Lmwevil becomes a ʎɹɹnɟ loyal party member

[Lmwevil]

BYOND Key: Lmwevil

Character Names: Miranda Astrava, Glimpse of The Perfect Matter, a billion others I can't be bothered listing right now.  

Species you are applying to play: Tajara

What color do you plan on making your first alien character: RGB 107, 68, 35 / Hex #6b4423

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

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: Honestly it has very little to do with the species itself, Tajara themselves are fairly uninteresting furry bait race. However I really fucking dig their culture, as well as the depth of their world building.  The fact that the lore has enough nuance that it's still hotly debated who would win the next war is evidence enough, as well as the fact that they are struggling with modernization in some areas. All in all: the species isn't that super rad, but the world building is good enough to look past it. TL;DR the world is cool.

Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: Mrrreow. You roll every goddamn R making it rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreally annoying to talk to. Onto the serious nature, the actual creative freedom with Tajara vs a human is inherently limited based on area, whatever breed you are and if you're looking for a romance arc. On a really serious note they have a pretty insular culture, with a ton of issues internally that you'd need to be aware of to actually properly roleplay interacting with the other factions. Also of course depending on your species you're going to have different inherent stuff, like Njarir being inbred. 

Character Name: Ayna Rashed

Please provide a short backstory for this character: An unfortunate victim of the second civil war, Ayna lost not only her home but most of her blood relatives to the Zhan who rebelled against the new status quo in the PRA post assassination. She wasn’t particularly versed in any skillset due to a lack of education, and thus did what she could to protect her family and doing her republican duties to keep providing for the war effort with manual labor.

At no point did she err from the party line, her work was for the betterment of all her people of course. Even when her siblings were drafted from their factory work, she was kept in her duties manufacturing armaments for her comrades. However halfway through the war, a stray shell from nearby combat crashed through her roof and lodged hard into the floor. The undetonated shell was left there for a day before she decided to pull it out, and struggled to get it out of building foundations. A mistake that will haunt her to this very day is that she got angry with the shell, and gave it a swift kick in anger that her home was now exposed to the elements and she couldn’t get it out alone.

This one kick ended her life as she knew it, her idiotic kick from lack of education regarding ordinance led to her losing both her legs and an arm immediately as well as breaking several bones. This rendered her utterly crippled and she barely survived her injuries, trapped in medical care until the war was won while her blood relatives were all hurt and died for the Republic. Unfortunately for her while her right arm had potential to be recovered, it developed a severe infection and was amputated during her recovery.

After the armistice by the grace of Hadii civilians were granted access to the Tesla technology, allowing her for the first time to be a productive member of society once again. Her love of the PRA for giving her a second chance at life is infinite, and she bears the scars of acting rashly for the rest of her days.

She was assigned to labour with NanoTrasen by the Party, and she gladly complied. This world is unusual to her, and her passion about the Republic is kept mildly restrained. She must always present a good image of the Party, regardless of her personal views.

During the P*oron crisis she did her manual labor and didn’t think much more on it, because the reality is this is foreign and her work is on the behalf of the Republic. She simply viewed it as a reason to work even harder, even if she had to work herself to death to dig up more P*oron. Her life was saved by Hadii’s grace, and she believes strongly that she has to repay that debt.

Exposure to homosexuality by xenos species was strange to her, and went contrary to her belief system. However the reality is that it isn’t her place to save them, in time they may find the truth in why the PRA believes what it does. She would be an active informant if she found loyal Republicans being xenophilic or homosexual however, as is her duty to watch within and without for dissidents. 

 

What do you like about this character? I like the idea of a real genuine reason someone’s touched by the PRA and how people can be radicalized by gestures of kindness in hard times. As well as the dangers of war and the fact that unexploded ordnance fucks people over to this very day, so it definitely would in the PRA. Growth from ignorance would be a potential for the character, however the reality is to actually get her devotion to waver about the PRA would be extremely difficult.

How would you rate your role-playing ability? 7.1 out of 10, but not enough water puns.

Notes:
I am not actually becoming a furry sorry 

 

[Caelphon]

Sorry, no liberals allowed!

Besides being a literal bogan, Lmwevil is clearly capable of roleplaying the Tajara species (along with its subspecies). They are both a good writer, and a good roleplayer. They will not dissapoint, and will very likely be able to further branch with this whitelist and create additional characters in which players would like to roleplay with. 

