A Litter of Kittens - Tajara Whitelist

[DeteledSawI]

BYOND Key:     DeteledSawI
Characters:     Darrak Torigg; Erik Maciejowski; Several Tajara Special Roles
Species:     Tajara
Color:     N/A
Read Lore?:    Yes (ofc)

Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions in a paragraph format. One paragraph minimum per question.

Why you wish to play this specific race:

I've been in the community for a long time, approx. 2 years, give or take a long period of absence. Recently I've been looking over the various races and subspecies, and decided I'd like to get a whitelist for Tajara after all this time. Specifically, I wish to play Tajara specifically because, out of all the races, it seems the most reasonable to start with.
Skrell are very culturally different from most species, from the way they express themselves with their head-tails to the tragedy of Glorsh. Dionae are less complicated, but having to roleplay a gestalt seems like a daunting task, especially since I haven't learned much about them. Synthetics are likely the easiest, but I'd rather roleplay someone fleshy.

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

There are several differences physically and culturally that make roleplaying Tajara different from roleplaying humans. The common physical differences are the slashing damage dealt with unarmed attacks, the night-vision verb, and digitigrade legs Culturally, Tajara weren't as technologically advanced until discovered by corpos, who basically overthrew their government and sat on the throne instead.
First Contact is the event where the humans first discovered Tajara. Pre-Contact describes the development of the Proto-Tajarans, the rise of feudal kingdoms and castes, and the fall of said kingdoms by human intervention in the Post-Contact revolutions that followed. The Tajaran life is complicated and ridden with racism and unequality on their planet and throughout the galaxy.

Please provide a short backstory for this character:

In my time on Aurorastation recently, I've been around on ghost roles, and have currently established different characters for each of the different roles I've played, having three total in my rotation. I might make one, two, or all three of these, since they're firmly established and because so have good entry points to ICly be hired or contracted by NT.
Though I don't have a fourth original character to plug into the Horizon, rather than sit here and write that story, I have these characters to present to you as proof that I'm more than capable of playing Tajara. I've written several paragraphs, about two for each character, all ordered in most to least developed in terms of backstory and how much I've played them.

Kharah Zakhrran, Hharar Kosmostrelki
Hailing from Adhomai, in a town close to Nazira, Kharah is a normal Hharar Tajara, though with a quarter of noble N'jarir blood flowing through her, lending her a tabby coat. Born in at the turn of the century, her grandmother was secretly bedded by a noble from the Kingdom of Nazira, though her mother's noble blood was never recognized and she lived life as a commoner.
Being born in the cold mountains so near to the Temple of the Holy Blessed Suns and Sana Sahira, she was naturally raised in a conservative S'rand'marr household. Though she had a relatively normal childhood, the second revolution took place during her elementary years, so by the time of high school, like some students do, she joined the PRA after graduation.
In accordance to Hadiist ideals, as a woman, she never did get to do any fighting. She always did basic servant work like cooking and cleaning for soldiers, though did get training to fight should such truly occur. Growing up as a half a soldier and half a man, she grew a distaste for the PRA, though stayed in the military for tuition for education- how else could she afford it?
Eventually, after enough work in between cooking and cleaning, her four years serving the military was done, and she moved to Trizar in the DPRA to pursue an education for the next four years of her life, studying medicine and science and enjoying the more liberal government. After receiving her bachelor's, she's spent the last two years of her life interning for the PMCG.

Sa'adia Khadirr, M'sai Scrapper/Miner
An M'sai Tajara crewing a small crescent-shaped scrapper vessel. Raised in FTC on Himeo in her youth, she grew up in a safe, if somewhat radical state for Tajara among the ice and snow. All her life, she's dreamed of exploring space, and after years of nothing but hardworking labor at Himean scrap factories and mines, she earned her way into space. To do more scrapping and mining...
But she doesn't intend to stay that way. Between living and ship expenses, she spends her money taking online college, teaching herself mechanical engineering, and fine-tuning her dream field of work. Though she was born Himean, and she does express some distaste for corporations, she understands Hephaestus is the best employer she can find for her work, and hopes to one day be contracted by them professionally.
Having spent her entire life mining and breaking apart ships, she has a very well established knowledge of (de)construction work, and although she doesn't have the frame of a Zhan, she is good at what she does. However, she is prepared to apply for an entry-level cargo position, and perhaps secure intern roles on the side, as well as taking an interest in more niche roles like Machinist.

