Kermit's Skrell Application

[kermit]

BYOND Key: Sadkermit

Character Names: 

Loukas Tzannetakis, Captain

Hugh Oswald, Chief Medical Officer

Szuiaks Ezsruk, Head of Security,

Jory Meryasek, Research Director,

Faith Windsor, Pharmacist

Guusje van Willigen, Pharmacist

Ka’Akaix’Lyrk C’thur, Scientist

Marjolein Heuvelt, Assistant

+ a bunch of other retired characters.

Species you are applying to play: Skrell

What color do you plan on making your first alien character: Light blue.

Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yes

Why do you wish to play this specific race:

Much of the historical and political lore behind the skrell interests me and, as you’ll see below, is something I’ll enjoy working into character backstories. Social influence is a field I’ve always had a passing interest in, and skrell lore has been written with that in mind. Psionics being tied into this - listeners and receivers - and their dispositions towards conformity and obedience is a cool bonus.

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

I think the most important and universal aspect which makes roleplaying a skrell different to a human is the difference in expression. Skrell body language and social dynamics are all pretty unique and interesting. Emotes will focus less on facial expressions, and more the subtle or obvious movement of a head-tail, and feelings are conveyed more vocally and in a plain manner. Nailing that when roleplaying skrell is pretty important, in my eyes.

 

Character Name: Naalp Riqaij’aal 

Please provide a short backstory for this character

Naalp Riqaij’aal was born on Aweiji in 2157 to an immigrant Axiori family not yet sterilised by the genophage that originally hailed from Aliose during Glorsh-Omega’s reign. Pried from the embraces of their Quya, they were largely nurtured by a single Glorsh-sympathetic skrell who fulfilled the role of Ukutanii and a handful of robotic caretakers who handled Riqaij’aal’s physical needs, vaccinations, gene-tailoring and effecting of X’Lu’oa until they were capable of entering slave labour, beginning at the meagre age of 22. Having been separated from such an early age, they never got to know the members of their Quya, and were only showered with the crafted affection of their Ukutanii who psionically exaggerated the feelings they had for Riqaij’aal, and who preached the vision Glorsh had for the skrell race.

Upon reaching the age of 22, now stripped even from their Ukutanii, Riqaij’aal began working under the cold and direct supervision of their overlords. They worked in a factory which disassembled high-tech. apparatus of the previous era so that the products may be exported to XY-558, then to the heart of the Jargon Federation. While their upbringing initially erred them towards being a supporter of Glorsh, they struggled to conform with what they had been taught - due to their dive into the world outside of their Ukutanii’s embrace and into the harsh labour of slavery and due to thembeing a Listener. However, they made no attempt to resist, crossing their head-tails to those who spoke ill of Glorsh and dedicating themselves towards servitude.

Despite this, they were eventually picked up by a synthetic supervisor who detained Riqaij’aal, citing Glorsh’s sagely algorithms which predicted criminality and recent evaluations which categorised Riqaij’aal as a Listener. They were ferried over to a Kai’q encampment on Aweiji, not aware of any crimes they had or may have intended to commit, not even aware of even one time they criticised Glorsh aloud to a coworker. At the Kai’q, they received further genetic intervention ensuring their X’Lu’oa was in full effect, providing zero chance of their criminal-inclined genes being passed on, and were also subject to chemical and hormone treatments which aimed to - rather hopelessly - uncover a method of converting a Listener into a Receiver. Here they spent a large portion of their early life, subdued and resigned to the will of Glorsh - but they lived, where many other Listeners did not.

After the disappearance of Glorsh, the encampment Riqaij’aal was confined within was liberated by military forces, and Riqaij’aal witnessed the rebuilding of Aweiji and the ushering of the Supernova Age. Riqaij’aal volunteered to partake in their civil duties to rebuild skrell civilisation on the planet, and aided in the reconstruction of vital infrastructure as a Manual Spacecraft Operator, having to teach themself and figure out how to fly such vehicles, given few skrell around had experience operating such vehicles when, previously, they relied on AI to do so.

