Frej - Tajara app

[Frej]

BYOND Key: Frej

Character Names: Holly Nielsen, Alicia Wolfe, Mio Mueller, Anna Pettersson, Mateus Gustafsson, Morrigan Stone.

Species you are applying to play: Tajara.

What color do you plan on making your first alien character: Black (0, 0, 0), no patterns.

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 originally started reading Tajara lore just to see what was up with the catpeople I kept interacting with, and it got me hooked pretty quickly once I looked into it. I really like the concept of a newly uplifted faction in an otherwise technologically advanced setting, and I feel Adhomai/Tajaran lore in general gives a lot to work with for characters. The factions are all interesting, and so are the religions.

 

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

Adhomai has a violent history, with the second revolution only ending a few years ago. Most Tajara who have lived on Adhomai would be impacted by this, as would those living offworld. There’s a great division between the different states, each of which is convinced that they’re the one fit to rule, and this nationalism will have an impact on the vast majority of Tajara. While society in human space is often very progressive, Tajara are very conservative in comparison. Unlike humans, Tajara refer to themselves and others in the third person, with the first person being used for close and trusted acquaintances. The ears and tail can also be used to express emotions.

 

Character Name: Rhan’mirri Khann’ja, goes by Mikha when working with humans.

 

Please provide a short backstory for this character:

Born in the greater winter of 2444 in a small village at the foothills of the Rhazar mountains, just west of Trizar, Rhan’mirri’s childhood was split between the teachings of her village and those of her Hadiist education, which she was never particularly apt at. For every scolding by her teachers, she would in turn be praised by her traditionalist family, which she respected far better than strangers from Trizar. Despite this divide, her childhood was simple, spent learning the ways of rural life. This simple life came to an end with the Second Revolution, with her village situated in disputed territory between emerging ALA cells and defending PRA elements, her life turned harsh as the area became embroiled in the war.

The clan’s support and later direct alignment with the Almarist forces did nothing to lessen the impact of the war on them, and within a short few years, village life was no longer sustainable. Faced with the options of either fleeing or turning to war themselves, the head of their clan opted to relocate to Mezuma. Following a long journey through the southern forests of Ras’nrr, then controlled by ALA forces, Rhan’mirri found herself slowly acclimating to the difficult reality of urban life during the war. While most of her clan found work in Mezuma itself, she found it in mining, working in the Khazan mountains.

As life slowly stabilized following the armistice, the clan found itself a shadow of what it was before the war. They turn to establishing themselves in Mezuma rather than returning to the mountains by, among other things, arranging marriages with acquainted families. Rhan’mirri was included in these but refused hers. As a result, she was exiled from her clan, finding herself in a much lonelier world than what she has been used to as acquaintances and friends cut ties. Not all do, and so she lives with one of her coworkers for some time, continuing her work. Rhan’mirri has lived her whole life surrounded by family though and finds herself lost without the support that it provides. This, along with an ever growing fear of the war breaking out again, eventually leads to her fleeing Adhomai via harr’on in hopes of starting anew in Tau Ceti.

 

What do you like about this character?

Having to write out the backstory and consider how the character fits into the Tajaran lore has quickly ended up making her a very fleshed out character, and by extension I’ve really taken a liking to her. It’d also be really interesting to see how she adjusts to life on a ship with so many different types of people, only having lived in District 6(and rarely leaving it except to work) as far as her time away from Adhomai goes.

 

How would you rate your role-playing ability?

I’d put myself around a six out of ten or so for roleplaying. Normally I write post-by-post, which I consider myself a lot better at than live/game rp. I’m still getting the hang of translating my writing style into the medium of a roleplay server for a video game, but I’d still say I’m decent to good at it.

Note: Rhan'mirri is a follower of the Ma'ta'ke pantheon and generally pretty spiritual, which I'm saying here instead of in the backstory because it was getting a bit long.

[Fyni]

I'll start by been honest: Frej is a friend of mine. I maybe cursed him with a love of roleplay, and introduced him to SS13 and Aurorastation. Whoops.

