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DanseMacabre's Human Lore Deputy Application


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Ckey/BYOND Username: DanseMacabre
Discord Name: DanseMacabre#6742
Position Being Applied For: Human Lore Deputy
Past Experiences/Knowledge: 

Spoiler

I have not held a lore development position besides one on a server I don't believe is worth mentioning. I have, however:
1. Produced a fairly large body of lore for my own use (headcanon stuff), as well as lore that has been accepted onto another server, (Baystation).
2. I have also contributed a large amount of lore-integrated and lore-adjacent content into the game. All third party ships other than the Orion Express ship were originally contributed by me, Solarian warlord armor, some away sites, the FSF ERT, a number of miscellaneous lore items, etc. It's hard to list out everything exactly and some is certainly more noteworthy than others, but I have added a fair amount of stuff that is based in the lore to the game itself.
3. Most significantly, I am the original writer of the planet Visegrad, which has also recently had an update canonization application accepted.


Examples of Past Work:

Spoiler

I will not link any PRs here as I feel it'd be needless clutter and most are, in of themselves, self-explanatory. 
Instead, I will link Visegrad and the document for the update that was recently accepted, and I feel that anything else that I could post here is more or less unnecessary. I feel Visegrad is the best example of my work I can provide, and that it speaks for itself.
https://wiki.aurorastation.org/index.php?title=Visegrad
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dDSB81pW7Oi4t6KM7rhp4Xju3da6tSa3GknFczYNYVQ/edit


Additional Comments:

Spoiler

The last time I applied for this position, I felt overwhelmed by some of the responses I received and the nature of those responses. At the end of the day I had lost a lot of the motivation I had for Aurora for some time, ultimately leading to me retracting my application and taking a brief break from the community. The experience I had with my application last time was so poor that, to a degree, I dread making this application - in spite of the fact I have wanted this job for literal years now. This is not supposed to be a sob story - I am just saying that I am hoping that this application will not be a repeat of the prior one. I have tried to take the responses left in the prior thread into account in regard to my behavior and actions, and ideally I will have addressed the concerns of many of the people who did have valid personal reservations.

At the end of the day, though, I am not going to get along with everyone - nobody can do such a thing, fundamentally. If you have a concern about me that you feel can be reconciled, please approach me privately and I'd be happy to speak with you about it. If you wish to bring up something that you mentioned on the previous thread again, please consider whether or not I adequately addressed it in the prior thread, if it it still truly applicable, and if attempting to handle it is something that would be better done privately first. Thank you for your consideration.

I finished this application at around 4AM. It may need some spellchecking and rewording - edits may come as a result, which I will mention if I make any.

Now, onto the questions.

1. Why are you applying for this position and why do you believe you would make a good Human Lore Deputy?

Spoiler

The answer to this question is going to resemble the one I made on my prior application to a degree - To begin with, I love the lore. It would not be an exaggeration to say that to me, the lore is a huge part of why I enjoy this game at all, why I enjoy roleplaying, and why I enjoy Aurora as a server. Lore- and more specifically Aurora's lore- has served as the basis and very foundation for some of the best experiences I've had on Aurora and even SS13 as a whole. I strongly believe that Aurora's lore is one of the reasons why I have enjoyed this server so much that I have stuck with it for longer than I have on any SS13 server or community I've been involved with before. Besides enjoying the lore personally, I really do enjoy writing lore - and I really enjoy it when people enjoy and make use of my contributions. To simplify this - I have a great deal of passion for the lore, and passion is a vehicle for contribution.

These are also some of the reasons why I believe I would make a good Human Lore Deputy. I believe my enjoyment of the lore and my passion for the lore are two parts of being a good deputy - but I also feel that I, generally speaking, have ideas worth pursuing. That isn't to say that my ideas are better than anybody else's - but I have a lot of ideas for the lore that I feel have potential to be a positive for the server and its lore. Beyond that, I think I am capable of consistent contribution and I feel that I will be able to meaningfully involve myself in the discussions that come up in the course of a deputy's work, and I also feel that I am effective at helping explain the lore on a personal level. Finally, I feel I work well alongside the Human lore team and many other members of the lore team in general - though this is entirely my own interpretation of our previous interactions, and some may disagree.

2. What is your favourite part of Human Lore and why? What is your least favourite?

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This is going to be a dorky answer, but it's true - my favorite part of Human Lore is the extensive, grounded, well-developed setting and geopolitics (astropolitics?) that Human Lore brings to bear. A lot of thought has been put into the world of Aurora's human lore, its basis in history, and the people of our setting. Aurora's lore in general feels very real, very fluid, and like it is constantly in motion. There is a reason for everything, thought put into every detail. I enjoy seeing how the factions of our lore interact, and how the people in the lore respond to those developments, and how our characters respond and develop in turn. In summation: I like that Human Lore feels like a story in of itself, instead of a great quantity of filler. I enjoy that Human Lore feels like something that is real, not an arbitrary fabrication - and I enjoy the details and constant interplay between every fact and facet of that real-feeling story. I know that this may be an exceedingly abstract answer to this question, and if it is necessary for me to rephrase or refocus on something more exact, I will do so upon request.

As for what my least favorite part of the lore? This one is going to be more exact - I feel that the great emphasis placed on unmotivating, unsympathetic, and unlikeable entities as prime movers and shakers within our lore. That is to say: the corporations. Generally speaking, I do not care for megacorporations as a science fiction trope. I feel like they're overdone, often uninspired, and generally two-dimensional. Corporations are lean machines of profit - they have no other goals. Megacorporations are simply an evolution of such - except rendered too big to fail, and given the influence of a true state. It comes as no surprise to me that the corporations I enjoy most - indeed, the ones that the playerbase enjoy the most - are the ones that take on a nature incongruent with their corporate status. Idris feels like the mafia instead of a bank - the PMCG has subsidiaries strongly tied to national entities, therefore serving as vehicles for ideology and national sentiment - which is something Zavodskoi and even Hephaestus benefit from, at times. Now, don't get me wrong: I definitely feel like they have a place in our lore. It's just that I still feel like something is missing from quite a few of them, and that their role in the setting as a whole should be re-evaluated.

3. What are three projects (medium to large sized additions, reworks, or arcs) you would like to do or help organize if made Human Lore deputy?

Spoiler

First and foremost, being involved with writing and running arcs related to the wildlands - north or south - would be a dream come true to me. The wildlands and the warlords have always fascinated me personally, and are some of my personal favorite parts of Human Lore. There is a dynamism to them as a result of their transient, impermanent, and unrestricted nature. The warlords and wildlands perhaps present the greatest bed for conflict and narrative development in our lore, second only to hotbed regions such as the Badlands. I have been a volunteer for both events of the Dreary Futures arc so far, and personally the only thing that I can think of that'd make such an experience better would be if I was even more involved in the process. I can only imagine what the northern wildlands will be like when an arc in relation to it occurs - and I am certain that it would be a truly great experience to be one of the people helping to make it a reality. But this also extends beyond the warlords as well - the wildlands has introduced a new degree of dynamism to Biesel, the Coalition, and Elyra - and further development of their changing relations and situations would be a great thing, in my mind.

Another thing I'd like to achieve is a Scarab rewrite - the Scarabs are something that I feel are deeply flawed in some ways, and generally undeveloped in others. They have largely been neglected over the years that they've existed, and have never felt right. This is something I will touch upon again later, but generally I feel like the Scarabs could have a more nuanced, more involved portrayal that has them closer to the center of the stage as opposed to the awkward, out of the way presentation they currently have now. The Scarabs need work - and I do have some ideas for how they could possibly be improved. Scarabs tend to intrigue many players, yet attract few characters - I am hoping that at some point, we can lessen this disparity between OOC interest and IC representation.

