Ramke - Tajara Lore Deputy Application

[Ramke]

Ckey/BYOND Username:

Ramke

Position Being Applied For:

Tajara Lore Deputy

Have you read the Lore Team Rules and Regulations wiki page:

Yes

Past Experiences/Knowledge:

Regarding the existing lore, I have been (at this point exclusively) a Tajara player for over a year, and have been following all developments as well as participating where appropriate. I believe I have good knowledge of the current state of Tajara lore which hopefully reflects in my characters.

Regarding working as a developer, I do not have any experience within Aurora's or SS13's development teams in any capacity other than volunteering to provide sprites, participate as event characters, or provide feedback. Outside of Aurora, I have been part of a space game roleplay community where I had contributed through being a faction leader, event organiser, moderator, server administrator and head of development. For transparency in the latter parts, most of this work was coordinating and assisting in producing content for all departments including Story, rather than actively producing it (with the exception of fx/factions/events).

Finally, writing experience - most of my writing experience consists of personal character stories throughout both communities I've been part of - mostly through the relay or forums as a medium. In the other community, I have additionally written faction descriptions, news articles, faction communications and "info cards" (snippets of lore attached to items or locations).

Examples of Past Work:

Most of the past work from the other community would have been overwritten by now due to the progression of the story, and the majority of it was written 4-5 years ago so I am not too sure it would be reflective of the content I may be able to produce now - I've decided not to include this in the application. Please feel free to DM me if you are still curious.

Outside of story-specific written content, I have made the Tajara drink and Tesla prosthetic internal organ sprites that are currently in-game.

For the application work requirement, I've written an expansion on the Free Gakal'zaal Station:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/156AUOHGA25L5DEohZ8UbR5Z5uU3sSam8yAaBlGL4ggA/edit?usp=sharing

This should probably be expanded upon and consulted with Unathi lore developers to see if they would like to add anything to it, since Gakal'zaal is the point where Unathi and Tajara lore meet. It also adds some flair to distinguish characters from there and an additional bridge for players to explain how their characters got to the Aurora/Horizon.

Additional Comments:

I will likely be unavailable (or with very limited availability) throughout May and June as my final year of university is coming up. After that my schedule should become a lot more free.

I believe I can manage both CCIA and lore deputy duties as CCIA is relatively non-oppressive in terms of workload. However, I am conscious of burnout and will likely end up looking to leave one or the other (with notice) if it becomes unmanageable to the point of affecting my enjoyment of the game. It is hard to tell without knowing what the workload will be like without having experienced it.

[Triogenix]

Glad to see you applying, I have a few questions for you.

1) Earlier this year you spoke at length in the lore discord about your personal issues with the PRA, and them being incredibly monolithic instead of having different regional cultures like with the NKA and DPRA; eventually finishing stating that the faction itself is uninteresting to you, though I'm unsure if you meant just for characters or in a more total way, including from an OOC perspective. Which brings us to the main point of this question, what are your thoughts on the PRA OOC'ly as a tajara faction? Would you be alright with writing updates for them that you may personally find to be boring?

2) Slightly related to the first question, you mentioned in the past that you really like more regional cultures such as what is common in the DPRA and NKA. Do you think these current cultures should be expanded at all, or left the way they are? Should any new ones be added? Why?

3) Tajara as a species has some of the most developed from a lore perspective Ex-pat communities; Little Adhomai being the most notable. What do you think of this communities, should there be more of them or should they be curtailed?

4) What do you think of the Free Tajaran Council?

 

Good luck!

Edited March 29, 2022 by Triogenix

[Ramke]

1 hour ago, Triogenix said:

1) Which brings us to the main point of this question, what are your thoughts on the PRA OOC'ly as a tajara faction? Would you be alright with writing updates for them that you may personally find to be boring?

My opinion remain the same - the PRA does not offer as many avenues of approach when it comes to characters whether it is in background or in personal opinion, which (referring to the discussion at the time) meant that I struggled to find a way to create characters with enough personal conflict that I would find sustainably interesting. Each faction caters to different preferences.

