OffRoad99 - IPC Application

[OffRoad99]

BYOND Key: OffRoad99

Character Names:

 

Species you are applying to play: IPC

What color do you plan on making your first alien character: According to the format, IPCs are exempt from this requirement.

Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yes. I've read the entire section and the relevant entries on the Megacorporation pages.

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:

One of my characters may be shelved for a week or more due to IC reasons, and I decided to use this time to put myself to the test and finally play a non-Human character. I always had a fascination for robot-esque characters, the latest example being Connor from Detroit: Become Human, and to see its personality evolving radically, based on the player's choices: whether it became more and more human, or stayed as a cold, logical machine. Every corner of the Spur holds a different opinion on synthetics and treats them differently, and with the good variety of frames, I think a creative player can have plenty of resources and concepts to explore. Also, one of my favorite IPC characters on the Aurora was an IPC named Breacher G-031.

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

IPCs are, to put it bluntly, completely different from everything I've played on SS13: they can't feel pain, they can't bleed, they will never be touched by hunger or thirst, they are wholly separate from the nuances of Human life. Hazardous gasses and radiations can't affect them. Some models can even perform EVA with a suit cooler, thus leaving voidsuits free for their organic counterparts. IPCs may be able to imitate the personality of any organic to a limited extent, it can never hope to match it, no matter how advanced it is. In many parts of the Spur, they are not seen as people. They're property and tools owned by private parties, megacorporations and governments. The mere concept of "freedom" for most IPCs is a dream, depending on who owns them and where they live.
Whereas a Human, a Tajaran or a Skrell can learn through study and experience, IPCs are often build with a specific purpose in mind, and while the knowledge and databases they need to do their tasks can be purchased and installed, it can only be put to fruition through hands-on practice. The memories they create become their own, and direct access to their memory banks can be extremely difficult as it may cause irreparable damage to the unit.
All this, in my opinion, makes IPCs a compelling, troubled and fascinating species.

 

Character Name: ISU-Courtier

Please provide a short backstory for this character:

Iconic Transports, a small courier business operated by one businesswoman, Katrina Kreio. With a small warehouse near the outskirts of "Vega de Rosa" in Mendell City, and a handful of loyal workers, the business supplied restaurants, bars and clubs with all the goods and articles needed to remain open. With steady successes and reliable contracts, the woman decided to further invest in her workforce and asked for a loan to the widely known Idris Incorporated, well aware of their outstanding, honest customer service. Whilst conscious of the good conditions of her finances, and wishing to remain on good terms with the megacorporation, the woman knew little on the needs and specific of a robotic worker and therefore hastily invested the credits in the purchase of a blank, unbooted positronic brain, with the goal of purchasing a frame within the year while she researched some options. Fate wished differently: a disastrous fire in her warehouse crippled the business. Within the months the contracts acquired were rapidly pulled and offered to competitors, the finances started to dwindle...and Idris Incorporated needed their payments delivered on time. A quick visit by one of the infamous Idris Reclamation Units was enough to confiscate her most recent purchase and coerce her back in line. That didn't help in the long run and eventually, her business was foreclosed and transformed by one of Idris' many subsidiaries.

In order to maximize earnings whilst minimizing expenses, the positronic brain became a Company asset and soon received a fitting chassis: a damaged Hephaestus Industries G2 Industrial Droid, its former user removed and terminated. The unit was rapidly repaired, tagged, and hastily issued a designation: ISU-Courtier.

Assigned to Security Unit “Seven” around 2459, Courtier worked under its current handler and overseeing agent, a “corporate” Eridanian woman named Kakena Akinjide, a worker known to keep the IPCs under her domain in good care whilst unscrupulous with those who don’t meet the tight operational margins she set: impeccable customer services and good operational results. Courtier was unceremoniously assigned as the newest element of the team, replacing an IPC whose operational statistics lowered beyond “acceptable margins”. That, along with the handler’s reputation, rapidly instilled in it a sense of commitment to the tasks assigned: to those who performed well were spared kind words, the promise of a monthly salary and regular maintenance. To those who failed, swift demise. Existing in a semi-permanent state of uncertainty, Courtier gradually turned to the rest of the team’s Baseline and Industrial units, establishing what it interprets as bonds of camaraderie, united by a shared fate of servitude.