This application has my support. 

[MattAtlas]

You're describing a character who lost basically everything to the PRA (all their siblings, their entire home and all their limbs) but they're still a party shill. Why is this? Surely this feeling of absolute party loyalty can't come out of nowhere. While it is true that in the end the PRA was partly responsible for giving her her limbs back, your character is an ardent party supporter throughout the entire backstory.  There is no point at which she questions her loyalty to the party nor do you ever elaborate on why she's actually this loyal, which is a problem, as all character feelings should naturally be reconducible to something.

9 hours ago, Lmwevil said:

She would be an active informant if she found loyal Republicans being xenophilic or homosexual however, as is her duty to watch within and without for dissidents. 

Again, why is it her duty? This backstory puts forward a lot of concepts but never actually dwells on the why.

What does your character think about religion? This is another thing you haven't touched upon, despite religion being an important concept for nearly all Tajara.

Similarly, what does your character think about the rest of the factions?

[Lmwevil]

8 hours ago, MattAtlas said:

You're describing a character who lost basically everything to the PRA (all their siblings, their entire home and all their limbs) but they're still a party shill. Why is this? Surely this feeling of absolute party loyalty can't come out of nowhere. While it is true that in the end the PRA was partly responsible for giving her her limbs back, your character is an ardent party supporter throughout the entire backstory.  There is no point at which she questions her loyalty to the party nor do you ever elaborate on why she's actually this loyal, which is a problem, as all character feelings should naturally be reconducible to something.

Again, why is it her duty? This backstory puts forward a lot of concepts but never actually dwells on the why.

What does your character think about religion? This is another thing you haven't touched upon, despite religion being an important concept for nearly all Tajara.

Similarly, what does your character think about the rest of the factions?

Not quite, she sees her siblings, limbs and home not the fault of the PRA. After all the Republic didn't want this war, it was through radicals and the Zhans that wanted to destroy all that they had built by killing a great man. Hadii's violent response was justified in her eyes, and the fact that she was hurt because of radicals who couldn't see the good that the Republic was producing for everyone involved and making an equal society.

You forget that hatred is one of the most powerful motivators for people to become radicalized, and violence continues the cycle of hatred. When the first president was shot and the second war started, people were being hurt and it was all because of GREEDY business men and RADICAL Zhan. When you read her story you also notice she has enough anger in her to kick a shell and blow herself the fuck up, as par is for the course of people in wartime. Again she's also being fed party propaganda all through the civil war and at the time of being blown up, is receiving medical care because of the kindness of the Republic. A lot of my writing isn't explicit because I just don't feel like spelling it all out, but there's emotions and justifications for her being a radical. If my siblings were shot because of people who were greedy, people who couldn't see the good of what we were doing, people who wanted to destroy all that we had built. I'd be pretty pissed, and definitely would easily consume party propaganda. 

Why is it her duty to report it? Because if people start to sway from the party line again, if we lose our way the entire Republic is at risk. Thousands could die, the Republic could falter, or even worse another civil war. Every loyal citizen is part of the observation network, as is par for the course of this kind of totalitarian control. 

 

Honestly I left religion out because I was just letting it be an easy question, leaving holes so people can go 'yo what about this' etc. Ayna has no interest in faith post the loss of her limbs and siblings, and is part of the growing atheist movement in the PRA. However prior to being disenfranchised with 'how could divine beings let this happen to good people' she was an ardent believer in S'rand'marr of both suns, specifically though with her focus being on S'rendarr and life itself. Her current philosophy is that nothing with such power would let good people suffer, and that the only good that can be done for the people is by being good yourself in the material world. As the PRA gave her limbs, good actions by people in the material world, no gods involved. 

To answer the factions questions, she has unbridled hatred towards the DPRA as she sees them as the reason of all the wrong that can exist in the PRA, those who died in the second civil war and spitting on the faces of progress. She sees them as manipulated by greed and ignorance, and has absolutely no sympathy nor actual interpersonal interactions thus far other than her assumptions and consumption of Republican media. 

