[Denied] Sniblet Skrell App 2

[Sniblet]

BYOND Key: Sniblet

Character Names:

Species you are applying to play: Skrell

What color do you plan on making your first alien character: White

Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Three times now

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

Why do you wish to play this specific race: Antag gimmicks first. Skrell make more sense as loners and technomancers, not that I play solo antag ever since the incident, but also open up opportunities with Einstein and Glorsh and maybe something something Progressivist. Someday when the other ninja asks me "what whitelists" I want to say something other than "none of the ones you want me to have."

Oh, also. Skrell are pretty underplayed, still. I think diona have slipped lower than them now, so they're next on my list, but I wouldn't mind making the Srom less of a lonely place.

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

Like a Scarab, it's pretty likely that something's gone wrong to have landed you on the Horizon, especially if this is permanent. You're supposed to be back in Nralakk. You'd get a better credit score for it. You'd be around people who understand you better. You wouldn't be surrounded by dark-age tech and caught up in the silly politics of these "free"-thinking corporatist expansionist landlubbin sparks.

Is it better back home?

That's your first political opinion that's up for debate: do you secretly, openly hate the authoritarian rule at home? Do you think it works? Do you think it's okay even if it does? Anyway, your stance on synthetics isn't questionable if you've got a lick of intelligence. And don't *smile. It's a trap. You can't do that.

Character Name: Ki'Erei Naia

Please provide a short backstory for this character:

Ki'Erei is a Europan skrell descended from Aliosii axiori. The call of science and exploration has followed them everywhere since well before their birth, and they weren't one of the rare types that could refuse the call. It's been 77 years since -  submarining, diving, working on artificial shores, sharing priority with their education as they slowly aligned their goals toward driving these expeditions: piloting the submarines.

Something unexpected came upon them late in their depth college process. For reasons that they couldn't quite understand, completing their first degree in piloting required piloting experience in aviation, and starships. Ki'Erei is the type to take this kind of thing as both a frustrating obstacle and a challenge to blow out of the water. With flight school behind them, they've now applied themself to astronautics on the SCCV Horizon, of all places. As a Europan Skrell, their acceptance was almost automatic. Let anyone try to tell them they don't have any experience in space after this.

It may yet go well.

SCS 4.83, weighed down by a relative lack of inductive behaviors and their foreign birth and residence.

What do you like about this character?: I like how safe it is. QAQ got slapped for a personality risk that I didn't need to take (and for me saying that someone in the species lifetime equivalent of their early 20s in a Federation of almost entirely post-midlife adults was like a child). I don't have many feelings about this character, but it should be passable, and then I'll promptly put them behind me once ingame experience leads to an actual inspiration, like what happened to Charm.

How would you rate your role-playing ability?: Do I have to answer this every time? I'm a really bad RPer, like actually the worst. Most of the time I don't even have a weapon by the time the antags show up and I keep fucking forgetting to aim for the head, even when I play sec. I only have 1 RP on record, and that was when I was a ninja cultist, and even then medbay almost saved him. I need such strong crutches to try to RP at all, it's so embarrassing, you'd honestly think I came from SPLURT and not Yogs.

Anyway, the answer remains "always learning."

Notes: I haven't done any reading on the Maori.

Edited February 20, 2023 by WhatsUpBrotendo
accidentally spelled RP as "kill" oops

[WhatsUpBrotendo]

Wanting to do antag gimmicks is not an acceptable answer for applying for a whitelist, and I'd like to see more details about why playing a Skrell is different from playing a human. The backstory for your character has a minimal mention of Skrell lore. There are definitely parts of Europan Skrell lore you haven't included here or expanded on much, and there are still other bits of our lore that you could incorporate (relationships, religion, etc). While you have included Social Credit Score for your character, you haven't explained how they experienced the process or how they feel about the Federation.

This app needs to be reworked. I suggested in your last application to read through previous apps to see what we're looking for, and there's also the lore discord where you can discuss this with either me and Butter or other Skrell players.

 

[Sniblet]

From the top, then...

