Skyglazer's Skrell Application

[Skyglazer]

BYOND Key: Skyglazer

Character Names: Hazel Delano, Drarak Lezakh, Siohazk Arhaziik

Species you are applying to play: Skrell

What color do you plan on making your first alien character: Blue, or possibly green. Some color that's somewhere between neutral and bright.

Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yes, and I tend to have such pages open when I'm playing. Even months after I've gotten my Unathi whitelist, I'm still always making sure what I'm saying and doing syncs up with the lore.

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:

It's a combination of a few reasons! I've been playing on Aurora for a few months now, and I've had quite a few positive interactions with Skrell players, and, in honesty, Skrell seem to be some of the most consistent characters out there. The lore seems very solid and there are many things about it that fascinate me, such as psionics, how a character might struggle with the genophage, the authoritative nature of the Jargon Federation that we've seen in the recent Skrell events... there's a lot going on, and I'd like to be able to explore it as more than just an outsider.

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

Where to start? Beyond the obvious aesthetic differences, Skrell should be, on average, much more mature than your average character. Years of life experience from well-beyond double the lifespans of other creatures fills them with wisdom, but their culture also keeps them lighthearted and open to new experiences. Not only are there all these cultural differences, but there's also psionics and the Wake, and specific actions with federation and non-federation Skrell. 

Character Name: Mikau Quolu'lulu

Please provide a short backstory for this character (It's kinda long.):

Spoiler

 

Mikau was hatched by thankful parents, who were blessed with one of the miracle-children of the Supernova Era during the recovery of the new Federation. In Tegucigalpa, he was not far from the Federation headquarters as it re-established itself. Mikau had a very close upbringing, with both of his parents wanting to make sure he had all the care he could possibly need and more. Their intense attachment was psionically made known to him before he was even born. Being one of the rare children, he was also given a lot of attention from friends and neighbors. All the social interaction greatly resonated with the young skrell, and he grew up to be a very passionate and emotional man, taking an early affinity for music. As he was so popular in his local community, it was not hard for him to get an audience. As soon as he was physically mature enough, the young musical prodigy went off to study music theory and eventually found himself among a small group of other outlier-children who shared his passion.

By the young age of thirty years, fresh out of his first college, Mikau had solidified his music group: The Tomb City Doused, often shortened to just 'the Doused,' named for the fact that their first popular song was inspired by a solemn group trip through one of the many tomb cities occupying the planet- seeing what past generations of Skrell had endured and endeavor to prevent from happening ever again filled the group with an optimistic passion for the future, which was evident in their music. Mikau and his group remained fairly popular, and as the Federation re-established its footing, they had even become local Idols in the area.

They could have gone bigger, but there was a small issue with the group, mainly in-being that Mikau and a few of the Skrell in the group that he had bonded with weren't as in-tune with the Wake as the Federation prefers their idols to be. Though he was not strongly a Listener, he was not enough of a Receiver to receive (pun intended) the Federation's special attention. He and his group had even received explicit discouragement from becoming popular. Although their message was one the Federation liked currently, their inability to be adequately controlled made them a contentious group, and they soon found themselves among the counterculture, as one of the lesser known bands that spread by word-of-mouth.

When he was around fifty, the Doused split up for a while because one of the group's members had successfully undergone the anti-genophage treatment, and had a child they wanted to give their full attention to. Although they were a pretty large group, each member's role was critical and the loss of one member quickly caused them to crumble... So, Mikau went back to school for another ten years, this time, pursuing a small personal interest in psychology and its relationship to music. Without his group, he went through an aimless period where he was simply studying music to study music, listening to as much as he could in an attempt to find something that really spoke to him.

His soul-searching came to a halt when he was in his late sixties, the group member in question had sent their child off to study and had much more free time- so the group got back together! To his surprise, Mikau found that most of the rest of the Doused had been aimless just as he was... Their return was met with great excitement! However, many of them had been deeply inspired by the time they spent adrift, and their music was not nearly as optimistic as it was in the past... Much to the Federation's dismay, as they craved a positive public image. Now, they sang about exploring vast opportunity rather than dwelling on past losses- they had completely dropped the 'Tomb City' part of their name, as they felt it didn't represent them anymore, being known only as the Doused.

Some people took offense to this new message, but their niche popularity was rather stable... until one of their more recent performances, very animated with a psionic lightshow, something went wrong. The audience was too lost in the music to notice, but Mikau heard it- some of the members of his group were rapidly dropping pace, one of them had collapsed headfirst into their instrument, another was holding their head and looked very strained- and Mikau could feel a headache coming on as well. This was more than just the effects, this was a targeted attack! Although the music was important to him and he considered trying to endure through it to complete the performance, seeing some of the audience members begin to drop informed his decision, and Mikau quickly got out of there.

He quickly returned home, and out of fear for his personal safety, quickly arranged for an extended vacation outside of Federation space. The small community of his hometown had always encouraged him and the other young ones to take their explorations to the stars, and now seemed like a better time than any. His departure was quick and abrupt, leaving his friends and family wondering for the most part where he had gone.

