[Accepted] Chevy Writes a Bug Report - Vaurca Whitelist Application

[ChevyChevron]

BYOND Key: Aethenos
Character Names: John Chevalier, Mark Doe, Marcus Ahston, Damon Makris, Amanpreet Singh
Species you are applying to play: Vaurca
What color do you plan on making your first alien character: The sort of metallic blue-gray typical of the Vytel brood.
Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yes.

Why do you wish to play this specific race: One of the first aliens I encountered when joining Aurora was a Vaurca warrior played by our dear Canon35. Kakvak was a frequent sight in the security department at the time and, seeing as I mostly play security, it meant I ran into it a lot. There were a lot of quirks about the Vaurca that I grew to appreciate, even as I became more familiar with other aliens across the station. It is also my understanding that there is a Vaurca event arc in the works, and I suspect the C'thur hive may be involved. I currently have no whitelists; thus it seemed a good place to start so that I could participate in the upcoming event arc and have a bug in that race, so to speak. The factional nature of the Vaurca appeals to me as well, as the different hives and the broods within them vie for their place in the spur. I tend to find myself more interested in the species with a lot of moving parts politically speaking, and the Vaurca definitely appeal to that.

Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: The impression I get is that Vaurcae are often almost closer to machines than to other forms of organic life. Their primary concerns are first preservation of the hive and second preservation of the self. Unlike IPCs and other synthetics, however, they are still organic creatures with wants and needs. Even bound may have their own little quirks of personality, despite the extremely limited capacity for those quirks to present themselves. Unbound, however, exist to fill in the gaps presented by the bound. While bound are able to be made to fill many positions, this naturally leads them to becoming cripplingly specialized and unable to perform outside of their limited purpose. Unbound can both fill the roles that require versatility as well as be a guiding hand to the bound around them.

Character Name: Za'Akaix'Xot C'thur
Please provide a short backstory for this character: Xot was created as part of a experimental hive cell of unbound Vytel warriors intended to serve as EPMCs alongside humans. The purpose of the experiment was to examine the effects of social bonding between Vaurca warriors and alien soldiers on the combat effectiveness of the warriors in question. To this end, Xot and the rest of its hive cell were given more intensive training in understanding alien culture and social cues than a warrior would ordinarily receive. Despite initial successes, however, the EPMC unit that Xot was a part of suffered catastrophic losses in a battle against pirates as a result of faulty intelligence. Most of Xot's hive cell died in the battle, the relatively expendable Vaurcae buying time for the EPMCs to evacuate, and a significant number of their neural sockets were unable to be recovered. Unfortunately, the pirates had scattered before the Vytel were able to muster the forces to reclaim the sockets of their dead and only a handful were ever found. The rest are presumed destroyed or stolen by the pirates.

As a consequence, the experiment was shelved and the remaining warriors of the cell were transferred to standard EPMC work where they will likely remain for the rest of their natural lives. Xot's contract has wound up being passed to NanoTrasen, at least for the time being, and it will be serving aboard the Aurora as a security officer. Despite the experiment not being considered a failure officially, Xot feels something akin to guilt over how it turned out, especially with regards to the loss of life on the part of its fellow warriors and the EPMC soldiers they had grown close to.
What do you like about this character?: Xot is intended to be something approaching charismatic for a Vaurca, able to mingle with other sentients and bond with them. One of the benefits found by the experiment it was created for is those who interact socially with Xot's cell tended to develop favorable opinions of Vaurca as a whole more readily. Xot exists in a sort of limbo between being ordered to make friends with other species and having a genuine desire to borne of its VR training. However, the survivor's guilt it feels regarding the hive cell members it lost complicates its purpose and gives it more depth than simply "what if bug man was able to make friends." I wanted to create a Vaurca security character that I knew wouldn't simply come out as a gung-ho soldier. Rather, Xot's enhanced ability to empathize with other sapients means that it has a greater desire to avoid bloodshed wherever possible. I usually prefer security characters with that twist to them of preferring a nonviolent solution but remaining capable of picking up a gun and using it in an emergency. Xot is my attempt at that archetype within the Vaurca narrative. Good, but not soft. Kind, but tormented.

How would you rate your role-playing ability?: I'm of two minds on how to answer this question. Certain aspects of roleplaying, such as immersing myself in a character and maintaining the distinction between IC and OOC knowledge, I would say I am quite good at. Others, such as actually talking to other people, I find I do poorly at. I'm prone to dismissing my own capabilities and I wouldn't call myself a particularly impressive roleplayer, but I've had people tell me in the past that I am quite good at what I do. Ultimately, I hope to be both memorable and accurate with the lore I'm able to use, and I hope to improve over time.

 

Edited October 1, 2021 by ChevyChevron

[Butterrobber202]

if I see another c’thur on station I’m going POSTAL

 

good app, decent premise. I usually prefer Vaurca who lean hard into their alienness, because it creates contrast with their coworkers, which can be fun.

