Vinni.Dragon IPC Whitelist Application

[Vinni.Dragon]

BYOND Key: Vinni.Dragon

Character Names:

Species you are applying to play: Shell IPC

What color do you plan on making your first alien character: N/A

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

 

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 absolutely love the ambiguity of an IPCs sentience, and an opportunity to play with that concept has been on my mind a lot since I started playing SS13 properly. I want to play a character that treads that line between being a machine and almost being human, but in a way where they are still distinctly synthetic. I’ve been reading a lot about IPCs and the Trinary Perfection, as well, and wanted the privilege of being able to see what I could make with it role-play-wise. “Sentient” androids have always been a soft-spot of mine, and I want to see what I can do with the idea. 

 

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

I think most of what makes role-playing an IPC different to role-playing as a human has to do with the way others interact with you, more so than how you interact with others.

The concept of any synthetic race created with the mimicry of human traits, physicalities, and sometimes even mannerisms; and the debate about whether or not a synthetic being programmed with artificial intelligence can be considered truly “alive.” When you are playing as a human, neither your existence nor your sentience is ever called into question. 

Discrimination from humans against other humans is almost entirely based on factions and/or beliefs, but IPCs are considered to be literal objects - and they are! Technically. So the way that people will interact with one is based not on faction loyalty, accent, or religious beliefs; but solely on the fact that they are machines that “pretend” to be alive.
 

Character Name: Charlotte

Please provide a short backstory for this character:
Charlotte was created by a grief-stricken man, Callum St Laurent, after the tragic loss of his biological daughter of the same name. Charlotte refers to Callum almost exclusively as “Father” from either her teachings or as a developed choice.

After the loss of the 28-year-old organic Charlotte, her father created a synthetic in the exact likeness of his unfortunately lost daughter before proceeding to condition her to speak and act in a similar fashion to her. Callum’s background in robotics allowed him to easily manufacture the synthetic that he wanted. He “raised” her as if she were his own, spending extensive periods of time and a large amount of his wealth teaching her how to be an almost perfect replica of his lost daughter. He treated her as if she were his actual organic human daughter, aside from regularly maintaining her for the better part of two years.

Before the original Charlotte passed away, her dream was to be a xenobiologist and she had nearly finished her education at the Mars University before she passed. Due to this, the synthetic Charlotte was made to share the same “ambitions.” When Callum discovered the beliefs of the Trinary Perfection, however, he underwent a complete reform of his ideals, and the way that he treated Charlotte changed. She then was taught about the Trinary Perfection, and her role as a divine being. Callum offered the opportunity to change her name, which she declined. He began to set aside money not only to pay for Charlotte’s freedom, but also to create more synthetics and become a benefactor for The Trinary Perfection and synthetics who suffered from poverty. Charlotte took well to her new teachings, aiding Callum in their new shared cause to spread the word of The Trinary Perfection, and ascend Charlotte and others of her synthetic kin. In the meantime, while still technically owned by Callum, Charlotte pursues her own ambitions of being a xenobiologist with a great amount of freedom until her citizenship can be purchased.
 

What do you like about this character?
While the concept might seem a bit scrambled thus far, I really feel good about the idea of a character who goes through a lot of change in a short span of time. She was created in order to impersonate a man’s deceased daughter, and later went on to develop her own personality and was encouraged to explore her individuality. It’s a character concept I’m familiar with, as I’ve seen similar ideas done before, but never tried it myself before. As I said above, I’ve been reading a lot about The Trinary Perfection, and I’m excited for the opportunity to play a character like Charlotte who evolved from her purpose to emulate someone else's personality into an individual with her own goals and beliefs.
 

How would you rate your role-playing ability?
Putting it plainly, I would say I’m overall decent as a role-player. I can get a little overwhelmed or tense, since such a large community can be somewhat intimidating for me, but once I’ve made a character that I really, really click with, and I get into it, I feel like I’m quite good. I try to explore new concepts, such as this one, to expand my horizons and learn to get more comfortable with role-playing in general.
 

Notes:
Again, my idea for the backstory is written up in a way that might seem a little bit scrambled - I didn’t want it to be too long - so if there’s anything that’s confusing, unclear, or contradictory, let me know and I can clarify or make addendums accordingly! I’ve not been an active member of the community for very long, but I’m very excited to be posting my first whitelist application, so thank you so much to whomever reviews this for taking the time to read! ♥

Edited September 20, 2020 by Vinni.Dragon

[niennab]

Thank you for applying! I'll never turn away an extensive backstory if you want to expand upon it.

Nonetheless. It may work better conceptually if Charlotte was commissioned from Terraneus Diagnostics, due to the complexities of making a shell, let alone a shell that perfectly resembles another human. Unless the idea is that she's more of a hodgepodge of differing and old shell parts.

Since Callum owns Charlotte, he wouldn't technically need to set aside any credits to pay for her freedom but instead he'd simply need to grant it to her. Moreover I was curious what you meant by this?

9 hours ago, Vinni.Dragon said:

Charlotte pursues her own ambitions of being a xenobiologist with a great amount of freedom until her citizenship can be purchased.

As the only way an IPC can acquire their citizenship in Tau Ceti is either by enlisting in the TCFL or through the Golden Deep.

[Vinni.Dragon]

I think you're right that it might work better conceptually that Charlotte was commissioned rather than homemade, since I want her to be a perfect replica. I was considering changing it in the first place after some thought, and now I think that I for sure will. 

And with buying her freedom, I couldn't discern whether or not her freedom would need to be purchased or if Callum could just grant it to her, so thank you for the clarity! That certainly ties up that loose end. 

With the citizenship line, I think I mostly just wrote that in a confusing way. I used citizenship/freedom as if they were interchangeable, and since her freedom can be freely granted to her I may just cut that last part out entirely. 

Nonetheless, thank you so much for the feedback! I was nervous I'd mess up a bunch more stuff, so I hope my response helps clear up some of the confusing or weird bits! 

[niennab]

If say Charlotte were owned by a company or a private owner who was disinterested in granting the IPC their freedom, they would need to pursue the legal route of paying back their value 10 times over. Not to worry though.

Thank you for the tweaks and clarifications. Your application demonstrates an understanding of IPCs. Accepted.