The great FAQ of general questions

[Frances]

Good morning,

I noticed we don't have any sort of quick-reference guide for the lore. The Background Summary exists on the wiki, but it's still rather long to read, and mostly covers information about the races.

I will try to maintain some sort of general FAQ in this post. Questions should be aimed at general, important info about the lore anyone should know to roleplay. Feel free to ask anything you think fits that bill in this thread, and if a lore team member answers, I'll do my best to categorize and add the information to the OP.

Without further ado, I'm going to open with some very general questions most of us probably know the answer to.

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Table

What is my character's job?

What is NanoTrasen?

What is the state of Plasma in our universe?

How serious is the Aurora? Is it an elite station?

Where is the Aurora located?

Where do humans come from?

What is the language characters speak? Is it English?

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What is my character's job?

Your character is working on the NSS Aurora, a plasma research station owned by the megacorporation NanoTrasen. The most important part of the Aurora is the Research wing and its science personnel, while the rest of the station's departments exist to support the station crew. The Aurora has been active for 11 years.

What is NanoTrasen?

NanoTrasen is a megacorporation, specializing in biomedical research, which has been established over 100 years ago. One of the largest corporations across the universe, it has recently begun exploiting the market of Plasma research - Plasma being a highly elusive element with many possible applications.

What is the state of Plasma in our universe?

Plasma is abundant where it can be extracted, but is still considered rare and valuable - treat it as if you were working in a gold or diamond mine. The asteroid field by the Aurora contains a sizeable amount of Plasma, but it is mostly extracted for research and to meet the station's needs, not to be extracted as a commodity to be used off-station.

How serious is the Aurora? Is it an elite station?

The Aurora is one of NanoTrasen's few Plasma research stations. It contains incredibly expensive equipment, and hosts the elite of the scientific community. The rest of the station's crew should be consequently competent (though this is not always true). The station is in restricted space, and does not accept any visitors.

Where is the Aurora located?

The Aurora is located in the Tau Ceti system, a system neighbor to Sol. While the station itself exists in the outer edge of the system, where the most important Plasma deposits lie, bluespace shuttles ferry the station crew back to Tau Ceti's main population hubs every day.

Where do humans come from?

Humans live mainly in three major systems: Sol, Tau Ceti, and Epsilon Eridani. Most members of alien species working on the Aurora also live in Tau Ceti, although a few still have ties with their respective, more distant homeworld.

What is the language characters speak? Is it English?

The main language characters speak on the Aurora is Tau Ceti Common, an offshoot of Sol Common widespread in the Tau Ceti system. It is often referred to as "Common" or "Basic".

Edited April 13, 2015 by Guest

[Frances]

[Reserved]

just being cautious 9_9

[Frances]

And now I'm going to shamelessly double(triple?)post, because I had some questions of my own to add to the FAQ.

-How much is a Credit worth, in reference to the USD in 2015?

-What is the social status of every alien race on the Aurora?

-What are some other general tidbits of knowledge every Aurora employee would know in 2457?

[Rusty Shackleford]

You want us to just start answering as you go along, or gather them all up in one big ol' wall of text instead?

[Frances]

You want us to just start answering as you go along, or gather them all up in one big ol' wall of text instead?

Answer any questions you can answer, and feel free to post your own questions/answers you think should be added to the FAQ. As the FAQ gathers more information, I'll start breaking it up into categories, such as "basic info", "species", etc.

[Rusty Shackleford]

-How much is a Credit worth, in reference to the USD in 2015?

-What is the social status of every alien race on the Aurora?

-What are some other general tidbits of knowledge every Aurora employee would know in 2457?

 

Think of the credit as the future equivalent of the US dollar, being the standard currency for trade, at least in human space. It would be subject to the same forces of inflation, though it might be much more resistant to it because of an immensely more massive amount of it in open circulation, and the much greater availability of raw materials, human capital, and resources.