Though, there is nothing wrong with going with “Xeno diplomacy was beaten into my brain.” Since it is apart of the lore.

1. What religion does Xot follow?

2. What are their thoughts on the other Hives in the Spur?

3. as a C’thur, you have roots in the Federation, problems there are problems for your hive. What does Xot think about current events?

[ChevyChevron]

On 29/09/2021 at 13:30, Butterrobber202 said:

if I see another c’thur on station I’m going POSTAL

 

good app, decent premise. I usually prefer Vaurca who lean hard into their alienness, because it creates contrast with their coworkers, which can be fun.

Though, there is nothing wrong with going with “Xeno diplomacy was beaten into my brain.” Since it is apart of the lore.

1. What religion does Xot follow?

2. What are their thoughts on the other Hives in the Spur?

3. as a C’thur, you have roots in the Federation, problems there are problems for your hive. What does Xot think about current events?

Thank you for the kind words. I don't intend to shy away from Xot's alien qualties, but rather explore how even in such an alien mindset there can be similarities and empathy shared between Vaurca and other species.

1: Xot believes in the Preeminence, the inclusion of aliens in its theology appealing to Xot's desire (and conditioning) to interact with other species. Xot is aware of the purpose for which it was born and enjoys fulfilling that purpose, something it considers evidence supporting the Preeminence's philosophy. More than that, though, Xot desires for there to be an end to strife between hives and species and the Preeminence's focus on shattering such barriers appeals to its diplomatic nature.

2: Xot is of the opinion that animosity and old grudges between the hives must be put aside in the face of modern problems. Even though the C'thur hive is the most economically stable of the hives in the Orion Spur, Xot is keenly aware how even small mistakes can snowball into catastrophe. It thinks that, as a whole, the hives stand to gain more by working together as equals than any of them would gain if by fighting for dominance. However, it has no illusions that such quarrels can ever be truly done away with so long as certain facts remain in place. For example, as the Lii'dra are unlikely to suddenly have a change of heart and establish peaceful diplomatic ties with other societies, the rest of Vaurca society is imperiled by the hive's continued existence. It also doubts that the Zo'ra are likely to put away their desire for sovereignty any time soon. Xot feels some particular affinity for Athvur's brood, given their relationship to humankind.

3: As Xot was chosen for EPMC work before it was born, the warrior has little experience with Federation society. In general, though, it approves of the Federation's desire to promote unity among its people but disagrees with some of the more extreme polices enacted to achieve this goal. However, Xot can also understand (even if it has difficulty relating to) the desire for independence characteristic of the Skrell living outside of the Federation. Ideally, it would like for some kind of compromise to be reached between both sides such that the more independent Skrell could still participate in and benefit the Federation without feeling oppressed or persecuted because of it. More practically, it wonders if the C'thur will be called on to provide soldiers in the event of a large-scale uprising, as such a campaign would no doubt be costly to all parties involved. Xot is interested in getting to know Skrell (as well as other species) in the more diverse workplace of an SCC station as its experience with the EPMC was largely only with humans outside of combat.

Edited October 1, 2021 by ChevyChevron

[Desven]

Hello, thank you for applying.

Just a heads up, the Hive's name is C'thur. Similarly, the others are Zo'ra and K'lax, all with one capital letter only.

As for questions, I think Butter did a good job asking what I would've. However, I would like to know a bit more in regards to Xot's thoughts on its lost partners. It must be very traumatic since they would be the very few Vaurcae that would not share the Afterlife.

 

[ChevyChevron]

5 hours ago, Desven said:

Hello, thank you for applying.

Just a heads up, the Hive's name is C'thur. Similarly, the others are Zo'ra and K'lax, all with one capital letter only.

As for questions, I think Butter did a good job asking what I would've. However, I would like to know a bit more in regards to Xot's thoughts on its lost partners. It must be very traumatic since they would be the very few Vaurcae that would not share the Afterlife.

 

Improper capitalization has been fixed, thanks for catching that.

As for the question: Xot feels a good deal of guilt over the situation. Why did some of them live and some of them die? Xot feels responsible, as if it should have fought harder to save its fallen brethren. Thinking more introspectively, Xot would probably compare the feeling of loss to that felt by the humans who lost their comrades that day; it imagines it's a similar sort of loss, given that humans and other aliens have no VR afterlife they can see their loved ones in.

Xot considers itself responsible despite the official stance not blaming anyone in particular, a belief that Xot suspects was part of why it was stationed away from active combat and was integrated into the SCC's security forces instead. It is a resilient sort, but the grief was certainly traumatic and Xot doesn't doubt it would have broken down entirely had another such loss occurred. Serving on the Aurora will let it continue to be of use to the hive and continue to fulfill its purpose as a warrior.

[Roostercat]

Hi. I am satisfied with both the app, the questions, and your etiquette as a roleplayer. Application accepted!