ASmallCuteCat tries to become ASmallCuteLizard

[ASmallCuteCat]

BYOND Ckey: ASmallCuteCat

Discord username: Revenant1367

Character names: Luna Li, Jay Elder

Species you are applying to play: Unathi

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General Whitelist Requirements

What colour do you plan on making your first alien character?: Currently leaning towards Janvir Black (the dark grayish looking one)

Have you read the lore pages for the species you wish to be whitelisted for?: Yes but every time I think I've finished reading a lore page I find a link that leads to several more articles THERE'S SO MUCH LORE AAAAAAAAAA

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 species?: I've always thought lizardfolk were cool, ever since I played the Blades of Exile games (they featured a lizardfolk race called the Slith, and I always had a few of them in my party) I'm also intrigued by Unathi gender norms, and I like that genderfluidity is baked into their beliefs and society. I think my favorite aspect is that Unathi gender roles work with the common trope of "men fight, women heal" without leaning into any sexist or discriminatory stereotypes. The fact that the third gender (the fishers) aren't looked down on or ostracized also makes me happy.

What makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a human?: Vastly different customs, body language, and physiology. There's mechanical differences in gameplay, but as an exceptionally non-robust player who can't remember stats or mechanics half the time, I feel that they'd play second fiddle to the roleplay aspects for me. (I also need to be very careful not to say "busy." Ever.)

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Character Application

Character Name: Surika Varash

Write a backstory for your character. This may include their origin, education, personality and how they arrived to the SCCV Horizon.

A rather young Unathi from Ouerea, born to a prosperous clan of fishers, crafters, and construction workers. They received a decent education and were open-minded towards mingling with the humans and Skrell who lived and worked in their community. Surika was raised in the Th'akh faith, and is very curious about non-Unathi religions and the spirits the other races venerate.

The arrival of Hephaestus Industries wound up being a boon for the Varash clan... for a short while. Many of them, especially the younger adults, took up employment with Hephaestus, but like many other Ouereans they quickly grew dissatisfied with working conditions. The clan was heavily involved with the strikes and later, the riots and rebellion. Needless to say, this ended badly for them.

It's been some time since the rebellion but the events left Surika deeply unhappy with living on Ouerea. Whether they were killed, imprisoned, or made Guwan, the loss of so many clanmates weighs heavily upon Surika. They signed on with a passing cargo freighter, taking a position as a kitchen assistant, which helped them build up enough experience to qualify for a job with NanoTrasen on the Horizon.

Ultimately, Surika is a lost soul, a drifter trying to run away from grief and memories. The clan's elders see them as a "prodigal fisher" who needs to get their act together and return home to help rebuild the clan and restore it to its former wealth, but this view is born more of concern than outright disapproval. Although Surika doesn't want to admit it, they wonder if they made the right choice in leaving home so abruptly, and fear that their rash decision has offended their ancestors.

How has the recent events of the Orion Spur impacted your character? Events such as the Phoron Scarcity, the Solarian Collapse or even the Invasions of Biesel for interstellar-wide affairs, while region-specific events such as the Peacekeeper Mandate, The Titan Rises or even Cold Dawn may impact your character.  

Being young and fairly self-centered, they did not think very much about events beyond their clan and their place of residence. Places like Sol and Biesel were just points on a map, major events were just headlines in the news. They didn't worry too much about these distant locations and unfamiliar names, caring more about people and places closer to home.

The big exception to this is the Phoron Scarcity. Seeing Hephaestus rise in power and prominence - again - sent Surika into outright panic out of fear that there would be a repeat of the Ouerean Rebellion. This was the tipping point which led to their emotionally-driven, knee-jerk decision to leave Ouerea in search of a place to live where they could start fresh, away from everything that had happened.

How does your character view the megacorporation they work for?

They are slightly wary towards megacorporations in general (and they feel distrust/dislike towards Hephaestus Industries, with concern for Hephaestus' lower-ranking employees), but they accept that megacorporations are an established, less-than-pleasant aspect of the reality that they live in. Employment with NanoTrasen is just a means to an end, another stepping stone on their journey as they try to find themselves. They are, however, outright terrified of the possibility - however miniscule - that they might wind up involved or adjacent to anything remotely resembling the Ouerean riots against Hephaestus Industries, and as a result Surika tries to maintain a polite distance towards their fellow crew members. You can't feel grief for lost friends if you don't have any friends to grieve.

