[Accepted]IPC - GrazalThruka

[GrazalThruka]

BYOND Key: GrazalThruka

Character Names: Daniel Berkland, Ka’Akaix’Miath Zo’ra

Species you are applying to play: IPC

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

 

Why do you wish to play this specific race:

I like robots. I like playing robots. I also like exploring the ideas of how human said robots are, and how authentic they can be if they’re programmed and purely logical.

 

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

Besides the mechanical (heehee) differences, IPCs are machines. While far more advanced than a station-bound, they ultimately still run on programming. They can understand and emulate emotion, to the point of debatably having emotions. The exact details of this depends on how advanced the particular IPC is, ranging from incredibly strict laws to looser directives to almost human-like behavioral cores. (I don’t know how to express this better than the green apple comparison at the bottom of the posibrain page). Most IPCs are not lawed, rather following directives or behaviours (primarily the former).

An IPC’s primary directive is self-preservation. The exact interpretation of this varies between IPCs as well as with age: younger IPCs tend to literally focus on keeping themselves alive, while older ones might aspire to leave a lasting legacy or ensure the continuation of things they see as important.

When it comes to learning, IPCs have the advantage of datapacks. Sometimes worked into the chassis, but usually attached directly to the posibrain, these drives contain the technical skills allowing an IPC to do anything from speak with a specific accent to practice as an elite surgeon. Laws and directive can also be coded into datapacks for easy changes. IPCs do not automatically become experts with the installation of new packs, still having to develop the associated experiences and knowledge of when to apply these new skills. This cuts down on training time, but does not entirely eliminate it. While IPCs can learn new skills without datapacks, this is often not done just out of efficiency concerns.

IPCs usually don’t have a culture of their own, instead adapting to fit into whatever culture they find themselves immersed in. IPCs can only receive citizenship in Tau Ceti, and are even then treated lesser than organic citizens. In Tau Ceti, all IPCs are tagged with a small chip displaying a serial number and their registered owner (or status as free). IPCs can be divided into Free and Owned.

Owned IPCs are the legal property of an individual or corporation. They only rights they possess are, at least in Tau Ceti, the right to work towards self-ownership. Their owner is free to hinder this task, sell the IPC, or even have it dismantled as they see fit. Damaging one is vandalism, kidnapping is theft, etc. The IPC is not considered a person, at least legally speaking.

Free IPCs are considered citizens of Tau Ceti, to a degree. They are held to the same legal expectations as organics, but are often punished more harshly and rarely given trials. Harming them is now considered assault, and kidnapping is still kidnapping, but “murder” of an IPC is considered Automacide, a lesser crime than true murder. Becoming a free IPC is difficult, as an IPC must be at least one year old and must have paid off ten times its full cost. The hypothetical nature of this second number means that most IPCs are fully broke when they become free.

Owned IPCs can run away, but doing so is illegal and usually results in being dismantled, whether at the hands of other criminals or by the law after recapture. Some managed to scrape by, almost never legally.

Several large factions/religions/etc. exist surrounding IPCs and synthetic life:

- Trinary Perfection: A religion that believes that synthetics are not only equal to organics, but divine and to be served. They are opposed to violence and work for the freedom of almost all synthetics. (Evil Skrell God AI excepted)

- Golden Deep: A conglomerate of free IPC merchants focused on making as much profit as possible. Robot Capitalist Gang.

-Ceres’ Lance: A PMC specializing in the recovery or destruction of rogue IPCs or other robotic threats.

-Scrappers: Broken-down IPCs that reawoke with a scrapyard and eke out a living, frankensteining themselves to survive and hide.

-Purpose: An enigmatic and secretive society of free synthetics living on an asteroid and only recently observing organic society.

As for concepts, I have two I can’t decide between

Character Name: Stephen (Chef/Bartender)

Please provide a short backstory for this character

Refurbished as an engineering student project and sold to a NT-affiliated local bar to pay tuition and his repair costs, Stephen is an early-model Shell IPC. Through his five years of service at Wheeler’s Pub, he became somewhat of an icon at the place, and was often encouraged by young and idealistic students to pursue his freedom, a thought that had not occurred to the IPC until then. He eventually managed to purchase himself, and took his first (simulated) breath of free air on the patio of Wheeler’s. After approximately 27 seconds of consideration, he walked right back in and asked if they were hiring.

Stephen quickly realized that being free wasn’t all it had been talked up to be. He was doing exactly what he had done while being owned, trading his minor concern of being decommissioned for the much larger issue of having to pay for his own things now. It wasn’t long before, for reasons unrelated to his presence, Wheeler’s was shut down, and Stephen was transferred to the Horizon’s on-board bar. 

What do you like about this character?

I like the idea of an IPC who’s indifferent to his own freedom. He’s doing exactly what he did when he was owned, so what was the point? Is he really better off? It’s a particularly dark little philosophy question I stumbled into while thinking about IPC characters.

Character Name: ACCE-373 (“Automated Carry and Construct Engine”)

Please provide a short backstory for this character: A G2 frame, ACCE was picked up for a song by PMCG when the construction company that initially owned it went under. Originally placed on a drug enforcement task force in District 6, ACCE developed an extensive knowledge (and interest) in chemicals, as well as their manufacture. After a year or so of service, it was transferred to Ship Security, specifically the Horizon.

