Boggle08's Synthetic Developer Application

[Boggle08]

Ckey/BYOND Username: Boggle08 (Discord key: GrandMasterChef)
Position Being Applied For: (Wiki Maintainer, Lore Developer, Deputy Lore developer): IPC Lore Developer
Have you read the Lore Team Rules and Regulations wiki page?: Yes.
Past Experiences/Knowledge: I am presently in college for an English major. Reading and Writing is my passion and purpose in life, and something I have done ever since I was 18 months old. In high-school, I've led projects in the Technology Student Association, and therefore posses a history when it comes to collaborative projects involving programming and sprite-work. Prior to discovering HRP on SS13, I spent my time on a now-defunct ARK Survival Evolved HRP server, and have always maintained an interest in role playing games similar to here and on the table top. I have contributed planetary/IPC lore to this server in the past, which I will link below.

Examples of Past Work:

 

IPC lore as it is:

IPC lore is in a particularly healthy place right now. Most of the questions regarding their hardware or "rules" have been defined and settled, and the lore we've given for them is exceptionally chunky; owing to their relevance and associations with broader science fiction, they have many avenues for character direction or narrative exploration from the perspective of a player. Underneath all that is written for them, I see broader themes for the search of purpose and belonging; Rootlessness clashing with fate that's been preordained by others. Nearly every faction in our setting has a take on where synthetics belong, and synthetics themselves rest in the center, left figure it out if they are able. Nothing about these thematic conditions should change, as it is a wellspring of conflict for synthetics, at both the small and large scale. 

Our responsibility as lore people is to propose our setting to the player base in such a manner that they can think deeply on it, catching upon the broad themes and setting elements and work with them. In the context of IPC lore, this would be asking those questions of fatalism, rootlessness, belonging, and purpose through our material, and then the players giving an answer, a subversion, or a refutation through their characters.
There is nothing that egregiously needs to be fixed, meaning that we are in a prime state for us to expand upon our setting, To ask different questions, in a way. It is my hope that I can provide some.

 

What the future entails, and what I would like to change:

    NiennaB ran a tight ship regarding plans for the future, looking over past announcements(in particular the roadmap), there is still much to be completed that was initially proposed. For the most part, this roadmap will carry over into my tenure. I have ideas in particular for how Biosynthetic shells can progress into our setting, especially regarding the potential cross-applicability of the technology that would be required to make them. 
    One thing I am certainly interested in expanding on is the Golden Deep. Introducing some cultural elements, internal beliefs, and a little bit of factionalism would do them nicely. Of course, this would done in such a manner that it would not be at the expense of the Deep's unknown, secretive quality. There will be no excessive de-mystifying. The issue with them is that there's a little bit too much unknown.
    I think with the approach of the NBT comes the concern of how characters on the ship will be able to reasonably maneuver towards a path to citizenship, and all of the intricacies and clauses when it comes to that. Many corporations and organizations involving IPC's can give a definitive flat "no" on the matter of freedom, but the ones that can potentially grant freedom to their machines need clarification. This could be complicated further as the ship moves between borders, or if it projects it's own sovereignty as it travels. I hope to at the very least have consensus and a basic plan by the release of the NBT.
 

Additional Comments: Comments and questions are very much appreciated.

 

Edited June 14, 2021 by Boggle08

[The Stryker]

Interesting application (and way to be the first!), just some preliminary questions for you.

Being a lore dev is equal parts writer as it is equal parts moderator, involving making sure whitelist expectations are met and lore is followed. How much time can you devote to the lore team?

I recall waiting on revisions for this for several months. Will delays similar to those encountered with Burzia be a common issue?

Quote

In the context of IPC lore, this would be asking those questions of fatalism, rootlessness, belonging, and purpose through our material, and then the players giving an answer, a subversion, or a refutation through their characters.

You mention themes that are present in IPC lore, although players may have their own interpretation of the themes, and different character design might lead to certain IPCs exhibiting themes that aren't covered. Will players still be able to make characters that don't tackle the themes stated above?

Quote

    One thing I am certainly interested in expanding on is the Golden Deep. Introducing some cultural elements, internal beliefs, and a little bit of factionalism would do them nicely. Of course, this would done in such a manner that it would not be at the expense of the Deep's unknown, secretive quality. There will be no excessive de-mystifying. The issue with them is that there's a little bit too much unknown.

