the Unathi differ from humans is in the specific level of intensity; A human can be made agnostic or atheist with extreme ease (indeed, a number of my human characters are) and not impact the character in any significant way, yet, an agnostic Unathi seems to me like it would be missing one of the core components to what make them unique as a race, they have a state religion, they have multiple religious warrior sects, and are often specifically concerned with getting the best outcome for their souls based on their beliefs, which will inform the way they conduct themselves in their mortal life and how they interact with others.

The second key difference between humans and Unathi is the make-up and interactions between the family unit and the clan at large. Once again, the freeform nature of humans turns them into essentially jack of all trades when creating characters, meaning for example, you could easily create a human who has been ostracised by their family, in fact, its entirely possible that such an event wouldn’t affect their future prospects, or indeed, even become readily apparent without diving into or being privy to their backstory information. Unathi, on the other hand, are very much different. Too be cast out is to become Guwan, to be branded in name so as to immediately alerts others to your inherent sin/honourless nature/criminality or perhaps a mix of all of the above. Being cast out from your clan has a much greater impact for a Unathi character in comparison to being a ‘black sheep’ among a human family. Being Guwan immediately singles out an individual as inherently negative in some way, someone who is at the lowest rung of society and therefore it is almost expected that this should tailor your roleplay reactions when interacting with or as a Guwan around other non-Guwan Sinta.

They are also plainly, biologically different, with a distinct set of mannerism that set them apart from a human character. They have tails, they thump them in anger/frustration. They chuff, they hisssss. They have claws, and sprint quickly. They are ambush predators much akin to a Tyrannosaurs Rex on the small scale.

Character Name: Ziithrik Kuth’rex/Gawgaryn

Please provide a short backstory for this character:

Born 2417, to a small peasant village on Moghes, Ziithrik Kuth’rex had his life set out for him from the very beginning. He was raised well by his parents as best they could provide from their meagre lives, and once he was old enough and able to work he performed his duty to his clan and his feudal lord by working the mines his village was situated near even in his teenage years. His time was spent in the mines or keeping up a basic education with the village shaman, learning to read and write at a basic level. By the time he reached the age of twenty in 2437 tensions were beginning to rise around the Izweski Space Program, events that held no particular for Ziithrik’s life, he continued to serve in the mines, as was expected of him. However, with news of the disaster of the first launch he couldn’t help feeling that the Izweski were meddling in things they should not have been. When the Contact War broke out the Kuth’rex become a part of the Traditionalist Coalition war machine at the behest of their lord.

For almost a year Ziithrik served his clan, lord and the Coalition in the mines, bringing in as much material for the war effort as was possible every day, pushing himself to his mental and physical limits. It wasn’t until the bombs began to fall that everything changed for him, as it did for many. He was in the mines, as he always was, when the warhead detonated some distance away from his village, the distance meaning it was spared from complete incineration, but the shockwave collapsed the mine on all the inhabitants, killing many, and trapping others. Ziithrik spent the first day in the dark, alone, digging his way out, confused about what had happened, waiting to be rescued by his clan. By the third day, he was almost out of energy, air, and was devoid of hope of rescue. It wasn’t until his claws scratched out into open air and he was greeted by the blinding glare of the blasted skies of his home that he realised what had happened. His village lay abandoned, some dead, others having fled days ago. Scavenging what food and water he could he set off from his village, aimless, trying only to survive.

This fight for survival became Ziithrik’s life for a number of years, scrounging for food and water, starving for days, trudging through the wastes as his planet tore itself apart in nuclear fire, many times had he fallen to his knees and begged Sk’akh to deliver him from his torment, but his prayers seemed to fall upon deaf or uncaring ears. It was perhaps dumb luck that a group of punished raiders stumbled upon him while he was scrounging for scraps and captured him. Returning him to their lands as a slave they put the stocky ex-miner to work as manual labour. It would be a number of months before Ziithrik finally snapped under the pressure of all that he had endured beating one of his captors viciously in a fit of rage. The outburst earned him the notice of the raiders and he was lifted from a slave to an official member of the Punished Clans. Ziithrik reasoned that raiding the Hegemony would not be such a dishonourable act, as they had set the Unathi on a path to destruction with their meddling in the first place.

It wasn’t until 2451, at the age of 34 that his days of raiding to survive met a catastrophic and violent end. Struck down and left for dead by his fellows while attempting to raid a Reclaimer landcrawler, he crawled, injured, through the sands, following the crawler’s tracks for two days and two nights before coming upon a large congregation of Unathi. It was here that Ziithrak first heard the words of the Prophet Juzida Si’akh and finally he understood everything; he understood why Sk’akh had been deaf to his prayers, why he had suffered so much and been abandoned. The Unathi had sinned greatly, and they were justly damned, and he, was perhaps one of the most damned for his sins as a Gawgaryn. He threw himself down at the feet of his new messiah and pledged eternal servitude by his true name, Ziithrak Kuth’rex. The merciful Si’akh perhaps saw the same fire of devotion that rested within his own heart and saw that the newcomer be given whatever medical attention could be mustered. Within a week Ziithrak emerged renewed with religious fervour. He followed Si’akh’s teachings to the letter and was one of the first to pledge himself to become a Reaver of the Flame in 2457, after which he doggedly protected the pilgrims of his lord and messiah for three years, gaining many scars.

