Lavillastrangiato Vaurca Deputy Application

[La Villa Strangiato]

Ckey/BYOND Username: Lavillastrangiato
Position Being Applied For: Vaurca lore deputy
Have you read the Lore Team Rules and Regulations wiki page?: Yep.
Past Experiences/Knowledge: I have been writing fiction and fan-fiction for eight years now, and I've been roleplaying for (checks) twelve years. Over the years I've been honing my craft to the point where I'm very proud of my ability as not just a writer of fiction, but also as a writer of convincing essays and analysis. I've been a game master in TTRPGs and played more TTRPGs than I can count, and I'm currently working on developing a few stories and constructed worlds of my own (which, yes, are forever in development hell).
Examples of Past Work:

I previously had an application for Mictlan fluff accepted (the existence of the maton, and cultural foods for Mictlan), but I cannot find it in the archives.

A CEO expansion

Mukun-Yaba, home of the Kohlanari: A few scraps of lore that I wrote for an alien species I played in a Stars Without Number game. Much of it is unfinished; all text in Courier New is my work, while the text in Arial is the work of a friend who also played the species.

Primitivism, Modernism, and Abstraction / Who Tells the Story?: Nonfiction example; two essays I wrote for my art history class in which we were asked to answer specific questions. Both of these essays centre primarily on Canadian Indigenous artwork, both contemporary and historical.

Please include your current perspective on Vaurca lore and a plan to expand on it: Is this sus as hell for me to post just after DLM applications closed? Yes, absolutely.

In my defense, however, I've wanted to work on lore for a long time, and Vaurca are my favourite species on the server. In fact, before DLM applications opened up, I was hoping that Vaurca deputy applications would open! I think Vaurca lore is very strong in creating an alien species that feels authentically alien, with a culture that still feels relatable enough to create interesting characters from. Everything from their unique religion to their eusocial structure to the characters of the Queens creates a really interesting portrait of them.

I have a variety of things I'd like to expand about Vaurca lore; one of them is the Lii'dra. While they're a very interesting "villain" faction with a lot of potential for horror, a lot of their lore is pretty barebones, and they haven't been given a lot of opportunity to do much during the time we've had them in lore. Obviously they're a faction that needs to be used very sparingly, since their presence tends to crank the threat level from "concerning" to "apocalyptic". I think my first move would be to focus more on the invasion of Elyra and Tau Ceti, and clean up some elements there; why would the Lii'dra be there? What kind of effects would the Lii'dra invading Tau Ceti, the center of our setting, have?

I'd really like to expand more on the Lesser Queens and their personalities, as well, particularly the non-Zo'rane queens' involvement in the Federation and Hegemony government. I'd be particularly interested in developing more on inner Hive struggles for power and conflict, as I think the conflict of personalities among K'lax is especially interesting and makes for fun character interactions.

While these are the two major things I'd like to focus on, there are some other topics I'd really like to sink my teeth into:

• Ve'katak Phalanx. Sprites, organization and ranks, how they train, how they train humans!
• K'lax and the Hegemony, especially how K'lax comes across to the average Hegemony peasant. What kind of things other than military and labour do they do? Do they run clinics, help Unathi with their technology aspects?
• Reworking some of the biology and culture pages to be more precise and detailed.
• Giving Vaurca more "everyday life" culture! Athvur's brood staged a production of Hamlet; did they do other plays? What kind of human/Unathi/Skrell media do Vaurca enjoy?

[SilverSZ]

Now that I know I'll just have to respond to these applications as a lore plebeian and not actually make any important comments. I can do so.

LVS is a cool person, and a good writer I think. I don't think there's any need to justify applying for the position either. You didn't get one job, so you apply for another that you want. I'm sure you'd manage just as well in this one as the DLM slot. But, I do have some questions.

1) What are your thoughts on the three hives and their relationship with the factions that have taken them in? Are there any changes you would want to make in the power dynamics in play or position each hive has in the societies they are a part of? Do you think any Hive has it too good or too bad?

2) Can you give some more details on the Lii'dra? Do you think that their current lore should be maintained and worked around or should retcons happen as I've seen some people suggest. What do you want to see of them in the current setting and what role do you see them playing in vaurca lore moving forward?

