[Accepted] Skyglazer's Unathi Application

[Skyglazer]

BYOND Key: Skyglazer

Character Names: I only have one so far, her name is Hazel Delano.

What color do you plan on making your first alien character: Probably a combination of some sort of black and the orange-brown "sand color," though I'm not fully decided yet.

Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: A better question would be 'how many times...' I was quite unoccupied on a recent long car ride, and have been looking forward to making this application for a while... I've done my lizard homework, for sure.

 

Why do you wish to play as this specific race?: Well, to start I should probably say that I have a bit of a personal bias when it comes to herpetology and reptiles of all sorts-- but "I like lizards :)" is probably not a compelling reason to be approved for a whitelist...

I have to say, I'm very fond of some of the ideas of their culture in the lore. I like the idea of a struggling homeworld almost entirely unable to right itself- the fact that Moghes is on a nigh-irreversible decline has such important implications and the fact that the Contact War in and of itself is such a fresh wound in the collective Unathi consciousness is very compelling to making a character that would be concerned with such issues.

 

Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: A harder question would be identifying the similarities- Unathi are so unique when compared to humans, physically and culturally. These carnivorous lizards are quite different from humans- and not just on account of their cold blood. Earth may have had its share of hardships, but almost complete destruction of its ecosystem as a result of nuclear war is not one of them. Humans were able to take their time in developing their space-legs, while many Unathi are being basically forced up into the stars, to seek out better homes. 

Their unique perception doesn't stop there, though. Given that contact with other races was made extremely recently, Unathi are more likely to have extremely varying opinions on other races- from anywhere to very prejudiced to very welcoming. And the one thing that wasn't blasted away in a nuclear blast was their strict adherence to traditions- regularly exercising social norms and social castes that humanity haven't practiced in hundreds of years. 

 

Character Name: Drarak Lezakh

Backstory: 

Spoiler

Drarak Lezakh is a wastelander from the Szek’Hakh queendom. A strange culture to come from, even among the Unathi. His parents were among the few in the area convinced that their little chunk of desert would be safe so long as it was Queen Szek’Hakh keeping a watchful eye over things, and being one of the rare men in the area puts Drarak in a unique position. He grew up in a culture atypical of most Unathi- where the women were the heads of the households and the men were expected to keep house. His outgoing nature was discouraged as he was growing up and he was taught to follow the example set by his father and brothers rather than the inspiration he ended up taking from his mother and sisters. 

Most Unathi are subject to scrutiny over their close-minded views on gender-roles, but the Szek'Hakh queendom flips these roles on their head. Drarak was raised by what mainline Unathi would consider to be a meek father and a woman who has gone beyond her strata- his mother. Though he wasn't encouraged to be independent, his family's struggling economic status led him into a unique position in the queendom- his brothers had all been married, his sisters had no trouble getting husbands for themselves- all the other men kept the house just fine, the only problem being that they didn't have a whole lot of money- meaning they couldn't afford a whole lot of the fish or produce from aquaculture farms that kept the queendom's economy healthy. Without many other options, Drarak jumped at the opportunity hitch a ride with a wasteland-smuggler up to the stars take up even the lowest-brow employment, taking up a supply job with Nanotrasen, and getting a hopeful deal to send money back to his family.

Most residents of the queendom follow the Th'akh faith, just like their queen. Drarak and his family are no exception. Similar to other residents, they are a bit sympathetic to the Sk'akhs that sometimes pass through the area, and harsher to the Aut'akh. Religion doesn't have a huge bearing on his mind, but he is a quiet follower of the faith. 

A male supporting his family is quite uncommon in the queendom, so his relatives claim his wage does much less to help than it actually does, and Drarak prefers to stay quiet and humble about his origins- just how he was raised. He much prefers the meritocratic atmosphere that working in the stars provides him.

What do you like about this character?: Coming from strict traditionalists like those that exist in Unathi culture can sometimes pigeonhole characters into becoming hyper-focused on following guidelines that exist. I'm fond of Drarak because the particular paragraph about the Queendom in the lore caught my interest, and I think that a great way to explore Unathi culture would be to play a character that slightly subverts it, within reason.

How would you rate your role-playing ability?: I've been role-playing for a great number of years in a wide range of mediums-- Pathfinder, other Space Station 13 servers, D&D 5e, and other miscellaneous role-playing communities. I would say that I'm fairly well-practiced when it comes to RP, but I'm still getting my bearings on Aurora as it's my first time in a SS13 high-RP community. I'd like to say that I'm pretty good, though.

Notes: Edited (11/30/2019): Added a tiny bit about religion to the backstory segment-- I had it in-mind because it's mentioned in the paragraph about the Queendom, but I should probably include it for clarity's sake, since such things are important to Unathi characters.

