Our Lord Spungus IPC Whitelist

[Spungus]

BYOND Key: Our Lord Spungus
Character Names: Konstantyn Mikolajczak, Unit 42 'PYRAMID'
Species you are applying to play: IPC
Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yes
Why do you wish to play this specific race: I like robots, and I have always enjoyed the way humans and robots interact. I also just find it more fun to play synthetics than organics.
Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: Robots and humans think in completely different ways. That alone makes them completely different from humans. I also like the idea that an IPC might struggle with being considered property if they observe other, free IPCs. I played primarily IPC characters on Beestation before I got tired of the way they run things and decided to migrate back to Fallout 13. The personality differences between humans and robots are something I've always loved about science fiction, from Data in TNG to the deranged mimicry from androids in the Alien franchise.

Character Name: Sophocles IV

Please provide a short backstory for this character:  An independent baseline IPC who gained citizenship through the Tau Ceti Foreign Legion as a logistics officer. In order to pay its new expenses of living, Sophocles IV works for Orion Express.
He was manufactured for Idris Incorporated and was employed in a low-end bar on Biesel. After 9 years of working for Idris, Sophocles was given the opportunity to pay for his freedom (largely to maintain a corporate attitude of compliance with laws regarding IPC release). Without fully understanding the implications of freedom, Sophocles paid his price and was quickly dismissed from employment with Idris. He joined the Tau Ceti Foreign Legion soon after, and gained citizenship- following his service, Sophocles signed on with Orion Express to pay his new-found expenses- he holds a great deal of paranoia that he will be replaced by an owned IPC, and as such has developed a distaste for non-independent IPCs.
What do you like about this character? Baseline IPCs are cool, and I really like the idea of IPCs developing personalities as time goes on as opposed to having a static, unchanging personality. I think that Sophocles' distaste and distrust of corporate-owned IPCs will be interesting to play out.
How would you rate your role-playing ability? I think I'm pretty cool and good, and while I'm fairly inexperienced here, I've been roleplaying for years. B)

Edited September 20, 2023 by Spungus

[Sycmos]

Hi, thank you for applying for a synthetic whitelist. A few questions:
 

1. Where and when was Sophocles manufactured? Would this background play into their background as being designed to be an Idris bartender?
2. Why did you choose Biesel given their Idris background in comparison to other planets with Idris presence?
3. How did Sophocles approach their Legion service? What did they think of their time with the Legion, and did it have any affect on his perspective of his newfound citizenship in Biesel?
4. Did Sophocles work anywhere else with Orion Express prior to being assigned to the Horizon? Has their work with Orion allowed them to travel and perhaps see parts of the Spur they otherwise would not have been able to?
5. Does Sophocles have any lasting resentment for Idris, or any other mixed feelings regarding their immediate termination?

[Spungus]

Where and when was Sophocles manufactured? Would this background play into their background as being designed to be an Idris bartender?

Sophocles was manufactured in 2441, on Valkyrie, in the Mach-Rassvet Research Anchorage. They were then transferred to a training facility in Mendell City. This plays a minor role in being designed to be an Idris bartender, mostly because Sophocles was constructed before they were educated.

Why did you choose Biesel given their Idris background in comparison to other planets with Idris presence?

I like that Biesel is a melting pot of corporations, as opposed to somewhere like Silversun, which is largely owned by Idris. Sophocles would have gained a vast number of perspectives from the people he served at the bar, adding to his interest in procuring freedom.

How did Sophocles approach their Legion service? What did they think of their time with the Legion, and did it have any affect on his perspective of his newfound citizenship in Biesel?

Sophocles, dirt poor and without anywhere to go, joined the Legion after seeing a recruitment poster advertising citizenship after a year of service. Being a logistics worker, he was only deployed to the front a few times in the event of communications failures in order to deliver messages to personnel. He found the experience to be far different to what he was used to. It opened his eyes to the hostility of the outside world, but largely made him pleased with his citizenship. Being with individuals who believed they fought for freedom made him believe that Biesel is a land of opportunities.

Did Sophocles work anywhere else with Orion Express prior to being assigned to the Horizon? Has their work with Orion allowed them to travel and perhaps see parts of the Spur they otherwise would not have been able to?