D'jed Sebek'khu, Zhan-Khazan Smuggler
A Zhan-Khazan Tajara, crewing a small ACV named the Trickster. He has never set foot on Adhomai, as he was born in District VI, but because of his rabid Zhan genetics (joke) he has a firm opinion against the PRA. Growing up in crime-ridden Little Adhomai as the most discriminated of Tajara, It's only natural for him to have taken up crime as a means to survive. 
Of course, the PSIS has their eyes on everyone, even those in Little Adhomai with their spies, so he deigned not to stay there forever. Eventually, through luck, theft, or any mix of those, he found his ticket off-world on the crew of his simple cargo ship. He travels the stars, and trades his wares for everything he needs, ill-begotten or otherwise.

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What you like about this character:
D'jed was sort of a one-off character who's name I wrote down so I could play him again later. He's simple and doesn't necessarily have lore other than that he absolutely hates the PRA and has very strong opinions over such.
I've played engineering roles in some things before, but I like the idea of Sa'adia since I can branch into both cargo and engineering with Hephaestus, two jobs I've been specifically saving to be able to study ICly as her.
Kharah is my last and latest character, made after learning about Tajaran culture and Hadiism as Sa'adia, as well as some more in-depth studying. She's well rounded, well developed, and has plenty of lore, some of which has already been established as a Kosmostrelki.

How would you rate your role-playing ability?
A solid 9/10, only because I feel too cocky giving myself a 10 and too humble giving myself an 8.

Notes: I will probably never be Hadiist. I might experiment with it but even my PRA Tajara is secretly anti-Hadiist, at least against Malik's Hadiism. Also, tortie patterns and genetics:

Edited December 12, 2022 by DeteledSawI
Deleted some ---'s

[KingOfThePing]

It is an interesting concept to take ghost role characters and use them as application characters - but I personally do not like this take. I am upfront and say I know none of your characters (at least by name) so I dont know how you define "established" but third party characters getting hired by NT/SCC is a bit of a stretch, considering where we are on the star map. But that's only my take on that.

Regarding the characters themselves I identified a few problems with your application. As a few people recently, you throw in things but dont really explain what they mean for the character. If you claim these characters to be well established, I expect a lot more here. Let's begin:

Regarding Kharah Zakhrran:

• You mention the Temple of the Holy Blessed Suns and that she was raised in a "conservative S'rand'marr household". What does this mean for her? What does she think about religion in general?
• She is a "quarter noble" (so that already excludes her being a "normal" Hharar), was born "around the turn of the century" (making her ~60 today) and her grandmother was also a noble before the revolution, but that was not recognized for some reason. You either worded this strangely or your entire timeline is pretty wrong. Before dissecting it further I give you the chance to correct me if I misunderstood it.
• What do you mean with she "joined the PRA"? If she lived near Sana Sahira she just lived in the People's Republic (from 2433 onwards, at least) - I dont know what you mean with "joining" the current global state (after the First Revolution).
• Now to her military career and here it gets really weird. Kharah, as stated is/was(??) a member of the Kosmostrelki. First - if she dislikes/hates Hadiism how did she fool her way to be a Kosmostrelki? A very specialized and quality branch of the armed forces? How did she achieve this as a woman, no less?
• After four years of military service (where she apparently only did cleaning and cooking) she "moved to Trizar in the DPRA" to get educated. The three major powers on Adhomai arent really best friends so migrating to and from one of those states is not just showing your passport and filling out a form to move somewhere else. How did she do it? Did she had to do it covertly? Why the DPRA and not the NKA, when she is a (basically unrecognized) noble or at least with noble blood in her?

As I said I may have misunderstood your "Born in at the turn of the century [...]" I will leave it at that. If I didn't misunderstood it then I have quite a few more things to point out.