Do you have any plans to expand on other IPC factions such as Purpose? (Admittedly, we haven't done much regarding them in current synth team.)

Quote

I have ideas in particular for how Biosynthetic shells can progress into our setting,

Where will regular/current shells fit in? Do you have any plans to modify the types of chassis of IPC outside of this?

Additionally, a Synthetic Developer can influence more than IPCs. Do you have any plans for non-IPC synthetics?

Quote

Many corporations and organizations involving IPC's can give a definitive flat "no" on the matter of freedom, but the ones that can potentially grant freedom to their machines need clarification. 

Are there any particular corporations, organizations, or nations you had in mind?

Most importantly, what about community involvement especially via lore canon apps? How open will your vision for IPCs be?

Edited June 14, 2021 by The Stryker
Forgot to add a question.

[Faye <3]

I feel as though many people that write about robots in a dystopian science fiction context are preoccupied with the misery of being a robot, the disappearance of personhood, and other similar concepts. In my view the struggle of being an IPC, existing on the verge of personhood, and grappling with outright hostile to vaguely-sorta-maybe fine governments and laws to be one of its core concepts and a very important one, but I worry that too much focus on the frustration and pain of being an IPC would make the species less fun to play, and I don't think playing a species that is just miserable all of the time is very fun. Have you thought about how best to balance between IPCs being a marginalized people and often having difficulties in every-day life while also retaining player enjoyment and freedom? What are your thoughts and philosophy in regards to this? Your lore is interesting, but tends to be quite dark.  As synthetic lore developer, how do you intend to balance negative and positive lore?

Thanks for your consideration! 

Edited June 14, 2021 by Faye <3

[Caelphon]

Hi there! Just a few questions.

Quote

1. Hypothetically, lets say you had unfettered access to write and implement lore for IPCs, what would you do? Do you have any specific plans that you could expand on? 

2. What is your perspective on IPC and their relations to Megacorporation? Do you like its current state, or do you plan on changing them (either through expansion or rewriting)? 

3. Do you think Synthetic Lore could do with additional relations to other species? Why or why not? 

Goodluck. There are no wrong answers. 

[Boggle08]

13 hours ago, The Stryker said:

Being a lore dev is equal parts writer as it is equal parts moderator, involving making sure whitelist expectations are met and lore is followed. How much time can you devote to the lore team?

I recall waiting on revisions for this for several months. Will delays similar to those encountered with Burzia be a common issue?

I can put in quite a lot of time for it, right now. I'm a stage in my life where I have a lot of disposable time to burn. In the initial half of this year, when I was processing the rework, writing lore and contributing here was a fun hobby that I was having to constantly put off due to a busy, disorganized life. This has since changed over the summer, however.
    If I acquire this position, it will be something that I will really take ownership of. Lore developer is a huge responsibility beyond managing and contributing lore. It is organizing events, managing whitelists, coordinating with others, mediating the occasional dispute, and being a figurehead in the community. If life becomes busy again, I will make time for it.

13 hours ago, The Stryker said:

You mention themes that are present in IPC lore, although players may have their own interpretation of the themes, and different character design might lead to certain IPCs exhibiting themes that aren't covered. Will players still be able to make characters that don't tackle the themes stated above?

Despite how direct I come off here, it isn't a deal breaker if people interpret things differently than I do. Lore, thematic analysis, and inspiration are not top down. I do not want to institute rigid orthodoxy. I make my fun on the server by trying weird character ideas, or selling whitelist applications off of characters that cross-combine different elements of the setting together. I hope to be inspired by our community as much as I hope to inspire them.
    In that first section, I was more or less describing the broad trends I see when it comes to how we interact with the material and setting, consciously and unconsciously. My views regarding the setting are shaped from the realizations and perspective of others as much as my own. Getting mired in our own ways is a recipe to make the setting stale.
    All of my talk regarding these specific thematic elements in our writing will not affect the process of acquiring a whitelist or holding onto it. It is just observation.

13 hours ago, The Stryker said:

Do you have any plans to expand on other IPC factions such as Purpose? (Admittedly, we haven't done much regarding them in current synth team.)

