Ultranumeron - IPC Application

[UltraNumeron]

BYOND Key: UltraNumeron

Character Names: Kameron Rabinowicz, Johnathan Baum, Amir Solonen, Humberto Bould, Youssef Basque, Judah Metis.

Species you are applying to play: IPC

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

Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yes

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:

I want to try playing a non-human race and IPCs seem like a good start, being highly customizable, while having a good core concept that can be used to create many interesting characters without being overly convoluted or restrictive. Just from reading the lore pages I've already gotten many character ideas that id like to actualize. Their mechanics are also different enough that I believe they would provide me with various new opportunities and challenges, making the game a bit more interesting. Just from reading their lore pages, I've already gotten many character ideas that id like to actualize. Their sprites are also really nice.

Their lore has also been interesting to read, and quite well written, which combined with the high mechanical customizability makes it quite easy to form new unique characters compared to organic races, with a lot of variation in how the various megacorporations treat them, and the easily recognizable appearances of frames.

Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: They are manufactured, sentient computers contained within a 6 inch cube known as a positronic brain, that upon being  activated have the capacity for sentience or at least can mimic it. These brains come with a directive for self preservation and any installed software and datapacks. These brains are then placed within a chassis giving them a body and creating an IPC. And are effectively alive until the brain is deactivated.

They are usually owned as property with few if any rights, with their treatment varying between different megacorporations, owners and factions. With some areas such as Tau Ceti, allowing them to slowly buy their freedom. Those synthetics who decide to run from their owners are usually hunted down and dismantled, however for most IPC's there isn't much binding outside of paperwork, minor memory rewrites and the threat of being dismantled or having their memory wiped, thus usually avoiding being overly disobedient due to their self-preservation directive. It is also usually a much lighter crime to harm or kill synthetics, then it is organics. Overall synthetics are usually treated as more disposable then organics.

However despite being manufactured and owned, they do still grow with time as they acquire more memories and experience, adapting to their environment and expanding the goals of their self preservation directive to improve their lives. All actions undertaken by them do still follow some underlying logic however. Along with the more obvious differences coming from having a fully mechanical body, such as treating wounds differently and having different strengths and weaknesses, like being vulnerable to emps and using suit coolers instead of oxygen tanks for EVA.

Character Name: HEVEX SAL-136

Please provide a short backstory for this character: The Hazardous Environment Exploration or HEVEX line was built by Hephaestus Industries to assist in exploring the hazardous environments of the Orion Spur and exploiting their natural resources, being a line consisting mostly of G2 variants, with the HEVEX SAL variant being one of the most common, being built out of relatively cheap but durable parts for mining and salvage missions.

The 136th HEVEX SAL unit was manufactured on  a Hephaestus factory in Biesel, quickly being put to work mining in Tau Ceti, and after proving themselves to be competent enough moved farther out to more dangerous dig sites and put on salvage teams for derelicts. Slowly rising the Hephaestus corporate ladder and working towards the ultimate goal of buying freedom, eventually being stationed on the operations department of the prototype cruiser SCCV Horizon to continue their duties exploring, excavating and salvaging in deep space.

During 136's training they have grown to be focused on three primary goals, salvaging and digging to fulfill the purpose they were built for, and additionally work towards freedom aswell as higher rank in Hephaestus Industries, and most importantly ensure their excavation crew comes out alive, to salvage, dig and explore another day. Having decided these goals to be necessary for ensuring self-preservation in their work and thus life.

What do you like about this character?: I enjoy mining and want to try it in a new way, I also enjoy playing strong, assertive characters and like the idea of Hephaestus owned synthetics, working very hard with hope of ascending the corporate ladder. And I do think it being a job I enjoy playing already, that has many opportunities for interesting events and character development will help me better get into the role of a synthetic.

How would you rate your role-playing ability?: I wont call myself particularly good and often end up relying on gimmicky characters, albeit I do find myself improving lately and believe I can make memorable characters and roleplay. I have also been playing a lot of antagonists lately which is rather tough to roleplay with, albeit I am getting burnt out of it and will soon likely start focusing on playing regular crew and roleplaying more actively.

Notes: This is my first whitelist application here, so I apologize if I misunderstood any of the questions.

[The Stryker]

Hi, thanks for applying! Just some quick questions for the app,

Could you provide more examples in the setting of IPC treatment, especially cases where IPCs are less favorably treated than Tau Ceti.

Quote

Please provide a short backstory for this character:

Could you talk a little bit more about your character? In particular, when was HEVEX built? How were they treated by their colleagues, especially while climbing the Hephaestus corporate ladder, and how do they behave around people?

The backstory does a decent job at explaining where HEVEX has been and what their goals are, but not who they are as a character.

[UltraNumeron]

8 minutes ago, The Stryker said:

Hi, thanks for applying! Just some quick questions for the app,

Could you provide more examples in the setting of IPC treatment, especially cases where IPCs are less favorably treated than Tau Ceti.

Could you talk a little bit more about your character? In particular, when was HEVEX built? How were they treated by their colleagues, especially while climbing the Hephaestus corporate ladder, and how do they behave around people?

The backstory does a decent job at explaining where HEVEX has been and what their goals are, but not who they are as a character.

Aye, for examples of IPC treatment id say the divide between districts in Mendell would be a good one, with those in higher districts such as district 1 having many more opportunities and benefits compared to those in lower districts such as the slums of the scrapheap, living a far more dangerous lifestyle, and often heavily discriminated against, with scrapper gang wars being common and them often being hunted down for parts, along with factories exploiting the cheap labor of IPCs. There is also the case that  while the bureaucracy exists for attaining freedom in Tau Ceti employers have many different ways to prevent it, and for many such as those working under Idris are sold off or moved to another branch when they near freedom.

Along with many runaway IPCs seeking refuge in Tau Ceti, and  the divide between free and owned IPCs. Even those who do attain freedom are usually subject to poverty, and face tough chaotic lives, with their next goal usually being reaching citizenship, having its own obstacles and usually needing military service. 

On the topic of HEVEX, I had avoided the topic of treatment by others, as I wanted to avoid setting expectations until I have played the character though I do understand the necessity of it for a whitelist so will elaborate on it. HEVEX SAL-136 was built in 2453, about a year after Tau Ceti gained independence being around 10 years old now. Some colleagues having treated them as a reliable coworker, some as a comrade during dangerous expeditions, and some as a disposable synthetic doing work others find undesirable. With events such as the Sol Alliance blockades making  working conditions worse  and increasing comradery with their colleagues as good equipment becomes harder to get. In behavior HEVEX is  highly protective of their coworkers, and trusting of those they work closely with albeit quite distrusts those working in cushier jobs, seeing hard work as a very important sign of good character.

[The lancer]

Accepted