Now, Mikau finds himself in Tau Ceti. Though he has enough money from his musical career to support himself, coming from Skrellian culture he would never take such a lazy approach, and got the proper training to handle food and drinks, so that he may most rapidly broaden his understanding of the plethora of aliens he now finds himself among.

 

EDIT: I forgot to include this in my original post, but he also appended the 'lulu to his name as a relation to how his band is referred to in Nral'Malic. He did this when the band split for the first time so he would not forget it.

 

What do you like about this character?:

Well, as you can see, I got a little carried away in writing it... Skrell have such long lives, it felt like a disservice to not include a whole bunch of information about such a long time. I'd like to play this character I played out (possibly tweaked: I tried to incorporate a lot from the lore but I can tone it back if I went too far with it in some places). As I stated above, I've been consistently impressed by the ability of Skrell players to accurately represent their species' unique and interesting lore, and I'm excited to try to set a similar example, with a friendly, deeply empathetic character that could be played as a Bartender or a Counselor, which are very social roles that I feel would be fitting a very social Skrell. What I'd most like to do is take the lesser-known parts of the Skrell lore, like the music, and run with them. I was really glad to read on the wiki that there was so much information about the music, as it all really fit-in well with the vague idea I had originally, which was just "Skrell musician of some sort." I think you can see here that I've expanded beyond that, and that I'd like to expand it even further by playing with it!

How would you rate your role-playing ability?:

I would only rate my role-playing ability by degree by which most people enjoy it. Thankfully, I tend to have a blast roleplaying with people who also seem to enjoy my company- I enjoy putting lots of thought into characters and ideas and I think I can pull them off with some level of competence. Overall, I'd say I'm prrreetty good. Certainly not a master, but always aiming to improve.

Notes: 

Spoiler

Part of me is worried that by playing a musician I'm signing myself up to write some song lyrics or have some degree of musical ability, which I don't reaaaaally have in real life, but another part of me welcomes the challenge. I think I'm up for it, though. Warble warble, bring it on.

Thank you for taking the time to read my application! I hope that you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Edited March 5, 2020 by Skyglazer
Forgot a detail.

[Kintsugi]

Look, it's me again, here to shill for my friend and ally Skygazer. Just like last time, I can't +1 him enough - even if he is joining the vile ranks of the Skr*ll. He's an extremely competent roleplayer who never fails to disappoint when I meet him ingame, and consistently has a great attitude outside of the game as well. As far as understanding the species is concerned, one just needs to look at this app and his track record with Unathi to know that he'll fit in great, able to warble with even the best of them.

[Leudoberct]

Skyglazer has proven that he's capable of portraying realistic characters of differing personalities and goals. I have full confidence in this application. +1

[TealPinniped]

What a lad. Even though I hate the simp Lezakh. I'll support the frog app +1

[Shenaanigans]

Skyglazer is always a wonderful RPer who takes the time and effort to flesh out believable characters that are fun to interact with, and the app seems kosher with my baby's basic knowledge of skrell lore so.

+1

[WickedCybs]

It's an interesting concept, and the application shows they have good understanding of the lore. Cannot say I have interacted with their characters much, but the few times I have were pretty alright and have certainly made an impact. Their consular being pretty great and probably the one I have seen the most, other than Lezakh. OOCly, they seem pretty good too. Solid app.

So in the moment of time that is now. The hour, the minute, the second. That is now. What will ensue, at this juncture, is a +1

Edited March 6, 2020 by WickedCybs

[Resilynn]

I’m a big fan of your take on the Federation’s relationship to its media here. 
 

A couple of questions to buy myself time before I inevitably accept this, no wrong answers- amongst the many trends in skrell pop culture is an appreciation for human music- particularly classical and orchestral music. How does your froggo feel about it?

 

How does your froggo react when someone asks for his autograph, on the off chance they recognize him?

 

 

[Skyglazer]

4 hours ago, Resilynn said:

A couple of questions to buy myself time before I inevitably accept this, no wrong answers- amongst the many trends in skrell pop culture is an appreciation for human music- particularly classical and orchestral music. How does your froggo feel about it?

 

How does your froggo react when someone asks for his autograph, on the off chance they recognize him?

 

 

1. Mikau, having lived on Jargon IV for most of his life, has only ever had exposure to human media during his studies. It has always fascinated him, but he's never been able to experience it authentically. That is one of the things about his life that will change during his extended stay in human space: he'll be able to experience this media in a more natural habitat! No doubt, when he is on the station he will be asking any interesting humans that he meets what their favorite genre is.

 

2. Firstly, he would reminisce about all the time he spent with the Doused, from his humble beginnings as a child interested in music all the way to the band getting back together when he is a man. Depending on who is asking for the autograph, he may give out a lot or a little information. For example, he may not tell a very pro-Federation Skrell about the incident that persuaded him to take flight into the stars. But, in general, he'd mostly be happy to discuss his musical career and give out an autograph to a fan. Even when he was still planetside and fans were much more numerous, he was always passionate about entertaining anyone who recognized him. The same is true in space!

Thanks for such a quick reply, and I'm glad my interpretation was suitable to your standards!

Edited March 6, 2020 by Skyglazer

[Resilynn]

Cool!  I’m accepting this. Welcome to wrbl.