[Accepted] Shenaaniganzzz wants to *chitter

[Shenaanigans]

BYOND Key: Shenaanigans.
Character Names: https://i.imgur.com/AkoQRkh.png
Species you are applying to play: Vaurca.
What color do you plan on making your first alien character: Light green. A liiittle bit more pastel than the color for Leto'yahkt'zor's unbound. 
Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yes!

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'm most interested in Vaurca because I feel that they accomplish that middle ground of being a truly alien species-- with biology, culture, and lifestyles that are radically different from humans --without doing so severely enough to be impossible to play as an actual person. Vaurca are weird and freaky in a super unique way and that brings a challenge in portraying one that I'm interested in trying to do faithfully. I love the expansive lore on their biology, hive structures, and varied lesser Queens who all seem to have their own agendas and methods of rule, setting them apart from being just one cohesive hivemind, so I'd just really like to make a character within it. Bug people good.

Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: As I just mentioned, Vaurca are extremely alien in comparison to your average, baseline human and this applies to pretty much every aspect of their existence. They're a much more collaboratively focused species with an ability to literally imagine progeny into being to fit specific roles, which can then be further specialized through the use of implants and gene therapies to make the bound who are basically tools made flesh. Their idea of what makes a fulfilling life is almost always going to be "anything that benefits the Hive", making for a significantly different outlook on the world, and despite this comparatively simpler attitude their species' history is the most long lived and mysterious in the lore. Cast far off from their Homeworld in previously unknown space, forced to scrape together a fraction of their former glory among the other races that generally look down upon and exploit them. Their lives, struggles, and ways of thinking are guaranteed to be entirely different than what you would expect from a human, or any other race at all.

Character Name: Za'Akaix'Trix K'lax
Please provide a short backstory for this character:
Born outside of the lineage of any of the K'laxan Lesser Queens in the year 2457, Za'Akaix'Trix K'lax was conceptualized within her egg into becoming a Warrior for her Hive. Being Queenless and not of the more versatile Worker caste, she and many others like her were sent off of Tret after she completed her year long process of physical maturation and training within the sliver of VR space the Queenless were afforded to serve as combat ready labor within the Wasteland of Moghes. She was assigned to one of the titanic landcrawlers that navigated the radiation scorched desert, a guard for the guards accompanying traveling nobles, and spent many months closed within the vehicle as its treads carried the small group within across the Wastes. She was mostly ignored as a looming, alien fixture during her time there-- tolerated as a useful force to have against any raiders, but not exactly embraced --and any credits she collected as her share for the jobs were, naturally, routed directly back to the Hiveship.
The monotony of constant travel across the Wasteland was broken when, on one escort mission, things went south. The group of raiders that set upon them was larger and better equipped that any before and they battered the landcrawler, dealing heavy damage to its hull and gravelly wounding a few of the Uanthi who were brave enough to stick a head or arm out to return fire. They managed to hold out long enough for the raiders to give up and retreat, deeming the vehicle too difficult a nut to crack, but by then the damage was already done and they would have to go to a larger settlement for aid. Nearest and most promising was the home of the Dorviza, who took in, healed, and nursed the group back to full health. Once this was done, it was decided by the landcrawler's Unathi leadership that they wished to stay with the Wastelander Clan, rather than returning to the dangerous life of armed escorts, which left Trix in somewhat of a pickle. Gone was her task of helping the group with their jobs, leaving her stranded deep in the Wastes and cut off from the rest of the Hive.
So, with little other option, the Za decided she would remain and carve out a place with the Clan until she could find an opportunity for transport to proper civilization and get back in contact with the rest of the K'lax to be reassigned. The position of guard against incursions from raiders was always available, especially among a Clan of primarily healers and botanists, but actual skirmishes were rare as only the most fiendish were apt to attack medics. In the interim, she had little to do-- besides try to learn and adapt. The Dorviza had been understandably wary of her presence at first, as a horribly tall insect bred for battle, but gradually they warmed to her more than the landcrawler crew ever had and sought to drag her into other tasks. Tilling land, spreading seeds, harvesting crops; then later patching wounds and applying the medicinal herbs that the Clan grew. It was... quite the disconnect from her predestined purpose, but life in the Wastes was about earning your keep and pitching in in any way that you were able to so, as an unbound, she adapted. 
Strictly speaking, there may have been opportunities scattered over Trix's time with the Dorviza that she could have bartered for a place on a visiting vehicle and left, but she found that she didn't want to. Or could come up with justification to stay and continue to diversify her skills instead. Eventually, though, there came a day when a family of Unathi she had grown close to decided they would be departing for the Untouched Lands with the end goal of leaving Moghes entirely, seeking better opportunities off-world. She was compelled to come along and protect them on the trip, ensuring that the group arrived unharmed and could board a shuttle as they had wished to, which finally brought her back to a place where she could get into contact with the rest of the Hive.
After traveling back to Tret, Trix discovered that the need for Za in actual, combat related positions had gone down significantly in the years since she had been away and meant that she would likely be reassigned to some menial labor type position with her current skillset. Rejecting this option, she instead decided to re-enter VR for a course of new training: expanding her knowledge of medicine. She built up knowledge on the foundation of what she'd learned among the Dorviza-- making a point of gaining the knowledge she would need to treat xeno species, not just other Vaurca --and after a few more months was prepared to serve her Hive as a medical practitioner despite the disconnect such a thing had with her Warrior roots. Trix fell in with a group of others from her Hive that were to be shipped out to Tau Ceti for work there, to gather credits and bolster the wealth of the K'lax, and found employment with NanoTrasen in a Residency level position. As you might expect, this brought her to where she now works aboard the NSS Aurora.