Finally, and some will roll their eyes at this, knowing me all-too-well... But I would like to further develop the entire situation related to Sol's government and present status. From arcs related to changes in government and government policy (Elections, anyone? Or the refusal to hold any, for that matter!), to a gradual change as it becomes a normal player within our lore instead of a dominant superpower or an inwardly-focused rump state, to some narrative-relevant military lore such as Dominia and Elyra have recently received (Not "power wank" or LARP, I promise!) - as far as Sol is concerned, there is much work to be done, and I personally enjoy the faction a lot. This may be another vague answer, because I'm speaking in broad strokes - but the fact of the matter is that Sol has more or less not changed since early 2021, and I would like to see to it that it does.

4. What do you believe are the current strengths and weaknesses of human lore? Why? What would you do to improve upon the weaknesses?

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Ironically, the strengths and weaknesses of Human Lore are frequently interconnected - For one, the sheer girth of Human Lore is both a strength and a weakness. In regards to it being a strength, the variety of options from both a player perspective and a writing perspective is beyond compare - you could feasibly do anything you wanted (provided the idea was compatible with the setting, anyway) even without getting headcanon involved. No species can compare to Humans in regards to the breadth of the writing, with dozens of planets, five major countries (six, counting Eridani), countless cultures, limitless political and factional allegiances, et cetera. There is more written down for Human Lore than any other species - I would be shocked if the word count for Human lore pages was beaten by any other species. This is a major boon to the narrative and to character development, and you have more freedom to work within the bounds of Human Lore than with any other species.

However, this comes at a price - as a weakness, the immense size means Human lore is slow to update, troubled by issues of maintenance, and often has to contend with legacy/"old lore". This isn't an impossible issue to handle - it just comes down to activity and also, to a degree, player participation (canonization applications can cover a lot of ground, my reservations about the system aside). I think gradually the issue of maintenance is becoming a less important one, as many of the most pressing problems have been addressed, but it's still noticeable and maintenance almost certainly gets in the way of developing new and interesting concepts/subjects. This is especially noticeable in regards to how long it can take for developing situations to truly develop - I place no blame on the shoulders of Human Lore, mind you, just on circumstances. There is also the fact that with so much going on in the world, it can be hard for everything to be truly represented ingame, being sometimes difficult to bring it into the worldspace of the game - though that is without a doubt changing, as a result of our setting change to the Horizon, and already we're seeing things we would never see otherwise canonically showing up ingame - which is especially important for things that are hard to hook into the corporate setting.

Other strengths and weaknesses are relatively minor. The size of the human playerbase in regards to the number of Human Lore developers presents an issue - while Human Lore is the same size as every other lore team, the human playerbase generally dwarfs all other species' playerbases. This is a weakness in that three people have to contend with a playerbase larger than any other (Again, speaking in general terms here. There is crossover and not all human players are the same, much like every other species.) and presumably has a more difficult time interacting with the community on a one to one basis in regards to this. However, the size of the human playerbase means more people interested in contributing, more people interested in writing, more people interested in contributing, and more people interested in investing their time in exploring the lore, new and old. It means that there is potentially more eyes on Human Lore than there is on any other species' lore, for better and worse. (Note: I do not mean to, in saying this, imply that Human Lore is more important than any other species' lore. Just that it seems like there are a lot more human characters and, therefore, players, than any other species.)

Human Lore benefits from familiarity, and also suffers from it; To some, this makes it approachable, and to others, this makes it boring. Is this a strength or a weakness? I suppose it depends on the situation. It suffers from certain expectations as a result, with certain legacy factors (remember what I said about megacorporations above? That's an example!) that influence how it must be written and how it may be perceived. 

So on, and so forth. Human Lore has so many moving parts involved that it can be difficult for go beyond the surface level, and it can be almost paralyzing for newcomers. This, perhaps, is its greatest weakness - It can be outright scary for people to get a handle on. This ties into the earlier mention of girth as a strength and weakness, ultimately. 


As for improvement, some things cannot be improved - Human Lore cannot grow in size as a team beyond what it has - there will always be a lot of work to be done - and there will always be a lot of lore to contend with. But the key shortcomings, the ones we truly feel, can be overcome with relative ease. Greater involvement of the lore in the game itself by way of code additions, of lore arcs, and by utilizing the Horizon to its greatest extent by travelling all throughout our setting can all alleviate the feeling of "lore isolation" and of lore underutilization. The issue of lore-paralysis is more difficult, but I think perhaps creating a series of summarizations for various pages may actually help a lot. Ultimately most of Human Lore's problems aren't with the material, but with the presentation (or lack thereof) of the lore, and with structural issues that cannot be easily changed. Like I mention up top, I have done a fair amount of code work myself, and I am willing to do more and to write more to try and improve what needs to be improved.

Apologies if this section suffers from relative vagueness. I can be a lot more specific, if need be.

5. Recently there has been discussion in the community and among the lore teams about Offworlder Humans. If made deputy, what is something you would want to do with Offworlder Humans as a whole and/or their various factions?

Spoiler

The main problem Offworlders face is relative neglect - they feel like an afterthought, with very little actual material to work with, aside from a few factions that oftentimes feel minor and out of the way. Again, I do not lay the blame for this at feet of the Human Lore team. Even before any of its current members were on the team, this has been the situation - Offworlders were added long ago, and relatively little has been done with them since.

The solution is, therefore, quite simple. Offworlders need to be better integrated into the lore as a whole - logically, there are quite a few locations where Offworlders should be present, even the majority of the population, but yet are not due to certain narrative decisions and choices. What I would like to do is select a few key, notable locations, and to develop something that ties Offworlders to those places, as a first move. Beyond that, I'd like to rework our existing Offworlder factions (Especially Scarabs, as mentioned above) to work better with the lore, and to have better ties to the lore as a whole. Finally, new factions for Offworlders could be considered - nothing on a major scale, but something that is important enough that it feels integrated with the lore and will attract players.

Conceptually, Offworlders are what they are. Like I said, Offworlders feel like an unimportant afterthought. A novelty, a trivial group of people of no importance, isolated from the rest of our lore. My aim would be to change that. Easier said than done, I know - but the problem seems very, very clear, and the solution is thankfully straightforward.

6. There is a current open thread on community suggestions for a planet page for Eridani I. If you are accepted as a human lore deputy, you along with the rest of the Human Lore Team, would work on this planet. What are some things that you would like to implement on Eridani I's new planet page if given the opportunity

Spoiler

Eridani's greatest problem as a faction/entity within our lore is that it feels two-dimensional. This is a structural problem stemming back to the very concept of Eridani itself, as a hyper(anarcho?)-capitalist dystopia where society is split into two equally flanderized groups. What I'd like to do for Eridani-I is relatively simple to say, but hard to outright describe - I want to make it feel like a real place. I'd like for Eridani-I's page to make greater mention of details that'd truly matter in the backstory of a character - cities, culture, notable locations and notable historical events. The aim should be to have a greater focus placed upon specifics and upon concepts that offer more nuance and depth to Eridani as a whole and characters from Eridani instead of continuing the trend of flanderization and the two-dimensional problem. Eridani-I is described as a microcosm of the Federation as a whole - I would like it if that was shown as much as it was told, and with specific details as opposed to broad strokes. 