To what she knows of the NKA she thinks it's a failing system and feels more of a pity towards it, with an anger only towards the Njarir there as they continue the ways of the old world, and keep the people under them in horrible conditions. Those who are Njarir in the NKA deserve little more than the justice of the Republic, however those who are unfortunate enough to live in the unenlightened caste systems, educated and controlled with the chains of religion to keep them docile. 

[MattAtlas]

I don't feel like your responses are satisfactory. To keep it short, I don't think this application is up to par, and I have to give it a -1.

The character you described is essentially formless; in fact, from most of your backstory, it seems like you intentionally skipped the most important part of basically every Tajara's backstory (the war, specifically), you wrote a backstory that intentionally skipped the things that would tie them into Adhomai (religion, family), one of which you intentionally didn't elaborate on on an application for the species you're playing, when you very well know that religion is a core-concept of ANY Tajaran character. I'm inclined to believe, based on your answers, that the character you submitted is only an excuse to play a PRA drone rather than an actual Tajara. The inclusion of the last part of your application regarding homosexuality is honestly bizzarre too. I honestly don't get why you included something like that but not religion?

You wrote a character that lost everything to the PRA and has no ties whatsoever to Adhomai beyond a single good (one could argue not even good, honestly, but the bare minimum) act by the government and this was enough to radicalize your character into leaving Adhomai and being an unparalleled shill for said government with absolutely no remorse? While it's true that hate radicalizes you have given some really, really poor reasons. In fact, those reasons I would say are still insufficient.

I'm also of the opinion that you should know as a lore developer that your writing should be explicit in an application. You're exposing the character you want to play and showing your understanding of the lore; how are you supposed to do this when you intentionally hide story important details?

Edited March 1, 2021 by MattAtlas

[Lmwevil]

11 hours ago, MattAtlas said:

The character you described is essentially formless; in fact, from most of your backstory, it seems like you intentionally skipped the most important part of basically every Tajara's backstory (the war, specifically), you wrote a backstory that intentionally skipped the things that would tie them into Adhomai (religion, family), one of which you intentionally didn't elaborate on on an application for the species you're playing,

I think you inherently misunderstood why I left it out, when making an application it's to give some easy questions I already had plans to in response when they were asked. It's similar to how a graphic designer will make their design for a company with some intentional flaws in it so they can be pointed out and fixed, then it looks great. 

11 hours ago, MattAtlas said:

when you very well know that religion is a core-concept of ANY Tajaran character

The loss of faith from the horrors of wartime is well enough of a reason here, and if athiest taj aren't acceptable then they shouldn't exist on the wiki????

11 hours ago, MattAtlas said:

a PRA drone rather than an actual Tajara. The inclusion of the last part of your application regarding homosexuality is honestly bizzarre too. I honestly don't get why you included something like that but not religion?

when I said I hate the species I mean aesthetically, the world building and characterization are a different thing here. I'm sorry you think they're only a drone despite having obvious story and experience in the world around them, as well as the fact that I INTENTIONALLY NOTE they've had no actual interaction with DPRA members and thus have a total potential to be shifted? The homosexuality part if that touched on a wrong nerve is because that is exactly what good PRA citizens do? 

11 hours ago, MattAtlas said:

You wrote a character that lost everything to the PRA and has no ties whatsoever to Adhomai beyond a single good

I mentioned the loss of siblings, not all the blood relatives were explicitly said to be dead. Her parents are very much alive, being that her mother wouldn't be part of the war effort as a mother. If you'd like I can post their character sheets too? But then we're going into a degree of effort that most applicants wouldn't even have bothered with huh?

11 hours ago, MattAtlas said:

act by the government and this was enough to radicalize your character into leaving Adhomai and being an unparalleled shill for said government with absolutely no remorse?

remorse for what? Alright lemmie put it this way, radicalization is INSANELY easy in real life if violence begets violence my friend, if your family is hurt by the enemy and you are hurt by the enemy you're very likely to become radicalized. Look at literally every war ever, every invasion the USA has done, fucking israel as well. This is such an endemic part of the mind that you're talking out your ass if you think this isn't enough. Then add on to the fact that your government not only didn't start the war, but they also STOPPED YOU BEING DISABLED and that's a fucking good way to see your own government as the good guys. Your thoughts on radicalization are so far out of the realm of reality that I'm not even gonna bother at this point.

