RustingWithYou's Unathi Deputy Application

[RustingWithYou]

Ckey: RustingWithYou

Position being applied for: Unathi Deputy Lore Developer

Have you read the Lore Team Rules and Regulations page: Yes

Past Experiences/Knowledge: I haven't written any lore for Aurora, but I've written a fair bit of lore for other serves in the past (most of which died before reaching the hub), and I've been active in the lore discord discussions for a while.

Extra requirement: Wiki page addition (https://wiki.aurorastation.org/index.php?title=Unathi_Guilds, https://wiki.aurorastation.org/index.php?title=Notable_Unathi_Colonies)

==Miners' Guild==

Despite being primarily based on Moghes, the Miners' Guild has leapt at the chance to gain more of a foothold offworld with the formation of Orion Express in 2464. While some guildsmen of the Miners' Guild had worked with mining efforts of other megacorporations in the past, their tenuous relationship with Hephaestus meant that they never had much of an offworld presence. With the logistics divisions of several corporations being reformed into Orion, large portions of Guild leadership have negotiated deals for the lease of guildsmen's labor to Orion's mining division, in the hopes of expanding the Guild's influence offworld. These subcontracted guildsmen are still not paid as well as their Hephaestus counterparts - however, many in the Guild see it as an opportunity to make better money, given the recent wave of lay-offs within the Guild and their struggle to maintain economic relevance in the face of Hephaestus's growing presence on Moghes.

 

==Illarisk==

A small planet with a thin atmosphere at the edge of Hegemony territory and the Sparring Sea, Illarisk is one of the Hegemony's more recent colonies, founded in the early stages of the phoron crisis due to belief that the planet may have held phoron deposits. This turned out to be untrue - but in spite of that, colonisation efforts proceeded as planned due to the mineral wealth of the planet. Its current ruler is the Overlord Aorek Illarisk, a young nobleman from the Untouched Lands who invested most of his clan's fortune into colonisation efforts after their lands were rendered largely uninhabitable during the Contact War.

Due to its precarious position at the edge of the Hegemony's power, Illarisk has come under a multitude of threats. Pirates, both human and Unathi, have proved a constant problem for mineral exports from the planet, with the presence of Izharshan's Raiders proving a concern, as well as Dominian privateers and a few ships of the Southern Fleet Administration following their crippling defeats in the Southern Wildlands and Valley Hale. While the Hegemony's navy does its best in protecting the planet itself from direct assault, several of the cargo ships have gone missing, placing the Illarisk clan into further financial risk. 

Due to the planet's location at the Hegemony's border and wealth, the Merchants' and Miners' Guilds both have a significant presence there - the Miners for extracting wealth and the Merchants as a stopping point for trade vessels travelling from Moghes towards Tau Ceti  - as well as past attempted efforts in opening trade with the Serene Republic of Elyra. Both of these Guilds hold far more influence over the fledgeling colony than some would deem appropriate, with a somewhat bitter saying among Illarisk clan members that "the Lord speaks, and the Guilds rule". While officially, Aorek has welcomed Guild presence, whispers are that he has come to resent how much of his endeavor's profit is being taken into the pockets of distant Guildmasters. He has considered raising the taxes on Guild trade within his desmene several times, but the immense power the Guilds hold on Illarisk has stayed his hand - at least for now.

 

2. What piece of Unathi lore do you like the least? If granted the position, would you work to change it and how?

Probably the Hegemony Civil War arc - it eliminated a lot of the interesting factions from play such as the Iron Masks, and the outcome was a semi-untouchable Not'zar. As the resolution to a long-lasting Chekov's gun of Sk'resti's coma, it seems a little flat. I wouldn't go about retconning it, as it is one of the major Unathi arcs that led to the current status quo for the species. I would like to build a little more on the tensions the civil war caused, and destabilise the solidity of Not'zar's rule a little in the face of the current strife caused by the phoron crisis - how are the vassal clans that fought against the Hegemony faring as the Izweski struggle through the phoron scarcity? I would keep the civil war as is, but try and fit some more signs of longer-lasting scars caused by Not'zar's ascent to power into the lore, and make his reign a little less secure than it currently is.

 

3. Have you, within the past year, disagreed with a decision the Unathi lore team has made? 

Not particularly, to be honest - the Unathi lore team hasn't made any major decisions since I got the whitelist.

 

4. Give a rough outline for an Unathi-centric event arc to be run on the Horizon that pushes forward an aspect of Unathi lore.

