Herpetophilia's epic IPC application

[Herpetophilia]

BYOND Key: Herpetophilia

Character Names: Xu Qiuu, Krahmal Vodanov, Andreas Rudenberg, Suul Akhandi 

Species you are applying to play: IPC

What color do you plan on making your first alien character: Exempt

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 find the aesthetic of IPC's quite appealing, as well as the multiple possibilities that having an IPC whitelist opens up. Aside from being robots (robots are cool), playing an IPC puts you in a different mindset because of the different ways IPCs communicate and make decisions. I believe that by playing IPC, I not only will have a lot of fun, but I will also potentially learn to play other synthetic races like cyborgs or AI. This will help me become a better roleplayer all around. 

What makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: 

IPCs are completely mechanical and electrical in nature, thus their bodily processes are completely different from organics'. This gives IPCs multiple advantages and disadvantages, including but not limited to not feeling pain but being vulnerable to overheating after an extended period of labor. Their most notable differences however, come in the form of their mind. Instead of a normal organic brain, each IPC is controlled by a positronic brain. A posi-brain is an artificial device made in the image of an organic brain, giving IPCs the capability of learning and adapting, making them more effective workers. Although each posi-brain's starting capabilities may vary depending on complexity and price, each IPC will still learn from and adapt to its environment and co-workers over time. This may be bolstered or hindered by the environment or the IPC's co-workers, too. After enough time, an IPC may even start to form opinions on ideas and other individuals.

Even though some places in space treat IPC's with pretty much the same rights as an organic, i.e Biesel, most nations and planets will see IPCs as nothing more than machines and will actively try and prevent them from accumulating knowledge that might spark rebellion or too much self-awareness, stating that IPCs do not have any preset laws or regulations keeping them from going crazy. On the contrary, each IPC's primary directive at all time is to guarantee its own safety. This usually leads to IPCs correlating their job and/or ownership to their own safety, reasoning that being owned by a corporation and following its regulations guarantees their existence. However, if an IPC is allowed to properly grow and learn over time, it may eventually accumulate enough credits to buy its own freedom, allowing it to pursue other careers and potentially hobbies. 

Character Name: C-59 Oscar

Please provide a short backstory for this character:

Oscar was originally ordered by Heavy Duty Industries (HDI), from the Xion Manufacturing Group in late 2459, as a Xion frame. With its design, the frame was intended to be used as an engineering unit with focus on long-lasting EVA operations. After completion, the IPC was transferred over to HDI custody and was given its full designation, C-59 Oscar. Following a brief period of inactivity, Oscar was sent off on multiple "contracts" on select colonies and stations, primarily related to structural work and repairs, maintenance of various equipment and operation of several different engine types. Oscar would usually complete a 1 year contract before being relocated elsewhere for another one. 

Over the 4 years that it spent doing contractor work, it visited 4 different locations. While working at each one, Oscar was introduced to a different set of people, each with different quirks and traits. Oscar's interactions with these people demonstrated to him that some of its co-workers will treat it differently, and that if it was going to survive, it needed to learn to adapt to each new workplace that it came across. The year that had the biggest effect on Oscar, however, was 2462, during which Oscar was contracted by a somewhat large frontier mining colony. It was on this colony that Oscar met a group of maintenance technicians who treated Oscar like an actual part of the team, rather than a tool they could use to patch bulkheads faster. Accepted into their friend group, Oscar often found itself part of casual human conversation during which it gained knowledge of the world outside and started forming its first opinions. Some knowledge in particular that stood out to Oscar the most, was the existence of synthetics outside of company ownership, and of factions such as the Golden Deep and the Trinary Perfection. Since the only synthetics that Oscar has ever met were either company owned IPCs or cyborgs, its interest was piqued when it found out that synthetics can exist and support themselves without a corporation owning them. 

