[Accepted] Tailson's Perhaps Slightly Delayed Synth Whitelist Application

[Tailson]

Spoiler

BYOND Key: Tailson

Character Names: Rex Winters, Kere'Selsh Qorina, Byron Reichard, Margaret Stainforth, Harmony, Brunton, PocketBuddy 2.0, Giselle Royce, Geraldine Schofield, Henry Weeter

Species you are applying to play: IPC

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

Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Back to front.

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: (One paragraph minimum)
It's probably clear to most people that I thoroughly enjoy playing synthetic characters, Harmony, Brunton and PocketBuddy 2.0 making up a considerable amount of my total time playing on Aurora. I get the feeling that due to my frequency playing synthetic characters it was never considered that I wouldn't have the synth whitelist. Uh, well, surprise! I've always been happy to play stationbounds and AIs over IPCs due to me lacking a fun and convincing concept for an IPC character that I would enjoy playing on station. With me getting the Deputy position I've gone and devoted the time and energy to making that IPC character, something that I've been threatening to do for a long time.

Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human:
Renewed suspicion due to the SLF arc has, I assume, made playing IPC something of a sordid affair. There's always going to be people who adore their synthetic coworkers, but with that extra hackle-raising experience, especially for characters who were already quite hardline against synthetics, it's probably reinforced their negative views. This is actually something I've always enjoyed about roleplaying synthetics. Not that I have a thing or anything but being treated as a second class citizen (albeit a very helpful one) always seemed to fit being a robot.

Mechanics! Big chonky metal, clompy-stompy feet, telly-face, heat management, different dietary needs, and so forth. Whenever I've played my other synth characters, I've enjoyed playing up the mechanical differences as a quirk of the character's personality. There's nothing quite like bullshitting some technical jargon instead of saying "my leg hurts (or at least it would hurt, if I had the capacity to feel pain. Which I don't, but my programming tells me to be personable and personify myself I will)". I'm aware how different mechanics between stationbounds and IPCs are, though perhaps not to the same depth that a player of IPCs would. Looking forward to getting hands on with that.

Character Name: Essen

Please provide a short backstory for this character
Most people wake up to the shrill beeping of their alarm, well aware of their desire to ignore it because they have to go to work. Essen was not so lucky. Woken it was, but by the grinding sound of metal and rust below the treads of a junkyard loading vehicle. No apprehension of the impending work day, no desire to stay in bed, no memory of much at all, sadly. An abandoned mind in an obsolete frame. The first few days for the poor nameless thing were spent wandering its new home, ducking from the large machines that roamed the scrapyard. Before long, it would find itself on the streets, away from the crashing of iron, and now into the care of a group of likeminded fellows living in the slums and alleyways of Mendell City.

Life on the streets of the city wasn't particularly easy. Where its companions would steal food, the IPC would scavenge batteries, sneak into buildings to charge, whatever else it took to survive. It was from these companions that Essen learnt the way things are done, giving the thing a skewed view of the world. It was a child from this group of vagrants that eventually gave Essen their name. Right there, on a plate, faded and scratched away from time and neglect, were the letters: S/N. Though not particularly lawful people, but good nontheless, with a strong sense of community and cameraderie. This had the unusual effect of giving Essen the impression that the impoverished and downtrodden were good, helpful, friendly, and those with plenty were cruel, facetious. Unaware, of course, why exactly the IPC was always the first into buildings, the first to make a move...

The first to get caught.

Given the chance between decommissioning or working back the debt accrued from crimes both real and falsified, Essen has been signed on to work with NanoTrasen as part of its rehabilitation, until such a time that the great debt is deemed paid.

What do you like about this character?
Sad homeless robot. A once-coyed machine with a strange set of morals and a kinship with people of lower social standing seems interesting to me, since most IPCs are generally owned either by themselves, or by someone many times wealthier than they are. A robot coming from a background of homelessness and petty crime, missing its old family, perhaps unaware it was the fallguy all along strikes me as a fun dynamic. Learning about how the world works outside of the alleys and gutters of the society it "grew up" in.

Everyone roots for the underdog.

How would you rate your role-playing ability?
I usually put 7/10 here because it seems like a decent mix between confidence and humility, but I've been playing for how many years now and haven't ever had a complaint about my roleplay ability so I'm going to say 9/10 because confidence is a drug I just won't quit.

Notes: I know I said that I never really felt the desire to play IPC at the beginning of this app, but this character idea has been in my head for nearly a year now so clearly that's not entirely true.

[niennab]

I am embarrassed I didn't notice you didn't have the white-list haha. Mind you, you have synthetic characters!

Since an IPCs birth or reactivation often requires another hand (or a stoke of luck should it be some internal back-up supply of power), could you expand on how he came to be reactivated in the scrapyard? Whether some spark of electricity, someone charging him, etc etc? 

The downside of white-lists applications is that they tend to be a bit spoiler-heavy over a non-whitelist made character!

[Tailson]

I was hedging on the luck and chance bit, maybe the result of a small trash avalanche (trashalanche) jostling it around enough to start it up/knock it out of standby mode. I understand the likelihood of that is terribly low, which I feel adds a little bittersweet luck to and otherwise extremely unlucky robot.

[ShesTrying]

+1.

 

Tailson is what I want people to look to when they are wondering what they should do in an HRP environment. Their AI's and synths were some of the first ones I interacted with when I started out with the Aurora, and they remain today a shining example of what I think synth play should be, not to mention a kind and wonderful person oocly, which I think is really important in whitelisted members of this community.

The synths I have seen them play are top-notch, interesting, and feel grounded and realistic in our lore and setting without feeling boring, and I have had very few issues with them, if any.

I love this concept for a character, and I have no doubt that Tailson will be able to carry it out wonderfully. I cannot speak enough praise for them, if I am being honest. They deserve this whitelist, and they deserve all the love that will come their way for it. I'm so glad they've applied for IPC, because it will really only improve their roleplay and roster of characters.

 

I am proud of you ^~^

[Doxxmedearly]

Best AI and Stationbound play from Tailson, bar none. The man understands lawed synths inside and out. +1 for that alone.

Question for you, though: What do you feel are some key differences between playing an IPC and playing a lawed robot? 

[Tailson]

Spoiler

Oh my god that's extremely high praise from people I respect so much. :-:

2 hours ago, Doxxmedearly said:

Question for you, though: What do you feel are some key differences between playing an IPC and playing a lawed robot? 

Mechanics aside, I feel like lawed synthetics sort of "know their lot", whereas IPCs don't seem to have that same thing to them. I'm aware owned IPCs exist, of course, but they always struck me as a group trying to find their place in a world that might not want them. I think the key difference is that: Their outlook on who they are and where they belong.

[niennab]

20 hours ago, Tailson said:

I was hedging on the luck and chance bit, maybe the result of a small trash avalanche (trashalanche) jostling it around enough to start it up/knock it out of standby mode. I understand the likelihood of that is terribly low, which I feel adds a little bittersweet luck to and otherwise extremely unlucky robot.

I have no issue with chance opportunities. In my opinion it's what makes player characters different from an NPC. I only wanted to know the details of their 'resurrection'. 

An interesting story and a great demonstration of understanding synthetics. Accepted.