Another, smaller thing I'd like is to make greater mention of the things that tie Eridani to the rest of the setting - the megacorporations and the EPMCs. This, combined with the above-mentioned details, should really bring Eridani-I into its own as a planet.

Hopefully this offers enough details. I can be more exact if need be. 

7. Have you ever be subject to any strikes or bans of any kind from Aurora's moderators or admins? If so, how long ago were these actions and what were they for?

Spoiler

Two forum warnings for "shitposting", for lack of a better word, both of these are very old now - the more recent of the two was issued in January of 2021. I also have one warning issued roughly a year ago now as the result of a player complaint for a callous attitude in regards to how I spoke about a specific species, a behavior which I have since addressed.

 

Edited by DanseMacabre
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Danse has volunteered countless times for events, and has helped in many projects that the lore team has undertaken. I do think their contributions should be noted (as a positive) against them.

I do however have concerns regarding interspecies coordination. Do you mind expanding on your views here in regards to that? I do not think it is a secret that you’ve had issues with non-human lore before.

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3 minutes ago, Caelphon said:

I do however have concerns regarding interspecies coordination. Do you mind expanding on your views here in regards to that? I do not think it is a secret that you’ve had issues with non-human lore before.

I personally don't think it's accurate to say I have issues with non-human lore in general - moreso that there are a couple of species I'm personally not a fan of, and perhaps I don't exactly see eye to eye with certain writers. I love Tajara lore and have a Taj whitelist, and I do have an Unathi whitelist (And I'm planning to get an IPC whitelist at some point), as just a few brief examples of how I have, in principle, no problem with non-human lore as a whole. I foresee absolutely no problem with interspecies coordination in regards to any species, even the few I'm not so fond of - I think interspecies lore is definitely a boon for the lore as a whole, as long as it is logically sound and doesn't feel contrived or forced. While I acknowledge I haven't always been entirely fair to every species in regards to my views and how I feel about them, I also feel that I can conduct myself in the way that'd be expected of any member of the lore team. Just because I don't see eye to eye with someone or I do not necessarily enjoy certain things does not mean I cannot have a civilized conversation or working relationship with those people.

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Around five years ago i slighted you in a conversation and for all these years you've held onto the logs to use in my own application disparging me only a few months ago; and for the sake of not engaging I've had to repeatedly keep you behind extended blocks on the discord because you attempt to talk me in conversations in a really demeaning way, sometimes even calling me "Jackboot" - a years old handle - despite how confusing it is. So im concerned this kind of behavior will get into the lore team where you write someone off for a snide remark or something.

If I'm singularly the problem and youre super polite to everyone else then that's fine we can stay on opposite sides of a block and go on with our lives,  but being a lore deputy you and me will probably have to talk sometimes when i submit stuff for humanity or talk/ask about human lore in a way that grts you involved. How can we do that?

Edited by Marlon P.
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if there were another slot open i would endorse you as well. mostly of the opinion you dont need to be staff to be a lore helper, and otherwise contribute good ideas/participate in events, but it helps to have someone established in staff positions that can push the needle a lot further than just a community volunteer.

considering matt is also applying for this position, that's primarily why i endorsed him first, because he's already a very active staffer and can bring that same level of being able to exercise staff privilege to properly push out reform and changes

encouraging you to stick around regardless because it has not gone unnoticed how much you've personally done to contribute human lore content and help make events extremely fun

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I was looking forward to seeing this application. There's hardly much I can say or ask that you haven't covered in your initial post. Sol has become a place for a lot of potential  narrative, and you're the guy for the job. Your bit about offworlders is sound. Affixing offworlder populations to planets is a good way of doing things, simply because human lore is so planet-centric.

I do have some questions:

1. What's your vision for the coalition? I'm mostly asking in regards to Xanu and the coalition's national or "federal" institutions.

2. What are your thoughts on the badlands region in regards to human lore? This can encompass Dominia and Elyra.

3. What are some potential avenues for collaboration between the other species' departments and human lore that you think would be interesting to pursue or support? Human presence in the setting is significant and ubiquitous enough to the point where collaboration is inevitable, or a necessity for most departments. I just realized that Cael kind of already asked this question, but I guess I want something more specific, or concrete.

 

Edited by Boggle08
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44 minutes ago, Boggle08 said:

1. What's your vision for the coalition? I'm mostly asking in regards to Xanu and the coalition's national or "federal" institutions.

I am personally a big fan of the Coalition as a tent of many countries in lieu of the Coalition as a federal entity. I, personally, would rather see the politics of the Coalition played out by focusing on the individual planets - with the major three of the Himeo, Xanu Prime, and Gadpathur forming impromptu camps that other planets of the Coalition fall in behind on various issues as they come up. This, I feel, offers the most narrative potential and stays true to the Coalition's origins as a defensive alliance that consists of very many, very different, sometimes opposing, polities. On a more personal level - I feel it is considerably more interesting for the Coalition, as well!

58 minutes ago, Boggle08 said:

2. What are your thoughts on the badlands region in regards to human lore? This can encompass Dominia and Elyra.

As I mention in my application, the Badlands is a highly dynamic region with a lot of potential  - with five species present and just as many states to work with, as well as pre-existing tensions and a lot of room to further develop things, I'd consider it one of the foremost potential foundations for arcs and further development, narrative and otherwise, within our lore. I also think that it'll end up being a player favorite for this reason - and visiting the Badlands on the Horizon is going to be a lot of fun, I think. At the very least, the Badlands is something I'd really like to work with, should I be accepted as a deputy.

Quote

3. What are some potential avenues for collaboration between the other species' departments and human lore that you think would be interesting to pursue or support? Human presence in the setting is significant and ubiquitous enough to the point where collaboration is inevitable, or a necessity for most departments. I just realized that Cael kind of already asked this question, but I guess I want something more specific, or concrete.

This one is more difficult to work with because I'm missing half of the pieces of the puzzle (other teams' ideas matter quite a bit in regards to developing interspecies lore). However, one option that sticks out to me and I feel is worth pursuing is, predictably, in the Badlands - developing the relationships between the alien states in the Badlands (PRA, DPRA, and Hegemony) along with the human states (The Elyra, Dominia, and Coalition) and expanding the interplay and interconflict between these oftentimes-opposing states. I'd also like to expand upon the relationship between Jargon and Sol, which has oftentimes been neglected and underutilized since (and especially during) KotW. Another entity that interests me and I'd like to see expanded upon is the Tajara Revolutionary Army within the Wildlands - while I don't think it should necessarily be a major player, it is a unique one and definitely should play some role in further development of the Wildlands and the warlords.

If you'd like further elaboration, just let me know.

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I took some time to think about it and really want to see Danse make the lore team. I like his ideas, mostly, and even those occasional ones I feel are too harsh I can understand the reasoning behind it.
I do want to know your opinion on Dominia at the moment - just your general thoughts - simply out of curiosity given that I've been maining a Dominian recently and have been quite deep in to the lore. I actually considered Visegrad when creating the character, but decided to save that planet for a future character - I quite like your work with it.

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Hello. It's good to see your application, and it was probably the most expected by me. I want to outline my thoughts on your application, and then ask a few questions about some of your answers and other things.

The Good:

You're probably one of the most consistently active players on the server, regularly both engaging with lore and the game. Your willingness to volunteer for events is always nice, and you generally understand how to take something and build a story off of it. I think you'd be amazing to the human team for writing articles, and creating factions which can be used for stories in interesting ways. You can also map, sprite and implement ideas into the game rather well. Your thinking in recognizing strengths and weaknesses also helps in writing a lot.

