[Accepted]DeadLantern's Unathi Deputy Application: Part Three

[DeadLantern]

Ckey/BYOND Username: DeadLantern

Position Being Applied For: (Wiki Maintainer, Lore Developer, Deputy Lore developer): Unathi Lore Deputy

Have you read the Lore Team Rules and Regulations wiki page?

Yes.

Past Experiences/Knowledge: I have DM’d for a modified Mines of Phandelver campaign with my friends before, though nowadays I prefer playing rather than being a DM. I may start up a new campaign with Edge of the Empire, though!

Examples of Past Work:

Wrote Tajara Music Lore 

(https://wiki.aurorastation.org/index.php?title=Tajara#Music)

Wrote Tajara Sports and Games Lore 

(https://wiki.aurorastation.org/index.php?title=Tajara#Sports_and_Games)

Wrote Unathi Martial Arts Lore, though it is not canonized. From what has been told to me, it will be canonized, but I do not know what will actually be added or what will be removed.

(https://forums.aurorastation.org/topic/14907-unathi-traditional-combat-application/?tab=comments#comment-140871)

Additional Comments: Here is my new-fangled Wiki addition to Unathi, which is about Hegemony Politics and Society/Life (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AJa0elzXeiDCAjeyRdLKx_ZdV8PGpeRHjUYA_sWCm4M/edit?usp=sharing). I hope you enjoy it! I chose to write about this because Hegemony lore lacks any sort of nuance or further detail; there's almost nothing on how Hegemony politics are or how the average life is. It's all very barebones, an undeserving fate for such an important part of Unathi lore. Ideally, every player should understand how Hegemony society is and how that plays with the other powers in the universe. Without that shared understanding, the lore is splintered, and you can't really expand on anything before you get a foundation.

Anyway, some further stuff:

I think Unathi lore is in a disheveled place. I'm not going to waste your time and say my opinion on the subject, because Haydizzle said that he's going to do all the things that I want to do. A massive clean-up of the wiki pages, a reformat/rewrite of the Unathi Religion page, consolidating all the useful information, etc. Additionally, all the good stuff like Grim Compact reworks and whatnot are already in the works. All of this I agree with, so I'm not going to talk about them much. I think Unathi lore is split up into several different islands--Grim Compact, Honor, Wastelanders, Religion, Ouerea, Dominia, etc--they're not really cohesive. They're the products of making something cool without connecting it to the greater story. I think creating this cohesiveness will make for a better race and get better roleplay overall on station. I'm also interested in adding things that adequately represent Sinta culture--stuff like music, art, etc. While this may be seen as fluff to some people, I think it is necessary for making an interesting and different culture. Everything I do should further RP on station, and that would be my main goal at all times when writing for Unathi. 

Edit: Additionally, I think Unathi castes/roles should be well-defined. As of right now, males and females exist in this sort of limbo land, where nothing has changed, but they're still unoppressed? I subscribe to the belief of "separate but equal", but I think that we should identify what things a woman should/could be and what things a man should/could be. An entire page dedicated to the castes and the social norms of Unathi society would benefit this community, as the topic of Unathi sexism is controversial.

As to why I want to write for Unathi... Well, I enjoy writing. I also enjoy Unathi. Considering these two facts, I think I would have to be a fool to not apply. I've tried my hardest, and I've thrown out my chance, so judge it fiercely. Regardless of the outcome, I won't stop writing or playing. As always, I'm open to DMs at DeadLantern#5679 if you have any questions or want to talk.

I'm a bit late, but happy holidays! Thanks for reading.

Edited December 28, 2020 by DeadLantern

[Alberyk]

I like the lore piece you wrote about it, but I think it is missing a bit in regards to religion in the hegemony. Could you expand a bit on it? One paragraph is enough.

Despite that, I support this application and I think you are a capable writer.

[DeadLantern]

Thanks for the feedback!

You're completely right, I forgot about religion. That's pretty major, so thanks for reminding me. I would probably put this paragraph in the "Life in the Hegemony" part:

"Even since the First Hegemony, the Hegemony has always had Th'akh and Sk'akh, the two religious pillars of their dear country (even if Sk'akh is outnumbered). The Hegemony has always been seen as the temporal lord of all of Th'akhdom and Sk'akhdom--not as a pontiff, but as a representation of the spiritual populace. Interreligious marriage has always been common, so there exists little animosity between the two religions; this collapsed after the Contact War and the establishment of the Sk'akh Church.

