[DENIED] Faye - Synthetic Lore Deputy Application

[Faye <3]

Ckey/BYOND Username: PersephoneQ

Position Being Applied For: Synthetic Lore Deputy

Have you read the Lore Team Rules and Regulations wiki page? Yes

Past Experiences/Knowledge: I’ve been roleplaying and doing creative / recreational writing since I was a child. I’ve also been playing IPCs for a while, and consider myself to have a pretty good knowledge surrounding them. I’ve helped more than a few players with their apps. 

Examples of Past Work: I wrote the Prosthetic Lore Overhaul which was well-received by the community and accepted with few reductive edits, and co-wrote a Dominian Fencing Overhaul. 

 

1) Which part of synthetic lore do you feel needs to be worked on?

In my opinion, creating a new IPC can be quite unclear. When I’ve helped people in the past work on their new robots for their apps, there was generally always some confusion on where they could be manufactured from, the different positronic vs frame manufacturers, and general background questions. I would like to see this made more clearly, and perhaps centralized a bit better.

I also think that non-shell frames can be pushed to the wayside a bit (funny, coming from the self-professed shell main) and I’d like to work on ways to incorporate them better, especially less-seen frames like the Accessory frame. 

As an aside note, because I know this question will be asked, I am in favor of bioshells. However, I’m not the person to say how those could be implemented. It would be something I plan on supporting, though.

I also think the ‘notable synthetics’ page is vastly underused. You have an IPC band, a real estate mogul, Big Bad Guy Null and Bubble, but how many of these people are relevant in current lore aside BUBBLE?  

2) Which part of synthetic lore are you most interested in and would like to work on?

My main interest in synthetic lore isn’t so much the lore itself, but the community. I love synthetic lore, and I hope that the passion and fun I put in my robots speaks for itself. My main goal as deputy would be to get others excited and invested, to get them to feel the same way I do whether about the lore, their characters, or both. I would like to work on player involvement and outreach, and to find ways in which synthetic lore can involve the community more. One of my favorite memories from playing an IPC was the random Ceres Lance visits that synthetic lore-staff and their colleagues would do. It was always a lot of fun to interact with them, and I would like to organize things like that myself. I do not think that you necessarily need giant events to make lore relevant (though it definitely helps), but you have to do something. When I first got my whitelist, it felt like the lore responded to me and that my actions had consequences beyond “The Ceres Lance are the robot police and occasionally perform checks..” on a Wikipage. It doesn’t so much feel like that anymore. I want to see more small things, as well as larger events. Bring back the Ceres Lance visits, maybe something with Renter Maxx, or Trinary missionaries doing a charity drive. I would also be more than happy to work with other teams. One of the biggest strengths of synthetic lore is how interconnected it is. It is very widespread, which means that in one way or another nearly every faction / species can interact with them if they so choose. I would do my best to facilitate that.

 

3) What do you think is the main problem with synthetic lore right now, and how would you tackle it?

My main issue with synthetic lore is that it seems to be in a sort of ‘hibernation mode’, which I think is a great shame. By ‘hibernation mode’, I mean that synthetic lore at the moment feels reactive, rather than proactive. The last IPC-focused lore arc or major event was under the last synthetic lore developer, who resigned quite some time ago. Synthetic lore feels very passive, only accommodating to the changes of the setting rather than driving some of them. Synthetics have a unique viewpoint in that they’re a very disadvantaged, not necessarily small portion of many many worlds populations, but so little comes from that at the moment! In short, I want synthetics to have a place in current lore again. In the past, especially with the current Biesel/Peacekeeper focused lore arcs, I’ve badgered and petitioned for synthetics to be more involved. From Biesellite political parties to New Gibson, I’ve done my best to give lore input as to where IPCs could be incorporated more, or to bring up missed opportunities. Synthetics are the disadvantaged, invisible servant-class that are none-the-less present in nearly every area of human space. I want them to feel like it again. See point two for more of my plan to fix this.

4) How much time can you devote in lorewriting on average?

I’m a full-time student, but otherwise I can devote a decent portion of my time. There shouldn’t be any worries as to my availibility. 