 

Regarding Sa'adia Khadirr:

• She was "raised in [the] FTC on Himeo during her youth" so I assume she was either born in the 2420's or shortly before so she probably never saw or experienced much of Adhomai. Fine, yet especially for young Tajara, the entirety of Volin's plan is very abstracted - since its for a place they dont know or been to really. It is still a great topic for himean Tajara, what does Sa'adia think about it?
• You mention she was raised in a "safe, if somewhat radical" state. Can you explain what you mean? Himeo/the Free Tajara Council, especially during it's founding years was far from safe - they were basically enemies with everyone and fighting was intense. If I didnt misunderstood your timeline here either she was also part of the exodus to Crevus? How did this event shape her?
• Himeo is known for its heavy industry, so her choice of work is fine, but how was her life on Himeo? The FTC still brought their culture with them, what religion does she follow, what are her views on Adhomai, who were even her parents? And so on.

 

Regarding D'jed Sebek'khu:

This character, as you described it is as basic as it can get. We know next to nothing about him, but even if, application characters (as far as my last knowledge about it goes) cannot be "non-Adhomai" characters. Meaning they have to be born and at least experienced some culture and history on Adhomai to be applicable for a whitelist character. This may have changed. But even then it is a basic criminal Zhan concept that doesnt need any lore kowledge at all. Why he especially only dislikes the PRA because of discrimination also goes above my head, the NKA is at least equally bad. Alas, this character, due to the mentioned reason should be disregarded entirely.

 

To come to a close, I dont think you haven't read the lore - I just think you sadly haven't read it very well. I would recommend you to read important lore bits thoroughly again and to create a new, unique and thought-out character for your application, instead of three half-baked ghost role characters, because none of the three are convincing.

Edited December 12, 2022 by KingOfThePing

[DeteledSawI]

Regarding all of those questions:
1. She doesn't take the religion seriously in the sense that she gets on her knees and worships and has religious stuff lying around like someone's grandma's house, but she does occasionally make a prayer and is subscribed to the religion. I'm just making a parallel to Christianity and sexism in general when I say she's grown a distaste for it, specifically the priesthood, like Karens who just have a toxic sort religious complex.
2. She is a quarter noble. Her grandmother was born in the turn of the century and bedded by a Naziran noble, and her mother was a half-N'jarir, but she was not recognized and disowned by the noble if he even knew about her. Her mother married with another Hharar, giving her the quarter N'jarir blood she has. Call it bad wording I suppose, because she's only 26, born in '38.
3. What stops anyone from just... joining the army? Like I wrote, she did it for tuition, though since Trivar is DPRA she probably just saved up her pay and used it to affort college, I doubt the PRA would offer the chance to get into colleges outside the state. She did everything a normal soldier do, albeit with some sexism attached to her, low-key "stay in the kitchen" stuff, which didn't help for her political views. Absent is the part where she learned about being a nurse, which is why she's even living in the Trizar to learn medicine in the first place.
4. Now I recognize what with the kosmostrelki is probably a bit far fetched, but as we all know, even cooks and janitors are needed in space. And she isn't necessarily anti-hadiist the way you're thinking. Al'mari was a good man, but after his death, Malik rolled back economic reforms by his brother and implemented racist laws. It's Malik's Hadiism she disagrees with; she has a more liberal view on it.
5. And you're right, it would also be incredibly difficult. Getting out of the PRA would likely be the hard part, and require a little hand-greasing, but I'm assuming by the time she's out, she's able to stay, if under observation or other. At worst she has to forfeit her citizenship to be able to live in the DPRA, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing, just a bit unfortunate for her family.

6. Well, from a worldview outside Adhomai, away from all the propaganda, the PRA is corrupt and Malik is bad, the DPRA has its heart in the right place with Al'mari but makes sacrifices for that freedom, and isn't a great place to live in the east with all the juntas. Fuck the New Kingdom entirely.
7. I say "if somewhat radical state" in the most general of terms. As described, for the most part, she's remained neutral to those ideals, or at the very least sticks to the younger side of the FTC, where they believe it's kind of fruitless to return to Adhomai and revolutionize. Timeline stuff I will have to work on, since I ordered them in terms of development. Kharah has a(n imperfect) timeline and lore, but Sa'adia is just kind of there for now.
8. Her parents were nobody special, just the people who raised her. In order to explain I'd probably implement a hardboiled father from Crevus or other, but that'd just require more writing, so I'll abstain. She's not particularly religious, and has lived a completely normal, and actually pretty mundane life, which is why she yearns to go into space and explore. Ironically, she just ends up doing the same thing she always did- scrapping and mining.