To answer the question directly, I don't have issues with the actual faction and don't find the setting boring, it just doesn't fit my tastes in the types of characters that come from it. I do not believe I'll have issues writing articles or updates for them, ironically it'll be what I'm most used to from my old community.

1 hour ago, Triogenix said:

2) Slightly related to the first question, you mentioned in the past that you really like more regional cultures such as what is common in the DPRA and NKA. Do you think these current cultures should be expanded at all, or left the way they are? Should any new ones be added? Why?

Since it's relating to the first question, I assume this is relating to the PRA regions as PRA is mono-culture. Currently, the regions can be summed up with two words i.e. "the mountains", "the breadbasket", "the industry". I think they can be expanded on to make the regions more unique, whether that's in geography, culture, architecture, quirks or fashion. it's something that directly benefits the players as they have something to talk about, and have something formulate their characters opinions on. Whether it's a particularly popular TV show that was filmed there, there's a large amount of ruins to explore, it's a popular vacation destination or is considered the centre of fashion, there's always something to add as talking points and make the regions more unique than a hex from Civilizations 6.

I think the existing ones should be expanded on before working on any new regions, but that depends on what those regions are and if there's any developments that call for a new one.

1 hour ago, Triogenix said:

3) Tajara as a species has some of the most developed from a lore perspective Ex-pat communities; Little Adhomai being the most notable. What do you think of this communities, should there be more of them or should they be curtailed?

I think the communities are a great way to explain why the characters are there and why they would end up working for the Aurora/Horizon. Little Adhomai in particular allows characters to experience Adhomian culture away from home where it isn't as apparent, and still keeps them tied to their lore/origins as opposed to becoming humans but with fur. It's also a point of contention for other races, and allows for arguments and arcs such as the recent IPC/Skrell one.

I think they are fine as they are. I do not see a need for more of them at this point in time, or to have them curtailed.

1 hour ago, Triogenix said:

4) What do you think of the Free Tajaran Council?

The FTC were "on the side" for me for a very long time and they always seemed disassociated from Tajara lore, generally. The latest developments and the proxy war have placed it back into the fold, and it is now able to interact with the rest of Tajara meaningfully, additionally providing the players something to think about while interacting in-game (i.e. What faction are they in? Who do they like the most on Adhomai? Do they want citizenship with them? Do they stay true to the Old Guard and their plans?). It went from something that was disassociated to something that allowed to have an outsider Tajara perspective on Adhomai with an incentive to interact and dig around more, and has a number of angles to make characters and arcs from.

I think it has a lot of potential in the future, and is significantly more interesting now than it was a few months ago.

[Caelphon]

Hi there. 

Spoiler

1. The Lore Team frequently engages in projects that might require you to deviate from writing for Tajara Lore, or put your own projects on hold. Do you believe you may have an issue with this?

2. If you could change anything about Tajara Lore without any restrictions, what would you? (This is different from a retcon, just something you would've liked to have seen happened alternatively / not written).

3. How do you perceive the Lore Team? 

4. What do you think about projects like Gakal'zaal and Ouerea?  I see you've written about it, but are you happy to work with a completely different team to continue fostering it? 

5. Hro'zamal hasn't received any big lore additions for a few months, besides a few touch-ups here and there. Do you have any plans for this segment of Tajara Lore? 

Thank you. Goodluck, there are no wrong answers. 

[Ramke]

1 hour ago, Caelphon said:

1. The Lore Team frequently engages in projects that might require you to deviate from writing for Tajara Lore, or put your own projects on hold. Do you believe you may have an issue with this?

I don't have an issue with this, I'm fully aware there might be times where help may be needed when it comes to larger projects.

1 hour ago, Caelphon said:

2. If you could change anything about Tajara Lore without any restrictions, what would you? (This is different from a retcon, just something you would've liked to have seen happened alternatively / not written).

