Who Saw This Coming - RustingWithYou Unathi Writer Application

[RustingWithYou]

Ckey/BYOND Username: RustingWithYou
Position Being Applied For: (Wiki Maintainer, Lore Developer, Deputy Lore developer): Unathi Lore Developer
Have you read the Lore Team Rules and Regulations wiki page?: Yes
Past Experiences/Knowledge: I've been Unathi deputy for about six months, and contributed to most of the Unathi stuff that's been written over that time in some way or another.
Examples of Past Work:

• Alongside the rest of the team, I worked on Ouerea. Specifically, the Faith, Political Entities and Cities sections were all written by me.
• The Hegemon's wedding arc.
• The Unathi Abroad and Unathi Spaceflight pages.
• Many of the regions of Moghes - specifically the Izweski Heartland, Southlands, Broken Coalition and Zazalai Mountains are my work.
• Large portions of the currently ongoing Sk'akh Church arc were also written by me, though I forget which parts are me and which parts are Trio.

Additional Comments: 

1. A particular section of Unathi Lore that you think should be expanded upon, alongside your reasons for it. Or what you think should be removed, and expand your reasons for that too;
It's difficult to judge this question, as most of what I wanted to expand on with Unathi lore coming into the team is stuff we've already done - Moghes cultures and regions, Ouerea, and Unathi outside the Hegemony being the three main examples. That being said, there are some things I would like to expand on further as lore developer. 

I'd like to expand on relations between the Hegemony and its neighboring powers - we know that they're willing to cooperate with Dominia, they don't get on with the DPRA (thanks Gakal'zaal) and the NKA is considering trying to make friends with them. The Sparring Sea/Badlands region is a super neat hotbed of conflict, and I'd like to expand on relations between the nations there - how does the Hegemony interact with Elyra, Nralakk, the PRA and the southern CoC states? Despite their having worked with Dominia in the past, how much does Kazhkz raiding the Hegemony negatively impact those relations? With regards to the Tajaran Cold War, is there a particular faction favored by the Izweski and do they give enough of a shit to involve themselves? Interspecies relations are neat, and I would like to expand on them where possible. Our Interstellar Relations page is a good start, but fleshing that out more and expanding it will give a richer base for both IC interactions and future lore developments.

We've done a lot with Hegemony internal politics - the wedding arc, the Ouerea rewrite, Hutay'zai having the worst month of his life - but I'd like to continue that work, fleshing out the various movers and shakers within the Hegemony in the aftermath of Titan Rises. Some of the things we already have planned will be good for that, but I want to convey a better sense of how these groups work with and against each other. Hephaestus, the K'lax, the Ouerean Confederation, the more traditional Unathi represented by Hutay'zai, the Sk'akh Church, the Izweski themselves - we have an incredibly rich collection of factions, and fleshing out how they push and pull will be a great asset to future lore.

2. How would you utilise the mobile setting that we have today with the NBT to move forward with Unathi Lore?
Another difficult question, because I already know what Trio had planned as Unathi lore writer and I would like to continue that. Aside from those, however, I'd like to lean into stuff outside just 'visiting the Hegemony'. I proposed in my initial deputy application a three-way struggle over a phoron-rich asteroid in the Sparring Sea between pirates, the Izweski and Dominia, and I think stuff like that's an avenue of the NBT that we can use very effectively. Showing our various powers, nations or otherwise, not just in the heart of their power but actively exerting their influence in conflicts, and then involving the Horizon in them. 

Using the above suggestion as an example, I like it because it poses a genuine choice to the crew - the various corporations of the SCC each have their reasons for who to back up there. Zavod would prefer a Dominia W, Hephaestus would prefer the Hegemony, and NT might not like the idea of either nation gaining access to significant phoron reserves that aren't being sold by them. Showing the various influencing forces of the Spur pushing against one another, and giving the Horizon a genuine impact on how this resolves, is something that can be done with the Horizon which is far less possible to do with the Aurora. 