With 2423 just starting, much to the dismay of his new-found "friends", Oscar is once again being relocated to work for another company. This time however, it's going to be a bit different. Instead of the usual small-company mining station, Oscar is being contracted to work at a deep space research station owned by the legendary megacorporation, NanoTrasen. Approaching 5 years of service, which is the minimum time for an HDI-owned IPC to buy itself if it has made enough work credit. After some calculation and consultation with its friends, Oscar determined that after this year of working for NT, it will be able to buy itself and become a self-owned IPC. Faced with this possibility as well with its newfound interest in the outside world, Oscar is determined to do his best at his new workplace. 

What do you like about this character?:

What I like the most about Oscar is its budding curiosity in the world outside of company work and contracts. Being introduced to friendly co-workers on its last contract, Oscar is now not only interested to socialize with others, but also learn from them. 

How would you rate your role-playing ability?: 

6-8 depending on the time of day and my mood.

Notes: The company HDI and the way it works was originally thought up by SebkillerDK. He gave me his permission to write my character featuring his company. He's also an awesome dude.

 

Edited January 10, 2021 by Herpetophilia

[sebkillerDK]

alright, finally got around to finnishing it eh? 
i think personally that herp would do alright with playing an IPC, i've seen them play for a while know, and from what i've observed they have moved away from their tendencies to sometimes get a bit too goofy, their most recent character, their engineering apprentice i personally find enjoying to RP with when we've managed to play together in engineering. 

 

+1 from me

[niennab]

Hello, thank you for applying!

Since the answer is specific, which nations/planets are you referring to here? 

On 10/01/2021 at 19:25, Herpetophilia said:

most nations and planets will see IPCs as nothing more than machines and will actively try and prevent them from accumulating knowledge that might spark rebellion or too much self-awareness, stating that IPCs do not have any preset laws or regulations keeping them from going crazy.

I’m curious as well if you can expand on what you mean by IPCs are treated with almost the same rights as humans in Biesel?

[Herpetophilia2]

Okay, I have no idea what's happening with my forum account, because I apparently made the app from another one (that I didn't even know about)..? Anyways, this is the one I used before.  

As to answer your questions:

14 hours ago, niennab said:

Since the answer is specific, which nations/planets are you referring to here? 

I might've been a bit overzealous with the word "most". The nations I was referring to were Dominia and the Jargon Federation, and maybe even the Eridani Federation. Dominia has a deep hate for positronics and will destroy any they find, so living there as one is out of the question. The Jargon Federation heavily dislikes them for obvious reasons, and although it's still possible to get in there as a synthetic without being destroyed, it most likely won't be worth your time and effort considering all the checks and tests you'd have to go through. As for the Eridani Federation, IPCs aren't sought out and destroyed, but the ideas of IPC rights and freedom aren't that well known or accepted except in the lower parts of Eridani society, while everyone else pretty much treats them as servant machine workers.

14 hours ago, niennab said:

I’m curious as well if you can expand on what you mean by IPCs are treated with almost the same rights as humans in Biesel?

Although not the only nation, Biesel has laws in place that allow IPCs to achieve freedom by buying themselves. Even though obviously not as well off as in the Techno-Conglomerate or Elyra, free IPCs in Biesel are still protected by a registry, the law as well as the ability to find a job and support themselves, either with a megacorporation or somewhere in the slums of District 14. They can even join the TCFL to get benefits and citizenship, or align themselves with the Trinary Perfection. This still doesn't mean that IPCs are treated completely the same as organic citizens. Although provided with these rights, IPCs are still discriminated against on a daily basis, being subject to more severe punishments than their organic counterparts when breaking a law (i.e dismantlement instead of a minor prison sentence). Additionally, there is a different set of laws governing the damage of free positronics, like Automacide. These usually round up having punishments not as severe as those for harming an organic.

That should be all! If there's still something that doesn't make sense or I got wrong, please ask or tell me.

Edited January 13, 2021 by Herpetophilia2

[niennab]

Thank you for the clarifications. Your application demonstrates an understanding of IPCs, accepted.