With aliens, I'm pretty sure that skrell are the most respected, due to them being the oldest allies of humanity and helping them to advance in their technology. Tajarans and Uneth would be next on the totem pole, and would prbably be considered primitive and backwards in their culture and technology; latent racism would exist due to them being introduced recently, and due to the violence in their histories. Dionaea and IPCs would be at the bottom, but people would be okay with the mellow talking trees being all peaceful and mystical and shit, though IPCs would be subject to heavy discrimination and heavy ongoing debate as to the issue of their rights, and even their sentience. Most pf them would actually probably still be considered property, methinks.

As far as tidbits everyone would know... I don't know, just basic common sense stuff I suppose. The everyman wouldn't be privy to paradigm-altering knowledge.

[Frances]

For the Credit, I'm not asking for the complete economic status, just a general conversion rate, so that people can have an idea that 1 Credit = this much in today's money.

For the alien races, I'd like to hear a short blurb from each of their responsible caretaker. 1-2 sentences at most.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

Race overviews as I understand them as KISS as possible while still getting the ideas across

Unathi

The Unathi are a race of tall humanoid reptiles standing from six to seven feet tall on average, with females slightly smaller in stature. They possess a mixture of snake-like and crocodile-like features, resulting in hard and plate-like scales, excluding the ones on the belly, armpits and groin. Unathi live in their home system of Uueoa-Esa. The planet's history can be summarized as being divided up between various hegemonies; names they give the most powerful Clans on Moghes throughout time. The Clan system is deeply entrenched in Unathi society, with everything else revolving around it. It forms a major part of their code of honour, which stresses the importance of martial abilities and loyalty to the Clan.

Life outside the Untouched Lands remains harsh, with limited or nonexistent Nanotrasen presence.

The Unathi code of honour also has them frown on ranged weapons, with many Unathi preferring melee combat.

After the Contact War, many Unathi which fled the planet through Nanotrasen-built shuttle ports slipped through the cracks and became slavers and raiders, gaining fearsome reputations.

Many Unathi in Nanotrasen find themselves working in security and engineering roles, but recently many have been proving themselves as competent surgeons and brilliant scientists, earning opportunities unheard of on Moghes.

 

Tajaran

The Tajaran are the second race to be discovered by Humanity. In their early history they were ruled by a noble class which became progressively more totalitarian, corrupt, and inbred. A general uprising rumoured to have been financed by Nanotrasen overthrew the nobility and replaced it with an authoritarian republic, which is itself now in the middle of a civil war across the planet.

Tajaran's on the homeworld live in cold or frozen temperatures, and with a technological level roughly equivalent to 1920's-1930's Earth. Their language is a mix of spoken words and sign/body language which has proven difficult for humans to understand. Most Tajaran are hired by Nanotrasen and paid less than humans or Skrell, and are predominately engineers or work in cargo and mining. But with the influx of new tajaran labour, they've been filling out other roles as well, with tajaran surgeons and doctors becoming more common.

 

Skrell

MIMATOOL HELP ME I DON'T KNOW ENOUGH ABOUT THE SQUIDS

 

Diona

THE TREES EITHER HELP

 

IPCs

Originally bound Artificial Intelligences, IPC's are (arguably) sentient positronics brains that were given their freedom through various means. Few are genuinely 'free', with most having bought their own freedom at the cost of being indebted to Nanotrasen or their original creators. They are growing more common in security and medical roles, and are popular (or unpopular) for their extremely diverse and usually quirky personalities.

[Jakers457]

Isn't the credit hyperinflated in comparison to the USD? I'm going by vending machine prices mainly.

[Dea Tacita]

From an older part of the wiki (not sure if still valid) a credit is like 3USD

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

For the sake of making mathematics easy let's just say a credit has the buying power of about $1.50 since people are being sticklers about it.

So yes that means a cup of coffee + tea is $35.50 individually. Let's just... Handwave that explanation as those particular luxury items being artificially expensive in the vending machines, since we get them for free in soda dispensers...

