Lorilili - Skrell Application

[limette]

BYOND Key: Lorilili

Character Names: Simon Kistler, Anna King, To Bestow The Gift Of Life Upon Another are my mains.

Species you are applying to play: Skrell

What color do you plan on making your first alien character: Pastel pink.

Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: I’ve read most of the lore, though I’ll be honest that I skimmed some of the pages that were less directly relevant for key details rather than in-depth reading.

 

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’ve been a Skrell contributor or deputy on three servers now, so it seems natural for me to be interested in another incarnation; specifically, the Aurora incarnation happens to dig into its themes and have more detail than any other incarnation I’ve seen, which is part of why I landed here instead of returning to Bay in the first place. This application has been a long time coming.

 

Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human:

 

Psionics are one key feature, naturally, being expressed as a notable part of nearly all the lore written. The repression of Jargon, the lumbering giant of a state it is, however, catches my interest to a stronger extent; not only due to the direct effects, but due to the opportunities for character concepts that it presents. Also, Skrellian emotional displays are interesting to me, but that’s a relatively minor detail.

 

Character Name: Xuq’mix Qil’xi-rim

Please provide a short backstory for this character

 

Xuq’mix, to begin with, is relatively young by any Skrellian standard - they were born in the year 2401, to recolonists of a world in the Traverse. Before I get into the details of how this impacts their growth, let’s go over the cards they were born with; Xuq’mix is a Xiiori, first of all, and displays traits of both ethnicities. One trait expressed was Xibus, which they were born with and never had corrected - at first, due to concerns of the invasive nature of the procedure in infancy with the limited supplies available in the Traverse, which only became more of a concern as time went on. Furthermore, they were born a Listener, only adding to the alienation from the Federation seen later in this application.

Now that we’ve gotten past the biology, let’s discuss what was imparted on them in particular. Being an only child, their Qrri’Myaq, made up of their Quya had plenty of time to mold Xuq’mix in their preferred image. This left them with a vague anti-Jargon sentiment, as these were followers of Kir’gul, as well as perhaps warm towards the general sentiment one might find in the eastern flanks of the Traverse. Not quite rebels themselves, but arguably more sympathetic to them than to the Federation proper. Xuq’mix, naturally, would inherit each of these features.

 

To be short, the following years of their life were bland enough to not be noteworthy for the purpose of this application. They were raised to be a miner, as many of the inhabitants of their less-than-impressive homeworld were, with their education consisting of little more than an apprenticeship; it was little more than a rock with minerals worthy of export. One’s life could not be expected to be extraordinarily exciting here. However, this brings us to the real point of interest. Rich exports in the Traverse naturally catch the attention of a certain group; the Ti’Raqki.

With their somewhat mediocre lifestyle and their religion already tilting them towards a desire for a free-er new life and somewhat against the Federation, the Ti’Raqki were not a hard sell. In fact, Xuq’mix would eagerly embrace this new lifestyle as soon as it was offered, coming aboard at some point around 2447, and would likely have moved up to the position of Qu’oot relatively quickly. However, this is where they would stop. They would have focused more on the journey of being aboard the fleet, rather than the self-improvement required. And so, once it came time to face challenges around the Test of the Ensign, they faltered. And failed. And failed. Until finally it came time to acknowledge they seemed not to merit their role or, at this point, any role within the fleet. 

This was when they left the fleet, being sent off with the papers marking Coalition citizenship - easy to forge, and difficult to verify, given the nature of the Coalition. Perhaps somewhat suspicious given the distance from Jargon space to there, but still relatively strong of an alibi. However, as attractive as immigrating to Coalition space was, the real source of opportunity at this time is clear; Biesel. I don’t imagine I’ll need to go into the economic incentives here. Not only this, hitchhiking a cargo trip to Biesel is significantly easier a task than doing the same to the Coalition.

And this brings us to the present. Xuq’mix beginning to settle into human space, picking up a job as a miner (no difficult feat by any means, given NanoTrasen’s standards here,) and to an extent loathing their new position as both a failure and once again a sedentary soul. 

 

What do you like about this character?

skrell pirat
More seriously, I think I like the character because they avoid the usual tropes; they’re not a bog-standard Jargon supporter, nor the antithesis of such, nor a human-space-born Bieselboo or what have you.