I have two ideas in my head and I can't pick which one to post so I'll put both of them up.

Having loved the recent Adhomai arc, I'd like to do something similar - however, I'd probably bring it more in line with the Horizon's 'find the phoron' mission - a phoron-rich asteroid discovered within the Sparring Sea, with the crew placed into a diplomatic role on behalf of the SCC to try and determine access rights - the Hegemony would obviously be a major faction in this, wanting to get their claws on the phoron to re-establish their navy's power, with a minor presence from the K'lax in their role as vassals. I'd also likely have an Unathi pirate faction involved attempting to take the phoron for themselves - probably either the Techraiders or the Tarwa Conglomerate, as well as the presence of either the Empire of Dominia proper, with an emphasis on the House Kazkhz-Han'san, or Dominia-backed privateers wanting to push the Hegemony out so that the asteroid can be seized themselves. Nothing too complex, but a good three-way struggle both military and diplomatic, with the SCC involved in trying to secure their own access to the phoron.

I'd also like to see a more humanitarian-focused arc, with the SCC sending the crew to offer disaster relief to a Wasteland area where resupply is difficult - one of the three camps or an isolated area such as Mudki. This would draw the crew into various exploration-style events similar to Cold Dawn (can you tell I really liked Cold Dawn) within the Wasteland, and dealing with various factions who also want access to the supplies the Horizon crew has to offer. This would be a good way to demonstrate the effects of the ongoing famine on the Hegemony, as well as to get some of the Wasteland factions who have more difficulty in appearing off-planet some canon appearances.

 

Bonus: What I will change my profile pic to if I become deputy

[Connorjg1]

Rusting is a good player who is passionate about Aurora lore and lore writing. They have my support for this application, and I agree with what they have planned. 

 

Having said that, I have to ask you a question about whether you have any plans for the how the K'lax/Hegemony relationship? There has been talk of giving their relationship some developmental love for a while, and I'm interested to hear how you would or would like to approach that element of the Hegemony. 

[Alberyk]

So far, the Tajara team wrote nearly everything, with the unathi's team permission and oversight, related to Gakal'zaal. Because of this, there is a real lack of response from Unathi forces outside of the planet to what is going on there. What are your plans for Gakal'zaal in regard to the planet's content (lore related to culture and etc for example) and the ongoing developments?

[RustingWithYou]

As for Connor's questions, obviously in collaboration with the Vaurca team, I'd like to see the K'lax-Hegemony relationship have some more tension to it. Not splitting them off or doing another civil war or anything, but introducing a little ambiguity to what is right now Not'zar's win button against any kind of internal conflict with other nobles. Most of the other things that I think the K'lax could use would fall more under the Vaurca team than Unathi with regards to how the Hegemony's ongoing strife is affecting them. I'd also like to see more expansion on K'lax integration within Hegemony colonies as part of a wider expansion of Hegemony colonies outside of Ouerea and Gakal'zaal, as the lore on other colonies is somewhat absent currently, and K'lax lore is mostly concentrated on Moghes and Tret right now. 

 

As for Alb's questions, Gakal'zaal is a very interesting planet. I'd probably have it be brought up as a point of contention from Not'zar's political opponents, as a valuable colony that the Hegemon abandoned and allowed the DPRA to colonise - brought up as a point of his weakness in the face of alien aggression by his detractors. 

On the planet itself, there's a very complicated web of situations, tensions between the DPRA government and the former ruling Unathi, the absolutely wonderful web of intrigues that the Free Station is. I'd like to write more lore on how the Unathi pirates said to visit Gakal'zaal interact with it - which fleets visit there, how does the DPRA and the locals both Unathi and Tajara interact with them?

More lore on the Sinta Volunteer Forces would be interesting, and expanding on those Sinta who have benefited from Tajaran control of the planet - Guwan and peasants largely, some of whom may have seen the Al'marists seizing control as an opportunity to escape the Hegemony's highly stratified system. AFAIK, Gakal'zaal is the only real place where the DPRA has to deal with a substantial alien population, and seeing how the largely xenophobic ideology of Al'marism copes with that in the long term would be very interesting. 

I'd also like to expand more on the Unathi civilian lifestyle of Gakal'zaal. It's mentioned that Sinta religion is prohibited on the wiki page - how does the average Unathi, to whom their faith is likely very important, cope with this? What is day-to-day life like for an average Unathi, living under an Al'marist junta? Exploring further how the civilian Unathi population has coped with the DPRA seizing the planet would be interesting, as well as elaborating further on how the Yizarus Brigade is viewed by the Unathi civilians and what, if any, support they are recieving from them.