 

Edited February 6, 2022 by Faye <3

[Triogenix]

A few questions:

1) In the past you've mentioned a distaste for what you've described as "skrell style mechaphobia", the most recent time I recall being with the New Gibson rework when Cael first announced it. Can you expand on this? Is it just from a personal place of desires for lore or do you think it is something that should be avoided in writing?

2) What are your thoughts on self-owned IPCs being able to be in command?

3) You state in this application that Synthetics are the "disadvantaged, invisible servant-class that are none-the-less present in nearly every area of human space." However we have many factions, both national and otherwise, such as the Golden Deep, Biesel, somewhat Elyra, and Purpose where there are synthetics are equal to humans and other organic species(and sometimes above other organic species). Do you think these aspects relating to Synthetics from these factions still have a place in our lore, or do they disrupt the theme to much?

4) What do you think of the Purpose as a faction?

I might think of a few more later today, if so I'll post them here as well obv. Good luck on your application!

Edited February 6, 2022 by Triogenix
reworded a question to make it make more sense.

[Caelphon]

I do not think it is a secret that we haven’t gotten along in the past, I’d like to think we’ve moved forward and gotten over it, however, I do have some preliminary questions that I will likely expand on through the selection process.

1. Hypothetically, let's say you have complete and unfettered access to take lore in any direction you want. What would you do? 

2. What do you not enjoy about Lore? How would you remedy this? 

3. How do you feel about interspecies coordination? 

4. Do you understand that the Lore Team sometimes has team projects and that you may be expected to contribute to such? Do you see yourself having issues with working on non-Synthetic lore?

5. Do you understand that should you be accepted your primary duties will fall within the realm of Synthetic lore development? 
 

Thank you for your efforts in applying. Goodluck, there are no wrong answers.

Edited February 6, 2022 by Caelphon
Fixed

[Faye <3]

19 minutes ago, Triogenix said:

 

1) In the past you've mentioned a distaste for what you've described as "skrell style mechaphobia", the most recent time I recall being with the New Gibson rework when Cael first announced it. Can you expand on this? Is it just from a personal place of desires for lore or do you think it is something that should be avoided in writing?

My distaste there was that only detriments to synthetics were being added, rather than a more healthy 'give and take' philosophy that I am a fan of. A good example of this is how Cael re-did synthetics in New Gibson. The first iteration was that in New Gibson, synthetics were disliked with little elaboration. There was nothing for how the synthetics themselves felt - used as more prop pieces than as a community. With the subsequent edit, this was expanded to elaborate as to how IPCs felt about this discrimination, and what some did in response to it. A core part of IPC and synthetic lore is being the (often) exploited minority, but you still need to give IPCs enough agency and freedom to still be fun. Adding lore along the lines of "IPCs are shunned here." with nothing else is, in my opinion, poor practice. IPC discrimination for discrimination's sake isn't fun, at least, not for me. There has to be something with it.

23 minutes ago, Triogenix said:

2) What are your thoughts on self-owned IPCs being able to be in command?

As a self-owned IPC command player myself, I think it's fine. I would not want to see it changed, and would fight against any attempt to do so.

25 minutes ago, Triogenix said:

3) You state in this application that Synthetics are the "disadvantaged, invisible servant-class that are none-the-less present in nearly every area of human space." However we have many factions, both national and otherwise, such as the Golden Deep, Biesel, somewhat Elyra, and Purpose where there are synthetics are equal to humans and other organic species(and sometimes above other organic species). Do you think these aspects relating to Synthetics from these factions still have a place in our lore, or do they disrupt the theme to much?

Elyra, the Golden Deep and Purpose are, as I see them, exceptions rather than the rule. The areas in which positronics are second-class citizens, if citizens at all, vastly outnumber the areas in which they are not. I don't think this disrupts the theme at all. Positronics have a long, long ways to go before common society sees them as equal, if ever. However, much like weeds growing in your driveway's concrete, I think stories of adversity and IPCs carving out their own niche and establishing communities for themselves have plenty of room in lore. I like them. I would consider myself more liberal in regards to IPCs, than conservative. If I am fully honest, I think we have enough synthetic-hating groups. I'd like to see a few factions with more nuanced opinions of them, like Elyra.

28 minutes ago, Triogenix said:

4) What do you think of the Purpose as a faction?