Probably most importantly, you can thoughtfully explain why you hold certain positions, and if another person disagrees with you, accept that disagreement at face value instead of attempting to argue your side for 8 hours and make discussing things with you a slog. My hope is that if this application is accepted, this characteristic will make it incredibly easy to understand your position and reach compromises with other members quickly. However, I have some other thoughts on this that will be expanded in the other section.

Lastly, I think you can recognize your own biases and dislikes, which is something that's important going into writing with your free time in my opinion. It allows you to lessen the probability of burnoff by knowing you might not enjoy writing a specific piece of lore, but that if you write it, you can continue onto something you do enjoy. I hope you can keep this in mind, given what I am about to say in the next section.

The Fears/Concerns:

I think my biggest concern is that you will burnout and slowly stop contributing the longer you spend on the team. This is for two reasons:

Firstly, the rude criticism you received which bordered on nothing but insults on your last application.

Human lore, for a number of reasons, tends to be a team which gets incredibly rude and sometimes insulting feedback of their writing from the playerbase. This is not a "Oh the players fucking suck!!!" from me, merely a statement of fact. I personally contributed to insulting feedback and rudeness towards the human lore team as a player, so I cannot judge others for doing the same. I believe this will happen to every writer and team at some point, but happens to the human team at a much higher rate then others. Given your response to said insults/criticism on your last application, withdrawing it from the pool, I am afraid that there will be similar results when you face such a response again in your position as deputy, leading you to either disavow the piece you were working on, or the responsibilities of your position.

Second is the mostly handled, but still monumental task of maintaining human lore.  While Schwann and Lain have done most of the herculean task of dismembering old and outdated lore, there is still a large amount that needs to be handled, including the entire subspecies of off-worlders. I think my main concern is that you will become bored with rewriting factions and no longer wish to contribute to them, preferring to focus on merely what you wish to write about, or transplant things you enjoy into writings instead of coming up with something wholly original. Using the example of offworlders, writing about offworlders who use a slightly different culture imported from another human planet nearly unchanged, rather then a brand new faction with unique cultures compared to the rest of lore.

 

Beyond that concern, returning to my point about compromises, I think you have one issue, and that is compromising on things you believe to be full narrative flaws. For example, in your writing I am worried you may frown upon utilizing corporations as driving forces because of your personal dislike for them, when it might be what is best for the setting and the interactivity with the Horizon. This also ties into recognizing the silver lining of corporations, and that others may enjoy things you do not.

Lastly, a minor thing, and more of a pet peeve to myself. Many times you will mention things that are assumed or taken in context are true canon and set in stone on the wiki. The biggest of these I see from you is the "Corporate Asset protection vessels are less powerful then the military vessels of nations." While this is normally how we try to write, I personally frown on outright statements this as canon with a position in the lore team, when there's no true backing from the wiki(if there is, my apologies). However, this is a simple thing to change, just having saying, "While this isn't necessarily canon, we on the team try to write with....", and isn't really a big concern, more of a personal one.

 

The Questions:

We're finally to this part.

1. When it comes to facing rude/insulting criticism and responses to your work, do you have any plans or ideas on how you will handle this type of criticism when you encounter it as a deputy without reclusing yourself from the community and your position?

2. When it comes to megacorporations, they will most likely remain the primary focus of our setting, with characters being employees. With that said, many megacorporation's have facets which differentiate from the rest of the corporations, for example, Hephaestus employees are regularly encouraged to buy stock in the company, for better or for worse, and the company culture attempts to make it as a family. However, these cultures tend to be toned down or ignored by characters, so that they may work in the company while having views which may be opposite from it. Do you believe these cultures should be more forceful in application to make megacorporations more than soulless money machines, or have them remain where they are?

3. When it comes to the Scarabs, how would you integrate them more into our lore, generally?

4. When it comes to Sol, how do you see the nationalization of megacorporate assets affecting the Solarian political state and economy? Detailed or generally.

5. Lastly, would you be willing to sometimes assist other teams in mapping and coding?


Apologies for the length, I tried to be concise as possible while still getting my feedback across. I wish you the best on your application, and may ask several more questions as I think of them.

Edited by Triogenix
Making something clearer
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2 hours ago, Triogenix said:

Beyond that concern, returning to my point about compromises, I think you have one issue, and that is compromising on things you believe to be full narrative flaws. For example, in your writing I am worried you may frown upon utilizing corporations as driving forces because of your personal dislike for them, when it might be what is best for the setting and the interactivity with the Horizon. This also ties into recognizing the silver lining of corporations, and that others may enjoy things you do not.

While your other concerns are perfectly valid, I wanted to point out there is proof to the contrary in regards to this one (and the next one, to a degree). I point to Visegrad as the clearest example -  While I do not personally like megacorporations, I recognize their value and general importance to their setting, and this is clearly shown by the fact I used megacorporations fairly extensively in the course of writing Visegrad, especially as hooks for characters. The economy section is five paragraphs long and almost wholly devoted to information regarding megacorporations and how they'd impact characters coming from the planet. 

2 hours ago, Triogenix said:

Lastly, a minor thing, and more of a pet peeve to myself. Many times you will mention things that are assumed or taken in context are true canon and set in stone on the wiki. The biggest of these I see from you is the "Corporate Asset protection vessels are less powerful then the military vessels of nations." While this is normally how we try to write, I personally frown on outright statements this as canon with a position in the lore team, when there's no true backing from the wiki(if there is, my apologies). However, this is a simple thing to change, just having saying, "While this isn't necessarily canon, we on the team try to write with....", and isn't really a big concern, more of a personal one.

Usually these are statements I tend to make IC, from a character's perspective. It is entirely possible this is a statement I've made OOC, and using the "corporate ships vs. military ships", as an example, this is actually something I have asked the Human Lore team about and I was given that as an answer. While that's not definitive and not set in stone, I try not to make things up on a whim and if there's something ambivalent, I always go to official channels to try and fill in the blanks for myself.

Moving on to the actual questions:

2 hours ago, Triogenix said:

1. When it comes to facing rude/insulting criticism and responses to your work, do you have any plans or ideas on how you will handle this type of criticism when you encounter it as a deputy without reclusing yourself from the community and your position?

The answer to this is fairly straightforward: The same way I tend to currently handle rude/insulting interactions within the community. I will continue on and focus on maintaining an objective tone to address the subject at hand - if a difference in view or opinion is irreconcilable, I will say as much and try to end the interaction by agreeing to disagree. The truth is that not everyone can see eye to eye - you can only debate something up to a point, before it becomes clear that no resolution is possible. If the other person involved escalates to breaking the rules, I'd do what everyone should do - contact moderation staff and disengage.

2 hours ago, Triogenix said:

2. When it comes to megacorporations, they will most likely remain the primary focus of our setting, with characters being employees. With that said, many megacorporation's have facets which differentiate from the rest of the corporations, for example, Hephaestus employees are regularly encouraged to buy stock in the company, for better or for worse, and the company culture attempts to make it as a family. However, these cultures tend to be toned down or ignored by characters, so that they may work in the company while having views which may be opposite from it. Do you believe these cultures should be more forceful in application to make megacorporations more than soulless money machines, or have them remain where they are?