• Antag gimmicks have been my first answer for both vaurca and IPC as well. It's true. If wanting to expand my options for antag gimmicks isn't acceptable, I suppose I'm not a good fit for having whitelists? You're the first to think so, though, and I'm not sure I see the problem with it. For vaurca and IPC I also cited "liking playing robots" - I don't have anything quite like that for skrell, since - for all the ways that they're different - their fundamental mentality is basically an alt-human, rationality and emotions and all. I also don't mind playing human mentalities.
• Roleplaying as a skrell, well - where should I begin? What do you want to hear about? Skrell can't emote with their face, and use their headtails instead (this also means recognizing other species' expressions doesn't come naturally, but a skrell on the Horizon or from human space has usually been taught these things). Skrell are uncomfortable in humidity that's typical in human environments. Skrell don't swear on god, they swear on stars, same as tajara swear on suns and a vaurca swears on queenzz. Skrell don't have teeth. Skrell come from an ancient hyper-advanced, ordered, communal society, very different from most others in the Spur and with a state-encouraged sense of superiority about it. Skrell have understandable bad blood with synthetics. Skrell get along best by far with each other due to psionic, language, and physical-expressive limitations when interacting with everyone else (refer back to synthetics and tack this on under Glorsh as part of the "understandable")
• Ki'Erei is not from the Federation, has never been there, and so hasn't interacted with it in the same way as a Federation skrell. Skrell lore doesn't have as much influence on them as it could. I don't know what kind of religious stance I'd want to give them, but I prefer Weishii to Qeblak, and would have an easier time fleshing that out in character recordwriting ("heretical" religions are not on the table until I've gotten comfortable playing normal, and I imagine they're paradoxically less popular outside Nralakk anyway). Ki'Erei has not formed a Quya and hasn't yet found anyone they're that interested in. They don't really make friends. I'm picturing them as kind of a dick.
• Europan skrell are most famous for using their psionic abilities to navigate, and eventually suffering an anomalous psionic condition as a result of exposing themselves to implied psychic monsters in the deep. Ki'Erei is not psionically capable in the way that would let them navigate. They help research for the dives, and dream of being able to drive something that doesn't demand psionic aid.
• Ki'Erei, not being from or in the Federation, doesn't stand to gain the full set of benefits that a positive credit score would offer them (though being from the Sol system, they don't necessarily stand to gain little either). Maintaining it is, to them, another background concern in the expansive variety of such that day-to-day life offers. They don't want it low, but don't claw to keep it high, and treat the Federation in general about the same way. Nralakk are okay people. Just not their favorite.

I've read the lore. I'm familiar with it. I only needed to reference the wiki just now to double-check on what the religions were called, and that hole in knowledge comes from a hole in interest. I don’t actively engage with religion on any of my characters, including both of the Assunzionii and the Scarab.

If there's anything else you want me to tell you, let me know: it feels like my main issue is that I don't know what you want to see.

Edited February 18, 2023 by Sniblet

[WhatsUpBrotendo]

Quote

Antag gimmicks have been my first answer for both vaurca and IPC as well. It's true. If wanting to do antag gimmicks isn't acceptable, I suppose I'm not a good fit for having whitelists? You're the first to think so, though.

I don't consider antag gimmicks and how underplayed the species is to be acceptable answers on their own, and I'm responsible for the Skrell species. What the IPC and Vaurca teams deem acceptable doesn't interest me. I'm interested in what interest you have in Skrell and the lore behind them. You briefly touched on specifics in the answer when mentioning Glorsh and Einstein Engines, which I'd much rather see.

Quote

Skrell lore doesn't have as much influence on them as it could.

Ki'Erei, not being from or in the Federation, doesn't stand to gain the full set of benefits that a positive credit score would offer them. Maintaining it is, to them, another background concern in the expansive variety of such that day-to-day life offers.

If they have a social credit score, that means they have citizenship and all the benefits and drawbacks that come with it. Maintaining their score would be more imperative than what you're making it out to be considering that it means the Federation will have more interest in their behaviour and have the ability to deport them back to the Federation.

I'm going to ask that you edit your application to address these points:

• Expand on what exactly interests you about Skrell.
• Rewrite the backstory to be about a Federation Skrell. While I'm fine with non-Federation applications (Skrell from Europa, Mictlan, etc) if done well, your answers are showing me that you have zero interest in one of the larger parts of our lore (the Federation), and would rather side-step it than acknowledge the impact that it has for your character, even though they have citizenship.

 

[Sniblet]

Will do tomorrow, given the opportunity. My first (second) character concept was Federation, actually, and I pushed it aside over something dumb.

[Sniblet]

Why do you wish to play this specific race: I’ll respond to this as if the question was “What makes the skrell unique to you,” because there’s nothing about them that especially attracts me like IPC and vaurca had, but rather I see it as another option for developing a character from a distinct background. The skrell are your option for creating a character that was spawned from or is connected to a highly sophisticated Machiavellian space-state that they must in some way act as though they respect, a character that as a result rebelliously and deniably fakes that respect or a character that bows and scrapes with genuine love for the Federation’s good side, a character that is very old without being as alien as a diona, or just a character that’s lived all their life underwater and doesn’t know what to do with themself here. Extrapolating from these surface traits, you can make character archetypes that are otherwise inaccessible in Aurora.

