Sycmos' Synthetic/IPC Lore Deputy Application

[Sycmos]

Ckey/BYOND Username: Sycmos, Discord @ Syc#3133
Position Being Applied For: Deputy Lore Developer 
Have you read the Lore Team Rules and Regulations wiki page?: I have, several times.
Past Experiences/Knowledge: I have been playing on Aurora on and off since 2014, but have been consistently active in the community since early 2020. I have been a CCIA agent for the last two years as of a couple of weeks ago, and have volunteered for a number of canon events as event characters for several species. Outside of Aurora I have 15+ years of experience with roleplaying communities on various platforms/forums (RuneScape, Achaea, WoW, GaiaOnline, SWTOR, NWN, etc.).

Examples of Past Work: 
I have a currently outstanding canon lore application that extensively details a region of a human lore planet, Moroz. You can read the application via the link below:

I've also contributed here and there to small lore bits after being asked for counsel by Caelphon and other lore team members, and provided a canonical flag for the Red Coalition following its approval by human lore.

---

1. What aspect of synthetic lore are you most interested in and would like to work on?

As a whole I feel that synthetic lore fills a unique niche in our setting that provides a wealth of opportunities to expand upon, so I'm not particularly interested in one specific aspect, place or culture. If I had to pick one that I am particularly interested in expanding or detailing it would likely be the Trinary Perfection, and giving players more to work with in terms of how to show their faith, how said faith ties into the culture of those places who have large populations of Trinarists, and the problems that come with being part of a relatively new religion in a space-faring society. I also think that there could be more content surrounding those synthetic communities that live on the fringe of galactic society (Scrappers, Trinary Exclusionists, etc.), and how they survive without having benefactors in corporations or private owners. I feel that it's important to draw attention to these aspects as we can directly contrast how a majority of IPCs on the Horizon live by comparison, and perhaps inspire more ideas as to how those employed by the SCC may be viewed by those less fortunate (or even willfully outcast) synthetics that live in these spaces.

2. Do you work well in a team environment?

I have direct experience with working under the current Synth Lore Writer, Lancer, during their tenure as CCIA Leader and have worked under him and with the CCIA team for the last two years. CCIA is a constantly-evolving machine that adapts to new in-character problems as they appear, pushing its team to constantly discuss and debate the best courses of action among themselves. I feel that my experience with Lancer and with CCIA has put me in a unique position to achieve greater cohesion with the lore team than I would otherwise have if I did not have this experience.

3. How active do you think you will be when it comes to writing lore?

I am more or less writing things constantly - I have been dabbling in creative writing for more than half of my years on this Earth, and spend at least an hour writing daily. Besides writing for characters and lore applications on Aurora I have been quietly working on a novella for the past couple of months as an independent outlet for my imagination. Writing is thankfully something that comes to me incredibly easily when I am able to focus, and I do not feel that I will have any issue churning out lore when asked and given a prompt.

4. Present a written work about anything related to synthetic lore so we can see your writing style, around 300 words minimum.

(Presented here is a brief addition to the Anchorage section of the Pactolus/Midaion wiki page, written ad hoc for this application.)

"Beneath the Anchorage's elaborate exterior lies what is colloquially called the Undercarriage by its inhabitants - a vast and labyrinthine network of subterranean maintenance tunnels, storage facilities and infrastructure systems that span vastly beyond the visible portion of the Anchorage. The insurmountable amount of work required to keep the Anchorage both functional and physically pristine requires the Undercarriage to house a body of laborers so large in size that it permanently occupies the space beneath the titanic dockyard, forming its own separate community from that of their counterparts in the Ring. These individuals, known as 'Dockers' to the bourgeois personnel who live above in the Anchorage, live among the myriad of converted storage rooms that dot the web of passageways of the Undercarriage and often eke out a living performing some manner of technical or physical labor pertaining to maintenance of the Anchorage. Despite the enormous importance on the Dockers to maintain the Anchorage the Midas Group maintains an unspoken rule on prohibiting their presence above the Undercarriage, citing concerns of 'decency' - effectively isolating them from the wealth and services offered to those who work and live in the Anchorage. It is through this doctrine that the Undercarriage has developed a self-reliant ecosystem, completely detached from the goings-on of their benefactors. While the Anchorage does provide a wage to those living below it is often insignificant compared to the cost of living anywhere in the system besides the Undercarriage or the Ring, and many who live there often eschew credits in favor of barter or mutual favors. Those who do not work directly on the Anchorage are often providing some other manner of service to the permanent community, such as maintaining the enormous population of synthetic personnel or growing food for the organics that live among them. Despite these arrangements quality of life for Dockers can be said to be better than those living in the Ring, and labor in the Undercarriage is considered favorable work experience for those who choose to move on from its cavernous corridors."

