Roostercat mrowls aggressively

[Roostercat]

BYOND Key: Roostercat12

Character Names: Jaquelyn Roberts, Aphid, Za'Akaix'Crono Zo'ra, Claire Rentrue, Raymond Shane

Species you are applying to play:  Tajara

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

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

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)

Once upon a time I thought I was never going to apply for the Tajaran race. Nothing seemed to get me into it. Then a few things happened. One, at some point I think Yahir and a PRA consular got into a gunfight. me being curious as to why I slowly started to learn about the political climate of the Tajaran race, which got me intrigued. At this point I was not necessarily interested in playing yet, but it did look interesting at least. Then came part two, what REALLY made me want to give it a try. The Tajaran Cold War arc. I was present for almost every event in the arc, and discovering the lore and reasons behind every event only got me more and more intrigued with the race. That being followed by the District Six riots made me interested enough to actually start reading lore pages. After reading the first page, I kept reading. And kept reading. And kept reading and here we are. I literally sunk into it like quicksand.

Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: (One Paragraph minimum)

First of all, this race, unlike Skrell, Humans etc., are still VERY focused on their home planet, with the problems and conflicts having massive impacts on the race as a whole. The home planet is also one of the only ones that is NOT controlled by a single government. Tajarans are susceptible to heat, being from a snowcone of a planet and covered in fur, so much so that a spicy enough burrito can literally give them a fucking heart attack whereas humans can just get a glass of water or something. Tajarans talk in third person, which in of itself is a huge, very noticeable difference compared to talking to a human. The two main religions have overlapping figures, such as Raskara and Messa etc, and are heavily focused on astronomy, unlike human religions that tend to be centered around one deity. 

Character Name: Rahjul Nukir'harran

Please provide a short backstory for this character (Approximately two paragraphs)

Rahjul was born in a snowy winter on Adhomai in 2440, on Das'nnra. He was born and mostly raised a Zhan-Khazan in a smallish village not too far away from the bustling city-state of Crevus. His parents were very religious, following the Ma'ta'ke religion, and Rahjul followed suit. The small family consisting of Rahjul, his sister, and their parents earned their meager living as mechanics, Fixing various machines and farm vehicles only possible through contact with humanity. Though there was always a hint of xenophobia within the family, they still conceded that the technology was a plus. Rahjul slowly learned from his father as he began to learn the inner workings of various devices. Though the second revolution eventually reared its head after Nated's failed coup in 2451. The war ablaze, Rahjul and his family simply tried to avoid the conflict, continuing their lives and hoping it would blow over.  The family in its entirety was never too fond of the PRA, with the secret police apparent and the ideologies a pain. There was always an oppressive air about whenever Rahjul would take a step into the open air, and he hated it.

He had heard of the liberations of other places by word of mouth or other sources, and Rahjul started to like the sound of not having to live under the PRA's rule. He never actually said this openly, as the village had not only a small PRA garrison, but quite a few loyalists who wouldn't be too happy to hear the words. Biding his time as he learned more and more about mechanical work, The Liberation army grew ever closer. Eventually the sheer sounds of artillery could be heard in the distance, putting the entire village on edge. Patrols became denser, soldiers more numerous. It felt as if the entire village could be flattened by a barrage at any given time. Until one day the Army arrived. Four days of nonstop fighting had occurred on the outskirts and even inside the village, artillery leveling half the buildings. On the second day, an artillery shell had struck just to the side of the family's home, sending shrapnel straight through the eye of Rahjul's father, killing him almost instantly. Despite the shell being of ALA origin, Rahjul had actually chosen to blame the PRA, he saw the shell as collateral. The fighting would not have even started if the PRA had chosen to run things right, after all. 

As the Army swept through the village, forcing the Republican soldiers out, Rahjul had done everything he could to help the liberators. Whether that be repairing weapons or drag wounded soldiers to safety, Rahjul had made damn well sure to do it. All the while leaving the PRA wounded to die, and their weapons sabotaged by intentionally shoddy repair. After the long four days, the fighting had finally stopped, and the PRA had lost. The sounds of artillery became more and more distant before they couldn't be heard at all. Rahjul was satisfied under their liberation, but wanted to do more. With the village in shambles, the family had just enough money, stolen or otherwise from the previously alive loyalists, to move to Crevus. After being assured that his family could survive on their own, Rahjul left to join the Liberation army.  Seeing all the horrors of war he could think of in turn. 

After the expulsion of the Republican army from Das'nnra, Rahjul was at a bit of a loss as to what to do. While he was away, his mother had fallen victim to a mugging gone wrong in Crevus, ending in her death, leaving Rahjul's sister more-or-less alone. The conditions weren't good, and while things were certainly better (at least in Rahjul's eyes) than when the PRA had ruled, it still wasn't great. Looking for an out after his attempts of finding a stable job had failed, Rahjul managed to secure a ride with a Ha'rron on a smuggling shuttle off of Adhomai, to Tau Ceti, taking his sister with and using almost all of their money to do so. Things weren't looking great for the pair, with the shuttle's conditions abyssmal, making the ride miserable. On top of that, the chance of a raider attack was always present, a sudden and horrifying end to their leave. That was not the end of their troubles either, Rahjul was wary of the foreign entity, the xenophobic sentiment within the ALA in full swing. Though he was willing to take his chances, as he had heard of the vague success of Tajarans there before, and it offered an out from the conflict as political-fueled killings were a norm. Eventually getting to their destination, Rahjul and his sister took residence in District Six of Mendell city as more-or-less refugees, with Rahjul reluctantly taking a job with a certain alien megacorporation known as NT as a cargo technician for a stable-ish income, more or less the best he could do with his lack of an education. He would have been more than happy to join a gang with like-minded individuals, but for once he thought more of his sister than of his ideology, and sided against such an action, shoving it back within his mind. 