Though the Iron Masks and Unzi's powers are faded, religious tensions are quite high. Most noble families converted to Sk'akh to curry favor with the church, but the converts have reconverted back to their Th'akh ancestral roots. While Th'akh lords may be lying in wait, the destruction of the Akhanzi Order has not been lost on them; many are prepared if Sk'akh lords eat up their lands under the guise of a religious crusade. Similarly, Sk'akh lords are fearful of Th'akh retribution for the sins of the Church. Additionally, while the dissenting Aut'akh find their stock in the Wasteland or with the criminals of the Hegemony, making for easy policing, the Si'akh heathens are a much harder foe to grapple with. Some Lords did convert to Juzida's religion to mirror S'kresti's affinity for the faith, all have quietly converted back--the same can not be said for the small selection of urban and rural peasants who have sworn themselves to Si'akh. The current Hegemonic stance on the Si'akh faithful is one of mistrust, as compared to outright hostility when the Church was around. It is unclear how the Hegemony plans to deal with the overconfident Si'akh, but most lords are content to let them be in their current benign form."

 

[Caelphon]

You helped me back when I first applied for Unathi, you're understanding of Unathi back then was exceptional and I heavily doubt you've lost that understanding in these few months. You have a way with writing, which I think most people can agree with (its very good!). 

 

I do have one concern. When you first contacted me after I applied for Unathi, had I not DM'd you and had a pretty awesome discussion, you'd seem to come off as standoffish to me. Do you believe you routinely do this, and if so how do you plan to remedy it if you are elected by Haydizzle? 

Edited January 4, 2021 by Caelphon

[DeadLantern]

Thanks for the feedback!

When it comes to forum posting, it's done in a correspondence sort of way. It's not real time, like in discord. I can't bounce off my ideas on you or show my process which humanizes the criticism. For whitelist apps especially, all you can do is state your case and identify the problems. You can't really help out the person when it comes to developing new ideas or restructuring the application. You can identify through the form, but you can't work with the user.

That is probably why I appeared, or was standoffish--I don't want to be like that towards people, but there is not much I can do. It is certainly true that it feels a lot more personal in DMs due to the reasons I listed before. I can't do anything on the forum but list the facts and maybe suggest some things.

That's why my DMs are always open. Since most communication happens over discord, I don't think that will be a huge problem. It is good that you brought it up, though--I'l try to be better when criticizing on the forums.

Once again, thanks for commenting.

[Caelphon]

This application has my support! 

[Haydizzle]

Hello. Thank you for taking the time to apply!

The questions I will be asking are to gauge your strengths and weaknesses, as well as availability and capacity to write. There are no right or wrong answers, as a reminder! These first three can be as brief as you want, a sentence or two is fine unless you have a lot to say.

Spoiler

1. How comfortable are you with researching a topic you do not know? For example, if I asked you to write about unathite aquaponics for various locations (Moghes, Ouerea, Dominia, Biesel), would this be something you could accomplish?

2. How comfortable are you with writing for a prompt that doesn't interest you (using the above example, assuming this isn't a fascinating topic for you)?

3. Are you normally able to check Discord at least once every two or three days to reply to messages? Excluding emergencies and notified breaks; this is a hobby after all, and I'm not a slave driver!

 

Okay, job recruiter-like questions aside, these new few are what interest me the most.

Spoiler

4. What do you think is the biggest obstacle you will have to overcome if you become staff? Can be related to writing, knowing the community, capacity to work on a team, etc.

5. You mention a lot of topics that I either outlined before on my own application or stated on the Discord. For example, the Religion and main pages are already undergoing some preparations for major changes. If you were to become staff right now, what would you want to work on adding to the lore?

6. To steal one from Coalf: how do you handle rejection? While this question is a little less important since Coalf's context is a bit more meaningful, I have noticed our ideas and directions for unathi lore do not always intersect—and while I do not mind having someone on the team with differing opinions as me, since I am in the senior role, this could mean a handful of ideas and thoughts see no development.

7. Unathi lore, in many ways, touches on each species (humans have Ouerea and Dominia; skrell have Ouerea as well; tajara with Gakal'zaal; K'laxan vaurca are tied to the Hegemony; diona are helping with terraforming and can be used as prosthetics in some cases; synthetics with their hated status, though something to tie them with Aut'akh will come soonish). Anyway, my last question pertains to this, I promise: do you feel capable of writing lore that impacts more than unathi players?

 

Also, one last thing to clarify:

On 27/12/2020 at 19:39, DeadLantern said:

Wrote Unathi Martial Arts Lore, though it is not canonized. From what has been told to me, it will be canonized, but I do not know what will actually be added or what will be removed.