Purpose could become relevant again, especially given our setting change. Maybe we could tie them together with the hivebots somehow, or even have them show up as an occasional ghost role. I kind of want to make them a little more than just an event faction, even if it ironically means doing another event arc involving them once we're on the space boat. As for the other factions, I could see the trinary branch out into other systems or nations, merely as a consequence of our setting moving away from being Biesel-centric.

13 hours ago, The Stryker said:

Where will regular/current shells fit in? Do you have any plans to modify the types of chassis of IPC outside of this?

Regular shells would still be prominent across all of human space, and Biosynthetic shells would initially start off as incalculably rare, and almost exclusively corporate property. Given our setting's current technology level at a macro scale, mass producing synthflesh shells for the domestic or commercial market wouldn't really seem all that feasible initially. Even before these shells are released out, I feel there needs to be technological build up in the form on an organic replaceable parts revolution. The bioshells would be the culmination of this technology.

13 hours ago, The Stryker said:

Are there any particular corporations, organizations, or nations you had in mind?

I'm particularly interested in getting something out for The CoC(more specifically, their "federal" government or Xanu), Elyra, Hephaestus, Zeng Hu, maybe Idris's non-ISU/IRU units, and Nanotransen itself. Our setting will get only more pluralistic after the NBT leaves port, and so how these companies and nations handle their IPC's and offer them freedom will become more important. 

13 hours ago, The Stryker said:

Most importantly, what about community involvement especially via lore canon apps? How open will your vision for IPCs be?

I really enjoy making canonization applications, so the last thing I'll ever do is cockblock proposals out of misguided principle. A lot of interesting ideas come from the community; it's a great way for people to get really invested in the server and get their feet wet with contributing. The way this department has handled and integrated them in the past has shown me that lore flows bottom up as much as it does top down. Aurora is a collective community project foremost, and so is our lore.

13 hours ago, Faye <3 said:

I feel as though many people that write about robots in a dystopian science fiction context are preoccupied with the misery of being a robot, the disappearance of personhood, and other similar concepts. In my view the struggle of being an IPC, existing on the verge of personhood, and grappling with outright hostile to vaguely-sorta-maybe fine governments and laws to be one of its core concepts and a very important one, but I worry that too much focus on the frustration and pain of being an IPC would make the species less fun to play, and I don't think playing a species that is just miserable all of the time is very fun. Have you thought about how best to balance between IPCs being a marginalized people and often having difficulties in every-day life while also retaining player enjoyment and freedom? What are your thoughts and philosophy in regards to this? Your lore is interesting, but tends to be quite dark.  As synthetic lore developer, how do you intend to balance negative and positive lore?

Thanks for your consideration! 

    The lowest Nadir of our setting will not dominate the lore. Severe levels of destitution or slavery, the cruelty of contracting companies, and Burzsia are in a lot of respects optional elements of our setting that players choose to opt into and impose upon their characters. Making the lore too tyrannical and controlling absolutely destroys character variety. All of the evil elements of our setting are neatly contained within their respective spheres, as they should be.
    The opposite end of this spectrum is designing characters or lore with the deliberate intention of negating all of the trials and tribulations synthetics must face in our setting; Happily ever after is hardly compelling, and is liable to make things stagnant, in my view.
    Some struggles must be universally shared or considered, while more severe elements are up to the discretion of the user.

    All that being said, I don't think we have much cause to make our setting more dark for machines than it already is. In fact, I sort of want to expand upon free positronics, how they acquire the means from their parent corporation if applicable, and the path to citizenship from nations that offer it.

[Boggle08]

 

On 14/06/2021 at 11:30, Caelphon said:

Hi there! Just a few questions.

Goodluck. There are no wrong answers. 

Sorry for the delayed response! I had to crunch through summer finals.

1. If I had total control over the department, omnipotent means to enact my changes, and reckless abandon towards my peers, The golden deep would get significantly more fleshed out, Purpose would have more presence and fluff in the setting(maybe not playable as a ship/station role, but certainly otherwise); 
Biosynthetic shells would slowly rise into prominence, following after the wake of a biopunk technology revolution fueled primarily by Zheng-hu. In fact, we would get another "work" variant of IPC composed of a mix of mechanical and synth-flesh components, in addition to the shell. Hivebots would become a pestilence in the setting, and an existential threat in some parts of the Spur.