What do you like about this character?

I like Rahjul's political views, being heavily in favor of the ALA despite their artillery ending his father's life, the fact that he blames the PRA for most of his problems, and that despite his xenophobic tendencies, he decided to bite the bullet and leave Adhomai, being unable to get a secure job in Crevus. The character is something that was originally going to have a short backstory, but as I wrote it, I kept thinking of more and more things to add on. What was going to be two paragraphs ended up being four, and I imagine I'll add on even more in the future, likely religion related. I like that this character has a reason for needing to leave Adhomai, and a reason to like the DPRA. 

 How would you rate your role-playing ability?

I would rate my roleplaying ability a solid 8/10 I have gotten better over time and feel I can drive a plethora of RP scenarios.

Notes: I did this at roughly 4AM and finished at 5AM. God help me. Spare me if I fucked something up

[DeadLantern]

You talk a lot about the political side of Tajara lore. This is fine, but there are other aspects you miss out on. 

1. What is Rahjul's opinion on the caste system and the other races of Tajara? How has being a Zhan in a post-Al'Marii era of the PRA affected his situation?

2. Why did Rahjul, a villager, see the ALA as a liberating force? This opinion is not wrong per-say, but when the ALA captured villages and towns, they would appoint military goveners to have full control over that area. They had essentially free reign over the military in that area and had control over the civillians. Does he see their ideology as distinctly better than the PRA, or just the lesser of two evils? What is his opinion on the use of guerilla tactics, child soldiers, terrorist cell, etc, to get the job done.

Additionally, here are some things you should know:

Human technology diffused rapidly in cities, but most villages were left behind. You say your village is small-ish, which is ok, but a village would probably not get that much xeno technology. Think of Russia in the early 20th century--some big cities like St. Petersburg were industrialized, but poor rural areas still pracitced serfdom.

Also, Zhan-Khazan have only one language slot as of right now. You can either choose Delhvalii, the racial language of the Zhan, Siik'Maas, the lingua franca of the Tajara world, or Siik'Tajr, the language of the first revolutionaries and some other people. What will you choose? Being part of a village, but then joining the war... It is your choice.

That is all.

[Roostercat]

Hi. Thanks for responding, to get to the point- 

1. Rahjul has a neutral outlook towards M'sai, but a negative outlook on Njarir.  He sees the Njarir as oppressive rulers, who like to subjugate those below them, with the PRA and NKA leadership just being proof. He finds life as a Zhan in the PRA rougher, with harsher punishments for doing bad things and an oppressive, sometimes cruel behavior directed towards him by other ethnicities.

2. Rahjul saw the ALA as liberating due to, in part, his hatred of the PRA, and he saw them as a necessary evil. Sure, they did bad things. But those bad things only happened because of the PRA in his eyes. The mortar shell that killed his father never would have happened if Nated didn't feel the need to coup against PRA leadership, for example. He dislikes the use of child soldiers and terrorist acts, but again, sees them as a necessary evil. Their suffering now would bring forth a brighter tomorrow.

As for the technology thing, I had a somewhat hard time deciphering when and how much human tech got spread around, so that's my bad.

As for language, he speaks Siik'Maas due to being around multiple ethnicities and being a fighter.

[Hepatica]

Rooster is a good boy, an epic gamer, and is trusted enough to have other whitelists, including command, AND is a lore writer. I'm 100% certain he can handle a Tajaran whitelist just fine.

[DeadLantern]

This application is fine enough after the questioning, and your lore knowledge is sufficient, so I support this application.

[TG_Griffin]

I have had many interactions with Roosters characters, their app looks like they've got a decent knowledge of Tajara and i'm confident they can do the race justice. 

+1 from me

[Ventii]

I'm really not the guy to ask about Tajara. My working knowledge on the species is incredibly surface level in comparison to others as, much like Rooster, "Nothing [seems] to get me into it".
That said, I can speak to the quality of Rooster himself. Being a loredev, he's got one of the best track records on station when it comes to creating characters with nuance that (frankly, effortlessly) weave in the current cultural zeitgeist of a race. In addition, he's got no problem with playing out a long and personally draining arc for the sake of adhering to personally ascribed lore/backstory, and I see no reason that someone with that measure of dedication both to character depth and lore usage shouldn't get this whitelist.

And that, of course, is completely besides the fact that Rahjul sounds like the kind of character that completely plays to those strengths; this is a politically charged, but largely haunted character and I can't wait to see him. With the answers to DeadLantern's questions, I'm entirely satisfied!

Big +1.

[Alberyk]

The application display a good knowledge on the lore and how it can be used to create a character, tying the concepts and events that exists on the Tajaran lore to justify the character motivations and how they got on station.

Application accepted.