Related to this - the Horizon's setting is a great way to show event influence outside of events. The Cold Dawn mini-events were a good example of this, as well as having the Adhomai treasure map in the captain's office and the actual ability to land on the planet outside of events. These are all good things, but we can push it further - for instance, if we were doing the above arc, we could have the ships of the various involved factions as ghostroles with a higher chance of spawning, enabling the crew to feel like the arc is always present. For instance, in Dreary Futures 1, the Horizon was being escorted by the Caravaggio and monitored by Elyra - but outside of events, these forces were absent. Having the Caravaggio as a ghost role, or temporarily restoring the ability for command to call an ERT in the form of the FSF, could have made the arc feel more of a constant presence rather than a series of events. This was done well after Dreary Futures, with the SCC Oversight Agent ghostrole following the mutiny and the general involvement of both lore and CCIA in resolving the consequences.

I think the setting should feel active and reactive outside of scheduled events, and stuff like that helps a lot. Arcs should feel present even when not ongoing, and the actions of the crew should have consequences - both of which are things that the Horizon as a setting is inherently better-positioned for than the Aurora, being outside the reach of Miranda's Strongest Soldiers the Republic of Biesel and able to interact with more of the lore face to face, instead of having to bring the lore to them. The biggest advantage of the NBT is that we moved from a setting which is primarily reactive to one which has the ability to be proactive - we can go places and do things for our corporate overlords.

I could go more in-depth, but this is already way too fucking long. Remember, a vote for Rusting is a vote for cool lizard content. #Rusting2023

[ImmortalRedshirt]

Hi, just a few questions for you!

1. I've occasionally seen Unathi lore referred to as a space opera, and such a view often contributed to some of Unathi(and Aurora lore in general)'s best arcs, such as the Hegemony civil war. How do you feel about this label, and should it continue to be embraced?
2. Given the chance, would you roll back the retcon made to the Sk'akh faith's view on trans unathi?

[RustingWithYou]

1. I would disagree with the civil war being necessarily one of our best arcs, but I wasn't here when it was running. That being said, I don't hate the label, and feel like it's pretty accurate. I wouldn't necessarily go our of my way to write to that theme, but I don't have a problem with being embraced.

2. This is something I've thought about a lot, and that I still don't know the answer to - I wrote the Ouerean Sk'akh church as being accepting of trans Unathi as both a way to show the differences between the two interpretations of the faith, and to leave a door open for future IC changes in Sk'akh doctrine. I don't think I'd roll it back necessarily, as I think it does make sense as a viewpoint for the Church to hold - the whole "Sk'akh made you without imperfection and seeking to drastically modify that is acting like you know better than Sk'akh" thing. 

That being said, I don't like writing real-world bigotry and I'd be tempted to retcon it for that reason. I think what I lean towards is showing that despite this being technically doctrine, societal discrimination against trans lizards is largely nonexistent outside of maybe the most hardline of Sk'akh strongholds such as former Iron Mask territory. Some more trans representation among our existing cast of Izweski characters would also be good to accentuate this. 

What I would definitely like to do is retcon the Sk'akh Church not accepting the traditional Unathi third gender of the fisher, given its whole focus on the Three Aspects, and the very gendered nature of the whole Three-In-One. I'm not necessarily sure how this would be done, and whether it would be through IC development, OOC retcons, or a mixture of both. Whether this does get retconned and how is something I would need to put more consideration into if I were to get the position, though.

[Lent23]

Hey, I've got a few questions as well:

1. What is your opinion on the recent Hephaestus acquisition of the Moghean guilds? Will this have any direct effect on the Horizon itself?

2. Unathi have proven to be a useful corporate asset for the Chainlink. Do you believe that a push for Unathi captainship is warranted? Especially considering the acquisitions mentioned in the previous question.

3. Unathi are notable as a species that evolves quickly, yet we have no unathi subspecies. They are, at this point, the only species without a notable, mechanical subspecies selection. Do you believe they would benefit from one or more subspecies?

4. A concern of mine o is that a lot of the written lore has been too "fluffy" and has had little-to-no effect on the ship itself. What would you do to keep Unathi lore relevant moving forward?