2. The lay of the land is good, but I still think there's more to be fluffed up and expanded on. Many of our corps lack an official stance and policies regarding IPC's under their ownership. How lax or regimented their lives generally are, their policy when it comes to allowing IPC's to purchase their freedom. While we do have information on the wiki for the matter of IPC's securing their freedom from corporations, I feel like it is insubstantial, and isn't as encompassing as having a doctrine for each of our mega-corps. Slightly related, It might even be worth expanding into lore for State-owned IPC's, and all that it entails.

3. IPC lore is stapled to human lore, by design. I surmise our department will be doing a lot of work with the human team because of how linked together the two species are.
The implications of synthflesh IPC chasses, and with the kind of Biopunk tech progression I'm thinking of, I want to make sure doesn't conflict with other departments if we decide to go through with it. Especially for Vaurca, as they already have organic technology similar to what I'm thinking of, and it could horribly overstep into the uniqueness of that species. In fact, I want to heavily involve Vaurca if we manage to get an idea for it everyone can agree on.

[Lmwevil]

I have only a simple question for you, namely for my own curiosity, be as detailed as you want. 

In your ideal lore could paint what the average life of an IPC would be like? The kind of issues that arise, the positive events that shine brighter amidst the hardships, etc? If you can I'd love you to paint a picture, an evocative mental image. 

[Boggle08]

19 hours ago, Lmwevil said:

I have only a simple question for you, namely for my own curiosity, be as detailed as you want. 

In your ideal lore could paint what the average life of an IPC would be like? The kind of issues that arise, the positive events that shine brighter amidst the hardships, etc? If you can I'd love you to paint a picture, an evocative mental image. 

It's kind of difficult to describe the ideal form of an IPC in our setting, since there are so many valid avenues you could take that rest within and beyond my perceptions and preferences towards the lore. For the sake of answering your inquiry, I think the best way to answer this question is to describe an IPC using a dichotomy of nature, and nurture. The element of nature is corporate, and the nurturing element is human.

    In my view, the best entrance a synthetic can make into the setting is to be activated as property of a corporation. It directly connects the character to one of the more central elements of our setting, and provides a potential conflict right off the bat: the relationship between the machine and it's corporation.
    To most in the setting, a corporation is nothing more than a cruel hierarchy. To an IPC, it is the alpha, and the omega. It is the reason why the machine exists, the one that designates it's purpose, and the one most likely responsible for ending it. Almost all production for IPC's is fueled by corporations, and the big five array themselves under the SCC like a pantheon of dispassionate, uncaring gods. 
    The first trial of our IPC is determining it's relationship with it's makers. Does it embrace its god and become a living avatar of its parent corporation? Maybe it develops ideas or ambitions that rest outside of its original purpose, and finds itself with the desire to separate? Maybe it angrily rejects its corporation outright, for whatever reason. 

    The counterpart to this nature is nurture, and such is derived from the interactions this IPC will have with those around it; primarily humans. There is, however, even duality in this as well: These experiences can be positive or negative. The negative is self evident, from the nature of megacorps to the policies and beliefs that control the lives of IPC's. The positive, however, comes from connections and experiences that the IPC accrues over time that push it towards establishing it's own ethical framework, self actualization, and purpose. This idea of nurture is so thematically potent, we have it manifested into a religion: The Trinary.

    Our ideal form of an IPC in this instance isn't one singular character or concept, rather, multiple potential outcomes, multiple character concepts, using this framework of nature and nurture. Corporate and human. This dichotomy is by no means rigid either: it can be altered or subverted in the interest of character design or narrative exploration.

This is by no means the only framework or mentality I will use when designing lore for this department. I think you need to know your biases and get as much perspective as you can to be the most efficient with this kind of work. But, for the sake of answering the question, this is part of the mentality I use whenever I design my own characters.

[Lmwevil]

Thank you so much for your thoughtful reply, good luck Boggle. You have proven time and again you can write well and I have no doubt you would be a good choice, I don't envy the loremasters having to decide among the three synth applicants rn, all have such good merits.

[Lmwevil]

This is a question to every applicant since it's something that will inevitably come up, we may as well know your stance: 

What are your thoughts on Full Body Prosthetics? Nienna was very opposed to them, do you share the same sentiment?