 

How would you rate your role-playing ability?

 

Terrible. Absolutely awful. Should be banned.

 

Notes: please rename the jargon federation

[Butterrobber202]

7 hours ago, limette said:

Notes: please rename the jargon federation

We held a vote awhile back for a rename, and the players expressed their desire to keep the name. For the record though, "Jargon" is the human translation, as a Skrell just calling it the "Federation" will more than get your meaning across. Anyways, on to the app...

7 hours ago, limette said:

Being an only child,

Only Child of their egg group or Only Child of their entire Quya?

7 hours ago, limette said:

They were raised to be a miner

I find this line interesting. Were the Quya Members all Miners? It is a common theme among parents to want more for your children, were they never encouraged to be anything more than a Miner at all?

7 hours ago, limette said:

This was when they left the fleet, being sent off with the papers marking Coalition citizenship - easy to forge, and difficult to verify, given the nature of the Coalition. Perhaps somewhat suspicious given the distance from Jargon space to there, but still relatively strong of an alibi. However, as attractive as immigrating to Coalition space was, the real source of opportunity at this time is clear; Biesel. I don’t imagine I’ll need to go into the economic incentives here. Not only this, hitchhiking a cargo trip to Biesel is significantly easier a task than doing the same to the Coalition.

This is fun! Stowaway frog! Just so you're aware, as far as I, another player, know, you'll still have Federation Citizenship if they were registered with the Planetary Government at their birth. You'd probably have a in the PITS social score though! Something to take up with the Lore Devs when they arrive to eat your application whole.

7 hours ago, limette said:

coming aboard

What was their role in the ship/fleet they were assigned in? Pilot? Soldier? Personal Chef to Xioshi?

Speaking of! How does your Skrell feel about the Star-Admiral?

Last question, I swear, there's not much about their overall personality in the app, outside of their views on authority, how does your frog view the Spur?

[limette]

4 hours ago, Butterrobber202 said:

Only Child of their egg group or Only Child of their entire Quya?

I don't know how the quote system works, so this is going to suck for me to figure out first of all - but only child of their Quya (at this point, I suppose.) It's part of why I intend for a sort-of-major thing to be them steadfastly holding the beliefs imparted on them, especially the religious ones. Though I suppose that works otherwise, I also kind of want to avoid the trope I've seen on occasion of having 30 billion siblings.

 

4 hours ago, Butterrobber202 said:

I find this line interesting. Were the Quya Members all Miners? It is a common theme among parents to want more for your children, were they never encouraged to be anything more than a Miner at all?

Yes, they were all miners; and this is something I actually had addressed in another version of the application, before I decided to trim it down because I felt it was getting too long and disjointed. The parents were actually supportive of the move towards the Ti'Raqki, again in part due to the religious suppression but also in part for the chance to actually be something more than a dirt miner in fuckoff nowhere. They'd probably have preferred a more legitimate living, but it can be difficult to find such in the Estuaries from all I know. I don't know if all that makes perfect sense, so I suppose I'll be waiting for one of the Big Lore People to make a ruling, but I'd thought it'd make some sense given how... again, mediocre that life would be.
 

4 hours ago, Butterrobber202 said:

This is fun! Stowaway frog! Just so you're aware, as far as I, another player, know, you'll still have Federation Citizenship if they were registered with the Planetary Government at their birth. You'd probably have a in the PITS social score though! Something to take up with the Lore Devs when they arrive to eat your application whole.

Yep! This is planned to go into their exploitable info though, because for all they care their ties to the Federation are dead and buried; they've left, they have totally legitimate papers, and they definitely don't want to return at the moment given said social score. I'm not certain how to really implement this beyond the exploitable info, however.

 

4 hours ago, Butterrobber202 said:

What was their role in the ship/fleet they were assigned in? Pilot? Soldier? Personal Chef to Xioshi?

I'd imagined they would be working something more boring rather than the extravagant, being a miner for the years prior. To be honest, I'm not a hundred percent on this - my thought was initially they kept to their skill in operating drills and the like? Perhaps a bit odd of an idea, but I'd imagine at least some of the more autonomous ships of the Veq'Luuq to do Illegal Mining given the stress on smuggling valuable material.