The so-called "corporate culture" of the megacorporations is probably one of their most redeeming aspects, in my mind, and oftentimes responsible for the aspects of the megacorporations that players tend to enjoy most, as demonstrated by portrayal with characters and OOC sentiments on an anecdotal basis. Personally, I would like to even further develop the "culture" of the megacorporations (NanoTrasen springs to mind as being the megacorporation most in need of "cultural" development, though all of them could use some love) and make them a more prominent aspect of what the corporations are and how they would influence people's characters. However, I don't want this to be something that is really moderated OOC - while we should encourage players to factor corporate culture into the characters they play, I personally understand reservations about how this would influence character design freedom - IC moderation is the best route.

3 hours ago, Triogenix said:

3. When it comes to the Scarabs, how would you integrate them more into our lore, generally?

This is an underwhelmingly straightforward answer, but to put it simply I would like to make them less isolated. The Scarabs are a nomadic, itinerant people - and yet, they seem confined to obscurity within the Coalition of Colonies. It'd be a fairly comprehensive rework, but I'd like to change their history completely, their culture some, and then shift them from being an outcast group of ships that only seem to exist because we're told they are, locked away in the Coalition, and instead have them develop and deepen their ties with various polities and worlds, all while actually taking advantage of their status as an itinerant people - by having them truly move throughout the world, potentially (or even especially) outside the Coalition itself. By having the Scarabs specifically interact and develop relations with existing planets and countries, more hooks are provided for Scarab characters and as a whole they become better integrated with the rest of Human Lore and humanity.

Spoiler

4. When it comes to Sol, how do you see the nationalization of megacorporate assets affecting the Solarian political state and economy? Detailed or generally.

Nationalization was a solution that brought problems of its own, in my mind. Nationalization without a doubt lessened the power of the SCC in regards to the Solarian economy, and therefore limited its influence on the Solarian state and nation in general. In turn the power of the Alliance's government will have increased, and the prospects of long-term stability and economic independence strengthened - however, this would have come at the cost of major short-term economic damage and a marked increase in instability, both socially, politically, and economically. With deliberate sabotage employed by NanoTrasen as it withdrew and Hephaestus playing hardball and refusing to comply, it wasn't a clean process and mass nationalization always upsets the economy greatly, especially if one is dealing with something as powerful and pervasive as a megacorporation.

There's also the fact that it caused a major upset in relations between Sol's government and the SCC corporations that remained. Some corporations that are key to the Alliance's power, particularly Hephaestus and Zavodskoi (due to their important relationship with one of the main sources of Sol's power, the military.) are now alienated from the Alliance itself - with places aforementioned aspects of the state in jeopardy. The necessity of deepening ties with Einstein is also a side effect of nationalization, which means that Sol may end up having to trade one problem for another - the SCC might be weakened and NanoTrasen eliminated, but another corporation has been empowered as a result.

Sol is a hybrid regime - with elements of both authoritarian and democratic rule (though at the moment, the scale is tilted in favor of the former, to be sure.) Hybrid regimes tend to have a significant corruption problem, and when you compound that with Sol's extant issues with political factionalism and Caesarism, and combine that with the sudden mass transfer of corporate assets to a government-owned entity, the Alliance is also probably facing a potentially severe corruption epidemic, as government official and military officers are presently in a position to profit massively by embezzling these new resources.

4 hours ago, Triogenix said:

5. Lastly, would you be willing to sometimes assist other teams in mapping and coding?

Sure, why not? If another team needs help and I can give it, I wouldn't mind lending a hand, provided it's within the realm of my capabilities to do so in the first place.

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4 minutes ago, DanseMacabre said:

While your other concerns are perfectly valid, I wanted to point out there is proof to the contrary in regards to this one (and the next one, to a degree). I point to Visegrad as the clearest example -  While I do not personally like megacorporations, I recognize their value and general importance to their setting, and this is clearly shown by the fact I used megacorporations fairly extensively in the course of writing Visegrad, especially as hooks for characters. The economy section is five paragraphs long and almost wholly devoted to information regarding megacorporations and how they'd impact characters coming from the planet. 

I had thought the megacorporate things had been added in post-canonization application by the human team and Mofo, which is something I could have easily checked instead of making a false assumption. My apologies.

7 minutes ago, DanseMacabre said:

I have asked the Human Lore team about and I was given that as an answer.

Yes, and my concern is you may give out similar answers as a deputy. It's something incredibly minor in the scheme of things, but my personal opinion is, while members of the team need to fill in blanks all the time, we should always try to preface them by saying that they're not on the wiki, and therefore not really canon, but a principle of how the team operates in it's writing. Using the corporate ships as an example again, yes, one could say Corporate AS vessels will get bodied by an actually military vessel and have it be right, but, again personally, I would rather it be "when we're writing, we assume that military vessels will heavily outmatch corporate AS vessels, even though this is mentioned nowhere on the wiki". It's just a minor personal thing that has already taken up too much of your effort and time as an applicant , and for this, I also apologize.

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It's no secret at all that I and Danse are friends, and when he mentions holding a good relationship with members of the lore team I certainly count myself as one of them. His writing is absolutely up to the quality I would expect of a deputy and the fact I still see a pretty regular display of Visegradi characters on the station shows he can write something engaging as well. In terms of he could work well with the team and produce content to the standard we expect there is no question in my mind that he could and would do so.

Others in the thread have already covered and questioned concerns enough that I don't feel I can raise any that wouldn't be simply echoing questions Danse has already responded too. So I'll instead merely ask some questions. 

1) You mention the concept of tying megacorps to Ideology and National Sentiment. I'm curious if/how you would like to bring this concept to some of our other mega-corporations. Whilst the PMCG is a good example it is quite unique in it's structure. And some of our other corporations cover a much wider range of places and ideas in where we have tied them into. Zavodskoi has roots in Imperial Dominia whilst also being a favourite of the Communist Plutonians. Zeng-Hu is a major Synthetic Manufacturer whilst having a deep relationship with the Jargon Federation. Hephaestus has strong roots in Solarian planets like New Hai Phong whilst also holding a special relationship with the Unathi and K'lax of the Hegemony. Do you think it's possible to create a Ideological or National tied sentiment for Corporations that are spread across very different places in space with very different views? Or is there another way you would approach giving them an identity beyond making money?

2) If you were given free reign after joining the team to write a planet, what would that planet be? I understand you might not have any specific ideas so feel free to be as long or short as you want in response to this question. But ideally I would be interested in where you would want to place the planet, what factions would be involved with it and if there is any particular human culture you would like to use as the basis for a planet in the future.

3) Now my own selfish question, Human Lore and Synthetic Lore are tied at the hip in many cases and I'd say there's no interspecies cooperation that occurs on the same level as between these two teams. Almost all of synthetic lore is in some way built off or intertwined with human lore. Even prominent parts of Synthlore that stand on their own still heavily involve humans such as the Trinary Perfection or Konyang.  How do you feel about cooperating with the Synthetic Team in particular? Do you have any ideas of where you would like to use Synthetics within your own writing for human lore or anything you would like to see change or added to Synthetic lore that would also benefit human lore as well?

Thank you for the responses, and best of luck.

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5 hours ago, SilverSZ said:

1) You mention the concept of tying megacorps to Ideology and National Sentiment. I'm curious if/how you would like to bring this concept to some of our other mega-corporations. Whilst the PMCG is a good example it is quite unique in it's structure. And some of our other corporations cover a much wider range of places and ideas in where we have tied them into. Zavodskoi has roots in Imperial Dominia whilst also being a favourite of the Communist Plutonians. Zeng-Hu is a major Synthetic Manufacturer whilst having a deep relationship with the Jargon Federation. Hephaestus has strong roots in Solarian planets like New Hai Phong whilst also holding a special relationship with the Unathi and K'lax of the Hegemony. Do you think it's possible to create a Ideological or National tied sentiment for Corporations that are spread across very different places in space with very different views? Or is there another way you would approach giving them an identity beyond making money?