After some time, Aweiji was reunited with the Jargon Federation following the Tresja Agreement - somewhat to Riqaij’aal’s dismay. By now, Riqaij’aal had completed a course at an Uyi’vesi to pursue a career as a civilian pilot, working primarily in the inter-continental freighting field first as a Third Officer up to First Officer and then as a Captain. Following the reintegration into the Federation, however, Riqaij’aal shifted into the inter-planetary freighting field, presiding on the deck of large cargo-haulers operating between the Elemental and Core Systems.

Riqaij’aal’s career flourished, but only for a short while. Now under the parental eye of the Federation, Riqaij’aal was scooped up yet again by Nlomkala officers acting on the intel of Sromkala investigators - they had given themselves away in Srom. The state has identified Riqaij’aal as a Listener as well as a religious and political non-conformist who may or may not have malign intent to spark dissidence within the Federation. Riqaij’aal had never particularly fancied the idea of the Jargon Federation, disagreeing with foundations such as the Grand Council, Idol culture with Skrell society and, instead of following a state-sponsored faith, abided by the Kir’gul doctrine - Ya’Qu - but they certainly weren’t planning on consorting with anti-Federation groups or spreading dissent. 

Riqaij’aal watched their social credit score plummet from a low 6 to a high 3 and, once again, they were carted off, this time to a re-education facility within Tresja, the Federation citing Riqaij’aal’s nonconformist beliefs and the possibility of spreading dissidence or associating with anti-Federation groups. They passed the time by keeping a journal - two journals: one kept secret from the re-education facility’s officials; one less so - where thoughts were transcribed and experiences recollected and written. Eventually, social credit score reset to 5, Riqaij’aal was discharged from the re-education facility.

After retracing their steps through their career as a pilot, Riqaij’aal was, once again, faced with a stint in a re-education facility. Not wanting to repeat this for a third time, they migrated from the Federation to the Sol Alliance, landing in Callisto where their career began one last time alongside Hephaestus Industries. Through hard work and recognition within Hephaestus as a particularly adept and seemingly loyal vessel captain, Riqaij’aal was selected for a transfer to be part of the Executive Officer line-up of an upcoming SCC research vessel - the SCV Horizon - where they’d man the Bridge and pilot the vessel through space unknown and known.

 

What do you like about this character?

They fall far from the Federation’s idealised view of a skrell and thus have been victim to a fair amount of adversity. Working this into a backstory has been fun, and how I’ll roleplay it in-game will be something I’ll enjoy doing. The way the character will interact with skrell who were born following Glorsh's reign or those who advocate for the Jargon Federation will also be something I'll like about playing the character.

How would you rate your role-playing ability?

I improve where I can, it's difficult to rate my own ability.

Notes: 

In hindsight, applying with an Executive Officer ahead of the test-merge before they have official requirements listed may have been a silly idea. Worst case scenario, they'll be played as a Captain instead.

22/01 Edit: Age reduced by 40 years from 346 to 306. 346 is pretty old for a skrell with an average SC score and who left the Federation, considering natural life expectancy is ~200. They've still benefited a significant amount - 100 years - from age treatment in the Federation, but not as much as those who have higher SC scores and who still live in the Federation present time. This doesn't affect my answers below, they are still close to death having left the Federation, and reckon they have 30-40 years left to go.

Edited January 22, 2022 by SadKermit
Age

[Butterrobber202]

Excellent application. Its rare we see people applying with older Skrell.

1.) Naalp is closer to the end of their life than the beginning, and without access to Federation healthcare, their time left in the Spur is further cut down. Has this affected their mentality at all?

2.) Noting Naalp's anti-federation view points, what do they think about the C'thur and Diona in the Federation, and the roles they play?

3.) How would you play out your Skrell's distrust of synths? They were condemned to what amounts to a torture camp where they were experimented on, do you believe their stance on synthetics could ever change?

[kermit]

16 hours ago, Butterrobber202 said:

Excellent application. Its rare we see people applying with older Skrell.

1.) Naalp is closer to the end of their life than the beginning, and without access to Federation healthcare, their time left in the Spur is further cut down. Has this affected their mentality at all?