 

4 hours ago, Butterrobber202 said:

Speaking of! How does your Skrell feel about the Star-Admiral?

Well, nothing vocal, I can tell you that - but as the independent-minded Skrell they are, I imagine they'd have more sympathies for the individual ship and crew they worked with than with anybody else. Perhaps a desire for more autonomy as well, but at the same time a complete understanding that, well, this arrangement benefits them far more than any other would. There aren't really many details as to who the Star-Admiral is or how much a grip they actually have on the Ti'Raqki, so I'm able to give a less comprehensive answer than I might like to here.
 

4 hours ago, Butterrobber202 said:

Last question, I swear, there's not much about their overall personality in the app, outside of their views on authority, how does your frog view the Spur?

In all honesty, I can't answer this. I'm not so good at making characters prefabricated, instead I tend to determine their personalities regarding such things in the first 5 or so rounds I play them as to establish something consistent. The quickest and honestly lackluster-feeling answer I can give is they probably prefer Human society to Skrellian as a base to work from, but would at the same time hold reservations about Bieselite society especially, which would seem to be relatively restraining compared to life in both the Traverse and among the Ti'Raqki.

Edited May 27, 2021 by limette
Tributaries -> Estuaries

[Caelphon]

Hi there! Thanks for applying! 

Whilst I believe you have a good understanding of Skrell (combined with the app and the questions you asked me in direct messaging) I would like to dive deeper into your Skrell (NOT LIKE THAT). 

1. It can be argued that the Traverse experiences the brunt of the abuse that the innermost sectors of the Jargon Federation put out. How do you think this might impact your Skrells perception of those from these regions? 

2. You mention that they're a listener. Was your Skrells Quya that of both Receivers and Listeners, or are they the first Listener in the family unit? If they are the only Listener in their family unit, do you think this might have posed issues when your Skrell was growing up? If so, does your Skrell still carry these issues or did they push through?

The Psychology Section of the Main Page goes into detail how a Skrell might work through it. 

Lastly; Butter is correct in stating that you'd be a Jargon Federation Citizen, HOWEVER, the false papers would mitigate this. I'd encourage you (personally) to be more "conservative" in sharing details of your Skrell to those they don't trust, perhaps even outright avoiding answering questions in Srom by waking up. 

There are no wrong answers! Goodluck. 

[limette]

8 hours ago, Caelphon said:

1. It can be argued that the Traverse experiences the brunt of the abuse that the innermost sectors of the Jargon Federation put out. How do you think this might impact your Skrells perception of those from these regions? 

I think that they'd certainly have a negative perception of them, in a few ways. Probably difficult to display until the accents get in, but a general distrust for them would be expected once there is that indication. I wouldn't imagine it to boil beyond a healthy distrust (which they'd probably already have towards most Skrell, but even moreso towards those from the inner Federation. I'd imagine some real hesitancy before homeworlders especially.)

8 hours ago, Caelphon said:

2. You mention that they're a listener. Was your Skrells Quya that of both Receivers and Listeners, or are they the first Listener in the family unit? If they are the only Listener in their family unit, do you think this might have posed issues when your Skrell was growing up? If so, does your Skrell still carry these issues or did they push through?

I indeed had a Listener-Receiver pairing in mind for the Quya, in part because, well, you don't have that many options in the Traverse (to justify the pairing in the first place,) as well as that for my first Skrell I'm not certain I want to dive into more complicated things there (I may in the future! I just don't wanna overwhelm myself to begin with.)
 

8 hours ago, Caelphon said:

I'd encourage you (personally) to be more "conservative" in sharing details of your Skrell to those they don't trust, perhaps even outright avoiding answering questions in Srom by waking up. 

I actually wasn't aware you were allowed to just yoink out of the Srom like that, so thanks for pointing it out. As I said earlier, I planned for a strong distrust towards homeworlders and the like, and a still-existent but not as strong distrust towards other folk from the Traverse in the first place.

Edited May 28, 2021 by limette
lack of clarity

[Caelphon]

Thank you for answering my questions! I'll confer with my team and get an answer to you later today. 

[Caelphon]

This applicatiom is accepted.