Dessysalta's Unathi Lore Deputy Application

[dessysalta]

Ckey/BYOND Username: dessysalta

Position Being Applied For: Unathi Lore Deputy

Have you read the Lore Team Rules and Regulations wiki page? Pretty sure! (yes)

Past Experiences/Knowledge: It's been I think a pretty solid decade I have of writing various things and roleplaying; mostly on platforms like Discord and other RPG games. Throughout the years, I've been a moderator or founding member of various roleplay servers (currently I'm an admin on a Discord one and have been for about a year) over the years but stepped down for one reason or another, usually because of a lack of creative freedom paired with things like schooling (which I'm finished with now). If you count attempts, I also applied to be staff on SS14, but that ended up being denied for activity reasons (this was about 3 years ago, and to be entirely frank, I have no interest in moderating SS14 nowadays).

Because I think it's worth mentioning, each of my race applications have gone through with no hiccups whatsoever and demonstrated an adequate enough understanding of each race's lore to not warrant any questioning (except my Vaurca one, but it was more of a "hey, just in case" pointer). Wasn't sure whether or not to put this in "examples of past work" or not, so I'll stay on the safe side and put it here.

Examples of Past Work:
A successful Lore Canonization Application for the Zandiziite Games 
An ongoing Lore Canonization Application based off the description of the crimson hardsuit/voidsuit that references the Gorlex Marauders and has a Unathi and Human focus
And two docs that I've made for personal use on the server, such as a document for my Drek'za clan for those who want to make a Drek'za, and a list of names dedicated to the Southern Solarian Military District's 104th Fleet for those who want to make a 104ther from the now-defunct Wildlands. 

Additional Questions
1. How do you feel about the current state of Unathi lore? Are there any areas that you particularly want to expand on?:

I like the current state of Unathi lore, frankly I feel like Unathi is hands down the coolest race next to synthetics and Vaurca. I got attached to Unathi pretty immediately after reading some introductory lore for things like Moghes, the Contact War, etc. and how much of a stark difference the race is compared to fairly standard human characters (and sometimes synthetics, sorry IPCs). The race has a great set of fundamentals and a decent amount of content for those who want to make more diverse or unique Unathi (i.e. using the Zandiziite Games in an application like I did, Aut'akh as a whole, the various pirate factions one can come from or be arrested for associating with) but I feel like it falls flat or isn't portrayed properly in the way of religion. That's not to say I don't like the religions, I love them, but the most I see on-ship is the usage of "ancestors" from time to time and the rare shaman (Aut'akh characters are exempt from this, every one of them so far has loved talking about their augments and prayer).

There's a few areas I'd want to expand on, and in no particular order they're:
- Pirate factions and criminal guilds. This is best highlighted in my recent application under the name of Gorlex Marauders (currently undergoing a rename at the time of writing). Unathi piracy has some great roots, don't get me wrong. There's no issue with the typical "let's do some raiding and pillaging so we can keep afloat or get grand riches" theme that pretty much every pirate media adheres to, but I'd like some more depth on this front. Piracy and criminal guilds should have more motivation behind "let's do some raiding and pillaging so-" (okay, point made, move on) and I think a good way to start is by implementing the common supplier for a lot of these fleets. Something I especially like is how cool the Tarwa Conglomerate is, how they can be interpreted as normal thieving pirates or a Fang Captain forced to leave his home because of his affinity with an entirely separate race. You can just as easily call them bad guys as you can good guys, and the Marauders are no different on that front; with a wide set of ideals that varies from Sinta to Sinta (and human and the other races that are within the Marauders) there's a greater sense of depth past "these guys disobey the law because anarchy, dammit," not to imply the existing factions or guilds do. The Shortclaw Clan and Shadow Service are both criminal organizations, but not to a scale that can rival any major manufacturer or corporation, which brings me to:

- Involvement with Hephaestus and the other corporations. Since Hepht has a monopoly in Unathi society and its economy, I want there to be more interactions ICly other than "I like Hephaestus" or "I don't like Hephaestus," because as a player I feel like that's what I've been seeing. There should be some more Hephaestus-based Unathi prosthetics or loadout items and augments that play into its role in Unathi society, things like more grandiose Aut'akh augments (I understand this could be a point of contention given Aut'akh's strange and often negative relations with Hephaestus, but it could be done in an interesting way) or specialized clothing, visually-different-but-mechanically-identical tools that are designed to be more in-tune with Unathi anatomy, et cetera. On the topic of other corporations, Zavodskoi should absolutely have some extra tools or Unathi-specific items, suits, etc. which is a great segue to:

- Unathi in Dominia (and other places). This one will probably be the shortest bullet point because it's the thing I'm the least familiar with. The Empire of Dominia is a cool place lore-wise, I like the amount of depth and no-nonsense personality it has with its inhabitants, and I think a good place to start on a lateral expansion of Unathite influence would be here. Particularly, I think playing into my first point by introducing another pirate faction in the name of Kazhkz, think the opposite of Hiskyn's Revanchists, or by expanding their influence within the two Dominian Houses they hold, or by giving them more land/culture/etc. to work with. Unathi don't exist much outside of their home system and Dominia, and I'd like to see more of that.

2. Propose an Unathi-centric event arc to be run on the Horizon. You don't need to go super in-depth, just a summary will do:

Shamelessly pulling a page out of Lent's application (hi, Lent! Thanks for saying my clan is cool and helping me develop Unathi stuff), something to do with Hephaestus' place within the Conglomerate and Unathite society is a great start, as mentioned above. Lent does a better job of proposing this arc, so I'll spare you the details, but something to do with Unathi being the first race to obtain Captaincy ability would be awesome.

An arc that I've thought about (and I realize this'll sound a little self-centered because I'm talking about my own LCA again, but stay with me here) in relation to my Gorlex LCA would be varying degrees of antagonistic (or beneficial) behavior from the soon-to-be-renamed Marauders that leads to either complete vilification or a necessary armistice/alliance with the Conglomerate and various areas that had previously outlawed it. A rough outline of the arc would be something like this:

• The Horizon takes a trip to either Hegemony space or back to the Badlands, particularly the planet Greima in the latter case. Hephaestus has announced they've all but pioneered previously undiscovered technology that would aid in mining operations for the acquisition of phoron; things like drills with tiny shield capacitors to protect from overheating, enhanced turret and point-defense systems to deter Greimorian presence, etc.
• A point of contention arises while the Horizon is aiding a Hephaestus team on-site in setting up a mining rig, that of which being an injured crew member, sabotaged equipment, generally anything that could be explained by the Badlands just being the Badlands, bonus points if the crew is gaslit into thinking it actually was the Badlands fauna by running into a colossal grem immediately after the fact or otherwise discovering something that would yield the same result through different means.
• Further questions rise when unmarked weaponry and unrecognized equipment and armor is spotted strewn about blood and guts; it doesn't look Solarian in make, it fits a Sinta's claws wonderfully, and there's no serial number or marking to denote who or what made it. This leads to Hephaestus and other parties operating in or around Greima questioning the Horizon given their scientists' abilities to make more-than-lethal weaponry that similarly doesn't bare a particular proof of creation. Following further gunfights or sabotage by what is assuredly not the local fauna and habitat, the Horizon's crew is tentatively blamed for its involvement given the circumstances, how most of this conflict arose after it had docked or remained in orbit.
• The climax of the event would feature player-led sabotage, the saboteur in this case being one who aligns themselves with the up-and-coming group of the Not-Yet-Renamed-Gorlex-Marauders, begging the question of who they are, what they do, and why they're on Greima of all places. The climax could go several ways, with successful sabotage leading to a full assault team or pirate gang armed with Gorlex weaponry, failed sabotage leading to enhanced questioning and the outing of the individual in question's past, which then brings us to the finale:
• A (set of?) Marauders having been captured or offering themselves to speak on behalf of their group and what they stand for. This would lead into its page on the wiki and capability to be used in an official capacity as a backstory, antagonist gimmick, off-ship roles, or really anything else that could come from this.

This would breathe new life into antagonistic gimmicks, finally rid the codebase and overarching lore of broad "Syndicate" nonsense that hasn't been canon in years, provide an additional faction or corporation to either build a character or gimmick around, introduce relations between it and existing factions, etc. all while keeping the playerbase included and having the event's setting play into the Horizon's goal as an expeditionary vessel as discovering phoron.

Here's my answer to some questions asked by RustingWithYou in Lent's application, I figured I'd answer these myself just in case.

3. How patient would you say you are when waiting on other people? Specifically, waiting on other people to finish their responsibilities in a collective project?

I can be fairly patient when it comes to this, but I can get frustrated at a project remaining incomplete for large swathes of time, especially if I put forth a lot of effort and passion into it. Generally speaking, if I don't have anything else to align myself with/work on in the meantime, it can be hard to stay quiet about a project that has yet to be completed--but never expect me to be rude or ignorant. I'm conscious about how other people choose to spend their time, and at the end of the day, I'm not going to insult or throttle anyone for not contributing to a passion project.

