[Accepted] Hawkington becomes bugge

[Hawk]

BYOND Key: Hawkington

Character Names: Aztari Rezkathan, Tau, EXO4, Oquq Ieliu Koqun, Akhtar Zaman, ISU-Char0n.

Species you are applying to play: Vaurca

What color do you plan on making your first alien character: (RGB 11, 84, 31)

Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Not at all I don't even know what a Vaurca is, I've never even seen a bug IRL  Yes

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: Vaurca have always been pretty interesting to me, I had no idea what one was first time I had every played on the server, and every interaction with one was pretty interesting, and seeing the different subspecies, augments, and even a Warform one wizard round, were all pretty memorable experiences for me, reading up on the lore was interesting and fun, and they way each hive is intertwined with another species was probably one of my favourite concepts that I've seen in Aurora lore.

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

Firstly let's start with their diet, Vaucra consume K'ois a highly volatile fungus that reproduces at an incredibly quick rate, capable of strangling out near all other plant life on a planet, or jumping from asteroid fields onto ships and leads to mycosis in other species, K'ois produces phoron, which Vaurca breathe and they utilize filter ports to keep breathing via internal phoron tanks, and nitrogen is poisonous to them which means chemicals like dexalin actually suffocate them, their exoskeleton functions like a voidsuit, meaning that if a Vaurca has a supply of phoron they can go EVA, which the worker caste being the "best" at this being able to go on extended, several day-long EVA expeditions, but other castes such as Warriors can also go EVA, just not for as long, hours at most. This can create crises and controversies from other species about Vaurcan food, their farms are inherently dangerous to other species and the logistics of cultivating it have become a problem for some Vaurca, Even when barren asteroids are used to grow it, it can hop onto passing ships and still kill anyone inside. Some Broods have dedicated themselves to attempting to solve this problem, and some Vaurca may not think much of this problem while others may be outwardly frightened or constantly thinking of new ways to combat this.

Before a larva is hatched, its purpose is determined by a Breeder (A Type CB) in a process called imagotis, where they essentially use pheromones and consciously imagine what they want this larva to look and think like which facilitates their growth into different castes and if the larva is to be an unbound then it is raised in VR for 6 months where time can pass differently so this means this process can feel like years to the larva it will receive several augmentations depending on circumstance throughout its life, or if it's to be bound then it is given implants almost immediately implanted with a neural socket once they are finally "ready" This VR training is incredibly extensive and can cover every single skill a Vaurca needs to know, even dying, however, something this in depth can have a large effect on Vaurca, multiple Vaurcan religions are based around the idea that everything they experience is VR, some can no longer tell the difference between VR and Reality, and some vastly prefer VR to Reality. And the dilated nature of their training could possibly leave a Vaurca with a warped perception of time or they fail to estimate how short their lifespans are when compared to other species.

 Vaurca have different "Castes" or subspecies Type A, the Workers who are designed to keep the hive in stable condition preforming maintenance on VR systems, or on the hiveships themselves , this means they typically avoid conflict, in contrast to Type B "Warriors", who can be bipedal, quadrupeds or hexapods, which are type BA, BB and BC respectively and usually have some form of weaponry augment, this caste are essentially designed for conflict or guarding things and aren't well suited to much else, however NT only really employ BA without most of their more advanced augments, and usually stick to unbound, because warforms tend to be unwieldy, having such intense physical differences due to having different functions are completely normal to Vaurca, however this may make concepts such as switching jobs seem like utterly alien concepts to them, a Type B designed for security work may not even know what a microscope is.

Vaurca prefer to work in a team however Unbound will typically assign Bound to do the more "Menial" tasks, and they use "Hivenet" to accomplish this their rhythmic twitching of antenna and release of pheromones can be used for long distance communication between Vaurca who have a very well developed sense of smell to facilitate this. 

