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DanseMacabre's IPC Whitelist Application


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BYOND Key: DanseMacabre

Character Names: Iliasz Jajszczyk is the one people will know and the others aren't really relevant.

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:

Spoiler

Generally speaking, I have always been very interested in sapient beings that are artificial - that is to say, constructed or willed into existence as opposed to being the outcome or product of an organic or natural process. This doesn't necessarily mean *just* robots (I was very fond of vat-grown humans on Baystation for much the same reasons), but typically robots are the best example of such. The distinction of being made instead of being born is a key one with regards to background, and the idea of an individual being consciously designed - not just made to be, but their very persona and “upbringing”, (so to speak), being planned out and constructed - is a very interesting one, which opens a lot of doors with regards to characterization and creating a character. Long story short: an IPC character brings to the table some things which a human or organic character cannot, and I would like to make use of some of those unique strengths and aspects of the species.

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

Spoiler

As a synthetic being and a machine, an IPC’s very consciousness and mind is fundamentally going to work along different lines from a human’s. Some of the things that serve as primary drivers for human existence and even our concept of self - emotions, instincts, our senses, so on or so forth - can be absent for an IPC, or if present will be constructed or functioning in an entirely different capacity. A notable example of this is the presence of directives for IPCs: while a human being has to contend with their own open-ended idea of how to live their life and can come to any number of conclusions as a result of this, an IPC will ultimately have to work within the confines of their primary directive (if not other directives, as well) - that of self-preservation, which serves as the ultimate and immutable driving force of an IPC’s existence, and this directive characterizes and shapes many of an IPC’s decisions in a way that nothing quite does for a human being. Things that are key to how somebody develops as a person and how their identity is shaped, like family, upbringing, education, so on and so forth, will likewise be absent or may be so alien from the human conception of such to the point of being unrecognizable with regards to their human counterparts. In short: an IPC does not feel like a human does, it does not grow like a human does, it does not desire like a human does, it does not think like a human does, and it does not even exist like a human does.

That isn’t even considering the position that IPCs tend to occupy in a society: unlike humans in the vast majority of our setting, IPCs may be property, and may be denied personhood altogether. In some states, IPCs are not even permitted to exist. In truth, IPCs are one of the most dissimilar “species” to humans in our setting, and frequently what they can have in common with humans is rooted in their artificial nature as something humanity has created.

Character Name: Inkwell

Please provide a short backstory for this character:

Spoiler

The property of a moderately-successful freelance journalist of Bieselite extraction coming from a reasonably wealthy background, Inkwell sports a decades-old Baseline chassis and years of experience working in close coordination with their owner, who had originally acquired the IPC in order to use them as an assistant in their line of work. Inkwell was originally tasked with doing essentially everything that their owner didn’t care to do themselves or didn’t have the time to manage: arranging meetings, preparing food, managing their schedule, and responding to low-level correspondence, among countless other mundane tasks. 

 

Gradually, as the years wore on and their owner developed a greater level of trust in the positronic, they began to rely on them for more important work - despite originally more akin to a secretary or personal assistant than anything else, Inkwell eventually became an active participant in their owner’s business, working alongside them in interviews, editing their writings, and sometimes even contributing to their articles altogether. The IPC’s personality, in turn, developed to complement their human counterparts’ - amiable, driven, and focused on their goals, Inkwell went from an assistant to nearly a journalist proper in of themselves.

 

The 2450s and 2460s proved to be key decades in the career of Inkwell’s owner, and the IPC in turn. From the independence of the Republic of Biesel to the first and second invasions of Tau Ceti, the pair had no shortage of work to be done - and in this time the pair had written hundreds - if not thousands - of articles together. However, by the middle of the 2460s, their owner had aged to the point where they could no longer pursue a story like they used to: facing either retirement or a massive reduction in the scope of their articles, they chose a third option. Instead, Inkwell would be sent to work the field and investigate what they needed to get a bead on, while they collaborate remotely with their IPC to report their findings. 

 

And what bigger story was there in the year of 2464 than that of the SCCV Horizon? Though their owner may have been a freelancer, they still possessed good relations with the SCC - a necessary thing, to be successful as a journalist in the Republic of Biesel - and were able to get the IPC aboard the ship, in the capacity of a “freelance” reporter. Inkwell, armed with decades of experience and an overarching goal of proving their worth as a journalist and, more importantly, writing the story of a lifetime, has a great number of challenges before them, working almost alone for the first time in their existence: but an equally great number of opportunities aboard the Horizon.

What do you like about this character:

Spoiler

I have always been fond of IPCs as a sort of “protege” to an experienced professional. It’s an interesting way to develop a character that focuses on their individual history as opposed to more of a history of their circumstances or something along those lines. Generally speaking, I think this character would allow for the exploration of an IPC that was originally acquired as a piece of equipment more than anything else, before developing into something more nuanced than that. They’re still property, and still more of a tool to their owner than anything else - but there’s enough there from over the years that there’s more value to them than just the cost of their positronic brain and their chassis.

How would you rate your role-playing ability: Stupid question, I’m not going to answer it. Here’s the quote from my Taj WL app explaining why:

Quote

Frankly? I'm not going to give this question a straight answer. I've always felt that it's a stupid one. It either encourages you to fake humility and say something modest, or to outright boast, or gloss over the question altogether. You want to play a fun game? Go through accepted and denied applications and look for ones that say they're 8/10 - I didn't say that for no reason. It seems that this number more than any is listed as a gauge of one's own roleplay quality, and I think this is part of the aforementioned phenomenon. Here's what I will say: When I roleplay, I try my hardest, and put as much effort as I can muster into roleplaying to the best of my abilities. 

Notes: 

Spoiler

I’m not going to say this is my best WL application ever. I won’t lie - I threw it together relatively quickly because I’m strapped for time OOCly for personal reasons some may be familiar with. I tried to be as accurate as possible and to adequately cover every base that needs covering, but it’s entirely possible the app may have some bumps here and there - sorry for that. It’s rough around the edges either way.

 

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Thanks for applying! Just a quick question for the app.

Could you tell us more about how Inkwell behaves and what they are like as a character? What is their personality like? The rest of the app is good but it doesn't give much of an idea as to who Inkwell is outside of their profession and desire to succeed.

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23 hours ago, The Stryker said:

Thanks for applying! Just a quick question for the app.

Could you tell us more about how Inkwell behaves and what they are like as a character? What is their personality like? The rest of the app is good but it doesn't give much of an idea as to who Inkwell is outside of their profession and desire to succeed.

Sure - While Inkwell was originally fairly deferential and impassive, close collaboration with their owner over the years in the field of investigative journalism has lead to them adopting a more driven and focused personality (both at their owner's behest and with their own understanding that behaving in this way is the best way to achieve their goals in the course of their work). Inkwell as they are currently maintains an affable and amiable disposition, and with a genial and generally out-going nature: Inkwell is generally very social and goes out of their way to talk to people as much as possible. Nonetheless, they're somewhat unprincipled and at the end of the day, their number one priority is always going to be getting the best story possible - and to a degree, their relationship with other people can end up being superficial as a result, as their ultimate priority is going to be doing the best job possible on the behalf of their owner.

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