11 hours ago, MattAtlas said:

I'm also of the opinion that you should know as a lore developer that your writing should be explicit in an application. You're exposing the character you want to play and showing your understanding of the lore; how are you supposed to do this when you intentionally hide story important details?

Nothing was intentionally hidden, there's such a thing as implicit and explicit writing. Explicit writing is insanely lazy and I didn't feel like it, but you've decided to instead go AHHH AKTUALLY IT WAS INTENTIONAL OMISSION AND SECRET LORE? Having religion not part of it was so I could get an easy question I was already prepared for, not to omit it because I'm some shadowed cabal of lazy writing and secret 'gotcha' moments. 

[niennab]

You shouldn't be writing your application with the intention of baiting easy questions from the lore maintainer. In fact, I'd argue that an application should aim to be air tight and not get any questions at all. If an app needs questions asked, it means something is missing. Why aim for that, yknow?

[Lmwevil]

1 hour ago, niennab said:

You shouldn't be writing your application with the intention of baiting easy questions from the lore maintainer. In fact, I'd argue that an application should aim to be air tight and not get any questions at all. If an app needs questions asked, it means something is missing. Why aim for that, yknow?

I prefer it to be a dialog even if there are easy questions versus me giving a literal wall of text, it's a matter of preference and readability as well as respect of time. 

 

edit: if you have anything actually about the content of the app rather than the way I have presented it, I feel like that's much more relevant anyway 

Edited March 2, 2021 by Lmwevil
edit

[Alberyk]

I have some questions.

What is her family's background, what they did before they were all killed in the war?

How old is she? 

What job are you planning to play her as?

Out of the hadiist ideological schools of thought, which ones she identifies with the most? Why?

Outside of just working for the pra with NT, does she have any other ambitions or plan for this system?

[Lmwevil]

Her older brother Saddam Rashed was interested in medicine and was almost done with his studies to become a doctor in his early twenties at the start of the war, he had questions about Hadiism but was always told down by his parents, leading to sympathizing. He died during the fifth year of the war when he administered medical aid to the enemy and was executed for treason, although it was only reported to the family he died a loyal PRA member. 

Her younger sister Soha Rashed was in her early teens at the start of the war and was assisting in more practical matters before the war, learning the ways of the world and taking in the teachings of the Republic. She was a staunch Orthodox and thought that deviation was a big bad thing, leading to her fighting with the family frequently. During the war she faked her identity to help on the front lines despite her age, and as many who do such a dumb act, found herself untrained and unprepared for the horrors of war. She died and her family never was told anything other than that she was missing, due to a fake identity. 

Her father Murtadi Rashed entered the war as a factory worker, he was largely an unimpressive man and just wanted to make ends meet. He was a Totalist due to his belief that all of them should just do their duties, and that everything else was superfluous. He was a rough man and showed little affection for his family, and passed away due to a long standing alcoholism during the war.

Her mother Ghusoon Rashed mothered three children and spent much of her life focused on that, although she was scientifically minded she never felt the courage to truly act on it. She was deeply connected to the community and a very religious woman, leading to her often helping neighbors and the like. She spoke little of politics but would identify closest with Visionary for her particular viewset, and loved her family to an extreme. After she heard about Saddam's death and after Murtadi died, she killed herself in hope that she could unite with them. 

Ayna is in her early thirties at present day, the exact number wasn't really in my head because of dates mind fucking me but that's roughly where I imagined her to be timeframe wise. Late twenties at the least though, definitely needs to be around that area. 

She's going to be a shaft miner probably, namely because there's no menial construction labor task and I don't think she'd be an engineer. Fits best. 

She is a firm Totalist, believing that to prevent more loss in the world that all must be observed for signs of disloyalty to the Republic. Although she has a strong visionary aspect to her viewpoint, and does also think that all Tajara will benefit from forced augmentation into a new phase of the species. Her viewpoints being solidified by loss, trauma and anger. 

 

Currently her main ambition is to be paying off what she perceives as the debt she owes from her limbs, and hopes that she can make a good impression on those around her. Additionally one of her main goals would be to stifle active conflict between the NKA and DPRA outside of Adhoma as she views them as pawns, and try to enlighten them that they are just brainwashed. In short her goals are largely short term at the current time, and mostly just wants to be able to have a normal life at this point now that she's mobile.

[Alberyk]

Application accepted.