I think the obvious answer for tying corporations to national sentiment/ideological leanings for corporations without strong ties to existing planets and ideologies or with very divergent beliefs would be to develop their corporate culture in such a way that it is malleable by the corporation itself to fit the bill of the location itself, and then to simply develop ties to those places in a constructive fashion. An example of this malleability would be that Zavodskoi has very strong ties to both Pluto and Dominia, despite these locations having nearly opposite political/economic systems - another thing to consider is that a corporation does not need to develop these ties with every planet they're present on, which eliminates the issue of locations with highly divergent values/beliefs from one another. If a corporation has an ideology associated with it, and a world it is on is compatible/incompatible with that ideology, it can selectively choose to or not choose to attempt to establish that ideology upon it.
As for developing an identity beyond making money - this also has a simple answer: as megacorporations are too big to fail, we could see their leadership embark upon personal missions to achieve certain aims that may not be best for the corporation itself, but are in line with the personal desires of the leadership. The logic for this being that as failure isn't a concern, wasting resources isn't necessarily a problem. This way, even if a corporation has no strong ties to a planet, it can possess an agenda (and therefore, the basis of an ideology) beyond just profit.

I may have misunderstood/misinterpreted this question and its wording, so if this answer isn't exactly satisfactory just let me know and I'll work on a new one.

5 hours ago, SilverSZ said:

2) If you were given free reign after joining the team to write a planet, what would that planet be? I understand you might not have any specific ideas so feel free to be as long or short as you want in response to this question. But ideally I would be interested in where you would want to place the planet, what factions would be involved with it and if there is any particular human culture you would like to use as the basis for a planet in the future.

This question is rather easy because it's one I've spoken about extensively - but ideally I would want to add a planet to the northern wildlands, likely within the MRSP. This decision is based in the observation I've had ever since Visegrad was canonized - having a fully-fledged, accent-bearing planet situated under the control of a warlord is a major, major draw to making characters from the region. Let me put it this way: I know of no characters who have come from the northern wildlands, and at least a dozen who have come from the southern wildlands. The reason for this disparity is simple - one region has a planet for characters to come from, and the other does not. Planets serve as an anchor, and as the very foundation for a character's ties to a region and for that region's astropolitical situation. With the warlords being such an important (yet underutilized) development within Aurora's lore, I think it's absolutely vital we get a planet within the northern wildlands, if we ever want to integrate this region and its warlords to the rest of the lore itself, and especially to get it involved in the creation of new characters. As for what factions would be involved? Beyond the MRSP, the League and SRF would both be in conflict (and therefore involved) with this world, and in turn Sol, Biesel, and the Coalition('s member-planets, especially Himeo and Gadpathur) due to the fact the northern wildlands is being used as a proxy battleground between these powers.

With regards to culture, Sub-Saharan Africa (My personal choice would be South Africa) and Oceania come to mind on account of the fact that they are the only regions of the real world that don't really have any strong representation within the context of our lore. While Sub-Saharan Africa does have Eridani, Eridani specifically has little in the way of remnant Earth culture, and Oceania is only really represented as a secondary aspect to one place, Silversun. Sub-Saharan Africa does have the Impukane as well, but again I feel like this isn't very satisfactory either. This new planet having its origin be in one of these two regions wouldn't be a strict requirement for me, but I think it's always good to try and get as much of the real world as possible used as a foundation for the lore itself, and I feel it'd be interesting for either of these two regions to be used.

5 hours ago, SilverSZ said:

3) Now my own selfish question, Human Lore and Synthetic Lore are tied at the hip in many cases and I'd say there's no interspecies cooperation that occurs on the same level as between these two teams. Almost all of synthetic lore is in some way built off or intertwined with human lore. Even prominent parts of Synthlore that stand on their own still heavily involve humans such as the Trinary Perfection or Konyang.  How do you feel about cooperating with the Synthetic Team in particular? Do you have any ideas of where you would like to use Synthetics within your own writing for human lore or anything you would like to see change or added to Synthetic lore that would also benefit human lore as well?

While I'm not too familiar with the synthetic team on a personal level (Mostly interacting with them in regards to questions, either in general or about contributions I'm trying to make), aside from you, I will say that I think the synthetic team does a lot of great work and I'd be very happy to work alongside them. I absolutely agree that human lore and synthetic lore are tied at the hip - in fact, I feel they're essentially under the same umbrella, with either field becoming incomplete (or flawed, at the very least) if you removed the other from the equation outright. As for using synthetic lore in the course of my own projects, one thing I'd like to do is to expand the description of just how much impact IPCs and synthetics have on the lives of humans in general, with regard to specific worlds. Sometimes it can be hard to determine just how familiar characters would be with IPCs before coming to the Horizon, based off of their background, and just how impactful they were to day-to-day life for those people. I'd also like to expand on the evolving role of IPCs within the Alliance and how Sol's warm relations with Einstein change Sol's views in relation to synthetics. One other thing I'd potentially be interested in doing is working alongside the synthetic team to develop a new synthetic faction or two that is closely integrated with Human lore's factions, similar to the Trinary Perfection - though this would obviously be a synthetic lore project as opposed to a human lore project, and wouldn't really be my wheelhouse, I still think it'd be a nice thing to work with the synthetic team on.

This answer is somewhat brief, I think, but it's mostly broad strokes - if you'd like greater elaboration, just let me know.

Edited by DanseMacabre
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7 hours ago, Triogenix said:

I had thought the megacorporate things had been added in post-canonization application by the human team and Mofo, which is something I could have easily checked instead of making a false assumption. My apologies.

No big deal!

7 hours ago, Triogenix said:

Yes, and my concern is you may give out similar answers as a deputy. It's something incredibly minor in the scheme of things, but my personal opinion is, while members of the team need to fill in blanks all the time, we should always try to preface them by saying that they're not on the wiki, and therefore not really canon, but a principle of how the team operates in it's writing. Using the corporate ships as an example again, yes, one could say Corporate AS vessels will get bodied by an actually military vessel and have it be right, but, again personally, I would rather it be "when we're writing, we assume that military vessels will heavily outmatch corporate AS vessels, even though this is mentioned nowhere on the wiki". It's just a minor personal thing that has already taken up too much of your effort and time as an applicant , and for this, I also apologize.

Fair enough. If this is how it should be, I'll keep it in mind.

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On 08/08/2022 at 15:28, Sneakyranger said:

I took some time to think about it and really want to see Danse make the lore team. I like his ideas, mostly, and even those occasional ones I feel are too harsh I can understand the reasoning behind it.
I do want to know your opinion on Dominia at the moment - just your general thoughts - simply out of curiosity given that I've been maining a Dominian recently and have been quite deep in to the lore. I actually considered Visegrad when creating the character, but decided to save that planet for a future character - I quite like your work with it.

First off, I want to apologize for missing this post somehow, and thank you for responding/what you have to say about my past work. Moving on to the question itself-

When it comes to my personal opinion, I think Dominia is alright. Personally, it’s never been my favorite faction - as a matter of personal taste more than anything else. Though I nonetheless admit now that the writing is of great quality. To me, it has always felt like it goes somewhat against the grain (As a neo-feudal theocratic absolute monarchy, it has little in common with the rest of human lore - which is a result of its original design more than anything else) of human lore in general, for better and for worse - when I came to Aurora it was in a very sorry state altogether, and it is only through constant effort and rewrites over the course of three years that Dominia has become what it is today. From a writer’s standpoint, I think Dominia is in a good position in general in terms of quality and potential - I think generally that Dominia as a power needs to be challenged more, and for the status quo of Dominian society to be challenged as well. In general, I don't think it needs much more “wiki work” - instead, I feel Dominia is better off being at the focus of an arc that would develop it organically, particularly an arc centered around the Badlands and its neighboring states.