Character Name: Ka'Akaix'Dex K'lax

Please provide a short backstory for this character: Dex was born from Vetju's brood, their assigned purpose was to work with the Hephaestus workers on Tret to gain credits and improve relations for the Hive, and as a result their VR training included experience working with Unathi and Humans, and some slight information on minor repairs on G1, G2 and Xion IPC units, which were compared to bound for Dex. Simulations of Hephaestus Orbital Superfactories which was planned for construction above Tret, their inner workings, and common layouts and errors they may experience were all simulated and used for training along with all the basic, though in depth experiences for engineering and construction work expected of one of Vetju's engineers, however, their training was not free from Vetju's influence, as it was told to Dex that the other species, and even other Vaurca, were fallible, and that their true skills lay in their ability to maintain and deconstruct technology for future use,

This became their primary purpose when working with Hephaestus, deconstructing old parts of mining bases on Tret, and sending the materials for use elsewhere on the planet, commonly being under the command of others, or occasionally being sent in to work with teams of other K'lax, however, when news of the new Orbital Superfactory was announced, Multiple hives was asked to supply more engineers and miners, bound or unbound, and as a result, there was a slight overflow of Vaurcan workers for the project, and a few were reshuffled around Hephaestus institutions, some bound being sent to mine on Burzia, and a few being sent to other stations owned by Hephaestus or less occasionally stations belonging to other Megacorps as "Peace Offerings", particularly with the formation of the SCC encouraging the exchange of skilled workers on each others stations, Dex was one of these, sent to work on NT stations, with the blessing of their hivecell breeder.

What do you like about this character?: Dex is a good starting point for the species I feel, they're going to have enough quirks to stand out, but also be efficient at their job and not derail gameplay in any major way until I get even better at playing at the species

How would you rate your role-playing ability?: Solid 7/10, could always be better, could always be worse, will probably improve the more I play bug, the more it'll improve

[Desven]

Hello, thank you for applying. I will ask you some questions.

1. I would like for you to provide a different answer for the 'What makes Vaurca different' question. The reason being that while yes, all of those are important differences, the questions is less concerned about game mechanics and more about how getting in the shoes of Vaurcae, so to speak, would even be like. It doesn't have to be as long as you wrote it currently, just some stuff regarding what would feel unique about being a bug.

2. As far as I am concerned, there are no IPCs in Tret. I'm guessing Dex's training was, instead, focused to more in working with other Hephaestus colleagues than what they would face on the planet. I don't think it's fair to ask too much regarding VR currently as it's not fully written in the wiki at the moment, but I would like to make a note that Vetju's influence, as you put it, would be present, since the surrogates and their first experiences would all be performed by their own brood. Vetju is mostly with Hephaestus out of necessity, and because of this I imagine any Hephaestus worker's training would be different from whatever is run with her other workers. I guess what I'm trying to say is that, with a more social training, how would Dex see the rest of their brood? On the same vein; what do they think of Zkaii and Zo'ra, specifically?

3. Currently, the only hive involved with Hephaestus is K'lax. Like construction workers in real life, it would be logical for Hephaestus to move around Dex after a project is done. Is this the first time Dex is outside of Tret, and if so, what does it think about human space? As well as other species, such as Dionae and Tajara, that will be present on board the Aurora as co-workers?

4. Vaurca religion, while being laissez-faire in a way, is still deeply important to each individual, and an atheist would be likely unheard of in the Vaurca society. Does Dex follow any faith?

Good luck.

[Hawk]

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1. I would like for you to provide a different answer for the 'What makes Vaurca different' question. The reason being that while yes, all of those are important differences, the questions is less concerned about game mechanics and more about how getting in the shoes of Vaurcae, so to speak, would even be like. It doesn't have to be as long as you wrote it currently, just some stuff regarding what would feel unique about being a bug.

Well, due to being a hive species, Vaurca would prefer to work in teams forming social bonds and can come to view their co-workers as a "Second Family" so Vaurca may get unnerved about being alone for long periods of time without communication from their own, Their sensitivity to light and their familiarity with cramped spaces means that some Vaurca may utilize Maintenance tunnels to move around rather than main corridors, the common practice of creating barely sentient bound, mean that discrimination may seem well-founded to some Vaurca, and their VR training, and the time dilation that follows this means that some of them have lived incredibly long lives, despite unbound workers and warriors only commonly lasting around 20 years, and their neural socket being transferred means that some Vaurca won't fear their own death, expereiencing it in their training, some even preferring VR, or not even being to tell the difference between VR and Reality, which in the cases of some Queens, means that strange and downright nonsensical events can see quite common to some Vaurca.

Since Vaurca are inherently designed to preform one task well they tend to lack inter departmental and social knowledge when it comes to some species, unless specifically trained, a Vaurca may have no idea what some common objects actually are, or how to perform tasks "Outside their scope"

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2. As far as I am concerned, there are no IPCs in Tret. I'm guessing Dex's training was, instead, focused to more in working with other Hephaestus colleagues than what they would face on the planet. I don't think it's fair to ask too much regarding VR currently as it's not fully written in the wiki at the moment, but I would like to make a note that Vetju's influence, as you put it, would be present, since the surrogates and their first experiences would all be performed by their own brood. Vetju is mostly with Hephaestus out of necessity, and because of this I imagine any Hephaestus worker's training would be different from whatever is run with her other workers. I guess what I'm trying to say is that, with a more social training, how would Dex see the rest of their brood? On the same vein; what do they think of Zkaii and Zo'ra, specifically?