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

To make a long story short, I love criticism when its backed with ideas to further what led to the criticism in question (i.e. "this group's [x thing] is weird, how about [y thing]?") but things like "I dislike this" or "this is pretentious/stupid/etc." really only serve to agitate me. There needs to be well-articulated reasoning behind the criticism, because otherwise the face value of "this is/isn't [x thing]" doesn't contribute anything in the way of creative thinking or progress. It can be a little hard for me to kill my darlings, but if there's an amazing narrative ending or conclusion to doing so, I'll do it without any hesitation.

5. As a lore writer, you'll be expected to contribute to things that are a team-wide or multi-team responsibility - corporations, Biesel, other multi-species locations such as Gakal'zaal. Do you feel comfortable doing this?

Definitely! I prefer working in smaller cells of communities and projects because it cuts out middlemen and its much easier to talk to say, two people rather than twenty, but that doesn't mean I'm unable to work with large teams. I understand that being a lore dep will mean I have to come face to face with a lot of things I didn't previously consider, and I hope that my time as a lore dep (whether I decide it isn't for me or if I become a loremaster years from now) lends me a greater understanding of the overall lore of the Spur and how to contribute to the many, many facets of Aurora lore.

6. Lastly, when it comes to writing, how do you feel about writing things you don't enjoy in the moment or aren't personally passionate about?

Passion is a mixture of spur-of-the-moment and momentum-based-influence for me. It's as easily started from some niche thing I like about the lore (like the Zandiziite Games) as it is snowballed into a ginormous project that I pour my soul into over the course of weeks, slogging away (meant in the most positive way possible) at something in order to make it as well-made and presentable as possible. Writing things I don't enjoy has always been somewhat difficult to me, but there's a difference between not enjoying what I write and finding it useless to do so in the first place. This is probably really pretentious and goofy to think, but the story my dad told me about how Ernest Hemingway was almost wholly against writing The Old Man and the Sea (the same novel that would go on to win him a Nobel Prize in literature) I think is worth mentioning here. Just because I dislike working on something, doesn't mean I'll turn down the idea or create something awful.

Tl;dr I prefer working on things I actively enjoy and are passionate about, but it's as much the destination as it is the journey. 

Additional comments: I was told by Lent that I should shoot my shot for a lore writer or deputy position, so here it is! I have a lot of free time on my hands due to some mixed signals and circumstances within my life, and I figure the worst case scenario is I learn tons of new things about how Aurora is made behind the scenes, and how to better create things that align themselves with the lore. I'm more than excited and willing to learn how things are done here, and the thought of creating something a community loves that gets passed down from writer to writer over the years sounds so cool.

Edited September 16, 2023 by dessysalta
minor edit

[Lent23]

Since you stole from my app, I'll have to steal from your comments on mine! 😂 I can't do the justice you deserve when it comes to the thoughtfulness you put into your work. I genuinely can't think of another person I'd want on the Unathi team than you. All of your work that you've shared with me so far has been awesome to read, and I hope you continue to share the things you make - it's incredible to see work done by someone as passionate as you seem to be.

Of course I'd have to +1 this for what it's worth - even if we're enemies now. (❤️)

Edited September 16, 2023 by Lent23

[RustingWithYou]

Hi, thank you for applying. I have a few questions I'd like to copypaste from the other app.

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

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

3. As a lore writer, you'll be expected to contribute to things that are a team-wide or multi-team responsibility - corporations, Biesel, other multi-species locations such as Gakal'zaal. Do you feel comfortable doing this?

4. Lastly, when it comes to writing, how do you feel about writing things you don't enjoy in the moment or aren't personally passionate about?

[dessysalta]

7 minutes ago, RustingWithYou said:

Hi, thank you for applying. I have a few questions I'd like to copypaste from the other app.

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

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

3. As a lore writer, you'll be expected to contribute to things that are a team-wide or multi-team responsibility - corporations, Biesel, other multi-species locations such as Gakal'zaal. Do you feel comfortable doing this?

4. Lastly, when it comes to writing, how do you feel about writing things you don't enjoy in the moment or aren't personally passionate about?

I included these questions in my OG post! Scroll past the Unathi questions but above the "extra comments" section.

[RustingWithYou]

I have never claimed to be a smart man.

[RustingWithYou]

While it was a close discussion, the Unathi lore team has decided on a different candidate. Thank you for applying, and I encourage you to continue contributing to Aurora lore in future.