3) I like the idea of expanding on the Lesser Queens, but how do you see it being done? What kind of things would you want to touch on, especially for the Queens who are very very old at this point and how human should they be? Would you make it a part of the page about their hive? A notable vaurca page? Where would inter-hive dynamics be covered as well?

4) One thing I've always thought is lacking is Vaurca augmentation, we have very nice body markings for them but no real IC representation mechanically. Do you think this is a problem or are you fine with how things are?

5) What is your favourite and least favourite part of writing for Vaurca lore?

 

[La Villa Strangiato]

7 hours ago, SilverSZ said:

1) What are your thoughts on the three hives and their relationship with the factions that have taken them in? Are there any changes you would want to make in the power dynamics in play or position each hive has in the societies they are a part of? Do you think any Hive has it too good or too bad?

I wouldn't mind taking critique about how the Hive-government relationships are and making small changes here and there. But as it is right now, I like the current power dynamic between the Hives and their "hosts". It's easy to say that Zo'ra has it particularly good just because of their political hold in Tau Ceti, but Zo'ra largely lives on Biesel and Caprice. From there, the Hive is even more centralized in Mendell. It's why that even if I kind of want to retcon parts of the Lii'dra invasion of Tau Ceti (more on this shortly), it would just cohere so nicely for New Gibsoners to have a general dislike of Vaurcae. Mictlan and Port Antillia might have the same problem, especially with the strong Zo'rane presence in the TCAF. It would really emphasize, from a non-Vaurca lore perspective, how much of Biesel's power is focused on Biesel itself, and how it's overextending its influence on its other colonies.

The other relations I feel are very thematically appropriate. Hive C'thur, once the loan sharks of Sedantis, must ironically suffer the same treatment from the Federation if they want to keep C'thur alive and relatively healthy. K'lax has always been vassals to the Zo'ra, and now they've switched their allegiance to the Hegemon; but murmurings of discontent rise among some of the Lesser Queens. Like I said, I'm comfortable with changing small elements, and expanding a lot more, but overall I really like where the lore sits on the Hives and their relationships with the Federation/Republic/Hegemony.

7 hours ago, SilverSZ said:

2) Can you give some more details on the Lii'dra? Do you think that their current lore should be maintained and worked around or should retcons happen as I've seen some people suggest. What do you want to see of them in the current setting and what role do you see them playing in vaurca lore moving forward?

I would like to maintain their role as a genuine threat, but Wigglesworth and Whitewolftamer have positions on the matter I totally agree with, like; why would the Lii'dra launch a full-scale invasion without having the means to do so? Why did we have a Skrell Moment (skroment) where the Tup'kala killed a Lesser Queen of the Lii'dra and extracted her body with only twelve casualties?

There's also the fact that in original article lore, the Lii'dra were supposed to have invaded Mendell. Coalf has even done some art for this! This is mentioned literally nowhere on any wiki page, and I think we can all suss out exactly why. It changes the Lii'dra's scale and presence in the lore to something immensely threatening if they're able to launch a full-scale invasion of Mendell City, the current heart of the Orion Spur and our lore. A skirmish on New Gibson raises concern, but how is the Lii'dra Hiveship and all its warforms able to attack Mendell City without seriously changing up the tone of the planet as a whole?

To answer your question about what I want to see of them, I would much prefer to flesh out what we've already seen of the Lii'dra and tweak the lore I mentioned above before we decide on any more canon incursions. Balancing a threat like them is hard to do well, and it's something I would want to discuss with a group of people.

7 hours ago, SilverSZ said:

3) I like the idea of expanding on the Lesser Queens, but how do you see it being done? What kind of things would you want to touch on, especially for the Queens who are very very old at this point and how human should they be? Would you make it a part of the page about their hive? A notable vaurca page? Where would inter-hive dynamics be covered as well?

Honestly, expanding on the Lesser Queens to me can start with a little personality blurb. The Lesser Queens already have an obvious personality that's present in their brood, but I'd like to characterise them further by what kind of interactions they're having with their respective governments and their entwined species. Some of this is already present (Athvur loves human culture, Vetju is a K'laxan supremacist, Xetl is off her rocker), but I'd also like to include more of their history in the Hive and how they're adapting to their new situation in this as well.