Additional Comments:

Play Citizen Sleeper!

[SilverSZ]

Not who I expected to see apply. But life is full of welcome surprises.

During my recently ended Tenure I talked with Sycmos about lore including synthlore plenty of times and I have no doubts as to his passion for Aurora's Lorebase and Synthlore in general. Nor would I doubt his ability to conduct himself professionally and, much better than me, actually get stuff done.

However I do have some questions.

1: Bioshells, What do you think about them? Do you want to see them added? Is Signalis the best game ever made?

2: In contrast to what Lancer asked, what aspect of Synthlore interests you the least to work on? And if asked to work on it specifically would you be fine with that?

3: Is there any part of synthetic lore that you believe would be better off removed or retconned? Or are there any parts that you think need immediate work in order to improve them?

4: Do you have any ideas or desires regarding cross-species lore? Human Lore is the obvious one here. But any others are also welcome.

 

 

 

[Sycmos]

6 hours ago, SilverSZ said:

1: Bioshells, What do you think about them? Do you want to see them added? Is Signalis the best game ever made?

2: In contrast to what Lancer asked, what aspect of Synthlore interests you the least to work on? And if asked to work on it specifically would you be fine with that?

3: Is there any part of synthetic lore that you believe would be better off removed or retconned? Or are there any parts that you think need immediate work in order to improve them?

4: Do you have any ideas or desires regarding cross-species lore? Human Lore is the obvious one here. But any others are also welcome.

1. Though not using the term 'bioshell' the concept has been explored through a myriad of lenses in media for decades (I Robot, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?/Blade Runner, Tower of Glass, Alien, etc.) and have served as something of a foundational aspect for how we address free will and sentience in artificial beings in the media that followed it (Mass Effect, Detroit: Become Human, Signalis, etc.) and in everyday discussion surrounding the growth of artificial intelligence and robotics. While I feel that bioshells have a place in our setting as the next step beyond in the development of the IPC I think that their implementation would require extreme caution by the responsible lore team and the utmost scrutiny of synthetic whitelistees - bringing the concept of a synthetic closer to being human while not fully answering the question as to whether or not they deserve the privileges and rights of being considered such brings its own unique obstacles to roleplay and character development that I feel requires much more critical thinking.

As far as Signalis goes - I'll wait to cash my opinion in until I'm finished with it!

2. I feel that how we address stationbounds and simple intelligence in our setting could use some work, as I feel that our implementation of cyborgs leaves a lot to be desired from a narrative standpoint. I would feel more than comfortable working on it however, as I think that it's arguably the weakest part of how synthetic intelligence is approached in our setting and should be given a closer look. Whether or not this is a synthetic lore responsibility I am unsure, but it's definitely something that I've thought about and should be addressed.

3. Personally I feel that cyborgification is incredibly out of place in terms of tone in our setting and should either be vastly readjusted or removed entirely. I do not feel that it adds any significant weight to the corporate presence of our ongoing narrative besides making megacorporations who practice it look cartoonishly evil by having a fleet of forcibly enslaved consciousnesses doing menial labor. It feels more suitable for Warhammer 40K than it does the setting and atmosphere of our setting. While I am unsure whether or not synthetic lore has responsibility over cyborgification as an aspect of how synthetics are portrayed in lore I would like to see it changed someday to be a little less overt and perhaps reworked entirely, if not removed.

4. I feel that there are some cultural and political obstacles between certain species and factions that need to be addressed before cross-species lore can be discussed with them, most notably Unathi and Skrell. I feel that Vaurca and Diona are the two species most likely to enjoy cross-species integration with synthetic lore, but the groundwork for that would need to be worked on and discussed between the relevant lore teams first. I feel that one of the strengths of synthetic lore in our setting is its scalability - you can scale the breadth of synthetic intelligence up or down for whatever you need it for, whether it's for menial maintenance drones or a system-spanning security intelligence like BUBBLE. In the end it is still synthetic in nature and can be molded however the team feels would fit a certain system, planet or faction the best.