[Boggle08]

15 hours ago, Lmwevil said:

This is a question to every applicant since it's something that will inevitably come up, we may as well know your stance: 

What are your thoughts on Full Body Prosthetics? Nienna was very opposed to them, do you share the same sentiment?

One of the biggest things we look out for when evaluating whitelist applications is if the applicant understands the positronic brain. How it works, how the machine's incentives are shaped by it, it's relationship with the concept of emotions, et cetera. It's a crucial element of their design, and the fact that they are fully artificial is a big reason why their rights and legal status are contested.

Now look at the FBP. It does not use a positronic. It doesn't have contested legal status. The brain inside is sapient, alive, and organic. It doesn't have all of the behavioral quirks or limitations of the positronic brain. It is a human in all things but body, which is antithetical to the design of our actual IPC's. Getting an IPC whitelist without respecting the Posibrain is like getting a Tajara whitelist by playing a Zhan that was raised by humans and has absolutely no understanding of Tajaran politics. It's way too divorced from core elements of IPC lore to be good for it.

And that's before we even get into complications like no first directive to police powergamey behavior, or the cursed premise of fitting a FBP assembly into a bioshell, coming full circle and just exiting the entire premise of robots in space.

There's already ways to play characters that are spiritually similar to FBP's just by getting creative in the loadout. Playing a heavily augmented human satisfies the niche the FBP would normally fulfill, in my opinion. But to implement an actual FBP similar to what other servers have, with the brain physically transplanted out of the body and into a chassis? I don't think it's something we should consider implementing.

[NewOriginalSchwann]

Hello, and thank you for applying! You're bringing a lot of good, interesting ideas to the table that I'd like to see integrated into our lore -- particularly your expansion of the Golden Deep, which I feel is one of our best IPC lore bits. You also play quite interesting IPC characters that I've enjoyed interacting with, such as Tankred. I just have a few questions, since you've already answered quite a few so far! Remember: There are no right or wrong answers here.

1). How to you plan to handle the management side of your maintainer position? The IPC whitelist is one of our largest ones and you may find yourself spending as much time working on its maintenance as you will writing lore! How do you intend to handle whitelist issues, up to and including de-whitelisting?

2). Do you have any plans for Konyang? It's a piece of lore that the human and synthetic teams often collaborated on during Nienna's tenure that is still -- at least in my view -- a place that has a lot of potential for IPC lore, particularly now that it is independent.

3). It's no secret that IPCs have a lot of "subspecies" in their frames, and that some are barely played. Do you believe this is an issue that should be addressed, or is it simply the result of having so many choices? If so, do you have any plans for specific frames?

[Boggle08]

15 hours ago, NewOriginalSchwann said:

Hello, and thank you for applying! You're bringing a lot of good, interesting ideas to the table that I'd like to see integrated into our lore -- particularly your expansion of the Golden Deep, which I feel is one of our best IPC lore bits. You also play quite interesting IPC characters that I've enjoyed interacting with, such as Tankred. I just have a few questions, since you've already answered quite a few so far! Remember: There are no right or wrong answers here.

1). How to you plan to handle the management side of your maintainer position? The IPC whitelist is one of our largest ones and you may find yourself spending as much time working on its maintenance as you will writing lore! How do you intend to handle whitelist issues, up to and including de-whitelisting?

2). Do you have any plans for Konyang? It's a piece of lore that the human and synthetic teams often collaborated on during Nienna's tenure that is still -- at least in my view -- a place that has a lot of potential for IPC lore, particularly now that it is independent.

3). It's no secret that IPCs have a lot of "subspecies" in their frames, and that some are barely played. Do you believe this is an issue that should be addressed, or is it simply the result of having so many choices? If so, do you have any plans for specific frames?

1). For this task, I will be giving myself a set number of mandatory hours to work on it every week, which encompasses writing and management. Crucial matters or projects that are overdue will be given special attention, but I want to make sure I don't burn out or put too much on myself or the department all at once.
    As for whitelisting, I think I have the gist of knowing what to look for when it comes to receiving new applicants; I've helped advise new players seeking whitelists in the past, and of course, own one myself. On the matter of whitelist issues, I think it's something that can normally be resolved through DM's or other soft means of confrontation. Similar to how the server is moderated, a whitelist strip will usually be something you have to escalate up to. An automatic strip would be for exceptionally egregious cases. Like, Hippie station-tier character gimmicks.
    I'll definitely be conferring with the synthetic deputies about the specifics and nuances when it comes to the whitelisting, however. Whitelist management is definitely going to be a new thing for me, and they most certainly know far more than I do.