A "Notable Vaurca" page would be a great place to put all the non-Xakat’kl’atan Vaurca, though I don't think it's necessary to put the Queens on there as they have their own pages. Inter-Hive dynamics could probably be covered on the main Vaurca page or, provided they get huge enough, another page in the lore section.

8 hours ago, SilverSZ said:

4) One thing I've always thought is lacking is Vaurca augmentation, we have very nice body markings for them but no real IC representation mechanically. Do you think this is a problem or are you fine with how things are?

I don't think it's a problem, per se. While I do love mechanics supporting roleplay, I also think it's on a roleplayer to flavour their augments when they don't have support for them!

Aside from that, while I'd definitely love to add more Vaurca augments (and add Vaurca mechanical limbs in the machinist printer), it's a thing that needs to be developed and sprited. This takes time and planning, but I definitely want to look into adding more stuff along those lines and polling the playerbase for the kind of augments they'd like to see.

8 hours ago, SilverSZ said:

5) What is your favourite and least favourite part of writing for Vaurca lore?

In terms of writing for it, both my favourite and least favourite part is how I have got to get weirder. I know practically, the weirder you get the more players find it hard to actually roleplay aspects of that lore, but I also want to write some strange esoteric bullshit that exactly two people understand is a covert reference to Kirkbridian Elder Scrolls lore.

[whitewolftamer]

Laville I'm sure you're already aware I deeply enjoy interacting with you both IC and OOC. On top of this I have no doubt you'd be an excellent member of the lore team given your overall polite and courteous attitude towards others. I do have a question though!

You mentioned the things that you would like to work on and expand. Imagine that you already did have that power. What would you like to do for these expansions?

How would you say the Phalanx is organized and trained? How would you say the K'lax comes across to the average peasant, so on so forth.

13 hours ago, La Villa Strangiato said:

• Ve'katak Phalanx. Sprites, organization and ranks, how they train, how they train humans!
• K'lax and the Hegemony, especially how K'lax comes across to the average Hegemony peasant. What kind of things other than military and labour do they do? Do they run clinics, help Unathi with their technology aspects?
• Reworking some of the biology and culture pages to be more precise and detailed.
• Giving Vaurca more "everyday life" culture! Athvur's brood staged a production of Hamlet; did they do other plays? What kind of human/Unathi/Skrell media do Vaurca enjoy?

Essentially I just want you to explain on how you'd go about expanding it if you did have the power.

 

Regardless of answer. You're great, and you've got my 
+1

[La Villa Strangiato]

2 hours ago, whitewolftamer said:

Essentially I just want you to explain on how you'd go about expanding it if you did have the power.

Sure, let me try elaborating.

• I would want to create ranks in the Ve'katak Phalanx, perhaps based on "historical" ranks in Vaurcesian military. In terms of structure, I'd like to elaborate more on how Warriors organise themselves; do they have sergeants that help temper the aggressive attitudes of younger Warriors? Where do Workers come into play in the Phalanx? Are they combat engineers, physicians, or armchair officers? Could ranks potentially be organised by Worker and Warrior, Bound and Unbound, and humans might struggle to fit into the very stratified system of Vaurcae caste? How does prolonged stays in VR affect a human? What kind of augments are humans going to receive when entering the Phalanx, and what psychological effects could this have? This could be explored in an article or an arc (cyberpsycho Ve'katak humans, woohoo). Also, Zoleth's warriors are mentioned as having a fighting style called The Method, in which they basically employ every method available to savagely tear apart an opponent. How would a human (or hell, an Unathi) react to be trained in this way?
• I think Leto and Vetju's brood would lend themselves particularly well to domestically assisting peasant Unathi on Moghes, particularly on matters of health and infrastructure. Maybe some of Vetju's brood could have an involvement in developing low-cost, modular architecture in Izweski population centers to shield against dust storms and extreme heat. Maybe Leto's brood could branch into the medical field and start developing medicines for genetic disorders or diseases caused by radiation. On the more ambiguous side, does a Wastelander see K'lax as tools of the Hegemony that abandoned them, or do they have a more positive view of them because of the Mi'kuetz? Do Traditionalist naysayers take a NIMBY position on K'lax presence on Ouerea and Moghes? A little side thing I'd like to clarify is how Unathi fit Vaurcae into their idea of gender roles. While obviously Vaurca don't have genders, I think it would be interesting if Unathi gendered Vaurcae based on their profession or caste (with Warriors being "masculine", certain workers being "feminine", and others being "fishermen") and Vaurca just went "sure, why not".
• Desven and I have actually discussed expanding and contributing to the Vaurca biology and culture page a bit, which is basically going to go into more detail about psychology of the broods, mannerisms, and what "types" of bioforms there are.
• Pipe dream plan: adding group of Athvur Vaurcae who perform stage plays and do a production of a Great Hive War narrative.