5. You say you want to flesh out existing factions - Which of the existing factions are you most interested in fleshing out?

6. Dominia (as well as some other various factions) have some specific clans and families that have specifically designed lore for players to take onto the ship as their own surnames. Would you be interested in fleshing out some larger clans/families for unathi players to take onto the Horizon?

[RustingWithYou]

1. I helped write it, so I'm biased. I think it's a good development that both helps to make the Hegemony more of an interstellar player despite its relative youth and setbacks it's currently facing. As for effects on the Horizon, it has already had some (extremely minor) ones, and I've seen a good bit of Unathi RP around it,. The effects on the Horizon will probably be indirect, as other SCC corporations work to undermine Hephaestus's power after their enormous W in the Hegemony - but that's more loremaster stuff than my department. 

2. I've talked about this before - I don't think it would be an immediate thing, but given that Unathi have become very influential within Hephaestus, I could see that push coming for SCC vessels. 

3. Another conversation I've had before, and I have thought about it. I don't think having a subspecies would be inherently a benefit or a downside for Unathi, and I've said that I'll only add one if there is a significant and good justification for the reason why they need to exist. I'm not in favor of just having one to have one. 

4. It's a difficult balance to strike with lore arcs, and though I do think that the setting-impacting consequences of bigger arcs like the Titan Rises arc do have an effect inherently on the ship, I would like to run Unathi-centric event arcs such as visiting Uueoa-Esa. Without going too in-depth, as at least one Unathi event arc is already in the works, I have plans for directly Horizon-impacting events and arcs related to Unathi lore. 

5. ALL OF THEM The main one in need of expansion is the power blocs within the Izweski nobility, each of which I tried to represent in the wedding arc. The Hegemony, in my view, is becoming more centralised, and I want to see how the entrenched feudal nobility is shifting and aligning to maintain relevance. I'd also like to expand on the Izweski-K'lax relationship, and maybe introduce some more tension there to prevent them being a win button for Not'zar, but that would be a cross-team effort with Vaurca lore. Post-Titan Rises, I also want to expand on what Hephaestus's status looks like now - both shaking the idea that the Hegemony is overnight a Hephaestus puppet state and showing where the strongest opposition to the megacorp is.

6. We have some of these in the form of the Oasis Clans in the Wasteland and the orphanage guilds, and I do like them. I'd want to be careful with it, and it's not a priority, but I'm not opposed to it. Introducing some more minor clans with a significant niche could be neat for allowing more fleshed-out backgrounds.

[Caelphon]

I believe Rusting is a very level-headed individual, and have yet to seen them have outbursts of any kind in the community. While I might think a little more experience might be necessary, they have often taken the reigns on projects and have gone above-and-beyond. This application has my support. 

[Sparky_hotdog]

From my interactions with Rusting on discord regarding Unathi lore, I have always found him to be knowledgeable, passionate, and full of ideas, all of which I think would make him good for this position. Even if he is clearly a bug in a lizard costume.

That said, as someone with his hand permanently over the "apply for whitelist" button, here are some questions:

1. In your previous responses you have talked a lot about the internal and external politics of the Hegemony, but what are your thoughts on the Wasteland, as it is currently? Is there anything you would want to see added/removed/altered about the region?

2. Similarly, you have mentioned quite a lot about Sk'akh, but what are your thoughts on the places the other three major Unathi religions (Th'akh, Aut'akh and Si'akh) are in? Do you have any plans to develop any of them further, or are they in a good place in your mind?

[RustingWithYou]

1. The Wasteland is a big part of Unathi lore, even if its nature means that, short of an event where we go there, a lot of it will not really impact the Horizon beyond character backgrounds. As for adding/removing, I wrote the recent expansion to the Wasteland page, which I think got most of what I wanted to do down.

The biggest way in which I'd like to expand on the Wasteland would be through IC developments about the Izweski terraforming projects, in collaboration with the Vaurca lore team and potentially others. How is the phoron crisis impacting the efforts at restoration, who's running the show on the restoration projects, does it look like they have a chance of actually succeeding? The Wasteland's potential, to me, isn't just as a setting or point of origin, but as an active crisis facing the Unathi species - the efforts being taken to mitigate or prevent that crisis, as well as how that impacts the people living there, are where I think most of the potential for expansion and development lies.