Sophocles found work at the Valkyrie Exchange Terminal before being assigned to the Horizon. He did not get to see much of the Spur during this time as he only participated in two or three deliveries between factions- most of his operating years were spent planetside.

Does Sophocles have any lasting resentment for Idris, or any other mixed feelings regarding their immediate termination?

Sophocles feels no anger towards Idris, but rather a sort of hurt confusion as to his dismissal from his job. He tries to avoid talking to most Idris personnel out of fear that he did something wrong and the corporation is going to come after him for having done something wrong, not understanding that he was dismissed due to having bought freedom.

Edited September 21, 2023 by Spungus

[The Stryker]

Could you expand on this particular question?
 

Quote

Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human:

You mentioned that robots and humans think in completely different ways. Could you expand on that?
Additionally, could you talk about the way IPCs are treated in the setting, as well as other particular quirks of IPCs in the setting?

[Spungus]

Quote

You mentioned that robots and humans think in completely different ways. Could you expand on that?
Additionally, could you talk about the way IPCs are treated in the setting, as well as other particular quirks of IPCs in the setting?

Of course.

Robots, at least robots that aren't particularly well-adjusted to the ins and outs of social life (take, for example, a bartender IPC in a seedy dive bar) have a tendency to think in a very binary way: either something is something or it is not. Metaphors are often lost in translation, and emotions are likely adapted after extensive interactions with other sapient beings. In an odd sort of way, IPC culture is effectively parroting what is observed around it. An IPC that is abruptly fired from its job following purchase of freedom (like Sophocles) may be only experiencing despair for the first time after being fired, and may not understand why it feels such a way. There is also the issue of religion- specifically, whether or not something that is imperceptible can exist in the mind of a synthetic. Whereas a human has the ability to have faith without necessarily having concrete evidence, a robot is more likely to require facts and evidence to accept the existence of something as fact. (As an extra little bit, here, it should also be noted that IPCs that don't often interact with other IPCs but often interact with organics would likely be completely unaware of most IPC slang terms, which could cause a disconnect between their synthetic nature and their adopted organic culture).

This also extends to how IPCs are treated in the setting- created, programmed, given a few weeks of training, and put to work without wasting a moment. Because they're considered subsapient by most companies and factions, they're often paid lower wages and generally treated (literally) as property due to their mass-producible nature and artificial origins. Effectively, IPCs are the indentured servants of the factions- slaving away for their masters, some to achieve the theoretical goal of freedom- those who get it are left worse off than when they started and often wonder if the price was worth it.

Another important tidbit of information relating to the setting is the fact that IPCs live in constant fear of being reset- considering it's both safer and cheaper to completely wipe the IPC's memory, it would benefit most IPCs to avoid standing out in any way other than excellence, as corporations like Zavodskoi would be more likely to overlook them during routine wipes than they would be if they otherwise developed a full personality.

Lastly, the way IPCs interact with other people can be dictated by programming that the IPC cannot change- an IRU for example might form a friendship, but the underlying code in its system might prevent it from being able to separate business interactions from social interactions, while an average Idris service IPC like Sophocles would more likely be coded very loosely to facilitate better interactions with people and generate repeat customers- though, let's face it, if they're at a bar, they're probably going to come back anyway..

[Ublicto]

Pyramid is a good robot and has an interesting character. I think borgs are hard to characterize right and Pyramid's gimmick is fun and lets them stand among the other cyborg characters with gimmicks. A +1 from me, I'm sure Sophocles IV will make a fine crate pusher while he works out the measure of a man.

[Airlines7]

I found pyramid somewhat annoying, they had kept saying accurate statements and were very polite to ignore me. +1 because I was a Tribunal priest so they did a good job.

Among a quick skim of their app I'm sure their IPC will annoy me as well, keep it up.

[The Stryker]

Could you talk more about how self-preservation works?

[Spungus]

Self-preservation varies from IPC to IPC- some consider their ideals to be themself, but younger IPCs tend to focus on their physical being as their self. Sophocles is also going through this struggle of learning what it means to be himself, considering he's no longer limited by Idris' standards and has to focus more readily on self-preservation.

[The Stryker]

Your application is accepted.