Indy wishes to dream in digital (IPC app)

[Indiana Cooper]

BYOND Key: IndyCooper

Character Names:

-Katherine Marchaire

-Rosaline Saxton-Briggs

-Mackenzie Jenkins

-Alaina Quinn

-Constance Hall

-Sabah Mrakiizar

 

Species you are applying to play: Integrated Positronic Chassis

What color do you plan on making your first alien character: (exempted, apparently? Or n/a? Realistic skin tone shell, I guess.)

Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: I have!

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:

I held off on this one for a long time, even though it interested me to begin with, because I wasn't exactly sure how to go about creating a believable, lore-friendly character. With the Trinary Perfection now getting more play, and getting deeper into the lore section and thinking about it, however, I am too into it to not try. Specifically, the argument of sentience, the clash with historical tragedies, and the mysterious Frontier societies all intrigue the heck out of me. I've got lots of deeper concepts I want to play around with, but I think trying to stay calmly low-level for my first one is possibly even more intriguing, as the struggles of a working class IPC trying to buy its freedom in TC is a neat backdrop for all sorts of drama.

 

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

The first, most glaring difference is rights, or more accurately the lack of them. The legal system alone is geared almost completely against IPCs, from freedom to punishments for “crimes” against them. Social stigma against them as living, thinking entities is also a high difference. Humans are obviously given the benefit of the doubt, as even when their intelligence is so low as to frequently have life-threatening accidents, or they commit foul and unreasonable crimes, they are still regarded as people to be treated with respect. Where-as an IPC can, even if self-owned or free, even if careful and conscientious and having never done anything wrong, be scrapped at the whims of others with barely a blink from the authorities, assuming they aren't the ones who have ordered it in the first place. Then, of course, there are the physical differences: The lack of pain; the thinking patterns caused by the differences between organic and positronic brains; the relative ease (though not cheap) of replacing almost any part aside from the brain, and even the possible customisations of appearance what owners you might have can make, including a complete chassis overhaul (of course further moving the goal of buying your freedom out of reach). But perhaps more awesome to me is the complete shift of thinking from being an emotional, messy organic creature to something logical and calculating, more-so than any sociopath could manage, yet still capable of some small form of “empathy” in regards to maintaining its precarious position without being scrapped at almost a whim. The knife-edge of danger there is not present for any other species, as far as I can tell.

 

Character Name: Einstein TD Model E/D-437-CT custom, PSN-0054720/A; goes by the name Edie for convenience of organics.

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

Edie was brought online early in 2458 as a custom-chassis shell for a rich, retired minor executive. He ordered it specifically as a stand-in for an older sister/babysitter who had never existed as a way to help mellow out his two rowdy grandsons, as his daughter and her husband were often too busy to manage them and “hired help” was deemed too unreliable. To achieve this, its core programming was set for childcare, cleaning and other maid duties, and education. This arrangement went quite well, at least according to her purchaser. The parents of the boys were less-than-pleased, but tolerated the shell's presence as it had been beneficial from the start. However, early 2460 saw the elder boy develop an unhealthy obsession with Edie, and, on the advice of the family therapist, the shell was sold to a family friend at cost.

This family friend, one H. A. Schmidt, was somewhat sympathetic to IPC rights in general, though not going so far as being an activist. He did, however, encourage the unit to develop its own mannerisms, and also to read whatever it wished to explore in his vast private library. This arrangement suited them both quite well, but the relationship was to be cut tragically short, as he died on 19-12-2461 of heart failure. HE had not modified his will in regards to Edie, and as it turned out was rather in debt to the Tau Ceti government. As such, Edie was repossessed by NT. IT was decided through analysis that a wipe wasn't necessary, as the IPC was a perfectly serviceable service model, and it has been shipped around to various stations as a janitorial staff member since.

 

What do you like about this character?

For one, Edie's style is going to be firmly rooted in old Earth classical literature, which I think I've seen maybe one other example of before on the server in my time here?

Two, its quiet demeanor and servile attitude means I get to spend any free time, instead of dealing with organic relationships, philosophising about the meaning of things ICly, something none of my other characters really have a lot of luxury (or in some cases capacity) to do.

Three, I really like the idea that, while programmed to be "caring", there's a deep sort of divide between real organic affection and care and the Uncanny Valley type Edie provides and I wanna play that up as much as I can within reason.

 

How would you rate your role-playing ability?

Um. Well. I tend to be super critical. But I have played synthetics in a whole host of different settings and formats and I always like doing so. I think I could handle this. Maybe 7/10 in this case? Notes: I...don't really have anything to add until I get questioned, I guess?

 

[Zundy]

Indy is a solid roleplayer so I've no doubt they'll do well with this character. 

One question, what do you mean by rooted in old earth literature?

[Indiana Cooper]

Specifically, both in physical and mental style, Schimdt....didn't necessarily enforce, but encouraged the sort of style and mannerisms typically attached to the Victorian era, as he himself thought it was the peak of human social development. True or not, it left a serious impression on Edie, so its mannerisms, dressing style, and taste in literature and philosophy is all coloured by that influence above all others.

[niennab]

Thank you for applying! With Schmidt's passing and Edie's sale, does Edie still pursue literature? Does Edie have any personal opinions or resignations pertaining to Schmidt's death?

[Indiana Cooper]

Hi!

Edie does still pursue literature, though without access to Schmidt's library, it is incredibly difficult for it to actually find the books. While the extranet, of course, is a source, digital copies were regarded in the household as not real, so it prefers having physical copies of bound paper, which is of course expensive, both for procurement and  storage. This is most of the driving factor for Edie's continued pursuit of actual financial gain, much more so than personal freedom might be (though of course it's still in the back of the mind).

As for Schmidt's passing, Edie regrets that mortality took him, but the unit maintains a pragmatic approach. Organics die, sometimes. It's unfortunate, but not something she is programmed to stop in anyway aside from contacting emergency services and possibly applying bandages. Its personal opinion, following a bit of introspection, is that this is a natural process for organics and shouldn't be interrupted except in case of violence, which is not a natural end and should be avoided and repaired. It does, however, regard the death of an owner as a personal failing, and as a caretaker model, strives now to prevent health conditions  in any future owners that might lead to an untimely end.

[niennab]

Awesome, thank you for answering my questions. Your application demonstrates an understanding of IPCs as well as the ability to apply that knowledge to character creation. Accepted.