human Ven is Very Boring and has No Personality: Human Dev App

[Carpe Venenum]

Ckey/BYOND Username: Carpe Venenum

Position Being Applied For: Human Lore Maintainer

Have you read the Lore Team Rules and Regulations wiki page? Yes! I think it's an excellent addition to how our lore runs, and something that the lore team has been sorely missing during my time there. Marlon's attempt to do the same thing was, frankly, bad, but the new R&R page is clear, concise and easy to both reference and follow. 

Past Experiences/Knowledge: In the past, I've been a Skrell lore deputy, Skrell lore maintainer, and Human lore deputy. I also have extensive experience with wiki editing.

Examples of Past Work: While away from the lore team, I helped Borya and Schwann write things such as Silversun (my idea almost start to finish, ask Borya about it), Konyang (also my idea, including the Glorsh parts) and the Empire of Dominia rewrite (the history of which I helped proofread & edit). I'm quite proud of them.

Additional Comments:

My favorite things:

Spoiler

1. My favorite theme in our lore is corporations affecting people. I generally really enjoy cyberpunk/dystopian themes (because my inspiration primarily comes from music and all I listen to is industrial). I've tried to reflect this in my Eridani rewrite.
2. My favorite megacorp is Zavodskoi Interstellar! I wasn't really a fan of Necropolis Industries (though I think the lore was acceptable, even if nothing special, and still defended it when I was a deputy) due to its edgy name and all, but the shift to Zavodskoi really gave it a fresh look. I really, really like what it has become.
3. My favorite thing to write is character-driven lore. I'm not interested in abstract stuff! I primarily want to write things that are directly applicable to player characters, or can be easily be brought up in conversation. This is why I don't like writing histories and governments very much. 
4. My favorite location in human lore is Venus, for the reasons mentioned above - dripping with culture and potential character concepts from whopping three categories of people. 

My hated things:

Spoiler

1. Human lore seems very scatter-brained thematically. If I had to name one primary theme of human lore, I don't know what it would be anymore. This is mainly because of Republic of Elyra.
2. Republic of Elyra. In hindsight, the concept of Elyra has been doomed from the start. With a faction that has phoron, you can really only have two concepts: another faction that is ruined by megacorps (which we already have: Biesel, and it also has phoron), or a corporation-free utopia (which we already have: Jargon Federation, with clever twists on it that are unique to Skrell). The writers have chosen to go with the both options, somewhat, and this messes with themes REALLY bad. It also undermines the uniqueness of Biesel, with Perispolis's capital even being described as Mendell City 2. If we have megacorps, why have a faction that is not affected by them at all? I'd probably fix it by "nerfing" Elyra: either showing how it suffers from isolating away from corps despite having phoron, or introduce corporate involvement into it. If I were dev, I'd probably run a survey among Elyra players/people interested in human lore to decide which.
3. We really lack some overarching lore. By that, I mean that we have factions which are largely culturally isolated from each other. Individually, places can feel believable, sure, but it's hard to immerse yourself in the world at large because there is serious lack of culture that would permeate all factions, and it's hard to imagine people's day-to-day life. 

My main objectives:

Spoiler

1. In short term, fix Republic of Elyra, as stated, unless I'm met with sufficient arguments against it needing fixes.
2. Focus on fleshing out existing locations. I really, really feel we have enough planets for now. In short term, I would focus on writing out Biesel cities (I already have a Phoenixport writeup which is pending approval, and I have plans for Craterview).
3. In short term, write out more corporation subsidiaries, and make them more relevant. There is a lot of lore in short tidbits like Getmore or Ingi Usang. I feel a lot of subsidiaries deserve separate pages, as well as maybe their own sleeve patches for contractors.
4. Work hard with my deputies to ensure that human lore is the best it can be, and regularly collect feedback to see if we are doing well!

 

[VVipEdout]

+1 cool dude good rper even tho i dont really know the species

But no, really. It's always been my opinion that a maintainer must be able to be a passable editor, an interesting writer and able to keep a theme all at once, and I fully trust Ven to do this. Though I share the love for dystopian content, Zavodskoi in its current iteration isn't my pick for favourite corplore despite being miles better than >necropolis, and I'm a sucker for storytelling through histories. There's a few questions I'd like to drop off, both out of curiosity and out of custom:

1). Why Zavodskoi? Necropolis has been all over the place content-wise since its inception, and frankly I'd be hesitant to call any pre-rename writing on it good. What do you like about it, and where would you like to take it?

2). What plans do you have for subsidiaries? While none of them occupy a spotlight right now, some in particular are more forgotten than others; Zeng-Hu's spring to mind, with the exception of Bishop, and Taipei Engineering has only really had love recently in the form of the Banshee suits. What springs to mind for subsidiaries, specially the least used ones?

3). Thoughts on Dominia. The recent rewrite has helped massively in gutting out honestly cringeworthy aspects of it, but from Pegasus and before the faction's writing has had a bad history, starting by a proposal literally phrased as 'Space Rome'. What is your opinion on it, and what core ideas should it express?

[Carpe Venenum]

11 hours ago, VVipEdout said:

Why Zavodskoi? Necropolis has been all over the place content-wise since its inception, and frankly I'd be hesitant to call any pre-rename writing on it good. What do you like about it, and where would you like to take it?