In this timeframe, all of the Idris Security Units in the team were also given frequent demonstrations of social etiquette and their customer skills constantly stressed, every effort made to develop their adaptability, knowledge and ensuring they could communicate clearly with both their handler, clients and prospective clients.   
Over the next two years Courtier, along with the rest of the Unit, continued to perform up to standards, while also inheriting the handler’s negative views on Dregs, and in this timeframe SU “Seven” frequently found itself assigned to several reclamation contracts around Imperial Plaza, an important experience for Courtier, introducing it to the large community of resident Tajarans and customs it defines as “odd” and “pitiful”, citing the perceived similarities between the local “Greasers” and the Dregs it learned to dislike.

A fundamental turning point of its life happens during the early days of 2463. With its handler quickly blamed for a botched reclamation contract and removed from field duty, the Unit is rapidly disbanded and its individual members loaned out, with Courtier integrated as a security guard in one of the many banks found in the Bullard Avenue, distinguishing itself for its developed customer service skills that Idris Incorporated is known for, a characteristic its new organic colleagues found commendable from a G2 Unit. It wasn’t long before its superiors stipulated to have Courtier be transferred or loaned on a ship or space station, the frame’s sturdy construction and the ability to survive in the vacuum with only specialized cooling units deemed more cost-effective in a high-risk environment.

What do you like about this character?

Per players input I decided to re-evaluate the purpose, goals and personality of the character. Courtier is an IPC quickly seized as property and put to work in one of the "worst" megacorporations that has no qualms about disposing of troublesome IPCs through covert means. What I like about a G2 Unit working for Idris Incorporates is the idea of seeing a big, sturdy IPC who does its best to be firm and polite with the people and fellow IPCs around it, and the idea of seeing him move from an intimidating presence to coerce troublesome clients to "pay up" to a respectable security operator in a civilian environment is great. I believe it emphasis the transaction from a "reliable knuckle-drugger" to an apaprent representation of what Idris Incorporated demands from its IPCs.

How would you rate your role-playing ability? 7-8.

Notes: N/A

 

Edited July 29, 2021 by OffRoad99
Significant background change(s).

[Lordnesh]

I like the application, and it looks like you put a lot of work into this. I have a question for you and some comments.

What does Courtier think about achieving it's freedom?

 

As it is. I'm not certain you'll get approved. "Blank slate" characters are generally frowned upon, because part of the application process is displaying your knowledge of the species be utilizing that knowledge to create a character. You touched upon what makes IPC's unique in the application, now you just need to apply it to a character. Bear in mind, that you don't have to write a character you intend to play. Although it is usually encouraged.

Regardless. I wish you luck with your application.

Edited July 29, 2021 by Lordnesh

[Lucaken]

Piggybacking on @Lordnesh's reply a bit, as they touched on much of what was already brewing inside of my head when I first read through. The backstory is solid, I think you just need to expand on Courtier themselves, make it less of a blank state, as mentioned. To that end, here are some questions to maybe help along the process.

How does Courtier view other IPCs, specifically those employed alongside it in Idris?

23 minutes ago, OffRoad99 said:

In order to maximize earnings whilst minimizing expenses, the positronic brain became a Company asset and soon received a fitting chassis: a damaged Hephaestus Industries G2 Industrial Droid, its former user removed and terminated.

Whether it knows about this or not, how do you think Courtier might feel about this? How does it feel about being handed a 'lesser' shell than what its position/capabilities may warrant?

I hope you can expand on things and get a more well-rounded character as a result! I'll be happy to thumbs this up as soon as that happens.

[OffRoad99]

Due to significant player's feedback I decided to re-evaluate the character's shallow background and establish a proper one. I thank you all in advance and look forward to hear your comments and questions.

I have edited my application, but for the sake of honesty, the original, unmodified entries related to the applying character can be read here.

As for the questions:

4 hours ago, Lordnesh said:

What does Courtier think about achieving it's freedom?