Some point down the line, if the Tajara team was interested, I would be very excited for a proper Gakal'zaal arc expanding on the conflict, as I think there's a lot of interesting potential in seeing the Al'marist forces having to contend with Yizarus forces using their own guerilla tactics against them, as well as giving players an opportunity to shape how the colony's future unfolds, with it staying with the DPRA, returning to the Hegemony, or a Secret Third Thing being future considerations that I would find interesting.

[GeneralCamo]

You mentioned Ouerea. How do you feel about their current situation in the lore, and would you do anything to expand it?

[RustingWithYou]

I like Ouerea a lot, and I'd probably like to expand on Hegemony efforts to use it for food production, with the ongoing famine, and how the locals feel about this. In addition, I'd like to expand on the human and Skrell communities living there - what sort of culture they've developed in the several decades since their settlement there - not a long time for Skrell, but long enough for a new generation of humans to be born. They seem to be fairly well-integrated with Ouerean democracy, but I'd like to explore the ways in which their own cultures have blended with those of the local Unathi. The Ouerean Skrell lore would require some coordination with the Skrell team, but I'd be interested in exploring that as well.

[La Villa Strangiato]

I think Rusting is a very strong writer who has a lot of love for his craft, and I really think he could bring a fresh face to the Unathi lore team. This is a +1 from me, but I have a couple questions;

1. Do you plan on any expansion of the Traditionalist/Wastelander clan lore?

2. You are given the opportunity to explore a minor story arc centered around Moghes. The kicker is that it must exclusively be conveyed in news articles. What would you want to write about and why?

[RustingWithYou]

7 minutes ago, La Villa Strangiato said:

I think Rusting is a very strong writer who has a lot of love for his craft, and I really think he could bring a fresh face to the Unathi lore team. This is a +1 from me, but I have a couple questions;

1. Do you plan on any expansion of the Traditionalist/Wastelander clan lore?

2. You are given the opportunity to explore a minor story arc centered around Moghes. The kicker is that it must exclusively be conveyed in news articles. What would you want to write about and why?

1. I mentioned it initially but deleted it - yes, I would like to see lore on the Wasteland expanded, primarily with regards to the few outposts such as Camp Sk'akh's Glory and how the Izweski are attempting to bring the Wastes under control. I'd also like to explore how the Wasteland clans are impacted by the ongoing famine in the Hegemony, as it's likely hitting them much harder than those in the Untouched Lands.

2. For a minor story arc, I'd probably do something focused on one of the things I mentioned earlier - setting up the scars of the civil war by exploring those nobles who have sentiments against Not'zar's reign and their criticisms of his rule. This could work as setup for the tensions in Gakal'zaal discussed in response to Alberyk's tension, or just looking more at how the Hegemon secures his power in the face of the ongoing phoron crisis. 

[Triogenix]

Hi! And Thanks for applying. I have a bunch of questions I want to ask.

1) How patient would you say you are when waiting on other people? Specifically, waiting on other people to finish their responsibilities/writing in a project?

2) How well do you take criticism? Do you struggle with anything specific when it comes to your work being criticized?

3) As a Lore Writer, even a deputy, you'll be expected to contribute to team projects as well, so writing for corporations, biesel, etc. Do you feel comfortable doing this?

4) Lastly, when it comes to writing, how do you fair about writing things you don't enjoy in the moment?

[RustingWithYou]

1. I don't have much of a problem with waiting on things in general, in less, as Geeves said, it's in an urgent case and the work needs to be finished quickly. A few of the PRs that I've made on Aurora have taken quite a bit of waiting on the sprite side of things, as I cannot sprite worth a shit.

2. I think I take criticism all right, though I can tend to initially take things personally - but I like to think that I'm good at seeing what parts of someone's criticism are well-founded, and implementing that. 

3. Yeah, I feel comfortable working on team projects - Unathi lore has a lot of overlap in various places with pretty much every other lore team on the server, so I figured that would probably be a thing that the job would involve.

4. Obviously, I don't enjoy writing things that I don't enjoy, which means that it may take longer and wind up feeling less fleshed-out than something that's a passion project. That being said, I've written a lot of stuff I didn't enjoy writing over the years, and if it needed to be done I'd be confident in my ability to do it.

[Triogenix]

After deliberating, I've decided to accept this application. Congratulations and welcome to the team!