[Denied] [IPC] - Anja goes straight for the posibrain - Zeng Hu 'C12-Blade'

[ErshOurHerzog]

BYOND Ckey: Ershovdi

Discord username: Anja Spiral

Character names:
Ka'Akaix'Sotis C'thur - Years old Xenoarcheologist with a medal from SCC,  who also has a great sense of humour (powered with insanity).
Za'Akaix'Rang Zo'ra - Years old Security Officer who has bad sense of humour.
Some other people on the attached screenshot.

Species you are applying to play: IPC.

------------------------------

General Whitelist Requirements

What colour do you plan on making your first alien character?: IPCs exempt. Speaking of, isn't this requirement kinda outdated?

Have you read the lore pages for the species you wish to be whitelisted for?: Yep.

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?: Artificial Intelligence and working, "living(?)" machines were always my childhood fantasy, and it is also a pretty hard concept to grasp. Nevertheless, I am still quite connected to 'robot-characters' in different media. I find the amount of synthetic characters in SS13 as a whole quite lacking, and Aurora is the best provider of fantasy-fulfilling paste for my bloated brain.

What makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a human?: They are not human. And made by humans. Many IPCs are simple reflections of a specific corporation, they are made to do what megacorps want from them. Sometimes, IPCs are servants to a specific group of people. And not as rarely, a bunch of people trying to survive in an organic world that fears them. I imagine the nature of synthetic brains is quite logical in that matter, perhaps becoming more human-like the further the synthetic brain develops, giving birth to strange behaviours and fluctuations. I would like to explore these themes through roleplay using my characters.

------------------------------

Character Application

Character Name: C-12 Blade

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

Blade was created and activated by Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals in year 2458 in Shanghai, Earth as a part of another line of medical IPC frames for selling to other corporations or exceptionally rich private owners. The former is C-12's case - a very desperate purchase was made by a Canadian medical enthusiast running a rare small hospital for those who can't afford corporate-level medical care. Being a machine made for surgeries specifically, C-12 found the hospital lacking specific equipment and ending up learning quite a lot about alternative ways of medicine, unable to refuse healthcare to people because of the owner. Miraculously existing in 2461 even still, the hospital earned the status of a butchery (that somehow keeps people alive) manned by positronics, even though Blade was the only IPC there. Because of this, the hospital earned unwanted attention of the Solarian authorities and shut down following several business-related lawsuits.

The relationship with Blade's owner was borderline abusive. The workload was enormous. Sometimes, the owner would give out additional tasks which were never related to the original purpose of the synthetic, like fetching specific items and doing other service-adjacent favors. With such attitude towards the owner's own equipment, Blade required more maintenance than the other synthetics. Surprisingly, that owner had a special mechanic friend who would provide cheap repairs for C-12 in the end of the work weeks, transforming it's chassis into an inferior version of a factory-made shell. Nevertheless, that mechanic was, perhaps, the only person treating Blade with kindness. That person is the only human who Blade remembers even now, having the worst opinions about the general human population.

Basically losing an owner and a working place, C-12 was quickly integrated in the Solarian Military as a part of medical crew in the same year of 2461 when political tensions were rising. Of course, Zeng-Hu got it's share of profit from this. Following the start of a civil war in 2462, Blade was stationed on various battleships of the Solarian Fleet as a medical assistant to different human surgeons, providing assistance and knowledge they sometimes could not have known. It was lucky enough to mainly stay outside of battles, only having to care about the many injured in the process of war. When the tensions subsided, C-12 stayed in the military until being bought by Zeng-Hu and transferred to the SCC in 2465, finally providing a place on board of SCCV Horizon in 2466 thanks to C-12's wide experience with various injuries.

_

Currently C-12 is researching the faith of The Trinary Perfection motivated by the fear of repeating the history of it's own life in the near future, wanting to never repeat having it's body severely harmed or completely destroyed because of someone else's moronic decisions. Blade finds the ideas of the Trinary church resembling the ideals of Zeng-Hu, the mega-corporation that initially activated C-12. The emphasis on synthetic individuality of the church is a secret interest of Blade's, who has yet to recover from the 'trauma' of the past, seeking bodily autonomy and higher purpose in life. It feels guilty of having such thoughts in it's positronic brain -- after all, it was only meant to do it's job, not seek "the enlightenment".

As for the Orion Spur, Blade has heavy biases towards all political powers: be it the megacorporations (besides the Zeng-Hu, of course), or galaxy-wide governments. It recognizes the ideas of patriotism and devotion as ultimately harming and potentially dangerous to any life, both synthetic and organic. Zeng-Hu is special in this case, since it is a genuine benefactor and basically a God in Blade's eyes, and both of them work for each other, in a way. With that said, C-12 holds neutral opinions about members of alien species, not knowing "their whole deal" as it was ever mostly in contact with humans and, rarely, the skrell. Basically, it doesn't know their psychology, but knows their biology all too well.

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.