[RustingWithYou]

Hi, I apologise for the delay in responding to this. I do have a couple of questions - you mention Surika's religion, but not really much about how that impacts their views or personality, I'd like to hear a little more about that.

You also mention their clan's activities in the Revolution, but I'd be interested to know how extensively and in what ways Surika was involved personally.

Thanks for applying!

[ASmallCuteCat]

13 hours ago, RustingWithYou said:

Hi, I apologise for the delay in responding to this. I do have a couple of questions - you mention Surika's religion, but not really much about how that impacts their views or personality, I'd like to hear a little more about that.

You also mention their clan's activities in the Revolution, but I'd be interested to know how extensively and in what ways Surika was involved personally.

Thanks for applying!

In their early life, the Th'akh faith helped fuel Surika's curiosity and open-mindedness towards the other races on Ouerea, especially their beliefs and customs. This curiosity evolved from awkward, innocent questions that left elders and adults amused (if not slightly embarassed), into a drive to learn more about the other races in the Spur. With age came tact and maturity, and they grew from merely wanting to know about other customs, to wanting to [i]understand[/i] these customs and in turn the people that followed them.

Traditional-minded and conservative Unathi would likely consider Surika a wayward youth - their curiosities indulged to a harmful level, lacking in discipline and in need of a firm hand to guide them, someone who was too easily swayed by outsiders and as a result, abandoned time-honored practices and turned their back on their ancestors. A few of the Varash clan elders did view them in this light. While the conflicts between Surika and these individuals never escalated past arguments and raised voices, it still left Surika with some hints of resentment, and caused them to double down on their beliefs. Technology moved forwards, time moved forwards, why cling to the ways of the past?

Surika wasn't old enough to have that much personal involvement in the Revolution - they would've been about 11-12 years old when it happened. A good number of the Varash clan took up employment with Hephaestus Industries - especially clanmates that Surika viewed as mentors and "older siblings." Clan elders assumed, even expected, that Surika would dutifully follow in those footsteps, going as far as to arrange an apprenticeship with Hephaestus for them... to which Surika wondered, "But what if I don't want to work for Hephaestus? What if I don't care about building or maintaining machinery? Where's my say in all this? Why do I have to do what my clanmates are doing? Humans don't always make their children take the same occupation, why can't we be the same way?"

And then came the rebellion. The Varash clan unanimously sided against Hephaestus. The plans for Surika's apprenticeship were shelved for an indefinite amount of time. Almost all of the younger clan members - the ones that Surika was closest to and respected the most - participated in the strikes and riots from the start, and Surika even joined a few protests, though they never did more than hold up a sign and march with fellow protestors. As soon as things started to get violent, the clan elders immediately forbade the younger clan members from participating in the protests. At first Surika resented it ("why can't I go out there? I want to stand with my clanmates and support them! Isn't that what I'm supposed to do?") but after the riot on March 5, 2460, Surika's opinion quickly went to "oh spirits PEOPLE DIED please let this stop peacefully"

Overlord Yiztek's decision to crack down hard on the rebellion caused a schism of sorts within Clan Varash. While the clan as a whole had a very negative view of Hephaestus Industries and a sour opinion of the Hegemony, not all of them were willing to risk injury, Guwaning, or worse - but some were, and almost all of these individuals were imprisoned, killed, or made Guwan over the course of the Revolution. This was an extremely harrowing time for Surika. They would see and hear their elders arguing and shouting at each other, they would see clanmates return home with injuries, they would see clanmates set out one day and never hear from them again. As the Revolution dragged on, they begged their clanmates to not risk their lives, to not fight the Hegemony forces, going as far as to physically stop them from going out and fighting - or try to, at least. There wasn't much a young unathi could do in that regard.

Once an outgoing, friendly child, Surika became a fearful and anxious teenager. They are hesitant to form friendships and close bonds, and worry excessively over the wellbeing of the remaining friends they do have.

Edited July 11 by ASmallCuteCat

[RustingWithYou]

These are all solid answers to the question, I'm happy to accept this application