Burrito is gonna beep - IPC Whitelist

[Burrito Justice]

BYOND Key: Burrito Justice (burritojustice)
Character Names: Jayda Wilson, Anna Hashemi, Ayla Hawker, Alice Hoang (dang I got a lotta names that start with A)
Species you are applying to play: IPC
Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: As many as I could.

Why do you wish to play this specific race:
I've always thought robots and the concept of artificial intelligence (with varying levels of the aforementioned intelligence) was cool and think that, despite many perceiving it as just "metal human that talks funny", there's plenty of room to spin unique gimmicks that I don't think can be satisfactorily accomplished with other species, or at least humans. The current lore implemented for them and the aesthetic that they possess is appealing to me; I think all of the types of chassis mentioned are cool as heck, and their backgrounds provide better groundwork for creating a character. I feel that the potential for apparent character growth is greater for IPCs, or at least easier to witness, given the lore outlined on how a positronic can learn.

Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human:
Though all IPCs are humanoid and mimic human behavior, there are many areas that separate an artificial life from a human one. Humans feel, IPCs might not: it's certainly left in the air about whether or not an IPC can truly feel anything later in life, but when it comes down to it, an IPC could care less about emotions, the feelings of others, or even consequences that don't involve itself as long as it can deduce that it is safe from harm. What also differentiates humans from IPCs is that IPCs are purpose-built to be mobile, autonomous tools: they are programmed and released into an occupation and they are expected to work in that occupation - if they don't, they get recycled, or in the case of being a free IPC, will suffer rather obvious consequences for seeking work that they don't know anything about, if they even get that far. A human, while obviously not ready to work right off of the press, more or less has a choice in what field of work they desire to learn and operate in. The last example I'll give is that machines are somewhat unanimously given little to no rights on the basis that they are not viewed as sentient: IPCs are sapient, and they are capable of solving problems, holding a conversation, and even simulating emotions later in life whilst they function in society, behaving like a human would. Sadly for them, this does not change the fact that they are only seen as over-glorified tools by most of the Orion Spur's inhabitants (unless you're from Dominia or are Skrell, then they're Space Satan), with the exception of the Republic of Biesel, which has seen greater-than-average attempts at granting IPCs rights within their space.

Character Name: Xanadu
Please provide a short backstory for this character:

Xanadu is a Hephaestus G1 industrial frame belonging to the Killswitch team of the Asoral Racing Network. Before their time in the racing league, they were tasked with operating aircraft on the planet of Crosk to transport raw mining material from dig sites to refineries over long distances. This was easily accomplished with a VTOL tiltrotor, capable of vertical takeoff and high speeds afforded by the plane-like design. Xanadu's statistical lack of accidents earned them an offer from Killswitch to race for them, which Xanadu gladly accepted, being bought from the previous transportation company and transferring ownership to the racing team. Xanadu's training in orbital racing went off without a hitch, and they were inducted into the team without much to note. Other than that their skills were about average of what one could expect of a new member of the team.

Perhaps the strangest thing, however, is that immediately after Xanadu's transition from practice to career racing, they have consistently earned a DNF on the leaderboards as a result of wrecking their spacecraft in inexplicable and outright bizarre ways, with only a handful of finishes towards the bottom-most positions, and even then, with their craft in terrible disrepair. The odd part is that most of these crashes have rarely been attributed to user error; lady luck simply does not shine favorably on the poor G1. One would think that after three back-to-back wrecks while racing they would be sold off of the team, but as it turns out, the comedic and entertaining nature of Xanadu's crashes have actually attracted a cult following that tune in specifically to watch them wreck. This period of unique crashes and wrecks suffered a brief intermission where Xanadu would attempt to crash on purpose, but would instead come out completely fine, in an average leaderboard position, thinning out their fans until the G1 went back to unintentionally crashing. Understandably, every craft they pilot is christened with a name related to bad luck.

What do you like about this character?
The thing I like most is that their backstory is silly, and is by and large a character flaw, which is not something I usually put much thought into. I think playing a character that is both in a somewhat revered position while also being basically trapped at the bottom rung of that position - at least in this context - is fun, especially with an IPC who's whole response to their own situation is "Darn." I also think their sturdy qualities as an industrial frame make them a good fit for this particular character quirk.

How would you rate your role-playing ability?
Sub-par, in my opinion, at least on Aurora. I've found that I haven't really been roleplaying as much as I could, and end up just opting to respond via speech rather than taking the opportunity to provide a greater response through words and actions. I imagine playing something slow like an industrial frame will perhaps change this, but I also don't exactly plan to play Xanadu on station - they have no reason to visit the Aurora anyway.

Notes:
im monky

Edited August 13, 2020 by Burrito Justice
heck dang formatting

[niennab]

3 hours ago, Burrito Justice said:

I also don't exactly plan to play Xanadu on station - they have no reason to visit the Aurora anyway.

Are you able to change this or write a different character concept? Although perhaps not required, I'd prefer the applications to pertain to believable characters that could be seen on station, as it also helps demonstrate an ability to take the core concepts of a race and apply it to the setting we most see.

How would Xanandu navigate self preservation, or knowing that they would survive, in an intentional crash?

[Burrito Justice]

2 hours ago, niennab said:

Are you able to change this or write a different character concept? Although perhaps not required, I'd prefer the applications to pertain to believable characters that could be seen on station, as it also helps demonstrate an ability to take the core concepts of a race and apply it to the setting we most see.

Though I don't plan to play them in their current state, I don't believe they're a character that couldn't exist on the Aurora. They could, for instance, pay a visit to one of Nanotrasen's finest research stations in Tau Ceti for some PR and maybe sign some autographs. Who knows, maybe they hand out scraps of wreckage from their own craft to fans. Beyond visiting, however, I don't think finding a job on the Aurora that matches the pay of racing would be believable.

If you strictly wish for a character that works on the Aurora daily, then perhaps they retired their racing career. Exploding on the race track all the time is fun to watch, but up until Xanadu's retirement it had probably become old hat, thus they were sold off to Hephaestus to contract out for supply work/mining, and happened to be thrown onto the Aurora, where they can safely recount the tales of their racing infamy and never be allowed anywhere near the controls to a vehicle ever again.

If this still isn't what you're looking for then I'll draft up a character that is strictly a station character with a not-so-fame-and-fortune origin.

2 hours ago, niennab said:

How would Xanandu navigate self preservation, or knowing that they would survive, in an intentional crash?

Self preservation is indeed an IPC's top priority, and that fact may have escaped me when I wrote Xanadu. Regardless, Asoral racing is known to be white knuckle dangerous and borderline lethal, especially in the orbital league populated exclusively by IPCs, circumvented only partially by the safety measures installed on the racer's craft, which are renowned to be very good at what they're designed to do. Given that some of the danger ranges from dense asteroid fields to straight up laser cannons firing at racers, crashing intentionally is probably leagues safer than encountering any of the obstacles on a race track. I'd argue that Xanadu's faith in these safety systems aren't misplaced.

Edited August 14, 2020 by Burrito Justice
should probably clarify that part

[niennab]

Thank you for the additions/clarifications. Your application demonstrates an understanding of IPCs. Accepted.