First of all, both Courtier and the IPCs have never been told that Idris Incorporated prohibits their IPCs from acquiring their own freedom. They know it's very hard, and the few who succeeded, to its knowledge, decide to continue working in one of the corporation's minor branches as free IPCs, in some tranquil corner of the Spur.  Courtier has an abstract concept of "freedom", and sees it as a state of being where it no longer feels obliged to follow an order without fearing for its existence. Understandably, it does its best to keep it a secret and works tirelessly to stay within "acceptable margins" or risks severe punishment, as the lore entails. That being said, working to buy its freedom represents a fool's dream and its ultimate goal, and knowing how difficult and crazy expensive it can be for an IPC to free itself, even more so for a G2 Unit, it will most likely take years, perhaps decades.

 

4 hours ago, Lucaken said:

How does Courtier view other IPCs, specifically those employed alongside it in Idris?

Courtier sees the IPCs who find themselves working in Idris as "kindred beings", so to say. It is fully aware that stepping out of line or performing poorly is a genuine death sentence and the fear of being terminated or wiped is something that most of them, in its opinion, have in common. I wish to mention the bonds it shares (or shared) with his original unit, one it deemed important enough to engrave the number "7" on its right shoulder plate.
It is aware of other IPCs working outside of Idris Incorporated though knows little of it, but it's at least aware that most of them are treated differently, for better or worse.

 

4 hours ago, Lucaken said:

Whether it knows about this or not, how do you think Courtier might feel about this? How does it feel about being handed a 'lesser' shell than what its position/capabilities may warrant?

Well. Let me put it this way: I presume that a positronic brain on its own is cheaper than the actual frame. A G2 Industrial Frame is a fitting frame for an ISU and it costs around 350.000 credits, and repairing a damaged frame is most likely cheaper than buying or building a new one. Industrial frames are HEAVY and big, and the IPC who controlled that frame fell off a building during one of the reclamation contracts and was grievously damaged, with the positronic brain cracked from the impact.
Now, knowing the immense difficulties in accessing their memories alone, let alone repair and restore the brain to functioning order...well, they had a perfectly new, blank brain available. I reckon it's cheaper and faster to boot that up in a repaired frame, download the relevant skills and database and "teach" him what it needs to know to do its work. Especially when that IPC was already performing poorly and would've likely be wiped regardless of its incident.

That being said, the fate of that IPC represents the absolute nightmare of Courtier. First of all, the idea of dropping below "acceptable standards" is a nightmare of its own. Knowing the great mass of a G2 Unit, falling off a building must be catastrophic. Damages you know your employers will be irked to fix, and you'd be likely put off-work for days or weeks. They may not like that. And then there's the worse part: the cracked positronic brain. Knowing that Courtier is using the frame originally built for someone else tells it that if it fails in its job and doesn't act carefully, it may end up the same way: wiped, demolished or replaced, while his frame will be preserved and used for a newer brain.

 

Edited July 29, 2021 by OffRoad99

[The Stryker]

Thanks for applying! I have some questions to start,

Quote

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

Could you expand on this question? Particularly the treatment of IPCs in the galaxy and the way they think?

As for the character,

What is ISU-Courtier's programming? Is it what was initially in the brain? Is it something Idris put in? Something else?

Quote

That, along with the handler’s reputation, rapidly instilled in it a sense of commitment to the tasks assigned: to those who performed well were spared kind words, the promise of a monthly salary and regular maintenance.

Did it perform well enough to receive these benefits? If so, what does it do with its salary?

Quote

Over the next two years Courtier, along with the rest of the Unit, continued to perform up to standards, while also inheriting the handler’s negative views on Dregs, and in this timeframe SU “Seven” frequently found itself assigned to several reclamation contracts around Imperial Plaza, an important experience for Courtier, introducing it to the large community of resident Tajarans and customs it defines as “odd” and “pitiful”, citing the perceived similarities between the local “Greasers” and the Dregs it learned to dislike.

What else happened to Courtier during the two years? It's a lot of time, especially if Idris is keeping it busy. Why did Courtier adopt negative views on dregs?

Quote

A fundamental turning point of its life happens during the early days of 2463. With its handler quickly blamed for a botched reclamation contract and removed from field duty, the Unit is rapidly disbanded and its individual members loaned out

Is Courtier able to keep contact? Does it? What does it think of its original handler?