[Lucaken]

Hello. Thank you for taking the time to fill out this application. Most of the relevant questions have been asked, so I only have one topic that also relates to my own position in the team.

Although by now I'm sure you are tired of reading the lore team rules and regulations, I want to highlight the sections regarding cross-team coordination. As a writer, you will be expected to coordinate and work together with others outside of your team and do this with full effort. How do you feel about potentially working with people you may dislike personally? Do you feel like it might hamper the quality of your writing, ideas, or workflow in any way? If personal issues arose with members, how quickly do you think you would be able to settle down and return to writing?

Please don't take the questions above as a personal challenge - although I did write them knowing that, like me, you are not afraid to speak your mind during arguments. It's because of that (and because these issues never really stop happening) that I thought they would be useful questions.

Good luck, and take your time with the answers.

[niennab]

Even before I got to know Sycmos personally, I could see that they were a fantastic writer. Their characters always felt alive, well thought out and personable. Whether the lore is expansive or a paragraph long, Sycmos is able to adapt and breathe life into their roleplay like no other. Their ability to expand upon what is given to them and generate incredible ideas makes them a wonderful candidate for the role. Ravna and the subsequent Lyod lore application are prime examples of their craft.

Having worked along side and on occaision conferred with Sycmos on the CCIA team, they have always offered an abundance of help, patience and understanding that I am confident will transfer should they be taken on as the synthetic deputy. While I don't have any questions I wanted to give a big +1 to their application.

[Sycmos]

53 minutes ago, Lucaken said:

Hello. Thank you for taking the time to fill out this application. Most of the relevant questions have been asked, so I only have one topic that also relates to my own position in the team.

Although by now I'm sure you are tired of reading the lore team rules and regulations, I want to highlight the sections regarding cross-team coordination. As a writer, you will be expected to coordinate and work together with others outside of your team and do this with full effort. How do you feel about potentially working with people you may dislike personally? Do you feel like it might hamper the quality of your writing, ideas, or workflow in any way? If personal issues arose with members, how quickly do you think you would be able to settle down and return to writing?

Please don't take the questions above as a personal challenge - although I did write them knowing that, like me, you are not afraid to speak your mind during arguments. It's because of that (and because these issues never really stop happening) that I thought they would be useful questions.

Good luck, and take your time with the answers.

Thank you!

Participating in the community as a player utilizing the lore is wholly different from participating in the community as a member of the team that writes said lore. The lore team is solely responsible for the direction of the narrative of our setting, upholding or modifying the tone of it, and potentially making changes that could alter the direction of our server's setting for months to years to come. Being mindful about checking my feelings at the door and focusing on the work of making sure that our setting functions as the team intends it is more important than being seen as right or getting the last word, and I would not see it any differently than how I do my position in CCIA or how I've conducted myself in any of my previous workplaces in real life. There's an objective and that objective needs to be met whether or not my feelings are in the way or not. Our staff team is made up of a myriad of different people from different backgrounds with different beliefs and lives that informed the way they think, and it's the absolutely cheapest courtesy to behave cordially if we share a mutual goal. If I didn't think that I could feasibly settle issues with other lore team members in an amicable and swift manner I would not have applied at all.

[Kaizr]

No way, Sycmos moment?!

I have nothing extra to add that hasn't already been said regarding Sycmos' writing capabilities and personality. They've demonstrated time and time again that they'd be a great fit for the synthetic development team. Great person, great writer, simple as.

+1 from cowboy synth player #91827-B.

[SilverSZ]

11 hours ago, Sycmos said:

1. Though not using the term 'bioshell' the concept has been explored through a myriad of lenses in media for decades (I Robot, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?/Blade Runner, Tower of Glass, Alien, etc.) and have served as something of a foundational aspect for how we address free will and sentience in artificial beings in the media that followed it (Mass Effect, Detroit: Become Human, Signalis, etc.) and in everyday discussion surrounding the growth of artificial intelligence and robotics. While I feel that bioshells have a place in our setting as the next step beyond in the development of the IPC I think that their implementation would require extreme caution by the responsible lore team and the utmost scrutiny of synthetic whitelistees - bringing the concept of a synthetic closer to being human while not fully answering the question as to whether or not they deserve the privileges and rights of being considered such brings its own unique obstacles to roleplay and character development that I feel requires much more critical thinking.

As far as Signalis goes - I'll wait to cash my opinion in until I'm finished with it!