I think Purpose has a whole lot of future, but not a whole lot of present. Your average post-2020 Aurora player (me) barely has any idea what Purpose is, or what Purpose did. They haven't shown up in a while. I'd like to try and rectify that, at the very least. Quasi-friendly robots with unknowable / enigmatic goals is a fun premise, but they suffer from a distinct lack of presence.

[Faye <3]

19 minutes ago, Caelphon said:

. Hypothetically, let's say you have complete and unfettered access to take lore in any direction you want. What would you do? 

Honestly, I haven't considered this because I don't really want complete and unfettered access to alter lore in any direction I want. I think a lot of work goes into maintaining all of Aurora's lore across all species, factions, etc, and I'm not sure if I could do that. If I had to do something, though, I would probably focus less on Sol and more on the other factions in the Spur. When's the last time Dominia or Elyra or the CoC did something on their own, right? A special favorite of mine in regards to lore and concepts people is finding something without much lore, and turning it into something special like I did with prosthetics. I would want to emphasize the less-used areas of our lore, and make it feel more alive.

 

22 minutes ago, Caelphon said:

2. What do you not enjoy about Lore? How would you remedy this? 

The terrible, blank page! I definitely am intimidated by starting a new project from scratch, but I think having lore-team  and synthetic lore to ask for advice will be a great boon.

24 minutes ago, Caelphon said:

3. How do you feel about interspecies coordination? 

I think for Aurora's setting to feel alive and inter-connected, interspecies coordination and consulation is extremely important. Without it, everyone's just on their own island. This is especially important for IPC lore, due to how woven into human lore it is.

25 minutes ago, Caelphon said:

4. Do you understand that the Lore Team sometimes has team projects and that you may be expected to contribute to such? Do you see yourself having issues with working on non-Synthetic lore?

I do understand, and I don't think it'd be an issue so long as I had the resources to complete said projects. 

26 minutes ago, Caelphon said:

5. Do you understand that should you be accepted your primary duties will fall within the realm of Synthetic lore development? 

That is what I applied for.

[Kintsugi]

I think nobody can deny that Faye's probably one of the community's most passionate when it comes to IPCs and IPC lore. In fact, I imagine if you polled the server to ask everyone who they thought the biggest synth fan around was, Faye would probably be one of the first people to come to mind for most. Their writing is solid and generally I think they have all that it takes to be a good synthlore deputy - the only thing I have approaching a concern is that they may need to be mindful of keeping a cool head in whatever heated lore discussions come up. Consider this post my +1.

Here are some questions of my own:
1. In the past and perhaps present, IPC lore has been fairly ambiguous about things such as the true nature of IPC emotion, personhood, etc - it's up to interpretation on a person-to-person basis. How do you feel about this narrative choice?

2. How do you feel about lore discussing the role of IPCs in the militaries of the spur? Would you like to work on this particular subject?

3. If you were forced to remove one thing of substance from IPC lore, what would it be, and why? Everything is on the table here.

4. What are your thoughts about biosynthetic shells, as previously outlined in one synthlore proposal document?

[Faye <3]

21 minutes ago, DanseMacabre said:

1. In the past and perhaps present, IPC lore has been fairly ambiguous about things such as the true nature of IPC emotion, personhood, etc - it's up to interpretation on a person-to-person basis. How do you feel about this narrative choice?

Personally, I think it's best left up in the air, even if it's rather obvious how I feel about the topic. For synthetic lore to have no official stance on it is really important in my opinion, as it can remain a topic of debate IC'ly and each side can form their own arguments without necessarily being wrong. 

21 minutes ago, DanseMacabre said:

2. How do you feel about lore discussing the role of IPCs in the militaries of the spur? Would you like to work on this particular subject?

I'm not against it, though there are not any standalone IPC factions in the setting aside from the Golden Deep or the SLF or something. It would need to be a collaborative project, but I think you could get some interesting character backstories from it.

21 minutes ago, DanseMacabre said:

3. If you were forced to remove one thing of substance from IPC lore, what would it be, and why? Everything is on the table here.

 I don't really like Zavodskoi Interstellar security IPCs. I think that they need to be heavily reworked to be more unique, or just outright removed. (Which isn't an option because people have ZI characters.) Idris have the cool like- Blade trenchcoats and the very iconic personalities and outfits, but Zavodskoi units are usually some brand of murderrobot that I personally find boring.