2.) Noting Naalp's anti-federation view points, what do they think about the C'thur and Diona in the Federation, and the roles they play?

3.) How would you play out your Skrell's distrust of synths? They were condemned to what amounts to a torture camp where they were experimented on, do you believe their stance on synthetics could ever change?

1) Naalp is certainly aware they're approaching the end of their life. They probably estimate they've got 30-40 years left, given that, while still in the Jargon Federation with a promising career, they'd have benefited from some of the Federation's healthcare advancements, but, given their ever-so-slightly above average social credit score, they wouldn't have benefited from all of it - no longer being in the Federation also means they no longer continuously receive such treatments for ageing, as you mentioned, and health concerns that otherwise would be treatable may begin to crop up. However, their position has always been precarious, and so they're well acquainted with the idea of being close to death.

They, of course, fear it and will be preparing, to a degree - whereas before they could observe decisions they made over the course of decades, they realise that they may have to make more short-term decisions, which they are unused to. Naalp is content with what they have achieved, and is likely at the stage where they're putting all their experiences to writing in their journal which they can neatly tie a ribbon onto ahead of their death, or sharing their experiences with others who may be interested. Joining the crew compliment of the Horizon will likely be the last major decision they make, and exploring space will be the last memories they'll write of in their journal - Naalp sees that as a fitting end.

2) Naalp admires dionaea as a whole - they're venerable, highly individualistic, inclined towards pacifism, and their experiences shape their outwards appearance and behaviour; these all align with Naalp's Kir'gul beliefs. However, the dionaea within the Federation are likely from Xrim and were seeded by Glorsh, and so Naalp is quite wary of them, but will judge each dionae hailing from Xrim as they come. Dionaea who are pacified by the Federation and instilled with their values - through education or adoption by a family loyal to the Federation - are pitied by Naalp; dionaea who support Glorsh are, of course, abhorred by Naalp. Dionaea who have no affiliation with Xrim or the Federation are more likely to be admired by Naalp, unless they hail from, say, the Viscera Belt, or a similar violent cluster.

Naalp dislikes vaurcae, seeing them as a fusion of flesh and machine, mass-produced in broods with their plan in life pre-determined, they're devoted to their queens, and they're dependent on their hive with little free will. Of course, as a vaurca ages and experiences life outside of VR, their personality is shaped and they express themselves more uniquely, however Naalp likely only has experience with younger Unbounds or Bound workers given their career in freighting, and is too ignorant to get to know a more developed Unbound. Naalp draws similarities between vaurca and Federation culture - the admiration and urge to copy Idols and Xakat’kl’atan, especially - and dislikes them for similar reasons. 

3) Naalp definitely distrusts synthetics and is always wary of another potential synthetic uprising in the future, however they've had the time to get acquainted with synthetics in human space and aren't fearful of them to a debilitating degree. The largest source of Naalp's discomfort towards synthetics will likely originate from shells, as they can't fathom the appeal behind unmarked synthetics designed to seamlessly fit in with an organic populace - Naalp prefers synthetics to remain overt and clearly marked. This is the most comfortable Naalp can get with synthetics, and there's little chance of them ever - in their 30-40 years remaining - befriending or being comfortable around a shell. It's already taken a large degree of effort for them to get this far.

Most rounds, this'll likely manifest itself as a couple emotes directed towards shell or a remark or two intended for the AI - stationbounds and non-Shell IPCs will likely be spared from any distrust. However, during elevated alert levels, this distrust will gradually expand to all synthetics, with the AI and shells being the most affected - having an organic crewmember do something of importance which, otherwise, could've been rectified by the AI, etc.; nothing that'll sabotage gimmicks focused around synthetics though, and so any distrust will have to be carefully reigned in.

[Caelphon]

This is one of the best Skrell backstories that I have read. Truly, exactly what I envisioned when I wrote. I love that your Skrell had conflicts, that they didn't blindly follow the Jargon Federation, and I especially enjoy the reasons for all of it.

Amazing. This application has my every ounce of support. 

[RyverStyx]

[ACCEPTED]