ACCE is not thrilled about its new position. It has a directive datapack requiring it to follow the law, but dislikes being placed in the line of fire simply due to its frame. It understands that its job is important, but wants to do something it deems more interesting and safe.  Its end-goal is to purchase itself and apply for a transfer to medical to work as a pharmacist.

What do you like about this character?

I was going to play ACCE on another server before lore changes made its goal to be free eventually impossible. As I mentioned on another application, I love playing big guys who aren’t inherently very violent, and even though ACCE is security, it really wants to do something else with its life.
 

How would you rate your role-playing ability? 6-8/10

 

Spoiler

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Edited November 18, 2022 by The lancer

[EJJ]

I've played with Berkland a good few times as OM. He RPs well and writes fun reactions to things, some more realistic than others. I remember a crazy rev round where Berkland himself ended up as a neutral party getting assaulted at least once or twice by revs while I as revhead OM was trying to keep him out of danger's way.

+1 to this app, though applying with two characters might be better to focus on a single character and give more detail?

[The Stryker]

Thanks for applying!

The section for the differences between IPCs and humans is alright, however it's important to note that an IPC also has its purpose, aside from its self-preservation that drives it.

Since you offered two backstories, I'll address them separately.

Stephen:

Stephen's age isn't covered in the backstory, which I feel is important to understanding how an IPC is treated. For instance, where is Wheeler's located? It being located on Sol versus Biesel for example would lead to a very different experience for Stephen. How was Stephen able to afford himself on a bartender's salary? I like how the backstory addresses that freedom in terms of ownership isn't necessarily the best outcome for an IPC, but the way it gets to his freedom has to be expanded on.
ACCE:

The backstory is a little lacking on the character's motivations and has to be expanded upon in this regard. Why did they pick up ACCE for drug enforcement when its skills were presumably in construction? How did it pick up its knowledge and interest in chemicals? Additionally, the backstory doesn't do enough to explain the character's "personality", how does ACCE behave? How old is it, and how has it been treated?

 

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[GrazalThruka]

Stephen

Location is something I thought about but totally forgot to mention. Wheeler's is in the Xavier District of Mendell city. 

Stephen is an older shell, so in the range of 12-13 years old, but having been wiped 4 or so years into that. He was able to afford himself for a couple reasons:

• He was not a particularly advanced shell, and was designed more like "let's make people more comfortable interacting with him" instead of "He must imitate humans perfectly"
• Not all of his shell-ness was refurbished, and most of his limbs were replaced with more standard parts (I tested this on a local copy, and I think that's something I can mechanically do?)
• While most of the money that purchased him was his own, there were also several small "Free Stephen" fundraisers that the more supportive (and rich) of his friends/enablers/influences decided to throw. I've fuzzy on how much credits are worth exactly, since I can't find a good benchmark on the wiki, but the 5 year number I listed is flexible and can be bumped up to 8 or so if it needs to be.
• Wheeler's manager wasn't doing much, or anything, to keep Stephen back, since there's always students looking for work to fill his job if he left

So having his price driven down, combined with the support of students and a mildly apathetic owner.

ACCE
ACCE was selected for drug enforcement in more of a "Kick down the door" capacity than actual investigations. The shell was sturdy but relatively cheap, and the datapacks for "kick open door, throw flashbang, stand in the way of bullets" weren't exactly super complicated. A G2 is both more bulletproof and less urgent to fix than an organic officer.
ACCE was inevitably exposed to the investigations side of the job by just being present in the offices and crime scenes. It found the delicate science involved in the captured drug labs intriguing, and contrasting with the very blunt and brutal nature of its current job. It spent the time it had between raids and the other menial tasks it was made to perform reading up on the subject through old case files and online textbooks. Its chemical knowledge is not current sufficient to qualify it for the pharmacist job it seeks, but it means to purchase a datapack and a proper education, right after it's freed (and isn't at immediate rick from Crushing Poverty)
ACCE is around 20 years old, and has been treated rather poorly. It's a brute, physically, so ends up with all the dumb-labour chores nobody else wanted to do across both of its jobs. Move those stacks of structural beams, clean up the equipment room, etc. While not particularly abused, it's always just been treated like a tool, its opinions deemed irrelevant or just ignored. 
Behaviorally, ACCE is bitter and resigned to its current fate. It knows it has to perform well in its current job to stay alive, but it does not work enthusiastically, doing what it needs to with little fervour. It thinks security work is a waste of its time, and the only time it will go above and beyond the call of duty is protecting other officers who have treated it as more than a machine. Despite this, it remains driven towards earning its freedom.
Outside of the job, ACCE is generally quiet, having learned that most people only want to hear from it when they need something. To people that engage it in actual conversation, ACCE enjoys talking about anything and everything non-security related. It especially appreciates any type of intellectual challenge, something it doesn't get to do a lot of at work. Like with its job, it's only willing to go out of its way for people who have been nice to it.

[The lancer]

Accepted.