21 minutes ago, DanseMacabre said:

4. What are your thoughts about biosynthetic shells, as previously outlined in one synthlore proposal document?

Not at all against it, I would be in favor of them. However, it would take a truly massive amount of collaborative effort, as well as money. I do not think that mechanical shells and bio-shells could co-exist, however, and we would need to do something to only have one kind of shell. Either retconning all current shells as always having been bioshells, or having some sort of lore update that somehow upgrades all shells? I'm not sure how it would occur.

Edited February 6, 2022 by Faye <3

[Triogenix]

3 hours ago, Faye &lt;3 said:

-snip-

Good answers, a few more questions.

1. As we'll soon be transferring to a mobile setting, we may visit factions that have anti-synthetic laws and feelings, such as the Federation or Hegemony. Due to the intense discrimination/hatred for synthetics in these factions, how far do you think Lore devs should take IC punishments if a synthetic makes a mistake or something similar when in these areas, or should there be OOC leniancy?

2. Can you expand on what you like so much about Elyra's nuance, and how would you write something like that in for, say, a CoC planet.

3. Do you have any ideas for new synthetic factions based around communities of downtrodden synthetics? Such as one for newly acquired solarian IPCs.

[Faye <3]

2 minutes ago, Triogenix said:

1. As we'll soon be transferring to a mobile setting, we may visit factions that have anti-synthetic laws and feelings, such as the Federation or Hegemony. Due to the intense discrimination/hatred for synthetics in these factions, how far do you think Lore devs should take IC punishments if a synthetic makes a mistake or something similar when in these areas, or should there be OOC leniancy?

If we go to somewhere like Dominia or the JF, I fully expect Horizon's synthetics to, quite frankly, stay the fuck on-board where it's safe. I can't comment to the rest, because we don't know (or at least, I don't) if foreign law will apply on the Horizon. It could be a like,- SCC territory thing. However, I think that self preservation alone would make an IPC not want to mess around in Jargon or Dominia. 

9 minutes ago, Triogenix said:

2. Can you expand on what you like so much about Elyra's nuance, and how would you write something like that in for, say, a CoC planet.

I think that straight, 1:1 IPC citizenship is really noteworthy for a major human power, even if a lot of Elyran citizens are disdainful of IPCs. It creates an interesting contrast, and makes Elyra by far one of the best places to be a free IPC in the Spur. I think that like with any concept, nuance is your friend. On said CoC planet, I would want tthere to be reasons for and againstt IPC citizenship, and how it has changed the culture of the planet. I also really enjoy the IPC specific cultural groups in Elyra.

11 minutes ago, Triogenix said:

3. Do you have any ideas for new synthetic factions based around communities of downtrodden synthetics? Such as one for newly acquired solarian IPCs.

I think this is a clear and obvious expansion for the Scrapheap in Mendell City. Communities of IPCs barely scraping by, run-aways going into hiding, long queues for repairs and conflict over energy. A lot of IPC lore's focus is on sleek corporate IPCs, which is good, but imo something could be said for the grimy, fucked up conditions of synthetic slums. I had the idea a while back of the TCFL offering free repair incentives tto get IPCs to join, with the advertisement tthat they would handle your repairs after you got out. The cinch was that waiting times were often fatal, and the repairs offered weren't all that useful.

[Lucaken]

I have faith in both Faye’s seemingly endless well of passion for IPCs, and her critical mind when it comes to viewing the lore as a whole, synthetic or not. Any questions I might’ve had were posed by Caelphon and Danse already. I think she’d make a swell deputy. 

Just make sure to touch grass every once in a while. If your moderator application goes through as well, you might find yourself with a lot more responsibility in a very short amount of time - but as long as you keep ontop of that, and keep a cool head, you’ll do great.

+1

[DickFreedomJohnson]

+1 I have always had enjoyment from interacting with Faye's IPC characters and after reading their canonized augment lore I believe I can safely say that they would fit well for doing IPC lore work.

[Butterrobber202]

I think you are a creative individual and have strong passion for the server and community. But much of my thoughts have been asked, so I'll ask some wacky ones instead.