 

[Triogenix]

La Villa has been an incredibly good wiki maintainer, and I've spoken with them many times regarding lore, and the team. I think they'd be a great deputy for vaurca lore, so here's a +1. That being said, I have a couple of questions.

1) If you could retcon one Vaurca arc that has been run in the past, which would it be and why? If you wouldn't retcon any, why?

2) How would you feel about working on teamwide projects that aren't related to vaurca lore?

3) What do you think your responsibility is as a deputy, and would you cross species lines when it comes to writing lore?

4) What are your thoughts on the relationship between the Hegemon and the K'lax, specifically regarding K'laxan warriors essentially being a base of military might that keeps Not'zar on the throne and the Hegemony stable? From the wiki:

Quote

Vedhra has made one very important contribution to the Hegemon: the might of her Warriors. Her K’laxan Warriors, once dedicated solely to preparing for conflict with the Lii'dra, make up a powerful, unified military force under the Hegemon, outside the influence of scheming Unathi nobility who may challenge Not’zar and his position. Not’zar has not been adverse to using them either, crushing a clan revolt in 2458 and reaffirming his total control over the Hegemonic military without violence, only the threat that thousands of K’laxan Warriors posed. This threat alone has kept many potentially wayward lords in line, greatly contributing to the stability of the Hegemony.

[La Villa Strangiato]

5 hours ago, Triogenix said:

1) If you could retcon one Vaurca arc that has been run in the past, which would it be and why? If you wouldn't retcon any, why?

The only arc I know of that has been run for Vaurca is the Court of Queens arc. Other than that, information on "pre-renaissance" Aurora lore arcs is fairly scarce, so I'm left to say I wouldn't retcon Court of Queens! I think it serves its purpose in introducing more dynamics between the Hives that reflect on their Sedantian history and build upon it. I think it's a very authentic thing to have the Hives get in copyright battles over their new bioform; I love including that kind of mundane, court-drama stuff in our fancy sci-fi setting.

10 hours ago, Triogenix said:

2) How would you feel about working on teamwide projects that aren't related to vaurca lore?

I would love to. I have my pet projects, of course, but I'd like to branch out to a variety of lore stuff and I'd be happy to contribute to the team in ways that aren't just buge-related.

10 hours ago, Triogenix said:

3) What do you think your responsibility is as a deputy, and would you cross species lines when it comes to writing lore?

Ultimately my responsibility as a deputy should be to support a lore maintainer. Sure, I'm not able to accept whitelists, but I can definitely ask a whitelist application questions that can help them fill out their character concept more, and potentially gain more of an understanding of what's been written. A fresh set of eyes is essential to creative endeavours, and that's what a species team acts as; a fresh set of eyes and ideas for each other. 

This can definitely extend to other species, too. Vaurca lore is pretty strongly tied to the loremasters, to Unathi lore, and to Skrell lore. Were I to cross species lines in terms of lore-writing, I'd like to check in with the other teams first and make sure they're comfortable with me doing that, or if it's needed. Other than that, as I said a question ago, I'm happy to branch out and write in general.

11 hours ago, Triogenix said:

4) What are your thoughts on the relationship between the Hegemon and the K'lax, specifically regarding K'laxan warriors essentially being a base of military might that keeps Not'zar on the throne and the Hegemony stable? From the wiki:

I've had some conversations with RustingWithYou about this, and we both agree that K'lax kind of acts like an "instant-win" button for Not'zar's ability to stay situated on the throne. While I don't mind this direction, as I think Not'zar has a lot more to his character than "hurr he is a Marty Stu that just stays in power because of magic", I would like to introduce some conflict in Hive K'lax between the Lesser Queens that might shift the balance of power a little bit. We already know Vetju hates the idea of K'lax being under the Hegemony's yoke, and Vedhra wants to dramatically push the threshold for Unathi augmentation. Meanwhile, Z'kaii is perfectly comfortable being a mere Overlord of her own Hive, Tupii might have secret ambitions of her own, and Leto is just vibing digging up artifacts. Would Vetju or Tupii bring their own ambitions to the fore, drastically decreasing the potential stability of the Hegemony and of the Hive for their own personal gain, perhaps? Overall, I think shaking things up a bit could make for an interesting lore arc, if only to remind the playerbase that Not'zar's throne might not be so stable.