9. Yeah, again in terms of development, and I've said, D'jed is just a Zhan who has really, really strong political ideals, that's about it. Like I said, he's kind of a one-off that I just keep playing if the smuggler role pops up, but he's still a character I play and he was the first, so I still wanted to put him there. Given the chance, I'd probably only make the first two, if not just make none of them and start with something new; I just don't have one single idea for a character but still want to demonstrate that I'm able to play a Tajaran.

 

Part of it you take too literally with the ghost role stuff and being hired while we're in the badlands, so being literal as well, most of these special-role rounds are played during antagonist rounds, and don't really interact with the Odin otherwise, which is enough to say that as far as we're concerned, them being in the badlands isn't canon, though I see it as a great opportunity seeing as the Horizon is headed toward Adhomai.
Of course, I still need to work on them, but that's why I'm here; none of them are perfect- B grades, maybe- but I wouldn't finish them with incomplete lore. The more questions I get asked, the more answers I can give, and the better filled-out these characters get, so feedback is immensely appreciated, even negative criticism. If you have any suggestions for what would be better for Kharah's time in the military, please, do tell.

[DeteledSawI]

And on the topic of no. 1, let me expand on the way she perceives religion.

She takes the teachings of S'rand'marr with the grain of salt; obviously she doesn't believe the creationism myth and worldview, or even that her gods are 100% entirely real- more ideals to live up to, if not the actual suns of Adhomai. S'rand'marr is nonetheless a teaching to inspire good in someone; the familial and selfless values of the religion are things to aspire to have and act upon.
All this in mind, the church surely cannot be all those things. There are good people within good religions, but no sapient being is free from any kind of immoral acts, however big or small. For instance, the prick that did her grandma and abandoned her mother is probably in there somewhere still as a clergyman, having been a noble from Nazira who surely took refuge there. So, no thanks.

I also see the confusion on no. 3, so I'll elaborate further on that as well.

Being a Kosmostrelki is somewhat far-fetched, but as I said, it's not entirely crazy for them to send someone up here to take care of the place, cooks and janitors, even bartenders to serve alcohol (god forbid clowns) aren't absent on space stations. As far as her time in the army goes, being a mountain range away from the ALA and having no better option to be able to acquire an education and a ticket offworld, she joined the army.
Supplementing what I don't know about the PRA with what I do about America, after graduating high-school at what I'm assuming is the Adhomian age of adulthood given their aging process (16), she joined the army with a four-year contract. What I mean to say is that she never got directly embroiled in a conflict, though maybe did have to take care of some wounded in serious situations. Maybe if it's appropriate you can help with sorting battles out, as I haven't read every single line on the timeline, just important parts.
Her contract ended conveniently at the start of/right before the cold war era standstill, and as mentioned, moved to Trizar on Adhomai to recieve a professional education in medicine for another four years and obtained a bachelor's degree in XYZ, since I can figure that part later when I make employment records or something. This, in combination with her military service, allowed her a position with the PMCG, where she theoretically gets contracted to work on the Horizon.

 

What holes I do have in my lore are likely just things I haven't thought about, and I assure you I can plug any hole in with good lore, if not retcon things for the greater good very easily. Again, feedback is immensely appreciated, and asking these questions are how I get around to filling those holes.

[WickedCybs]

It kind of seems like you haven't really read much about the PRA, especially when you say that in accordance with its ideals one of your characters was discriminated and sidelined due to being a woman. The PRA was the reason behind the enfranchisement of women on Adhomai and at the government level they are treated relatively equally. They were not affected by the drafts but they were able to volunteer and many did fight and die for the People's Republic. 

That aside, like Ping said, Kosmostrelki are specialized troops and the title doesn't mean they were sent on the ship to play the role of service staff for the rest of the crew. They earned the position like everyone else and would be seen as some of the most loyal soldiers of the state due to the risks and expectations involved with space. It'd make more sense to have a bit of a disloyal footsoldier or something.

[Alberyk]

You need to apply for a ship character. Please write one.

[DeteledSawI]

All the criticism considered, go ahead and deny this while I work on what you've said given the information handed to me. Better luck next time; I'll be back soon.