 

2). Konyang is interesting because it has a lot of facets of IPC lore kludged together into one planet. From the reading, IPC's can be owned, or citizens. The Golden Deep openly trades here, and the Trinary Perfection has a large presence as well.

A lot of expansion for the Golden Deep will happen here. More importantly, the many facets of IPC lore in the system all softly contradict and oppose each other; So while Konyang might be a haven for IPC's in the setting, it could be one where the synthetic denizens start to become politically divided on issues pertaining to their existence. There's a brief sentence mentioning that Konyang has beef with Burzsia, owing mostly to how differently they treat IPC's. This could be expanded upon, rather than being just a simple disagreement in ways of life and values.

3). I like the idea of having several subspecies to choose from. They offer unique changes in gameplay, most of them look good, and they're almost like different "classes" within a cooperative multiplayer game. I don't think we have a problem with too much choice, because each frame has it's niche in the playerbase when it comes to character design and playstyle.

    Regarding the matter of certain chasses getting barely played, this is an issue primarily for the G1 chassis. It has an uninteresting subspecies mechanic of being a quicker, less hardy G2, and it's current sprite is unsatisfactory. Anecdotally speaking, it is the least played chassis in the game, and it's even lost out on it's niche as a quicker G2 now that the G2's can sprint for longer distances.
    I've talked a lot about wanting to add biosynthetic chasses into the game. Not just a shell, another flesh chassis that's much more inhuman looking. If it becomes a serious item on our agenda, these two concepts will be combined into one new biosynthetic chassis with customizable parts, and the G1 subspecies slot will be removed from the game. Instead, the G1 will be playable as a customization option for the G2 subspecies using the prosthesis menu.
    If we can't get the bio-chassis concept off the ground, it could go either way with the G1 getting merged into the G2 or staying the same. No matter what happens, changing that sprite is on the agenda.

    Subspecies bloat is a big issue from a maintainer/coding aspect, if I'm not mistaken. Something about it being very obtuse in the character selection and loadout code. Because of this, I don't want us to exceed the current number of subspecies slots we already have. 
    I've read over reworks in the past that propose a much more modular IPC design, that allows us to ditch subspecies all together and umbrella everything under one IPC race. I'm not against this in concept, but in practice, I would only be interested in such a system if it's designed so our all of our IPC variants are still distinguishable and retain all of their special mechanics. When you shift examine a Zheng-hu, it should still read out as a Zheng-hu, not "light frame." Beyond simple mechanics, our chassis variants have too much lore built up around them to be turned into indistinct borderlands-tier exchangeable parts. Any new system to reduce subspecies bloat must preserve the chassis variants.
 

[NewOriginalSchwann]

@Boggle08

These responses are excellent, and answer all of my questions quite effectively. Your application has my support, and I hope that I'll be able to work alongside you on the lore team. Best of luck!

[Mofo1995]

The following is a copy paste on your competitors applications as well.

I have the good fortune of having my pick of three very strong candidates, and the length of this application process is a reflection of my indecision between three people I'm keen to have on the team. A good problem to have! To try and break the deadlock a bit and gain some more insights, I have decided to ask you and your competitors these questions. What, in your opinion, separates you from the other two applying for this position? Why do you believe you would be the best candidate, and can you give examples on why your opinions for the direction of synthetic lore would be better for the server than your competitors? 

[Kintsugi]

Unlike the other two candidates, Boggle has already answered the one question I had so I don't think it's necessary I ask it here - instead, I wanted to give him my +1! I think of the three options, he's probably going to be the freshest choice going forward, and I'd like to see what he does with the position.

[Boggle08]

16 hours ago, Mofo1995 said:

The following is a copy paste on your competitors applications as well.