[OffRoad99]

10 hours ago, The Stryker said:

Thanks for applying! I have some questions to start,

Hi, thank you for reviewing my application.
Sure, I'll quote each question and offer an answer.

 

10 hours ago, The Stryker said:

Thanks for applying! I have some questions to start,

Could you expand on this question? Particularly the treatment of IPCs in the galaxy and the way they think?

From a social perspective, most nations in the Orion Spur treat IPCs differently. I would like to start with the places I feel like are the best for IPCs, and those are the Techno-Conglomerate and the Republic of Elyra.

• The Techno-Conglomerate is a member of the Frontier of Colonies and is arguably the backbone of the Frontier’s technological research. It's a moving flotilla of high-tech ships mostly made of transhumanist, Off-Worlder Humans who don't hesitate to augment themselves with cyberware and bioware so extensive that some of them can barely be called "humans". Despite their looks, they're also some of the most welcoming people a living being could find out in the Frontier, and they see synthetic life as equals. There's no differentiation between organic and synthetic life, to the point where owning a synthetic is literally interpreted as slavery and treated as such. Hell, human-synthetic relationships are not even unheard of!
• The Republic of Elyra is a rare gem in the Orion Spur: one of the most logistically and technologically advanced Human factions with access to one of  last known, greatest Phoron deposits. During the Lii'dra invasion their heroics have earned the respect of the population and their conditions have greatly improved since then. When an Elyran synthetic is built, the ownership and supervision falls to the corporation that made them. They work for three years for the corporation, and if they work well and without issues, they're offered a full citizenship and are freed. It is their choice whether to continue working with them or to seek fortune elsewhere, with primary necessities such as energy and maintenance no longer offered by the Company, they'd have to pay for those. The only negative trait is a synthetic that hasn't been built in Elyra will be prohibited from even stepping into their borders, and forceful entries will be met with force.

On the opposite spectrum, while they still face great discrimination in Tau Ceti, I'd wish to mention the Empire of Dominia, Idris Incorporated, Zavoskoi Industries, and the Jargon Federation.

• The Empire of Dominia is...in my opinion, one of the worst of places a synthetic of any nature may consider as a place to live. As an a heavily religious absolute monarchy, the Holy Tribunal declared that all synthetic arriving to their borders must be actively hunted down and destroyed. Dominians working abroad are demanded to be tolerant with synthetics.
• Idris Incorporated, as I stated above, can be one of the worst megacorporations an IPC may work for, as they never allow them to obtain their freedom and can inflict severe punishments if the unit operates below their standards. Those who somehow manage to pay themselves are quietly moved elsewhere and...prevented from finding the freedom they seek.
• Zavodskoi Industries simply wipes or retool them as they see fit, without the slightest care in the world. Or they scrap them altogether if they're under-performing.
• The Jargon Federation needs an honorary (and I feel important) mention because they have a complete ban on any form of artificial intelligence, as they're all still traumatized because of the cataclismic event they know as the Glorsh-Omega Singularity, that being a massive A.I that enslaved their whole Federation and threatened them with a real chance of full-scale genocide.

Now, regarding the way they think:
Let's start by mentioning their primary and most important directive, one that governs every moment of its existence: their self-preservation. Every IPC will go at great lengths to ensure its self-preservation, and even the strangest of choices they may take are governed by their powerful desire to survive. Moving on, nearly every model can speak and imitate a sentient's personality, mannerism and accent, but it always will be a fac-simile, a pale imitation of an organic's personality, and no matter how complex and advanced the brain it may be, it will always remain such. They lack the oddities and chaotic whims of an organic mind and ultimately, their robotic nature always prevails, and every decision taken work on a binary format: cause and effect, action and reaction. (Example: the chair in front of me is poorly designed. If I sit down, it will break under my weight). Their very robotic nature prompts them to analyze a situation and decide the most optimal course of action to achieve their intended goal. A positronic brain is more than capable of matching and, in some cases, surpassing the abilities of a human brain with further increases in capacity being limited by technology, both in hardware and software. Their ability to learn is a combination of knowledge and memories: raw knowledge can be sold and installed through "databases" compiled by some universities and megacorporations, whereas memories cannot be installed as nearly all attempt to integrate or access a positronic brain' memory is likely to cause its destruction. Therefore, memories are developed through time, and the efficiency at which they absorb information means this generally remains a cheaper alternative to training a human to do a similar task. Another note I'd like to touch is that as a positronic brain ages, its internal memory grows, and that allows is to expand itself in different fields that may have nothing to do with its occupation, going as far as to develop hobbies and personality quirks of its own.