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19 minutes ago, Desven said:

Last year when you applied Visegrad was still not canon and NBT hadn't launched. Have the recent lore developments changed your perception of lore, for better or worse?

I think the (lore) developments since my last application have drastically improved the server. The NBT has been a huge boon to the server’s potential and for the ability of the server as a whole to interact with the lore. Couple that with much-needed or much-liked developments within the wildlands, Mars and CRZ, the rewrites/expansions for Himeo, Elyra, Vysoka, Luna, Venus, Eridani, Konyang, Mictlan, Fisanduh, and even more, and the addition of the origin requirements, info on the spur’s ideologies, etc, etc, etc - there’s honestly so much that has happened in the last year and a half that it’s almost staggering, and almost all of it (if not all) has been for the better. If we keep this up, I can only imagine how amazing the next year and a half’ll be. This isn’t even mentioning all of the great stuff added for the other species - off the top of my head, the ongoing Unathi scarcity arc, the Skrell arcs, and the Orepit arc are all developments that have been great for the lore, and all of them are very recent.

As for my perception of the lore, though? How I perceive it hasn’t changed much - except that I feel now it is even more important for the server than ever, due to our change in setting. I feel that the last year and a half has only developed Auroralore’s existing identity and content - not warped or changed it - which is a good thing. Our world is consistent, and instead these developments have grown it instead of being lateral shifts or changes that don’t last.

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Danse has a lot of contributions to the server, from lore additions, volunteering, PR's and a lot of other stuff. I think It's a pretty significant edge over anyone else when it comes to the position and already shows the drive and dedication he would have for the position being applied for, certainly. Things would have definitely been worse off without him too, as I think It's fair to say a lot of these contributions ended up being fairly important to the lore overall, such as Visegrad becoming the first (and pretty much only) proper planet in the wildlands that's affected by those circumstances and controlled by a warlord or the third party ships likely not being used to the extent they are now without his contributions to get the ball going. He has an understanding of the lore, a solid vision of what he wants to do. Some of that stuff, I don't care for but overall It's good.

Considering all he's done as just a member of the community, I would be interested to see how that changes as a member of staff.

Edited by WickedCybs
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Although your passion, skill and past work are undeniable, I find it very hard to support this application when I consider your background and attitude towards previous issues. Just as one example that I was involved in, I remember the player complaint that was lodged against you for defamatory statements when discussing Dionae. By the end of that complaint you vowed to never speak again on Dionae matters. I've said it before and I'll say it again - this is the wrong way to approach a problem, no matter how sincere you were. Being silent on an issue is not the same as improving your stance towards it, and it is exactly this kind of attitude that I don't want to see from a writer.

This is not to say that I think you are beyond improvement or growing more mature. It would be very hypocritical for me to claim otherwise. Even if we weren't friends, I would still have faith in you and the quality of your work. It helps that the worst of these incidents are in the far past, but just like how not talking about a topic does not equate to bettering your opinion on it, a period of good behaviour is not necessarily evidence of improvement. As deputy loremaster, I would need very strong guarantees that you do not relapse, and actively try to work on your approach towards arguments that will undoubtedly come up as part of the team.

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Hi, I'm back with more questions because I'm curious.

1. What do you think the weakest and strongest parts of your writing are?

2. What are your thoughts on Ouerea and the Human population there?

3. The Alliance and J Federation are beginning to be allies in more than name again, with the Alliance leaning heavily on the Federation for support refitting it's fleets and travel in the wildlands, with the warp gates gifted to the Alliance by the federation and EE. With this said, where would you like see this relationship going in the future?

4. With the phoron scarcity currently ongoing, many Human factions have He3 and warp drives within their borders, or a large amount of phoron(Elyra).  How do you see the scarcity impacting these nations in a meaningful way?

5. In conjunction with the question above, what do you believe the primary impacts of the scarcity should be, for the whole spur?

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9 hours ago, Lucaken said:

Although your passion, skill and past work are undeniable, I find it very hard to support this application when I consider your background and attitude towards previous issues. Just as one example that I was involved in, I remember the player complaint that was lodged against you for defamatory statements when discussing Dionae. By the end of that complaint you vowed to never speak again on Dionae matters. I've said it before and I'll say it again - this is the wrong way to approach a problem, no matter how sincere you were. Being silent on an issue is not the same as improving your stance towards it, and it is exactly this kind of attitude that I don't want to see from a writer.

This is not to say that I think you are beyond improvement or growing more mature(...)

Without a doubt the callous attitude regarding Dionae that I held was a mistake and I shouldn't have acted in that way, both in matters of humor and in serious ones, as was my emotional kneejerk response to vow never to talk about the species again. As a permanent mark against my character as a player and an applicant, though? It has been nearly a year since the incident in question - I regret it all quite profusely - and I have not acted in that way since. I have on occasion spoken about Dionae - not frequently (largely because I'm just never really involved in conversations about them), but still enough to demonstrate I have not sworn an oath of silence like I suggested I would in that complaint, and I have no problems with speaking in a productive manner in regards to them. Again, I am not denying how I acted regarding the species was wrong - it was unproductive and rude, to be sure - but to put it simply - I no longer act that way, and I truly have no desire to act that way.

I privately resolved the matter in a more productive manner than my initial kneejerk reaction would have - you could ask the person who lodged the complaint about that, if necessary.

9 hours ago, Lucaken said:

(...)but just like how not talking about a topic does not equate to bettering your opinion on it, a period of good behaviour is not necessarily evidence of improvement. As deputy loremaster, I would need very strong guarantees that you do not relapse, and actively try to work on your approach towards arguments that will undoubtedly come up as part of the team.

To be honest, I think this part of the post and the criticism levelled against me within it is unfair, no offense intended. Again, I am confused by the vagueness of this. What do you feel I need to improve upon? I am capable of conducting myself properly in an argument; that much is demonstrated by the discussions and debates I get into quite often on discord. If a period of good behavior is not evidence of improvement - what is? One would feel that a very strong guarantee is far weaker proof of improvement than an entire year of demonstrably better conduct. I feel like you're asking me to prove something that isn't, well, provable. I get along well enough with the Dionae lore team as individuals, and bear no ill will towards the Dionae playerbase or Dionae lore as a whole. If you want guarantees, I can guarantee this: I have absolutely no intention to act in a way unbecoming of a human lore deputy, in regards to Dionae lore (discussions, debates, or casual conversation), or any lore for that matter, just as I haven't (as a player) since that complaint was resolved.

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On 12/08/2022 at 01:29, DanseMacabre said:

I am confused by the vagueness of this.

Looking back, my wording was definitely poor in the second half of my response. Said more clearly, I do not think it’s been enough time since those incidents for me to confidently recommend your application, because I haven’t directly seen the improvement I want. This is not your fault - it’s a matter of not enough time passing. 
 

The above and previous comments should not be taken as a seal of disapproval, however. I think you would make a wonderful addition to the team, but I have to voice my concerns as deputy loremaster, which in my view still stand as valid. 