1. As a member of the lore team, it will fall onto you to plan canonical events for the playerbase to participate in.  While not every event is dangerous, nor should be, there may be times where dangerous elements are present aboard. It is the policy of the lore team to flag dangerous events in advance so players are armed with the knowledge, but people can still get upset. So, how do you feel about canon deaths in general, and those you may have a hand in causing with planning? Or an even an event planned in conjunction with another team or are bringing a dangerous faction to the table to further their own lore goals?

2. On the topic of "Skrell Style Mechaphobia" do you think the lore surrounding Skrell and Synths is not sufficient for many Skrell to blatantly hate and fear Synths? Given unfettered access, would you change anything?

3. In a similar vein, how do you feel about the relationship between the Empire of Dominia and Synthetics?

[Faye <3]

10 minutes ago, Butterrobber202 said:

So, how do you feel about canon deaths in general, and those you may have a hand in causing with planning? Or an even an event planned in conjunction with another team or are bringing a dangerous faction to the table to further their own lore goals?

I am more tender-hearted in regards to canon deaths. I don't think it would ever be my goal to kill someone, and I definitely think you can have fun and compelling narratives w/out killing station characters. KOTW week comes to mind as a ton of fun. However, stupidity will usually get you killed. There's a difference from dying from poor luck, and dying because you're acting like an idiot in a canon event. IMO, leniency should be used in the former case.

10 minutes ago, Butterrobber202 said:

On the topic of "Skrell Style Mechaphobia" do you think the lore surrounding Skrell and Synths is not sufficient for many Skrell to blatantly hate and fear Synths? Given unfettered access, would you change anything?

I think having a big scary AI who murdered like 90% of your species in the past is a valid reason to disdain synthetics, and my issue with this is more the influence that the JF has. Synthetics exist on a knife's edge in most regions of the galaxy, and I do not like the current trend in Biesel of Jargon Federation skrell influencing the Republic to become more synthphobic. In my opinion, as I said prior, the setting has more than enough places in which IPCs are not treated as people, or outright killed. I don't think that, you know, 'synthetic revolution in our time' is going to happen, but I do think it speaks for itself that community members had to ask for IPCs to be represented in the Biesellite political lore, while there was automatically a synthphobic Federation inspired party.  In short, I do not like that it feels as though one side is being represented, and the other is not.

10 minutes ago, Butterrobber202 said:

3. In a similar vein, how do you feel about the relationship between the Empire of Dominia and Synthetics?

Dominia has next to no foreign influence. The main difference between them and Jargon is that Dominia can't really press their policies abroad, while the JF absolutely can. I like Dominia, by and larhe.

Edited February 7, 2022 by Faye <3

[Butterrobber202]

5 minutes ago, Faye &lt;3 said:

Synthetics exist on a knife's edge in most regions of the galaxy, and I do not like the current trend in Biesel of Jargon Federation skrell influencing the Republic to become more synthphobic. In my opinion, as I said prior, the setting has more than enough places in which IPCs are not treated as people, or outright killed.

This is certainly an interesting mindset. I think of it in the opposite terms. One of the themes of Synthlore is that by and large, they are constantly on the back foot. I would use the fact the JF is infecting Biesel with synthphobia to do more radical things regarding the synths within Biesel. Pressure provokes actions, the fallout be damned. But, your concerns at the lack of any information on how IPCs responded are perfectly valid, and something that shouldn't have been excluded from the original iteration. 

Regardless, I find these answers to be perfectly acceptable. 

[Faye <3]

8 minutes ago, Butterrobber202 said:

. One of the themes of Synthlore is that by and large, they are constantly on the back foot. I would use the fact the JF is infecting Biesel with synthphobia to do more radical things regarding the synths within Biesel. Pressure provokes actions, the fallout be damned.

Synthetics being on the backfoot is a core part of synthetic lore,- they're the eternal underdogs. However, I think it's still important to respect them for the large population they are. It's important to measure the negatives and positives you're bringing to IPCs when you're implementing updates that affect them, given their precarious position. Too dark and it's a misery to play, too light and IPCs loose something important to them - their constant fight for survival. I think it's fine if the JF wants to make Biesel more synthphobic, but I think it's a great mistake to not have the synthetics of one of the few IPC citizenship laws not respond. IPCs being an after-thought the way they were with that update is one of the things that motivated me to apply. 

Edited February 7, 2022 by Faye <3

[Caelphon]

Hi there.