2. I feel that how we address stationbounds and simple intelligence in our setting could use some work, as I feel that our implementation of cyborgs leaves a lot to be desired from a narrative standpoint. I would feel more than comfortable working on it however, as I think that it's arguably the weakest part of how synthetic intelligence is approached in our setting and should be given a closer look. Whether or not this is a synthetic lore responsibility I am unsure, but it's definitely something that I've thought about and should be addressed.

3. Personally I feel that cyborgification is incredibly out of place in terms of tone in our setting and should either be vastly readjusted or removed entirely. I do not feel that it adds any significant weight to the corporate presence of our ongoing narrative besides making megacorporations who practice it look cartoonishly evil by having a fleet of forcibly enslaved consciousnesses doing menial labor. It feels more suitable for Warhammer 40K than it does the setting and atmosphere of our setting. While I am unsure whether or not synthetic lore has responsibility over cyborgification as an aspect of how synthetics are portrayed in lore I would like to see it changed someday to be a little less overt and perhaps reworked entirely, if not removed.

4. I feel that there are some cultural and political obstacles between certain species and factions that need to be addressed before cross-species lore can be discussed with them, most notably Unathi and Skrell. I feel that Vaurca and Diona are the two species most likely to enjoy cross-species integration with synthetic lore, but the groundwork for that would need to be worked on and discussed between the relevant lore teams first. I feel that one of the strengths of synthetic lore in our setting is its scalability - you can scale the breadth of synthetic intelligence up or down for whatever you need it for, whether it's for menial maintenance drones or a system-spanning security intelligence like BUBBLE. In the end it is still synthetic in nature and can be molded however the team feels would fit a certain system, planet or faction the best.

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions.

Even putting our personal friendship aside. I like all of the responses and I think you'd make a great synthetic lore writer.

+1

[La Villa Strangiato]

Sycmos is an especially thoughtful person when it comes to developing a story, and I find their writing emphasizes the personal aspects of a story and setting that you just don't see anywhere else. With their experience on Aurora and their writing ability, I think they'd make a great deputy. +1

[Caelphon]

Hi there, thank you for your application.

 

1. Do you believe you’ll be able to handle the duties of both CCIA and Lore Deputy while your on the team? Though lore does have its lulls we do expect all members of the team to contribute to the project where they can. 
 

2. In regards to certain directions, do you think you’ll able to still contribute fully even if it’s in a direction that you might not like? This is in regards to the setting as a whole, not just synthetic concerns.

 

Goodluck, there are no wrong answers. 

[Sycmos]

31 minutes ago, Caelphon said:

Hi there, thank you for your application.

 

1. Do you believe you’ll be able to handle the duties of both CCIA and Lore Deputy while your on the team? Though lore does have its lulls we do expect all members of the team to contribute to the project where they can. 
 

2. In regards to certain directions, do you think you’ll able to still contribute fully even if it’s in a direction that you might not like? This is in regards to the setting as a whole, not just synthetic concerns.

 

Goodluck, there are no wrong answers. 

Thank you for the questions, Cael!

 

1. Having already discussed the matter with our current CCIA Leader, Bear, we both understand that my energy will be split between the two and that I may choose to retire from CCIA should it be necessary to give lore more of my attention. CCIA has been a good experience for me and given me the know-how required to navigate the community more effectively, and I feel that another community member should be given the opportunity to fill that role and gain that experience in my place. Should I not take the synth deputy position however I will remain with CCIA and continue my duties as usual until I feel comfortable relinquishing the position for new blood.

 

2. Part of being on a team and participating in a collaborative effort means making compromises. Compromise means working on projects and discussing things that I may not be personally interested in, or having to revise projects that I am invested in so that they might fit the bigger picture. While I may have something of a say in how things may play out as a lore deputy it's ultimately my responsibility to uphold the vision of the lore team as my duties require, and not just when I'm personally invested. We are all here to see this narrative play out to the best of our abilities and it's important to remember that we all have different ideas of how things should go and how we expect them to, and collaboration means working together to make all of the tiny moving parts of our imagination fit together.

[The Stryker]

Just some quick questions to start,

You've spoken a lot about expanding on the Trinary Perfection, can you give an example of a content update you might push for that goal?

Additionally, you gave an example of work you might do to expand Golden Deep. What do you think you could do to make the Golden Deep as a faction more accessible to IPC players?