In regards to changing anything now, I'm quite happy with the state of Tajara lore and would not change much about it. I don't see any glaring issues with it as it stands at the moment.

As for things I would have done differently, this would be way before I even played SS13. I think the dynamics of Adhomai would have been significantly more interesting if the PRA was the underdog. While the team has already been correcting this, PRA was (to my awareness) generally seen as the "good guy" faction, who just so happened to also get the most external support, success, advances in technology and deals with megacorporations. I believe the narrative would have been more interesting if the PRA had less in the overall balance of power, the Hadii government being effectively kept up by megacorporations, tech and their scheming as opposed to their own might. The only reason I'm saying this is because I found it brought a lot more intrigue when it came to similar things in my old community.

1 hour ago, Caelphon said:

3. How do you perceive the Lore Team? 

I've not had much insight as to how things are internally, I'm only aware of the structure and generally what to expect (through DMs with Alb & others). Overall, I'm quite happy with the content that typically gets produced and that there is always something happening in the setting, preventing that feeling that the lore/universe is stagnant. The lore event arcs were always fun to participate in, and allowed insight into things I've not delved into before.

1 hour ago, Caelphon said:

4. What do you think about projects like Gakal'zaal and Ouerea?  I see you've written about it, but are you happy to work with a completely different team to continue fostering it? 

Gakal'zaal is something I would definitely want to expand on, and include the Unathi team with it to generate both fun stories and a setting that allows interaction between the two species. To answer the question directly, I'd be happy to work with the team. I would expect them to look at the Free Gakal'zaal Station expansion and see if they'd want to add any groups or mentions there, for example. I'll be honest, I'm not too familiar with Ouerea as that planet doesn't really have any interaction with Tajara currently, to my awareness.

1 hour ago, Caelphon said:

5. Hro'zamal hasn't received any big lore additions for a few months, besides a few touch-ups here and there. Do you have any plans for this segment of Tajara Lore? 

I am applying without any major rewrites or additions pre-planned. I've mentioned previously that I'm quite happy with the state of Tajara lore, and my main goal would be to maintain and expand upon the foundations already laid there. I can definitely see an expansion to Hro'zamal, but this would likely be through lore arcs - it has been in a status quo for some time despite a supposedly active insurgency on the planet.

Edited March 31, 2022 by Ramke
why click submit when you didn't finish fixing what you've written

[Marlon P.]

+1 i like the replies he gives to questions, especially to the PRA views.

[SilverSZ]

Hiya, I have no questions about your passion for Tajara lore and believe from your responses you would be a fine member of the team, so consider these questions more curiosity than anything else.

1) If you got on the team and were told to work on anything in Tajara lore currently, what would you pick to expand/write on and why? Be it a specific faction or place etc

2) In the same vein as the previous question, is there a particular aspect/part/faction in Tajara lore that you feel is heavily lacking/not reaching it's potential atm, and if so why?

3) A big thing that I've seen in the past questions is your personal dislike for the PRA monoculture, or atleast finding them boring. So I'm curious to ask if you think this is something that can be "fixed" in your eyes to make them more interesting, engaging and better for making characters from whilst keeping the aspects of the PRA that make it the PRA like the monoculture. If you were to work on the PRA with this goal how would go about it or do you think that the PRA will just always not be for you and people with similar desires for a faction.

Thanks in advance for the answers, and I already think you'll be a fine member of the lore team.
 

[Ramke]

14 hours ago, SilverSZ said:

1) If you got on the team and were told to work on anything in Tajara lore currently, what would you pick to expand/write on and why? Be it a specific faction or place etc

Location-wise, likely Gakal'zaal. It's still relatively barebones and doesn't really have as much love as Hro'zamal or any of the other locations, which is a shame since it's essentially the only Tajara location with a noticeable alien minority. It's why I've written up the Free Gakal'zaal Station expansion, and there's additionally a lot to do when it comes to figuring out planet-specific traits, food, culture, etc - especially as it's been exposed to Unathi influence.