Edited December 4, 2019 by Marlon Phoenix

[Shenaanigans]

I can't say that I'm too familiar with your one character, we probably just haven't crossed paths, but I like this application! The Queendom is a piece of lore that I haven't seen used in a character backstory yet and that's a shame, because a culture where the strict gender roles of Unathi society are flipped on their head will absolutely produce characters that have interesting interactions with others of their race. I'd be very interested to see it played out in Drarak and your answers seem to convey a solid enough understanding of Unathi to portray this unique background well. +1

Questions are always great to show off a character, so, I'll pitch a few!

• What are Drarak's opinions on Unathi outside of the Queendom?
• Does he resent having to be subservient or does he accept it?
• Does he have any goals beyond working to support his family?

[Skyglazer]

1 hour ago, Shenaanigans said:

I can't say that I'm too familiar with your one character, we probably just haven't crossed paths, but I like this application! The Queendom is a piece of lore that I haven't seen used in a character backstory yet and that's a shame, because a culture where the strict gender roles of Unathi society are flipped on their head will absolutely produce characters that have interesting interactions with others of their race. I'd be very interested to see it played out in Drarak and your answers seem to convey a solid enough understanding of Unathi to portray this unique background well. +1

Questions are always great to show off a character, so, I'll pitch a few!

• What are Drarak's opinions on Unathi outside of the Queendom?
• Does he resent having to be subservient or does he accept it?
• Does he have any goals beyond working to support his family?

Thanks so much for the support! It means a lot. And thank you even further for some thought-provoking questions to work with! I'll jump right in:

1 hour ago, Shenaanigans said:

What are Drarak's opinions on Unathi outside of the Queendom?

I only touched on this briefly in the section about his religious expression, but Drarak is fairly ambivalent towards "normal" Unathi outside of the Queendom aside from the others mentioned. Personally, he feels like the Queendom's customs are the best way of doing things, but he understands that no matter how many reasons one might put forward, there are always reasons to the contrary. It's just a sheer fact of how stubborn the Unathi are as a people. The great thinkers of the Queendom might hypothesize that the more coveted sex may naturally tend towards being the submissive ones, while others may argue that men should always be going out and fighting, and et cetera, et cetera, et cetera... Drarak is proud to hail from the Queendom- but he doesn't think it makes him any better or worse than other Unathi. Just different-- which is okay to him, but not to everyone.

1 hour ago, Shenaanigans said:

Does he resent having to be subservient or does he accept it?

Although this question seems a bit abstract at first, it's not hard for me to hypothesize that Drarak might feel exactly how women do in male-dominant societies. Especially among the Unathi, the providers tend to wield all the freedom within families while the housekeepers are kept on a short leash. If Drarak completely accepted that his role as a man was just to stay home, wait for a woman to choose him, and keep house- he would've stayed back with his folks. That isn't to say he completely resents the idea of keeping house or doesn't want to eventually find a wife- he does want to settle down someday-- but he believes that there's more to it. And that ties in nicely with my answer to the last question:

1 hour ago, Shenaanigans said:

Does he have any goals beyond working to support his family?

Immediately upon leaving, I don't think he would've suspected himself of having any ulterior motives, but I think that deep down, Drarak has something to prove. Different societies dump a lot of different expectations onto people, for better or for worse, and once he gets on-station he'd get the unique perspective of being able to see things from the corporate perspective: a sort-of... meritocracy. People of all sorts, men and women, doing all sorts of various jobs- while it might be normal for them, they're certainly defying his status quo. I think once he gets his proper space-legs, Drarak would want to find out "the truth" about people, and what they're capable of when they shrug off the limits of a pre-defined role based on something as uncontrollable as the sex one is born with. And once he figures these things out, he'd be in the perfect position to exceed expectations and perhaps make something more of himself than just a pittance-worker who sends spare change back to his family..

 

And that should about cover it! Thanks again for your support, and thanks again for the questions! You are absolutely right when you say they're a great way to show off characters, and simply thinking up answers to these really helped me explore exactly what I want to do with this character. I appreciate it.

Edited December 1, 2019 by Skyglazer
Further expanding on one of the answers.

[geeves]

Skyglazer approached me to help with their application on Discord, but it ended up being me going, "Yes, yes! This is just right." about forty billion thousand times. I really like the concept, I enjoy that you're using a little used faction in our lore. (One I intend to revamp one day.)

You're respectful in DMs, and I think you have ties to some of our new lizard whitelistees, which effectively means you're already great. I like your answers to Shenaanigans' questions as well.

You've got my support. +1

[Kintsugi]

Skygazer's a good friend of mine and while I haven't interacted extensively with his current Aurora characters, I have watched them the rounds that I've observed and Hazel does not disappoint. Regardless of my own biases, I think Sky'd be a great addition to the forces of the Auroran Unathi Legion - after all, he's already doing great as a Human. I've talked server lore with him before and I can say with absolute certainty that he's very motivated and attentive to the game's world

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

Hmmm you have a good character concept especially with the follow up you provided on the questions you got. Your feedback is also good and my deputy says your app is pretty sick. I am happy to see the Queendom get its first whitelist application character to my knowledge; have fun playing unathi!

Accepted.