I myself am interested in adding it as I think it is a good foundation. However, there were concerns brought forward with the application, so I do not intend on accepting/denying it until those are worked out between lore staff, or with yourself. TLDR; I like it, need to talk it out with other staff.

Edited January 6, 2021 by Haydizzle
Whoops

[DeadLantern]

1. I am used to researching and I'm fine with it. It doesn't really matter if I'm interested in the subject or not. It is not difficult to read a wikipedia page and some articles--I just need enough understanding to be able to creatively elaborate off of it.

2. There are not many topics that actually bore me when it comes to creating a lore about an alien species. There are some things that tend to become boring (linguistics and languages quickly become esoteric or inexplicable), but that does not mean actually writing about that is boring. However, I am human, and some things naturally bore me to sleep. When it comes to writing, though, I usually can get through it because writing itself is a creative endeavor. Sure, I'm writing about the rock cycle on Moghes or something, but because I'm actually writing it, and I'm using my own voice--it becomes stimulating. Once, Coalf asked me to write a short story about a Skrell visiting Moghes who gets pranked. That topic itself doesn't interest me, but I was able to get it done quickly because I could still write about it--whether it's about nuclear war or clan marriage, writing is writing. So, in short, I'm comfortable with writing about anything because I typically enjoy the act of writing, irrespective of the actual thing I'm writing about.

3. Yes.

4. I am unused to writing lore with multiple people, or writing lore for a community. Typically, all of my stuff is worked on by me and me alone, barring some criticism I may receive from others. Even if I was submitting my work to a large community, it was always me working on it--here, it'll obviously be different. I'll have to learn to write with multiple people, and I have no clue if I'm good with that or not. I am sure I can adapt, though. And, despite me being here for three years or something (on-and-off), I've contributed little to the lore, which is partly why I want to get involved starting now. So, I think the hardest thing to overcome will be actually writing with the team and writing for Aurora. 

5. There's a lot of stuff I would love to write about. I would love to write about the Traditionalist kingdoms that have survived in the Wasteland (or perhaps some that have been vassalized by the Hegemony). I would love to restructure religious lore. As I've written about in my application, I think Hegemony lore has to be centralized and defined--I also have a lot of ideas about a Grim Compact rewrite. Regions on Moghes, especially in the Wasteland--that would be super cool! The list goes on... The point is, I would be ready to write about nearly anything; the only matter is picking what to write about. I would love to work on anything.

6. I like rejection. I also like acceptance. When they're both done correctly, they're equally as useful. If I simply shoot some ideas and they get rejected, I won't really get affected. If I write a huge thing and the entire thing has to be torn down, as long as it's thoroughly criticized and picked apart, it's good. What I have a hard time dealing with is my work to be unacknowledged or disregarded. Like I said before, ideas are ideas, and they can be shot down without tears, but if I take the time to put my heart into something, and it just gets ignored--I really wouldn't know what to do. Do I try again? Do I write more? Where do I go from here? A fair and honest rejection is excellent, but a universal "shrug and forget" is significantly worse for me. That's just who I am, and I doubt that is ever going to change. I don't think it'll ever come to that, though--ideas are usually processed and accepted before you start to write about them, so a good response (rejection or otherwise) is practically guaranteed. 

7.  I do think I'm capable with writing stuff that affects things beyond Unathi. I think my strengths lie in recognizing what works thematically for the lore and expanding it for maximum roleplay potential. Working with things that are thematically cohesive jive well with me--I think the K'laxan and Dionae are well-suited in that regard. When it comes to radically different cultures and species interacting, it's very important to have the lore act as one unit, and not have one side be totally like this and the other side be totally like that. You can't just have Unathi being Unathi and humans being humans on the same planet (like on Ouerea or Dominia)--you have to have them clash and mix and reject and accept and live. The same goes for warfare, trade, deals, alliances, etc. Ideally, the lore that comes forth should be unique because of the base materials, the lore that you have to work with. I think when you're writing lore that encompasses multiple cultures and races, it is a necessity that you have all sides of the lore affected, else it's not doing its job. So, yes, I think I'm capable, and I'm also willing.

Edited January 6, 2021 by DeadLantern

[Haydizzle]

Hello! The end of the month has come. Your work in the document is solid and you have proven not only a good understanding of the lore, but also shown community involvement which I find important. Concerns with the applicant were talked about in DMs.

Otherwise, this application is accepted. I look forward to working with you!