[mrimatool]

Race overviews as I understand them as KISS as possible while still getting the ideas across

Unathi

The Unathi are a race of tall humanoid reptiles standing from six to seven feet tall on average, with females slightly smaller in stature. They possess a mixture of snake-like and crocodile-like features, resulting in hard and plate-like scales, excluding the ones on the belly, armpits and groin. Unathi live in their home system of Uueoa-Esa. The planet's history can be summarized as being divided up between various hegemonies; names they give the most powerful Clans on Moghes throughout time. The Clan system is deeply entrenched in Unathi society, with everything else revolving around it. It forms a major part of their code of honour, which stresses the importance of martial abilities and loyalty to the Clan.

Life outside the Untouched Lands remains harsh, with limited or nonexistent Nanotrasen presence.

The Unathi code of honour also has them frown on ranged weapons, with many Unathi preferring melee combat.

After the Contact War, many Unathi which fled the planet through Nanotrasen-built shuttle ports slipped through the cracks and became slavers and raiders, gaining fearsome reputations.

Many Unathi in Nanotrasen find themselves working in security and engineering roles, but recently many have been proving themselves as competent surgeons and brilliant scientists, earning opportunities unheard of on Moghes.

 

Tajaran

The Tajaran are the second race to be discovered by Humanity. In their early history they were ruled by a noble class which became progressively more totalitarian, corrupt, and inbred. A general uprising rumoured to have been financed by Nanotrasen overthrew the nobility and replaced it with an authoritarian republic, which is itself now in the middle of a civil war across the planet.

Tajaran's on the homeworld live in cold or frozen temperatures, and with a technological level roughly equivalent to 1920's-1930's Earth. Their language is a mix of spoken words and sign/body language which has proven difficult for humans to understand. Most Tajaran are hired by Nanotrasen and paid less than humans or Skrell, and are predominately engineers or work in cargo and mining. But with the influx of new tajaran labour, they've been filling out other roles as well, with tajaran surgeons and doctors becoming more common.

 

Skrell

MIMATOOL HELP ME I DON'T KNOW ENOUGH ABOUT THE SQUIDS

 

Diona

THE TREES EITHER HELP

 

IPCs

Originally bound Artificial Intelligences, IPC's are (arguably) sentient positronics brains that were given their freedom through various means. Few are genuinely 'free', with most having bought their own freedom at the cost of being indebted to Nanotrasen or their original creators. They are growing more common in security and medical roles, and are popular (or unpopular) for their extremely diverse and usually quirky personalities.

 

I laughed xD and I'll get the two race lore finished for tomorrow night

[Guest]

For the sake of making mathematics easy let's just say a credit has the buying power of about $1.50 since people are being sticklers about it.

So yes that means a cup of coffee + tea is $35.50 individually. Let's just... Handwave that explanation as those particular luxury items being artificially expensive in the vending machines, since we get them for free in soda dispensers...

 

Why didn't anyone think of, you know, just lowering the price of a cup of coffee to something reasonable?

[Rusty Shackleford]

Maybe it's imported coffee. Either that or the math is faulty.

[Gollee]

For the sake of making mathematics easy let's just say a credit has the buying power of about $1.50 since people are being sticklers about it.

So yes that means a cup of coffee + tea is $35.50 individually. Let's just... Handwave that explanation as those particular luxury items being artificially expensive in the vending machines, since we get them for free in soda dispensers...

 

Why didn't anyone think of, you know, just lowering the price of a cup of coffee to something reasonable?

 

I suggested that, but have yet to get around to making a thread.

[BRAINOS]

We're in restricted space and NanoTrasen likely does extreme scrubbing and searching before sending any kind of product to their station. That alone drives up the price of coffee to - well, still less than a Starbucks tall.

So $3.50 isn't too bad.

My question, and I'm surprised it's not covered here, is: Where are we off-shift?

Some people go into cryo between shifts (wakes up from cryogenic revival) but what about everyone else?

There has to be a separate dorms station near Central or something, and don't tell me everyone gets frozen at Central. That can't be cheap and it moots the entire point of having on-station cryo pods.

For things like the IC social media in the forums here to work, our characters must have a life off-shift that's more than climbing in and out of a cryo pod.

