[Accepted]Boggle08's Unathi Application

[Boggle08]

BYOND Key: (Boggle08)
Character Names: 
Markos Rakt
Tankred
Horace Thratch
Norman

Species you are applying to play: Unathi
What color do you plan on making your first alien character: GREEN. Like a good forest green.
Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yes

Why do you wish to play this specific race:
    I find the setting for Unathi to be very interesting. I like the religious elements to their lore, as well as all of their concept of honor and various traditions. I was initially turned off to Unathi by the fact that their lore for the most part exists in a vacuum outside of the broader themes and narratives presented through much of human lore. However, after reading most of the wiki for this race, I feel like the information for Unathi is extremely optimized for interesting and fun character concepts. The Wasteland in particular is my favorite. I liked the lore so much here, I'm actually using to sell a Dionae application, which I will link in notes as supplementary material.

Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human:
    Displays of emotion and cultural/spiritual incentives are what make unathi different from humans. The internal monologue or psychology of unathi is not specified in-lore, and from what I have discerned from talking to the lore maintainers on the matter, the differences between them and humans in this regard is inconsequential. Therefore, cultural incentives and values sit at the forefront of an Unathi's mind: Tradition, honor, and religion. The Contact war also has a massive impact when it comes to unathi characters: any character realistically aboard the Aurora has to have been affected by the war due to the closeness of the dates.
    The unique expressiveness of Unathi is also a nice addition to the species. While it doesn't make them totally alien, it introduces that friction of incompatibility that is important when it comes to designing alien races.

Character Name: Grastorza Kathagamataz
Please provide a short backstory for this character

    Before the bombs fell, the Karkakahan Clan existed. It was a a proud clan of metallurgists, industrial craftsmen, and engineers. This clan foundry was situated in a bustling Izweski mill town, primarily Sk'akh, and several hours away from the closest major city by truck. Grastorza was hatched to this clan in 4630, the youngest of four brothers and three sisters. Despite being female, she was shown to have an aptitude for machinery. Her father, a man known for being more shrewd than traditional, allowed her to exercise and grow her talents in in secret alongside her womanly duties. Mechanisms and workshop quota began to flow out from the back of Father Karkakahan's workshop over time, inscribed with the letter G in addition to his usual mark. The rest of the village thought none the wiser, and the trucks that would come by to collect the village's product cared little so long as quotas were fulfilled.

    When the bombs fell in 4639, the closest city was struck, brightening the day and shaking the earth. Realizing what had happened, the mill town began to rapidly pack everything up and move before the fallout could truly affect them. The Karkakahan Clan took the initiative, organizing everyone and everything they could carry into a caravan of vehicles. Travelling from town to town, they added more vehicles, people, and resources to their growing convoy. Though Grastorza was little, she was given the responsibilities and expectations of a man, fixing tractors and trucks so that the caravan would move.

    Once the caravan numbered 50 strong, they did the only thing they could think to do: Move their caravan through the wastes, east in the direction of the Izweski Capital, Skalamar. Little did they know, they were travelling through dangerous regions. Those who would be later known as The Punished saw the Izweski banner at the front of the motor train, and set themselves upon it. The caravan repelled the attack, but at grievous cost: half of their own were dead, and they were down to 34 vehicles. Grastorza lost two brothers and a sister in the attack.
    When the convoy reached the walls of Skalamar, They were asked to camp outside. An official from the Hegemony government rushed out to meet them after a month of uneasy waiting, and informed them that the government had a new task for them: They were to go out into the wastes, and salvage as much as they could from the dilapidated settlements. The government would pay the convoy a stipend plus the worth of whatever they could bring back. Weary from their journey, the "council" of individuals heading the caravan insisted to stay, only for the official to inform them that they had no choice, and there was nowhere for them to go or work in Skalamar regardless.

With no alternatives besides dishonor, the convoy accepted a hefty initial payment from the Hegemony and lumbered to the city of To'ha'dat. There, they purchased provisions for their new task. Fuel, weapons, tools, parts, and plating. As a final act of conviction, all members of the convoy, once from different clans, renounced their old lineages and formed one new clan: Kathagamataz. This would be Grastorza's life for the next two decades. 

From here, Grastorza and her humble clan grew. After one decade, What was once a convoy of armored trucks and sorrowful Unathi had eventually grown into the ideal image of a Reclaimer Clan; replete with a landcrawler and a fleet of armored vehicles and trucks interred within it's bay. Grastorza grew with the clan, her technical expertise proving to be an immense asset to the crew. Concerned primarily with the internal operations of the crawler itself, only herself and four others truly understood the behemoth in it's entirety. Her conventional, womanly duties constantly fell to the wayside in order to meet the engineering demands of the clan.

Things continued to prosper for Clan Kathagamataz for five years, before their usual stomping grounds for salvage began to dwindle in supply. The crawler had to cut deeper and deeper into wastes, deeper into danger. After several bad runs and very little salvage to show for it, The Izweski Hegemony revoked their stipend, which was a sign that the clan's way of life was over. Seeing no other recourse, the clan rolled their crawler to the outskirts of To'ha'dat once more, and removed the engine from their crawler. Clan Kathagamataz, still holding together, would join the numerous other laborers working within the city. Some of Clan Kathagamataz joined the masses of unskilled labor, while the more technologically savvy sought out work from the guilds. Grastorza, however, found herself at odds with the social convention of the Izweski: Due to her common birth, no ties to the guild, and the fact that she was a woman seeking a profession deemed unsuitable for her sex, she was turned away from all engineering and machinist guild halls within To'ha'dat. With no other alternatives, Grastorza sought out Hephaestus. She accepted a contract, took a job placement test, and recieved training to become a station engineer. She would be taken off-world, to Tau Ceti.

What do you like about this character?
I felt like sticking to what I gravitate to when making this character, mostly in regards to her engineering-centric backstory and character concept. On-station, this one will be be optimized for speed running repairs and breach call-outs. Grastorza herself isn't necessarily disdainful of Unathi tradition as much as the backstory would imply, rather, found herself and her clan drifting away from it as a consequence of the contact war. She passively contradicts it, rather than opposes it. Confronting these ideas on station with the character is a good source of conflict and interaction, I feel.

How would you rate your role-playing ability?
8/10 on a good day

Notes: In my Dionae application, the backstory for it uses the same setting elements, concepts, and themes presented through Unathi lore. It's more focused on the spiritual aspect of it as well: 

 

[Haydizzle]

Very sorry for the late reply! I'm pretty awful about checking the forums consistently.

Normally I have a couple questions, partially fueled out of curiosity and sounding for the lore, but your concomitant application regarding diona scrubs the need to probe for your understanding of the lore.

I'll be talking to Shen about this, so expect an official decision sometime later in the day.

[Haydizzle]

On 09/11/2020 at 11:33, Boggle08 said:

How would you rate your role-playing ability?
8/10 on a good day

Also: mood.

[Haydizzle]

On 09/11/2020 at 11:33, Boggle08 said:

Species you are applying to play: Unathi

Thank you for your patience: your application is accepted! Good luck with the character on station.