I have the good fortune of having my pick of three very strong candidates, and the length of this application process is a reflection of my indecision between three people I'm keen to have on the team. A good problem to have! To try and break the deadlock a bit and gain some more insights, I have decided to ask you and your competitors these questions. What, in your opinion, separates you from the other two applying for this position? Why do you believe you would be the best candidate, and can you give examples on why your opinions for the direction of synthetic lore would be better for the server than your competitors? 

My biggest strength has to be my capacity for brainstorming. My ability to inductively pull out vast concepts from setting elements both large and small means that I have an idea for nearly every aspect of our setting, and that If I don't have one, I can easily make one. 
    I also make an effort to be flexible in regards to developing concepts and setting an agenda. Equally as much as I love delving into new ideas or fleshing out old ones, I desire for such to be consistent with the rest of the lore and our other departments. Much of what I propose is modular, and the process of peer review is something I value just as much as brainstorming and drafting a concept.
    This is something I have made a deliberate effort to convey throughout this application process. I have ensured that my responses are thorough and comprehensive, and have made it very clear what concepts are in the realm of possibility versus certainty.
    In my time here since 2019, I have always had an eye on the developments of synthetic lore; I have full confidence that I can meet and exceed the writing and setting maintenance needs of being a lore developer. 

As others have said, what I have over the other candidates is that I would be a fresh addition to the team, in a position where I would be most capable of providing new ideas and direction to synthetic lore. I can't deny the big elephant in the room, that unlike the other applicants, I do not have previous staff experience. However, what I can guarantee to you is that this concern is not going to be permanent if I am given the opportunity. I intend to learn more about my role and continually grow into it. I will give my best, and strive to outdo myself in that regard.

[Omicega]

All the questions I'd have wanted to ask have more than been covered already, but I wanted to echo what people have said already about your answers. I'm a fan of essentially every answer you've given, both regarding where you'd like to take IPCs and especially on your views regarding more Alien-series-esque 'biosynthetics'. I don't think your lack of experience should be held against you either, personally -- you've already mentioned you're more than willing to (correctly, IMO) defer to your more experienced deputies where appropriate, which I think is definitely the right move here. I particularly like how you're focusing not just on the more nebulous lore side of things, but also how you can make mechanical improvements to the in-game IPC experience, as well as how any new or improved-upon lore concepts will translate to the in-game side of things as well.

[Alberyk]

On 02/07/2021 at 16:05, Boggle08 said:

    In my time here since 2019, I have always had an eye on the developments of synthetic lore; I have full confidence that I can meet and exceed the writing and setting maintenance needs of being a lore developer. 

Taking this into consideration, why did you apply for unathi lore deputy? And why did you withdraw that application?

[Boggle08]

3 hours ago, Alberyk said:

Why did you apply for unathi lore deputy?

Before I applied for Unathi deputy, I think I completed the whitelist application about a few weeks or so prior to the announcement of a new slot. In the process of creating it, I read through every page relating to Unathi on the wiki several times, and found issues with worldbuilding holes and page organization. I leapt for the deputy position on the sole basis of wanting to go in like a technician and fix the problems I saw. I was eager to contribute, especially to an aspect of the lore I had a newfound interest in.

3 hours ago, Alberyk said:

And why did you withdraw that application?

I backed out because I felt like I did not have the greater context and intuition needed for the position, regarding Unathi lore and it's development. The kind that comes from engaging with that department of lore over an extended period of time. Up until the point I became interested in an Unathi whitelist, I didn't talk regularly with staff and players in our OOC channels about Unathi lore; I did not follow new developments and articles written by the Unathi team; I did not contribute any lore associated with the species. Most egregiously, at least to me, I did not actually have a functional Unathi character on my roster until about a week or so after completing the whitelist.
    The reasons I applied for deputy and the problems I wanted to fix were no revelation to anyone who had been working with or following Unathi lore, and so I realized I did not have much to offer besides a promise to fix something that was inevitably going to be fixed. I quietly asked for my thread to be closed so it wouldn't distract people from the other applicants.

To put it succinctly, I closed the application because I realized at the time that I did not know enough about Unathi or their development for the position. Enough to hold onto a whitelist, perhaps, but not write for them.

[Mofo1995]

Much I've said on your competitors app, this was an extremely tough decision and a very close race. You were a fantastic applicant, however another was chosen. Please feel not only free but encouraged to apply to any openings in the future. Thank you!