 

2. I've talked a lot about Sk'akh, largely because they're the only religion that's really a political force within the Hegemony in its own right. That being said, I'd like to flesh out the distinguishing factors of each of the four main Unathi faiths - which I've already begun in part with the addition of the religious books, the regional Th'akh beliefs and the Aut'akh commune expansion. I don't want to drop a massive wall of text but I'll give my thoughts on each of them. 

Sk'akh inherently is the faith closest to the levers of power - the Church has been a powerful presence in Hegemonic politics since before the Izweski Hegemony was even formed, and I think that the contrast of spiritual and political matters is something I'd like to flesh out - the contrast between the true believers, the opportunists, the reformers, the hidebound traditionalists, and how they try to maintain their relevance in the modern age. The civil war arc did a lot of things I'm not a fan of, but the death of Unzi and the destruction of the Church as a political power was a big mistake IMO - I'd like to flesh out the remaining Archpriests, and go more in-depth on the Church's internal struggles in their current leaderless state, something the current arc has already begun to dip into. 

Th'akh is the hardest and easiest religion to write about, because it's not really a single religion at all so much as several hundred vastly different beliefs in a trenchcoat. That makes it easy to write varied and interesting beliefs, but hard to have it doing things as a political force. I'd probably like to focus on divergent Th'akhist beliefs being drawn together to provide a counterbalance to a revitalised Sk'akh church in the future, but generally as a much less unified force than the Church is. I'd also like to do something with the Marine Messiah over in the Torn Cities at some point, because Kopesk Th'akh is neat.

Aut'akh is the most inherently political religion, and nearly as diverse in beliefs as Th'akh is. That being said, the anarchist politics of the faith inherently position it as opposed to the Hegemony and likely unfriendly towards the SCC, which is something that can be explored further - Ouerean Aut'akh are ripe for this following recent events there, and given the revolutionary spirit of the planet's culture. I'd want to be careful, given that I don't want to do something which would cross the line into "Yeah the SCC just doesn't hire Aut'akh any more after they stabbed Titanius Aeson to death in an alley." (random example, I will not kill Aeson). Cross-species interaction with Aut'akh would also be neat - Vaurcae, the Iron Eternal Diona and IPCS being the big three that I'd like to give some kind of Aut'akh connection, or expand on what's already there.

Si'akh's biggest problem is, to me, largely in its perception as 'crazy fire cult'. While it is unquestionably that, I'd like to expand more on how Si'akh and Aut'akh are two sides of the same coin - splinter religions of the major Unathi faiths, formed in direct response to the trauma of the Contact War and the rightful anger at those in power who allowed it to happen. I don't want to make Si'akh a totally morally good faction, any more than I want that with the Aut'akh - both of them are pretty shady, but what I do want to express clearly in my writing of the faiths is that they are, fundamentally, right about a hell of a lot. The Izweski system is by no means a good one for those other than the nobles, and seeing that system destroyed is a cornerstone of both faiths. 

I'd like to expand Si'akh outside of Moghes, also - showing that the Prophet is not just wandering around preaching, but actively making moves to build support for his cause. Some of the spots with existing religious tension and Si'akh populations such as Res'karum, the Southlands and Imas'hi are prime places to demonstrate this as well - I'd like to escalate the situations there if possible, and show that Si'akh may be a crazy fire cult, but it is also a revolutionary ideology that will pose a fundamental threat to the foundation of Izweski power if left unchecked.

[Lent23]

I just gotta say - with the answers I've seen here, I feel very confident in the direction of Unathi. Your answers to all of my questions and others have provoked a lot of confidence, and I have no doubt that you would be great in the position. I feel like the species would be in great claws with you in charge.

[Triogenix]

Working with you was great, and I'm looking forward to doing it more often. Cael and Lent pretty much summarized my thoughts on this application, I don't see any issues with you in the position, and am happy to take you on as the Unathi Species Writer!