My preference would be to tackle something small at first before tackling a big project as I'd be relatively new to this, so it would probably be staggered into multiple steps - hence the focus on the station.

Outside of locations, I'd prefer articles or arcs to make the universe feel more alive, and that something is happening. From personal experience I've always found it was fun to mention these on-station and it's a good conversation starter, so it benefits the players directly.

14 hours ago, SilverSZ said:

2) In the same vein as the previous question, is there a particular aspect/part/faction in Tajara lore that you feel is heavily lacking/not reaching it's potential atm, and if so why?

This was partially answered in the previous question, but Gakal'zaal. It's somewhat barebones and lacking the cultural/daily life insight to the planet.

It would be nice to see more megacorp influence on the planet as they are frequently trying to shove their foot in, but that depends on what Alb and the others think internally. There are enough pro-corp government parties in the planet to make more happen, and especially give hooks to players to base their character origins off of. Aurora/Horizon is very far-flung for the average Tajara to get to (especially NKA/DPRA) outside of D6.

14 hours ago, SilverSZ said:

3) A big thing that I've seen in the past questions is your personal dislike for the PRA monoculture, or atleast finding them boring. So I'm curious to ask if you think this is something that can be "fixed" in your eyes to make them more interesting, engaging and better for making characters from whilst keeping the aspects of the PRA that make it the PRA like the monoculture. If you were to work on the PRA with this goal how would go about it or do you think that the PRA will just always not be for you and people with similar desires for a faction.

I've briefly suggested how to make them a bit less stiff with making them regionally more specific to Triogenix:

On 30/03/2022 at 04:54, Ramke said:

Currently, the regions can be summed up with two words i.e. "the mountains", "the breadbasket", "the industry". I think they can be expanded on to make the regions more unique, whether that's in geography, culture, architecture, quirks or fashion. it's something that directly benefits the players as they have something to talk about, and have something formulate their characters opinions on. Whether it's a particularly popular TV show that was filmed there, there's a large amount of ruins to explore, it's a popular vacation destination or is considered the centre of fashion, there's always something to add as talking points and make the regions more unique than a hex from Civilizations 6.

It's possible to preserve some regional identity in the form of minor differences through what makes the region unique. This is the option that preserves the feel that PRA is mono-culture, but gives people something to talk about or take pride in outside of the Party and war.

My idea, moderated by the rest of the team, would be to include regional identities that may be considered repressed. I find it completely unbelievable that a totalitarian regime would be so utterly successful in completely stamping out any difference in people, especially to a nation that encompasses the borders of 4 exclusive kingdoms that were still there ~40 years ago, to the point that everyone in the nation is the same.

The PRA is by far the most prominent when it comes to secret police, moderation of opinions and deviation from the norm - this would play into it, providing characters some more internal conflict. This is naturally subject to what the team thinks internally.

[SilverSZ]

3 hours ago, Ramke said:

*answers*

These are all good answers! I do especially like the suggestions for the PRA, as for me they are always the Tajaran faction I usually don't think too much about playing as well.

+1 from me and good luck with the rest of the application

[NewOriginalSchwann]

Hello. Like other participants in this thread I have absolutely no questions regarding your passion, competence, or knowledge of tajara lore. Most of my questions have already been asked (praise be to procrastination, I suppose) so I simply have one out of mostly curiosity.

 

We've talked about the minor religions of the tajara, particularly Raskara, at length. Do you have any plans, or anything you'd like to do with them, particularly going into the NBT?

[Ramke]

38 minutes ago, NewOriginalSchwann said:

We've talked about the minor religions of the tajara, particularly Raskara, at length. Do you have any plans, or anything you'd like to do with them, particularly going into the NBT?

With minor religions, their charm partially comes from being uncommon and mostly undocumented, so a lot of headcanon is allowed to fill those particular gaps in. I absolutely adore the current set of minor religious, particularly Raskariim, as you've noted from the conversations we've had. Adding more to it would be a balancing act between providing useable information and leaving enough room for headcanon.