I'm guessing employees ship to basic dorms for assistants and janitors and other low level jobs for the length of their term, while anyone else who can afford to transport themselves out of the restricted space and into a space-condo should have the luxury of doing so. I've been reading over and over our lore and this major detail isn't addressed.

Two answers don't make sense:

- We get frozen

This is, in my opinion, a lazy gloss-over that severely restricts RP and pushes the corporate dystopia setting into tryhard overdrive.

- We live on the station

Why house all the off-shift people into those tiny dorms?

This would crowd the station and kill productivity - the station should be running 24/7.

Both of those point me toward a dedicated housing station that most people shuttle back to after clocking out at Central. Go home, be human for a few hours, go back to Central, clock in, take the shuttle to your work station, the Aurora.

What's everyone's thoughts?

[Fire and Glory]

[Where does everyone live]

The answer is actually quite simple, everyone lives on planets.

Much like the shuttle going from Exodus to Odin (or SS13 to Central if you prefer.) there are also shuttles going to and from Odin on Biesel, the capital planet of the system our space station is in, and other planets.

Think of it as like taking the bus to work.

I advise you read our wiki for some general information on everything if you haven't already.

EDIT:My bad.

Some people live on space stations too, though, Odin/Central is a massive hub I believe and has its own dorms for living in.

Although I am not part of the official (or unofficial) lore team, I'm speaking very confidently here and I imagine a lot of people would be very surprised if I'm somehow wrong.

 

Go home, be human for a few hours, go back to Central, clock in, take the shuttle to your work station, the Aurora.

Slight correction, although we used to have the NSS Aurora, it's decommissioned and everyone is ICly working on the NSS Exodus. (Much to the confusion of anyone ever who joins.)

I guess no one actually thought how NT employees live would ever be in question.

[BRAINOS]

Ah, thanks a ton!

A lot of other servers go for a crewcicle sorta thing and that never sat right with me.

Glad to know there's even more freedom than I initially thought. Thanks for the clarification!

[driecg36]

Ok, so this is kind of a general question when it comes to canon and antags.

I have this character who's fucked up a lot (as a non-antag), and feels resentment towards NT in general.

Would making him tear up his contract and live life as a raider be acceptable lore wise? OFC I wouldn't play him as a crew member anymore, but would updating his employment/sec records and recreating him whenever I roll raider be OK?

I think the raider variation of that character is a lot more interesting/fun than his standard one, and since he was my first character I was thinking of kind of ditching him. Thoughts?

I know its necessary, but I get kinda annoyed that you can't really develop meaningful antag chars since they aren't really canon, and you don't actually get to see them that often, since their RP is so fun.

[Scheveningen]

Would making him tear up his contract and live life as a raider be acceptable lore wise?

 

Yes, but you'd be a criminal at that point forward, with no chance of going back without retconning the story development significantly.

Do note outside antagonists have no records to speak of. So once they board the station you're unrecognizable except by maybe a few characters that knew yours before. If that was made canon. I suppose. It's a bit of a grey area.

 

I know its necessary, but I get kinda annoyed that you can't really develop meaningful antag chars since they aren't really canon, and you don't actually get to see them that often, since their RP is so fun.

 

You sort of can. It really depends, but we have some of the rules to avoid people jumping to immediate conclusions about antagonists and otherwise ruining potential gimmicks or etc.

[driecg36]

Yes, but you'd be a criminal at that point forward, with no chance of going back without retconning the story development significantly.

 

Honestly, since it was my very first character, he wasn't too interesting. I think his raider alias/personality is a much more interesting direction to take him in rather than try and fix his flaws. I don't have much intention of bringing him back.

 

You sort of can. It really depends, but we have some of the rules to avoid people jumping to immediate conclusions about antagonists and otherwise ruining potential gimmicks or etc.

 

Oh, I completely understand WHY the rule is there. I'm still gonna try and develop the raider character best I can, but its already hard enough to meaningfully develop a char you can play EVERY round compared to a char you can only play when you roll raider on the few-ish raider rounds we have.

Still set on trying to develop this antag char. I think he has the potential to be a lot of fun, even if I've only played as him once.