But it's been exciting to see him fit straight into a HRP server, and then resolve to play Taj. He's been full of little tidbits of lore as he reads and learns everything. I have no doubt that Frej has Tajara history down, and I know Frej also has the roleplay chops to make it work! +1

[KingOfThePing]

Hi. I don't know you or your characters so these questions/this feedback is based purely on the application itself. 

I have some questions about the backstory of Mikha, because it's honestly a bit short and confused me a bit. Let's go and start chronologically:

• You write that Mikha's "childhood was split between the teachings of her village and those of her Hadiist education, which she was never particularly apt. at".
  • Why is that so? Following the First Revolution, sparked by most of the population being extremely dissatisfied with the monarchs the population rose up - Trizar and its surrounding areas especially were points of origins of the Revolution. They actively coup'd and began fighting. At the end, most if not all rebel groups actively joined the Hadii dynasty, which formed the PRA.
  • Thus, her parents were probably followers of Hadii, since they were liberated by/with them from their monarch oppression. This means Mikha should be following hadiist teachins, since she never knew anything else, unless there was another reason not to you didn't provide.
• "[S]he would be [...] praised by her traditionalist family".
  • Why would they? Were the opposed to the First Revolution? They would have had an extremely hard time to be pro-monarchist, considering where they lived. 
• "[H]er life turned harsh as the area became embroiled in the war."
  • Could you tell a bit more on how it became harsh? Harsh due to the DPRA or the PRA? How did it actually affect her? Did relatives die, was the village destroyed? Given, Mikha was only ~5-6 years old when the war started, yet children can be very affected by war, especially mentally. You write a tiny bit on how life became unsustainable in the village because they aligned with the Almarist forces (Mikha and her family, too?) but it leaves pretty much everything open.
• The entire next paragraph is a bit confusing because you dont give any hint of a timeline - Mikha was born in 2444, the war started in 2449, at which point they were still around Trizar. "Later" life there became unsustainable and they moved away to Mezuma. When did this happen? I ask this because in 2458 Trizar was already in firm hand of the PRA, so I must assume they moved way beforehand. So maybe in like, 2452-54? Mikha is ~10 at this time but she was already working in a mine, near Mezuma. Why? And if she really worked ten years old in a mine, how did it affect her? 
  You also mention that she "found herself slowly acclimating to the difficult reality of urban life during the war". Why is that? Mezuma was never directly besieged or changed hands, it was/is no major industrial hub and all in all (as far as lore gives) was probably never much fought for. What made her life difficult there?
• In the next paragraph you write "[...]among other things, arranging marriages with acquainted families. Rhan’mirri was included in these but refused hers. As a result, she was exiled from her clan [...]".
  • I find this a bit strange,  because arranged marriages basically ceased to exist, following the First Revolution (so around 15+ years before Mikha was born). This was a universal development and thus I find it strange that she would be exiled for refusing an arranged marriage like 30 years after they were a thing.
• She left Adhomai via Ha'rron - making her an illegal immigrant in Tau Ceti. How did she manage to pull this off? Did it affect her, when she arrived? How did she find a job in a megacorp as an illegal immigrant?
• You don't say anything about her faith - what religion does she follow? Why? Did it help her through hard times, etc.

 

These were some things that I noticed after reading through your backstory once. I'll read it again tomorrow to see if I missed something. Looking forward to hear from you.

[Frej]

Hey, thanks for your reply @kingoftheping. I realized I'll be busy for a while with some real life courses, so I won't have the free time to answer your questions. But thanks for taking the time to read it, and the feedback is greatly appreciated - hopefully, in the future, I will have the time to come back and start a new application, where I will take all of your feedback into account.

[KingOfThePing]

Hi, don't get discouraged, Tajara lore is a lot to take in. I also dont think you have to completely re-think your character or anything. It's just that you probably mixed the timeline up a bit and didn't see some stuff (because some can be a bit hard to find if you dont know on what page to look for, like the arranged marriage stuff). 

I am also not even part of the lore team, so you could just ignore what I wrote entirely....it was meant more as a "hey, X or Y doesn't line up with some stuff, you maybe have to think about it again". 

[Alberyk]

Hello. I want you to address the concerns brought by kingoftheping before giving a verdict on this application. I will give you one more week to do so.

[Alberyk]

Application denied.