It has been over the place, and that's why I like Zavodskoi - it's a very solid rework that further consolidated its themes and made it more popular. Zavodskoi is currently underrepresented in human space, with its only major outlet really only being Dominia. It's also underrepresented on station, it and Einstein Engines the only megacorporation without a recognizable IPC brand except NanoTrasen (Idris has IRUs, they count for me). To me, this presents a clean slate (especially since Zavodskoi subsidiaries were for some reason purged from the wiki) which can really be taken anywhere. I'd like to give it some non-weapon-related subsidiaries: maybe a shady fast food chain (wink wink at that lore canonization), maybe a particularly edgy fashion brand, all according to my plans of fleshing out day-to-day life via corporation subsidiaries. Given that it's my favorite, I'd like to work on it first. Then Einstein.

11 hours ago, VVipEdout said:

What plans do you have for subsidiaries? While none of them occupy a spotlight right now, some in particular are more forgotten than others; Zeng-Hu's spring to mind, with the exception of Bishop, and Taipei Engineering has only really had love recently in the form of the Banshee suits. What springs to mind for subsidiaries, specially the least used ones?

Spoiler

1. Getmore is in a good place right now, but it would really help to give it its own wiki page. Low-priority, though.
2. I'd really love to give Ingi Usang a sleeve patch. I feel describing their relationship with Cytherea would be excellent for Cytherean work records and background in general.
3. Honestly, I'd like to give Bishop Cybernetics away to Einstein Engines, but it'd require some talking to the synth team. Einstein Engines are almost not represented in the robotics scene at all, but they should. Functionally, nothing would change anyway; Bishop IPCs don't have any qualities that give them an exclusively Zeng-Hu vibe. Thematically, the impact would be massive - we'd Einstein IPCs walking around, not just the Einstein article telling us they're into tech. 
4. I'd rename/redescribe lipsticks in the loadout to be from Jeonshi Beauty Company, and possibly have them branch out into plastic surgery, again giving background opportunities for Cytherean characters (Cytherean medical, anyone??)
5. We can't really show Nojosuru's products in vendors, since the vendor products are Getmorean. I'll see if we could stock their products at the bar and the kitchen, though. 
6. If I go with Elyra being corporate-influenced after all, I'd make Taipei (and Einstein Engines) have a big influence there, possibly aiding the construction of city-vehicles.
7. Terraneus Diagnostics has cool representation on Konyang, I feel it should just be reflected on the Einsein Engines page itself, and it's OK to go otherwise.

 

11 hours ago, VVipEdout said:

Thoughts on Dominia. The recent rewrite has helped massively in gutting out honestly cringeworthy aspects of it, but from Pegasus and before the faction's writing has had a bad history, starting by a proposal literally phrased as 'Space Rome'. What is your opinion on it, and what core ideas should it express?

 I feel that Dominia is currently alright. Dominian characters certainly bring some vibrance to the station. If I had to name core ideas/themes for them, these would be:

1. Unathi and human cultures mix to create...
2. ...a system where space peasants and space nobles don't look out of place, while remaining human...
3. ...all while maintaining a friendly exterior with a strong code of honor...
4. ...but being ruthless and exploitative in their politics.

All in all, it's a faction of flashy villains, my dude. I like them a lot, I think they're working well now that we have represented that the Unathi/human mix isn't really homonogeous and there are still people that oppose the new regime. A few clumps in the dough, if you will.

[Scheveningen]

+1. There are various reasons why I prefer this applicant over the others, and it primarily has to do with policy rather than friendship. I'm vehemently supportive of good ideas and those who promise to support good ideas. Developers who promise to uphold status quo are, in my opinion, not incredibly interesting and are probably worse than lore developers who have radical but potentially bad ideas. Still, the major point here is that we have a fair few of progress-minded developers applying with decent ideas this time around, but I think Ven is the one with the most interesting ideas.

I've been in a fair few of discussions of lore significance with Ven, as well as having read the above. I'm of the opinion that Ven seems to be the most underappreciated applicant so far and also the one with the most hidden potential.

[Faris]

On 04/08/2020 at 20:16, Carpe Venenum said:

Examples of Past Work: While away from the lore team, I helped Borya and Schwann write things such as Silversun (my idea almost start to finish, ask Borya about it), Konyang (also my idea, including the Glorsh parts) and the Empire of Dominia rewrite (the history of which I helped proofread & edit). I'm quite proud of them.

You've had more than this, can you make a simple list of what else you did before I throw in some questions?

[Carpe Venenum]

2 hours ago, Aboshedab said:

You've had more than this, can you make a simple list of what else you did before I throw in some questions?

I'll link the lore that I actively like and would like to be used as an example of my work. In no particular order:

Skrell: humor, families, military (contributor), economy

Venusian Illegal Surfacers

The human lore navbox

Guide to Citizenship

Scarab culture

New Gibson

Eridani Federation rewrite, Oran, Akhet

Mars rewrite, published by Borya

An unpublished rewrite of Phoenixport, collaborated on with Pan and with Unathi bits by Sleepy.

I think that's all.

Edited August 10, 2020 by Carpe Venenum

[Mofo1995]

Hello!

Thanks for your interest in the position, but I have decided to accept another applicant. Be sure to check out if any more applications open up in the future!