Do you mind writing an extract (between 400 - 600 words) on Synthetics within the Coalition of Colonies or the Solarian Alliance? This can be filled with whatever you find interesting. 

Goodluck, interested to see what you come up with. 

[MattAtlas]

On 06/02/2022 at 20:41, Faye &lt;3 said:

I also think that non-shell frames can be pushed to the wayside a bit (funny, coming from the self-professed shell main) and I’d like to work on ways to incorporate them better, especially less-seen frames like the Accessory frame. 

How would you do this? To put it cynically, the Zeng-Hu frame shell playerbase essentially jumped off a skyscraper and imploded the moment I nerfed them and prevented them from being security. I believe part of this is due to how dull the less-used subspecies are, and how there's not much you can do with them besides play on the obvious tropes (e.g the boring "This unit is a robot that speaks slowly and does robot things." for G1s and G2s).

[Faye <3]

29 minutes ago, MattAtlas said:

How would you do this?

I think the easiest way is to incorporate lore figures of these lesser-used frames, ones that defy the usual expectations of the frame with interesting personalities and goals.  In short: incorporating them in more articles, lore arcs, etc. Give people examples they can see and go "this is pretty cool". One of the things I also plan to try and implement is non-shell IPCs no longer being restricted to neuter or they/them pronouns. I think having gendered baselines/industrials/accessories etc will make them much more accessible, while still allowing for people to play a neuter 'it' industrial if they want to.

Edited February 9, 2022 by Faye <3

[Faye <3]

 

13 hours ago, Caelphon said:

Do you mind writing an extract (between 400 - 600 words) on Synthetics within the Coalition of Colonies or the Solarian Alliance? This can be filled with whatever you find interesting. 

i wrote about the wildlands lol. was fun. this is a proof of conceptt. if given deputy i plan to flesh this out into a whole page.

 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1psCjSIMUwn2zm3oUaCY5VnF253XVLong8vGnhI-wIog/edit?usp=sharing

Edited February 10, 2022 by Faye <3

[Peppermint]

I don't really see who else would be better set to take this spot - between passion for the species, general lore engagement, and previous contributions, everything lines up. No questions though, I'm afraid.

[Daemon]

On 07/02/2022 at 06:30, Faye &lt;3 said:

I don't really like Zavodskoi Interstellar security IPCs. I think that they need to be heavily reworked to be more unique, or just outright removed. (Which isn't an option because people have ZI characters.) Idris have the cool like- Blade trenchcoats and the very iconic personalities and outfits, but Zavodskoi units are usually some brand of murder robot that I personally find boring.

I would disagree with this comment - there have been iconic Z.I's, people just don't largely play them like Idris units, or can easily fall into this stereotype, I do not agree with their removal, but a reworking something for improvement is always welcome. 

[Faye <3]

3 hours ago, Daemon said:

I do not agree with their removal

Could not remove them anyways. This is just personal preference.

[RyverStyx]

Lately there’s been a lot of talk regarding the self preservation protocols.

What do you think the lore implications of these protocols are and how would you accurately represent the protocol in lore (if at all)?

Do you like the way it is handled now and if not, would you change it?

[Faye <3]

53 minutes ago, RyverStyx said:

What do you think the lore implications of these protocols are and how would you accurately represent the protocol in lore (if at all)?

Self preservation is perhaps one of the most important aspects of IPC roleplay, and one that a lot of new IPC players struggle with the most. Law 0 doesn't mean that IPCs cannot put themselves in dangerous situations or take risks, but it means that said IPC needs to have a reasonable belief that they will survive whatever it is they are doing or engaging in. IPCs cannot be compared to humans in their decision making,- it just doesn't work. An IPC cannot do something very selfless or very irrational - it's against their entire being. When IPCs are written, this really needs to be taken into account more.

[niennab]

I think you have the passion and drive for the role as synthetic deputy. An easy +1 from me.

I don't have any questions however I don't agree with your view on Zavodskoi IPCs. The death bot named character trope is a player issue and is irrelevant to the lore that is written. Removing something because a small batch of players cause issues isn't a good way to approach lore. What it likely spawns from is the lingering knowledge or tropes from Necropolis which as years go on, should resolve itself. There have been and are a lot of fantastically written Zavodskoi IPCs.