[Accepted]Lorilili's Dionae Whitelist Application

[limette]

BYOND Key: Lorilili

Character Names: Simon Kistler

Species you are applying to play: Dionae

Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: To be honest, I hadn’t read all of it before writing this. Just the parts on mind forms and clusters. At this point, however, I have read all of it and to be honest I’m even more hooked - though parts seem reliant on Skrell, Unathi, Vaurca and other lore which I’m less familiar with, and so I’ll need to read that should I wish to create relevant characters there.

 

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: To be honest, the mind forms got me hooked more than any other feature, by far. Playing a collective seems incredibly interesting, as well as fun and natural to me for personal reasons. Other aspects have interested me as I’ve continued reading, mainly their relations with other species and their biology, but the mindforms remain the main hook to me.

 

Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: Not to focus too much on the mindforms above all else, but that seems to be one of the key features; you are playing a collective, not an individual. Whether that collective is well-integrated and how integrated they are is up to you, and is certain to shape how the character approaches situations and people. A more centralized system around the social nymph may hardly be distinguishable from an individual, whilst a more chaotic or democratic one may act erratically or take time to consider every action respectively. It also features the classic ‘lose part of yourself, lose part of your collective memories’ alongside the trauma one would experience. They’re also simply inherently in different positions than humans due to their origins; whether that’s being for a noble's plate and escaping, or a centuries old pest adjusted to barely surviving Vaurca. Each of these cultures seems incredibly interesting, as a note, and I’m excited to try them out. Biologically there’s obviously quite a few differences as well, though I won’t be noting all of those here as it seems like that would just be fluffing this answer out.

EDIT: I neglected to mention the utilitarian pacifism they have; I find this to be an interesting concept as well and think I'd quite enjoy playing a character who can't and won't punch their problems away.

Character Name: Eager Soul Blessed By The Holy Light

 

Please provide a short backstory for this character

 

This gestalt was grown within The Emperor’s Royal Garden - by all means, a very comfortable existence to start with. The cyclops gestalt that was cultivated was assigned Priesthood; once again, another break in luck. Both a comfortable existence and a proper living, to start life off. The gestalt was quickly shunted off to a temple to be learned in their new position. It was at the temple that it found its name, Eager Soul Blessed By The Holy Light; picked up after viewing the induction of new Initiates into the Tribunal, and the excitement they often held in joining what this gestalt would consider the most holy of pursuits. Much of this gestalt’s life would be shaped by this pursuit and attempting to bring new followers into the fold. During this time, the system found order as nearly each nymph dedicated itself to the social role, offering the necessary skills to work as clergy.

It would be years where they would serve in this temple as a loyal Priest of the Tribunal. The gestalt, collectively, would be aged in its ‘teens’ by the time it left Moroz for the first time, to spread the good word of the Tribunal to the Ma’zals of the border worlds. This, likewise, continued for some time until its debt was paid off and it achieved citizenship, still quite young for Dionae. This was the point where it ventured to Biesel to continue its goal of converting the unfaithful.

Eager Soul, for short, found itself in quite an alien world here, even more so than on the Imperial frontiers; no respect for the Tribunal here indeed, and no authority for it to demand either. In fact, the Dionae here profess a belief of their own, one which this gestalt would reject and perhaps even find strife with at times - though, at other times, offering respect to those that are likely much its elders when it does not come to such topics as religion. Synthetics are also abundant here, another feature difficult for it to grasp as much as it would do its best to tolerate them. This is without getting into the general culture shock at broad, as well.

However, it was not too difficult to find work as a Priest, and Eager Soul can now (soon) be seen aboard the NSS Aurora professing the Tribunal to both faithful and lost souls alike. It currently meets many of the oddities of the Bieselite world with curiosity, and desires to learn more about it during its residency here. Both of the Dionae that reside here and of the other cultures found in this melting pot.

 

What do you like about this character?

Whilst I didn’t go into it in detail in the background, I as mentioned earlier am quite interested in playing a collective; I believe Eager Soul would find itself aligned closest with the ‘Empathic Echo’ form of mind, and likely be run as a near-democracy. Otherwise, I’d like to play a more empathetic character (as implied by the mindform) to contrast with the often firebrand priests (regardless of origin) onstation. This character is largely intended to be an introduction to Dionae for myself, personally, and so is rooted in lore and concepts I’m familiar with and have been playing for the last month or so. I plan to play other Dionae in the future once I’m more adjusted to understanding how they play - this is how I've handled most species in the past, on other servers.