While I don't have any particularly big plans or large reworks in mind, I fully intend to support them through alternative means such as mentioning old rituals/celebrations, phrases, card games and the like to give the players more ways of displaying their religion outside of the usual faiths. It's one of those corners of the lore that I'm very passionate about, but I appreciate that it should probably be left minor. Most of the fun is using those breadcrumbs to create something really fun and interesting, at least from personal experience.

I would love to do more arcs with them, but that's subject to a lot of discussion and planning - it depends on what the rest of the team think at the time.

[canon35]

Well, time to toss my questions out here. 

1) Tajara lore is pretty full and detailed as is and collaboration projects can sometimes result in your idea being thrown out entirely or heavily altered. How do you handle it when people reject your ideas or say there simply isn't a way to incorporate them?

2) What is your views on the current "bad" parts of the lore? Do you think we should tone down any aspects such as the child soldiers or anti-LGBTQ views? 

3) How long are you hoping to stay in this staff position?

4) Would you be willing to offer non-writing assistance (IE Sprites, artwork, graphics.) to other members of the lore-staff? 

[Ramke]

1 hour ago, canon35 said:

1) Tajara lore is pretty full and detailed as is and collaboration projects can sometimes result in your idea being thrown out entirely or heavily altered. How do you handle it when people reject your ideas or say there simply isn't a way to incorporate them?

It's part of a team's development process. Ideas come and go, only a few end up getting worked on overall. I'm familiar with this and don't get too invested in something before having a discussion about it or a green light.

1 hour ago, canon35 said:

2) What is your views on the current "bad" parts of the lore? Do you think we should tone down any aspects such as the child soldiers or anti-LGBTQ views?

This is a minefield of OOC issues since it's an uncomfortable topic for many. Some of these are currently no longer active/relevant (i.e. work camps, child soldiers) and only serve as a reminder to Tajara's history, whether dark, desperate or both. In these cases I think it is fine. As for their LGBTQ views, I can appreciate that it helps portray the backwardness of Tajara, but I don't think it should be more obvious than it already is. I believe it can remain as a minor background theme for the species (and exclusive to itself), but not anything more than that.

1 hour ago, canon35 said:

3) How long are you hoping to stay in this staff position?

For as long as my interest in Aurora remains, hopefully. I will be frank where this is as much of a trial for me as it would be for you/Alb choosing me, since this is something that would be new to me. As mentioned in my original application post, it may end up being shorter if the role begins affecting my interest in the game negatively, through burnout or otherwise.

1 hour ago, canon35 said:

4) Would you be willing to offer non-writing assistance (IE Sprites, artwork, graphics.) to other members of the lore-staff? 

I'm not much of a graphics artist, but I can do sprite-work to an amateurish level (you've seen my work) so I may be willing to lend a hand should help be needed. I cannot give a concrete yes or no, as it depends on my availability at the time.

[NewOriginalSchwann]

3 hours ago, Ramke said:

[...] it's one of those corners of the lore that I'm very passionate about, but I appreciate that it should probably be left minor. Most of the fun is using those breadcrumbs to create something really fun and interesting, at least from personal experience.

This is a great response, and shows that you have a firm understanding of what makes playing around with Raskara fun to do. Your application has my full support, and I hope to work with you as a fellow lore writer very soon!

[canon35]

Sadly there isn't much more I can think of asking here. But, what is your thoughts on the religion of the Tajara? How relevant do you view them to their lore as a whole and do you have any plans or desires for them?

[Ramke]

18 hours ago, canon35 said:

Sadly there isn't much more I can think of asking here. But, what is your thoughts on the religion of the Tajara? How relevant do you view them to their lore as a whole and do you have any plans or desires for them?