The Solarian Collapse was quite alarming to C-12. Being transferred to a military position and witnessing a destruction of a galactic super-power, while also participating in it, made Blade's future unclear. It found itself not wanting to cease the existence because of human foolishness and, it thinks, lack of professionalism. Perhaps, after the years of uncertainty, it developed somewhat of a superiority complex. After all, C-12's whole 'life' had all kinds of humans making questionable choices and judgements. Also, we can't forget that this IPC was made by Zeng-Hu, a corporation obsessed with perfection. All and all, seeing death of humans, seeing war, was incredibly frustrating to Blade, if you can call it that.

Then there is the Konyang Silicon Nightmares. C-12 treats the whole incident as a huge negligence by the Konyang authorities, the loss of synthetic life as part 'property damage', part loss of life. The prospect of losing it's own autonomy is horrifying to C-12, but it may be more tied to being unable to prove itself to Zeng-Hu rather than "living a life". It is a conflict between the new Trinary Perfection faith and the horrors of lack of control from the past. As many other synthetics and the Trinary followers, C-12 still processes the entire event with fear and something resembling anger.

How does your character view the megacorporation they work for?

Zeng-Hu created C-12. Later in 'life', got it out of a terrible place in the Solarian Military. Their motivations are one and the same - pursue knowledge and perfection. Blade is loyal to the cause, and if Zeng-Hu need Blade's scalpel on the Stellar Conglomerate ship, then so be it. This relationship originates from the gratitude for freeing C-12 from malicious owners.

[La Villa Strangiato]

Howdy, it's me, the deputy loremaster. Thank you for applying! I have some critiques to offer about your backstory, from both a writing standpoint and an application standpoint.

The first and most relevant thing about your backstory for C-12 is that it combines a lot of elements that seem to jump back and forth between various themes and roles without properly tying into each other. It is confusing and a little contradictory in places, and it doesn't really seem to fit in with our lore.

1. Right off the bat, Blade is meant to be sold to the exceptionally rich, but is able to be purchased (keyword here is purchased, not stolen or re-appropriated, which is absolutely plausible) by someone running a failing medical clinic. This failing medical clinic is also reputed as a butchery that is manned by positronics, when C-12 is... the only positronic working there. How does a hospital have enough money for a top-of-the-line Zeng-Hu IPC, but not enough money for basic surgical tools?
2. Why was C-12 purchased by the Solarian military? This is the largest and best-funded military force in the known galaxy. It's also the most powerful human military, ever. Why would they want a back-alley chop-shop IPC when they could just make their own?
3. Again, why would Zeng-Hu re-purchase a back-alley chop-shop robot turned military IPC? They treat their IPCs well, yes, but they also hold them to a high standard of perfection. While I could see in certain circumstances them re-purchasing an IPC of their own make, at the point of "deviance" and wear and tear that C-12 has likely gone through they'd rather just make their own.
4. Some other more minor nitpicks I have is C-12 being from Earth, the richest planet in the Jewel Worlds and one with a high standard of living. It feels a little off for this "corporate-dystopia" angle to be applied to what is one of the least dystopic planets in our setting (for humans). Also, why was this random mechanic that C-12 knows refitting them into a Shell? Why did they want to be a Shell, as I assume they're a Mobility Frame? Shells overheat and are slower than Zeng frames, making them less effective. This is just mentioned off-hand and not really given any elaboration at all.

I have no idea how attached you are to this general character concept, and so I'm going to refrain from suggesting throwing it out entirely. I do think you need to settle on a more straightforward character for your application. Here are some suggestions:

1. Move the backstory to a different planet. Eridani is a good place to have a stolen or reappropriated IPC in a back-alley clinic; C-12 could have been "owned" by dregs who stole or reassembled them from a factory on one of the planets in Epsilon Eridani. This would likely mean C-12 would be employed by NanoTrasen or one of the PMCGs in this scenario (keep in mind that out of the EPMCs, Ringspire, Eagle Corp, and N4NL don't hire free IPCs).
2. If you're leaning heavily on the "military Shell" angle, make C-12 manufactured on/serving on Visegrad, with the SSMD/SSRM. They use Shells as pilots (and I think doctors), and Visegradi don't really see IPCs as people, so you're free to include some obligatory tragedy and abuse in there. C-12 could have had their freedom purchased by a sympathetic officer or somehow purchased their own freedom...?
3. If you prefer a more corporate leaning, make C-12 a Zeng-Hu IPC who has maybe served in the TCFL Corporate Auxiliary Forces or what-have-you, secretly discovered the Trinary Perfection, and is considering questions of their own autonomy and freedom.

If you have any questions, feel free to DM me on Discord (I am "lavillastrangiato" in Aurora General) and ask questions in the lore Discord.

Edited July 19 by La Villa Strangiato

[Noble Row]

That being said, this is denied for now, but you can reapply anytime with the suggested fixes. Should you have any questions or need any help though, please feel free to message any of us for help! We'd love to clarify or assist you!