Dex views their fellows with less social training as something that just is, they understand that those few had a different purpose from their own and that they may have more training in other areas that Dex cannot comprehend, and in any situation that requires any of those K'lax to interact with another species, Dex outwardly offers to help "Translate" between the two if they lack the correct training, though they are noticeably more reluctant to do this with other Hives, particularly Zo'ra, and usually has to be asked to perform this duty in these cases.

Dex follows his Queen's view of finding Zkaii and her hive "Sleepy", and has commonly got annoyed over their tendency to tinker with technology rather than stick to what is known to work, usually preferring not to "Bicker" out loud, though commonly attempting to "Show Off" when working with Zkaii's brood, attempting to complete their work far faster and more efficiently than their opposition when paired, Dex also finds the whole "Mother Dream" religion ridiculous, and views it as a complete waste of time that could be better spent working, and that this world's problems require the Hive's full attention, there is no true "Reality" where everything is simply better, and they must improve the reality they're in.

Dex fully understand why their hive hates the Zo'ra and tends to not fully trust their work, commonly "Double-checking" it themselves, to observe faults and then fix faults if there are any, viewing them as incompetent as best, or downright malignant at worst, though due to their social training, they tend not to outwardly voice this, not even to most other K'lax, just other members of Vetju's brood, as they understanding sowing dissidence in the workplace is heavily frowned upon.

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3. Currently, the only hive involved with Hephaestus is K'lax. Like construction workers in real life, it would be logical for Hephaestus to move around Dex after a project is done. Is this the first time Dex is outside of Tret, and if so, what does it think about human space? As well as other species, such as Dionae and Tajara, that will be present on board the Aurora as co-workers?

I imagine that, yes this is one of the first times that Dex has been out of Tret, as they were excellent at working in Hazardous conditions that most other Hephaestus workers were unwilling to indulge in, mostly EVA and K'ois infected areas and with one of the main "Missions" Dex was brought along on, was retrieving and decontaminating ships that had become lost within the "Cursed Asteroids"  and either sending them back into the Hegemony, or scrapping them for parts and using them for other Hephaestus projects, Human space is intriguing to it, the amount of freedoms, yet discourse one could face was a fascinating concept, albeit one they don't fully comprehend, as their VR experiences told them about some political situations, but mostly how to avoid insulting those involved in them, e.g. Don't say "Sol Rocks" to a TCFL Member, however, they weren't really told how these stalemates and cold wars began, to Dex, these situations only "Exist" and they don't comprehend the reasons behind them, or how they would affect other empires and the people within them, only how their views could affect the K'lax or Hephaestus, and Dex's attempts to work.

Dex's most advanced social training was reserved for Unathi and Humans, and as a result, their training on Tajarans and Dionae is much sparser, and mostly focused on how to keep them "Functional" like how Dionae are actually multiple beings that feed on radiation, and that Tajarans can overheat if kept in voidsuits for too long, but, this also has the side effect that Dex doesn't have the best social interactions with them, believing that the NKA's Queen was actually a Type C Breeder, until corrected, and wondering if the discrimination against Zhan-Khazan was actually because Zhan's ancestors were some form of bound, though, knowing enough to not say this out loud. They understand Dionae slightly better though, comparing rootsong to "Less Advanced" hivenet.

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4. Vaurca religion, while being laissez-faire in a way, is still deeply important to each individual, and an atheist would be likely unheard of in the Vaurca society. Does Dex follow any faith?

Dex follows the Classical Pantheon, mostly because they were told about it early on in life and assumed it was part of their duties, they view their queens as important due to their ability to birth life, and understand the whole of the Vaurca would disappear, if they were not born to help them work and survive. However this is not as important as Dex resilience to all other forms of Religion viewing the Modern pantheon as Zo'ra Domination that Vetju's brood would never accept and the Pilot and Mother Dreams as wasteful fiction that distract from a Vaurca's true purpose. They haven't heard much about Preimminence, but from what they hear, makes more sense than most of the other religions.

[Roostercat]

Accepted.