Tajara religions are a cornerstone of what makes them a unique race, as it shapes their world view and allows for a lot of dynamics and expressions to come into play. I really like the current religions, and think they're actually one of the most fun aspects to dive into when playing Tajara. It's a big deal on Adhomai and allows for unique perspectives when exposed to the larger galactic community, which again allows for fun characters that offer distinct mindsets and contributions to discussions. You'll probably notice most of my characters are big on a part of Tajara religion because of this.

Much like my response to Schwann regarding minor religions, it's the corner that I'm really passionate about. However, the two main religions are already quite expansive and I don't have any major plans for big additions. If anything, I would only really include things that help showcase the religion and lore, whether that's through items, events, articles or celebrations. Like most of Tajara lore, I'd look to stay the course and drive things through background actions rather than wiki text additions. One thing I felt lacking are prayer excerpts for people to express though, aside from the one prayer on the wiki for S'rand'marr.

[Alberyk]

Out of the three main Tajaran factions (PRA, DPRA, and NKA) which one is your favorite and why?

Once, the Tajara lore was focused on a big conflict between the three factions, the second civil war, which was pretty much on what the lore focused on and was built upon. With time, we moved from this with in-character developments to the current on going situation, the cold war. Now, lets say that you are tasked with moving foward narrative from the cold war into another big thing for the species, what would you do?

[Ramke]

17 hours ago, Alberyk said:

Out of the three main Tajaran factions (PRA, DPRA, and NKA) which one is your favorite and why?

Originally this was the NKA, but now it is mostly split between DPRA and NKA. If I had to choose, this would still end up being NKA, but DPRA is very close.

I tend to view factions from the player's perspective more than anything else, as in what they can offer in terms of dynamics, interesting backgrounds, opinion shaping and conflict. The NKA has a major dynamic in play, namely the noble/commoner relationship and the caste system that the rest of Adhomai despises. It has a lot of regions and (to me) interesting backgrounds that form characters which could be a mixed bag of all sorts of opinions, whether that is liking or disliking the various figures/nobles, how their view the "renewed" monarchy and its system, how their relations and history impact their interactions with other Tajara and so on. It offers a lot of opportunities.

The DPRA on the other hand is fantastic in a similar way - it's hard to view it as a singular country as it's still a jumbled mess of juntas and the civilian government, where your origin can be relatively normal and with the civilian government, or from the juntas with their wildly differing regions and beliefs. It offers a lot of different aspects to play, and the various cogs churning in the DPRA don't always get along well and offer conflict internally and externally.

17 hours ago, Alberyk said:

Once, the Tajara lore was focused on a big conflict between the three factions, the second civil war, which was pretty much on what the lore focused on and was built upon. With time, we moved from this with in-character developments to the current on going situation, the cold war. Now, lets say that you are tasked with moving foward narrative from the cold war into another big thing for the species, what would you do?

If I had complete free decision-making, I would likely shift the narrative towards proxy wars (this is already heading there, i.e. north pole and FTC, with potential in Hro'zamal) and corporation influences. Tajara always had external influence, but mostly exclusive to the PRA with NanoTrasen's backing, with minor references to Idris selling NKA watches & others giving construction/medicine support for the rest of the factions. I fully admit I may be not entirely correct here, but this is how it has appeared ever since I've gotten the whitelist. Adhomai has a lot of what corporations would view as untapped resources and cheap labour, it could easily become something that certain megacorporations would want to shove their foot into properly, especially as there are now pro-megacorp political factions cropping up.

Proxy/influence wars would retain the current status quo on Adhomai that currently gives all three factions a chance to showcase themselves and have good reasoning to appear on the Horizon. While full-scale wars would be interesting for the duration of the arcs, the end result of it may potentially end a lot of the dynamics that make playing Tajara and driving conflict fun. A lot of care would need to go into planning to make sure the new landscape would be beneficial.

Edited April 18, 2022 by Ramke

[Alberyk]

After taking in consideration this application and consulting with the team, I have decided to accept this application.. Welcome to the team.