[Desven]

Thank you for applying for Vaurca lore deputy. I'm still making my choice and, in order to be more informed about each candidate, I have some questions to ask you:

1. What are your ideas for Zo'ra? Specifically, taking into consideration that the phoron scarcity causes new dynamics between Biesel and the Hive.

2. A big problem with Vaurca tech is that, if we were to implement them as they're in lore (or where), then the species would become too OP. I've been trying to have the Vaurcae be more well-rounded and balanced, but do you have any ideas on how to avoid over-the-top tech or work with some wackier aspects of Vaurca tech?

3. If you could write a complete wiki article yourself on Vaurca lore, what would it be about?

[La Villa Strangiato]

17 hours ago, Desven said:

1. What are your ideas for Zo'ra? Specifically, taking into consideration that the phoron scarcity causes new dynamics between Biesel and the Hive.

Zo'ra has relied and piggybacked off of Biesel for a lot of their political power. Biesel, Hive Zo'ra, and NanoTrasen are closely intertwined; if one starts to crumble, so will the others. I've included some ideas-lobbing below for dynamics, character explorations, and shifts in power that could occur within Zo'ra and Biesel.

• Biesel is expanding beyond its means, gradually; how is that encouraged or stymied by the Queens? Zoleth is a warmonger who tends to lean towards violence as the first option. Is she in favour of more expansionism from the Republic? Are Athvur and Vaur against more expansion? What kind of diplomacy might Vaur undertake towards Elyra and their phoron resources, especially after the Lii'draic Incursion and anti-NT sentiment? What about diplomacy with the Coalition, and which member-states would Zo'rane diplomacy reach out to first?
• Speaking of NanoTrasen, how do the Queens interact with the Trasens? What do the Queens, in the face of the phoron scarcity and the exploitation of their hive for cheap labour, demand from NT in the face of a struggling economy? Who would win: hydrogen bomb (High Queen Vaur, Grand Executor, First of Mother Zo'ra) or coughing baby (Miranda Trasen, human woman)?
• Would further defeats to the TCAF injure Zo'ra's standing to the other hives? Would Vetju start banging the drum of "K'LAX INDEPENDENCE NOW" if the TCAF lost Mictlan?
• There's differing priorities in the Hive, though obviously not to the extent of K'lax. How could we emphasize that, and how would it effect relations with Biesel and NT?

17 hours ago, Desven said:

2. A big problem with Vaurca tech is that, if we were to implement them as they're in lore (or where), then the species would become too OP. I've been trying to have the Vaurcae be more well-rounded and balanced, but do you have any ideas on how to avoid over-the-top tech or work with some wackier aspects of Vaurca tech?

I have a few suggestions!

1. They don't have the natural resources and materials that they had on Sedantis to replicate most of their prior, incredibly powerful technology.

2. Much of the information on how to maintain said technology was lost during the Exodus, particularly on the K'laxan end after the fire struck Mother K'lax's chambers.

3. To preserve diplomatic relations, much of their technology has been intentionally stripped down, discarded, or in the case of warforms, culled.

17 hours ago, Desven said:

3. If you could write a complete wiki article yourself on Vaurca lore, what would it be about?

I'm going to be completely authentic here and say that I would love to write a full, prosaic account of some Great Hive War legend, like Reusk'otahn (the "hive war myth"). I'd also love to expand more on Vaurca legends, such as the story of Maa'krek. I think these would really add to Vaurcesian society and culture lore, but I'm also happy to write about more present, pressing lorestuff that needs expanding on.

Edited August 21, 2023 by La Villa Strangiato

[Desven]

This was a really close call, but unfortunately, I decided to move forward with another candidate.

 

Don't feel discouraged, though. I believe you're a great asset to have in lore and I'll support you were you to apply for any future lore positions.