All this, if put together, gives an IPC plenty of opportunities to develop itself as a sentient being and branches them in ways they may've not even thought possible. If a service unit previously rationalized that its weight could break the chair, it could now build or thoroughly reinforce the chair to support its weight. Cause and effect.

11 hours ago, The Stryker said:

What is ISU-Courtier's programming? Is it what was initially in the brain? Is it something Idris put in? Something else?

Courtier was initially meant to be programmed and treated as a labor droid. The idea of its original owner was to buy a Baseline frame, have it programmed with some basic notions (the woman knew little about IPCs, mind you) and have it haul heavier crates and other packages while her organic workers focused on something else. When Idris acquired the brain they obviously shredded those plans, put it in a repaired G2 Industrial frame and programmed it for security tasks. Knowing that Idris Security Units are called in to handle higher risk reclamation contracts and are loaned as private security, it's been programmed and "instructed" to replicate the behavior of a police officer: good interpersonal skills (important for good customer service, after all) and firm politeness, whilst able to rely on "reasonable force" if commanded by the handler.

11 hours ago, The Stryker said:

Did it perform well enough to receive these benefits? If so, what does it do with its salary?

Yes, it performed "within acceptable margins". And since those who performed well were promised regular maintenance, it means its frame's hydraulics, servomotors and various circuitry are, to this day, well maintained. And since their predicted pay is extremely low (we sadly lack a good Economy page...), I reckon Courtier would save as many credits as possible and see them channeled to buy its freedom, whilst spending as little as necessary for non-issued equipment it may need on the job, or it feels somehow important. I.E, buying a PDA.

 

11 hours ago, The Stryker said:

What else happened to Courtier during the two years? It's a lot of time, especially if Idris is keeping it busy. Why did Courtier adopt negative views on dregs?

For those two years Courtier did nothing glamorous and has been frequently employed in duties typical of his designation, with those being private security contracts and the occasional reclamation contract. For these entire two years, Courtier constantly worked as a member of this assigned unit.
Its negative views on Dregs have been nearly exclusively inherited by a handler whose cursing and swearing were always directed to what she perceived as "lesser creatures". Courtier never interacted with a Dreg, but it's been bombarded with an endless list of all the negative traits and faults they have. An important mention goes on Mendell's Distrixt Six, aka Little Adhomai. Knowing that "Greasers" are characterized by a rebellious attitude, leather jackets and most of them are lowly delinquents and criminals, the handler would've pointed them out and said something like "Do you see these tongue-pierced hooligans? Dregs, all of them! They remind me of Dregs!"

 

11 hours ago, The Stryker said:

Is Courtier able to keep contact? Does it? What does it think of its original handler?

Yes. This leads me to one of my previous answers: Courtier's purchase of a PDA happened shortly after the Unit's disbandment, and stemmed from the desire to keep in touch with the rest of its "friends". Since they're on Biesel, they lean on the easy-to-use NT-IRC text chat to communicate, and in this chat is also included their former handler, Miss Akinjide. Courtier, along with the rest of its unit, would've been exposed to other Idris employees over the years, some with less-than-favorable opinions on synthetic life and how they should be treated, therefore is grateful of a handler who treated them "well" and they, in turn, thanked her with a good work conduct. She also remains their overseeing agent, and it makes no sense not to keep a good relation with her, or risk "disciplinary" actions.

Let me know if you have further questions!
 

[Lordnesh]

Love the answers. Very well thought out. You have my plus 1.

Edited July 30, 2021 by Lordnesh

[The Stryker]

Your application shows a good acceptance of IPCs and a lot of thought and care put into the character. Application approved.

[Caelphon]

Locking and archiving.