Now he has come to NSS Aurora to perform the will of Si’akh, his first objective to protect the people of the station, in particular his fellow Unathi, so that they may have more time to perform good and redeem themselves rather than be damned to reincarnate on the hellish wastes of their homeworld. His second objective is to act as a preacher-proxy for the prophet to convince the unenlightened to make pilgrimage home to see his Messiah and thus be saved.

What do you like about this character?

My favourite aspect of Ziithrak has to be his born-again preacher nature, he lost his traditional faith making him the perfect target for radicalisation by the Si’akh heresy. He has endured a great deal of hardship and now internalises as punishment for the inherent sin of his survival of judgement day. Rather than being another slightly self-antagonistic ex-raider character, I was much more interested in making him a force for good, wanting to promote good deeds in others to help with their redemption. I am also excited to see what kind of roleplay can be initiated between other Unathi characters who may not share the beliefs of this radical fire and brimstone preacher. I also think it will be interesting to interact with the other races (barring IPC’s because IPC man bad) regarding the fact Ziithrak is inclined to view them as mostly innately superior to him because in his faith, their souls are already guaranteed a place in paradise with Sk’akh because unlike the Unathi, they are not damned.

How would you rate your role-playing ability?

Personally, I like to err on the side of caution when rating myself, but I’d like to believe I can roleplay relatively well and am ready for the added challenge of a species whitelist. I would give myself a 7/10.

Notes:

At the time of writing Xevanthraxis should have already put their whitelist up, because I am a slow nerd who takes ages to write, and some may notice that both character share a clan, I was unsure of the ruling on doing this, nevertheless offered to share a clan with them while discussing the applications over discord, in order to create immediate roleplay opportunities, however if this causes any hassle for staff, or is just plainly not allowed, I am happy to edit the character accordingly. Thank you for your understanding in advance.

Edited November 9, 2019 by Marlon Phoenix

[niennab]

Forktress is a good bean and an absolute joy to RP with. I adore Senan and Sabela and I hope to meet more of their characters. I am confident they can take on roleplaying differing races on the server.

A big +1 from me.

((Also how dare you say IPC man bad.))

Edited November 2, 2019 by niennab

[geeves]

I've not seen your roleplay in-game, so I can't comment on that, but your backstory is perfectly a scenario I envisioned a wastelander, and especially a Gawgaryn to be! Big +1 on that front. The jump from Moghes to NSS Aurora is a bit sudden and jarring, and it could use some ironing out, but ultimately it doesn't matter too much, I have an easier time working on character backstory details when I'm actually playing the character, myself.

The sharing of a clan is fine, having characters in the same clan is good for RP, and is actually a benefit. Co-operation between players makes my heart glow. Fantastic application!

[Xevanthraxis]

+1 from me! I have played alongside Forktress for a few years now, both with other games and on Aurora. I enjoy RPing with their characters (Mostly Sabela, the maint goblin). And have the upmost faith in their ability to roleplay another race.

As a mostly skrell player, yes... IPC man bad.

[Forktress]

17 hours ago, niennab said:

Forktress is a good bean and an absolute joy to RP with. I adore Senan and Sabela and I hope to meet more of their characters. I am confident they can take on roleplaying differing races on the server.

A big +1 from me.

((Also how dare you say IPC man bad.))

Always so kind Nienna, thank you for the support! (Its not my fault, Si'akh says IPC man bad!)

[Forktress]

10 hours ago, geeves said:

I've not seen your roleplay in-game, so I can't comment on that, but your backstory is perfectly a scenario I envisioned a wastelander, and especially a Gawgaryn to be! Big +1 on that front. The jump from Moghes to NSS Aurora is a bit sudden and jarring, and it could use some ironing out, but ultimately it doesn't matter too much, I have an easier time working on character backstory details when I'm actually playing the character, myself.

The sharing of a clan is fine, having characters in the same clan is good for RP, and is actually a benefit. Co-operation between players makes my heart glow. Fantastic application!

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply and show support! I fully agree that the jump is quite sudden, it stems mostly from my personal worry that I was writing too much for what was supposed to be a relatively short backstory, I fully intend to flesh out all the details and plug up the holes!

[Seeli]

A big +1 from me. Fantastic and interesting characters, with fun quirks that make them each individual. Have to agree with nienna, Sabela and Senan are my favorites. I look forward to seeing how they rp an unathi.

[CinnySuccubus]

+1, Sabela is okie-dokie. Big fan of the unique quirks of Senan, but the real winner for me is Sabela. She is pure and innocent. Protect the rat-friends from the nasty Zhan.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

Hello, I apologize for the wild delay.

Your application is solid and the character choice is very interesting. I will give you an acceptance especially on top of the positive feedback.

Accepted!