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I think Danse would be an excellent addition to the human team. He is passionate about the Aurora Lore and the server as a whole.

 

Time is a funny thing, because I barely remember the previous negative actions by Danse. We can hardly hold someone responsible for endless months and years on end, especially with how randomly and rarely these slots open up. Any action while they are on the team can be handled, but I think anything negative is unlikely to happen.

Edited by Butterrobber202
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On 11/08/2022 at 18:59, Triogenix said:

1. What do you think the weakest and strongest parts of your writing are?

I think I have a tendency to focus on relatively niche subject matters that might not be interesting to everyone. Politics, planetary geography, alien flora and fauna, etc. I'm kind of a harder sci-fi guy in a relatively soft setting, which means I can get wrapped up in details that don't really matter to everyone. In the past my writings could end up dry as a result of this, because I could end up neglecting things that are important for making interesting characters - culture, in particular - but this is something I've worked on a lot during the course of writing Visegrad. You could compare the original draft to the current version to see what I mean - it was noticeably dryer before, largely because my effort was focused on parts that were important to me, but perhaps not as important for writing an interesting, engaging planet.

Conversely, I think that attention to detail and empirical focus leads to a strength in building a setting and for making sure everything is well-rounded, flesh-out, and interconnected. Not to hype myself up too much or anything, but I think I do a good job in making things make sense in the first place, and seem developed in a logical, consistent manner. 

On 11/08/2022 at 18:59, Triogenix said:

2. What are your thoughts on Ouerea and the Human population there?

It's hard to have many thoughts on Ouerea at all, to be frank - let alone on a demographic group that receives only minor passing mentions (The Ouerea page mentions humans four times, three of which being to simply state "humans do, in fact, live here.") on the page. Regrettably, Ouerea is acutely underdeveloped, with the bulk of the writing being at least 3+ years old. As such, my thoughts on Ouerean humans are less about what they are like currently, and more about their potential with regards to a rewrite of the planet. Ouerea is unique in regards to humanity in that it is a rare alien-owned, alien-majority location with a substantial human population. Couple that with the noteworthy differences in Unathi and Human society and government, and the conflicts that could stem from that, and you have grounds for a lot of potentially interesting work to be done.

What I personally have in mind is a tie-in related to Hephaestus, on account of its persistent and strong partnership with the Hegemony, and potentially downplaying or downsizing the role Sol proper had with establishing Ouerea as a settled colony. Another thing I'd like to work on is the role humanity played in establishing Ouerean democracy and introducing it to the Unathi of the planet - and the role Humans played with respect to the uprising against Hegemony rule that re-established democracy on the planet, which I imagine they'd have been at the forefront of. Another thing potentially worth considering - although perhaps carefully - is the idea of Ouerea as a place for refugees from the southern wildlands who might not have anywhere else to go. If you were to flee the southern wildlands and not go to either Sol or Biesel, the Hegemony could be the closest "welcoming" destination (Elyra isn't particularly fond of the whole "refugee" thing, after all.), especially with Ouerea as home to a considerable human population as-is.

With that said, I think in any rewrite, humans should either play a substantial part in Ouerea's story or should play no part at all. I think the current situation of "some of them are here, that's all" is the worst of both worlds.

On 11/08/2022 at 18:59, Triogenix said:

3. The Alliance and J Federation are beginning to be allies in more than name again, with the Alliance leaning heavily on the Federation for support refitting it's fleets and travel in the wildlands, with the warp gates gifted to the Alliance by the federation and EE. With this said, where would you like see this relationship going in the future?

Jargon faces the same problem that Sol used to face - it is a monolithic superpower with seemingly unlimited potential and unlimited capabilities. While it is good that Jargon and Sol are interacting with one another again in light of their status as allies, I'm hesitant to see Jargon be involved with... Well, any geopolitical situation for the time being, for reasons shown by the SFA arc and which I discussed in the feedback thread regarding that arc. Sol and the wildlands' present situation is precarious and relies on a very careful balance of power, which could easily be upended by Jargon - the SFA arc being a perfect example of such a disruption. Personally, I wouldn't want to see this relationship developed further in a meaningful way (read: having a major impact on the geopolitical scene) without Jargon experiencing a "collapse" of its own - in the form of a velvet divorce of the Federation as a whole, or by otherwise changing the power dynamic surrounding the JF so it isn't quite so monolithic anymore. Until then, I am hesitant to see anything but small-scale development of this relationship.

On 11/08/2022 at 18:59, Triogenix said:

4. With the phoron scarcity currently ongoing, many Human factions have He3 and warp drives within their borders, or a large amount of phoron(Elyra).  How do you see the scarcity impacting these nations in a meaningful way?

Warp versus bluespace travel is like the horse and buggy versus the automobile - or piston-engined propeller planes versus supersonic jet-engined aircraft. Helium-3 and warp drives will certainly get you to from point A to B faster than the speed of light, but it is an absolute downgrade - with the only true advantage is the relative affordability of this method of travel and the availability of fuel. As such, polities reverting to warp travel in lieu of bluespace (The Alliance being the most prominent example of this) are, in essence, regressing technologically and materially with regards to transportation. This regression means slower travel times, complication of supply lines/logistics, the necessity to retool your entire nation to function along the lines of this reversion, and greater inflexibility with regards to mobility. The end result of a swap to warp travel from bluespace travel would be a severe economic crisis, to put it simply. To closest analogy I could describe would be if, tomorrow, the US (or any large, industrialized country, for that matter) reverted all of its transportation-related technology to what existed in the interwar era. So, while countries using warp in lieu of bluespace travel might be insulated from the scarcity's effects with regard to phoron availability, they'll still have to face the potentially catastrophic impact of swapping over to an inferior mode of travel. Even places that never really replaced warp travel with bluespace travel in the first place will still have to deal with the aftershocks second-hand, as supply networks and economies intertwined with their own suffer.

Elyra is a different problem entirely - while they apparently have enough phoron for their own purposes, they have suspended sales of phoron to outside nations. Phoron is the lifeblood of Elyra's economy, and the cessation of exports will have had huge repercussions for Elyra - something that the government appears to be acutely aware of, as hinted at by the mention of state-funded infusions into other sectors to diversify the Elyran economy on one of the Elyran wiki pages (The main one, I think?). And if Biesel can run out of phoron, so too can Elyra eventually - which is likely a major cause for concern. It wouldn't be a surprise to me if Elyra's economy was in a recession or stagnation as a result of the phoron crisis and the decision to end phoron exports, at the end of the day. An unlikely - but not entirely unnoteworthy - side effect is that Elyra's security situation will have gotten a lot more precarious, as host to the largest-remaining reserves of phoron. Who knows what might happen if an outside party was desperate enough?

On 11/08/2022 at 18:59, Triogenix said:

5. In conjunction with the question above, what do you believe the primary impacts of the scarcity should be, for the whole spur?

I'm going to keep this one relatively brief as I feel it has largely been answered by the above question's response - though if elaboration is requested, I wouldn't mind giving it. To put it simply - a spur-wide economic recession followed by depression, and a political situation that is tenser and more dangerous than it has ever been in history. The spur is now a powder-keg, with the entire status quo being challenged by the shortage of what is one of the spur's most important resources. The balance of power is being shifted dramatically, with regards to both corporations and states, and the relative stability of the pre-collapse spur is gone. To put it simply, the scarcity impacts every single facet of life for people living within the spur, and it could end up going in any direction from here on out.

 

Apologies for the delay in answering these questions - I just haven't been in a great position to do so over the course of these last few days.

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