Character Name: Qiu Ei

(I’m now aware that this name can be read as two letters, and that this can lead to punny readings. I chose this name about a day before realizing that, but haven’t come upon a name I liked better since then. If this name isn’t acceptable, I can change it regardless. This is the dumb reason I invented Ki'Erei on the spot instead.)

(She should probably be Idris, but I'm not restarting my private server just to change a hat she won't be wearing.)

Please provide a backstory for this character:

Qiu Ei is a Listener, as opposed to a Receiver, and an undersleeper. She’s the rebellious archetype, and the illustration of this starts with her concealed scarlet letter for other Federation citizens: she’s a white skrell that doesn’t have a doctorate and doesn’t want one.

Living all her life around family and acquaintances who knew better than to shoot so low in life, Qiu was long exposed to conforming pressure and had been sat down multiple times, by parents, government workers, and strangers, for serious conversations about where she was going wrong. This, also, did not made a positive difference for her. What she learned from them was how and when to pretend that she wants anything for herself other than to be left alone, maybe to have been born and raised in some frontier backwater instead of on fucking (tn: fucking means void-damned) Aliose. Not that she would’ve been entirely self-governed out in Q'elpi-or-something either, since the Federation is like that, but it could have at least been better.

So, all her life, she’s been dreaming primarily of getting out. Since that dream wasn’t allowed, she also developed a second face for the kinds of people who would obstruct her. When questioned by someone who she suspects might have anything to do with the Federation government – all other skrell and anyone from Zeng-Hu, that is – the story she tells, and brings to the surface of her thoughts, is that what she really, really wants is a sociology degree. Wherever she might be found, she’s there to study the people around her for a Project. She’s going to enroll in Depth College any day now. That’s how she got out of the Federation: by telling a really good lie about how she was conducting an independent study. Talking to a crime syndicate about smuggling her out wouldn’t have been worth it. This way, she’s out here legally, she’s sustained a bit of entirely undeserved credit score to keep her out of trouble, and she isn’t relying on anyone else.

Qiu is probably what humans would call a sociopath. Her real face is buried so deep that only she knows for sure that she still has it right now. Probably her greatest talent, quite contrary to appearances, is successfully lying in the Srom. She’s still sitting on a timebomb, but she’s aware, and every day she’s thinking of how to stay out, now that she’s gotten out.

The Horizon is another component in the roadmap she’s set out in the name of her Great Fiction. Where better to look like a model of the Nralakk Federation, outside the Nralakk Federation, than the flagship of humanity’s scientific endeavors? She’s only working there as a janitor because she needs to keep a lot of free time. For her studies.

At this point, maintaining the lie is getting harder than actually conforming. Surely, someday, she’ll break. In the end, maybe the Nralakk system is still working as intended.

FAQ:

“Why she”: Because I default to she as the third-person pronoun for every character of mine, and writing "they" everywhere would be hard and uncomfortable, which would make me like Qiu less. ICly, it’s because in her state-directed acclimation period before heading out, she discovered that her preferred tailstyle is feminine and humans tended to assume she went by she. Why fight it? She doesn’t see herself as feminine deep down, but it’s easier to make things easy, and pretending to give a shit what others think looks good.

“Axiori or xiialt”: Not sure. Xiialt-xiiori, provisionally.

“Are you not just avoiding setting your character in the Federation in a new way”: Sort of, yes. I don’t want to play a skrell conformist. Unfortunately, avoiding that is a really complicated process.

"You didn't mention Einstein or Glorsh again": Because I was talking about them in the context of antag gimmicks.

“credit score”: 6.42. If someone knew enough and cared enough to sit her down in front of a competent Sromkala and burst her bubble, she’d drop to low Ix on the spot. She doesn’t participate in anything listed as deductive, but most of her inductive behaviors are elaborate lies, which has got to count against her.

"how old": 53. Plenty of time to get back on the right track.

What do you like about this character?:

I haven’t played a character with a double life before. Lying and keeping secrets is pretty easy in an RP game, so the fun part is deciding when and to whom to lift the veil. Qiu’s exploitables would be unusually actionable.

Edited February 19, 2023 by Sniblet

[WhatsUpBrotendo]

After reviewing this with my deputy, we've decided to deny this application. While you show an understanding of Skrell lore in some respects, we do not believe you have a sufficient understanding of the lore or the boundaries that it has. Based on what's been posted on this application, we believe that you will test what is acceptable by Skrell lore and the expectations we have of someone who holds the whitelist. You are free to reapply in a week.