What do you like about this character?: The central idea behind Trix was, put most plainly, to have a physically intimidating character in a very passive, un-combat focused role for the dissonance that would create. Honestly I just thought it would be fun to play and garner reactions with. I've grown more fond of Trix's character concept through writing her backstory, though, and couldn't resist tying it in with the Mi'kuetz lore as I'm a huge fan of all of the Wasteland wiki page. This way I can flex my Unathi deputy brain while also using it to build up what I (at least hope) is a well thought out character.

How would you rate your role-playing ability?: Uhhh I think for my last WL application I put an 8/10? And that's about fair. I think I have a knack for coming up with interesting character concepts and getting into their headspace so I can truly separate their personalities from my own and, as the months go by, my comfort level with SS13 as a RP platform only grows.

Notes: If it wasn't already clear she'll be working as a Medical Resident. I'm not yet sure if I'll even pursue an Avowal to make her a Physician, since the idea of a perma-Resident who takes more of an assistance role within the department is pretty appealing. Hyezz.

[StationCrab]

Excellent roleplayer. +1

Looking forward to interacting with Trix.

[Hepatica]

+1, Shen has always done a great job with xeno characters, their RP is great and they are a wonderful person. I'm sure they'd do great with a vaurca whitelist

[Randy]

+1 Ive had some rp them and they seem to play a character and not a role. I can respect that

[Roostercat]

Sorry, but Trix are for kids. Denied

In all seriousness, I have quite literally never had a problem with Shen OOCly, as they are an amazing person, writer, and roleplayer. I am very confident in her ability to play a character, even though a medical Za makes me a little skeptical. The backstory is definitely one of the more fleshed out ones I have witnessed of late, and stands out in a few areas, which is very nice considering that is one of the hardest parts for a Vaurca character in the works. 

That said, I have questions.
1) What does Trix think of the Mi'kuetz? Being a K'lax in the wastes, they likely know what they are. 

2) How does Trix view the hegemony?

3) How do you plan on showing how a Za is not typically meant for a healer's role?

[Shenaanigans]

6 hours ago, Roostercat said:

That said, I have questions.

AUGH-- but also in seriousness, thank you for the compliments! I have a, uh, slight tendency to ramble in my character backstories so I'm glad it came off as well fleshed out.

1) I'd like to think that she ran across them once or twice during her time with the landcrawler and feels a kinship with them, being Queenless and braving the Wastes as she had been for those months. She prides herself on being adaptable and serving the Hive, even while being at a distance, so their ability to eke out an existence despite the harsh circumstances is something she respects.
2) With mixed emotions. The Hegemony allowing the K'lax to settle Tret and find employment on Moghes was very helpful to her kin coming off of the 2000 year journey through space and so she is grateful for that, but they are vassalized and so it's very obvious that there's a pecking order going on with the Hegemony lording over the Hive, which breeds a little bit of resentment, as well. She sees serving them as a necessary evil, but not a permanent one. She has a general fondness for Unathi, too, because of her time with the Dorviza.
3) My initial ideas mostly revolved around her presence being an odd thing to have in a medical bay. Her towering size, her more synthesized sounding voice, the sort of intense quality to her focus-- things that definitely don't scream "gentle, healing aura". I also planned to have her fine dexterity be limited enough that she cannot do surgeries, even with supervision, and finds it a bit hard to work with pills.

[Roostercat]

Well, the answers to the questions satisfy me enough. I support the app.

[JamOfBoy]

tfw deputy approves so you have to approve the app

But in all seriousness, I know you RP goodly, and I know you're shensible enough not to misuse the whitelist. Medical Za aren't entirely unheard of, either! The blanket for Za covers any vaurca that works on or for or with weapons - and other vaurca can fall under the category of weapons, too! It's not unreasonable.

So, with all that said, application accepted. I hope you have fun.