 

How would you rate your role-playing ability?

I would say I am very good at playing a character, whilst somewhat mediocre at actually descriptive writing; my emotes are lacking whilst my dialogue is generally rather good and embodies the character I am playing.

 

Notes:

I’m aware this character perhaps does not embody traditional Dionae gestalts as well as one of another origin might, and am willing to write a separate backstory or otherwise answer questions as desired. Regardless, I believe I understand the species well enough and have attempted to show such outside of the backstory as well.

Edited March 1, 2021 by limette

[limette]

[REDACTED]

This was originally a post saying I retracted this application, but then I looked back and a lore deputy said it was fine? Sorry for posting, and sorry if this violates a rule on 'bumping' accidentally or something. Really don't wanna cause any issues, I'm just very, very anxious over this.

Edited March 1, 2021 by limette
un-retracting

[Lmwevil]

Alright here we go! Lets give ya an opening question! 

How has your collective responded with meeting other non indoctrinated gestalts? Does it interact with the Eternal Church in district 11? 

[limette]

Thus far, it has responded to other gestalts with a healthy curiosity and respect in general; they are quite the curious things to one that has only ever been familiar with those of the Royal Gardens, and ultimately they come as a learning opportunity. Especially the elders, seeing as the Dionae of the gardens are generally so young. This is, of course, assuming one avoids the more contentious world of religion.

Indeed it does interact with the Temple, though mainly in attempts to preach to its followers as a fellow resident of Eleven. Thus I imagine relations would not be incredibly warm between those more dedicated to the Eternal Temple and Eager Soul. It would, however, be unlikely to directly spark conflict by insulting them or anything of the sort, instead simply attempting to share what it believes to be the virtues of the Tribunal. It is ultimately non-confrontational in that regard given its origin as a subservient being to the Dominians, whilst still serving as a dedicated clergycollective - it would have to find a fine balance between continuing preaching without causing too many issues with its fellow Dionae.

(As a side note, I'm quite enjoying the Eternal and already formulating other character ideas as I type this.)

[Lmwevil]

Interesting stuff! I quite like the depth you have here, it feels like a really interesting concept. 

I have a final set of questions before I fuck off and let the other team members step in: 

Has Eager ever lost any nymphs? 

What does Eager think of taking blood from non dominians? 

What led to them going to the Aurora?

[limette]

Eager has not lost any nymphs; it has had a relatively comfortable life as part of the clergy, even during its time on the frontiers. To lose a nymph at this point would likely be rather traumatic for it, not only simply on the face of it but also because Eager has come to value its current memories and knowledge so, especially as it leaves its homeland for a less comfortable place.

Eager would be opposed to taking blood from non-Dominians despite its interest in this world; it would view such much like the Bloodless Bands would, as a threat to its identity and something that could lead it astray from its origin and culture.

It's on the Aurora because I want to play it. Okay, strictly speaking - it is somewhat difficult to justify it going to the Aurora, especially given the Aurora's history. The best I can say is that it lives in Biesel, is looking to preach, and the Aurora is hiring - and apparently as of recent has a large Dominian population that could be interested in listening, though that's a bit of a meta point. So, the short is it needs to get paid somehow.

Edited March 2, 2021 by limette
minor grammar fix

[Zer0Winds]

I haven't interacted with Simon a lot, but I can say they are pretty good at portraying a Dominian characters. They aren't one of the people who read "machine bad" and left it there.

I saw them talking about this app not long ago too in deadchat, and as one of the people encouraging limette to post this, They asked questions, and seem genuinely interested in playing a Diona for the RP. I can +1 this pretty confidently in my opinion, and would like to see more Dominian Trees around, since they are an interesting character type, and I have no doubt they can do it well.

[Flpfs]

From the few rounds I played with them, I really liked talking to Simon Kistler, the character is overall well-done and does a dominian character differently, without falling into the common pitfalls many players do. I also liked your unique character concept for this app, so this has my +1

[Yonnimer]

After some discussion, we've decided to accept your app!