[Sycmos]

16 minutes ago, The Stryker said:

Just some quick questions to start,

You've spoken a lot about expanding on the Trinary Perfection, can you give an example of a content update you might push for that goal?

Additionally, you gave an example of work you might do to expand Golden Deep. What do you think you could do to make the Golden Deep as a faction more accessible to IPC players?

Thank you for the questions, Stryker.

 

While I find that the Trinary wiki pages have plenty in terms of content for elaborating on the theology, doctrine and general politics of the religion it has little in regards to how Trinarist communities function in places where they are considered fringe or potentially unwanted groups, or may be recognized at the state level such as the Biesel sect. How do they organize at the community level? How do they arrange to take care of their places of worship and their community members if they are not sponsored or funded by a state polity, or if they are? What does your average Trinarist community look like, do they have their own music and art movements? Are there unique flavors of said movements depending on where the Trinarist sect is located, and if it's led by humans or synthetics? The cultural, organic parts that surround religious communities are something that interest me and I feel that attention to these details is important for not just the Trinary, but for all lore in general.

 

I feel that emphasis on the Golden Deep as a synthetic faction often draws too much on the power players and figures who wear the gold instead of those who may work behind the scenes to bring said gold to the stage. Playing wealthy, property-owning Golden Deep members is fine and can be executed with nuance, but I believe that more can be drawn out from the bulk of gentry and laborers that surround this class of synthetic high rollers and show how even synthetics are not free from the pitfalls of being a free-thinking, sentient beings - contrary to what the Trinary may espouse. Brokers, ship technicians, financiers, infrastructure engineers, people who all perform duties that are essential to the gilded image of the Midas Group and Golden Deep but are rendered invisible by design. It's in the cracks of the veneer of this extravagant image that I feel personable, real characters can be made and I'd like to expand on what makes the Deep Golden.

[Fluffy]

Just mirroring the question from Faye's app for you, too:

What changes would you make to borgs, lore and mechanical-wise, assuming you had complete freedom? I do not know if the synthetic team covers the AI role too, but if it does, what would you change about it (the AI)?

[Sycmos]

48 minutes ago, Fluffy said:

Just mirroring the question from Faye's app for you, too:

What changes would you make to borgs, lore and mechanical-wise, assuming you had complete freedom? I do not know if the synthetic team covers the AI role too, but if it does, what would you change about it (the AI)?

Hi, thank you for the questions!

 

Stationbounds are in an odd place in our community where they are constantly scrutinized for being do-it-all machines that provide little to no role-playing potential while also being constrained to very simple tenets that do not allow for creativity - they can neither be strictly utilitarian machines, nor are they treated as entities worth engaging in roleplay. I believe that stationbounds should be given a look in regards to their functionality and roleplay value in our setting and be given more leeway in characterization in exchange for utility. Aurora's community considers itself a "high roleplay" community, and as such I feel that having mechanical obligations that curtail roleplay are harmful to that vision and should be revisited. Players should not be making the choice between fulfilling mechanical functions and participating in roleplay and engaging characters. Mechanics should always include roleplay, and roleplay should inform mechanical play. Mechanics should never restrict or prohibit roleplay in any case.

My feelings are the same regarding AI. I have had the pleasure of experiencing several AI with nuanced, rich personalities that still served their primary functions (Charles Pierce-Rousseau comes to mind) and I feel that stationbound entities such as this should be the standard and not the exception. We can derive more from our experiences as long as we are willing to allow breathing room where we leave trust in our whitelisted players. For this reason I do believe that whitelists should be required for cyborgs as well.

[Zelmana]

So many answers here aligning to a great understanding of Asimovian dialogue and PKD influences, which serves as the cornerstone to much of our Synthetic lore. Not many appreciate philosophical nuances of the lore created in that space, but based on your answers I feel you'd be able to confidently decipher steps forwards, improvements, and most importantly- preservation of core concepts and ideas at the heart of synth lore.

Edited May 27, 2023 by Zelmana

[Misiek1001]

I have no doubts about Sycmos being a capable writer, as can be gleamed from the much appreciated addition to Lyodii lore and the answers they've posted on this thread. I fully believe they would be a good pick for the deputy position, and they've my support.

 

Certified Sycmos moment +1

[Lly2]

Although Syc doesn't have a massive portfolio of past work, I think their ability to write something cohesive with our existing lore is shown extremely clearly in every character they play.

+1 from me.

[The lancer]

Accepted.